Are you kidding? They killed almost anyone who could have been a loose end. What loose ends are you talking about?
lol, yeah can't argue with that. In all seriousness though, these loose ends:
Character development(excepting Dent), character motivation(also excepting Dent), setting, plot, storyline, cohesion with any identifiable over-arching theme besides pornographic anarchy. They drew from so many different variants of the batman ethos (various comic interpretations, 'The Dark Knight Returns' etc) that this film comes across as having been grudgingly written by committee leaving noone satisfied. It's a mishmash of compromise and conflicting character interpretations.
If you took every batman comic ever made since the 70s, put them in a blender, and added a few ounces of pure psychosis, this film is what you would get.
Re:Farewell sweet Karma
on
Batman Discussion
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
"Poor writing", "poor editing"...where was this most obvious? Care to pinpoint issues rather than blanketing them across the entire movie?
Well, ultimately a film is a story. So the entire thing is couched within the vehicle of...the writing, direction, and editing. Those are the primary elements that translate a story onto film. If you have a bad story to start with, and then give it to a bad storyteller, and then give that to someone who can't tell the difference between a good story and a bad story...what kind of results do you get? Well, movies like this film.
Let me put it this way, there were about 10 seconds of genuine heart in this film. It was the moment Bruce Wayne met Harvey Dent in person, heard his philosophy on confronting crime, and then complimented him on his views. Now, again, the writing was nothing spectacular there...but it was one of the very few moments in the film when Bale was actually allowed to act. His genius saved that scence. And luckily (probably accidentally) the director had a moment of clarity (or took a cigarette break) and allowed an actor of Bale's caliber to show what he can do when given the stage. Not made to growl and skulk about like some kind of grumpy idealist gone bad.
When every other line in the film is tacky, rushed, clumsy, and just flat out cliche it's hard to pick a 'favorite' amongst so much trash. So I apologize for not being able to deliver specifics here.
It's the same thing as with Spider-Man 3. Personally I agree it was "rushed", but I can be more specific than that generic complaint. For example:
Peter confronting Sand-Man - "You killed Uncle Ben." "No I didn't." "Okay bye." Or the contrived amnesia that made the 2nd Green Goblin an awkwardly good guy for a while.
I agree completely. Which is why I think the 1st Spider-Man film was great, the 2nd was impotent, and the 3rd was just plain insulting to the intelligence of the audience. Your parallel between these franchises means you understand my point. I've been so busy trying to forget 'The Dark Knight' that I don't have much to draw on due to my success. A very forgettable film to say the least.
oblig prayer to bob: Even though I walk through the dark valley of socially immature nerds, because you are with me, I fear no harm.
That being said, I think I'll chime in...and no this isn't a troll, it's how I sincerely felt after seeing it last Thursday. This is a quote from another discussion board...needless to say my opinion wasn't popular, but I stand by it:
"no guys, the movie really did suck.
The directing was abysmal, the writing was amateur at best, and the editing...was probably done by a college intern.
It's a shame too because they had some great actors in that cast. Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, etc.
'Batman Begins' was good, it was simple and focused. 'The Dark Knight' was a mess of loose ends. This film was 3 hours of discordant noise, gimmicks, and tedium...a giant wasted opportunity. A Deus ex machine gun blasting the audience into stupified dazed submission. Utter Shock n' Awe MTV sweatshop excrement.
Tell us how you really feel. OK I will, Keaton/Nicholson will be remembered 50 years from now as the definitive Batman film. 'The Dark Knight' won't even be rentable."
I've been using a lounge-type chair that allows me to recline back and put my legs on my desk. It's far easier to endure long sessions (8+ hours) in a chair like this vs. any vertical seat-back chair.
You're right, but the Republicans in congress (there are enough of them) won't let it happen. Just like they won't help the american people out of the current gas price crisis.
In my experience in Eastern Europe, customers that heavily use bandwidth are the average customer. I know hardly a single household that doesn't massively download music and films. Nonetheless, the local ISPs can keep monthly fees down to what is even by local standards cheap, and people are increasingly getting fiber to their door. Funny how the U.S., that beacon of technological progress, is being outdone by some former Communist states.
You're right, and it's not funny, it's sad.
The US is falling more and more behind, while the telecoms have the gall to say things like:
"The Internet marketplace remains fundamentally healthy, and the purported 'cure' could only make it sick," AT&T's filing declared. "At best, the network-management restrictions proposed by Free Press and others would inflict wasteful costs on broadband providers in the form of expensive and needless capacity upgrades".
This is what happens when 'free market' monopolies are allowed to continue unchecked by a corrupt FCC.
Now if you're talking about submitting a bug report only to wait for a year to get a response of "Won't fit", yeah I can relate to that...
Right, and there are hundreds of other cases.
What especially comes to mind is trying to install new hardware (drivers), and popular applications.
What I still don't get, is how in this day and age, when 99% of windows utility apps like web browsers, word processors, spyware scanners, etc. use less than 5% of an avg cpu, can't they be run efficiently on a virtual machine layer in linux? Why is it so difficult to build a program allowing a linux user to download an x86 application, click on it, and run it automatically via a virtual machine layer from within linux (without having to bother with WINE etc.)?
Can anyone explain that to me? Didn't Transmeta have this problem solved years ago?
He discusses some ways to address that, but do you have any solutions? Or are games doomed to be the playthings of adolescent boys for the rest of the century? (And yeah, I resent the 'comics ghetto' label too.)
This author is making a false assumption.
Narrative entertainment has many forms, and has evolved over thousands of years. From oral tradition, to plays, to books, to film, to comic books, etc. What do all these forms of entertainment have in common? Passivity. The viewer exercises no control over the medium, and places his or her mind into the hands of the artist(s).
With gaming however, the audience is required to take part, and in some cases even re-write the story. As a race, we've had about 30 years to explore electronic gaming vs. the thousands of years we've spent with narrative...to claim that we've exhausted the possibilities of electronic gaming after such a short span is very presumptuous. To make parallel comparisons with something as mature as narrative is absurd.
Faster processors, more cores, multi-threaded apps, more memory, larger & faster hard-drives, faster network connections, lower network latencies, better AI, natural language processing, facial recognition, mesh networks,..., etc.
Any combination of the above technical improvements could open a window into an application space we've never seen before. Gaming is not a dead medium, it's an evolving medium that's restricted by what our computers are capable of...and that's a restriction that will continue to relax into the foreseeable future.
When ISPs say that net neutrality will bring the network down, what they really mean is that they will be forced to actually admit that they've oversold their uplink, the poor performance really IS their network, not some anonymous "out on the net" problem and they won't be able to double dip by charging two parties full price for carrying the very same packet.
So true, and look at what these monopolistic pigs are doing with their earnings instead of improving infrastructure:
"Comcast Corp. saw its shares jump Thursday, rallying after the cable giant reported a 54% rise in fourth-quarter earnings on increased revenue from its broadband and digital telephone services, and declared its first dividend in nearly a decade."
My brother also gained a lot of weight on psych meds. You know what though? It sure beats locking himself in a bathroom for four days (really happened), throwing out every article of clothing he owned, including what he was currently wearing, leaving him literally without a shred of clothing to his name (really happened), and several other things which are far, far worse, if you can imagine.
I myself took Paxil ten years ago and chose to stop because of side effects. I had some nausea, shaky hands, chills, and loss of appetite. Big fucking deal. But that was my choice. My brother has his choice, and he chooses to endure some weight gain and other side effects in exchange for, I don't know, not randomly murdering people. He was fully and completely informed about these side effects before taking the drugs. How about you stay out of other people's horrific personal hells and let them deal with it how they see fit?
I'm sorry...I didn't mean to impose or suggest there aren't situations (like the one you illustrated) where these medications can literally be life saving...I guess I just wanted to convey two things:
1) The state of pharmacological treatment of schizophrenia borders on barbarism, there is vast room for improvement and I wish more time, research and money could be spent on the problem. 2) These meds do work for some people, but for the majority of people suffering from schizophrenia they do not. Tolerability has to improve otherwise most people (80%) will simply quit their meds because they are too painful to take.
Yeah, eating sweets and gaining weight is fucking horrible. STFU mang. That's a great intro to your so-called statistics that have no backing by any links to anything at fucking all. I totally believe you've been fucked in the ass by a giant faceless corporation. YOU ARE A VICTIM. Or maybe, just maybe, you're full of shit. Can you tell which way I'm leaning bucko?
I lost the weight. It took me over half a year, with a good diet and steady exercise, but I did it. Now I'm just waiting for the hair I lost to grow back. Luckily I didn't contract diabetes while taking that one like so many others have.
As far as those statistics, I can't link them because the journal that did this study requires a paid subscription in order to have access to a hard-copy (which they mail you). The significance of this study was that it was not funded by the big pharma co's (the only such study my doctor, who is very thorough, could find after my personal distrust of getting information about these meds directly and exclusively from the manufacturers...he obliged me by digging up that paper). Five of the leading atypical antipsychotics (of which Zyprexa was one) were included in that study. And yes, they demonstrated that after 6 months the tolerability of these medications is approximately 20% (sample group of approximately 400 patients). That's abysmal; my doctor was shocked by those numbers...chemotherapy is more warmly received.
I've spent the last 3 & 1/2 years trying 7 atypical antipsychotics, 3 antidepressants, and an extremely unpleasant benzodiazepine called Clonazepam.
I'm sorry I can't give you a fast food "link" to assuage your scepticism...but then again, why do you think I would lie? For the attention? Nobody here knows who I am so how would I benefit from that?
I was on this terrible crap for a while...after 2 weeks I had gained 15 pounds (not exaggerating).
I remember finding myself on the candy Isle at the supermarket shoveling 12-packs of twix, snickers, and all kinds of other candy into my shopping cart...and I usually don't eat sweets.
These 'medications' are really horrible...it's sad that so many people believe schizophrenia is easily treated with them. Big pharma marketdroids are mostly to blame. In fact, after 6 months, 80% of the people on these medications quit (I suspect the other 20% are forced to take it by hospital staff)...they actually prefer being crazy (unable to work, take care of themselves, go to public places, etc.) rather than take them...the side-effects are that bad.
An effective military rail gun would need a huge vessel to carry the capacitor bank Lots of unclassified military technology is anywhere from 5-10 years ahead of anything we've seen, so I wouldn't be so sure about that.
Where is the Navy going to get something like that? From Lockheed apparently:
Not sure what's wrong with the approach chosen. To me, this looks like it's been handled by my ISP (and others) for quite a while now. My cable provider has tiered plans and for me, it works fine. I get 20GB/month "peak" volume (12pm-12am) and 40GB/month "off peak" (12am-12pm). If used smart, it gives me 60GB/month. There are no excess fees but the speed will be capped to 64kbit. The imposed cap sucks a bit cos it also affects the IP-phone and I think they should give at least 128kbit. But to be honest, I've only reached the speed cap once and that was about 5 hours before the new month started.
Sure it isn't ideal but anything bar a REAL flat rate isn't ideal.
Have you all gone crazy?!? where am I? My browser window says slashdot.org but I feel like I'm at a luddite convention! You're all talking like a bunch of nansy-ass accountants and librarians.
Applauding the implementation of bandwidth hard-caps at the ISP level? You're all fucking crazy! 60GB/month?!? And you're happy with that?!?! You've got to be kidding, do you know how many Slashdot readers that kind of cap would cripple? (by Slashdot readers I mean people who actually value technologies like the internet, and call and complain to their ISPs if it isn't delivered properly...which is apparently almost noone in this thread)
As a poster further up said, this is a money grab. If I pay for a 3mbps connection, or a 6mbps connection...then dammit that's what I should get! If the infrastructure of cable is a limiting factor then they need to RE-INVEST IN INFRASTRUCTURE instead of putting out another dividend to their pigs-rolling-in-telecom-monopoly-shit stockholders.
I can't believe how many of you are bending over and giving a nod to the telecom monopolies, they should be INNOVATING! I.e. Improving services, reducing latencies, increasing bandwidth, expanding coverage, and ultimately PRESERVING THE YET UNTAPPED AND UNEXPLORED APPLICATION SPACE OF BROADBAND.
The next thing they'll do is standardize tiered billing for low-latency connections (not lower latency mind you, but the one you ALREADY HAVE NOW), are you all going to clap them on the back for that brilliant idea too?!?
my god wtf...
If used smart, it gives me 60GB/month.
What nauseating crap...I guess we should all count our blessings and be happy we aren't living in 1970s east berlin...that toilet paper isn't considered a luxury item...of course the 2008 east berlin has FAR better broadband coverage than we do now...but then what civilized country on this planet doesn't have better broadband than us? "Gimme 60GB/month, at least I can say I'm an american where consumers come first and we have access to the the best services and technologies"...what a crock. It grieves me terribly to read comments like these on Slashdot of all places...you've all turned into complacent kowtowing pussies!
2) I will tax the top 5% and distribute the wealth through increased funding for basic academic research, reimburse college loans for students carrying 3.2GPA or higher, national daycare programs, and national health care programs.
3) Prosecute the supreme court justices who appointed Bush, and every person in the federal governemnt who continued to aid and abet the terrorist regime.
4) Establish a department of peace, reduce military funding, and give anyone a seat a a negotiating table so we do not have to fight them "over there" or "over here".
5) Reparations for the victims of hurrican katrina who were failed by their governments.
Excellent start, here's a few more if I may add to your list:
6) Introduce and pass a bill eliminating campaign contributions once and for all. Also ensure that any elected public official gives up the right to privacy of their financial information. Pass strict laws (including jail terms) for politicians who take bribes from interest groups.
7) Abolish the electoral college system. Create a new system in which No president can be elected without at least 60% of the popular vote. Perhaps allow voters to choose their 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4rth, and so on choice. Use weighted averaging to determine which candidate is most popular.
8) Completely re-write copyright and patent law. Reduce copyright terms to 5 years, place far greater weight on prior art. If a "one-click" type patent can be proved identical to an algorithm written in 1975 in some obscure computer science textbook then that patent is immediately and irrevocably dissolved.
9) Federalize technologies like these and dramatically increase funding for alternative energy technologies. Create awards and grants that provide generous wealth incentives for innovators.
10) Legalize file-sharing and constitutionally equate it to freedom of speech, write net-neutrality into law. Clean sweep of the FCC and recreate it as a body which exists solely for the promotion of faster, more reliable, ubiquitous communication services to individual citizens.
11) In the same way Eisenhower built the Interstate Highway System; fund and build a massive fiber layout to solve the last mile problem once and for all. Include provisions for alternative solutions like wireless hubs and repeaters. Portion a federal budget for the continuous maintenance of this network.
I tried to reactivate an old forum account last night. I knew that I had a long history of e-mail correspondence with the administrator, and all I had to do was search for the guy's name in my Yahoo mail history and it would pop up. The trouble was, the earliest e-mail Yahoo search was able to produce was from November of 2004. That's a little over 3 years ago. Most of the important correspondence was before November of 2004, and I was unable to use my own e-mail records (which had apparently been erased) to get my forum account information.
I can't understand for the life of me why in the day of 1TB hard-drives Yahoo can't keep e-mail records for more than 3 years. There are many very real circumstances where people need to reach back 4,5 maybe even 10 years in their e-mail records. Yahoo is cutting more and more corners and inserting more and more ads.
Does anyone know how long Gmail keeps e-mail records? I've been having more and more reason to switch from Yahoo to Gmail, and this may be the last straw for me.
As a tabletop RPG - shadowrun was one of the games that I will always have a fondness in my heart for. The rules were cryptic, battles took forever, but that didn't seem to make a difference. The world was described so clearly with so many things that were logically futuristic it didn't seem like were you playing a fantasy sci-fi game - you were just role playing in the future.
Yeah, Shadowrun was my favorite PnP roleplaying game only after D&D. Fun times.
Neither was I willing to purchase just to play a game that would probably ruin my memory of the weekends rolling dice.
If you miss PnP Shadowrun...I would highly recommend Shadowrun for the Sega Genesis. The graphics are dated, and it takes several hours to 'get' the gameplay, but once you hit your stride I think you'll find it's a fantastic recreation of the PnP Shadowrun experience. Here's a descriptive review, and a great fansite with lots more detail. To play it, you need two things:
This is one of the easiest emulators I have ever used, it's plug and play all the way. For the best experience, I'd recommend a USB Gamepad. You can get them for around $25 plus shipping. They also have wireless versions.
One caution; there's a Super Nintendo version of Shadowrun that you may run across googling. I've never played it, but almost everyone claims it's an inferior version of the game more geared towards a FPS than an RPG. So I'd recommend avoiding it.
Again, all you need to enjoy this one is a little patience. It's by far the best electronic version of Shadowrun currently available. The game can be a little difficult at first, but it really grows on you if you give it some time. Good luck!
People leave guilds. -> More people leave guilds. -> No one is left in guild. -> Guild dies.
I dunno, this is actually pretty interesting. I think it's the first time I've heard of this subject being formally studied...and as a big MMOG player I can use information like this.
It would be nice to see others doing studies like these.
I know many fans like myself enjoyed your warm sense of humor, and the relaxed sense of family-like togetherness you brought to the show. In my case, I stopped watching after you left because I missed that feeling...things became too cynical and cerebral for my taste...it had lost your special ability to give the viewer a sense of comfort and belonging.
I remember reading an interview in which you said you felt uncomfortable in front of the camera, and that you left MST3k primarily for that reason. Do you ever regret making that decision?
Judging by the video, Meyer isn't even interested in any answers. He just keeps rambling on and doesn't even wait for Kerry to respond. After reading the blurb, I felt sorry for him. After watching the video, I don't anymore.
Here's an alternative perspective for you:
ShutterGeek: Does anyone else think that guy was mentally disturbed? I mean real world, clinically paranoid? At the end of the video he seemed to honestly believe that they were going to take him somewhere and kill him for disrupting a speech.
Yes.
Paranoid Schizophrenia statistically occurs in 1 of every 100 people. For males, onset commonly occurs in the early 20s...
Sadly when someone develops this disease they are usually the last to know about it, and by the time someone tells them what's going on they think they're being 'conspiricized' against.
I'm sure this was a very traumatic event for everyone in that room, especially for the kid...the whole event occured because he kept getting more and more scared as his delusional fantasy 'came true' in front of him. He probably thought the cops were trying to prevent him from revealing the 'top-secret connection between Kerry and Bush'. Listening to him you can tell he has a very elaborate theory he's trying to expound. I'm sure it was terrifying for him.
A lot of people in this thread are saying he deserved what he got because he was acting like a 'tard'. The problem is, he very likely is sick and needs help...hopefully he'll get it. There's so little tolerance and understanding in this society about this kind of thing...but sadly we don't have 'schizophrenia detectors' yet...it's usually events like this that have to occur before someone is identified as having the disease...and it's a terrible debilitating disease. So please don't judge this guy too harshly...because his behavior is being directed by a physical illness, one that he has no control over and doesn't even know he has.
Slashdot Mirror
Are you kidding? They killed almost anyone who could have been a loose end. What loose ends are you talking about?
lol, yeah can't argue with that. In all seriousness though, these loose ends:
Character development(excepting Dent), character motivation(also excepting Dent), setting, plot, storyline, cohesion with any identifiable over-arching theme besides pornographic anarchy. They drew from so many different variants of the batman ethos (various comic interpretations, 'The Dark Knight Returns' etc) that this film comes across as having been grudgingly written by committee leaving noone satisfied. It's a mishmash of compromise and conflicting character interpretations.
If you took every batman comic ever made since the 70s, put them in a blender, and added a few ounces of pure psychosis, this film is what you would get.
"Poor writing", "poor editing"...where was this most obvious? Care to pinpoint issues rather than blanketing them across the entire movie?
Well, ultimately a film is a story. So the entire thing is couched within the vehicle of...the writing, direction, and editing. Those are the primary elements that translate a story onto film. If you have a bad story to start with, and then give it to a bad storyteller, and then give that to someone who can't tell the difference between a good story and a bad story...what kind of results do you get? Well, movies like this film.
Let me put it this way, there were about 10 seconds of genuine heart in this film. It was the moment Bruce Wayne met Harvey Dent in person, heard his philosophy on confronting crime, and then complimented him on his views. Now, again, the writing was nothing spectacular there...but it was one of the very few moments in the film when Bale was actually allowed to act. His genius saved that scence. And luckily (probably accidentally) the director had a moment of clarity (or took a cigarette break) and allowed an actor of Bale's caliber to show what he can do when given the stage. Not made to growl and skulk about like some kind of grumpy idealist gone bad.
When every other line in the film is tacky, rushed, clumsy, and just flat out cliche it's hard to pick a 'favorite' amongst so much trash. So I apologize for not being able to deliver specifics here.
It's the same thing as with Spider-Man 3. Personally I agree it was "rushed", but I can be more specific than that generic complaint. For example:
Peter confronting Sand-Man - "You killed Uncle Ben." "No I didn't." "Okay bye." Or the contrived amnesia that made the 2nd Green Goblin an awkwardly good guy for a while.
I agree completely. Which is why I think the 1st Spider-Man film was great, the 2nd was impotent, and the 3rd was just plain insulting to the intelligence of the audience. Your parallel between these franchises means you understand my point. I've been so busy trying to forget 'The Dark Knight' that I don't have much to draw on due to my success. A very forgettable film to say the least.
oblig prayer to bob: Even though I walk through the dark valley of socially immature nerds, because you are with me, I fear no harm.
That being said, I think I'll chime in...and no this isn't a troll, it's how I sincerely felt after seeing it last Thursday. This is a quote from another discussion board...needless to say my opinion wasn't popular, but I stand by it:
"no guys, the movie really did suck.
The directing was abysmal, the writing was amateur at best, and the editing...was probably done by a college intern.
It's a shame too because they had some great actors in that cast. Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, etc.
'Batman Begins' was good, it was simple and focused. 'The Dark Knight' was a mess of loose ends. This film was 3 hours of discordant noise, gimmicks, and tedium...a giant wasted opportunity. A Deus ex machine gun blasting the audience into stupified dazed submission. Utter Shock n' Awe MTV sweatshop excrement.
Tell us how you really feel.
OK I will, Keaton/Nicholson will be remembered 50 years from now as the definitive Batman film. 'The Dark Knight' won't even be rentable."
I've been using a lounge-type chair that allows me to recline back and put my legs on my desk. It's far easier to endure long sessions (8+ hours) in a chair like this vs. any vertical seat-back chair.
You're right, but the Republicans in congress (there are enough of them) won't let it happen. Just like they won't help the american people out of the current gas price crisis.
Recent Republican Fleecing of US Citizens
Look, my main point is that we can't predict revolutions in science and technology.
James Burke reads slashdot? Cool.
In my experience in Eastern Europe, customers that heavily use bandwidth are the average customer. I know hardly a single household that doesn't massively download music and films. Nonetheless, the local ISPs can keep monthly fees down to what is even by local standards cheap, and people are increasingly getting fiber to their door. Funny how the U.S., that beacon of technological progress, is being outdone by some former Communist states.
You're right, and it's not funny, it's sad.
The US is falling more and more behind, while the telecoms have the gall to say things like:
"The Internet marketplace remains fundamentally healthy, and the purported 'cure' could only make it sick," AT&T's filing declared. "At best, the network-management restrictions proposed by Free Press and others would inflict wasteful costs on broadband providers in the form of expensive and needless capacity upgrades".
This is what happens when 'free market' monopolies are allowed to continue unchecked by a corrupt FCC.
The money goes straight into shareholder's pockets, and almost nothing goes back into the network.
Now if you're talking about submitting a bug report only to wait for a year to get a response of "Won't fit", yeah I can relate to that...
Right, and there are hundreds of other cases.
What especially comes to mind is trying to install new hardware (drivers), and popular applications.
What I still don't get, is how in this day and age, when 99% of windows utility apps like web browsers, word processors, spyware scanners, etc. use less than 5% of an avg cpu, can't they be run efficiently on a virtual machine layer in linux? Why is it so difficult to build a program allowing a linux user to download an x86 application, click on it, and run it automatically via a virtual machine layer from within linux (without having to bother with WINE etc.)?
Can anyone explain that to me? Didn't Transmeta have this problem solved years ago?
Why Linux Doesn't Spread - the Curse of Being Free
More like "the curse of ignoring the user".
Noone, and I mean noone, needs to know how to use a command line to install windows.
So where is the Shakespeare or Bach of gaming?
OK I'll bite:
The Bard's Tale
Wasteland
Pirates!
Nethack
Dune 2
Master of Magic
Warcraft
Civilization
Tie Fighter
System Shock 2
Half-Life
GTA Vice City
He discusses some ways to address that, but do you have any solutions? Or are games doomed to be the playthings of adolescent boys for the rest of the century? (And yeah, I resent the 'comics ghetto' label too.)
..., etc.
This author is making a false assumption.
Narrative entertainment has many forms, and has evolved over thousands of years. From oral tradition, to plays, to books, to film, to comic books, etc. What do all these forms of entertainment have in common? Passivity. The viewer exercises no control over the medium, and places his or her mind into the hands of the artist(s).
With gaming however, the audience is required to take part, and in some cases even re-write the story. As a race, we've had about 30 years to explore electronic gaming vs. the thousands of years we've spent with narrative...to claim that we've exhausted the possibilities of electronic gaming after such a short span is very presumptuous. To make parallel comparisons with something as mature as narrative is absurd.
Faster processors, more cores, multi-threaded apps, more memory, larger & faster hard-drives, faster network connections, lower network latencies, better AI, natural language processing, facial recognition, mesh networks,
Any combination of the above technical improvements could open a window into an application space we've never seen before. Gaming is not a dead medium, it's an evolving medium that's restricted by what our computers are capable of...and that's a restriction that will continue to relax into the foreseeable future.
When ISPs say that net neutrality will bring the network down, what they really mean is that they will be forced to actually admit that they've oversold their uplink, the poor performance really IS their network, not some anonymous "out on the net" problem and they won't be able to double dip by charging two parties full price for carrying the very same packet.
So true, and look at what these monopolistic pigs are doing with their earnings instead of improving infrastructure:
"Comcast Corp. saw its shares jump Thursday, rallying after the cable giant reported a 54% rise in fourth-quarter earnings on increased revenue from its broadband and digital telephone services, and declared its first dividend in nearly a decade."
source
Man, so well said.
Mod 2 members should be given the ability to save a mod point or two for posts like these.
My brother also gained a lot of weight on psych meds. You know what though? It sure beats locking himself in a bathroom for four days (really happened), throwing out every article of clothing he owned, including what he was currently wearing, leaving him literally without a shred of clothing to his name (really happened), and several other things which are far, far worse, if you can imagine.
I myself took Paxil ten years ago and chose to stop because of side effects. I had some nausea, shaky hands, chills, and loss of appetite. Big fucking deal. But that was my choice. My brother has his choice, and he chooses to endure some weight gain and other side effects in exchange for, I don't know, not randomly murdering people. He was fully and completely informed about these side effects before taking the drugs. How about you stay out of other people's horrific personal hells and let them deal with it how they see fit?
I'm sorry...I didn't mean to impose or suggest there aren't situations (like the one you illustrated) where these medications can literally be life saving...I guess I just wanted to convey two things:
1) The state of pharmacological treatment of schizophrenia borders on barbarism, there is vast room for improvement and I wish more time, research and money could be spent on the problem.
2) These meds do work for some people, but for the majority of people suffering from schizophrenia they do not. Tolerability has to improve otherwise most people (80%) will simply quit their meds because they are too painful to take.
Yeah, eating sweets and gaining weight is fucking horrible. STFU mang. That's a great intro to your so-called statistics that have no backing by any links to anything at fucking all. I totally believe you've been fucked in the ass by a giant faceless corporation. YOU ARE A VICTIM. Or maybe, just maybe, you're full of shit. Can you tell which way I'm leaning bucko?
I lost the weight. It took me over half a year, with a good diet and steady exercise, but I did it. Now I'm just waiting for the hair I lost to grow back. Luckily I didn't contract diabetes while taking that one like so many others have.
As far as those statistics, I can't link them because the journal that did this study requires a paid subscription in order to have access to a hard-copy (which they mail you). The significance of this study was that it was not funded by the big pharma co's (the only such study my doctor, who is very thorough, could find after my personal distrust of getting information about these meds directly and exclusively from the manufacturers...he obliged me by digging up that paper). Five of the leading atypical antipsychotics (of which Zyprexa was one) were included in that study. And yes, they demonstrated that after 6 months the tolerability of these medications is approximately 20% (sample group of approximately 400 patients). That's abysmal; my doctor was shocked by those numbers...chemotherapy is more warmly received.
I've spent the last 3 & 1/2 years trying 7 atypical antipsychotics, 3 antidepressants, and an extremely unpleasant benzodiazepine called Clonazepam.
I'm sorry I can't give you a fast food "link" to assuage your scepticism...but then again, why do you think I would lie? For the attention? Nobody here knows who I am so how would I benefit from that?
Zyprexa
I was on this terrible crap for a while...after 2 weeks I had gained 15 pounds (not exaggerating).
I remember finding myself on the candy Isle at the supermarket shoveling 12-packs of twix, snickers, and all kinds of other candy into my shopping cart...and I usually don't eat sweets.
These 'medications' are really horrible...it's sad that so many people believe schizophrenia is easily treated with them. Big pharma marketdroids are mostly to blame. In fact, after 6 months, 80% of the people on these medications quit (I suspect the other 20% are forced to take it by hospital staff)...they actually prefer being crazy (unable to work, take care of themselves, go to public places, etc.) rather than take them...the side-effects are that bad.
http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/01/13/183228
Not sure what's wrong with the approach chosen. To me, this looks like it's been handled by my ISP (and others) for quite a while now. My cable provider has tiered plans and for me, it works fine. I get 20GB/month "peak" volume (12pm-12am) and 40GB/month "off peak" (12am-12pm). If used smart, it gives me 60GB/month. There are no excess fees but the speed will be capped to 64kbit. The imposed cap sucks a bit cos it also affects the IP-phone and I think they should give at least 128kbit. But to be honest, I've only reached the speed cap once and that was about 5 hours before the new month started.
Sure it isn't ideal but anything bar a REAL flat rate isn't ideal.
Have you all gone crazy?!? where am I? My browser window says slashdot.org but I feel like I'm at a luddite convention! You're all talking like a bunch of nansy-ass accountants and librarians.
Applauding the implementation of bandwidth hard-caps at the ISP level? You're all fucking crazy! 60GB/month?!? And you're happy with that?!?! You've got to be kidding, do you know how many Slashdot readers that kind of cap would cripple? (by Slashdot readers I mean people who actually value technologies like the internet, and call and complain to their ISPs if it isn't delivered properly...which is apparently almost noone in this thread)
As a poster further up said, this is a money grab. If I pay for a 3mbps connection, or a 6mbps connection...then dammit that's what I should get! If the infrastructure of cable is a limiting factor then they need to RE-INVEST IN INFRASTRUCTURE instead of putting out another dividend to their pigs-rolling-in-telecom-monopoly-shit stockholders.
I can't believe how many of you are bending over and giving a nod to the telecom monopolies, they should be INNOVATING! I.e. Improving services, reducing latencies, increasing bandwidth, expanding coverage, and ultimately PRESERVING THE YET UNTAPPED AND UNEXPLORED APPLICATION SPACE OF BROADBAND.
The next thing they'll do is standardize tiered billing for low-latency connections (not lower latency mind you, but the one you ALREADY HAVE NOW), are you all going to clap them on the back for that brilliant idea too?!?
my god wtf...
If used smart, it gives me 60GB/month.
What nauseating crap...I guess we should all count our blessings and be happy we aren't living in 1970s east berlin...that toilet paper isn't considered a luxury item...of course the 2008 east berlin has FAR better broadband coverage than we do now...but then what civilized country on this planet doesn't have better broadband than us? "Gimme 60GB/month, at least I can say I'm an american where consumers come first and we have access to the the best services and technologies"...what a crock. It grieves me terribly to read comments like these on Slashdot of all places...you've all turned into complacent kowtowing pussies!
1) I will repeal corporate personhood.
2) I will tax the top 5% and distribute the wealth through increased funding for basic academic research, reimburse college loans for students carrying 3.2GPA or higher, national daycare programs, and national health care programs.
3) Prosecute the supreme court justices who appointed Bush, and every person in the federal governemnt who continued to aid and abet the terrorist regime.
4) Establish a department of peace, reduce military funding, and give anyone a seat a a negotiating table so we do not have to fight them "over there" or "over here".
5) Reparations for the victims of hurrican katrina who were failed by their governments.
Excellent start, here's a few more if I may add to your list:
6) Introduce and pass a bill eliminating campaign contributions once and for all. Also ensure that any elected public official gives up the right to privacy of their financial information. Pass strict laws (including jail terms) for politicians who take bribes from interest groups.
7) Abolish the electoral college system. Create a new system in which No president can be elected without at least 60% of the popular vote. Perhaps allow voters to choose their 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4rth, and so on choice. Use weighted averaging to determine which candidate is most popular.
8) Completely re-write copyright and patent law. Reduce copyright terms to 5 years, place far greater weight on prior art. If a "one-click" type patent can be proved identical to an algorithm written in 1975 in some obscure computer science textbook then that patent is immediately and irrevocably dissolved.
9) Federalize technologies like these and dramatically increase funding for alternative energy technologies. Create awards and grants that provide generous wealth incentives for innovators.
10) Legalize file-sharing and constitutionally equate it to freedom of speech, write net-neutrality into law. Clean sweep of the FCC and recreate it as a body which exists solely for the promotion of faster, more reliable, ubiquitous communication services to individual citizens.
11) In the same way Eisenhower built the Interstate Highway System; fund and build a massive fiber layout to solve the last mile problem once and for all. Include provisions for alternative solutions like wireless hubs and repeaters. Portion a federal budget for the continuous maintenance of this network.
...By saving my mail.
I tried to reactivate an old forum account last night. I knew that I had a long history of e-mail correspondence with the administrator, and all I had to do was search for the guy's name in my Yahoo mail history and it would pop up. The trouble was, the earliest e-mail Yahoo search was able to produce was from November of 2004. That's a little over 3 years ago. Most of the important correspondence was before November of 2004, and I was unable to use my own e-mail records (which had apparently been erased) to get my forum account information.
I can't understand for the life of me why in the day of 1TB hard-drives Yahoo can't keep e-mail records for more than 3 years. There are many very real circumstances where people need to reach back 4,5 maybe even 10 years in their e-mail records. Yahoo is cutting more and more corners and inserting more and more ads.
Does anyone know how long Gmail keeps e-mail records? I've been having more and more reason to switch from Yahoo to Gmail, and this may be the last straw for me.
Yeah, Shadowrun was my favorite PnP roleplaying game only after D&D. Fun times.
If you miss PnP Shadowrun...I would highly recommend Shadowrun for the Sega Genesis. The graphics are dated, and it takes several hours to 'get' the gameplay, but once you hit your stride I think you'll find it's a fantastic recreation of the PnP Shadowrun experience. Here's a descriptive review, and a great fansite with lots more detail. To play it, you need two things:
1) A Sega Genesis emulator. I use Kega Fusion
2) The Shadowrun ROM for Genesis.
This is one of the easiest emulators I have ever used, it's plug and play all the way. For the best experience, I'd recommend a USB Gamepad. You can get them for around $25 plus shipping. They also have wireless versions.
One caution; there's a Super Nintendo version of Shadowrun that you may run across googling. I've never played it, but almost everyone claims it's an inferior version of the game more geared towards a FPS than an RPG. So I'd recommend avoiding it.
Again, all you need to enjoy this one is a little patience. It's by far the best electronic version of Shadowrun currently available. The game can be a little difficult at first, but it really grows on you if you give it some time. Good luck!
The article could be summarised as:
People leave guilds. -> More people leave guilds. -> No one is left in guild. -> Guild dies.
I dunno, this is actually pretty interesting. I think it's the first time I've heard of this subject being formally studied...and as a big MMOG player I can use information like this.
It would be nice to see others doing studies like these.
System Shock II was so much more fun than this game.
Bioshock was dumbed down to appeal to a larger audience. A game on rails that practically upgraded your character for you.
And it was too dark, I couldn't see a damn thing.
I know many fans like myself enjoyed your warm sense of humor, and the relaxed sense of family-like togetherness you brought to the show. In my case, I stopped watching after you left because I missed that feeling...things became too cynical and cerebral for my taste...it had lost your special ability to give the viewer a sense of comfort and belonging.
I remember reading an interview in which you said you felt uncomfortable in front of the camera, and that you left MST3k primarily for that reason. Do you ever regret making that decision?
Judging by the video, Meyer isn't even interested in any answers. He just keeps rambling on and doesn't even wait for Kerry to respond. After reading the blurb, I felt sorry for him. After watching the video, I don't anymore.
Here's an alternative perspective for you:
ShutterGeek: Does anyone else think that guy was mentally disturbed? I mean real world, clinically paranoid? At the end of the video he seemed to honestly believe that they were going to take him somewhere and kill him for disrupting a speech.
Yes.
Paranoid Schizophrenia statistically occurs in 1 of every 100 people. For males, onset commonly occurs in the early 20s...
Sadly when someone develops this disease they are usually the last to know about it, and by the time someone tells them what's going on they think they're being 'conspiricized' against.
I'm sure this was a very traumatic event for everyone in that room, especially for the kid...the whole event occured because he kept getting more and more scared as his delusional fantasy 'came true' in front of him. He probably thought the cops were trying to prevent him from revealing the 'top-secret connection between Kerry and Bush'. Listening to him you can tell he has a very elaborate theory he's trying to expound. I'm sure it was terrifying for him.
A lot of people in this thread are saying he deserved what he got because he was acting like a 'tard'. The problem is, he very likely is sick and needs help...hopefully he'll get it. There's so little tolerance and understanding in this society about this kind of thing...but sadly we don't have 'schizophrenia detectors' yet...it's usually events like this that have to occur before someone is identified as having the disease...and it's a terrible debilitating disease. So please don't judge this guy too harshly...because his behavior is being directed by a physical illness, one that he has no control over and doesn't even know he has.