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ManifestedISO

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Posts posted by ManifestedISO

  1. Nothing there proves that spirituality is anything more than a scientific phenomenon occurring as a result of our wiring as a species.

     

    Which explains our incalculable need to explain things, and why the need to believe in something unknowable feels so real. They are hard-wired into our heads very close to emotion and memory. Like deja vu ... an odd, yet real sensation that was finally isolated and demystified. 

     

    But not lessened in impact. Demystifying things like strange or powerful feelings shouldn't take away from them as experiences. How crazy is it that we're alive in the first place, with super-fast mush inside a hard shell capable of processing audio/video input. That's where I think religion fails to account for unbiased spirituality--people say they have the answers, but they all want you to believe in their brand. Usually to pay for the 'privilege' (a la mormonism, where ten percent of your income will get you into a proprietary heaven). Living with one foot in the next life reduces the quality and mystery of our lives here, I think. 

    • Like 1
  2. A subjunctive pretense for an impossible situation ... I'm positive no one has ever had the sense literally beaten into them. The irony in violence and irrational belief was too much, perhaps.

     

    Superstition is an apt, concise description. I stand by it with all the fervor my human nature allows. :blush:     

  3. If I could go back into time, the deep time of the previous epoch, I would visit the exact moment superstition became more powerful than logic and beat some rationale into the offending hominid. 

     

    Wait, maybe someone did that already, and that's how all theistic nonsense began. Clever, universe.       

    • Like 2
  4. Well, at least your gunslinger is a scrambler. Ours is incapable of turning around, much less escaping the pocket. When Romo throws an interception, he's running like a mad man, or being tripped by his own guy--Philip Rivers just gives it away to the secondary like a case of herpes. The Dallas/Denver game was the most excited I've been for a comeback in forever. Romo and the team should hold their heads high, I think. 

     

    It must be a ghost town in the Meadowlands. An 0-6 apocalypse. Zombified fans roaming the streets. I don't like the Giants much, but no one deserves a season like that.        

  5. Am I thick, or is the name Jaime Moriarty a new character reveal on Elementary. Is it just Irene's real name? I'm slightly confused, but it's good that Holmes feels like a real character. The pat on the shoulder after Watson lifts the watch was neat, and the subtext dialogue between them really shows a bond. Her line at the end and then Jonny's pensive look before he reads the letter ... good stuff.  

  6. Ah, thank you. All of this Marvel backstory makes me appreciate how entertaining AoS is, even for those of us without the lore. The only scenario I couldn't stomach would be if Coulsen's death was faked. What would be groovy, is if they reveal the truth in Thor: The Dark World.  

  7. I dropped my ice cream spoon after Skye ran across the lawn in a red, wet dress. zomfg

     

    So who is the new villian? A gravity-based bad guy bent on getting revenge on Coulsen, looks like. And Coulsen is definitely not himself. He is dead, and there's a robot, or hologram, or something in his place. 

     

    Edit: er, I see my Marvel knowledge is a failing grade

  8. Am I the only one who thinks the Range Rover driver completely deserved a beating?! All the news broadcasts say "biker gang attacks innocent motorist," yet the sight of that guy in his 6,000lb monster bulldozing a half-dozen motorcycles, paralyzing one of the riders, boils me to a scream.   

  9.  

    Familiarity with active-voice versus passive-voice can empower stories and enthrall readers. And make writers feel like Hemingway without the booze and firearms.     

     

    Could you elaborate? Sounds like I could absorb some of that lesson.

     

     

    I am no instructor, but I enjoyed a revelation when the distinction between voices became apparent.

     

    An active voice is the subject (of a sentence) giving it good to an object, by way of a verb. The weak, passive voice indicates that the subject is the one getting pounded by a verb.

     

    See if you can tell which sentence is active, which is passive, without identifying subjects, objects, or verbs:

     

     

    Raistlin's thin, clawlike hand gripped Tanis's arm.

     

    Tanis's arm was gripped by Raistlin's thin hand like a claw. 

     

     

    Hand is the subject, grip is the verb, and arm is the object. Active: hand grips arm. Passive: arm was gripped by hand. The top sentence is the active voice, and the bottom is passive (!). More importantly, the top one is easier to read, shorter, and implies direct action. Almost all writing benefits from the choice of an active subject, since objects are just objects without a good verb. Once you see it, you'll see it everywhere.      

    • Like 1
  10. True Giants fans must be catatonic, probably don't feel like going to White Castle. Makes me feel better about SD trying so hard to lose to Oakland last night.

     

    Naturally our AFC West is the only division with two undefeated teams remaining. Playoffs are just for fair-weather fans, anyway.     

  11. Does Peyton Manning's mom even realize she has released a weaponized superhuman mile-high architect of crushing hope onto an unsuspecting league full of regular fans and average players--wait, turnover, gotta go. One quarter left.   

  12. I want certified Level 11, because it is one more than 10.

     

    Under this system, Valve would set different levels of minimum performance that a SteamOS-machine would have to meet to earn a Valve-endorsed certification at Level 1, Level 2, and so on. Game developers, in turn, could optimize and advertise their SteamOS-powered games with a specific level in mind. Maybe the game runs best on a level-4-or-better system but can still run acceptably on any level 2 system.

     

    System certification makes a lot of sense, I think. But no more than four levels, really. Although who gets to decide which components are capable of what level of performance might have a tough job. It would have to be full-time work for dozens of people. 

  13.  

    whee 9 hour day, 6 of it driving almost straight! 

     

    God dammit, I can't decide wether to joke about gay driving style or straight roads. :(

     

    More seriously, did you have a fair for 6 straight hours, or many packed in together?

     

     

    Forward. Never tell a friend to go straight. 

  14. Hashtaggery seems to be a curiously expressive short-hand unlimited to utility or wit or double entendre. At first, I hated the whole concept, but now I appreciate a thoughtful, humorous hashtag. #bollocks     

  15.  

    Chicken and cottage cheese enchiladas

    Sounds like an abomination. Next time use quest blanco or asadero. Goes much better with the chili gravy.

     

    Beef Enciladas, black refried beans, and a caesar salad.

     

     

    The only abomination would be in using low-fat, small-curd instead of full-fat, whole-delicious cottage cheese.  

    • Like 1
  16. I've never given up on a Formula 1 season in nineteen years, but 2013 might be the first. Red Bull are cheaters, Vettel is undeserving, and a default winner, and I despise his funtwitty face and index pointy finger. Today after qualifying in Korea, Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso made critical comments of the Pirelli crap doughnut tires, after finishing almost a second behind pole, to which the company responded, Of course Alonso is one of the great F1 drivers, so to hear such comments is disappointing and below the standards you would expect from such a champion ... I can only suggest he goes to ask the soon-to-be four-times champion [Vettel] how to get the best from the same tyres. Well that settles it. Pirelli has been giving Red Bull a reach-around all season by way of secret tire testing to go along with the team's illegal traction control system. Briatore would be proud.  

    • Like 2
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