From The Grasshopper (3rd ed.), pp. 41-43 But games are, I believe, essentially different from the ordinary activities of life, as perhaps the following exchange…
Micah Tillman Posts
If you’re using the bible to abuse LGBT folks, you aren’t following Christ. Let’s talk about Romans 1, Sodom, and how Jesus interprets scripture.
Can we use Bearnard Suits’s philosophy of games to better understand baseball? Yes. Yes, we can.
Two of Bernard Suits’s early articles (“The Elements of Sport,” and “The Grasshopper: A Thesis Concerning the Moral Ideal of Man,” are stuck in books that are long out of print. I have rescued them, for Suits scholars and historians of play (and game) studies.
Wittgenstein said you can’t define games. Bernard Suits said, “Hold my beer.” And contrary to popular belief, the definition Suits developed was NOT, “The voluntary attempt to overcome unnecessary obstacles.”
L-System Fractals
Posted in Recriational Math
A simple system is surprisingly effective at generating fractals.
A New Dragon Fractal
Posted in Recriational Math
Mix the Dragon Curve with the Levy C Curve and what do you get? (Bibbidi bobbidi boo!)
One of the best Easter Songs ever written is “He’s Alive,” by Don Francisco. Here’s Dolly Parton’s live cover: Pay special attention to the chorus,…
For more on this project, click here. My Weird Hobby A good hobby needs to be something you could do forever. But things tend to…
Participating in a church service often means saying and singing things you neither believe nor feel nor experience, but which you wish you did (and think you should).
The End of Everything: A Philosophy of Play (pt. 1)
Posted in Life, and Video Games
Something broke in my brain at age ten. After dinner, my dad and younger siblings would play games of make-believe, complete with ongoing characters and…
Why I Stopped Playing Dark Souls
Posted in Friendly Philosophy, and Video Games
Last time on WISP, I talked about a horrible game I found super traumatic. This time, I’d like to talk about a marvelous game I…
Why I Stopped Playing Firewatch
Posted in Video Games
Last time on WISP, I talked about a game I stopped playing twice. The first time, I just got distracted by other games. The second…
Background Most GenXers and Millennials were introduced to the Wolfenstein franchise back in the early 90s, after Id Software bought the IP and created Wolfenstein…
I Get Angry When People Like Stuff
Posted in Life
I don’t like Dragon Ball Or Dragon Quest Why? Well, my friend, it is because Akira Toryama‘s character designs make me angry. And you know…
Does it count as a cheap mystery if you narrate a story in everyday English, but change a few key terms to keep readers on their toes?
Computer Programming Is Practical Philosophy
Posted in Friendly Philosophy, and Life
Modern programming requires you to be a philosopher: you have to understand what the world is made of and how those things interact to model them in code.
Computer Programming as a Lesson in Faith
Posted in Life, Theology, and Thinking Out Loud
Computer programming is a creative activity in which you have to build coherent, rational systems. This can teach us something about faith.
The Magic of Computer Programming
Posted in Life, and Thinking Out Loud
What drew me to computer programming was getting to be creative. Later, I heard someone say the whole thing is like magic. They were right.