So, about your signature…...

Sometimes, when I'm reading a thread, and a member's response, I get sidetracked by checking out the avatar. There are wonderful and interesting avatars in this community, and we've already had a thread about what your avatar expresses about you. And of course, avatars are meaningful in that they express the individuality of a member. People are fascinating, and ultimately, the members and the interaction on this site are really what makes it a very special place. Our ability to share, here, and the interaction that results is what builds this community.

It is a terribly sad thing when someone dies, but reading some of the eulogies expressing the respects of members who have passed on has a really positive sense of what this community means to many members. Often, I find these are some of the most profound experiences on this site. When you see people making connections with those who have differing views and opinions, it can really result in a re-affirmation of humanity. People uniting over conflict is awesome and profound to watch, so I wanted to make a thread that honors the membership and interaction on this site. But also, I wanted to make a place where we can speak to each other about experiences we've had like that on ATS. How we handle our conflicts with each other is frequently a negative thing here, but not always. And the moments when you get to see friendships and respect being forged over conflicting views are very special here, so this thread is intended in the most positive light.

However, there is one thing lacking in our interchanges: Do you ever get sidetracked reading a member's response in a thread, by their signature and it would be off topic in the thread to ask someone to elaborate about their signature? Avatars and signatures here are how we express our individuality as members and our general point of view in life, but there is no place to speak to each other about signatures. So this thread is a place where we can talk to each other about our signatures, as sometimes I find myself fascinated by someone's signature with no way to talk to the member about it…..


So, here we go, and I hope this sparks some good neural interaction. Hope everyone has a great day!

a reply to: tetra50

Why are you not a Fish?



Maybe I'll make a signature one day. MY avatar was created by another member, but I can't believe how perfect it is me. They did it off a vague description I gave them.

Have a good day.

Man there have been a few that have caught my attention, and i was kinda ready to pm them about it, but i tend to be very forgetful.
As for mine, one is a quote from a great little B movie called "Dog Soldiers" in my humble opinion, one of the best werewolf movies ever made. I just figured that it was appropriate given the nature of this website, "knowing what lives in the shadows"

the second one, well i write short stories in my spare time, just for myself, a lonely impulse of delight you can call it, and that is just a quote from someone from one of my short stories, pretty mundane me thinks!

a reply to: KnightLight

What a great response. Thanks for the video.


I've thought a lot about it, you know, cause when I made my account and made my screen name, I didn't think that much about it. But here, for starters:

THE GIST
Embryos for humans and other animals often look alike at certain developmental stages because they share ancient genes.

These ancient genes are expressed during a middle "phylotypic period" of embryonic development for all species.

Developing human, fish and other embryos therefore at times share features, such as tails and gill-like structures.

Human embryos resemble those of many other species because all animals carry very ancient genes. These genes date back to the origin of cells, which are expressed during a middle phase of embryonic development, according to two separate papers published in this week's Nature.

The findings help to explain why our embryos have a tail when they are a few weeks old and why human embryos retain other characteristics, such as fur-like hair and fish embryo similarities, seen in the developmental stages of other species.

"On average, the similarities will be even stronger for more closely related species," Diethard Tautz told Discovery News.

"However, it is indeed true that even fish and human embryos go through a phase that looks very comparable, while they are rather different before and after this," added Tautz, who co-authored one of the papers and serves as managing director of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology.

He and colleague Tomislav Domazet-Loso tackled the "ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny" puzzle. This expression means that a more advanced organism, like humans, will resemble less advanced species during it's development stages.

Link

This explains some of my thinking…..
Thanks for your response!

a reply to: IShotMyLastMuse

Hey IShotMyLastMuse!

You are someone I actually u2ued about your screen name! I love it, and always look for your wonderful responses in threads. And yeah, drunk isour attempt at mood alteration…. LOL

a reply to: tetra50

It generally would be OT to post regarding a member's avatar or signature in a thread, not related to those two subjects.

However, I often have this happen, as you said and what I do is send the member a PM and engage them in that sphere.

~Tenth

As of yesterday or today, I'm not seeing anyone's avatar.

I thought this thread may have been about this new development.

Anyone know what's going on?

a reply to: Psynic

you are logged out?

What does information is not knowledge mean?

It's a thought I want to convey to people all the time, but what's your take?

It's one of my issues with the AI movement. IE computers don't know anything.

originally posted by: Psynic
As of yesterday or today, I'm not seeing anyone's avatar.

I thought this thread may have been about this new development.

Anyone know what's going on?

In your account settings, almost at the bottom of the page is a window with buttons to click whether you want to see avy's or not. Check that....

a reply to: tetra50
ehehe that's a whole different story i guess, and in the words of tom waits, "don't you know there ain't no devil there's just god when he's drunk"

And that article about the similarities between human and fish Embryos is actually kinda cool, one of the stories i am writing right now centers around mermaids, and that tidbit of info might come in handy!-It was meant to be!

originally posted by: Psynic
As of yesterday or today, I'm not seeing anyone's avatar.

I thought this thread may have been about this new development.

Anyone know what's going on?

I think in your account, there is a choice somewhere to scrap avatars while on the site. Sounds like maybe you've somehow inadvertently made this "choice," somehow. I'd go into your account settings, and see if this is what is happening, and correct it.

Hope it's just a simple glitch like that….

originally posted by: tothetenthpower
a reply to: tetra50

It generally would be OT to post regarding a member's avatar or signature in a thread, not related to those two subjects.

However, I often have this happen, as you said and what I do is send the member a PM and engage them in that sphere.

~Tenth

Exactly….but I thought it would make an interesting thread, and a way for us to talk about it on the boards…
Thanks for your reply.

originally posted by: IShotMyLastMuse
a reply to: tetra50
ehehe that's a whole different story i guess, and in the words of tom waits, "don't you know there ain't no devil there's just god when he's drunk"

And that article about the similarities between human and fish Embryos is actually kinda cool, one of the stories i am writing right now centers around mermaids, and that tidbit of info might come in handy!-It was meant to be!

That's a great Tom Waits quote, and it would be great if that link gives you some good and inspiring information for your story. Hope you'll be posting that here.

originally posted by: KnightLight
a reply to: Psynic

you are logged out?

What does information is not knowledge mean?

It's a thought I want to convey to people all the time, but what's your take?

It's one of my issues with the AI movement. IE computers don't know anything.

See, that's what I'm talking about here. That's a great sig…..and nails a huge AI matter. Facts, information is only a part of the equation of knowing anything, don't you think?

originally posted by: Psynic
As of yesterday or today, I'm not seeing anyone's avatar.

I thought this thread may have been about this new development.

Anyone know what's going on?

Did your account settings solve the problem?

a reply to: tetra50

The amount of times people have told me they thought there was bugs on their screen because of my signature...

originally posted by: SecretKnowledge
a reply to: tetra50

The amount of times people have told me they thought there was bugs on their screen because of my signature...

Your birds are so cool, but I find them hypnotic, so I try not to focus on them too much when reading your posts. LOL

I love siggies, avatars, locations, moods and profile pages...it's a form of self expression and a way to get to know members.

I have been collecting "moods" for well over a year cuz I want to do a thread...some are harious. some are like whaaaaa!? You've inspired me to finish it Tetra (not a fish).

originally posted by: tetra50


See, that's what I'm talking about here. That's a great sig…..and nails a huge AI matter. Facts, information is only a part of the equation of knowing anything, don't you think?

exactly.. I do think, and therefore... lol.. quote battle. "I think therefore I am." Actually in the Movie AI Artificial intelligence, the Jude Law robot says I AM and gets pulled into the sky. That's only after he does things he's not programmed to do.

I think some people think computers think. They can't. To think, I think you need a subject/object relationship. So until a computer knows it's a computer, it only computes algorithms or logic streams.

I think it's odd not being able to figure out how we think, people think they can make something else think only with a certain amount of information, it just magically turns on..

I have this strange idea that consciousness is something else. Maybe not spirit, but it's something that can know itself. and from there abstractions become knowledge. How does it know itself?? I don't know.


Here is a link to that song with 2 other songs added to it.

It goes along with exactly what you were talking about. Funny I thought to post it in the first place.
He sings about consciousness all the time. Most of it is metaphor.

originally posted by: kosmicjack
I love siggies, avatars, locations, moods and profile pages...it's a form of self expression and a way to get to know members.

I have been collecting "moods" for well over a year cuz I want to do a thread...some are harious.

some are like whaaaaa!? You've inspired me to finish it Tetra (not a fish).

Oh, that's absolutely wonderful, and I totally agree with you….some are friggin hilarious. And I think it's a topic in itself that deserves furtherand ongoing attention….so finish it. It's gonna be great, I'm sure.

Thanks for that.

Not a fish but my link shows we may have all had a fish stage in development…..That's the subtle point of my name….we are all developing and evolving every second we are alive. Here you get a unique view of that actually happening.