Thoughts On - Alien RPG 6 (No Spoilers) - Updated

 Hello Everyone,

                           Thanks for joining me tonight. Richard, our GM has just got the Alien Colony expansion and recommends it to all GMs. It certainly got his creative juices flowing. He was on fire tonight. 

The episode begins as one of our NPCs had been infected by something nasty, it was gradually coming on over a few days, but we could not find the source of the problem. We popped her into the Auto doc, just to make sure. When she came out of the auto doc, she was silver and proceeded to wipe the floor with us. She killed one NPC and very wisely, four of the party fled. 

                            One of the scientists put the research Lab's nuclear power plant into critical mode, with a 10-minute countdown. The two of us fighting this critter reached record stress levels (14 and 17) before we finally took her down with three minutes to go before the reactor was due to go BOOM. We are now permanently at stress 1 and have a phobia of the colour silver!

                             Later, two of our party working outside got jumped by a silver face-hugger-ish thingy, as I was watching in horror on the monitor. Our Marine went catatonic, due to the phobia he had just received, and the other junior party member drove off in a buggy, with this thing as a passenger. He went into shock and froze at the wheel, crashed the buggy, as you would expect, slashed his leg open and is now bleeding out. That is where the episode ended.

               Side note: This was a three-hour session as opposed to our usual two-hour sessions. Thanks as usual to Richard (GM), John and Kitty. I hope you are having as much fun in your game as we are.    

Regards all,

Ivor Cogdell

Thoughts On - Alien RPG 5 (No Spoilers)

 Hi Everyone,

                       I just thought I would give you a quick report on the Alien RPG. It is almost one year since we started the game and apart from the odd week here and there due to work commitments, we have been playing it on a weekly basis on Friday nights, two-hour sessions of mayhem. This goes to show what the GM has at his disposal in the way of terror and shock tactics. We keep coming back for more.

                            This week, one of the party (not me) attempted to take out a face-hugger type alien attacking a party member who was wearing a spacesuit, with his flamethrower, the fact that three other Colonial Marines were in the line of fire and coming to help their buddy did not seem to bother him. RESULT - Three almost unconscious Marines, one with a broken leg. The Alien was weak, but still up and battling. I finally managed to bag it with a pistol shot. SPLAT! Just a day in the life of a Colonial Marine.

        We are due to have some colonists arriving soon, I'm not too sure what they will think of the amenities that we have here, or rather what's left of them after all sorts of critters have been rampaging through them.

Thanks again to Richard and John for a great game.

Watch your six!.

Ivor Cogdell

Red Alert Board 3 - January - September 2024 (Updated).

 * RED ALERT 3 * 

Hi Everyone,

                      This is my third Climate Change Red Alert Board, where I post the unusual weather events that have been battering people in one way or another during this year. It is a partial record, just the snippets I have heard about and posted.

4 January - United Kingdom - Storm Henk caused flooding along the River Trent, it is expected to top 5 meters above level. Over 200 Flood Alerts were issued by the UK Meteorological Office. A previous flood in this area occurred in 2003. Source - BBC Radio 4.

Southern France - Continued flooding affects Calais. Source - YouTube video clips.

7 January - River Soar, UK. A narrow boat was ripped away from its moorings during a flood and then got pinned against a bridge, where it subsequently sunk, blocking the river access to the area. Thankfully, the owner was not on board, but this contained all of his worldly possessions. There is a "GoFundMe" Appeal if you would like to contribute. Source - YouTube video clips. and Metro, The Independent.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mklpGkqylA

https://metro.co.uk/video/narrowboat-trapped-against-bridge-river-soar-swells-following-heavy-downpours-leicestershire-3094211/

https://www.gofundme.com/f/narrowboat-sinking-at-barrowonsoar

10 January - Maine, USA - Flooding Hampton and other areas along the coast. 80 km winds caused 42,000 people to lose power. Tides expected to be 11 feet were actually 31 feet. Roads have been forced to be closed. Source - The Nature (On Youtube).

12 January - 2023 was officially the warmest year since records began in the 1850's. Both ground and space observations agree. Source - NASA.

https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/world-of-change/global-temperatures#:~:text=According%20to%20an%20ongoing%20temperature,1.9%C2%B0%20Fahrenheit)%20since%201880.

19 January - UK. Five people were killed in separate incidents of cars hitting fallen trees during Storm Isha. Source - Daily Mail Online.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12993241/Pictured-Storm-Ishas-victim-Jimmy-Rowe-car-crash.html

Storm Jocelyn is on the way to the UK. It is the tenth named storm in five months. Previously a named storm season has only reached K in 2016.  Source - The Independent.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/scotland-met-office-dublin-airport-glasgow-airport-river-b2483666.html

27 January - Patagonia, Argentina - Fire in a National Park.

7 February - I am not certain of this, but I thought a news broadcaster said that we had passed the

 1.52 'C temperature mark since records began. I would not be surprised to find it was true. This totally blows away all of the promises and pledges made worldwide by governments and big companies to clean up their act. 

                         People are trying to make a difference by re-hydrating the soils in arid regions and other projects, but it needs to happen faster and on a bigger scale to make a difference.

https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/world-of-change/global-temperatures

22 February - The UK is out of the Energy Charter Treaty, which means oil companies cannot sue the Government.

15 April - (Inserted) Europe is demolishing its dams, weirs and culverts at a record rate. 2023 is the best so far, 487 were removed, up from 325 in 2022. 4,300 km of habitat were reconnected. Europe currently has 1.2 million barriers. 150,000 are listed as old or obsolete, ripe for demolition. France removed 156 and the UK, in 5th place removed 36.  46% of removals were weirs, 36% were culverts and 12% dams.

SOURCE - Discover Wildlife. (Youtube) by Graeme Greene. April 15 2024. (A British photographer and reporter).

28 April - Floods in Africa. In Kenya, a dam collapses and kills 45 people.

6 May - Porto Alegre, Brazil - Flooding due to torrential rain.

19 May - Update - 600,000 people displaced from the flooded city of Porto Alegre.

10 May - Good news on Fuels

https://www.euronews.com/green/2024/05/10/fossil-fuels-are-on-the-way-out-in-the-eu-as-they-dropped-to-record-low-in-april

11 May - Flooding in Afghanistan - 100 homes washed away.

14 May - I saw my local fox in the back garden, frolicking with three cubs.

04 June -  I saw two of the cubs today.

07 June - 15 people died in India as the heat reached 50' C.

13 June - I had a water meter fitted, they took away my old area water monitor, which was just used for statistics.

15 June - Norway, Faroe Isles, Scientists are testing a tide-powered energy source. Underwater gliders tethered to the seabed generate power through turbine blades. More are planned for the first array.

20 June - In a landmark decision, the UK Supreme Court has ruled in favour of climate in a case that could have big implications for new oil drilling.

 

This is a massive win for climate activists. Until now, the government granted permits based on emissions from extracting fossil fuels and the oil companies’ assessment of those emissions. Now, they will have to report on the emissions from burning fossil fuels too. This ruling is groundbreaking and could stop future oil and gas projects from getting the green light. 

 

But the fight isn’t over. We may have won today, but we’re still facing huge threats from oil giants like Shell, who want to silence us so they can continue their climate-wrecking activities.

 

This case has shown that people power really works – and that Big Oil can be held to account – but we can’t and won’t back down. We’re being sued by Shell in an intimidation lawsuit, and we need your support to keep fighting the fossil fuel industry. 

SOURCE - GREENPEACE.

05 July - Rossallerton, UK. Heavy showers delivered 2/3 of the month's rainfall in one day.

06 July - The western USA is having a  record-breaking heatwave, as Storm Beryl is due to make landfall as a hurricane.

06 July - I saw my local fox in the back garden again, frolicking with three cubs.

22 July - UK, bats are struggling to find insects to feed their pups with. If you find a bat, do not handle it with your bare hands. Call the Bat Helpline - 0345 1300 228.

https://www.bats.org.uk/our-work/national-bat-helpline

24 July -  The record for the world's hottest day has tumbled twice in one week, according to the European climate change service.

On Monday the global average surface air temperature reached 17.15C, breaking the record of 17.09C set on Sunday.

It beats the record set in July 2023, and it could break again this week.

Parts of the world are experiencing powerful heatwaves including the Mediterranean, Russia and Canada.

It's depressing and alarming, for the full story click on the link below.

Georgina Rannard

Climate reporter

PubliSOURCE - BBC Online.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/crg7pen1xj7o

30 July - Tennessee, USA. 4 inches of rainfall in 15 minutes.

07th August -  July 2024 was the second warmest on record.

https://www.linkedin.com/news/story/july-was-second-hottest-on-record-6132124/

 Source - LinkedIn.

13th August - Cambridge UK, Hottest day, 34.8'C.

14th August - Greece, the wildfire is almost out.

20th August -The European Union's total greenhouse gas emissions have dropped by 25% during the period 1990 - 2022.

https://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/data/data-viewers/greenhouse-gases-viewer

Source - Europa Data.

The UK's total greenhouse gas emissions have dropped by 50% during the period 1990 - 2022.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/65c0d15863a23d0013c821e9/2022-final-greenhouse-gas-emissions-statistical-release.pdf

The USA's total greenhouse gas emissions have dropped by 3% during the period 1990 - 2022, down from a high of 15.2% above 1990 levels in 2007. 

https://www.epa.gov/climate-indicators/climate-change-indicators-us-greenhouse-gas-emissions

03 September - This has been the wettest Scottish summer ever. SOURCE BBC Weather.

More to Come

Thank you for reading and caring about the climate crisis. Please do whatever you can to help the situation in your local area. Sign all of the online petitions you can.

I support the following organisations.

change@e.change.org

https://home.38degrees.org.uk/

https://grow.foodrevolution.org/

https://www.youtube.com/@dustupstexas

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Your Blog Host.

Ivor Cogdell

Seasons Greetings - Updated 23.01.2024

 Hi Everybody,

                            I hope you all had a good festive season. I was mainly watching tutorials and battle reports on YouTube. I did get to see a few non-gamer mates too. I watched seasons 1-4 of The Expanse, which I can highly recommend, the books are very good. Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey is the first in the series, I believe.

                              I have been flicking through Mighty Empires and printed out the rules, (I need more ink before I can do Rally) and "Rally Round the King" since the "Old World" has been revamped in the new books and models that are coming out. I will not be getting the updated versions as I have Version 1 and 6 of Fantasy Battles, not to mention that they cost a bundle. 

I do want to find my mini bat rep photos before I start anything new. I think my monitor is on the way out too.

Regards all,

Ivor Cogdell