Forgive me, for I have read the previous posts… My sins are likely irredeemable.
For those who struggle with the concept of "immateriality," please provide me with an idea… So that I can know what it is that you refer to. (Yes, I know you can't.)
If you have even one, no one will ever know… (Think hard: What are the reasons that numbers –e.g., 1,2, etc.— are presumed to "exist"?)
For those who despair of convincing atheists of God's existence, let God do the heavy lifting! If He won't, there must be a reason… No?
"Abolition of blasphemy is what the EU Guidelines on Freedom of Religion or Belief are pushing for, it's what the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief wants: a global repeal of blasphemy to protect everyone's right to convert." But they can't say so. Too many immigrates… (Is it just my English-only sensibility that hears "in-grates"?) "If these six countries can't do it (Iceland, Denmark, New Zealand, Poland, Germany and Greece) what hope is there for countries that punish insults to religion with death?"
They don't believe in hope. We shouldn't, either.
We should take to heart the ancient maxim: Might makes right!
(If there was ever a short-list of countries that would be expected to evidence the results of the Enlightenment, wouldn't those be included? )
"Firstly, how is that first item specifically describing a concept of a beginning coupled with an end, & secondly how in the world do you derive anthropomorphism from it?"
Give me an example of someone else who can make sense of it?
I, too, like the strip. But I've only just noticed that "DnD" is often used to refer to "Drag and Drop"… (see here) Had I merely forgotten? Was it a Freudian Slip?
I'll attempt a xkcd-type cartoon, when I wake up; if I'm sober.
Okay. Now I'm just feeling old! Captain Kangaroo and The Three Stooges, in the morning. Peter Gunn (original theme) and Alfred Hitchcock Presents, in the evening — when I was allowed to stay up that late. And then there was The Outer Limits! (The Twilight Zone having led the way…) when I was older…
to mothers their children are always the sweetest little creatures in the world... true angels... no way such adorable creatures can be the uneducated intolerable savages they obviously are...
Forgive my presumption, but that's not true! I've known many mothers. (Even myself made a few…) They're not all simple, smug and shrill. Most know quite well what they've got and what strength of will it takes to structure the day-to-day environment of their charges. Convincing them that you are not one of them is the hardest task. It's easy enough. But finding one who'd accept the conviction is very hard…
most children's literature must be made by dangerous maniacs that only have people's approval because the books helps to put children sleeping and no one question too much the book's content...
I'd agree — if I didn't know better. Children bring one back to one's "original" state: Sure and confused! As a rock singer (Seager?) said, long ago, "I wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then…"
Quote from: Belfrager
However, I doubt very much that mothers will agree...
They will, when they have no other choice…
I'm on my fourth go-round dealing with little ones! And I'm still learning, from them!
We have -as yet- no Whisper facility. So: I followed your earlier links (…at MyOpera? I don't remember…) and read some of your "stuff" on your site. Please keep writing! I've enjoyed what I've seen so far. (I don't think you need a collaborator, another writer to share the work or credit; but a good editor [human reader whose job it is to make an author's work salable - palatable to a particular audience/market] could do you a world of good.) Have you tried to sell you fiction? I think you should!
p.s., Dawg would surely take the machine's final advice…
I just saw this: DnD Central Discuss political madness, orchestrate grand religious debates, explore urban development potential, you name it.
Frans' sense of humor and his obvious intellect (…yeah, I'm sucking up! But I've read some of his writings — including code…) don't explain "urban development"… Is jax on-board?
Why do poems or stories to/regarding children have so often a touch of cruelty?
The simple answer is that they are true savages and can, only step by step, be civilized… We'd (most parents) prefer to teach the necessary lessons without resorting to physical violence. So, we speak to them on their (primal) level —to amuse and, may-haps, bemuse, hoping that our continued show of interest eventually leads them to wonder why our civility persists.
(a first draft) What haunts the nightly dreams of children seems a trifle, easy quelled: Back to sleep they drift; we're clever! Never did they see us belled…
They, as we are wont to know them, 'habit climes that we've forgot: Places where the very weather makes us shiver, rakes our lot;
withers, all, our proud and prudent ploys and gambits, each one fraught with insincere and half-intended consequence — the measure taught
by our — shall we say? — our love? 'Tis the rule they're meant to prove.
This is a rude concept; and, whether by lack or luck, I've used some old, very old techniques to achieve my aim… Since everyone knows how the rhymes should go, "breaking them" means something, all by itself. Still, the intent is only important if the poem succeeds.
Thanks much, Belfrager! Yes, it sounds quite different from what I expected… But scanning the lines as you read them helped. (Many elisions confuse my ears… The phonemic values of Portuguese are foreign, to me.)
Quote from: Belfrager
Regarding the last alterations you proposed, forget it. Don't touch what's already good.
But that's not my way! I've been known to return to even short pieces, after decades, to make minor changes; or even start anew.
The mp3 format plays directly from my desktop, since an iTunes helper dœmon is always running.
@Frenzie: Pretty good, for an impromptu translation! (The poem itself is good, too.)
However, I'm afraid there's a small problem with rhyme... [...]while your original was thought in your language and then translated by a machine that you had no idea what would come out... (luck with an outcome not too bad.)
Oh, not entirely luck: Composition took place simultaneously in English and Portuguese... Google's machine provided (computer) speech as well as text. (But that has its own pitfalls aggravations! The cadences are -- well, machine-like…) So, as best I could, I kept both in view, for sense and sound. And -as I'd surmised- the sound was harder.
Quote from: Belfrager
This small experiment tells me that's not possible to create poetry in a different language without being able to think fluently at that language. We can't just translate it.
I certainly agree that a mere translation (of poetry) doesn't suffice. But study, experiment and diligence should -before full fluency- yield satisfactory results, no?
Quote from: Belfrager
In my case, can't create not even in my own language... he he
Too much modesty! I'm told, Rome wasn't built in a day...
Quote from: Belfrager
A possible (small) correction:
quando o fórum do Opera, já não mais nossa casa, finalmente nos libertará
(será and libertará rhymes very well, opera and casa don't, because Opera has a strong accentuation in O and casa in ca. (See? to know the language it's fundamental for rhyming.))
Yes, libertará is certainly better! But I'd rather not have anything so near a rhyme — with Opera and casa… The English version has fo´-rum and home. Is there some locution that allows the reversal of the possessive phrase's elements? (E.g., in English: the forum of Opera/Opera's forum…)
Or: sendo a nossa casa já não, (?) Does that sound better to you?
Este mês feliz afirma com a tristeza que será ... quando fórum do Opera, já não nossa casa, finalmente nos liberta.
[My original, composed with its machine-translation in real-time…] This happy month contends with the sadness that will be… when Opera's forum, no longer our home, finally sets us free.
Indeed, the metrical aspect of each language is key! But -I ask, with all due respect- how did we (Google Translate and me) do?
An alternate translation:
[ ... ] quando fórum da Opera - não mais a nossa casa - [ ... ]
"não mais a nossa casa" seems wrong, to me… But it has the rhythm I expect — from ignorance. And, no, I'd take that back: the first works as well, and better; it captures the "meaning"…whereas the latter lets it loose. (The sense of time, passing, is lost. Or is it?) Yet I'd prefer "quando fórum da Opera" — and wouldn't you? (Else how we say "the Bitch…"? )
(Or this: Hoc mense felix contendit in tristitia erit ... Opera, cum est forum - non domum - denique libertatem debemus. So help me! I can hear a sort of rhyme that works, there! And I'm still only on my second glass of beer!)
Translated back into English, it is (by the same machine):
This month, he contends happy will be misery ... Works with the market - not a house - Finally, sets us free.
[…] I've got my Opera customized in just about each and every aspect. How I can attach the same macro to a menu, button, mouse gesture, stack a whole bunch together… I don't think any other browser has that.
Indeed, that's what's gone missing in the new Blink/Chromium versions of the Opera browser… (The folks who clamored for "extensions" finally got their wish! Now, if I want to make the current Opera behave as I'd prefer, I have to get deeper into actual programming than I want or am able to. :sigh: ) But that's what comes of being assimilated!
Web-surfing is being constrained to the model of commercial TV. (The "innovation" of cable channels won't help.) The browser is merely a content viewer…
I liked the ridiculously customizable Opera browser. It was corrective lenses that suited myeyes, as well as other enhancements that accommodated my other senses. (Sure, that's more than enough metaphor to explain what I mean? ) I'll keep it until I can't.
But, of course, I'll follow the new trends. If only to learn how to revert them: De-evolution!
Shall we talk in verse? Can we make more sense by trying to…?
I'd -perhaps obviously, perhaps not; but I proclaim it!- prefer each one's language be permitted. The interplay of translations is a major part of what our forums are about… (I'd even discuss Ideas themselves!) So, communication becomes an overarching concern.
like 'Macallan' I switched my e-mail client long ago and never bothered with M2 again. I know some people here really like M2, well good luck to them and don't be too surprised if M2 just vanish someday!
I used Claris Emailer, until it wouldn't work… (Different providers needing different patches… ) Then, briefly, Eudora. When I switched to Opera 9 (from 6.03…) I got used to M2. (Indeed, I made the switch -on advice from a friend- specifically for M2.) The !new Opera Mail client is okay. Until my email providers fail to work with it, I'll stick with it. But it's not as convenient as the bundled browser/mail-client was…
The new browsers are a different story! I still have 11.64 and 12 on my system… I'll use the others, to see where they're going, how they do. But I'll keep the old versions of Opera that let me use them the way I want to!
)
Now, if I want to make the current Opera behave as I'd prefer, I have to get deeper into actual programming than I want or am able to. :sigh: ) But that's what comes of being assimilated!