Posts by BenWilson
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OnPoint: Set it on fire, then, in reply to Kyle Matthews,
Ironically, they’re also VSM advocates.
I don't think it's ironic. They were trying to destroy it from the inside. I think that is why ACToids can be such crooked bastards - because they inherently don't consider themselves part of the system. They don't even want there to be a system. So to fuck the system actually promotes their agenda.
On a side note, David Garrett's recent contributions on Kiwiblog told a pretty sad tale about what a fuxor the guy is. It's pretty rare to see DPF have to redact comment after comment, issue demerits, and then finally ban someone, all in one thread. I don't think I've ever seen such an unpleasant mix of whining victimhood and vicious personal attacks, ever. Dad4Justice ended up looking mild. I'm not at all surprised he got his head punched in by a doctor in the Islands.
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Up Front: It's Not Sex, and It's Not Education, in reply to Ian Dalziel,
There ya go, I'd thought they were all the same person
Yeah me too, till Sacha told me the other day.
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Also games are the place where I've most enjoyed gender bending - nothing seems to infuriate a kid with some enormous avatar of a hulking vicious orc warrior, to be cut down to size by a small girl, who then dances naked on their corpse, spits on it, and then camps it for a rinse/repeat. I've noticed that claiming to be a girl in an FPS draws out quite determined and vicious attacks, if you indulge in any trash talk and if you prove to be a good player. This can actually be to the team advantage, used properly. And thinking of appropriate trash talk is fun. Girls can cut people down so hard sometimes, it's like having some kind of cheat.
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Up Front: It's Not Sex, and It's Not Education, in reply to Ian Dalziel,
Part of the reason mine's a gangster is because he's my gamer name, and trash talk is legion there. You frag someone, teabag them, and then listen to their furious rapping response, as you camp the spawn point, doling out a few choice comebacks, and then pop them with a head shot as they run for the nearby ammo.
I have noticed, though, that if you ever actually meet up with other gamerz, they do hold that shit against you. If you're playing against people who are likely to become friends, you have to dial it back.
I've not felt the need to bring that guy here.
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Up Front: It's Not Sex, and It's Not Education, in reply to Lilith __,
I’m so used to living in the pseudonym in the PAS context that when Emma invited me round to hers for a party I introduced myself to people as Lilith because that just seemed less confusing. Is that weird?
Everything about meeting people you’ve conversed with for years for the first time is weird. It’s incredibly odd to experience viscerally seeing someone with whom there is a long shared experience, when the face and voice rings no bells at all. You have to learn all the little nuances of expression afresh, and yet the nuances of discussion are like you get only with old friends, the ability to just slip straight into a discussion you had years ago as if it was yesterday, with little contextualization, and they’ll just take it and run.
Weird but awesome. Anyone afraid of doing it should consider that it’s quite the eye-opener.
Also note that often there is a huge difference between their speech and their writing style, and even their approach to speech, and the kind of things they want to talk about can be very different to what they want to write about.
ETA: I have constant trouble remembering 3410s real name. The pseud is so much more evocative.
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Up Front: It's Not Sex, and It's Not Education, in reply to Lucy Stewart,
I had honestly assumed it was your real name
You misunderstand me. Ben Wilson is my real name. But I have a pseudonym I've never used here, that is my other internet handle. It's personal, having been my nickname to friends, and I'm careful with it.
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Up Front: It's Not Sex, and It's Not Education, in reply to Lucy Stewart,
On the internet, after all, a name is mostly a label (even more so than in real life.) As long as your online presence is consistent, coherent, and accountable - who cares whether the label is your legal name, your porn star name, or a keysmash?
I'm much more protective of my pseudonym than I am of my real name. I doubt anyone here even knows what it is. It carries a lot more personal investment for me than the name of a pope, an apostle and the son of Will, 3 things I couldn't give a crap about except that they form a not especially memorable or uniquely identifying handle. I mostly use that just to keep myself honest. My pseudonymed personality is a fucking gangster.
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In another anecdote, a female friend of mine proudly bragged that she had scored $500 from AUSA just by going into the office and crying about how hard her life was. No further investigation was made, they just handed her the cash. She was actually proud of this.
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OnPoint: Set it on fire, then, in reply to Tony Siu,
I started my debating/public speaking from the uni debating club. Now with the lost of AUSA funding, costs like airfares, motel and entry fees from long form debating tournments will now be cover by law firms and other external sources.
Did the Robinson Cup ever actually return? Last I remember Richie Watson (a well known student politician) kept the fucking thing, so I never did manage to get my name engraved on it. That kind of sense of impunity was pretty widespread, I seem to remember a speedboat went missing from the waterskiing club, with no signs whatsoever of forced entry. $30,000 odd worth of equipment just disappearing isn't a good look for anyone wanting to force people to join their organization.
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Up Front: It's Not Sex, and It's Not Education, in reply to Rich Lock,
As soon as I could exercise free will and spending power, I bought my first Iron Maiden album, and rapidly progressed from there to Slayer, Metallica, Black Sabbath, and so on.
Heh, so all that classical exposure did have an effect after all. Heavy metal has a deeply operatic vocal style. I think I liked it for that as a kid too (and I don't like opera much).
The first complete song my son learned was "Hallowed Be Thy Name" - he especially loves the transition from the first stanza, and the final "yeeaaaeaaaaeaaayeaaaaaaaaaaah!", which spans 5 notes across an octave. He also learned about improvisation when I opted to give him less macabre lyrics:
I'm waiting, in my cold bed
when the monkey opens its eyes
reflecting on the last day
and ripper rugby tries
Cause at 6:45
They take me to the living room
The sands of time, for me, are coming soonComing sooooooooooooooooooonyeaaaaahaaa
<uptempo transition to screaming falsetto with much hand flapping and giggling>etc.
He often invents his own lyrics now.
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