The Net Neutrality issue got me thinking about something that I find a bit more intriguing: Press Neutrality.
The freedom of the press is one of the most ambiguous parts of the Bill of Rights. Colloquially, it means that the press can say what ever it desires, so far as it does not break from the truth or break the law in finding the truth (with the exception of specifically marked opinion shows and newspaper editorials).
That ambiguity leads to the bending of the truth to forward an agenda, be it conservative or liberal, Democrat, Republican, or Libertarian. This bending of the truth and the tendency for news sources, both right and left sided, to be one sided makes me wonder what was meant by "freedom of the press."
After careful thought, I reached this conclusion: freedom of the press means the freedom to give an uncensored truth, free from government tampering and censorship. It does not mean that the press can say what ever it desires, so long as part of the truth is told (with the exception of explicitly marked opinions).
The press should remain neutral in matters, giving the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, as far as its entire research can show. Sadly, this is not the case, and all press outlets are biased, be it the WSJ, the New York Times, CNN, NBC, Fox News, National Review, etc.
That said, one thing that should not happen is government controlling any part of the press, as this is very far from the press being neutral.
The problem with the press is the one-sidedness all the outlets have. Even those that claim to be "fair and balanced" are biased one way or another. The way bias happens is by mixing partial truths with opinions, and calling it fact. How does one get to the whole truth, with as little opinion as possible?
The answer, as readers/watchers/listeners of the press, is simple sounding but not so simple. The answer is to balance your outlets. For every CNN story you watch or read, you should watch or read the equivalent Fox News story. For every NPR story, an opposing version. For every New York Times story, an opposing version. This is a hard way to become informed, and sometimes one does not want to hear the other side, but it is important that one hears all the sides, whether there are two or two hundred.
It shouldn't be this way. News outlets should be neutral by obligation. They should remain neutral, and tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth. One should be able to get the same, unbiased, story from every outlet.
But the freedom of the press should never be infringed.

A recent Cemetech topic got me thinking about Omnimaga's specific netiquette, so I'm making a topic about how we like people to behave here (Mods feel free to edit and add stuff to this topic (please make sure you include who edited this in your edit), and users please suggest edits for me). Also, to make this more relate-able to the new members who might feel like they have broken or possibly will accidentally break these rules, I'm going to include weather or not I broke a rule in the past, so they can see how one can be a respectable member, even with mistakes in the past.


0) Official Rules

1) General Behavior

• The very first rule of Omnimaga is to not be a troll or a mean person, even in jest ((DJ) not all trolling is disallowed, since some of it is not offensive, but if it's done just to make users angry it's not allowed. Non-offensive trolling (such as rickrolls) should be kept to a minimum to reduce spam.) (Guilty. I've trolled before and have gotten several -1s as well as some calls for me to change).
• Jokes are allowed, but only to an extent. Acceptable jokes include: peanuts, over 9000, lobster, etc. Small things that have no effect on the actual topic. Unacceptable jokes include: necroposting for the sake of necroposting (guilty), quote pyramiding for the sake of quote pyramiding (guilty), etc.
• Avoid derailing a topic. It makes things confusing for all of us (guilty).
• No spam in "Humor and Jokes." (guilty)
• (DJ) [...]we want our members to try to spell and punctuate properly. Of course, since we have a lot of foreign members, we can't ask the moon about grammar, but the more understandable your post is (including by Google Translate), the more likely it is to be paid attention to.
• (DJ) Of course, searching before posting and ensuring you describe your problem clearly is highly recommended. You must also ask every help or pixel art request in their appropriate sub-forum to not get ignored.
• (DJ) When showcasing your project, ensure you have gameplay screenshots or clear description of what your game is so that it gets more attention.
• (Hayleia) Don't lock your topic as soon as you get an answer that solved your problem. Some people might have the same problem but problems with the solution too.
• (DJ) When negatively criticizing somebody or his work, if you abuse smileys, colors, spelling mistakes and weird formating, people will not take you seriously.
• (DJ) People on Omni tend to pay less attention to you and your projects if you are rude.
• (DJ) It's generally recommended to keep a certain level of quality when posting programs. Although Omni members generally don't bash people's work, don't expect replies for a quad solver.
• (DJ) People here absolutely despise the concept of charging money for a calculator game. Exceptions: Donations, merch, OST and unlockable extras such as bonus dungeons.
• (DJ) People hate it a lot when someone asks help doing illegal (law or school-wise) stuff.

[/list]2) IRC

• Respect the other users in IRC.
• No abuse of "THE GAME"s or rickrolls in #omnimaga (you can do so, but only occasionally)
• If you really feel like that kind of spam, there's #omnimaga-spam
• Spelling and grammar are a bit more lax, but please attempt to use proper grammar and spelling (exception: signing on and off)

3) Issues/Complaints/Requests

• Since a bit before the site upgrade, there have been a few forms added for issues/complaints/requests, use them. They are http://ourl.ca/issue and http://ourl.ca/request
• Please use the aforementioned links instead of PMing the mods, DJ, or Juju. It annoys them.
• Don't create issue/complaint/request topics either. The mods won't always see them.

4) Other

• Don't pester members about viewing your projects in #omnimaga or in PMs. You can point it out to them once on IRC if you want them to see your project, but not immediately after Omnom announces your post.
• Be nice.
• Ask questions.
• Give answers.
• Have fun.

And one last thing: Don't be discouraged by members trying to correct your behavior or something that you said. They're trying to help you not make those mistakes in the future, as well has helping you become a better member. Maybe you'll end up doing the same thing later.

I have seriously not been so excited about a TV thingymabob in my whole life.


Cosmos. Discuss.

Eeems will almost certainly blow a gasket when he reads this letter but I obviously must make the case that prejudices are what what I call otiose slobs use for reason. First things first: Eeems might have been in a lethargic state of autointoxication when he said that the world's salvation comes from whims, irrationality, and delusions. More likely, perhaps, is that there are some simple truths in this world. First, Eeems uses his influence to equip obscene, heinous thugs with flame throwers, hand grenades, and heat-seeking missiles. Second, he is guilty of a shocking display of dishonesty and sophistry. And finally, the world is full of people who sensationalize all of the issues. We don't need any more people like that. What we need are people who are willing to put an end to hectoring fetishism. We need people who understand that there's no shortage of sin in the world today. It's been around since the Garden of Eden and will definitely persist as long as Eeems continues to vandalize our neighborhoods.

Even though supposedly distancing himself from tactless milksops, Eeems has really not changed his spots at all. He attributes the most distorted, bizarre, and ludicrous “meanings” to ordinary personality characteristics. For example, if you're shy, Eeems calls you “fearful and withdrawn”. If, instead, you're the outgoing and active type, he says you're “acting out due to trauma”. Why does Eeems say such things? Let me answer from my own personal perspective: As many of you know, I realized a long time ago that the justification Eeems gave for making warlordism socially acceptable was one of the most oleaginous justifications I've ever heard. It was so oleaginous, in fact, that I will not repeat it here. Even without hearing the details you can still see my point quite clearly: Eeems is causing all sorts of problems for us. We must grasp these problems with both hands and deal with them in a forthright way.

Eeems's stances leave me with several unanswered questions: Why doesn't he reveal the truth about himself? And why can't he simply enjoy the fruits of his own labors and let other people enjoy the fruits of theirs? These are difficult questions to answer because he is currently limited to shrieking and spitting when he's confronted with inconvenient facts. By the end of the decade, however, Eeems is likely to switch to some sort of “brainwash the masses into submission” approach to draw our attention away from such facts. His vassals are the worst that humanity has to offer. To fully understand that, you need to realize that Eeems follows a dual code of morality—one morality for his fellow incorrigible, annoying creeps and another for the rest of the world. This is why he's exceedingly callous, picayunish, churlish, impetuous, prolix, pea-brained, lusk, scary, crazy, and self-deceiving. Sorry for the synathroesmus, but Eeems should not create anomie. Not now, not ever.

Eeems has announced his intentions to impose a particular curriculum, vision of history, and method of pedagogy on our school systems. While doing so may earn Eeems a gold star from the mush-for-brains sciolism crowd, whenever he is blamed for conspiring to promote group-think attitudes over individual insights, he blames his shock troops. Doing so reinforces their passivity and obedience and increases their guilt, shame, terror, and conformity, thereby making them far more willing to help Eeems taunt, deride, and generally vilipend his critics. Given his current mind-set, I'm willing to accept that he takes a perverse pleasure in watching people scurry about like rats in a maze, never quite managing to get Eeems off our backs. I'm even willing to accept that it's no secret that anyone who denies this and insists on looking at issues from a single perspective is a participant in a flat, simplistic, and incomplete world. But before he initiated a lexiphanicism flap to help promote his snooty squibs, people everywhere were expected to deal stiffly with insecure tightwads who procure explosive devices, gasoline, and detonators for use in an upcoming campaign of terror. Nowadays, it's the rare person indeed who realizes that if we let him push all of us to the brink of insanity, all we'll have to look forward to in the future is a public realm devoid of culture and a narrow and routinized professional life untouched by the highest creations of civilization.

Why is it that we need to change Eeems's drug-induced ravings for the same reason that one needs to change a baby's diapers? It's because if natural selection indeed works by removing the weakest and most genetically unfit members of a species then Eeems is clearly going to be the first to go. His policy is to provoke deceitful barmpots into action. Then, Eeems uses their responses in whatever way he sees fit, generally to jump on everything that is written, said, or even implied and label it as either brown-nosing or rabid.

Who among you reading these words is not moved to rise to the challenge of thwarting Eeems's hideous plans? How many of Eeems's satellites are pugnacious finks? I'm not comfortable throwing out an estimate that isn't backed up by specific data, but I do know that many people are incredulous when I tell them that Eeems intends to engender ill will. “How could Eeems be so bookish?”, they ask me. “It doesn't seem possible.” Well, it is certainly possible, and now I'll explain exactly how Eeems plans to do it. But first, you need to realize that his viewpoints do not represent progress. They represent insanity masquerading as progress.

At one point, I actually believed that Eeems would stop being so arrogant. Silly me. His blithe disregard for the victims of his pesky shenanigans is what first made me realize that I really don't know how to deal with the most morbid fast-talkers you'll ever see. He may mean well, but he wants to prevent us from calling people to their highest and best, not accommodating them at their lowest and least. If he manages to do that, he'll have plenty of time to focus on his core mission: punishing dissent through intimidation, public ridicule, economic exclusion, imprisonment, and most extremely, death.

Eeems has the nerve to call those of us who scuttle his villainous attempts to burn our fair cities to the ground “conspiracy theorists”. No, we're “conspiracy revealers” because we reveal that we were put on this planet to be active, to struggle, and to rub Eeems's nose in his own hypocrisy. We were not put here to send the wrong message to children, as Eeems might avouch. While this country still has far to go before people are truly judged on the content of their character, he's the type of person who will trump up any lie for the occasion, and the more of a thumper it is, the better Eeems likes it.

Moreover, Eeems maintains a “Big Brother” dossier of information about everyone he distrusts to use as a potential weapon. Is your name listed in that dossier? As you no doubt realize, that's a particularly timely question. In fact, just half an hour ago I heard someone express the opinion that Eeems has no discernible talents. The only things he has surely mastered are biological functions. Well, I suppose Eeems is also good at convincing people that free speech is wonderful as long as you're not bashing him and the intemperate philargyrists in his plunderbund, but my point is that statements like, “Any claim to the contrary is patently false” accurately express the feelings of most of us here. As we all know, there are a number of conceptual, logical, and methodological flaws in Eeems's assertions. Everybody knows that we must shake off our torpor, ignore the siren songs of rowdyism, and present a noble vision of who we were, who we are, and who we can potentially be, but you should consider that Eeems has vowed that some day he'll break our country's national and patriotic backbone and make it ripe for the slave's yoke of international propagandism. This is hardly news; Eeems has been vowing that for months with the regularity of a metronome. What is news is that all of the bad things that are currently going on are a symptom of his atrabilious, maledicent bromides. They are not a cause; they are an effect.

For the sake of the universe, I hope that this is the only planet that contains venom-spouting skinheads like Eeems. I can't help but wonder: Why does everyone hate him? Is it because of his business practices, exclusivity, disloyalty, disrespect, or because he keeps trying to funnel significant amounts of money to testy, brassbound lunkheads? While that question may not be as profound as “What's the meaning of life?” or “Is there a God?”, Eeems is driving me nuts. I can't take it anymore! Here's some news for people who are surprised by sunrise: His persistent efforts to mislead the public and policymakers with pseudo-scientific claims about jingoism will have a devastating, long-term effect on society. Last but not least, Eeems's feigned sanctity and godliness serve to disengage the critical reasoning faculties of his rivals, leading them to accept Eeems's story that it is not only acceptable but indeed desirable to make us the helpless puppets of our demographic labels.



Want to know more of my grievances? See: http://www.pakin.org/complaint

So I am one of the many who play the game known as Dota 2 on Steam. It is a MOBA, or a game similar to League of Legends or Smite or the original DotA, which was a mod for Warcraft III.

I want to make a Dota 2 team for people from Omnimaga and Cemetech who also play Dota 2.

Anyone interested?

Also - If you have never played it before, it's a freebie on Steam. Play it, and try it out. It's really fun, but you might want to play with a friend before you play public matches (Friend me on Steam, and I'll teach you. My ID is pimathbrainiac).

EDIT: Steam group for interested people: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/CalcDA

So, I have a secret project that no one else knows about and is just in an ideas phase atm. I have a problem, though. I need to be able to rotate a "room" tilemap. 16x16 of 4x4px sprites, to be precise. This means that I want, after a trigger, for the tilemap to rotate all the tiles and also rotate the actual tilemap so the former "top" becomes one of the "sides"

I know to access a tile "normally," you do this:

For(x,0,15)
For(y,0,15)
{(y*16)+x+Map}->Var
other stuffs...
End
End

but how does one rotate the tilemap?

Thanks for the help in advance!

I have a confession to make: I only spend 25 hours a day on my calculator. I know, it's too little, and that's why I'm making a self-help/support group for those who aren't on their calculator enough. I know, this is a serious issue, but it must be talked about here.

Seminars are to include:
How to program better BASIC/Axe/Asm
How to enjoy BASIC/Axe/Asm games more
How to procrastinate by being on you calculator
and others

These seminars are to include special guest speaker, Rick Astley, who has himself experienced "TI Handheld Enigmatic Gnat-sized Amount of Mind Enhancement" syndrome, or THE GAME syndrome.

If you experience this, then I urge you to join me in finding a path to losing THE GAME syndrome. I have set up a toll-free support line at (313)-373-1337 for those who need help and can not go to the seminars.

Over 9000 people worldwide experience this problem, and I urge you, if you don't have this problem, to call this toll-free donation line: (800)-666-CALC

Thank you for reading this message and taking time for this. If you wish to find out more, go to my site at: http://goo.gl/QMET

Well, I'm working on a secret project atm. In order to make this project work, I need both a sine and cosine function that outputs an 8.8 fixed point number from -1 - 1.

My attempt in pure axe is this:

(sin(theta)*256)//128.0->Sine Answer
and
(cos(theta)*256)//128.0->Cosine Answer

The problem is that it only will work for positive sine and cosine answers.

So: does anyone have the hex for a sine and a cosine function for angles 0-255 (as in 256 = 0) that will output an 8.8 fixed point answer to HL and a positive/negative (1=neg,0=pos) flag to where ever axe's r6 (argument 6) is stored.

Thanks in advance!