2011-09-24 - Word Play

While watching a TV show last week I came across an interesting phrase “You are not in a position to make demands”. I find this phrase interesting because it or variations of it are used quite commonly in film and television but it’s entirely wrong. In these situations the person trying to make demands is usually held hostage or otherwise imprisoned. The implication is that because they are being held that they can’t enforce any of their demands. There’s no reason for the person holding them to do what they say because they can’t do anything against them being they are in a cell or something. The problem is that the phrase doesn’t actually mean that.

To make a demand all you have to do is demand something. “I DEMAND CHIPS” is a demand regardless of the situation in which it’s used. People who are being held by other people usually demand to be let free or demand to be told why they are there which usually leads the person holding them to utter the phrase in question. Now the person is making demands and as such you can’t tell them they can’t make demands. If they weren’t in a position to be making demands you wouldn’t have been able to hear their demand and feel the need to reply that they aren’t able to make them. If someone was gagged or kept unconscious they wouldn’t be in a position to make demands because they couldn’t; however, the person holding them isn’t likely to say that they aren’t in a position to make demands because the person wouldn’t be making any.

The intended meaning of the statement has less to do with the person’s ability to make demands but more to do with the ability of the person to make successful demands. The person is being held captive so they don’t really have a lot of weight when it comes to negotiations. They can demand whatever they want but they aren’t really likely to ever get anything from it. One might use phrases like “You can make demands all you like, but no one’s going to do anything about them” or “Continue to make fruitless demands, you are just wasting your breath”. Something that makes it clear that you aren’t really interest in their demands but without denying something that they are clearly able to do. Alternatively you could just gag people and then tell them they can’t make demands.

I hope this helps you in your future kidnapping endeavours.

2011-09-17 - A Place to Call my Own

So it appears I have an apartment now. That is what the universe seems to be telling me at least, I’m not sure I believe it. I seem to be here and there is no one throwing me out or demanding the keys back. It probably wasn’t the best way to get an apartment though. Someone I knew offered to help me find an apartment and ended up helping me get their old apartment while they got a slightly bigger one down the road. One the one hand it made things easier because I wasn’t competing with anyone but on the other hand the more people you involve with something the more complicated it becomes. People misrepresent what they’re going to do which makes it hard to tell what you have to do and then you spend a weekend without power. There was also something about a certain telecommunications company being really weird and not paying attention to my requests for a change of installation appointment when they said they did (hence why I haven't been updating this in a while). But I’ve got phone, and power and TV and internet now and it all seems to be going alright. There are still problems like being poor and jobless and couch-less to figure out but I am confident.

It’s quite nice to have a nice new bed and all (most) of my stuff in one spot. It’s also nice to being able to enter and leave without having to say a thing to anyone. If I feel like going for a walk I can just go for a walk. Now yes I am using most of my new found freedom to sit at home alone with the cat but at least I have it. I am also quite enjoying learning to cook on my own. The one thing about cooking your own food is that because you made it you can’t really complain about it. Yes the pancakes might be raw on the inside but that’s okay because it’s my fault. It also makes for a good diet as you put off eating cause you know it just means you’ll have to spend money to replace whatever you eat so you can have it again later. That’s okay, I don’t need food.

My last term of school also seems to be going well. There don’t seem to be any really hard classes. Some classes that require me to maybe actually study and learn things but nothing I can’t handle. I only have 4 classes so even if they were really hard that’s still 2/3s of my normal course load.

2011-07-23 - I Have a Cold

That is all.

2011-07-17 - Minecraftian Plans

As you may be able to guess I play a fair bit of minecraft. Now it is said that minecraft is a game of plans and I agree with that. It is a wide open sandbox that allows you tons of freedom which means you need to provide your own directions and goals. If you don’t have a plan you will get bored really fast. I would like to share with you some of my current minecraft plans.

Plan 1 – Mine: Mining is always plan 1 because you need to mine in order to get resources to make things. I usually make my mines by digging out a long corridor and then digging side corridors off of that with two block spacing. The two block spacing means that you can see the majority of blocks in a section without having to mine all of them. Though sometimes I get bored and try to make squares and things.

Plan 2 – Giant sign: I decided that I needed to put my name on my land. I figured the best way to do with would be to make a giant lightstone sign so that my name glows. I currently have part of the framework built but I need more lightstone before I can start making the actual sign.

Plan 3 - Giant underground room: I am thinking of building a large lavish underground room full of bookshelves and fireplaces. I imagine it to have a very Illuminati meeting place feel deep below the surface. The kind of place a secret organization could meet and feel hidden but at the same time comfortable.

Plan 4 – Globe and hand: To mark the entrance to the underground cavern I plan to make a small tower. Out of this tower would be a good sized open palmed hand with a large sphere resting in it. The hand holding the globe fits with the secret organization feel of the room itself. I also want to figure out how to make something approaching a sphere out of blocks.

Plan 5 – Giant sphere: Working on the possible success of the last plan my far reaching goal is to build a huge sphere. Inside of this sphere will be a lake with a good sized island in the middle. This plan will likely not be finished for a while but it’s good to have long term goals. My main problem will be light, I want it to be enclosed but at the same time I don’t want it to be dark. I may end up either using lots of torches or having parts of the roof be made out of glass.