a highly accurate simulation
Apr. 5th, 2021 07:13 pmah, Crusader Kings. I have CK2 in my Steam library but have yet to actually play it; I get most of my entertainment from the stories of others, like this one:
My spymaster tells me somebody is plotting to kill my wife!
My spymaster tells me somebody is plotting to kill my sister!
And my daughter!
And my son!
And my other son!
And my brother!
Holy shit I pissed somebody off, maybe I should stop killing popes.
Nope, turns out my family is just a bunch of assholes trying to kill each other and I can't just hang them all and start over because ThAt WoUlD bE tYrAnNy
I HAD TO dept.
Apr. 4th, 2021 11:18 pm> Pre-9/11 my cousin was on the USS Enterprise for a couple of tours and one time when he came back from one he gave us a tour of the ship. I walked through portions of the ship he could show us with a video camera recording the whole time. No one cared at all. I cannot imagine something like that happening today never mind allowing civilians on the ship.
(me) I'm guessing the warp drive was off limits.
(me) I'm guessing the warp drive was off limits.
tech changes, humor doesn't
Mar. 3rd, 2021 01:23 amA friend sent me a link to this today. And while it's certainly amusing (at least to me), what I find most interesting about it is that even though it's about movie-making technologies that didn't really exist last century except in the most rudimentary form, it's a difference of detail, not of kind. Fifty years ago, the jokes were about guys in rubber monster costumes; today, they're about mocap suits and face dots. But they're still essentially the same jokes.
It's all very much in the same vein as classic, well-established bits of (faux/meta) humor about the process itself, like "boom mic in the shot", "accidental violence to the camera and/or cameraman" and (as seen, among other places, in the end credits of All the Jackie Chans but genuine) "oops, that's not how that stunt was supposed to go, dude are you okay?"
And going back even further, of course, there's "actor falls off edge of stage"/"gets caught in curtains"/"knocks over painted scenery flat"; and perhaps oldest of all, the immortal "... line?"
It's all very much in the same vein as classic, well-established bits of (faux/meta) humor about the process itself, like "boom mic in the shot", "accidental violence to the camera and/or cameraman" and (as seen, among other places, in the end credits of All the Jackie Chans but genuine) "oops, that's not how that stunt was supposed to go, dude are you okay?"
And going back even further, of course, there's "actor falls off edge of stage"/"gets caught in curtains"/"knocks over painted scenery flat"; and perhaps oldest of all, the immortal "... line?"
[Brick] ...wtf. The *entire world* voted to ban coffee, one of my few luxuries.
[PyroICFF] Do you have uranium?
[Brick] Nope, still Renaissance.
[PyroICFF] Well there's your next research priority.
[PyroICFF] It's the only sensible response.
[Brick] Heh.
[Zoom] your caffeinated war machine will /crush/ their sleepy, low-energy armies.
[PyroICFF] Do you have uranium?
[Brick] Nope, still Renaissance.
[PyroICFF] Well there's your next research priority.
[PyroICFF] It's the only sensible response.
[Brick] Heh.
[Zoom] your caffeinated war machine will /crush/ their sleepy, low-energy armies.
^ thought of the day, inspired by this article about the tentative discovery of a whole lot more little chunks orbiting Jupiter.
Personally, I wouldn't call them "moons" any more than a random bit of Saturn's rings (or Jupiter's, or Uranus', or Neptune's) is. IMO, you have to draw the line somewhere - and we'll need to, as a practical matter, as our ability to resolve smaller and smaller objects improves, or the term will become meaningless.
Personally, I wouldn't call them "moons" any more than a random bit of Saturn's rings (or Jupiter's, or Uranus', or Neptune's) is. IMO, you have to draw the line somewhere - and we'll need to, as a practical matter, as our ability to resolve smaller and smaller objects improves, or the term will become meaningless.
- God built a specialized enclosure for the first human (Gen. 2:8-15)
- God then got concerned about the first human’s well-being and tried to provide the first human with enrichment (Gen. 2:18-20)
- God finally gave up and brought home a second human to keep the first one company (Gen. 2:21-22)
- The humans got into the food that they weren’t supposed to have while God was out (Gen. 3:6)
- God came back to find the humans covered in leaves and trying to avoid God (Gen. 3:7-8)
- God decided that since the humans couldn’t be trusted not to break into the food it was better to send them outside (Gen. 3:22-23)
Conclusion: We are all God's outdoor cats.
source (tumblr)
Was rewatching the Chateau fight from The Matrix Reloaded, and it got me to wondering: do you suppose that in the Matrix, the Audible Sharpness trope is "real", and no one thinks anything of it? And those who leave are surprised when they swing or throw things and they don't make any sound?
("The first Matrix used visual FX... 'BIFF', 'POW' and so on. It was a disaster.")
("The first Matrix used visual FX... 'BIFF', 'POW' and so on. It was a disaster.")
pass without trace
Sep. 28th, 2020 12:28 amThere's a bit in one of the Ringworld books where a human performs a feat of monkey agility (getting himself unstrapped from, and then on top of, an upside-down skycycle) that prompts his Kzinti companion to ask, with more than a little awe, "what are you, Louis?"
This, I submit, would be the flipside of that.
This, I submit, would be the flipside of that.