Ask everyone anything.
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Lifecrafter
Member # 521
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written Wednesday, July 30 2003 23:06
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Usually a nice crystal growth would take a least an over night. For certain copper complexs, it can take longer, especially when your hydration is off. [ Thursday, July 31, 2003 11:29: Message edited by: Kakashi ] -------------------- I am not really here. Posts: 956 | Registered: Wednesday, January 16 2002 08:00 |
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Lifecrafter
Member # 87
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written Thursday, July 31 2003 10:41
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it seems like my hydration is always off. but that is a personal matter. Why isn't there magic? edit: *Does a very small dance for post 600* [ Thursday, July 31, 2003 10:42: Message edited by: Frod Perfect ] -------------------- Tip of the Day: #13 Stand clear the closing door. That's treason. (THNIK)(Peculiar James, FP productions co, inc) Posts: 816 | Registered: Friday, October 5 2001 07:00 |
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
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written Thursday, July 31 2003 14:04
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Arthur C. Clarke said, "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." Surely the reverse is true as well. —Alorael, who would now like to know how Americans can show their faces to the international public. Just out of curiousity, mind you. Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00 |
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Lifecrafter
Member # 87
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written Monday, August 4 2003 09:13
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Why do you think I have never posted a picture here? What does stan mean at the end of pakistan, etc. -------------------- Tip of the Day: #13 Stand clear the closing door. That's treason. (THNIK)(Peculiar James, FP productions co, inc) Posts: 816 | Registered: Friday, October 5 2001 07:00 |
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Senile Reptile
Member # 547
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written Monday, August 4 2003 12:48
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"Stan" is a suffix roughly meaning "land of." MY CRYSTALS GREW I'M SO HAPPY I'M GOING TO CELEBRATE WOO WOO WOO!!!! How many conspiracies are going on at Polaris, Desperance, and Spiderweb? And if possible, could you list them by name or pseudo-name? -------------------- Polaris Posts: 1614 | Registered: Wednesday, January 23 2002 08:00 |
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Master Jeweller
Member # 409
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written Tuesday, August 5 2003 02:37
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There are no conspiracies. Trust us. (waves hand in a Obiwan-type manner) How does one create a crop circle? -------------------- Freude, schöner Götterfunken, Tochter aus Elysium, Wir betreten feuertrunken, Himmlische, dein Heilighthum! Deine Zauber binden wieder, was die Mode streng getheilt, Alle Menschen werden Brüder, wo dein sanfter Flügel weilt. Pieter Simoons aka Radiant Official Crystal Shard and SubTerra webpage Posts: 798 | Registered: Monday, December 17 2001 08:00 |
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Infiltrator
Member # 2669
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written Tuesday, August 5 2003 08:23
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Map out a design, with dimensions. Bring rope, string, wire, etc., that is cut to said dimensions. Place two stakes that will be your central axis. Use a 2x4 (wooden plank) tethered to said axes to push down grain. Bring a compass for perfect orientation. What's the deal with Pokey the penguin? -------------------- ... Posts: 647 | Registered: Wednesday, February 19 2003 08:00 |
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Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire!
Member # 919
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written Tuesday, August 5 2003 15:52
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Fool, all you need is a good UFO. I don't know anythign about Pokey, except that he's annoying. And probably has something to do with Desp. -------------------- And though the musicians would die, the music would live on in the imaginations of all who heard it. -The Last Pendragon TEH CONSPIRACY IZ ALL Les forum de la chance. Incaseofemergency,breakglass. Posts: 3351 | Registered: Saturday, April 6 2002 08:00 |
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Lifecrafter
Member # 3310
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written Tuesday, August 5 2003 20:13
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quote:' Because we Scandinavians understand to appriciate great games? Posts: 756 | Registered: Monday, August 4 2003 07:00 |
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Lifecrafter
Member # 3310
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written Tuesday, August 5 2003 20:23
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quote:That´s not quite true. Technology is logical. When you turn the knob, the lamp is lit and so on. Sure it may seem magical but it still makes sense (if you understand how electricity works, that is). Drawing runes on the floor with goatblood and thus causing an demon to appear on the other hand, is not logical (did I really have to say that?). Because it lacks the logical component, magic can never really be compared to technology, no mather how advanched. Posts: 756 | Registered: Monday, August 4 2003 07:00 |
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Master Jeweller
Member # 409
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written Wednesday, August 6 2003 01:33
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I believe Terry Pratchett said that 'sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology' (Ponder Stibbons, I believe, in The Last Hero). Which is an obvious spoof of Clarke. Anyway in just about any mythology, fantasy book or gaming system I've heard of there is a certain logic to Magic. It tends to have rules, laws and correct procedures (i.e. spells). For instance, the runic language from Weis & Hickman's Deathgate; the invoked runes from LeGuin's Earthsea; the 'Will and the Way' from Eddings' Belgariad and the plain mind magic from Lackey's Last Herald Mage. Most roleplaying games (both computer and paper) consider magic sort of a science with specified spells that often have logic to them. And the very best example is of course Mage: the Ascension (by White Wolf) with its entire idea of flexible reality (also found in Pratchett books) which can be summarized by 'the truth is what I SAY it is' but which logically only works if enough people actually believe you. That's why coincidental magic is a lot easier to perform than shooting fireballs from your hand. Even if there's nobody around to see it. -------------------- Freude, schöner Götterfunken, Tochter aus Elysium, Wir betreten feuertrunken, Himmlische, dein Heilighthum! Deine Zauber binden wieder, was die Mode streng getheilt, Alle Menschen werden Brüder, wo dein sanfter Flügel weilt. Pieter Simoons aka Radiant Official Crystal Shard and SubTerra webpage Posts: 798 | Registered: Monday, December 17 2001 08:00 |
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Lifecrafter
Member # 3310
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written Wednesday, August 6 2003 02:13
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Coincidential magic? Flexible reality? Are we talking about, say, UFO:s? Do you mean, like, if a lot of people think they have seen UFO:s then UFO:s actually start existing because they belive so? _files/rolleyes.gif) Posts: 756 | Registered: Monday, August 4 2003 07:00 |
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Shaper
Member # 496
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written Wednesday, August 6 2003 08:34
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I knew someone who used to go round Wiltshire making crop circles. He was typically more into fraud than hoaxes though - a thoroughly disreputable character. Posts: 2333 | Registered: Monday, January 7 2002 08:00 |
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
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written Wednesday, August 6 2003 13:13
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Does everyone understand the principles behind, say, transmission of signals via radio waves? No, not everyone does, but everyone still listens to music, or news, or something. Do you understand the principles behind demon summoning? No, you don't. But that doesn't mean there aren't any. Judging by the number of magic laboratories in Exile, there are plenty of logical rules that can be determined and used (or bent). —Alorael, who would say that magic is hard to generalize about since it doesn't exist. You can give it any rules or lack thereof you'd like. But if someone shows you a brand new invention like nothing ever made before, it might as well be magic for all you can figure it out. Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00 |
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Lifecrafter
Member # 87
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written Wednesday, August 6 2003 13:27
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A little bit of modern day magic: take a long flourescent light bulb and hold it up towards a high-tension power line (one of the big ones) preferably at night, surrounded by chanting gophers. I believe in unidentified flying objects, but unidentifiable flying objects are a little more tricky. -------------------- Tip of the Day: #13 Stand clear the closing door. That's treason. (THNIK)(Peculiar James, FP productions co, inc) Posts: 816 | Registered: Friday, October 5 2001 07:00 |
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Lifecrafter
Member # 3310
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written Wednesday, August 6 2003 19:24
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Well, yes, I admit that magic maybe has rules beyond my knowledge, but what I actually was talking about was the way magic behaves (right word?) if compared to technology. What I mean is, that when you lit a lamp (my favourite example), and turn the knob, then a chain of reactions happen. This chain of reactions will eventually lead to the goal : to make the room a little brighter. A wizard could of course produce the same result, but he would probably only flick his wrist or even only speak a word, which would lit the lamp. He doesn´t need to go through the complicated chain of reactions, he can just skip them and still make the room brighter. Magic is the way to make things happen without doing the way you should do in order to make them happen. Have anyone got a clue of what I´m talking about? I lost myself a couple of sentences away. Of course magic is very, VERY hard to understand since it´s...well magic. Everything that isn´t normal. I think. Maybe. Posts: 756 | Registered: Monday, August 4 2003 07:00 |
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Lifecrafter
Member # 521
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written Wednesday, August 6 2003 22:18
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The clapper works like magic then. -------------------- I am not really here. Posts: 956 | Registered: Wednesday, January 16 2002 08:00 |
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Bob's Big Date
Member # 3151
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written Wednesday, August 6 2003 23:11
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Oh, it really does. Have you ever had one? -------------------- In a word, gay. --Bob the Impaler Posts: 2367 | Registered: Friday, June 27 2003 07:00 |
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Cartographer
Member # 1851
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written Thursday, August 7 2003 01:47
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About magic.. well, a person I know wrote this some time ago. Take a look. -------------------- Ah! My Homepage - In Finnish and English Geneforge - The Maps My Elfwood Gallery - Stories I've written in english The WALL - Forums in Finnish Waitingformedication. I could really use some. Posts: 1308 | Registered: Sunday, September 8 2002 07:00 |
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Master Jeweller
Member # 409
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written Thursday, August 7 2003 06:34
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Seaweed -> That's exactly what I'm talking about. For instance in Pratchett's Guards Guards!, a dragon is summoned by making people in the city believe that there's a dragon; and in Hogfather, the hogfather (i.e. santa claus) is nearly destroyed by causing children to lose belief in them. And in Mage: the Ascension, one of the magical factions is called the Technocracy, and they have succeeded over the past centuries in making most people believe in, say, healing through the use of syringes and little pille, and therefore it works. Now I don't believe this stuff IRL, but it's a great background for fantasy settings. As to your wizard lighting a lamp, he invokes a chain of reactions by his gesturing and willpower. This (for instance) channels the aether in a certain area to produce a flame, and light a candle. So magic is a different chain of effects to produce a similar effect. Note that to any non-magician, grabbing a match would be a lot easier. Magic is understandable only if it conforms to some sort of logic (and even if we aren't usually told how the logic works, in just about any fantasy setting or game there is some sort of logic). Limits, too. For instance faerie magic won't work against cold iron (by myth), or the unmaking of any object is Forbidden (Eddings). -------------------- Freude, schöner Götterfunken, Tochter aus Elysium, Wir betreten feuertrunken, Himmlische, dein Heilighthum! Deine Zauber binden wieder, was die Mode streng getheilt, Alle Menschen werden Brüder, wo dein sanfter Flügel weilt. Pieter Simoons aka Radiant Official Crystal Shard and SubTerra webpage Posts: 798 | Registered: Monday, December 17 2001 08:00 |
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Senile Reptile
Member # 547
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written Thursday, August 7 2003 12:27
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The one thing I don't understand then is how somebody would not be able to use magic. Why would you need a wizard to speak some funny words when a peasant could do exactly the same thing? In Dungeons and Dragons-based magic systems, the logic is that a mage must study spells before casting them. But other systems have the act of saying funny words be all that needs to be done to cast spells. -------------------- Polaris Posts: 1614 | Registered: Wednesday, January 23 2002 08:00 |
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Lifecrafter
Member # 521
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written Thursday, August 7 2003 14:50
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I prefer the Slayers system, you can do it by memorizaton, but your alignment and raw essense define what you can do, and in some cases, which gods or demons like you, since you are using their powers. Infact, to use the most powerful spells and you must be a chaotic neutral to weave together the powers. -------------------- I am not really here. Posts: 956 | Registered: Wednesday, January 16 2002 08:00 |
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Shock Trooper
Member # 1723
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written Thursday, August 7 2003 20:35
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quote:Because America is a large and diverse land, filled with people from all walks of life. We are a melting pot of every culture, race, and ethnicity in the world. We are not one unified organism. Do not try to generalize us. Whatever problems you have with some action the United States Government has done, to try and say American citizens are the embodiment of said action and thus take your anger out on random citizens is, to me, almost as bad as the action itself. Now, my question: If there's a pink elephant in the corner, and no one acknowledges its existance, is it really there? -------------------- "... and approximately one sea turtle." Posts: 277 | Registered: Tuesday, August 13 2002 07:00 |
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Lifecrafter
Member # 3310
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written Thursday, August 7 2003 20:44
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quote:Well, if no one acknowledges its existance then you can´t no if it´s there, either. So I don´t understand how you can ask a question such as this, since you don´t (literally) know what you´re talking about. Also, I bet that the elephant himself/herself know that he/she is there. Posts: 756 | Registered: Monday, August 4 2003 07:00 |
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Senile Reptile
Member # 547
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written Friday, August 8 2003 05:20
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The elephant most certainly does not exist. For example, there could be a pink elephant mobile parked in my driveway, and I'm just not noticing it. So I think everything that you don't notice exists, just not in a way that you can notice it. -------------------- Polaris Posts: 1614 | Registered: Wednesday, January 23 2002 08:00 |