Ask Ulrika Anything

How do I politely and carefully tell someone:

"You have a martyr complex and actively seek persecution on the forums by not really thinking before you press the 'submit' button, while either ranting about how LL and 1.7 are conspiring against you, spending all your time either screaming "it's not working!", or perpetually wasting your time and energy arguing with people and basically making an asshat of yourself."

This is difficult because no matter which way I try to phrase it, I can't find a way to say something without being offensive to or upsetting the person's delicate inferiority complex, thus causing them to miss my message entirely.

Oh, this is terrible, just tragic.

Somebody's gonna get his behind kicked.

This is awful.

*pings the flies*
*sets out free popcorn*

-- jj

You forgot the wading pool of lime jello

I think I get it. You're saying you're showing up late to this party.

I didn't mean to be harsh. I was just looking for parallelism between the other "turn up" construction in your sentence. Too obtuse and not funny -- story of my life.

~Ulrika~

Yep. Finally. And a lovely party it is too.

Ulrika... What does regret mean?

You mean they have the effrontery to answer back?

If we don't like something, should we vandalize it?

Actually, I am stunned that no-one has picked up on the answer 32 eggs! If 1.5 chickens lay 1.5 eggs in 1.5 days - assuming that mathematicians can postulate 0.5 of a chicken, which, of course, they can! - this is equivalent to 1 egg per day per chicken. the obvious (and wrong) answer is to say "7 chickens, 7 days = 7 eggs!"

But it is 7 eggs per chicken (1 per day for a week)

So, the correct answer is 7 x 7 = 49.

Anyway, to make up for it, I also have a question (and remember, there may be an armed assassin in the theatre...

"What are the 39 steps?"

(bonus marks for the two main variants to this answer...

That depends if one read that as 1.5 eggs for all chickens or 1.5 eggs for each chicken. I did the former and you did the later. Mutual understanding is much harder to achieve than an answer to an algebraic equation.

~Ulrika~

When I hear that word, I think of the 1993 New Order album Republic, which had a single called Regret, that I love to this day. Having been released during a time in my life when I was transitioning schools, jobs, friends, and homes, through its timing, melody, and lyrics it became associated with feelings of longing and solitude tempered with cautious optimism. In the end the difficult choices I made led to great RL success that otherwise I wouldn't have enjoyed. regret - feel sad, repentant, or disappointed over (something that has happened or been done, esp. a loss or missed opportunity)

~Ulrika~

If you stood at the front of a train, traveling the speed of a bullet, and went to the front of the train, and fire a gun, what would happen?

What would happen if you fired it from the back of the train?

Sometimes. The point of my prior posts to which you make reference is to demonstrate that political force can be exercised not just across legal boundaries but across national boundaries on scales that vary by orders of magnitude. From the vandalization of automobiles (no deaths and hundreds of dollars of damage) to the wholesale bombardment, invasion, and occupation of a country (hundreds of thousands of deaths with billions of dollars of damage), people do and will engage in illegal activities to achieve their political goals. The question should be, when is it acceptable and why? I have no amusing quip for this one as I'm still blown away that people focus on petty vandalism but ignore illegal wars justified by lies that have killed hundreds of thousands of people and cost hundreds of billions of dollars.

~Ulrika~

I have never seen the Hitchcock Movie The 39 Steps, however after reading a couple of reviews and starting to read this synopsis, I've decided that I do want to see it and don't want to spoil the movie by researching or discussing what the 39 steps are.

So let's put this one on hold until I've seen the movie.

~Ulrika~

From the observation point of someone on the train the bullet would move forward at the speed of a bullet. From the observation point of someone standing on the ground the bullet would move forward at the sum of the two velocities or twice the speed of a bullet.

From the observation point of someone on the train the bullet would move backward at the speed of a bullet. From the observation point of someone standing on the ground the bullet would have no forward or backward velocity and would drop straight to the ground.

All analyses ignore air resistance. I eat stuff like this for breakfast. You'll have to bring out the college-level stuff, if you want to make me think hard.

~Ulrika~

What do you think distinguishes authority from authoritarianism?

-- jj

The former is a state and the latter is an ideology, thus making them independent by definition but correlated due to commonality. Specifically, authority is the state of being in power or having the right to give orders, make decisions, and enforce obedience. Authoritarianism is the ideology that favors strict obedience to authority, especially that of the government, at the expense of personal freedom.

Because they are independent, it is entirely possible to have someone who is in a position of authority to reject authoritarian ideology, favoring instead personal freedoms. I would say the majority of individuals in SL are antiauthoritarian, myself included. Down with the Lindens!

~Ulrika~

Actually, I am now tending to your view. It takes a big man to admit he is wrong; fortunately I have someone who is paid to do that for me! Assuming 0.5 of a chicken is valid - as we are - it is a smoke screen. It still takes 1.5 days for the whole chicken to lay one egg. Hence, my change of mind. for those not convinced of Ulrika's omniscience here is another example:

If it takes 3 minutes to boil 2 eggs, how long does it take to boil 8?

It depends if one boils them in series or in parallel. If they are boiled in parallel, it will take 3 minutes. If they are boiled in series, it will take 12 minutes. There are 18 ways they to boil 8 eggs in various combinations of serial and parallel, whose times are bounded by 3 and 12 minutes.

~Ulrika~

Will the Thin White Duke ever be resurrected?

What if I boil the first four in Holland, and then boil the final four in Switzerland?

As this seems to have been set up for Ulrika and she hasn't answered my question, I will answer. As most of Switzerland is at a higher altitude than Holland, the last four eggs are likely to boil quicker. Ulrika can probably do the calculations to give a more precise answer.

Hmmm. Ulrika, if I rolled over tomorrow morning and told you that the name of my SL alt was securely within the "J" range of the alphabet, is there a chance that I would regret it? Would you lead me like a lamb to the abattoir?

I have another question!

Ulrika, why did you skip over my earlier questions in this thread.

*pouts*