Rationing Spells and Battery

January 4th, 2014
magic, phone
Magical universes all have some way of limiting how much magic you can do. Perhaps you have to prepare spells before using them, or draw on local Mana, or perhaps it just tires you out when you do a lot. But there's a big difference between Harry Potter going about the day casting spells as is convenient and a D&D wizard carefully rationing their prepared spells. One gives you a world in which magic is ubiquitous and used casually, the other a world where it's used only when important.

Getting a new phone with better battery life [1] feels like moving between these universes. Now I can just use my phone when I feel like it, not worrying about what else I'll need it for later in the day. Similarly I don't have to think about places to charge it while I'm out or traveling: I just plug it in every night. Removing a need for rationing has been remarkably freeing. I should have done this sooner.


[1] My new Moto X has much better battery life than my Galaxy SII ever did, and by the time I switched the SII didn't have the capacity it used to.

Referenced in:

Comment via: google plus, facebook, substack

Recent posts on blogs I like:

Ozy and Vasili Review Lilo and Stitch

Sometimes my seven-year-old, Vasili, wants to see some godawful movie that makes me want to melt my eyeballs out of my head.

via Thing of Things June 27, 2025

Elixir's Last Dance

On May 18th, the contra dance band Elixir had their last gig ever. The dance was packed: there were three hundred people. It was the only dance BIDA has ever done where they sold tickets. People flew from across the country just to hear Elixir play one la…

via Lily Wise's Blog Posts June 5, 2025

Workshop House case study

Lauren Hoffman interviewed me about Workshop House and wrote this post about a community I’m working on building in DC.

via Home April 30, 2025

more     (via openring)