Question of the Day!

General GTG Off Topic
#1002

Actually I’m very fine with this one; I believe that you can have Good without having an opposing Evil, and it’s specifically the classification of things as Evil which I have issues with.

My pick for the ultimate Good in superpowers would be any form of creation/transmutation/destruction which violates the Newtonian conservation of energy and matter. If you could create or destroy substances without necessarily destroying or creating other substances, then you could turn back the clock on entropy, which otherwise inevitably dooms this universe.

(Post 1000 is either this one or the next, woohoo!)
(EDIT: Actually it looks like Pydro got 1000. And unsurprisingly, his answer to this question is extremely reminiscent of my worst nightmare.)

#1003

QotD #97 Reply: Regarding Pydro’s response, I think it depends on how it is interpreted, Justifier. If it is the ability to make everyone act peacefully, that’s straying a bit close to mind control. But if it’s the ability to solve the problems that are preventing us from having peace, it seems pretty wholly good, and I’d probably choose that as my answer. Then again, there are folks whose ideological differences mean that no problem being solved will cease the friction betwixt them.

The scientist in me really groaned at this.

Question of the Day #98: Cake or Pie?

#1004

PIE!!! :smiley:

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(Just too much air in cake… :wink: Although an ice cream cake… :yum:)

#1005

Pie for the most part, although it really depends on what kind.

Any attempt at forging a peaceful solution requires individuals to compromise on their priorities, and nobody should ever be forced to compromise on something which is truly important to them. If I’m some random warlord in Africa whose entire life has been dedicated to the idea of reclaiming his grandfather’s kingdom, then choosing to stop me from getting that goal, because a bunch of other people don’t want to be killed, is a violation of my individual rights, and thus is just as evil as any of my warmongering. The only way to truly have peace would be to transport all individuals to a bunch of different parallel dimensions, so that none of them who would be destined to come into conflict would ever be capable of reaching each other. I categorically reject any other strategy aimed at creating peace, as the state of peace among everyone is far, far less desirable IMO than the ability for every individual to accomplish their own personal aims. Peace is simply the state of holding everyone at gunpoint so that they aren’t free to make war; I’d rather see the world torn apart in the fires of chaos than endure this kind of “polite society”, where everyone is kept suppressed and restrained and forced to treat gently those people they have reason to despise.

The entire point of me picking that was to do away with the restrictions which real-world science imposes on us, since they basically guarantee that we can never solve the ultimate problem of limited resources. Even if we master space travel and go about harvesting all the wealth of the cosmos, eventually all energy will run out and we’ll be doomed to dwindle into nothingness. Only by disposing of the Newtonian limitation can we hope to ultimately sustain our civilization indefinitely.

#1006

Yeah, I sure wouldn’t trust anyone who says that nuclear reactions are the “goodest” superpower! :wink: It would be a very different story without the word “Newtonian” in there.

#1007

I’m not scientist, so perhaps I misspoke. My understanding is that it was Sir Isaac Newton who first observed that all actions have reactions and that energy cannot be created or destroyed. If that is a misconception, then mentally correct my exact word choice as necessary. The point of what I’ve said is simply that energy MUST be created and destroyed in order for Good to be possible to accomplish on any meaningful scale. As long as we invariably create energy by destroying matter and vice versa, the universe is a clock ticking down to Doomsday, and nothing we can do will ever save us from that fate.

#1008

The classical (sometimes called Newtonian, though Newton didn’t formulate them) conservation principles of energy and mass don’t recognize exchange between the two. Einstein introduced the concept that energy and mass can be converted from one to the other – that’s what E = mc^2 means, a principle known as matter-energy equivalence…and a principle that violates the classical conservation laws.

Anyway, I think what you’re looking for is the ability to reverse entropy.

1 Like
#1009

QotD #98 Reply: Pie! (Especially apple. Mmm . . . )

Question of the Day #99: Oh no, your evil opposite from an alternate reality where all characteristics are reversed (e.g. a veterinarian here is a ruthless hunter there.) has come to our universe! What is this person like?

#1010

A driven, ambitious go-getter who believes absolutely in the rule of law and the fundamental goodness of humanity, which he shamelessly exploits with bald-faced lies in order to achieve his purely selfish goals.

#1011

QotD #99 Reply: She would be an artist who is very religious, follows gut feeling, is flippant about loyalties, thinks roleplaying games are satanic, and is horrible at grammar and never finishes her sentences with punctuation

Question of the Day #100! Since this is such a special QotD, there are multiple questions you can answer:

#100A: Hamburgers or hotdogs?

#100B: What past QotD was your favourite?

#100C: Will you ask a question to everyone? (And what is that question?)

#100D: What character(s) (e.g. Hero, Spirit, etc.) from GTG’s games is your favourite to play?

1 Like
#1012

A) Neither – I kinda stopped eating beef and pork in the past couple of years… :confused:
B) No favorite, here. Too many to go through…
C) Nope. :blush:
D) Ooo… :unamused: Really depends on the mood, but Argent Adept is a blast. I love support and he does all the things! :sunglasses:

#1013

Sacre-bleu! Ze plot, she zickens, no?

Hamburgers, unquestionably. The best hotdog in the history of the world is worth only slightly more to me than an average Wendys quarter-pounder. And something like the recently-discontinued Bourbon Pub Burger from the same establishment? No contest.

Not sucking up to fjur here, but #99 is pretty cool and thought-provoking.

Yes. Why?

I’ve historically cited The Naturalist as my bestie in this regard, and he probably still holds the crown, but have recently been obsessed with The Idealist, closely followed by Mainstay and Writhe. I really wish the GTG store would get the Void Guard back in stock.

#1014

QotD #100 Reply:

#100A: I don’t really like one more than the other, but right now I’m in the mood for a hot dog.

#100B: Eh, I can’t think of a single one as being outstandingly better than the others.

#100C: Yes. That’s what I do everyday.

#100D: I don’t have any real favourites here; I’m annoying like Christopher in that regard. However . . . I like playing Argent Adept, but my fellow players always complain that my turns as him take quite a long time ; ). I agree that The Naturalist is very strong, with his strength (in my opinion) coming somewhat from his versatility. Void Guard are also all quite potent. Also, I enjoy the challenge that Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares presents.

Question of the Day #101: Do you have any pets? If so, what and who? If not, have you ever had any?

#1015

Currently: 1 dog (1 died a few weeks ago), 2 turtles, two fish tanks with fish, and a pond with a fish in the backyard.

Previously: A cat, multiple birds, hamsters, frogs, mud puppies, and probably some other things I can’t remember.

#1016

Currently, we have two cats who were abandoned by their past care-takers while still kittens. (One spent several months outdoors in the winter, resulting in a lot of health issues. :pensive:)

As a kid, we had cats and dogs at various points, only one of which (an Australian Shepard named Bandit) was actually mine. I had a miniature hamster for a little while after college, but it didn’t live for very long. :confused:

#1017

I didn’t even pick him for being strong; if I want to win, I go with someone like Tempest or Chrono-Ranger, and if I really want to win, I play Nightmist. Naturalist is just my favorite in terms of being super fun and enjoyable.

I have never been primarily responsible for a pet, but there have virtually always been pets in my house. There was one dog in my childhood home, along with one cat, but otherwise it’s been cats exclusively in the houses I live in (where I greatly enjoy being a “cat uncle”, to borrow a term from the Cracked Podcast, getting to enjoy the animal without having to take care of it). Right now we have a black-and-white Munchkin named Tux, who I regard as the cutest cat I’ve ever physically been around, although he’s too skittish to let us actually pet him more than once or twice a day.

#1018

QotD #101 Reply: I currently live with one dog and have previously lived with another dog and a bun.

Question of the Day #102: What is the best Star Wars movie/trilogy? (I’m just going to assume that everyone here has watched them.)

#1019

The best trilogy is obviously the original; I’ll be extremely surprised if anyone opines otherwise. The best single movie is slightly more of a discussion; my personal answer is Return of the Jedi, which is not the answer most people will give, but I’m not bothered by the slightly derivative plot or the presence of the Ewoks, and I think Emperor Palpatine and Jabba the Hutt elevate the movie above its predecessor, which is still the second-best movie, but bothers me by having an inconclusive ending and by just not having as much “cool factor” as the Jabba’s Palace sequence or the climactic final duel.

#1020

Coincidentally, I’m reading Rinzler’s Making of Star Wars: Return of the Jedi right now. It (and its two predecessors) are fascinating.

I agree that the original trilogy is the best trilogy. Which movie in that trilogy I like best kind of changes based on my mood. When I was a kid, I definitely liked “Return of the Jedi” best; I still think it has the best lightsaber duel in all of Star Wars, one of the all-time best space battles, and one of my favorite pieces of classical music (Luke and Leia). But “The Empire Strikes Back” has the best inter-character relationships and defined ideas and themes for the way we look at the whole trilogy. And then “Star Wars” remains an unapologetically fun, self-contained joyride; it’s a master class in “in medias res” world-introduction, is terrifically calibrated in its plot and stakes, and is still a rewatchable milestone in film.

I will stop there in the interest of keeping to the topic of the question! :wink:

#1021

QotD #102 Reply: I view all of the first 6 Episodes as parts of a single story, so I don’t really have a favourite. Do you have a favourite chapter of a book, or a favourite episode of a TV show? (The Disney ones, on the other hand . . . )

Question of the Day #103: Do you prefer Hard SF* or Soft SF?

*Science Fiction