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 |
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| May you rest in peace... in General | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Tuesday, July 19 2005 10:45
Profile
Ah, phoenix song and portraits aren't exactly conclusive evidence, when there are any number of rabbits Rowling could pull out of her hat in book 7. No internal evidence can be conclusive in this case. Maybe Fawkes is just a good character actor. And Hogwarts is full of cool portraits, and they were giving away animated images of Dumbledore in bubblegum for a while there. For what it's worth though: where is Dumbledore's wand? And isn't it odd that we never exactly see his body? And why would he paralyze Harry, making him a helpless witness to the 'death' scene? It's not a very obviously effective way to protect Harry, especially when the only immediate threat was just Draco. But if it is crucial that Harry believe Dumbledore dead, then it would be vital to have him there. And if Dumbledore really were dead, Harry's belief in his death could not be terribly crucial. Hmm, I could probably buy some weird hocus whereby Dumbledore did technically die, but somehow preserved some temporary ability to appear and act in book 7. His dying is no problem per se; it's the banal futility of a major character that damages the story -- like Gandalf falling off Shadowfax and breaking his neck near the end of The Two Towers. I mean, Dumbledore fought a duel with Voldemort at the end of book 5. Now he checks out without even a fight, facing Draco, a werewolf we've never heard of before this book, and Snape? I'm not saying it couldn't make sense within the book-world, but dramatically speaking, it's too much anticlimax to believe, for an author as ambitious as Rowling. [ Tuesday, July 19, 2005 10:50: 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 |
| RWG in Richard White Games | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Tuesday, July 19 2005 07:39
Profile
This our flagship thread must never languish. To which end: I never finished the last GC demo scenari Ah, hell, I just can't pretend I care. But the thread must go on, regardless. -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| Damn you Icshi! Damn you!!!!!! in Richard White Games | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Tuesday, July 19 2005 07:37
Profile
Perhaps our hierarchical titles are of length in inverse relation to our height in the hierarchy. Do the top-ranking members have titles like 'dude' and 'yo'? But, by all means, on with the schism. White is large, it contains multitudes. -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| The arrow of time in General | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Tuesday, July 19 2005 06:36
Profile
I'm afraid I don't understand much from the proposed answers in this thread, but Zeviz and Thuryl have raised what are considered the basic issues. As Zeviz argues, it could well be that our equations are missing something yet; in fact, that's what I think myself. If only I knew what it was. As Thuryl indicates, there are usually said to be three arrows of time, although it is really only the psychological one that interests me (why we can't remember tomorrow). The thermodynamic and cosmological arrows are the other two. The thermodynamic arrow is expressed in the Second Law, that the entropy of an isolated system cannot spontaneously decrease. Entropy, though, is an awfully dodgy concept. On the one hand you can measure it, by burning things and keeping track of temperatures. The fact that this quantity tends to increase is pure empirical observation, with no explanation. The theory of statistical mechanics provides an alternative definition of entropy, in terms of numbers of available states. Although this entropy seems to agree with the empirical one in the simple cases where it can be unambiguously computed, the number of available states is not really well defined, in general, and often seem to turn on psychological issues. As Thuryl observes, this gets circular. Most people assume that the psychological and thermodynamic arrows are one and the same; but neither is understood. The cosmological arrow of time is the one that is understood, but it is hard to see how it relates to the other two. The universe started from a state of zero volume (not from a point: all the points there would be were there). It isn't clear cosmologically that this would have to be a state of low entropy; rather, the very earliest universe is thought to have been incredibly hot. -------------------- 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 |
| May you rest in peace... in General | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Tuesday, July 19 2005 04:19
Profile
I think Dumbledore faked it somehow. He was just telling Draco how much it would help in evading the attentions of the bad guys, to have them think one dead. It's a pretty dodgy game using story-internal arguments in a story where new elements of magic can get introduced from book to book. But I think there's a pretty compelling external argument, namely that if Dumbledore was just wrong about Snape all along, wore himself out getting the wrong locket, and died because age ruined his reflexes enough for Draco to disarm him, then in the series as a whole he cuts a pretty lame and anticlimactic figure. And he's an important enough character that that would substantially damage the series. Whereas if he successfully faked his own death as part of a master scheme, he comes out looking cool. So far Rowling has shown a sound enough dramatic instinct that I can't see her going for Plan A, here. The Gandalf comparison is undoubtedly the biggest problem, here: the good wizard's comeback has been done. But on the other hand, Gandalf didn't fake it, his return really was a resurrection, and it wasn't his own master plan, but a pure Tolkienian eucatastrophe. -------------------- 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 |
| hi in General | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Tuesday, July 19 2005 03:56
Profile
quote: -------------------- 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 |
| Down with RWG! in Richard White Games | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Tuesday, July 19 2005 03:42
Profile
At least he's not comparing Mac and Windows. -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| The arrow of time in General | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Monday, July 18 2005 12:25
Profile
This 10% of the brain thing is sheer hooey. No-one has a clue how the brain works, so no-one has any evidence whatever about how much of it we 'use'. I'm idly curious where this bizarre pseudo-factoid ever came from. Functional MRI studies are rather recent, and they basically show blood flow, which does seem to increase to certain areas of the brain depending on what the mind is doing. But all of the brain receives some blood, or it would die, and we have no idea how much 'use' is associated with that minimal blood supply. And a priori there seems no reason to suppose that we are any less able to harness all of our brain's capability than we are to exert our muscles to the full. About prediction versus memory: this is just it. Determining the past by computing everything that must have happened to generate the present is exactly as hard as predicting the future, using the laws of physics. If we can nevertheless remember the past, why not 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 |
| The arrow of time in General | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
|
written Monday, July 18 2005 11:04
Profile
Why can I remember yesterday, but not tomorrow? This is a serious question, and it is unanswered in current physics. (We don't exactly advertise this glaring deficit, but it is generally admitted to graduate students, who have already invested enough in physics that they can be counted on to keep quiet. The term of art -- er, science -- for this enigma is 'the arrow of time'.) If I look at the equations by which we can predict future motion from present conditions, we discover that any forward-in-time solution has an exact analog, in which we determine the past motions that must have led to any final conditions. In other words, the basic equations of physics do not distinguish the direction of time, and would be just as happy to work backwards as forwards. In shorter other words, causality always cuts both ways. And yet I don't remember tomorrow. Why not? A really genuine, deep, and thorough answer to this question would not merely be worth a Nobel prize. It would go down in history (or perhaps, futurity!). But even a wild stab from a non-specialist might be of some value. So, any ideas? -------------------- 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 |
| Official Election Final Round Voting in General | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Monday, July 18 2005 10:53
Profile
What's the other half? This election-thing does seem to be missing some. -------------------- 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 |
| hi in General | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Monday, July 18 2005 08:09
Profile
Notice that his hair is really a mass of outplants. He must rank high in the order. -------------------- 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 win! in General | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Monday, July 18 2005 08:02
Profile
Whom you may remember from Herbie Goes to Milan. [ Monday, July 18, 2005 08:05: 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 |
| Regrettable But in General | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Monday, July 18 2005 07:59
Profile
This 'Blades politics' reminds me of the line by Henry Kissinger: "University politics are so vicious precisely because the stakes are so small." -------------------- 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 |
| "Blades of Geneforge" in General | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Monday, July 18 2005 07:55
Profile
It really should be called "Shades of Geneforge". -------------------- 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 |
| Down with RWG! in Richard White Games | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Monday, July 18 2005 06:07
Profile
 Notice the big White eyes and prominent outplants in the face of the Zen master Hakuin. -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| Favorite web comic. in General | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Monday, July 18 2005 05:59
Profile
It is not just the web's comics that are like this. -------------------- 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 |
| Damn you Icshi! Damn you!!!!!! in Richard White Games | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
|
written Monday, July 18 2005 04:02
Profile
I thought those were your eyebrows! -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| "Blades of Geneforge" in General | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Monday, July 18 2005 03:55
Profile
It was very popular among cover layout artists' ex-spouses. But now I have the startling insight that pen-and-paper RPGs are all second-person. Cool. [ Monday, July 18, 2005 03:58: 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 |
| Down with RWG! in Richard White Games | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
|
written Monday, July 18 2005 03:37
Profile
But if we try to grasp it ... it will vanish like the echo of a butterfly's heartbeat. Nirvana can wait. First we must sound the depths of Spidweb, by moving to the bottom of the list. Then, when we have exhausted the illusions of mind, we will have a thread entitled 'Om', in which everyone will post 'Om' many times, until we all attain enlightment, or Alorael locks the thread in order to accrue enough negative karma to ensure his reincarnation as a patch of skribbane. -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| Down with RWG! in Richard White Games | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Sunday, July 17 2005 11:49
Profile
This is to be a petition to get RWG moved below SubTerra in the page of forums. Each person should post once in this thread, if they are in favor of this change. Eventually we will present this to Drakefyre, and it will serve as a cover story for his co-operation as part of the order's secret plan. [ Sunday, July 17, 2005 12:35: Message edited by: Student of Trinity ] -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| Damn you Icshi! Damn you!!!!!! in Richard White Games | |
|
Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Sunday, July 17 2005 11:38
Profile
Huh? Weapons? Battles? We took over the US Navy? Folks, it seems that my own implants have been in charge for a couple of days. During this time I apparently discussed a number of things of which I, as a lowly Imponderable Archon in our elaborate hierarchy, have no conscious knowledge. Okay, that happens from time to time. Our order is nothing if not intrusively totalitarian in the demands it makes on all members. We all knew the risks when we signed up, or at least our implants knew when they took over and made us sign. So I'm not complaining. This is just to confess that I will not be able to provide any further information on any of this, or indeed on anything much at all, unless and until the implants kick in again. -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| "Blades of Geneforge" in General | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Sunday, July 17 2005 10:10
Profile
Second person might be if the player controlled one character, but the view was that of whomever or whatever the character was interacting with. Could be a cool game, if it weren't impossible to control, and disorienting with jumping around all the time. I know of a novel written in the second person. The protagonist is 'you'. It begins with you just having bought the book, and starting to read it, etc. Then it gets a bit weird. But you've got to love it for the title if nothing else: If On a Winter's Night a Traveller, by Italo Calvino (original in Italian, of course). -------------------- 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 |
| Regrettable But in General | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Sunday, July 17 2005 10:03
Profile
Since when does gratuitous obscenity equal humor? It's not like TM was telling dirty jokes, even. At least to my recent observation, his CoC violations are practically all in the course of insulting people. -------------------- 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 |
| Damn you Icshi! Damn you!!!!!! in Richard White Games | |
|
Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
|
written Sunday, July 17 2005 05:00
Profile
Hmm, maybe we should consider a precautionary activation of Icshi's implants. -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| Official Election Final Round Voting in General | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Saturday, July 16 2005 15:37
Profile
Its a shibboleth. -------------------- 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 |