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RPGs in General
Drew
By Committee
Member # 4233
 written Thursday, July 21 2005 05:01 Profile #55
The Neverhood was also pretty cool, though it's very old.
Posts: 2242 | Registered: Saturday, April 10 2004 07:00
The arrow of time in General
Drew
By Committee
Member # 4233
 written Thursday, July 21 2005 05:00 Profile #75
Consciousness is bound to this time arrow, I think. After all, what is consciousness but the continuous observation and recollection of changes over time? Take away sensation, or memory of sensation, and does consciousness have any meaning? Would a person born without the ability to sense anything, ever have any sort of consciousness, and therefore, any sense of time?

I realize this is probably beside the point, but the last two posts or so went right over my head. :)
Posts: 2242 | Registered: Saturday, April 10 2004 07:00
Regrettable But in General
Drew
By Committee
Member # 4233
 written Wednesday, July 20 2005 17:14 Profile #185
Why don't we end this topic? I think it's pretty much played itself out, and is now only serving as a vehicle for further rancor.
Posts: 2242 | Registered: Saturday, April 10 2004 07:00
Scent of new-mown hay in Richard White Games
Drew
By Committee
Member # 4233
 written Wednesday, July 20 2005 17:12 Profile #39
The victory over the Persians was an unprecedented success for the Greeks - really, they had no business beating the Persians as thoroughly as they did - but was especially so for Athens and its knowledge-fostering democratic society, which no one else had taken as seriously up until then. During that part of the war, the Spartans essentially left Athens to fend for itself, and surprisingly, they did. This lead to a shift in influence in the Mediterrannean from Sparta to Athens, and also lead to the formation of the Delian League, a sort of league of city-states created for the purpose of warding off future attacks from the Persians, lead by Athens, of course. The Delian league eventually became the basis for the Athenian Empire. Athens, with its virtual monopoly on sea power, was able to collect/extract tribute from the "members" of the Delian league, and this money was in turn used to create the magnificent public works everyone knows about, as well as help pave the way toward an era of wealth and time for pursuit of leisure. The success of the Greeks over the Persians also built a strong sense of accomplishment in the power and capabilities of man, the expression of which can be found in their art.
Posts: 2242 | Registered: Saturday, April 10 2004 07:00
May you rest in peace... in General
Drew
By Committee
Member # 4233
 written Wednesday, July 20 2005 08:25 Profile #32
Richard Harris got knocked on the head after the second film, and has already been replaced.

There's always the possibility that Dumbledore will take on an Obi-Wan Kenobi-esque, part-of-the-Force guidance role.

Boy, it's tricky coming up with something original, at least without the result seeming too contrived or half-baked. Kudos to Rowling for doing a wonderful job so far, though.

[ Wednesday, July 20, 2005 08:25: Message edited by: Drew ]
Posts: 2242 | Registered: Saturday, April 10 2004 07:00
Scent of new-mown hay in Richard White Games
Drew
By Committee
Member # 4233
 written Wednesday, July 20 2005 08:08 Profile #31
I've found that English has nothing on ancient Greek for nuance - it's not uncommon for English translations of Greek sentences to be twice as many words in length.
Posts: 2242 | Registered: Saturday, April 10 2004 07:00
Scent of new-mown hay in Richard White Games
Drew
By Committee
Member # 4233
 written Wednesday, July 20 2005 06:46 Profile #29
Hmm... I thought German was big on declensions.

One of these days I'll have to learn it.
Posts: 2242 | Registered: Saturday, April 10 2004 07:00
Huzzah in General
Drew
By Committee
Member # 4233
 written Wednesday, July 20 2005 05:42 Profile #0
IMAGE(http://studyrussian.com/rouble/pic/1000.jpg)
IMAGE(http://www.garysmarketplace.com/ProductImages/Essentials/C1000_100t.jpg)
IMAGE(http://www.dnafiles.net/dna/lx_slv/1000bt07.jpg)
IMAGE(http://www.rich.frb.org/about_us/our_tours/money_museum/virtual_tour/currency_of_the_confederacy/images/confedonethou.jpg)
Posts: 2242 | Registered: Saturday, April 10 2004 07:00
The arrow of time in General
Drew
By Committee
Member # 4233
 written Wednesday, July 20 2005 05:36 Profile #62
Of course, we wouldn't have a choice whether we end up being surprised or anticipating with dread. :)

The illusion of free will is one I will choose to cling to, I think.
Posts: 2242 | Registered: Saturday, April 10 2004 07:00
The arrow of time in General
Drew
By Committee
Member # 4233
 written Wednesday, July 20 2005 05:09 Profile #60
Given that in this framework the future is theoretically immutable, what would be the benefit to anyone in knowing about it beforehand, so to speak?
Posts: 2242 | Registered: Saturday, April 10 2004 07:00
Scent of new-mown hay in Richard White Games
Drew
By Committee
Member # 4233
 written Wednesday, July 20 2005 04:45 Profile #27
If the BU gig is done, what are you up to now?
Posts: 2242 | Registered: Saturday, April 10 2004 07:00
The arrow of time in General
Drew
By Committee
Member # 4233
 written Wednesday, July 20 2005 04:43 Profile #57
quote:
Originally written by Student of Trinity:

In conventional computing architecture, this minimal input energy is converted to heat. Since heating is a major practical problem in current computers, there has been some interest in reversible computing, in which no information is ever discarded, so no heat (or entropy) is generated. This uses more memory, though, and since I don't think that current heat generation is anywhere close to Landauer's minimum, I don't think reversible computing is going to show up at Intel anytime soon. It is, however, a requirement for quantum computation; so there has been an academic revival of interest in it for this purpose.
Indeed, it would require infinite memory. I suppose this would be our friend the Turing Machine?

[ Wednesday, July 20, 2005 05:03: Message edited by: Drew ]
Posts: 2242 | Registered: Saturday, April 10 2004 07:00
Just say no in Richard White Games
Drew
By Committee
Member # 4233
 written Wednesday, July 20 2005 04:34 Profile #82
quote:
Originally written by Student of Trinity:

*Thinks about becoming ill-tempered, but doesn't want to risk qualifying for the assassination team.*
Why not? The assassination team has much to offer to qualified candidates.

quote:
Originally written by Drakefyre:

You two are caught in a web. A web of consequences most dire!!.
I believe I have patched the breach in the space-time continuum. RWGs is no longer at risk of being sucked into the deep nothing.

[ Wednesday, July 20, 2005 04:37: Message edited by: Drew ]
Posts: 2242 | Registered: Saturday, April 10 2004 07:00
Scent of new-mown hay in Richard White Games
Drew
By Committee
Member # 4233
 written Wednesday, July 20 2005 04:30 Profile #25
That would not be unlike feeding monkeys to us...

The needle/ferrets and spelling aside, I'll miss that hampster - what he lacked in power production, he more than made up for with pluck.
Posts: 2242 | Registered: Saturday, April 10 2004 07:00
I've been left behind... in Blades of Avernum
Drew
By Committee
Member # 4233
 written Wednesday, July 20 2005 04:07 Profile #9
I haven't read them, as I figure they're just a means of stroking the fundamentalist Christian ego while taking their money.
Posts: 2242 | Registered: Saturday, April 10 2004 07:00
Scent of new-mown hay in Richard White Games
Drew
By Committee
Member # 4233
 written Wednesday, July 20 2005 04:01 Profile #23
Which is to be desired more, though - chisled vocabulary, or chisled abs? I think we all know the answer to that one.

SoT, please relay the following message to the hampster in your computer: the code has been broken.
Posts: 2242 | Registered: Saturday, April 10 2004 07:00
Just say no in Richard White Games
Drew
By Committee
Member # 4233
 written Wednesday, July 20 2005 03:56 Profile #78
Needle/ferrets are definitely superior to sharks with frickin' lasers on their heads.

DE-EDIT, or DEDIT: They are also ill-tempered and mutant.

[ Wednesday, July 20, 2005 04:32: Message edited by: Drew ]
Posts: 2242 | Registered: Saturday, April 10 2004 07:00
Down with RWG! in Richard White Games
Drew
By Committee
Member # 4233
 written Wednesday, July 20 2005 03:54 Profile #39
Is Thufir Hawat ever truly out of context? I think not. Obviously, he's the reason why GC is so frickin' EZ.
Posts: 2242 | Registered: Saturday, April 10 2004 07:00
The arrow of time in General
Drew
By Committee
Member # 4233
 written Wednesday, July 20 2005 03:47 Profile #53
If we could get the reversal of time down, there'd be all kinds of useful technological advances from it. For example, imagine if we could find a way to collect spent or "wasted" energy, like heat - we wouldn't have to worry about a power source ever again! :)

EDIT: Maybe I went off the deep end on that one.

[ Wednesday, July 20, 2005 03:48: Message edited by: Drew ]
Posts: 2242 | Registered: Saturday, April 10 2004 07:00
hi in General
Drew
By Committee
Member # 4233
 written Wednesday, July 20 2005 03:44 Profile #76
Actually, here's a more appropriate raccoon for fuzzy turtle eating:

IMAGE(http://www.stuffedark.com/images/raccoonhn.jpg)
Posts: 2242 | Registered: Saturday, April 10 2004 07:00
hi in General
Drew
By Committee
Member # 4233
 written Tuesday, July 19 2005 18:44 Profile #72
It was Arctic, of course. :) He munches on the invisible newbies.
Posts: 2242 | Registered: Saturday, April 10 2004 07:00
hi in General
Drew
By Committee
Member # 4233
 written Tuesday, July 19 2005 17:52 Profile #69
The most notorious turtle predator is the raccoon.

Behold the Raccoon of Sanity Preservation:

IMAGE(http://www.doyourownpestcontrol.com/raccoon.jpg)

[ Tuesday, July 19, 2005 17:54: Message edited by: Drew ]
Posts: 2242 | Registered: Saturday, April 10 2004 07:00
Recommended Reading in General
Drew
By Committee
Member # 4233
 written Tuesday, July 19 2005 17:43 Profile #72
I will yet again vouch for the Patrick O'Brian Aubrey-Maturin series, the "Master and Commander" series. These are the greatest works I've ever read, whether fiction or non-. The whole series beats out Les Mis, for me, and that's probably my favorite book ever.

[ Tuesday, July 19, 2005 17:44: Message edited by: Drew ]
Posts: 2242 | Registered: Saturday, April 10 2004 07:00
hi in General
Drew
By Committee
Member # 4233
 written Tuesday, July 19 2005 12:25 Profile #58
How about kiwano fruit? They're spiked. :)

IMAGE(http://www.obsess.com/images/fruit/kiwano)
Posts: 2242 | Registered: Saturday, April 10 2004 07:00
The arrow of time in General
Drew
By Committee
Member # 4233
 written Tuesday, July 19 2005 12:20 Profile #43
How about a baseball careening from over the fence that's hit by a batter directly into a pitcher's "throwing" arm? (Disregarding the bat rising from the ground into the batter's hands. I think this is a little easier than a car becoming uncrashed.)

[ Tuesday, July 19, 2005 12:21: Message edited by: Drew ]
Posts: 2242 | Registered: Saturday, April 10 2004 07:00

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