Disqus - Latest Comments for DerkM

Re: Keep on playing to fly up high

DerkM — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 14:12:54 -0000

Thank you for another inspiring article. I've recently begun playing again, but am still a bit stiff in the joints.

I can personally attest to the intelligence of the Kia: I once saw one expertly tear apart a backpack that was left unattended by an unwary traveler high up in the mountains of the Fjordlands in New Zealand's South Island. The Kia's intelligence is often bent on destruction. In this they resemble only too many of us, unfortunately. In the Kia's defense, though, their mean streak might be payback for years of humans hunting them to near extinction.

Re: Blame the weather

DerkM — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 16:35:29 -0000

Well, it all depends on your perspective. I guess to a polar bear freezing temperatures and excessive snowfall are great, but for a tropical beetle those conditions would be very bad. In this case though, the term bad weather should be a definition, not a qualification. It's bad in terms of train operation effectiveness, but it is not bad in terms of comparing it to, say, clear blue skies and bright sunshine. I see your point that the distinction between definition and qualification can sometimes become hazy. Most "bad" things have their upsides, and it's better, albeit quite often harder, to concentrate on those.

Love the viral analogy. Especially as extreme cold will hamper most viruses. :)

Re: Added value

DerkM — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 14:30:36 -0000

Love the article and its sentiment. It's a bit like going for the real thing instead of something artificial, isn't it? I for one have never liked the word "consumer". It sounds so...mindless. Put your blinders on and eat, eat, eat. Instead, stop and consider what you're buying. That is so much more enjoyable when there is a story to be told.

Something else I was thinking of when I read the article: books fall in both your categories: they are unreproducible with regard to the process in which they were created, i.e. the expression of thoughts by arranging words into sentences. The medium, however, the physical book, the paper and the glue and the ink, are very much reproducible. Fascinating, isn't it?

Re: Never try

DerkM — Sat, 16 May 2009 11:07:43 -0000

I am trying to add a comment, which requires some perseverance when using Firefox with the Javascript blocking Noscript plugin installed. However, after applying a couple of carefully selected exceptions to the blocking rule, I am now doing, instead of trying. Or was I doing all along, and just failing?

In any case, a wise person from a galaxy far far away once said: "Do or do not; there is no try". But I guess he was talking about believing in doing something before you do it, or else not to bother at all, while your philisophy seems to be more in the direction of diving in head first and consequences be damned. Acts of desperation fall under that category as well. Would you say it's essential that you believe in what you're doing before you do it, or is that belief something that develops along the way?