Max Battcher › Comments

This might mean support for my own 802.11g router! (I'd prefer a wired connection, all the same, but I can't do that right now.) - Max Battcher

Just when you start to wonder how it might be possible to love They Might Be Giants more... Pro-science propaganda ftw. - Max Battcher

It should not be terribly surprising that the engineering concepts on display in Jurrassic Park would be used in the real world for the important job of bringing us new beers from extremely old ingredients... - Max Battcher

L Yes -- It's happening here. Eastern Parkway at UofL getting a road diet. Would have been nice to have a few years back when this road haunted so much of my day every day, but good to see anyway. - Max Battcher

Hell yeah. This is a great idea. - Max Battcher

Okay, now I kind of want to see this movie. Terry Gilliam on steroids with a hearty helping of LSD. Such hyperbole moves me. - Max Battcher

"Thanks, Rob. I've certainly meant to retouch upon this article, but have been busy with so many other things. I'm particularly fascinated that portions of this article have been translated to Spanish and have been deeply incorporated in the Spanish Wikipedia page for Django, thus making it perhaps my biggest Wikipedia contribution. If anything, I think that since I wrote this Django's architecture has only gotten better and more well defined. Particular things since then that probably deserve mentions include the better Forms decoupling with what seems like will always be referred to as "new forms" even after years of use, the "new" URL reverse tools, and the better decoupled Admin. I'm probably forgetting a few other things off the top of my head. Overall, I'm rather pleased that Django's core team seems to continue moving in the right directions." - Max Battcher

"It's one of those films that critics certainly either love or despise, with no middle ground. I find it fascinating and have been planning for a while to discuss its implications towards video games. Like I said, the zombie stuff (and much of the devastation stuff) is just my own playful interpretation of the film, particularly to better contrast it with I Am Legend. I Am Legend is a great movie up to just about where the dog dies. After that it goes off the rails in just the sort of wrong way for me to lose interest. I'm hopeful that The Road may slake some of my thirst for a better approach at what I Am Legend promises and fails to deliver." - Max Battcher

I know that I shouldn't, but I'm sort of liking the "tweetnarrative" thing here. - Max Battcher

Who says that Mathematics cannot be fun? - Max Battcher

Neat. - Max Battcher

One more big content provider joins Hulu. Disney! - Max Battcher

This is a brilliant example. - Max Battcher

This Qualcomm video is awesome. - Max Battcher

"With the exception of misfortunes, I don't redact my blog or commenting history. Also, I haven't even bothered to watch the finale of BSG, because just reading about their solution to the issue makes me weep. I didn't even include it as a possibility because I didn't expect anything quite that insipid. Now I can quit wasting my time trying to like BSG and watch shows that I actually find enjoyable such as the new Better Off Ted and Dollhouse. (I do believe that Ep. 6 "Man in the Street" was a "Go, Go, Gadgetmobile" moment, and I'm looking forward to more and more mind games.)" - Max Battcher

"Neat work, Dan!" - Max Battcher

Unity is now usable from Windows. Could be handy. - Max Battcher

Hey! GrandCentral is growing up! I heart GrandCentral and the new features sound tasty. Not sure about the generic new name, though. - Max Battcher

Wow! Stansbury Park was a "backyard" of mine for a few years. Amazing to see the original Olmstead plan and more amazing to see the University planning to truly dedicate the park to a new and brighter future. - Max Battcher

I've been thinking about making World of Goo my first Greenhouse purchase or directly supporting 2D Boy... but $5 in this economy? I might not be able to resist the Steam. - Max Battcher

"Thanks, I appreciate it! It's funny, but I'm a little disappointed in it so far (ah the usual creator's eye for your own product's flaws), but then I've lately been bouncing between reading Stross and classic masters like Bester and Lovecraft. I supposed its hard not to be highly critical of my own writing right now (particularly when trying for some pastiche union between Bester and Lovecraft without too much aping Stross'"The Laundry" tales or Mass Effect). But then, it doesn't have to be great writing if its good IF. Now to try to create some interactivity that better works as a game... Speaking of which, did you find/figure out the "puzzle"?" - Max Battcher

I too find Wikipedia in Simple English fascinating... but I've also made more overt conspiracy theories about 1984-esque scenarios and simple.wikipedia.org... - Max Battcher

This magazine seems to have a great humour about it. That's right, with an extra u, even. - Max Battcher

"Spoilers: There are two main "real" worlds in the series The Courts of Chaos, controlled by the Chaos "family" and Amber, controlled by the Amber family. (Controversially, The Courts may in fact be several "real" worlds.) There are then an infinite number of shadow worlds cast by Amber (or by The Courts with Amber as a sign post; also controversial). In the game it could be that the The Courts and Amber are separate games, with many of the other worlds visited through the course of the books simply shards of them, to use modern MMO vocabulary, as in seperate content/player databases. On the other hand perhaps instead The Courts and Amber are seperate code bases (with "main" games sharing the names), with the Amber code base at least somewhat derived from The Courts, and the shadows are variations on that code base and thus entirely seperate games in themselves. If you are familiar with MU*s, the family trees of the MU*s somewhat resembles that conception. I think depending on the game..." - Max Battcher

"The Amber Chronicles detail some fairly complex political machinations (assassinations, betrayals, betrothals, etc) between two large (and intricately intertwined/interbred) dynasties across a large number of worlds, and all of which is further complicated by the fact that both narrators are heavily involved and at least a little unreliable. I think the social characteristics of the series certainly call for some sort of social game (an MMO, MU*, whatever). But more likely, in my mind, than being a single game I see it as a set of semi-related games with cross-game "hacks"/super-players, the number of games depending on the relationship of worlds in the books to games... which I'll admit that I intentionally left vague." - Max Battcher

"(Then there is the controversy over a possible third "real" world created by the narrator of the first five books...)" - Max Battcher

Lest we forget that broadband is the new transportation... - Max Battcher

Interesting. I didn't know I could make outgoing calls on a GC number. - Max Battcher

"Yeah, I'm not entirely sure what they were going for with the cross-dressing, insane Hobbe friend. It seems like there was an attempt to make it something of a silly joke, but it seems almost mean and almost out of place. The gender stuff is pretty interesting. Most of the consequences are at least relegated to social interactions/consequences, at least, rather than any attempt to give them "morality" consequences. It is interesting that the game associates +humor and -attractiveness with cross-dressing in either gender. It is interesting that there don't seem to be many consequences of the late game gender change quest. But on the other hand with regards to things like bigamy and homosexuality the game is nearly silent (at least if everyone loves or hates you enough) and in that respects its well ahead of the Sim's remaining focus on the classic nuclear family... I don't envy Lionhead having to make the decisions on how and when gender affects the game systems... To some extent no..." - Max Battcher

Neat. - Max Battcher