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16:14 / 11.09.02

Good point Haus.

You have to get away from the idea that the image in the mirror is anything more than an illusion created by our experience light traveling in straight lines Smoothly.

Stand in front of the mirror holding a large lower case b stolen from a sign (3 dimensional model of a d). Look at the one in front of you. Look at the one appearing in the mirror. Identical no?

Light ariving at your eye from objects on your right apear to ariving from objects on your right, light ariving at your eye from bojects on your left appear to be arriving from objects on your left. The problem only become apparant if you start to believe the person in the mirror is real and say 'hey those objects are on his right but my left'. If you stop thinking about writing and consider each letter just as an object or group of objects it makes more sense. The parts of the letter to the left remain on the left, the parts to the right remain on the right. Only your imaginary mirror buddy has a problem.

The mirror does not flip anything and it can't opt!

16:19 / 11.09.02

Also re: the soundcard thing.

ISA slots are indeed dead. Also, your card is probably pretty much obsolete - whilst it might have been hi-tech back in the day, most modern cards use the computer's memory for sample ram - the new Soundblaster Live/Audigy Family do, unlike the AWE32/64 which used onboard SIMMs. Given £20 will get you around 128mb these days, that's not so stupid. And whilst the Audigy's are nice, I can think of far far more cards a serious musician would rather have...

16:20 / 11.09.02

Am making a rather boring chilli con carne (approx 2 lbs meat and similar quantities of tomatoes and kidney beans). I am using Scotch bonnet chilli peppers, which I gather are extremely hot. How many do I need (they're about an inch round) to make a mildly hot dish? I'm aiming at about British curry house Madras hot.

16:56 / 11.09.02

ONE. Maybe two. If you touch the peppers with your bare fingers, do not rub your eyes; and if you are a boy, wash hands thoroughly before you pee!

17:13 / 11.09.02

if you are a boy, wash hands thoroughly before you pee!

Thanks for taking 36 minutes to post that.

17:16 / 11.09.02

Bear: The inimitable Fawlty Towers has been reimagined for American television not once, but twice: most recently as Payne, starring John Larroquette as hotelier Royle Payne. Oh, my sides.

An earlier attempt, Amanda's, starred Bea Arthur. It was every bit as ghastly as you are imagning and moreso.

At least we've got Sanford & Son to be proud of...

...right?

Morlock - groupie for hire

17:18 / 11.09.02

t.o.d.d. Rough approx on the tape measure thing. Say it's a mm thick, and wound up perfectly. This is roughly the same as having a series of concentric rings 1mm think, or a set of thin circles at 1mm radius increments, plus one mm for the hub. The length of tape (in mm) needed for a certain number of windings is then 1+2pi(r1)+2pi(r2)+2pi(r3)+... where r1, r2 etc are the radii of the circles counting out from the centre, not counting the hub. Quick google on 'arithmetic progression sum' allows me to rewrite this as L=1+(n(2a+(n-1)d))/2, where a is the first pi term (2pi), d is the difference between pi terms (4pi) and n is the number of winds, without all that tedious derivation stuff.

stick in the pis (hmmm, pi) and the whole thing collapses to a more civilised (L-1)/2pi=n+n^2-1, or (L-1)/2pi=R+R^2-3 where R is the radius of the finished spool. Twelve miles is about 19000000mm, so we can probably ignore the -1 terms, and a bit more fiddling leaves us with R^2+R-L/2pi=0. A quadratic equation, which can be solved to give an answer of 5498mm give or take. Not an exact answer, but definitely bigger'n a backpack. 'Course, thinner tape changes value of d, which gives a smaller result. Figure that one out yourself.

Smoothly, imagine a ray of light travelling from your left foot to your face (eyes is confuseing, which one?) via the mirror, and you'll see how Feature's diagram works. Now try to imagine the path a ray of light would have to take in order to suggest your shoes are level with the top of your head, but pull out before your brain implodes. The ray would have to travel to the mirror at a level between the top of your head and your eye-level, and then pull a rather sharp u-turn to race back down to your eyes. Not gonna happen.

Knackered now. Do we get points for this stuff? Or at least Mighty vouchers or something.

17:35 / 11.09.02

Suitable for framing:

19:08 / 11.09.02

I read the first bit of Empire last month, but kept getting stuck on sentences like "to look at it using an ontological perspective" or "using an ontological model" and so forth. I remember seeing this word in the Invisibles, but just ignored it. What does "ontological mean?"(My dictionary didnt have a very good definition.)

19:46 / 11.09.02

From dicitonary.com

on·tol·o·gy
n.
1. The branch of metaphysics that deals with the nature of being.

on·to·log·i·cal
adj.
1. Of or relating to ontology.
2. Of or relating to essence or the nature of being.
3. Of or relating to the argument for the existence of God holding that the existence of the concept of God entails the existence of God.
Jesus, that last definition's confusing at first.

I've always sort of inferred that when King Mob mentions ontological terrorism he means he attacks others' sense of self, identity, assumptions about their place in the universe, etc.

00:09 / 12.09.02

Was reading RAW's Cosmic Trigger vol 1 and got to the point when he says according to Crowley and (I cant remember the name) the secret of the Eleusian mysteries is that Osiris is a BLACK god. Anyone care to explain that...

01:48 / 12.09.02

Thanks for taking 36 minutes to post that.

But wait, there's more... if you did touch the peppers with your bare fingers, and if you are a boy and you didn't wash your hands before peeing and your dick is still burning eight hours later, then you'll be wanting to bathe the affected areas with milk.

*grin*

Hey actually, that reminds me of my question: can someone explain to me what is conveyed by the expression "taking the piss" ...thank you, seriously.

Husb has a question too, how do bank holidays work? As in, how many and when and who decides these things?

.

11:10 / 12.09.02

More on ontology

"Ontological Terrorism" as a phrase was (I believe) originally used by RAW. If RAW/ King Mob etc. are using the phrase to indicate that they are "fucking with people's belief systems" then they should say "Epistemological Terrorism", since epistemology is the 'ology of knowledge, perception and belief. Roughly speaking, philosophy is divided into four branches:

Epistemology- The study of belief, perception and knowledge.
Ontology- Metaphysics and the like. The study of being and existence.
Logic- Includes stuff on maths, language etc.
Value judgements- This includes ethics and aesthetics.

The Ontological argument for the existence of God goes like this:
1) God is all perfect (by definition).
2) Something has to exist to be perfect.
3) Therefore God exists.

11:51 / 12.09.02

Persephone: to take the piss = to pull someone's leg, to put someone on, to mess with someone: to joke or tease, often by making an untrue statement that would provoke mild outrage and/or spluttering if it were taken seriously. There's an element of deception, which may be open (i.e., it's patently obvious to all that the piss-taker is only affecting a position) or well-hidden (as with the poker-faced tone of the Landover Baptist website, for instance)--but in taking the piss there is an implicit line-drawing between Those Who Get It and Those Who Don't.

11:57 / 12.09.02

Persephone:
"Taking the Piss", as in "You're taking the piss!" roughly means that you are either exagerrating (sp?) something out of all proportion or not being serious.

Bank Holidays: I have no clue what they are and how they are decided upon. Living in the United Kingdom for five years has yet to yield any satisfying answers. I think it's a cop-out used when the entire nation with the exception of Boots the chemist and Tesco want to take a day off and clog up every mile of motorway leading to a beach from about 9am onwards. At 5pm, every car is lifted and turned 180 degrees by special government helicopters and the whole mess tries to head home.

12:35 / 12.09.02

Taking the piss.

At its most basic it just means "taking the mickey" or "mocking" as in "this chap sustained serious genital burns from a chilli despite dangling his dick in a glass of milk for an hour. We took the piss out of him mercilessly."
It can also have the meaning Jack and Grey Area have ascribed to it, and it can even have the meaning "cross the mark" as in "I lent her that £10 over 2 months ago and she still hasn't given it back. It's not as though I need the money, but she's been paid twice since then. That's just taking the piss."

13:41 / 12.09.02

(Am I the only one who assumed that Persephone was..er...taking the...um... ?)

Belated thanks to Feature and Haus for their comprehensive demolition of the my frankly ridiculous suggestion that mirrors should either turn you upside down or behave like the TV/camera combos in Dixons' window. It'd be cool if they did though wouldn't it.

I've got another mirrory question though! You know how when you look through a window you see both what's the other side and a faint reflection of yourself? How come? Do some 'window atoms' reflect light while other let it through, or do all the 'atoms' do a bit of reflecting and a bit of ignoring?
Is this question dumber than my last?

The Return Of Rothkoid

14:18 / 12.09.02

Osiris: bit of a writeup here.

Pertinent bit:

The Egyptians also believed that Osiris was the river Nile and that Isis (his sister-wife) was the contiguous land, which, when inundated by the river, bore fruit and harvest. The murky waters of the Nile were believed to account for the blackness of Osiris, who was generally symbolized as being of ebony hue.

It also mentions that he's black due to it being the colour of death, which is kinda fitting as he's the god of death and rebirth.

15:21 / 12.09.02

I've often heard the term "mouth breather" used as an insult. Does this merely refer to someone who breaths through their mouth rather than their nose, or are there other connotations? Why is it so bad to be a mouth breather?

18:30 / 12.09.02

Does anyone know of an online translation service (like the Alta Vista Babel Fish) that can translate whole blocks of kanji into English?

The Return Of Rothkoid

01:22 / 13.09.02

E. Randy: how's this sound?

The Japanese-English Dictionary Portal provides easy look-ups of entries in Jim Breen's Japanese-English dictionary, WWWJDIC. By highlighting characters, words, or phrases on a Web page in Kanji/Kana, Romaji, or English, and then clicking on the JEDP menu, you can automatically find those characters or words in the dictionary. From this departure point you can enter the University of Virginia's Japanese Text Initiative resources or begin to browse any Japanese language web document or website.
Once started, the Japanese-English Dictionary program will follow you in your websurfing. At any point, you can highlight a word or phrase in English, Romaji or Kanji/Kana to obtain a Japanese-English translation.

There's also a number of translators (whole webpages, individual words and chunks of copy) here. If that's not enough, there's a list of other online services offering translations here.

Regarding "mouth breather", here has this to say (though it's not the most reputable page):

Mouth-breather: (noun) a stupid person. As in, This mouth-breather still doesn't understand that I can't help him out. Etymology uncertain, but possibly derived from biology.

Poking around, I've found that mouth breathing in the main refers to people who for some reason don't breathe using their noses; due to deviated septums or whatnot. Usually, it's associated with chronic snoring and (I think) sleep apnea, the condition whereby you can essentially suffocate during the night due to the snoring/breathing lapse. One of the side-effects of this could well be that the nasal sound of someone who is a mouth-breather could make them sound more stupid or slow, much the same way as people with colds sometimes sound not-quite-with-it. Perhaps, too, there's a link to the term "mouth breeder", or that idea of someone walking around slack-jawed...

Of course, I'm guessing on the last bit. There ain't much in the way I could find of descriptions...

07:52 / 13.09.02

Thanks for the interesting questions and excellent replies. Since we're on the second page now, I thought I'd do a round-up and re-post the questions which haven't received any answers yet:

harmony:
"Does anyone know any good public music libraries in London? Im looking for books on theory or history.

I have gone for a look internetwise but figured personal experience is probably going to be more useful. Ta."

Smoothly Weaving:
"You know how when you look through a window you see both what's the other side and a faint reflection of yourself? How come? Do some 'window atoms' reflect light while other let it through, or do all the 'atoms' do a bit of reflecting and a bit of ignoring? Is this question dumber than my last?"

Saveloy:
"In the "Explain punk..." thread in the Music forum, tSuibhne says:

"The [punk] label has gotten spread pretty thin since it was first used to describe 60's garage."

Was garage actually called punk during the 60s? If so, who first used the term, where, and when? I'm not saying it wasn't, but I'd always been under the impression that the label was applied retrospectively."

and:

"Related to my slope question, this - is there such a thing as a not-too-pricey (or even shareware) bit of software that will simulate the motion of an object over a given landscape. What I want to do is draw a bumpy slope and then see how a wheeled vehicle would travel down it, and I want to be able to muck about with the parameters (weight, mass, materials etc) Engineers and architects must use hugely expensive and complicated professional versions all the time, but my needs are fairly simple and my means limited...."

14:51 / 13.09.02

Smoothly Weaving:
"You know how when you look through a window you see both what's the other side and a faint reflection of yourself? How come? Do some 'window atoms' reflect light while other let it through, or do all the 'atoms' do a bit of reflecting and a bit of ignoring? Is this question dumber than my last?"

The basic, not-too-helpful answer is: things are partially reflective because they let some photons through and bounce some photons back.
I'm not *sure* why this happens on an atomic level - I imagine it has to do with frequency of spin as well as density on some level (but not overall density, because, like, lead and uranium aren't as reflective as silver or aluminum). I think it has more to do with molecular properties than atomic ones.

14:53 / 13.09.02

Was garage actually called punk during the 60s? If so, who first used the term, where, and when? I'm not saying it wasn't, but I'd always been under the impression that the label was applied retrospectively."

Lester Bangs certainly referred to groups as punks in articles written in the late-ish '60s .. maybe other people did too, or maybe he was just weird, I dunno.. I don't think it was used as a specific genre description though, more like a way of describing the musicians..

A punk-rlated question that's taken up a lot of my time however, is;

Why do the kids need surfboards if they're going to the discotheque? Why? WHY? WHY? What the devil are they playing at?

00:21 / 14.09.02

I have a block of extra-firm tofu, less a small slice that went into miso soup. Can extra-firm tofu be used in smooties or desserts, and if so, does anyone have any recipie suggestions? I would appreciate any help provided in my efforts to befriend the soybean.

20:19 / 14.09.02

What's the difference between Wing Tsun and Wing Chun? Is it just the name or are there actual differences in style?

22:46 / 14.09.02

One for the Brits amongst us. Probably.

What county is central London in? Given that areas of Outer London are in Counties, Croydon in Surrey, East Ham in Essex etc. Is central London (and specifically the West End) even part of a county or is it a county in itself? What's going on with that?

Are there any areas of the country that aren't in a county?

.

22:54 / 14.09.02

Central London is in the county of...

Greater London.

Boring but there you go.

01:31 / 15.09.02

Can extra-firm tofu be used in smooties or desserts, and if so, does anyone have any recipie suggestions?

No, you want silken tofu for that. Not that I am big on tofu desserts.

Just eat it! It's good! You can cut it into slices and dunk 'em in soy sauce and eat 'em. Bowl of rice & a little bit of vegetable makes dinner.

Or you can fry the slices in a little bit of vegetable or peanut oil, so they're golden & a little crispy. Dunk 'em in soy sauce and eat 'em.

Or you can mush it up & put it in eggrolls.

01:46 / 15.09.02

Forgot to post my question, which is:

How do I tell the cat on Microsoft Word that yes I am writing a letter and no I don't need help and please don't ask again?

02:53 / 15.09.02

Via Maz and Boo: Go to help in the menu bar, click "Hide Office Assistant." That should send Whiskers back to the Meow Mix comercial from whence he came.

02:54 / 15.09.02

Damn. Tried what I just typed and the kitty showed up anyway. Sorry.

02:56 / 15.09.02

Wait, got it now, next time ze shows up, right click on hir and click on options. In the menu that pops up, click off the check in the box that says use office assistant. I actually checked this time. Really.

.

12:09 / 15.09.02

If you right click on that damn paperclip and suggest it buggers off a few times in a row, eventually it gets the message and will disappear for good.

Another question. I was just watching the MTV Video Music Awards, and when [SPOILERS!!! if you are bothered by knowing who wins which award, look away now] that skinny white rapper with issues won (I think) best male video award, upon thanking Interscope as he was collecting his award, the crowd booed him. Why?

12:28 / 15.09.02

How do I tell the cat on Microsoft Word that yes I am writing a letter and no I don't need help and please don't ask again?

In the Assistant balloon, click Options. If the Assistant balloon isn't visible, click the Assistant. On the Options tab, clear the Use the Office Assistant check box.

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