It's A Lie.Monday, February 25, 2008
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Damn.
After reading most of her blog, I've determined that Kelly Gorksi is far more intelligent than I. You should probably go read her instead. She definitely makes my "above the blog-roll" list.
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Also, I've begun looking for one or two people who'd join the terminal atheist team, and help keep the posting nice and consistent. So if you read my blog, and have an interest in politics, videogames, religion, books, or have the ability to string together sentences (sensical or nonsensical, your preference) by mashing keyboard buttons, drop me a line.
Aaaaand, I"m done for the night!
ZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz....
------------------------------------------
Also, I've begun looking for one or two people who'd join the terminal atheist team, and help keep the posting nice and consistent. So if you read my blog, and have an interest in politics, videogames, religion, books, or have the ability to string together sentences (sensical or nonsensical, your preference) by mashing keyboard buttons, drop me a line.
Aaaaand, I"m done for the night!
ZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz....
Warrior Cultures in Speculative and Fanatasy Literature I
I've always been fascinated by warrior cultures in books, ever since I was very young. Whilst i don't subscribed to any formalized honor system myself, the idea is interesting, even entrancing, to a nostalgic romantic such as myself. So I'm going to be posting short little blurbs on my favorites as time goes by, purely for my own enjoyment. I've decided to cover something fresh in my mind, since the author is recently deceased after haivng nearly completed the series.
Aiel - The battle-hardened, incomprehensibly honorable denizens of the Aiel Waste in the Late Robert Jordans Wheel of Time series.
Their culture is the deformed, unrecognizable descendant of the the followers of the Way of the Leaf, a society which preached, and practiced, absolute non-violence. A vestige of this is the cultural impetus regarding swords, that they are the weapons of cowards and cannot be touched.
Their honor system is based on the persons balance of toh, which is honor-debt. Doing something shameful is the eyes of Aiel earns oneself toh. Methods of redress are based on the amount of toh incurred, and usually are paid off via physical testing of the offender. This has bred a hardened people, as the weak do not long survive the harsh climate of the desert like Waste.
Toh can be great enough to make physical redress an impossibility. In cases where this is true, the Aiel in question is made gai'shain, they becomes the property of the person to whom they owe toh for "a year and a day". In this tine, they willingly become meek. It is forbidden to touch a weapon, even in owns defense. To do so incurs toh great enough that exile may be the clans only recourse.
All Aiel belong to a sect of the stratified society, regardless of their clan affiliation. Most belong to one of the multiple warrior societies. However, any woman warrior must be a part of the Maidens of the Spear, an odd contrast in regard to the rest of the cultures gender-equality. Other members belong to the clan chiefs, the Wise woman, the Blacksmiths, or herders. Interestingly, warriors sharing a warrior society will not fight one another, even if their clans are at war.
The weapon of choice among the Aiel is the spear. They use a modified, shorted spear, more suited to close combat slash-and-stab techniques. Often, one is wielded in either hand. They have no aversion to full-scale combat, but they are also trained from a very early age in hand-to-hand combat and stealth. Very few people, and no specific culture, can match an Aiel in stealth, and fewer can track them.
The philosophical outlook of the Aiel reflects several other similarly isolated people whose cultures are derived from before the Breaking. THey view life as a dream, and beleive that death simply allows them to awake. THus, there is little fear of death among the Aiel, and what little there is is internalised and never shown, as to do so would incur toh.
Aiel - The battle-hardened, incomprehensibly honorable denizens of the Aiel Waste in the Late Robert Jordans Wheel of Time series.
Their culture is the deformed, unrecognizable descendant of the the followers of the Way of the Leaf, a society which preached, and practiced, absolute non-violence. A vestige of this is the cultural impetus regarding swords, that they are the weapons of cowards and cannot be touched.
Their honor system is based on the persons balance of toh, which is honor-debt. Doing something shameful is the eyes of Aiel earns oneself toh. Methods of redress are based on the amount of toh incurred, and usually are paid off via physical testing of the offender. This has bred a hardened people, as the weak do not long survive the harsh climate of the desert like Waste.
Toh can be great enough to make physical redress an impossibility. In cases where this is true, the Aiel in question is made gai'shain, they becomes the property of the person to whom they owe toh for "a year and a day". In this tine, they willingly become meek. It is forbidden to touch a weapon, even in owns defense. To do so incurs toh great enough that exile may be the clans only recourse.
All Aiel belong to a sect of the stratified society, regardless of their clan affiliation. Most belong to one of the multiple warrior societies. However, any woman warrior must be a part of the Maidens of the Spear, an odd contrast in regard to the rest of the cultures gender-equality. Other members belong to the clan chiefs, the Wise woman, the Blacksmiths, or herders. Interestingly, warriors sharing a warrior society will not fight one another, even if their clans are at war.
The weapon of choice among the Aiel is the spear. They use a modified, shorted spear, more suited to close combat slash-and-stab techniques. Often, one is wielded in either hand. They have no aversion to full-scale combat, but they are also trained from a very early age in hand-to-hand combat and stealth. Very few people, and no specific culture, can match an Aiel in stealth, and fewer can track them.
The philosophical outlook of the Aiel reflects several other similarly isolated people whose cultures are derived from before the Breaking. THey view life as a dream, and beleive that death simply allows them to awake. THus, there is little fear of death among the Aiel, and what little there is is internalised and never shown, as to do so would incur toh.
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Going with the trend
Well, I'm a longtime fan of xkcd, and since this one has been making the blog rounds, I figured I'd better throw it up too.
Carnival of the Godless #85
Theres a Clean Version and a Dirty Version. I like the dirty version, if only for giving me a few old sexy sci-fi books to track down. Nothing really caught my eye this week, but an overall good haul this time around.
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On a side note, I'm going to try and get at least four blog posts up in between carnival updates. thats about two per week, which works for my schedule. And it'll maybe brighten the place up a bit as well.
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On a side note, I'm going to try and get at least four blog posts up in between carnival updates. thats about two per week, which works for my schedule. And it'll maybe brighten the place up a bit as well.
Tired
I'm tired. Now I'm going to go into detail why. I know my readership pool is small, so I"m essentially talking to myself, but here I go anyway.
I'm from Alberta, Canada. For you non-Canadians, that means I live in Conservative Party HQ. The chances that the Conservatives won't control the government in Alberta for the entirety of my lifetime is not 100%, but it is considerable higher than 99%.
Thus, I was raised, quite appropriately, to vehemently oppose anything Liberal simply out of principal. To Be fair, after a decade and a half of a Liberal Federal government the West has good reason to despise them. So I've been a Conservative Party Member since I turned sixteen. And its served me in good stead. But I've come to realise over the last few months, something so utterly alien to my brain, I refuse to accept it emotionally.
I'm a Liberal.
A money-grubbing, welfare-supporting, government-interference-advocating piece of Liberal trash.
Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that I don't back the current government. The Conservatives are using their Minority effectively. And the Conservatives are doing great things in Alberta. Currently, we are the only debt-free province. And they sent me (And every other Albertan) a check for $300 a while back because they had an enormous surplus. Which bought my vote.
But they are all a bunch of- well, I'm not going to use the language I'd like. But they are all christians. I worked as staff at a supper in my small town here, back in November, when the premier, Ed Stelmach, came to visit. There were five hundred people there, roughly half the town, all Conservative Party members. When the prayer was said before the meal (*shudder*) I was the only one, in the entire room, who did not bow my head. THat started this train of thought.
Then a little while ago, Harper got rid of the Science Advisor. Not the Person. The Position. I thought to myself Jesus (yes, I still use those phrases in my head) what the hell is he thinking? I mean, with issues like Global Warming, which he at least acknowledges exists, bouncing around, how can the leader of the nation make sound decisions without any scientific expertise?
Ah well. I may be a dirt Liberal, but in keeping with their Canadian tradtion, I'm going to be hypocritical, and keep on supporting the Conservatives. And hey, at least I can still hate the NDP with no conflict on conscience. Thats always a plus.
I'm from Alberta, Canada. For you non-Canadians, that means I live in Conservative Party HQ. The chances that the Conservatives won't control the government in Alberta for the entirety of my lifetime is not 100%, but it is considerable higher than 99%.
Thus, I was raised, quite appropriately, to vehemently oppose anything Liberal simply out of principal. To Be fair, after a decade and a half of a Liberal Federal government the West has good reason to despise them. So I've been a Conservative Party Member since I turned sixteen. And its served me in good stead. But I've come to realise over the last few months, something so utterly alien to my brain, I refuse to accept it emotionally.
I'm a Liberal.
A money-grubbing, welfare-supporting, government-interference-advocating piece of Liberal trash.
Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that I don't back the current government. The Conservatives are using their Minority effectively. And the Conservatives are doing great things in Alberta. Currently, we are the only debt-free province. And they sent me (And every other Albertan) a check for $300 a while back because they had an enormous surplus. Which bought my vote.
But they are all a bunch of- well, I'm not going to use the language I'd like. But they are all christians. I worked as staff at a supper in my small town here, back in November, when the premier, Ed Stelmach, came to visit. There were five hundred people there, roughly half the town, all Conservative Party members. When the prayer was said before the meal (*shudder*) I was the only one, in the entire room, who did not bow my head. THat started this train of thought.
Then a little while ago, Harper got rid of the Science Advisor. Not the Person. The Position. I thought to myself Jesus (yes, I still use those phrases in my head) what the hell is he thinking? I mean, with issues like Global Warming, which he at least acknowledges exists, bouncing around, how can the leader of the nation make sound decisions without any scientific expertise?
Ah well. I may be a dirt Liberal, but in keeping with their Canadian tradtion, I'm going to be hypocritical, and keep on supporting the Conservatives. And hey, at least I can still hate the NDP with no conflict on conscience. Thats always a plus.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Spore!
Spore, the Soon-To-Be-Widely-Recognized-Greatest-Game-Ever-Made-That-Is-Definitely-Not-Vapourware Game has some news our recently. Mainly its launch date. September 7th. Of 2008. Which is great, since that is 12 days before my birthday. Plenty of time for my three readers to pool their money, buy it, and ship it to me free of charge in time for me to be surprised by it.
Anywho, heres the hands on: BitNet
Anywho, heres the hands on: BitNet
Carnival of the Godless
# 84
I enjoyed several of the posts this time around, which is unusual. I always read them all, but alot of them are repetitions of the Carnivalia of Days gone by, and nuggets of newness are always a delicious treat.
I enjoyed several of the posts this time around, which is unusual. I always read them all, but alot of them are repetitions of the Carnivalia of Days gone by, and nuggets of newness are always a delicious treat.
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