TheMightyEthan

It's hard to imagine something more annoying than having the TV automatically pause when I turn my head away.

Damnit, I didn't notice it the first time I read it but now it's bugging the shit out of me.

Say that ten times fast. Yeah, what the hell is up with Japanese game naming conventions?

What do you mean, genre fans? I've always heard "genre fiction" used as a generic term to describe everything from sci-fi to fantasy to mystery to horror.

I know it's not a new concept, but they're actually building an experimental one, which is the March of Technology part.

Everyone I know (who is nerdy enough to have an opinion on such things) thinks Superman is overpowered and lame.

Fusion's easy, it's what powers hydrogen bombs. What's the problem from a fusion power perspective is creating a continuous, sustained fusion reaction that produces more power than it takes to contain it. The fusion engine, however, doesn't require that, as by definition you don't want to contain it. It's basically a series of very small fusion detonations, and we've been able to make fusion explosives since the 50's. *Edit* - We've also been able to make continuous fusion reactions for a long time, it's just the magnetic containment takes more power than is produced in the reaction, so it's no good for power generation. *Edit 2* - Here's the Wikipedia article on fusion power and the problems associated with it. They don't really apply to this engine though, because again starting the fusion reaction is easy and in the case of a rocket engine you're not having to spend energy containing it.

The University of Washington is developing a prototype fusion engine that could make a trip to Mars possible in 1-3 months rather than the 6-8 months it would take with conventional rockets. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/04/10/nasa_fusion_engine_fast_mars_trip/

According to the South Korean and US governments, there is a "very high" chance that North Korea will launch a missile at South Korea in the near future. So, that'll be fun.

Apparently the company in charge of focus-testing The Last of Us wasn't planning to use any women in their groups. Naughty Dog had to specifically request it. I don't even know what to say to that.

Doesn't using real money to buy better equipment kind of defeat the purpose of 1999 mode?

On an unrelated note, there are a surprisingly large number of butts on a google image search for "backfire".

I'd imagine all the Americans on here are probably too young to have clear memories of when Margaret Thatcher was a big enough deal for Americans in general to have opinions on her.

PC specs released: Minimum OS: Windows Vista®/XP, Windows 7, Windows 8 Processor: Intel® CoreTM2 Duo 2.4 Ghz or better, AMD AthlonTM X2 2.8 Ghz or better Memory: 2 GB RAM Hard Disk Space: 9 GB free hard drive space Video Card: NVIDIA® GeForce® 8800GTS or better, ATI RadeonTM HD 3850 or better DirectX®: 9.0c or greater Sound: Standard audio device Recommended OS: Windows Vista®, Windows 7, Windows 8 Processor: Intel® CoreTM 2 Quad 2.7 Ghz or better, AMD PhenomTM II X4 3 Ghz or better Memory: 4 GB RAM Hard Disk Space: 9 GB free hard drive space Video Card: NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 560 or better

Jurassic Park 3D. The 3D effect was really good for the most part, barring 1 or 2 scenes. If I didn't know better I would have believed that it was originally filmed in 3D.

http://www.joystiq.com/2013/04/05/microsoft-responds-to-creative-directors-always-on-console-co/ The fact that Microsoft took the time to respond, but still didn't deny the rumors, means it's about as confirmed as it can be short of a press release.

Not to mention some people just don't have internet access at home, even though it's available. My wife, through her job, knows a bunch of kids who have 360's/PS3's who don't have a home internet connection.

If my internet was gigabit internet it would be faster than my home LAN.

I think MS is much more focused on the NA market, where their lead over Sony this gen is much more pronounced.

When it's rainy so I'm wearing my wide-brimmed hat and I pass women I tip it ever so slightly and say "Ma'am" because I like to pretend I'm in a Western. Sparked by Thursday's sir/maam comment.

So there's the stereotypes that the British are excessively polite, and Americans are rude. Well on Wednesday I was at the local Rotary meeting (because I've become an old person well before my time) and the speaker was a British foreign exchange teacher. She said that one of the things that surprised her coming over here was how polite the students are, much more so than her students back in England. I thought that was interesting.

Sorry if I came across snarky, didn't mean to. And yeah, I don't know why I read your first post as though you were saying that was some special feature of your phone. I blame it on not having had my morning caffeine yet at that point.

Yeah, I can too. I meant in order to use its phone functionality it requires a connection, because obviously.

When did the world become a cyberpunk setting?

Yeah, you can now dance on the table and I won't object. Also, what the fuck is he talking about with "Every device now is 'always on.' That's the world we live in.""? Not a single device I own requires a connection to function except my phone and my modem. There's a difference between making a device which supports constant internet connectivity and making a device which requires it in order to do anything. Things like cable boxes have to be connected because by their nature they are accessing remote content, but making an always-online requirement for anything accessing local content is just asinine. As far as "electricity goes out too", I've lived in this house for 2 years and I think the electricity has gone out twice in all that time, whereas my internet connection fucks up at least a couple times a month (for a while last year it was broken all morning every Saturday, but that hasn't happened in a while).