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Guavanaut posted:The entire country deteriorates into a terrible American frat comedy as the Queen walks in on a drunk Boris getting his dick licked and then a dozen tories start chanting GILF GILF GILF Surely it'd be QILF QILF QILF terrible jokes aside though, there's horrific power dynamic stuff going on there as well. I'm quite happy to say that there's bigger issues with it being the prime minister in this situation that are less likely to apply for other office dalliances!
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Jul 1, 2022 17:24
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Bobby Deluxe posted:He's so loving dumb, he falls into every single trap they lay. This is just the 'yes, but I want to hear the son of a bitch deny it' thing, except he's trying to preempt mention of it before they even trick him into talking about it. Amazing. It would be a stupid move from someone who hasn't gone on record saying they'll break pledges to get elected. For Starmer they can just pair that quote alongside the worst inversion of every promise he makes. The man is a loving idiot.
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Jul 1, 2022 17:29
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Reveilled posted:That pretty much mirrors my own feelings, having read the first two books also, I just couldn't get invested in any of the characters. Ultimately I decided the style wasn't for me, much as I wanted it to be. Heck, I think I remember even less about Consider Phlebas, there was a...planet that had like...a bunch of underground train stations or something?? It had an AI in it they needed to get. I don't think I could tell you literally anything about the characters other than that one was an Iridian and the other was a Culture operative. I think? It just completely failed to have any impact on me which I found rather disappointing. See the planet thing is cool, it's a planet that wiped itself out with a nuclear war or something, and they built all these giant underground train systems as mobile command and control, and the planet is kept as a kind of museum piece by a super powerful magic alien so nobody lives on it except a tiny number of people because the alien is very picky about who is allowed in. The setting is quite haunting, and if it focused more on that mystery element I would probably enjoy it more, but that's just the backdrop to the actual plot which is... less interesting I think.
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Jul 1, 2022 17:31
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Iain Banks was a brilliant ideas guy but his books tended to be kind of rushed and poorly edited, so the great ideas didn't translate into great novels. I read once that his working pattern was to start a book in the new year, then take the rest of the year off once he'd finished it, so he was always eager to get it out of the way as quickly as possible (He preferred playing the Civilization games to actually writing, which I can completely empathise with). I think a lot of his books would have been greatly improved if he'd taken a few months to revise and rewrite the original draft. Thing is, once he'd got sufficiently famous, people would go out and buy whatever he produced (I was one of these people!), so he never had the incentive to craft a polished final version.
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Jul 1, 2022 17:32
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Pistol_Pete posted:Iain Banks was a brilliant ideas guy but his books tended to be kind of rushed and poorly edited, so the great ideas didn't translate into great novels. I read once that his working pattern was to start a book in the new year, then take the rest of the year off once he'd finished it, so he was always eager to get it out of the way as quickly as possible (He preferred playing the Civilization games to actually writing, which I can completely empathise with). I think he got to the stage of super-succesful, so no editor dares to do a decent job any more. There's some great setups and ideas, but sometimes it gets muddied, or lost in pages of exposition about something that is relevant for just the last paragraph where the story happens. For example, my favourite novel is the Algabraeist, which isn't even a Culture novel - as long as you like skip-read the first quarter or so until he actually starts the mission. From then on it is excellent, before that, its B+ at best.
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Jul 1, 2022 17:54
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Men in Bland, more like!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 
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Jul 1, 2022 17:54
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Pistol_Pete posted:Iain Banks was a brilliant ideas guy but his books tended to be kind of rushed and poorly edited, so the great ideas didn't translate into great novels. I read once that his working pattern was to start a book in the new year, then take the rest of the year off once he'd finished it, so he was always eager to get it out of the way as quickly as possible (He preferred playing the Civilization games to actually writing, which I can completely empathise with). Neal Stephenson has an even worse case of this
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Jul 1, 2022 17:54
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I think that sums up The Business and Transition nicely. Like they are certainly ideas for books, but did they need to be written?
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Jul 1, 2022 17:58
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crispix posted:Men in Bland, more like!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You know those little devices they use to make everyone nearby forget what just happened? Well, after Starmer gives a speech, he doesn't need one
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Jul 1, 2022 18:00
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Pincher now been suspended. With any luck there'll be another by-election if he resigns completely.
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Jul 1, 2022 18:07
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killerwhat posted:Neal Stephenson has an even worse case of this oh god I gave up on him after....Reamde?.......which was like the size of a loving dictionary
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Jul 1, 2022 18:18
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Julio Cruz posted:oh god I gave up on him after....Reamde?.......which was like the size of a loving dictionary I struggled with that one as well. Nice idea for the plot, but just so much filler with nothing going on.
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Jul 1, 2022 18:41
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Tarnop posted:It would be a stupid move from someone who hasn't gone on record saying they'll break pledges to get elected. For Starmer they can just pair that quote alongside the worst inversion of every promise he makes. The man is a loving idiot. Or he's doing the job he's been employed to do very well.
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Jul 1, 2022 18:43
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Strom Cuzewon posted:People reccomend Player of Games because its a nice simple introduction to the Culture, but this also means it's by far the least interesting of the novels. Excession and Use of Weapons are the absolute highpoints for me, and work as a pretty good duology, looking at the Culture from the perspective of the Minds on top, and the random schlubs on the bottom. I find Excession kind of annoying, it's full of subplots that fizzle out and go nowhere - which I'm sure actually is intentional, but knowing that still doesn't go any way towards making the book more satisfying. Use of Weapons is great but sometimes feels more like an exercise in precise narrative construction than a story. Personal favourite is Look to Windward, no idea how that's generally thought of amongst fans.
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Jul 1, 2022 19:42
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I’ve just talked someone down off a railway bridge literally seconds before the train went under us - can anyone advise if I should do something? The guy was absolutely distraught, sobbing when I got him down and by the time I’d walked him home he was just… fine. We walked and talked and I gave him lots of sensible old man advice about not letting your brain trick you into thinking bad things. I really feel like I should be doing something else but I don’t know what. Family advice is “call 101” which seems at best pointless. Is there anything I can or should do? I told him to call the doctors on Monday and if he’s feeling bad knock on my door and we’ll take the dog a walk. It’s shook me up real bad.
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Jul 1, 2022 21:44
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Sanford posted:I’ve just talked someone down off a railway bridge literally seconds before the train went under us - can anyone advise if I should do something? The guy was absolutely distraught, sobbing when I got him down and by the time I’d walked him home he was just… fine. We walked and talked and I gave him lots of sensible old man advice about not letting your brain trick you into thinking bad things. I really feel like I should be doing something else but I don’t know what. Family advice is “call 101” which seems at best pointless. Is there anything I can or should do? I told him to call the doctors on Monday and if he’s feeling bad knock on my door and we’ll take the dog a walk. It’s shook me up real bad. I think the recommended advice is to try to get the person to A&E if that's possible. And well done on being someone willing to talk to him in a crisis.
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Jul 1, 2022 22:00
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drat, well done Sanford. Samaritans would be a decent recommendation without knowing anything about why they were up there in the first place. Could even be worth a call yourself if you're feeling shook up about it, there's a lot of expertise free to access there.
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Jul 1, 2022 22:18
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kingturnip posted:I think the recommended advice is to try to get the person to A&E if that's possible. Yeah, that's the advice but at the same time it's terrible advice. You sit in A&E for however long & then someone sees you & basically says "cool. We can't do anything unless you actually try to kill yourself so gently caress off & call the GP in the morning & then wait weeks for an appointment". (Caveat is that my experience is pretty out of date fortunately but I have opinions on the NHS & it's complete inadequacy at dealing with mental health issues, either crises or chronic issues.)
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Jul 1, 2022 22:25
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Sanford posted:I’ve just talked someone down off a railway bridge literally seconds before the train went under us - can anyone advise if I should do something? The guy was absolutely distraught, sobbing when I got him down and by the time I’d walked him home he was just… fine. We walked and talked and I gave him lots of sensible old man advice about not letting your brain trick you into thinking bad things. I really feel like I should be doing something else but I don’t know what. Family advice is “call 101” which seems at best pointless. Is there anything I can or should do? I told him to call the doctors on Monday and if he’s feeling bad knock on my door and we’ll take the dog a walk. It’s shook me up real bad. Encourage him to call the samaritans. Also you might want to check out this page - it says Wales but I'm sure similar stuff exists in England if that's where you are. https://www.samaritans.org/wales/how-we-can-help/if-youre-worried-about-someone-else/ And you - don't forget yourself - might be helpful for you to talk to one of these services too. Just found there's a drop down box at the bottom related to the country google thinks you're in, this is the link to the England page: https://www.samaritans.org/how-we-can-help/if-youre-worried-about-someone-else/ Jaeluni Asjil fucked around with this message at 22:35 on Jul 1, 2022 |
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Jul 1, 2022 22:32
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The real tragedy is that it’s distracted from how delighted I was to find this in the bin in the woods. Just pulling into a secluded lay-by in north east Derbyshire to unwrap my airturn 2 masturbator while a young man contemplates suicide on a nearby railway bridge. A snapshot of modern Britain. JA ^^^ that’s very helpful thank you. Personally I’m having a big old adrenaline rush and a bit shaky but having a drink and periodically getting up to look at his house (which I can just see from the attic window) so I’m fine! The stupid thing is I was about fifteen minutes earlier than normal because it’s my mates little boys birthday so I’d been round a bit early to see him before he went to bed. If I’d been on normal Friday night schedule I’d have missed the train and my new friend wouldn’t have done. Noth8ng but pure good luck. Sanford fucked around with this message at 22:39 on Jul 1, 2022 |
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Jul 1, 2022 22:34
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Sanford posted:The real tragedy is that it’s distracted from how delighted I was to find this in the bin in the woods. Like a scene from an old point and click adventure game
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Jul 1, 2022 22:54
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Chubby Henparty posted:I think that sums up The Business and Transition nicely. Like they are certainly ideas for books, but did they need to be written? Yeah, they're both fascinating plot hooks that have blatantly been banged out as a stream of consciousness rather than taking the time to think them through and properly map out a plot. I actually remember Transition pissing off younger me, 'cos I bought the hardback and he'd so obviously paid only the minimum attention to hitting the word count lol.
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Jul 1, 2022 23:05
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Bankschat: I'm old enough to have read Consider Phlebas when it was the only Culture novel (and ironically the Culture are the antagonists, which was a bit of a mindfuck moment when I read Player of Games), and to me it's the most accessible of the series because it's basically an episodic romp. Horza goes from crazy place to crazier place gathering allies and information to help him in his mission... actually it's almost like an RPG. (There's some term for novels that play out like RPGs, but I can't remember it even though one of my friends is writing one.) Use Of Weapons blew me away with its twist/revelation as the two timelines came together, but drat, it was a  experience.Have a feeling Excession was where I left the series, because it didn't grab me at all. Not even sure I ever finished it.
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Jul 1, 2022 23:11
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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/special/politics97/ Oh jeez
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Jul 1, 2022 23:15
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Payndz posted:Bankschat: I'm old enough to have read Consider Phlebas when it was the only Culture novel (and ironically the Culture are the antagonists, which was a bit of a mindfuck moment when I read Player of Games), and to me it's the most accessible of the series because it's basically an episodic romp. Horza goes from crazy place to crazier place gathering allies and information to help him in his mission... actually it's almost like an RPG. (There's some term for novels that play out like RPGs, but I can't remember it even though one of my friends is writing one.) I say this every time Phlebas comes up, but for me the "point" of the book comes in the epilogue, where we learn How loving insignificant what our heroes went through was, compared to the massive scale of destruction of the war. And how the war itself was barely a blip in history. All the horrible stuff they went through, all their horrible deaths (and Banks writes a good senseless death) are gonna be completely forgotten, and meant nothing. Except for the Mind they saved. Because to Them, it means everything It's a silly swashbuckling space adventure, that then spins on a loving dime to deliver this emotional suckerpunch. I love it so much. Vvvv oh yeah, Banks' AI characters are often way better than his humans. Anticipation of a New Lovers Arrival, The has a great arc and freak out in Excession. And I forget their names, but the ships in Hydrogen Sonata tha befriend the insect race with their lovely ships, and makes a defiant last stand with them cos their it's bros. And obviously Skaffen-Amitskaw is amazing. The absolute fucker. Strom Cuzewon fucked around with this message at 23:28 on Jul 1, 2022 |
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Jul 1, 2022 23:22
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I read Excession this year and my takeaway was that it was a decent-ish book about computers arguing that was disguised as a really kinda terrible book about humans reconciling.
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Jul 1, 2022 23:24
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LOL. 1997 is when I first got a pc with internet at home. A couple of high ranking officials at work had it for email purposes only before that and graciously allowed me to share one of their email addresses. (All emails had to be printed out and filed - those were the days!) Anyway, Lady Di was killed a week after I got that (and also a tv card in the pc - I had no tv for several years before that). I like to think my first website that I made around then on my free 2MB AOL member space was somewhat better than that bbc one.
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Jul 1, 2022 23:25
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You're a gem, Sanford
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Jul 2, 2022 00:07
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Sanford posted:I’ve just talked someone down off a railway bridge literally seconds before the train went under us - can anyone advise if I should do something? The guy was absolutely distraught, sobbing when I got him down and by the time I’d walked him home he was just… fine. We walked and talked and I gave him lots of sensible old man advice about not letting your brain trick you into thinking bad things. I really feel like I should be doing something else but I don’t know what. Family advice is “call 101” which seems at best pointless. Is there anything I can or should do? I told him to call the doctors on Monday and if he’s feeling bad knock on my door and we’ll take the dog a walk. It’s shook me up real bad. Might need your phone number in the coming days, buddy. You're a credit to humanity.
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Jul 2, 2022 03:13
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I was in uni at that time, doing computer science, and I remember the Chemical Brothers doing a live concert online on BBC Music, the first ever online concert. And it was a slide show of 5-6 pics a minute, and I thought it was the best loving Star Trek future is here moment.
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Jul 2, 2022 04:09
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Sanford posted:
I can't recommend enough that you also call samarittans. I've been in a bit similar situation (worked in a call centre and the person on the other end was about to kill themselves when I called them and had to talk them down) and at first I was on a bit of a high feeling good about helping them but I quickly got into a pretty dark place where my thoughts kept going back to it, imagining what could have happened, wondering if they had gone through with it anyway later, etc. You've just experienced a traumatic event and your adrenaline is currently getting you through even if you don't realise it.
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Jul 2, 2022 08:33
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https://twitter.com/quigonsmith/status/1542876217711419392 https://twitter.com/dave43law/status/1542921869061414912
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Jul 2, 2022 08:41
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Last night a friend got scammed out of their 50k of savings, goddamn  I don't yet know how it went down but it started with one of those "pay 1.50 for redelivery" text messages (rookie error) and then they immediately got a call from the fraud department at their bank... except it wasn't the bank, it was the scammer, spoofing the bank's number. And somehow they could confirm recent transactions on the account so it seemed legit (not sure how... malware on phone perhaps? Insidious) The scammer said they'd opened a new account to protect their money and convinced them to transfer all their savings over to it. They called their bank soon after and, yep, all a scam. And they've had loans taken out in their name too so must have given away a lot of personal data Absolute nightmare
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Jul 2, 2022 08:55
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Christ. There needs to be a lot more public education on IT security and phishing
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Jul 2, 2022 08:59
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https://twitter.com/ChinaEmbIreland/status/1542908356448354304
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Jul 2, 2022 09:01
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Unfortunately even a lot of people who should know better will panic and do whatever it takes to make the problem go away if sufficiently scared and/or caught in the wrong moment. That's probably what the scammers specifically rely on.
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Jul 2, 2022 09:01
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Failed Imagineer posted:Christ. They should do drink & drive style adverts from the 90's and slap it all over tele.
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Jul 2, 2022 09:07
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I think it should be compulsory for everyone to watch Kitboga videos.
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Jul 2, 2022 09:28
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JeremoudCorbynejad posted:Last night a friend got scammed out of their 50k of savings, goddamn Failed Imagineer posted:Christ. Sorry to hear that, loving sucks. Surprised the bank cant get it back. As for education, I would consider myself tech savvy, and I would have probably fell for it with an amazon item that was delivered to our house a few months ago. Got the same message, but it was signed 'Simon' and not Post Office or such. Most people would think including myself at the start 'well there was a package that wasnt delivered, how could a scammer know that so it must be legit'.
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Jul 2, 2022 09:33
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This is the double-edged issue with trust. We know low trust societies are poo poo, we know that high trust societies did better against the pandemic, act better on the environment, and have better views on human rights and social safety nets even if their governments are worse on those issue. They're better places to live, work, and interact. At the same time, whenever anyone calls or messages me claiming to be anyone I instantly become  The most valuable advice I've had on it was always call back the bank/phone company on their fraud number, and do it from a mobile or a different number. Like if they call saying "hello bla bla bank bad need to transfer" say "and which bank is this?" and if it is one you bank with just thank them, hang up, and call the number on the back of that card, but some of them are lovely enough to keep a (non-digital land)line open and fake dialtone. That's the kind of thing that would be good for the drink drive style ads.
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