The Gamer's Quarter

dhex · Posted: Mon Jun 23, 2008 12:06 pm Post subject:

can a medium even have confidence?

edit: this conversation will seem quaint in ten years when graduates of nyu's game studies program are referring to earlier electronic "texts" like halo.
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dhex · Posted: Mon Jun 23, 2008 12:15 pm Post subject:

http://www.mediastorm.org/workshops_0002.htm?bcpid=1550041680&bctid=1557911206

if you're in town i recommend sam's if you like pizza or a slightly greasy spoon style italian.

edit: nativists should take note that the older guy, mario, barely speaks english...because brooklyn was one of those places, like a lot of cities, where immigrant communities didn't need to actually interact with the dominant culture despite participating in the dominant culture.

double edit: nativists should probably do a lot of things.
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dhex · Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 7:28 am Post subject:

i remain cautiously optimistic about white gold.
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Cycle · Mac daddy Joined: 08 Sep 2006 Posts: 2767

i'm also looking forward to precursors and hope it's not such a mess like boiling point

thanks for hooking me up with that game by the way, dhex, i played it for a fewh ours before i had to give up due to ridiculous bugs Sad

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dhex · Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 8:18 am Post subject:

did you see a flying jaguar?

man first time i saw that shit i crapped myself. then i died cause flying giant cats are deadly!
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Cycle · Mac daddy Joined: 08 Sep 2006 Posts: 2767

actually, that's about the time i stopped playing. i was just like WHAT THE FUCK and quit after it ripped me apart, i just couldn't handle flying jaguars.
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dhex · Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 8:44 am Post subject:

no one can handle flying jaguars, man.

i liked the police department filled with russian voice actors myself.
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Cycle · Mac daddy Joined: 08 Sep 2006 Posts: 2767

there was lots to like in the game, really, it was just so terribly broken. I felt like, why bother playing when i know some game breaking bug is going to screw me over later on. i mean, if the flying jaguars weren't bad enough.

i did have some good times with my short time with it, though. i really hope white gold doesn't suck, but i'm not holding my breath.
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dhex · Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 8:55 am Post subject:

i am hoping both that and precursors are at the very least capturing the essence of eastern european game design - daring, weird and clinically depressed alcoholic fugues.
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dhex · Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 9:07 am Post subject:

once more radley balko takes us on the happy feelings express!
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dhex · Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 7:32 pm Post subject:

dutchpocalypse now
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dhex · Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2008 9:43 am Post subject:

so i'm stuck in titan quest - that jerkoff neanderthal chieftan who drops rocks on you. i can energy drain him quite a bit but that motherfucker just needs to hit me once and it's game over.
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dhex · Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 7:58 am Post subject:

dhex · Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 8:41 am Post subject:

http://www.scotusblog.com/wp/court-a-constitutional-right-to-a-gun/

5-4? fuck. that was close.

http://www.scotusblog.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/07-2901.pdf

the actual opinion, which i will read on the train later.

http://www.scotuswiki.com/index.php?title=DC_v._Heller

man scotuswiki is fucking awesome.

anyway, this is the first bit of good news to come out of this kangaroo court in a long, long time.
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dhex · Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 8:57 am Post subject:

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/?p=1995

sprong. even with frenchy mc excitementois peeing himself there.
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Swimmy · . Joined: 16 Sep 2005 Posts: 990 Location: Fairfax, VA

dhex · Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 10:27 am Post subject:

too bad scalia comes across as retarded again, despite being in the right in this particular case.

huge shocker there.
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Swimmy · . Joined: 16 Sep 2005 Posts: 990 Location: Fairfax, VA

It's his thing.
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"Ayn Rand fans are the old school version of Xenogears fanboys."
-seryogin

Scratchmonkey · . Joined: 02 Mar 2005 Posts: 1439

Waiting for screaming about activist judges.

dhex · Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 1:14 pm Post subject:

i've heard some say this is the right's roe v. wade, in other words a case so polarizing it changes the political landscape.

i don't think so. the dems aren't as fucknutty fascist about guns as they were 20 years ago, beyond some city enclaves.

edit: we can also leave out ruminations on why city police agencies wouldn't want their citizens to be armed, because the answer is too fucking obvious. especially in some place like chicago or nyc.
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Swimmy · . Joined: 16 Sep 2005 Posts: 990 Location: Fairfax, VA

Plus it's just so limited. The case still allows room for pretty much any gun law that isn't as restrictive as "federal in-home handgun prohibition," to my understanding.
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"Ayn Rand fans are the old school version of Xenogears fanboys."
-seryogin

dhex · Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 7:38 am Post subject:

well, the positives to come out of this seem to be:

1) the collective rights argument, already on life support, is officially unplugged
2) the militia argument is also dead
3) there's now ground to challenge restrictive laws a la chicago and ny.

man, the cover of today's metro was like "EVERYONE IS GOING TO DIE" - i normally kinda roll my eyes at the systematic coverage bias routine my gun nut friends do, but now...i have to say i'm in their corner pretty solidly after this.
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dhex · Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 11:05 am Post subject:

mellotrons?

what?

yes.

mellotrons.
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Redeye · . Joined: 02 Oct 2006 Posts: 986 Location: filth

dhex · Posted: Sat Jun 28, 2008 10:33 am Post subject:

that would be neat.

a good take on the heller decision
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dhex · Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2008 8:07 am Post subject:

http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/punch-line/punch-line/2008/06/this-weeks-punch-line-cartoon-24/all-comments/#comments
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dhex · Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2008 8:14 am Post subject:

even weirder:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7479758.stm
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Dracko · . Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 2613

Oh, what the fuck?

Is it too late to say "nanny state" now?
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"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"

dhex · Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2008 8:19 am Post subject:

my guess is someone's kid is connected or something.

in happier news:
http://wcbstv.com/local/Undercover.NYPD.Officers.2.759420.html

note: not happy at all.
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dhex · Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2008 1:45 pm Post subject:

http://www.reason.com/blog/show/127271.html

Scratchmonkey · . Joined: 02 Mar 2005 Posts: 1439

dhex · Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2008 3:05 pm Post subject:

http://www.abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/story?id=5278638&page=1

outside of "unprecedented" being ridiculous - (that's silly, the "castle doctrine" is basically older than dirt).
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seryogin · Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 10:32 am Post subject:

Mike, I need your advice. I've been reading some stuff that says that the world is going to hell because the price of oil has doubled in a year.

As someone who's "in the know" does any of this peak oil stuff have any merit to it?
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dhex · Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 11:53 am Post subject:

swimmy?

not all the peak oil fears are irrational, but their extension usually is. i.e. people will change their lifestyles when fueling their automobiles reaches a price point they cannot negotiate with. car pools are a small example of this; demand for fuel efficient vehicles is another.

i generally don't equate "having to make choices about lifestyle based on price information" with "utter chaos"; i also think they underestimate the technological advances that are driven by dire need.
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Scratchmonkey · . Joined: 02 Mar 2005 Posts: 1439

Right, it's not like we're incapable of running personal transportation without oil either -- while the alternatives (electric, biofuel, hydrogen, etc.) definitely have their own set of problems, they're at least comparable to oil at this point*.

A clarification about "peak oil", it's not an indicator that we're about to run out of oil, it's the point where we will never have more oil than we have now, that the graphs of supply and demand are crossing, never to meet again. Which still allows for a non-trivial amount of time to adjust, with rising oil prices/costs acting as a motivator for change.

* - As in, people are driving cars that use these technologies right now and economy of scale should dictate that as these numbers increase, the cost involved with the technology should go down.

Swimmy · . Joined: 16 Sep 2005 Posts: 990 Location: Fairfax, VA

I agree with dhex. Hell is a strong word.

In fact, overall I see the price rise as a good thing. People are driving less, and price shocks throughout the system are now telling us which goods and services really are greener without the speculation. This means less global warming, and perhaps even less in the future whenever they get around to legislating the problem. Peak Oil enthusiasts miss the idea of relative prices and the value of speculation. Even if good oil reserves are running out, we still have lots of bad oil reserves, like oil shale reserves. As the price goes up, these become more economically viable to exploit, as do alternative forms of energy like solar and wind power. Meanwhile, speculators are bidding on whether or not we're actually reaching the peak. Speculators who forecast that the world's oil reserves are running very thin tend to buy up oil now so they can sell it in the future at a higher price. (Yes it's a bit more complicated than this, but oil futures can turn into real demand, so it's ultimately what they're doing.) This means still-available oil even after we've hit the peak.

I expect by that point, the price will have risen high enough for the economy to make major shifts. Painful, painful shifts. Make no mistake, an oil shock that massive might very well mean another economic depression, something the U.S. hasn't seen since the 1930s. But it will probably not mean hell, chaos, or the end of the human race. If you're going to worry, worry especially about China, which has become one of the world's biggest manufacturing countries. It is still relatively poor and most of the new jobs it's created over the last 50 years have been oil-based manufacturing. They are going to suffer.

But yeah. I think I worry about global warming more.
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"Ayn Rand fans are the old school version of Xenogears fanboys."
-seryogin

Swimmy · . Joined: 16 Sep 2005 Posts: 990 Location: Fairfax, VA

http://pinker.wjh.harvard.edu/articles/media/The%20Stupidity%20of%20Dignity.htm

Yes yes yes.
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"Ayn Rand fans are the old school version of Xenogears fanboys."
-seryogin

dhex · Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 3:10 pm Post subject:

that was a super awesome smackdown.

http://bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/12357

this is pretty interesting, even if the sound is off and wil wilkinson kinda sounds dorky.
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dhex · Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2008 8:05 am Post subject:

i am officially on board with my gun nut friends about the "liberal media bias" in this particular arena. they and gary kleck were right, and i was wrong:

from today's ny times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/03/opinion/03thu1.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

Swimmy · . Joined: 16 Sep 2005 Posts: 990 Location: Fairfax, VA

Hell. Explain DC.
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"Ayn Rand fans are the old school version of Xenogears fanboys."
-seryogin

dhex · Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2008 12:04 pm Post subject:

the long and the short of it is that even concealed carry has a minimal effect on crime rates.

it doesn't cause more crime for sure, however. even the ama said this during their metastudy, and they're the folks who think gun crimes are - literally - an epidemic.
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Dracko · . Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 2613

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/article4237491.ece
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"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"

dhex · Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2008 2:02 pm Post subject:

that at least makes some bit of sense.

unlike this:
http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_HR_6068.html
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kirkjerk · . Joined: 12 Apr 2006 Posts: 1227

Redeye · . Joined: 02 Oct 2006 Posts: 986 Location: filth

Hygiene and sanitation should be only the responsibility of individuals.

If Typhoid Mary were held responsible for her sickness, there would have been no need for those nosey fussbudget statists and their well/reservoir/pipe inspections.

We should get rid of the CDC and NIH. Clean, responsible people have nothing to fear from bioterror. Just wash yourself and keep your home and clothes clean.
File lawsuits and stage boycotts against the offenders who allow pathogen vectors to come into contact with their clients. Trucking companies, taxi services, water boards, postal services, all levels of the food and service industries, etc. The free market is the best defense against CBW.

It's not like it would be possible to make bedbugs into a vector.

Even if that were possible the way to defend against the problem is not another bloated bureaucracy.
Isolated, fragmentary exterminations with the infestation records concealed or destroyed would provide a far better protection at a fraction of the cost.

Some smartass "scientist" will probably start bandying the word "epidemiology" about. What a bunch of hogwash.
This will probably lead to some kind of fanciful "DNA" database filled with... you guessed it: bedbug DNA.
For "population tracking". Of course.
uh-huh
Just how stupid do they think we are?

Oh, it won't stop there, I assure you. They'll want to make MAPS.
And charts and graphs and all of that other smartypants voodoo.

Those jackasses will try plotting "occurrences" and "coordinates" and "commonalities" and "multidimensional correlations".

blah blah blah

In my day you ate what was put in front of you, and you didn't ask queer questions like "why". You did what you were told and you minded your own business.
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I felt sheer anarchic joy when I ran over my first pedestrian.

Swimmy · . Joined: 16 Sep 2005 Posts: 990 Location: Fairfax, VA

kirkjerk · . Joined: 12 Apr 2006 Posts: 1227

dhex · Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 8:08 am Post subject:

beyond the horrible name, if i don't trust these guys to conduct war correctly, they're sure as hell not going to get anywhere with bedbugs. also, the federal level is the wrong level for this sort of thing.

the ha ha funny part of this is that bedbugs were basically eradicated in nyc and elsewhere in the 20th century due to direct spray DDT applications. which would be great if DDT didn't sound like "holocaust" to the public, because it's incredibly effective.
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dhex · Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 8:25 am Post subject:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/weblogs/aviation-security/2008/Jul/01/want-some-torture-with-your-peanuts/

dhex · Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 1:07 pm Post subject:

http://www.irontowerstudio.com/forum/index.php?topic=363.0

this looks pretty amazing thus far.
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