Every Rand Brand Store Item in One Image (plus Highlights)

No one can accuse Rand Paul of being unprepared to run for president. In addition to the standard biography, list of issues and stances, and volunteer opportunities, his Web site includes one other way to draw in supporters.

Make that more than 70 ways.

Every Rand Brand Store Item in One Image small

Click for massive full-size image

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Gender Balance in Carcassonne: About as Good as it Gets

Gender Balance in Carcassonne: About as Good as it Gets

There’s something weird about the Android and Windows versions of the city-building board game Carcassonne: they feature a precisely equal number of apparently male and female playable characters.

Perhaps that shouldn’t be remarkable, but, well, it kinda is. Carcassonne’s characters are used as both user avatars and computer opponents, so they either have their own personalities or reflect the player’s. Representations of women in video games, when they exist at all, tend to be sexualized and unrealistic.

Since Carcassonne is the creation of our more enlightened cousins in Europe, it should be able to avoid those tropes.

Right?

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DIY Pasta Measure & Tripod Microphone Stand

Pasta measure mic stand

What do you do when you find a great deal on a USB microphone at a secondhand store but it doesn’t come with its desktop stand? Simple: you dig through your junk drawers and messy office until you find a wooden pasta measure, a broken tripod, an old guitar pick, and the perfect rubber band.

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I Was a Dinosaur [NEW SONG]

At the end of January I joined the RPM Challenge, sort of a NaNoWriMo for music. The idea is to get your creative juices flowing by just creating, not really worrying about quality. The goal: 10 songs or 35 minutes of music, comprising a complete album, all written and recording in the 28 days of February.

I failed.

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Voter ID Means You Trade a Poker Chip for a Ballot

black and white poker chip

In 2012, my state passed a voter ID law. As you know, these laws are super effective.

Here in New Hampshire, see, we’re very concerned about people committing voter fraud. That’s when some dastardly individual goes out of his or her way to cast a vote in an election despite being ineligible to do so. Said criminal might be completely ineligible, so that even one vote is illegal, or just completing more than one ballot – say, by sneaking around and impersonating actual registered voters.

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