Global Warming for Dummies

[Adam]

Originally Posted by godfry n. glad

I guess you don't think that a whole lot of drops in a bucket might lead to a full bucket, huh?

I'll get back to you on that when the incentives favor individuals adding their drops. Pretty much everyone has to participate to make a real difference, there is no direct reward for participation, and participation comes at a cost.

[S.Vashti]

Originally Posted by godfry n. glad

You mean I can't use the term "wingnuts"?

Good grief, it looks as if I've badly miscommunicated.
You can call anyone you want "wingnuts" or "pus-filled malodorous gas bags" or whatever insult your heart desires. What I was interested in was why an insulter would be ignorant of the likely response of their insulting behavior. That struck me as really odd. I think at this point, I'm going to assume the ignorance on Miss Shelby's part was feigned.

[mickthinks]

Originally Posted by Leesifer

So, Michelle! Did you get your dramaz? I do hope so!

I've re-read the thread and you have yet to actually respond significantly to anybody who has given you information/links on global warming. Oh, yes, you've "thanked" the odd one or two but I now wait in anticipation for your questions, so that I may learn something too.

LOL! Is there an unresolved issue you are pursuing with Miss Shelby here, Lees?

[mickthinks]

... there is no direct reward for participation, and participation comes at a cost.
That's ethics for you - never a proper incentive to do the right thing!

[Naru]

HEY EVERYONE LOOK AT ME

[But]

[lisarea]

Wait, so is the thread over?

Is it time for the song?

YouTube - Portal - Credits Song 'Still Alive'

I'm not even angry
I'm being so sincere right now
Even though you broke my heart and killed me
And torn into pieces
And threw every piece into a fire
As they burned it hurt because I was so happy for you
Now these points of data make a beautiful line
And we're out of beta, we're releasing on time
So I'm glad I got burned
Think of all the things we learned for the people who are still alive

Yep. We'd like to point out that, with the exception of climate change itself, all people and events depicted herein were a work of fiction. Any resemblance to real events or persons, alive or dead, is unintentional and purely a coincidence.

[Smilin]

I wish I had access to U-tube here at work...sigggghhhhhhh.....

[Farren]

Originally Posted by lisarea

Wait, so is the thread over?

Is it time for the song?

YouTube - Portal - Credits Song 'Still Alive'


I'm not even angry
I'm being so sincere right now
Even though you broke my heart and killed me
And torn into pieces
And threw every piece into a fire
As they burned it hurt because I was so happy for you
Now these points of data make a beautiful line
And we're out of beta, we're releasing on time
So I'm glad I got burned
Think of all the things we learned for the people who are still alive

Oh man I love this song. I just finished the game Portal and it plays at the end right after you destroy the psycho AI that's been playing with you like a rat in a maze.

[ChuckF]

That song is new to me and I really like it.

[Dragar]

I have got to finish Half Life 2 (which is turning out to be probably the most atmospheric game I have ever played) and buy the Orange Box.

[Smilin]

I've never seen Al Gore's film, "An inconvenient truth",,,but may actually rent it now...

Is it out on DVD?

Just to gather his slant on the whole GW issue, and make up my own mind on the matter.

Smilin, 'tis available.

Dragar, I haven't played Orange Box, but I've gotten the impression from other gamers that it is, overall, exceedingly "meh." Rent first (if possible).

[Naru]

Half-Life 2 presents a utopian world where global warming is no longer a problem. Thanks to our new overlords, wasteful internal combustion engines are a thing of the past, replaced with ion drives or whatever it is that they use.

And rising sea levels? Have you seen the coast? Totally solved, thanks to the Combine.

What do you think?

[ChuckF]

Dear Internets:

What I know about Half-Life 2 could be put on the head of a pin. Crippling stupidity prevents me from reading - or even locating - information that is not addressed specifically to me. Can someone please fill me in on this computer game so beloved by radical Islamic fundamentalists around the world?

Thanks!

[Clutch Munny]

[Farren]

Originally Posted by Uthgar the Brazen

Smilin, 'tis available.

Dragar, I haven't played Orange Box, but I've gotten the impression from other gamers that it is, overall, exceedingly "meh." Rent first (if possible).

Portal is a truly addictive puzzler.

Team Fortress has garnered rave reviews, if you're can wrap you head around a Team Fortress that plays more like Quake Arena. I can't. The one or two levels I played were crazy-paced and even playing the engineer, healer and sniper classes just felt too in-your-face all the time. Maybe its age, or just that I've grown comfortable with the pace of Counterstrike.

Half-Life the game I've played very little of.

[Dragar]

Yeah, I'm hearing Portal is by far the best part of the package.

Half Life 2 however, I am still loving.

Originally Posted by Naruto

Half-Life 2 presents a utopian world where global warming is no longer a problem. Thanks to our new overlords, wasteful internal combustion engines are a thing of the past, replaced with ion drives or whatever it is that they use.

And rising sea levels? Have you seen the coast? Totally solved, thanks to the Combine.

What do you think?

Not to mention you don't hear anyone complaining about overpopulation.

[Farren]

Originally Posted by ChuckF

Dear Internets:

What I know about Half-Life 2 could be put on the head of a pin. Crippling stupidity prevents me from reading - or even locating - information that is not addressed specifically to me. Can someone please fill me in on this computer game so beloved by radical Islamic fundamentalists around the world?

Thanks!

Dear Chuck,

I'm typing this slowly in deference to the fact that you're a tard:

Half-life is an action game with physical puzzle elements set in the not too distant future, where, IIRC (having played the original long ago and not being interested in the sequel), US government experiments have led to rifts in spacetime through which aliens known as the combine have come through. I may have this all messed up but I think there is an element of human complicity too. It has Alien-like elements, including, f'rinstance, "head crabs" that turn you into a kind of meat puppet after clamping onto your face. It also borrows from War of the Worlds, with giant spider-like walking alien tanks.

Generally though, the story scripting is intelligent and the theme is an interesting blend of dystopian, semi-Orwellian future, Alien invasion and other literary themes, making it stand out from the sea of action games that treat storyline as an afterthought and borrow heavily from overworked genres. That said, while I have to admire the obvious superiority of Half-Life over many other games in this regard, the particular theme it has embraced doesn't personally thrill me, which is why I didn't really get into the second game.

Half-life and Half-Life 2 are celebrated for a number of things:

- The original was the first major game to feature in-game cinematic transition sequences, where you are partially free to move (f'rinstance, you can look around), but are essentially trapped in a scripted movie-like scene rendered in 3D.

- The original spawned some highly popular user modifications, like Counterstrike, a terrorists vs counterterrorist forces game that became so popular it is now a commercial game in its own right (you can get it in a bundle with Half-Life 2)

- The first game pushed the envelope of 3D graphics and effects and the second, based on the Source engine, is also cutting edge, with a materials-based system that makes wood behave like wood, metal like metal and so on. The physics of the engine are very realistic, a fact that Half-Life 2 exploits in many of its puzzles (placing weights on things balanced on fulcrums to make a ramp to get somewhere, f'rinstance).

The "Orange Box" is basically an expansion pack that came out recently, with game engine enhancements, a new episode in the Half-Life 2 saga, and two brand new games based on the Source engine: the frenetic Team Fortress 2 a class-based team vs team shooter which is wildly popular but IMHO only suitable for twitch-crazy teens with ADD or people who consume way to much caffeine, nicotene and/or cocaine - and the fascinating puzzler Portal.

The latter game arms you with a gun that can create both sides of a "portal", which kind of works like the gates in stargate. Make a portal on the wall over here and the other side on the ceiling, and you can walk through the portal in the wall and find yourself dropping out of the ceiling. Momentum is preserved, so if you make a portal at the bottom of a pit and the other side next to it, then jump into it, you will shoot up out of the exit as rapidly as you fell into the entrance. The game presents you with a series of ever harder physical puzzle environments where good 3D visualization and the kind of angular thinking used in, say, billiards really helps. Also, the happy sounding psychotic AI voice throughout adds atmosphere.

[ChuckF]

Thank you, Farren! When did you decide to become a radical Islamic fundamentalist?

[Farren]

I think it was after Hollywood made a third movie starring Adam Sandler.

[godfry n. glad]

Originally Posted by Naruto

Half-Life 2 presents a utopian world where global warming is no longer a problem. Thanks to our new overlords, wasteful internal combustion engines are a thing of the past, replaced with ion drives or whatever it is that they use.

And rising sea levels? Have you seen the coast? Totally solved, thanks to the Combine.

What do you think?

Overlords?

We gots problem.

[Miss Shelby]

Hey thanks for that list Chuck F, you could have posted that right from the get go if you would have wanted to be half way cool about it. anyways, the article I read that made me think the scientists were loons was from the Jan 17 2007 The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Whether they are reputable or not, or the article was, I don't know. I admitted ignorance about the subject.

But thank you all so kindly for helping me sort it all out.

Originally Posted by godfry n. glad

Overlords?

We gots problem.

All our base is belonged to dem.