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Comment Re:In that case... (Score 1) 238

6) Again, that's one theory. An alternate theory is that the Wachowski brothers are frickin abysmal writers who just got lucky the first time.

You could also be generous and concede that they may have been okay writers but that in attempting to visually convey extremely sophisticated philosophical concepts using the language of cyberpunk mixed with the visual themes of martial arts cinema and work like Ridley Scott's Blade Runner their reach exceeded their grasp.

It was relatively easy to frame a story which posited Machines=baddies, humans = goodies in The Matrix but in Reloaded and Revolutions they moved towards a philosophy in which Smith became representative of a kind of nihilistic instinct where Neo represented a vital and enlightened soul, alive to suffering and the transience of the apparent but able to move within the world of appearances in tune with the creatures of spirit. The machine world came to represent this world of spirit over the course of the trilogy, programs and machines representing the highest forms of intellect and wisdom that much eastern philosophy attempts to teach us are, at first, seen as enemies of our unenlightened selves but later come to be angelic beings prompting us to move into a state of nirvanic bliss.

It's an interesting philosophy but not one that anyone has ever really tried to put into the visual language of action cinema, until these guys. That they failed was almost inevitable. That they tried remains admirable. That they are scorned remains unsurprising.

Comment Re:Oh I'm sorry (Score 2) 378

Unwittingly you may have just provided the answer to the age old query of why it is that men don't seem to be able to multitask.

They are all multi-tasking, constantly. Most men that I've encountered take the assessment of a female person's surface attractiveness as something their brain will just do regardless of whether they want it to or not. It doesn't stop them listening to anything she might have to say or assessing her personal qualities any more than any other factor such as trying to hold a sensible conversation on a bad phone line or whatever.

If it is true that a woman can have many conversations with a man and never once think about his surface attractiveness then that leaves a whole heap of spare brain capacity for multi-tasking. I have heard women say "I just never thought of x that way" and assumed it meant the survey had been carried out but disregarded as irrelevant; this is the way it works for me.

If, in fact, the survey never takes place at all it explains a hell of a lot about a lot of things... to me, anyway.

Comment Re:How about... (Score 1) 835

Are you not allowed to say "I'm sorry you didn't make the cut, we wish you luck gaining employment elsewhere"? Why do you have to say "I'm sorry but I don't like Jewish Asian Lesbian Possibly-Illegal One-Legged Half-blind Over 50s so I'm not going to hire you"? Is it illegal not to give people a solid reason why they have been turned down? And if it is could "we had more suitable candidates present themselves" be a better response than "we had more young white male protestant applicants"? I'm not really trying to be rude but even though I have been known to be a young white male indistinguishable from a protestant of the same gender, age and racial background nobody ever told me they were either hiring or not hiring me for any reason other than "stuff" probably to avoid such recruiting snafus.

Comment Re:Offtopic cultural confusion from outside the US (Score 1) 316

I'm from the UK and I know certain branches of Asda and Morrisons employ some local senior citizens to harangue people on the way in (the "greeting" the "greeter" is to deliver). As the kind of senior citizen who would agree to such a humiliating and pointless task in our country of dour cynics is usually a few sandwiches short of a picnic anyway it's a little bit like certain supermarkets have their own court jester drooling all over you as you step through the door. So, that's what a greeter is.

Comment Chance would be a fine thing. (Score 1) 253

I don't think anyone actually bothers to track purchases of individual customers. Or if they do then they don't pay much mind. I have this curse, it is the subject of jokes amongst myself and my nearest and dearest. If I like a product, I mean really like it, so that I become brand loyal and all that crap the suppliers go out of business or they stop making whatever it is that I want to buy.

I live in the UK and back in the mid nineties we briefly got a taste of Pretzel Flipz chocolate covered pretzels. I absolutely loved the White Fudge variety you now can't get in the UK for love nor money. A takeout near where we live did a particular type of burger I ate too many of and shortly thereafter the place changed hands and menus. A short while ago the grocer just opposite where we live stopped stocking both flapjacks, which I inhale, and a particular brand of glucose energy drink which I thought was superior to the leading brand. That's just the start. I can't help noticing that all of these items were totally bad for me. So maybe they were watching, and decided to put my health before their profits... maybe...

Comment Re:Experienced only? (Score 1) 948

This. Mostly. I do have time to work on projects outside of work, and I do. They just happen to be RP Design projects. Our group has self-published some stuff and done some work in the area of narrative RP. It's my hobby, coding is my work. I don't like the thought that I would be discriminated against as a coder with eight year's experience simply because the only free-time work I've done is to write a little app that helps you make fighting fantasy style adventure books.

Comment Re:Poker -- Randomness and Partial Information (Score 1) 300

And after much scrolling I find this gem buried at the bottom of the thread. Exactly this. Not only that but the seedy reputation poker has is an excellent object lesson is how stupid people will bitch and whine about anything. Poker teaches you that life is not fair, that you need to learn both academics (e.g. probabilities) and politics (e.g. reading others) in order to survive and that people get real weird when money goes on the table. I can't think of any lessons any human being needs to learn early any more than these.

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