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Welcome, Hypnos! Sandman's really good stuff. As far as I'm concerned, Neil Gaiman can do no wrong. You might like the movie Mirrormask, which was written by Gaiman. The art director is Dave McKean, who did a lot of art for Sandman.

Right now I'm reading some anthology of short stories published in 2006.

I'm waiting for the political pendulum's back-swing. I anticipate that 08 will be the end of a ridiculous period of American history characterized by far-right absurdity and the beginning of a ridiculous period of American history characterized by far-left absurdity.

Personally, I vote based on die rolls. I feel its a rational response to idiocracy.

Mysterious Samurai Saves Police
http://www.tv3.co.nz/News/NewsDisplay/tabid/209/articleID/18823/Default.aspx

A samurai sword wielding vigilante has come to the rescue of two Police officers when they were attacked by an armed gang in South Shields, England.

A group of men had forced their way into a house and were ransacking the place when passing plain-clothes officers were alerted by a woman inside screaming.
 
The criminals outnumbered them and were armed with a hammer, knives and chains and attacked the Police officers.

As one of them stabbed at a Policeman with his knife, a mysterious do-gooder appeared from nowhere and attacked him with a samurai sword.

One of the burglars began running away but was stopped by the stranger who struck him on the arm with the sword.

Two of the criminals were arrested, but in true hero style the samurai disappeared before police could speak to him.

A third man was arrested later and two more are still being hunted.

Police are especially keen to trace the man with the sword who came to the aid of their officers, and have asked for anyone with information to call them.

I like this quite a bit. Thank you!

Inappropriate habits are what kill you.

Then I'm probably going to die from drinking from water bottles that I find.

I agree, the article wasn't terribly well put together. But the subject matter (free will vs determinism) has interested / bugged me for years.

The melioration principle is a property of animal behavior. It basically says that an organism will engage in a behavior until there are greater rewards for engaging in a different behavior. To me, this crystalizes the whole issue. Animal behavior is incredibly predictable when you look at it in terms of rewards. People are just trying to maximize their rewards.

So my take on all this is that the only real way to demonstrate independence from this principle, (aka free will) is to do something that you honestly don't want to do, something that won't give you a good reward. Are you getting a better reward for defying the system than you were for trying to live within its confines? Is that defiance in itself just a function of the melioration principle?

I mean, all that squishy human stuff (choices, emotions, brain chemistry, etc) is just a product of basic physical systems and governed by basic physical laws. You can't escape it!

sorry to ramble, this is one of those topics that I get really frustrated about.

[Next Topic:]

ack! 

Next Topic: The Sound Barrier

[Professor Cramulus]

Well I think he's awesome. His novels aside, Wilson has gotten me (personally) interested in so many zany topics I probably wouldn't otherwise have thought were cool. And if that's mind control, I'm happy to be his robot mind slave, spouting his memes, crapping around, all that jazz


Very Sincerely Yours,


Professor Cramulus
"In the absence of infidel justice, there is awesome motion."

[Professor Cramulus]

NT: Celebrity chainsaw juggling

Day after the show:
Blood all over the tabloids
Some good looking stumps




Yours Truly

Professor Cramulus
"Harder than you Think!"

[Professor Cramulus]

Inevitably Yours,


Professor Cramulus
"Ask me about Relative Dating!"

[Professor Cramulus]

With All Due Respect,


Professor Cramulus
"An erect erection is insurrection!"