BioGio

HH has it pretty well. I'd really say that it doesn't matter much what your argument is about (be it where ponies belong or what-have-you)--but how it's about it [/ebert]. In any discussion, one side or another is practically bound to be demonstrably right or wrong, and if you can't support your ideas without falling back on cyclical arguments based on what is supposedly basic truth, you're not going to go far.

Take that "Next Generation of Kids" topic. One side was really wrong based on both fact and opinion, so they weren't taken very seriously, and people fell on them like dogs on a bone. The question was never whether they should have posted--they had every right to! However, people on the less reasonable side would have greatly benefited from backing up their arguments with fact and more than hearsay and opinion. The quality (or lack thereof) of their points was what hurt them--not the quantity of posters on either side.

You can win any debate as long as you make the right points. If you're correct, winning shouldn't be a matter of whether people trample you with their posts; it should be a function of your ability to defend and explain yourself.

There are great arguments to be made for and against! the project on CUUSOO (and really anything), and that alone defines whether a brigade will correct you.

In other words, don't worry about which debates you pick to participate in--just as long as they're based on good arguments. How>what. Always.

I, for one, am not eager to see this tool turn into a "MAKE SET OF THIS THING I LOVE BCUZ U CAN." There's ver [/color][sic] little new, original, or creative about taking an existing idea and making it in plastic.

I think that you've somehow confounded saying that a thing should be made and doing nothing creative with saying a thing should be made and providing genuine ideas and working originally to avoid the pitfall of "TAKE THING MAKE Lego Bricks." By extension you've also made MOCing anything unoriginal, since most everything isn't plastic. (Of course, I kid here, since I know at least what you meant.)

Either way, people liking something and supporting a form of it isn't really something to get up at arms about. There's no reason to "keep fandoms separate" other than to stifle creativity for the goals of some bizarre purity of creation. There should be no lofty "principle of the matter" regarding something as simple as a licensed theme or crossover. Would you object to LEGO Star Wars, Batman, Harry Potter, or Spider-man? Of course not. This is the most bizarre fundamentalism that I've seen since a guy called Arabic "defective" for being an abjad.

As for whether LEGO could pull this off... two separate CUUSOO members (a small pool) have been able to work out feasible designs for MLP LEGO. I think a global corporation might be able to figure something out.

EDIT: Holy COW how long was I working on this post

Second. First comes too close to clashing between the red and green, and the dark blue is not a neutral enough background color to really work with such strong contrast.

However, the second might be improved by making the green lighter (or lime-r, if you can) or the blue darker.

Make general vague references like asking what a chimichanga made of cherries would be called.

Being straightforward is way too boring, Dragonfly.

I recall trying to start a game of 40K with a few friends, but it was pretty much impromptu and didn't get anywhere. I do recall adoring all of the grimdarkness, and the worldbuilding was impressive, but I attribute a lot of that game's success to our GM. I must say, it's a great change from the typical D&D, though.

Selective omniscience (effectively, having the ability to mentally search for any information and come up with it correctly while not being encumbered by having a bunch of random knowledge perpetually floating through my mind).

I've also toyed with the idea of being able to take over the minds/bodies of others to become a veritable Vicarious-Man, but that's just ridiculous.

In before "Bunny? I thought Scootaloo was a chicken" posts.

Either way, that is among the most adorable pictures ever.

First and foremost--and I apologize--I've just got so say this: You mean "similar sounding phones" rather than "letters."

Anyway, there are a lot of great resources for language construction in general; I have a website bookmarked that contains both a Javascript text generator and sound change applier (but I can't link to it). The Wikimedia even has an entire book about how to create a realistic conlang.

The thing that I find most interesting about this project you mentioned is that it would be based on an Afro-Asiatic (and, more specifically, Semitic) language rather than the run-of-the-mill Indo-European-styled languages that are so common in first conlangs. (I know mine have fallen into this trap.)

As for phonology, which is naturally your major concern currently, I recommend looking into the varieties of Arabic first of all and then reading up on whichever catches your fancy as most "Arabic-y." Here is Wikipedia's discussion of Modern Standard Arabic phonology. (Warning: Knowledge of the IPA and/or the various manners and locations of articulation is a prerequisite for full comprehension!)

You'll eventually have to tackle the monstrous matter of morphology and the like, which can't be so easily linked to and summarized in a few sentences. (Again, I warn against using the Indo-European flavor too heavily here.)

For that and more, I really recommend reading up on linguistics and language construction. Mark Rosenfelder and Jeffrey Henning host their own noteworthy websites that make such complex topics rather accessible.

and it was.

Except it was just, you know, funnier than what you expected.

I was expecting a post about the 123 meeting of an Eastern Dutch Pop Music Convention.

What a letdown.

Just use whatever Bfa uses.

A god version? Does it perform miracles?

Anyway, I'm glad that I've got about four libraries (and as many book stores)--within ten minutes' drive--at which to buy/borrow actual books with punctuation and everything--but I've never known how much one can have to put up with.

What R2 D2?

This one.

I've gotta say, if I were more interested in System, I would absolutely be fawning over this.

First and foremost:

[citation needed]

Wait so all our fighting over Lyra/Heartstrings was for naught??

I had seen that a lot of people seemed to accept Lyra Heartstrings as a compromise FAR before this official-ness happened, so it's quite pleasing seeing this.

You know you swallow something like 5 spiders a year?Have fun sleeping! =D

I'm pretty sure that's just an urban legend.

It is. Also, 8 is the most common number for this legend. The logic is that spiders like wet, dark, warm places, being bugs, so they crawl into your mouth. That we eat 5 or 8 or whatever spiders a year is just ridiculous. Spiders REALLY LOVE wet, dark places--a lot. So the number is WAY too low!

Sort of like how we shouldn't talk about phospholipids because of their hydrophilic heads, right?

3 - Dr. Bananabot

because then you can have a dancing banana (also because its well-made and a fun idea).

"But Fluttershy, you don't understand! I am your parents--your twin parents." [dramatic music]

I just can't believe that you ruined your desktop after having such a wonderful one.

Thank goodness for Burnmad--and thank goodness someone knows whom to ship!

Black Six changed Takuma Nuva's name, FTR.

Also, I wrote up a bunch on this in some other blog, so I'll find that. Simply put, it's more than a meme, but its spread and origins are surely memetic.

Here we are:

Two definitions of the different types of memes:

A meme is "an idea, behavior or style that spreads from person to person within a culture." A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural ideas, symbols or practices, which can be transmitted from one mind to another through writing, speech, gestures, rituals or other imitable phenomena.

 

The term "Internet meme" is used to describe a concept that spreads via the Internet.

 

Important bits boldface and some stuff cut out; emphasis mine. Basically, my point is that a meme is not just a bandwagon that people jump on to. So, obviously, FiM (the show) is not a meme; no one would ever think that!

 

However, one can see how certain people believe that being a brony or fan of FiM in general is rather memetic. They first heard of it being good through people on the Internet commenting about it and then confused people talking about an idea (the way memes spread) with something being a meme. Now, being a fan of MLP is rather like a concept, and it clearly spreads through the Internet. (I first heard of FiM through a media-discussion website that I frequent.)

 

Is being a brony a behavior? Sure. Is, "MLP: FiM is a good show" an idea? Yes. Does it spread due to people talking about it? Not exactly. A meme like "but then I took an arrow to the knee" can spread through discussion alone. Liking something simply can't. People seem to think that people just hear discussion about FiM and say, "Well, I'll be a brony now." That's the issue--with people who know what memes actually are. Others just say, "I saw it on the Internets; it's a meme." Simply comparing MLP to other shows or books or toys doesn't mean as much to either group.

 

It's only the most rigid interpretation of the concept of memes that makes being a fan of MLP into one. And, by extension, it means that being a fan of anything and the very concept of fanaticism are also both memes.

Didn't Confucious first say that?

Close. It was Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Also, the actual, full quote is (emphasis mine):

Hey, mythopoeia isn't mythology. It's what the real-life Tolkien did.

Opera has some cool features, but I don't know of anyone who's actually willing to take the time to investigate them. =P

Also, I totally mad, bro. Man, I hatin.

Okay today I was board

Woah, you were wood? =P

Also, I'm surprised to hear that the gate almost reset the game. I've never encountered that before.

Yeah, "duck season/rabbit season" is the term for that sort of an exchange (2 bits/1 bit). Looney Tunes probably didn't do it the very first time (probably some Babylonian tablet or something was the very first), but it's seen as the most notable ur-example.