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A Thread for Random Musings


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Re: A Thread for Random Musings

 

Saw Margaret Cho live this weekend. She led off by mentioning that the LAPD manhunt guy called her one of the most beautiful women in the world on his manifesto. I checked his manifesto and, lo and behold, he actually did. Not the most coherent manifesto I've ever read, though.

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Re: A Thread for Random Musings

 

I get a lot of spam in my work email, naturally. Most are your run of the mill bot-created nonsense, often in a foreign language. Sometimes one really stands out, though. I got this today:

 

Hi,

I am Elena. 22 years old from Russia

Share the year ahead with me!

Let�s jump on our next stepping stones.

 

You can see some of my new photos here

 

Get in touch soon!

Will you be my Valentine?

 

I�m waiting

 

to unsubscribe click here

 

This stands out for a couple reasons. First, it is NOT the usual stuff in my library inbox. Second, it actually has the balls to include an unsubscribe link as if it were somehow legitimate. Third, the email address that sent this message? randomletters@preventblindnesswisconsin.org. :nonp::lol:

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Re: A Thread for Random Musings

 

Just back from a dinner thrown for the kids in the fourth term, trying to entice them to choose our hospital for their clinical terms (post-term five). I felt my age when I discovered those sitting at my table were born in '92. I graduated high school in '94.

 

I bet I'll find some more grey hairs in my beard tomorrow.

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Re: A Thread for Random Musings

 

Good a place as any to drop this-

 

Been playing Aliens: Colonial Marines all day. Does not deserve the roasting it received from critics. It captures the setting of the movie Aliens very well. The campaign is only like six hours probably as long as you don't count all the times you die and respawn for another go. I'm playing on Recruit level just so I can go through the whole story. I'm interested to see how it plays out. I expect playing campaign mode co-op with others would make thing easier as more players would give more intelligent gunners on the field. You are railroaded along their story, but no more so than Halo or Gears of War IMO, though I think those games may have given a longer story. Yuri would be able to speak to that better than I.

 

Gear customization is interesting, allowing you to kit out your weapons to your preferences. For example, a friend prefers laser sights while I like reflex sights better. Sniper scopes don't seem so great but it isn't that kind of game. Swapping weapons is done in real time with radial sub-menus so that can be frustrating. You unlock equipment as you level, and you level by completing missions, killing enemies, finding collectibles such as dogtags and audio logs, and meeting challenges such as multiple head shots with a specific type of weapon or other objectives. Certain challenges also unlock some upgrades. You can also find Legendary weapons such as Hudson's Pulse Rifle or Hick's Shotgun but you can't apply upgrades to hem and I think upgraded weapons are superior to these 'legendary' arms.

 

The xenomorhs don't always run straight at you as some critics have commented though they often will. They will also sometimes run along the walls or ceiling, duck under catwalks or pop in and out of vents. However their movements can become predictable if you're repeating an area. So play can follow a pattern of head in to new area, get ganked by xenos while finding out how they attack, and then return and become the ganker instead of the gankee.

 

Unlike Gearbox's previous success with Borderlands, you only play the one character in this game so replayability is limited. Ultimate Badass mode seems to add the difficulty of no HUD for giving you armor, health and ammo status which mainly seems an exercise in frustration.

 

I haven't tried it yet but multiplayer scenarios consist of marines vs aliens combats. Leveling also helps in multiplayer. As re-playability of the campaign mode is limited I hope the multiplayer picks up. There's DLC expected to come as well so we'll see what that provides.

 

In no way is this a game-of-the-year contender but it's not the stinker reviews have made it out to be. I don't regret my purchase but if you are interested in it you might want to pick it up in a few months when the purchase price drops. OTOH if you have a bunch of friends who love the original Aliens movie who can all play together, you may have a fun time co-oping the campaign. We did so last night and enjoyed the comradery of simulated combay. OTOH, we have multiple Xboxes in the same room and often play simultaneous games together. Not everyone can afford that.

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Re: A Thread for Random Musings

 

Asked in my class this morning:

 

"How many of you are comfortable with your math?"

 

(rather small number of hands)

 

"How many of you are comfortable with your sexuality?"

 

(More hands, though still a small portion of the class)

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Re: A Thread for Random Musings

 

Rock the Vote! :rockon:

 

Please come by and cast your votes in the Uncanny Avengers Superdraft finale. Even if you weren't directly involved, everyone is invited to cast votes.

 

As always, the draft itself is open to everyone to participate, and another will start in March.

 

 

Thanks!

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Re: A Thread for Random Musings

 

Last Friday I got my introduction to Plato that I ordered. The author of the 80 page volume is R. M. Hare which was recommended from another book, also on Plato. I have read about half of it and have found it really interesting and not dull. Unfortunately I haven't picked it up again for a few days, however from what I have read a summary is below:

 

Plato, he thought of the children. Namely how to educate them to live good lives. The children would naturally ask, "why?" and so Plato sought to answer this question posed by the kids into finding out what is "Good"; how do we reliably (and sustainably) know "Good"; then how can we pass this on through education, and also ergo how should a society be structured if governed by Good people. The last part is important as this enables those who have been educated into Good, to pass this onto the next generation and being reliable and sustainable understanding/knowing, this Goodness will cycle from one generation to the next.

 

Plato thought of the children as the solution for the politics of everyman-for-himself in his home city of Athens -- where democracy was born -- Plato, friend of parents.

 

The early chapter on the historical background of Athens in the time just before and during Plato's life really captured and provided impetus to aim (in part) to Plato's philosophy (which I have commented above). I also feel that this motivation to discover a sustainable and reliable understanding of Good that could be taught to children is largely continuing the mission of his mentor Socrates. We know that Socrates was condemned to drink hemlock on trumped up charges of disbelief in the gods and corrupting the young.

 

In many ways I feel that Socrates "corruption of the young" through Plato is still as relevant today as it was then. Yes, the thinking of Plato maybe more than out-of-date but I feel we can follow Plato's process using modern thinking/philosophy* and better answer his question: how do we educate our children to know right from wrong, good from bad (or evil), and structure our society on such an sustainable & reliable answer that can be carried over from one generation to the next?

 

*According to Alfred North Whitehead, "The safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato" (Process and Reality, p. 39, Free Press, 1979).

 

 

So for those who reckon Plato is droll and boring, I hope that this might have made you reconsider said opinion, just a bit.

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Re: A Thread for Random Musings

 

There's a population of students who work very hard but for whatever reason don't achieve the conceptual understanding of the material to do as well as they are used to doing. Whether is is their standard mode of operation or not (and I suspect, but cannot know, that these people do not have the necessary cognitive tools to make the jump), a common response is to try to mechanize every problem, to memorize all of the relevant physics, and compensate by exhaustion for the lack of insight that makes impossible the perception of the unity, beauty and simplicity of physics. This style of problem-solving is doomed to failure, but not for lack of trying. They cling to the only faith they have, that working as they have always worked will see them through. And that faith is misplaced.

 

The last despairing stage of their efforts, which boil down to their attempts to get the instructor (or tutor or whatever source they can reach) to provide them with a complete cookbook, one problem at a time, is exhausting for instructors, too. We have seen it before. We know it is futile. We know that physical insight is one of understanding, not rote, though no small amount of retention is needed to reach that state of understanding. But the bulldozer method always fails when what is needed is a leap, and its failure lies not in the bulldozer but a refusal to admit that the bulldozer is not the tool to solve all problems.

 

There's a lot of demolished bulldozers lying charred at the bottom of Electromagnetism Gulch.

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Re: A Thread for Random Musings

 

Message to Las Vegas Tourists:

When driving south on Gillespie to return your rent-a-cars to the McCarran Airport rent-a-car center, the car complex is the building just south of the freeway bridge, on the right-hand (west) side of the street. That means that to enter the car lot, you need to be in the right lane, because the turn lane is the one ON THE RIGHT. To repeat: THE TURN LANE IS THE ONE ON THE RIGHT. That means it is not necessary to drive the entire length of the street in the left-hand lane and then, just as you're about to pass the car lot, suddenly correct by cutting across three whole lanes of traffic with no warning whatsoever, thereby threatening to cause a multi-vehicle rear-end collision with every other driver behind you, all of whom had slightly less clue of what you were doing than you did.

So to avoid such danger on a future visit, remember: Be in the right hand lane before you cross the freeway bridge to enter the rent-a-car lot, because - to repeat once more for emphasis - THE TURN LANE IS THE ONE ON THE RIGHT.

Thanks for visiting. As a reminder, McCarran Airport contains several gift shops where you can purchase boxes of CrackerJack, which may allow you to obtain a state driver's license.

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