Groups | Search | Server Info | Login | Register

Groups > comp.misc > #27201

Re: OT: totally off-topic

Show all headers | View raw

D <nospam@example.net> writes:

>> idea.  We can start with offlining the USENET.  If there's little work
>> to do, increase the uniform distribution of times you connect to
>> exchange articles.  If there's more work, decrease it.
>
> True. My usenet/mailinglist debt is starting to grow. I have become
> involved in way too detailed and deep interesting conversations, and
> they are starting to take their toll. =(

I think I saw some of your chats on rec.food.cooking.  You gotta get
outta there.  That group is crazy and the volume, insane.

>>> Interesting, I have never seen this burger in europe! How does it
>>> differ from regular cheese burgers?
>>
>> I think a regular cheese burger would not be a Cheddar cheese burger.
>> But I agree any Cheddar is a cheese burger.  Over here now they have two
>> options: you get the traditional Cheddar McMelt or you can order the
>> double one.  The double one comes with three burgers, IIRC.  Besides the
>> melted Cheddar, it also comes with chopped onions mixed in the Cheddar.
>> I think that's it.  And a cheese burger is a burger with some slices of
>> cheese.  I'm not the right person to ask about such things because I go
>> there once in a few years, always planning never to come back. :)
>
> This is making me hungry! =D

Lol.

>>>> Yeah---the experts always include nutrition in their hypotheses.
>>>
>>> The question is... how can we, you and me, change the trend? ;)
>>
>> I don't think we can.  That would mean that a point can change the
>> uniform average.  We could do something if we go from a uniform average
>> to a weighted one and we somehow acquire the huge weight.  Nah.  I don't
>> think there's true change that way.  I don't think we can change the
>> world.  I don't think we should change the world.  Let nature follow its
>> own course.
>
> What if it is in my nature to change the world? Then that would be nature
> following its own course. ;)
>
> The biggest change can start with the smallest idea!

Today I watched the documentary series called 

  The Century of the Self

It's a good illustration of people mean by ``change'' in the world. :)

>> Should a 4-leaf clover try to make every other a 4-leaf one?
>
> Yes!

Lol.  Speechless. :)

>> Hey, there are 7 helicopters going round and round around a certain
>> region where my house is.  They're all gray in color.  One follows the
>> other.  They're really going around a circumference.  Any idea what this
>> is?  I'd guess it's military exercise.  They're boringly going round.
>> Not in high speeds.  They're not high in the sky; probably between
>> 100--200 meters from the ground.  Probably 50 meters from the top of a
>> hill around which they seem to flying.
>
> Sounds scary! Be safe! =( In stockholm, due to the excessive
> uncontrolled crime recently, police drones and helicopters are
> becoming more and more common. I hate the surveillance society that
> sweden has been turned into and do not want to live in it.

I should have recorded it, uploaded with the comment---AI piloted. :)

> As we discussed above, I think a house in the country side, deep
> inside the forest would be the ideal place for me!

Sounds very interesting.

>>>> I had never heard of practical philosophy.
>>>
>>> It is a fairly new branch of philosophy, about 100 years old or so,
>>> depending on
>>> how you define it.
>>
>> Kinda funny to me.  Philosophy is totally practical.  The impractical
>> philosophy is that which is nonsense---you can't make sense of.
>
> Ah, you mean modern analytical philosophy? ;) Pick up a book on
> metaphysics and marvel at the nonsense! ;)

Specially if it's contemporary writing.

>>>> No.  Certainly not.  I have nothing to do with consensus.  Truth should
>>>> have nothing to do with consensus.  We can easily imagine an outrageous
>>>> group denying obvious facts.
>>>
>>> There are facts, and then there are "facts". Is it true that blue is
>>> the best color? Good luck answering that objectively. ;)
>>
>> There are meaningless sentences and questions.  Chomsky constructs the
>> famous one---colorless green ideas sleep furiously.  Good luck trying to
>> picture that in any way.  Truth (and philosophy) is not about nonsense.
>> It's about honestly making sense of things.
>
> Sometimes I think that is lost in a lot of modern philosophy.

By ``modern'' do you mean contemporary philosophy?  ``Modern''
philosophy is that of Descartes, for example.

>> Sometimes people take language to great abstractions, which should come
>> with lots of examples and simplicity.  If people fail do that, it is not
>> a bad idea to ignore it.  For instance, Kant is recognized for having
>> made the distinction between synthetic truths and analytic ones.  Have
>> you ever understood?  I don't think it too unwise to ignore all that.
>> But I don't mean it's bad work.
>
> Well, for me, Kants biggest insight, is that we can never get to the
> metaphysical through the physical. But then he adds a lot of stuff
> onto that, and I don't quite agree with where he goes.

I'm not sure what exactly you're talking about here.  I'm not a Kant
reader.  Are you talking about the Critique of Pure Reason?  I did read 

  Prolegomena do Any Methaphysics
  (that will be able to come forward as a science)

and that's a pretty understandable book.  This book is a good
introduction to the Critique of Pure Reason, but I think I don't really
recommend you get into any of this stuff.  There's a lot more
interesting things in life.

>>> Is it true that there is a coffee mug on my right on a table, yes! And
>>> if you were here with me, I am 100% certain that we would agree.
>>
>> Of course.  There's no point in even questioning that for too long.  We
>> have so many other important questions to work on.  For instance, is
>> there anything bothering any bit of your days?  How could we give you a
>> better life?
>
> Amen! A very important question that should be asked from time to
> time. I am tomorrow leaving for a 2 month vacation. First 1 month in
> spain, then a weekend in Lyon, and then a month in sweden. I am
> already looking forward to a lot of good food in spain and 20+ C
> weather!

Nice.  Enjoy!

> I am not looking forward to travel. Modern travel I find
> dehumanizing. It is all built around controlling the masses, and
> treating them as badly as possible, while still taking their money.

Oh, that's quite right.  I see the same.  The best way to travel in the
end is by your own means such as by car, but then there's how good the
roads are, how far you go...  Staying in hotels used to be a great
experience, but it's not quite anymore.  We have a complete
deterioration of everything.

> If I had infinite amounts of money, I would travel by private jet. If
> I had an infinitely compassionate wife I would not travel at all. I
> would be perfectly content to spend the rest of my life in my house,
> deep in the forest, fishing.

Yeah---gotta question a bit the need for traveling and tourism.  What's
that all about?  I like to travel to see people, not places.  I honestly
care very little to see culture and places.  It's different if you are
my friend and you're interesting---then Sweden becomes interesting, too.
So I'm usually interested where my family and friends are.

> I feel I have done enough for the world. I feel like I can retire to
> fishing with a perfectly clear conscience. =D

Sounds like wisdom to me.

>>>> I'm quite okay with the keeping ``truth'' undefined.  I may have some
>>>
>>> Even if your life depends on it?
>>
>> My life would never depend on such intellectual matters.  Life depends
>> on food, shelter and relationships.  We could easily argue here that
>> you're likely valuing the intellect more than you should.  The intellect
>> has to be kept on the leash.
>
> What ever we make into an obsession, tends to control our lives. I
> prefer to be in control, so it's always good not to get too focused
> and one sided about things.

Sounds like wisdom to me.

>> Now, I certainly maximized the occurrence of the event because I'm
>> always at the beach.  Nevertheless, though, it could be that somehow
>> that's not the whole story.
>
> Let's see tomorrow!

Lol.  My mind is in next events.  But I don't expect seeing that person
around here any time soon or ever.

>>> True! No hocus pocus at all! =)
>>
>> You see, we have this preference for destroying mystery.  Other people
>> prefer the mystic.  We are more warranted in our preference than the
>> others are in theirs, but we should do it very carefully because
>> otherwise we're doing the same silly thing other people do.
>
> It is dangerous to argue against peoples beliefs. That wakes up the
> worst in people.

So true.  My observation is that people's behavior really comes from
deep within, not from the surface, so working on the surface is a
complete waste of time.  (And the intellect is on the surface.)  That's
why people behave ``irrationally'', meaning that's why we can't
understand them at all.

>>> Oh yes... I am not against imagination and speculation, if that serves
>>> to motivate a person, or inspire him, or help him advance theories. My
>>> main beef is when people confuse speculation and theorizing, with what
>>> we can or cannot prove. Mistaking the map for the real world so to
>>> say.
>>
>> Most people hardly have an education.  They don't know what a theory is
>> and what speculation is very well.  Unfortunately.
>
> Well, from that point of view, we are lucky to have had a good
> education! I just look at the students I have today, and get
> depressed. =(

Same here, but it's not clear what you mean by education.  In a sense I
don't think it's our education, really, because I think education is on
the surface.

> Last friday I had a meeting with the management of the school, and
> they forbade me to have dead lines for assignments out of fear that
> fewer students will pass the courses.
>
> That's complete b.s. And I told them that they are prioritizing profit
> over quality of education.
>
> They smiled and said that no, they would like both profit _and_
> education.

Lol!  _And_.  I do agree that it's obviously a lie.  Those lies that
nearly everyone accepts and even repeats themselves.

> I said that that is unrealistic

You're so delicate. :)

> [...] especially if they remove all demands, and want courses to be
> easier. Then I asked them to imagine how their children would be if
> they said yes to their every wish. Would that be how they raise their
> children or do they teach them to respect dead lines, boundaries and
> work hard?
>
> They said, well, you do have a point. But we are your customer, and we
> pay, so we decide the rules.
>
> And I had to agree with that, sadly. But at least I told them what
> will happen, so now they cannot blame me when the credibility of their
> students degrees drop in the market!

At least they're minimally honest.  I'm okay with that.

> At least I won a small victory. Apparently they could possibly
> consider a dead line in _one_ course, if the task is changed from lab
> to project. But probably only in one course.

I'd say don't push it hard.  Let them do what they want.  You've already
shared your view.  Let nature follow its own course.  You don't have to
influence them any further after sharing your view: they are also
equally in the position to direct their lives.  Let nature follow its
course.

> Very sad state of affairs. If this is a global trend, we are getting
> closer to the end of civilization! =(

It is a global trend.  And I think we have worse problems---fertility,
chronic diseases, work and the general quality of life people have been
living.  We're not at the bottom yet.  I think things are gonna down a
lot more still.

>>>> very hard read, but to see them all you could skim a quantum theory book
>>>> by descant.
>>
>> Lol---what?!  By descant?  Lol.  That's a spurious end of sentence.  I
>> was totally offline, unable to look anything up, but I wanted to make a
>> reference to the book
>
> Hmm, sorry, I must have slipped on the keyboard. I actually have no
> idea what I meant to say! =/

It was I who said it. :) I wanted to remember the author's name and I
couldn't.  I forgot to look it up (later) and ended up posting the
message.  That's a down side of being offline.  Sometimes you can't fill
up the blank that you could if you were online.  I was literally offline
that day.  I have the printed book, but it's boxed in the basement and I
surely didn't feel like digging it up.

Hey, are you getting USENET access during your vacation?  I wanna give
you my e-mail address.  Take care!

Back to comp.misc | Previous | Next — Previous in thread | Next in thread | Find similar

Thread

Re: broken schools D <nospam@example.net> - 2025-02-26 14:05 +0100
  Re: broken schools Rich <rich@example.invalid> - 2025-02-26 13:15 +0000
    Re: broken schools D <nospam@example.net> - 2025-02-26 23:10 +0100
    Re: broken schools Salvador Mirzo <smirzo@example.com> - 2025-02-27 06:49 -0300
  Re: broken schools Salvador Mirzo <smirzo@example.com> - 2025-02-27 07:41 -0300
    Re: broken schools D <nospam@example.net> - 2025-02-27 19:52 +0100
      Re: broken schools Salvador Mirzo <smirzo@example.com> - 2025-03-07 21:41 -0300
        Re: broken schools yeti <yeti@tilde.institute> - 2025-03-08 02:59 +0042
        Re: broken schools D <nospam@example.net> - 2025-03-09 00:14 +0100
          Re: broken schools Salvador Mirzo <smirzo@example.com> - 2025-03-08 22:26 -0300
            Re: broken schools D <nospam@example.net> - 2025-03-09 22:52 +0100
              Re: broken schools Salvador Mirzo <smirzo@example.com> - 2025-03-10 08:39 -0300
                Re: broken schools D <nospam@example.net> - 2025-03-11 22:59 +0100
                Re: broken schools Salvador Mirzo <smirzo@example.com> - 2025-03-14 12:10 -0300
                Re: broken schools D <nospam@example.net> - 2025-03-15 23:58 +0100
                Re: broken schools Salvador Mirzo <smirzo@example.com> - 2025-03-17 00:02 -0300
                Re: broken schools Rich <rich@example.invalid> - 2025-03-18 03:00 +0000
                Re: broken schools Eva Lu <evalu@tor.soy> - 2025-03-18 21:20 -0300
                Re: broken schools D <nospam@example.net> - 2025-03-18 11:17 +0100
                OT: totally off-topic (Was: Re: broken schools) Salvador Mirzo <smirzo@example.com> - 2025-03-19 13:51 -0300
                Re: OT: totally off-topic (Was: Re: broken schools) D <nospam@example.net> - 2025-03-19 23:20 +0100
                Re: OT: totally off-topic Salvador Mirzo <smirzo@example.com> - 2025-03-21 11:52 -0300
                Re: OT: totally off-topic D <nospam@example.net> - 2025-03-23 00:31 +0100
                Re: OT: totally off-topic Salvador Mirzo <smirzo@example.com> - 2025-03-29 20:50 -0300
                Re: OT: totally off-topic D <nospam@example.net> - 2025-04-01 16:43 +0200
                Re: OT: totally off-topic Salvador Mirzo <smirzo@example.com> - 2025-04-04 11:20 -0300
                Re: OT: totally off-topic D <nospam@example.net> - 2025-04-06 23:17 +0200
                Re: OT: totally off-topic Salvador Mirzo <smirzo@example.com> - 2025-04-10 15:19 -0300
                Re: OT: totally off-topic D <nospam@example.net> - 2025-04-12 21:05 +0200
                Re: OT: totally off-topic Salvador Mirzo <smirzo@example.com> - 2025-04-13 13:10 -0300
    lifestyles Ivan Shmakov <ivan@siamics.netREMOVE.invalid> - 2025-03-11 20:20 +0000

csiph-web