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  Apple
      Introduces Revolutionary New Laptop With No Keyboard 
   
  Art
      from Above: The Coolest Crop Circles and More
 
   "Fluxx till nearly 4am at the diner last night, woke
      up at like 9, taught brothers to play, played for 2.5 hrs." -- Tweet
      by JoviAllTogetha 
  Assorted links &
      comments on topics includng the Secret Lives of Comic Store
      Employees, the death of Socks, A Day in the Life of Abbey Road,
      How the Crash Will Reshape America, the Trough of No Value, and
      Toast Girl
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                |  | Toy Fair was Excellent! |  |  
          |  We've just returned
            from a week in New York City where we were exhibitors at a huge
            industry-only trade show called Toy Fair. While we've been many
            times before, this was by far our most successful Toy Fair ever!
 In my previous update, I described
            our plans going in to the show, and everything worked out great
            -- our new booth rocks, our new literature is excellent, and
            as you can see, we looked sharp in our new uniform shirts! Check
            out Robin's photo
            album for more pictures of us in our booth. Business was excellent. We took lots of actual orders (way
            more than we have in any previous year) and we got leads towards
            many more, which we'll be following up with like we've never
            been able to before, given the upgrades to our sales management
            systems that we've made since our last trip to Toy Fair. We also
            had a lot of good facetime with various business partners from
            around the country. Best of all, we didn't get hit by a blizzard
            like we did in '03
            and '06! We were mainly promoting Fluxx
            4.0, Monty
            Python Fluxx, Zombie
            Fluxx, and the Treehouse
            line, but we were also offering glimpses of things we're planning
            to release this year. In particular, we were showing off sketches
            of the art we're developing for my new game, set to be released
            this June. Since we haven't made an official announcement about
            it yet, we're still officially referring to it only by the code
            name Secret Project EMR-35, but if you can't wait to hear more
            about it, listen to the interview
            I gave to the Amorphous Blobcast last November. Anyway, it was a very successful show but also a very exhausting
            one so we're glad to be home and mostly caught up again.
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          |  Thanks for reading and have a great whenever! |  
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                |  | I didn't find much to get excited about in other companies'
                  booths at Toy Fair this year, but Robin did. For years she's
                  been on the lookout for these tiny frog aquariums, like the one
                  her Godmother used to have, and so she was thrilled to discover
                  the booth of the company that created them, called Wild
                  Creations. These cool little aquariums require very little
                  maintenance and the miniature ecosystem inside includes a pair
                  of tiny African dwarf frogs that are ever so cute! Robin immediately
                  worked a deal for one, and they're so cool that Alison brought
                  home a tiny frog Aquarium as well! |  
                |  | My buddy Keith Baker is planning a
                  big trip around the world this summer, running D&D games
                  in exchange for crash space and hospitality. Given his reputation
                  as a world-famous game designer, he's gotten an impressive list
                  of offers; he's going to have quite an adventure! What a great
                  way to see the world! (I'll be watching his story unfold with
                  particular interest; if it goes well for him, I might try stealing
                  his idea someday!) |  
                |  | Recently my brother Rash
                  and I were discussing The Twilight Zone and debating the
                  question, "What was the very best episode?" We each
                  came up with our own list of greatest shows, and when we compared
                  notes later, exactly one episode appeared on both our lists.
                  Clearly, we'd found the winner: A World of Difference
                  (which we usually refer to by quoting its most memorable line:
                  "CUT!") |  |  |