Topic: The Chit-Chat Thread

@bimmy-lee I'll settle for "crush" lol. And I'm sure one day Bimily will understand that him being a jerk and learning how to be less of one is kinda the point of why he developed a hair problem to begin with.

There were some signs of the carpenter ants (in retrospect) before I moved out, but they weren't horrible then. It's only when they started appearing more frequently and the winged drones started showing up that finally convinced my parents (read: dad) that the usual bug bombs and outdoor treatments weren't gonna work in this case.

I grew up on a working farm. Dad had some livestock there (beef cattle), and there was a barn and a couple of outbuildings (one literally called The Other Building; more explanation on that if needed) too. There was also usually a dog on the place along with a few very spoiled barn cats.

Turns out my cheap tablet can run Sonic Adventure 2 quite perfectly.

As perfect as the broken port in steam can be run, at least.

At least it’s better than Sonic 2006! Badum pshh

@ThanosReXXX I'm not gonna lie, if I saw some of the spiders I've seen outside here in Japan, in my apartment, I'm not waiting, I'm smashing it ASAP. Some of them are very large and extremely fast. I'm smashing it, and bleaching the spot I killed it, just to make sure they left nothing behind. I'd be lying if I claimed they don't scare me a little. I don't remember which, but some are poisonous and anything with venom scares me. The two things that have always scared me since I was a child, poison and parasites.

@bimmy-lee 400 dollars is a lot of money to a lower middle class kid in 2020. Back then it probably felt like winning the lottery!

@Tyranexx Haha, I wouldn't even have been surprised if you had said that your first exposure to this particular myth would have been through something like The Twilight Zone. Actually, I wouldn't even be surprised if they would have made some episode containing elements of that story. Either way, I like it, as I do pretty much all Greek myths, and the cool thing about them is that SO many of them, or at least their morals, are still applicable in today's world, which is quite something, if you stop and think about how old they are: in general, we're talking about origin stories which are from the era between 3000 - 2000 BC.

And I say origin stories, because that is what they are to the Greeks, even though for us, they're only fairy tales.

@bimmy-lee Carpenter ants? Man, the US definitely seems to have gotten the short end of the stick were nasty bugs are concerned. Ants liking electricity, ants liking wood, what's next, ants liking hot glue?

"and the meek shall inherit the Earth"....

I wonder if you've ever played "It Came From The Desert", back in the 16 bit days. You'd either had to have a Sega Genesis, a PC Engine or a Commodore Amiga, so chances are perhaps pretty slim, but it was a really cool, creepy game, about alien ants in a scarcely populated backwater in the American desert.

@Heavyarms55 Yeah, I wouldn't blame you if you'd attack/kill something actually venomous. And seeing as those types of spiders actually ARE of the kind that can seriously harm even adult humans, I suppose I might in those instances be persuaded to do the same, although obviously, as with all "what if" scenarios, you'll never know for sure, unless you're actually experiencing them...

@ThanosReXXX Well... you asked. Ants alone can chew through plastics, acrylics, polystyrene, polyethylene, aluminum, iron, steel, and concrete.

Ants chew through concrete.

There’s also some beetles that bore through 00 gauge electrical cables.

@NEStalgia Toot toot! Look near the bottom of the Switch eshop’s Coming Soon section...

@HobbitGamer You'd think that ingesting all those artificial goods alone would already do them in, but apparently, they're hardy little suckers, aren't they?

There aren't too many truly dangerous spiders where I live, though we also have the brown recluse. They're really shy suckers though, so unless they're trapped/confined/crushed they'll generally flee. We also get a form of black widow a little south of here, but I've never seen any in this neck of the woods.

By far the largest occurring natural spider in my area is the wolf spider. Big, hairy suckers. Not as large as a tarantula, but they can be startling if you don't expect it.

@ThanosReXXX I think what fueled my love of Greek/Roman myths was a sort of show that ran on Sunday mornings when I was a kid. I don't know the exact name of it, but it told various Greek/Roman myths in a slightly filtered perspective for a younger audience. Then I looked up a ton on my own, and we also did a unit of it in high school. I've also read the entire Percy Jackson pentalogy and the follow-up series as well. They're a modern take on Greek myths that I enjoy.

I wouldn't say carpenter ants are as bad as termites, but a severe infestation could definitely cause some damage.

@Tyranexx Ooh... Percy Jackson... I'm very cautiously inclined to maybe give the books a pass, since I've never read those, so I hope those are better, but I hated the movies. I don't like the tainting of stories which are already perfectly fine, cool and exciting all by themselves, by injecting them with nonsensical Americana, and subsequently ripping the heart out of them. Normally, unless Percy was of Greek heritage, he'd NEVER be anything even remotely related to any of the official Gods in the Greek pantheon.

So, as you can tell, I'm VERY protective of original material, ESPECIALLY when it concerns things that I like and respect, but having said that, it's ultimately just my personal opinion, so if you did derive some kind of entertainment from these movies or the books, then fair enough.

EDIT:
By the way, I'd like to introduce you to what was my favorite Greek mythology book in high school. I used it for theses, speeches and so on. It's written in such a way, that it's VERY pleasant to read, and it contains some really great pen drawings of all the various myths and Gods. So, if you're not averse to buying second-hand books, then I can highly recommend it.

Here's two links, so you'll have more than enough options to get your hands on it. And for those prices, it's an absolute steal:
https://www.amazon.com/Monsters-Greek-Myths-World-Mythologies...
https://www.amazon.com/Gods-Men-Monsters-Greek-Myths/dp/08052...

On a completely unrelated side note: anyone in here downloading Warface already? Looks like a pretty decent effort for fps fans. Too bad about the MMO part of it, though. Then again: I've also played Destiny 2, so maybe it'll still be entertaining enough with friends. Either way, it's downloading now, so I'll find out soon enough if it's worth keeping. And it's free, so why not, right?

@ThanosReXXX To be fair, I probably should put the time and effort into to learning which ones are dangerous and which ones are harmless... But I also just know that wouldn't change that little irrational voice in the back of my head telling me "What if you're wrong?"

Ever since I was a little kid and saw a documentary on parasites and poisons, it has scared me far more than regular injury. I'd rather my leg be broken in 4 places than get bit by a spider. I think I'd rather get hit by a car than get infected with some kind of parasite.

@ThanosReXXX First and foremost, the books are much, MUCH better than the movies. I haven't even seen the second one (I've heard it's worse), but the first movie definitely borrowed the skeleton of the source material and then ran away with it. Apparently that's common when the movies rights of a franchise are sold, according to the author. He's apparently had to field a few complaints from fans going by a FAQ I found at one point.

I personally like them because of the modern spin that they provide on Greek myths (the majority of which I knew of before reading the books) and for the most part like the hero-in-training camp setting as well as the idea of the Mist. I have more appreciation for the source material of course, but I do think it's important to introduce them to younger generations in such a way as to get them to ask "Hey, what was the original story like?". That happened with me on a few that I hadn't heard of. The first book was published when I was in jr. high, so I admittedly was in the target age group. XD

Thanks for the links! I've been meaning to pick up a Greek/Roman mythology compendium for my own; the one I had access to in high school was decent, but it was also borrowed. I'm trying to whittle down my booklog a little bit first, but I'll definitely be ordering the hardcover at some point.

@Heavyarms55 Never watch the Infested show off of Animal Planet in that case. Trust me on this one. I found it fascinating, but it definitely heightens one's paranoia. I'm still careful about hotel rooms.

@Heavyarms55 I wouldn't blame you for wondering. I can think of various creatures, not just insects, that have near twin species, where one is deadly/poisonous, and the other isn't. Sometimes the difference is just one stripe more or less on their backs or skin, but you'd have to be of a VERY clear head in that split second, to notice that, or be too late too have noticed that...

@Tyranexx Fair points, and even though I disliked the movies, there were some things that were okayish, as is mostly the case with these kinds of conversions. My, shall we say, continuous worry with these kinds of things is that, although it makes things like history and mythology either more or even highly accessible to a larger group of people, it might also be cause for confusion, because it's obviously only touching upon/borrowing from the source material, and sometimes only small elements, so I can vividly imagine kids thinking that ACTUAL Greek mythology isn't half as "cool" as Percy Jackson, which would be an eternal shame, in my opinion.

(edit: not to mention, turning things around where it may even go so far as kids thinking that the actual source material is "wrong", because they got the stories from the romanticized versions first)

So, that's basically what I have against the majority of these things. Modernizing can be a good thing, but it depends on how much of the original material is used and/or discarded, and more importantly: if it's respected.

And you're welcome. I hope you'll get your hands on a copy of this great book. I'd be very interested to hear your verdict on it, so I'll be patiently awaiting your future review.

@Tyranexx I don't want to know. I'm not even gonna look on Google...

@ThanosReXXX On a more positive note, I'd love a new Pokemon with that gimmick. Where it's like, two versions of the same Pokemon, one is slightly different and poison type... Yeah, I'm just gonna think about Pokemon and try and ignore reality, again.

@Heavyarms55 On? Who's On?

You could be onto something interesting there, though. Copyright it, and then contact The Pokémon Company, you might be able to make a pretty penny off of it...

@ThanosReXXX that's weird, I swear I tagged you there. XD I'll fix that.

@Tyranexx - Yeah, I would love some more information on the Other Building, especially since it sounds like a place where you go to communicate with aliens. Does your dad grow crops as well? I did some hay and straw bailing in my youth. It was some of the hardest work I’ve ever done.

@ThanosReXXX - I haven’t played It Came From the Desert, but I looked it up, and it looks great. I love the B horror vibe. Looks like it was canceled on the Genesis, which is weird because it was popular enough to get a sequel on other platforms. These carpenter ants remind me of what comes from the desert. They’re big, and they like to make holes and tunnels through structural elements in homes. I have carpenter bee issues on the exterior, but it’s a smaller problem. Pretty sure they’re not a bee either because they look more like wasps, but they’re not as aggressive. Unless you’re made of wood, then they’ll chew a hole right through you.

@Heavyarms55 - I thought the Pokémon gimmick you were going to describe was going to be a parasitic type that goes up into other Pokémon’s intestines and lives there for years, slowly gaining size and strength until one day it bursts out in a super effective manner. I’m scared of parasites too. One of my high school friend’s dad passed away a few years ago from a dormant parasite that he picked up in Vietnam during the war. It hatched/became not dormant after all those years and killed him in just a couple days. Horrifying.

@bimmy-lee No! No no no no no no! Please God, no parasite Pokemon!

No, I mean the two very similar species but one is poisonous one is not.

Hm I bit the bullet and got Resident Evil 6 on switch while the sale is still up. I would've liked for it to be cheaper, but I really want to play it with motion aiming.

Anyone else has it?