metadigital

<{POST_SNAPBACK}> Verily that is modern art! Well, contributions to the Way Off-Topic forum don't count anyway: also I think Baley (mostly) has valuable input. (but don't tell Sir Spam-a-lot I said that. :D ) This is a safe environment where even the most vulnerable may have their say. The rules are fair and binding. That is quite a comfort to a lot of people in this world, where their daily lives are far from fair, and they have little or no impact on their lives and have no say.

I thought all the sight-impaired people were given priority to be umpires ... "

The frightening answer is no one knows. Dr Dement did his tests in the seventies, I think (might have been the sixties) with the help of the US army (think about the amount of support: 3 shifts round the clock monitoring all the subjects and flashing lights in peoples eyes...!) It is just too cost-prohibitive to appeal to anyone. (Drug companies fund most scientific research, and they aren't interested on anything without a ROI.) Dement's patients were tested for only 2 weeks. After this everone is extrapolating or guessing. I heartily recommend the book. (It's less than $10/

As I've said before, my pursuit of knowledge gives me happiness. I come here to conduct conversations, and (if I'm being honest) I do enjoy show off what I know. I have found that the act of passing on information to other people helps me to cement the memories in my mind better, so it is a Win-Win prospect. I like internet discussion fora because they are an idealised world where we are all on the merits of our posts, so it is a very humbling meritocracy. You point of view is not enhanced by having a more expensive computer, or a faster internet connection (but on this board, at least, the quantity of posts somehow adds credence to the alleged quality, via the silly "Level" indicator next to the total posts accumulation).

I am sorry but you are mistaken. How long have you ever managed to go without sleep for? Go on, this is an experiment everyone can try at home (I know I have). Some facts: - The record is just over a week. What eventually happens is the person will start to hallucinate (dreaming whilst wide awake). - The full understanding of dreaming is unknown, but Dr Dement's scientific studies demonstrated that people need to dream: subjects that were disturbed (read: woken up) at the onset of REM sleep were noticeably less rested, less able to concentrate and more irritable; they remained so until the body had a chance to catch up on the REM sleep. (Can you imagine being woken up like this -- I would have had to be restrained: I would have killed them!) - Interrupting other parts of sleep (non-REM stages) had little or no effect. - Those people as above who had disturbed REM sleep would have proprtionately more REM sleep over the next available nights. - Sleep cycle is about an hour and twenty minutes long, cycling through Phase 1, 2, 3 4 (all deeper than the previous) thence to REM, and back again. (These phaes are easily identified by brainwaves using an electroencephalogram EEG) Total REM sleep is about 40-90 minutes a night, I think (a couple of minutes per cycle). - Everyone dreams, every night. - Babies and toddlers (up to the age of 2) have more REM sleep than adults. - The reason you don't remember your dreams is because the neurochemical the brain secretes (melatonin, from memory ) to paralyze the muscles (so that when you dream of running you don't start moving your arms and legs) has the side effect of impairing the transfer of memories from short term to long term. The current theory most favoured by neuroscientists is that dreaming is a sort of filter or "defrag" for the brain, where the important moments of the previous day's stream of consciousness is somehow converted into long-term storage.

The secret of success is sincerity. Once you can fake that you've got it made. (Jean Giraudoux, French diplomat, dramatist, & novelist 1882 - 1944)

The "Chow Chui" bit is "activate the teleport now", Maltz is the guy's name on the Klingon ship. (Star Trek 3: The Search for Spock).

I recommend to you all read Professor William Dement's book on sleep. "The Promise of Sleep: The Scientific Connection Between Health, Happiness and a Good Night's Sleep", ISBN: 0330354604 , Pan. Rarely has something so important been so misunderstood and malttreated. linky At different times in life we need different amounts of sleep. For example, late teenage requres more sleep and later lie-ins (so we weren't lazy!), and the most disturbing fact is: "Sleep Debt" is (roughly speaking) the accumulated urge to sleep (various ways to measure: Dr Dement meassures it via a "latent sleep test"); any sleep less than your personal requirements must be caught up before normal sleep habits return. Some big accidents caused by sleep depreivation: Exxon Valdez Chernobyl 3 Mile Island Dr Dement helped the first person make the Guiness World record for sleep deprivation. He also was the person who named REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep and discovered its purpose (dreaming) and importance (very). He has conducted the longest sleep trials in history. (The subjects were tested for two weeks -- about thirty years ago. The effects of sleep anomolies / deprivations on longer periods of time are untested. This is mainly due to cost.) His research has shown that people need 8.5 hours sleep a night -- but more at different times in life. Also the body's diurnal circadien rhythm has a large, cyclic influence on the body's sleep pattern: - wakes you up twice a day, at 9:30am and 8pm, approx.; - the lowest period of alertness is early afternoon approx. 3pm; - is about one hour longer than the 24 hour day, and - is reset by bright light (e.g. dawn), so shine a bright, broad spectrum light in your eyes when you wake up to reset the cycle on a daily basis or you will tend to wake up later tomorrow. Just a final quick note: if ever you have been driving and you start nodding off: this is very dangerous. You are actually already asleep when you nod the first time. (Dement terms the quick loss and regain of consciousness "microsleeps", for want of a better word.) Pull over immediately and rest.

Yep, that's the one I use (it comes installed on IBM thinkpads).

I don't use anti-virus continuously: I leave it off. (I do continually acitivate it on a regular schedule to ensure I am virus free, but I have only ever had one virus.) AV tends to gum up the OS, sticking its busybody nose into every disk read/write. Slows things down and complicating them to the breakage point. A good firewall will prevent anyone trying to hack into your internet node (PC) -- which I have had happen an alarming amount of times! The only other criterion is to not download any unverified executables from the internet -- which I never do.

I have seen parts of it before, but I have to admit I did laugh out loud when the second McDonald's customer went sprinting after the protagonist after he had stolen the drink!

Tools, Options, Browsing:

Well, I know plenty (well several, thankfully: but that is plenty!) of intelligent people with emotional problems (emotionally retarded, emotional IQ of a twelve-year old, however you want to call it) -- one is a successful person in his own right, multi-millionaire (he's probably influenced your life) and he is emotionally toxic to those who get within striking distance. He honestly believes he is loveable and charming. Very, very sad. He truly -- and this is very sad on a number of levels -- truly believes that he is a capable, loving person. He is so deluded. (I think in part it is because of his wealth that everone he has related to has always wanted to keep him from becoming an enemy, so that he never hears what people really think of him.) My point is that it is very possible that Kreia thinks she is a loveable person. That the Exile can love her because the Exile will understand what Kreia is doing and why. Nothing wrong with camp villains: Ming the Merciless is a cool villain!

It was for Revan's own good. (Lots of puns intended, there.) The Dark Side is an insidious and slippery canker that changes the way a person thinks inasmuch as it changes their abilities. I think the horrible drug addiction life is an apt analogy. Revan is free to choose after the intervention to either resume the previous life or continue the previous previous life of Jedi goodness. (One of the reasons Vrook looks suspiciously at Revan all the time.) Also, don't forget that, according to the Jedi Council, Revan wasn't brain-targeted on purpose: it was a consequence of trying to save Revan from the critical near-fatal damage of Malak's attack.

[snip: http://www.physics.gla.ac.uk/Physics3/Kelv...homson_1890.gif ] Dear Sir. I do not know from which uncivilised region of the world you here, but where decent men come from, it is most inapropriate for a man to brusquely reveal his stature to a member of the covered sex. If anyone were to do such a thing amongst civilsed company, one would be right to think them of the outmost unsound fluids. Yours Truly Kaftan Barlast, esq <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Dear Sir, thank you most kindly for appraising me regarding your cultural ethics and mores. I hasten to respond in a likewise most inoffensive manner as to a small matter that may have escaped your very astute notice, being such a small quibble that perhaps needs no other remark except a further dispensation on my part regarding the happiness I would feel should you ever be in the fortunate position of being able to assist one so undeserving as myself in the same manner. Without further ado, let me pose the quandary that seems to have arisen: if it is, as you indicate, quite inappropriate, for a gentleman to reveal said measurements; how then is it possible for those that we strive to attain equality of grace with to give said measurements in place of the gentleman, wherein they would be not just equally as inapporpriate but moreso, given the heightened state of respect we all expect to maintain when dealing in matters of social intercourse? I trust you see my dilemma in finding such a small, but equally not-insignificant, mote of an obstacle to assiting you in your goal of communication. As ever, I remain, your servant, M.

I am -- and have been since before I care to remember -- an amateur lexicographer. Meh. Merriam-Webster are American. I don't like their abstracted definitions, americanised spelling and lack of derivation information. (I used to have one of their hardcover dictionaries, when I went to school in the US -- hand all the flags of the world in the back, as well as some other decent miscellany.) My favouyrite dictionary is the unabridged Oxford University Dictionary (all twenty volumes). I'm not really a fanboy, but I suspect they uphold the law, which is why Obi Wan has no qualms about battling the evil empire (the quondam Republic). You could always check out StarWars.com

What if they are trapped in a vicious cycle of acting in accordance with their reputation? Then perhaps it is possible that a person taken out of that behaviour pattern would be pleased: thankful to be able to live the life they wanted to live before they were taken hostage by their own mistakes. E.g. Performing an intervention on a heroine addict (assuming the ex-addict is one of those that really wants to live and not just exist in a living death until they stop breathing). Just a thought.

These are brilliant! Well done.

Are you suggesting that a disabled person would be a good emergency dispatcher? Is that someone sight-impaired (the guide dog steering the motorcycle) or someone in a souped-up wheelchair? " No sane person with a disability wants to be a charity case. The irony is, until one loses their health / welbeing, they has no idea how important it truly is, nor how strong their character is in extremis. The old saying of "If you want something done, give it to a busy person" is just as true for the disabled: if you want something difficult done, give it to someone who overcomes difficulties as part of their normal daily activities.

I think the correct etiquette would be to offer your own measurements and enquire, if that were not too intrusive, after the lady's figures. ... Because Silvershadow's probably astute enough to see where this line of questioning is leading ... "

I feel sooooooooo old ...

Disclaimer: I like to think those of us that have a certain predeliction for the very silly humour of Mony Python are not such a social malady as to be included in any such poll as this one and its ilk. " Normal service will now resume.

I know that I know very little, but I do know that that is totally wrong.

I don't recall it being mentioned at all. But the main issue is using it as a deus ex machina literary device in KotOR2. It simply hemorrages all the tension built up in the plot over the course of the narrative arc.

... and the Holy Grail.