What is it about guns?
Firearms as tools for hunting and defense speaks to their heuristic value, certainly, but wholly misses the aesthetic and psychological, which, judging by the number of guns sold vs game tags issued and reported incidents of armed homeowners actually foiling intruders each year, would indicate that use of firearms for stated purpose is a far second to their imagined use, i.e., what they uniquely represent and engender on a very personal level. An H&R Topper and Winchester 21 likely will get done the purpose for which they are designed, as will either a Ford or Ferrari. But what is it about the sound of a 275GTB long-nose or the fit and finish of an old Winchester double that incites imagination and lust far beyond utility and mere assemblage of parts? To me, holding a Colt Model 1911 is a connection to Sergeant York and Belleau Wood and Manila John Basilone, a conversation over cigars with John Moses Browning, a renewed love for my country and a host of other reveries and emotions that certainly cannot be the result of my punching holes in paper with it on a Sunday afternoon. In a sense, guns stand to my daydreams as Walter Mitty's "pocketa-pocket-pocketa" stood to his.
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THIS is the GD Forums I remember!![:D][:D] Ready......fight!!
I really like guns, too! I think I will go and fondle them right now.0 -
HEURISTIC
A heuristic is a replicable method or approach for directing one's attention in learning, discovery, or problem-solving. It is originally derived from the Greek "heurisko" (#949;#8017;#961;#943;#963;#954;#969;), which means "I find". (A form of the same verb is found in Archimedes' famous exclamation "eureka!" - "I have found [it]!") The term was introduced in the 4th century CE by Pappus of Alexandria.
The study of heuristics is sometimes called heuristic, but more often called heuristics. Heuristics, in this sense, is treated as a singular, like physics or mathematics.[1]
The mathematician George P?lya popularized heuristics in the mid-20th century, in his book How to Solve It. He learned mathematical proofs as a student but he did not know, nor was he taught, the ways mathematicians arrived at such proofs. How to Solve It is a collection of ideas about heuristics that he taught to mathematics students - ways of looking at problems and formulating solutions.
How to Solve It describes the following common and simple heuristics, which serve as useful illustrative examples:
* If you are having difficulty understanding a problem, try drawing a picture.
* If you can't find a solution, try assuming that you have a solution and seeing what you can derive from that ("working backward").
* If the problem is abstract, try examining a concrete example.
* Try solving a more general problem first (the "inventor's paradox": the more ambitious plan may have more chances of success).
The word is used adjectivally ("Is it heuristic?") in relation to research or intellectual pursuits. For example, a good theory or idea may be heuristic in that it attempts to find something out or stimulates further investigation. When criticizing theories in the sciences good theories tend to be heuristic.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heuristic
God Bless Hairy, the great Cut and Paster.0 -
Heuristic
2. Of or constituting an educational method in which learning takes place through discoveries that result from investigations made by the student.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/heuristic0 -
quote:Originally posted by DancesWithSheep
quote:Originally posted by v35
Hit you in the azz, did I? Sorry 'bout that.
How can you trip over the pebble of a mildly abstract pronoun when there are such glaring boulders there to tumble over?
The use of the pretentious and obscure literary word heueristic in a 72 word sentence, sets a guarded mood in the mind of the reader right off. Additionally, the word is incorrectly applied. It doesn't mean the obvious but a means of investigating beyond the obvious or stated utility by empirical means. A tool obviously designed for hunting and defense doesn't speak to its' heueristic value. The abstraction, which may not involve hunting and self defense, does.
Look it up in your Funk & Wagnalls or Webster's Unabridged or Random House College Dictionary.
"Stated purpose" is a hell of a lot more abstract than my "its'".
Imagined use is another floater.
Pedantry puts a chip on your shoulder that needs to be epoxied on.
Is mere iteration of a view to you a reasoned rejoinder? You misread (I can't even say "misinterpreted") the sentence. I suggest you google "heuristic value"; if your lips tire quickly, have somebody read it to you. But do not presume to state intention in my behalf.
More to the point, me thinks thou doth protest too much. There is a difference between trafficking information and fostering an agenda. Put another way, your replies here evidence motive, tone and vocabulary which my use or even misuse of a term seems oddly out of proportion. Why is that?
Could you possibly be any more transparent?
You guys made me remember why two years of Koine Greek in my undergraduate years made my head hurt. Oh the humanity!! Good to see you back DWS.[:D]0 -
quote:Originally posted by v35
Hit you in the azz, did I? Sorry 'bout that.
How can you trip over the pebble of a mildly abstract pronoun when there are such glaring boulders there to tumble over?
The use of the pretentious and obscure literary word heueristic in a 72 word sentence, sets a guarded mood in the mind of the reader right off. Additionally, the word is incorrectly applied. It doesn't mean the obvious but a means of investigating beyond the obvious or stated utility by empirical means. A tool obviously designed for hunting and defense doesn't speak to its' heueristic value. The abstraction, which may not involve hunting and self defense, does.
Look it up in your Funk & Wagnalls or Webster's Unabridged or Random House College Dictionary.
"Stated purpose" is a hell of a lot more abstract than my "its'".
Imagined use is another floater.
Pedantry puts a chip on your shoulder that needs to be epoxied on.
Do something truly heuristic and take that paragraph apart precept by precept, line by line and word by word. Describe and decide whether each word is correctly used. Critique the authors use of the English language.
I dare you.0 -
Guns stand to my daydreams as Larry Flynt's wheelchair stands to his... 0 -
Don't reckon it matters either way.
The chair still is in the corner...0 -
Using an Assault Rifle as a prosthetic leg has to be real hard on the barrel, even if it is a 120 pound woman. Of course much of the weight is probably distributed on the good leg. So it's 50 pound on the barrel at the most. 0 -
I just like them. Why?..There are some things one just don't ponder. 0 -
it just keeps raising its ugly head ...the H word...women, children & small animals recoil in unnerved anxiety...simply stated...if they refuse to be blinded with brilliance, do baffle them with B.S...be good children, santa is coming...i knew the tea cozy was a scam all along... and the coleman thing could get you on a public listing for eternity...but isn't it all a hoot 0 -
There's something I've been meaning to ask for quite some time.
What does "pocketa-pocket-pocketa" mean anyway?0 -
Permit me...
It boils down to:
"Guns, the Ultimate Power Tool".
Parse that!0
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