Results 211 to 240 of 957
Thread: xkcd
-
2017-09-24, 12:43 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jan 2015
- Location
- On the tip of my tongue
Re: xkcd
F'lar was the one who always knew Thread was coming back and made a series of seemingly crazy moves on the basis of that faith. That's the first half of Dragonriders of Pern. F'lar's conviction that Thread was the greatest threat to the world, in the face of a society that had grown complacent about Thread, fits the xkcd comic to a tee.
By contrast, F'nor was always driven by personal loyalties--to F'lar, and later to Brekke. F'nor's trip to the Red Star in Dragonquest occurs under significantly different circumstances: everyone knows Thread is a threat, and indeed the Lord Holders are pressuring the dragonriders to go fight Thread on the Red Star out of frustration and fear due to Thread deviating from its established patterns. F'nor, already at a personal low after what happened to Brekke, knowing that Lessa fears F'lar plans to go to the Red Star, anticipating an eventual ultimatum from the Lord Holders (especially after the meeting with Lord Meron), decides in the heat of a momentary discovery to go to the Red Star himself--a reckless act by a man too little concerned with his own survival, but not one born of Thread zealotry.
I agree that of the pair, F'nor has the single flashiest action related to Thread, which is why he might be considered the bigger Thread zealot, but that doesn't mean he was.Last edited by Lethologica; 2017-09-24 at 12:49 AM.
-
2017-09-24, 01:06 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jun 2013
- Location
- Bristol, UK
Re: xkcd
The end of what Son? The story? There is no end. There's just the point where the storytellers stop talking.
-
2017-09-24, 04:08 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- May 2015
Re: xkcd
-
2017-09-24, 06:11 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- May 2016
- Location
- The Lakes
Re: xkcd
This might be helpful on some strips: http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
I end up checking it every two or three weeks to make sure I understand one of the strips.It is one thing to suspend your disbelief. It is another thing entirely to hang it by the neck until dead.
Verisimilitude -- n, the appearance or semblance of truth, likelihood, or probability.
The concern is not realism in speculative fiction, but rather the sense that a setting or story could be real, fostered by internal consistency and coherence.
The Worldbuilding Forum -- where realities are born.
-
2017-09-24, 06:48 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- May 2015
-
2017-09-24, 07:04 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jan 2015
- Location
- On the tip of my tongue
Re: xkcd
FWIW, and I guess this was already known, but my position was that F'lar was the more appropriate reference even though F'nor went to the Red Star in Dragonquest.
-
2017-09-24, 10:28 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Nov 2006
- Location
- Watching the world go by
- Gender
Re: xkcd
It has been 12 - 15 years since I read any of those novels. I think Dragonquest was almost the last one I got around to reading, but I'm not really sure. I suppose I should have remembered that since F'lessan is a person in the later books that F'lar is the one who takes an active role in saving the world from the thread.
-
2017-09-25, 01:07 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Apr 2008
- Location
- Germany
- Gender
Re: xkcd
-
2017-09-25, 10:31 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Feb 2005
- Gender
Re: xkcd
NOW COMPLETE: Let's Play Starcraft II Trilogy:
Hell, It's About Time: Wings of Liberty
Does This Mutation Make Me Look Fat: Heart of the Swarm
My Life For Aiur? I Barely Know 'Er: Legacy of the Void
-
2017-09-25, 04:01 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2015
- Location
- San Francisco Bay area
- Gender
Re: xkcd
-
2017-09-26, 01:32 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2010
-
2017-10-01, 11:53 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jul 2007
Re: xkcd
Play your character, not your alignment.
-
2017-10-02, 10:20 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Nov 2006
Re: xkcd
Hey, compare that to a 64-bit extension to a 32-bit graphical extension to a 16 bit OS running on an 8 bit microprocessor that was itself an extension to a 4 bit processor, all done by a 2 bit company that can't stand one bit of competition.
Sigh.
Remember: Ibm went with the 8086 because it was cheap, because it only had 4 registers when a major proof had just recently shown that your compiler cannot use more than 3 registers without doing data flow analysis(*), which at the time was only done by high-end, expensive compilers (never mind that the Gnu compiler was doing data-flow for free next year). So Ibm figured that 3 general purpose registers, and one math register, was all you could do for cheap while supporting compiled languages.
Oh yea -- they thought it was compatible with CP/M. They didn't understand that you had to re-assemble your CP/M programs with a new assembler on this new system. Which in turn required that the source code still exist, the company still exist, etc.
(*): But, even that was mis-understood. Yes, you *could* get by with only 3 registers. Just like you can program the x86 with only one instruction (**). That does not mean that you might not be able to get a better program with more, even without a data-flow analysis. It's like HP saying that a 4 element RPN stack is more than sufficient for any math problem -- they're right, technically 3 is sufficient. But the way most people approach problems, you need at least 4, and a 5th would be nice.
(**): The "mov" instruction. https://github.com/xoreaxeaxeax/movfuscatorNot "fire at". I never used the word "at"
-
2017-10-24, 04:15 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2016
- Location
- Sector ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha
- Gender
Re: xkcd
1906
This is pretty much me every day.Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so.
- Douglas Adams
-
2017-10-26, 02:00 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- May 2015
- Location
- Germany
- Gender
Re: xkcd
If you phrase it like this it does sound kinda cool.
Like some freaky superpower."If it lives it can be killed.
If it is dead it can be eaten."
Ronkong Coma "the way of the bookhunter" III Catacombium
(Walter Moers "Die Stadt der träumenden Bücher")
-
2017-10-31, 11:30 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2014
- Location
- Tulips Cheese & Rock&Roll
- Gender
Re: xkcd
The Hindsight Awards, results: See the best movies of 1999!
-
2017-11-17, 11:13 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2016
- Location
- Sector ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha
- Gender
Re: xkcd
#1917
I like how the title text says "I want to be friends at you"Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so.
- Douglas Adams
-
2017-12-04, 10:15 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Mar 2013
Re: xkcd
Arise, my pet, and behold!
https://xkcd.com/1922/
Beret Guy, you beautiful creature. Never stop not stopping.
-
2017-12-05, 01:32 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jan 2007
- Location
- Switzerland
- Gender
Re: xkcd
I always imagined beret person is a woman.
Resident Vancian Apologist
-
2017-12-06, 04:02 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jul 2007
Re: xkcd
So, following xkcd's advice, I'm going to put solar panels on my underground supervillain lair.
Play your character, not your alignment.
-
2017-12-06, 01:23 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Nov 2006
- Location
- Watching the world go by
- Gender
-
2017-12-06, 02:28 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2014
- Gender
-
2017-12-06, 02:53 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2013
- Gender
Re: xkcd
“Evil is evil. Lesser, greater, middling, it's all the same. Proportions are negotiated, boundaries blurred. I'm not a pious hermit, I haven't done only good in my life. But if I'm to choose between one evil and another, then I prefer not to choose at all.”
-
2017-12-06, 03:10 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Feb 2005
- Gender
Re: xkcd
Isnt the outside of an underground structure synonymous with 'the surface'?
NOW COMPLETE: Let's Play Starcraft II Trilogy:
Hell, It's About Time: Wings of Liberty
Does This Mutation Make Me Look Fat: Heart of the Swarm
My Life For Aiur? I Barely Know 'Er: Legacy of the Void
-
2017-12-06, 03:13 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2007
Interested in MitD? Join us in MitD's thread.There is a world of imagination
Deep in the corners of your mind
Where reality is an intruder
And myth and legend thrive
Ceterum autem censeo Hilgya malefica est
-
2017-12-06, 04:46 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Nov 2006
- Location
- Watching the world go by
- Gender
-
2017-12-14, 01:28 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Apr 2008
- Location
- Germany
- Gender
Re: xkcd
Damn, Randall, you tear jerking bastard...
-
2017-12-14, 11:52 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Sep 2013
Re: xkcd
I will freely admit to tearing up just a little. Good for them.
-
2017-12-14, 11:53 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2013
- Gender
Re: xkcd
Darn it Randall, leave my heartstrings alone!
“Evil is evil. Lesser, greater, middling, it's all the same. Proportions are negotiated, boundaries blurred. I'm not a pious hermit, I haven't done only good in my life. But if I'm to choose between one evil and another, then I prefer not to choose at all.”
-
2017-12-14, 12:19 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- May 2016
- Location
- The Lakes
Re: xkcd
Still the most tear-jerking XKCD in my opinion:
https://xkcd.com/104/It is one thing to suspend your disbelief. It is another thing entirely to hang it by the neck until dead.
Verisimilitude -- n, the appearance or semblance of truth, likelihood, or probability.
The concern is not realism in speculative fiction, but rather the sense that a setting or story could be real, fostered by internal consistency and coherence.
The Worldbuilding Forum -- where realities are born.