Timewaster's Guide Archive
General => Rants and Stuff => Topic started by: House of Mustard on October 27, 2003, 12:49:57 PM
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So, over the weekend I was in my local games store, Hastur Hobbies, reading the new Imperial Guard codex (rather than buying it). While reading, I was listening in on the conversations of the socially challenged game store regulars.
One guy, who is always in there (I don't think I have ever been in there and not seen him), was talking about how he was going to somewhere back east. When his fellow deviants asked him why he was going, he replied "Oh, I don't know. I just need some 'me' time."
I didn't realize that all of that loitering at the hobby shop was draining him so much.
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Do you realize, Mustard, that maybe he sees you every time he goes there?
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Ouch. I was moded.
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Cage it, buddy.
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I know what Mustard means though, some game fans are huge flaming raving geeks!
I consider myself moderately geeky, but to my credit I have never had the could an imperial stormtrooper beat an orc in a fair fight conversation. The only people more fanboyish and geeky are the overweight comic book enthusiasts that look down their noses at you when you buy a spiderman comic every now and again.
We have 2 huge game stores (the game parlor owns em both) that have huge sections in the back with private rooms and tables... and most of the folks are ok, but a small percentige are the most annoying and vocal (loud) group of freaks I have ever met. I think thats what bugs me more than anything else. Don't be so loud that other people cant avoid hearing you and your innane convesations.
Granted sometimes they can be funny, but in general I would never want to play with them.
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Hey, they are outside of their holes (read: rooms) interacting with society on a level. Don't knock it.
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are they? one could argue that they are still entombed in their little holes as well.
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However these holes involve people other than themselves, which I see as an improvement to playing Everquest and DoC all day and counting that as social interaction. belch.
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I know what Mustard means though, some game fans are huge flaming raving geeks!
I consider myself moderately geeky, but to my credit I have never had the could an imperial stormtrooper beat an orc in a fair fight conversation.
The orc, duh. SOME of them can at least hit the broad side of a barn with an axe. The dex penalty for that bright, shiny armor the Stormtroopers wear will just screw them over. Basically, if an ewok can do it....
And let's use proper terms. "Geek" is an honorific. "Nerd" is the term I think you mean.
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I've been questioning the term "geek" as a honorific term. Just because someone is smart and respected in their given field doesn't mean they deserve to be honored.
My older brother is an ideal geek and nerd. He was a prodigy child, speaks a few languanges, has numerous science awards and is now a college professor. And I must take every oppurtunity to overt my superior coolness over him. He is a born geek and therefore must be persecuted by every non-geek on the playground. Such is his lot in life.
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And if it can be used as an insult its not really an honorific.... Doctor for instance is rarely used as an insult whereas calling someone a total geek could be considered fighting words.
Lets try it out....
Saint your such a doctor.
Saint your such a geek.
Spot the honorific.
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"geek." because dr.'s are annoying.
Actually, honorific is a deliberate exaggeration on my part. What I'm saying is that it shouldn't be an insult, because it is taken by a huge group to represent something they are proud of that they feel contributes to society. It doesn't necessarily connote "honor" but being careful with words lets you see that it doesn't have the same impact in insulting as it once did, especially when a large population thinks you're using it wrong when you use it in such a way.
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the first stage is denial.
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No no no. Dr's are fine. You know what isn't fine? Dentist. Those dentist can take their <explictive deleted> and shove it up their <explictive deleted>. Those nancy <explictive deleted> <explictive deleted>, think they're so <explictive deleted> funny. Well maybe they should all go and <explictive deleted> themselves. ARGH! <explictive deleted> <explictive deleted> <explictive deleted>.
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Is that anything like "She says no, so she must mean yes?"
"Thou dost protest too much?"
YEah, I think McCarthy and his pals used that tactic too.
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Are you talking to Gem or me?
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anyone who'll listen. but about you and denial.
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if its me I say they are in denial because of the words definition.
Geek:
A person regarded as foolish, inept, or clumsy.
A person who is single-minded or accomplished in scientific or technical pursuits but is felt to be socially inept.
A carnival performer whose show consists of bizarre acts, such as biting the head off a live chicken.
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there is no honorific in the word geek.
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feh. Definition in the ENglish language relies on usage. and a large population uses it the way I presented it, so any dictionary not including that usage is incomplete. Especially since almost no one uses that insipid carnival performer definition.
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Feh, its still denial, its the whole Im rubber your glue defense, if I pretend its not a hateful word then it really isn't. The problem is that it still is, when most people use it to describe someone they dont use the word in a positive way. the fact that a small percentage of people use it as a postive is easily comparable to the people who use the n word positively.
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I rarely hear the term geek anymore. It's not a cool insult word.
And it's not denial, it's corrective. It's seeking for a change.
Tell people at /. or the customers of THinkGeek that "geek" is an insult.
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Ok, I will.
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I recently conducted a study on this for my English class.
"Geek" is a person who bites the heads of chickens, but this definition no longer applies, as the word has been appropriated to people who tend to obsess over a single topic and know it inside out, are intelligent, have poor social skills, and usually means a computer person. This word, as far as I use it, has been approprated by Geeks in a similar manner to "Nigger" by African-Americans, or "Queer" by Homosexuals. If a non-geek is to use the word, it is an insult, but if a geek uses it, it is an observation or compliment.
Nerd originated from a Dr. Seuss book, and came into use to describe nerds in a similar way to geek. It is used to same way, although the differences between Nerd and Geek are often debated. I've heard everything from "Nerd is RPG's, Geek is computers", "A geek is a Nerd who transcends Nerddom, and actually has social skills" to "A Geek is Basically a Nerd, but not as good, they're not smart or haveNerd Talents"
Make up your own mind, but I'll be nothing but honoured if you call me either geek or nerd...as long as you are a geek or nerd yourself.
BTW, a Stormtrooper would murder an Orc. It has a gun, and it's a little known fact that Stormtroopers can shoot straight, they were just under orders not to in the movies. Darth Vader wanted to Dual Skywalker, so he made sure they gave him a challenge but let him live.
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feh, there is no evidence stormtroopers can shoot straight. What about Han and Chewie before they knew who Luke was? What about Lando?
Ok, but on the geek/nerd thing:
Christian
Yankee
Mormon
All these are terms that were originally used as insults. with the arguable exception of "yankee" in certain regions of the country, none of these groups take offense at the term, and most of the representatives glory in it. It would be foolish to say that "Christian" is insulting when it is used to identify someone who believes in Christ.
Also, look at how "geek" is popularly used. Thinkgeek.com is a site for people to buy shirts and toys and bits and pieces they think are cool. They have hats making reference to programming and system administration. They have shirts talking about playing FPS games. Is anyone insulted? no. Again, an even bigger and more visible use: CompUSA calls their repair team "the Geek Squad." Are they insulting their own employees? No, in fact, they try to make sure that the geeks in their ads look cool, dressed in black like MIB or Matrix or something. They definitely make it look like these are hip people who are here to help you (we'll ignore the golf shirts they actually wear). It's my argument that this is typical, not unusual.
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Yeah, kind of what I said in a roundabout way. It's a word that used to be insulting, but not anymore.
Oh, and Stormtroopers can shoot straight. When ordered by Darth Vader to capture Leia, they use the stun mode (for the only time) and it first shot.
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yeah, but that was a broad beam. It fillled the whole hall. The only way he could have missed would have been if he were holding it backward (which would not have been surprising).
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So I ask, why didn't they just use the Broad Beam all the time, stun them, and then shoot them when they're down.
I guess that puts a Stormtrooper on the same intellectual level as the orc. Which means it boild down to who's faster on the trigger/axe.
Now Stormtroopers are all clones of Jango Fett right? Being a top bounty hunter, I'd guess that's pretty fast reactions. So the orc runs in, the stormtrooper fires...and misses. Oh, Sod it.
Point conceded. The orc would have him in a second.
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I think it's arguable whether they're all clones of Jango. Sure, the clone troopers were, but there must be some genetic deficiency that creeps in if the same blood is suplying all the stormtroopers.
Either that or their training methods start to REALLY SUCK.
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It's really quite simple.
Say you have a videotape, and you record it. Then, you record the recording. Do it again. The quality deteriorates each time.
Now, since Jango Fett is rather cruicially dead, they must be making new stormtroopers by cloning the old ones, thus creating errors each time.
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ok, that would explain it.
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Stormies are, according to EU books, the "elite forces" of the empire. Regular bods all trained up. They have planetary forces which are apparently even worse (!). The clones got discontinued coz they had major genetic defeciencies. They went psycho basically. Plus, someone restarted the clone program in the EU, and they were different from the stormies. So no, the stormies are just brainwashed humans. The clones are genetically defective humans.
But, c'mon. It's not like the rebel troopers in the films were better. First scene - how the heck did any stormie make it through alive? That was a turkey shoot. And they missed!
Plus - how far apart are the stormie and orc? And what kind of orc? Urak - hai? Mordor orc? Urak-Hai beserker? What weapon does the stormie have? E-11 Blaster? Repeating rifle?
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I don't know what EU stands for (Expanded Universe?) but since they're "books" i'm going to reveal a prejudice against such things and dismiss them as non-canonical.
Not that it has any impact whatsoever I have to say.
Which is:
Yeah, the rebels suck too, which is why Han Solo, Chewbacca, Leia, Lunk, Lando, and R2, with a little help from Biggs, Obi-wan and Yoda have to win the war by themselves. THe ability of the Empire to take the Blockade Runner at the beginning of ANH says a lot more about the incompetence of the rebels than the skillz of the Stormtroopers. (I mean, it's NAMED THE BLOCKADE RUNNER! and it can't get away from ONE ship? How's it going to run a blockade?)