Luzifer's right hand

10 hours ago, BigFatCoward said:

I honestly can't think of anything i would find less interesting than an eclipse.  Can anyone explain the attraction of it?  What do you actually get out of looking at it?

You know that the dark gods are pleased with you.

Total Eclipse of the Heart or gtfo.

20 hours ago, Celestial said:

The simplest and most logical explanation to this paradox is that Earth-sized rocky planets where life is likely to evolve do not possess enough resources and energy to allow an intelligent species to actually develop into an interstellar civilization.

We have already reached a point where we use more resources than the planet can regenerate within a year and we are nowhere close to possessing the engineering capability to exploit the resources of own Solar system, although there is nothing in the laws of physics that says we can't.

In terms of the laws of physics, mining the asteroid belt, Mars or the rocky moons of the gas giants is easy. Yet, at the current moment, doing more than taking pictures and mineral samples is beyond our grasp.

There is a finite amount of oil, hydrogen, uranium, rare metals, etc on Earth and it might not be enough to provide us with the capability of building at least interplanetary ships capable of taking significant amounts of resources from the Solar system and bringing them back to Earth.

Most of your statements also assume that technological progress can continue forever, which is not a given. We know, for instance, that fusion happens, but we have no idea if an artificial fusion reactor is technologically possible (to be economically viable, not just as an exotic toy in a lab).

It does not have to be something as dramatic as "intelligent species effectively ending themselves". At one point, technological development can stall because most which was feasible for a sentient civilization was achieved or, if theoretical developments would still occur, putting them into practice might not be achievable within the constraints of a planetary civilization.

It might be that technology has long no long term survival benefits past a point.

We are at best slowing the destruction of our only natural habitat down at this point. As you say it is not necessary for all intelligent lifeforms to end themselves just the kind of lifeforms that act like cancer or humans.

31 minutes ago, DireWolfSpirit said:

It will become like ISIS and ISIS-K where the truly insane will split because the others arent nuts enough for them.

Republicans and MAGA-K's 

Why not MAGA and MAGA-K?

I mean why would a person not ok with MAGA still vote Republican?

23 minutes ago, Bironic said:

High ranking members? or just some traffic police ?

Members of an anti-terror unit that were there for additional security because of the election. So them being in the embassy is not a problem just them accepted gifts.

Edit: Well according to a new article I read entering the embassy was unusual too but they claim it was because of using the toilets and being offered food. 

4 minutes ago, Kalbear said:

Yeah, it's not that surprising or anything and doesn't mean it is actually true, but for markets what people believe to be true usually makes it so. And gas prices have risen about 5% since the attacks majorly stepped up, well over what seasonality would explain.

The secret ingredient is greed.

Any reason is a good reason for more profits.

Austria has made international news again. Well at least on Reddit.

Members of our police force got gifts from the Russian embassy and someone noticed when they left the embassy with the gift bags.

You can't make this shit up.

Saw the trailer for Borderlands and it did look entertaining.

Only Kevin Hart seem to be playing Kevin Hart again which is not really my thing but usually not a dealbreaker for me if the rest of the cast of a movie is funny.

Anatomy of a Fall had enough English language content to qualify I see.

A great movie. Deserving of multiple Oscars I feel.

13 minutes ago, Ran said:

This article on Peterson's work is quite good, not least because it is well-researched and recognizes some points where his version of consistency leads him to deviate his created language from what the original creators obviously intended (dracarys and dragons, obvious survivals of specific Arabic words ten thousand years in the future)

Thanks.

Sardaukar and Chakobsa sound magnificent at least to me.

On a random side note I just read that David J. Peterson was involved in the creation of the language used in the film.

I remember him as a fan at a worldcon who was enthusiastic about creating languages some time before he got involved with GoT IIRC. 

His filmography is crazy at this point. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_J._Peterson

34 minutes ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

That was the Turks.

 Blame it on the Romans.

I noticed details I did not notice before in the IMAX. So if you are a normal person unlike me and only plan to watch it once I recommend that.

I have not seen it in Dolby Cinema though and at least with the first one the sound with Dolby Atmos(which is used without Dolby Vision quite often) was superior to the one in the local IMAX. The director did recommend that sound solution for the first movie so I think you can't go wrong with picking that if you have the option as sound is a very important aspect of this movie.

Well to be honest the setting only makes slightly more sense if all the book explanations for the tech are including.

The idea that factions that refuse to use WMDs would keep control of an interstellar empire is ridiculous. Even if you assume that the empire could deny factions willing to use WMDs access to interstellar travel planetary factions willing to use them would take control of most planets over time.

Edit: the shield/laser interaction is something that should never be mentioned. Only makes sense in a setting in which oppressed people are too stupid for terrorism.

I enjoyed the books too but it's a setting that only makes sense with weird internal logic not some hard SF tale that makes sense if you take it apart.

I think one thing that even the most pessimistic of us overlooked is that getting men of other ethnic groups killed is not really a problem for Russia. More a side benefit.

Today I'm going to watch it in the local IMAX. 3rd time.

I watched the first one 6 times in cinema and enjoyed it every time.

I also rewatched it regularly at home.

Don't expect me to be objective. :p

Blu-ray is pre-ordered.

The Swiss also voted against increasing the retirement age at the same time afaik.

6 hours ago, A True Kaniggit said:

If you say one thing about the Hobbit movies, you can say they gave us this song by Ed Sheeran.

https://youtu.be/2fngvQS_PmQ?si=4ReJBFZNHnYSZFTM

 

I enjoy rewatching parts of the first movie and the scenes in Smaugs lair.

I still believe you could make one good movie out of the 3.

Never saw a lot of it when it aired back in the day.

I have been binging ancient TV shows for a while now though and not including SF/F this is probably my 3rd favourite oldish show I watched so far after Fraiser and The King of Queens.

Personally I'm surprised that people with purist leanings would even watch the 2nd movie after seeing the 1st one.

I mean I love it but I did not even enjoy the first season of GoT and that is a far more purist adaption.

On 2/27/2024 at 9:59 PM, Werthead said:

R.A. Salvatore's books featuring Drizzt, starting with The Crystal Shard, are solid pulp. They lose their lustre after nine books or so, but those opening ones are fine.

Paul S. Kemp's Erevis Cale books and Erin Evans' Brimstone Angels series are really good, up with with pretty decent non-tie-in fantasy. Elaine Cunningham is also a decent author in the setting, as is James Lowder and the team of Jeff Grubb and Kate Novak. Troy Denning is a bit inconsistent, but his best books are very solid.

Most are disposably lightweight and a few are outright terrible to the point of being unreadable. The above are "the good ones."

My introduction to the setting was the first Baldur's Gate.

I read the early Drizzt books afterwards and enjoyed them.

The best "book" set in the universe is the game Planescape Torment though. Such a sea of text.

7 hours ago, sifth said:

I loved it. My only real complaint is I didn't like the very final scene. Should have just ended with the holly wart starting.

Edit:

On 2/20/2024 at 3:10 PM, AncalagonTheBlack said:

 

Civil War is an upcoming action film written and directed by Alex Garland. The film stars Kirsten Dunst, Wagner Moura, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Cailee Spaeny, Jesse Plemons, and Nick Offerman. The film follows a team of journalists who travel across the United States during the rapidly escalating Second American Civil War, which has engulfed the entire nation

I saw the trailer in cinema and I loled when they mentioned that there is a faction that is Texas/California.

19 minutes ago, Kalbear said:

I really liked it, and I am not looking forward to defending or arguing about the changes they made.

 

Then don't. You are allowed to enjoy things without using energy on that. 

Part one is one of my all time favourite movies and apart from some minor things I enjoyed this one even more.

Just as with the first one I enjoyed it even more the 2nd time I watched it.

I'm probably going to watch it at least one more time in cinema if a OV IMAX showing aligns with my work schedule.

I have been enjoying Helldivers 2.

I'm usually not much of an MP player but this reminds me a bit of Mass Effect 3 multiplayer which I enjoyed.