Oog's New Writeups

pleasure (idea)

2002-06-12T20:58:44Z

The dictionary definitions of pleasure are suitable ones. On the surface, pleasure is somewhat simple to define. Something which 'feels good' gives us pleasure. Something which is a delight to our senses, this too is pleasure.

But in examining pleasure, one can cut through those surface definitions, and find a more relevant, over-arcing one: Pleasure is the release of tension.

In all things pleasurable, we can find moments of tension preceeding them. Just as sunrise follows the night, so is it with pleasure and tension.

Let us examine, first, cinema and literature. In movies and books, it is the responsibility of the writer or the director to present us with a situation which creates tension, and then to resolve that tension, thus bringing pleasure to the reader or viewer.

We can look at any writer who is well-regarded today for examples of this. Shakespeare, for example, posterboy of English departments across the world, can give us many.…

How to make a decent cup of tea (idea)

2002-06-12T17:49:01Z

Tea is an interesting beverage. I'll spare you the history, however, and get right to the point.

The way to drink tea for maximum enjoyment requires at least twenty minutes. If you don't have that much time, just drink tea's evil cousin, coffee. This tutorial is geared mainly towards Green tea, but it works with others.

Step 1: Make the Tea -- Heat water until it begins to boil. It is important to note that in the West, it is common to bring the water to a rolling boil, while in Eastern traditions, it is considered proper to heat the water to only approximately 98 degrees celsius.

Step 2: Pour the Water -- There are two kinds of tea-drinkers: those who pour the water over the teabag, and those who pour the water first, later adding the tea. This is mostly a matter of personal preference, and does not affect the final result too much, but one should still experiment to see which one prefers. If you are of the former group,…

tea (idea)

2002-06-12T17:28:35Z

Once upon a time in ancient China, there was a wise and benevolent emperor who went by the name of Shen Nong. The Emperor took a great interest in science, and would always take the time to listen to the newest advances that people in his court would present to him.

When the Emperor heard that water became more hygienic when boiled, he quickly sent out an edict that required all drinking water to be boiled prior to consumption.

One day, while he and his court were travelling about the countryside, surveying the outlying regions of his kingdom, the Emperor decided to rest for the night. In preparation for dinner, the servants began to boil water. While the water was boiling, however, some dried leaves fell from a bush into the pots, and the water took on a strange, brown hue.

The servants were going to throw out the water, but the Emperor took an interest in the liquid, and tasted it. He found it very refreshing, and decided that he should…

garden path sentence (idea)

2002-06-10T04:53:38Z

Garden path sentences are an interesting study in Linguistics.

Essentially, as one hears or reads a sentence, their brain automatically begins to try to figure out what the next word or type of word is going to be.

Let's take the sentence: The brown dog is good.

From the time your brain processes the first word, 'The', it's already taking guesses at what the next word might be. It knows, thanks to what English your mommies taught you in your crib, that only certain types of words can follow the article 'The'. A noun certainly is likely to come next, but so is an adjective, as a few other things. More importantly, however, your brain throws out the possibility of words which would not fit with its interpretation of the sentence. Therefore, if somebody said: "The bravely..." You'd subconsiously stop listening to what they after the second word, since 'bravely' is an adverb and cannot follow an article. Only if our brain hears what it…

The Eightfold Model of Human Consciousness (idea)

2002-05-13T02:52:00Z

Dr Timothy Leary, the so-called LSD guru theorized that the the nervous system comprises eight different Circuits of Consciousness that the mind and body can operate on. These circuits work much like the gears in an automobile in that when in one particular gear, the mind works one way, a different way when the gear is changed.

The different circuits have developed over the course of human history, and will continue to develop for as long as we exist as a species. They are listed both in chronological order of their development, but also the complexity of their mechanations, for these two items are inexorably linked. The invertebrate has no need for higher reasoning, and so, things only develop as they are needed.

The Bio Survival Circuit was the first of the eight circuits to arise, and it is the first circuit in which our mind operates when we are born. It is a condition-response sort of mind that reacts directly with stimuli. An individual operating…

Latin noun declensions (idea)

2002-05-13T02:11:46Z

In Latin, nouns are declined according to how they are used in a sentence. That is, by their case. There are five major cases in Latin, each corresponding to one of the major uses of nouns.

The cases, and an explaination of their function are as follows:

Nominative - The nominative case is used for the subject of a sentence, as well as for preidcate nominatives.
Genitive - The genitive case is used to express posession, as well as use in the partitive.
Dative - The dative case is used for indirect objects, certain special adjectives, as well as a special use called the dative of reference.
Accusative - The accusative case is used with the direct object, certain prepositions and for the expression of certain time-space relationships.
Ablative - The ablative case is used with the remainder of prepositions, the ablative of means and the ablative of time.

In addition to these five, there is the vocative case,…