1. In general I don't like their boardgames - but I like co-op Euro style board games while the majority of their games are pvp (apart from Warhammer Quest line and maybe 1-2 other ones).
2. In the early 2000s the CEO stated that they are a model company first rather than a boardgame company (and it shows in my view). They do have fantastic miniatures though.
3. Most of the cool lore was written in the 80s. Their lore is fantastic (if dated) and I do enjoy reading from the black library. To geek out, I'm not a fan of the lore change in Warhammer fantasy battle world to Age of Sigma around 2015- even if they did need to revise change the battle system the new lore sucks and come across as a money grab. I have no problem with them wanting to make money - but the new lore seems so lame (looking at you storm cast eternals). Still the AOS line seems to be doing well - I'd argue they could have had the same system in the old world.
4. The model building and painting is a healthy hobby and a nice hobby for an adult/child to do. I am about to have a child and I do want to introduce them to painting and modelling and playing boardgames - but I would be cautious about introducing them to a warhammer store - the models are very pricey, the staff are pushy, and I don't really rate the games. Maybe something like killzone or lord of the rings (but probably not).
5. Still I did pick up the new warhammer quest so they do have things in there even for me.
Mm. Part of GW's modern success is that roughly a decade ago they decided to push third parties to create a ton of Warhammer-branded experiences. There's even a Warhammer movie in the works, if I remember right. That would never have been possible before that "please use our IP" shift.
For me, over the last thirty years I've amassed and then sold a big Warhammer collection multiple times. It finally dawned on me a few years ago that I don't actually like playing the game (I'm really bad at it), but I loved the miniatures. No one else really made the same style of minis. About when we hit the "you can just 3D print an entire army" time period is when I stopped liking even that part of the hobby, and exited for good.
Ah that makes complete sense. So they had to go with AOS for IP reasons which allowed them to have more control of videogames, comic, future movies etc. That makes sense.
Good to know your views on playing the game! I have similar feelings (but I stopped playing with the armies side when I was a teenager).
Isn't painting one of the most hazardous hobbies? You're working with questionable chemicals all the time. Even the official Citadel stuff (which I think is reasonably OK most of the time) needs to be treated with a healthy dose of respect, but it's so expensive youre constatly tempted to shop around.
Even then, there were cases of a certain hue disappearing from the lineup (much to the frustration of painters), due it it being banned, because it was too toxic.
There a handful of high-profile 40k and GW people who died in their 30s-40s with illnesses probably related to exposure to this stuff.
Apologies, I'm kind of basing this on half-remembered forum posts from a decade ago.
For the first, there was a certain color that was discontinued due to issues with the pigment (I'm fairly certain it was Citadel and acrylic) and when it came back the consensus was the old one was much better.
As for the person who died, I'm certain I remember Alan Bligh, who was the chief writer behind Horus Heresy. Poor guy died from a fast acting form of cancer at 43, and he was known to spend a lot of time painting minis. This is just a rumor, but he wouldn't be the only one who developed health issues.
Oh that's really interesting. I hadn't thought about the health side of painting.
My assumption was that the Citadel stuff would be fine in moderate use. I am aware that a solid mask should be used when applying a primer or with glue though.
I'm not an expert on this, and you might be right on the acrylic paints, but modeles use a lot more stuff (solvents, primers, glues, resin) when building and painting minis is dangerous as they often use toxic solvents with VOCs. Anything that comes in a spray can definitely does.
I'd definitely consult an expert on how and if can you make this hobby kid-safe.
I think the claim is FUD — or at least far, far beyond what a child would come across, e.g. professional resins, airbrushing/spraying solvent-based paints indoors etc.
These are paints specifically marketed towards children, produced by a large company in a European country with a strong record of safety etc.
Spray primer should be applied outside by an adult (as it says on the can).
You made a wild and massively exaggerated claim based on a rumour.
No, painting isn't "one of the most hazardous hobbies". That's something like caving, or rock climbing, or skiing, or diving, or horse riding, or BASE jumping.
And no, they aren't "questionable chemicals". They're considered safe for use by the UK, EU, USA and everyone else, as well as Games Workshop, schools, etc.
Eh there's no real reason to wear a mask when using glue. Spray primer I can see more, but glue isn't getting into the air like primer is. In any case I doubt very much if the acrylic paints used in 40k are unsafe to use.
for your own and everyone's sake, please don't make unqualified statements like this. Glue toxicity goes from relatively benign (the white stuff children use at school), to 'literally has the skull symbol on the packaging' (some industrial glues used in electronics and clothing).
A rule of thumb is to do this stuff in a well-ventilated area. Theres a million kinds of glues Wood glue is mostly safe, superglue is generally okay, epoxies are not.
And yes, paints and solvents are the kinds of chemicals that the common man will encounter the nastiest chemicals (VOCs) which can permanently and irreparably damage your brain. Not immediately, but depending on how much you use it, and how much precaution you take, this is definitely something to be aware of.
Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11. Sadam was a dictator that kept the various religious factions in line. America was just looking for an excuse to go in again. Everyone knew there were no weapons of mass distraction too.
The reasons for America going in are complex, but relate to control of the middle east, keeping USA currency top, resources, and money for various groups that benefitted.
I don't find Netflix "live action" movies to be super violent and there are a lot of non-violent shows. Its animations can be quite violent though (and those are good quality). From the little I know, it, like every other big platform, does shy away from sex. This has been a theme for decades - its ok to be violent but sex is a no no.
Its subjective, and full of nuance, but I do feel that Netflix has its own style that is very different to HBO's style. Consider the witcher vs game of thrones or black mirror pre-netflix vs post netflix. Its not black and white though, as Netflix animations (Castlevania, Pluto etc.) are amazing TV, but personally I would much rather watch a HBO show than a Netflix one - especially if its a fantasy/science fiction one where Netflix's style isn't one I find appealing.
Just think how many more interesting movies there could be, if the costs to produce them were drastically reduced. There are pros and cons with AI actors
While this looks good on the surface. The stress and justifications a Director/artists makes to create a movie acts as an effective filter for quality work. Only with a lot of effort from a lot of people is that possible.
Without that effort and filters, We're going to have a deluge of poorly inspired, sloppy content.
My brain just switches off if I realize something is AI generated. be it blogs, videos or audio.
Theres already plenty of good actor making minimum wage serving coffees in LA while waiting for their breakthrough. Somehow, they are not hired, so I doubt that actor wages is the real issue at hand.
You think a human audience won't be able to clock an AI actor in an instant? A huge chunk of our sensorium is devoted to finding the slightest thing "off" about human interaction. AI actors will mess with our suspension of disbelief in ways even cartoon actors can't touch.
I don't need more movies. I want higher quality movies. And I don't think AI will work out any better for movies than it does for youtube documentaries. It's getting tiresome to find anything worth watching among all the slop.
This is like saying it's a bad thing that phone cameras are getting so good because expensive cameras were keeping out the garbage films.
Expensive cameras are still better. And yet, it's good that people who were never going to be able to afford those cameras have something else they can use to tell their story.
But more isn't necessarily better; if producing movies costs nothing, then watching it is worth nothing.
I can fire up chatgpt and have it write a thousand stories. Would you read it?
AI is good for generating content, but that doesn't make it valuable content. And we had low value slop before AI, just thinking of e.g. buzzfeed back when.
Anyway, go browse Youtube, plenty of interesting content that doesn't get enough views as it is.
It really depends how you view the actor’s role. Are they a human prop executing the director’s vision or a co-collaborator? I think AI will struggle to be the latter.
counter point, think of how much more interesting movies would be if there were only like 3 a year and the rest of your time you were waiting for one
i call this model: everything before 1990
i'm not appealing to tradition, i'm just saying what if our focus is the source of enjoyment... what if 1000 things to pick for dinner is exhausting but 1 that you think about all day always ends up good
For a better comparison, you could look at China which only allows for a few dozen foreign films per year (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_censorship_in_China#Quota...); which films depends on whether the publisher thinks it'll be successful there, whether it passes China's censors, and whether China was involved in its production. It's a different audience though, for example the Warcraft film bombed in the west but was hugely popular in China, possibly because of the relative scarcity of western films there?
Didn't we learn anything with streaming? The costs will stay low until a new tech is fully established and then continuously go up after we're dependent. Just benefitting different parties. And with streaming the main difference between the old and new parties is that the new ones, being primarily tech companies, added surveillance capitalism.
One of the things that doesn't seem to be emphasised enough is that LLMs can be great as Tutors for students. E.g. They could really help students not understanding fully a section of Mathematics and really break down the logic.
They could, if you wouldn't have to expect them to make hidden mistakes that a learner isn't able to spot. Using an LLM when you are qualified to verify its output is one thing, but a learner often can not do that or only with extreme difficulty, making them unsuitable.
Especially with math, most LLMs will happy explain to you a "proof" for something that isn't proven or known false.
I am wondering if the best way to interview IT people is:
1. Give them an IQ test
2. Have a coffee chat with them about their experience and ask a few technical questions
If people are smart, and decent communicators and broadly have worked in the role you are looking for (doesn't have to be same tool) they will likely be fine. I don't think testing for coding skills is needed - but that's just my opinion.
> The only issue with linux I am wondering about is sharing my CV where most companies need a word file.
Maybe it's regional, but I've never been asked for a Word file resume.
I've never had somebody turn down a PDF. And all of the "Upload you resume" online applications I've seen also support PDF. A lot of them lately will even correctly parse out the info and auto-fill forms with it, but some of them mangle it.
For CV I use libreoffice and save it as a PDF/a. If it needs to be editable for some reason you can use docx or odt(odt might scare the average office worker so stick with docx).
1. In general I don't like their boardgames - but I like co-op Euro style board games while the majority of their games are pvp (apart from Warhammer Quest line and maybe 1-2 other ones).
2. In the early 2000s the CEO stated that they are a model company first rather than a boardgame company (and it shows in my view). They do have fantastic miniatures though.
3. Most of the cool lore was written in the 80s. Their lore is fantastic (if dated) and I do enjoy reading from the black library. To geek out, I'm not a fan of the lore change in Warhammer fantasy battle world to Age of Sigma around 2015- even if they did need to revise change the battle system the new lore sucks and come across as a money grab. I have no problem with them wanting to make money - but the new lore seems so lame (looking at you storm cast eternals). Still the AOS line seems to be doing well - I'd argue they could have had the same system in the old world.
4. The model building and painting is a healthy hobby and a nice hobby for an adult/child to do. I am about to have a child and I do want to introduce them to painting and modelling and playing boardgames - but I would be cautious about introducing them to a warhammer store - the models are very pricey, the staff are pushy, and I don't really rate the games. Maybe something like killzone or lord of the rings (but probably not).
5. Still I did pick up the new warhammer quest so they do have things in there even for me.