On Sun, 15 Jul 2007 17:37:13 -0400, Steve Holden <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>Wayne Brehaut wrote: >> On Fri, 13 Jul 2007 14:32:03 -0700, "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" >[...] >> But I digress (but only because provoked!)... >> >>>> [for purposes of this argument, at least] >> >> This statement is the informal equivalent to saying "Define a base-1 >> number system as...", as I noted above. If you'd noted this, and >> understood it, or were willing to accept it whether or not you >> understood it, you'd have saved us both some bother--but me more than >> you I guess, so maybe you were just trolling? >> >wwway to beat a response to a pulp. Sometimes it's easier and better for >your blood pressure just to let someone else have the last word, however >ill-informed or hostile. Best answer: Not hit Reply or Send. [Too late!] Short answer: Yes, I agree--and thank you for this sage advice! My answer: Guilty with an explanation. I tend to use a "stream of consciousness approach" when I have time, so my responses tend to grow until I run out of time or energy, or I'm called to dinner (so not without bounds). Also, I tend to follow the general Evolutionarily Stable Strategy generally called "Retaliator". In the simple game of Hawk vs. Dove a Hawk always attacks and defends to the death, whereas a Dove always runs. A mixed strategy would be to sometimes attack-and-defend and sometimes run, and a special case is to always run except when you're attacked--then defend to the death; i.e., behave like a Dove to a Dove and like a Hawk to a Hawk. In Game Theory, if not in practice, Retaliator is dominant over both pure Hawk and pure Dove, partly because some who present like Hawks are actually Bullies--who behave like Hawks until an opponent defends, then behave like Doves. Of course this should be a cooperative group to help one another learn more about Python and solve problems--perhaps with an occasional sidebar of humour for relaxation-- rather than attacking and defending; but when someone attacks my attempt at humour, or makes a demonstrably incorrect statement attacking my peaceable, well-reasoned one, I get really POd and my Hawk-like tendencies emerge. And my blood pressure is fine, though I am monitoring it... Moreover, I find it's sometimes harder on my blood pressure to lie awake at night thinking of all the things I would have liked to say and didn't. But thank you for this sage advice! w >regards > Steve -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
