Pegasus3d.com

[OscarWilde]

The 'consider the source' thread has gone out of control. We're (those that are fighting) all feeling like the other is being offensive, and vice versa where we're feeling offended. Not a good sign.

I don't intend to lose online friends I have here over issues that aren't as important as friendship is. Granted, online friendship is an odd concept in itself; but as I love to travel, i've always had it mind to go visit certain OSY members if I can, which also includes my twin Magus (who right now I'm sure thinks of me as his much more evil doppleganger then a twin ).
Twinky, Mord, Jeremy, Paolo and Dvixen, if I go through Canada. I'll see if they want to see me, or avoid me.
AYB off course, that isn't even a question. And I know he'll let me stay at his new house.
And many more people here. If we let conflict rule our relationship, we lose our humanity I think. So much love from me, even though I don't really know you and I think a lot of you are bastards.
_________________
'An urban myth. Like the dyslexic devil worshipper who sold his soul to Santa.' - Robert Rankin (Raiders of the Lost Car Park)

'Hate traps us by binding us too tightly to our adversary.' - Milan Kundera (Immortality)

[Magus]

It should be understood that I do try to seperate politics from personality. I've talked with Jeremy on #OSY on this very thing.

Politically, Wilde, I think you and JR are foreign hippy pinko Commie baby-eating assholes.

On the personal side, you both seem to be okay guys, albeit as screwed up in the head as me.

I hope the difference is clear? I really do compartmentalize...

What got my ire up (and yes, I do recognize my posts in that thread got a bit heated) isn't anyone personally, but what I perceive as one-sided communication and less than smammy debate techniques. I'm not denying my guilt in it, or that I'm likely exhibiting some behavior that rubs others wrong ways. I'll listen to any constructive criticism and hope that we can all learn something from the latest disaster.
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<Paolo|Work> anything that has to do with Java is by definition stupid

1 The Network is my domain, I shall not want; 2 though it makes me wait upon collision, it leads me to the Internet; 3 it restores my connection. It leads me in paths of hypertext transfer for google's sake. 4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of power failures, I fear no data corruption; for backups art with me; thy UPS and thy status light, they comfort me. 5 Thou preparest a firewall before me in the presence of my enemies; thou anointest my CD-R with BurnProof, my buffer never underflows. 6 Surely good deals and pr0n shall follow me all the days of my life; and I shall dwell in the house of the Datacenter for ever.
-HitScan

Wilde is a 4' chinese man in a bright pink tutu, lime green pimp hat with peacock feathers, and a purple feather boa, wearing tissue stuffed snakeskin combat boots, holding a gun bigger than he is, smoking a cigarette in the parking garage, trying to look menacing while pouting and head banging to Godsmack I stand alone

[Jeremy Reimer]

I think if we acknowledge that political threads can get heated, we can practice participating in them without getting so, er, heated. Or something.

The thing is, there's never any absolute about who is right and who is wrong. It's all shades of grey. Many times people (aka politicians) do the wrong things for the right reasons, or the right things for the wrong reasons, or what they think is right but what later turns out to be wrong, etc. It's too much to expect people to be perfect all the time. People make mistakes!

As do posters. I think we all have to learn to be forgiving of others from time to time. Magus has already forgiven me for getting too heated on a number of occasions. And for that I thank him.
_________________
"Those afraid of the universe as it really is, those who pretend to nonexistent knowledge and envision a Cosmos centered on human beings will prefer the fleeting comforts of superstition. They avoid rather than confront the world. But those with the courage to explore the weave and structure of the Cosmos, even where it differs profoundly from their wishes and prejudices, will penetrate its deepest mysteries."
-- Carl Sagan

"Its not a rule. Its just something I noticed. Several of us have more than one sig." - Mord

"No, you are a troll, and I should have never let you back to Ars in after the first 16,000 bannings." - Caesar, to He Who Shall Not Be Named

[OscarWilde]

I wasn't actually looking for forgiveness or excuses for comments made in other threads. I was looking for free invites to your homes, 'yeah sure! when you pass through the area let me know and you can stay at my place!'

Obviously some of you don't travel much. The more you travel, the more you become resourceful and try to stay with friends rather then at hotels which tend to always suck no matter how luxuries they may be. There are times hotels are nice, but the formality, the almost over sterile scented smell of the hallways and rooms drives me batty after a while. Also, once you step into a hotel room, you're effectively putting your holiday/visit on hold. When I stay at my friend's place, returning back home you're never putting your holiday on pause: the families (if they live with any) are pleasant and always want to talk to you. So talking to them and hearing their accents reminds you where you are. Second, the smell of a house is always more natural to me then a sterile cleaned room, so you feel alive and not in a limbo state of existence. Also, you don't really have the accidental chance of falling asleep as you would in a hotel room.

Yeah, it's been over two years since i've travelled. I really need to leave HK and go for a holiday. Next post!
_________________
'An urban myth. Like the dyslexic devil worshipper who sold his soul to Santa.' - Robert Rankin (Raiders of the Lost Car Park)

'Hate traps us by binding us too tightly to our adversary.' - Milan Kundera (Immortality)

[the twinkster]

In my experience, the "trick" to keeping a political thread civil is for everyone to be careful with his or her tone. Even when you're posting about an issue that's very important to you or replying to a post that you think is absurd, being polite in your criticism goes a long way. We all think we're "right" (er, "correct"), so we all need to be cognizant of the fact that saying "

For me, there's the obvious example of Israel-Palestine threads. I'm very passionate about the issue, for evident reasons, but since I know that I take extra care to write about it in a measured tone, with references (primary sources wherever possible) as needed. There are fora I frequent where I refuse to discuss the issue, because people invariably say things I find too offensive to remain civil, and because people make statements intended to be taken by others as fact that in reality are completely unsupported. If you wish to speak from a position of authority, provide primary-source references. If not, qualify your statements. In all cases, write in as measured a tone as you can.

On another forum I frequent (sort of a "spin-off" of one of the places where I don't discuss the issue) someone asked me about my views of the subject as related to two specific points. When asked nicely, I'm more than willing to elucidate my thoughts. At some length (that post is a behemoth), with references to primary sources. If the subject ever comes up here again, from what I've seen so far I would certainly be willing to say what I think about aspects X or Y of the issue, without fear of being insulted or flamed for posting in a measured, reasoned manner.

In the general case, I really do think it's better to drop the "argumentative" tone. So no "you pulled that out of your ass!" or "that's fucking ridiculous," and more "I don't think that's accurate, for reasons X and Y," perhaps with a dose of "I disagree because of related point Z." Emphasize words or phrases only if you must, and with italics (not bold or allcaps). It makes a world of difference.
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As time stretches on here at OSY Extreme, everyone will eventually have quotes in their sig from the other members. – Mord

Damn, after this and some of my other relationship salvations, I really have a huuuuge stockpile of date karma. Like stumbling into a professional dominatrix at a bookstore at the science fiction section while reaching for the same book kind of karma. -- Happysin, on Ars

[Thundar]

And the more smileys, the better...


_________________
In theory, practice and theory are the same. In practice, they are not.

[FondueDaredevil]

I should have never become involved in the argument ... because winning an argument on the internet is like winning the special olympics ...

My excuse is that I was tired ...
_________________
"Our products just aren't engineered for security."
- Brian Valentine, Senior VP in charge of MS Windows Development

"I call on those who question the motives of the president and his national security advisers to join with the rest of America in presenting a united front to our enemies abroad." Sen. Dick Durbin, 1998

"There's no set architecture in Linux. All roads lead to madness" - William Hilf, Microsoft homonculous

Supervillains for Linux!

[Jay]

[FondueDaredevil]

[AllYorBaseRBelong2Us]

AYB is glad to see his smammlings get along so well


_________________
This and other statistics can be culled from Jeremy Reimer's Personal Computer Market Share: 1975-2002, a very impressive piece of information gathering. The numbers tell some very interesting stories.
- http://lowendmac.com/musings/03/0131.html

Man, I need to get out more. You know smam is getting to you when you go to a canadian restaurant and start wondering about moose cock. -OscarWilde

[Mord]

_________________
Give a guy a gun, he thinks he's Superman. Give him two and he thinks he's God. - Superintendant Pang, Lashou shentan (a.k.a. Hard-Boiled)
I note that you don't have any OSY member quotes in your sig. - the twinkster
Nonsense. "Bias" is people whom don't agree with me. - FondueDaredevil

Gabe: I wish you weren't a fucking liar.
Tycho: I'm not a liar.
Gabe: Well, I wish you didn't lie.

[OscarWilde]

[Jay]

[FondueDaredevil]

[AllYorBaseRBelong2Us]

Speaking of movies, and smam, which AYB always talks about, Harry Pottar is comming out this weekend!

Oscar Wilde, Magus, and AYB are so pumped!


_________________
This and other statistics can be culled from Jeremy Reimer's Personal Computer Market Share: 1975-2002, a very impressive piece of information gathering. The numbers tell some very interesting stories.
- http://lowendmac.com/musings/03/0131.html

Man, I need to get out more. You know smam is getting to you when you go to a canadian restaurant and start wondering about moose cock. -OscarWilde

[OscarWilde]

Pumped about Harry Potter? Not really. I'll watch it for sure, but truth be told, they sorta almost bore me. I do like the books a lot. However, just like the LOTR movies, and basically any movie that are based on books, I tend not to like them. LOTR being the one that I disliked the most because I felt it really just focused on both the romantic* aspects and the battle scenes. Even Tolkein himself has written that one could read the book as 'romantic heroism' (which I admit reading it as) and avoid the history behind the story. However, the book without the history and romantic heroism, still has a deeper character growth that gets revealed with the scouring of the Shire in the end. The movie didn't show that, and I'm very bitter about that. Hence why I think LOTR is the worse of book adaptations.





*I'm using the term romantic as the ideal and not the word as it is more often known today: which is the context of love between a couple. Karl Marx's 'The Communist Manifesto' believe it or not is considered romantic writing, which I'm fairly sure not many are aware of. So yeah, I'm talking about the romantic ideal, not love.
_________________
'An urban myth. Like the dyslexic devil worshipper who sold his soul to Santa.' - Robert Rankin (Raiders of the Lost Car Park)

'Hate traps us by binding us too tightly to our adversary.' - Milan Kundera (Immortality)

[HitScan]

Hell, I'm just pumped that I'm getting off work tomorrow at 1:30, not necessarily because I'm going to see the movie. (Though it better not suck...)
_________________
My mind's slacking process has real-time priority.
A kernel is only as strong as its weakest Interrupt Service Routine.

"I was going to write my congressman, but I can't find my checkbook." - /. poster

"Wiffleball bats are good, because they can be retrofitted with lead pipes." - Harbinger

[Magus]

'fraid not. HP just doesn't interest me all that much, sorry.
_________________
<Paolo|Work> anything that has to do with Java is by definition stupid

1 The Network is my domain, I shall not want; 2 though it makes me wait upon collision, it leads me to the Internet; 3 it restores my connection. It leads me in paths of hypertext transfer for google's sake. 4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of power failures, I fear no data corruption; for backups art with me; thy UPS and thy status light, they comfort me. 5 Thou preparest a firewall before me in the presence of my enemies; thou anointest my CD-R with BurnProof, my buffer never underflows. 6 Surely good deals and pr0n shall follow me all the days of my life; and I shall dwell in the house of the Datacenter for ever.
-HitScan

Wilde is a 4' chinese man in a bright pink tutu, lime green pimp hat with peacock feathers, and a purple feather boa, wearing tissue stuffed snakeskin combat boots, holding a gun bigger than he is, smoking a cigarette in the parking garage, trying to look menacing while pouting and head banging to Godsmack I stand alone

[Jeremy Reimer]

Emma Watson is hot.

There, I said it.
_________________
"Those afraid of the universe as it really is, those who pretend to nonexistent knowledge and envision a Cosmos centered on human beings will prefer the fleeting comforts of superstition. They avoid rather than confront the world. But those with the courage to explore the weave and structure of the Cosmos, even where it differs profoundly from their wishes and prejudices, will penetrate its deepest mysteries."
-- Carl Sagan

"Its not a rule. Its just something I noticed. Several of us have more than one sig." - Mord

"No, you are a troll, and I should have never let you back to Ars in after the first 16,000 bannings." - Caesar, to He Who Shall Not Be Named

[HitScan]

[FondueDaredevil]

[Mord]

[AllYorBaseRBelong2Us]

OW and Magus are silly.

goofyheads!


_________________
This and other statistics can be culled from Jeremy Reimer's Personal Computer Market Share: 1975-2002, a very impressive piece of information gathering. The numbers tell some very interesting stories.
- http://lowendmac.com/musings/03/0131.html

Man, I need to get out more. You know smam is getting to you when you go to a canadian restaurant and start wondering about moose cock. -OscarWilde

[Thundar]

[MasterOfTheHat]