Aug 20
Khakjaan WessingtonArt, Combat Words, Craft, Literature, TWAK, evolution, guns, humor, memes, philosophy, poetry, politics, promotion, random, richard dawkins, science, web, writing combatwords
CombatWords! August 20, 2010: Evolution
This cycle of cells is vicious, isn’t it? Predator and prey all germinated from the same batch(es) of cells and filled every exploitable niche on this planet: an endless cycle of growth and consumption. Parasites, symbiotes; eater and eaten all draw energy from the sun and its legacy. When I think of the chain of life, I sometimes think I am a skin cell that has forgotten it is part of a bigger organism. Of course, most of the time, I just think my cluster of cells is precious and the rest have little to do with me. Evolution can be metaphorical as well; I find it hilarious for example when I hear about technology ‘evolving.’ Do creationist engineers hide in secret covens and call their manifold works the products of intelligent design? Do they grit their teeth when their colleagues discuss the ‘evolution of the business process’? There’s more than one angle to this one.
Combat Expiration: Sunday, August 22, 2010; 12am PST
Critique Expiration: Sunday, August 22, 2010; 6pm PST
Bonuses: Flat bonus of +1 for compositions posted before Friday, August 20, 2010 9pm PST. +2 for compositions posted before Friday, August 20, 2010 6pm PST.
Rules: http://combatwords.blogspot.com/2010/07/official-rules-for-combatwords-updated.html
ps: Okay, this is posting >1min early. Those who got here early have some extra initiative.
Aug 13
Khakjaan WessingtonCombat Words combatwords
CombatWords! August 13, 2010: Industry, Innovations and Corporations
Industry, Innovations and Corporations: I know. It sounds boring until you look past the blah blah branding and examine these wires and turbines up close. Dell makes my monitor and Intel makes my processor; Lenscrafters made my glasses and a sweatshop made my t-shirt. Are II&C the necessary results of labor? And what is their purpose? Simple addiction? Sell you the medicine and the poison? That sounds nefarious. Doesn’t Paul Ricour say we seek altered consciousnesses? Why wouldn’t society have addictive by-products? Or do you see something else in those shadows of smokestacks?
Combat Expiration: August 15, 2010; 6pm PST
Critique Expiration: August 16, 2010; 6pm PST
Time Bonus: +1 per hour ahead of August 14, 2010; 12am PST, for a max bonus of +8.
I’ll find a cool video later.
Oh yeah, rules here: http://combatwords.blogspot.com/2010/07/official-rules-for-combatwords-updated.html
Aug 06
Khakjaan WessingtonCombat Words combatwords
Science! It’s not Reason exactly, they’re more like siblings; much like Logic and Math. Science is the focus here; NOT Reason, Logic and Math—except as filtered through Science. Counterpoint riffs are fine of course.
Scared? Don’t be. Science is filled with underutilized concepts that make great symbolic grist for literature. You can write about future science or current science or even past science. Once, when people made burnt offerings to their gods, they figured it arrived where they wanted it to, because the smoke rose & seemed to disappear. But who amongst those raised in modernity lacks even a basic notion of air? From the way we interpret our senses to the ways we attempt to organize our knowledge, science plays a critical role in worldviews.
Combat Expiration: August 8, 2010; 6pm PST
Critique Expiration: August 9, 2010; 6pm PST
Time Bonus: +1 per hour ahead of 6AM PST, Saturday, August 7, 2010! If you come late, you can play, but you’re not going to get a bonus.
Oh, if you need help w/ the rules, they’re here: http://combatwords.blogspot.com/2010/07/official-rules-for-combatwords-updated.html
Jul 30
Khakjaan WessingtonArt, Craft, Literature, humor, memes, philosophy, poetry, writing combatwords
CombatWords! for July 30, 2010: Good
The Good: Shall we say ‘The Good’ maximizes human happiness, as Aristotle would have us define it? Good is of Anglo-Saxon origin, so I think it’s safe to say it predates a Latin—and therefore Mediterranean—definition. GE Moore sez ‘The Good’ is for suckers. Or let’s make it more simple—what if you could go back in time and shoot your French machine-gun a little more accurately at Hitler in WWI? Is that good if you prevent WWII? Is that bad if that means WWII is fought in the 50s with nuclear weapons? See? This shit gets tricky. What does it mean to be good? Is it an act constrained to time? Our experience? Or forget all that; be opposite-kid and write about Evil, because ooh, you’re so rebellious. As long as you riff off the theme, you can rack up the bonus points.
Combat Expiration: August 1, 6pm PST
Critique Expiration: August 3, 12am PST
Bonus Increment: +1 per 3 hours ahead of deadline with a maximum time bonus of +15. Yes, time bonuses are going to be huge in this CombatWords, but quality matters. The limit is +15 to give PST people some time to write after work. Don’t want to give the East Coast an unfair advantage. If you don’t want to wake up with the Saturday penalty, you’d better get writing NOW.
Rules are here: http://trickwithaknife.com/?p=861 and here http://combatwords.blogspot.com/2010/07/official-rules-for-combatwords-updated.html
Jul 30
Khakjaan WessingtonArt, Craft, Uncategorized, memes, poetry, writing combatwords
Rules for CombatWords! Updated for July 30, 2010:
Critique & Scoring:
Scoring is based off critique. Each critique item is worth one point. Positive critiques are +1, and negative critiques are -1. One critique per reviewer, per composition—so get it right the first time. Simple “I liked it” (ILI for short) and “I didn’t like it” (IDLI) critiques are only worth +/-1. Critiques may be as general or as specific as the critic would like. However, anyone may critique a critique to adjust the score: this includes the author of the subject composition. However, only one critique per post per poster, to prevent vendettas from mucking up the game. Critiques may go into overtime, but only in the case of thread consensus.
More
Jul 23
Khakjaan WessingtonCraft, Literature, TWAK, Uncategorized, evolution, humor, memes, philosophy, poetry, writing combatwords
Combatwords for July 23, 2010: Pleasure Versus Pain
Pleasure and pain; comedy & tragedy; happiness and despair—these are the moods and feelings we chase or flee. They are also the foundations of behavioralist worldviews. Han Fei Tzu and BF Skinner have plenty in common, despite their 2000+ year gap. Take this topic however you’d like: humans as animals; the two flavors in life; whatever.
Combat Deadline: July 25, 6pm PST.
Critique Expires: July 27, Midnight PST.
Time Bonuses: +1 per 5 hours ahead of deadline.
ARE YOU A JERSUSALEM CRICKET OR A CAMEL SPIDER???!!!
FIGHT!!!!!!(?)
Jul 16
Khakjaan WessingtonUncategorized combatwords
Causality: Reflections, Echoes and Ripples: Hume made the point there is no reason why we should expect causality. Locke claimed that all things had primary and secondary qualities. Descartes said there was no reason to believe anything is real and Bishop Berkeley said the only way this world makes sense is if it’s mediated in the mind of God. So the origin of phenomena has been a question humans have long wanted to answer. We want to know the essence of a thing; as if that would stop the questioning. Since there is no satisfactory answer to the problems of phenomena (a task for philosophers besides!), it is a rich area to write about.
Combat Expiration: Sunday, July 18, 2010; at 6pm PST
Critique Expiration: Monday, July 19, 2010; at 6pm PST
Time Bonuses: Bonuses are scored in increments of 6 hours. Pieces that post from now until midnight PST get a +8; Midnight to 6am, +7; 6am-Noon, +6; etc.
Scoring Reminder: SCORING MUST BE METED IN INCREMENTS OF +/-1! There is a good reason for this rule: it prevents the ‘I liked it/I hated it’ critiques from predominating. It prevents score inflation; as if you think you can score +2 well what’s to stop someone else from scoring -10? You MUST score by increments of +/-1 and if you can’t be bothered, then your response doesn’t count for much. I will modify all scores to reflect this, as you all have had a few weeks to try the system out. So no more, “I loved it! +10,” Or “I’m a total moron and I can’t express why I hate your composition in simple craft terms; -100.”
PS: You might shoot at the wrong mule, so look out!
