Amentep

Knickname of Robert Muldoon, New Zealand politician and Prime Minister.

So you're saying I'm old? GET OFF MY LAWN!!!!

I get being being disappointed. Perhaps for some disappointment turns to anger. But people act like companies have betrayed them personally with these decisions to go to the Epic storefront (or to be exclusive to a system during the console wars) in expressing their ire (and doing things like trolling the PoEII steam page which has nothing to do with the decision).

Again maybe its the fact that I was there for the console wars, but exclusive titles just seem to be an odd thing to get angry over, even more so given the fact that everyone who dislikes the Epic store can just wait out the exclusive period rather than support that storefront. The easiest way to kill the Epic exclusive strategy (if one dislikes it) is to not support it; enough people do that then Epic won't have an incentive to continue throwing money at companies for times exclusives.

I dunno, maybe its because I've had a foot in the console generations all the time my other foot has been in computer gaming, but I've never seen exclusives as something to get bothered by unless you're someone who feels you're entitled to every game that comes out. As more and more things move to streaming and virtual platforms, to my mind it was inevitable that the PC market would become a battleground for the Windows market, and I'm not surprised at all that a company is trying to use exclusives to try and draw people to a particular storefront. What does surprise me, mildly I admit, is how enraged people get over something not appearing on their preferred storefront, particularly given that these aren't even forever exclusives.

The problem with the media is that there's not enough interestingly distinct news to fill the 24-hour news cycle, so they do so by having talking heads. And the only way talking heads draw ratings is if they work extreme angles to get people interested enough to watch thinking they're actually hearing something that is making news. But talking heads aren't really news or reporting on the news, and any talking head show should be seen as light entertainment and not taking with any real belief that it means anything.

Plus one of the other Enterprise doctors, Paul Fix. But no Hoyt Axton for the STTOS hat-trick...

New Thread

Start of Old Thread End of Old Thread "Gentlemen, we can refresh it. We have the technology. We have the capability to make the world's first bionic thread. The 'random topic' will be that thread. Weirder than it was before. Weirder...more random...more interesting." Last time on The 6 Million Dollar Bionic Thread": don't feel bad. the term "once and future" made us immediate think o' t.h. white book. near fifty and am clear still stuck in nerd mode. HA! Good Fun! we're simpatico? HA! Good Fun!

So... If there's a werewolf in Vampire the Masquarade: Bloodlines 2...will we be able to kill it? The revised WoD setting is Vampire: The Requiem, isn't it? Wouldn't them using "the Masquarade" indicate its set in the same world as the original game?

Sorry I wasn't clear - I think remakes, adaptions, and sequels can be creative. And yes "Spotless" and "Inception" aren't adaptions or sequels. My point is that there are people who think that adaptions aren't creative. There are people who think remakes aren't creative. There are people who think sequels aren't creative. And that's fine. But when a person complains that any of those things are a sign of the creative bankruptcy of today's Hollywood, all I have to say is 1916 - 1918 would like to have a word with that person.

I'm a little stumped on when people think Hollywood was "creative" when they talk about sequels and adaptions. They've been doing sequels (first generally believed in 1916) and remakes (1918) from the earliest days. Not to mention adaptions from other media (novels, short stories, folk tales, radio shows, etc) of already successful stories. RE: Crowdfunding - I like crowdfunding simply to support things I'd want to exist. But a long term model for anything but the smallest of companies or individuals it really isn't.

Can't you delete the team and the charcter you created and start over? It's been awhile and can't remember for sure.

$40M is for all the confederate stuff as I understand it from that article over ten years, but again the vast majority of the 700 monuments covered by the $40M are going to be obelisks and statues and not grand estates, cemeteries, etc. There are also - I'm assuming here - still organizations like the United Daughters of the Confederacy that are donating to the upkeep of some of these places as well. Also wasn't there a big mismanagement deal about ten years ago at Arlington that's led to them having to spend more to repair things that shouldn't have been allowed to fall into disrepair?

Isn't Arlington something like 600+ acres and Beauvoir 50? I'd imagine just cutting the lawn is 12 times as expensive...

A lot of people here about don't really want to do an even cursory examination of the history. There's the perpetuation of the lost cause ("it wasn't about slavery, it was about states rights (to keep slaves over the Federal Government's objections)", "it wasn't about slavery, it was about economics (because the wealthy couldn't maintain their wealth without the forced labor of slavery)" etc) without examination most likely because people kind of know the lost cause won't stand up to scrutiny, so it has to be taken on faith. Its possible this may have to do with keeping private donors happy, but its frustrating to read something like continuing the happy slave narrative from a supposedly educational historical location. (There was a local situation in the last year or two where the demographics of an area with a private museum changed. And a recently elected representative expressed concern / complained about a the museum flying the "confederate flag" which ultimately led to the private donor of the items pulling the items and the museum closing. It was silly considering the flag known as the modern "confederate flag" never flew over the confederacy; its proportions are wrong to be the battle flag of the southern regiments and its colors are wrong to be the 2nd naval jack and only the second and third confederate flags even sported a red/blue St. Andrews Cross. So all of this could have been avoided by, perhaps, displaying the actual 1st flag of the confederacy that might actually be able to be viewed as the part of history it is. But instead they decided to die on the hill of the modern re-interpretation of the Confederacy). Regarding the monument upkeep, I imaging the majority of that funding goes to keeping up period plantations, battle sites and museums with relatively little for things like upkeep of markers, columns, statues and such that have no personnel involved daily.

I will hold that omission against you forever. I haven't seen Beast Wars since it originally aired.

SEE SCIENTISTS CREATE A LIVING BRAIN! WATCH IN HORROR AS THE BRAIN CONTRACT ITS MIGHTY MUSCLE! STARE IN DISBELIEF AS SCIENCE'S UNHOLY CHILD CHALLENGES THE WORLD!

Typically colleges will have some sort of review process and appeals process for students in this matter since they're already admitted (when false records or cheating is discovered when they're just an applicant the applicant is generally just denied admissions if it warrants it, although usually there are still ways to appeal). The hope is that the rush to distance themselves as much as they can from the scandal doesn't rush to judgement with respect to the kids and give them a fair review. That said some of the stuff that's been reported - if true - implies either a complicity in the scheme at worst or an almost staggering amount of naïveté at best.

Students found to have been dishonest in the admissions process face expulsion. Film at 11. This is the normal course of action in these cases. Its generally speaking, from my experience, actually stated on the application itself that falsifying or lying in the application can result in expulsion. A lot of times minor omissions (like not telling that you went to a previous school where you wrecked your GPA and ended up owing the college money so you can't get a transcript) won't lead to expulsions just holds until the student provides all of their information. Other things - like lying about prior convictions, providing falsified transcripts or test scores - can. There's no surprise here that schools would look at their options within their policies to address these charges.

Yes, I forgot that DiTillio was a writer on Beast Wars.

I usually think of him first as the apprentice assassin in THE MECHANIC (aka Killer of Killers) Although thanks to repeats in the 1970s, the first thing I remember seeing him in was the DANGER ISLAND tv segments of THE BANANA SPLITS...

I think it was first reported last week that Jan Michael Vincent had passed.

Also cartoonist Tom K. Ryan (TUMBLEWEEDS) and writer Larry DiTillio (co-creator of the She-Ra cartoon with JMS, writer on Babylon 5)