DB> Agreed that you may never find any of mine to be of any use.  
 RM>       
 RM> Feeling a bit down are we?  You misunderstand.  Let me try from a  
 RM> specific point of view.  I may ask a question, but that question would 
 RM> be meaningless without me or anyone else at least attempting to provide  
 RM> some sort of answer.  Do you understand now?  It was not a personal  
 RM> attack on you or anyone, it was a simple declaration of one of my  
 RM> personal philosophies.  If you still wish to create some animosity 
 RM> from myself to yourself, there is nothing I can say or do to change 
 RM> your mind. 
 RM>  
 RM>  DB> This 
 RM>  DB> is not to say that no one will- ever.  Which is to say, that one 
 RM>  DB> of mine *might* be of some use some time. And how much use need be 
 RM>  DB> to make it worthwhile to you, me, or anyone? Your standard may be 
 RM>  DB> far higher than mine. I am happy with small uses.  
 RM>    
 RM> Cut out the self loathing, Day.  I have never attacked your intellect or 
 RM> worth in the past and I have not done so here.  If you feel inadequate 
 RM> that is not my fault, do not blame me.   
Au Contraire! we just have some misunderstanding here, ... as we 
often do everywhere. I am not depressed, nor lacking in respect 
for my own opinion.  It is just that I do not need the respect or 
approbation from others, here or elsewhere. 
 
After all, I have no way of *knowing* what life in your part of 
the holodeck is like, or what use, if any, the ideas I, or anyone 
else offers, may be to you.  What I do this for, is that all these 
ideas have an interesting arrangement, a degree of elegance like a 
chess, or better yet, Go game.  This is the kind of 'small use' to 
which I refer. 
 
The Stoics knew that life was a game to be played, whether serious 
or not was a matter of taste.  To take it all too seriously is to 
suffer more than need be, and not nearly as much fun.  They advise 
me to express emotion [contrary to popular notion], but reserve a 
sense of the scale of things, and not get too strung out over it. 
Repression is just as extreme as licensiousness. 
___ 
 * OFFLINE 1.58 * A rational omnipotent God would die of ennui. 
--- Maximus 3.01
---------------