What's on your mind?

[NTNR]

Long time no see.

[KSMASH]

I know right? I was just thinking it had been a while. I'm also stuck on that story of yours about the bass amp you sold! Hahaha pretty great. Maybe you should share it here, I can't remember all the details and it's kind of funny.

[Iceni]

I am personnally not so annoyed by stupid people as long as they're not proud of it' date=' as Iceni said Some people don't have the brains to be intelligent and don't pretend to have it, yet they can be much more pleasant to communicate with than some person that is relatively smart and that makes you feel as a piece of crap in his company. [/quote'] Har. I think I have that effect on people oftentimes because I tend to assume they're just being flippant and overconfident in stating the incorrect when in fact they might genuinely not know that they're wrong. Of course, it's very embarrassing when I'm in the wrong, because then I just look like an arsehole. Interesting you should mention the less knowledgeable pleasant person, I actually have a character with those traits (stupid and knows it) in the story I wrote. Part of the problem is that not only are people simply left with the confidence to say whatever dumb idea pops into their heads, they're actually encouraged by people like university staff, teachers, student activists, etc. to speak their minds. This exacerbates the problem, especially considering that anyone who claims that a given opinion is either simply 'unenlightened' or 'prejudiced'. The difference between being discriminatory versus discriminating seems lost on these people.

[NTNR]

It was funny, "the guy with the long hair who was always smiling?" lol.

[BlutAusNerd]

Har. I think I have that effect on people oftentimes because I tend to assume they're just being flippant and overconfident in stating the incorrect when in fact they might genuinely not know that they're wrong. Of course, it's very embarrassing when I'm in the wrong, because then I just look like an arsehole. Interesting you should mention the less knowledgeable pleasant person, I actually have a character with those traits (stupid and knows it) in the story I wrote. Part of the problem is that not only are people simply left with the confidence to say whatever dumb idea pops into their heads, they're actually encouraged by people like university staff, teachers, student activists, etc. to speak their minds. This exacerbates the problem, especially considering that anyone who claims that a given opinion is either simply 'unenlightened' or 'prejudiced'. The difference between being discriminatory versus discriminating seems lost on these people.

"Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and to remove all doubt." I feel that although we are looking at the same thing, it is in largely different ways. I would argue that the problem with your stance is that anyone anywhere at any time could very well be wrong, regardless of how much clout and authority they may think that they have. While there are indeed many stupid ideas out there, and there are many who should adhere to the quote above if they actually don't know any better, bad/old/dead ideas would never be challenged if some dissenter didn't open up their mouth with a good idea. Since bad ideas are given credence frequently, how would one know the difference? Especially when challenged by a large and/or authoritative group of people, being right can be a worthless pain in the ass even if you can back it up, as you still have to convince masses of idiots. People should be encouraged to speak their minds and challenge existing ideas in favor of better ones, but they should also be encouraged to discern which of their ideas are actually good ones or not. Simply blurting out whatever nonsense pops into your head does not make you creative, it means that you don't have a filter. However, if you do actually know better, philosophize with a hammer and smash down those worthless idols, to paraphrase Nietzsche. "I know that I know nothing" - Socrates The real point, I think, is understand the limits of your own knowledge in various categories. Being arrogant often coincides with being ignorant, but having the ability to discern when somebody is talking out of their ass (yourself included) is a great skill to have. It is equally important to be able to grasp and accept what you don't know, as it is to simply fill your head with knowledge. Most people don't formulate good ideas instantly though, they typically have to fail at least a few times before they get on the right track. Critical thinking and creativity can still produce wrong answers on the path to correct ones, so shutting that down should absolutely not be encouraged. It's not that I'm not with you, because I think of stupid things all the time. However, they can still often lead to good things, especially when viewed in another light. To use the riff example that has also been discussed here, I throw out a great number of riff ideas and band practice, and I'm also the one that ends up throwing away most of those ideas. However, before I do, it is good for NTNR to hear him rather than just keep them bottled up, as more than once he has suggested simple changes to them that not only make them work, but make them awesome. I do the same thing for him, as not all of his ideas are good either. Sometimes we'll come up with brilliant riffs that don't need to be tampered with, other times there are failures, and other times failures can become successes with change.

[Idlewilde]

BlutAusNerd I think you defended pretty well what you thought and for most of it I'm with you. The factor of having someone there for you to help you with critics really is very important, and extremely useful if you create something. I do more or less the same like you do with riffs, since I write a lot of papers/litterary researches, I always have my sister read them. Not only because beautiful vocabulary in English is not exactly my strong point, but also because she is the only person bold enough to tell me something does not feel right for her. She wouldn't agree with me, we would have a discussion and often it ends with a completely different conclusion. Then I think of the right words and she helps me if I do not sound understandable. On the other hand I help her with her nurse studies Iceni I wanted to tell you something....In university we weren't encouraged to speak out stupid ideas AT ALL. If you did you risk a public humiliation (if it's really stupid). If they can see a blink of thought in your opinion profs/your other collegues would simply take some time and explain you why your opinion does not agree with the current discussion. We were discussing each other's opinions only if they were worth discussing. A sentence that is totally out of place would be simply rejected, especially when it can't be defended. I am despising situations in which you have a discussion with someone who would persevere in his opinion without aknowledging yours. It happened to me that I say "ok, end of discussion I don't want to listen to you anymore" with someone and yet he/she will chase me with arguments I don't find trustworthy. It is some sort of pathos I find to be a bit assaulting.

[Iceni]

Iceni I wanted to tell you something....In university we weren't encouraged to speak out stupid ideas AT ALL. If you did you risk a public humiliation (if it's really stupid). If they can see a blink of thought in your opinion profs/your other collegues would simply take some time and explain you why your opinion does not agree with the current discussion. We were discussing each other's opinions only if they were worth discussing. A sentence that is totally out of place would be simply rejected' date=' especially when it can't be defended.[/quote'] Good. Because I grew up in the United States I have a pretty low opinion of public schooling. It sounds like because there's a little bit more time and money put into public schools in Europe they're better. From what I'm told about French schools in particular they're just very selective and rigorous, and in the Czech Republic they're actually better than the private schools in the country. It's good to hear that your education isn't the sort of wibbly nonsense it can get to be in this country from time to time.

[NTNR]

Hooray food today. hahahahaha I love throwing non-sequiturs into these "deep" conversations.

[KSMASH]

"Every word a double-edged sword; a double-edged sword my every word." --- Lyrics from Project 86.

[satan 59]

Relationships.

[Vanessa M Stokes]

Is it gonna rain?

[NTNR]

Relationships.

I'll be your huckleberry.

[BlutAusNerd]

I'll be your huckleberry.

KfbAFgD2mLo Love that movie.

[NTNR]

KfbAFgD2mLo Love that movie.

Amazing movie! You really need to hear the riffs I've written for this song.

[KSMASH]

You're no daisy!

[NTNR]

You're no daisy!

I've got two guns, one for each of ya.

[Idlewilde]

Good. Because I grew up in the United States I have a pretty low opinion of public schooling. It sounds like because there's a little bit more time and money put into public schools in Europe they're better. From what I'm told about French schools in particular they're just very selective and rigorous' date=' and in the Czech Republic they're actually better than the private schools in the country. It's good to hear that your education isn't the sort of wibbly nonsense it can get to be in this country from time to time.[/quote'] Great you think this way I graduated from the university of Sofia, the biggest one on the Balkans. It's old as hell from the inside and from the outside. A very beautiful building, tough. Many people complain that the methods of education are really old-and really, nobody seems to be investing in this direction. I can't explain you with what technology we were studying phonetics. But I have to say that for the bigger part this went ok for me. You don't need so much innovation when you study literature, just enough possibilities to write something/do a presentation. We had good and bad ones, and my two favorite profs wouldn't spare you the critics, and will always motivate you to develop your good points. Of course I had bad ones too And stupid colleagues. In philology it's hard to fill all the free spaces so they were taking anyone who didn't fail the admission exam. But from 70 we graduated like...30 or less, so I guess you see that there was a good filter I studied in France for a while I have to admit that I've never listened to a bad presentation and I do believe selection there is quite good, as you said.

[RelentlessOblivion]

the quality of education in Australia is reasonable in most regards, our higher education facilities are generally fantastic and I attend the best in the country in Flinders University rated as the best Uni in Australia ten years running

[H34VYM3T4LD4V3]

I finished High School recentley and will be going on to College,I am doing game design which I think Will is doing also, and additionally my friends Matt and Luke are going, even though I don't make choices based on friends.

[Idlewilde]

great for you guys I wish that one day my colleagues won't study phonetics with headphones and microphones they are disgusted to touch and there will be more possibilities to get electronic books in the libraries at my uni (for medieval literature we were really struggling for copies!), but Bulgaria is not England nor Australia when defining the education budget Good that we are pretty creative and we're scanning/typing everything and uploading it here and there. If it all gets some central university help we can make a great database instead of filling our promotion e-mail boxes

[satan 59]

Divorce...............

[Iceni]

I finished High School recentley and will be going on to College' date='I am doing game design which I think Will is doing also, and additionally my friends Matt and Luke are going, even though I don't make choices based on friends.[/quote'] Cool. My brother wants to do programming in college, your interests might intersect a bit. Oh dear! I'm sorry to hear that.

[NTNR]

Divorce...............

I hate to hear that. I hope things are alright.

[RelentlessOblivion]

sorry to hear that Satan

[H34VYM3T4LD4V3]

Re: What's on your mind?

Divorce...............

Arrgh no mate sorry