Voice of E

I love reading to my kids. I know some parents do not have the time to read to their children, or have problems reading. So I am offering bedtime stories, all for free.

This story is The Flying Trunk from
THE PINK FAIRY BOOK Edited by Andrew Lang

The story is of a merchant’s son who friviously spends all his money, gets a flying trunk as a present, finds a princess in a tower, convinces her parents to let him marry her, then loses the trunk and can’t marry her. The nice thing is that this story has no killing or death, however if there is a moral it is too deep for my simple mind.

This fairy tale is Rated G

You can read the book yourself for free at
Project Gutenberg Pink Fairy
or you can download it to put on your iPod or a cd here (Right Click, Save Target As):

The Flying Trunk

or just click below and listen right now

Top 10 Ways to Play Games Online

In this show, Geoff plays games with robots, Adam changes the rules to Risk, and we check in with Dexter and the Chief. We debut a new convention segment, explore the exciting world of dungeon bureaucracy with Dungeon Lords, and present our top ten ways to play games online.

The Dice Tower is a podcast about BoardGames. Not your Monopoly and Checkers fare, but REAL boardgames. There are boardgames with real strategy, that are actually fun to play. The Dice Tower is the most listened to boardgame podcast in the world.

I do the interior segment pieces on the show. Eric Summerer does the show intro/outtro and is the co-host. He is a very talented voice artist himself, you can download some of the audiobooks he has narrated at Audible.com.

Tom Vasel is the show’s host. I have never encountered a more knowledgeable person concerning boardgames.

Give the show a listen, you might find a whole new hobby to explore!

Today, February 10th, at 4:00 am, I experienced my first earthquake.

It was a 4.3 magnitude quake that lasted about 4 seconds, and woke me from a dead sleep.

I realize that this is an infant of the earthquake world, that most Californians wouldn’t even turn over in their sleep if they felt this quake. I, however, am from the midwest. Chicago to be specific. We don’t get earthquakes. In all of my 42 years I don’t remember ever experiencing an earthquake.

I woke to feel the house tremble and the sound of a distant explosion, almost immediately it was followed by another distant explosion and house shake. I thought “What the hell was that?” and got out of bed to make sure World War 3 hadn’t started. To describe the actual feel of it, it was like a transformer blew up maybe half a block away, which I have experienced before. My wife also woke up, looked at me and said, “What the hell was that?” to which I shrugged my shoulders. I looked all over the house to make sure everything was ok, and all was fine so I headed back to bed.

My wife says “Maybe it was an earthquake”, to which I scoff of course, and went back to sleep.

In an hour I was up again getting ready for work, my wife had stayed awake and discovered (via mobile phone internet capability) that it had indeed been an earthquake, that she was again right, and that I am again not too bright.

The epicenter was in Sycamore, which is just a few miles from us, and the reason it woke us out of sleep.

I am aware that there are faults in Illinois, and I knew a quake had hit back in 2008 in Southern Illinois, but what is really going on here? This is Illinois for cripes sake!

Well, here is some interesting Illinois earthquake info:

DAMAGING EARTHQUAKES IN ILLINOIS

Earthquakes occur in Illinois about once every year. But damaging quakes are much less frequent.

Minor damage from Illinois earthquakes is reported about once every 20 years.

Serious damage from earthquakes occurs every 70 to 90 years.

Devastating earthquakes are very rare in the central US, occurring about once every 700 to 1200 years.

The last strong earthquake to strike the Midwest happened on Halloween (Oct. 31) 1895.

The quake, centered just south of Illinois in Charleston, Missouri, had an estimated magnitude of 6.8 on the Richter scale.

It was felt as far away as Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, New Orleans, Louisiana, and Topeka, Kansas.

(Source: EARTHQUAKE FACTS – Illinois State Geological Survey 1995-2 Department of Natural Resources)

Read More about the Halloween Earthquake of 1895 HERE

But what is the strongest earthquake in Northern Illinois you ask? What is the biggest one to shake the Windy City?

The biggest I could find was this little tidbit:

The largest earthquake to be located in northern Illinois is the mb ~ 5.1 Aurora earthquake of May 26, 1909. Its epicenter remains ambiguous with estimates ranging from south of Aurora to the Wisconsin border and from Du Page County to the Rock River valley. As the strongest earthquake presumed to be close to Chicago, determination of the epicenter and intensity of this event is critical for hazard assessment in northern Illinois. (Source: 2008 GSA abstract)

Now this isn’t good news for me, because I currently live about 2 miles from Aurora, and the USGS report says we get some serious damage from earthquakes every 70-90 years. So we are overdue, GASP!!!!!!

I know it is small potatoes to the rest of the world, and that thousands have been killed in the most horrific quakes this year that have caused much death and devestation. To them I express my deepest sympathies and hope for a brighter tomorrow.

Way Way Back Radio is a podcast featuring hours of Old Time Radio entertainment, with interesting and amusing anecdotes from the show’s host, Jeff McAleer.
Jeff (who is my closest friend and compatriot, lo these many years) has an unbelievable treasure trove of broadcasts from the Golden Age of Radio. If you are looking for The Shadow, The Great Gildersleeve, Gunsmoke, Jack Benny, X Minus One, Superman, Burns and Allen, or almost anything, than this is the show for you.

I am the humble announcer on this wonderful podcast.

Jeff has many more Old Time Radio shows available just to listen to or download at your leisure. You can find them at AMFWOTR.com

You can also download the show Here

I love reading to my kids. I know some parents do not have the time to read to their children, or have problems reading. So I am offering bedtime stories, all for free.

This story is Uraschimataro and the Turtle from
THE PINK FAIRY BOOK Edited by Andrew Lang

The Story is of a man who befriends a turtle. The turtle takes him to an undersea kingdom where the man decides to stay and live happily with a princess. Eventually he wants to go home to see his parents. He goes home only to find that a long time has passed and his parents are dead. He suddenly gets really old and spends the rest of his days telling stories to the children of the town of his undersea adventures.

This story is rated G, although there is talk of death.

The moral seems to be that when you make a decision, you’d better make sure you think about all of the people it will affect and not just think of yourself.

You can read the book yourself for free at
Project Gutenberg Pink Fairy
or you can download it to put on your iPod or a cd here (Right Click, Save Target As):
Uraschimataro and the Turtle

or just click below and listen right now