Profile for Student of Trinity
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Displayed name | Student of Trinity |
| Member number | 3431 |
| Title | Electric Sheep One |
| Postcount | 3335 |
| Homepage | |
| Registered | Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
Recent posts
Pages
| Author | Recent posts |
|---|---|
| Scent of new-mown hay in Richard White Games | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Saturday, July 16 2005 11:42
Profile
quote:I'd say you're getting it fine, Verelor. Plan Q is need-to-know, Icshi. Sorry. I mean, of course your high status in the order means that you do need to know. Just not consciously. Your cerebral implants have it all pat, and they will take over your brain if the need arises. In case anyone missed it: That 'everything is permitted' roadsign image is on a US Navy https: site, the only place on the whole web where I could find it. Thus slipped out the revelation that we have taken over the USN. Oh well; with all the uniforms changed to White, people would have started to wonder soon, anyway. [ Saturday, July 16, 2005 11:46: Message edited by: Student of Trinity ] -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| Scent of new-mown hay in Richard White Games | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Saturday, July 16 2005 08:48
Profile
Ah, very good. Verelor is confused, and Rumsfeld is baffled enough to be worrying about an even deeper category of unknown. Comrades, our security measures are holding well. All Plan Q operatives may stand down. *thumbs nose at Echelon* -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| Regrettable But in General | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Saturday, July 16 2005 03:34
Profile
Maybe this is pouring oil without knowing whether it's onto troubled waters or a bonfire, but I can see this both ways. As far as I can see, Alec laid out some very reasonable-looking rules, that showed a lot of thought about making a fair and worthwhile election. But there was no beta test, and the actual event exposed an unexpected consequence of the rules. Namely, as I see it: that letting candidates act as bloc proxies -- allowing them to withdraw and redirect all the votes they had received to any remaining candidate of their choice -- gives popular but losing candidates too much power. So to me what Kelandon did seems like a bug exploit. I can't fault him for doing it; I'd have done it, too, and been proud of my ingenuity. But Alec must have been very chagrined, after all his investment in the election. If I were in his place, I would be upset not at the way things turned out, but at the fact that the letter of my rules had been used to violate the spirit I had intended to underly them -- and that I had assumed everyone else shared. The best remedy I can see is for Alec's detractors and Kelandon's defenders to try to see this from Alec's point of view, and feel his pain a bit; and for Alec to cool down enough to see that a 'friendly game' spirit -- and a specific interpretation of what that means -- is a lot harder to convey than the letter of the law. Some folks play a mighty sharp game of Diplomacy (or better, Machiavelli) and stay friends. This kind of confusion of context is bound to happen from time to time, and although it can be extremely frustrating, it shouldn't really be held against anyone that they didn't catch your vision of the spirit of the game. -------------------- It is not enough to discover how things seem to seem. We must discover how things really seem. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| RPGs in General | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Saturday, July 16 2005 02:58
Profile
For the first time in longer than I can remember, I have three weeks or so coming up with little enough to do that I can afford to spend a few hours each day gaming. Oh, I've got to arrange a transatlantic move, and it would be good to write a physics paper or three and pump up my German. But I've decided I need a break, so I'm going to do something pointless a fair bit of the time. HBP should arrive a bit later today courtesy of Amazon, but it won't last past Monday at the latest. So I'm looking at getting some new game, strategy or RPG, for Mac OS 10.4 (700 MHz G4 iMac, with 512M RAM -- so latest high end graphics may be pushing it a bit too much). Right now I'm leaning towards Neverwinter Nights. I've looked again at Avernum, but ... sigh. The graphic level of Geneforge is fine for me, but Avernum has tiny little figures bipping across the sketchy landscape, and it just takes too much effort to get into it. I did sort of get into VoDT in the BoA demo, so I expect Avernum might interest me if I gave the plot a while to get going; but for the next three weeks I want a bit more chocolaty coating, I think. The NWN graphics are a tad chunky, but they're good enough to look cool. I've thought about Warcraft 3, but I don't want that much micromanagement. I liked Heroes of Might and Magic 2 and 3, but I've heard such disappointing things about HOMM4 that I think I'll pass on it. Any other suggestions or advice? [ Saturday, July 16, 2005 03:36: Message edited by: Student of Trinity ] -------------------- It is not enough to discover how things seem to seem. We must discover how things really seem. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| Scent of new-mown hay in Richard White Games | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Friday, July 15 2005 15:01
Profile
Of course we took over the navy. What, you thought Moby Dick was just an allegory? Man, I was sure that the great White whale named Richard was practically giving the game away. Now I wish we hadn't taken back all our subliminal messages in Shakespeare. -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| What do YOU want to see in G4? in Geneforge Series | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Friday, July 15 2005 14:57
Profile
I say, leave it to the ornkotaurs. Perhaps this explains their aggressive attitude. It would also explain why these trowels, which otherwise look so fine, are unsellable. -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| What do YOU want to see in G4? in Geneforge Series | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Friday, July 15 2005 13:02
Profile
I was merely speculating, but you speak with dismaying authority. -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| What do YOU want to see in G4? in Geneforge Series | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Friday, July 15 2005 11:51
Profile
quote:I should think the edges would be almost as bad. -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| What do YOU want to see in G4? in Geneforge Series | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Friday, July 15 2005 11:09
Profile
There's putting your foot in your mouth, and there's being hoist by your own petard. Beyond either, any threat that implies habitual riding of trowels, however marketable, has already done more harm to the threatener than it threatens to the threatened. Which being interpreted means, :eek: -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| Just say no in Richard White Games | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Friday, July 15 2005 11:01
Profile
I understand that to qualify as a US Army Ranger you need to go three months without using a mouse, except as food. This might be only a necessary condition, though. -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| Scent of new-mown hay in Richard White Games | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Friday, July 15 2005 10:53
Profile
Re the certificate checking: That's the one drawback to our recent secret takeover of the US navy. On the plus side, the ability to project power globally with full nuclear capability. On the minus side, some uptight webhosting. It seemed like a fair tradeoff at the time, but there's been some buyer's remorse. Re Kierkegaard: For now I'll stick with Bohr, since he also said all kinds of loopy stuff; but if I need to fall back on someone else, ol' Søren would let me keep my Danish sponsors. So I'll bear him in mind. [ Friday, July 15, 2005 10:58: Message edited by: Student of Trinity ] -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| Lucien 'Thuryl' McMahon Is Naked in General | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Friday, July 15 2005 10:41
Profile
"Long pig" is cannibalese for "human". What cannibals, and where, I do not know. I had this from a friend, whose authority on the subject I accepted, probably on no stronger grounds than that he was from New Zealand, where I somehow assume they know this kind of thing. -------------------- It is not enough to discover how things seem to seem. We must discover how things really seem. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| Scent of new-mown hay in Richard White Games | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Friday, July 15 2005 08:17
Profile
This is the one I wanted, except that it isn't in color.  "In this zone, everything is permitted." [ Friday, July 15, 2005 08:18: Message edited by: Student of Trinity ] -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| How many hours of sleep do you get per 24 hours, on average? in General | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Friday, July 15 2005 07:02
Profile
A lot of military leadership training is based on sleep deprivation. They don't poke you with sticks or anything, just keep you moving with missions or simulated attacks or whatever, with no more than a couple of hours sleep a night. The theory is not that this is realistic -- though of course if things go wrong anything could happen in combat -- but that it is the best way to simulate the stress of combat without actually injuring people. You definitely become accident prone, and illness prone, but for up to about 5 days the body can take it not too badly (at least if you're young). (I'm not just talking about staying awake, but about pretty steady physical exertion for most hours of the 24.) After up to 5 days, you can get one good night's sleep and be back in business. More than 5 days, though, and it seems to take longer to recover. After about a week, if this kind of stuff goes on, everyone finds themselves with the same bad cold, that takes weeks to go away even after you get home. The weirdest effects are mental. You get stupid, of course. Eventually you even lose orientation, and can walk past a tree, notice it moving relative to you, and feel that it is really moving. That's the closest I've come to hallucination, but others have reported that and more. I have been told that I once stood on top of a vehicle in the middle of the night, shouting radio call signs at the top of my lungs; but I didn't remember that at all. -------------------- It is not enough to discover how things seem to seem. We must discover how things really seem. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| Scent of new-mown hay in Richard White Games | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Friday, July 15 2005 06:39
Profile
What's a secret order fronting for a spam forum without blatant ambiguity? We must have this complementary thread as well. I have yet to confirm that Niels Bohr actually said my signature line, but I believe he did say that the quality complementary to Truth is Clarity. Words to live by. Maybe. Anyone got a nice image of the European 'end of no parking zone' roadsign? The one that looks to North Americans as though it must mean 'nothing is forbidden'? [ Sunday, July 24, 2005 07:36: Message edited by: Student of Trinity ] -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| Just say no in Richard White Games | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Friday, July 15 2005 06:34
Profile
This Galactic Core stuff is becoming more and more like that fantasy space opera I was talking about. I bet in the end we learn that it was all just a graviton's dream. -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| Regrettable But in General | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Friday, July 15 2005 05:00
Profile
What the hell? Custer, whom I don't even know to call Alec, is one of the most interesting people here. His departure is a rotten shame, and I can't see what can be a big enough deal to have prompted it. This election has error bars bigger than the Malamute Saloon; people are taking it way too seriously. A lot of votes come from relative newbies like me, who can't do any better than vote for the people we know best, and that means the people who have posted a lot lately. There just isn't much that can be done about that, so the process is not, and was never going to be, anything more than a hoke-fest. It's a lark. It will probably generate a good moderator, but it would have done so if any of about a dozen candidates had won. (Heck, I'm even naive enough to believe that TM would have made a good mod, given the chance -- he can obviously turn the outrageousness off and on at will.) Custer would be a great moderator, and this is obvious to all concerned, the election notwithstanding: the election not-with-having-anything-to-do-with. If Alec can somehow hear this; from the mass of latecomers who couldn't possibly feud with him but would like to see more of his contributions: please. Take a breather, chill down, and come on back. -------------------- It is not enough to discover how things seem to seem. We must discover how things really seem. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| Official Election Final Round Voting in General | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Thursday, July 14 2005 14:01
Profile
Eligo in Summum Pontificem Thuryl. But if the supreme pontificate is already taken, let him be general mod instead. [ Thursday, July 14, 2005 14:10: Message edited by: Student of Trinity ] -------------------- It is not enough to discover how things seem to seem. We must discover how things really seem. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| New sci-fi genre in General | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Thursday, July 14 2005 06:39
Profile
Here's a nice innocuous topic. I read two books on long flights recently, and realized that a funny kind of sub-genre seems to have emerged, which might be called 'fantasy space opera'. It generally has vast distances and/or vast stretches of time, and raises vast questions about the nature of reality, etc. It introduces multiple interstellar (or at least interplanetary) cultures and customs; it has lots of stuff about artificial intelligence and biotechnology; and it tinkers with the laws of nature at some level, so that (unlike traditional space opera) extremely crazy things happen. I can list about a half dozen books that I think fit this genre: Vernor Vinge, A Fire Upon the Deep; Dan Simmons (Hyperion/Endymion maybe not quite all the way there yet, but current Ilium and Olympos definitely; Alastair Reynolds Revelation Space and sequels; Ken Macleod, Newton's Wake and others; doubtless others still that I'm forgetting. The genre seems surprisingly rich, in that I have now read several books with a lot of overlap in theme and style that nevertheless seem (at least to me) sufficiently different to all be interesting. Anyone else noticed this phenomenon? Like it or hate it? -------------------- It is not enough to discover how things seem to seem. We must discover how things really seem. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| The Election in General | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Thursday, July 14 2005 06:06
Profile
quote:He's at pretty short range here. In fact, though, I think this is just a dummy Alorael, placed a la Sherlock Holmes to lull the target. The dummy is pretty convincing, except for one thing: Alorael is the only one not saying anything. That gives it away. The real Alorael is laying up at long range, in a neighbouring thread, camouflaged as an em-dash. -------------------- It is not enough to discover how things seem to seem. We must discover how things really seem. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| Looking At Free and Odd Games. in General | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Tuesday, July 5 2005 20:05
Profile
I tried that spicetrade game. It sounds cool, but doesn't exactly start with a bang. You see screens full of old middle eastern maps and paintings, and click on parts of them to move, or initiate simple dialogs, or buy saffron bulbs, etc. So it's actually a kind of choose-your-own-adventure game, as far as I can see. I got as far as borrowing 300 dirhams from my uncle, wandering out to my field outside town, and buying a saffron bulb in the bazaar. It would only let me buy one, though I could have afforded a dozen or so. I couldn't even figure out how to plant my one saffron bulb, but I found a screen that warned me I might have to buy warehouses and hire guards to protect my crops. So I thought, if it's this hard just to plant the darn thing, I'll never manage to defend it; it'll be a long, long road to dominating medieval world trade with my saffron. So I gave up. Oh, and I talked to a witch who offered to introduce me to her demonic master in return for hashish. It threw me a bit that I was getting options like that so early in the game, but perhaps if it's so hard to plant a bulb, the hashquest is the endgame. -------------------- It is not enough to discover how things seem to seem. We must discover how things really seem. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| Later Aii in General | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Tuesday, July 5 2005 18:36
Profile
Exactly. Let's see how far down the spider hole really goes. -------------------- It is not enough to discover how things seem to seem. We must discover how things really seem. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| Later Aii in General | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Tuesday, July 5 2005 15:06
Profile
Nay, SubTerra is merely sub terra, or under the earth. As such SubTerra can have everything else in spidworld to be under. RWG is lower than that. -------------------- It is not enough to discover how things seem to seem. We must discover how things really seem. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| Later Aii in General | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Tuesday, July 5 2005 12:12
Profile
Alas, those lost ravings. Maybe he can save 'em up for us. It's true that RWG is a long way down from General. But SubTerra is below RWG! That is not right. SubTerra is basically a real game. Let's campaign to get RWG moved to its rightful place at the very bottom of the forum menu. Who's with me on this? -------------------- It is not enough to discover how things seem to seem. We must discover how things really seem. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| Lost Souls in Richard White Games | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Tuesday, July 5 2005 05:01
Profile
On Mac OS 10.4, the Lost Souls demo keeps hanging while the opponents move. The game is not worth the effort of save-loading around this problem. So I have deleted it. Or perhaps it is just because I got the GC demo. Perhaps it is with RW games as it is with highlanders: there can be only one. See, too much reliance on dark powers can have drawbacks for your business. -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |