Ask the Experts, by 4K-Know-it-all
Dear Know-it-all,
Every day I skip to my computer to sign on to my wonderful second home, 4thkingdom. Every day, I wring my hands out and wipe the sweat from my brow, just hoping that the icon stores will be regenerated from their slow decay, so that I, as a new member of this addictive site, might be able to complete a series. EVERY DAY my hope is extinguished faster and deadlier than any exterminator can ever dare to brag!!! *slams a hefty fist on desk* TELL ME!! When, oh for the love of god, WHEN, will the stores ever be replenished?
Signed
I just want a fucking series!
Dear Just,
I feel you. Unfortunately, only the Buddha can answer that, and he ain’t talking. Seriously, though, this has become a problem of late. The only person who can answer our questions is The Man himself, Mr. Four Degreez. I think we should revolt. Really. What else is there to do? We’ve begged for icons, he’s ignored our hungry cries.
Actually, my solution would be a formal petition to Mr. Degreez. We should have some sort of timeline for when icons are released and if it’s on a monthly basis. Petition and demand.
Dear Know-it-All,
I am a new member to 4thKingdom and am somewhat hesitant to participate on the boards. I read many posts but I don’t usually respond, even when it’s a topic I like. I guess the reason is because I see so many catty remarks and out and out insults and it makes me leery to participate in that kind of situation. What should I do?
Signed
Scared Newbie
Dear Scared,
Hey, don’t be scared! We’ve all been there. Everyone has been a newbie to everything in their life until they try something out and ain’t a newbie no mo! Piece of advice? Make your first post on the Sex board! Tell us the nastiest, raunchiest, sexiest, most embarrassing, most shocking, most titillating thing you’ve ever done and then you’ll fit right in and become a regular poster in no time at all! (If you don’t want to post your story, feel free to send directly to my inbox).
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Horoscopes
Capricorn (December 22 - January 19) - Pretend like you're Miss Sally from Romper Room all month. Carry around a "magic mirror" and rattle off the names of everyone you encounter. "I see Jimmy, and Ted, and Suzie, and Jennifer, and..."
Aquarius (January 20 - February 18) - Ponder the secret messages that ants might be trying to convey to us. What might they be saying? Would we heed their advice? Discuss.
Pisces (February 19 - March 20) - Remain anonymous in all your contributions. Unless there's a big tax write-off, in which case take full credit.
Aries (March 21 - April 19) - Try to engage someone in a debate on why Ford named its Pinto car after a bean. Insist that they'll be releasing the 1998 Garbanzo very soon.
Taurus (April 20 - May 20) - Send prank faxes to the White House that say things like, "Miss you, Billykins."
Gemini (May 21 - June 20) - A fun science experiment: see if you can grow fresh mushrooms in your mate's shoes.
Cancer (June 21 - July 22) - Hop on a random bus to nowhere.
Leo (July 23 - August 22) - Catch up on a good Michael Crichton novel. Then pour ketchup on a bad Danielle Steele novel.
Virgo (August 23 - September 22) - Find a place of solitude this month, and remind yourself to eat three or more servings of leafy vegetables. Then go out and gorge on Ding Dongs.
Libra (September 23 - October 22) - Call government offices this month, demanding to know who FICA is, and why he's getting so much of your money.
Scorpio (October 23 - November 21) - Oh, the stars are telling me wonderful things about you this month! What a wonderful month this is going to be! Let me ... oh, hang on. Sorry. I thought it was the stars, but it was just the TV turned up too high.
Sagittarius (November 22 - December 21) - A cord of three strands cannot be broken. Wait a minute -- what am I talking about? Of course it can! You just grab a machete and WHACK!
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Myths & FAQ's (Frequently Asked Questions), by Worker Bee
So... Last issue I wrote about how people gain status points... And well, I discovered I really loved writing about aspects of 4thkingdom. So I was like “Hm, I’ll write about 4thkingdom for the January issue too!” But that left another question... What aspect was I going to write about for January? Finally I settled on not writing about a specific aspect... But rather something between FAQ’s... And investigating myths. I know I know, it sounds like I can’t make up my mind... FAQ’s or Myths... FAQ’s or Myths... And it is true, I can’t.
What I would love to do would be to investigate myths... But that would involve a few things.... First, it would have to be in months where there is high speculation on the boards so hey, I could see what some people thought might be true. Or people could PM me things they were wondering about... And second, some of them may entail me having access to other sources (like interviewing Four!) So though perhaps I’ll keep that as my long term goal... For the moment, I don’t believe I have the resources to be a true investigative reporter. If you all want an investigative reporter, then you’ll have to help me set up with interviews with Four / people specific to certain issues!
That means what I’m doing this time isn’t exactly myths... But it isn’t exactly FAQ’s either.
First off... One of the biggest myths on 4thkingdom for many months had to do with Wizards. Specifically the fact that Wizards would be able to make icons. Although at this point nobody knows where this idea originated, a few of us had remembered that Four had never verified it... Well, a few weeks ago Four did speak up. And what did he say? As of now, there are no plans for Wizards to be able to make their own icons. Glad to have that finally cleared up!
(And yes, I understand that some readers of the Blot were probably already aware of that... But... old rumors die hard, so I thought I might as well put something quick on that)
Secondly... There has been some speculation recently that brand new members get their very own store... While I wasn’t able to fine any verified information on that anywhere, the members of the immigration committee (us people that accept the new members to the site, and greet them on the “newbie boards”) have never heard of any such thing. So although I can’t say for certain that there isn’t one... I am none the less fairly sure that there is no new member only icon store
So that’s all for myths... Somebody else mentioned about me doing something on the High Council (a group of members that have been around for a very long time and seemingly get to participate in some discussion on some matters with Four), which I haven’t got round to as yet but it may come up in the future.
And so, FAQ’s...
-For all you new members out there TAXES ARE REAL... Its a weekly item tax, but you don’t start paying it until you have somewhere around 17 icons (For the exact number, check out the tax information. you should be able to find it somewhere either in this issue or an old issue of the Blot)
-There are nine status levels. Currently however, only three are used... Serf, Commoner, Bard.
-Premium members can see who has bought the icons they are selling (so yeah, I’m sorry, but you can’t get away with icon stealing)
-Anybody can write for the Blot! Get in touch with Bouchie or Shyla with your ideas. (Note from Bouchie and Shyla - “Just PM us and we’ll see what we can do for you!”)
-If you are going to write for the blot don’t procrastinate. Oh wait, that should be a note for myself...
SO... To make this article better I need your help and information. Just let me know anything you think is important or relevant.
(And this one was just a learning experience for me. Never knew how hard it was to make good myths and FAQ’s!)
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New Members Spotlight
This has been another great month of new entrances into 4th Kingdom. This community has never been better!! Here are just a few examples of some of the new members who've made their appearance into our community:
Fallen Haven - In the post, "The difference between men and women thinking", he wrote a very insightful and articulate review of the distinction between men and women. The post garnered an average 4.50 in Brilliance. Other highly rated posts include, " How much you understand the other sex? " on Debates board and the much visited and contributive post " Autopsy of capitalism " also on Debates board.
Pepper2000 - This gentleman made a splash with his post, "The Pro-Female Thread" where he was rated a perfect 5 by two members. Other highly rated posts include, " Index Card Journal System " on the Cool Stuff board, "Things I've learned" on the Relationships board, "The Anti-Female Thread" on the Rants board, and " Pepper's Guide to Staring " on the Guys vs Girls board.
PoorSoul - She not only showed her thought provoking in topics on the Debates board with posts like " Choice to the Law ", she showed her creative talents in a thought provoking post in poetic terms with "My Reality" poem on the Poetry board.
demonknight713 - Making her debut on Christmas Eve, she has lit such boards as Health/Fitness and Cooking to Controversy. A post from demon's on the Debate board, asks the question "Freethought as Religion?" We've seen her as a very diverse poster with a great personal style.
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Nominations, by StarShyne
Who’s Who in 4thkingdom Nominations
Here’s the nominees for all the various categories! Below you will see the name of the category and those nominated. Enjoy!
(click here for a helpful "entry form")
Most influential
1. rquethe
2. tallman
3. Four Degreez
4. GMOW
5. Samael
6. Aether
7. Coach Z
Best advice giver
1. littlelilith
2. Red Maiden
3. Nexus
4. frayed
5. Sovawanea
6. Random
7. psycho_disturbed
8. shyla
Flirtiest
1. Temujin
2. Red Maiden
3. Paris327
4. abhinav abhik
5. jenfrank86
Best personality
1. blood roses
2. frayed
3. StarShyne
4. shyla
5. rquethe
6. Davijai
7. StArRy*DrEaMz
8. jenfrank86
Cutest couple
1. Phaze84 and Gamik86
2. Becco and Lanky
3. Davijai and Ladygiggles1980
4. Rman and DarkStar
Most likely to end up in jail
1. drifter
2. psycho_disturbed
3. abhinav abhik
4. AntiChrist Raven
5. Koresh
6. OrgazmoV2
7. Spaced Invader
Most likely to be famous
1. sian
2. Aether
3. k_jank
4. greg2583
5. Rashind
6. Temujin
7. Samael
8. SpacedInvader
Most talkative
1. Temujin
2. shyla
3. Ladygiggles1980
4. jenfrank86
5. rquethe
6. k_jank
Most active
1. psycho_disturbed
2. Aether
3. Bouchie
4. Red Maiden
5. shyla
6. rquethe
Best poet
1. frayed
2. selftitled
3. blueLuke
4. SpacedInvader
5. blood roses
6. jenfrank86
7. darkpoet
Best newbie
1. k_jank
2. Random
3. Phaze84
4. Ladygiggles1980
5. jaxommikal
Best pic, male
1. k_jank
2. selftitled
3. kurt
4. ConfuciusSay
Best pic, female
1. KiTTeKaTT
2. sian
3. Angelbaby
Best overall poster
1. Worker Bee
2. Samael
3. Aether
4. Four Degreez
5. Red Maiden
6. AntiChristRaven
7. Temujin
8. Bouchie
9. rquethe
10. shyla
11. Sovawanea
12. Davijai
13. kurt
Funniest poster
1. Random
2. Aether
3. DyRE
4. Red Maiden
5. Rashind
6. Temujin
7. Stray
8. SpacedInvader
9. zincberg
10. k_jank
Best all around
1. jenfrank86
2. psycho_disturbed
3. shyla
4. StarShyne
5. Four Degreez
6. rquethe
7. Worker Bee
8. jackie joy
Most dependable
1. Bouchie
2. tallman
3. psycho_disturbed
4. shaybird8835
5. GMOW
6. Troubador
7. Temujin
8. kurt
9. greg2583
10. jenfrank86
11. rquethe
Most controversial
1. LiERh
2. rquethe
3. psycho_disturbed
4. shadow
5. shyla
6. Ladygiggles1980
7. k_jank
8. Koresh
Best 4k Spirit
1. shyla
2. hctibyxes21
3. Bouchie
4. StarShyne
5. Worker Bee
6. PiledriverRadio
Most likely to succeed
1. rquethe
2. Sovawanea
3. Nolo
4. Aether
5. Samael
6. Temujin
7. Random
8. DarkStar
9. greg2583
10. SpacedInvader
Most intelligent
1. Four Degreez
2. Rashind
3. Samael
4. k_jank
5. Sovawanea
6. tallman
7. Aether
8. Larry
9. rquethe
10. Davijai
Most unforgettable
1. psycho_disturbed
2. grenville
3. shadow
4. shyla
5. sian
6. Stray Dogg
7. blueluke
8. Sovawanea
9. Temujin
Most interesting
1. Aether
2. Tiresias
3. psycho_disturbed
4. daywalker
5. LiERh
6. AntiChrist Raven
7. Temujin
8. Four Degreez
9. k_jank
10. tallman
Most underrated
1. Random
2. StarShyne
3. Bouchie
4. rquethe
5. greg2583
6. Kazper
7. Davijai
8. KiTTeKaTT
Best debater
1. Samael
2. rquethe
3. desertcircus
4. Sovawanea
5. Euclid
6. Nexus
7. Four Degrees
8. tallman
Most likely to make a million
1. ghost5-0
2. Four Degreez
3. rquethe
4. DarkStar
Most mischievous
1. Red Maiden
2. shadow
3. SpacedInvader
4. Temujin
5. Koresh
6. LiERh
7. Orgazmo
Most talented
1. Samael
2. Aether
3. selftitled
4. blueluke
5. daywalker
6. kurt
7. Four Degreez
8. AntiChrist Raven
9. SpacedInvader
Most cheerful
1. Butterfly Girl
2. StarShyne
3. KiTTeKaTT
Congrats rquethe who had 13 nominations!! The voting begins now. PM me your votes for each category. The winners will be revealed in next month’s issue of the Blot. Thanks to everyone for your participation!
StarShyne
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Poetry Section
Two poets have been chosen this month and are being recognized for their outstanding works.
"Kerosene" by jenfrank
light up my kerosene eyes
to watch them water-up
run over the edge and chip at the surrounding skin
i've never felt this way before
clinging to the razor
daring it to cut right in
at the tinseled folds of lies
and dirty secrets,
my unforgettable dreams of love...
i had let you get under my skin until
growing in my belly
was the intoxication i needed
for a miracle to laugh in my face
and give me bruises to watch it bleed
my miscarriage of love
but all i needed
was a shoulder to cry on
and since it did not require
the exchange of bodily fluids
light up my kerosene eyes
to watch them water-up
run over the edge and chip at the surrounding skin
i've never felt this way before
clinging to the razor
daring it to cut right in
at the tinseled folds of lies
and dirty secrets,
my unforgettable dreams of love...
i had let you get under my skin until
growing in my belly
was the intoxication i needed
for a miracle to laugh in my face
and give me bruises to watch it bleed
my miscarriage of love
but all i needed
was a shoulder to cry on
and since it did not require
the exchange of bodily fluids
you turned away
"A Lamb To The Slaughter" by frayed
The truth is a virus.
It gets under your skin.
It is invisible to
The naked eye, blinded
By satin and holy water.
No longer dismissed as
a lie, an illusion.
That child was real, and so
Is his pain some two decades
too late to reconcile.
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Brown Versus Blair, by Temujin
For those of you who don't know, the two men are the two main figures of British politics. At first, they were best friends, and legend has it that they struck a deal that one of them would become leader and then stand down in favour of the other. However...once a man (or in this case Tony Blair) tastes power he does not want to relinquish it easily...
Brown is the Chancellor of the Exchequer. This means he is the master of Her Majesty's Treasury, the second (or first depending on who you believe) most important man in the government. He has been the longest serving Chancellor in British history, serving since Labour came to power in 1997 to now (although there are rumours he'll be offered the Foreign Secretaryship after the next election. Offered meaning take it or resign).
Gordon has a great big following from his party, people just as vehement that he be PM as he is, after all their careers depend on him. He is certainly a good Chancellor as he has foreseen most of the longest sustained growth in 200 years. (However, they always seem to forget that the first two years of this growth began under the Conservative government of John Major).
Tony Blair is very photogenic, sounds nice and sincere, and best of all the public (morons) vote for him. In droves. Winning a landslide against a tory government that had been in power for 20 years was quite good, but not too surprising, the tories were hated. But winning a second landslide was quite an achievement. Because of Blair, whose political stance is essential Tory In Red, the tories have little room to maneuver. People dislike Labour, but the Lib Dems will only be electable (at the earliest) in a decade or two, probably longer and people aren't too impressed with the tories (understandably so, they've had 3 leaders since 1997, William Hague, Iain Duncan "I'm a great big joke" Smith and Michael Howard).
But Tony has a problem. Well, two. For a start, he announced rather foolishly when he had a minor heart problem that he would leave just before the end of a third term. The explosion from Gordon Brown upon hearing this measured 12.6 on the Richter scale. The second is the EU constitution.
[I'll say it again; the EU is not a country.]
A year or two after the election there will be a referendum on the EU constitution (within the UK). It's widely expected to fail magnificently, as I hope it does. However, Blair will be for it. (See if you can notice anywhere Brown commenting on either the war on Iraq or the constitution. He seems to shimmer into shadows and leave Tony standing to talk about it...) Blair is expected by many to leave after the referendum. If he wins, he goes on an increasingly rare high. If he loses, he'll be forced out.
The question is...if Brown becomes PM would he be a good one? Worse than Blair would be an achievement, but the Chancellor is somewhat frosty to the euro, and is certainly competent.
Anyway, I'll leave you with this: yesterday the Blairites phoned up the Treasury to ask when Gordon was starting his speech. Having got this information Blair scheduled his monthly press conference for exactly the same time, (they started within seconds of each other), saying almost exactly the same thing. Handbags at dawn anyone?
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Temujin's Psychology Article (for it is so)
Having cunningly left this very late (as the deadline was put back and I've been busy), I'm going to write a little more about social influence (I made a brief post on the College board on the subject).
Those of you who've studied or have a little awareness of psychology will know a man called HM, who has ultracrap memory. He can't remember from one moment to the next unless his attention is kept constantly. However, merely by reading a list of words (which he of course can't remember having read) his behaviour can be noticeably altered. Likewise, it has been found that reading a list of conformity-based words increases the odds on you conforming to the majority on trivial psych tasks (although reading non-conformity words did not decrease th e odds of conforming...which is interesting).
I have a cunning theory about conformity. Think of the wildebeest. If a lion runs at one, the wildebeest, in a fit of cunning, runs away. Other wildebeest, who see the running one but not the lion, start running too. Such behaviour will save many wildebeest. Now, humans are far more advanced than wildebeest of course (although.......half of us are obese and the other half are starving to death, not to mention we're responsible for making nuclear weaponry and masscaring millions of people...but I digress) but it is entirely possible that people "following the crowd" arose through evolution, and was, obviously, a plus point for any caveman.
In addition, it feels good to conform (apparently). You get a little glowy feeling and a touch of belongingness. Imagine if you walked into a room one day and no-one spoke English (or any other language you might speak). You'd feel different, of course. And don't we seem to get along better with people more like us? After all, we're perfectly reasonable, so anyone like us must be reasonable too (and, having such similar friends makes natural agreement and conformity more likely anyway).
Anyway, apologies if this is semi-rambling (although no-one forced you to read and if you got this far you must've been vaguely interested). Next month's will hopefully be a little more scientific.
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Sitting with Shyla... and this month's guest, greg2583
S) Hello and welcome to Sitting with Shyla. I'd like to introduce our member spotlighted for this issue, Mr. Greg2583. How're you doing tonight Greg?
G) I'm doing fine, Shy. Things are going great...the Dolphins won this week...Christmas is coming soon...no more classes...Greg is pretty happy
S) Yay for no school! What's your a/s/l please?
G) I am 36/24--wait...wrong thing...I am 21/M/MD
S) Lmao, a comedian amongst us. Is that a career goal?
G) Well, I find that laughter is the best medicine. (That's one of my original quotes, by the way.) It seems to take your mind off of the troubles of this world. If we spend all our time worrying about things...we'll all get sick and die.
S) That's a great philosophy. So tell me...how was your Christmas and New Years?
G) It was fine...I went to church with my mother. Party guy, huh?
S) That's how you spent New Year’s Eve?
G) Yea...it's called a Watch night Service...it dates all the way back to slavery, actually. I didn't know that until yesterday
S) Oh, that's awesome. I guess you do learn something new every day! *grin* So, who exactly is greg2583?
G) Well, greg2583 actually comes from my name (Greg) and my birthday (October 25, 1983)
S) Nods...but what makes you..you? Tell us a bit about yourself.
G) Mmm...Let’s see...well, I'm a Scorpio (the sexiest zodiac sign). I've been playing the saxophone for 10 years. I'm a pretty big pro wrestling fan. I'm single...I'm not sure what I want...so I guess I can't really expect anyone to want me....hmm...let's see...I got Homer Simpson boxer shorts for Christmas. *smiles*
S) You're not sure what you want? Are you hesitating between the sexes?
G) Oh, no no no...I'm definitely an avid fan of the female gender. I was talking more about personality-wise. I mean, an ideal girl would tolerate my pro wrestling "obsession"
S) Of course! I was just joshing you, I've noticed your preference from posts on the Guys/Girls and Relationship Board. You add a lot to both boards. So tell me, which board do you most frequent?
G) I believe I frequent the Guys\Girls board more often. I guess that comes from my bitterness towards certain attributes of women that annoy me. I suppose I feel the need to talk about that over and over
S) What are the best and worst things about 4thkingdom?
G) Hmm..that's a tough one...I think the best aspect of the site is the fact there are so many intelligent people on that site. I mean, all of the arguments aside, there are a lot of smart people on there. Now about the worst thing...if you asked me this about a year and a half ago (back in the 4degreez days), I definitely would've said the people. But after exploring alternative sites, I feel that 4K is the lesser of two evils, so to speak. The people...and the frequency of hated arguments are still my least favorite things about the site...but I guess it could be worse.
S) Hehe, without the people there'd be no site, huh? Alrighty, let's talk about your career goals...care to share where you are in life and where you'd like to go?
G) Sure, why not? Well, right now I'm a senior in college. Now normally, you'd think that I'd be graduating pretty soon. Nah, I'm a special case. I'll be in school for a while. But the good thing is...I'll have two Bachelors Degrees and a Masters Degree in Information Systems. One of my biggest flaws is that I'm still not sure what I want to do in my life, career-wise. I'm interested in some sort of database design, but besides that, it's up in the air.
S) Well, you're still young, so you have plenty of time. What's the wildest, craziest or most shocking thing you've ever done in your life?
G) Hmm....well, I'll plead the 5th on certain sexually related events to prevent the females reading this from getting too excited. *winks* Besides those, I guess it would have to be the "Singled Out" event at our university. They made us eat pies without our hands...dance (which I have a huge fear of doing in public)....and even give our prospective date a mini strip tease. I still shiver after thinking about it.
S) The pie bit sounds messy but a lot of fun...and I'm surprised that you have a fear of dancing...such a ladies man you are! ;-) Got your eye on any of the lovely ladies at 4k?
G) You mean besides you? *smiles* Well, T0Y and Esseilte are great...but they're not for me for a few reasons....1) They're both really good friends and I don't want to damage that....2) They're both spoken for already. Bouchie does "tickle my fancy", per se. I didn't really pay her any mind in the 4degreez days...but lately, I don't know. I guess I would just like to get to know her a little better.
S) I was hoping I'd make the cut! *wink*
G) You're spoken for...so you're off limits
S) Well, Mr. Greg, it was truly my pleasure interviewing you...is there anything else you'd like to share with the readers before we sign off?
G) The pleasure was all mine. Let's see...last words...Hey, Four! I want my Fantasy Survivor prize!
S) Haha, right? That man is slower than molasses sitting in a sand trap. Thanks again and remember folks, you heard it first, sitting with Shyla.
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