User:Imrealized/TalkArchive2

Modified sig file

As promised, I've made a new sig file that has only the Hal lens rather than the whole console. Here they both are for comparison. Comments? Got a question? Ask Hal 9000! - Hrodulf - 14:12, 2 June 2006 (UTC)
Got a question? Ask Hal 9000! - Hrodulf - 14:12, 2 June 2006 (UTC)

By the way, I also came up with an "explosive bolts" userbox for my userpage. Thought you'd find this amusing also. User:Hrodulf/ExplosiveBolts --Hrodulf 18:12, 2 June 2006 (UTC)

You have me beat as 2006's 2001 Fan of the Year. I really like the new Ask Hal sig with just the lens; it's a bit more recognizable and perhaps even those unaware of its origins may pick up on it through Universal Consciousness or something. But what do you think? Also, I really like your idea for 1901 and if anyone can do it well it'll be you, being a vast compendium of all things space odysseyic (sic). --Imrealized 23:43, 2 June 2006 (UTC)

Ok, I'll go with the new one then. I havn't even used the sig too much. I don't know if it's good form to use it on talk pages, so that pretty much leaves the village dump, it seems. I'll figure it out eventually I guess. About 1901, I'm definately thinking of doing one of those silent movie dialogue cards that just says "Just what do you think you're doing, Dave?" with all the old white on black font and decorations . . . . hilarious. --Hrodulf 01:56, 3 June 2006 (UTC)

Btw, I picked up the 1976 comic book adaption of the movie (simplified somewhat in dialogue for a younger audience, but still enjoyable and interesting), and in the commentary afterward in the book describing the movie, it is noted that Harlan Ellison, the science fiction writer, agrees with me that the monolith's intervention was responsible for Hal's misdiagnosis of the AE-35 unit, and subsequent killing of most of the crew:
"Science fiction author Harlan Ellison has proposed an even more novel possibility: The aliens tampered with HAL's functioning from afar, causing him to turn homicidal, because they wanted only the hardiest specimen of human life to arrive for cosmic rejuvenation." This is a slightly different take on the situation than my idea, which is that HAL was a potential candidate intelligence to become the higher form of life, but still basically the same concept of the monolith causing HAL's malfunction in diagnosis.
Of course, it's only a movie so it doesn't make sense to obsess over it too much, but I think this view makes a lot more sense than the competition which is that "HAL screwed up with the antenna because he was crazy and/or was planning to kill the crew all along, it was a trick." If HAL was planning to kill the crew from the beginning when he said the antenna was going to fail, then I don't see why he would have allowed Dave Bowman to bring the AE-35 unit back on board to test it. If he'd been lying about the unit from the very beginning, knowing that it was not going to fail, he would have killed Dave Bowman on the first spacewalk, rather than allowing him to bring the unit back, discover that it was not defective, revealing that HAL was malfunctioning, and raising the risk of disconnection. Dave and Frank could have easily decided to disconnect HAL right after discovering that the AE-35 unit was not defective, prior to replacing it, and it was only because they did not understand the danger they were in that they decided to replace the unit to see if it would fail in time, as HAL suggested. They were too naive to imagine that HAL would turn against them to save his own . . . er, microchips (can't say skin, he doesn't have any), and too willing to believe HAL's hype that he was incapable of error (barring the influence of being hacked by a four million year old alien computer, that is . . . ).
Anyhow, given all of the above, I believe that it is more reasonable to presume that HAL's decision to kill was motivated by the risk of disconnection, which itself was engineered by the monolith's deception of HAL into beliving the AE-35 unit was faulty. While there has been some debate over whether the unit was actually defective or not, since HAL's killing Frank prevented the planned failure testing from occurring, I fail to see how anyone could think it was actually going to fail, since there would have to be some objective sign of a flaw in the unit, and David Bowman said he couldn't see anything wrong with it and we could presume that the testing of this critical unit was thorough. --Hrodulf 07:29, 4 June 2006 (UTC)

Lost dialogue from lost 2001 scene

A day after our recent conversation about the destroyed cut scene from 2001:A Space Odyssey, I came up with this gag for the scene, which I put on the Ask Hal 9000 talk page. Thought you'd find this funny:

Translation of the russian dialogue on Clavius Base:
(First Russian)Well, we couldn't get much out of that Floyd, could we?
(Second Russian)Yeah, but it's ok. I told Dimitri to sabotoge their computer. Now they will suffer.
(First Russian)Excellent! Now the capitalist swine will pay dearly for their secrecy!

Sort of ruins the plot, no?

--Hrodulf 22:51, 30 May 2006 (UTC)

I love it because it ruins the plot! Yes, very much so. How is Hal doing? I haven't checked on him yet today. I tried to drum up a little more support because I don't want to be the only one asking questions, though I will as I think just signing them as someone else but linking it to me (like the Rdoney thing) works well- that way it at least appears that there are many more people of good taste strolling about. And I will admit, it is quite fun to imagine that Hal 9000 is answering my questions, so I don't mind. --Imrealized 23:38, 30 May 2006 (UTC)

I've been following up on the Ask Hal 9000 page regularly to see if there are any new questions. I don't know if it's cheating to ask questions myself. It might get lame if I start doing that. Part of the fun is trying to handle a question not of my own devising in a "Hal" like manner. I asked Cuthulu a question, but there's no answer yet.

I think my inspiration for this is not only the Ask Cuthulu page, but also the "Usenet Oracle." If you havn't read any Usenet Oracle stuff, you should check it out by typing "Usenet Oracle" into any search engine. Absolute brilliance. My personal favorite is the question about why (old) telephone dials didn't have the letters "Q" or "Z" on them . . . .If we get really desperate, I guess we could steal Usenet Oracle questions and have Hal answer them (writing original "Hal" style answers of course) . . . plenty of material there.

(by the way, I added a link to a 60 second stop action animation version of 2001 that was partially made out of legos to the Ask Hal 9000 talk page, under the "If you liked this article, you might also like" section. If you havn't seen it, you might like it.--Hrodulf 02:28, 31 May 2006 (UTC)

To try to advertise the article better, I've created a signature file that has a link to it. What do you think? The only annoying thing about it (for me) is that every time I use it, I have to save the sig file again to update the time and date . . .
Got a question? Ask Hal 9000! - Hrodulf

Hmm... I've two suggestions for ya. First off, I'm pretty certain there is a way that you wouldn't have to do what you said it was you'd have to do with your time/sig thingie, but am unsure of where to find the information of how to do it better as I still have trouble making templates. But I'll bet someone in that IRC chat channel may have an idea (sorry I'm not more help on this but I gotta get some shuteye). Secondly, I'd maybe consider instead of shrinking down the Ask Hal Faceplate, which is a little too small to make out the buttons and such unless you know what it is you're looking at, instead go for just the Hal red-eye instead, which at that size should still be instantly recognizable. Otherwise I like it and hope it draws a few other questions from other sources. If not, I'll certainly have a question for Hal tomorrow. Wait, hold the phone... I just remembered one possible remedy for the timestamp thing, although there are probably better ways so you still might want to ask someone more knowlegable on the subject - I think if you just leave the time out of the template you can just add a timestamp in manually with five tildes (~), but of course it will be outside of the template. Like I said, it's one possibility. --Imrealized 04:28, 31 May 2006 (UTC)

I am going to sleep now, btw, so won't be able to respond to anything you type here for a few hours. And I don't intend to use the sig everytime I sign something on a talk page, just the first time. I don't see the point of using it more than once per page. --Hrodulf 04:22, 31 May 2006 (UTC)

I'm going to subst the code in, it's the only way this sig can work I think because otherwise whenever I update the date, ALL the dates will change and it will mess up the chronology (as happened on this page, as you can see). As for making the image larger, it would be out of scale with the font, and people who can't make out what the image is can just click on it and get the full sized version: also, making it just the Hal red-eye wouldn't be recognizable to anybody who didn't see the movie, it'd just be a red dot with hints of yellow. I can mess around with it but am not sure it would be any better. But I'm willing to try. All of this is sort of a work in progress.--Hrodulf 13:26, 31 May 2006 (UTC)

Btw, I solved the first problem: now the date updates itself. I just inserted the date tilde code (without invoking my username, since it came out in the wrong color) as a "nowiki'd" set of characters into the signature template, and then I use subst: to invoke the template code. When the template code goes native on the page I'm signing, the system convertes the tildes to the current time and date. So that's done. Now the picture . . . I still don't know. But now it's a lot easier to use the signature. Thanks for the help.
Got a question? Ask Hal 9000! - Hrodulf-18:14, 31 May 2006 (UTC)

I don't know how much help I was since I have no idea what half the stuff you said means (sorry, I'm still quite computer illiterate, especially on the technical side of things), but I appreciate the thanks. Along those lines, if'n I do pose another question (or two, or many) to our pal Hal, it/they may not have too much to do with tech support or whatnot, simply because I can't inject funny into things I don't understand. I know that it was kinda decided that would be Hal's primary function but, like in most endeavours, I will interpret that liberally. So far I've gravitated to 2001 in-jokes, but through your poignant answers you've made the humour accesible to all. And looking back at my earlier comments, there is nothing wrong with the sig, I was just brainstorming out loud. I was thinking that Hal's eye would work better alone, but see your point that it may be unrecognizable to those poor saps who haven't experienced the beauty that is 2001. But I am glad that you got your timestamp working properly. I also wanted to thank you for your excellent work with your new user list - that's a very honourable cause. This place can be intimidating at first (for a multiplicity of reasons) and anything that helps to lessen the shock and awe is worthwhile in my book. --Imrealized 19:22, 31 May 2006 (UTC)

That's the idea. Without a list, we can't follow up on how the n00bs are doing, and whether they're assimilating to the site culture well. The list (with the exception of n00bs who delete themselves, obviously) gives us a tool to do that which did not really exist before. Of course, it isn't possible to get every n00b, but I'm going to do my best to get as many as I can. I'm working on techniques to get more, so there should be a lot more of them on there soon. Might have to change the format, or break the list down into alphabetical order with subpages or something. We'll see.

As for the signature, you were helpful because you talked about fixing it, which gave me the idea of trying to do it. Since Splak taught me about subst:, the realization that all I had to do was put some tildes into the code to get the date updated when I used the sig was all it took. I had to use the no-wiki code to do it because otherwise when I tried to put the tildes into my template, it would have saved as a date instead of tildes. I'm pleased with the result overall, and still plan to try your Hal eye idea to compare it. It's the only way to tell what works best, but like I said, I don't know if either image really is ideal. I don't want to make it larger than it is, that would be very annoying. As I may have noted, I also want to use it sparingly, making that my signature every time I sign a page would annoy more people than it convinced to visit the article. It's just common sense.

See you next Wednesday--Hrodulf 19:53, 31 May 2006 (UTC)

A little week-long break, eh? Enjoy yourself in the land of the real. --Imrealized 20:02, 31 May 2006 (UTC)

Not quite, it's an inside joke. See you next Wednesday is the last line Frank Poole's parents say to him in their birthday message from 2001. It's funny because of course, they don't see him next Wednesday, thanks to Hal. Graveyard humor, if you would. --Hrodulf 20:11, 31 May 2006 (UTC)

D'oh. A reference so obscure I failed to catch it. Good work. Well, that's good you'll be around as I was just about to drop Hal a line. --Imrealized 20:14, 31 May 2006 (UTC)

I wasn't trying to trip you up, your discussion of inside jokes reminded me of it and I thought it was funny. I didn't originate the idea of the line as a joke, John Landis made a lot of movies and stuck a fake movie poster advertising a fictitious film called "See You Next Wednesday" as a gag. --Hrodulf 20:19, 31 May 2006 (UTC)

Don't worry, I enjoy "tripping" from time to time. And I didn't know that about John Landis and his use of that line... funny stuff. Now, are you ready to wear your Hal hat (I hope this next question isn't too predictable)? --Imrealized 20:25, 31 May 2006 (UTC)

The questions were ok, I'm not sure how great my answers were, but they can't all be classics. I think part of it is luck/chance/whatever. By the way, thanks for namedropping the article on savethemoose's talk page, since it is a newer feature and does need some support to survive. --Hrodulf 08:41, 1 June 2006 (UTC)

I enjoyed your answers as always. You have a knack for the whole Hal thing, which is why I namedropped it (not sure it helped, but I tried). I'd love to see it gain momentum, but I'm not sure what else can be done. Perhaps if I call out to the fates... they owe me a favour. --Imrealized 22:58, 1 June 2006 (UTC)

I've had a somewhat better idea: an article about how 2001 is actually a remake, and discussing the rarely seen 1868 silent original, "1901", with pictures of course. --Hrodulf 11:33, 2 June 2006 (UTC)

Whoa, what did I just walk into?

Hey there, I was simply going to return the compliments you gave me on my writing, but then I call up your Talk page and come to these extensive entries on all this crap you've been getting from other users. Well, it looks like it's passed (I hope).

I'm sure you'd rather put that stuff behind you. You can archive all the above text to another page off your user page, say, User:Imrealized/TalkArchive1.

Anyway, thanks for the attention. I haven't gotten much direct recognition yet, but I know I have to improve my writing before I am deserving of anything like VFH. It's been a (fun) learning process for me, reading other people's work and getting into the Uncyc sense of humor (or humour, if you will).

Incidentally, I'm not too pleased about the changes made to Captain Oblivious since I created it. It looks like someone with a strangely similar name to my own has been adding to it like crazy, but I think the edits ruin the layout and make it look cluttered, which it (and Captain Obvious) already border on. Rather than reverting it myself, I think I'll wait for others to contribute and see where they go with it. Certainly I planned on people adding to it, just not quite like that. I guess it's harder for some of us to let go of our work and watch other people modify it, if we're used to more "fixed" kinds of writing that we own exclusively. --Iritscen 15:49, 31 March 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for noticing!

Hey, thanks for the thanks for linking other relevant articles to your excellent piece on Unnatural Selection. I like to draw things together where I can, especially where it can point users to the really good articles! --Seamus Mahoney 21:17, 1 April 2006 (UTC)

Thanks

Somebody has awarded you a cookie! Now go play in traffic.

--Sir Xiao Li CUN VFH NS (Talk) 05:40, 4 April 2006 (UTC)

Somebody has awarded you a cookie! Now go play in traffic.

-Thanks a bundle! I got my first featured article thanks, in part, to your vote. YOU ROCK!  :)--<<>> 03:30, 5 April 2006 (UTC)

Would like a picture of her Breasts?

I see where you made the comment on Barbie's breasts should be larger (VFP: Colossus of Barbie) and you are quite right - Barbie's breasts should be larger than they appear. So went and looked at the model. Its got to be an outcropping (pun intended) of the fleck stone product - it seems to mute her bosoms. But I have a great image of her butt Image:Colbarbbutt.jpg that uploaded to show that she is more than just a photoshop image. hugs, Dame GUN PotY WotM 2xPotM 17xVFH VFP Poo PMS •YAP• 13:36, 5 May 2006 (UTC)

• Hey there PrettiestPretty... twasn't me who asked for bigger plastic boobs (although I must possess some resemblence to User:Hinoa4 because I get that often. Naw, I fully enjoyed the pic as is and am awed at the amount of time you put into its creation. Doesn't mean I didn't appreciate the Barbie butt-shot though. Thanks. --Imrealized 06:40, 6 May 2006 (UTC)

Tom Cruise Whitewashing

As I wrote - as I predicted - the Cruise article is having the gay references whitewashed under the excuse of "it's not funny"! Would you be surprised if I told you that their IP address geographically resolves itself to California? I vote that we fight against this political correctness that is threatening our small and insane part of the 'net! YEEE HAAA!!! --Jester 04:39, 6 May 2006 (UTC)