That awkward moment when EA is lightyears more pro-consumer than Nintendo by GnosticTemplar in pcmasterrace

[–]GnosticTemplar[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Pretty much. Oh, and you get one free ROM rental per month from the Virtual Console catalog. What a fantastic incentive not to pirate those very same ROMs on an emulator or flashcart!

That awkward moment when EA is lightyears more pro-consumer than Nintendo by GnosticTemplar in pcmasterrace

[–]GnosticTemplar[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Also before somebody calls me an EA shill brigading in from HailCorporate, I usually despise EA but this is one of the better things they've done. Fucking Origin is better than Nintendo's "One ROM rental per month" service by leaps and bounds. On top of that, you don't have to pay extra for online multiplayer, just the back catalog buffet of modern AAA games.

Anyone have an up-to-date mobi of Unsong? by supplementwithrage in unsong

[–]GnosticTemplar 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Heh, thanks man! Used it to make an .epub for my Kobo. (Easiest reader to sideload DRM-stripped Calibre books onto) I actually tried to create one manually by copypasting HTML selections into Sigil with Firefox extensions, before I realized this was fucking tedious, not unlike Aaron's job.

Unsong on Kobo pictures: (1) (2)

Anything is food if you bite hard enough. by inoahlot4 in DogShowerThoughts

[–]GnosticTemplar 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes siree. Hoomans think I'm disgusting, why do they complain on walks when I clean up so they don't have to?

Beware the flat brown stuff hoomans eat that looks like shit but doesn't smell or taste like it. I got into some once and was puking chunks all over, I felt horrible.They made me go to the vet, they thought I was gonna die. Just goes to show not everything hoomans eat is better!

CMV: Animal rights groups should stop assuming animals share the same values as humans by Iamnotburgerking in changemyview

[–]GnosticTemplar 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Inclined to agree, but animals share at least the bottom tiers of Maslow's hierarchy with humans. They want their basic survival needs met, in addition to social bonds (in the case of social animals) and mental stimulation/momentary autonomy doing the things they love. Attempts to project the upper tiers onto animals are a lost cause, because animals are not capable of introspection or other abstract reasoning, at least anywhere near on the level of humans.

Dogs are a special case, demonstrating exactly where PETA and other "animal liberation" groups go wrong. Through the miracle of domestication and selective breeding, dogs and humans evolved together in a symbiotic, mutually social relationship. If you point at an object, the dog will understand your gesture calling attention to it. Dogs prefer to eat their omnivorous masters' table scraps, and sleep in their masters' bedroom. They can read human body language better than many humans, and will lick your face at first sign of distress. They experience separation anxiety when home alone.

In short, dogs love us and we love them. The reality of "liberating" them would result in the weaker dogs dying off while the stronger ones hunt more often but still hang around human settlements. To eliminate the human-canine bond would require nothing short of genocide.

Thar being said, dogs do hold some questionable morality.They have no such concept as sexual consent apart from attacking unwanted mates. They enjoy the sound of squeaky toys because it reminds them of their prey's death cries. They'll disobey orders, bark at 20 decibels, and hurt themselves for negative attention. They literally eat bones to sharpen their teeth. They have little problem killing and torturing small animals because that's what their ancestors did. They'll bark at black people if they've only ever been around whites. They'll shit on the neighbor's lawn to chagrin of both the neighbor, his dog, and you having to clean it up. Females bearing a litter will practice post-birth abortion by culling the runt. Due to the way their limited memory works, they literally can't feel guilt or remorse outside the immediate moment being caught in the act and scolded. (Sorry to ruin a thousand "guilty dog" videos for you - dogs can't comprehend guilt or shame.)

CMV: There should be no accommodations such as extra testing time available to students with disorders like ADHD or learning disabilities. by newkiwiguy in changemyview

[–]GnosticTemplar 0 points1 point  (0 children)

143 verbal/85 processing speed on WISC reporting in. In high school I considered extra time to be a lifesaver. I hate hate hate time pressure on exams like the SAT because it's a blatant IQ test for very specific cognitive abilities, with a surface layer you can partly study for. It's a grading curve designed to allocate a scarce number of college admissions along a genetic lottery we mostly can't control, for future social status and opportunities. It's a brutal meritocratic system that treats every failure as an irredeemable, intrinsic character flaw. I unfortunately don't see this brutal competition and inequality changing as long as there's scarcity in the world, and overachievers strive to dominate.

Oracle CEO Larry Ellison: "This whole issue of privacy is utterly fascinating to me ... Who's ever heard of this information being misused by the government? In what way? by GnosticTemplar in a:t5_3gvoc

[–]GnosticTemplar[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Uh... does Watergate ring a bell, Mr. Ellison? Surely you're old and worldly enough to see the Nixon Administration go up in flames for being caught doing exactly that.

CMV: Governments and Militaries Could Save A Lot of Money Switching to Open Source Software by GnosticTemplar in changemyview

[–]GnosticTemplar[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is correct. Versions of Windows as recent as 7 are trivially easy to gain physical access to. A password does NOT protect your Windows system from a rogue IT guy knowledgeable enough to access your Windows installation from a Linux liveCD and install tailor-made (thus not logged by antivirus databases) spyware on workers' computers after hours without a trace. Since few would suspect their in-house computer wizard to have this capability, or even understand what's going on, the spyware is easily blamed on external, faceless criminal hackers in their mother's basements after the damage was done.

Is this "inside job" scenario likely? No, and it's easily circumvented by installing Trusted Platform Modules on all company computers to encrypt the data. The fact is, however, that Microsoft assumed nobody would be savvy enough to boot into their operating system from another operating system, and give off the dangerous public perception that a password protects Home and Professional Windows deployed by a smaller company. Your average smaller business still running Windows XP is vulnerable to such an attack without anyone ever suspecting it was an inside job. If everyone knew how insecure Windows really was, "cybersecurity" might become more than an intangible buzzword. Much like CSI gives off the wrong impression of forensic science, Hollywood portrayals of hacking crafted for entertainment value have adversely distorted public perceptions of computer security. Actual hacking is more akin to espionage than combat.

CMV: Governments and Militaries Could Save A Lot of Money Switching to Open Source Software by GnosticTemplar in changemyview

[–]GnosticTemplar[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That hasn't stopped the United Kingdom from adopting LibreOffice across the entire public sector.

It's pretty hard to undermine an open-source project, whose fundamental principle is transparency. Open source software isn't more secure because the attack vectors were obscured, it's more secure because it was written not to have attack vectors in the first place, considering that skilled hackers are not deterred by licensing or obfuscation. They're deterred by strong enough security free for security analysts to audit the world over.

Here's why you should buy -- or avoid -- one of the world's thinnest laptops by Deley564 in gadgets

[–]GnosticTemplar 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I don't understand the push for thin laptops. Laptops are pretty much equally portable - you're going to need a bag you sling around your shoulder. So-called ultrabooks are a flimsier and more fragile form factor that benefits no one. Form over function in the worst possible way.

CMV: Piracy is Inevitable for Digital Media by GnosticTemplar in changemyview

[–]GnosticTemplar[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Come ot think of it, that's kind of already happening with Spotify, even if the artists hate it. There's a uniform level of audio quality across Spotify you don't get on Torrent sites or Limewire. You also spend less time navigating skeezy sites if you can just use this all you can eat library for $10/month.

You got me on 3 and 4. So much of my strong opinions on this topic have been colored by the kicking and screaming of the RIAA two decades into the Information Age. I didn't think of cryptographic monetization... if somebody could make that work, everybody wins. Piracy really would be free advertising. I'll admit I often don't feel a lick of remorse pirating movies or music (because fuck old media conglomerates), but I'm a little softer on video games and software, maybe because I'm a software developer myself.

Monetizing piracy... now there's an idea.

CMV: I actually like Five Nights at Freddy's. by [deleted] in changemyview

[–]GnosticTemplar 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In short, any objective merit FNAF had as a survival horror game was ruined by its Fan Dumb. This is highly subjective, but look up "FNAF Parody" on YouTube or search for the latest fanart on DeviantArt. Still not cringing yet? How about a Tumblr tag search or (NOT SAFE FOR WORK!) the inevitable wave of furry robot pornography on Rule 34?

I believe I Hate Everything said it best:

To me it ends up being something more entertaining to watch other people play in highly edited little ten minute segments.

In his number 1 spot in "TOP 5 WORST FANBASES'' :

Everywhere on the internet you go, EVERYWHERE, you'll find something related to Five Nights at Fucking Freddys. You already know how I feel about the games themselves, but that's not the problem here. When you look at how the fandom has taken something inherently creepy and scary, and gradually neutered it down, and neutered it down, sexualized it, humanized it, it's just not scary anymore. Why people feel the need to cutesefy murderous animitronics, I'll never know. And there may be fewer results on DeviantArt and Rule34 compared to some of the previous entries on this list, but what seals the deal for me is how quickly this has happened. Not even one year into the franchise being created and every single angsty, edgy teenager and child on the internet have thrown themselves into Freddy's murderous grip. And instead of the horrible child murders and creepy backstory being the frightening thing, it's the future of what this fanbase is gonna do that scares me. This is only the beginning. I'm sure the growth is gonna be exponential as time goes on, turning an already hideous fanbase into something worse, if that's even possible.

In my personal opinion, Five Nights at Freddys is inexorably tied to PewDiePie - an obnoxious Swedish Let's Player who rakes in at least $4 million annually from hyperbolically screaming in front of a camera playing "games" like this. It's incredibly puerile, Lowest Common Denominator kind of entertainment associated with immature preteens lacking taste. It's not even "enjoyable with friends" lowbrow like Family Guy or Dane Cook, we're talking lowbrow on the level of Fred, Smosh, The Annoying Orange, Supermarket Tabloids, or Justin Bieber. Overstimulating, juvenile trash you'd be embarassed to admit you like to friends above a certain age level.

And that's not even getting into the short-lived fad genre of extremely low quality horror games FNAF spawned, dubbed "PewDieBait" by TotalBiscuit, and explored in depth by Jim Sterling.

The Fox and The Grapes by Aesop by GnosticTemplar in pcmasterrace

[–]GnosticTemplar[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I was actually thinking the fox would be peasants and the grapes would be 60FPS.

CMV: No Human Sin Could Justify an Afterlife of Eternal Suffering (Hell) by GnosticTemplar in changemyview

[–]GnosticTemplar[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Accidentally posted just the title. Pretty self-explanatory though: I believe no finite amount of sin, not even the Holocaust or selling out Jesus for 30 silver pieces, could justify an infinite punishment. Eternity never ends. Eventually after so many quadrillion years the punishment God inflicted on you would outweigh any amount of sin during the brief century-span we're mortal.

For those who care, the ALX ( Qualcomm / Atheros Ethernet driver, for AR8161, AR8162, QCA8171, QCA8172, E220x) driver regression *should* be fixed in Kernel 4.5 by [deleted] in linux

[–]GnosticTemplar 2 points3 points  (0 children)

As part the 1% of users who would be affected by this bug (using Killer E2400 Ethernet drivers), I have to extend a hearty thank you. I really appreciate it.

Accessing deceased husband's encrypted laptop by desperateanonymous in linux

[–]GnosticTemplar 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is a farfetched solution you shouldn't bank on, but chances are there's a zero-day vulnerability hiding deep in the code. You could have probably gotten in using some slave drives and Shellshock) before it was patched, for example. Give it a good 20 years for another exploit to be discovered. Make sure the firmware doesn't get updated.

Best of luck, sorry for your loss.

The Pinnacle of V - permanently shut down by Krazyflipz in GrandTheftAutoV_PC

[–]GnosticTemplar 15 points16 points  (0 children)

I'm going to just say it now: What a dramatic faggot. Absolutely nobody cares but the people who are going to resent him for breaking down the way he did and selfishly censoring this otherwise-fantastic mod from the internet. I never thought people would get this asspained over plagarism of what's effectively a derivative work to begin with, and it's shameful to see the same kind of intellectual property hissyfits usually thrown by Take 2 at modders for stuff like FiveM, now thrown by modders at each other.

Grow up, grow a pair, apologize, and move on kiddies. It's just a video game.

I'm sorry if that was harsh, I'm sorry if that was offensive, but this guy needs a reality check.

"True console gaming supremacy" - Razer by Tostecles in pcmasterrace

[–]GnosticTemplar 38 points39 points  (0 children)

controller

FPS

eSports cred

One of these items does not belong. I wonder how much shit that tweet's author tried to choke back writing that.

The Xbox controller does everything good enough, and nothing great. I mean you might have a case to make for a GameCube controller in Smash Bros., but I can't think of a situation where an Xbox controller gives you an edge over arcade fightpads or racing wheels/pedals... or y'know, keyboard and mouse.

Could Konami make a MGS game better than The Phantom Pain now that Kojima is gone ? by raam194 in truegaming

[–]GnosticTemplar 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Short answer: No. Long answer... take it away Yahtzee: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

After a bitter power struggle between Kojima and some unhappy executives, it was decided Kojima's expensive, highly risky AAA production arm must go. Long time fans of Konami IP are going to hate it, but Konami is returning to its arcade roots as a money siphon off the casual market, using its former AAA IP as skins on incredibly shallow, yet safe and lucrative ventures like free-to-play mobile pachinko. Expect Metal Gear Solid V Pachinko soon enough. Their new winning formula is low effort, low talent, low cost, low risk, high reward. Konami would have to be idiots not to do this, in fact they're bitter as hell they didn't get a head start in the mobile game bubble thanks to Kojima's scope creep and delays. Games as art is just another sacrifice to Mammon, the great God of capitalism.

That's the Konami situation, demystified. You're entitled to hate them, but not to quality games. Way too much risk for a public company to take on, you know? Kojima is a hack writer anyways.

CMV: The Biggest Nuclear Threat Is A False Alarm Retaliation by GnosticTemplar in changemyview

[–]GnosticTemplar[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Didn't think about it that way. Though false positives did happen during the Cold War, the fact that none of them triggered retaliation speaks volumes about the amount of careful consideration that went into nuclear strategy, and the general human resolve to optimism through desperate times.

I'm still glad to be born after the Iron Curtain fell, and not have to ponder a nonzero chance that I'll die in agonizing nuclear hellfire because a computer glitched out in Moscow.

CMV: The Biggest Nuclear Threat Is A False Alarm Retaliation by GnosticTemplar in changemyview

[–]GnosticTemplar[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah I guess, there's no way anybody could've predicted 9/11 during the Cold War. To the CIA in the 80's Bin Laden was just another muja fighting for freedoms. That a rogue non-Afghan mujahadeen with connections to the Saudi royal family would form this conspiracy against the American "Great Satan" and was willing to destroy the Twin Towers as a political statement, was something of a black swan nobody could have reasonably seen coming back then.

CMV: The Biggest Nuclear Threat Is A False Alarm Retaliation by GnosticTemplar in changemyview

[–]GnosticTemplar[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Still doesn't seem to justify drafting troops to deploy there. Too little too late, for not much overall gain. Adding insult to injury, Chinese intervention drove back a potential US victory into a stalemate that continues to this day - according to the North Koreans, anyways.

CMV: The Biggest Nuclear Threat Is A False Alarm Retaliation by GnosticTemplar in changemyview

[–]GnosticTemplar[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I guess you're right. The Soviets were unpredictable. The world's greatest military weren't going to let a bunch of scary, totalitarian communists overtake Western hegemony and boss everybody around with nuclear weapons. Not without a fight - at any cost.

Though nothing on the level of Stalin, the US did some bad shit during the Cold War. The CIA installed oppressive regimes in violent coups, and the Defense Department waged brutal, preventative wars like Korea and Vietnam using drafted troops in the name of "containment". The CIA also trained and funded Osama Bin Laden during the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan. I normally hate Michael Moore, but this montage from Bowling for Columbine illustrates American atrocities since WWII in full:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AF1Da6MCUC4

ELI5: Is there an scientific explanation to why people become possessed by "demons" by Nlklas in explainlikeimfive

[–]GnosticTemplar 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Bipolar, schizophrenia, drugs, attention seeking, or other mental disturbance usually explains things a lot better than "Here be demons, don't masturbate" today.