A Fresh Page Of Somegeezer And The First Glimpse Of Clarity

Ach - don't let anybody tell you that philosophy has no practical use. It is enormously useful for all manner of things. I use the things I learned all the time in my work. I've found philosophy useful in dog training, in doing science research and in being able to stand my ground with medical professionals.

Very useful and practical subject in my opinion.
Very useful for thinking, but not practical, hands on stuff. It is the dog training itself or the science research itself that is the practical side of it.

I didn't get into it beforehand. When I started working in IT, I had used computers for typing up essays with and that was it. I didn't even use the internet or e-mail back then.

But - one of the things I spent time on in my philosophy degree was the philosophy of language. For years and years before computers were around philosophers have looked at language. One of the ways they used to think about meaning was to consider what a language might be like if it operated fully on logical statements and had no ambiguity of meaning.

Philosophers called these things formal languages - and that's exactly what computer programming languages are.
Ever heard of Lojban? It's actually one thing I'm working on at the moment in learning. Again, no practical use to it [yet], but a great thing to think about.

.i mi lo zanfri ku lo tavla ku logji bangu
[I enjoy[some] talking[some] logical language.]
Very basic and not well-thought-out Lojban, but the great thing about it, being that it still makes perfect sense, even if it does look ugly in this example. If I knew the language a little better, I could probably cut down the sentence to two thirds the length, with much more pretty wording and grammar. =P

EDIT: I believe ".i mi lo nelci ku tavla bau la lojban." would be a little more pretty. =]
[I like talking in the language of Lojban.]

But it it thought that Lojban would make for a fantastic language to put into computing, because of its complete lack of ambiguity.

I went into my job interview and talked about having learned formal logic and spent time studying formal languages.

I passed the aptitude test and interviewed fairly well and they took me into the graduate training program.

The company I worked for then wanted their IT staff to have good social skills and be able to talk to customers. They believed that it was easier to teach programming than social skills so there is a bunch of us with no IT background at all working away as systems analysts and programmers.
That's a pretty cool way to have got into it. I think I'd enjoy computing, myself. If, or once, I get around to learning how to do useful things with a computer language, I may have to see about maybe careers in using them.
 
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I thought this was an interesting article (also regarding an invented language).
Given that you're working with another such language, it may not have new ideas for you (and your language seems less complicated), but it was a new area for me. In a way, it struck me as language as self analysis: you have to truly know what you're trying to say very precisely before you can say anything.

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/12/24/121224fa_fact_foer
 
I thought this was an interesting article (also regarding an invented language).
Given that you're working with another such language, it may not have new ideas for you (and your language seems less complicated), but it was a new area for me. In a way, it struck me as language as self analysis: you have to truly know what you're trying to say very precisely before you can say anything.

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/12/24/121224fa_fact_foer
Definitely interesting, thanks.

I barely know Lojban myself. I only started learning it a small time ago. But it definitely seems that all things this Ithkuil language tries for, Lojban has done it.

I do like the script of Ithkuil though. It looks really cool. Lojban is typically written in our regular Latin script here, but also goes quite well with Tengwar [Lord Of The Rings], and Hebrew.

and where both are made to be logical languages, I really love that Lojban is truly logical, to the point that computers are able to parse it perfectly. The syntax is really the easy part of it. It's just working up a dictionary knowledge of the brivla [words]. Thankfully, the gismu [root words] are only 1300ish in number. So it is possible, with time, to have a working knowledge of them all. With them, you create most other words you may need, or just string them together to get the meaning across.

I've never been one for languages before now. I have an average understanding of English itself. I always struggled finding any use in languages like French, back in high school. and even computer languages were never presented to me at a time when I would have learnt them with passion. But with the new self, I've been finding myself in new interests, like Lojban, and eventually, Python.

It seems that with every new thing you learn, the more your mind changes the way it thinks. and with something like a logical language, you find yourself thinking in much more logical ways, and even applying more logic to your native language [being English for me, of course]. I've actually noticed in just the past year or so, how much of a change it's been for my mind. and I like it.
 
Very useful for thinking, but not practical, hands on stuff. It is the dog training itself or the science research itself that is the practical side of it.

It seems to me that there is a common belief in our society that thinking about something and doing something are totally separate things. (I'm suspecting that Descartes possibly started this with his incredibly powerful - and religiously motivated - division of the world into minds and bodies).

Anyway - I don't think that they are. Everything that a person may do - teach, program computers, ski, drive, play a musical instrument, garden - needs thought and planning on an ongoing basis. At work, we spend over 50% of our time in planning and analysis - the actual programming and testing part of our job isn't the bulk of it.

Philosophy is of immense practical help, in my opinion, because it helps people be better at the planning and thinking and problem solving parts of doing hands on stuff.

Ever heard of Lojban? It's actually one thing I'm working on at the moment in learning. Again, no practical use to it [yet], but a great thing to think about.

I hadn't heard of it. It looks fascinating. I agree with you - if you enjoy learning stuff like that, you'd probably have loads of fun with loads of IT stuff.

Do Lojban speakers have conventions and get togethers? One of my friends has been speaking Esperanto for years. He has friends all over the world that he's met at the get togethers he goes to. His daughter is 4 and speaks Esperanto and English which is very cute.


IP
 
It seems to me that there is a common belief in our society that thinking about something and doing something are totally separate things. (I'm suspecting that Descartes possibly started this with his incredibly powerful - and religiously motivated - division of the world into minds and bodies).

Anyway - I don't think that they are. Everything that a person may do - teach, program computers, ski, drive, play a musical instrument, garden - needs thought and planning on an ongoing basis. At work, we spend over 50% of our time in planning and analysis - the actual programming and testing part of our job isn't the bulk of it.

Philosophy is of immense practical help, in my opinion, because it helps people be better at the planning and thinking and problem solving parts of doing hands on stuff.
I assume that perhaps you may be from the US or Canada maybe, and that they don't have the same definition of practical? Or perhaps it's just not one you've come across. But as well as the meaning of practical to mean something feasable; is useful... It also has the meaning of hands-on. Something you indeed use your body for. Actually manipulating the world around you. In science specifically, is where we most often see it. As -practicals- are what we call the hands-on part of an experiment. Sure, you have all the planning beforehand, but the practical is the throwing chemicals at each other until they explode. and this was the definition of the word I was going by. Using the mind is VERY useful. But not hands-on. More clear?


I hadn't heard of it. It looks fascinating. I agree with you - if you enjoy learning stuff like that, you'd probably have loads of fun with loads of IT stuff.

Do Lojban speakers have conventions and get togethers? One of my friends has been speaking Esperanto for years. He has friends all over the world that he's met at the get togethers he goes to. His daughter is 4 and speaks Esperanto and English which is very cute.


IP
I do very much enjoy computers. Had one in front of me since I was 5 years old. The computer I'm using now was the first one I ever built myself, for the specific purpose of music production. Hasn't failed me yet. But would definitely be great for all kinds of other computation.

I'm not really a typical Lojban speaker. I know of nobody in the small group of people who actually learn it.
and it seems that in general, the language is on a decline, with not a whole lot of new people taking it on. Even those who were early adopters, have moved on to other things. But I find the language itself interesting enough, just to learn for my own benefit. Esperanto is cool as a constructed language, but I wasted something specifically logical. Whereas Esperanto is a fully-fledged language, with tonnes of people now using it as their native language.

Esperanto definitely seems like the more useful constructed language in a communication setting. I think sign language is another great one for anyone who wishes to learn a useful language. As a musician, I understand how much I'd be losing of myself if I lost my hearing. So it may be of use for me to learn sign language later on down the road, too. As a visual learner, I imagine I'd pick that up rather easily. I've always been attracted to Russian, as well. Cyrillic script is beautiful in its harshness. =P
 
I almost mentioned sign language in response to your other post; now that you've brought it up yourself I have to.

I was struck by your comment about language changing how you think about things, because it reminded me of a book on sign language and deaf culture
(http://www.amazon.com/Seeing-Voices-Oliver-Sacks/dp/0375704078) in which I'm pretty sure he said that one of the key reasons it was important to teach the deaf to sign was that without true access to a language it is much harder to think; you just don't have all the tools for it.

It was a pretty interesting book overall, though as I recall a bit dry at times. It was quite a while ago that I read it though.
 
I almost mentioned sign language in response to your other post; now that you've brought it up yourself I have to.

I was struck by your comment about language changing how you think about things, because it reminded me of a book on sign language and deaf culture
(http://www.amazon.com/Seeing-Voices-Oliver-Sacks/dp/0375704078) in which I'm pretty sure he said that one of the key reasons it was important to teach the deaf to sign was that without true access to a language it is much harder to think; you just don't have all the tools for it.

It was a pretty interesting book overall, though as I recall a bit dry at times. It was quite a while ago that I read it though.
I don't know about difficult to think. But certainly different. I would imagine people who were born deaf would think in terms of images. and those born blind would think in terms of sound. Those of us who have had access to both, can be all across the range of the two.

and those aren't the only ways of thinking, of course. I just use them as easy examples. and although each side would have difficulty with the others, having never experienced them, they generally still manage to solve the same problems, but in different ways. People are great at adapting.

That's how sign language came about as it was. People adapted to be able to communicate, even though they knew no way, or were incapable of, speaking vocally.

Even though we may not have gone as far as inventing a language in our lives [although I remember creating an alphabet as a kid. =P], I'm sure we've adapted to suit our advantages, and push away our disadvantages.
That's basically how this thread of mine started. I wanted mould myself into something greater. It's a long journey, but definitely worth it.
 
I assume that perhaps you may be from the US or Canada maybe, and that they don't have the same definition of practical? Or perhaps it's just not one you've come across. But as well as the meaning of practical to mean something feasable; is useful... It also has the meaning of hands-on. Something you indeed use your body for. Actually manipulating the world around you. In science specifically, is where we most often see it. As -practicals- are what we call the hands-on part of an experiment. Sure, you have all the planning beforehand, but the practical is the throwing chemicals at each other until they explode. and this was the definition of the word I was going by. Using the mind is VERY useful. But not hands-on. More clear?

Lol - I'm from Scotland. :)

I agree with you - that is very much what is meant by practical. The bit where you do something. Write code, ski, build a bed, mix chemicals, gather data. The doing bit.

It's just something I find myself thinking about lots just now and questioning.

IP
 
Lol - I'm from Scotland. :)

I agree with you - that is very much what is meant by practical. The bit where you do something. Write code, ski, build a bed, mix chemicals, gather data. The doing bit.

It's just something I find myself thinking about lots just now and questioning.

IP
I just assumed, because most people around here seem to be over that way. =]

One phrase I particularly enjoy is "Question everything."
and I certainly do. I'm never content that something -is-, and have to know -why-.

Also "Learn the rules, so that you can know how to break them."
This one I always see in terms of music. Where the rules can stop you moving forward, just as much as not understanding music at all.
 
Well the site seems to have gone through a bit of a hiccup recently. Something I'd love to get on to more a bit further down. First, though...

... As most reading will know, I've been going through a whole lot of self-change for a while now. Discovering a lot of who I am, and fixing the parts I don't like. and as a part of this whole starting fresh, and building it all back up, I decided to lop off my hair.

"But SG!" I hear you say "Why would you do that to those sexy locks!?" ;D

Well, extremely pleasant commenter [^_^], various reasons spurred it. But it was really a heat of the moment event. I'd been thinking about it for a while. Not really wanting to deep down. As my hair is as much a part of me, as the people I have in my life. I have an almost-religious connection with my hair. Not dissimilar to a sikh's practice of kesh.

It certainly felt sinful to myself to get rid of it all. But a great weight has also been lifted from my shoulders. Figuritively. Literally, it oddly didn't feel like a whole lot of weight. I expected it to be. The hair was 3 feet long. Half the size of my own height. It was at a point where it wasn't really growing a whole lot further. 8 years it took to get to that point, too.

But for those, like myself, who loved the mane, all is not lost. I may have cut it all off, but only for the point of growing it once again. This time, with a little more care. I'll be straying away from the masses of chemicals in shampoo, and using the more cleansing, water. =P Seems strange, but the things they put in shampoo, only causes the need for more shampoo. Much the same that a can of cola will only make you more thirsty.

It's just one of a number of things I'm constantly looking to change in myself. and one of the hardest choices I've made recently.


Now, on to a more serious matter. A matter of mods clambering into peoples' personal blogs here. Not unlike the one you are reading now. Though I've not had this problem myself, it seems that some are taking their power into their emotional sides.

The problems seem to be about focusing on non-poly topics... In personal -life- blogs. Now, as you can see in this post, and for quite a few posts before it, my own blog has been very far from the topic of poly.

I actually really enjoy talking with people on this blog. Allowing people to join in with discussion, and taking the topic to wherever it ends up being. My life does not revolve around poly itself. In fact, I've never even been in a poly relationship. Ever. and in fact, in the past half a year or more, not only have I not been poly, I've not even been in any kind of romantic relationship. and do you know what? I've been enjoying it!

Being on my own has been a great experience, and I'm hoping is carries on this way for a while, yet. I'm not looking for any relationship outside of friendship. So what? Does this make my blog irrelevant now?

Because from all you lovely people that do read, and especially comment here... I like to think that even these small interactions make some difference to the way you think. Or perhaps give you ideas. Or I've managed to give out some advice that makes some kind of positive difference in your life.

That is not irrelevant.

This all may not have to do with polyamory, but this is my personal space on this site. I choose what I talk about. I share -my- life with you, and allow you to join in with it. But at no point do I expect disrespect from any member here.

If your goal is to hurt anyone in a place where they should feel safe to share themselves, you, yourself, are giving polyamory a bad name.

To all those who put up with me, I appreciate you all, greatly. <3 :D
 
A fair bit this year, I've been slowly getting to know more people, one by one. Not necessarily in person, but that doesn't make them any less great for me. =]

Most of these new friendships have spawned from diving into conversations with friends, and having their mutual friends join in with me.

I've also been making tighter connections with people who were already at aquaintance levels with me. People I'd already met in the past, but never made massive efforts to talk to.

What brought it to my attention, really, is that a musical project I'm working on at the moment, it consists almost entirely of these kinds of people. Ideas have been thrown about, and spawned a more professional relationship, as well as a personal one.

It also shows me that there is a great bit of truth in the "making connections" statement, when it comes to moving up the career ladder. Even if I'm still at the bottom of the ladder, at least I'm actually on it now. =P

I thought it was a great bit of information to share with you guys. The fact that it isn't just our romantic relationships that we have to work on in life. =]

<3
 
New recent just now plan of action for me. :D

I have a musical project i've been working on since about November, and haven't gotten all too far into it yet. I've done a whole ton of planning work, and writing notes here, there, everywhere. Even managed to do a few rough sketches for some artwork.
But I haven't been able to get many ideas in the music down yet.

So my plan, for an entire month, every day, is to do -something- that pushes forward the music. I'm hoping I can manage to go on longer, but I feel a month is a good goal to try for.

I don't expect to throw each day's bit of the project up here as it happens, but perhaps after the month of work is done, I'll have a little something to share. I'll be taking pictures of what I do, as I go. So at the end of the month, I can look back, and see how it all developed.

I also don't expact to have a finished piece by the end of it, but I'd love to at least get the majority of something down. A rough draft, or something. Because I have many other musicians working in the recording stages for me [out of my terrible skills with/not owning a few instruments], it would be very difficult to get everyone organised by the end of a month into something fully complete.

:)
 
Bit of an internal update here. Internal as in my own thoughts, but also, as something connected with us all, here.

I feel I don't contribute enough to the rest of you lately.

I came to this site with lots of energy, and lots of questions. I was welcomed warmly by many. A lot of you still here, now! Hi there! *waves* :D
and I took and took, and even took all that was given.

Sure, I was rather active myself, at the time. But I always felt it was for my own benefit. Although selfishness, in a sense, is certainly not a bad thing, I've never felt like I want to be. I'd give everyone the world, if I could.

My current thinking, though, has been with places like this. The personal areas we carve out on the site. Where we fall back, and project ourselves outwards to each other.
and this seems to be all I do.
When I feel like adding to the forums, it's almost always here, in my own safe place. I'm even doing it now! :(

But I feel I should be coming in and talking with the rest of you. Freely moving about all your stories, and joining in what seems to be a lot of good chatter. I read a lot of it. I just never engage. I know some people like to keep their blog space personal, and some people allow free conversation to take place. I'm a free conversation guy, myself! Let's talk about anything here! :)
But that is where I find one of the first problems. I'm no good at judging something so social. When is the right time and place to join in? Other than when spelt out directly in the first post. But even then, mind's change, and we sometimes want something different.

I'm quite a straightforward talker, too. I don't have a softer way of putting things. People find my conversational skills to be quite aggressive. Knowing this myself, makes me hold off, too. What if I upset someone? Say something stupid, and get a kick up the arse from the mods? :eek:

But I feel that I'm going to start being more involved. I want to dive head first into your internet lives and get to know you all. So really, I just feel like this is a warning, and you should lock your doors whilst you have the chance. :p

<3
 
Somegeezer, you are always welcome to comment on my blog thread if you ever feel moved to do so. Although right now it isn't very interesting, as a lot of things in my life are in limbo at the moment. But I won't lock the doors! I've always loved reading your perspective on things.
 
... and you can talk on my blog, too :)

I agree that not all blogs lend themselves to 'chatter'. But I always enjoy when someone comments on mine, and that always makes me think "I should engage in the other blogs more" and then I don't, so I understand where you're coming from!
 
Count mine as an open one too. If I'm going to be an exhibitionist, I want people to watch. :D
 
Somegeezer, you are always welcome to comment on my blog thread if you ever feel moved to do so. Although right now it isn't very interesting, as a lot of things in my life are in limbo at the moment. But I won't lock the doors! I've always loved reading your perspective on things.
I actually read your blog often. I find it very interesting. I've just never found anything particular that I feel would be worth adding. But know that it it interesting, and I am reading! =D

Feel free to jump into my blog too. Nothing much is happening in my life so its kind of introspective but feel free to join in if you want to. IP
I've also read your blog a little. Although it's not often I see posts from you around the forum in general. But your posts are quite often interesting to read, too. =]

... and you can talk on my blog, too :)

I agree that not all blogs lend themselves to 'chatter'. But I always enjoy when someone comments on mine, and that always makes me think "I should engage in the other blogs more" and then I don't, so I understand where you're coming from!
I don't think I've ever come across your blog, but I will certainly check it out, now you've invited me. :D

I also find I tell myself to do a lot more of something, and end up doing less, or never starting. Or I do a lot of it in the beginning, and fade back. Comes with the personality, I suppose. Annoying, oftentimes.

Count mine as an open one too. If I'm going to be an exhibitionist, I want people to watch. :D
and I don't believe I've seen much of anything of yours. :eek: Sorry! Though as you are fairly new, I'm sure I can get a free pass. :D
Again, I'll be sure to read some of your stuff, now the invite.


Hopefully I will find myself interacting more than just reading all of the stuff you guys write. It's just finding the right moments to squeeze myself into a conversation, and have it mean anything.
 
Seems no matter what plans I put down, I will never follow them for long. :rolleyes:

Lately though, I've been feeling way more productive than usual. I've been doing quite a bit more music than I usually get myself to do. I've especially been doing a whole lot of sketching and general image work. Even started a new Linux tinkering project, with the likes of Arch. :D Exciting!

So as terrible as I am at following even my own guidelines, I'm feeling rather good about how much I'm doing. and not at all feeling burnt out from it.

I have a feeling that a large part of it, has been to do with cutting down on gaming.
Not by active choice. But I've felt myself not really finding much new and exciting in terms of gaming. I'm sure that'll kick up near the end of the year, when all the new toys come out, but for now, I'm a little bored with most of it.
So I've found myself throwing myself into my other great loves, of just being a big kid, and creating a mess with everything. :p:D

Speaking of being a big kid, I have also been feeling a little more social recently. Only a few weeks ago, I went and visited a new friend, who I'd never met in person before, but who I had a lot of mutual friends with. We got along rather well with chatting over facebook, and a lot of the same interests, and views. Her, and her general social circle were the first poly people I knew of in my city, which is a bonus.

Anyways, on our meetup, it was a great, intimate get-together. Just me, her, and her 2 year old daughter. Also met her [primary?] partner later on in the day. Had more great chatting, this time in person. Listened to some really nice Jazz [really surprising, as she's really quite the Punk]. She even made a rather tasty vegan lunch, which I was greatly thankful for.
Ended most of the end of the day [being big kids] and playing with Lego. :p

I definitely hope to hang about again, and hopefully gain a good, strong friendship. It's rare I enjoy being social, but some people just bring it out of me. :)
 
A long time away from this site. At least from writing. I still come around and read here and there. But for rather a while now, I've been getting most of my poly talk on over on reddit, or facebook.

I don't think there is much to catch up on in my life. But music is going on strong, still. and I did actually at one point have myself a partner who was just as poly as me. For all the monogamous partners I'd had before, it was quite the change. and lovely she indeed was. =]

Things didn't work out. But the love is still there. I think on both sides.

and I changed my name. I never felt connected to my birthname, and decided to make it more meaningful.

But of all that, this month is particularly important to me. Because exactly 4 years to the month ago, I figured out my connection to polyamory, due to this forum, and you lovely people. It gave me an entirely new understanding of myself, and started something big in my life. To how I view the world and the people in it, and how I go about my emotions. It was a stepping off point to really learn and understand more things about the way my mind works, too.

So really, thank you. Everyone who was a part of that. I wish you all the love and happiness. ^_^
 
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