Thyroid

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Posts posted by Thyroid

  1. Posted

    Good point, but I'll leave one. Worth risking it a bit to spread the word a little, I think...hope, actually. I'm linking to an "irresponsible source," and only one, so I'll be fine.

    Thanks for the kind words, everyone.

  3. Posted

    It could be worse. At least they're pretending to try, although I haven't seen anything promising so far - actually, the number of disappearances Intelligence is behind is increasing (or seems to be). It's not as bad as Iran, mind you - but what right do you have to torture another human being if all they did was mouth off a little, if at all?

  4. Posted · Edited by Kroms

    I hardly know what to say. That's bad shit. I take living in a (relatively) free-press country for granted. That makes me feel like a heel.

    Are you wanting to leave or is it more complicated than that because of family?

    Would you say Iran is better, worse or similar?

    People who speak out about oppressive regimes in their own countries have my ultimate respect. I don't think I would have the balls. I would meekly toe the line. I am weak.

    Iran's worse. At least our leader isn't saying things like "We have no gays here." This is really the worst thing they do, this "If you say anything that is not godly praise to the government, his majesty and the country then you'll be the centre of a gangrape." That and our prisons and our lack of freedom of speech...And the fact you can get away with everything if you have the correct last name, or the right amount of money, or the right connections...that you can even, say, get into medical school if you know the right people, taking the place of someone who's actually deserved it.

    I would leave...I actually have. I live in Canada, but that's me, alone. My immediate family could leave, sure. We've citizens of a certain powerful first-world country, and can go anywhere. But what about everyone else? Family's so important here, we can't just leave everyone behind. And besides, that's not my style. I'd rather fix things, you know? It scares me shitless but I'm sure change can only come from people doing the right thing...

    On the other hand, things can turn on their own. Hopefully they will. I do still love this country, but there's some things that need some serious fixing here.

    Edit: For those interested, you can read up (Edit: I removed the link, for safety reasons). I want to link to a blog or something, but I've become paranoid enough to wonder if they have backtracking...I'm risking it as it is, to be honest. Don't want to sound like Boyd the Milkman but I've heard enough stories about Intelligence to play it safe.

  5. Posted · Edited by Kroms

    So a distant relative has been missing for 12 days, right? And today he comes back home, beat-up and bruised like a prune, because Intelligence has seen fit to lock him up and torture him. You might wonder why.

    Answer:

    He criticized the country

    , which is illegal and gets you tortured (yep, Dick-Cheney style torture) in jail. And there's nothing we can do about it. We have no freedom of speech (not even the press does), but we're so buddy-buddy with the West you won't hear about it except from the occasional article in the LA times and a warning from Human Rights Watch (not that you'd know from reading the papers, which 95% of my countrymen use as an exclusive news source).

    Internet globalisation my ass. I'm 100% sure that half the people here couldn't tell a keyboard from a mouse. And you'll notice another thing: I didn't mention the country's name, as they could actually use it against me in court to give me a life-sentence. I can give you an untraceable hint, though.

    I just wanted to give you guys a run-down on life this side of the planet.

  8. Posted

    "This game will be to this century what sex was to the 20th." - IGN.com

    "It's like a handjob, but it's online. This game is, in fact, an online handjob." - IGN.com

    "This is the game your girlfriend will leave you for." - IGN.com

    "This RPG perfects the 'maze' in 'amazing'." - IGN.com (totally stolen from "Chuck Norris puts the fun in funeral")

  10. Posted

    I'm no fan of anime, but my brother made me watch Death Note and I really liked it. The concept is a bit stupid and the first episode is so serious I cracked a rib laughing (that was just me, most other people were like "OMG"), but the show picks up at the second episode and doesn't let up. I think it still needed some ironing, and they could have done more with raising moral questions in the second half of the show, but it's an addictive affair that twists and turns at a breathless pace.

    What I really liked about it (apart from the fact that its artstyle was not retarded and humans actually looked like humans, instead of whatever the fuck this is) was that it gave you some different viewpoints on its moral questions.The show never takes sides, and has you rooting for one character or another. My brother and I have been discussing its themes for a month now and we can't seem to agree on who is right, why, etc. Moreover, I loved that it explained its world in the first episode. Most other anime my brother has subjected me to had me watch six or seven episodes to understand the universe. No, thanks. I guess I also really liked the fact it wasn't chock-full of cliches. There isn't that super powerful warrior who slices up a demon and then stares into space until it disappears in light, or whatever. I also really love the fact that it doesn't explain everything, but implies a lot. It never explicitly says a certain character cheats, but if you think about it, of course he has.

    On the other hand there's a couple of weak but pivotal characters in there. One character in particular sacrifices their life for another, but the relationship isn't believably strong enough for me to say, "Yeah, this was inevitable."

    Check it out. The first two episodes give a good idea on the rest of the show, but it's just a sampling. For those of you who have seen it:

    I really liked Mello and Near. I don't get all the hate

    .

  13. Posted

    It's weird how we all seem to remember the same bits!

    I remember collecting all body parts and combining them into an "Unholy creation" (or something similar).

    That was hilarious! I remember you could do some sort of prank with it, too.

    Am I the only one who liked Monkey Kombat?

  15. Posted

    This thread make me feel so stupid for reading and loving Stephen King.

    I really like Stephen King. I just finished Night Shift, actually. I still have The Stand and The Dead Zone in my closet, but am too tired to read anything that big for now.

  17. Posted

    I was going to type in a passage, before I Googled and found this little gem. It's pretty much what I'm talking about. I'll quote the whole thing here to make it easier.

    If all stories were written like science fiction stories

    by Mark Rosenfelder

    Roger and Ann needed to meet Sergey in San Francisco.

    “Should we take a train, or a steamship, or a plane?” asked Ann.

    “Trains are too slow, and the trip by steamship around South America would take months,” replied Roger. “We’ll take a plane.”

    He logged onto the central network using his personal computer, and waited while the system verified his identity. With a few keystrokes he entered an electronic ticketing system, and entered the codes for his point of departure and his destination. In moments the computer displayed a list of possible flights, and he picked the earliest one. Dollars were automatically deducted from his personal account to pay for the transaction.

    The planes left from the city airport, which they reached using the city bi-rail. Ann had changed into her travelling outfit, which consisted of a light shirt in polycarbon-derived artifical fabric, which showed off her pert figure, without genetic enhancements, and dark blue pants made of textiles. Her attractive brown hair was uncovered.

    At the airport Roger presented their identification cards to a representative of the airline company, who used her own computer system to check his identity and retrieve his itinerary. She entered a confirmation number, and gave him two passes which gave them access to the boarding area. They now underwent a security inspection, which was required for all airline flights. They handed their luggage to another representative; it would be transported in a separate, unpressurized chamber on the aircraft.

    “Do you think we’ll be flying on a propeller plane? Or one of the newer jets?” asked Ann.

    “I’m sure it will be a jet,” said Roger. “Propeller planes are almost entirely out of date, after all. On the other hand, rocket engines are still experimental. It’s said that when they’re in general use, trips like this will take an hour at most. This one will take up to four hours.”

    After a short wait, they were ushered onto the plane with the other passengers. The plane was an enormous steel cylinder at least a hundred meters long, with sleek backswept wings on which four jet engines were mounted. They glanced into the front cabin and saw the two pilots, consulting a bank of equipment needed the fly the plane. Roger was glad that he did not need to fly the plane himself; it was a difficult profession which required years of training.

    The surprisingly large passenger area was equipped with soft benches, and windows through which they could look down at the countryside as they flew 11 km high at more than 800 km/h. There were nozzles for the pressurized air which kept the atmosphere in the cabin warm and comfortable despite the coldness of the stratosphere.

    “I’m a little nervous,” Ann said, before the plane took off.

    “There’s nothing to worry about,” he assured her. “These flights are entirely routine. You’re safer than you are in our ground transport cars!”

    Despite his calm words, Roger had to admit to some nervousness as the pilot took off, and the land dropped away below them. He and the other passengers watched out the windows for a long time. With difficulty, he could make out houses and farms and moving vehicles far below.

    “There are more people going to San Francisco today than I would have expected,” he remarked.

    “Some of them may in fact be going elsewhere,” she answered. “As you know, it’s expensive to provide airplane links between all possible locations. We employ a hub system, and people from smaller cities travel first to the hub, and then to their final destination. Fortunately, you found us a flight that takes us straight to San Francisco.”

    When they arrived at the San Francisco airport, agents of the airline company helped them out of their seats and retrieved their luggage, checking the numeric tags to ensure that they were given to the right people.

    “I can hardly believe we’re already in another city,” said Ann. “Just four hours ago we were in Chicago.”

    “We’re not quite there!” corrected Roger. “We’re in the airport, which is some distance from the city, since it requires a good deal of space on the ground, and because of occasional accidents. From here we’ll take a smaller vehicle into the city.”

    They selected one of the hydrocarbon-powered ground transports from the queue which waited outside the airport. The fee was small enough that it was not paid electronically, but using portable dollar tokens. The driver conducted his car unit into the city; though he drove only at 100 km/hr, it felt much faster since they were only a meter from the concrete road surface. He looked over at Ann, concerned that the speed might alarm her; but she seemed to be enjoying the ride. A game girl, and intelligent as well!

    At last the driver stopped his car, and they had arrived. Electronic self-opening doors welcomed them to Sergey’s building. The entire trip had taken less than seven hours.

  18. Posted

    Suggested policies to help police this "threat to all of us" include a Muslim no-fly policy, which would ban Muslims from flying in and out of the UK.
    Founder John Tyndall proclaimed that "Mein Kampf is my bible".
    We bang on about Islam. Why? ...If we were to attack some other ethnic group — some people say we should attack the Jews … But … we've got to get to power. And if that was an issue we chose to bang on about when the press don't talk about it … the public would just think...'oh, you're attacking Jews just because you want to attack Jews. You're attacking this group of powerful Zionists just because you want to take poor Manny Cohen the tailor and shove him in a gas chamber.' That's what the public would think. It wouldn't get us anywhere other than stepping backwards...And we wouldn't get power.
    The BNP is opposed to mixed-race relationships on the stated ground that racial differences must be preserved; it claims that when a white person produces a mixed-race child, "a white family line that stretches back into deep pre-history is destroyed." Nick Griffin stated: "… while the BNP is not racist, it must not become multi-racist either.
    Alongside its suggestion that homosexuality "undermines social/marital cohesion by adding confusion", the BNP would make it unlawful to promote homosexuality and "return it to the closet where it belongs"

    There's so much more in there. I swear it feels like a comedy act/Ann Coulter's sex fantasy.

  19. Posted · Edited by Kroms

    Let's revive this thread.

    So I'm officially reading my first science fiction book, Arthur C. Clarke's 2001: A Space Odyssey. Enjoying it so far, even if there's a thing or two that I don't like. Unfortunately they seem to be staples of sci-fi, so I'm going to have to get used to them.

  21. Posted

    So apparently the game is the final part of a trilogy - at least, that's the word going around. It's the same source that told me it was called The Last Guardian (this was before they announced the game), so it's reliable.

    Interesting. I wonder what Ueda would move onto next.

  22. Posted

    Wow, that interviewer is terrible.

    Very much so. But Schafer handled it with grace. I have to admit I was pretty impressed (apart from one or two obvious "WTF?" looks he gives, which were worth a snicker), but the video footage was worth it so I put it up.

  23. Posted

    Let's also boycott public transit. Fucking disease-ridden vessels of death. And why is a black man driving? Who said a black man can drive? Didn't you know that at night you can't see a black driver? How the fuck are we supposed to know if there's a fucking driver if we can't see him? And what about during the day? Black in the day is so bland.

    This is going to decimate our community. Death to public transit. Death to black drivers!

    :getmecoat

    Reaper - Angel of Death.... posted on June 04, 2009 @ 12:25am

    they are stupid for releasing this game.... this is only for money, because they don't know wath to do.... i can tell this realy sucks....

    :yep:

  25. Posted

    As someone who gets most of his E3 news either from Engadget or here on the Thumb... I can be a little out of the loop on the finer details. Can someone please tell me about / provide a link to the Brutal Legend awesomeness that people seem to be impressed by?

    The full thing should be up today, but here's a good minute of it.