I started playing Dwarf Fortress last night instead of completing my assignment. And by “started” I really mean “marathoned for 8 hours”.

I swear, that game is crack. It was my first time playing. Admittedly, it has a really steep learning curve — the interface to do stuff is pretty tricky. But there’s a shitload of depth to it, and everything is surprisingly dynamic.

After four hours or so into my currently successful fortress it got kind of boring — build more beds, make more bedrooms, assign more people to farm, continue searching for some fucking ore (goddammit), etc. The boredom can probably be attributed to fatigue, but I dunno. I really need to finish that assignment.

And, oh god, look who’s coming to give a lecture here:

COMPUTER SCIENCE DEPARTMENT COLLOQUIUM

SPEAKER: Richard Stallman
TOPIC: Free Software in Ethics and in Practice
DATE: March 28, 2008
TIME: 2:30 p.m. (Refreshments will be served.)
PLACE: Gilmer Hall 130
HOST: Mary Lou Soffa

Abstract: Richard Stallman will speak about the Free Software Movement, which campaigns for freedom so that computer users can cooperate to control their own computing activities. The Free Software Movement developed the GNU operating system, often erroneously referred to as Linux, specifically to establish these freedoms.

I’m at a loss. Whoever forwarded that email linked to XKCD. I’m not sure who I should assassinate first.