January 18
I was really sore when I woke up, probably because I'd gotten the first real exercise since I got to Earth. Just trotting around the neighborhood isn't a good way to exercise completely, but it's better than nothing.
I decided in climate science class that since I could mostly fly unrestricted now, I was going to get a cloud and bring it in. It's one thing to talk about them, but totally different to be touching them, feeling what makes them work. I'll keep an eye on the sky every morning, and when I see the right kind of formation, I'll go up and get one.
Surely one won't be missed.
Philosophy class started with Aristotle today. He's Socrates and Plato's successor, and he refined their philosophy.
The textbook also mentioned that he made other contributions to society, including some of his descriptions of animals which weren't rediscovered until a much later date. I get the feeling that something happened to humans not all that long after Socrates was around. It's probably why their calendars count down and then back up again.
Anyway, one of the things that the book mentioned was that Aristotle discovered octopuses have a hectocotyl arm, which is basically a penis arm. I don't know why they would have that (or why he would have studied it), but I'm never shaking hooves with an octopus.
I wouldn't have known what a hectocotylus was, but when I came across the word in the textbook and even Peggy didn't know what it meant, she told me about Google Search, which is something my computer can do. Now every time I come across a troublesome word, I can look it up! That's really amazing, and it will help me learn more English.
Rather than invent an imaginary cave full of prisoners who don't know what outside is, he assumed that everyone knew and agreed on what virtues are. That's one thing that humans and ponies can agree on—it's probably universal. You can't have a society if everypony, or everyperson, is only looking out for themselves. That kind of shortsightedness never pays off.
At lunch today, Aric stopped by my table on his way to the dark room (that's what I'm going to call it from now on) and asked if I wanted to come out and play cards tonight at a coffee shop. He said that they did it every Monday night.
That sounded like a lot of fun to me. I'm getting pretty good at euchre, and games are a good way to bond and make friends. I'm more used to physical games, but I don't think I'll be challenging anybody to a sky-race anytime soon.
He said he'd come by my room and get me when it was time to go, and I could bring Peggy if she wanted to come.
I spent the rest of the day looking forward to that, even though Peggy decided that she didn't want to go unless I really wanted her to, and I would have liked it if she'd wanted to but I didn't want to have her do something that she didn't want to. And I didn't really mind going alone; Aric is the kind of person who I can trust, I think. Even if he likes eating in the dark room.
Aric came and got me at seven. I thought we were going to walk, but he wanted to drive his truck, which he called Winston, even though it says Chevrolet in big white letters across the tailboard.
It was not a very nice truck. Where all the other cars I've been in so far were clean and sleek inside and out, this one was scratched and dented and rusted, and the seat was torn, and the front glass was cracked, and when he started it it was noisy and smelly.
He said that they don't build them like they used to. I can see why they don't!
Still, it got us there. It looked more difficult to control than any of the other cars I've ridden in; there was a lever he constantly had to move, and it had twice as many foot-pedals as Cobalt, which he was also using all the time.
He bought a mint mocha, which sounded pretty good (I love mint), so I got one too. They put whipped cream on it that stuck to my muzzle when I tried to drink it, and I had to lick it off.
Upstairs, a lot of his friends were already sitting around a big table, waiting for us. Keith, who I vaguely know, explained the rules for me. Malcolm helped explain, along with Aric. They called the game Durak, which is pronounced drock. It's kind of like euchre; it has a trump suit, but otherwise it's very different. Instead of a winner, the game has one loser, and that's the person (or pony, as it turned out) who still has cards when nobody else does.
If cards get beaten, either by a higher-value card or by a trump, they're discarded. If they don't, the person whose turn it is has to pick up all the cards, and the turn moves to the next person.
I lost the first game, and I would have lost the second except that I got lucky and was able to play my last cards on somebody else's turn. They weren't very good cards. Then Aric suggested that I should hold trump cards until late in the game, and that was a better strategy. Aric lost the last hand we played, but I think he did it on purpose. I know that there's an element of luck to games like this, but he did very well in the first two games, and he was doing much better than I was in the last hand, but all of a sudden his fortune reversed for no reason I could determine.
A couple of other people didn't feel like walking and wanted to ride back in Aric's truck. It's not as practical as Cobalt, since it only has one seat in the front and then behind that it's just open space. I offered to walk with the rest of them back to campus, but he said we'd all fit if we crowded in.
When we all got in, though, I could tell by his face that he wasn't so sure of his decision after all. I had to sit on Keith's lap, and he wrapped his arms around my barrel, while I braced on the dashboard of the truck. James and Elizabeth shared the center part of the seat, with James right next to Aric.
I hadn't realized it was so late until I got back to the dorm room, and Peggy was already in bed with the lights out. I'm going to be sleepy in the morning, and if I go again maybe I'll leave a little bit sooner.
If it makes you feel better, I've never even played Durak.
Pretty sure she didn't mean to be sassy with that, but that's still pretty sasstastic.
Another nice addition, Admiral Biscuit. Perhaps I've missed where you might have said this, but how long are you planning to keep this story up?
7031405 If it makes you feel better I've never even heard of Durak
Aristotle was an idiot and only his insights on rhetoric have any relevance today.
7031454
He was also right about the hectocotyl arm.
I wonder how she would react to Cards Against Humanity?
I've never heard of durak either.
The only "normal" card games I play now are spades and sheepshead.
Durak's gameplay actually sounds very similar to Dai di (literally "Big Boss Two") because the "two" of any suit are the trump cards (aka "Big Boss"). You literally can't beat a two unless you have another two of a higher suit (Two of Spades is the highest card, IIRC). Suit ranks IIRC is Spades > Heart > Clubs > Diamonds. The "smallest" card is the three of diamonds.
It's played with a full deck (52 cards), with all the cards are divided equally between players. The player with the three of diamonds in his/her hand is the starting player. Players can play any poker combinations (singles, pairs, three of a kind, four of a kind, full house) onto the pile as long as the cards has a numerical value larger than the ones thrown by the previous player. If the current player can't beat the combination, he/she must take the entire pile. So the best play is to strategically place combinations so the "defender" can't beat.
The aim is also to get rid of all the cards before the other players and the last person with cards in his/her hand loses.
Never heard of Durak.
7031488 Never heard of Sheepshead either.
7031454
I take it you feel Bool's square of opposition is the only correct one, then?
Well congratulations Keith! (wink wink nudge nudge...).
7031525
It's a card game of German origin, played with a deck with 2s to 6s removed. It's a trick-taking game with three six card fail suits and a fourteen card trump suit, and winning or losing is determined by the point value of the cards taken, not the number of tricks taken.
It plays best with five players, which is certainly unusual for a card game.
7031482
Durak? Honestly didn't know it was played anywhere outside of Russia and CIS countries.
But It's not pronounced as "drak" even according to wikipedia - it thinks it sounds [dʊˈrak]. Though I, uneducated in the symbols of phonetic alphabet, would have used [doorak] with accent/stress on a.
7031556
If you mean George Boole, yes.
Which is pronounced something like doorak, strictly with that vowel (Durak).
7031508 I've never heard of durak, but I've played dai de, badly. Of course, it didn't help that the people who like to play dai de, play it like sharks, at least in my experience. People who play rummy or hearts are generally just screwing around but dai de is serious business.
While Plato was Aristotle's teacher, their philosophies are polar opposites, idealism vs. empiricism, etc. The dichotomies between those two has always made me wonder how much of Socrates' ideas have been distorted by being mostly filtered through Plato. Socrates apparently joked about being a barren midwife who only delivered others' births, that his questions brought forth ideas from his students, not him. One of Socrates other students, Antisthenes, was the founder if Cynicism, a nominalist, and thus himself virulently opposed to platonic idealism.
7032009
I used to play it with my friends but yeah, the strategy of the play is easily very competitive since the main aim was to shut down your defender while defending against your attacker and deciding when and when not to toss in your trump combinations. It pretty forces you to play aggressively and encourage "loud" play because it's much more lively (and more fun) than just tossing cards without much talk.
Maybe it's just the Chinese mentality.
Alas, such is the way of modern politics.
Ah yes, the elusive Americus Manualus, seen here in its native habitat. It's odd how manuals are so rare in the US, when automatics are almost unheard of in the UK and Europe. It's probably down to cheaper petrol prices in America, because automatics are far less efficient.
36 cards? How does that look? What cards do you keep in it? From ace to 9?
Shouldn't it be Aristotle?
7032073 Automatics have gotten to the point where efficiency is really close now, which is why manuals have all but disappeared here.
Hell, my accord was one of only a few hundred manufactured that way in that year if I can believe the salesman. (I don't)
7032088
Shouldn't the plural be octopodes?
7032225
As far as I'm aware, once a foreign word has been incorporated into English, the English plural is always considered a valid alternative to the original language's. In this case, that means that both octopodes and octopuses are acceptable.
Ah, Silver Glow, human history is not that simple or straightforward.
Kind of want to see Silver introduced to a less standard sort of card game now, or maybe one of our more interesting board games like Twilight Imperium.
Mornington Crescent might also be fun game to introduce her to.
7032441 You are evil. (found MC from a fic on this site)
Amazing how few people seem to get that (or maybe they're just afraid to be called socialists).
Looking forward to see if Silver can bring in a cloud. Hopefully, clouds on earth are compatible with pegasus magic. Or at least don't zap her :)
7032605 I imagine you just don't understand the complex nuances of the game. It is a very old, very sophisticated game with a lot of history and cultural entanglement.
Well, I just learned about a new card game. Already knew about the penis arms.
Definitely looking forward to Silver's attempts to get a cloud. There are so many possible outcomes.
Reminds me of when I played cards with a few friends at lunch in highschool. Of course, we played Bullshit! which got us in trouble once in a while. x3
All the cards are passed out, and one by one cards are announced placed upside down in a pile. You can put down as many cards as you like, but you have to say the amount of cards you're putting down, and you can only say you're putting down one type of card, like '3 Jacks' or '2 Aces,' heck you can even say you're putting down '8 kings.' Its legal. However, when you're putting down cards anyone can call 'Bullshit!' and you have to reveal the cards you're putting down. if you're found to be lying, you have to pick up the whole pile. But if you're telling the truth, the person who called Bullshit (or the person who called it first) has to pick up the pile. Winner is the one who has no cards in hand.
And yes, we used 2 52 card decks... because there were 8 of us. x3
Imagine a bunch of 16 year olds screaming bullshit at your highschool. That was me and my friends. x3
I can't wait for Silver to bring a Cloud to class, and totally shut down her teacher. That's going to be AMAZING!!
7030777 And you just ignore Stalin and Mao killing 140 million people and turning large areas of their countries into wastelands...
Ah, you leftists never fail to entertain me with your virtually inconceivable levels of willful ignorance.
Coincidentally, this article showed up in Yahoos news list today.
http://thefederalist.com/2016/03/15/socialisms-bloody-history-shows-millennials-should-think-twice-before-supporting-it/
No primarily socialist or communist country has survived 100 years. Not one. Even your beloved and lauded Scandinavian countries are privatizing as they begin to run short of money... and they only instituted their current socialist systems in the 1970's... not even 50 years.
Other countries like Greece and Spain survive only due to bailouts taken from more successful economies. Again, this will only work until they run out of other people's money.
Socialism is a delusion for the naturally slothful, especially in the modern era where it attracts so many vapid little college buffoons who want free tuition paid for by everyone who works so they can major in sociology and liberal arts... which will lead most of them to careers firmly entrenched in the fast food industry.
Reminds me of a certain game played with adult beverages. It was fun but the day after was horrific.
7033051 "And you just ignore Stalin and Mao killing 140 million people and turning large areas of their countries into wastelands...
Ah, you leftists never fail to entertain me with your virtually inconceivable levels of willful ignorance."
Willful ignorance? From a guy who makes up numbers?
Even the Black Book of Communism - a book which several contributors openly describe as a propaganda effort, and which is so inaccurate it's own publisher issued a disclaimer - doesn't attempt to claim a death toll of higher than 100 million for all socialist states combined, not just the USSR and China. And even that one is mathematically impossible considering actual population growth in the countries in question.
Like, honest to god, nothing is less credible than anticommunist sourced death toll numbers - the highest one given for Stalin's USSR is 50 million, which combined with the 27 million war dead would actually mean the USSR lost 52% of it's post-revolution population of 148 million during the Stalin period. In reality it surpassed 182 Million by 1951, a net increase of 22.97% - This despite World War II. How do you explain this, a secret communist cloning factory?
"No primarily socialist or communist country has survived 100 years. Not one."
And if your dad were to die of a gunshot tonight that would clearly prove human life is a bad idea, no? Still, the stars and stripes fail to kill the last four red men standing. What is the defining moment of your president's career again? A handshake and the words "Hi, I'm Castro".
" Even your beloved and lauded Scandinavian countries are privatizing as they begin to run short of money... and they only instituted their current socialist systems in the 1970's... not even 50 years. "
Interesting how you start an argument with a Marxist Leninist and then expect him to be on the same side as Social Democracy, and that you describe Social Democratic Capitalist economies as "Socialism". This all just further cements that you don't actually have much knowledge of the subject at all, because anyone who's studied the guiding principles, aims and histories of the two movements would never do such a thing. I'd make a crack about murdering Rosa Luxembourg here but there's not a chance in hell you'd understand it.
"Other countries like Greece and Spain survive only due to bailouts taken from more successful economies. Again, this will only work until they run out of other people's money."
Okay I know you're American alt-right and all but I would expect you to at least have a coherent idea of what the word socialism means, even if it is not correct - you seem to just be naming random capitalist countries on the Eurasian landmass now.
7033051 Seriously?
Come on! I can get that you don't like socialism and disagree with it, but that comment was painful to read.
Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, Kim Il-Sung... these aren't socialist! They were totalitarist.
And if we are to make an overall assessment of humanity's death toll and land devastation, we will find that capitalist states have very blood stained hand too. That is not a way to measure a system's validity
Na. The recent wave of privatisation are due to rigth wing party cutting taxe and governement revenue. The subsequent (and very relative) financial problem are then blamed on the social program.
Portugal, Spain, Greece, Ireland and other simialr countries were very very capitalist country and bankrupted beacause of fraudulant operation from American bank and beacause of the mess that the European Union is.
As for surviving... The unemployement is still rising to new reccord heigth, the infrastrucures are degrading and the country lost some of it sovereignty to foreign interests.
Just no. Wishing to make the world a better place and helping other don't make you lazy. Changing the world is a lot of work. A lot.
Dude, I managed to overwork myself to the breaking point.
Did you really use that cliché?
You do know that many "lefties" are lawyer, doctors, scientist and so on?
And implying that sociology or art aren't worty of study. Understanding the world is never useless, expressing the work trough art is important. Education is a right to which every human is entitled. Not everyone will aspire to do so, but it doesn't mean we should prevent does who wan't to from doing so.
Still a big cliché. But anyway, given how much humanity consumes fast food, we need people working there. Do not dismiss someone beacause of his or her occupation.
Seriously, I am sure you can do better then that Alondro.
Ah I like Aric's choice in vehicle. The first Chevy truck that came to mind was the late 80's to early 2000's GMT400 body style. Obviously Aric's particular model was a single cab and most likely a fleetside pickup bed. And lets not forget the beautiful manual transmission tucked underneath. Also, like me, he loved his truck enough to give him a name. Of course, being a truck in Michigan, and most likely being an older vehicle, he is going to suffer some dents, scratches, and rust. That, however gives him character! It would be icing on the cake if ol' Winston was a 4x4. I highly doubt this, but hopefully Silver may come to a slight understanding as to how some guys value a beat up old truck enough that they would give it a name.
7034061
"Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, Kim Il-Sung... these aren't socialist! They were totalitarist.
And if we are to make an overall assessment of humanity's death toll and land devastation, we will find that capitalist states have very blood stained hand too. That is not a way to measure a system's validity"
Very interesting that you would Pol Pot, a NATO backed primitivist, in with three Marxist-Leninists. You know the guy was overthrown by Cambodian and Vietnamese Marxist-Leninists, right?
Generally speaking it's absurd to describe Stalin and Mao in the negative way you do here. Parroting the cold war era western historical narrative written by Alondro's idols will not benefit you. Do you think that you can respond to anti-communist partisans with "But I'm one of the good ones"?
7031405
Well, Aric's truck isn't that nice. (See below)
My plan is one full year. We'll see how it winds up going.
7034896
Ah I like Aric's choice in vehicle. The first Chevy truck that came to mind was the late 80's to early 2000's GMT400 body style.
You missed by one body style.
I'm leaving some things a bit vague, since this is a full two decades after my college experience, but here's the original Winston:
scontent-ord1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfa1/v/t1.0-9/1927646_1076951798606_3157_n.jpg?oh=9e4fa061e063148e32f56b3aad3441d2&oe=574AC2A8
250ci inline 6, 3-speed Saginaw side-load transmission with column shifter (which that truck still had); manual steering and manual brakes. Incidentally, she was named after the character in 1984, and not the brand of cigarettes.
7031485
That will come up. What self-respecting college student doesn't occasionally play Cards against Humanity?
7031582
He's not the one who wants a pony on his lap. . . .
7031719
We played it in college. For the longest time, I had a pair of intermingled decks on the dash of my truck just in case the opportunity came up.
I learned to pronounce it 'drock' (and I'll make that correction in the text). I have no idea where my friends learned of it from, but it was a thing with us for half a decade.
7031919
(see above)
7032073
Not anymore. That was true once, but nowadays, you'd have to be a perfect driver to get better fuel economy than you do with an automatic. Torque convertors can lock in 2nd gear, and the computer can calculate engine load way better than any driver ever could. By the mid-nineties, the engineers were re-writing the rulebook; with the advent of GDI and throttle-by-wire, they threw out the rulebook and wrote a new one.
7032088
I don't know. I never looked it up until recently. We played with two full decks, aces high.
Oops! Correction made!
7032113
Better, unless you're a perfect driver.
A couple of years ago, I rented a Focus and went to Bronycon. Over 40mpg.
7032225
Properly, in Greek, yes. However, as 7032368 says, 'octopuses' is also an acceptable plural.
7032441
Durak isn't less-standard enough? What do you people want?
7032762
I'd ask why, but there are some things I'm better not knowing.
For everyone else, it's 3R. If you've got to shake hands with a male octopus, avoid tentacle 3R, just to be safe.
7032796
I once got threatened with a suspension for playing euchre in high school. I said that we were practicing for the school-sponsored euchre tournament. The vice principal asked, 'what school-sponsored euchre tournament?' I didn't have an answer for that. If he hadn't seen the banner outside his office which literally went from the floor of the hallway up to the ceiling, then across the ceiling, and then back down the other side, there wasn't anything more I could say that might change his mind.
7037393
Well, there is big difference between how you learned to pronounce and how it suppose to. Maybe I should not worry about such little thing, but you delude your readers, not deliberately of course, who not know what it is.
And that means the females have an octopussy!
007james.com/i/movies/op/octopussy_poster.jpg
7037404 My old Saturn, an automatic, at its best I confirmed achieved 47 mpg highway, tested back and forth from NJ to Pittsburg, PA.
That's why Saturns were taken off the market. They made hybrids look bad.
So what's the 'dark room' mentioned? I reread the rest of the fic, but what it could be didn't spring out at me.
7043155
It's one of the rooms in the dining hall.
It's probably changed by now (it's been almost 20 years since I was a student), but back in the day, there were 'themed' dining rooms. As you came through the main entrance, to your left was a big open room with a jukebox that played music videos (Weird Al's Amish Paradise and Radiohead's Just were my two favorites). To the right was another room, which had a small private room off to one side, and a traditional English pub type of thing on the other--that was the dark room, and that was where I ate most often.
One day she'll find out about the black hole that is tvtropes.
7037393
Holy Crap, someone else who knows how to play Durak. I lived in Ukraine for two years, and we played the HECK outta that game. Literally EVERYONE in Ukraine plays it, and there're a half dozen slightly different sets of rules floating around. I'd be willing to bet that one of your college buddies had Eastern European heritage. I also have 2 Durak decks (although, the cards have been used so much that they're practically disintegrating), and love to play it when I get a chance.
I never expected to see "durak" mentioned on fimfiction. It is so strange. Pronounced "doorak" and it means "stupid person" :-)
Yeah, either durak or doorak. And yeah, means fool. IIRC top tier is to make the person lose by picking up two sixes. Loser should place them on his shoulders like a military epaulette/shoulder mark. At least that's what I can remember from my childhood in Siberia.
It's a mystery.
Yeah, our calendar is weird. I blame the Romans.
All this talk of Plato, Socrates, and co makes me want to find this game I played once. It was a Phoenix Wright type game except, instead of law your, debating against famous philosophers to get back to earth. I was on the last stage where I just couldn't get him to contradict himself.