RubixsQube

When it comes to sending signals out into space, there is no more obvious, more simple way to communicate than through light. I think that you're right when it comes to how long we are going to broadcast light out into space, and I always roll my eyes when people talk about aliens watching our old television shows. But, I wonder what happens when we start blasting the first Earth-like planets with radio waves. Why aren't we the target of radio signals from alien life? Is it, as SecretAsianMan has supposed, because of the Prime Directive?

(Also, please note that I am trying to be chipper and supportive here. Please read my comments in the spirit of interesting science discussion rather than jerk-ey science naysaying / cynicism)

Again, I also agree that perhaps there are alien cultures out there that don't understand why you would want to communicate with aliens, but based on the sheer number of planets we are discovering around nearby stars, it's a pretty broad assumption to believe that EVERY ONE of them is keeping hush hush. Also, SuperBiasedMan, it's pretty weird to assume that their "technology" is incompatible with ours. Light is an incredibly abundant thing throughout the universe. It's a source of heat and energy, and it's the primary driver of life (as we know it, yes, yes). So, it'd be pretty wacky to assume that aliens wouldn't use light to send and receive signals. We have only been observing the universe in a tiny bit of time...but I think that it's still profound that we've gotten zero signals from anywhere.

Our galaxy, and the stars it contains, is BILLIONS of years old. This means that there has been plenty of time for civilizations to rise and fall, and explore and travel. It's not a crazy assumption to make that life could be exploring the galaxy for millions of years, providing that the lifetime of a technological civilization is long enough (again, the cynic in me looks at humanity and thinks: not bloody likely). Also, it's not required for a species to live for millions of years before it could reach the stars. I don't know what a species or civilization that lasts for a huge long time looks like, but given the sheer number of stars that could contain life, the variety should be enough that at least ONE of these species would be detectable by humans. Right? And yeah, alien civilizations could have explored the Earth in the distant past and we would never know. So, I understand your concern. That being said, here's a version of the paradox that I think is more pressing. In the next ten years, we're going to detect a huge number of Earth-like planets in our nearby galactic neighborhood. And we're going to find a handful of planets which have spectroscopic evidence for (Earth-like) life. Maybe they have a reflection spectrum indicative of plant-life. Maybe they have gasses in the atmosphere that can only arise from (Earth-like) life. Either way, you have got to bet that we're going to start sending a huge amount of signals at that planet as we do everything we can to understand its properties. If we went from being a super backwards-ass civilization to being able to detect alien life in the span of a few thousand years...why aren't we seeing signals from every corner of the galaxy trained on us? Why, in the last hundred years of modern astronomy, have we never gotten any messages from space? AND, because this is Idle Thumbs, I'll post this article with a super click-bait-ey headline: Why SETI Will Fail, by one of my grad school professors at UCLA, Ben Zuckerman, which posits that we should at least be finding alien robots out exploring the stars, since sending those (and not living creatures) makes a lot more sense. EITHER WAY, I think that we make a lot of assumptions about alien life. BUT, given the sheer number of planets / stars in our galaxy, it makes sense to wonder why we're not seeing things like ourselves.

If Pac-Land is featured in the game as a stage (also he uses a fire hydrant for an attack), one of his alternate costumes had better feature that jaunty little red cap.

JOKES

You must be a hell of a first date.

After reading a little about the Alcubierre drive that's supposed to be the engine for this silly NASA concept, I'm real skeptical. First off, all NASA has done is indicate that scientists are analyzing results from a device built to measure "warped space", and based on the 2013 results, they're essentially null. So, and this is very cynical, I know, but we are so, so for off from this happening not only in our lifetime, but our children's lifetime, or even our grandchildren's lifetime. The energy required to properly warp space is just too absurd. Right now, I'd be happy if we could just settle on a mission to Mars before we start imagining Starfleet. Also, if this is indeed a possibility in our lifetimes, why aren't we always seeing alien space craft zooming around in their warp ships? I'm of the belief that the Fermi paradox is solved by the fact that the distances between societies are too vast for feasible space travel over the lifetime of the civilization. I also think that it would be real unlikely we are the first to develop at such a quick rate, and as such, because we haven't been in contact with aliens all over the place, life must be rare AND it must be very, very hard to travel or communicate efficiently with other civilizations. And I'm the most disappointed about that.

First, the game is definitely called "Code Name: S.T.E.A.M." Also four-ish screenshots of an in-development game isn't really enough for me to call a game "fuck ugly." You know, from the actual information shared about the game, it seems pretty neat, and considering it's from the Intelligent Design guys, I'll bet it plays really well. I'll hold off judgment until I see the game in action. It's new IP from Nintendo, a company a lot of people charge with just retreading old ground all the time. I'm not a huge fan of the title, which reminds me of PROJECT H.A.M.M.E.R., that weird cancelled Wii game from years back.

Welcome to the internet, where we'll accept casual racism and sexism but if you DARE PRONOUNCE A FILE EXTENSION INCORRECTLY you are DAMNED TO HELL I won't TAKE THIS BLASPHEMY

Yeah, don't get excited about GTAV for anything but the incredible world they've created. The writing / missions / story is insipid, and remember, you're definitely going to have to torture someone halfway through! Damn though, does it look like a tiny LA.

The tournament was great! And also real awkward! It was great in that it seemed to cap off a really fun day for Nintendo, with a lot of excited fans, and they were able to show off their new game with a set of pretty thrilling matches. The field of competitors was diverse, and while I don't agree with the set-up (it seemed as if the smash balls were playing too large of a role in the matches), I'm glad to see Nintendo acknowledging and embracing the smash brothers community. It was awkward because that same community is still that same community. Oh, high functioning smash brothers nerds, keep on truckin'. Also, it's so weird to see Geoff Keighley and not think about him on top of Doritos Mountain (Dew).

I think that asking whether something is the "greatest game" is never going to produce anything but bickering, but I do believe that Metroid Prime is an absolute masterpiece of tone, setting, and storytelling. In many games (the Mario series), the act of playing is the fun part, but Metroid Prime was all about the act of observing. You'd open up a new room, and it just felt natural, real, and living. I still remember the first time you come out on Phendrana Drifts, or that large area right in front of the crashed spacecraft. Even backtracking felt fantastic to me, since you'd fight your way down into the Phazon Mines or whatever, and then slowly come ambling out, even more badass. The first time a particular flash of light reflected Samus' startled expression on the inside of her visor made me audibly gasp.

Hey everyone, I was interviewed on a podcast about relationships!

From the above-linked AVclub review:

I was out running listening to the cast and the Super Noah's Ark thing made me stop and double-over at an embankment because I was laughing so hard. I literally would have listened to another hour of just that dumb music, those stupid noises, and the occasional laugh by Danielle or Chris. Theatre of the goddamn mind.

This has been kicked around online, but someone deciphered the Dark Souls II list of banned words. It's real glorious.

I am sitting in a hotel lobby in Dubrovnik, Croatia. There was a conference on galaxy evolution that just finished today, and overall it was pretty good. But, do you ever feel like maybe you're in over your head? They don't tell you when you're a kid, and you have dreams, that maybe some day you'll achieve them, but then it will always feel like you are in the ocean by yourself and you're kicking and kicking like mad, but the waves are just so high. I think that we all, to some degree, have impostor syndrome, but knowing that doesn't make me feel any better. I just feel like the only person in the entire universe, and I feel that a lot, and it's such a dumb thing to think since I am so lucky, all the time, to have what I have, and to do what I do. But that doesn't make the swimming any easier.

https://www.nintendo.com/whatsnew/detail/c4FWbi-Uave2T9R1h7SFzX0aoa-d4pgx So, this happened: We are committed to fun and entertainment for everyone2014-05-09 We apologize for disappointing many people by failing to include same-sex relationships in Tomodachi Life. Unfortunately, it is not possible for us to change this game’s design, and such a significant development change can’t be accomplished with a post-ship patch. At Nintendo, dedication has always meant going beyond the games to promote a sense of community, and to share a spirit of fun and joy. We are committed to advancing our longtime company values of fun and entertainment for everyone. We pledge that if we create a next installment in the Tomodachi series, we will strive to design a game-play experience from the ground up that is more inclusive, and better represents all players.

There's another article by Peter Molydeux that discusses the issue. I think that what happened is that Nintendo made a conscious (bad) decision to keep the Tomodachi Life relationships heterosexual in order to reduce backlash. I don't support this decision, but I do think that when it comes to groups protesting, those opposed to gay marriage can be far, far more vitriolic than those for the issue (perhaps this is unfair). Nintendo has kept the relationships in this game heterosexual, and what you're seeing is a series of well-written, deep articles discussing how disappointing this is, and how Nintendo's decision is non-inclusive, and sends a terrible message to a large group of people. I wonder what would have happened if Nintendo had decided to make the automatic relationships gender-blind. I think Nintendo felt they didn't want any crazy over-the-top protests from the other side.

It depends on how much of a baseball fan you are. If you want to watch a game here or there, then you're not going to be well served by getting mlb.tv. There are...ways...in which you can watch a game here or there online, albeit in low quality. But let's say you love baseball. Well, in this case, mlb.tv is a great thing because it allows you to watch every game, both home and away, in HD. This is pretty neat. Also, the premium service comes with the app, which is really top notch. (My favorite thing about the app is being able to hear the home and away radio broadcast of every game, because instead of going to commercials, they'll just go to crowd noise from the game, which is something I wish that I could have as a like, hour long mp3. Just baseball crowd noise. People cheering, an organ every once in a while, maybe some far-away pop tunes.) I don't know if it goes on sale, ever, although I haven't paid too much attention to this. If you're someone who wants to watch the Brewers play from anywhere, then do it, since it's pretty neat to be able to just watch baseball when you want to, and the season is long enough to perhaps justify spending ~$100 on this.

I bought Mario Golf, and played a round of online play with two buddies scattered across the country on a lark this afternoon. It was insanely easy to set up the game, and we all jumped right into a nine hole match. There's a setting wherein you can either play one-at-a-time as if you were really out playing golf, or one where everyone plays at the same time. We went with this, and so you could just watch the little ghost golf balls of your opponents soar through the sky towards the ball on each hole. It was great, and pretty intense throughout. If you finish a hole before someone, you're taken to one of your opponents views and you can watch them finish the hole. Also, as in other Mario games, there's an option for making little appreciative noises to encourage or applaud your opponents. I am looking forward to taking this game on a long plane ride next weekend, but it's already pretty neat just how easy it was to play against my friends (quick round --> vs --> online play --> go to lobby --> choose character --> choose course --> playing). Pretty neat!

Thrik, you're in for a real treat, especially if you want to play some great platformers. If you haven't played Rayman Legends, and you can find that for relatively cheap, go get it, too. And yeah, the track list that is all over the internet for Mario Kart 8 has some real fantastic classic entries alongside the new tracks. I cannot wait to play that game. I liked Mario Kart 7 a great deal for the 3DS, and I hope that they learn from that after dumb, slow Mario Kart Wii.

Oh you're right! I take that back! Cool! Jimmy Smits, I guess, was in the prequels. As for Asians, The Neimodians don't count. Telsij does. "There's too many of them!"

Skywalker looks pretty grumpy/skeptical, too (haha, somewhere in California, George Lucas probably looked at this picture on an ipad or whatever and frowned. I just thought about that it made me smile a lot)