As Halloween approaches it might be fun to take a hike, out to Devils Cave. The guides are
friendly and it is a great adventure for the whole family. It also has some educational value in
learning about Native Americans and how they dealt with settlers to the frontier. Which is what this
area once was. When this country was just starting out, there was little difference between the Mid
West and the West.
So, for some important history lessons as well as life lessons a trip to Devils Cave
might well be worth the adventure this Halloween or some time around that time. Besides the fall
colors are irresistible about this time of year.
Wednesday, September 25, 2013
Thursday, June 13, 2013
The Legend of Devils Cave
The Legend of Devils Cave
by Michael Murtaugh
This is the legend of devils cave as it was related to me from a field guide at Red Oak nature center.
Our trip began 2:40 pm. Thursday 6-13-13
Our group walked first to the cave and then to the nature center.
After seeing the cave I had a question for the field guide…
“How long had Native Americans occupy the cave in from about what year?” Her answer when we reached the nature center was a question to my question.
“Did the Native American ever Occupy the cave?”
There was a brief pause and then she asked.
“Do you know the legend of Devils Cave?”
My response was “Do tell?”
She began…
“Long ago.. The settler lived on one side of the river and the Native Americans on the other.
To this I thought, “The fishing must have been pretty good in the spring”
She went on…
“The story goes there was a young brave who would steal from the settlers and bring back his trinkets and other loot and show it off to the Tribe.
Chief Waubonsee warned the young brave that it was against their peoples law to steal”
The young brave ignored the chief and that night road into camp on a white pony he had stolen and showed it off to his friends.
Chief Waubonsee ordered the brave banished from the tribe.
At this the brave laughed and left the tribe.
He was never seen again..
However a few months later a glowing image was seen on the other side of the river for just moments at a time at night…This went on for weeks.
Some of the tribe had an idea the glowing spirit lived in a cave down by the river…now known as devils cave.
So the tribe lit a great fire at night by the cave entrance and soon later a glowing figure leaped out of the cave through the fire and into the river.”
Then she asked ”What can you tell me about the brave who stole?
“Well for one thing, the brave did not die when he was banished from the tribe…”
“Yes” she responded “he had opened the center of a tree to find a mosey substance.”
“Yes I continued, “and it was phosphorus”
“Yes it glowed. He would use it to cover himself then using a blanket he would show himself only briefly to the tribe on the other side of the river.
“Then he would cross the river to dwell in the cave.”
“Yes, and that is the legend of devils cave”
On our way back to the van, I asked my friend Brad, “Perhaps the brave survived the fire and was ok when he landed in the river?”
“Yes, but I think its safe to say, he learned his lesson…” his voice trailing off into the woods and we both laughed..
I hope you enjoyed this story..
To learn more about the legend of devils cave. You can visit Red Oak forest preserve in North Aurora IL along Route 25 just a mile north of Route 56 or search for Red Oak nature center North Aurora IL.
Saturday, May 18, 2013
xj128 outer space game
The world of outer space…in 128xjbot
The following is a Grid for one to place markers and of ships to play the game on. You can use dead reckoning or a protractor to determine turning ratios and speed of ships have fun.
The planets of the Out Land Map shows the distances in inter dimensional parsec units (IDPU) between the systems. It takes 1 week or 5 solar days to travel one IDPU. These distances can be used in the game to simulate a battle if you should chose.
You can travel between grid to grid but only when using the IDPU transfer unit on board the ship otherwise all travel is segmented in Coefficients of Acceleration. With turning ratios determine the rate of turn in a given game turn (or round when in combat)
Remember game time and real time is not the same so a week in the game can pass in seconds in real time and you can be playing with your ships on the grid right away. Lets make this clear for people playing the game there are turns rounds, rounds and turns all designed to break down game (generally a turn is ten minutes to a minute while a round is 10 seconds) Ships take turns playing rounds, however that is not the same as a game turn which can be a minutes or year or more or almost an infinite amount of time, with the players taking an instant for a game turn, and perhaps a few minutes or more for a game combat round. It is generally recommended that players play no more then 4 hours in a day of 128xjbot game. However, Warning this game could be addicting like sugar or coffee…LOL
It should be that time into a playable manageable system you must establish these at the onset of the game so you can break down game time playable. However, all action actual takes place in an imaginary world and not in the real one. Except hopefully in the positive lessons we learn and carry with us from day to day in our daily lives for being mindful of the people and being thankful for the beautiful world around us which is by far more comfortable then any found in the Out Lands. Referees take special note. One should always learn to be mindful of the passage of time and the importance of each moment the game is to be enjoyed it is for those who have the luxury of time to play. With little more then these few pages and a good imagination one can go anywhere in ones dreams.
The Planets of the Out Land
Trazog *
Gloth * *
6
3
2 Flox *
Poldos* Ovok*
3 7
C delta 5 *
Heloth *
Ilioth *
3
2 Jolock *
4 4 2 Glingzon * Nivoc*
.1 .2 .3 1
Kolock * 6 Logog * Mic *
8 5
Space of the Worms Zedlon Space
Zedlon*
4
Dromula*
2
Keldor 8
Grid
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
20
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
30
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Grid
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
20
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
30
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Ship to Ship Combat in 128xJ11 Game
(This game works best with a Ref)
Station Zebrex10
Coeficient of Acceleration (CA) 1
Turning Rate (TR) 1
Weapons Range 10,000 km
Thunder Bolt Laser 20
Ion Jx3 Maser Beam Unit 7
10 Vesron 33J11 Rockets 5
5 Zortos 511A Torpedoes 10
2 robot ship probes 3 units of fuel range 2 quadrants
8 docking bays
4 shuttle and ship bay levels
Turning Ratio (TR) Coefficient of
Acceleration (CA)
Space station 160 spaceship structure points (ssp) TR 1 CA 1
Carriers 140 ssp TR 3 CA 2
Battleships 120 ssp TR 4 CA 2
Clippers 100 ssp TR 5 CA 7
Zephyrs *80 ssp TR 4 CA 5
Flight cruisers 60 ssp TR 4 CA 3
Fighters 40 ssp TR 4 CA 8
Sky cars 20 ssp TR 3 CA between3 and 1
*(Larger cargo ships trading ship passenger liners ect…)
Universal Rules of Engagement in outer space
Ships too distant to engage cannot engage in combat.
All ships even pirate and evil alien ships must identify themselves when called to do so over open space if able at all to communicate otherwise they must allow themselves to be destroyed or be taken prisoner.
All star ships will not fire on any other ship unless fired upon, unless an open state of war exists between pirates and evil space aliens.
All evil space alien and pirate vessels will break rule number 3
A starship is free to retreat when fired upon once out of a quadrant it is not a fair target.
Evil Space Aliens and pirates will take pot shots at star ships fleeing a micronanosector of a quadrant.
Combat Sequence
Int Roll (1d100) Push the random number button on your calculator and multiply by 100 do this for side A and side B or as many sides as there are whichever side is higher gets the initiative and gets to go first. They will all go in order highest to the lowest in order of Initiative values no ties the first one to roll the number of a tie goes before the next.
Let say A comes up 77 and B comes up 35 A the side selects a defense or weapon from its page or sheet or card or whatever your keeping your records on. Then side A declares what other action he/she is taking.
Then side B selects a weapon or defense.
Then side B declares what other actions he/she is taking. Then side B declares what other action he/she is taking. Note to Refs You must resolve the modifiers between the defenses and the weapons if any and then push the random button on the calculator and multiplying by 100 again and if any hit there targets. Then you calculate the damage by pushing the button on your random calculator and multiplying by 10 and adding it together for as many times as the number before the d10 says.
Then you repeat into the next round until one or the other starship breaks off the attack or is destroyed or captured
XJ7128 SPACE SHIP SIM
Combat Chart
System Defense Damage
None Fields
Thunder Bolt Laser 80% 60% 2d10
Cubic Ballistic Unit 75% 60% 1d10
Ion Jx3 Maser Beam Unit 60% 50% 1d10
Vortex Capacitor c3 Laser 65% 50% 1d10
Zortos 511A Torpedo 60% 40% 4d10
Vesron 33JL11 Rocket 50% 40% 2d10
1 Field Parsec Mine 50% 30% 2d10
Robot Ship Probe * As specified
Add modifiers for crews aboard ships as specified by referee.
There is a –10 modifier if a field is configured.
Range
In 10,000 kilometer
Thunder Bolt Laser 20
Cubic Ballistic Unit 7
Ion Jx3 Maser Beam Unit 10
Vortex Capacitor c3 Laser 8
Zortos 511A Torpedo 10
Vesron 33JL11 Rocket 5
1 Field Parsec Mine 0 area of effect 10,000^2 kilometers *
Robot Ship Probe virtually unlimited, based on fuel
Yes a parsec mine does not effect a entire parsec of space that much but it is placed in one and its immediate effect is within 10,000^2 kilometers of space.
Use your imagination to come up with crew and ship scenarios that make the game interesting everything can be played on computer now days but if you want to relax and enjoy a game with a referee and some friends Mutual agreed upon modifiers and randomization’s work best.
Note: one grid is about one micronanosector of a quadrant this may very due to scale limitation, as the ref must decide how many kilometers is represented by a single space on the grid in use..ome unit representing 10,000^2 kilometers is genally recommended. The size of a sector in a quadrant is actual a huge amount of space, hence the new term nanosector to represent the immediate arena of ship to ship play or combat.
Terms;
Micro nano micro sector 100,000^2 kilometers one grid…roughly and very roughly at that scaled down to 10,000^2k per square on grid
Micro nano sector 1000,000^2 kilometers
micro sector 100,000,000^2 kilomters
Sector 1000,000,000^2 kilometers
Also note the size of an actual galaxy in reality is always expanding, so the scale is always changing…in actuality in a galaxy that is 9x10^17 km which my info currently holds to be a size of the galaxy this scale is the only one that holds reasonable plausibility…only through interdemensional travel is it possible to reasonable to travel these distances…ships not traveling interdemensionally travel much slower. Only about ultrasonic speeds…Once the IDPU transfer system is engaged combat is not possible between ships
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