Profile for Talent in a Previous Life
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Displayed name | Talent in a Previous Life |
| Member number | 3098 |
| Title | This Side Towards Enemy |
| Postcount | 961 |
| Homepage | |
| Registered | Thursday, June 12 2003 07:00 |
Recent posts
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| Author | Recent posts |
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| Global Warming or Global Cooling in General | |
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This Side Towards Enemy
Member # 3098
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written Monday, June 6 2005 12:46
Profile
The cold doesn't bother me. I'll grant that the east coast of England has much milder winters than Minnesota (it's a maritime climate, we get maybe 2 days of noticeable snow a year and the cold doesn't hit until the wind starts coming straight out from Siberia around February) but I tend to fall asleep on top of the covers with the window open even in winter. I wake up around 6AM shivering uncontrollably, of course, but I'd much rather have cold weather than hot. As Sullust says, it's much easier to block out. I'm mildly allergic to my own sweat, so humidity in particular is the devil. -------------------- Voice of Reasonable Morality Posts: 961 | Registered: Thursday, June 12 2003 07:00 |
| I need Beta Testers... in General | |
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This Side Towards Enemy
Member # 3098
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written Monday, June 6 2005 12:39
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Aside from which it has 12 posts. It's hardly clogged. I'm sure Alec and I could demonstrate clogging, but that would hardly be neighbourly and there are about 70 examples over in RWG. -------------------- Voice of Reasonable Morality Posts: 961 | Registered: Thursday, June 12 2003 07:00 |
| Who are you? and What's your IQ? in General | |
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This Side Towards Enemy
Member # 3098
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written Monday, June 6 2005 12:37
Profile
I'd be opposed to actively being taught critical thinking. For one thing it's simply not that interesting to me. I'd far rather spend my three years learning about the factors influencing the rise of the Vikings than being actively taught how to analyse. The one should come packaged with the other. Why remove the palliative? For another, I simply don't think it'd be effective. Firstly because I think I already have a degree of critical thinking skills. No doubt I could improve them, but if you start to teach them from a basic level, I am not going to be making relevant notes. I am going to be dozing, or staring into space, or trying to work out what makes dead baby jokes funny, or whatever my mind drifts on to. Secondly because teaching things in the abstract can leave the student confused when they have to face it in real terms. It may leave them straitjacketed - highly effective in very specific circumstances, but unable to properly adapt. -------------------- Voice of Reasonable Morality Posts: 961 | Registered: Thursday, June 12 2003 07:00 |
| I just had to post this - it's awesome in General | |
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This Side Towards Enemy
Member # 3098
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written Monday, June 6 2005 07:12
Profile
Don't see that working. Neither cringing nor staring is really likely to make me a more convincing speaker. -------------------- Voice of Reasonable Morality Posts: 961 | Registered: Thursday, June 12 2003 07:00 |
| Insults in General | |
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This Side Towards Enemy
Member # 3098
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written Monday, June 6 2005 07:03
Profile
In other words, it's difficult to be ugly without being fat? It's hardly worth debating this, since it's extremely subjective, but I'm hard pressed to find a reason why your viewpoint isn't retarded. -------------------- Voice of Reasonable Morality Posts: 961 | Registered: Thursday, June 12 2003 07:00 |
| Who are you? and What's your IQ? in General | |
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This Side Towards Enemy
Member # 3098
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written Monday, June 6 2005 06:55
Profile
I've been hearing for years that the critical thinking part and the ability to write your degree on your CV are the bits of university that will count in later life. It's certainly the basis I'm working on. Otherwise I am royally screwed. -------------------- Voice of Reasonable Morality Posts: 961 | Registered: Thursday, June 12 2003 07:00 |
| ever felt anyone envys you just because you are intelligent? in General | |
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This Side Towards Enemy
Member # 3098
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written Sunday, June 5 2005 13:48
Profile
The actual reason I said Oxbridge was because I couldn't remember whether it was Oxford or Cambridge. As to the rivalry, it's largely because they're by far the two oldest universities in the country. They'd also like to think they're the two best universities in the country, although that varies from subject to subject and the Oxbridge graduates will stoop to almost any level to fix the university league tables that the newspapers run every so often. It's just basic human psychology. When the future elite (I won't say leaders, because politicians have almost always been Oxford alumni if they've been either) have gone to one of two places for hundreds of years, it'd be amazing if there wasn't a rivalry. -------------------- Voice of Reasonable Morality Posts: 961 | Registered: Thursday, June 12 2003 07:00 |
| I just had to post this - it's awesome in General | |
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This Side Towards Enemy
Member # 3098
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written Sunday, June 5 2005 05:50
Profile
Either you have a very strong stomach or debate in much more refined circumstances than I do. -------------------- Voice of Reasonable Morality Posts: 961 | Registered: Thursday, June 12 2003 07:00 |
| Who are you? and What's your IQ? in General | |
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This Side Towards Enemy
Member # 3098
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written Sunday, June 5 2005 05:48
Profile
Social skills can be an issue if you aren't a naturally gregarious person. But, and I speak as a stutterer who finds prolonged time in social situations extremely uncomfortable, picking up the phone and calling someone after having thought through what you're going to say is not going to be too much of a challenge unless you've got really serious issues in respect of conversation. That said, Creator's point does not apply universally by any means. There are a lot of jobs, particularly in my part of the world, where specialist training or a university degree are a prerequisite to even be considered. -------------------- Voice of Reasonable Morality Posts: 961 | Registered: Thursday, June 12 2003 07:00 |
| Insults in General | |
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This Side Towards Enemy
Member # 3098
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written Saturday, June 4 2005 06:58
Profile
Me. I'm sorry to be a grammar Nazi and since you're from Finland you have a good reason to make the mistake, but there's absolutely no reason not to have the accusative there. You can't even argue that it's worth doing for ironic effect, because refusing to admit to your mistakes is a lot worse than making them. </pedantry> -------------------- Voice of Reasonable Morality Posts: 961 | Registered: Thursday, June 12 2003 07:00 |
| Karma and Bush, and also the WTC in General | |
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This Side Towards Enemy
Member # 3098
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written Saturday, June 4 2005 06:53
Profile
Whether or not someone's just flown a plane into it, the government is still unlikely to want people looking too closely at the Pentagon. Even without the huge paranoia-storm the attacks created. It's possible we're not being told the whole story, but undoubtedly a plane was deliberately crashed and it hit the Pentagon. Any other details are basically window-dressing. -------------------- Voice of Reasonable Morality Posts: 961 | Registered: Thursday, June 12 2003 07:00 |
| Insults in General | |
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This Side Towards Enemy
Member # 3098
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written Saturday, June 4 2005 01:55
Profile
I rarely if ever have a nice word to say about anybody. It's just another mode of talking, since you can't insert real venom into every word you say. My friends and the moderately perceptive will realise I'm usually joking, idiots will be offended, and I win either way. Rather that "you wish" I find a simple nod and a leer is the best response to accusations of deviance. Your mileage may vary. As an aside, the man who develops a way to deliver a punch to the face over the internet will make his first million in thirty seconds flat. -------------------- Voice of Reasonable Morality Posts: 961 | Registered: Thursday, June 12 2003 07:00 |
| Who are you? and What's your IQ? in General | |
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This Side Towards Enemy
Member # 3098
|
written Saturday, June 4 2005 01:49
Profile
From my side of the Atlantic, the use on non-science, non-law, non-medicine courses seems to be purely that you are capable of getting through a degree (and three years of experiencing little responsibility, large amounts of outward cashflow and significant amounts of liver damage.) A statistic I heard, the veracity of which I have no way of checking, is that 40% of university graduates are in a profession that has no relevance to their actual course. With this in mind and considering the steep increase in university places in the past few decades, I think the perceived toughness of the course and the university's reputation will become increasingly important. At least I hope so, given the university and course I'm going to if I make my offer. -------------------- Voice of Reasonable Morality Posts: 961 | Registered: Thursday, June 12 2003 07:00 |
| Karma and Bush, and also the WTC in General | |
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This Side Towards Enemy
Member # 3098
|
written Saturday, June 4 2005 01:39
Profile
I've always said that if Al-Qaeda was really a serious threat with good strategists and a large amount of manpower, they would have bombed some Midwest shopping malls. As it is, people are only likely to have any cause to feel afraid if they're near planes or prestige targets or are extremely credulous (you know where to scroll up to for your example.) Their initial aim of spreading fear worked very well. But since they either don't have the intelligence or resources to do quick seemingly random strikes, they've rather lost the initiative. I don't think it's so much a question of government resources stopping them, because there's a limited amount you can do to stop somebody just walking into a building and exploding. I suspect it has everything to do with Al-Qaeda's apparent obsession with planes and prestige targets and their lack of experienced operatives. -------------------- Voice of Reasonable Morality Posts: 961 | Registered: Thursday, June 12 2003 07:00 |
| ever felt anyone envys you just because you are intelligent? in General | |
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This Side Towards Enemy
Member # 3098
|
written Saturday, June 4 2005 01:34
Profile
I don't believe that the connection between smartness and academic achievement is quite strong. Granted, my viewpoint may be biased, since my school has a fairly consistent record of being in the top 5 for state schools at GCSE and A-level, but offhand I can name several people who will get straights 'A's at A-level and will go on to Oxbridge, yet do not have much in the way of brainpower compared to my friend who dropped out after GCSEs and is currently training as an Army mechanic. Intelligence doesn't translate to academic achievement automatically. It takes a degree of commitment and hard work. If your intelligent enough, that degree isn't too much, but it's still there. -------------------- Voice of Reasonable Morality Posts: 961 | Registered: Thursday, June 12 2003 07:00 |
| Worst Game EVER! in General | |
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This Side Towards Enemy
Member # 3098
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written Saturday, June 4 2005 01:29
Profile
Worst game I remember playing was Emperor: Battle for Dune. Gameplay was uninspired and it crashed my computer every three minutes. Lemmings was pretty cool. If mostly for the mass suicide button. -------------------- Voice of Reasonable Morality Posts: 961 | Registered: Thursday, June 12 2003 07:00 |
| Global Warming or Global Cooling in General | |
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This Side Towards Enemy
Member # 3098
|
written Saturday, June 4 2005 01:26
Profile
I'm not sure if somebody has properly refuted the individual who opined that the world of the dinosaurs was a tropical paradise. The above post rather shows the flaw in that theory. I think the 16C rise you refer to was the Permian extinction, the most devastating extinction event this planet has ever seen. Even a 5C rise would vastly change the planet and whilst you might like the hotter weather, the local foliage is adapted to the present conditions and it would not prosper. Hence mass starvation. And from my point of view the planet is quite hot enough already, thanks. -------------------- Voice of Reasonable Morality Posts: 961 | Registered: Thursday, June 12 2003 07:00 |
| Karma? in General | |
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This Side Towards Enemy
Member # 3098
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written Saturday, June 4 2005 01:22
Profile
Is it? I've always been rather proud of my own 2 stars. It means I'm getting through. Essentially if enough people really dislike you, you'll have a score on the lower side. If very few people have anything to say against you you'll get a 4 or 5. And each rating you get is worth significantly less than the one before it. If it bothers you, you can turn it off in your profile. Otherwise it's best ignored. -------------------- Voice of Reasonable Morality Posts: 961 | Registered: Thursday, June 12 2003 07:00 |
| Karma and Bush, and also the WTC in General | |
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This Side Towards Enemy
Member # 3098
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written Friday, June 3 2005 12:38
Profile
I think we can be reasonably sure a plane did hit. Otherwise I would expect to have heard from the passengers of the plane. If none of them ever reappear, I think we can assume it was genuine. Besides, I simply do not believe that 'They' would ever plan something on such a scale. It would be so fiendishly complex that hundreds would be involved, so keeping it secret would be almost impossible. I do not believe that they would have had anything to gain. And I do not believe that that is how 'They' behave. Anybody suitably evil or amoral to be considered 'They' can cover up far more just by a few well planned business lunches and kickbacks than by flying any amount of civilian aviation into buildings. EDIT: Besides, the number of people in the Pentagon and the parts of the building in which they reside is hardly public knowledge. And 9/11 was much more about spreading fear than killing. [ Friday, June 03, 2005 12:41: Message edited by: Unpleasantness for its Own Sake ] -------------------- Voice of Reasonable Morality Posts: 961 | Registered: Thursday, June 12 2003 07:00 |
| Global Warming or Global Cooling in General | |
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This Side Towards Enemy
Member # 3098
|
written Friday, June 3 2005 12:30
Profile
I have no idea what, if anything, will wipe us out. But I hope it happens before we meet any (other?) intelligent life the universe might hold. Because otherwise I think shame is the likeliest candidate. I'm loathe to worry too much about climate change, because I'd far rather tear the entire mantle off the planet than give the anti-humanist hyper-hippie brigade a real voice. This is our planet, not by any natural right but because in evolutionary terms, we won. To my mind that means we can do whatever we like with it provided it's not vastly counter-productive. However things like drilling in Alaska, according to the figures I've seen, simply aren't worth it. Industrialisation in the Third World is going to have to be done the old and dirty way. They have little enough cash now, they aren't going to be able or willing to afford state of the art machinery. Which means that it would make sense for the developed world to use a more sophisticated method, possibly a switch into nuclear, possibly to something else such as a hydrogen economy. I don't what the most plausible alternative is, please don't take anything I'm saying as anything more than my not terribly informed two shillings. Either way, I can't help thinking that the change ought to accelerate soon. By the time I retire (if such a concept still exists by the second half of this century) I am fairly certainly the concept of an oil well will be all but bankrupt. The changeover can't come right at the last minute, because dozens of resource wars would make such a changeover prohibitive. As it is, we have the occasional hybrid car, we have a bit of LPG and biodiesel, but it shows no sign of exploding in popularity and we have renewable energy only in a few areas where the population and geography is sympathetic towards it. Theoretically, the invisible hand of the market ought to do everything. But its neither the fastest nor the most reliable thing in the world. -------------------- Voice of Reasonable Morality Posts: 961 | Registered: Thursday, June 12 2003 07:00 |
| Insults in General | |
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This Side Towards Enemy
Member # 3098
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written Friday, June 3 2005 12:12
Profile
By the same sort of logic, since the Greek word heteros can mean different, heterosexuals prefer something different from what is normal. Don't be moronic (from the Greek word moros, meaning stupid or foolish.) AM, I'd have to disagree with you that using insults is a sign of failure. It's a sign of wanting to be insulting. Which, whilst you might designate it a character flaw, is tremendous fun. Nicothodes' problem is not so much that he feels the need to fall back on insults as that his own creations are so poor my gall bladder exploded and he's requesting us to submit others for him to borrow. There is simply no point stealing insults! It is highly unlikely to be insulting because it will not be specific enough and the fun in insults is in creating them. By all means, have certain ideas you might incorporate into an insult. A pair of words that juxtapose nicely. A suitably vile piece of scatology. Some personal foible. But insults ought to be specific, they ought to be flashes of inspiration and they ought to be a private thing between you and anybody within earshot. If you can't create a good insult (and I sincerely hope you're keeping your best ones to yourself, Nico) then I'm afraid you'll just have to be pleasant. -------------------- Voice of Reasonable Morality Posts: 961 | Registered: Thursday, June 12 2003 07:00 |
| The games people play in General | |
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This Side Towards Enemy
Member # 3098
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written Friday, June 3 2005 12:01
Profile
At the moment the Combat Mission games and the demo of Supreme Ruler 2010. I've also played a lot of Crusader Kings in the past few months and will no doubt return to it soon. I'm also playing a fair bit of Minesweeper and Freecell because though they are, objectively speaking, pretty tedious, revision makes anything else seem so much more diverting. EDIT: I seem to be distressingly incapable of typing a hyperlink out correctly. [ Friday, June 03, 2005 12:02: Message edited by: Anthrax Laced Sugar Lumps ] -------------------- Voice of Reasonable Morality Posts: 961 | Registered: Thursday, June 12 2003 07:00 |
| ever felt anyone envys you just because you are intelligent? in General | |
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This Side Towards Enemy
Member # 3098
|
written Friday, June 3 2005 11:57
Profile
I think that one of the major problems Western society faces today is the belief that the rest of Western society is made up of morons. You can see it in the opening post to this thread, you can see it in the indignant everywhere, you can see it making TV still more unwatchable than it used to be, everywhere there is a sense of personal superiority. It's sad, because there's no denying that they have a point, they just don't realise that they are other people. I realise there's a degree of hypocrisy in this, but that's never been something that's bothered me and I can't think of a better way to return from a long absence than with an onrush of snideness. On a more directly relevant note, respondingly jokingly is all very well, but that doesn't mean you always have to be entirely pleasant. I'm a firm believer that you should be exactly as personally offensive as you want to be. You shouldn't take it seriously, but proving you can take it does not entail not dealing it out. Obviously this doesn't apply if you're talking to someone who will beat seven different kinds of excrement out of you should you respond in kind. -------------------- Voice of Reasonable Morality Posts: 961 | Registered: Thursday, June 12 2003 07:00 |
| Speculating about Avernum 4's plot in General | |
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This Side Towards Enemy
Member # 3098
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written Thursday, January 6 2005 11:28
Profile
The sliths and nephilim had forts. They had very little character development. They were bad because they were monsters, also they consorted with demons etc. therefore it was necessary for you to exterminate them. Riveting. -------------------- Voice of Reasonable Morality Posts: 961 | Registered: Thursday, June 12 2003 07:00 |
| Recommended Reading in General | |
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This Side Towards Enemy
Member # 3098
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written Thursday, January 6 2005 11:24
Profile
Anybody who tries to rip off Frank Herbert should be spayed. Everything after Dune Messiah was bad (and that itself was only passable) and the last two or three books were completely unreadable. Hell, Dune itself has some serious flaws. Like the soporific first 200 pages. -------------------- Voice of Reasonable Morality Posts: 961 | Registered: Thursday, June 12 2003 07:00 |