Yay, I have an avatar. :) :)

Thanks Captain Avatar!!!

> Yay, I have an avatar. :) :)
>
> Thanks Captain Avatar!!!

Now you just need to write a profile.

> Now you just need to write a profile.

Done. Now watch me get sued. :)

And all this time I thought it was my profile pic... tsk tsk tsk...

Live n' learn, eh?

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> Hey Magenta. NA is user of the day at BURP.
> I think it was your nomination of him in BOTD that did it.

:) Anywhere you want me to nominate you so you get user of the day?

All I ask is a cup of good coffee. Not Starbucks (tm)

UotD is pesudo-random. Weird picks are not uncommon.

Then again, there are occasions when there's a non-random, fully intentional, and well deserved pick

Roelof deserved it, the poor fella...

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> Is your cat's eyes really reflecting green light from the flash?

Yes. I'm only just learning how to take digital photographs, only just bought a digital camera a couple of weeks ago.

He's my cute 7.5kg cat - not sure what that is in pounds, but just under the weight of a small dog like a jack russell or fox terrier. It's amazing I even got him facing the camera - I have a large number of shots of him as he has just turned away.

Did you like the profile?

> UotD is pesudo-random. Weird picks are not uncommon.
>
> Then again, there are occasions when there's a non-random, fully intentional,
> and well deserved pick
>
> Roelof deserved it, the poor fella...

Order tends to chaos, chaos surely starts looking like order.... especially when one just happens to look up on the train to work and accidentally catches another person's (normally a member of the opposite sex's) eye and it looks like one has been staring at them. Of course, the only way they know you're looking at them is if they're looking at you. :)

> Order tends to chaos, chaos surely starts looking like order.... especially
> when one just happens to look up on the train to work and accidentally catches
> another person's (normally a member of the opposite sex's) eye and it looks
> like one has been staring at them. Of course, the only way they know you're
> looking at them is if they're looking at you. :)

Wasn't that Nietzsche? Something about gazing too long...

Anyhow, you bio mentions Brief History of Time. If it helps, I'll admit I cheated. Bought the book on tape and played it over and over as I drove all the way from one end of the continental US to the other. Forces you not to dwell on the stuff you don't get immediately.

"When you gaze long into the abyss, the abyss also gazes into you."
.
.
.
.

---

Order tends to chaos, chaos surely starts looking like order....

Saul
“The ancient Japanese considered the Go board as a microcosm of the Universe. When it is empty, it appears to be simple and ordered. The possibilities of gameplay are endless. They say that no two Go games have ever been alike - Just like snowflakes. So, the Go board actually represents an extremely complex and chaotic Universe. And that is the truth of our world, Max. It cannot be easily summed up with math -- There is no simple pattern.”

Max
“But as a Go game progresses, the possibilities become smaller and smaller -- The board does take on order. So then all the moves are predictable.”

Saul
“So? So?”

Max
“So maybe, even though we're not sophisticated enough to be aware of it, there is a pattern... an order underlying each Go game. [and here's the movie's plot] Maybe that pattern is like the pattern in the stock market...”

Darren Aronofsky’s “π”

---

Wellington NZ ...what do your know. I've been there. a beautiful country. I toured the norhtern Island. Auchland to Wellington. I went there to see a woman that is still dear to me even still to this day. I loved the country. the US has a lot to learn from your guys. The one thing I had to say when I got back to the states was we have a lot to learn about being freindly to one another.
I couldn't believe how nice you guys where.
At one point I thought this guy was gonna try to rob me but he was only offering to pump my gas. The stores gave me discounts every where I went.
Here are the only pictures that I can share from my trip:
[url=http://www.geocities.com/terrorhertz/nzpics2.html]NZ Pics<a>

I took the opertunity to see a Mauri village while there. I'm Cherokee so I had to se the local natives. they too where very freindly. I still where my mauri bone necklace. They are my brothers now.

But the best thing I witnessed while I was there was the Mauri and the kids doing the HAKA!. that was cool. and very uplifting. I have searched the net for a video of it but it is forbidden to video tape so the only copy I have is on the All Blacks performing it at a game ( but it isn't the same). I still have My All Blacks jersey. It is my favorite shirt even still.

> Anyhow, you bio mentions Brief History of Time. If it helps, I'll
> admit I cheated. Bought the book on tape and played it over and over as I
> drove all the way from one end of the continental US to the other. Forces you
> not to dwell on the stuff you don't get immediately.

This is where I also admit to owning and reading The Dancing Wu Li Masters and The Tao of Pooh. I also have the Te of Piglet. And Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance - I also read the sequel Lila (?) and was sorely disappointed.

Sadly, around 1/4 of my books are psychology texts and 1/4 are statistics. But I'm also going well on the Terry Pratchett discworld books - trying to finish Herodotus at the moment, but it's taking a while.

> ”[/list]Darren Aronofsky’s “<a> href="http://imdb.com/title/tt0138704">ð[/url]”

Heard of it, not seen it, imagine being billed as this guy: Moustacheless Man - "Hey ma, look, I got a credit!!!"

I have tried to play Go. I found it extremely difficult, but it also didn't help that each time I played a move according to the rules I had been told, I was then told that my move was incorrect because of another rule I didn't know about. I also lose chess to 10-year-olds in around 5 moves.

But I'm pretty cool at Trivial Pursuit - just not the baby boomer edition (too young!!!!) :)

&pi; is one part math, one part kabbalist, one part greed, one part insanity, and one part psychotropics, and three parts gin per one part vermouth.

I've never played Go, and I definitely shouldn't play chess.

Backgammon is another story. It's one of the few games where I demand to see the money first.

---

> I couldn't believe how nice you guys where.
> At one point I thought this guy was gonna try to rob me but he was only
> offering to pump my gas. The stores gave me discounts every where I went.
Except we do offer high school courses in "surly" when we want to. And we have a tendency to whine. And we tend to insult Canadians by asking what part of America they're from....

> Here are the only pictures that I can share from my trip:
> [url=http://www.geocities.com/terrorhertz/nzpics2.html]NZ Pics<a>
Way cool, although I was hoping you would have a few more shots of Wellington there. :) Those upright flowers in the middle are "red hot pokers", the red-flowered tree is a "bottle brush" which is not the same as our powhutukawa, see here:
http://www.pohutukawafest.com/

And this is the general area where I live:
http://www.huttcity.govt.nz/

> But the best thing I witnessed while I was there was the Mauri and the kids
> doing the HAKA!. that was cool. and very uplifting. I have searched the net
> for a video of it but it is forbidden to video tape so the only copy I have is
> on the All Blacks performing it at a game ( but it isn't the same). I still
> have My All Blacks jersey. It is my favorite shirt even still.
All Blacks - ARGH sport. :)

The haka:
http://www.tu.co.nz/haka.htm
http://www.haka.co.nz/haka.php

I hope you enjoy those links. :)

> I've never played Go, and I definitely shouldn't play chess.
>
> Backgammon is another story. It's one of the few games where I demand to see
> the money first.

The best words of advice I ever received from a friend were "Don't play mah-jong with the Chinese men".

I play a mean game of pool, after I've had a couple of drinks and I don't care what the hell I look like bending over the cue (I don't care what people say, no-one looks cool like that).

:)

> This is where I also admit to owning and reading The Dancing Wu Li
> Masters and The Tao of Pooh. I also have the Te of Piglet. And Zen and the
> Art of Motorcycle Maintenance - I also read the sequel Lila (?) and was sorely
> disappointed.

Never heard of any of these except Zen in the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. I read a couple chapters, but I have a short attention span for philosophy and such.

> Sadly, around 1/4 of my books are psychology texts and 1/4 are statistics.
> But I'm also going well on the Terry Pratchett discworld books - trying to
> finish Herodotus at the moment, but it's taking a while.

Most of my books are reference books: Machinery Handbook 24ed, Understanding Data Communications, switching power supply design theory, Spanish and Japanese dictionaries, a few programming references, etc, plus a few odd textbooks from college. Most science fiction books I read then give to Goodwill.

> > Anyhow, you bio mentions Brief History of Time. If it helps,
> I'll
> > admit I cheated. Bought the book on tape and played it over and over as
> I
> > drove all the way from one end of the continental US to the other.
> Forces you
> > not to dwell on the stuff you don't get immediately.
>
> This is where I also admit to owning and reading The Dancing Wu Li
> Masters and The Tao of Pooh. I also have the Te of Piglet. And Zen and the
> Art of Motorcycle Maintenance - I also read the sequel Lila (?) and was sorely
> disappointed.
>
> Sadly, around 1/4 of my books are psychology texts and 1/4 are statistics.
> But I'm also going well on the Terry Pratchett discworld books - trying to
> finish Herodotus at the moment, but it's taking a while.
>

Hi Magenta! I love your avatar, Captain Avatar is good, isn't he? And your profile is good, love your cat; my old boy-cat was also a big 7,5 kg fellow, so I know the feeling, when he's bouncing up on your stomach, when you sleep! Phomp!!!

And, are you my long lost sister??? I love Brief History of Time, have it both as book and cd-rom! If you ever get finished with it, and want something more of the stuff, try Roger Penrose, Stephen Hawkings collegue in Oxford, [url=http://www.friesian.com/penrose.htm]The Emperor's New Mind<a>! It's quite interesting, even I'm stuck in it though (too much going on right now!)!

Winnie the Pooh has been my one and only guru, since I read The Tao of Pooh and I have Te of Piglet, so I'm still waiting for the Ching of Tigger(or Eeyore?????).

So wellcome to our little community here, we are not so scary as it might have seen from the outside! Some lunacy may be required from time to time, but that's another story! :-)

---

"I'm trying to maintain a shred of dignity in this world." - Me

> Never heard of any of these except Zen in the Art of Motorcycle
> Maintenance. I read a couple chapters, but I have a short attention span
> for philosophy and such.
I like interesting philosophy, as in anything that helps me understand why our society is so weird. Like why sex is so frowned upon that consensual acts in a film attract an R18 rating, but blasting people to pieces in yuckky ways seems to be pretty much a general release level. I figure it's the Judeo-Christian anti-sex, pro-violence history. Make war, not love????

> Most of my books are reference books: Machinery Handbook 24ed, Understanding
> Data Communications, switching power supply design theory, Spanish and
> Japanese dictionaries, a few programming references, etc, plus a few odd
> textbooks from college. Most science fiction books I read then give to
> Goodwill.
I have this thing where I just love holding on to my books, probably because most of them are so damned expensive. It means I also have to keep getting more and more bookshelves....