Christmas games

It's almost Christmas and one thing I will be doing plenty of over the holidays, is playing games. I like board games, and am still dreaming of a pneumatic tube themed game - maybe Ticket to Ride meets Metro? - but for those who like their games on a screen, you might want to check out SteamWorld Dig 2, which, according to Venture Beat,"is impossible to put down" and includes a pneumatic tube ride for those who can unlock it.

Happy holidays playing whatever games you like to play!

Image from Julochka's Flickr used under the Creative Commons lisence.

belated christmas post

Sometimes Christmas cards come a little late in the mail. Maybe the cards were left on the coffee table in the rush to fill stockings. Or maybe they got held up as postal systems struggled against the tides of envelopes filled with glitter and Amazon packages being urgently delivered.



This is a piece of Christmas mail that was never sent, waiting in my drafts folder for Christmas week but lost in the rush. But, like all mail, better late than never! So a little bit of Christmas for your January, a gorgeous steampunk way for Santa to get around the globe (courtesy of Core.2 in their comments on a pneumatic tube Gizmodo article).

christmas post

On December 15th, nearly two hundered construction workers building a new children's hospital in Portland, Oregon, gathered on the new rooftop garden to celebrate christmas with the sick kids. The background for this celebration was a spectacular christmas display created from materials of each construction worker's trade. The display included a sleigh made from steel frames, a snowman from plumbing fixtures, a reindeer from ductwork, christmas trees from electrical boxes and sprinkler fittings, and last but not least, a 16-foot high candy cane made from pneumatic tubes.

This sounds like a remarkable way in which to involve the children in the building of the new hospital. I wish I could find a picture of this event - I have looked without success, so if you do come across one, please send it my way. In lieu of these christmas graphics, here is a picture from a great WIRED article about the evolution of christmas lights, which tickled both my STS interests and love of christmas tree decorations.

Merry Christmas!