First off. I’m moved!

… second off, here comes an argument re: Innate in M&M

A quick primer (that is, list of things to keep in mind)

1) Attacks are usually consisted of mixes of powers+feats, although linked powers are rarer, due to cost.

2) M&M is an effect based system

The text of the feat:

A power with this feat is an integral part of your nature. Trait effects, such
as Boost, Drain, or Nullify, cannot alter it. Gamemasters should exercise
caution in allowing the application of this feat; the power must be a truly
Innate trait, such as an elephant’s size or a ghost’s incorporeal nature. If
the power is not something normal to the character’s species or type, it
probably isn’t Innate. Unlike other power feats, the use of Innate is not
optional: a power is either Innate or it is not.

The first thing to note about this feat is that it contains warning that GM’s should be wary of it. (Mostly because it makes the power it is attached to impossible to counter or limit. E…ven though that might be the IDEA.)

It then says it should be “part of your nature” and goes on to “..such as an elephant’s size or a ghost’s incorporeal nature”.

So this feat (ignores?) the effect based part of the game, and basically goes “Yeah, this time consider the source.”

… it’s nonsensical, as I’d rather expect eff…

… sigh.

First. Word rant.

When  I first tried to post the essay part, Word (I use 2007) decided to be cute and it copied the bloody XHTML. This isn’t cute. It made it unreadable, and I had to work around it by posting it to Notepad and partially reformat. Ack, MS. USE STANDARD COMPLIANT CODING! (Or have Word copy over normal text)

… okay, rant over.

Now, groundswork update.

Just assume anything like (1.1) refers to the associated bold heading. And for added humor value! I’ll first list it as if it was a pseudolegal change.. (.. yes, this may actually not be funny. YMMV)

The following apply to: “First Section of housework needed: Projects that are yardwork/non building related”

First, regarding section 1, clause 1. After the sentence “and my mom wants to level it to cover the roots.” replace the rest of clause 1 with “as of June 16 we have leveled several holes by digging up dirt from a freshly dug hole in the side yard. I have no clue how much more it’ll cost now, but I’m more or less confident we may be avoiding the worst of it.”

Second, regarding section 1, clause 2. This job was done a few weeks ago and is now Closed.

Third, regarding section 1, clause 3. Add in at the end. “However, as we recently expanded the rose bed (which necessitates another chore, see later), which .. took dirt from the more leveled up sides. I’m not sure where this is leading.”

Fourth, regarding section 2. This job is done and is now Closed.

Fifth, regarding section 3. Append at the end. “I think. I’m not sure what’s happening as the backyard flowerbeds have been outright ignored and the front yard hedge bed (against the house, see later) has been planted.”

Sixth, regarding session 4.Append at the end. “Update: No work done on this so far. I suspect none will be done this year.”

Seventh, regarding session 5. Append at the end “Well, it’s mid June and noises are already underway to move this. But they’re rather lackadasial, so I dont’ expect any serious efforts till early July.”

Eighth, regarding session 6. Append at the end. “As of mid June, we’ve killed like.. 9 nests, and I’ll be killing one on my windowframe shortly. Still more around, but we’re making progress. The cellar’s effectively cleared, we think.”

Ninth, regarding session 7. Append at the end. “We started on the gravel segment in the front yard and have finished it. On the other side of hte driveway, any work on the pressed asphalt will probably be put off towards next year.”

Tenth, regarding session 8. Append at the end. “This will probably be put off towards next year.”

Eleventh, regarding session 9. This job is done and is now Closed.

Twelfth, append session 10. “10. Miscellaneous Additions and Changes. We’ve expanded the mowable area some. Only another 30 minutes, but still.. to make matters interesting, we also put in a strawberry fountain. That’s 3 metal rings with dirt in between them, and a fountain on top. It’s taking up some area in a mowable area, but it’s OK, not a pain to go around. Another (Rapidly upcoming chore) is putting in white rock over the rosebed to make it look prettier. No, that’s just going to be a pain.”

The following apply to “Second Section of housework needed: Outside building related work”

First, regarding sections 1 and 2. These jobs are essentially done and the section is now Closed. (Did it as a father’s day gift)

Second, regarding section 4. Append to the end. “We’ve moved stuff out from the garage there, but beyond cleaning it up and storing stuff, no change. Sigh.”

Third, regarding section 6. This job is essentially done.. we hope. This job is Closed?

Fourth, regarding section 7. Add to the end. “We’re getting 3 more chords. And stacking them in the cellar. –;”

Now, moving on to Job Woes. No one’s actually hiring, but I’ll be spamming out applications that have a bad.. refresher. –; I guess I should try.

I’ll post the second part of it like I promised now. And note it omits the question.

(Note, this will spawn a rant about word.. in the next post, which catches up on the endless work cataloguing, adds a few things)

The excerpt lists his five arguments as listed in Summa Theologica.
•    The first argument can be summarized thusly: since things were in motion, some cause must have started this. This cause is God.
•    The second argument can be summarized thusly: some causes must have started the chain. This cause is God.
•    The third argument can be summarized thusly: Not everything can exist and not exist at the same time. The first being that must exist and cause other beings is God.
•    The fourth argument can be summarized thusly:  the only being that can be perfect and cause of other beings is God.
•    The fifth argument can be summarized thusly: Some being must direct things to their end. This is God.
All of these arguments rely on a logical argument known as reduction to absurd (reductio ad absurdum), which is to dismiss an argument by having it lead to grounds that are clearly absurd and not possible (Rescher)
Many also employ the cosmological argument.  This argument draws conclusions from observed facts and derives a unique being as the end conclusion of the argument. (Reichenbach) This argument has several weaknesses, and philosophical arguments continue over whether or not this could be a valid argument.

I started evaluating the arguments with the first.

The first and more manifest way is the argument from motion. It is certain, and evident to our senses, that in the world some things are in motion. Now whatever is in motion is put in motion by another, for nothing can be in motion except it is in potentiality to that towards which it is in motion; whereas a thing moves inasmuch as it is in act. For motion is nothing else than the reduction of something from potentiality to actuality. But nothing can be reduced from potentiality to actuality, except by something in a state of actuality. Thus that which is actually hot, as fire, makes wood, which is potentially hot, to be actually hot, and thereby moves and changes it. Now it is not possible that the same thing should be at once in actuality and potentiality in the same respect, but only in different respects. For what is actually hot cannot simultaneously be potentially hot; but it is simultaneously potentially cold. It is therefore impossible that in the same respect and in the same way a thing should be both mover and moved, i.e. that it should move itself. Therefore, whatever is in motion must be put in motion by another. If that by which it is put in motion be itself put in motion, then this also must needs be put in motion by another, and that by another again. But this cannot go on to infinity, because then there would be no first mover, and, consequently, no other mover; seeing that subsequent movers move only inasmuch as they are put in motion by the first mover; as the staff moves only because it is put in motion by the hand. Therefore it is necessary to arrive at a first mover, put in motion by no other; and this everyone understands to be God. (Aquinas)

There are a few problems with this argument and they apply equally to the second, and especially to the third, but before we can articulate them, we must first simplify the passage. The argument runs thus:
I.    Some things are in motion.
II.    Something must have put things in motion.
III.    Things cannot move itself (although this is a flawed premise)
IV.    So there must be a chain of infinite movers
V.    But movers cannot exist into the past ad infinitum
VI.    There must have been a first mover, and this is God.
As Ernest Negel notes
“For if everything must have a cause, why does not God require one for His own existence? The standard answer is that He does not need any, because He is self-caused. But if God can be self caused, why cannot the world itself be self-caused? Why do we require a God transcending the world into existence and to initiate changes in it?” (Negel 185)

The fourth one is a different argument, called the ontological argument. It has many different forms, but the general form of an ontological argument is that reason alone proves God exists. They do not rely on information at all (Poppy).  The form Aquinas uses is that “something must exist that is entirely perfect.” He says it must because something exist that is hottest.  Nagel notes that this has been criticized severely and possibly best by Kant’s criticism. “The substance of Kant’s criticism is that it is just a confusion to say that existence is an attribute, and that though the word existence may occur as the grammatical predicate in the sentence, no attribute is being predicated of a thing when we say that the thing exits or has existed.” (Negel 185)
The last argument that Aquinas uses is effectively from design. That is, some being must have designed things that do not move by chance, and that designer is God.  This argument is also the Watchmaker Hypothesis, and is the fore leading idea behind Intelligent Design.

For example:
The theory of intelligent design (ID) holds that certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause rather than an undirected process such as natural selection. ID is thus a scientific disagreement with the core claim of evolutionary theory that the apparent design of living systems is an illusion. (Intelligent Design Network)

This is the same form of argument as the one Aquinas uses. As Nagel writes
“The conclusion for this argument is based on an inference from analogy…But is this analogy a good one? … The answer is plain. We have never run across a watch that was not been deliberately made by something. But the situation is nothing like this in the case of the innumerable animate and inanimate systems with we are familiar… And once this point is clear, the inference that the existence of living organisms to the existence of a supreme designer no longer appears credible.” (Negal 186)
Nagel then goes on to note in a large case that Darwinian Biology largely explains what happens better than this theory and has a lot of evidence (Negel 187).
Therefore, I do not find any of Aquinas’s proofs attractive; in fact, I hold them all equally unattractive and wrong. On top of that, with the first three arguments being the same thing, it is much like reading the same argument restated repeatedly.
However, other arguments to support the existence of the Christian God have arisen. For example, the argument of intelligent design has recently been assigned to mathematics simply because of some emerging patterns. The issue with this is simply that patterns can arise in any system, even a highly chaotic system (Negel 187).
However, with the advent of other ways to support the existence of God (Pascal’s Wager, Kant’s hypothesis, the “look at <x>, it happened to him”) it is somewhat surprising to learn that both the forms of ontological and cosmological arguments continue to rage on in the philosophical community.  For example, a recent paper stating that the Big Bang is the proof of the Cosmological argument (that is, it proves ex nihilo, which is out of nothing, a principle frequently attacked) was written in 1994. A book dealing with the Ontological Argument is supposed to be out soon, but a book supporting it was written by R. Mydole and released in 2003, called “The Logic of the Ontological Argument”.
There appears to be no resolving of the question, it appears there never will be as theist’s debate this with other theists, and atheists and theists continue to debate it. It may be one of our questions without an answer.

Works Cited
Aquinas, St. Thomas. “Aquinas: Five Ways to Prove God Exists.” 1274. Theodore Grayck’s Web Page. 13 June 2008 <http://www.mnstate.edu/gracyk/courses/web%20publishing/aquinasFiveWays.htm>.
Grayck, Theodore. “Aguinas: Five Ways to Prove that God exists - The Arguments.” 2004. Theodore Grayck’s Home Page. University of Minnesota State. 13 June 2008 <http://www.mnstate.edu/gracyk/courses/web%20publishing/aquinasFiveWays_ArgumentAnalysis.htm>.
Intelligent Design Network. “Intelligent Design Network.” 2008. Intelligent Design Network. 13 June 2008 <http://www.intelligentdesignnetwork.org/>.
Kagan, Donald, Steven Ozment and Frank M. Turner. The Western Heritage. 9th Edition. Vol. 1. Upper Saddle River: Pearson, 2007. 2 vols.
Nagel, Ernest. “Does God Exist?” Cahn, Steven M. Exploring Philosphy. 2nd edition. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005. 183-191.
Oppy, Graham. “Ontological Arguments (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philsophy).” 12 July 2007. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philsophy. 13 June 2008 <http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ontological-arguments/>.
Reichenbach, Bruce. “Cosmological Argument (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosphy).” 16 September 2004. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosphy. 13 June 2008 <http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/cosmological-argument/>.
Rescher, Nicholas. “Reductio ad Absurdum [Internet Dictionary of Philosphy].” 2006. Internet Dictionary of Philosophy. 13 June 2008 <http://www.iep.utm.edu/r/reductio.htm>.

-> The yard got expanded, adding another 2 and half hours of mowing - mainly because the ground back there is uneven+++

-> We’ve planted all but the fruit trees now, and have more roses + more flowers… to be planted tommorow.

… and that’s really it. We have a “rock garden” and we’re setting up soemthing in the back yard, but not much else has been made. We did trim the blackberry bush..

.. sigh. As for personal issues? I’m not going to list them here.

We got the front garden done, the roses planted, the wood moved and today? I’m making rows in the garden.

… soon, I’ll be doing homework and cleaning my room. Just an update so I don’t have to embed it in something else

(Incidently, I highly recommend “A World At Arms” by Gerhard L. Weinberg for anyone interested in WWII)

- Spybot + Java uninstallation equals pain. I normally run two different checkups all the time to be sure, but I don’t need to be prompted that an uninstaller is removing entries that no longer exist! (Also really causing things to slow down, so when I reinstall Java, I strongly suspect I’m disabling Tea-Timer..)

And.. yes, Windows XP has really suck uptime. I think I only managed a week before I’ll have to reboot to fix slowdowns..

Small update, we apparently are not planting flowers today. Instead, we will be raking the gravel in the backyard (!!!) to level out the area belowt he deck (doesn’t seem like it needs it, but what do I know?) and…

moving the wood back there. Good thing the wheelbarrow is being assembled. Suppose it beats out planting and filling in the front garden, but consistancy might be nice!

(Actually, I also suspect we will really be filling in the front garden as well. Off I go to mow the lawn.)

(In.. really amusing news, this was “so you can have no chores next Sunday.” which will never happen…)

This post is mostly so I can relax without ranting at people. As such, it is a rant

First Section of housework needed: Projects that are yardwork/non building related

1. Leveling the yard. This is an ongoing thing. We just moved in and there was a recent flood here. As you can guess, the resulting yard wasn’t level, and my uncle (who previously owned the house) didnt’ do much to clean it up. Last year, we cleaned up one of the gardens and such, and this year, my mother decided to level it, and the backyard. We also just bought the wheelbarrow today.
   1. Subjob 1: The backyard. The yard is quite.. not flat. (part due to the dogs my uncle had, part due to terrain, part due to the giant tree.) and my mom wants to level it to cover the roots. Estimated bags of topping soil? At what I can lift without strain (bear in mind, witha  wheelbarrow, the 2 cu ft bags aren’t quite as bad, but..) the back yard is 8′ by 12′, or 96 sq. feet. I’m going to say an average density of 8″ or .75′, which makes it only about 72′ cu ft. Which is (at current prices) only $216. Since we just bought the wheelbarrow, I don’t have much complaints except spending several weekends doing this isn’t that fun, but probably won’t be all bad since this job is a summer job, and I won’t have school constraints.
   2. Subjob 2: Front Garden This makes it to the list of to-do twice, as it’s a job we do.. in about 12 hours. The soil’s bought and my job is simply to dump it where my mother says. Shouldn’t be hard, right? Well, I fully expect my mother to change her mind and be picky, but since the front garden’s small (it also shows up in the completed tasks), it should only take an hour. Hopefully.
   3. However, there are other areas that are due for them.. mostly a side yard, the one mentioned in rose garden, needs to be leveled, although this may just require a lot of labor (it’s mostly clay in that area) and no soil. Not sure yet.
2. Planting trees - This job will just be a 1 hour thing, and around $70 for the trees. 3 Fruit (2 Apple trees, I /do/ live in Washington, after all) and 4 others. This may mean raking, eventually though, and that is a slight pain considering we have a /giant/ willow tree in the backyard. But..The main reason is to a) border the yard, especially near the train tracks, and to stop people from parking on our side yard that borders the yard.
3. Flower gardens. This job is the actual annoying one, as it actually does need 1.1 to go on (and unlike video game levels, 1.1 is the hardest job). It has a few prereqs: See if we have enough bricks to line the inner fence (!!!), then raise it to the leveled area (using slightly more expensive potting soil) and plant flowers… and to do that, we need to move the shale rocks away, and remove the inner fence supports ( see fence) and… yeah.’
4. Fence - When my uncle put it up, he didn’t properly cement it in, and his method of supporting it was putting logs at an angle and nailing them in. While this /is/ a strong support method, my mother doesn’t see the point of them, since it looks ugly. Our fence is now a bit weaker, and no one is quite sure how we’re going to fix it. I suggested vertical supports,but we aren’t quite sure.. (also needs probably restaining)
5. Compost Heap/Area between garage and cellar. It’s currently a compost heap, but there are signs my dad may want to level it and do something else. It’s a small area with some junk in it, but very little can be done about it.
6. BEES! - We have them all over. A bit better now that we’ve gotten rid of most of the split beer and a few hives, but still enough to keep us on our toes. This is an occasionally reoccurring job because we need to check every once in a while - my dad is quite allergic to them. (No, not hornets, thankfully)
7. Gravel and Grass - My uncle was a bit lazy again, and just put gravel down instead of grass in many places. We need to scoop the upper 3inches (for most of it, instead of dumping it somewhere, I got my parents to agree to raking it under the house to attempt and level it as well, and then we plan to get grass strips that are preseeded.. this will be great fun for a weekend. Thankfully, it’s only a 3 or so hour job, since the idea to cover up the concrete was abanonded when my mother was told (repeatedly) that was city property. Also killed the planting of hedges idea .
8. Sidewalk and Gate - A proper latch for the main gate is needed, and my parents are planning on using the bricks to make a proper sidewalk from the landing of the deck to.. nowhere, really. Involves digging and heavy bricks, is sure to be great fun.
9. Turning outside Water faucets - It freezes, guaranteed here, so the water is turned off over winter. The amusing thing is that since my parents don’t remember where it is, they didn’t know how to turn it on today. Since we’re fighting with my uncle over something silly, he isnt’ going to help us. It turns out our water turning valve thing is too short (only 13′.) At least, I suspect that’s the major problem. It’s something minor, but we probably won’t buy a new on til next week, which means more manual watering of the roses and whatever else we plant tomorrow (well, today, it’s already 12:55 here)

That was just the first segment. We’ve already completed moving all the rocks out of the dogs grave, and then moving them to five different spots, and then having to bury some so it looks nice.. swallowed up two weekends totally. And placing the trash can, although my parents are planning to move that, even though they cannot set up it’s nice cement placing again without buying more dirt… *sigh*..

So now let’s move on to outside building repairs. We have a shed, a garage, a cellar and a greenhouse.

Second Section of housework needed: Outside building related work

1. Cleanup. - The “highest” priority chore, it’s on delay because the garage contains junk that needs to be organized or cleaned up. Most of this is probably a weekend chore, since boxes need to be sorted, and stuff put up cleanly. We also need some other things, like a longer water turning wrench.. or whatever it’s called, as I said above. We need to move enough stuff to warrant a large truck of some kind though (a mattress plus two rooms full of tile, carpet and cardboard.)
2. Organizing the Garage - A lower priority chore. It’s amusing in that we have little space to pack things in, also, we do not know how to dispose the flouride tubes overhead and all that, which puts this on the back burner. (Also, the circuit breaker in the garage /could use a cover/)
3. Greenhouse (Fixing the roof and windows) - It’s missing a roof segment and several windows are broken. We have the roof segment, but not the replacement windows, in addition, we need a ladder to fix the roof segment. This means that we’re going to be spending a lot of time here. In addition, the doors are off in that they don’t close or stay open totally, meaning we may need to reseat them. Ongoing project here, and slightly costly.
4. Cellar - The issues here are the roof (not sealed), the door (an absolute pain to open and needing a lock) and the fact it needs to be cleaned. Probably the deep storage part too, as there are serious noises about using it for a storage area, with a box already out there. And rats like boxes. The freeze in there could use a good cleanup and inventorying so we know what’s out there also. This is likely to happen next month, and I’ll probably write about that later.
5. Doors! - During Winter, we had an absolute time getting the garage doors to open or close, to the point where we ended parking the cars outside. We have a trench for one of the doors, but not the other, and I’ll probably end up digging one. In addition, the garage door to the yard doesnt’ close properly, and it, like many others appears not to be sealed right. This is tied in with 1, because as we clean the garage up, fixing the door will be easier.
6. BBEEEEESSS! - The open roof to the cellar..
7. Wood, the woodpile - By this time, we will probably have a) removed the stacks of bricks under the deck and used them for.. lining, most likely. But that still leaves some wood that needs to be cut and the chord or so in the front yard. No clue /when/ this will be started, but it needs to be before August!
8. Deck - The deck was neither stained nor waterproofed. This has to be done soon, and .. will be fun, I imagine. Lots of it.. At least we’re looking at buying a spray gun and compressor to make it not a forever job.

Now Part III… to follow later, I need to do other things.

Let me just say this:

When you write a module, forced writing is really bad. And this is one of the worst…!

It is remarkably hard to play things that are bugged up. Espically if it’s by design. Yes, Christian’s Keep (there’s no review coming for this, incidently) and Aribeth’s Revival, I’m looking at you.

(And after having finally beaten Aribeth’s Revival, it STILL isn’t fixed)