Poll of the Day > GeekHouse of Horror LXXII

(+) Yeah! (+)

Horror, not fantasy, but I started to watch the The Haunting of Bly Manor. I was never a fan of The Innocents and I was hoping that it wouldn't follow it too closely, but it certainly feels to be staying within that wheelhouse. I loved the Haunting of Hill House and was crestfallen when they announced this for the follow-up. While there are still some things to love, it doesn't capture me nearly as much.

ParanoidObsessive posted...

Most fantasy settings (especially in RPGs) tend to enforce "fantasy gun control", in that gunpowder simply does not work (or doesn't exist at all) - mainly out of a desire to keep the setting locked in medieval stasis (and the existence of guns tends to change too much). The general assumption seems to be that it becomes harder to justify a world with wizards and monsters and lone dramatic heroes when every peasant can theoretically own a gun. Guns are very much the great equalizer in many ways.

In my experience, most settings that remove gunpowder tend to remove ALL forms of "combustive force" - so a world without gunpowder also likely doesn't have petroleum-fueled engines or steam-driven locomotion. Again, it's likely to separate the medieval fantasy flavor from a more "modern" feel, in that it doesn't feel quite right to have King Arthur and his knights riding around on motorcycles (though some settings are built entirely around just that sort of deliberate juxtaposition).

I don't really consider the lack of gunpowder as an incongruent factor. It's something kinda specific and things are set at a time when gunpowder wasn't big.

Beyond that, in worlds where people can hurl giant fireballs and sent out jolts of electricity, I suppose I can see something like guns not developing to the point where they were a viable weapon (considering it took a while for the technology and know-how to truly develop; there's this whole thing in Sharpe where they make a big deal about riflemen being able to fire 3 rounds a minute (and 4 is considered great) whereas a trained archer could first 12 arrows a minute and a crossbowman could fire 2-4 bolts per minute (depending on the mechanisms used))

The bigger issue is why are things kinda stuck in a medieval level in any fantasy with magic, considering that traditional defenses would be poorly suited to combat any sufficiently advanced magic (unless magic was rarely seen or encountered; this kinda stood out to me with Avatar: TLA since the Earth Nation's walls were keeping the Fire Nation at bay despite the fact they could have been able to easily leap them with firebending)

ParanoidObsessive posted...

(once you can trigger and harness reliable chemical combustion it feels like it would be an inevitable step forward to building it into weapons)

The same seems true of magic. Once you have the ability to harness offensive magic, it seems like if there were barriers to average people using it you'd try to find ways to craft weapons for people who can't use it (either because of a genetic factor or because it requires extensive study).

In a lot of settings, magic will have been around for ages and have a wide variety of applications, but winds up under-utilized.

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I started playing "Among Us" with my nieces, and the concept of killing and sabotaging people like in "The Thing" is pretty awesome. If you haven't heard of the game check it out on Twitch or YouTube fir further details.

I'm bringing it up because I'm asking if anyone wants to get a group going? It's free on Android and IOS, and it's cross platform so we can play together with codes.

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ParanoidObsessive posted...

Random fantasy setting thought - contribute or not, as you will:

Most fantasy settings (especially in RPGs) tend to enforce "fantasy gun control", in that gunpowder simply does not work (or doesn't exist at all) - mainly out of a desire to keep the setting locked in medieval stasis (and the existence of guns tends to change too much). The general assumption seems to be that it becomes harder to justify a world with wizards and monsters and lone dramatic heroes when every peasant can theoretically own a gun. Guns are very much the great equalizer in many ways.

In my experience, most settings that remove gunpowder tend to remove ALL forms of "combustive force" - so a world without gunpowder also likely doesn't have petroleum-fueled engines or steam-driven locomotion. Again, it's likely to separate the medieval fantasy flavor from a more "modern" feel, in that it doesn't feel quite right to have King Arthur and his knights riding around on motorcycles (though some settings are built entirely around just that sort of deliberate juxtaposition).

But a thought occurred to me earlier - while many medieval fantasy settings tend to ban both gunpowder and combustives in general, is there any setting that disallows gunpowder (or all chemically-propelled projectile weapons in general), but DOES allow for other forms of chemical combustion (ie, gas engines and cars/trains/etc)? In a pure science view this would probably be impossible (once you can trigger and harness reliable chemical combustion it feels like it would be an inevitable step forward to building it into weapons), but I'm talking fantasy and magic more than actual natural laws.

Steampunk's about the only genre I can think of where combustion engines of one sort or another are encouraged and gunpowder is downplayed - and in that case, it's usually just so they can have improbable Telsa-powered rayguns or even more improbable steam-based weaponry. And most of the time, gunpowder is still present, either solely in canons or fully in era-appropriate guns. Whereas what I'm trying to think of are settings where things like gasoline and steam power are viable, but gunpowder (or guns in general) isn't.

I'm kind of coming up blank, but I figure I might be forgetting something.

Also, I can't get the image out of my head of a steampunk-style setting where someone is literally wearing a massive boiler on their back and using it to fuel a steam-powered railgun. Which is kind of neat in its own sort of way.

Ready for something that will break a lot of peoples brain?
Use a bicycle in a fantasy setting.

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The Wave Master posted...

I started playing "Among Us" with my nieces, and the concept of killing and sabotaging people like in "The Thing" is pretty awesome. If you haven't heard of the game check it out on Twitch or YouTube fir further details.

I feel like anyone who's spent more than 20 minutes online in the last 6 months or so should have heard of it, because that and Fall Guys have basically taken over the entire world.
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ParanoidObsessive posted...

I feel like anyone who's spent more than 20 minutes online in the last 6 months or so should have heard of it, because that and Fall Guys have basically taken over the entire world.

tbh, I only know Among Us from a few offhand references on this board. Took me a while to even learn it was a game, and I'm still fuzzy on the details. I know nothing about Fall Guys, but at least heard of it as a game... possibly just from the last geek topic.

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It basically blew up in most gaming circles. You'd probably be more aware of it if you spent time keeping tabs on any major gaming content creators on YouTube or Twitch.

Speaking of which, I sent you a PM about gaming stuff. Feel free to respond here, in PMs, in an entirely new topic, or just ignore it. Just figured I'd mention it because you might be in the habit of almost completely ignoring your PMs (I know I am).
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I feel like I only really started hearing about them over the last month or so

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This made me laugh so much. Granted I'm high as a kite from pain killers so the novelty might wear off in an hour or two.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YhIxOqv5Cs0

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For October, I've pretty much just been sticking to binging horror so I haven't really had much geek-related stuff to talk about. Of course, since a lot of what I've been reading is horror manga, I've been in the anime topic a fair bit.

It kinda seems like horror manga in Japan is still some big thing, whereas American comics don't really go as much into it any more outside of superhero stuff (although, I guess, to be fair a LOT of horror manga starts off as more traditional horror but the characters wind up with powers to fight the threat by the end. Jinmen is a great example, considering it starts off pretty fucking bleak (after a shitty beginning) but maybe 20 chapters in we see that humans can have powers via the same genetic virus that turned the animals into monsters)

ParanoidObsessive posted...

It basically blew up in most gaming circles. You'd probably be more aware of it if you spent time keeping tabs on any major gaming content creators on YouTube or Twitch.

I try to avoid Twitch whenever possible. I only check it for the Prime offerings.

ParanoidObsessive posted...

Speaking of which, I sent you a PM about gaming stuff. Feel free to respond here, in PMs, in an entirely new topic, or just ignore it. Just figured I'd mention it because you might be in the habit of almost completely ignoring your PMs (I know I am).

I read your last one regarding the ES games, which mostly a reiteration of previous remarks. If you sent me a new one, I haven't seen it. If this is regarding the ES one, I'm not sure I saw anything I could respond to where I hadn't already discussed my thoughts (in the last topic, I think?)

ParanoidObsessive posted...

almost completely ignoring your PMs (I know I am).

I tend not to ignore them, although I don't respond to everything because it's a harder format to keep track of an ongoing conversation.

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It's Prime Day, and I haven't seen any great deals, or at least any deals that I would pounce on thus far. It's just Day One, and maybe there will be something later, but not now.

Disappointment...

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The Wave Master posted...

This made me laugh so much. Granted I'm high as a kite from pain killers so the novelty might wear off in an hour or two.

Related to both this comment and Prime Day: Got Color Out of Space from Amazon for $8.50 U.S. Been eyeballing that for a little while because I picked up In the Mouth of Madness the other day (... and had no idea it was a John Carpenter film).


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I_Abibde posted...

Been eyeballing that for a little while because I picked up In the Mouth of Madness the other day (... and had no idea it was a John Carpenter film).

Fantastic film.

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I don't get the same thrill from looking at terrain-building any more. Once upon a time, I'd think, "Hey, I could do that!" but even watching the simpler videos it kinda looks like a lot of work for something I'd barely touch and kinda wouldn't be that multi-purpose for wargaming or anything else. (And then some of the other stuff still looks daunting.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGnexnxlMDU

Granted, I guess I could kinda see myself making something just to try out the principles and then just doing a single, solitary display... although not something on the level of that one video where a guy spent a year working on a castle.

I suppose for usability purposes, I could try to create something modular but then I'd have to compromise on certain design elements to keep things reasonably compatible (and, on a more fundamental level, right now there's nothing I'd strictly be using it for since I don't plan on getting into wargaming (due to the cost; although there are probably workarounds like homebrew systems and using miniatures from other games) and I'm really not into p&p/tabletop roleplaying. (Nor do I feel like finding or creating a group.)

Of course, what I could always do is try to replicate a castle or something. There are quite a few designs I like and not all of them are terribly complex, although there'd be the matter of intricacies.


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Veronica Mars might be on the market soon if her idiot husband keeps having drug relapses. Personally, I'm happily married, but some of you mentioned her as being one of your celebrity crushes.

https://people.com/tv/kristen-bell-speaks-out-after-husband-dax-shepard-relapse/

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I've got to be honest... I'm kind of okay with this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRN00Xg3HyI

Ever since it was obvious what they were going to do with that game, it felt kind of frustrating that they were likely going to make a ton of money just cashing in on the IP. It's kind of gratifying to see it kind of blow up in their faces.
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How far do I have to skip to get to the good part

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The Wave Master posted...

Veronica Mars might be on the market soon if her idiot husband keeps having drug relapses. Personally, I'm happily married, but some of you mentioned her as being one of your celebrity crushes.

https://people.com/tv/kristen-bell-speaks-out-after-husband-dax-shepard-relapse/

Former celeb crush in my case and, even when they're single, the odds of getting together with a celeb are slim to none and slim has its bags packed and is readying to leave town.

The fantasy of dating a celebrity is kinda undercut by the fact you're unlikely to ever meet them and, if you did meet them, the most a person might be able to hope for is a drunken hook-up if you talk to them at the right party. However, even that requires being in their area, showing up at parties (or places) where they might be until you get lucky enough to meet them, and then being absurdly lucky enough that it's a conducive enough environment to seduce (or be seduced by) them. At a certain point, you might as well just buy lotto tickets. Relationship or not, it doesn't really improve your odds all that significantly... unless you're relying on social media or something.

And while it would be cool to run into celebrities, I can't see living in a place where they're relatively common. because usually that means a crowded city somewhere.

ParanoidObsessive posted...

Ever since it was obvious what they were going to do with that game, it felt kind of frustrating that they were likely going to make a ton of money just cashing in on the IP. It's kind of gratifying to see it kind of blow up in their faces.

First Jim Sterling review I've watched to the end (or close to the end; he was whining about animation cels when I stopped) in... well, possibly ever. And there were several moments where his repetitive crap almost got me to stop. (Not to mention his shitty meme/pop culture image inserts.)

As for the generic robots/enemies, the concept would work if it featured X-Men in a DoFP scenario.

Otherwise the video told me a few things about some games I bought but haven't played and didn't know that much about >_> I had picked Anthem for like $6 new and I think one of the Destiny games used for $4 or less.

Metalsonic66 posted...

How far do I have to skip to get to the good part

Can't remember. I think the initial part is like a minute and then everything after the 8-minute mark is mostly just a repetition, rephrasing, restating, recycling, etc, with a new example here or there. And towards the end he mentions successful games that succeeded because they didn't just assume they'd be big and were actually fun, after which he breaks into a random tangent about some He-Man animation cels he bought that got boring pretty quick.

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I'm descending into old age very quickly as instead of buying something cool or electric, I bought a set of copper infused pots and pans. Granted we needed them as some of our dishes were as old as I am. My mother, for some crazy reason, hated newer dishes. We would buy her some, and they would either go into the closet or she would give them away as gifts. My sister and sister in law both got pots and pans, but my wife got a vacuum.

But I remember making crack (yes the drug) with my dad in a few of the pots and pans I threw away last week. I had an interesting childhood. I learned how to use a scale from weighing baggies of weed. Helped in trigonometry, but not in calculus.

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The Wave Master posted...

I'm descending into old age very quickly

The day I realized I had gotten old was when I was excited to try out a new toothpaste. That minty flavor was nice, though.

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Thankfully I've not gone down that route yet, I'm still learning new things to cook, different techniques, and so on.

I got a wok a while ago at a garage sale, and I've been restoring it and learning to cook with it.

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The Wave Master posted...

But I remember making crack (yes the drug) with my dad in a few of the pots and pans I threw away last week. I had an interesting childhood. I learned how to use a scale from weighing baggies of weed. Helped in trigonometry, but not in calculus.

Don't feel bad Wave, as a kid i used to clean my real and long dead father's weed for seeds, and I'd be lying if i said i never threw a gram of gummy coke in the microwave for 15-40 seconds to dry it out on a humid day.

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Cooking is fun at any age

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Zeus_LLC posted...

The day I realized I had gotten old was when I was excited to try out a new toothpaste.

For me it was the day when you get socks or underwear as a gift and instead of being disappointed you're actually happy.
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This conversation happened last night with my wife and our 15 year old niece.

Me: Scarlett remember when Windows 95 came out? It was awesome.

Her: Oh God yes, and we didn't have any internet on the computers at first back then.

Niece: What did you do with a computer before it got on the internet?

Scarlett: Spreadsheets, word documents, excel, Minesweeper, Super Breakout.

Niece: Uncle Wave, I don't know what any of those things are. You guys are old and lame.

This was hours after I got excited about new pots and pans.

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You didn't mention Mechwarrior 3?
The only reason we ever had Windows 95?

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The Wave Master posted...

Scarlett: Spreadsheets, word documents, excel, Minesweeper, Super Breakout.

Holy shit, I didn't realize Super Breakout was on the pc back then?! Why didn't anybody tell me?!

And if not Excel, what were you using for spreadsheets back then? Because back when I started using Excel in the 90s, I wasn't really all that aware of other options. (As opposed to nowadays where if I'm at home -- or working for a cheaper company -- I use Apache OpenOffice (iirc, the part of the package is called Calc, which is a counterintuitive name))

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Spreadsheets are fun?
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Clarusworks.

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Oh, who doesn't know what a word document is? Like, she should at least know about that.

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WhiskeyDisk posted...

Clarusworks.

I vaguely remember that. All we did was just play with the text to speech on Apple computers.
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Revelation34 posted...

Spreadsheets are fun?

They're a necessity, both for other work I do and then for managing data.

Of course, if we're talking about fun with computers back then, we had Doom, Duke Nukem, Prince of Persia -- all of which kids today should know from the numerous sequels they received. Then there are a lot of titles I'm sure we all remember but younger folk wouldn't have heard about, like Hugo's House of Horrors (which I never beat). Back in the 80s, I didn't have recreational use of a computer so I'm not sure what scene looked like, outside of maybe stuff like King's Quest and Oregon Trail. There was also this one game I seem to recall that ended with a fight against a black knight who could give you a "sound drumming" but that might have even been one of the King's Quests because everything blurs together after a while. Not to mention the 80s (and early 90s) I think I was more gaming in arcades than anywhere.

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shadowsword87 posted...

You didn't mention Mechwarrior 3?
The only reason we ever had Windows 95?

I didn't have a PC of my own back then, so about the only thing I ever remember doing on Win95 was playing Wolfenstein 3D and Spellcasting 301.
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Sony finally revealed the Playstation 5 UI, and it looks fast and snappy. I still don't have a pre-order, but when I do get a PS5 it's going to be fun.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7TBPrYJDoDE&t=621s

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I mean, they're not going to show a laggy mess, it's going to be nice.

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shadowsword87 posted...

I mean, they're not going to show a laggy mess, it's going to be nice.

You're right. They aren't Microsoft. (Looks at Halo: Infinite.)

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https://www.cbr.com/she-hulk-tatiana-maslany-denies-cast-disney-plus/

So Orphan Black apparently isn't the new She-Hulk? >_>


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I loved Tatiana in Orphan Black, but casting her as She-Hulk would not have been a great fit. She's like 5-foot-nothing in heels.

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No matter who they cast, there will likely be some trickery going on for her transformation

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I recall using Windows 95 for Quake and pulling up the DOS prompt to play everything I used to play in Windows 3.1.

Hulu surprised me today by telling me that there is a show called Helstrom. As in the obscure magic-using character(s) from Marvel Comics in the 1970s. That alone is enough to pique my interest. (See also: That Moon Knight show that might one day turn up on Disney Plus.)

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Metalsonic66 posted...

No matter who they cast, there will likely be some trickery going on for her transformation

Oh, for sure, but I also seem to recall Jennifer Walters as always being drawn as a leggy, shapely gal even in her untransformed state. Tatiana is a cutie, but she's a petite little thing.

That being said, she had more than demonstrated the ability to play multiple versions of her self on Orphan Black so she had the chops even if she wouldn't have really looked the part.

Too bad Rosario Dawson was already Claire Temple/Night Nurse and is currently bound to Ashoka Tano on the next season of the Mandalorian.

If I couldn't get Katheryn Winnick as Capt. Marvel, I could definitely see her as She Hulk. She looks the part AND has real bonafides in action as Lagertha from Vikings and a 7th Dan rank in taekwondo.

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Somehow started on another Pinterest binge. Not sure what I was originally searching for when I got into it, but once again I got into checking character design sketches and references.

I_Abibde posted...

Hulu surprised me today by telling me that there is a show called Helstrom. As in the obscure magic-using character(s) from Marvel Comics in the 1970s. That alone is enough to pique my interest.

Yeah, also did a double-take when I saw that and wasn't sure whether it was the same one I was thinking of.

Wasn't he still big in the 90s?

I_Abibde posted...

(See also: That Moon Knight show that might one day turn up on Disney Plus.)

Would be nice.

WhiskeyDisk posted...

Too bad Rosario Dawson was already Claire Temple/Night Nurse and is currently bound to Ashoka Tano on the next season of the Mandalorian.

And wait, when is the Mandalorian set exactly?


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Zeus_LLC posted...

And wait, when is the Mandalorian set exactly?

The Mandalorian takes place around 9 ABY (after the Battle of Yavin, the attack on the first Death Star) which is five years after Return of the Jedi. The events in The Force Awakens happen in 34 ABY. This puts The Mandalorian much closer to the original trilogy than the new trilogy.

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I_Abibde posted...

Hulu surprised me today by telling me that there is a show called Helstrom. As in the obscure magic-using character(s) from Marvel Comics in the 1970s.

Zeus_LLC posted...

Yeah, also did a double-take when I saw that and wasn't sure whether it was the same one I was thinking of.

Hellstorm/"The Son of Satan" was never really "big", per se. But I'd also never really think of him as "a 70s character" in the same way I might think of someone like, say, Shang-Chi or Rachel Van Helsing (but considering Marvel's been pushing to bring Shang Chi back, even that's iffy). Though even quintessential 70s exploitation characters like Power Man and Iron Fist have hung on way, way longer than any sane universe should allow.

Daimon's always sort of been a somewhat minor-ish character. He's had his own title at different points (including the 70s, 90s, and the 2000s), but they've mostly just been limited series. Most of his time was spent hanging out with other groups (like the Defenders in the early 80s, and the West Coast Avengers for a long storyline in the later 80s). I think he hung around with Ghost Rider at various times as well, and he MIGHT have been tied into the "Midnight Suns" supergroup for a bit (when Marvel basically stuffed all of their 70s horror characters into a single clique in the early 90s - which is probably what revived Blade enough as a character concept to lead to the Blade film in the 90s).

About the most memorable thing about him was that he married Patsy Walker/Hellcat for a while. And then they got divorced when newer writers wanted to play up her "former teen model/humor comic" roots and write her as a goofier, sillier sort of character.

I think I remember him and Patsy running a sort of supernatural detective agency for a bit, where he investigates strange cases that are tied to the infernal in some way, exorcises demons, and generally just fights against his father's influence (his father being one of the dozens of demons in the Marvel universe that basically claim to be THE Devil, but actually aren't). Which is what I assumed the framework of the TV show would be when I first saw the ad for it.

Side note - his sister in the Hulu show is named "Ana", but she's pretty blatantly his sister from the comics, Satana. Not sure if they obscured her name out of censorship fears that people would be annoyed if she had Satan in her name (though it IS a show with Hell in the name, so that seems needlessly oversensitive if so), or if they're trying to keep it a spoiler that she's actually kind of evil (or both), but it probably has some significance.



WhiskeyDisk posted...

Oh, for sure, but I also seem to recall Jennifer Walters as always being drawn as a leggy, shapely gal even in her untransformed state.

Original Jennifer in the 70s was a bit frumpy. She's still tall-ish (like 5'9" or something), but never all that leggy or overly attractive (she was kind of plain). Which was sort of the point of why She-Hulk is the way she is - in the same way Banner repressed his rage and became a giant mountain of violence, what Jennifer was mostly repressing was her lighter side. Because she was a lawyer, she was all no-fun stonefaced seriousness all the time, so when the gamma radiation let her repressed side out it wound up being a bit of a silly, jokey party girl (so much so that Jennifer tends to prefer being She-Hulk, whereas Bruce almost always hates being the Hulk).

Or to put it another way, Bruce is an angry drunk, and Jen is a happy fun drunk.

Modern writers/artists are more likely to draw Jennifer as being more attractive/leggy as an extension of what She-Hulk normally is, but that was never really the original look. The usual idea is sort of that, because Jen tends to look plain and frumpy, She-Hulk is over the top and sexy. It's why she tends to look more "athletic" than having a massive bodybuilder frame.

Of course, the real problem is that a few modern writers and artists have gone full SWJ and whined about how oversexualized she is as a character, and tried to make her more like Banner's Hulk, where she's less athletic and more just muscle-y and pissed off. Which in some ways goes back to the very original (the "Savage" She-Hulk era), but which means her recent versions have mostly been overmuscled, almost genderless monster-type

Which I think is going to become a problem in any live-action version. It's easy to CGI the Hulk because he's a slab of muscle, but making a more traditional "athletic" She-Hulk without triggering the Uncanny Valley feels like it might be harder. So they might just give in to the SJW route and make her a monster just like Bruce is, and in the process kill a lot of the appeal of the character (both visually and personality-wise).
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ParanoidObsessive posted...

Side note - his sister in the Hulu show is named "Ana", but she's pretty blatantly his sister from the comics, Satana. Not sure if they obscured her name out of censorship fears that people would be annoyed if she had Satan in her name (though it IS a show with Hell in the name, so that seems needlessly oversensitive if so), or if they're trying to keep it a spoiler that she's actually kind of evil (or both), but it probably has some significance.

Maybe people didn't want her confused with the musical artist Santana? >_> Or maybe it's because the actress who played Santana on Glee died within the last year and they want to avoid that unfortunate association. Or maybe because it's just easier to say, or that it's being used as a shorter version and the full name might be left intact.


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WHOA!

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/do-we-live-in-a-simulation-chances-are-about-50-50/

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It's a 50/50, it's either true or it's not, 50/50

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Scientific American in general tends to publish a lot of bunk.

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I'm not going to bother to learn the names of those morons in Retribution on Raw. The only reason I'm going to talk about them is because by this time next year they'll be a tough question in a,WWE trivia game. Also, my Cowboys are hot trash, and a dumpster fire without Dak.

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The Wave Master posted...

WHOA!

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/do-we-live-in-a-simulation-chances-are-about-50-50

You're just learning about this idea now, Wave? It's been a thing for years.

Hell, it's basically the plot of The Thirteenth Floor.

The argument usually just boils down to "If we ever managed to create a perfect simulation of the universe, then eventually the simulation will create simulations of its own, and so on, so the inevitable state of reality is probably just a large stack of nested simulations, so the odds of being in one of the simulations eventually becomes greater than being in the prime reality."

It's kind of a bullshit argument, though. It's sort of similar to the Drake Equation in that you're basically fudging variables to get the answer you want, as opposed to producing any real tangible objective numbers that prove the hypothesis. Once you start "guessing" at probabilities, the entire outcome of your calculations becomes meaningless because all you're really doing is creating an artificial scenario and then "discovering" the probability of the thing you made up in the first place.

(It also runs up against another wall that most people who discuss this sort of thing never think of - namely, the power requirements. It's been hypothesized that the power required to run a perfect simulation of the universe would require more energy than actually exists in the universe - so any simulation would almost certainly need to be smaller than the thing it's simulating. Then law of diminishing returns kicks in and you can only nest a very limited number of sub-simulations anyway. Again, they actually kind of touch on this in The Thirteenth Floor.)

Funny to see Chuck Nice mentioned in that article, though. I remember listening to him on the radio like 20 years ago, but I haven't really heard from or thought about him in years.
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The Wave Master posted...

I'm not going to bother to learn the names of those morons in Retribution on Raw.

You should, they're kind of hilarious in a terrible sort of way.

How can you not fall in love with Slapjack and T-Bar?
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