teh bunneh Posted January 8, 2007 Report Share Posted January 8, 2007 Re: A Thread for Random Musings I don't like beef. I think it tastes bad. When I tell people this, they freak out. "You've just never had it cooked like XYZ." Sorry, but I've had every cut cooked in every way. It just tastes bad to me, it always has ever since I was a kid. I don't care how wonderful your burgers/steak/stew/whatever is, I don't want to eat it. There, I said it. Bill. (Strangely enough, I don't get a similar response when I say I don't like lima beans. Then it's just, "OK, I won't cook lima beans for you" rather than, "Oh, you just haven't eaten my lima beans!") Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted January 8, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 8, 2007 Re: A Thread for Random Musings WindowShade X kicks ass. Why did I not put up the $10 three years ago? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mantis Posted January 10, 2007 Report Share Posted January 10, 2007 Re: A Thread for Random Musings I think it would be cool if they used Serenity as one of the vessels in the refugee fleet in Battlestar Galactica. Not integral to a story or even mentioned by name, just show it amongst the other vessels in the fleet during a wide shot. Just there, a fly-on cameo role. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted January 10, 2007 Report Share Posted January 10, 2007 Re: A Thread for Random Musings "The Martial Art of Scientific Publication", like so many titles in the astronomical literature, sounds much more interesting than it is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted January 10, 2007 Report Share Posted January 10, 2007 Re: A Thread for Random Musings . . . How does one make oneself not the go-to guy, without ruining one's reputation? Hmmm . . . Such a conundrum . . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Posted January 10, 2007 Report Share Posted January 10, 2007 Re: A Thread for Random Musings I started my membership at a local health club today. Only doing about 30 minutes of light to moderate exercise right now, but plan to work up to about anhour. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoneDaddy Posted January 10, 2007 Report Share Posted January 10, 2007 Re: A Thread for Random Musings I can't for the life of me think of a logical reason free will might exist. Why should the chemical reactions in my head be different from the chemical reactions everywhere else in the universe? Their location, in a skull, isn't really so special. By simple virtue of their complexity and "emergent properties?" We might as well argue that weather has free will from that standpoint - it's machinations are also too complex for us to understand altogether at this point. If I argue that my own experience of being alive is ample evidence that I have free will, how is that different from the same argument for me having a soul? You can't see my free will any more than you can my immortal soul. There is nothing you can do that can't be looked at as just stimulus and response. Emergent Properties... Horsefeathers. It reminds me of that cartoon with two professors at a blackboard with a massive equation on one side and the other half of it on the other side, and in the middle it says "and then a miracle happens." Here's the image (check at the bottom of the post, obviously.) The trouble is, our whole society is founded on the notion that we have free will. It is the source for all notions of individual responsibility, culpability, success or failure. If it is a myth, then what? Then what? If you argue we are better off with that myth than without it, how is that different from any other religion? Once you open the door to even one efficiency argument for fairy-tales, the floodgates are open. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Posted January 11, 2007 Report Share Posted January 11, 2007 Re: A Thread for Random Musings I'm ordering parts for a new computer. Luckily for me, I have good neighbors. UPS delivered my case to the wrong address. how do you get 2236 out of 2225? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enforcer84 Posted January 11, 2007 Report Share Posted January 11, 2007 Re: A Thread for Random Musings Snow yesterday (and today). roads bad (for Willamette Valley)...so I am at work...not my class...oh well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teh bunneh Posted January 11, 2007 Report Share Posted January 11, 2007 Re: A Thread for Random Musings The weather is changing here again, too. It's starting to get PFC (that's Pretty F'n Cold), and it may snow again. I hope it doesn't snow until late tomorrow. I don't want to have to drive in this again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted January 11, 2007 Report Share Posted January 11, 2007 Re: A Thread for Random Musings Last week's Nature (vol 445, 4 Jan 2007) included an essay on MMORPGs as experiments in economics. Fun stuff, in a hideous science-nerdy sort of way. The cover article, on the lakes on Titan, is more interesting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teh bunneh Posted January 11, 2007 Report Share Posted January 11, 2007 Re: A Thread for Random Musings The whole "Free will" discussion has gotten me thinking... One of HP Lovecraft's thesis was that if mankind really knew what was going on in the Universe, he'd go completely, utterly insane, and then retreat back to the safety of a new stone age. So what is "really going on" that we don’t understand? One thing: there are a variety of powerful, hostile aliens out there, some of whom had visited (in the past) or were visiting (in the present) our world. Frightening, certainly. But so soul-blastingly horrifying as to drive rational men irrevocably insane? C'mon. I think that's why I could never really "get" the Call of Cthulhu game. "Why am I insane?" "You just saw a monster." "Yeah, OK, I'm scared sure, but insane? I don't think so." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teh bunneh Posted January 11, 2007 Report Share Posted January 11, 2007 Re: A Thread for Random Musings Warning: potentially offensive observance ahead. You have been warned. There is a guy at work who is a total wigger. He's a nice guy and all, very friendly, good sense of humor, but seriously. See him first thing in the morning and say, "Hey Dent, how are you?" and he'll reply, "Hey yo dawg, I just be chillin' y'know? 'Sup 'chu?" He's as white as I am, but he talks like he just stepped off the set of Barbershop. It's just really funny, is all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucius Posted January 11, 2007 Report Share Posted January 11, 2007 Re: A Thread for Random Musings You tell me it's all right. You don't mind a little pain Lucius Alexander The palindromedary is trying to conv Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enforcer84 Posted January 12, 2007 Report Share Posted January 12, 2007 Re: A Thread for Random Musings yesterdays gone dreams carry one will you return my way sing me a sweet sweet song turn out the lights and my love will burn on and on hold me until tomorrow dreams in the dark dreams in the dark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klytus Posted January 12, 2007 Report Share Posted January 12, 2007 Re: A Thread for Random Musings Now here's a hell of a conversation to walk in on... especially at work, when said very loudly, and by a woman: "I'm coming! I'm coming right up your ass!" The context was regarding one driver warning another driver to get out of the way because she was rapidly approaching while he was slow. But still.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edsel Posted January 12, 2007 Report Share Posted January 12, 2007 Re: A Thread for Random Musings A big Ice Storm is predicted for Oklahoma City this three-day weekend. I actually sort of hope it develops since it will give me an excuse to stay at home indoors, and work on my Slayers Hero project. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OddHat Posted January 12, 2007 Report Share Posted January 12, 2007 Re: A Thread for Random Musings RAW is dead. I really liked his stuff when I was a teen. It was wild and weird. I felt like I was learning. These days I just can't seem to enjoy it. I usually get irritated by people who have a philosophical or spiritual message and a lesson to share, even when they're good story tellers. There are exceptions; CS Lewis speaking out of genuine scholarship, David Gemmell speaking out of genuine experience. Maybe it's dilettante philosophers that I can't take. Except that RAW wasn't that. I dunno. I generally want either a well crafted story or a solid, well referenced book on a hard science. My pleasure in sophism is just gone, as is my pleasure in argument for the sake of argument. I need to build my science background if I'm going to be able to take any pleasure in reading in the coming years, or add some languages. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkdguy Posted January 12, 2007 Report Share Posted January 12, 2007 Re: A Thread for Random Musings I think it would be cool if they used Serenity as one of the vessels in the refugee fleet in Battlestar Galactica. Not integral to a story or even mentioned by name' date=' just show it amongst the other vessels in the fleet during a wide shot. Just there, a fly-on cameo role.[/quote'] Battlestar Wiki Serenity, the central ship from the TV series "Firefly" and the motion picture, "Serenity", appears briefly in the sky outside the window of a doctor's office where viewers first see Laura Roslin. The ship does not appear in the Fleet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoneDaddy Posted January 12, 2007 Report Share Posted January 12, 2007 Re: A Thread for Random Musings When I sleep, I cease observing reality, and everything exists in an undifferentiated state, and all states are simultaneously possible in my dreams. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edsel Posted January 12, 2007 Report Share Posted January 12, 2007 Re: A Thread for Random Musings The ice storm has arrived early, in fact the offices were closed at 10:00 AM this morning due to inclement weather. It is icy outside and sleeting right now. I have my three-day weekend early and intend to do lots of Hero Designer work I haven't had the time to do until now. I just hope we don't suffer a power outage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted January 12, 2007 Report Share Posted January 12, 2007 Re: A Thread for Random Musings This may already be too late for folks in the US, unfortunately, and it's certainly too late for those in Europe. If you have clear weather, and a very clean horizon to the southwest, THIS EVENING, it's probably your last chance to see Comet McNaught. It is about to pop behind the Sun, and it is moving southward fast. The Aussies, and those in the southern extreme of the US, will have another chance in a couple of days, in the morning sky. You will have to be ready and looking AT SUNSET. Elongation is only 6.6 degrees, so it will set very soon after the Sun. You can get info on when your local sunset happens at aa.usno.navy.mil We happen to have it gloriously clear here, so I'm going to scoot early and see if I can get my kids and see it this evening. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bazza Posted January 12, 2007 Report Share Posted January 12, 2007 Re: A Thread for Random Musings I've seen the trailer for Shrek the Third. I. don't. get. it. Shrek was great, a twist of the classic fairy tale. Shrek 2 was just as good. But Shrek 3 just leaves me at a loss. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AliceTheOwl Posted January 13, 2007 Report Share Posted January 13, 2007 Re: A Thread for Random Musings "A jogger runs into a NAMBLA convention. His pedometer explodes." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klytus Posted January 13, 2007 Report Share Posted January 13, 2007 Re: A Thread for Random Musings She's skinnier than a bicycle. I've seen stronger frames on a bicycle. I'm not attracted to bicycles. Doing her would be like doing a bicycle. Why would I want to %#@& a bicycle? Well, OK, between the two, the bicycle has better odds of being able to satisfy me. But still... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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