swordmanXIII Posts

Haha, thank you. I decided to experiment with a shorter than average haircut, and I can't say I like it too much. On the bright side, it'll grow back.

I got whacked on the hand and bum several times when I went to school in India. The worst was the time I got dragged down a hallway by the ear... I hated that bastard teacher so much.

I don't even know why people like that would ever become teachers, they clearly hate children. And if you hate children in India, you can just beat your own, I don't see why you'd have to become a teacher to do it.

Whenever I hear of police doing things like this, I think "Whelp, I guess all the murders, rapes, thefts, arsons, etc. are solved over there."

Somehow, I doubt that's the case.

Ohdeargodmakethehatsgoaway.

Still, happy birthday, Fakku!

Hey, someone else who did No Shave November! Well, yours is probably better than mine. I didn't shave (from the jaw up) for the whole month this time, thankfully the itchy period passes quicker than usual.

https://www.fakku.net/image-404/images/763256-VO2R468.jpg

Edit: Sadpanda, stop ginormizing my images when I link them normally >:[

I don't know what kind of chemicals you have access to, but you could redo the first artificial production of an organic compound from solely inorganic ingredients. This was pretty big when it was first done in 1828 by Frederick Wohler.

AgNCO + NH4Cl → (NH2)2CO + AgCl

So you'll need silver isocyanate and ammonium chloride. You'll make urea and silver chloride, which has an added cool effect, since AgCl will precipitate and basically glaze the inside of the reaction vessel silvery.

I have nothing noteworthy planned, although I do plan on giving the GREs next semester, so I'll be studying up a fair bit.



Winter is the best time to head to the subcontinent.



Hahaha, this really cracked me up.

No problem! I'm glad I was able to be helpful!

I certainly don't want to tell you how to write your story, but I thought I could just point out a few things that you may consider when writing:

-With regards to the main female character that you described, you may want to consider not only the tridevi, but also the different forms of Parvati. Most Hindus consider Parvati and Kali to be the same forms of each other, despite having very different themes (love and death). However, among my people, Bengalis, as well as some other east-ish Indian Hindus, believe in the central importance of a third form, known as Durga. What most Hindus celebrate as Navratri we celebrate as Durga Puja (puja basically means festival).

-The tridevi and trimurti do have (imo) an awkward lack of matching. Shiva the Destroyer is paired with Parvati of love, Vishnu the Preserver is paired with Lakshmi of wealth and Brahma the creator is paired with Sarasvati of wisdom. Of course, Vishnu and especially Shiva are the most multifaceted characters of any sort that I have ever seen, so their roles as "destroyer" and "preserver" must be taken with a grain of salt.

-Do you plan on portraying the children of Shiva/Parvati? Their popularity should warrant them a mention at least. I've that in parts of west India, Ganesha is the most important God with regards to festivals, but this is totally anecdotal.

-Do you plan on incorporating the balance of power between the Asuras and Devas in your writing? This is probably the aspect of Hinduism that, from a historical perspective, I find most fascinating.

-Please tell me you plan on including weapons like Trishul and Sudarshan Chakra if you have a final battle scene! So much awesomeness to be had there :D

If you want to hear more about any of this, don't hesitate to ask. I very much enjoy being able to help you with your story.

Hi, MegaTenLove, I'm an ex-Hindu, as well as someone who has studied Hinduism in a historical context from an outsider's perspective, so I may be able to help you.

For starters, congratulations on finding such an interesting topic! To this day, Hindu myths (and Hindus often refer to them as such when speaking in English) fascinate me just like they did when I was a child.

As for professional sources, I have nothing greater than wikipedia for the meanings of kama and ishaan. I'm a native speaker of Bengali, as well as a second language speaker of Hindi, and I don't feel that kama is very frequently in daily speech. It's more of one of those fancy Sanskrit terms that has more meaning to philosophers than laymen. Ishaan is a very common male name (there were 3 Ishaans in my class of ~40 when I went to school in India) but people tend to think of it as just a given name more often than the meaning of the word.

With regards to Brahman and the trimurti, I have an interesting (anecdotal) view on this; it seems that (non-priest) adults know much less about mythology than do children. Hindu temples "sermons" consist of Brahmins chanting in Sanskrit which none of the laymen understand. Most of the common man's understanding of religion comes from a several stories passed down by word of mouth, and increasingly in the modern day, comic books and picture books for children.

This is one of the most definitively pagan (a word I use with great respect) aspects of Hinduism: the tendency for sensationalism to prevail over rank. Brahma is undoubtedly one of the greatest gods, yet there are virtually no stories (that I have dicovered) which center around him. He occasionally appears as something of a plot device; it's often through his ill-rewarded blessings that the bad guys get the power to challenge a more popular god like Vishnu or Shiva in the first place. That's exactly what happened with Hiranyakshipu (probably spelled that wrong) when he challenged Vishnu and got defeated by Narashimha. Shiva, Vishnu (especially the avatars Krishna and Rama), their wives and some of their children (like Ganesh and Kartik) are very important players. On the topic of wives, do you want any information on the tridevi?

This is similar to lower "ranking" characters like Hercules, Hermes and Apollo featuring in popular Greek myths much more than top dogs like Hestia and Demeter.

Many Hindus don't really care for a lot of existentialist stuff about the trimurti being a symbol of the eternal blablabla... for them, like all pagans, it works like this:

Want to do well on a test? Pray to Sarasvati
Want to make more money? Pray to Lakshmi
Want to find love? Pray to Parvati
Want some general good luck? Pray to Ganesha

There also some less material/obvious ones. While most Hindus are very much non-sectarian (i.e. not Vaishnavite or Shaivite, etc.), individual perception of a God might lead to someone praying to Shiva/Kali for strength or to Vishnu for peace during very trying times. (When I was a very young, I was actually hugely fond of Vishnu, and felt like he could be my best friend and confidante for everything in the world. To me he represented a very strong yet gentle for of justice in a dangerous world.)

A lot of times, you may find Hindus who don't even recognize some of the more philosophical gods. My father (not very pious at all) had never heard of Brahman, I only discovered his existence through intellectual pursuits, not personal experience. Simply put, highly abstract concepts don't catch on quite as well as awesome stories about likable personalities.

I'm sure I missed some of your questions, so just clarify any points I missed. I'd be happy to help you with this as much as I can.

P.S.- I hope you plan on including the tridevi; they're the consorts to and a very important balance to the trimurti.

I agree with mochure completely. And it's pretty easy to not have sex with someone you don't love; I've pulled that off for 20 years straight =D

Fixed.

Depends on your financial situation.

Are you filthy rich?
Then yes.

Are you struggling to pay rent and utilities?
Then no.

For anything in between, give more details.

Near-blindness virtual-five!

Oh yeah, you reminded me of something. Shortly after puberty I started measuring my penis, like many insecure adolescent boys. However, once I started masturbating, I didn't measure it for years. Turns out I found something more fun to do with my penis that hold a ruler to it >:D

Exactly. All the warnings about the downsides of relationships that I hear from people sound like a millionaire telling a beggar about the disadvantages of money.

Never had it. Very much want it.

I used to feel that my dick was too small. Sure, an extra 1-2 inches wouldn't bother me, but if I had a pick of body modification, my shitty eyesight would be first.

I have no sexual experience, so I've never heard anyone else's opinion on the topic.

Penis size has a lot of visual appeal to me, and I'm a (mostly) heterosexual male. But that's just looks, which is no guarantee of performance.

At the rate things are going, I'll be able to say the same in 3 years. Forever alone...

Like most others, I don't consider it to be "just" a hentai site. I probably spend more time on the forums than with the manga.

If Fakku lost it's forums, I would be thoroughly dissapointed. If Fakku lost it's hentai, I would be devastated.

The current WI vs. IND match is like my ideal test match; 18 wickets in one day, guaranteed conclusion by Day 4... it's just lovely.

So much better than that last SL vs. PAK match...

Wow, this is like my favorite thread ever ;_; I love talking about and hearing others' opinions on things like this.

1) I was born in Calcuta (nowadays Kolkata) in West Bengal (now Poshchim Bongo) in India. I stayed there for 10 years, 7 of which were spent attending a detestable Catholic school. At 10, my dad got transfered to America, and my mom and I followed suit in a few months. I lived in Spring, a suburb of Houston, Texas for 8 years. At 18, I moved to Austin, TX for college.

2) I have a very random basis for finding places interesting. The past seems much more interesting to me than the present, so my favorites are all based off of some kind of historical reasoning. Here are some of them:

Germany- I find the industrialization and nationalization of late 19th century Germany to be unbelievably awesome. The flawless efficiency which defines the German industrial model to this day just makes my mouth water. While some complain about Greece as an example of the horrors of socialism, Germans have enjoyed universal healthcare since the reforms of Otto van Bismarck in 1883 with no problems.

France- France should definitely be on this list. While the concept of having an interest in culture outside of your own does not belong to any culture, the French in the 18th and 19th centuries exemplified this principle. While all the other Europeans were looking with disdain upon the filthy pagans and heretics who inhabited their rapidly expanding empires, the French were awed by the wondrous traditions of those different from them. Orientalism may get a bad rap nowadays, but I still highly respect it for at least being willing to look before judging.

Iran- This one's ironic, because it's also in my places I'd (probably) never visit category. Persian civilization is one of my favorites. The Achaemenid Empire (featured as the bad guys in 300) made massive leaps in political organization, particularly the troubles of managing a state filled with dozens of ethnicities speaking as many langauges, using different calendars, systems of measurement, and having vastly different religious beliefs. My favorite historical person, Cyrus the Great (or Kurush-e Kabir) was the first major emperor (Shahanshah, although he himself never used this title) of Persia. As far as ancient empires with lasting influences go, Persia is second only to Rome, although the margin isn't very big.

Egypt- Egypt is also ironic, since I would rather not visit it. I'll keep this one short: no society in history has maintained it's character as steadily over the course of 5 millennia, despite standing in the midst of all the action, as Egypt has. I've often heard that China is the oldest country in the world, and while China definitely has 2nd place secured, Egypt the Eternal is undoubtedly first.

I could go on, but I feel that my historical reviews are not the point of this thread.

3) I wouldn't say "never" visit, but there are several countries I'm highly unlikely to ever step foot in.

War-zones: Somalia, Afghanistan, Libya, Western Sahara, etc. are the kind of places I'm least inclined to visit

Relatively lawless countries: Many similarities with the previous category, these countries tend to have much less institutional and legal orgnanization. If you wake up in a bathtub full of ice missing a kidney, don't expect much recourse in these countries.

Significantly poor regions of countries: Simply put, I don't want to travel to see slums. For 10 years, I lived across railroad tracks from slums. On the way to school every morning, I saw the miserable poverty that hundreds of millions, if not billions, suffer. I don't look at this stuff for fun.

4) Generally speaking, I think humanity can do a lot better with what it has. IMO, things like hurricanes, plagues, droughts are fair game. The earth has given us all we have, and has the right to take it all away in the blink of an eye.

However, wars, genocides and other human inflicted suffering is simply inexcusable. From a historical standpoint, I know that there are few things we are as good at as massacring each other. Still the part of me that's an idealist (pretty small part) still thinks that this is something we can reduce over time. And you know what? We have reduced it over time. The last half century has been the most peaceful and fruitful since the dawn of civilization, and probably earlier. Many don't believe this because of the prevalence of war in the modern world; simply put, it's always been worse.

In terms of specific places, I really hope Iran fixes itself pretty quickly. Historical Persian-fetishes aside, modern Iranians are fairly moderate, secular, progressive people, especially by middle-eastern standards. They could do better than the piece of shit theocracy they have now. I really had my hopes up for the 2010 revolution, but... good things don't always happen.

5) As someone who went from 3rd to 1st, I have to say I'm enjoying it. Of course delineating the world into two clear cut portions is not a meaningful description, but it does get the gist of the matter.

If I had to sum up my personal opinion on the topic, it'd be "Once you go 1st world, you don't go back." Now, technically speaking, I have been back to India, but that phrase gets my message across.

6) Shoot, my thoughts have to be relevant?

Well, I guess I should mention that I'm not a very touristy person. I'm fine learning about history 2nd hand. Frankly, I don't think going to Poland would make me feel "Wow! From the 15th-18th centuries, this place the pluarality of the world's Jews, primarily due to the laws on land ownership and usury, and also due to the relative lack of contempt for the Jews from most Polish Catholics. I feel so free just by standing here!"

Thanks for making this thread, rerechan!