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The Interactive Fiction Community
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| free will vs. determinism |
[Sep. 5th, 2008|05:05 pm] |
I just ordered a course from The Teaching Company on the subject. I have long been interested in this paradoxical topic. Here's a sample of the paradox. From an ad for the course:Contemporary philosophers: Saul Smilansky, for example, believes that we do not have free will but that we must keep it a secret from the masses. If all people knew their behavior was determined, they would stop behaving morally, he believes. But if our actions are determined, then we have no control over whether this secret gets out to the masses or not... |
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| Bloody Mallory |
[Sep. 5th, 2008|02:41 pm] |
Imagine what would happen if French action cinema clashed with live-action anime and Joss Whedon-esque production values.. and throw in a bit of Lovecraft, Scanners, and The Invisibles. No, wait.. you don't have to imagine it. You can view it here:
Bloody Mallory
How can any movie with a hot Catalanian priest and a tranny with machine gun platforms be wrong? |
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| Little Holmes/Watson Pic |
[Sep. 5th, 2008|08:37 pm] |
I didn't get beyond the scribbles and airbrush stage, but I thought it had some cute factor, so...
( nekkid detectivey cuddles beyond ) |
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| what friends do (or: what I did on my summer vacation) |
[Sep. 5th, 2008|03:03 pm] |
I also wanted to say what a fantastic, staunch, courageous, tender friend I have in Tina.
My car broke down on the way up to Wiawaka for the WOOL retreat she organises. I barely got it off the highway in time and limped it to the Firestone place I happened to see, thank the gods. It was overheating in a major way. I'd lost about 2 gallons of antifreeze and the heat broke the thermostat, so bad things were happening. If I'd kept driving north-bound I would have killed the car and perhaps myself... The getting off the highway, looking for somewhere to stop-- that was frightening.
The repair cost almost exactly what I had saved to cover my stay at the Lake. I could not do both, and obviously I could not *not* repair the car... so I called T from the mechanics' phone and left her a message: I could not make it, I would drive home when my car was back on its wheels; but have a great time, pass on my love, etc. I think I was crying when I left the message; I was bitterly disappointed, and also still shaken up.
Less than fifteen minutes later, as I'm trying to concentrate on Simone de Beauvoir (lots of notes in the margins, lol) the phone rings and the little teenager at the counter says it's for me. I am confused, wondering if maybe Am got my message and is calling me to tell me to hang in there. But it's T. I'm surprised again, but grateful she called to probably tell me the same thing.
But instead, she said: just come. She said she knew how disappointed she'd be in that circumstance, and that she'd handle it. We'll figure out a way to cover it, she said. Take up a collection, something. She was amazing. I know she put a lot of it in herself, if not all-- and I don't know how to repay her right now except to love her back. And maybe break in from time to time and clean her house... ;)
Tina, THANK YOU. From the depths of my whole self, I do thank you. Being up at the lake was SO what I needed, and despite my qualms about the large group I really had a nice time with everyone. I'm so glad I got to be there with you. And I'm so proud of you for the way you put this together to last, and plan to keep pulling it off for the next thirty years. *grin* You're awesome-- a superhero. Thank you for being my hero sometimes, and thank you for being my friend all the time.
Love, me.
If you don't read T's blog, you should... right now the first entry up is a photo essay full of captured memories of WOOL 'o8, the second annual event, the second of many, many more. Heh, you all should go next year. We'll teach you to knit while you're there. ;) This year, though, I had a wonderful time, got the rest and renewal I needed, made a couple of friends (! me!) and on top of that my car is fixed and will now (I hope!) pass inspection. 'Tis well. :D
And on top of all ThAT, I have such a friend. Tina is generous, just, tender and tough; she can fence with words or she can bind up wounds with them; and if she chooses you as a friend you are blessed beyond expression. She speaks her own language, and you might have to learn how to communicate with her, you might trip on difficulties that all friends have, you might feel the intensity of both your emotion and hers and be overwhelmed every once in a while. But she's worth every step of getting to know her. She's precious, her friendship to be treasured. She's the best friend you might ever have.
ANd I'm not just saying that because of WOOL. :p |
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| breathing |
[Sep. 5th, 2008|02:54 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | aye & mi, ordinary shoes | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  honestly okay | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | alanis morissette: what i really want (acoustic) | ] |
I got them to put me back on my old meds.
Only slightly better, I guess... They actually left me on the stronger dose of the one med, and put me back on the other. It sucks that it took them a week (and a long weekend, and I mean four-day, but also l-o-n-g for me) to realise that this was what they needed to do... but in the end I got through to the doctor, and he said basically what I was saying: I've been taking this stuff for years and been fine, and the amount of pain I was in was unacceptable and worth the risk if I say so (which I do). And now things are better. Instead of hovering on the 9 mark on the painscale I am bakc to my old 6 to 8.5 fluctuation routine, living somewhere around 7.5.
This might sound horrendous to you still, but let me tell you, the difference between 7 and 9 is HUGE. It's the ability to think, to move, to process words, to breathe without searing pain-- to do things other than lie on the bed in a ball trying not to cry or scream. Believe you me, this is nearly heaven. If I ever get down to a 5, I will throw a party, LOL. I will feel that happy. I could live the rest of my life at 5 and just be damned grateful.
As I am now: really, really grateful. *breathes* Oh, it's nice to breathe. |
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| Summed up nicely |
[Sep. 5th, 2008|11:55 am] |
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Sarah Palin is Tina Fey's face with Julia Sweeney's voice and Dick Cheney's political policies. |
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| :O |
[Sep. 5th, 2008|03:08 pm] |
I just asked Fire.fm to play me the "DragonForce" tag radio and...
...
It Rickrolled me!
D: |
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| 15 minutes of fame for a California junior high school |
[Sep. 5th, 2008|08:52 am] |
Talking Points Memo uncovers what looks like an embarrassing goof on the part of the producers of last night's acceptance speech: Instead of putting up a photo of Walter Reed Army Medical Center in the background, they gave McCain a shot of Walter Reed Middle School instead. |
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| Uh Oh, Flamingo! |
[Sep. 5th, 2008|09:07 am] |
In regards to this show, Owen Only's mom = MILF and Bird Brain = LILF. Certainly this is a show of high quality which I initially overlooked as dumb due to appearance. Off the top of my head, I thought the same of Inu Yasha, and probably other great ones. So I'm glad I took some time to watch it.
Of course, BB likes the Captain, and that's got to be respected. I tell ya, if there's one thing that's lovely, it's a loli in love, and if she must be smitten with someone it may as well be some neandering goodhearted shota rather than some bad boy pop star or whatever which tends to be annoying and stuff. Honestly, I wonder, if a loli ever liked me, would that also be annoying? It might... I dunno, it certainly would now, I like a loli with standards and anyone with standards would not be bamboozled.
I wonder if this is why a lot of guys treat girls like shit because they don't respect them for liking them, which is why you often have guys who are losers treating girls badly, and guys who are winners treating them well. Of course, this is not consistant, because there are some very nice losers and some very abusive winners.
This is because some people are very conscientious of trends and reject them (for example, I would like to be a nice loser, and I think I am, until I can be a nicer winner) whereas the abusive winners I guess, maybe they don't get smitten? Or maybe it's some 'hidden pain' or insanity type thing where they value nothing or odd things which lead them to exploit others? I dunno. |
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| OH SHI- |
[Sep. 5th, 2008|12:20 pm] |
This will not end well. |
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| first day of work (public version) |
[Sep. 4th, 2008|11:25 pm] |
First day on the job was draining, as they always are. I was bored after an hour; by lunchtime, I could've sworn I'd been there twice as long as my watch said, and I suffered a bad energy rundown since I hadn't brought a lunch with me (having understood that this training thing was going to be over by lunchtime, which it wasn't). I ate a couple slices of cold pizza that were up for grabs in the lounge, but they seemed to go almost nowhere. I didn't get to go find a proper lunch until almost 4:00.
My jobs will include: ferrying papers thirty feet from office to cubicle or shredder, data entry in Outlook address books, filling in spreadsheets, making appointments and phone calls, sending emails, filing (once I figure out where the hell things are supposed to go), faxing, photocopying, drafting letters, and possibly taking minutes at board meetings. I will frequently go and sit in front of my supervisor and spend a long time taking notes while she dictates what she wants done, in a completely unorganized manner (she will list tasks as she thinks of them, and while she's sorting through the pile of papers on her desk and handing me some of them).
This may be a decent-paying job for a good nonprofit, but it does not look like it is going to be interesting. Unless you consider basic office tasks interesting, which I don't. I can and have done such things before, and inexplicably (to me) it is worth considerably more money per hour to do them than it is to stock shelves or brew lattes, but paper pushing is still not on my list of preferred occupations.
Oh, well. It's only a job, after all. Someday, I dream of being one of those people who hops out of bed happy to start their work in the morning, but right now I am not. For professional pride's sake, I will do the job as well as I am capable of doing, as I do at every job I've had ... I'm not one of those people who shows up at work and then does as little as they can get away with. Frankly, such people are low-class trash, regardless of social standing. They're parasites, and I wasn't born to be a parasite. Or maybe it's just that I have a need to be important to someone, or at least a need to avoid being shamed by failure inadequate performance. But I'm still not working because I like it.
After work, I went to a bookstore and indulged myself by browsing around and reading for a couple hours. That cleared my head enormously after the wearing-down of the day. Books just seem to make life so much better. |
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| Furni still for sale |
[Sep. 4th, 2008|10:31 pm] |
Details here.
UPDATE: The Desk is spoken for. |
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| Idaho Regional 2008 (continued) |
[Sep. 4th, 2008|08:32 pm] |
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Some of the pics that our friends Michael and Nikki took at Crystal Ice Cave and Sullivan's in Idaho are fantastic. Take a look if you have a moment. |
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| Netflix: A Night in Casablanca |
[Sep. 4th, 2008|10:26 pm] |
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This was the last Marx Brothers movie I had in my Netflix queue, and it's a somewhat sorry note on which to end. ( thoughts ) |
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| Does anyone else find today's Writer's Block ... voyeuristic? |
[Sep. 4th, 2008|10:13 pm] |
And now, for something completely different.
In between slacking off at my job and slacking off at home (coincidentally, both are due in part to feelings of frustration, powerlessness, and irritation at Stuff Not Done The Right Way), I've been reading on the bus. Most recently, Daniel Dennett's Consciousness Explained.
Having already read The Mind's I, Breaking the Spell, and Elbow Room, I must say that I am reading with both anticipation and trepidation - Dennett is smart, but sometimes unfortunately disappointing. But, although I have only made it through the introductory section, I'm beginning to think this might be one of the excellent ones.
More on that when I finish (maybe!). |
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| Wow |
[Sep. 4th, 2008|04:53 pm] |
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The advertisements on LJ are out of control. It had been a while since I'd gone to the site without logging in first. It must be irritating for people to browse peoples' journals if they have basic accounts. Screw you, LiveJournal. I'm looking for alternative journal sites. |
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| You're a loose cannon, Sandvich, but you're a damn good cop! |
[Sep. 4th, 2008|07:09 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | games, pie | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | sleep-deprived | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Martin O'Donnell & Michael Salvatori - Ambient Wonder | ] |
Hey, (as seen on 1Fort) somebody made an achievements generator for Team Fortress 2! I'm afraid I went a little crazy with it.
( Craaaaaaazy! )
Also, a question for you Mac users out there. Spore seems to be available for both the Mac and the PC. Which version should I get? I'm leaning towards Mac just because I have no other Mac games at all (except for Diablo II, which doesn't even work since Apple thoughtfully broke 256 color support a few OS revisions back.) |
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