Posts for Brandon


1 2
13 14 15 34 35
Brandon
He/Him
Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Player (190)
Joined: 11/21/2010
Posts: 913
Location: Tennessee
TASManiac wrote:
Patryk: Maybe we could co-author a TAS someday. Now, what I most regret... Not joining earlier.
This.
All the best, Brandon Evans
Brandon
He/Him
Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Player (190)
Joined: 11/21/2010
Posts: 913
Location: Tennessee
I doubt it'd get accepted, but I'd love to see what you could come up with it, flyingdeath. Also, next time, post this in the NES Games section.
All the best, Brandon Evans
Brandon
He/Him
Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Player (190)
Joined: 11/21/2010
Posts: 913
Location: Tennessee
On one hand, this was clearly well made. On the other, it seems to be more speed-oriented than entertainment oriented (Fox isn't exactly the most diverse character), there's no real appeal to All-Star over Classic mode, and it uses a savestate. It's also a shame that this mode couldn't have two players, as a lot of the entertainment value I've seen from Melee TASes up to this point has been "wombo-ing." Can't vote more than a Meh. I would really like to see a more entertaining Classic run or Adventure mode run from you, though.
All the best, Brandon Evans
Brandon
He/Him
Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Player (190)
Joined: 11/21/2010
Posts: 913
Location: Tennessee
I'm sorry I didn't have the time to help you like I would have hoped, Wak017, but if you need my help encoding the dump, whether you give me the dump and I handle it or I just help you encode it yourself, my offer still stands.
All the best, Brandon Evans
Brandon
He/Him
Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Player (190)
Joined: 11/21/2010
Posts: 913
Location: Tennessee
HD YouTube stream up, omitting TASBlend upon request of the authors. Archive entry coming shortly.
All the best, Brandon Evans
Brandon
He/Him
Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Player (190)
Joined: 11/21/2010
Posts: 913
Location: Tennessee
Randil wrote:
Picking up and abandoning too many projects (though I do often pick them up several months later, and hopefully their WIPs will be helpful to the next person who picks up the game).
I wouldn't say this is bad at all. It was great trying to improve your Startropics II WIP, and I look forward to continue working on the game with you once I finish Arcade's Revenge (We're almost finished, seriously).
All the best, Brandon Evans
Brandon
He/Him
Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Player (190)
Joined: 11/21/2010
Posts: 913
Location: Tennessee
erokky wrote:
I also like to joke around on #tasvideos but some would call it trolling.
In your defense, I would say you joke more than you troll. What do I regret? Caring too much about titles, not having / taking the time to understand encoding better, not finishing either of my major projects at this point (Though I am working on one of them at least now), and having some issues with my attitude.
All the best, Brandon Evans
Brandon
He/Him
Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Player (190)
Joined: 11/21/2010
Posts: 913
Location: Tennessee
I'll handle this, and I'll take into account Nach's criticism of my normal subtitle placement.
All the best, Brandon Evans
Brandon
He/Him
Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Player (190)
Joined: 11/21/2010
Posts: 913
Location: Tennessee
Flygon wrote:
Kyrsimys wrote:
For Paul the problem is that democrats will be put off by his conservatism and republicans by his liberalism.
Reading this just brings another contrast to how Australian politics is to America... here, he'd be seen as Conservative regardless.
This.
All the best, Brandon Evans
Brandon
He/Him
Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Player (190)
Joined: 11/21/2010
Posts: 913
Location: Tennessee
Lex wrote:
Because the electricity in my brain interacted how the laws of physics told it to, I typed this reply.
This. Life is deterministic.
All the best, Brandon Evans
Brandon
He/Him
Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Player (190)
Joined: 11/21/2010
Posts: 913
Location: Tennessee
Flygon wrote:
Think on that for a second there. Does free will exist?
Not if life is deterministic, and I believe it is (goldfish disagrees), but if you're interested in that, start a new topic.
All the best, Brandon Evans
Brandon
He/Him
Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Player (190)
Joined: 11/21/2010
Posts: 913
Location: Tennessee
Warp wrote:
Brandon wrote:
On church and state, he has stated that although the first amendment protects the right of an individual to worship or not worship as he pleases, it does not allow the government to prohibit worship, either. As such, he again designates the right to allow / disallow public prayer to the states, which is the most accurate interpretation of the constitution whether you like it or not ("Congress shall write no law").
Wow, that's really astute, I must say! The United States constitution basically dictates that the country cannot become a theocracy, but since the text only mentions "congress", not the individual states, that means that the states themselves can be as theocratic as they want, and it's not a violation of the constitution. So as long as the congress does not pass theocratic laws, everything else is permitted within the states themselves. Talk about obeying the letter of the law, rather than its spirit. It's almost frightening.
Because public prayer = a theocracy.
Lastly, believing in the theory of evolution has nothing to do with the ability to govern
It tells something about his ability to govern on subjects regarding science and education. If he stays out of matters regarding things like deciding school curricula and scientific research funding, then his beliefs are inconsequential. However, if he does affect those, then it becomes worrying. (The Texas school board of education is a good example of this.)
OK, so you have no evidence to point in either direction. Speculating will get us nowhere.
Anyways, my point in mentioning that was not that it would affect his capacity as a state leader, but that it's a typical symptom of a fundamentalist young-earth creationist, which seems at odds with wanting to legalize prostitution and cannabis.
If there's any one thing I wanted people to take from my work, it is that if we are to degenerate in the same way that Germany did in the Third Reich, it will come from the meaningless two party system. People give themselves a label, and then the average American votes for them because of said label, even though we know nothing about their actual beliefs. Don't pidgeon-hole him; show me one article / video of him talking about evolution / creationism, and I will give you ten of him talking about ending prohibition. His personal beliefs mean less to him than his policy, and his policy is ending prohibition on a federal level.
He also mentioned that asking him of his beliefs on the issue is inappropriate as he isn't a scientist, nor did he ever claimed to be one.
Actually he has said he is a scientist. Direct quote: "On abortion, I just recognize as a physician and a scientist, that life does exist prior to birth."
I was talking about evolution, and you're jumping to abortion. He's not claiming to be an expert on the theory of evolution, but he is a former medical doctor. Was the term scientist too general a term in both uses? Perhaps. Sue him.
All the best, Brandon Evans
Brandon
He/Him
Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Player (190)
Joined: 11/21/2010
Posts: 913
Location: Tennessee
Warp wrote:
Kyrsimys wrote:
Oh yeah, you criticized the media for not explaining why Ron Paul is "unelectable". I don't know much about American politics but I think it's kind of obvious why someone proposing the legalization of prostitution and marijuana would be considered unelectable.
I don't understand. Are there two Ron Pauls in the United States running for president? Because I thought Ron Paul is a pro-life creationist who doesn't believe in the separation of church and state, nor in the theory of evolution. (Not that that latter thing has anything to do with prostitution or marijuana, but it's a very typical feature of an American young-earth creationist fundamentalist.)
You're oversimplifying his positions. He believes abortion should be a states' right issue, because although his definition of life begins at conception, there's no way the entire country can agree on such a controversial definition? Great solution? No. Is there a better one? Probably not. On church and state, he has stated that although the first amendment protects the right of an individual to worship or not worship as he pleases, it does not allow the government to prohibit worship, either. As such, he again designates the right to allow / disallow public prayer to the states, which is the most accurate interpretation of the constitution whether you like it or not ("Congress shall write no law"). Lastly, believing in the theory of evolution has nothing to do with the ability to govern, but he has stated he personally doesn't accept evolution, though he doesn't see absolute proof on either side. He also mentioned that asking him of his beliefs on the issue is inappropriate as he isn't a scientist, nor did he ever claimed to be one. Whether or not he believes in creationism, and it's very possible that he has his doubts and merely withholds them as it'd be political suicide in his electorate, his stances on the issues you have brought up are the most reasonable out of any politician I have ever heard of, and that's exactly the point: the federal government shouldn't have anything to do with these things. I also don't see any connection with the issues you have raised and cannabis prohibition, not to mention he talks about cannabis prohibition more than your issues combined. He's for personal liberty, and he personally is a religious man. inb4majorderailment
All the best, Brandon Evans
Brandon
He/Him
Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Player (190)
Joined: 11/21/2010
Posts: 913
Location: Tennessee
I agree with most of what Kyrsimys said, but let me clarify something for non-Americans:
Kyrsimys wrote:
Oh yeah, you criticized the media for not explaining why Ron Paul is "unelectable". I don't know much about American politics but I think it's kind of obvious why someone proposing the legalization of prostitution and marijuana would be considered unelectable.
Americans, by and large, are smarter than you might think. Every day, people are realizing that cannabis prohibition is completely unworkable, highly discriminatory, and yet another tool for the government to profit off of the misery of the people. A recent poll has shown that support has been growing consistently for years now. Nearly everyone educated on the subject supports legalization, but that's not the main point here. If the numbers for legalization are about dead even, and Ron Paul's foreign policy is widely popular, then most people who know about him would support him. That said, the media is actively working against him. They have talked primarily about undeclared candidates and uninteresting ones, such as Sarah Palin and Rick Perry respectively. Medias can win elections, and if they gave Paul the same level of publicity they gave the other two, there'd be no competition: one's a real conservative, the others are puppets and horrible governors. The statement of "unelectable" does more than predict the outcome of an election: it hurts confidence. A lot of people, regretfully, vote for the person they think will win. I mean, look at this: Link to video He essentially won the Straw Poll (Well, he did, considering Bachmann stole 4000 votes), and he doesn't stand a "hoot in hell's chance" of becoming president, so they are going to ignore him? This is a fascist confidence game, and it quite frankly might cost Paul the election even though many think he's the best candidate. As I've said before, most Americans are smarter than you'd think, and people who care about politics probably wouldn't fall for such tricks, but apolitical people still vote, which is a problem.
All the best, Brandon Evans
Brandon
He/Him
Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Player (190)
Joined: 11/21/2010
Posts: 913
Location: Tennessee
dunnius wrote:
Brandon wrote:
Also, whether or not our democracy is well established doesn't matter; if a tyranny is being constructed under the guise of a democracy, it's really just a slicker form of a dictatorship.
One correction: Our form of government is a (constitutional) republic. It annoys me when people get it wrong, there is a huge difference between the two. I agree with you that we are headed in the wrong direction in terms of freedom.
Earlier in the paper:
After all, the U.S., a proud constitutional republic (Which some sadly refer to as a democracy), would never accept such rhetoric.
I suppose these statements clash a bit. I don't know, this wasn't the best constructed paper I could have written. The important thing are my points and facts are cohesive.
All the best, Brandon Evans
Brandon
He/Him
Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Player (190)
Joined: 11/21/2010
Posts: 913
Location: Tennessee
I can agree that comparing the intensities isn't accurate, but you also need to consider that we have yet to exit out of this trend. You cited hyperinflation, and many economists claim that this is a mathematical inevitability if the trends continue. Also, whether or not our democracy is well established doesn't matter; if a tyranny is being constructed under the guise of a democracy, it's really just a slicker form of a dictatorship. So, in a short response to your wall of text: yes, we are currently not Nazi Germany. Only time will tell if we make it that far! I'm glad you found my work to be interesting. Thank you for reading it.
All the best, Brandon Evans
Brandon
He/Him
Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Player (190)
Joined: 11/21/2010
Posts: 913
Location: Tennessee
Dada wrote:
(after virtually exploding in the other topic, though I insist that hasn't happened to me in a long time)
Which was this again?
All the best, Brandon Evans
Post subject: Patriotic Tyranny
Brandon
He/Him
Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Player (190)
Joined: 11/21/2010
Posts: 913
Location: Tennessee
As many of the people on IRC might know, I am very outspoken about my political views. I have talked about many controversial issues, and much of what I have claimed have been labeled conspiracies. In truth, yes, a lot of the times I have stated things without citations, and although that is acceptable in casual conversation, it doesn't exactly help my case. I recently had the opportunity to study the history of WWII at Cambridge University through a study abroad program. Upon my arrival home, I was expected to write a paper on the subject. After making a case for my topic to my adviser, I came up with the following: Patriotic Tyranny: Startling Similarities between the Third Reich and 21st Century America I welcome you all to read it, discuss it, question your knowledge on the subject, and, most importantly, question what I am claiming. I would love to be wrong about the things I have stated, but considering I have three pages of citations here, it is safe to say this is my most well founded discussion on the topic yet. Before reading, please remember the following:
  1. I am the grandson of two Holocaust survivors.
  2. Yes, I know who Alex Jones is, and am a frequent viewer of his work.
  3. A human that has a position of power is as capable of evil as any other human. If you don't believe a president can do wrong and commit crimes, then you also don't believe that there are serial killers and mafia in the world. If so, please refer me to your drug dealer as I would love to frolic with the unicorns.
Past that, I welcome all civil questions and comments. Enjoy!
All the best, Brandon Evans
Brandon
He/Him
Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Player (190)
Joined: 11/21/2010
Posts: 913
Location: Tennessee
OK, at some point, I hope to continue working on my Lua script and a PHP script that calculates the presses from a movie file. After thinking about this for a while, I think I have to admit "Minimum Holds" might not be the best term for 1 button for 5 frames = 5 presses. At first, I didn't want to use "Minimum Input" because input files would be the same size regardless of the buttons pressed in them for a given number of frames (At least with NES), but people would probably be able to distinguish between Minimum Input and Minimum Frames. Any thoughts on this?
All the best, Brandon Evans
Brandon
He/Him
Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Player (190)
Joined: 11/21/2010
Posts: 913
Location: Tennessee
Well, that sure helps! Anyone actively working on this? I'm very surprised we have one run with no screenshot...you'd think someone would pick that up considering it's so tempting to get rid of it!
All the best, Brandon Evans
Post subject: Reused Screenshots
Brandon
He/Him
Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Player (190)
Joined: 11/21/2010
Posts: 913
Location: Tennessee
I've noticed that several old movies have the same exact screenshots as their predecessors. For example: [302] NES The Flintstones: The Rescue of Dino & Hoppy by Walker Boh in 14:44.32 TODO: Expand Perhaps vested editors and up could create new screenshots for these movies? It's very possible that these exact scenes would not reoccur in the newer runs.
All the best, Brandon Evans
Brandon
He/Him
Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Player (190)
Joined: 11/21/2010
Posts: 913
Location: Tennessee
Would anyone like to suggest a screenshot for this run?
All the best, Brandon Evans
Brandon
He/Him
Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Player (190)
Joined: 11/21/2010
Posts: 913
Location: Tennessee
I also agree that the parallel is inaccurate. If we want to compare distribution mechanisms to theaters, than this is hardly an accurate statement. To get on TASVideos, you need a stream, and YouTube is a streaming site. p4wn3r gave gia 7 months to bring his trick to TASVideos, and he could have hosted the video on his channel while having the site use his video as the streaming encode. TASVideos would bring more people to his channel, but he refused to do so without giving a reason whatsoever. Furthermore, p4wn3r explicitly credited gia for his contributions, so he can not be accused of stealing the trick.
All the best, Brandon Evans
Brandon
He/Him
Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Player (190)
Joined: 11/21/2010
Posts: 913
Location: Tennessee
Warp wrote:
For instance, what happens if the person who submits the keypress file makes some modifications to it? Can it then be considered acceptable to publish? How many modifications are needed for it to be acceptable? (Certainly if he modifies just the last frame of the file and nothing else, it's not "enough", but if he modifies 50% of it, it probably will be considered acceptable. Where is the line?).
I'd say they have to rerun the game from scratch. Mere hexing isn't sufficient. That said, it's quite impossible to prove whether someone has rerun the game from scratch or not, so I guess we just have to take their word for it in these cases and examine the files to see if the input is relatively different.
All the best, Brandon Evans
Brandon
He/Him
Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Player (190)
Joined: 11/21/2010
Posts: 913
Location: Tennessee
As the second person worldwide to have a NESBot built by micro500, I can say with absolute certainty that the technology is far too inaccurate to prove that a run is unsyncable. A run should obsolete another one if it beats the previous run and uses a the same emulator version or a newer one. If the new emulator causes lag / other areas of frame loss, those parts should be accounted for. Emulator coders should continue striving for accuracy to avoid problems like this in the first place, and the NESBot should only be treated as a tool to prove that a run is verifiable, not that one is not.
All the best, Brandon Evans
1 2
13 14 15 34 35