@Diplomat

Sorry, I was off at mod boot camp and couldn't answer your question. I think ghug offered a clear explanation, although I'm willing to try to help if you're still having trouble.

Current student, I had a really excellent teacher in 7th and 8th grade that brought us well ahead of curriculum.

Well, I'm a first-year university student in honours math. So, I know quite a bit of math up to the high school level. I also know a fair bit about international relationships, particularly in southern Africa because of my involvement in model UNs. (countries: Zimbabwe and South Africa)

I'm a bad resource for things that are academic, intellectual, scientific, or political. Those things are boring as hell. I'm a good resource for things that are frivolous, pleasurable, and bad for you. I enjoy games, sports, food, travel, music, and theater.

Cool, more interest in this thread than I expected!

I'm not sure it's wise to answer and debate questions here. Probably PM works better. I can already imagine someone asking a political-philosophical question, and have all the "philosophers" on this site jump on it. I wouldn't want this thread to degenerate into another one of those "political debates".

As for myself, I'm good at math and physics (got a bachelor degree in both). I have played chess at national championships, and I can play the trombone.

I'm right now following an ethics course, which produces much more questions than it gives answers (as it should). When we get to meta-ethics, I'll definitely ask some questions here.

For now: One for Cachimbo & Zarathustra (and other ethics guys). I'm new to the subject, and I would like to do some reading. I find it important that philosophy can be combined with a 'common-sense' approach (I dropped out of metaphysics for that reason). What are good philosophers to read? My list now includes Kant, Hume, Kierkegaard, and Spinoza. Who else?

This thread seems highly unnecessary considering Tettleton's Chew has been giving us countless pearls of wisdom on how the world really works. I think everyone interesting in this should just read his statements and learn.

They added the +1 to the forum just for posts like ShockTrooper's.

"I have been looking for advice on international relations and old school hip hop for a while."

Lmao you jackass sarg. If you're serious ask away otherwise lol.

Aight, I'm serious Thucy. Eric B. & Rakim recently were nominated to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Should Public Enemy have been nominated first?

That's a good question! It's only a question of time before they are nominated as well, but it just might be that Eric B. & Rakim's influence on hip hop was more important than Public Enemy's, whose sound was very difficult to import.

But I'm curious to hear what Thucy has to say on the matter.

Sr. level software developer and IT analyst. I've been in this business longer than many amongst us have been alive (29 years now).

Specialties include:
Visual Studio (all versions including .Net with a focus on C# of late but know VB inside out for both Web and Windows Forms development)
SQL
Javascript/JScript
VBScript
C/C++
XML
Java (JDK 1.0-1.4 - J2SE, EE, and ME and Lotus Domino agent)
LotusScript (Notes and Domino)
Domino/Notes API
SolidWorks API
Socrates
Guru and the Guru API

Old but could brush up on:
COBOL
Pascal
xBase/dBase/FoxPlus/FoxPro
Windows Scripting/DOS batch commands

@Bas - At what level do you play the 'bone? I went in the Corps as a musician (had to try out for trombone at Little Creek to get accepted into their program) and went to UC for a time studying trombone, specifically jazz 'bone and music theory (UC/CCM's SMI program). I also play french horn, fluegelhorn, baritone/euphonium (like duh), piano, and a little guitar.

It isn't much next to the impressive resumes above, but I'd like to offer my help in literary analysis and mathematics to anyone who needs it. I'm just a humble high school student right now, but I consider myself quite well read and enjoy thinking and writing analytically. If anyone wants to have a discussion about symbolism in Paradise Lost I'd be happy to contribute. :) Also, I consider myself a pretty good mathematics student and enjoy participating in Math Olympiads, the AMC, and other math competitions. I'd be happy to help people with topics in high school math, for what that's worth. As far as life experience if anyone is interested in hearing about life at an international school or life in South Korea then I might be able to help.

"As far as life experience if anyone is interested in hearing about life at an international school or life in South Korea then I might be able to help."

Yeah I am interested, what is life like in that setting?

Anyway on the hip hop subject, I want to first say I'm not posing as an expert, just a fan. I do think Eric B. & Rakim's new way of flowing changed hip hop for the better forever, it grew up a lot thanks to them. Public Enemy is great, but I don't know why they deserve to be first, there are a lot of great groups and MCs out there. I'm happy to see any of them getting recognition. In the words of the Lords of the Underground:

"You said that hip hop wouldn't last but it lasted
We proved that Uncle LL could be cool as Michael Jackson
Run DMC was doin tours in Japan, but where was Johnny Cash?
Doin time in the can.
That's why I'm never sellin out yall.

Give up the props to hip hop
Just like they gave to rock
Now I'm Naughty by Nature say hurray to the hip hop
aaayyyy ohhhhh"

You know, the Lords of the Underground really should brush up on their history. Cash *never* served time in prison. He was arrested 7 times, each consiting of at most a 1 night jail stay. When he was in the service in Germany, he saw a movie on Folsom Prison which inspired him to write the album, but he never served a single day.

All respect for *that* group just went out the window for being fucktards who can't even bother to do a little research before they spew slander.

Per Olander is not the only Dane around.

I know stuff about:
How to engage people in your local community
Picking up ladies (both long and short term relationships)
Writing a novel or reviewing music
Board games, setting up groups, creating a balanced and fun group
Quitting alcohol and/or drugs
History (especially ancient Middle East)

its not really the point draug lol, also, hip hop's whole message, or most of it, is "listen to us before you discount us"

also this:

"In June 1965, his truck caught fire due to an overheated wheel bearing, triggering a forest fire that burnt several hundred acres in Los Padres National Forest in California. When the judge asked Cash why he did it, Cash said in his characteristically flippant style at the time, "I didn't do it, my truck did, and it's dead, so you can't question it."[2] The fire destroyed 508 acres, burning the foliage off three mountains and killing 49 of the refuge's 53 endangered condors. Cash was unrepentant: "I don't care about your damn yellow buzzards." The federal government sued him and was awarded $125,127. Johnny eventually settled the case and paid $82,001."

What was that about losing respect for people?

Oh wait, I still like Johnny Cash, because I'm not that shallow or judgmental. Lol.

@Draugnar: I have played for 9 years, then I finished high school. Me and my teacher were thinking of applying for conservatorium, but in the end, through a combination of laziness, and not having faith I could pass, I didn't do it.

The piece I played on my final exam was Hindemith: Sonate for Trombone and Piano.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7G6RkgHpuY (but a little faster than this guy is playing it).

Hey on the level of being a student I have some questions for the floor:

Being 20 years old my experience with alcohol has been a classless, quality-free affair. Lone Stars, Keystones, box wines, and poorly mixed screwdrivers.

So what I'm asking is: can I be given some advice on what makes a quality wine, a little wine education, what makes a good cocktail and a good liquor, and some information on that too. And if you can provide me with some websites I can check out, awesome. I'll be 21 soon and want to actually know what wine goes well with my dinner.

Another thing I want to ask the floor about - does anyone here know how to fix cars? Can you point me to a starting place that I can begin learning?

+1 on thucy's first question. I can make out good beers and whiskies, but I seems to be totally unable to distinguish good and bad wines.

@Thucydides
Both answers are hard to found at one thread or webpage. Wine is science and years are required to understand it. General advice on the other hand are very common and not to hard to find, for example what wine is better with meat, or fish, etc. I visited lots of wineries and saw the production process in detail (during my college education), and experts showed us how to taste wine properly and distinguish some basic qualities. I didn't become expert, but I value wine much more after all that.

@Thucy: Dejan is right. Generally the weather during the summer of a year has an effect on the grapes. Wines produced in summers with many hours of sun tend to taste sweeter.

Nice piece. I did Rimsky-Korsakov's Concerto for Trombone when I tried out for CCM's SMI for the symphony orchestra and several solo lines from a variety of Stan Kenton pieces (Chiapas, Malaga, and others) to try out for the Jazz Band there.

RK's Concerto: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBBeHlaksoU

Love this thread.

- I'm a little economics - mainly Macro, have a Bachelors degree
- A lot theatre and backstage theatre.
- A lot travelling.

I work managing shows and events around the world so spend most of my time travelling, for example this year, I will have been on the road for around 11 months. One of the reasons I love this site is because so many people come from so many places!

@Thucy

The best advice I can give you about wine is this:

Try a lot and keep a little book on your thoughts. There are plenty of wine experts that will tell you this or that about wine, but at the end of the day, all that is important is what you enjoy. I'm lazy to keep a book, but through experience, I've compiled a mental list of what wines I like and what foods they go with. Discovering wine should be an adventure; there is no right answer.

For instance, my favorite wine with good beef, such as filet mignon or steak tips is Nero d'Avola (specifically, by Villa Pozzi) from Sicily. It is a very dark, rich tasting wine that matches beautifully with the right meat. It's also cheap as dirt, which I suppose wine snobs will use as a reason to look down on me, but that doesn't stop it from being delicious.

Oh, and it behooves me to recommend Sherry, a fortified wine, which is my absolute favorite liquor. You can get them very dry to very sweet, depending on your liking. I love them all, depending on my mood. I suggest you give them a try.

Ok so I agree in general abge that what I like is the final thing but I also want to *know* what the establishment *says* is good, whether I agree or not, you know? I can also use it as a starting point to see for myself, it's just that at the moment I have no clue. Lol.

And... good cocktails? Favorites? Special twists?

I had pretty much forgotten about sherry lol will definitely go for that.

Vodka Martinis (hold the Gin). Scotch (single malt not blended) neat. Cognac (VSOP or XO as VS is only good for making Sherry). And my favorites for not getting too drunk too quick are a Sea Breeze (vodka grapefruit and cranberry) or a Bay Breeze (vodak, pineapple, and cranberry) or the Malibu Bay Breeze (Malibu CoconutRum instead of Vodka).