Letter to Those Taking ES1102
This is for those who have to take ES1102.
I had to take ES1102 (“English for Academic Purposes”), and as a native speaker of English my pride was offended.
It’s pretty easy to be indignant about someone saying you’re not good at communicating in a language so key to your identity.
(ES1101/ES1102 are to be taken when [...]
Pacific Rim is like a Dumb XCOM
Pacific Rim is quite a cool movie, in the way that giant robots fighting giant monsters is cool. But so much of the setting of the movie is just plain stupid, in that your average joe would be able to plan a more intelligent defense from an alien invasion (or a more intelligent alien invasion. ;-) ).
Probably this [...]
The Better Half of XCOM
I had a playthrough of XCOM: Enemy Unknown these holidays. For those who’ve not played it, XCOM’s thematic setting is about saving the world from an alien invasion; gameplay-wise this is (mostly) half Turn-Based-Tactics and half base-building.
The two are symbiotic, in that form the TBT skirmishes you gain resources (or other currency) to make use of in the [...]
I Don't Like Quora
I don’t like Quora. That’s a really negative thing to say, and I should go on to qualify and justify that opinion and all.
Maybe there’s a more positive way to express the sentiment. For certain there are technical reasons why Quora isn’t my thing.
Total lack of privacy about questions is one. On Quora, were I to [...]
Musings on Open World Gameplay
Just completed Far Cry 3. Very fun.
Anyhow, the games which have the highest number-of-hours-played on my Steam account are what you’d call “Open World” games. In this case, Saints Row the Third, and Just Cause 2. These 3 games each have a lot in common; and while they’re all quite a lot of fun (for probably the same [...]
I am a New Zealander
I’m a New Zealander, and I think as someone born & raised in NZ there can be little disagreement about that. Sure. But one thing I am not is “New Zealand European”.
I see this term on question forms when asking about ethnicity. Like the census. Usually as opposed to “New Zealand Maori”. (Because any NZer who isn’t a [...]
"The Lost Art of Debate"
Argument is something I’ve a wee fascination with, in a love/hate kind of way.
I think I can say, without being prejudicial or snobbish, that I never like listening to a poor argument. So worth watching in this area in Michael Sandel’s video at TED, “The Lost Art of Democratic Debate”. For those who haven’t encountered Sandel, he’s the [...]
Interlude
It’s been about 11 months since I’ve last posted to this blog. Or any other, for that matter.
How unfortunate. I would love to have had a blog full of meaty posts of solid, well-informed opinions.
But I realise that whatever I write will fall short of that ideal; and what content there is falls short of that.
Keep it to Yourself?
sigh. I can’t say I’d prefer to write about this particular topic. Not that it’s such a nasty topic to talk about; of course everyone would happily talk about it.
I would hesitate, though, to discuss this thing below because, (to borrow a term I’ve seen used to describe discussions on this topic), of the trend towards peckerfication. Anyhow, [...]
Does Spiderman Exist?
As everyone is a deep, pursuer of truth on Facebook, images like the following inevitably will make the rounds: The clear point of the picture is making a point against some fallacy; implicitly this must be an argument along the lines of “God exists, the proof of this is the Bible”, or similar. To paraphrase the point of the picture, [...]