Caius

I daydream all the time, but that is only because I nap all the time. Anyhow, I daydream as vividly and apparently randomly as my normal dreams, with the common difference that I still maintain moderate awareness of my surrounding enviornment. As far as my dreams go, they can range from, for instance, Shakespearian Space Drama/Opera with three legged mushrooms (though that kind of thing is not very common) to apparent reality, to fantasy, but commonly augmented realism.My dreams/daydreams often appear realistic but contain bits of fantasy in potential accomplishments, fictional characters, and happenings that are tottally unplausable within the current grasp of physics.

I really don't enjoy sharing my personal life with all of you, but I am perceptive enough to see where each one of you is coming from. Emotions, impulses, decisions, and how you weigh these things all vary from person to person. Individuals obviously perceive sex and desire in many different ways and base decisions off of the personal stigma associated with each choice. Sex is what you make it; how you perceive sex, regardless of your experience with it, is however you chose to perceive it. This applies consciously, but for sex mainly unconsciously. Unconscious feelings about sex is imparted by sources you personally trust to whatever degree (such as news, parents, religion if followed by something other than reason and understanding, daytime telivision...) and by biological wiring that determines desire (an example of biological wiring is how something can become more desired [as religions could call it... tempting?] to an average person if it is ussually covered or considered taboo).Sexual experience has a personal value thus largely determined by the importance that one "feels" should be placed upon it. Sex to some can be a wonderful thing in marriage or a certain situation, and to others it can be a momentary indulgence participated in with people you barely know and ranked up and ussually above other indulgences such a drugs, alcohol, playing with pets, and other self-expression. If you want sex to be a "magical" thing you certainly shouldn't indulge in it often, as a matter of fact, magic in many defintions today means "rare or defying normal perception of the world". Sex is often devalued in its power by a public constantly obsessed with it.Personally, one should decide whether they want the risks (babymaking, stds) and chemical/emotional "rewards" of sex to be a rare or common thing. Personally, I find those who chase after sex for sex's sake to be often vulgar, impulsive fools. Letting oneself be run by internal static chemical processes is hardly acting more than an animal and hardly has a purpose. If you beleive sex has a place in a relationship before or after marriage, fine. If you beleive that sex is a great plague of evil in all circumstance, then, well, you probably are just succumbing to different chemicals (hate, anger) than those chemically or romantically enthralled. This is reason: obviously sex is needed to sustain culture, the question of when and how much is left to the individual however.But I must add as a footnote that I am a romantic by internal chemical nature, and though hardly dangerous in scope of my emotions I have felt enough of yours to understand them. I shall not judge an individual by your actions relating to sex provided you don't let sex run your romance....Also, please, don't force or manipulate yourself upon another, you are just bowing to societal programming and personal lust. I cannot stand nor tolerate the occurance of disrespect and manipulation. If you are going to have casual sex at least be honest to your partner in the matter.As for me, casual sex is a... no. Why put forth risk for no practical gain? At least in a relationship one has an emotional backdrop and in a permanent relationship a biological reason/imperative/at least trust. Being a virgin is not bad as culture show it to be, it just is a sign of something between a logical decion and lacking sexual opportunity (the second hopefully doesn't factor much for you guys ).Thanks for letting me rant.

A bit late in congratulations, but, great post Lightmage.I now need to take your new information into practice. I already try to keep a concealed weapon up my sleeve for self-defence, but in public settings I rarely bring anything more threatening than a sharpened pencil. Despite the sharpness of the pencil, I shall assume that a heavy blunt item permanently on hand couldn't hurt. Preparedness trumps scavenging, I suppose.

Well, I suppose a network like this is needed, but with our current technollogy level the ping times and overall net speed will be terrible. Oh well, WoW with a party from Earth, Luna, and Mars is not going to be a reallity any time soon.I am happy, though, that NASA is looking ahead. High-speed conectability insystem will take perhaps around or over one hundred years even if we had a major breakthrough in physics, but a decent speed network would be nice for colonists if/when we get to that phase.Now just to develop an extra-solar extranet...

Ha, I don't have any belt in martial arts, so I assume that pretty much any one of you could take me down, but, I wonder, firstly, how long did you all have to train to become your rank?Also, I assume that self-training is nearly impossible, isn't it?

Thank you for this tutorial Lightmage, as I understand the importance and practicality of fighting in many situations.I also enjoyed the connections to specific disciplines and philosophies that LM and others mentioned. I am attempting to absorb a lot of practicle philosophy from varied sources and I have to say that I have little grounding so far in eastern philosophies. I also really appreciate this tutorial because of the fact that in my furthering of learning and philosophy I have neglected the important art of self defence. I realize that ingenuity in fighting is all that has kept me from harm in encounters so far and to increase my chances of remaining intact to do something productive in the long run I should study these things.With my life at present I have not the opportunity to go to local dojos or classes, but with items such as this tutorial and basic study of these types of advice I should be able to be better defended and ready.

As a bit of a singer, I can say that as Serverph said, avoiding stimulants will really aid your vocal chords. Also, I assume that what you are singing, from Wicked, is in your normal range or near it. If it is out of your range you may have to work up to it, but that can take a very long period of time and I assume you know your limits, are serious about this, and have had enough prior music practice to be decent enough to pull it off.Anyhow, the only new advice I can really give is to pace yourself; if your throat hurts drink water and that will help you. Please don't strain yourself or that could result in permanent vocal damage.Good Luck, Caius

Look, the reason why PTC is so popular is 1. Some advertisers are foolish enough to beleive you'll buy if you click, some make money on click-counting banners and some don't. but also: 2. Click fraud. When you click you send security information and open up your computer. Advertisers can build a profile of you from where you go and what you click on. This profile of you could be called a cheap or even free survey or they can exploit your information by selling it to more advertisers. You can even give enough info about yourself and others who share the computer to allow people to not only customize and send pop-ups to you but to even hack your network for more information. Even discounting hacking and direct stealing of economic information as fairly unlikely you still give advertisers some cheap information used for customizing ads to make them more compelling. This isn't all, but other forms of theft and fraud, including of intellectual properties is unlikely. I am going to avoid ever having a site with pay-per-click from an advertiser I don't trust and I don't want to be a guinea pig for such a low price. The first advertiser I am looking at for paying a site owner on a different basis is Project Wonderful. I reccomend Project Wonderful if you want to advertise or be advertised upon.

Back to your core idea, you could focus it on economics and creating items to further the game world...Think a free, user-built universe where you create objects, clothing and weapon designs.The game would generate damage for randomly found items and custom guns without a special "you found a supergun to build" would essentially just be a custom skin for a gun/bow/melee type (differentiate by sword lenght, bow range/power, firing style/weapon style (which changes attack style)). Eventually implement systems to develop 3D plots of land for your own and NPC housing. In playablity, it can play however you design it to, but I would reccomend first/third person perspective for combat and a sims or second life style placement system for home objects.If you give treats for sections of game code you are sent you could accelerate and indefinitely continue upgrades. Enlist aid in expanding the game world and add in your economy system.For money, you will need ads to start, but place them in billboards in game.By the fact of potentially limitless customization and an immortal game that could one day "link" over the net to other "sites" in the game. This is a dream of mine that I give onto you. If you can create this game, this progeny of the best aspects of Second Life, Entropia, The Sims, archetecture, and even sometimes Spore (you need foes, and not all are even vaguely humanoid) you will have the first second gen MMO, a truly adaptive world. From this, the third gen is the 3d internet, or maybe 2.5th gen. Go on and take this idea, as I have other games to create and if you do the legwork for others enjoyment you get the monies.

This is a seperate post because I felt it was seperate in the whole message I wish to convey as, people, this discussion is supposed to be about the leading scientific theory of expansion and collapse of the universe.Here is a basic overveiw of this theory in physics:(Laos, sorry but you are not the first, but you got commendably far on your own)The universe begins at the big bang, no real known reason.Via entropy the universe eventually burns out, the final generation of a few stars die out, probably sometime in the first half trillion years, probably less.In a pitch-black, luke-warm universe, matter and even light is slowly slowed and swallowed by the coallessing black holes. Eventually an omega black hole formed of all universal matter and almost all energy may form. Black holes don't release nothing from their cell. Over a great many years, perhaps a google, or a googeplex, this super black hole will release its matter and energy in the form of high energy gamma waves, or, due to the size of the omegahole in an even higher form of theoretical energy.From this point onwards is supposition, is there but an eternity of irradiated darkness as even dark matter and energy may be consumed by orbiting and colliding black holes?Perhaps a huge amount of unstable energies emmited from a black hole eventually tear themselves apart into energies more familiar to us, or perhaps random and exotic, perhaps this dark end spurs a new big bang?All of this is just a theory restating the first post here in basic physics as proven and supposed.Personally, I doubt it is this simple, but this may be a large part of the truth.

Look, here is the most logical perspective I know of... and in logic nothing of supposistion is certain, but neither is it false. If one is without a Faith then a god is a theoretical being who began the universe, but you cannot with certainty disprove the existance of a god. Also, only a fundamentalist of a religion rejects science and reason on basis of Faith alone. Only a fool asumes he knows the truth, Faith is capable of being different than Athiestic elitism (though not all athiesm or agnosticism) by allowing reason into supposition. Perhaps, psychologically, some could call Faith a theory... but it doesn't naturally have to conflict with scientific theory and thus bashing faith is pointless. ...[sigh]...Alright, sorry for that if you knew already, but I had to make it clear.Anyhow, a God creating, guiding, playing with, or dealing with the souls from a universe conflicts with no scientific theory.

R. U. Certain, Archangel? Sure, the evil eye war may be unnecessary so I just mess with the Emos who stare for attention or those who seem to find great entertainment in the feeling of superiority over the racing ant-hill that is a city, school, or university. Here is the solution, a counter-eye preemptive strike. Glance at staring people for approxomately 1.5 to 3 seconds with a single look (I myself go with mildly amused narrow-eyes and a sometimes a slight smirk if they are really being rediculous in emoness), this look shows you see their attention and mildly disdain their waste of time... or you end up just looking like another emogoth if you look wrong at them. If passing by, wait until they are about to pass out of your feild of vision and give another glance of like length (say 2 seconds) or if you are in the area for a while, wait until you leave and stare over, NEVER have the second glance a look of tottal amusement unless you wish to insult them. Make sure to add an evil, anaylytical, or mildly amused look so as to say one or more of the following: 1. You are wasting your time, find something better to do 2. You only revel in false shadows of self-importance 3. Why do you do such a pointless thing 4. You really are acting pathetic At this point it doesn't matter if they are staring at you, if they catch YOU staring in a mildly offensive manor they may be weirded out. But if you screw up you'll probably end up looking admiring of their emoness or saying "cute". Really. Don't try this if you cannot fake facial expressions and large sweeps of the eye to and from a stare. In the end the goal is for them to feel like they were just laughed at, or, if you know them a little something akin to "quit making a fool of yourself." Edit: After the evil eye ingagement ignore the emo. If they are going to continue acting in a way you don't like, you don't have to comment on it or condone it. Not all goths stare, and not all starers in dark are goths. Learn. I'm gonna sing the doom song now! Doom, doom, doom...doom, doom...

Firstly, I am amazed by this discovery, and also thank you for posting this... I now need to go bookmark an astronomy/physics news site. Thank you for reminding me I'll now check the article for all relevant data. Er, can't find it in 3 seconds so I'll comment on what I know:Providing the gravity of these worlds is less than 5 gs people could live there, but be uncomfortable at worst (at least by gravity). 10gs extended can be deadly sometimes. 3gs, or around and approaching three times the mass of earth is good and potentially a easy world to adapt to, noted that moving an object would take proportionately more energy. My brain is needing an update to cache data about this but I beleive Neptune is between 5-10 gs, perhaps seven... but then again this is uncached data I am reconstructin. Even that is a usable world and depending on atmosphere and temperature, perhaps habitable.Getting to a world like that would require either patience or one of the technologies we have yet to even partially understand. It is not impossible, as wormholes, time/space modification, and zero-point energy feilds (of standard and non-standard demensional interpretations) have yet to be disproved.If those worlds are there, perhaps we, or some race more aclimated to the world from their own, will colonize there. Technollogy may very well still accelerate into the Similarity (look it up) and who knows when progress will slow or when we will have the capiblity to get there.If it is already inhabited (if it can it likely will be) please keep in mind that we must not destroy that ecosystem.Also, If a civilization lives there, let their fate not be that of neandertal, mammoth, and aboriginal tribes worldwide in being forced to change to our perspective....Let us hope that this shall be Earth's first true experience with Xenobiology...the biology of what is subjectively alien to us.

I kind wrote this in another group first, but...Well, here goes. (I am not doing this just for points, this may be helpful to you if you mean to start a game making business, a shoppe is different).As an avid gamer loosely familiar with the industry, don't expect to develop games of any graphical level aproaching HALO or COD4, Spore, Legend of Zelda, or Final Fantasy from scratch. High-profile games currently require companies of hundreds in varied areas, especially software encoding (so C++ is a very important start) and legions of debuggers and some testers. A company of this type is valued in the millions of of USD or Euro and takes a long while to grow.Naturally I don't assume you to get to a point like that from nothing but dreams, skill, and startup without due time. I reccomend you definitely begin working on smaller titles for PC, but so many of those are of terrible quaility so you will have to distinguish yourselves by story, gameplay, or, here something only come to fruition and complexity recently and a huge draw on the world: complexity or variety in customization. You could also make a name by starting up an online MMO with more of these feature, though I caution against it.Well, here is my advice to you: You MUST know mathematics to the point of advanced algebra at least and keep a good work ethic for it, but here is the best shot for game makers today: college. Even though colleges like MIT would be the best you should go for a recognized game design school; two examples of which are Digipen in Seatle, Washington and Full Sail in... Orlando? I think its Orlando, Florida. Both are in the US, but that is no big deal. Note: It also helps your games if you have an art department for texture/character and a physics group.From a college like this you likely would want to be hired by a major or minor gaming company, like say, EA, or even one smaller (and less restrictive of unproven designers). Gain experience and work on ideas. If you're good enough you would one day have the experience needed to join a company you admire or gain a group to do your own Director bidding. Even as a non-director in a company you can be an idea guy for story or gameplay. With experience some of your group and others can break away and form a new company or a newly named subcontractor or department of a larger one. Yes, this takes time. But from this experience you can break off at any point. This is just the safe route and is more likely to get you fed.With just C++, an artist with 2 and 3d image editing and creation skill, some more language (another important one is slipping my mind because I am not familiar) and some more debugging time you can make a decent, or even exceptional PC game with a small budget and company small to the point of non-existance. You will need talent, but some games began as online products.Well, if you do this, don't make more "adult" PC games unless it really is important to you, because stuff like that has largely clouded out other PC-Online distributed games of, well, a different calibur.I sincerly hope you know, or will know what you are doing, there are quite enough bad games in the world, thank you.Good luck, Sincerely Caius This post has been edited by Caius: Today, 09:40 PMThis was sort of copied but Caius thought you should read it.

As an avid gamer loosely familiar with the industry, don't expect to develop games of any graphical level aproaching HALO or COD4, Spore, Legend of Zelda, or Final Fantasy from scratch. High-profile games currently require companies of hundreds in varied areas, especially software encoding (so C++ is a very important start) and legions of debuggers and some testers. A company of this type is valued in the millions of of USD or Euro and takes a long while to grow. Naturally I don't assume you to get to a point like that from nothing but dreams, skill, and startup without due time. I reccomend you definitely begin working on smaller titles for PC, but so many of those are of terrible quaility so you will have to distinguish yourselves by story, gameplay, or, here something only come to fruition and complexity recently and a huge draw on the world: complexity or variety in customization. You could also make a name by starting up an online MMO with more of these feature, though I caution against it. Well, here is my advice to you: You MUST know mathematics to the point of advanced algebra at least and keep a good work ethic for it, but here is the best shot for game makers today: college. Even though colleges like MIT would be the best you should go for a recognized game design school; two examples of which are Digipen in Seatle, Washington and Full Sail in... Orlando? I think its Orlando, Florida. Both are in the US, but that is no big deal. Note: It also helps your games if you have an art department for texture/character and a physics group. From a college like this you likely would want to be hired by a major or minor gaming company, like say, EA, or even one smaller (and less restrictive of unproven designers). Gain experience and work on ideas. If you're good enough you would one day have the experience needed to join a company you admire or gain a group to do your own Director bidding. Even as a non-director in a company you can be an idea guy for story or gameplay. With experience some of your group and others can break away and form a new company or a newly named subcontractor or department of a larger one. Yes, this takes time. But from this experience you can break off at any point. This is just the safe route and is more likely to get you fed. With just C++, an artist with 2 and 3d image editing and creation skill, some more language (another important one is slipping my mind because I am not familiar) and some more debugging time you can make a decent, or even exceptional PC game with a small budget and company small to the point of non-existance. You will need talent, but some games began as online products. Well, if you do this, don't make more "adult" PC games unless it really is important to you, because stuff like that has largely clouded out other PC-Online distributed games of, well, a different calibur. I sincerly hope you know, or will know what you are doing, there are quite enough bad games in the world, thank you. Good luck, Sincerely Caius

Well, I complement you all on this and have a tidbit (dumb word, aaarhg) to add.God in theory would be energy, just a kind as diverse from easily quantifyable radioband energy as kinetic is and attached to a universal zero-point energy feild for manipulation.Blarg. More to chew on=more nourishing intellectual meal.

Er, anyhow, my opinion on goths is that its just a method of self expression. Technically my social set is Goth/Logician, just what I am. For me, goth is a penchant for making people think of what they fear. As a goth, and I don't at a glance look very much like one in style (eeeee... a lot of it is just not my style and the rest is too expensive), I am interested in cultural fears and being "not stupid". Discrimination against goths is uncommon where I live, but there are a lot more pretenders who just want attention. I dunno, whatever is wrong with these people who feel more self-important by putting down others?edit: OOH... I use understanding their fears to manipulate them. Evil, a waste of time, but good practice for writing. Joking.I am really quite accepting and moderately cynical as a goth, and, in being a bit more into the culture than most around me I almost feel like feeling sorry for them Don't pity a goth, but with emos either secretly pity their foolishness...or imagine poking them with sticks. or inguanas. origami. or maybe tell them to get help and quit wallowing in self-pity. or faking....if you aren't too mature of a goth to waste your time on it. :::Sayonara:::

Disclaimer: This is writen by me, an exhausted logician-philosopher in training, so incomprehensibility is not my direct responsibility on any level other than neccessitating improvement. For those who don't want to read much, glean at least this (read it anyways if are going to read the rant): [minirant] Goth: "Don't let others hold you down, including yourself, and speak out against the problems you see, show who you are by your style and how you are different from them." [also, don't put down people for differences in intelligence, interests or conviction, you're just wasting time discriminating. Unless they are just WRONG (i.e. n00bish, incorrect, hopelessly stupid, a proletariat)] Emo: Emotional, "the world sucks, I am so hopeless, I'm going to show how hopless I am because no matter what I say I want pity and attention... maybe I want help or maybe I want to show off." [also, maybe they want help or a friend] Emo note: Some don't show off or even look goth and are but friends and maybe family that you could help by being a friend to and listinging to their problems. Just make sure they know you are on their side. Don't lie if you don't. Don't fake it. Say if you really care as a friend in some way to lighten their load. If you don't care, I know this is contradictory to what most social and school systems say but, don't pretend to. Also Emo (by the connotation I spread): "Ooooh I may not be smart but I want to be popular and get attention so I'll cave on my base emotional desires and immerse myself in a culture I don't understand, 'cause all it is to me is a style (well, not that it isn't) and I'm gonna tottally be a goth!" Jerk: "You don't know what I know, you're stupid, I subscribe to a nihilist, elitist, philosophy and you are naught but a mindless proletariat because you don't like good music. I am cynical and possibly sadistic/masochistic, so I matter more than you because I am a tortured soul (or pretend to be). Final minirant thoughts: Goths are not annoying. People who think they are goths and aren't are. Emos can be, especially because of their part in the introduction of low cut "cracky" jeans to the public... it is almost always annoying, they almost always have to pull them up, and it is an overdone and tacky style when forced onto the public in such quantity. People can be goth and emo at the same time, but when faced with a music elitist know that they are no goth, just a self-centered independant music fan, and probably a jerk. [/minirant] Okay, thats the basics of it. To see all relevant logical basis of this see below. [ranty] Core Gothic culture as defined by its origins, key aspects, and "true" goths is a culture of avoiding the stupidity innate in world culture by criticising it and in the least seperating themselves from stupid culture by embracing the images of darkness and demons, whatever culture they are from, and sometimes dressing in "dark" fashions to show how there is neither nothing to fear from darkness or to tell culture to fear them if that is their foolish idiom. Many modern people of fame have also attempted to use goth culture's closeness with the symbol of "darkness" as bad to expand to hedonism--this is not what the culture is or began as. To simplify, think of Core Gothic culture as, well, hippies I guess, not neccessaryily gods in social power but advocating free love, freedom, and social progress; except unlike hippies, goths revel in the cultural fear of change and rarely fall to endless optimism that so defined hippies. Gothic culture is sometimes taken as cynical and exclusive of those less informed with independant and non-corporate sanctioned music and poetry. Exclusivism is not what goths are, exclusivism is contradictory to the the drug marajuana's effects that helped and still helps define gothic culture today: mellow and accepting, laid back. Gothic-ness began with punk and is kind of refreshing sometimes in its new fashion and counter culture that otherwise would not be interesting not cool. As much as one may have discomfort at saying it, though, the core and the basis of the gothic and emo cultures both were derived from feelings of self-pity and seperateness relating to their lives and conflict with those in power in their life. Gothic culture is a modern "counter-culture" building off of things as varied as 1800's Gothic poetry and literature dealing with romance, often fantasy, in a horror setting, also the heavy metal (light and dark rock of the nineteen seventies and nineteen eighties). The gothic culture, in being a self-described counter-culture gone mainstream, brings in many people calling themselves gothic who lack the true aspects of the social definition. These aspects are things such as a laid back nature, possible enjoyment in dark colors for what culture takes them to represent, enjoyment in music of various types but generally including the themes of freedom, futility of emotion including love, draw of emotion including love and hate, and also themes of darkness, light, lonelyness, sadness, insanity, and an interest in what culture fears and why. Gothic culture in a long-term perspective could and perhaps will be considered a flirtation with societal and psychological fears and perhaps not bad endings but the basic fact of rarely knowing the ending at all and that the world holds much irony and uncertainty (this is difficult to understand unless you think of most gothic songs with story, often deal with emotion and rarely have a definite, certain ending). Also, suicide may sometimes be gothic if utilitarian in nature, but otherwise it is emo in thought process. Emo-ism could be seen as a culure of hopelessness, depression, cynicism, and based on falling into emotional falacy and being unable to escape on ones own at a certain time. Emo-ism of this type is a psychological phenomenon sometimes manifesting in people dressing how they would portray any chaotic or depressed feelings of their own, this portrayal of inner angst and pain often follows the cultural rule of black is bad--an image that can be traced back to fear of darkness and thus the unknown. Emo also connotates people who are just playing goth and perhaps really couldn't care less about people outside of their clique. These people follow their emotional need to feel like they fit in, they are the same type of people who follow and mimic any culture because they feel that it is cool. All in all, my brain has got my vent out on how goths really should be perceived with no or few personal opinions on style and culture inserted. An intelligent being can evaluate style on his, or her, own. [/ranty] Frak, that was long.