The Simpsons
Tonight on GeekNights, we consider The Simpsons. It looms large in popular culture despite its trendline, and was a formative part of both our lives.
In the news, don't go to anime conventions in April, Bandai Namco Holdings consolidates its overseas subsidiaries, Ikuhara's Penguindrum gets a compilation film project, Keanu Reeves stars in BZRKR, Wookieepedia is (correctly) forced to stop deadnaming actors, Voltes V continues to go hard, The Great Pretender is not being talked about enough, and King of the Hill, unlike the topic of our show tonight, was canceled.
Multi-factor Authentication
Tonight on GeekNights, we consider how multi-factor authentication works. We've previously talked about single Signon, biometrics, the levels of security & privacy, and the like, but we've never actually talked about how TOTP and other multi-factor authentication schemes work.
In the news, the ship is no longer stuck, New York opens up vaccines to everybody, fake ai-generated and fake stolen-profile-photo twitter accounts are spreading Amazon's anti-union propaganda, and the Free Software Foundation has ruined its reputation by bringing Richard Stallman back on board, with many others joining the denouncement. Also note that there is a vulnerability in 2FA keys that allows cloning them.
Solitaire Puzzles
Tonight on GeekNights, we consider solitaire puzzles. Puzzle books, puzzles, etc... In the news, the Suez Canal is currently blocked, Brood X is coming and there will be billions of them, and New York joins the world of legal weed.
Golf
Tonight on GeekNights, we review Golf. This includes mini golf. In the news, Microsoft is likely buying Discord, Xbox Live is dead, Emily is Away 3 brings us to the Facebook era, Shredder's Revenge brings us a solid-looking TMNT game, and Magic: Legends is now in open beta.
GeekNights Community Code of Conduct
Effective immediately, the GeekNights community code of conduct is no longer in draft status. Compliance with the code is mandatory for participation in our communities. We want to send a clear message that our spaces are safe for all people who themselves do not make the space unsafe for others. The code is available on GitHub, please familiarize yourself with it.
https://github.com/Apreche/geeknights-code-of-conduct/blob/1/code_of_conduct.rst
The code isn't, and can never be perfect, so it is always subject to change and improvement. Feel free to contact us using the platform of your choice to discuss changes, errors, or omissions.
While this code applies to conduct in all of our community spaces, it is currently primarily focused on our forum and our Discord server. We would love to have you join us there. Links are below.
Where is the Finish Line?
PAX Online 2020
All games must end. This is especially important for competitive games. A single-player game ends when you decide to stop playing. But a competitive game ends when someone wins. Or does it? Turns out a lot of competitive games are over before they’re over. A good game can be ruined by ending too soon or too late. Too late, and you have players who have already lost trapped with nothing meaningful to do. Too soon, and you didn’t even “get to the good part.”
If you’re designing a game, how can you determine the best time for the game to end? The conditions that make it happen? Join GeekNights for a thorough examination of the common types of game ending conditions and exploration of a process to determine which one is best for your game.
Book Club - The Tale of Genji
What better selection for the book club than the first novel of all time? And of course, we have to read the best possible unabridged translation. No baby mode here at GeekNights
The plot revolves around Genji, who is the son of the Emperor and a low ranking concubine. Genji is removed from the line of succession, and proceeds to go on an epic journey. The journey involves tons of romance and court drama. Spicy!
Despite being older than any other novel, The Tale of Genji has a tremendous amount of relevance to the geeks of the 21st century. The influence of Japan on nerds around the world is undeniable, and a surprising amount of things we see in pop culture are present here in a book from the 11th century. I'm quite confident after reading it how we will notice how many newer stories have been making references to this tale without us realizing it.
Also, I feel the need to point out that this first novel ever written was written by a woman. For all these reasons and so many more, this is more than worthy of book club selection.
