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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Open Thread

Open Thread

by Tim F|  July 19, 20067:34 pm| 32 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

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If you enjoy pointing your mouse at things and killing them, this might be the coolest demo video that I have ever seen (click on “Portal trailer 1”). Hours and hours of physics fun.

Eh, what else? I dunno. Chat about stuff.

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Reader Interactions

32Comments

  1. 1.

    Nutcutter

    July 19, 2006 at 7:36 pm

    If you enjoy pointing your mouse at things and killing them

    Do they look like Darrell?

  2. 2.

    Pb

    July 19, 2006 at 7:44 pm

    What does a Darrell look like, anyhow–Ernest P. Worrell in a Domino’s Noid suit?

  3. 3.

    LITBMueller

    July 19, 2006 at 9:16 pm

    What does a Darrell look like, anyhow

    I always have pictured the guy on the left…

    But that’s just me… ;)

  4. 4.

    Nutcutter

    July 19, 2006 at 9:23 pm

    But that’s just me…

    No, it’s me, too.

  5. 5.

    Punchy

    July 19, 2006 at 9:26 pm

    Is it just me, or did this site go from ~3 posts a week to about 4-5 posts a day? I can’t keep track of all the flame-wars and Darrell-bashing…

  6. 6.

    demimondian

    July 19, 2006 at 9:49 pm

    But that’s just me…

    Alex, the question is “Who looks like Dilbert with a limp tie?”

  7. 7.

    Ancient Purple

    July 19, 2006 at 9:58 pm

    I can’t keep track of all the flame-wars and Darrell-bashing…

    Every day is Darrell bashing day.

    Live for it.

  8. 8.

    The Other Steve

    July 19, 2006 at 10:32 pm

    That Portal demo is cool.

    The new weapon in HL2 allows you to pick up things and throw them. Which is kind of cool, apparently you can even pick up enemies and throw them at other enemies.

    So you never run out of ammo. :-)

  9. 9.

    tBone

    July 19, 2006 at 10:35 pm

    The new weapon in HL2 allows you to pick up things and throw them. Which is kind of cool, apparently you can even pick up enemies and throw them at other enemies.

    Is that the gravity gun? I’ve got a copy of HL2 sitting around for the Xbox but haven’t had a chance to try it out yet.

  10. 10.

    nyrev

    July 19, 2006 at 10:43 pm

    I always have pictured the guy on the left…

    And I’ve always pictured The guy on the right.

  11. 11.

    Perry Como

    July 19, 2006 at 10:44 pm

    I have one of these hanging between my monitors. HL2 rocks.

  12. 12.

    The Other Steve

    July 19, 2006 at 11:26 pm

    Here it comes…

    Gil Gutknecht(R-MN) embraces John Murtha

    Gutknecht, a strong supporter of the war since it began in March of 2003, told reporters in a telephone conference call Tuesday that American forces appear to have no operational control of much of Baghdad.

    “The condition there is worse than I expected,” he said. “… I have to be perfectly candid: Baghdad is a serious problem.”

    Gutknecht compared Iraq to a child learning to ride a bicycle and said America needs to be willing to let the country suffer some bruises as it attempts to take charge of its own affairs.

    “I think it’s time to take off the training wheels of their bicycle,” he said.

    Welcome aboard Gil.

    Granted, his Democratic challenger in the election Tim Walz… public school teacher, 24 years in the National Guard, might have caused him to rethink his position.

  13. 13.

    Perry Como

    July 19, 2006 at 11:54 pm

    It seems one Republican likes to doctor photos of 9/11.

  14. 14.

    The Other Steve

    July 19, 2006 at 11:55 pm

    Cynthia McKinney loses in primary… Well it is going to a runoff, but it’s not looking good. The people of Georgia’s 4th appear tired of her antics.

  15. 15.

    Pb

    July 20, 2006 at 12:03 am

    Um.

    America needs to be willing to let the country suffer some bruises as it attempts to take charge of its own affairs.

    “Suffer some bruises”? Is he also the reigning state understatement champion of Minnesota?

    Ethnic violence between Sunni and Shiite factions in the country is escalating with gruesome attacks on civilians multiplying in recent months. An estimated 6,000 Iraqi civilians were killed in May and June – mostly by sectarian militants, according to a United Nations report. In the past two days alone, 120 died in attacks on civilian targets.

    I guess those must be ‘scratches’ or something.

    I think it’s time to take off the training wheels of their bicycle

    Ah yes, I see, metaphorical bruises, from falling off of her metaphorical shiny new ten-speed bike of Democracy! The young child, Iraq, is growing up so fast. Why, it seems like only yesterday when she detonated her first car bomb.

    Ah well, it seems that the patronizing metaphors being used for the government occupying the historic site of the cradle of civilization, ca. 7,000 years ago, rubbed me the wrong way today.

  16. 16.

    Pb

    July 20, 2006 at 12:12 am

    The Other Steve,

    Cynthia McKinney loses in primary… Well it is going to a runoff, but it’s not looking good. The people of Georgia’s 4th appear tired of her antics.

    Well, that’s fine with me, the other guy sounds like a good candidate. Of course, we’ll see what Georgia’s 4th says.

  17. 17.

    Rusty Shackleford

    July 20, 2006 at 7:39 am

    tBone Says:

    The new weapon in HL2 allows you to pick up things and throw them. Which is kind of cool, apparently you can even pick up enemies and throw them at other enemies.

    Is that the gravity gun? I’ve got a copy of HL2 sitting around for the Xbox but haven’t had a chance to try it out yet.

    July 19th, 2006 at 10:35 pm

    You can’t “pick-up” enemies with the gravity gun, just objects like boxes and sawblades.

  18. 18.

    demimondian

    July 20, 2006 at 8:06 am

    I like the way Marshall puts it in his TPM squib:

    Just because Republicans often attack McKinney (sometimes in scurrilous ways) I feel like there’s a tendency to run to her defense among Democratic partisans. For my part, I think folks in 4th district of Georgia could do a lot better.

    The Republican slander machine uses her as its favorite target, but I’m not at all convinced the she’s actually all that effective as a representative, and I’m very confident that the folks in the Georgia 4 could do better. I’m not from that area, though, so I’ve got no feel for the inner dynamics of the campaign. Anybody from down there able to provide a more informed perspective?

  19. 19.

    LITBMueller

    July 20, 2006 at 8:15 am

    It seems one Republican likes to doctor photos of 9/11.

    That guy is nearly as bad as Howard “look how great Baghdad is” Kaloogian, who used a picture of Istanbul, Turkey.

    Moron.

  20. 20.

    chopper

    July 20, 2006 at 8:26 am

    You can’t “pick-up” enemies with the gravity gun, just objects like boxes and sawblades

    you could in the last stage of HL2. the citadel. that part was fun.

  21. 21.

    Punchy

    July 20, 2006 at 9:00 am

    If any of you are able to watch a rerun of yesterday’s Daily Show, I’d HIGHLY recommend it. Stewart shows a ~2 minute clip of Sen. Brownback on the Senate floor with the most bizarre, indescribable, batshit-crazy stem cell presentation one could imagine. It’s something SNL would present as spoof, except Brownback is trying to be serious. Amazingly funny.

  22. 22.

    Pb

    July 20, 2006 at 9:11 am

    In other news, seeds are actually plants, acorns are actually trees, and mogwai are actually gremlins. I think we should do our best to see that 100% of all seeds and acorns are given a chance to grow and thrive. However, we must exterminate the mogwai plague!

  23. 23.

    John S.

    July 20, 2006 at 9:32 am

    In other news, seeds are actually plants, acorns are actually trees, and mogwai are actually gremlins.

    Or as John Stewart pointed out last night in response to Sam Brownback’s insistence that “the egg is an eagle because the eagle comes out of it”, that means that Brownback is a vagina.

  24. 24.

    Pb

    July 20, 2006 at 10:03 am

    I think it points out a fatal flaw in the neocon/christianist right-wing mentality. To wit, they aren’t actually concerned with what anything actually *is* right now–they instead concern themselves with what it might be in the future. However, they do this sheepishly and irrationally, and conflate the potential outcome with the present situation.

    * Iraq might be a threat one day, so we must destroy it now.
    * An embryo might be a personvoting Republican one day, so we must preserve it now.
    * You could be dead one day due to a bizarre terrorist attack scenario, so you don’t need to worry about your civil liberties now.
    * The rapture will come one day, so we don’t need to worry about the present now.
    .

    On the other hand:
    * North Korea might already be a threat now, so we don’t need to worry about it further. Don’t cry over spilled milk and all that.
    * You’re a person already, so you can fend for yourself. Don’t go looking to us for hand-outs.
    * You already got pregnant, so you’ve got to have the baby. Anything else would be murder, and you should have thought of that before you had sex or whatever. See above, fend for yourself.
    * If the climate actually is changing, and we’re seeing more hurricanes, tsunamis, wildfires, floods, droughts, etc.–then it must be God’s will. The Rapture must be coming *real soon now*!
    .

    etc.

  25. 25.

    The Other Steve

    July 20, 2006 at 10:12 am

    Pb, you may be onto something. Although I’m not sure about some of your examples. Still, there is definately a flaw int he GOP ideology as you note… an inconsistency which we have difficulty understanding, and it would be helpful to identify that connection.

  26. 26.

    Slide

    July 20, 2006 at 10:18 am

    Pat Buchanan absolutely blisters the boy president in his latest column. Here is a snippet but you should read the whole thing:

    Already, Bush is ranting about Syria being behind the Hezbollah capture of the Israeli soldiers. But where is the proof?

    Who is whispering in his ear? The same people who told him Iraq was maybe months away from an atom bomb, that an invasion would be a “cakewalk,” that he would be Churchill, that U.S. troops would be greeted with candy and flowers, that democracy would break out across the region, that Palestinians and Israelis would then sit down and make peace?

    How much must America pay for the education of this man?

    .

  27. 27.

    Pb

    July 20, 2006 at 10:24 am

    Slide,

    How much must America pay for the education of this man?

    Trillions of dollars and thousands of American lives, so far.

  28. 28.

    Slide

    July 20, 2006 at 10:36 am

    Trillions of dollars and thousands of American lives, so far.

    yes, and not to mention our standing in the eyes of the entire world. What disturbs me most about what we have lost over the last few years is the sense that America stands for something noble, something good in the world. That was our strength, not our military might. And it is pretty much all gone due to this criminal administrations’ decisions to use torture, secret prison camps, kidnapping of foreign nationals, warrantless wiretapping of its citizens, etc etc. We are no longer admired in the world but feared – oh not by the likes of Kim Jung II or Iran of course, they see the limit of our military power by the debacle in Iraq, but feared by our former allies that see us as a danger to world peace. Great job Bush, to have accomplished so much in such a short period of time.

  29. 29.

    g-rant

    July 20, 2006 at 12:18 pm

    This being an open thread and all, I thought I should mention that you guys should check in on the Tour today, if you haven’t already:

    Cycling News

  30. 30.

    The Other Steve

    July 20, 2006 at 1:35 pm

    Sorry Slide, there’s no way I’ll read WingNut Daily.

  31. 31.

    Catsy

    July 20, 2006 at 3:04 pm

    Portal looks seriously cool. I’ll be happy if it’s more than just a throwaway proof of concept and actually becomes part of a real FPS game.

    Oh wait–that was Prey. Sort of, anyway; the portal technology was in Prey (and used magnificently well), but not as a gun, just as standing portals. This could take it to the next level if done right.

  32. 32.

    Perry Como

    July 20, 2006 at 3:21 pm

    I’ll be happy if it’s more than just a throwaway proof of concept and actually becomes part of a real FPS game.

    It’s probably going to be in Episode 2.

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