Profile for Student of Trinity
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Displayed name | Student of Trinity |
| Member number | 3431 |
| Title | Electric Sheep One |
| Postcount | 3335 |
| Homepage | |
| Registered | Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
Recent posts
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| Author | Recent posts |
|---|---|
| Who are you? and What's your IQ? in General | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Wednesday, June 1 2005 22:53
Profile
No, Kelandon, that isn't a real derivation in my book. What it is is kind of dishonest, because in pre-quantum mechanics, the energy equation 1 is actually an identity, total E being nothing but the sum of potential and kinetic energy by definition. But if we interpret E as \hbar d/dt instead, this means that equation 1 no longer holds as a general operator equation, because it is only for a restricted class of functions of x and t that the time dependence will happen to be related to the space dependence in a way that satisfies Eqn 1. In other words, the starting point Eqn 1 is actually nothing but Schroedinger's Equation itself, disguised by an unacknowledged implicit notation as something much more familiar. The exercise presented is merely that of changing notation to something less implicit. There's nothing wrong with changing notations, but this change is presented as though it were something much more profound, namely a genuine derivation of new physics from a familiar expression for total energy, and that's dishonest. I really hate this kind of crap. [ Wednesday, June 01, 2005 22:58: Message edited by: Student of Trinity ] -------------------- It is not enough to discover how things seem to seem. We must discover how things really seem. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| Who are you? and What's your IQ? in General | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Wednesday, June 1 2005 21:59
Profile
I don't believe it. I've been a bit busy teaching lately, but I've been doing this stuff professionally for a dozen years or so, I know most everybody in the foundations of QM field, and I like to think I'd have heard about something like that almost immediately if it were really true. I can imagine any number of things that might get spun as 'deriving Schroedinger's equation', but they would all amount to putting it in by hand surreptitiously. I'd be delighted to be corrected on this, though, if you have a reference. -------------------- It is not enough to discover how things seem to seem. We must discover how things really seem. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| Alwan is a disgrace in Geneforge Series | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Wednesday, June 1 2005 21:50
Profile
Maybe that's my problem: I've never been able to get any creations to keep up with my Guardians, either. I think maybe it's because the Agent-style speed tactics are entirely sufficient for beating the game with a solo Guardian, if you pump your personal combat stats enough, but they're incompatible with caring for creations. I mean, my solo canister-free Guardian just whacked Akhari Blaze toe-to-toe on Torment, using 18 AP, a life-draining Claymore, and a number of Steel Spines. This has convinced me that solo melee Guardians are as capable in G3 as ever. Even my Agent had more trouble with Akhari, because he had her beat on Quick Action and she couldn't stand a single hit from him. My Guardian just shrugged off all his attacks and kept trimming him down. I have yet to see how he fares against the Alpha Creator, but I expect he'll be fine. He has built up enough Mech to shut off the Monastery Caves spawners. -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| Help with the Agent in Geneforge Series | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Wednesday, June 1 2005 21:38
Profile
The weird thing is that you've gotten to the mad creator at such a low level. Did you just rush straight to it by the quickest route? I've just started a solo Guardian, and he is level 8 after cleaning out Kentia (including basement) and the southernmost zones (including Sea Caves). At the rate he's going I seriously expect him to be a good two or three levels higher by the time he reaches the Greenwood boss. You do need more Spellcraft. If you're going to put points into all three magic types and healing, you can get the same effect cheaper through SC. You might want to raise Quick Action some -- it is a much cheaper way to ensure that you always act first than raising Dexterity. Your point distribution looks fine to me otherwise, though. Have you bought all the training you can in the various spells? That also helps. Speed is good, and don't hesitate to abuse it by hiding and making peace after one shot, then confronting the enemy again, repeating so as to get many unanswered attacks in a row. War Blessing helps with spell attacks too. And you do often need to be a bit sneaky as an Agent -- retreat when you first bump an enemy, so that one or two of the group chase you, instead of engaging the whole group -- that sort of thing. [ Wednesday, June 01, 2005 21:40: Message edited by: Student of Trinity ] -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| Who are you? and What's your IQ? in General | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Wednesday, June 1 2005 21:23
Profile
Hmmm, that does sound bad. Hey, I wish I knew how to derive Schroedinger's Equation, though! As far as I know, it's an axiom :) . -------------------- It is not enough to discover how things seem to seem. We must discover how things really seem. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| How Old Are You? in General | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Wednesday, June 1 2005 21:20
Profile
Just for the information of those younger members who don't know and may reasonably be curious: it isn't actually hard to get badly drunk when only meaning to get moderately buzzed, because one of the very first things that goes is your awareness of how much has gone. So your feeling of how well you are doing can be quite unreliable, and if you don't want to overdo it, then you pretty much have to consciously keep track of how much alcohol you've consumed over how long, and slow down or stop according to an objective schedule. At least, that's the only way I know that works reliably. -------------------- It is not enough to discover how things seem to seem. We must discover how things really seem. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| Who's the strongest PC? in Geneforge Series | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Wednesday, June 1 2005 19:15
Profile
Naw, stunning will take effect right away. Maybe you're thinking of Slowing, which only drops your AP every other round. -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| Who's the strongest PC? in Geneforge 2 | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Wednesday, June 1 2005 19:15
Profile
Naw, stunning will take effect right away. Maybe you're thinking of Slowing, which only drops your AP every other round. -------------------- It is not enough to discover how things seem to seem. We must discover how things really seem. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| I felt the Need to.... in General | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Wednesday, June 1 2005 19:07
Profile
That is the thing the most like that kind of thing that I have ever seen. -------------------- It is not enough to discover how things seem to seem. We must discover how things really seem. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| Who are you? and What's your IQ? in General | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Wednesday, June 1 2005 18:44
Profile
What would it be like to be taught how to solve physics problems? Just going through some examples? How many examples would do the trick? Would it have to be one worked-through example of every conceivable type of question that could be on an exam? If so, wouldn't that defeat much of the purpose of the problems? If not, just what is it that going through examples is supposed to do? Didn't you have a lot of homework problems, to practice solving problems before getting to exams? I'm not being defensive -- I really want to know what you mean when you complain about not being taught how to solve problems. Somehow I never had this complaint myself, and I don't remember going through a lot worked examples. But I don't know whether this was because my first few physics courses were really good and I just didn't realize what was good about them, or because the style of thinking needed for physics problems came naturally to me, or what. [ Wednesday, June 01, 2005 18:56: Message edited by: Student of Trinity ] -------------------- It is not enough to discover how things seem to seem. We must discover how things really seem. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| Who's the strongest PC? in Geneforge Series | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Wednesday, June 1 2005 18:31
Profile
After three Auras of Flames from a high level Agent, anything in the game is too stunned to move, and you attack again right away. -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| Who's the strongest PC? in Geneforge 2 | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
|
written Wednesday, June 1 2005 18:31
Profile
After three Auras of Flames from a high level Agent, anything in the game is too stunned to move, and you attack again right away. -------------------- It is not enough to discover how things seem to seem. We must discover how things really seem. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| Help with the Agent in Geneforge Series | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Wednesday, June 1 2005 18:29
Profile
If your Agent is weak on Normal, you are doing something wrong. Apply the standard drill: MakeNoCreations, MaxBattleMagicAndSpellcraft, KeepQuickActionHigh, DazeAllGroups, FryEverythingBeforeItKnowsYouExist. -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| Who are you? and What's your IQ? in General | |
|
Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
|
written Wednesday, June 1 2005 16:47
Profile
What were these three terrible physics courses, and what was terrible about them? I'd like to know because I may be teaching similar courses in the future. -------------------- It is not enough to discover how things seem to seem. We must discover how things really seem. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| Good ol' Sucia Island in Geneforge Series | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Wednesday, June 1 2005 14:45
Profile
Anyone played both G2 and G3 and then gone back to G1? How does good ol' Sucia Island look, after you've seen the Ashen Isles? Better? Worse? Better or worse because of the added context of knowing the future, or for other reasons? -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| Good ol' Sucia Island in Geneforge | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
|
written Wednesday, June 1 2005 14:45
Profile
Anyone played both G2 and G3 and then gone back to G1? How does good ol' Sucia Island look, after you've seen the Ashen Isles? Better? Worse? Better or worse because of the added context of knowing the future, or for other reasons? -------------------- It is not enough to discover how things seem to seem. We must discover how things really seem. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| Who's the strongest PC? in Geneforge Series | |
|
Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
|
written Wednesday, June 1 2005 14:38
Profile
Bah. There is no unique metric, so the question is not well posed (math jargon for 'it doesn't have a real answer'). Everyone wins just as certainly. Not even how fast you win is uniquely defined. Agents with high INT can indeed pull half a dozen Auras in a row, roasting anything faster than anyone; but then they need to rest quite a while before the next battle. Guardians take longer to whittle down the first set of bad guys, but they're ready for the next set right away, so they're a lot faster to win two battles in a row. Shapers are somewhere in between, since their highest firepower creations also take time to recover. Overall they can be a lot faster than the others in clearing entire zones, because they can spread out to scout -- unless you measure duration in individual turns rather than group turns, in which case Shapers are far the slowest. There are individual zones that I have found more difficult or more easy for one class than for the others, but I really don't see any overall imbalance, once you know what you're doing. The only exception might be in G3, where Guardians seem to have an extended rough patch on Harmony Isle; but this too might just have been that I didn't know what I was doing. -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| Who's the strongest PC? in Geneforge 2 | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
|
written Wednesday, June 1 2005 14:38
Profile
Bah. There is no unique metric, so the question is not well posed (math jargon for 'it doesn't have a real answer'). Everyone wins just as certainly. Not even how fast you win is uniquely defined. Agents with high INT can indeed pull half a dozen Auras in a row, roasting anything faster than anyone; but then they need to rest quite a while before the next battle. Guardians take longer to whittle down the first set of bad guys, but they're ready for the next set right away, so they're a lot faster to win two battles in a row. Shapers are somewhere in between, since their highest firepower creations also take time to recover. Overall they can be a lot faster than the others in clearing entire zones, because they can spread out to scout -- unless you measure duration in individual turns rather than group turns, in which case Shapers are far the slowest. There are individual zones that I have found more difficult or more easy for one class than for the others, but I really don't see any overall imbalance, once you know what you're doing. The only exception might be in G3, where Guardians seem to have an extended rough patch on Harmony Isle; but this too might just have been that I didn't know what I was doing. -------------------- It is not enough to discover how things seem to seem. We must discover how things really seem. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| RWG in Richard White Games | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Wednesday, June 1 2005 14:26
Profile
Vacillation is a virtue, or maybe a vice. -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| How Old Are You? in General | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Wednesday, June 1 2005 14:15
Profile
My brother once persuaded a badly intoxicated guy he met at a party to let a sober person drive him to the hospital, by swearing (falsely) that he was a doctor. He met the same guy at a party at the same place the next year, and when my brother mentioned that he had met him there the year before, the guy said, Yeah, I got alcohol poisoning, but by sheer luck there was a doctor there who recognized it and saved my life! Something like that, anyway. Alcohol poisoning really can happen, so don't go too crazy. Moderate use of alcohol can be great; for instance, it allows you to impersonate a doctor when you need to. [ Wednesday, June 01, 2005 14:18: Message edited by: Student of Trinity ] -------------------- It is not enough to discover how things seem to seem. We must discover how things really seem. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| What do YOU want to see in G4? in Geneforge Series | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Wednesday, June 1 2005 14:04
Profile
But call it 'Geneforge IV' just to suck in the customers? -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| Who are you? and What's your IQ? in General | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
|
written Wednesday, June 1 2005 08:48
Profile
I'm not sure multiple intelligences is universally accepted. I think it's just another contender. The IQ camp has never denied that there are multiple different kinds of intellectual task; they just argue that there is some all-round ability that tends to make people better and faster at all of them. This isn't so unreasonable. As an analogy, consider that there are lots of different tasks for computers, and different architectures or programming approaches can be much better suited for some than for others; but there are also specs like processor speed and RAM volume that just always help for everything. The way I see it, quantifying intelligence is like specifying the size of a tree. There just isn't much you can do about comparing tall, spindly trees to fat, bushy ones, but the range of natural tree shapes is not so enormous that tree size becomes completely meaningless. [ Wednesday, June 01, 2005 08:55: Message edited by: Student of Trinity ] -------------------- It is not enough to discover how things seem to seem. We must discover how things really seem. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| Summer jobs anyone? in General | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Wednesday, June 1 2005 07:53
Profile
I sort of remember liking Caesar a bit. The military history was pretty cool, straight from the horse's mouth. You had to try to remember that it was all spin for the Senate, but it was hard to because it all seemed so straightforward and matter-of-fact. Which was either good writing or good spin, or both. By now that's all faded away almost totally, alas; I can barely recall the odd line. I don't want the whole Aeneid, but I'd actually really like the opening dozen lines or so, if anyone can provide them. I always wanted to memorize them but never really got around to it. -------------------- It is not enough to discover how things seem to seem. We must discover how things really seem. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| Ideal Shaper Build? in Geneforge Series | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Wednesday, June 1 2005 06:53
Profile
The Essence Aegis gives +1 INT, I believe; and there is the Skein of Wisdom. Then eventually there is the Omnicharm, though by then it doesn't matter. And it can sometimes be worth swapping the Girdle of Genius even for the Creator's Belt, at least for a while. One point to note about stat-lowering items: if you are going to use a canister that might raise a stat, and your stat is currently at zero, you might want to drop the items that are lowering it before touching the canister. I think I've had problems with canisters not actually raising my Endurance, and the only problem I could see that might account for it is that my Endurance was zero when I hit the canister. (It did NOT seem to be just that my actual Endurance was negative so the gain didn't show up: I tried to check for this, and I thought I ruled it out.) -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| Annwn in Nethergate | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Wednesday, June 1 2005 06:35
Profile
I'm not sure human speech can avoid vowels, but a lot of alphabets, including all the ancient ones I've heard of, don't represent them with letters. You just fill them in from context, th sm wy y cn d wth nglsh. The rational modern alphabets created in relatively recent times, for languages that have only recently become written, can be quite elegant. Eskimo languages (like Inuktitut) have only three vowels, and they always follow consonants, so the letters all represent consonants, but each letter can be written in three orientations -- literally turning sideways or upside down -- to indicate which vowel follows it. -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |