Happy 3rd Pit Birthday!

[Phil_Giordana_FCD]

H/T Ryan Long:

http://thoughtcatalog.com/alexis-caputo ... attention/

[Service Dog]

Perhaps I should have used Chess as my example, where two Masters skip over obvious gambits in order to get outside the Book of known (boring) finishes. Winning in predictable waysdoesnt display superior skill, it's just following an inevitable script.

And instead of putting the pieces on designated places on the board, they make random moves, even onto the crosspoint of four fields. And when one player stops his clock, the other immediately starts it again because fuck the time.
To stay in analogy with this 'debate'.

Why do you love rules so much? Are you & I incapable of comparing opinions without the intervention of some governmental authority figure?

Nor should the young minds of CEDA play a Glass Bead Game fettered by regulation which does not reflect the way of the world they will inherit.

https://adnanramin.files.wordpress.com/ ... homsky.jpg

[didymos]

H/T Ryan Long:

http://thoughtcatalog.com/alexis-caputo ... attention/

"The article you are trying to read has been reported by the community as hateful or abusive content."

[rayshul]

Poor guy, I don't see why people are scared of other people unless their actual behavior suggests they're dangerous/unpredictable. Then again I live in a city where it's not unusual to meet people with full or partial face tattoos.

[MacGruberKnows]

Here's something-else to harrumph & be indignant about, two CEDA coaches arguing at a tournament in 2008.
The caveman was fired for dropping his pants & mooning the negress:
[youtube]A_0ouePhq_M[/youtube]

[youtube]rESjqZsIi5Q[/youtube]


And this is just super-cool:
[youtube]JhzwSlK4uEc[/youtube]

The state
of debate
ain't great

But my poetry is pretty awesome.

[Phil_Giordana_FCD]

H/T Ryan Long:

http://thoughtcatalog.com/alexis-caputo ... attention/

"The article you are trying to read has been reported by the community as hateful or abusive content."

Click on "continue" at the bottom of the page...

[Ape+lust]

Zvan's conference on how to hold conferences is less than a month away, yay.

http://imgur.com/HYEK9Q5.jpg

[Kirbmarc]

Perhaps I should have used Chess as my example, where two Masters skip over obvious gambits in order to get outside the Book of known (boring) finishes. Winning in predictable waysdoesnt display superior skill, it's just following an inevitable script.

And instead of putting the pieces on designated places on the board, they make random moves, even onto the crosspoint of four fields. And when one player stops his clock, the other immediately starts it again because fuck the time.
To stay in analogy with this 'debate'.

Why do you love rules so much? Are you & I incapable of comparing opinions without the intervention of some governmental authority figure?

Nor should the young minds of CEDA play a Glass Bead Game fettered by regulation which does not reflect the way of the world they will inherit.

https://adnanramin.files.wordpress.com/ ... homsky.jpg

Because without rules there can't be a winner and a loser. There's no need to bring the government into this. Private enterprises are regulated by rules. Sports have rules. The courtroom has rules. Business has rules. Every time there's a competition, and a not simply a free expression of feelings, you need some rules. (Even art competitions have some rules!).

Rules can be bent and you can find loopholes, and in a free competition the rules should be about the format, not the content. But without rules any comparison of opinions is completely subjective and arbitrary. It's based on the whims of the judges or referees.

The Chomsky quote, IMHO, doesn't have anything to do with what we're discussing. Any opinion should be allowed in a debate. If you want to argue that children should be a part of a healthy diet, or that Osama bin Laden was a hero, or that the world is controlled by the Illuminati, you should be able to do it. The rules shouldn't be about the content, but about the format which you use to present it.

Without a format, without some rules, there's no way to tell which opinion was supported better than another and therefore deserved to win. It's all subjective. It's all a matter of pleasing a particular judge for whatever reason.

If there are no rules, what's stopping a team from bribing a judge and securing their victory this way? Or for an attractive member of the team to sleep with the judge and get a win this way? If there are no rules, there's no cheating.

True, in real life people try to cheat every time. People bribe, blackmail, lie, use sexual favors, etc. These things exist.

However those things are commonly thought of as "wrong", as "breaking the rules". Bribing, corruption, lying under oath: they're all crimes, and society punishes them (or at least it tries to).

If you encourage people to follow no rules in their competition other than pleasing the judge, you're basically saying "society is a huge joke and you can do everything you need to do in order to win".

I guess that it can be a good message for a ruthless corporate raider or an amoral lawyer. But even them have to mind some rules, because sometimes even them can be punished.

[feathers]

Zvan's conference on how to hold conferences is less than a month away, yay.

http://imgur.com/HYEK9Q5.jpg

Oh dear.

[feathers]

I was about to reply but the Swiss are always so punctual!

Why do you love rules so much? Are you & I incapable of comparing opinions without the intervention of some governmental authority figure?

Not sure if serious or cynical. If serious, rest assured I love the smell of strawman in the morning.

Because without rules there can't be a winner and a loser. There's no need to bring the government into this. Private enterprises are regulated by rules. Sports have rules. The courtroom has rules. Business has rules. Every time there's a competition, and a not simply a free expression of feelings, you need some rules. (Even art competitions have some rules!).

Isn't the whole point of a debating club that it establishes a framework in which debate is to take place? If it's a freestyle battle you might's well call it Fight Club.

But looking at those older CEDA examples, I can't take their hobby seriously. If the idea indeed is to submit written arguments to be orated at 120 words per minute, why even bother with the verbal presentation?

[Oglebart]

Zvan's conference on how to hold conferences is less than a month away, yay.

http://imgur.com/HYEK9Q5.jpg

I'm late for work, but I logged in to say :bow-blue: :bow-blue: :bow-blue:

[Malky]

So this is ... this is what an American College Debate looks like?


But could he do that if he only had the time they had? :?:[/quote]
Yes, they won because they are black.

It's just another example of that modern phenomenon, whereby stupid white people think the best way to demonstrate they aren't racist is to treat black people as intellectually inferior to white people.[/quote][/quote]

I quote agree actually. What is going on in this video does not qualify as a debate for me as there seems to be no exchange of ideasetc just verbal diarrhoea,

[ThreeFlangedJavis]

I was about to reply but the Swiss are always so punctual!

Why do you love rules so much? Are you & I incapable of comparing opinions without the intervention of some governmental authority figure?

Not sure if serious or cynical. If serious, rest assured I love the smell of strawman in the morning.

Because without rules there can't be a winner and a loser. There's no need to bring the government into this. Private enterprises are regulated by rules. Sports have rules. The courtroom has rules. Business has rules. Every time there's a competition, and a not simply a free expression of feelings, you need some rules. (Even art competitions have some rules!).

Isn't the whole point of a debating club that it establishes a framework in which debate is to take place? If it's a freestyle battle you might's well call it Fight Club.

But looking at those older CEDA examples, I can't take their hobby seriously. If the idea indeed is to submit written arguments to be orated at 120 words per minute, why even bother with the verbal presentation?

Or Almost Diamonds comment section, when it had comments.

[Easy J]

I feel like I'm watching a deleted scene from Idiocracy showing how dumb college will be in the future.

[TedDahlberg]

By which I mean of course: those debate girls - worst warmongers ever...

Supermongers assemble!

[youtube]x3ESYdtef-s[/youtube]

[Aneris]

There is actually no such thing as “no rules”, since this is a rule as well, which could be written as “everything is permitted”. This isn't mere semantics, but a feature of the mind that sees things in digital units, as events, as things, as systems where we see important features that characterizes “it”.

What people mean, when they talk about rules of a game are “explicit rules”, or “instructions” and as such not having stated any is commonly seen as “no rules”. There are other rule systems in place, too. There are traditions that effectively form “house rules” and they come about as people form habits of play and expectations, especially in situations where explicit rules leave loopholes.

Then are is yet another layer of rules, which is the “spirit” of the game. People follow them implicitly and they are different from house rules and instructions. Arthur Chu's performance on Jeopardy was completely rule-conform, yet his tactics were seen against the “spirit” of the game. An exploiter in a video game follows all rules, yet players have a sense of how the game was “meant” to be played and sense that something is broken, which the exploiter takes advantage of. Technically, they do what is “allowed” according to the code (which are tight instructions on what a player can and cannot do). A fillibuster in democrafic debate abides the rules, yet all the same against the spirit. They happened often enough that, by tradition, it could be now regarded a “house rule”, a special move permitted in some situations. There are even more such rule systems that underly the activity, all the rules that determine who can “play” for example, plus the rules that underly social activity, turtles all the way down (though it's of course not meaningful to include the laws of physics required to produce a sound in the vocal cords that become part of a debate here).

[SM12]

I suppose it is a bit like Mornington Crescent. There are rules, but what is important is playing in the spirit intended by the game's inventor.

[LurkerPerson]

Seems like it's such an incestuous form of debate that it has developped it's own inside metrics for success and skill that are completely meaningless to the rest of the world. What is it with academics and making things deliberately inpenetrable with masses of jargon, dogma and arbitrary structures then sneering at the dirty unwashed masses because they "don't get it". I'm sure if I was immersed in that lifestyle I could appreciate the skill at "spreading" and bringing up as many "conflict cards" so fast or whatever, but from an outside perspective it looks completely fucking retarded. And given the conclusions being reached, it seems like yet another excuse to legitimize feels over reals po-mo critical theory lived experience delusions more than anything.

[Konrad_Cruze]

http://www.theatlantic.com/education/ar ... ge/360746/

From the link:

This year wasn't the first time this had happened. In the 2013 championship, two men from Emporia State University, Ryan Walsh and Elijah Smith, employed a similar style and became the first African-Americans to win two national debate tournaments. Many of their arguments, based on personal memoir and rap music, completely ignored the stated resolution, and instead asserted that the framework of collegiate debate has historically privileged straight, white, middle-class students.

Tournament participants from all backgrounds say they have found some of these debate strategies offensive. Even so, the new style has received mainstream acceptance, sympathy, and awards.

Because sticking to the topic is racism. And Frederick Douglass and Booker T. Washington were Uncle Toms who accepted the "White Man's rules" for rhetoric.

Joe Leeson Schatz, Director of Speech and Debate at Binghamton University, is encouraged by the changes in debate style and community. “Finally, there’s a recognition in the academic space that the way argument has taken place in the past privileges certain types of people over others,” he said. “Arguments don’t necessarily have to be backed up by professors or written papers. They can come from lived experience.”

Because, as we all know, each and every one of those college kids has a lived experience of having been president or having started a war.

Also, anecdotal evidence for the win.

Critics of the new approach allege that students don’t necessarily have to develop high-level research skills or marshal evidence from published scholarship. They also might not need to have the intellectual acuity required for arguing both sides of a resolution. These skills—together with a non-confrontational presentation style—are considered crucial for success in fields like law and business.

Law and business are products of the Patriarchy.

Hardy and others are also disappointed with what they perceive as a lack of civility and decorum at recent competitions, and believe that the alternative-style debaters have contributed to this environment. “Judges have been very angry, coaches have screamed and yelled. People have given profanity-laced tirades, thrown furniture, and both sides of the ideological divide have used racial slurs,” he said.

Hardy is a sea lion and a tone troll. They're just expressing their feelings.

To counter this trend, Hardy and his allies want to create a “policy only” space in which traditional standards for debate will be enforced. However, this is nearly impossible to do within the two major debate associations, CEDA and the National Debate Tournament (NDT), as they are governed by participants and have few conduct enforcement mechanisms. For instance, while CEDA and NDT’s institutional anti-harassment policy would normally prohibit the term “nigga” as it was used at the recent Indiana University tournament finals, none of the judges penalized the competitors that used it. In fact, those debaters took home prizes.

Rules are for the shitlords.

“Various procedures—regardless of whether we're talking about debate formats or law—have the ability to hide the subjective experiences that shape these seemingly ‘objective’ and ‘rational’ rules,” said UC Hastings Law School professor Osagie Obasogie, who teaches critical race theory. “This is the power of racial subordination: making the viewpoint of the dominant group seem like the only true reality.”

Subjectivity for the win. Objectivity and rationality are racist.

Because as we all know. The Black folk just ain't capable of debating within the framework that the white man does.

[SM12]

Seems like it's such an incestuous form of debate that it has developped it's own inside metrics for success and skill that are completely meaningless to the rest of the world.

Still sounds like Mornington Crescent to me.

[comhcinc]

Seems like it's such an incestuous form of debate that it has developped it's own inside metrics for success and skill that are completely meaningless to the rest of the world.

Still sounds like Mornington Crescent to me.

Does that involve your penis?

:cdc:

[TedDahlberg]

Any Pitters got thoughts on No Mans Sky?

I am torn between revolutionary and boring as fuck.

http://i.imgur.com/ePbEPyQ.jpg

My take on it - and I've heard others express similar thoughts - is that it looks really nice graphically and I hope that it will turn out great… but I'm starting to get concerned that there's very little actual gameplay involved. At least they haven't shown much, as far as I know. Exploring billions of planets is well and good, but there needs to be something to do once you get to them. Is it actually possible to procedurally generate billions of planets that all have meaningful, interesting things on them? And if the answer to that is yes, the next question is if it is also possible for their procedural generation to produce any meaningful variety between planets, or if all those billions of worlds will be slight variations on a handful of themes.

TL;DR I'm looking forward to seeing how it turns out, I want it to be great, but I think I'll read/watch a review or two before I buy it. As Totalbiscuit said somewhere recently, the studio's last game was Joe Danger 2: The Movie. It's a bit of a leap.

[SM12]

Seems like it's such an incestuous form of debate that it has developped it's own inside metrics for success and skill that are completely meaningless to the rest of the world.

Still sounds like Mornington Crescent to me.

Does that involve your penis?

:cdc:

It is hard to tell. It's on radio, so I can't see anything the contestants are doing.

[jimthepleb]

H/T Ryan Long:

http://thoughtcatalog.com/alexis-caputo ... attention/

Article banned as either hateful or abusive content.
Awwww they so cute.

[jimthepleb]

By which I mean of course: those debate girls - worst warmongers ever...

Supermongers assemble!

[youtube]x3ESYdtef-s[/youtube]

John Finnemore is brilliant!

[TedDahlberg]

[…]My assumption (and of course I could be wrong) was that his lived experience has been that people often don't hold an elevator for a guy who looks like him. :|

Probably not. People are scared to death of random violence which is something that simply really doesn't happen all that often. It's fairly rare. Getting into the elevator...let's assume he is a member of some criminal bike gang. Worst case scenario. Is he going to do anything to you? HELL NO. The last thing that person wants is attention, and to bring down the whole org because they decided to do something extremely pointless and stupid.

Truth is, many of these people can be very nice and pleasant as long as you're not their target/competition, and they tend to not shit where they live, and average Joe/Jane 9-5 is NEVER going to be their target. Which is why it's difficult to go after them in Canada, as people believe that a bike gang makes their community a bit safer on the whole, and not more dangerous.

As part of my job I've signed leases with a fair number of people with somewhat troubled lives. Recovering or not so recovering addicts, people who are recurring guests at prison, that sort of thing. And pretty much all of them have been among the nicest and politest people you could imagine. Far more so than a lot of our more regular tenants. Hell, I've had the police call me up so that one of our tenants that they'd arrested could talk to me and get his invoice number so he could pay his rent. Much nicer conversation than a lot of calls I get.

Not a fan of criminals obviously, but in my experience they're perfectly pleasant people unless you happen to meet them in their professional capacity.

[TedDahlberg]

By which I mean of course: those debate girls - worst warmongers ever...

Supermongers assemble!

[youtube]x3ESYdtef-s[youtube]

John Finnemore is brilliant!

I worship the man ever so slightly.

[Konrad_Cruze]

I suppose it is a bit like Mornington Crescent. There are rules, but what is important is playing in the spirit intended by the game's inventor.

I've been listening to "sorry I haven't a clue" for years and I still can't get my had around mornington crescent

[SM12]

I suppose it is a bit like Mornington Crescent. There are rules, but what is important is playing in the spirit intended by the game's inventor.

I've been listening to "sorry I haven't a clue" for years and I still can't get my had around mornington crescent

It seems in that case, that you would struggle to make an American College Debating team.

[Konrad_Cruze]

I suppose it is a bit like Mornington Crescent. There are rules, but what is important is playing in the spirit intended by the game's inventor.

I've been listening to "sorry I haven't a clue" for years and I still can't get my had around mornington crescent

It seems in that case, that you would struggle to make an American College Debating team.

Fair enough. You explain the rules to me then. I have looked them up so I do in fact know exactly what the rules are. But come let me here what they are from you

[CuntajusRationality]

Just as another data point in this CEDA "debate" debacle, one of the few current topics in the Open Discussion section of their forums is a Personal Pronoun Index and a complaint that too many "white cis (mostly but not entirely) men" refuse to participate in this on account of their cis privilege.

Apparently some of the judges also post their judging philosophy or paradigm as well: example 1, example 2, example 3, etc.

Bottom line is I don't care what style or format or rules they want to use, but it's not a fucking debate by any reasonable definition of the word and shouldn't be called such. Call it a Collegiate Def Poetry Slam Contest or something else, but "academic debate" it's not.

[mike150160]

Fair enough. You explain the rules to me then. I have looked them up so I do in fact know exactly what the rules are. But come let me here what they are from you

Surely it's easier just to play a round. Then the rules will be obvious to everybody.


East Ham.

[Konrad_Cruze]

Vauxhall

[Scented Nectar]

I can't quite figure out whether he's a true believer nutcase or a wilful scammer.

I think he actually believes it.

If so, I hope my question puzzles him enough that he has to figure out some way of making deicide both a curse and not a curse. I was all polite in my comment in hopes of an answer. I capitalized both the names of religions and the names of his invisible friends. Usually I refuse to do that as it feels like giving religion some elevated level of respect. Also, I feel that way because christians think capitalization shows respect, with all their 'Him's and 'He's, etc, so I do the opposite. It feels icky to capitalize religious stuff, like acquiescing or cow-towing to their ridiculous beliefs. And why capitalize 'jews' when we don't capitalize 'knitters', 'cooks', 'chess players', etc? Also, for the sake of argument and in hopes of a real answer from Brother N (I don't mind capitalizing human names!), I did not mention that the 'holy' books are full of shit. I let the whole jews killed jesus/god thing be assumed as if true.

[mike150160]

Vauxhall

It's a rookie mistake and you hate to see it.

You've just put yourself in nid.

[Konrad_Cruze]

oh god, so I have. I thought we were playing the free thought blogs variation

[Konrad_Cruze]

If I'm in nid then its your go. Twice. That is of course unless we are playing sandown rules which allow me to back and have another go because allowing someone to be in nidd is bad form

[some guy]

H/T Ryan Long:

http://thoughtcatalog.com/alexis-caputo ... attention/

Article banned as either hateful or abusive content.
Awwww they so cute.

Not banned. Its just a "trigger warning" screen. You can get to the article by clicking on "Continue" at the bottom of the screen.

[Scented Nectar]

Too late, you've sparked a memory of me reading about Jesus bring Lazarus back to life with his spunk. I think it was John Allegro writing in "The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross". Something about circle jerks as a fertility rite in early Christianity too?

That must have been before the 'don't spill your seed on the ground' rule.

Maybe it wasn't on the ground...

[youtube]phDpf65Cb54[/youtube]

With beds and flooring and paved roads these days, there might not be too much ground spillage anyways. Even Jenny's homeless wanker probably had pavement under him. :think:

[Tribble]

Any Pitters got thoughts on No Mans Sky?

I am torn between revolutionary and boring as fuck.

http://i.imgur.com/ePbEPyQ.jpg

It's sort of like Elite... But a shit-ton bigger and better when it comes to the things promised by Frontier, but not delivered, when it comes to planets and exploration. But there's a lot of information I don't possess on the game and how it turns out is anyone's guess since it's not been released.

But I've been following it on Steam. (Along with 80+ other games.)

[jimthepleb]

Vauxhall

If we're playing within Parrott's Code of no crossing then:
Mile End

[Tribble]

Because as we all know. The Black folk just ain't capable of debating within the framework that the white man does.

Something only tangentially related to that concept:

https://o.twimg.com/2/proxy.jpg?t=HBimA ... 5NBzwQ9LBE

Charles Haley to 49ers rookies: Act like the white guys

Posted by Josh Alper on July 24, 2015, 6:56 AM EDT

Charles Haley had his ups and downs off the field during his playing career, but was able to handle them well enough to wind up in the Hall of Fame.

Haley is now trying to make sure current players avoid the downs and has counseled 49ers linebacker Aldon Smith to put his energy into football so he can avoid the issues that led him to be suspended for a large portion of last season. The 49ers asked Haley to deliver a similar message to their rookie class this offseason and Haley opted for “shock value” to reach players he says have the “attention span of a 5-year-old.”

“As far as the rookies, and I know they probably got mad, but I said, ‘Why don’t you all act like the white guys? You never see them in the paper getting high or hitting people. Why don’t you act like that?’ They all looked at me crazy,” Haley said, via the San Jose Mercury News

...

.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/20 ... hite-guys/

I haven't seen a huge firestorm over this. He's black. He's a HOFer. He's bi-polar. He'll probably get a pass.

But what you said reminded me of that little thing...

[feathers]

In another, similar context, you might be told to stop JAQing off and to listen and believe. Some sects have moved beyond the CEDA cargo-cult-debates which are won with sheer volume of words (actual content is irrelevant and unnecessary), to banning debate and questions altogether. Contrary to popular wisdom, you may now expect a visit from the Tribunal del Santo Oficio de la Inquisición.

No esperaba la inquisición Española...
I think it is

[Konrad_Cruze]

Vauxhall

If we're playing within Parrott's Code of no crossing then:
Mile End

Nicely played sir

However

I invoke Mortimer's Shift and Pass to Camden Parkway.

[Git]

Ah, the Great Game.

And no Hypermodernist bollocks so far I see too. Good.

Im going to follow the example of the Legendary Terrance Mulligan and play a classic move straight out of Old Josias Black's "Appendices" and invoke the Big Top Manoeuvre :

Picadilly Circus.

[Tribble]

My take on it - and I've heard others express similar thoughts - is that it looks really nice graphically and I hope that it will turn out great… but I'm starting to get concerned that there's very little actual gameplay involved. At least they haven't shown much, as far as I know. Exploring billions of planets is well and good, but there needs to be something to do once you get to them. Is it actually possible to procedurally generate billions of planets that all have meaningful, interesting things on them? And if the answer to that is yes, the next question is if it is also possible for their procedural generation to produce any meaningful variety between planets, or if all those billions of worlds will be slight variations on a handful of themes.

TL;DR I'm looking forward to seeing how it turns out, I want it to be great, but I think I'll read/watch a review or two before I buy it. As Totalbiscuit said somewhere recently, the studio's last game was Joe Danger 2: The Movie. It's a bit of a leap.

This is from a Q&A:

Question Answer
Is the game world infinite? Yes
Are there planets the size of Earth? Yes
Can I rename Earth something better? No
Is Earth in this game? No
Can I teleport back to my ship? No
Can you collect plants? You can discover plants
Is there a "fog of war" on your map? Yes
Will I have an objective marker? You will have many
Will you be able to play with your friends? Yes
Is there a competitive element? Yes, "if you want that"
Can you grief other players Yes, "a little bit"
Will there be NPCs? No
If I want to buy something, do I have to go to a store? Yes
Can I chop down a tree? Yes
Can you select a gender at the beginning of the game? No
Can you customize the look of your character? Yes, "sort of"
Can I build shelters? No
Can I plant a flag on a planet? Yes, "Sort of"
Can I design that flag? No
Do different planets have different gravity? No
Can you ride a dinosaur? No
Do the animals eat each other? Yes
Can you terraform a planet? "Let's say no"
Can you swim underwater? Yes
Can you accidentally destroy a planet? No
Can you intentionally destroy a planet? Yes, "A little bit"
Can you be a pacifist? Yes, but you will still be attacked
Are there forms of life that are beyond "normal" comprehension? Yes, "I'd like to think so"
Can you just live in space? Yes
Are there some planets that are too inhospitable for life? Yes
If I keep flying in one direction, will I hit the edge of the galaxy? No, "you can go into the darkness for as long as you want to"
Can you customize your ship? No, "you have to find the ship that you like"
Can you have more than one ship? No
Can you build a space station? No
Will there be DLC? No
Are there black holes? Yes

And there's a lot more here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/NoMansSkyTheGame/wiki/faq


So, really, there's a lot missing and it looks like it could get real dull ,real fast. Kind of like Elite Dangerous did.

[jimthepleb]

Hey Mike check out the MC Noob!!... Your go chap!

[Konrad_Cruze]

Ah, the Great Game.

And no Hypermodernist bollocks so far I see too. Good.

Im going to follow the example of the Legendary Terrance Mulligan and play a classic move straight out of Old Josias Black's "Appendices" and invoke the Big Top Manoeuvre :

Picadilly Circus.

Camden Parkway to Picadilly Circus is that allowed?

[Konrad_Cruze]

Ah, the Great Game.

And no Hypermodernist bollocks so far I see too. Good.

Im going to follow the example of the Legendary Terrance Mulligan and play a classic move straight out of Old Josias Black's "Appendices" and invoke the Big Top Manoeuvre :

Picadilly Circus.

Camden Parkway to Picadilly Circus is that allowed?

Sorry folks I'm going to have to play Enfield and bow out until tuesday. If the game is still going I will return.

[mike150160]

Waltham Forest (ha!)

[TedDahlberg]

My take on it - and I've heard others express similar thoughts - is that it looks really nice graphically and I hope that it will turn out great… but I'm starting to get concerned that there's very little actual gameplay involved. At least they haven't shown much, as far as I know. Exploring billions of planets is well and good, but there needs to be something to do once you get to them. Is it actually possible to procedurally generate billions of planets that all have meaningful, interesting things on them? And if the answer to that is yes, the next question is if it is also possible for their procedural generation to produce any meaningful variety between planets, or if all those billions of worlds will be slight variations on a handful of themes.

TL;DR I'm looking forward to seeing how it turns out, I want it to be great, but I think I'll read/watch a review or two before I buy it. As Totalbiscuit said somewhere recently, the studio's last game was Joe Danger 2: The Movie. It's a bit of a leap.

This is from a Q&A:

Question Answer
Is the game world infinite? Yes
Are there planets the size of Earth? Yes
Can I rename Earth something better? No
Is Earth in this game? No
Can I teleport back to my ship? No
Can you collect plants? You can discover plants
Is there a "fog of war" on your map? Yes
Will I have an objective marker? You will have many
Will you be able to play with your friends? Yes
Is there a competitive element? Yes, "if you want that"
Can you grief other players Yes, "a little bit"
Will there be NPCs? No
If I want to buy something, do I have to go to a store? Yes
Can I chop down a tree? Yes
Can you select a gender at the beginning of the game? No
Can you customize the look of your character? Yes, "sort of"
Can I build shelters? No
Can I plant a flag on a planet? Yes, "Sort of"
Can I design that flag? No
Do different planets have different gravity? No
Can you ride a dinosaur? No
Do the animals eat each other? Yes
Can you terraform a planet? "Let's say no"
Can you swim underwater? Yes
Can you accidentally destroy a planet? No
Can you intentionally destroy a planet? Yes, "A little bit"
Can you be a pacifist? Yes, but you will still be attacked
Are there forms of life that are beyond "normal" comprehension? Yes, "I'd like to think so"
Can you just live in space? Yes
Are there some planets that are too inhospitable for life? Yes
If I keep flying in one direction, will I hit the edge of the galaxy? No, "you can go into the darkness for as long as you want to"
Can you customize your ship? No, "you have to find the ship that you like"
Can you have more than one ship? No
Can you build a space station? No
Will there be DLC? No
Are there black holes? Yes

And there's a lot more here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/NoMansSkyTheGame/wiki/faq


So, really, there's a lot missing and it looks like it could get real dull ,real fast. Kind of like Elite Dangerous did.

Hmm, yeah, at best none of those answers are of the "oh, cool" variety, at worst they are worrying. I mean for example, "If I keep flying in one direction, will I hit the edge of the galaxy? No, "you can go into the darkness for as long as you want to"" sounds to me like actually yes you can reach the edge of the galaxy, and there's nothing beyond it even if you keep going. Unless I'm misinterpreting what "the darkness" means.

I just want a good, kind of arcadey space sim. Is that so much to ask? I thought Elite Dangerous might be it, but I have yet to make it through an entire video of someone playing it without turning it off out of boredom so I don't really feel like playing it. I've tried to read the Star Citizen website several times, but I still don't know what the hell that game is exactly right now, let alone what it will be. Mostly it seems to be a shop for expensive ships that you maybe can use for something, or maybe not.

I guess I'll just sit over here and replay Darklight Conflict.

[Service Dog]

....Maybe these debate teams submit their arguments in written form and are judged on that....

No, your speculation is not an accurate guess.

[Matt Cavanaugh]

I've done it myself. Last time was after the Elliott Rodger shootings - I defriended a couple of people who took an aggressive "it's all about me, and it's all your fault" "#yesallwomen" approach. Sometime's you just decide life's too short. Currently getting a bit bored of left-wing people who congratulate themselves for having so much empathy on the one hand, and declare anyone who votes Tory must be evil on the other, but they haven't aggravated me enough to defriend any of them yet.

I was unfriended for pointing out that Roger was in fact half-asian and had killed 4 men and 3 women. My soon to be ex-facefriend asked 'what's your point?' When I replied, 'What was your point in saying he was white and killed 7 women', she accused me of "mansplaining" and ... gone.

I was unfriended by another friend after I noted that Elizabeth Warren had lied about representing the little people in product liability, workers' comp, and pension fund lawsuits (in each of the cases Warren had bragged about, she was counsel for the big corporations and helped them avoid paying.) My soon to be ex-facefriend told me it had been a long time since he felt really good about a politician, and my statements of fact were killing his buzz.

Many people seem to treat Facebook as the old Family Feud show -- they get to say the most controversial, provocative things, their friends may only reply, 'Good answer! Good answer!'

[paddybrown]

I suppose it is a bit like Mornington Crescent. There are rules, but what is important is playing in the spirit intended by the game's inventor.

I've been listening to "sorry I haven't a clue" for years and I still can't get my had around mornington crescent

I still miss Humph. He had a way of delivering the most outrageously filthy double entendres, at lunchtime on a Sunday, while giving a completely convincing impression of having no idea there might be a rude meaning. Jack Dee is a fine comedian in many ways (and his Nicholas Parsons impersonation is superb), but he's too knowing to be able to do that, and so something vital is lost.

I remember one about her going to meet a gentleman friend who had an aviary with both wild and domesticated species in it, and she couldn't wait to see his woodcock, pullet and swallow.

Or the Russian gentleman friend who'd brought over one his countries delicacies for her to taste, with a vodka-based aperitif to follow - he was going to server her caviar in his hotel room, and liqueur out on the balcony.

Or the time she was off to meet a pair of farmhands who plough with a very large beast of burden, and she was very keen to see their gigantic ox.

You get the idea. Jack just can't away with that kind of thing.

Still, can you imagine today's porcelain puritan progressives letting him get away with talking about the delightful Samantha like that?

[katamari Damassi]

Another crazed gunman opens fire in a cinema, killing 2 and wounding 9 before killing himself. McEwen is already calling misogyny.

[Scented Nectar]

My take on it - and I've heard others express similar thoughts - is that it looks really nice graphically and I hope that it will turn out great… but I'm starting to get concerned that there's very little actual gameplay involved. At least they haven't shown much, as far as I know. Exploring billions of planets is well and good, but there needs to be something to do once you get to them. Is it actually possible to procedurally generate billions of planets that all have meaningful, interesting things on them? And if the answer to that is yes, the next question is if it is also possible for their procedural generation to produce any meaningful variety between planets, or if all those billions of worlds will be slight variations on a handful of themes.

TL;DR I'm looking forward to seeing how it turns out, I want it to be great, but I think I'll read/watch a review or two before I buy it. As Totalbiscuit said somewhere recently, the studio's last game was Joe Danger 2: The Movie. It's a bit of a leap.

This is from a Q&A:

Question Answer
Is the game world infinite? Yes
Are there planets the size of Earth? Yes
Can I rename Earth something better? No
Is Earth in this game? No
Can I teleport back to my ship? No
Can you collect plants? You can discover plants
Is there a "fog of war" on your map? Yes
Will I have an objective marker? You will have many
Will you be able to play with your friends? Yes
Is there a competitive element? Yes, "if you want that"
Can you grief other players Yes, "a little bit"
Will there be NPCs? No
If I want to buy something, do I have to go to a store? Yes
Can I chop down a tree? Yes
Can you select a gender at the beginning of the game? No
Can you customize the look of your character? Yes, "sort of"
Can I build shelters? No
Can I plant a flag on a planet? Yes, "Sort of"
Can I design that flag? No
Do different planets have different gravity? No
Can you ride a dinosaur? No
Do the animals eat each other? Yes
Can you terraform a planet? "Let's say no"
Can you swim underwater? Yes
Can you accidentally destroy a planet? No
Can you intentionally destroy a planet? Yes, "A little bit"
Can you be a pacifist? Yes, but you will still be attacked
Are there forms of life that are beyond "normal" comprehension? Yes, "I'd like to think so"
Can you just live in space? Yes
Are there some planets that are too inhospitable for life? Yes
If I keep flying in one direction, will I hit the edge of the galaxy? No, "you can go into the darkness for as long as you want to"
Can you customize your ship? No, "you have to find the ship that you like"
Can you have more than one ship? No
Can you build a space station? No
Will there be DLC? No
Are there black holes? Yes

And there's a lot more here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/NoMansSkyTheGame/wiki/faq


So, really, there's a lot missing and it looks like it could get real dull ,real fast. Kind of like Elite Dangerous did.

I haven't played those sorts of games since my old DOS versions of Rise of the Triads and Heretic, but the videos I saw on No Man's Sky have stunning graphics. The colours and environments are beautiful. I might actually buy it when it comes out. It will be released for PCs (along with PS4s), which means I don't have to buy some sort of gaming system, and it will run on Windows machines that are as old as 2009, which describes the computer I use most. I don't like the idea of multi-player games where I have to interact with other real people, but this one allows for playing alone and offline. I'm going to buy this. The procedural stuff with it's huge number of unique experiences is very appealing too. If I have to start over, it will be unique each time.

[comhcinc]

Wrestling rumor news some may actually care about.

It seems Hulk Hogan is maybe be getting the Tim Hunk treatment. His have been drop from his WWE contract and they have scrubbed any mention of him from their website.

http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/201 ... wwe-again/

In a developing situation, it appears as if WWE Hall of Famer and current Tough Enough judge Hulk Hogan has parted way with the company. The reason stems from rumors of a tape existing featuring Hogan allegedly going on a racial tirade.

The thing is from what people are able to piece together at the moment, this "racial tirade" is not really such when heard in context.

I'll post something else about it when I know more about it.

[Matt Cavanaugh]

They had already been in trouble over voter registration fraud that, luckily, was so inept that it was usually discovered and corrected by state officials.

If you do voter registration, you're required to submit every document you receive. The reason for this should be obvious (oh, I just conveniently "lost" all these applications from people who ticked the wrong party box).

ACORN did the most they could do, which was flag suspicious documents for inspection when they turned them in.

ACORN was a thoroughly corrupt operation that had been engaged for years in election fraud, voter intimidation, and illegal campaign funding. All par for the course in big city local politics.

In 2008, multiple obama campaign HQ workers were caught on video encouraging shills posing as college students to register in both their home state and college state, so as to vote twice for obama.

[comhcinc]

Wrestling rumor news some may actually care about.

It seems Hulk Hogan is maybe be getting the Tim Hunk treatment. His have been drop from his WWE contract and they have scrubbed any mention of him from their website.

http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/201 ... wwe-again/

In a developing situation, it appears as if WWE Hall of Famer and current Tough Enough judge Hulk Hogan has parted way with the company. The reason stems from rumors of a tape existing featuring Hogan allegedly going on a racial tirade.

The thing is from what people are able to piece together at the moment, this "racial tirade" is not really such when heard in context.

I'll post something else about it when I know more about it.

Right after I posted this more information may have come out. Maybe not Tim Hunted after all.
http://www.f4wonline.com/more/more-top- ... on-updated

By Dave Meltzer, WrestlingObserver.com w/additional info from Josh Nason

On Friday morning, WWE announced they have terminated the contract of Terry "Hulk Hogan" Bollea. Their brief statement:

"WWE terminated its contract with Terry Bollea (aka Hulk Hogan). WWE is committed to embracing and celebrating individuals from all backgrounds as demonstrated by the diversity of our employees, performers and fans worldwide."

A few minutes afterward, the National Enquirer and Radar Online released a story that claims Hogan made racist comments on a sex tape, using the N-word several times in a dialogue about someone that was was offering to fund daughter Brooke's music career. Here's an excerpt from their story:

"I don’t know if Brooke was f*cking the black guy’s son," Hulk raved, the sources add.

"I mean, I don’t have double standards. I mean, I am a racist, to a point, f*cking n*ggers. But then when it comes to nice people and sh*t, and whatever."

Then, in a tirade to rival the racism embarrassments suffered by Mel Gibson and "Dog The Bounty Hunter," Hulk unloaded even more hatred!

According to sources, he said: "I mean, I’d rather if she was going to f*ck some n*gger, I’d rather have her marry an 8-foot-tall n*gger worth a hundred million dollars! Like a basketball player!

"I guess we’re all a little racist. Fucking n*gger."

The dropping of Hogan was entirely due to the content on the sex tape with Heather Clem, believed to be from 2006, who at the time was the wife of Bubba the Love Sponge.

Although only one sex tape had surfaced, in 2012, which led to Hogan's $100 million lawsuit against Gawker Media, which showed excerpts from the tape, an FBI investigation showed three additional DVDs of Hogan and Clem.

Those close to he situation indicated that other speculated reasons over the last day had nothing to do with the decision, including a 2012 radio interview that had been talked about in many circles as the possible reason.

At this point Hogan has not been removed from historical content on the WWE Network. But he won't be involved in anything current or going forward.

After learning of the content that was going to be released, On Thursday night, the WWE ordered its web site to eliminate all mentions of Hogan, including as an Alumni or as a Hall of Famer, in addition to his merchandise. He was also removed as a judge for Tough Enough and at this point a replacement has not been named. Curtis Axel will be dropping his Axel Mania gimmick immediately.

[Matt Cavanaugh]

You are still just wrong. You are assuming you are the target audience. You are not. The target audience is a young urban group who understands the hiphop culture. Is that you? How many slam poetry events have you been to? Do you regular go to your local hip hop club (do you have a local hip hop club?) and spit rhymes at people? Who are your major beefs and how many mixtapes have you dropped on them?

If CEDA was just a niche alternative campus debating society, you would be right. Their participants and audience could presumably get something out of it, and outsiders would ridicule them, but almost never take them seriously.

But it's not.

Promoting that horseshit and calling it 'debating' does a disservice to those kids, who will never be able to function properly in the real world.

It's a form of voluntary cultural apartheid which argues, we're exempt from adhering to society's common practices, standards & concepts, but the rest of society has to tolerate our bizarre, irrational customs. FTS.