2**2**2**2**2 wrong? Bug?

[Wayne Brehaut]

On Sun, 15 Jul 2007 17:37:13 -0400, Steve Holden <steve at holdenweb.com>
wrote:

>Wayne Brehaut wrote:
>> On Fri, 13 Jul 2007 14:32:03 -0700, "mensanator at aol.com"
>[...]
>> 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