on violence in video games, in response to the often heard line that "I grew up on them, and I'm ok." Basically, posting that kind of crap is asking for an echo chamber, and I'm just a bit sick of echo chambers at this point.

Original comment. My reply/thread with replies.

Thought I'd share, because no one seemed to want to talk about my initial tangent. I'm tempted to pick apart my responses and detail out where I used internet-flame rhetoric in a few of the replies.

Here's the meat for those that don't feel like clicking the link:

Huh? They did not have the types of games when I was growing up that they have now. So I can't really weigh in and say "I played violent games, and I'm ok."

About the most violent thing I can think of that I played was Doom. Which is comically cartoony compared to stuff like Manhunt or the newer GTAs. Or hell, any modern FPS. Mortal Kombat is also NOTHING compared to what we have now. Go back and play it. Not only are the situations found within ridiculous, but the graphics are downright tame. I've seen better gore effects in foreign low-budget horror flicks(which I also watched growing up, and apart from a sick sense of humor, I'm pretty well-adjusted). There's also looney tunes. None of this is in the same league as some modern games!

We just didn't have the tech to produce violent situations with as much realism as we can now. We don't have as much now as we will next year, and we won't have as much then as we will 5-6 years from now. Now, does this matter? Maybe, maybe not. We know that exposure to violence during certain stages of development effects people(and even later in life, PTSD and the like). The extent to which simulated or indirectly viewed violence(IE: via the news) does is still up in the air(with current data pointing to it not being statistically significant[but hey, neither is 2nd hand smoke!]) because psych is such a voodoo art soft science(and the professor quoted here isn't a developmental psychologist). Now, as the line blurs between reality and gameplay due to improved physics, graphics, AI and a miscellany of immersion techniques, this could very well change. That's tangenital however.

Now, believe it or not, that was just a big tangent on the "I played violent games growing up and I'm FINE" argument I keep seeing. No you didn't, at least not compared to what's out right now.

In his 1385 work 'Troilus and Criseyde', and I'm paraphrasing here, "People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones."

Ok, so he actually said something along the lines of "Those who are vulnerable should not attack others." Insert a few thornes and other deprecated letters/english forms in there, maybe a nary or two, and you might hit the original. Which being Chaucer, means it was probably collected somewhere. But that's the english origin of the phrase.

I'll let you figure out why I posted this all on your own. Like an excercise.

My favorite Museum exhibit is the Hope Diamond. Because it crushes expectations. You stand in line, you stand in line, you're expecting something the size of your fist, and you get up there and it's like a shiny piece of gravel. Oh sure, kinda pretty, but it leaves you with a "that's it!?" kind of sensation.

Oh or reconstructed pyramids, temples and castles over here. They're sacrilicious.

Did you know when Ethelred came in for his "thank god I don't live stateside anymore" experience, I tried to hunt down a copy of Mao's Red Book for him entirely because someone had called us "comrades" in an internet argument?

Saying commie pinko bastard makes baby Mao cry.

We're currently hoping Mekkab will be allowed out to another meetup after the last one. TWO AM MEKKA! TWO AM!

Captain Morgan's Tatoo SUCKS(take Jager and make it WORSE). Which isn't surprising, because all Captain Morgan rum sucks except Private Stock.

My sister has magical energy theories.

Whatever happened to the Judicial Nominee comprimise they struck last year which was ignored?

Java and .NET did not descend from the heavens, they were constructed in preexisting languages. And no way in hell is a VM faster than optimized C/ASM. Anyone else think we're getting to abstracted from the hardware?

G. Gordon Liddy doesn't like Deep Throat. I wonder why.

Neither does Robert Novak.

Oh and upon mentioning that I have gone for a very very long time w/o subscribing, someone went and got me a subscription. Thus ruining my street cred. :-P I'll let them out themselves if they wish.

Ok. I wrote I journal.

Ok, so I get on /. this morning and see this "article."

Company X is protesting "booth babes" at E3 by... get this... hiring booth babes! Ooh! But they have a twist! Theirs are "ugly". Because see, if they're ugly, it's a protest....

Ok, so let me rephrase, Company X has exceptionally low marketing budget and hits on the idea to hire low-cost average/un-hyper attractive women at a budget price while registering a domain name and having their marketing department (a mixed ethnicity man named Howard or Russ or something) spam submissions to various gaming portals until someone picks it up.

Why.. with genious like that at work, you woulda thought you'd have heard of company X sooner.

Sigh.

Oh and Cyrano's JE about people shying away from ex-telco PHDs made me laugh. You realize how many CS innovations of the past 30 years came out of teleco style free-wheeling labs right? Umm... Almost all of them! Business classes, for when you're too inbred or stupid to learn anything productive!

People I recognize.

Some Woman - You're giving it away woman! Shoulda left it at the first one.
Mekkab - Yea, go ahead, be lazy like FK and use the exact same pic you've used 2 other places.
Blinder - You'll never guess where I am.
Richard - Distinctive Mug. Is it a recent shot?
BWJones - That'll show me for reading your blog.
Me - If I can't recognize myself there's something wrong.
Ellem - Please don't shoplift from my store!
Solemndragon - Battle pixie!
Sielwolf - He looks so normal, don't he?
GMHowell - Grizzly adams, is that you?
Saige - I still like the hair.
Insanecarbonbasedlif(eform) - You like JUST posted these.
JawtheShark - Do you ever not have beer?
Btzlu2 - Edward Norton in disguise. I swear. Seriously, could you possibly look MORE like you belong in chicago?
Tuxette - How many short haired asian women who could kick my ass do we have around here? One.
Dexterpexter - Take down the pictures on your about me website if you haven't already. Only reason why I got ya.
Bethanie - Who couldn't pick bethanie out of a lineup by now.
Leons - Also obvious, he's got enough pics up in enough other places and has posted enough in the past.
Eugene TS Wong - Eugene! Where the hell you been?
Arb - You're also fairly easy to pick out.
Tet - Same here.
Technolust - Same here.
Ethelred - Finally we see the confessor!
Johndii - Has gone crazy. They're coming to take him away ha ha.
Fortknox - Duh. His face is all over the internets now.
CyranoVR - Also fairly easy, if you've ever talked to him on AIM.

So that's 23 I have to disqualify myself from.

Now this whole freakin' mess is over. Who wants a brain slushy?

Since it's over, here's what bothered me about this mess: the executive and legislative branches of both the florida state government AND the federal government getting involved in a ONE TIME ONLY showboating manner.

Yes, that's right, I know I LOVE the idea of people writing laws that mention ME by name. That's so democratic! Repeat after me, Fuck you King George(and that's pretty much what a lot of their BASE said in some recent polling, imagine that).

And yea, it's the husbands call. SUCK IT UP! I don't fucking like drug laws, but I still have to abide by them. Don't like how guardianship/marriage works, get it changed... but it's too late for that now.

Trying to get the government involved in this families PERSONAL lives just proves that republicans aren't conservative in the slightest. Apparently there are very few non neo-liberals left.

So today(well, yesterday now I guess) is the day that comes on a different date every year where this religious sect of semitic origin celebrates the anniversary of the return of their god made man from a 3-day stint in hell after some nastiness with the authorities.

On an aside, I keep telling people that hell is the penultimate tourist destination, after all even Jebus himself just had to pay it a visit, but no one pays me any heed. BTW, next time you're down there, swing by Dis and check out the Ghandi Burger right across from Hitler's Used Car Emporium, it's food to be damned for. And don't you be taking any lip from Richard Nixon during your trip either.

Anywho, Jebus is back with a vengeance, having risen from the dead to devour the brains of the faithful. Only the easter bunny can stop the undead menace with his army of confectionary, and it is imperative that he not fail.

Welcome home RW. Next time you're down here in the Waltimore DC metroplex, let us know. I still owe ya a beer.

I, much like the dubious one, have been playing WoW and working and doing the whole living thing. WoW has eaten all the slacking time I used to spend here. I'm playing horde on stormreaver if anyone else is doing the world of warcrack as well.

Oh and watching the Sin City trailer. I've played it back something like 50 times and I still can't find anything non-trivial to bitch about(the actress playing Miho's face being a bit too wide, and the yellow on willis's hands looking kinda chincy are the biggest complaints I can come up with). This is unnatural for a comic book based film. So, all my searing dork rage is directed at Keanu having a career(Through a scanner darkly? WHY MUST YOU MAKE PHILLIP K. DICK GENERATE OUR NATIONS POWER WITH HIS SPINNING!), the treatment Hellblazer got(chewing gum at the end, and the angel wings bit! FUCK!), the treatment "The Watchmen" is probably going to get, Scorcese still being oscarless(WTF? Who is going to remember Million dollar baby in 5 years?) and other little bits of utterly trivial significance.

Can't find a copy of Audition for a reasonable price(it's a bit overrated imo). This is a movie you use to deeply disturb people. Kinda like discussing genital mutilation and french film over food and beer. I did pick up Shaolin Master Killer finally. It's not right to have such classics(and yes, classic applies here) as Return of the Five Deadly Venoms and NOT have Shaolin Master Killer. Also nabbed Shaolin Soccer.

That is all. Carry on.

One thing you have to say for Philly, we're experts at failing magnificently.

Oh and McNabb is a bum.

Errr... Unhappy Birthday. I love this song, it makes me happy. It's so uptempo and positive.

I've come to wish you an unhappy birthday
I've come to wish you an unhappy birthday
'Cause you're evil
And you lie
And if you should die
I may feel slightly sad
(But I won't cry)

Loved and lost
And some may say
When usually it's Nothing
Surely you're happy
It should be this way ?
I say "No, I'm gonna kill my dog"
And : "May the lines sag, may the lines sag heavy and deep tonight"

I've come to wish you an unhappy birthday
I've come to wish you an unhappy birthday
'Cause you're evil
And you lie
And if you should die
I may feel slightly sad
(But I won't cry)

Loved and lost
And some may say
When usually it's Nothing
Surely you're happy
It should be this way ?
I said "No"
And then I shot myself
So, drink, drink, drink
And be ill tonight

From the one you left behind
From the one you left behind
From the one you left behind
From the one you left behind
Behind
Behind
Behind
Behind
Behind
Behind
Oh, unhappy birthday
Behind
Behind
Behind

Sorry it's not "How soon is now" Johnny Come Latelys[says the 23 yo].

With basic high school(actually, junior high) geometry(and all of my math skills have been mostly replaced by godzilla trivia) and teaches someone a new word which they later misuse(the word of the day on your toilet paper is: pedantic. Whenever someone says the secret word, everyone scream for career wrecking pr0n!).

I'm sorry, I was just being a dick, but the response to this post of mine is amusing the hell out of me. Parent post here. People are like ravenous wolves around here.

Some people, when they can't sleep, they take a pill. Me, I decide to be half-jokingly pedantic(AAAHHHHHHH!!!) on slashdot.

Ahh... nothing like rolling out of bed early sunday morning and sitting in a chair smoking/drinking fresh ground/roasted coffee(yes, my love of coffee has caused me to purchase not just a grinder, but a roaster as well). Appropriate attire, pajamas.

Yesterday morning was a comedy of errors. I spilled a whole pot of coffee on myself, mysteriously lost the ability to parallel park, and didn't have one odd thought run through my head all day(well apart from nuns bouncing around at 500 feet ala a pinball machine, but that's an old odd thought).

I went out, drank a few beers, went home, and promptly fell asleep at around 6pm. Wake up this morning to 12 phone messages. So, apparently, there was stuff I could've been doing last night, I shall console myself by going to the bank, getting $100 in ones and proceed to roll around in them in a celebration of the money I saved by sleeping through saturday night.

I need to build up a healthy sense of greed by the time I'm 30, or else the Republican party might not accept my registration, which would require a move away from the NE corridor to avoid Zombie Churchill thinking I have no brain(wait... that might be a good thing...).

I really don't have anything to say(my 2003/2004 obsession with politics has been retooled back to my pre-2003 obsession with video games, odd literature and B movies none of which have the immediacy of politics). So... umm... have a good sunday. I'll be sitting around here for a while.

Lower the drinking age to 18(or lower). If you're old enough to vote, old enough to die for your country and old enough to be legally fucked by a 60 year old[perhaps for inheritance?], you should be able to buy a drink. We have the highest drinking age of any civilized country, and we also have the highest incidence of alcoholism(of course AA considers you an an alcoholic if you drink more than 2 beers a day, so perhaps this is inaccurate).

Chomsky and Buckley agree(and that should be reason enough for ya!), the war on drugs is a waste of time, money and effort. End it. If you absolutely must have government intervention here, funnel 1/10th of the money into treatment/prevention programs. Objectively justify a ban on heroin and not a ban on cigarrettes. I dare ya to.

This post brought to you by Bunnahabhain.

Name: Buffer-Overflowed AKA He what forgets the Null Character AKA He who took part in the scaring of high-drinkist lord Ethelred AKA buffer AKA b-over AKA B-O AKA Nick AKA eventually to be truncated as B(See also: Insanecarbonbasedlifeform)
Age: 23 Cycles
Current Location: Baltimore part of the Waltimore, DC Metrosprawl sometimes called the Mt. Vernon Area of Baltimore, MD
Status: Single, living alone
Number of Sibling Units: Two
Parental status: Married, Until make-up sex and children aren't enough.
Handedness: Right. With some ambidextrous qualities.
Pets: One dog which thinks she is a cat. Expert of the bottom-most OSI layers. Named Ada(after, in order: Blaise Pascal's Daughter, the language, and the American Dental Association). Currently housed elsewhere until home purchase or more pet-friendly landlord is found. Puppy picture frequently used as avatar on other sites.
Height/Weight: 5'11" 140lbs
Hair/Eye Color: Dirty blonde/brown with natural highlights/Blue-ish
Hair Style: #2 on the sides, scissors up top. AKA Standard guy haircut
Scars/Tatoos/Piercings: Scar on left thumb. No other visible
Vision: Contacts(-3.25, 8.8, 14.0[Donations accepted, make checks out to Citizens Against Simian Hegemony(CASH for short)])
Googleable?: Not accurately

Present readers/fans excluded.

Only 41 comments, but read this fucking story at negative 1.

I can't string together profanity profane enough and I'm on the profanity blacklist AND I strongly dislike to the point of hatred certain aspects of this website.

[Blasphemous phrase normally reserved for spanish curses]

God fucking damnit. Don't compare suffering! You anti-social fucktards. You don't do that seriously, it's like jacking off in a gym sock, at best useless, at worst a mortal sin. Fuck! The whole it could be worse thing is only to be used as a segue into black comedy. *sigh*

There's a death toll of over 110,000 you soulless fuckheads.

Pudge/Cliff, how the hell do you resist the urge to lay down the SQL DELETE command? You have way more tolerance/patience than I do. Props to you guys. I humbly request that you(and anyone else with mod points) mod my post into oblivion, because it deserves it. Hell, use overrated. I don't care.

God damned pig-nosed sister fucking inbred fuckers who have sheep on the side, lubricated with cow feces fresh from the pasture. There "Cha-Cham!" You happy, I just justified you sanitizing your internet experience and for a good cause. Hell your I'm a little boy dwelling in my parents basement schtick is downright sane compared to some of this shit,