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Oxymoron! 5

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UniqueFD

UniqueFD

IS-IT--Management
Jan 18, 2005
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Is 'Doing Nothing' an oxymoron?"

The original context for this question is that I have been asked what I'd like to do tonight and replied, "I've been so busy lately, I'd like to do nothing".

Can I actively do nothing? I would appreciate some feedback on this. If, in thinking around the subject, you find some other amusing/infuriating oxymorons, please share them!!!

(Also, I just think the word is great - OXYMORON!! :) )

Tony
___________________________________________________
Reckless words pierce like a sword,
but the tongue of the wise brings healing (Solomon)
 
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SantaMufasa - I think your case nullifies their case.

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SilentAiche said:
Can someone "do nothing" better than someone else?
Click to expand...

IMHO, no. Nothing, when taken in any context (whether limited or infinite in scope), is absolute. As an absolute it can neither be added to or taken away from. As the NULL argument clearly shows, nothing cannot be compared to itself and thus there aren't degrees of nothing, there is simply nothing (perhaps more accurate to say there is simply not anything). Nothing, by definition, lacks any attributes with which to make the comparison. If you can compare it based on some attribute or quality then it ceases to be nothing and becomes something. Certainly, someone can be said to do something better than someone else, but nothing lacks the very things which make comparison possible.

Now I've gone and done it... by saying that nothing lacks something I've assigned it an attribute and, in so doing, I was no longer referring to nothing, but rather something. In response to your question, it would have been better for me to have said nothing. <bg>

boyd.gif

 
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And just to clarify the reference to punch cards. It was NOT the holes, the "nothing", that contained the data. It was exactly like the switches in modern CPUs. The holes were 0, the not-holes were 1. Or the other way. It has been so long, I can't remember.

In any case. the concept of 'Nothing" is more metaphysical than anything else.

A small factoid - the density of matter within a comet's tail, clearly visible if it is close to the earth is LESS THAN the density of matter the best vacuum chamber can "produce". There it is again. We say produce a vacuum, but what we are trying to do is REMOVE stuff. Comet Hyacutake comes to mind. It was spectacular, extremely visible, but essentially...there was nothing there. Or at least it was more nothing (less something????) than the best "nothing" we can "produce".

Hmmm is that an oxymoron?

Gerry
See my Paintings and Sculpture
 
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Actually fumei, the way many card readers (and paper tape readers as well) worked was to shine a light throught the medium. The "reading" was based on where there was nothing (i.e. the holes) to block the light.

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To get the most from your Tek-Tips experience, please read FAQ181-2886
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So are you saying that a hole is nothing?;-)


Two strings walk into a bar. The first string says to the bartender: 'Bartender, I'll have a beer. u.5n$x5t?*&4ru!2[sACC~ErJ'. The second string says: 'Pardon my friend, he isn't NULL terminated'.
 
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fumei said:
Or at least it was more nothing (less something????) than the best "nothing" we can "produce".
Click to expand...

ROFLMAO! It is less something. How quickly we find ourselves avoiding land mines on every side less we prove the existence of nothing and must henceforth refer to it as "that which we don't speak of". <g>

boyd.gif

 
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==> So are you saying that a hole is nothing?

Unless it's half a hole, or half a whole hole, which is nothing to complain about.

An interesting concept is that even if you claim that nothing doesn't exist, nothing may be required for other things to exist. Can a donut exist without it's hole? Is half a donut still a donut?

Perhaps it's time we pose this question to the Southern Oracle?

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What is greater than God,
More evil than the Devil,
The poor have it,
The rich need it,
And if you eat it, you'll die?


Two strings walk into a bar. The first string says to the bartender: 'Bartender, I'll have a beer. u.5n$x5t?*&4ru!2[sACC~ErJ'. The second string says: 'Pardon my friend, he isn't NULL terminated'.
 
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but, [blue]Why would a well whale wail[/blue]?

Tim

Orca Users Group

[blue]_____________________________________________________
If you need immediate assistance, please raise your hand.
If you are outside of Raleigh, raise your hand and say[/blue] [red]Ooh! Ooh![/red]
 
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What about the most famous (well not really famous, perhaps most overused): "New and Improved!"



BocaBurger
<===========================||////////////////|0
The pen is mightier than the sword, but the sword hurts more!
 
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As opposed to a partially new episode?



BocaBurger
<===========================||////////////////|0
The pen is mightier than the sword, but the sword hurts more!
 
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A new espisode, which contained some flashback scenes, would not be an all new episode.

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To get the most from your Tek-Tips experience, please read FAQ181-2886
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CC: GMTA! I was think exactly the same thing.


Tracy Dryden

Meddle not in the affairs of dragons,
For you are crunchy, and good with mustard. [dragon]
 
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Can someone "do nothing" better than someone else?

lol!

i know a few people that would compete to prove they can 'do nothing' better! doesn't making an effort to do nothing negate the meaning of 'doing nothing'?

and can you even 'do nothing'? doesn't the very act of 'doing' create 'something', which is the polar opposite of 'nothing'...seems as though you can 'be' nothing, tho...but you can't be 'doing' nothing, or you can't be 'being' nothing, either...

anyway, i like this:

What is greater than God,
More evil than the Devil,
The poor have it,
The rich need it,
And if you eat it, you'll die?

how about:

what am i??

Man makes me, but tells noone. Man takes me, but does not know it. If man knows he has me, he does not want me.

or

Man makes me, but does not want me. Man buys me, but does not need me. Man uses me, but does not know it.

- g
 
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Nuance.

New wants.

Tim hmmm

[blue]_____________________________________________________
If you need immediate assistance, please raise your hand.
If you are outside of Raleigh, raise your hand and say[/blue] [red]Ooh! Ooh![/red]
 
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welcome to the family...these ladies are you new aunts.

- g
 
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