For what I use the computer for none of the crazy cooling or graphics cards are necessary. Wow Spider Solitaire in HD! I can see the nosehairs of the Queen of Hearts!
With the internal CD-DVD it's a registry error so the drive works just there's an error with the computer recognizing that it's there. I got three weeks of buffer on the comic so got to hurry.
On Skull and crossbones as cavalry as opposed to pirate… pirate flags predate European Deathshead hussars by at least 50 years. THe first hussars were Hungarians and Poles in unorganized bands and not a skull in sight in the uniforms I've seen form the late 17th and first decades of the 18th century when the skull and crossbones became associated with pirates. Though skull and crossbones may as pirate ensigns go back to the 16th century? And back then no self-respecting cavalryman would have worn a skull. Too morbid with the plague association. What self-respecting prince would hire the Black Skull mercenary company? Um we're the good guys and these are ostensively the Wars of religion? We're not the plague here, no need to be so freaking obvious about looting, raping and pestilence in the wake of the armies.
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Comic Talk and General Discussion *
2015 Rant/Share/General Discussion thread
The skull and crossbones symbol for cavalry goes as far back as at least 1630 as a symbol of the Bavarian Cronburger Cuirassiers, recorded instances of pirate usage are later and then only for a relatively breif time, but that's not what I meant at all. :)
What I was aluding to was the fact it was being used as a military symbol on the aircraft, and you can trace its use as a military symbol in a direct line to those old cavalry units where it's use was popularised and spread from.
The US craft, while part of the navy, are still military and their role is more like cavalry than anything else… just like all the planes beofre them that wore the symbol.
Classic pirates with the black flag were only around for a short
time, but that exact symbol has been in use by land militaries for hundreds
of years and with many units today, in the US, the UK and elsewhere.
In the popular mind the name "jolly roger" and the pirate association sticks… I imagne that's because of the rommantic image popularised by various writers and illustrators, and later movie makers in the 20th century.
Part of our modern mythology!
There's evidence that the English Sea Dogs of the 1500's used skull and crossbone ensigns when raiding Spanish shipping. And Mediterranean pirates going back still farther with skull insignia. Only fitting those Bavarian guys used it in 1630 in the 30 Years War. Talk about death stalking the land.
But flyers being cavalry goes back to the very origins of military aviation. After all Richtoffen was a cavalryman. You couldn't ride in WWI due to the trenches so fly instead. That famed RFC crossover officers jacket was borrowed from the cavalry.
But Navy flyers aren't cavalry. No horses on an aircraft carrier. The first navy fliers flew sea planes, certainly nothing in common with cavalry except in the mind of the most romantic land-lubber. They see themselves as along the lines of Sea raiders. Sea raiders didn't come with horses, they stole them when on shore and used them only for transportation not to ride aorund like some like gay cavalier. Nope, Navy flyers are not cavalry. The Air Farce on the other hand?
Yeah they started out as the US Army Air Corps as part of the Signal Corps. Oh yeah US Flyers are signalsmen! Yeah we'll let the cavalry join the Army Air Corps. After all the facing color of signals is orange the original branch color of the US Dragoons. 
Okay it's more a scarlet red, but really orange is orange and red is red.
Oh Jesus, the first page of the new rant thread and you two are at it already.
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Are there paints that do as many cool things as eyeshadows do? I've been playing around with some of the loose eyeshadows I got for Christmas and it's really neat seeing how much they change with and without primer, layered with other shadows, etc. It's hard to capture the colours accurately with a photograph, but this is the same shadow on my inner eyelid and in the inner corner of my eye. By itself on the skin it's a bright, shiny golden teal. The bit on the lid is layered over a light dusty rose colour, which to my surprise seems to have completely changed it into a near-matte periwinkle blue.
ARGH. After that other package I was waiting on got lost, the sellers sent me a new one. I went to check the tracking today and apparently it was "delivered at 12:43pm". Except that I've been home literally all day, and it's now 3:06pm and there is no package. WTF? I really, really hope this one isn't lost as well. If I hadn't been home I might have thought that someone stole it off our front stoop, but no one ever knocked. And apparently our local post office doesn't have a phone (even more WTF), so now I have to put real not-pajamas clothes on and walk in -24C to harass them and see if they have my package.
ozoneocean wrote:I like listening to dutch people speak English. It's a fantastic accent.Mitchel and Webb do a good parody: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DY-Zdgo0OXoMr Jan Hankl looks how you image someone with that accent would. :D—-
To English speakers, the British sound more intelligent, right? Well, to me, Texans sound a little less intelligent, but more passionate and enthousiastic. Aussies sound closer, more fraternal, if a little less interested in the things you're saying. The Indian accent sounds more efficient, less letters are wasted or stretched. The French accent sounds to me like more areas of the mouth are needed to pronounce the individual letters, as if the word has been rolling around the mouth for a while. Scottish sounds a bit like the words are running at you very enthousiastically, dropping some of their letters on the way. Russians speak English without leaders, every syllable doing the same amount of work, and spreading out to make the words into a solid block.
Every one of those accents, and all their infinite variations, are, to me at least, very interesting to listen to. Dutchlish, or Englutch, is horrible. Even the most intelligent individual sounds like an idiot, and even the most passionate person sounds bland and empty. I'm not sure there is anyone else still stumbling around this forum that is not a native english speaker, but I'm sure they feel the same way about their own portmanteau languages. Listening to Quackcast episode 39, the one I did about world building with Skoolmunkee, is an especially horrible experience for me. I sound like a toddler, that's attempting to learn the English language as he's speaking it…
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I think that the Radioplay for 2015 is going to be awesome! People have been showing a lot of support, and I'm glad that some people want to write. Check out the thread, if you're interested! And please help notify everyone and anyone that might want to join, but might not know about it.
vladimirmasters wrote:I drank for the first time on new years and realised having a few bevs isn't so bad so now i've accidentally drank every night this year so far
There's nothing wrong with a drink every now and then, depending on your age and health of course, but it should not be needed in times of great joy or great sorrow. Alcohol numbs, and even the slightest bit of abuse will take both the highs and lows out of your life. Nietzsche has some interesting thoughts on the subject, worth a google.
I found my parcel! My dad came home and let the dog into the backyard and found it on the back steps. Which is super weird, because our backyard is totally fenced off. The mail carrier had to walk all the way to the back and open the gate, rather than just sticking it between the two doors like they usually do. And apparently never knocked, or at least not loud enough for me to hear from upstairs. Anyways, I'm glad I finally got it!
Kroatz wrote:
There's nothing wrong with a drink every now and then, depending on your age and health of course, but it should not be needed in times of great joy or great sorrow. Alcohol numbs, and even the slightest bit of abuse will take both the highs and lows out of your life. Nietzsche has some interesting thoughts on the subject, worth a google.
I think I'm one of the few people who just doesn't enjoy drinking very much. I don't mind having a single drink just so I'm not the weird person not drinking, but I find that my motor skills are the first thing affected past two drinks and I hate that feeling. Being around drunk people when you're sober is also the worst, so I tend to avoid the kind of occasions where people will be drinking a lot.
Kroatz wrote:
Hey Kawaii, jij ook een gelukkig nieuwjaar! Hopelijk hou je de goede voornemens een tijdje vol! Ik moet zeggen dat het een apart gevoel is om Nederlands op deze site te zien verschijnen.
Dank je wel Kroatz! Je hebt een goede beheersing van de Engelse taal in woord en geschrift. Ik ben altijd onder de indruk van de Quackcasts (#39 & #67). Over het algemeen, Nederlands is echt een heel mooi klinkende taal.
In all my travels, the countries that did not have English as the main language have been my favorite. It forces me to use other forms of communication like hand gestures, body language, pointing at brochures/photographs, and even drawing out what I am trying to convey. The world is so large and very diverse, but true linguists have the key to unlocking many cultures and making that world smaller (Eén taal is nooit genoeg). Here in the States, we are given a choice between a few Romance languages (French or Spanish) in high school and a broader selection at the University level. Unfortunately, the beginner classes teach useful phrases for getting around while for travel, but it takes a lot of commitment and a more in-depth study to be able to carry on a philisophical discussion in a foreign language.
I do like how certain Dutch words sound very similar to English such as "Hallo" to say "Hello" and "Sorry" for "Sorry".
HippieVan wrote:
eyeshadow pic
Did you use a liquid eyeliner pen for the upper lid? It is so difficult to master that fine, sharp point at the end, and you successfully executed it in the photo! Color blending can be trial and error because there is no universal approach. Everybody's eye shape is different and certain colors pair with skintones uniquely.
It is a good thing that your parcel finally arrived. Maybe you will find the first package somewhere in your backyard. I just hope you did not have to put on your winter gear and trek to the post office in the snow.
kawaiidaigakusei wrote:
Did you use a liquid eyeliner pen for the upper lid? It is so difficult to master that fine, sharp point at the end, and you successfully executed it in the photo! Color blending can be trial and error because there is no universal approach. Everybody's eye shape is different and certain colors pair with skintones uniquely.
It is a good thing that your parcel finally arrived. Maybe you will find the first package somewhere in your backyard. I just hope you did not have to put on your winter gear and trek to the post office in the snow.
Fortunately I was feeling lazy, so I hadn't gone to the post office yet when I found it! Ha, that wouldn't be too surprising. We always find interesting things when the snow melts come spring. "
Thanks! Liquid eyeliner is my mortal enemy, I always use a cream eyeliner with a very thin brush. Or sometimes eyeshadow applied with a damp brush if I want a different colour. I find the difficult part is matching the angle and size of the wing on both eyes!
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I've been watching Canada's "Border Security" show. It's pretty good, actually, although I've put it down in the past because I think it's a bit trashy for the Canadian government to do a reality show. My favourite parts are the land crossings, because of all the Americans who don't understand why they can't bring all their crazy guns into Canada. Sometimes the BSOs will ask a question like "Why are you travelling with weapons?" and get back a funny blank stare, like they don't understand why they wouldn't bring their handgun to a foreign country.
Well, I got my scanner set up. Now I can just use old fashioned paper and pencil to draw. For some odd reason GIMP won't detect my tablet as a tablet. Sure I can use it, but I can't use my tablet's pen pressure abilities in it…
I guess it's time to actually go shopping for a new drawing program that works with Windows 8.1…
Edit:
Now that's a pleasant surprise. I still have my old copy of Manga Studio Debut 3.0. And it works (my old standby Micrographx Picture Publisher 5 can't work with Windows 8.1)! It took some messing around with the files, but now it's installed. Now let's hope nothing else goes wrong…
Today is my eleventh web anniversary (or rather my Drunk Duck anniversary at that!) My comic has been on here for eleven years now!!!
I made a poster, but I don't think anyone here cares about that. Just thought I'd drop in and say hi after the update, attempt to be social and whatnot, my excitement for the anniversary outweighs the usual crippling anxiety that causes me to type here then delete it. That and I'm dead tired, I worked on the gigantic poster for…I lost count how many days straight. I don't even care, everything hurts. but YAY I'm done with it! anniversary day!
In other news, my cats are trying to kill me, I just got done healing some vicious cat-bites and then a cat dropped the door-scratcher like a guillotine directly on my index toe. It's a fantstic shade of purple right now, but it could be worse….
HippieVan wrote:
Oh Jesus, the first page of the new rant thread and you two are at it already.
HAHAHAHAHA! Best post of the year! :D
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Re Drinking-
When you're that age you enjoy it the most I find. So live it up and have fun with it! Don't make yourself too sick or anything though.
I rarely drink at all these days, but when I do it's with good firends. It's great in that environment.
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@Kroatz-
No way man! YOU along with Abht Nhil have the best speaking voice we've had on the Quackcast. After that cast even Skoolmunke mentioned to me how cool you sounded.
You and Abt are our manlier Euro versoins of NickyP. (McDuff)
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@Amelius!-
Congrats on the massive aniversary! I know what it's like to have completed a piece of work you've spent ages on and that poster is an AWESOME piece of work! That represents so much time and effort and it's a magnificent piece. All the characters are fully recognisable and the artwork on them is lovely!
Seems some of us changed our seasonal avatars too soon.
Today is Twelfth Night. And tomorrow January 7 marks the OFFICAL End of Christmas celebration being Orthadox Christmas. So put that holiday avatar back up, the season ain't over yet! Look at that wonderful 18th Century spread for Twelfth Night. And great period music, just makes me all Colonial Williamsburg all over.
@Kawaii:
Dutch. Weird. I welcome and really appreciate the added difficulty of answering me in my native tongue, but still… Weird. It feels a bit like running into someone you know in a place where you'd never expect meeting them. Like a friend from work suddenly standing in your bathroom, or your grandmother appearing on stage at a rock concert.
The internet is a foreign country to me. People speak in weird languages (1337, lolcats, memes, urls, and worst of all: Hashtags), they look different (150x150px), and a lot of them have weird traditions that I do not know the origin or the purpose of. I have a deep love for the culture, and I learn something every time I visit, but the web is not my home.
I find it quite sad that a large portion of the world speaks only one language. It not only limits how easy you can make contact with the world around you, but it also limits your actual thoughts. Newspeak, as conceived by G. Orwell, has only two words to describe temperature: Cold and Uncold. Removing warm, and hot, and cool, lukewarm, chilly, freezing, and any other words to describe temperature from language means that the precise meaning of those words can no longer be thought. It is impossible to think of something that you have no words for in the same way that you can if you do. Also, think of every meaning of the word 'sure', or 'cool', or 'fall'. Your mind can make more connections, and think of bigger concepts, the more words you get. There are words in Dutch that do not exist in English, and the other way around. Leedvermaak, meaning Schadenfreude, or the feeling of joy you feel at someone else's misfortune, does not (or at least no longer) exist in English. The word Cozy has the same problem, we Dutch people have the word Gezellig, but the two circles of their Venn-Diagram only overlap a little bit.
And a good philosophical discussion is hard to have in any language. Most people have no idea what you're talking about, or don't care, or get violently dismissive, or immediately adhere to your point of view, or simply parrot their favorite writers, or speak in circles, or do any of a thousand other annoying things, instead of staying calm and listening, thinking, rethinking, and only then reacting. I find myself constantly falling in the trap of copying what smarter people say, and only thinking when someone finds a flaw in my copied reasoning. It's a blessing when someone calls my cowpoo.
In short, yes Kawaii, you make some good points. And a lot less long winded than I.
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@Hippievan:
I think I know what you mean, about the boozing. I'm not a really physical person myself, and any changes to my motor functions would not be noticed, but I can actually feel my brain being filled with fog. Often people will encourage me to drink more, and it always feels a bit like an insult.As if I'm not pleasant enough to hang out with while I'm still myself. As if people need me to be less, or at least different, from sober Kroatz. And that is exactly why I prefer to stay away from inebriated folk, they are less, and different, from their actual selves, and if I like you while you're sober, there's no way that a drunk version could ever be liked more by me.
Also, pretty make up. Not something I have any real knowledge of, and it's funny that there is a whole field of art I know nothing, at all, about. I don't often look people in the eyes (because I don't want them looking back) but I'll be trying to see if there's anyone with elaborate eye make up around me, a little personal expression I never noticed.
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@Amelius:
I love your work, and have periodically binged on another batch of Charby pages ever since I joined DD. I'm glad you're still around, and would like to congratulate you on your anniversary! Here's hoping that both yourself and DD will still be productive, amazing, and alive in another 11 years, even though, after reading about the sinister schemes and plots of your cats, that does not seem very likely. Sleep with both eyes open, and an emergency laser light under your pillow, in case of a rising need for cat-distraction.
Also, would you be interested in aiding your fellow DD'ers in an amazing community project? Someone of your considerable talents would be very much welcomed among the Quackcast-cast. Check out the thread if you're interested, or shoot me a PQ.
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@Oz, the great and powerful:
I loved being on the Quackcast, but to my own ears, I did not sound cool. My area of expertise is probably doing research, and writing, and most definitely not talking. But I thank you for the compliment anyway. Also… Manly? I guess I have the parts to qualify, but that is not a term that I am normally associated with.
Also, I'd be honored if you would lend some of your time or influence to the Radioplay as well. Please look at the thread, or send me a PQ? I'm imagining you and Banes as writing partners, and I'm already giddy.
HippieVan wrote:
I've been watching Canada's "Border Security" show. It's pretty good, actually, although I've put it down in the past because I think it's a bit trashy for the Canadian government to do a reality show.
I sat down and watched the entire episode after you posted that link. It reminded me of all those border or customs lines and worried if I had any food in my luggage. I tend to take rules like that seriously, so just for piece of mind, I end up dumping anything that could be considered contraband before crossing the gates.
I felt bad for the international student who was carrying an excess of money and was fined $250. I thought it was unfair considering she was a student and probably needed that money for tuition, room and board, and might not have had a Canadian bank account. I laughed at the part with the Asian lady's bag full of Chinese sausages. I did think the $1,300 fine for having them in her bag was outrageous. It was bad enough they confiscated the meat products because she was probably going to give them as gifts, however having to pay additional money is a bummer.
Amelius wrote:
I made a poster…but YAY I'm done with it! anniversary day!
Wow! I checked out the Charby poster and it is a very admirable piece of work. The resolution is so high, you must have a very powerful machine to color a file that big. My favorite part about it is that it shows character proportion in relation to each other. The large ones in the back are just so cute!
ozoneocean wrote:
(Kroatz) along with Abht Nhil have the best speaking voice we've had on the Quackcast. After that cast even Skoolmunke mentioned to me how cool you sounded.
(Kroatz) and Abt are our manlier Euro versoins of NickyP. (McDuff)
I agree, but don't downplay your own vocal abilities, Oz. Your Western Australian accent is rather high up on the list near Abt_Nihil and Kroatz for the Quackcast rankings of sexy male accents.
And the Holiday season finally wraps up with Orthadox Christmas. I grew up with this and before being banned from church used to attend services for "little Chirstmas" My grandmother kept an icon in her room and a Gregorian calendar from the church in Olyphant where her sisters and brothers lived. So even if not a church attendee it was still in the house. Somethng about the art of an icon is soothing or maybe those are my childhood memories of my grandmother.
If you've never been to an Orthadox service, don't go. The incense burns your eyes and the service is sung in a sort of toneless chant. Though Orthadox beliefs surprisingly make a bit more sense than Catholic catechism. In one of my more bored moments I read the Catholic catechism and it is full of the Medieval nonsense I remmebered form my Medieval Studies classes. The Orthadox Chruch doesn't get as hung up on the perpetual virginity of Mary or the three-in-one Trinity silliness or the literal transsubstaniation that would cause so many problems in the Reformation/Counter-Reformation. I know that if I had lived in another more faithful era I probably would be a clergyman.
Well, got my OLD winxp computer running again. However, while installing CPU temperature monitor software I got some malware called Start MySearch. Made an attempt to uninstall the thing using Window XP's program uninstaller, but instead it installed even MORE malware into the system. Time for another reformat… T_T
Kroatz wrote:
Also, pretty make up. Not something I have any real knowledge of, and it's funny that there is a whole field of art I know nothing, at all, about. I don't often look people in the eyes (because I don't want them looking back) but I'll be trying to see if there's anyone with elaborate eye make up around me, a little personal expression I never noticed.
Thanks! I think that's why I got into makeup - I don't have as much time as I would like for drawing these days, but I almost always have a few minutes to do something pretty on my face in the morning.
kawaiidaigakuseiwrote:
I felt bad for the international student who was carrying an excess of money and was fined $250. I thought it was unfair considering she was a student and probably needed that money for tuition, room and board, and might not have had a Canadian bank account. I laughed at the part with the Asian lady's bag full of Chinese sausages. I did think the $1,300 fine for having them in her bag was outrageous. It was bad enough they confiscated the meat products because she was probably going to give them as gifts, however having to pay additional money is a bummer.
You're actually allowed to carry as much money as you want, the only issue was that she didn't declare it. Generally if you're carrying more than $10,000 it just takes a few minutes longer because they ask some extra questions about why you have the money, where it came from and so on to ensure it's not the proceeds of crime. So honestly, she probably knew she had more money than she was supposed to and didn't declare it because of the hassle. Which I can empathize with, but it's definitely not a good idea. I once accidentally left a half-empty bottle of grapefruit juice in my carry-on bag and the woman at security pulled it out and gave me a death glare - it was pretty scary.
For whatever reason Chinese residents/tourists bringing back meat seems to be incredibly common! That's probably why the fine is so high - they want to discourage it. Even if people coming from abroad bring meat sandwiches they'll get confiscated, so there was no way she was going to be allowed to keep it. I think mad cow, avian flu etc. are probably the cause of the seemingly excessive caution there. I still always feel bad for the people who get fined for meat, though - usually they just seem clueless about why that wouldn't be okay.
Kroatzwrote:
There are words in Dutch that do not exist in English, and the other way around. Leedvermaak, meaning Schadenfreude, or the feeling of joy you feel at someone else's misfortune, does not (or at least no longer) exist in English. The word Cozy has the same problem, we Dutch people have the word Gezellig, but the two circles of their Venn-Diagram only overlap a little bit.
This is probably my favourite part of knowing a second language - being able to borrow words from the second when the first doesn't suffice. My dad has been learning French recently and he has a hard time with it because as a beginner he wants straight translations for every word and expression, and that doesn't always exist. Like the word "peine," which I was trying to explain to him the other day. The closest I could think of was "trouble," but it's really more a combination of time, effort, suffering. You could say "Ça ne vaut pas la peine," (which I would translate as "It's not worth the effort") or "Ça me fait de la peine," ("It's causing me grief"), etc.
Or "apprivoiser," which is a lovely little word used most famously in "Le Petit Prince." In the English version it's translated as "to tame," but I've always understood it more as meaning the act of creating a relationship with someone so that they like and trust you.
Kroatz wrote:And this is also accounts for most of the differences between American English and British English, the influence of the Dutch and Germans. The American English cookie is a prime example being from New York area Dutch.
There are words in Dutch that do not exist in English, and the other way around. Leedvermaak, meaning Schadenfreude, or the feeling of joy you feel at someone else's misfortune, does not (or at least no longer) exist in English.
Many Germanic compounds like schadenfreude translate as a phrase in English not words because the German compound word is a phrase all-in-one. Schadenfreude literally is shame + pleasure so in English it's the shameful pleasure at another's anguish. Mabye we'll start a push to have shaleasure recognized as shadenfreude auf English.
Like Panzerkampfwagen in English is the three words Armored Fighting Vehicle and in German it's just one word. English breaks down big German compound words into bite size words.
Kroatz wrote:
I find it quite sad that a large portion of the world speaks only one language. It not only limits how easy you can make contact with the world around you, but it also limits your actual thoughts. Newspeak, as conceived by G. Orwell, has only two words to describe temperature: Cold and Uncold. Removing warm, and hot, and cool, lukewarm, chilly, freezing, and any other words to describe temperature from language means that the precise meaning of those words can no longer be thought. It is impossible to think of something that you have no words for in the same way that you can if you do. Also, think of every meaning of the word ‘sure’, or ‘cool’, or ‘fall’. Your mind can make more connections, and think of bigger concepts, the more words you get. There are words in Dutch that do not exist in English, and the other way around. Leedvermaak, meaning Schadenfreude, or the feeling of joy you feel at someone else's misfortune, does not (or at least no longer) exist in English. The word Cozy has the same problem, we Dutch people have the word Gezellig, but the two circles of their Venn-Diagram only overlap a little bit.
And a good philosophical discussion is hard to have in any language. Most people have no idea what you're talking about, or don't care, or get violently dismissive, or immediately adhere to your point of view, or simply parrot their favorite writers, or speak in circles, or do any of a thousand other annoying things, instead of staying calm and listening, thinking, rethinking, and only then reacting. I find myself constantly falling in the trap of copying what smarter people say, and only thinking when someone finds a flaw in my copied reasoning. It's a blessing when someone calls my cowpoo.
The first English word equivalent for Leedvermaak that came to mind was "Sadist" or "Sadism" but they are different because of the types of feeling they evoke from another's suffering. A sadist derives more physical pleasure than joy when witnessing pain. I believe I have experienced leedvermaak on multiple occasions, but I would always attribute that joyful feeling to "nervous laughter". Laughing or smiling at inappropriate times sends out a mixed message that others might translate as a lack of empathy, or a desensitization to other's feelings, but I think it is a defense mechanism during times of high stress.
On the topic of newspeak-the language invented as a means to prevent thoughtcrimes-Winston Smith's job was to go through old texts/newspapers and censor outdated oldspeak terms. He was rewriting history or just removing all the records of it so future generations of Inner Party and Outer Party members would have no recollection on concepts that were outlawed. The happiest Class in 1984 were the proles because they did not adhere to the same rigorous surveillance, were relatively carefree, and could still use oldspeak.
Nineteen Eighty-Four became my favorite book after I had spent a year abroad living in a Communist country. It was a lot less romanticized than the ideal manifesto of Marx and Engels. Instead it was a fishbowl of sorts. The Internet was heavily censored, there were surveillance cameras in every public space (metro, shopping mall, hotel), and I even had a feeling there was a surveillance camera in my bedroom. The ideas George Orwell conceived are not far-fetched because it is the reality in certain countries.
Philosophy is a difficult topic to discuss in public with other people. I enjoy the light-heartedness of Plato's Symposium, where a gathering of Greek philosophers tell stories of the origin of "love", set in front of a backdrop of a bacchanal. But when a person places a chair on a table and asks "How do you know it is a chair?" followed by a general discussion about existence and the reason for being, then my mind goes into weird places and I have to take a break before it implodes.
You mentioned earlier that you have been reading Nietzsche. Übermensches aside, I like his take on highlighting the arts and humanities. I do agree with his take on alcohol consumption. I believe it is better to stay hydrated with water than to have Cirrhosis of the liver and delirium tremens. These days, I just reject the first drink because it has negative effects on most of the vital organs. Anytime someone claims that everyone in a group should be on the same level of intoxication to have a good time is probably a sign to make wiser choices when selecting friends.
Hello from a very sleepy tourist. I'm tapping on my kindle from the balcony of our hotel room (at the speed of tar) in Old San Juan, which is across the one lane cobblestone street from what must be a very popular night club. I think I had 2 hours of sleep, but then awoke for the day when heavy vehicles started lumbering by.
So PR is part of the U.S. but it's utterly different than NJ, and in January this spells paradise, if one can at least temporarily let go of the belief that sleep is a necessity. And it also serves as a nice framework to your discussion of language and communication. Frankly, over and over, I see words as getting in the way of communication, but they're the best go-to we have until an easy Vulcan mind meld becomes popular – via the internet. Hahaha, the internet. Where only Banes can really incorporate the twinkle of an eye on his posts, although I think Ironscarf comes close
I Just started duolingo Spanish (www.duolingo.com is FANTASTIC!!! Check it out), but I have gotten so much more mileage with my repertoire of smiles than I think a linguistic proficiency would provide. It's so important to immerse oneself in something new to create those brand new synapses that are required for enlarging, deepening oneself, and learning a new language is a great way to do it.
Mms, me so sleepy – but apparently there are amazing caves to explore, so bye for now.
Kroatz wrote:I'll definitely look into it!
There's nothing wrong with a drink every now and then, depending on your age and health of course, but it should not be needed in times of great joy or great sorrow. Alcohol numbs, and even the slightest bit of abuse will take both the highs and lows out of your life. Nietzsche has some interesting thoughts on the subject, worth a google.
I'm being careful and not drinking to a large extent I'm mostly just proud of myself conquering a weird fear of the stuff that I had
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