A less presumptuous name.

Those are awesome. I agree that the Demonslayer is my favorite, but I'd carry either one around.

I know it's late to the party, but I just saw Django Unchained tonight. I believe that it's my first Tarantino film, and all I have to say is that I look forward to watching more of his movies.

 

Extrapolation from only two points of data doesn't mean anything.

Have you heard of the Mean Value Theorem? It lets you do wonderful things between two points (which, for the record, is called interpolation, not extrapolation).

Wow, I realize that I've watched quite a few movies in theaters this past year. I'll try to recall all of them, mostly by looking through what others have posted.

I'm not going to rate them, because I go into the theater with the following attitude: I've paid to see this movie, so I'm going to enjoy it. Also, I'm not a very good critic. It takes a pretty awful movie for me to actually dislike it.

So, here we go:

Wreck-It Ralph -- I really enjoyed this one!

Brave -- I liked it, but it felt more "Disney" than "Pixar"

The Hobbit -- I technically saw this in 2013, but I loved it. I was worried about the pacing with splitting a 300 page book into three movies, but they did a good job of bringing in other information. There were a few odd bits, like, well, Radagast. And the score seemed to pick out a few themes and not vary too much.

The Hunger Games -- Not bad as I remember it, but I have a terrible memory.

The Avengers -- A great movie. Or at least, a really fun movie. I only remember one issue, and that was that Tony Start didn't seem all that Tony Stark at the end.

The Dark Knight Rises -- Definitely felt too long when I was sitting in the theaters. But hey, Bane was awesome, and Anne Hathaway was excellent.

Skyfall -- I went with a bunch of friends, so it was going to be good no matter what. The plot was fairly basic, and the hacking premiss a little stretched. I personally enjoyed all of the classic bond throwbacks, although YMMV.

Looper -- I didn't like this one coming out of the theaters, but I think I would like it better if I saw it again. I got stuck with the approach to time travel. Some things didn't make sense. And a conversation with a friend revealed that there appears to be an intermediate timeline omitted from the story.

Men in Black 3 -- Don't remember much of this one other than it was much better than expected.

Flight -- A common story of getting over an addiction and whatnot, but with a really cool airplane scene.

The Lorax -- Definitely a fun/cute/whatever movie.

The Bourne Legacy --Even I didn't like this one. Literally the story of a guy trying to get his drugs back.

Darned inhabitants of the Eastern Hemisphere… national hangover day isn't until tomorrow. Which reminds me: how's that grand drinking poll coming along lilith?

Sylae, that's just mean.

It is really cool, though. There are some really awesome animals out there.

Can you please do some more research about psychiatric disorders before posting about them?

Sound waves can definitely do strange things to water flow. But the reverse flow is certainly a camera trick.

And a bountiful December Presents Day to all.

I got a Doctor Who TARDIS cookie jar. It makes the sound!!

To say that mental function is abnormal because of this is not really accurate. Plenty of species will do what we consider to be terrible things despite having typical neurological functioning. Our morals, which we rely on to prevent such attrocities, are largely social constructs. While it's very possible that a neurological or pysichiatric disorder is respinsible for the Newtown shooter's bevaior, that is not the only explanation.

um if you have a problem and the solution is "go into a school and kill 20 kids" then you are extremely mentally ill.

Sorry, but that's just not how mental illness works. Also, that further stigmatises the view that people with mental illnesses are or can be dangers to society, when in fact the overwhelming majority of those people are no danger to anyone, except possibly themselves.

So, I found this neat article in the Chronicle of Higher Education. I invite you all to read it. Please.

source

A few highlights:

Myth: Greater attention and response to the telltale warning signs will allow us to identify would-be mass killers before they act.

Reality: While there are some common features in the profile of a mass murderer (depression, resentment, social isolation, tendency to blame others for their misfortunes, fascination with violence, and interest in weaponry), those characteristics are all fairly prevalent in the general population. Any attempt to predict would produce many false positives. Actually, the telltale warning signs come into clear focus only after the deadly deed.

Myth: Widening the availability of mental-health services and reducing the stigma associated with mental illness will allow unstable individuals to get the treatment they need.

Reality: With their tendency to externalize blame and see themselves as victims of mistreatment, mass murderers perceive the problem to be in others, not themselves. They would generally resist attempts to encourage them to seek help. And, besides, our constant references to mass murderers as “wackos” or “sickos” don’t do much to destigmatize the mentally ill.

On the other hand, you don't do what he did if you're completely right in the head.

Just because you, and indeed most people, cannot understand the action, doesn't mean that the action was a result of mental illness or anything of the sort.

Oh for the love of… Can someone PLEASE give me s credible source for the shooter having a mental illness?

congratulations, you got the joke

 

at least i sure hope you did

I was hoping the sarcasm of the second sentence would make that obvious.

But if you're dead, what good is that $100. What you really must do is go spend all of your money as soon as possible. Or is it already too late for you?

I'm afraid I haven't seen anyone that insane yet. I consider those kinds of people as psychos. The mind can be erratic when it comes to disorders you know.

Can you please do some more research about psychiatric disorders before posting about them?

If we're talking about Festivus now, I have to bring up this.

Clearly posting more will cause more likes. Time to spam!

Wow, I've been lurking so much. Time to fix that?

Niemand?

Niemand lives?

What wonderful news! I feel like Rafiki when he learns that Simba is alive!

Well, there you have it. Spiderweb has gotten me back into Nationstates. I just joined Exile.

I've been really absent here lately, but I've always wanted to get more invilved with the RPs and such. I really have no experience or preference, but I'd like to at least follow this one.

"Mon français est très mauvais" is correct, I think.

The term "guy" is often used to refer to a person, or in the plural to a group, regardless of sex or gender.

I'm not sure if I was using this background when I posted in the previous thread, but here it is. A friend took it while bussing through Italy.

My desktop usually has a little more clutter on it, but I tend to clean it up when I'm procrastinating (like I am right now). It also has two additional drives in it when I'm at my desk.