General Discussions => Spunk => Topic started by: SlimPickens on April 21, 2008, 12:07:14 pm
Title: King Geek
Post by: SlimPickens on November 13, 2008, 12:30:46 pm
Quote
Nov. 13, 1983: Teen Sets Asteroids Record in 3-Day Marathon
1983: Fifteen-year-old Scott Safran of Cherry Hill, New Jersey, sets the world record score in the arcade game Asteroids ? the longest-standing videogame high score in history.
Safran, who had been practicing nonstop at the game for the previous two years, agreed to play a marathon session of Atari\'s popular outer-space shooting game as part of a charity event in Pennsylvania. His mother drove him to the event and lent him a quarter, which he dropped into the machine Nov. 13.
Some three days later, having taken only brief bathroom and food breaks, Safran finished his game with 41,336,440 points, nudging out the previous world record held by famous old-school gamer and actor Leo Daniels.
What makes Safran\'s score so momentous, however, is that it has gone 25 years without being broken, giving it the longevity record for a videogame high score, according to the authoritative game-record keepers at Twin Galaxies.
Asteroids is a very difficult game. Players have to contend not only with the eponymous giant rocks that veer at their spaceships and with enemy laser fire, but also with the touchy control scheme. You have to rotate your ship and fire a single thruster to move anywhere, and momentum can carry you right into disaster if you don\'t have nimble fingers.
Setting a high score on any videogame requires exceptional skill, as illustrated in the recent documentary The King of Kong. But setting an Asteroids record also requires superhuman endurance, because it literally takes days to do.
Unlike Donkey Kong, which has seen serious challengers step up one after another, only one person has made a serious attempt at the Asteroids record in recent years. An Oregon man named Bill Carlton settled in for a marathon session in 2004, which ended in failure when his machine broke down after 27 hours of play. He had scored more than 15 million points, placing him 15th in the record books.
In 1998, as Atari was planning to release a new edition of Asteroids, Twin Galaxies\' head referee Walter Day attempted to locate Scott Safran, with whom he had fallen out of touch. It took Day four years to discover that Safran had died in 1989, at the age of 21, due to injuries sustained when he fell from the roof of his Los Angeles apartment.
That\'s a lotta pew-pew. http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2008/11/dayintech_1113 (http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2008/11/dayintech_1113)
Title: King Geek
Post by: SlimPickens on April 22, 2008, 04:45:36 pm
Quote from: jking;187061
please note, this explanation of reality suits me just fine - there is no need to go about trying to alter my pre-conceived perception of causitive effects with \'facts\'
;)
:lol: that\'s hysterical
Title: King Geek
Post by: jking on April 22, 2008, 12:04:53 pm
oh, i know this, but i still doubt the greeks came up with the word - more like someone came along later and combined omphalos and skepsis to make their time-wasting seem grander than it actually was.
[please note, this explanation of reality suits me just fine - there is no need to go about trying to alter my pre-conceived perception of causitive effects with \'facts\']
;)
Title: King Geek
Post by: SlimPickens on April 22, 2008, 11:46:46 am
It\'s full meaning might help explain:
1. contemplation of one\'s navel as part of a mystical exercise.
2. literally, the contemplation of one\'s navel, which is an idiom usually meaning complacent self-absorption
And apparently the Greeks "took the time to come up with such a convoluted and intricate word "
Title: King Geek
Post by: jking on April 22, 2008, 09:12:57 am
here\'s a hint.... omphaloskepsis means \'navel gazing\'!! (its also my new favorite word! who the hell took the time to come up with such a convoluted and intricate word to describe utter non-convoluted-ness, un-intricate-ness?!?!)
Title: King Geek
Post by: SkyePrizm on April 22, 2008, 08:30:58 am
Quote from: jocelyn;187013
Only gotten to 41 so far, which is really pissing me off.
Same here.
Title: King Geek
Post by: Drew_Kingsley on April 22, 2008, 08:10:54 am
Quote from: jocelyn;187013
Only gotten to 41 so far, which is really pissing me off.
I have big streaks and then lose points for one wrong. *sigh*
This game hurts my head at 8am. Definitely something to keep in mind for killing time at work later, though.
Title: King Geek
Post by: leith on April 22, 2008, 02:37:23 am
Quote from: davepeck;187014
Quote from: leith;186960
oh I thought this was gonna be abt Peck.
:sadban:
Ahh so saaaaaad. You know i kid. You r my favorite geek. You seem to be so at home in the glow of a computer screen it just seemed right.
Title: King Geek
Post by: davepeck on April 21, 2008, 07:27:23 pm
Quote from: leith;186960
oh I thought this was gonna be abt Peck.
:sadban:
Title: King Geek
Post by: jocelyn on April 21, 2008, 07:22:06 pm
Only gotten to 41 so far, which is really pissing me off.
I have big streaks and then lose points for one wrong. *sigh*
Title: King Geek
Post by: jking on April 21, 2008, 01:33:47 pm
they do repeat, but mostly the ones you got wrong (to reenforce them for students using it to learn vocab). i have seen some repeats in different sessions, but not a whole lot....
and yeah, i\'m a big fan of this site. it satisfies my inner (and outer) word nerd, plus helps feed the poor win-win! i also have all of my tutoring and sat prep students on there once a day until they reach 2500 granis!
also, try celebrityenglish.com for grammar related celeb quotes. not as interactive and fun, but if you\'re into celebs, its got its pluses....
Title: King Geek
Post by: derickw on April 21, 2008, 01:22:15 pm
26 for me. but they repeat after a while
Title: King Geek
Post by: SlimPickens on April 21, 2008, 12:23:20 pm
Wow! What a cool site.
Title: King Geek
Post by: jking on April 21, 2008, 12:15:17 pm
i got to level 45 on http://www.freerice.com and told my whole office how proud i was of that fact....
the phrase king geek was used often....
Title: King Geek
Post by: SlimPickens on April 21, 2008, 12:13:34 pm
Ha! It can be. Post something he\'s done that makes him a king geek.
Title: King Geek
Post by: leith on April 21, 2008, 12:10:20 pm
oh I thought this was gonna be abt Peck.
Title: King Geek
Post by: SlimPickens on April 21, 2008, 12:07:14 pm