Open Thread 2008!

[packbat]

Buoyed by the terrific success of last year's, I offer you: another open thread! Post! Question! Answer! Flame! (Not too much flame, though - the extinguisher hasn't been recharged in a while.) Anything doesn't reply to regular posts can go here.

Comments

[bourgeoisify.livejournal.com]

mr zimmermann, why are you such a pretentious bastard? :P

sincerely
hj

PS. THAT QUESTION IS ENTIRELY IN JEST, DEAR FRIEND.

[packbat.livejournal.com]

I'm afraid I was infected with a unquenchable desire for pretense as a child. I've occasionally flirted with various memetic treatments for the disorder, but the sheer beauty of "les contorsions de tous ces grands faiseurs de protestations, ces affables donneurs d'embrassades frivoles, ces obligeants diseurs d'inutiles paroles, qui de civilités, avec tous, font combat, et traitent du même air, l'honnête homme, et le fat (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Misanthrope)" - by which I hope I mean "the contortions of these great time-and-lip servers, these affable dispensers of meaningless embraces, these obliging utterers of empty words, who view every one in civilities, and treat the man of worth and the fop alike"; I don't speak French - keeps calling me back.

Or the brief version: "I am thus because I am a pretentious bastard." :D

Thank you, thank you, I'll be here all week! Try the veal!

P.S. It's a shame that we have to annotate our jests online to avoid scandal, is it not?

Hello!

[explodingbat.livejournal.com]

I saw your comment in ksleet's journal, then read some of your journal posts and interests list, and now fear that I must to friend you immediately. I that all right?

(NB i don't normally write like this, been reading too much Wodehouse lately)

Hello back!

[packbat.livejournal.com]

Sure! *preemptively friends back*

Apropos of almost nothing: have you ever read Jerome K. Jerome? Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog) (http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/308) is an excellent book if you like British comedic writing.

[explodingbat.livejournal.com]

No, but it was on my list. Downloaded.

Sorry if the above was superfluous, I've been on LJ for years and still don't know the friending etiquette.

[packbat.livejournal.com]

Macht nichts! I'm glad whenever anyone is interested in my ramblings. :D

[explodingbat.livejournal.com]

Hi, sorry if I'm getting a bit incoherent but I've just pulled an all-nighter and need to get ready to head off to work; anyway i believe one good book recommendation deserves another, so: if you've not already encountered it I highly recommend Blindsight (http://www.rifters.com/real/Blindsight.htm). It's a scifi novel about the nature of consciousness. The author is an ex marine biologist so the science is solid, and it even comes with a neat powerpoint presentation about semi-plausible vampires (http://www.rifters.com/blindsight/vampires.htm). If nothing else the notes and references at the end are pretty mind blowing.

[packbat.livejournal.com]

My friend, you had me at "nature of consciousness". Thanks a ton!

[packbat.livejournal.com]

(Replying to bosswolf here (http://get-medieval.livejournal.com/342063.html?thread=6327343#t6327343)...)

*sticking her nose in where it doesn't belong because she's enjoying this conversation* I honestly can't wrap my head around such condemnation. I can understand disagreeing with it, but I'm not about to say what my Jesus can and can't do. Of course, I also get kicks of trying to reconcile Biblical passages with scientific fact, and still am amused every time I remember that the Genesis story more or less agrees with scientific theory...

Well, it's different for an outsider like me, but I don't have any trouble seeing either side (up to a point). For example, leaving aside the facts (which I believe to be unambiguous) there are a number of people who think that morality depends on special creation. I'll probably get in trouble if I try to generalize, so I'll let somebody a little more famous take the fall speak in my place: this young-earth (specifically, 4004-B.C. young-earth) fellow went to Jericho and found himself looking at an 8000-year-old wall. (http://slacktivist.typepad.com/slacktivist/2005/07/creationism_sna_2.html) The mindset that gave that man a crisis of faith is one which prevents religion from accepting science as a reliable source of truth-claims.

(For the record, my particular outsider status is that of a metaphysical naturalist, specifically one who believes that nothing befitting the term "God" exists. Whether or not this makes me an atheist is a matter of terminology.)

Hi all.

[(Anonymous)]

Hi people. I'm new here and wanted to say hi.

Re: Hi all.

[packbat.livejournal.com]

...hi?

Spam-bot?

[the-zaniak.livejournal.com]

lol, that was odd.

Most likely - they never came back.

[packbat.livejournal.com]

Actually, it's even if you go by words. Or syllables.

*leaves subject blank*

[the-zaniak.livejournal.com]

Yes, but I was clearly going by day, month, and character count (of either the original comment or the subject, but not both added together.)

*tries to make Blankman reference, but realizes hasn't seen the movie*

[packbat.livejournal.com]

Hey, all three added together works too!

You caught people out on something and got 60 points, that's all I know.

[the-zaniak.livejournal.com]

I suppose this is as good a place as any to ask: how did you win the first game? I'm still clueless as to what happened.

And found the comment explaining how you won! DISREGARD THESE COMMENTS!

[the-zaniak.livejournal.com]

Woah! Clicked the wrong entry!

Disregard? NEVER!

[packbat.livejournal.com]

No prob!

[active-apathy.livejournal.com]

Point of interest: When you disable comments, I can't tell you that your HTML needs fixing.

[packbat.livejournal.com]

Dagnabbit!

Edit: Fixed, and thanks!

You suck!

[the-zaniak.livejournal.com]

Point of interest: LOOOOOOOOSERRRRRRR

[packbat.livejournal.com]

Man, don't I know it!

...wait, what?

[stagemanager.livejournal.com]

Hi!

Two things:

1) I don't know why, but I hadn't friended you prior to today (here at LJ, I mean). So, done.

2) I want to very strenuously nominate an entry for readers_list -- can I email you a link?

[packbat.livejournal.com]

Hi back!

1) Sweet! And back-at-ya!

2) Please do!

[somerled.livejournal.com]

It's a meme from the future! Tell me, what is the world of the very near future like? Are the memes and flame wars different from December, 2008?

[packbat.livejournal.com]

For the most part, no, sadly not - many of them are the same old memes from months ago drifting back out again. On the flame war front, though, I was quite surprised by CONNECTION LOST

[packbat.livejournal.com]

Actually, though, the recent public conversation on Overcoming Bias (http://www.overcomingbias.com/) between Robin Hanson and Eliezer Yudkowsky (it starts on November 18th with this (http://www.overcomingbias.com/2008/11/setting-the-sta.html), but there are a lot of intermediate posts) is one strange sort of flamewar - what with all the commenters are only posting once a day, and the posts are thousand-plus word educated and thoughtful New-York-Times-Magazine-like essays.

If you want to write any more, go crazy.

[the-zaniak.livejournal.com]

Can I get permission to repost the palinpoem (http://the-zaniak.livejournal.com/467960.html?thread=2299640#t2299640) you wrote to my new website? I will gladly credit, and link to whatever website you wish me to link to!

I shall tell you if I do!

[packbat.livejournal.com]

Sure, you can repost it - just credit it to "Robin Zimmermann" and link to my Livejournal here. :)

I am very slowly putting my website together.

[the-zaniak.livejournal.com]

It's up (http://www.peterchayward.com/poems/palinpoems/robin-zimmermanns-palinpoems/)!