It's a fun show and I will definitely continue to watch it (the first 20 minutes were the best). I couldn't help but pick apart the show as I watched it though, it had a high cheese factor, many cliches and annoying bits, and they borrowed a little too many things from the Jurassic Park films unfortunately.

• They have the "brainy daughter" who needs to explain everything. When a narrative isn't available, writers do this to explain things to the audience. Unfortunately, they're treating the audience like stupid children, and they're assuming that no one has watched scifi before. But, that's who the targeted demographic for this show already is.. so it makes no sense.


• They explained way too soon about the "separate time stream". Most people would have figured that out already, and it was completely unnecessary.


• They had too many mixed signals. In the future, it's shown as an extremely dangerous dystopia where overpopulation means death. So, ultra-violent overpopulation control stormtroopers break into homes armed with guns, completely destroy and rip apart the place hunting for children. They're about to take a child for presumably disposal purposes when the father intervenes to protect his child. Then, suddenly out of nowhere, you find out later that he could have just paid a fine. That's it.. a small fine, and he could have avoided prison. Where the hell did that come from? At first, it was a very cruel future, with everyone selfishly escaping the the past and destroying the timeline. After they leave the future, they suddenly start making it sound like a nice place and everyone was kind.


• The father (Jim) was only in prison for about 2 years.. that's it. And yet, somehow the family had to fend for themselves and survive while he was away. That made no sense at all. The mother (Elizabeth) was the breadwinner in the family.. her husband hardly made anything on a cops salary. She was a doctor, the family had MILLIONS, they had wealthy and influential connections, she was the best and brightest in her field, and she was personally selected by the government to travel back in time (out of 0.000001% of the population.) How in the hell did they need to "survive" after dad went to prison?


• I didn't have a problem with any of the characters except for the annoying teenage son (Josh). This character is all over the place, and his existence makes no sense.
  
  First, he couldn't wait to leave the terrible future, then he does nothing but complain about paradise and talk about how great the future was.
  
  Next, he's on a brand new world with sights he's never seen before in his entire lifetime, amazing new plants and animals, non-poisonous fresh air, real food.. and he's apathetic towards all of it. (Although, all of the pilgrims were guilty of this too.. they freak out over seeing a real orange in the future, but when they're surrounded by paradise and unlimited food it doesn't affect them in any way.)
  
  In the future, he tells his girlfriend he'll "find a way to come back and get her." Is this how teenagers really talk? Shortly after he complains about leaving his one true love behind, it only takes him ONE DAY to start dating a new girl. Guess this proves that he never cared about "future girl" at all.
  
  Then, he blows off his mandatory duties, orientation, and survival training. Apparently, the future was so easy going that he was expecting the same on Terra Nova. The new girlfriend (who is supposed to be bright and have leadership qualities) doesn't seem to be concerned about this at all.. she also doesn't seem to care when he flips out and acts crazy around his father.
  
  He also constantly risks his own life to impress the new girl. And, he reveals himself to be a totally incompetent and useless coward with no common sense.
  
  My opinion? They seriously need to remove all of this soap opera drama from the show, it's a tragedy, and I hope "Josh" dies painfully.


• There were also no stars in the sky during nighttime. Terra Nova has a Hollywood sky. If you ever lived in the country, you'd know what the sky really looks like when you're away from city lights. And this entire planet has no artificial lighting emanating from Earth.


• The muzzle-flash-strobe-light-effect-on-dinosaur-scales-and-eyes was borrowed way too much from Jurassic Park. Most of the scenes were recreated from the films.


• Dinosaurs are apparently completely immune to thousands of bullets, sonic blasters, and laser cannons.


• I'm happy that they introduced some mystery into the show. The mathematical equations and geometry by the waterfalls (that looked like they had been there for a while) was a very nice touch. But then they ruined it at the end of the episode, when they revealed who wrote them and pretty much why. They were "the real reason for Terra Nova's existence."


• I hope they show more scenes from the future, or have new characters but shown from the future. They should have flash forward sequences that show different activities taking place in the future. But, they probably won't.


• It would be very cool, and redeeming for the show, if they introduce more mystery and scifi elements. More time travel, but possibly ancient civilizations from even before them. I doubt they'll ever bring aliens into the show..

Speculation Time

• The mathematical equations by the waterfalls were either a timeline chart showing divergence or the creation of a paradox (e.g. it wasn't actually a separate timestream they were in, but rather the same one and they have destroyed the future or it's simply part of the timeline) or he was analyzing star charts and orbital drift, and determined that they weren't in the past but in fact transported to the far future (e.g. long after their old advanced civilization was destroyed and nature recovered without human intervention.)


• They had to explain the different time stream, so I wonder if they'll revisit that sometime later. If selfish bastards from a cruel society in the future traveled back in time to destroy their old future, they would be viewed as evil human beings. But the audience would be left sympathizing for them if they had no idea of the damage they caused.


• They also dropped a lot of hints about the locations of celestial bodies, and how everything in the sky looked wrong (even though they had never seen the sky before amazingly). If "brainy daughter" does the math, like she said, then she might come to the same conclusions as Nathaniel's crazy son.

More Speculation: Future Episodes

• Much of the production budget was spent building the compound set and buildings. So, get used to it. It will be in every episode in S1, and it will never change. If you were expecting a Swiss Family Robinson thing to happen, it definitely won't happen in the first season.


• There will be "raptors chasing the kids" scenes. "Raptors" meaning any kind of vicious small creature.


• There won't be any more future scenes, unless it's an old flashback showing the family's life while Dad was in prison or while he was a cop on the beat. Actually.. I'm going to upgrade this to "not sure". They had some really decent sets and props, and it would be complete shame to waste them.


• There will be family conflict episodes. Teenage son does even more jackass things, he will betray the family and seriously screw them over, he'll put others in danger, or he'll run away.


• Before watching Terra Nova, I pretty much knew there would be different factions outside the compound. But this was already revealed in the first episode. The "Sixers" are just one group.. there will be more.


• The "Sixers" will at first be the evil enemies, but eventually they will all become friends and work together against a "new enemy" once the "Sixers" get boring. They will commit very evil acts, and then just one day, they will totally be forgiven.


• There will be internal conflict and strife within the family, and within the Terra Nova main group.


• A secret hidden faction will be discovered.. possibly time travelers from the future that came even longer before Nathaniel. There might even be a time traveling group from the very far future (when things get even worse) made up of criminals who killed for the technology.


• She acts very distant from her husband, so the wife (Elizabeth) probably had an affair while Dad was away in prison for (only) 2 years. She had to do it to "survive", because her millions weren't enough I guess. An early S1 episode will reveal one of her ex-boyfriends on Terra Nova too. He won't be around long though. (Probably gets killed by dinosaurs.)


• There will be viral outbreak episode. Some strange new disease, bodies aren't used to new parasites, different immunities, etc. etc.


• There will be a bottle episode where main characters will be trapped in a sunken vehicle or a cave. They can't leave the cave due to predators.


• The compound will run low on a desperately needed resource, so a strike team is created (with a couple scientists) to sneak out and get the resource.


• Many extras (adult soldiers & scientists - but no children) will be eaten by dinosaurs. Adults will get eaten whole, teenagers will be scratched and cut but survive.


• There will be super smart dinosaurs.

• There would be an option to switch back and forth between a D3/WOW stylized graphics option, and a Classic Diablo look.
• Players would create Diablo 1 and Diablo 2 conversion packs, also with randomly generated maps.
• Players could sell these self developed maps on the D3 MapMarketplace.
• If Blizzard created a Diablo 1 mod, it would be called "D1 Phoenix". :)
• A player would create a "World of Diablo" mod, but they would be forced by Blizzard to change its name to "Diablo Universe".
• Players could swap fonts or select new color schemes for their resource bars. For example, Monk's Spirit could be green slime instead of white spooge.
• Even faster quest pickups. The player would just need to run within 20 yards of a NPC, the quest is auto accepted, and the menu closed.
• Yards are converted into meters for the confused in other countries.
• Diablo 3 Auctioneer for much easier management of sales, and tons of undercuts. Meaning more profit for Blizzard and the powerhouses of profit would be making undercuts and reposts constantly.
• Enchantrix like mods. Mousing over on items would bring up tooltips showing disenchant results as well as converting gold value into current market value cash conversion.
• More skill keys and the ability to swap in and out of pre-programmed builds quickly.
• New unit frames, and customizable party frames for easier management.
• Floating combat text that shows XP, Gold, or Cash wins upon finishing off an opponent.
• Larger combat text with customizable fonts ("explosive fonts" like out of an arcade fighting game).
• Recount mods. For threat meters and tracking all statistics that Diablo 3 doesn't. For example, mob kills, highest swing damage, largest heal, pots drank, cash spent, etc.
• Lore book UI integration with "D3 Recount" showing interesting statistics about each monster. Total kills per act, average level, most amount of damage done, most damage received, value of loot drops, cash value of loot drops, etc.
• PVP Support mods, for monitoring DPS meters, cool downs, quick build selections, debuffs, onscreen timers and countdowns, etc.
• Automated in-game gambling systems like trivia bots, card games, or roulette tables for real money.
• Better stash management and better Auction House UIs
• Financial management mod for showing gold/cash per hour, or will lock you out from buying items (only selling.)

Of course, some of these mods would be considered unauthorized (eg. swapping media content) but I'm just lumping everything together because it's all just fun wishful thinking.

It's a very silly argument, but it seems to be very popular for some reason:

"There's nothing wrong with the RMAH because this is exactly what EBay does and they haven't gotten into any legal trouble."

Unsurprisingly, I haven't seen any intelligent arguments or debates that prove there is no gambling in Diablo 3. It's all just angry fanboys frothing at the mouths, and spitting out EBay as their only example since it's the first thing that comes to mind when they hear "auction". It's quite sad.

So, I've updated the "Diablo 3 and Illegal Online Gambling" post with several examples as to why EBay is not anything like the RMAH and why it's not considered gambling.

Yesterday, the Path of Exile Reddit held a competition where users would post the most funny, witty, or insightful comment. It was not a random give-a-way, but rather a competition.

Everyone competed with each other, and downvoted everyone else. It was like watching 300 vultures fighting and tearing at each other for a morsel of food that was, in fact, just a piece of plastic.

Seeing as how Reddit is pretty much an angry atheist comedy site, I knew that everyone was going to post a "funny" comment because those are the only comments that get upvoted.

So, I decided to put in the one and only "insightful" comment. I figured, there were 3 keys for 3 topics, and everyone would be doing funny/witty.

Apparently, though, posting a deeply insightful post on Reddit will only reward you with very angry downvotes.

Every moment your brain chemistry changes, new synaptic connections are formed, old ones are lost, your cellular structure decays, and your DNA mutates due to the persistent exposure of sunlight, carcinogens, electromagnetics, and radiation. You are in a constant state of change and evolution. So much so, in fact, that the person you were moments ago is literally not the same person you are now. You can't call this "your life" since every moment you essentially die and then you are reborn.

What you perceive as memories were merely experienced by another individual and your mind tricks you into believing that you are that same person. Memories of deep regret, emotion, foolishness, or long lost loves were all something that, in fact, happened to a completely different person. That person no longer exists, and you are not them. You just happen to the unfortunate individual to have inherited their memories, but it's just another deception of the mind.

Remember this always: none of that happened to you. It happened to that other person. You are not them. Keep telling yourself that so that your future inheritors can release their burdens and finally move forwards in life. Your "life" will be ending soon, but you can leave it knowing that you rescued someone who is very important to you.

If my contribution was not 'insightful' enough, please let me know and I can go deeper.

In the end, here were the chosen winners:

1. "Hopefully I will be playing PoE at 21:01 GMT!! [gives bot $5]"
2. "Crossin' my fingers!"
3. "Beta keys = Women Sexed. True Story!"

The very first post automatically won apparently, but the other two were absolutely hilarious and they deserved to win.

Guess I'll just wait for a random invite, I give up with these competitions.