xhonzi

I think everything influences us. 

• TV
• Movies
• Books
• Games
• Booze
• Food
• Chemicals
• Sunlight
• Talking to other people
• Looking at other people
• Lookin' out the window
• etc

Some of them more than others and some of them to certain people more than other people.  But all of it to some degree or another.  Some people are mean drunks, some people are happy drunks, and other people are just drunk. 

The mean drunks should realize that they need to cut back (hard) or change their attitudes (harder) or suffer the consequences and make people around them suffer as well.

Do violent games influence people?  Yes.  Do they influence people more than other media?  Perhaps some people, but on average probably yes.  Do they turn pure people into homicide driven lunatics?  I'd say 'no'.  Can they desensitize?  Like everything else, yes.  To what degree?  Depends on the person.

Can they have positive influences on people?  Like all other media: YES.  To a greater degree than other media, perhaps yes.

zombie84 said:

Also--surprising no one has mentioned this yet--what do people think of the PS4 announcement? Not a fan of the controller re-design from the looks of it, but otherwise pretty excited. Don't give a shit about the Vita connectivity and other gimmicks like uploading game footage but the internal specs seem pretty good. I think it will be very, very interesting how Microsoft responds to all this, since they will have the benefit of being last out of the gate. IMO it's always a mistake to buy on launch day--let alone launch year--but this is a system I am looking to watch and see for a purchase, hopefully picks up faster than PS3 (which I was going to buy last year but then held off knowing PS4 would be out so soon). I haven't bought a console when it was still current since 1996--I have the benefit of friends who are big into current-gen gaming--but I want to own this so I hope they don't drop the ball.

The past 8 years have proved that we don't need new hardware for new functionality, we just need new hardware when we need more raw power.

We are at the point where we need more raw power.

The PS4 certainly has more raw power, but still it was a pretty unexciting (to me) announcement.  The share and online stuff doesn't appeal to me... so that's pretty much it.  The announcement was lacking a "yes, we have more power AND LOOK AT WHAT WE CAN DO WITH IT!!!" moment.

I went and watched a few somewhat dry Unreal 4 demos that I thought might provide that WOW factor.  They certainly look more impressive, but it's fairly geeky stuff.  Still, I suspect this fall we will see some launch titles for both the Sony and MS machines that will convince (some of) us to buy the hardware.  I just don't see it yet.

I'm hoping MS will announce some things that will be more surprising and exciting.  I'm hoping that somehow MS can design a more technically impressive hardware platform and deviler it at a lower price, which is tough to pull off.  I'd really like to see the next Xbox have an SSD, but I know that will jack the cost significantly.  I'm really curious what MS is going to do about disc storage this gen.  HVD, anyone?

CP3S said:

Gave up your life of video games, 005? What!

Seriously, what?

If your complaint is that there haven't been any games worth playing in the past several years since I saw you online doing anything other than 'streaming media', then you are wrong.

If your complaint is that you don't play games any more, then you are also wrong.

In summary, you are wrong.  Video games are right.

Many attempts!

SilverWook said:

xhonzi said:

SilverWook said:

xhonzi said:

Not really a plothole, but another terrible moment in the film:

Vulcan Punks: Hey Spokcy-wocky, you half-human dork!
Spocky-Wocky: Hello, my associates with whom I share 50% of my alien make-up (the ears).
VP: You are dumb!
SW: Your actions are illogical.  You have attempted, without result, 37 times to elicit emotions from me.  Experience, when properly accounted, should inform you that your attempts will never meet success.
VP: Your mom is dumb!
SW:

Spock was bullied as a child. It's referenced in "Journey to Babel", and shown in "Yesteryear", considered one of the best episodes of the animated series and the only TAS segment considered canon for many years.

Perhaps I wasn't as clear as I thought I was.  I didn't mind that Spock was bullied... just that he goes from completely stoic to tazmanian Yoda in the blink of an eye.   In my opinion, and in fact, the scene just plays terribly.

Because he lashes out? Spock has had that button that could be pushed. Kirk has pushed it more than once in the original series.

Yes, because he lashes out after telling them that their many attempts to get any rise out of him have been in vain, and then they use a rather light insult and he flies off the handle.

It's cool if you disagree.  It just seemed really juvenile to me.

Tron Legacy is Paradise Lost.

Recalling the specs first announced for the PS3:

• two hdmi outs for dual screen action
• 7 controllers supported
• Powerful processor that would blow Xbox 360 clean away
• Make baby dolls cry black goo tears
• People would pay $800 for it

...and their light association with the realized product, I'm not sure how much faith to put in this upcoming announcement.

But I suspect:

• Tablet integration like MS's Smartglass
  I think this is a smart move.  Anybody developing wicked cool applications for the WiiU can offer the same functionality on Smartglass/Sonyglass if they want to.  And if not, who cares?  Very little effort, I think, on MS or Sony's part for this, and a good percentage of gamers already own tablets... and it can keep WiiU appeal at bay.
• CPU/GPU better than anything in PCs right now
   that will be comparable with PCs in 6 months, which will still be pretty awesome come Nov.
• Mini touchpad on the new DualShock3 (DualShock4?) is legit
  But who cares?
• Still a bluray player
• A 'Move/Kinect' hybrid of somekind.

I hope:

• All games in native 1080p@60hz
• OS level stereoscopic output support (similar to PC) so all rendered games support stereoscopy of some kind.
• IR port for universal remotes!
• Price < $400
• Some kind of backwards compatibility

I fear: (in addition to the things that are the opposite of the things I hope)

• License key for all disc games - means no borrowing, loaning, renting or buying/selling used.  I won't buy any console that goes this way.
• Price > $600
• Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiidge Racer

timdiggerm said:

darth_ender said:

@tim, again, nice work, and while I of course don't always agree with everything, it's fun to see the rebuttals. But there is one I have to say you didn't address properly: 12 man squads. That is a typical American-sized squad, but the Imperial ordered "three squads to help," which apparently totaled 12 men. Seems small to me. Otherwise, nice work.

Sure I did!

timdiggerm said:

Well there you go. An Impieral squad is 12 men.

I think you're having a maths problem.  3 squads= 12 men.  Therefore, 12/3=4.  1 squad = 4 men.  Kind of a tiny squad. 

However, I think Endor is having a hearing problem.  The captain says 'send 3 squids to help!" and 2 of the soldiers are quarrens and another one is a Mon Calamari.  Which is the standard allotment of squids in a squad, along with 8 men and 2 jawas (one standing on the shoulder of the other) so there were, in fact, 13 personages in the squid squad, which is one more than 12.

SilverWook said:

xhonzi said:

Not really a plothole, but another terrible moment in the film:

Vulcan Punks: Hey Spokcy-wocky, you half-human dork!
Spocky-Wocky: Hello, my associates with whom I share 50% of my alien make-up (the ears).
VP: You are dumb!
SW: Your actions are illogical.  You have attempted, without result, 37 times to elicit emotions from me.  Experience, when properly accounted, should inform you that your attempts will never meet success.
VP: Your mom is dumb!
SW: <blind rage>

Spock was bullied as a child. It's referenced in "Journey to Babel", and shown in "Yesteryear", considered one of the best episodes of the animated series and the only TAS segment considered canon for many years.

Perhaps I wasn't as clear as I thought I was.  I didn't mind that Spock was bullied... just that he goes from completely stoic to tazmanian Yoda in the blink of an eye.   In my opinion, and in fact, the scene just plays terribly.

So... any predictions for PS4 on Wednesday?

http://originaltrilogy.com/forum/topic.cfm/Most-Egregious-Sci-Fi-Science/post/413018/#TopicPost413018

xhonzi said almost 3 years ago:

Dang!  I know I posted this elsewhere... but Star Trek is sooooo bad.  Obviously Star Wars doesn't have very good "science" but I don't think too many fans or creators claim that it does...  Star Trek is mostly just terrible.

Reverse the polarity!

Eject the Warp Cores!

The 2009 movie was especially bad, but here are my favourite moments:

1. A drop of Red Matter is enough to create a black hole, which instead of compressing matter to a really tiny size, instead opens a time portal to the past.  The later you enter the portal, the further back in time you go.  So what do the Romulans do?  Dig a hole to the center of the planet Vulcan and put a black hole in it?  So wait!  Is Vulcan destroyed, or did it just go back in time?  And black holes... is it really necessary to dig a hole in a planet so a black hole can eat it up?  Or can't they just shoot the black hole at the planet surface and assume the black hole will take care of business!

2. Kirk/Spock/somebody decides that if a drop of Red Matter can destroy the planet Vulcan, that it's a really good idea to SHOOT ALL OF IT at the Romulan mining ship.  Would they really do this, without a clear understanding of the possible conequences?  And wouldn't Spock insist they keep a little of the Red Matter around so they could study it?

3. The resulting black hole is so large that the Enterprise has a really hard time escaping the pull.  Even at Warp 9 (9 times the speed of light, mind you) they are being sucked back into the black hole.  Wait a minute!  Eject the Warp Core!  Yeah, the resulting explosion will propel them out of the pull of the black hole!  Because properly using the warp core will let you travel at 9 times the speed of light... blowing it up will cause an explosion that will propel you, at the least, several hundred miles per hour!

4. Hopefully you created that new black hole a billion light years from home, or else there may be serious consequences for known space.  But... if you ejected the Warp Core to save your ship... I guess you'll have to travel at sublight speeds the rest of the way home.  So, in a billion years when your ship finally gets home, maybe your great^264th grandkids will be able to tell the story.

Thinking man's sci-fi indeed.

 

Ender said:

8. If xhonzi hates little “wink-wink” lines in The Hobbit and The Dark Knight Rises, he must have really hated the plethora of nods in this film.

I don't hate wink-wink, and I am sorry I gave that impression.  I actually really enjoy wink-wink.

What I don't like is:

WINK-WINK!!!!

 

 

 

^WINK-WINK above if you just missed it.

(WINK-WINK is a reference to someone winking an eye.  Twice.)

((Winking an eye is usually a human signal that means something is clever, or was intended to be clever.  Possibly a reference to an inside joke.))

(((After intercepting this signal, the receiver should try to reinterpret the previous statements or actions with the new information that something potentially 'clever' had occured.)))

((((Basically, what I'm saying is that John Blake is Robin, you know, like that boy in the bikini bottoms from the 1960s.  Pretty clever, eh?))))

  (that was a wink-wink, people)

 

Bingowingo:

The black hole made in Vulcan's core doesn't seem very big.

Er... I think that's the point.

Bingywingy:

Red matter seems to compress existing matter rather than adding more mass and self compressing.

It's been a while since I last saw this gem of a mess, but don't they make several black holes out in the middle of space... that place with no 'existing matter' to speak of?

Not really a plothole, but another terrible moment in the film:

Vulcan Punks: Hey Spokcy-wocky, you half-human dork!
Spocky-Wocky: Hello, my associates with whom I share 50% of my alien make-up (the ears).
VP: You are dumb!
SW: Your actions are illogical.  You have attempted, without result, 37 times to elicit emotions from me.  Experience, when properly accounted, should inform you that your attempts will never meet success.
VP: Your mom is dumb!
SW: <blind rage>

I guess add Campbell's Chunky Soup - Beef and Barley and Frank's Sweet Heat BBQ flavour to the list. 

I has a sad.  :(......

Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey

I had heard that this hadn't held up well.  I probably hadn't seen it in 15 years, but I have 2 or 3 quotes from it in my regular rotation... 

My 10 year old and I loved it!  Just as enjoyable as the original.  I have one friend in particular obsessed with the first film and absolutely detests the second.  As an OT'er, I sort of understand it... but for the life of me I can't figure out what the differences betwixt the two are to illicit such a reaction.

Any help?

CP3S said:

Hmmm, should this thread really be called "Minor Miracles" or should it be the Xhonzi's Does it Himself Thread"?

I'm thinking these things are less inexplicable by nature or science, and more minor home repairs you can easily get done by getting up and actually tackling the problem.

The miracle is the combination of two factors:

1. I did it myself.

2. It was a success.

Two things rare enough on their own which constitute a minor miracle when found together.

Minor miracle #2

10 years ago, both lights on my garage door opener worked.  ~appx 6 years ago, one of them stopped working (no matter how many times I changed the bulb!).  As I still had one working light, I didn't really care.  Then, ~3 years ago, the other one stobbed working.  I have lights on a switch in the room, so the only loss is that the lights don't go on and off automatically with the door.

But still it bothered me and I resolved to do something about it.  Sometime.

So, a month or so ago, on Saturday, I decided it was the day.  To google it, at least.  The only help I found made an offensively simple suggestion, which I only tried so that I could rule it out and move onto the next step.  Someone suggested that the contact at the bottom of the socket was a springy piece of bent metal that had lost its spring over the years and all one had to do was bend it back out again and start the despringing process anew.

Well... it worked.  On both lights.  And it took about 25 seconds per light with perhaps another 10 seconds of ladder moving.  So I procrastinated a 1 minute fix for about 6 years... but the key thing is that it's done now.

A minor miracle.

Nope.

Chucktesta@gmail.com

Bingowings said:

The diagram reminded me of this:

 That's it!  The Rebels are there!

doubleposta

lolz

Not a question, merely a parenthetical on Mrs. TV's Mother, who is not in my kitchen.

At the moment.

Our kid bath tub has been slow to drain recently and I've been very nervous about what was gumming up the works.  Normally I'd just pop the drain cap off and take a look... but the darn thing was stuck.

____A___
[___  ___]
     | | 
     EE 

It basically looks like this, but the top spins about the bottom spindle freely.  The bottom of the spindle is where it attaches to the bath drain.  After 10+ years of living in this house, we've always removed these by spinning the top part and having it transfer maybe 50% of the spin to the bottom piece, screwing or unscrewing as necessary.  But the bottom piece was more secure this time, and no amount of twisting the top was going to untwist the bottom.

What a stupid design!  

There's not enough clearance to grab the spindle with pliers, so I was about to get serious and dremel the thing to bits and replace it with a new one.  Then I noticed a seam where the 'A' meets the top.  With some gnarly pliers, I untwisted the top knob from the top and, lo and behold, there was the top of the bolt that secured it to the bottom.  A couple cranks on the ol' reliable and out it came.

With about a pound of... stuff.

Minor miracle!

CP3S said:

TV's Frink said:

The Lando System?

Lando isn't a system, he's a man.

 

A sexy, sexy, dark chocolate man.

Lando isn't a sytstem, he's a... dang it.  Too late for that one too, eh?

All Star Superman - I was really looking forward to this since I recall enjoying the comic so much.  Not sure exactly why, but I didn't really dig the movie.  As far as I can tell, it's a pretty faithful adaptaiton...  I think part of it is that the episodic nature of the original comic makes an odd adaptation into 76 minutes of runtime and it seems a little disjointed.

9/17 Superman Robots Guarding the Fortress of Solitude

You mean you're a...?

You lost me at eskimo, but had me at Michael Biehn.