Dikiyoba

Sawdust cannon ain't gonna conquer the world. [...] Science changes society

Oh, good. As long as we have our priorities. Give everyone guns and dynamite! Cover the land in DDT and Agent Orange! When we invent giant killer robots, let's throw those out into society without thinking or caring too. At least death counts are objective!

Explosions are easy. Not exploding things and controlled explosions that don't result in a rain of body parts are hard, but far more useful.

Dikiyoba.

Science certainly doesn't happen in a vacuum, but emphasizing this too much is like saying gunpowder's nothing special, because explosions need to be touched off by sparks.

Well, but you shouldn't overemphasize the importance of gunpowder either. Lots of things besides gunpowder explode when touched off by sparks, and gunpowder without sparks is basically useless. So if you want to understand and control explosions, understanding gunpowder is only a tiny component. Understanding sparks is a much larger and more important component. Gunpowder is cool and special, but so are sparks, and TNT, and natural gas, and sawdust, and just about everything else.

Dikiyoba.

I introduced my girlfriend to CR and by extension SW. . . does that count?

Not until she becomes an active poster on SW. Slow and steady is probably the best way, although short, spammy, and memorable also works.

Dikiyoba.

You can find as much spirit in electronics as in anything else.

In before the booze pun and alcoholic derailment.

Dikiyoba.

It's how science changes culture. A culture with steam engines is totally different. Discuss.

Well, except for the part where culture was behind the invention of the steam engine (for instance, really good black dye wasn't invented in medieval Europe until after black clothing became fashionable among the wealthy), or the steam engine was invented but nobody did anything with it until culture changed (like Mendel's laws of inheritance being ignored for 40-odd years because nobody thought they were important).

Dikiyoba.

Well, okay, but what about when behaving ethically isn't the good thing for you in the long run? Sometimes doing the right thing requires sacrifice: if you reduce ethics to self-interest, how do you convince someone that a cause is worth dying for?

A) It's not a perfect system, certainly, but at least it's not circular.

What causes are worth dying for?

Dikiyoba.

(Why should I behave ethically? Because my sense of empathy tells me to, and if I don't, other people will suffer. Why should I listen to my empathy? Because I have to. Why should I concern myself with other people's suffering? I don't know, I just have to, and that's not negotiable. Etc.)

Eh? Why should I behave ethically? Because it's good for me in the long run. It provides increased opportunities (eg, if I follow birdwatching ethics I can birdwatch again and again, whereas if I behave unethically the birds will kill off or be scared away), decreases the risk of negative consequences (if I behave unethically at work, I am likely to be fired), and encourages people to behave ethically toward me (if I'm sympathetic to people having a bad day, it increases the odds that they will be sympathetic to me when I'm having a bad day).

Also, it makes Dikiyoba feel warm and fuzzy inside. Ethics is like swallowing kittens without all that annoying squirming!

The Other Insect Societies (reread): The information is good (and fascinating), but I don't know how I missed the mediocre writing and weird organization the first time around. Totally worth the read (and reread), but a little disappointing.

Superdove: It's thought-provoking and the writing is superb, but it's lacking. The author mostly refuses to draw conclusions, and there's no information on things like feral pigeon health, architectural damage, the perspectives of "pigeon haters," or a comparison with the Eurasian collared dove. Also, the cover art is hideous.

Dikiyoba.

If you like Pokemon (which you must, since you returned to the thread for them), why would you leave annoyed?

If it's because you really enjoy robberies, just let Dikiyoba know (but only if you own things worth a lot of money.)

Lilac flower buds

Syncronized dabbling! (Male and female northern shovelers. Not sure if they are actually a pair or just together incidentally, since there was a whole huge flock nearby.)

Male American kestral eating a garter snake (and having lots of trouble with it. It was a tiny (very dead) snake too.)

And of course, what would Dikiyoba's post be without this photo of bones! (Based on the jaw and teeth, it's a rodent. A very large rodent, not near any body of water, so... porcupine?)

Congrats, Earth Empires!

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Remember, it's not how much you post or where you post, it's what you post. You can post ten times a day in General and not make any spam, or you can post once a month in the games forums and post only spam.

Dikiyoba's posts are 65% spam, 31% helpful, 7% memes, and 2% chocolate ripple (because Dikiyoba doesn't like butterscotch).

If you're playing a loyalist, you can get an amulet to go through safely.

Or a double-agent, or a moderate rebel. Working with the Shapers a bit, even if you plan to stick with the rebel faction, is very useful.

Dikiyoba.

Given Richard Dawkins' original definition of a meme as a self-replicating unit of culture, can we really call any meme successful if it is limited to a tiny corner of the virtual world, such as exemplified by the Spiderweb community?

As long as it continues to successfully replicate in that tiny corner, why not? Specialization is a good way to ensure survival in a stable environment, and Spiderweb doesn't seem likely to disappear any time soon.

Dikiyoba isn't sure what the meme equivalent for mass extinctions are, though. Or whether it really makes any sense at all to compare bits of culture to DNA.

Witty titles, but it's not always obvious why a member got/has their particular one.

Witty but nonsensical is kind of the point of custom title, though. (Or at least the point of the very old titles handed out by Drakefyre. The newer ones given out by global mods tend to make more sense.)

That's why Dikiyoba has no custom title, really. Dikiyoba is clearly not nearly nonsensical enough.

Congrats, Bard.

Just a few days late, though.

Dikiyoba actually doesn't much like pie. Cake is better.

I believe even moderators stick to receiving custom titles from others and not simply giving themselves whatever title they wish.

About half the mods have self-given titles. The rest were given their title before becoming a mod or have no custom title at all.

Dikiyoba.

Uh, how can stress from one week of extra work be the cause of one month of ailments?

In any case, if the stress from work doesn't go away (because some jobs are just high-stress situations), Dikiyoba recommends looking into ways to manage and reduce the stress. In the meantime, take care of yourself. Eat regular meals, get enough sleep, do something fun just for yourself, and exercise. Constant stress results in physical health problems if it goes on long enough, and the mental problems probably won't go away either.

Tongues of Serpents wasn't incredible, but it was better than Empire of Ivory.

Empire of Ivory had its flaws, but its ending

is one of the best in the series.

Dikiyoba.

Well, Tongues of Serpents wasn't very good, but Crucible of Gold was fine. It did spent too much time in the Incan Empire and not enough time in Brazil, though.

Dikiyoba.

To me, this is precisely the right question, so 'can one change gender identity by trying' seems like a good way to phrase the question.

The answer is either "yes and no" or "no." Some people's gender might be malleable or flexible and be able to choose, but for most people it's not a choice. If it were a choice, the suicide rate for transgender people wouldn't be at 33-40 percent.

this is why i mentioned in one of my poll answers that "gender identity" is a problematic term btw: gender is as much a system of social roles as a matter of individual identity. unfortunately we haven't really come up with a better term (in fact, a better term for what? there isn't even agreement on the nature of the phenomenon we're trying to name). "subconscious sex" or "brain sex" are sometimes used but those terms imply things about etiology that aren't yet proven and aren't necessarily relevant anyway

Dikiyoba's personal definition is gender identity is the individual, well, identity, while gender roles are the social aspects.

I will __not__ release individual responses, and I will make sure that any info that could be personally identifiable is lumped (similar to what slarty did with the grand poll).

As long as gender doesn't get lumped into "male" and "other" again. Blech.

Agreed. If there was a fault with the poll, it's that I couldn't explain myself adequately in the space provided. It's almost like you didn't want to read an essay or something.

The trick is to write your essays entirely in abbreviations and text speak.

Dikiyoba.

Because many bugs are fixed in the mac beta test, windows testers only have to worry about porting bugs, not other bugs or, perhaps more significantly, balance.

That was the case, yes. But now that Jeff is planning to release Avadon 2 for Mac and PC at the same time, the PC beta testers will have to worry about regular bugs and combat balance as well as any porting bugs.

Dikiyoba.

The first five novels in the Temeraire series. There are a couple of flaws, most notably the overuse of action-heavy, in media res-type openings, and I might very well be missing some flaws relating to the time period and settings, but overall it's fine reading. The other two books in the series might stumble, though, since I've seen some bad reviews.

The Wisdom of Birds. It focuses too much on European history and reproduction, but the writing is elegant and varied, the information is well explained, and the illustrations complement the writing. A really, really good book.

Dikiyoba.

Avernum 6 and Avernum: Escape from the Pit are two different games. Avernum 6 was made before Escape from the Pit but chronologically takes place much later because Escape from the Pit is a remake of Avernum 1 (no subtitle). You can choose either one to play first. Avernum 6 will spoil some of the plot of Escape from the Pit, but not badly. The two games have a different skill system, but are otherwise mostly alike. Escape from the Pit's interface might be better, since it was designed to go on the iPad from the beginning, while Avernum 6 was ported later. Does the iPad store give you access to their demos? If not, you may want to download the demo version of the games for Mac or PC to see which game you like better.

Dikiyoba has no idea whether Escape from the Pit is high-def or not.

On the other hand, Greta is a general and has to manage all the paperwork and orders, while the PC is more-or-less freelance. Not to mention that Southforge or other bases where she is stationed need to be protected from attack by the Shapers, so someone powerful has to stay behind on guard. Plus, Greta is so well known that she can't hope to go incognito or bluff her way out of situations the way an unknown lifecrafter can.

Dikiyoba.