Author Topic: Story behind your avatar?  (Read 112202 times)

CGFxColONeill

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Reply #50 on: February 25, 2008, 11:09:45 PM
ok kinda newer to the forum so I dont really know what this TCoRN thing is any one care to enlighten me plz?



Well.... the long version is buried in this thread here.   The short version is, someone tried to use beloved moderator, Russell Nash, as the deity of his own religion in a semi-Socratic thought experiment on faith.  It kind of backfired because the rest of us are a bunch of smart-assed nay-sayers with hyper-active imaginations (would you expect any less in a science fiction podcast forum?)... and the result has been a running inside joke.  As you can see by my sig and description, I tried to stake out territory as the supreme heretic, but others (such as Heradel) have posed their own (unorthodox) heretical positions, too.

This, in a nutshell, explains the existence of The Church of Russell Nash (aka TCoRN).  Yea, and verily, go now in peace.  (Or in pieces.)

thanks for the clarification on it lol

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Tango Alpha Delta

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Reply #51 on: February 26, 2008, 01:17:00 AM
Well.... the long version is buried in this thread here.   The short version is, someone tried to use beloved moderator, Russell Nash, as the deity of his own religion in a semi-Socratic thought experiment on faith.  It kind of backfired because the rest of us are a bunch of smart-assed nay-sayers with hyper-active imaginations (would you expect any less in a science fiction podcast forum?)... and the result has been a running inside joke.  As you can see by my sig and description, I tried to stake out territory as the supreme heretic, but others (such as Heradel) have posed their own (unorthodox) heretical positions, too.

This, in a nutshell, explains the existence of The Church of Russell Nash (aka TCoRN).  Yea, and verily, go now in peace.  (Or in pieces.)

I refuse to accept that my position is not orthodox to the citizens of the planet Tappa Alphi Delter.

I also refuse to accept that my position isn't valid simply because I cannot remember my position.


Oh, I never said there was anything wrong with your position... just that I was miffed to find out I wasn't the only heretic. 

I imagine this is how Martin Luther would have felt hammering up his 95 Theses, and then finding a Calvinist pamphlet floating in the gutter behind him.  (Aside from any obvious space-time anachronisms, of course.)

But, unless you just want to argue....

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Heradel

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Reply #52 on: February 26, 2008, 02:32:37 AM
Oh, I never said there was anything wrong with your position... just that I was miffed to find out I wasn't the only heretic. 

I imagine this is how Martin Luther would have felt hammering up his 95 Theses, and then finding a Calvinist pamphlet floating in the gutter behind him.  (Aside from any obvious space-time anachronisms, of course.)

But, unless you just want to argue....

It's the problem with population expansion. Back in the old days you could be bloody certain once you had a clever idea that it would take years before someone else had it — look at Darwin and that other guy. But these days everyone's been breeding like rabbits on testosterone injections and you've got a good five minutes if you're lucky before some other bastard has the same idea.
« Last Edit: February 26, 2008, 04:58:53 AM by Heradel »

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Thaurismunths

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Reply #53 on: February 27, 2008, 11:48:57 PM
Oh, I never said there was anything wrong with your position... just that I was miffed to find out I wasn't the only heretic. 

I imagine this is how Martin Luther would have felt hammering up his 95 Theses, and then finding a Calvinist pamphlet floating in the gutter behind him.  (Aside from any obvious space-time anachronisms, of course.)

But, unless you just want to argue....

It's the problem with population expansion. Back in the old days you could be bloody certain once you had a clever idea that it would take years before someone else had it — look at Darwin and that other guy. But these days everyone's been breeding like rabbits on testosterone injections and you've got a good five minutes if you're lucky before some other bastard has the same idea.
Damn it! I was just thinking that.

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Tango Alpha Delta

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Reply #54 on: February 28, 2008, 02:00:12 AM
I, being easily flattered (a foible I attribute to not being a deity in my own made-up religion) decided to swipe the photo from the Lego people and make it my own.  I figure since they "stole" my likeness, I can steal it back... and I humbly offer to pay 4 gazillion percent royalties on every penny of profit I make from it.

If any Lego representatives are reading this - I will send TAD 25% of any sum of money you choose to send me, as payment for providing me joy with his avatar. That'll turn into a gazillion percent return on your investment!

;)



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shwankie

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Reply #55 on: March 03, 2008, 12:46:57 AM
Okay, so better late than never to this thread. And yep, I changed my avatar before posting, largely because I've been meaning to forever anyway, and this was good impetus. My first avatar was, of course, me. The lazy way. It was created for another forum and on-hand when I started here. While I am not a big fan of posting random pics of myself on the web, I am also usually tired enough of "the online" (as one of my friends call it) by the time I'm done checking my email and websites that apathy wins.

The new one, and I hope to change more regularly now that I've been prodded into it once, is one of the mushrooms 'Munths and I identified on our semi-regular wild-food foraging trips last year. Not edible, btw, and I'm also forgetting the name at the moment. Pretty, nonetheless. This avatar won over the pics of bentos I've been doing because while hiking today, 'Munths and I were reminiscing over our previous mushroomy finds and anticipating the bounty of The New State this season. So, it seemed appropriate.

And, I love the mole. In a very creepy, disturbing way.



williamjamesw

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Reply #56 on: March 03, 2008, 03:40:42 AM
I haven't really posted much yet, but this topic got me thinking that I should pick out an avatar for myself.  So, considering that I'm a browncoat who still plays with Lego's; I used one from the guy at  http://www.reasonablyclever.com who is also both, but has way more talent. 

I'll just go back to being silent again now.


AarrowOM

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Reply #57 on: March 03, 2008, 09:37:26 AM
My avatar is an underwater picture of me during my last day of training (PADI Open Water).  Though it is not as if anyone could tell from the picture itself, the location is off-shore of Waya Island, Yasawas, Fiji (roughly the same area where The Blue Lagoon and Castaway were filmed).  I chose the picture since it is really me, but behind a mask and regulator, it is unlikely that anyone would be able to figure out that it is me.

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Darwinist

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Reply #58 on: March 03, 2008, 03:39:08 PM
My avatar is an underwater picture of me during my last day of training (PADI Open Water).  Though it is not as if anyone could tell from the picture itself, the location is off-shore of Waya Island, Yasawas, Fiji (roughly the same area where The Blue Lagoon and Castaway were filmed).  I chose the picture since it is really me, but behind a mask and regulator, it is unlikely that anyone would be able to figure out that it is me.

Cool picture, but you should consider some enhancements like the fish guy got in Pressure.  You could lose the mask, regulator, flippers, etc. 

For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.    -  Carl Sagan


Tango Alpha Delta

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Reply #59 on: March 04, 2008, 11:31:46 AM
I haven't really posted much yet, but this topic got me thinking that I should pick out an avatar for myself.  So, considering that I'm a browncoat who still plays with Lego's; I used one from the guy at  http://www.reasonablyclever.com who is also both, but has way more talent. 

What a cool site!  I love the Steampunk version of the Millenium Falcon! 

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Bdoomed

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Reply #60 on: March 05, 2008, 08:15:42 PM
ooookay lets stop this while there still is some semblance of a topic... :)

I'd like to hear my options, so I could weigh them, what do you say?
Five pounds?  Six pounds? Seven pounds?


Bdoomed

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Reply #61 on: June 17, 2008, 05:39:30 AM
my new avatar is a painting of mine edited on the comp for awesome contrastness.
id love to say it was the divine vision of the Great N-sh coming to me but i cant... he doesn't have time for house calls :)

I'd like to hear my options, so I could weigh them, what do you say?
Five pounds?  Six pounds? Seven pounds?


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Reply #62 on: June 17, 2008, 09:04:50 AM
my new avatar is a painting of mine edited on the comp for awesome contrastness.
id love to say it was the divine vision of the Great N-sh coming to me but i cant... he doesn't have time for house calls :)

they just cost more.



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Reply #63 on: June 17, 2008, 10:39:34 AM
My avatar comes from my sole attempt at nature photography.  There's a big forested park here in Taipei where a troop of monkeys makes their home.  (There are people who have lived here for years and don't realize that you can still find wild monkeys within Taipei city limits.) 

I went to seek them out one day.  This is one of the best pictures I got.  I managed to avoid being peed on from the treetops - barely.

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Listener

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Reply #64 on: June 17, 2008, 12:51:27 PM
I recently changed my avatar.  Here's the story:

Last summer or November, I forget which, we were in Florida and my daughter was toddling around the deck.  She fell onto her butt just as I took a picture.  When I reviewed the pictures, I realized she was totally in a ninja jump-kick position similar to Liu Kang's in Mortal Kombat.  A quick trip around Google netted me the guy who looked like he was getting kicked in the head.  Half an hour with photoshop and voila!


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Heradel

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Reply #65 on: June 20, 2008, 02:55:02 AM
Anyway, mine's a negative of my eye I took while playing around with my cell's camera (an avatar image is about as much as that 640x480 sensor can do). So if it's really killing you what my eye looked like when I was 16ish, you could invert it in Photoshop to find out.

I don't really like it when people change avatars; somehow I always feel like they're a different personality. But mine was about four to six years old, and I didn't really change much about it apart from taking it with a 10.2 megapixel camera (Nikon D60) with much better glass instead of a 640x480 pixel one with "glass", and looking straight into the camera instead of looking off into the distance.

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Bdoomed

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Reply #66 on: June 20, 2008, 06:24:17 AM
I recently changed my avatar.  Here's the story:

Last summer or November, I forget which, we were in Florida and my daughter was toddling around the deck.  She fell onto her butt just as I took a picture.  When I reviewed the pictures, I realized she was totally in a ninja jump-kick position similar to Liu Kang's in Mortal Kombat.  A quick trip around Google netted me the guy who looked like he was getting kicked in the head.  Half an hour with photoshop and voila!
sorry listener but every time i see that pic, the obvious circle of different colored grass annoys the hell out of me :P nothing against you.
so i fixed it! :D use it if you want, dont if you dont want to, but i just haaaad to do it! :P

if u want to use it, save it to your computer because i dont know how long itll be hosted on photobucket. :)

don't mean to offend you :) you have better editing skills than a lot of people :P

I'd like to hear my options, so I could weigh them, what do you say?
Five pounds?  Six pounds? Seven pounds?


Listener

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Reply #67 on: June 20, 2008, 10:04:14 AM
I'm not offended.  I had planned to edit it at some point, but now I don't have to. *grin* 'course, now I need to remember to resize it and drop it into the profile thing.

Thanks.

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birdless

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Reply #68 on: June 23, 2008, 07:12:00 PM
sorry listener but every time i see that pic, the obvious circle of different colored grass annoys the hell out of me :P nothing against you.
so i fixed it! :D use it if you want, dont if you dont want to, but i just haaaad to do it! :P

if u want to use it, save it to your computer because i dont know how long itll be hosted on photobucket. :)

don't mean to offend you :) you have better editing skills than a lot of people :P
Ha! I almost did the same thing. But Photoshopping is part of my job description, and i was afraid doing it would come across as pretentious.



Yossarian's grandson

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Reply #69 on: June 29, 2008, 10:36:36 AM
See, mine's real simple. It Yossarian. My grandfather (in spirit, anyway). For those of you who know not the awesomeness that is Yossarian, go and read Catch 22 by Joseph Heller. Funniest book I've ever read.



Russell Nash

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Reply #70 on: June 29, 2008, 07:56:37 PM
I recently changed my avatar.  Here's the story:

Last summer or November, I forget which, we were in Florida and my daughter was toddling around the deck.  She fell onto her butt just as I took a picture.  When I reviewed the pictures, I realized she was totally in a ninja jump-kick position similar to Liu Kang's in Mortal Kombat.  A quick trip around Google netted me the guy who looked like he was getting kicked in the head.  Half an hour with photoshop and voila!



I remember an picture floating around the internet about 8-10 years ago that was exactly like this one.  Have you also seen it?



zZzacha

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Reply #71 on: July 02, 2008, 10:55:21 AM
Today I want to tell you about my avatar.
My avatar is my Nabaztag. That's my cute rabbit, called Slartibartfast. He's connected to the internet and he can do some great stuff like tell the time, remind me of things, practice TaiChi and every once in a while he starts talking about just anything, which I don't always understand because sometimes he does that in French.

Anyway, Slartibartfast posed for my avatar. I think he's pointing to Norway in that pic...

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Russell Nash

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Reply #72 on: July 02, 2008, 11:30:18 AM
Today I want to tell you about my avatar.
My avatar is my Nabaztag. That's my cute rabbit, called Slartibartfast. He's connected to the internet and he can do some great stuff like tell the time, remind me of things, practice TaiChi and every once in a while he starts talking about just anything, which I don't always understand because sometimes he does that in French.

Anyway, Slartibartfast posed for my avatar. I think he's pointing to Norway in that pic...

Before 2003 I would have reacted poorly to anything that just started talking to me in French unless it was holding a bottle of wine and some Brie.  After 2003 I think I'd be more understnding, but I'd still have to keep an eye on it.



Listener

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Reply #73 on: July 02, 2008, 02:28:51 PM
I recently changed my avatar.  Here's the story:

Last summer or November, I forget which, we were in Florida and my daughter was toddling around the deck.  She fell onto her butt just as I took a picture.  When I reviewed the pictures, I realized she was totally in a ninja jump-kick position similar to Liu Kang's in Mortal Kombat.  A quick trip around Google netted me the guy who looked like he was getting kicked in the head.  Half an hour with photoshop and voila!



I remember an picture floating around the internet about 8-10 years ago that was exactly like this one.  Have you also seen it?

Nope.  Afraid not.

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Russell Nash

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Reply #74 on: July 02, 2008, 04:45:09 PM
I recently changed my avatar.  Here's the story:

Last summer or November, I forget which, we were in Florida and my daughter was toddling around the deck.  She fell onto her butt just as I took a picture.  When I reviewed the pictures, I realized she was totally in a ninja jump-kick position similar to Liu Kang's in Mortal Kombat.  A quick trip around Google netted me the guy who looked like he was getting kicked in the head.  Half an hour with photoshop and voila!

I remember an picture floating around the internet about 8-10 years ago that was exactly like this one.  Have you also seen it?

Nope.  Afraid not.

Would have been really funny if you had both used the same guy.  I tried to find the one I remember, but didn't have any luck.

Edit:  Fixed quoting
« Last Edit: July 06, 2008, 03:36:52 PM by Russell Nash »