DanJW

I can see it as a coffee table book now: "Thunderpeel's Guide to Tasteful Tattooing". edit: with footnotes by toblix.

The Mystery Box with JJ Abrams. I totally agree - I love mystery and think things like traditional fairy-tale logic are great and I also agree that anticipation is often better than the pay-off. But I also steered well clear of Lost because it was obvious the mystery had no heart to it, and I had the same problem with parts of Heroes, BSG, and so on. The thing is, if the author is simply making it up as they go, if the mystery has no cause, no centre to it - then there is no internal consistency to the story. You're playing a tacky game of Consequences, not painting a landscape. The author can choose not to reveal the mystery, but they should themselves know what it is - how else can they know what will logically happen next? There was a bit of dialogue in the last few episodes of Caprica where the writers seemed to be excusing themselves, where a character talks about the difference between mysteries and secrets; “Secrets have answers. Now mysteries, they don’t have answers.” It's entirely self satisfied. Knowing that Abrams has the attitude he states in the TED talk makes me not want to watch anything mystery-based he ever does ever again. I think he's missed a part of the puzzle.

Tattoos should always be covered and kept dry while they heal (there is some scabbing, and if this gets knocked/washed off then it can take a lot of the ink with it and you end up with a crappy tattoo). They used to use general medical dressings but I guess the cool kids now have transparent dressings. That's cool by the way, and nice clean lines; good work. Oh and fab shoes!

I think you can ask that, but in return they get to ask us to dress up as... well who knows? Samus perhaps. Samus from Other M!

No, I mean !

And people say Rule 34 is a bad thing... I am also feeling quite confused now.

Oh dear. I think this might be becoming a Thumbs Meme*. (Girls being Link ) If only Nintendo were progressive enough to offer gender options for their protagonists. Please don't post girls being Mario *Thumbs, meme. Thumeme.

It's kind of weird to me that hackers and hacking have finally become a part of the mainstream news. It's all getting a bit cyberpunk. I find it fascinating as to how our cultures will digest their existence. I also note how News Corp are trying to muddy the waters by mixing in talk of internet hacking groups on top of the phone hacking scandals. There is a clear moral distinction there, no matter if you disagree with both: relatively few individuals working on own initiative with no backing and targeting large corporations; vs large very wealthy corporations targeting individuals. Yes it is a minority of individuals within those corporations that are responsible for breaking the law, but this is one of the areas of legislation which irks me - CEO's are supposed to be legally accountable for actions of their employees (to the point where they are theoretically required to serve prison time on behalf of the company), but whenever trouble crops up they dissemble and throw lesser employees to the dogs. Big companies want and get it both ways and that pisses me off, whereas individuals have no such recourse. You can call me a dirty socialist now if you like

It's a legitimate concern; although remember that these movies are heavily post-processed and colour-corrected etc, so if the post-process editor is skilled enough they could still get the look they want.

Right, sorry guys my phone line went down near the end of last week, so I couldn't get online. Fixed now, so I'll be posting again. Come on in the water's lovely!

But try telling that to the kids of today, and they won't believe you... Sorry, I can't help.

That's a shame. I was looking forward to playing along with you Murdoc. If you feel better at some point later on then I'm sure you can join in "new challenger has appeared" style. Other folks - we still have room for a small number more. Gwardinen and myself have already started posting. Message me if you would like to as well.

I agree with everyone else that there is likely some underlying resentment there, of which the water issue is just a symptom. As with almost all problems; talk through it, remain calm, try to be understanding and act in good faith. In other news... Wow, my own love-life has, in the space of a few days, gone from almost non-existent to incredibly complicated. First, a lovely friend of mine who I've known for a while told me that she has developed an attraction to me and wouldn't mind taking it further on some kind of basis. Not something I have a whole lot of experience with but sounds good, so I agreed to give it a shot. Then, shortly after, an acquaintance said that she'd like to have lunch with me sometime. I hardly know her really, only met a few times before, but I do find her, well, interesting, and would like to get to know her better. It might not even lead anywhere; but then again, it might. Just wish the timing was better. This is pretty much the first time in my entire life where I've had to choose between two girls. It's not nice! I guess I know what I need to do, I just hope I can do it without screwing up and hurting anyone's feelings. I guess this new aftershave is working for me or something edit: OK, situation resolved. Resume normal broadcasting.

He probably thinks his actions are justified. So yes, in a very curvy sort of way. That's the scary thing about people like him.

I'm in a production of the play 'Woman In Mind', starting this Saturday - so the production manager decided to take a sofa and a video camera to the square outside the library and started asking passing women what was on their mind. Some pretty candid responses! Facebook page These ones stood out to me.

Names or it didn't happen!

Well done. If it's any consolation: whatever her reasons, you probably made her day. Keep in mind how not-difficult it was next time you feel the same way about someone else. Things going well, I'm going to attempt the same today.

this is for Hermie! J_QL8C4l6W4

I just noticed that in the Google+ image galleries, non-blurred faces come pre-tagged. So Google are obviously rolling out their pattern-recognition image-search software here. Probably combined with learning softare - so that the more you get tagged, the more the machines will recognise your face!!! "Google confirms that you are John Connor..."

Prologues have begun! I hope to hear from the rest of the core six players above. Anyone else who expressed interest earlier in the thread, now is your chance (if we have a dropout then I'll approach you in PM).

Oooh awesome! I didn't buy it when it came out - my PC can't really run nit very well. A shame since I had so much fun playing the first L4D with other thumbs. So hopefully I'll be able to afford an upgrade soon and then I'll want understanding and patient people/other noobs to play the campaigns with.

Yeah among illustrators and graphic designers that sort of thing is pretty frowned upon. It's exploitation and it devalues the marketplace (it's ridiculous how many advertisements looking for graphic designers say the payment will be "good word of mouth"). Make sure you haven't signed anything that gives them ownership of these 'art tests' for commercial use. If they don't give you the job then remind them that you own your work and ask them to destroy all their copies.

Just do it. Longer you wait the more difficult and more awkward it will be. Don't worry about 'standing out' (it's not a talent show). Just be casual and relaxed and don't make too big a deal out of it. If she likes you she'll say yes.

-9hqLhgkYAY

Hide under the bed?