JMS: Where does he get this stuff anyway?

[*Sigh*]

wow.
*head spins off shoulders and falls onto the floor*
that was interesting.
*picks head up and and puts it back on*

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"I don't want anyone's pity. I don't need anybody's pity. All I know is that I am tired of being controlled. Controlled by others, by fear, by my past, by what everybody else expects of me and it's enough." -Garibaldi-

 

[Quagmire]

It would be interesting to see if we could communicate. On a related note I saw an interesting article on CNN.com today about linguists debating how language(English mainly) would change for colonists from Earth, especially after radio contact became infrequent.

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"I was free to wallow in my own crapulence." -Mr. Burns in "Who Shot Mr. Burns Part Two"

 

[bakana]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR> As for other forms of life... you never know. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Well, one of the life forms postulated in the Starbridge series is an Aquatic race "related" to Mollusks.
Clams, Octopus, Oysters, etc.

They communicate via Tactile sensations over their entire Skin. Anyone who wishes to "talk" to them has to climb naked into a tank full of seawater wearing only a breathing mask.



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Do not ascribe your own motivations to others:
At best, it will break your heart.
At worst, it will get you dead."

 

[bakana]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR> Wouldn't it be interesting to try and communicate with someone whose language is deals with an entirely different set of concepts than human language? Wouldn't that be a riot?
Could we even do it?

I mean, given enough time, I could walk up to a Chinese woman and we could communicate fairly simple ideas.

But what if I went up to an alien - and that alien had no concept of love, or eating as we know it, or pain? Or they knew those things, it's just that - not in the way we know them?

Hee hee! It could be really neat! <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Well then, you're going to _Love_ Elgin's & Crispin's books because that is Exactly what they deal with.

Elgin is also a Professor of Linguistics, I believe.
She has several non fiction books on communication problems amoung Humans, too.
"The Gentle Art of Verbal Self Defense" is one of the better ones. It's about surviving in corporate meetings when the other person is cutting you down while Pretending to be offering constructive advice and/or comments.



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Do not ascribe your own motivations to others:
At best, it will break your heart.
At worst, it will get you dead."

 

[**DONOTDELETE**]

Another form of communication:

Some fish can communicate by creating an electromagnetic field around themselves. Others use the same method to search for food. Or paralyze their prey. Or defend themselves.

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"We are the universe, trying to figure itself out.
Unfortunately we as software lack any coherent documentation."
-- Delenn

 

[nolesrule]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by GKarsEye:
And what even more people seem to conveniently forget is that this is from the Old Testament = Torah- it is a Jewish phrase, from Jewish Hallukha (religious law).

snipped...

This law, like much of the Torah, applied in the days of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem and Court of Elders. Like sacrificing animals and the Jubilee Year, it has absolutely no application to us today.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Quite a bit of Hallachic law still applies to those of us that have chosen to continue following it. However, you are confusing the portions of law that are strictly religious laws (whether obsolete like animal sacrifice or not obsolete like kashrut) with those that are civil/criminal laws and penalties, such as punishment for crimes.



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