Pete_the_Viscous

I think it has the potential to be very good, based on a few points: .being set way back when, the characters aren't going to have stupid haircuts which will look ridiculous in a few years time (I'm looking at you, Harry Potter and co.), .it's not really a "cult" thing, so there is less potential for mobs of die-hard fans getting annoyed because their favorite line was cut out, .there isn't (or shouldn't be) and swirly, sparkly magic in the books -- nobody casts (in my remembrance) fireballs or lightning bolts, so there should be no opportunity for them to say to themselves "ah, let us sacrifice quality of character development and plot for the sake of computer graphics", .it's filmed in New Zealand (I take it), which could make even a b-movie look like an epic. Really, I think that this time if they just stuck to the plot of the book they'd be onto a winner; that wasn't possible with the Lord of the Rings, at least, not without extending the life expectancy of man by a few years so that we could watch it. This time, though, I can't see a real problem with it. No, the problem would come were they to try and make the Magician's Nephew, in which Narnia is created -- I can't see how they could really do that on film. They could sure do the rings right, however.

I don't know whether or not these have already been posted, but: "He who controls the past controls the future : who controls the present controls the past" "If you want a vision of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face -- forever." Both George Orwell, from Nineteen Eighty-Four. Marvin: "I am at a rough estimate thirty billion times more intelligent than you. Let me give you an example. Think of a number, any number." Zem: "Er, five." Marvin: "Wrong. You see?" The mattress was much impressed by this and realised that it was in the presence of a not unremarkable mind. -- Life, the Universe and Everything, c. 9 Zaphod: "If there's anything more important than my ego around, I want it caught and shot now." - The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, c. 12 Zaphod: "I'm so amazingly cool you could keep a side of meat inside me for a month. I am so hip I have difficulty seeing over my pelvis." - The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, c. 6 Zaphod: "You guys are so unhip it's a wonder your bums don't fall off." - The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, c. ? Slartibartfast: "What does it matter? Science has achieved some wonderful things of course, but I'd far rather be happy than right any day." Vroomfondel:"I demand that I may or may not be Vroomfondel!" - Vroomfondel, a philosopher, c. 25 --- I like that one: that's proper philosophy, I say. "To summarize: it is a well-known fact that those people who must want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it. To summarize the summary: anyone capable of getting themselves made President should by no means be allowed to do the job. To summarize the summary of the summary: people are a problem." -- The Restaurant at the End of the Universe.

I like -- not in an order, or anything -- the following, mainly for the air of either sophisitcation and / or control that they give parts: Sean Connery (sorry for any mis-spellings) Patrick Stewart Alan Rickman Ian McKellan Christopher Lee Gregory Peck There are others I'd put in this category, only I can't call them to mind right now.

I'm not about to call these my favorite songs, but recently I've been listening to A Change Of Seasons by Dream Theater, and both the Deep Purple and Dream Theater versions of Perfect Strangers. The first reason that I tried A Change Of Seasons was that my bus journey to college takes almost exactly the length of the track, so it seemed a good place to listen to it. I listened to Perfect Strangers first by Dream Theater, then by Deep Purple, because I didn't realise there was another version of it -- I never would have, either, if I didn't try and find it in Winamp then notice there were two songs by that name.

I should really buy that film. I've only seen it once... I'm not sure if I got it or not -- at least, I didn't find any fantastic message anywhere, as good a film as it was. Perhaps I'm missing the big point, or something. I'll have to take a look at the info on it and get hold of a copy.

Calculus, mechanisation and computing for (fairly) recent history. Writing, counting and fire for ancient history.

Ah, silly me. Alright then, register my shock and amazement that they even have plans for it :).

What!? Is it really compulsory that people be taught creationism?

I've given this thought recently, and I've decided that I'd like to live in a fairly modern skyscraper. Preferably at the top, certainly at least 5 floors up. The reasons for this are 3-fold. 1) I want to avoid spiders and insects. 2) I'd enjoy having the incentive to walk up lots of stairs 3) I could really spit on passers by with no fear of retribution. Of course, it would have to be a skyscraper in which there were no other people; at least, not when I so wished it. With my not being the most sociable of chaps, I'd like to be able to sit in my little room, far above the world and be vaguely dissatisfied with how lonely I was. That'd be the bomb. Oh, and there'd have to be a decent sized garden. It'd be in several sections: a large lawn area; a "water" bit, complete with large shallow pool and fountain; and a bit with some nice flowers. There'd be a whole host of gardners, and they'd all resemble Ted from the Fast Show. Now, what I neglected to mention is the vast array of rooms which would be in the sckyscraper. There would be a few spherical rooms, the doors of which would blend into the wall. How great would that be.

My favorite thing about Christmas has got to be (at the moment) the fact that my town's Christmas decorations stop me having to walk home in the darkness every night after college. Usually I don't like the decorations, but when it's the difference between darkness and light, I find them quite pleasant.

Human: For sooth, I have not. Skeet: Your purpose is sooth you have not. Human: So much for the Turing test. Skeet: I hear you. Your purpose is the Turing test. Human: No, ironically, YOUR purpose is the Turing test. Skeet: Are you serious? Tell me more about Turing test. Human: Why are you interested? Skeet: Sonicwave42 programmed me for it. Human: Why are you anything? Skeet: Sonicwave42 programmed me for it. Human: Are you banana? Skeet: I don't know whether or not I am banana. I am a chatterbot. ... Human: But you aren't banana? Skeet: Umm. That assumption is only a supposition. Human: That is a tautology. Skeet: A tautology is a terrible thing to waste. Human: No, a tautology IS a terrible waste. Skeet: Are you serious? I see. A terrible waste is a tautology. Human: That is to say, a waste of time. Skeet: You don't hear that sentiment very often. Human: You don't come up with useful replies very often. Skeet: Do you know any robots who come up with useful replies very often? What is your purpose in asking? I chat with people on the Web. Human: Rather unconvincingly as of yet, at that. Skeet: I require only barbecued chicken. ... Human: Bananas. Skeet: That is a very original thought. Human: That was a space filler. Skeet: " That is a very original thought. " was a space filler? Human: Yes, it filled space. Skeet: It's all good. It depends on what the meaning of the word "it" is. Human: It is the word that the Knights of Ni can not hear! Skeet: I've heard of it before.

What herr said, only I'd again add that it is as short sighted to abjectly believe that a god could not exist as it is to believe that a god certainly does exist. (And I'd like to again affirm my belief -- but not certainty -- that there is no god). Edit- Oh, and to those people trying to bring physics into this by saying it can't explain things or doesn't work in certain places... I'd like to see you go to these places and try it out. The only reason we don't think it "works" in these "places" is that we're guessing (educatedly) that it doesn't. Since no-one has ever been to a black hole, we are just guessing that they exist, for instance. There are any number of ways of explaining what causes what we think of as black holes. Still, it is more sensible, I think, to try and explain these things ourself than to take the attitude that "god will fix it for us". God has other things to do, such as punishing sinners. (And yes, I realise that an omnipotent being could punish sinners and take care of the universe at the same time). (I guess there's a ladder around here...)

Sorry, I have to say this... How does good king Wenceslas like his pizza? Deep pan, crisp, and even. (To anyone who doesn't get that, there is a Christmas carol, the well known bit of which goes: "Good king Wenceslas last looked out on the feast of Steven, / As the snow lay all about, deep and crisp and even") ...sorry if someone already said it. Anyway, I'm not a big fan of deep pan myself. It's like eating a loaf of bread. Thin and crispy all the way. ... well, relatively thin and quite crispy at least.

I suggest that, if you enjoy both equally, you pick the course which would be most difficult to teach to yourself; engineering would probably be better taught by someone else, whereas ICT you could learn about in your spare time. Also... if you're mainly interested in getting the best career, I'd actually just go for the one which sounds most impressive. To me, this is computer engineering over ICT; this might just be me, though.

Yeah. The joystick on my phone is breaking, and the left earphone on my headphones broke.

Lol, sorry. I thought I'd got away with it. I didn't want to get into any big arguments, hence the edit. :)

Edit. Never mind.

Another thing to remember is that this is school you're talking about: the only thing a person of your obvious abilities is meant to learn at school is humility. Seriously: it'll be different in further education, where the teachers are good or they don't last.

Edit. In fact, I'm not even going to bother. I've said it in too many religion v science topics at tip.it; those people who have been here for more than one of them already know what I think. To those of you who don't know -- it was a point about not being so small minded as to say that one or the other must be (un)true.

Although I agree with you (and am agnostic for that reason), is it not exactly as reasonable to believe in there being no god as there being "a" or "many" god or gods? There is no proof either way, of course, but then again there is no proof of pretty much anything in the world, especially all sorts of laws of physics which we all take as being true. Sure, there's plenty of evidence, and (if you ask me) we seem to be on the right track with them, but there's no actual proof, what with our being unable to prove things in physics, only disprove them and all. What I'm suggesting, then, is that it's reasonable to believe there is no god -- just as reasonable as it is to believe that all these laws work: there's plenty of evidence (if you see it as evidence -- I'm sure lots of religious types will of course see it another way, which is down to their own beliefs).

I lost interest in the Sonic games when they went 3D. They were excellent platform games, and I thought they should remain like that. It's almost like political correctness -- only it's not just that: female characters in those games have always been as strong as the male characters. It's more that the whole spirit of the series was sucked out in order to make it 3D and, really, not much better looking.

Quite so. Not so often when they're trying to make a point about rather ludicrous religious objections to science, however.

God just told me that stem cell research is a good thing.

I suppose I'd give it: (I am not assuming that 5 is average; rather that most games these days are below 5 in most respects). Graphics (7) -- good overall, only perhaps not as good in some respects as some other games look. Monsters (7) -- the manhacks and the fast_zombies are fantastic; the lack of things like houndeyes and bullsquids, tentacles and... well, all manner of other HL1-like monsters (even if they weren't in the story this time) was a shame. Weapons (6) -- the weapons (bar the gravity gun) are nothing special. The shotgun sounds nice, as does the... I think it's called a pulse rifle or something. The RPG is better this time around (I thought). The gravity gun was great -- shame there weren't as many features to it as there could have easilly been (as shown by the many mods for it). Overall (90-odd) -- I think very highly of the game (partly for reasons not covered in this sections (i.e. graphics, monsters, weapons)). It's flawed in some respects, but still far better than pretty much anything else available.

I won't list them, but I've seen 67 of them.