Posts by BenWilson
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His obvious mental illness does not excuse that, and nor does it excuse those who enable his ongoing bad behaviour.
It actually makes people who hide behind him even worse.
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If I couldn't stand myself I'd be depressed too.
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Geoff, cheers for pulling me up quick before I made a real clown of myself when you were talking to Jacinda. How did I recognize her? Facebook? Duh, no, it was from TV*.
*Well actually Facebook has been trying to push her at me for months, along with a few other people who I have subsequently met. It is a bit scary how their system works.
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I once heard that a thesis is not even nearly ready until the sight of it makes the author feel physically ill. One PhD I knew said she knew hers was ready when upon entering her study and seeing the manuscript laid out for yet another proofreading, she rushed to the bathroom and vomited uncontrollably. Another week and it was done.
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I can still read philosophy. But engaging in it? It seems like the very worst possible way to make up your mind about something. Critical thinking is useful for about 10% of any constructive process. It should be the final gateway, not the initial one. Any more, and it's like getting the testing department to design software.
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Interesting that Slater tried to use depression as an excuse for breaching suppression orders. I sense a grain of truth in that. I hope he gets better for his own and everyone else's sakes. I guess we'll see if this punishment works, and if it doesn't, whether that tempers any of his attitudes to the value of harsh punishments for lawbreakers.
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I was really hoping to see you, Dyan, and Brent Jackson if he was floating about. I didn't get in more than a wink and a nod at the last party to either of you, somehow it just didn't happen.
But the casual encounters were the ones I really liked, especially with the other commentators.
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Did you roll them down the aisles?
Not by choice, but in those days we didn't get a packet each, so there was a good chance they'd all end up on the floor during the fight for the last ones.
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Isabel's a pretty old name too, you know! I think the oddness of their choices is probably pretty random, that if you chose names randomly from a book of names, you'd stand a very good chance of landing a really old fashioned one - the new and hip names are the minority. The older ones have a clear etymology so they may appeal on account of seeming to mean something, although, of course to native speakers they're just names, we don't think of the meanings too much, more about the cultural and era implications. I'm sure that's not universal, though, that in other parts of the world the meaning of a name is much more important. So "Victoria" is victory, and "Patricia" is noble. Both are nice sentiments, possibly names that confer luck.
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How do you want to present yourself (honne, as you point out) to other people?
A name is a big choice. Letting the locals name you isn't a bad idea, at least they'll get it right, and it could be nicely personalized. Then again, it could be a cruel joke too. But there's almost as big a chance that you could accidentally have that just through your own choice.
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