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Worms Politics

Coup in Arrakis Capitol Leaves Region in Flux 113

Posted by Soulskill from the US-attempting-to-negotiate-another-cease-fire dept.
Rube_Goldberg_Mentat writes: The power struggles between rival houses Atreides and Harkonnen have come to a T. It was reported earlier today that a coup led by Baron Vladimir Harkonnen was staged in the capitol of Arrakis. The House Atreides, which had only recently taken command of the planet and of the spice trade, is reported to have no survivors, though this is yet to be confirmed.Naysayers fear a collapse of the spice economy as a result of the violence. A r presentative from House Harkonnen has shared with the press that though times ahead may be rocky, "the spice will still flow."
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Coup in Arrakis Capitol Leaves Region in Flux More

Coup in Arrakis Capitol Leaves Region in Flux

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  • I, for one, (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Overzeetop ( 214511 ) on Wednesday April 01, 2015 @09:29AM (#49386055) Journal

    would prefer if we could just bring back OMG Ponies and call it a day.

    • I would moderate you up if I could. This is worse than not doing anything.

    • Re:I, for one, (Score:5, Insightful)

      by dwillden ( 521345 ) on Wednesday April 01, 2015 @09:39AM (#49386159) Homepage
      And I for one, welcome our new Lame Aprils Fools day joke overlords!

    • It occurs to me...it's ALMOST ponies (Score:5, Funny)

      by Overzeetop ( 214511 ) on Wednesday April 01, 2015 @09:47AM (#49386231) Journal

      I mean, they are beating a dead horse at this point. We can imagine that the horse is pink.

      • And if the horse is part of the null set, I can say with confidence that it is also a pony and pink. Or at least that is what I was lead to believe by one of my math professors in college.

      • We can imagine that the horse is pink.

        It depends on how long you cook it. Horses ordered "rare" are still a bit bloody inside, "medium" are pink, but "well-done" are greyish.

    • It's so bad today that people are actually asking for reposts...

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      I, for one, have precisely finished today the third book of Dune series(*). It's been kind a prescient event: perhaps I saw the news and then I read the books. It just I'm confused about the time span.

      (*) really!

      • Good on ya, mate. I got lost somewhere in the third and never picked it back up again.

        I consider hanging in there an achievement.

        • You're missing out, IMHO books 4-6 are the best ones. My favourite is book 5 (Heretics).

          (In case you were wondering, there are only 6 Dune books. It's a pity it ended on a bit of a cliffhanger, but it's probably better than the alternative of somebody screwing it up royally with hack writing and trying to tie it into their own series)

          • I would agree that I'm probably missing out (I knew about the other three and the other books by Kevin J. Anderson, which killed any curiosity I had about those books). I don't really have the attention span for books anymore unless I have someone to discuss them with; kind of the same way many people have workout partners.

            The last book I read was "Song of Spider-Man" (about the backstage shenanigans with "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark"), because I knew it would get traction at dinner discussions with frie

            • I know what you mean, I'm in much the same situation - I read a whole lot less than I used to. My excuse is that I spend lots of time reading for work. But it is mostly just an excuse, truth is that re-watchinig Babylon 5 DVDs is easier. Luckily I got through the Dune series when I was young.

              I could talk at great length about books 4-6, and why they're better than books 1-3, but I would hate to spoil anything. All I will say is: don't expect book 4 to be set immediately after book 3, there's a 3500 year gap

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Oh lighten up, people!

  • I'll say it again (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 01, 2015 @09:35AM (#49386121)

    I knew this was going to happen. I've been telling my friends in the spice trade for years to get out before someone invades Arrakis. We have determine a new method of intersteller travel depending on a single planet for our primary source of fuel is a non sustainable solution which wil lead us to our doom.

  • Taking fictional events and promoting them as real events hardly qualifies as a good joke.

  • 13 prequels/sequels explain all in gory detail (Score:3)

    by peter303 ( 12292 ) on Wednesday April 01, 2015 @09:36AM (#49386129)
    Son Brian Herbert and scifi hack Kevin Anderson wrote at least 10,000 pages filling in most of the gaps in the story, including the origins of the two families. Kind of takes the fun out of it when it is all explained to you.

  • Give it up editors (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    The stories aren't funny. Notice how your traffic drops on April 1st?

  • April fools jumped the shark years ago and hasn't figured it out. It is really sad to watch.

  • April Fools (Score:5, Insightful)

    by DarkOx ( 621550 ) on Wednesday April 01, 2015 @09:45AM (#49386213) Journal

    I have always enjoyed April fools on Slashdot. Many have complained but in past years at least some of the gags were plausible or at least clever, like the evil bit drafted up as an RFC etc.

    Today its basically bad fanfic, which does not really qualify as an April fool's prank. Its like watching a bunch of 3rd graders who think they have mastered stand up comedy tell fart jokes.

    • Same here. I started reading Slashdot back when I was in high school back in the 90s, and I'm pretty sure that even back then, I could have come up with better gags then the ones that are being posted today.

      Oh well, I'll come back tomorrow for the reviews of all of the other tech sites' April Fool's jokes to see if there's anything that I missed...

  • Request: enable april fools button in profile (Score:3, Insightful)

    by CptJeanLuc ( 1889586 ) on Wednesday April 01, 2015 @09:46AM (#49386221)

    Assuming Slashdot sees its target audience as on average at least moderately intelligent, it would be nice to give us a way to opt in (or at least opt out) to the whole April Fools mess. Some of us come here to browse some hopefully interesting stuff. If the reaction of your online audience is mainly "oh [insert favoured deity here], not those 2-3 days on Slashdot again", maybe you are going about this the wrong way.

  • I wonder how badly their web traffic drops (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Seriously Slashdot. Give it up. You're not funny. If you want to keep this bullshit tradition going hire actual comedians or give us real news.

  • Oh, right, they expect us to believe that? (Score:5, Funny)

    by pla ( 258480 ) on Wednesday April 01, 2015 @09:51AM (#49386261) Journal
    Pffft, Any fool can tell that Harkonnen doesn't have the cunning to pull this off on their own.

    Open your eyes, sheeple! This has the marks of those Bene Gesserit witches all over it!

  • Time for a poll (Score:3, Insightful)

    by rossdee ( 243626 ) on Wednesday April 01, 2015 @09:52AM (#49386275)

    If you could remove a day from the calendar, which would it be?

    April 1st

    April 15th

    February 14th

    October 31st

    December 25th

    The 1st Tuesday in November on a leap year

    Your birthday

    Cowboy Neal's birthday

  • The revered author Brian Herbert has been found dead in his home.

    There are no plans for anybody to continue his writing projects.

  • Bitching about how April fools this year is the WORST ever, and that it has jumped the shark has become a /. staple.

    Though, I don't think anything (not even OMG Ponies!) could top Beta as a joke.

    Seriously though people, who shat on your lawn this morning?

  • Sardaukar Not Involved (Score:3, Funny)

    by blackfeltfedora ( 2855471 ) on Wednesday April 01, 2015 @10:01AM (#49386339)
    Imperial spokesman again denied that Sardaukar were involved in the upheaval on Arrakis. "This was a struggle between two competing Houses, we would never become involved in their internal disputes."

  • Schmai-gunug be willing, steak for dinner sometime soon.

  • Just got this letter from my Guild representative: "Greetings investors and customers The Spacing Guild would like to inform our customers that due to the recent events on Arrakis there will be a 25% surcharge on all spice shipments and travel arrangements until the political stability on Arrakis has improved. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and would like to assure you that your shipments of spice will be on time. Our navigators are hard at work making sure that your intergalactic trave

  • They included a typo in the summary for extra authenticity. "A r presentative from..."

    But yeah, thanks for the reminder that it's "don't bother to visit Slashdot" day.

  • If you're going do a nerd joke on April 1st, know your material even a little bit better. I read Dune over 30 years ago in college, and I can remember that the capitol of Arrakis is Arrakeen. Even 54 comments later that little factiod hasn't made it anywhere onto the page.

  • Imperial Announcement (Score:3)

    by Emperor Shaddam IV ( 199709 ) on Wednesday April 01, 2015 @10:50AM (#49386693) Journal

    I deny my Sardaukar legions had anything to do with this! This was an unsanctioned action by the Baron and I will personally visit Arrakis to take control!

  • Everyone with access to the internet thinks they're a comedian. Now it looks like it's "Post Something Based On A Science Fiction Novel Day". Great...

  • Damm it. Where is the spoiler alert when you need one! I just started re-reading the DUNE books and now the plot is ruined for me.

    zenray

  • Now if someone would just upgrade our damn shields! These knife-wielding-terrorists are making it hard for us to spread peace, and harmony throughout the world *ahem* galaxy!
  • We will fight until no Harkonnen breathes Arrakeen air!
  • I just saw the movie again for the first time in decades.
    Good god that movie was horrible. If you, as a director and/or screenwriter, cannot get across the character's thoughts through action and expression, but have to resort to voice overs instead, you've really failed your medium.

    • It is about impossible to condense a dense 700-something page book into a two hour movie.
      I started with the video game (which I played silent! VGA PC with PC speaker) and then the book, and saw the movie years later. The video game is somewhat more faithful, it takes you days/weeks to move the story through. (movie feels like Duke Leto gets killed right away)

      So, I'm not pissed at the movie like many people are.

      • You're going to miss some stuff, sure, but it's been done. A few of the Harry Potter movies did just that (several were over 700 pages) and they were pretty well done. Even Lord of the Rings, though okay, they were maybe shorter (I don't recall exactly). Gandalf, and Frodo and Boromir had things going through their heads, but they didn't require a voice over to get those across to the audience. That said, Gollum sort of cheated by being schizo and talking to himself, but that was excusable because he's

    • If you, as a director and/or screenwriter, cannot get across the character's thoughts through action and expression, but have to resort to voice overs instead, you've really failed your medium.

      Why doesn't the same apply to the books? There are "voiceovers" throughout.

      I'd much rather have Dune's voiceovers that have to be subjected to an "as you know" speech.

      • Because books are a different medium. They're not visual like movies, except for what you picture in your head. Books lends themselves better to having characters' thoughts heard, because books can be written in third person or "God" mode, among others, but expressions and actions are only described, not seen.

        • Because books are a different medium.

          That doesn't explain why you think* it's okay to present a person's inner thoughts on paper, but not on film.

          *not that there's anything wrong with thinking that, but your wording implies that you think it's an objective truth.

          because books can be written in third person or "God" mode

          And films are (usually) shot in third person or "God" mode, so what's the difference there?

          In case I wasn't clear (I hadn't realised you haven't read the books before) I was specifically talking about the Dune books when I mentioned literary inner thoughts. They're in there, just like

          • Well, name any other big ticket movie where you actually hear the character's thoughts as a voice over (disembodied ObiWan doesn't count, special circumstance there, he's a ghost) and constantly throughout the entire movie, at that. Not as narration either, that too is different, that's story telling, not actually hearing inside someone's head in real time. The only other place I ever see that happen is in comedy, like SNL.

            • Well, name any other big ticket movie where you actually hear the character's thoughts as a voice over

              What would that prove, either way? Does that mean something like Memento (which, incidentally, opens with a scene "narrated" by the character's real-time inner thoughts) "fails the medium" because no other film shares its structure?

              Dune's quite a unique film.

              • Dune's quite a unique film.

                Not trying to stir trouble or take sides but I have to agree with you. I actually really liked the voiceovers! I know I'll be laughed off /. for saying so, but Lynch's Dune is still my favourite movie. :)

              • I agree with you that there was nothing wrong with the voiceovers of those thoughts in the film. Just because it's seen of as tacky or whatever my many filmmakers doesn't mean it's not effective. Those thoughts are necessary to knowing the characters. And it should be noted that compared with the book, the voiceovers in the film are actually quite minimal - the books spend more time listening to people's inner thoughts than to what they say.

                You'll note, however, that I haven't said it was a good adaptation.

            • Fight Club springs to mind, but it's been a while so I may have misremembered.

              I am Jack's lack of surprise

  • So that is what trickle down economics is all about. I'll stand in my lawn and wait for a 200 ton worm to pass over dripping spice and i must capture that falling spice and sell it elsewhere. Only in such a world could Ronald Raygun be right.

  • I'm not sure which is worse, stuff like this on Slashdot, or the fact that my workday is slow enough to drive me to Slashdot on the worst day of the year!

  • The're still looking for the house atomics...

    Meanwhile they'll take over spice production...

  • Here's a trailer for the upcoming remaster of the 80's Dune film, completely with a new soundtrack: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2B6jgkcANRE [youtube.com]

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