Posts by Carl Cruz

Sean Nguyen4 said:That actually reminded me of the first "victim" of Big Brother, Egle from Rijeka, who was in season 1 and the first one evicted. Found an interesting article online:

Egle - A psychiatric case or the only sane person in Big Brother?

As Friday approaches—the day viewers decide who gets booted first from the Fox Big Brother show—debates have flared up regarding the only woman from Rijeka and, by all accounts, the frontrunner to leave. Opinions on the forums are split, to say the least. "It’s sad we live in a society where values are so twisted! One normal, sensible, mature, down-to-earth girl—with her own opinions—is being trashed just because she isn't some airhead, doesn't force herself on people, thinks for herself, doesn't have a certain body type, and doesn't talk nonsense..." says one person who finds Egle likable.
On the other hand, plenty of people have started losing their minds after just one week: "Disgusting!!!! What is wrong with you guys.........are you doing this to us?!!!!!!?????????????????????? What kind of quality did you see on TV... PLEASE......TELL ME......because clearly they are "STEALING" footage from us!!!! Egle is a MILLION PERCENT fake!!!! I watched her THE TRUTH !!!!! tonight!!!!! She’s going to choke on all her lies and posing, she needs HELP!!!!!!"

Anyway, that Big Brother show is a madhouse. 😁

Prozac nation—at least we pretend to be when someone else's life is served to us on a silver platter.

wanderinghawk6 said:The crowd consuming all this junk—that George Orwell's Big Brother figure—really ought to be even more patronized and kept in the dark. If they’ve been swallowing this garbage for four years straight, then by that logic, this "audience" could probably digest even bigger piles of crap. So, why not?

Look, what actually drives the masses to follow 1984 with such religious fervor?
Personally, I lost interest in series ages ago. I might be one of the rare few who has never even watched Lost, Law & Order, or CSI... I just can't get into them anymore. Movies are more my speed.
As for 1984, I mostly just read about it on various sites to keep up with the plot. I rarely watch it via streaming (not that I care much), but it’s fascinating to watch how people dedicate massive amounts of time to watching, reading, and then obsessively debating the show.
Naturally, there are vocal critics like you, which is expected. I'm curious about your take as someone in that camp. Why do you think 1984 is so fundamentally bad and toxic?

So we arrive at a pretty simple conclusion here: people are just sitting around waiting for couples to form and for some bedroom drama to unfold. It’s pure voyeurism, fueled by the fact that maybe our own personal lives lack a little excitement.
Reading the threads about George Orwell's Big Brother on this forum, I get the feeling that contestants who don't lean into scandal quickly become boring. Meanwhile, the ones making headlines get torn to shreds... and honestly, most of the people complaining probably just wish they were in their shoes, proving how much better they could handle the pressure.
Because popularity—no matter how you slice it—is incredibly seductive. Especially that instant fame that's manufactured overnight out of thin air. That's always the biggest draw.

Terry Grant2 said:Sometimes you catch those live broadcasts of the Congressional sessions... It really gives you food for thought... 😬 You start to realize they aren't actually all that different from anyone else; they just happen to wear much more expensive and polished masks, and they don't have to run to the restroom in front of the cameras... (though I suppose they could certainly do so verbally... 🤣 ).
I'm mostly just teasing, of course. But I don't follow CNN, mainly because I simply don't have the "budget" for it... 😛

Those fat cats are constantly picking our pockets. Watching them steal days from God makes me lose my appetite for even looking at them, let alone listening.
Watching Congress is pure masochism. Even a show like CNN couldn't make it entertaining, even when they attempt to be funny.

Angela Rogers2 said:True, but let's face it—how many academics does the average person actually run into on a daily basis? At the end of the day, these are just people from the crowd, 🙂 which makes their situations much more relatable to the typical viewer than some philosophical debate, especially when it involves arguments and counterarguments that most people wouldn't have a clue about anyway. 🙂
As for behavior, you definitely can generalize to an extent, particularly when looking at body language. Though, I suppose it's not absolutely true every single time.

Look, I get it. It’s much easier to toss a bunch of teenagers and twenty-somethings into one house and watch the chaos unfold.
But I don't think most people tune into Big Brother to find life lessons or learn from other people's mistakes. It's more about that little ego boost—convincing yourself that someone else looks just as rough when they wake up, or that someone else is even more high-strung and prone to crying than you are...
It's all stuff we already know, but having that extra bit of validation never hurts.
Not to mention how eager we are to tear these people down. Even when there isn't a real reason to, we'll manufacture one just for the sheer pleasure of it.

Angela Rogers2 said:I find it’s actually an excellent way to observe the specific behavioral patterns that drive certain outcomes. Of course, they aren't any different from the people you run into on the streets of Chicago or wherever else you go, which is exactly why I watch them. I don't really care much about the actual content; it's more about the underlying mechanism. If I can spot that pattern enough times, there's a decent chance that when I see it again tomorrow in someone else, I'll be able to deduce their motives and what they're aiming for. It pretty much puts me one step ahead of them. 🙂
Most people behave in a very predictable, simple way, and it's honestly easy to read. 🙂

Humans are simple creatures, sure, but that's highly relative. There isn't some universal standard you can use to generalize everyone.
It makes me wonder: what would a version of Big Brother look like if it featured 14 academics locked in deep, intellectual debates? It would probably bore most of the audience to death, but then again, it might actually be more interesting than the current concept of Big Brother.

You could make the same argument about people tuning into those trashy reality shows—pure production garbage that people somehow manage to watch every single day.

While the whole nation seems to be obsessively tracking every move inside the most famous house in America right now, I can't help but wonder: why are we so hooked on watching total strangers? We watch them go about their mundane daily lives, dissecting their every move and debating them like they’re some kind of global phenomenon, when in reality, they aren't much different from us.
Is there just this deep-seated voyeuristic urge in all of us? Maybe we need to see other people struggle with their own flaws just to feel a little less alone in our own mess. Does watching someone else navigate their drama actually make us more resilient, or is it just a convenient way to escape our own lives?
To me, those seem like the only logical explanations—though, of course, the media plays a massive role in fueling this by exploiting our psychological weaknesses.

Joseph Wilson69 said:Programming? Please. These days, everything is just copy-paste because the market moves too fast and demands too much. If you actually have half a brain, you might stand a chance. Look at me—I’m doing just fine using nothing but copy-paste and zero brain cells. 😁

The trick is knowing *what* to copy-paste. You can find endless material on Microsoft, sure. But if I'm trying to build a game, I won't get very far with just copy-pasting if I don't actually understand what I'm doing.

Joseph Wilson69 said:If you’re looking to land a job at Apple, I’d suggest diving into Flash. The newer iOS models come with Windows Media Player pre-installed, and from what I hear, Samsung is leaning heavily into Flash for mobile, along with some Sony Ericsson devices—even the PlayStation Portable might see it with a firmware update. Java versus Flash? It’s Flash for me. It’s more intuitive, and you can build much more visually striking stuff.

I'm with you on that. Though, let's not forget there's JavaScript to master. At the end of the day, coding isn't going anywhere. 😉

I’m not sure if you can develop mobile games with this, but you can certainly make games without knowing a lick of code.

3D Game Creator

If you know Java, just install the latest version and dive into coding. That’s really all you need.
Build your own standalone apps as .jar files and load them onto your phone.
To actually get into Java programming, you'll need the Java SDK and a JVM installed on your computer, plus an enormous amount of patience and hard work.

You can also pull off similar feats using Visual Studio.

Caught this the other day. Not sure if it’s even hit US theaters yet, but if it has, do yourself a favor and watch it. Easily one of the best horror films I’ve seen in a long time.

Personally, it just proves that one solid piece of European horror beats ten American slashers any day of the week.

Anyway, what are your thoughts on the film..?

The album is flawless—I honestly can't find a single thing to nitpick.
I've been playing it on loop every single day; I am completely hooked.👍 👍 👍

The Zdub Rules

http://www.zdob-si-zdub.com/