A Claim to Fame, in the Dodge City of Video Games

These days, a big weekend in Ottumwa, Iowa, population 26,000 or so, is defined by the line out the door at its Applebee's. On its chamber of commerce's list of 101 things to do there, you'll see attractions like genealogy research, pumpkin picking, and a tour of the John Deere factory. The same as most towns spread out on the frying-pan flat Midwest of the United States, Ottumwa is the kind of place whose charm you'd come to understand not if you bothered to visit, but if you cared to stay. More »

The King of Stampede

The thing about goals, they must be measurable, and they must be achievable. That's how I justify going after some low hanging fruit — beating Steve Wiebe's score on an Atari 2600 classic. More »