25 OCT 2017 by ideonexus
Profligation of Biblical Literacy Led to Ideological Trib...
Luther thought the result of his movement to reform the Roman Catholic Church would be what came to be called “the priesthood of all believers,” the sixteenth-century equivalent of Zuckerberg’s “global community.” In practice, the Protestant Reformation produced more than a century of bloody religious conflict. This was because new doctrines such as Luther’s, and later John Calvin’s, did not spread evenly through European populations. Although Protestantism swiftly acquired the ... 1 
notes
notes25 OCT 2017 by ideonexus
Anger isn't Necessary and Gets In the Way
A prominent author who recently disagreed with me on a technical matter quickly labelled me as belonging to a ‘department of bullshit’. Ouch! How is it possible not to get offended by this sort of thing, especially when it’s coming not from an anonymous troll, but from a famous guy with more than 200,000 followers? By implementing the advice of another Stoic philosopher, the second-century slave-turned-teacher Epictetus, who admonished his students in this way: ‘Remember that it is we... 1 notes
notes25 FEB 2015 by ideonexus
Art of Dungeon Mastery
Being a good Dungeon Master involves a lot more than knowing the rules. It calls for quick wit, theatrical flair, and a good sense of dramatic timing—among other things. Most of us can claim these attributes to some degree, but there's always room for improvement.
Fortunately, skills like these can be learned and improved with practice. There are hundreds of tricks, shortcuts, and simple principles that can make you a better, more dramatic, and more creative game master.
Folksonomies: rpg role-playing game
Folksonomies: rpg role-playing game
1 24 FEB 2015 by ideonexus
To Be a Good DM 2nd Edition
Being a good Dungeon Master involves a lot more than knowing the rules. It calls for quick wit, theatrical flair, and a good sense of dramatic timing—among other things. Most of us can claim these attributes to some degree, but there's always room for improvement.
Fortunately, skills like these can be learned and improved with practice. There are hundreds of tricks, shortcuts, and simple principles that can make you a better, more dramatic, and more creative game master.
Folksonomies: rpg role-playing games
Folksonomies: rpg role-playing games
29 MAY 2014 by ideonexus
When Science Became a Profession
The possibilities of modem technology were first in practice realised in England by the energy of a prosperous middle class. Accordingly, the industrial revolution started there. But the Germans explicitly realised the methods by which the deeper veins in the mine of science could be reached. In their technological schools and universities progress did not have to wait for the occasional genius or the occasional lucky thought. Their feats of scholarship during the nineteenth century were the ... 1 notes
notesRising from the prosperous classes and the reliance on occasional genius to a methodology for producing consistent results.
02 JAN 2014 by ideonexus
"No investigation no right to speak"
Everyone engaged in practical work must investigate conditions at the lower levels. Such investigation is especially necessary for those who know theory but do not know the actual conditions, for otherwise they will not be able to link theory with practice. Although my assertion, "No investigation no right to speak", has been ridiculed as "narrow empiricism", to this day I do not regret having made it; far from regretting it, I still insist that without investigation there cannot possibly be ...Folksonomies: empiricism
Folksonomies: empiricism
1 notes
notesPeople who speak without first gaining understanding are not providing anything constructive.
02 JAN 2014 by ideonexus
Failure as a Prerequisite to Success
If a man wants to succeed in his work, that is, to achieve the anticipated results, he must bring his ideas into correspondence with the laws of the objective external world; if they do not correspond, he will fail in his practice. After he fails, he draws his lessons, corrects his ideas to make them correspond to the laws of the external world, and can thus turn failure into success; this is what is meant by "failure is the mother of success" and "a fall into the pit, a gain in your wit".
"... 1 notes
notesAlso experience is a product of failure.
02 JAN 2014 by ideonexus
Policy Must be Tested
Policy is the starting-point of all the practical actions of a revolutionary party and manifests itself in the process and the end-result of that party's actions. A revolutionary party is carrying out a policy whenever it takes any action. If it is not carrying out a correct policy, it is carrying out a wrong policy; if it is not carrying out a given policy consciously, it is doing so blindly. What we call experience is the process and the end-result of carrying out a policy. Only through the...Folksonomies: governance public policy
Folksonomies: governance public policy
1 notes
notesOnly when a policy is carried out by the people, who understand it, is it tested and found to be correct or wrongheaded.
29 DEC 2013 by ideonexus
Emotional ABCs
The ABC model of emotion, widespread in contemporary psychotherapy, holds that it is not an activating (A) event, such as rejection by a friend or lover, that causes you emotional consequences (C) such as depression; rather, the linchpin is your invisible beliefs (B) about the event that come in between A and C. Fortunately, it's often easier to intentionally change beliefs than emotions.
Since at least the time of the ancient Stoics, some have believed that our circumstances don't control ...Folksonomies: emotions emotional maturity
Folksonomies: emotions emotional maturity
ABC model of emotion relates to Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in recognizing how our beliefs affect our emotional responses.
19 APR 2013 by ideonexus
Outline of the Natural Sciences Pt. II
The circulation of the blood was long since known; but the disposition of the vessels which conveyed the chyle to mix with it, and repair its losses; the existence of a gastric fluid which disposes the elements to the decomposition necessary to separate from organised matter, that portion which is proper to become assimilated with the living fluids; the changes undergone by the various parts and organs in the interval between conception and birth, and afterwards during the different ages of l... 1 notes
notesFrom Condorcet's Ninth Epoch. A survey of the world of science and a call for the need for the different sciences to find points where they touch in order to strengthen.
