Complete Randomness

[Jayelle]

He's not in Mario?

[jotabe]

Nuuuuuuu
Kirby was not created by nintendo it was created by HAL labs!
They work exclusive for nintendo, but still...

[nerd rage off]

yeah, my nerd rages are quite mild.

Ok, i will rearrange my animations accordingly to popular vote.

[Mich]

Hey, never said who he was created by.

Okay, so maybe I forgot about Hal, but can you blame me? They aren't even officially in charge of Smash Bros. anymore.

[zeroguy]

The last few posts in this thread

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

[zeroguy]

Double post but I'm okay with that 'cuz ima come at you with MILK aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

[Mich]

Double post but I'm okay with that 'cuz ima come at you with MILK aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

AAAAAAAAH HER PIERCING GOES FROM HER LIP TO HER CHIN BECAUSE OF THE ART STYLE IT HURTS ME TO LOOK AT IT.

CAPS LOCK IS CRUISE CONTROL FOR COOL.

[Gravity Defier]

No comment on the whole Tiger Woods scandal...I just think this is funny: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEkomaBTppY

[neo-dragon]

Now that's how you turn personal tragedy into a sweet R&B song! That is indeed quite funny.

[starlooker]

I was inspired to look up this Sesame Street sketch today. I expected to be amused by it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FM_B3B-BGic

I saw this sketch as a very young child, and was terrified. I mean, panic, nightmare-inducing, scared of the dark, don't want to go into empty rooms by myself for fear that an evil prime minister is going to make me hunt for dragons kind of terror. And, while I didn't have that watching it as an adult, I must admit, I was pretty damn anxious while I was watching it. Funny, the things one's amygdala remembers.

[Gravity Defier]

Two old people came in to the library recently; they're from Moscow, ID. I had to stop myself from mentioning I have a "friend" there at least part of the year.

I casually mention Pwebbers often in my life here but don't mention they're crazy internet people and no one ever asks.

[neo-dragon]

We're like the grown-up version of imaginary friends.

[Petra456]

Two old people came in to the library recently; they're from Moscow, ID. I had to stop myself from mentioning I have a "friend" there at least part of the year.

I casually mention Pwebbers often in my life here but don't mention they're crazy internet people and no one ever asks.

I do this all the time, especially because we gets TONS of people from your town. I always mention I have a friend there.

[Mich]

I talk about my "internet friends" all the time. It's nice to pull the "I have an English friend," or the "I know people that live in New York" card every once in a while.

[zeroguy]

This came up elsewhere (on not-pweb), and I feel like typing out some thoughts. Actually, in retrospect I suppose some discussions on pweb are related, even recent ones, but it's really when this came up elsewhere that made me think about it.

In many online communities, the question of anonymity vs identity comes up, and the various levels between two extremes (forced-anonymous to forced-onymous). On pweb we have a system of onymity by default, with the possibility of anonymity by going out of your way to use the Confessions name. (For the purposes of this, I'm ignoring identifiability from moderator/admin special powers.) Most phpBB-ish boards force onymity; other places have a default-anon policy (imageboard tripcodes), or even a forced-anon policy.

Unsurprisingly, the minority in the two middle-ground situations are those who seem the more disdained. Around here, Confessions gets some occasional flak for its use. In the default-anon places I've seen, those that deliberately choose to have an identity are sometimes scorned.

To those not used to it, a forced- or default-anon community may seem odd. How does one develop relationships or even have a meaningful conversation if you don't know who anyone else is? I think it's just that the custom is to converse much more... transiently; briefly conversing with passers-by as they come and go. I guarantee it is possible to have meaningful and thought-provoking conversations in such situations.

The benefit of such a community is that words, viewpoints, arguments, etc stand on their own. You are not swayed by knowing where certain words are coming from based on prior experiences, and any serious ad hominem attacks are impossible. In theory, it's just an uncoordinated pile of prose, the best of which will become apparent just by the nature of being best.

In a default-anon community, my impression is that those who refuse participating in such a system (even temporarily) by carrying an identity, are seen as being overly vain, or are selfishly trying to gain some kind of general influence.

Another benefit of just posting to such communities is that (usually) you can say pretty much anything, short of illegal things of varying severity. Repercussions are pretty much nil, so in theory ideas that are unpopular but 'correct' or 'good' will not go unsaid. The prevalence of ideas may be made apparent, even if normally it would make someone appear racist, gay (perhaps becoming less of a concern, though), etc.

A downside of those systems, of course, is that determining the quality of anything requires reading and judging it by oneself. You are not given any hints as to whether you're reading something completely insane or logical, aside from the comments given by the larger crowd (if any). Arguably this is better, assuming the reader can make such judgements well, but unarguably takes longer. If the identity of a poster is known, the entire text can be dismissed before reading if the reader 'knows' the poster has nothing of interest to say. The prevalence of such systems like Usenet killfiles may make it seem like the benefits clearly do not outweigh the costs, but I think it just depends on the group of people. (Especially these days, Usenet is kind of its own demographic.)

Another downside is that it prevents long-term relationships from forming, but this is unavoidable while keeping some of the benefits. That is, there's a certain excitement you can get when you really seem to "get" another poster in a thread, when you have no idea who anyone is. When occurring on multiple occasions, you don't know if it's the same person each time, or entirely unrelated people. For some reason, that makes it more exciting to me.

Around here, in a default-onymous community, after a time you get to know everyone. I don't "know" people as in knowing a lot of miscellaneous information about them, but you get a feel for posting style and general content. After so many years, I wonder how much of what I read is really what I read, and how much is my impressions. Is what I read really funny, or do I just want to think I get along with the poster's humor style? Is what I read really wrong, or do I just want to disagree because I don't like thinking of myself as similar to the poster?

So, just like as here there are probably those that wish anonymous posting would go away (forced-onymous), in other communities there is a nontrivial contingent wishing for it to be impossible to post with an identity (forced-anonymous). The determination of which makes more sense to go with is almost certainly dependent on just what people want to get out of it, the user demographic, etc. I just found it interesting, since I frequent both kinds of places, even though I suppose they may have very different appeals. Hadn't really noticed before.

[Gravity Defier]

I often dream of floorplans, wake up enough to think they'd be great to try my hand at, but then lose it completely when I am awake enough to sketch them.

Anyway. Today, the tech guy was replacing some receipt printers and left the Styrofoam that protected the printers on the counter and when I stacked it just right, it looked to my mind's eye like a model of a house. Since I was fully awake, I took it as my duty to sketch it in between helping patrons. I did a fast job and had no eraser, though, so I'm hoping I understand it enough to make heads or tails of it later. Also, I do despise going outside->inside instead of the other way around.

[CezeN]

Shown above are 4 men buried up to their necks in the ground. They can not move so can only look forward. Between A and B is a brick wall which can not be seen through. They know that between them are 4 hats, 2 are black and 2 are white, but they do not know which color they are wearing. In order to avoid being shot one of them must call out to the executioner the color of their hat. If they get it wrong, everyone will be shot. They are not allowed to talk to each other and have 10 minutes to fathom it out.
After 1 minute:
Question: Which one of them calls out ?

Question: Why is he 100% certain of the color of his hat ?

Notes: This is not a trick question. There are no outside influences nor other ways of communicating. They cannot move and are buried in a straight line. So A & B can only see their respective sides of the brick wall, C can see B, and D can see B & C.

[Syphon the Sun]

(Edited to expand my answer and make it invisible -- and note that it took longer than a minute to figure it out. Oh, and that it brought back memories of the Allegory of the Cave.)

D only has a 50/50 shot of getting it right, so he's not stupid enough to answer. At the same time, A and B are clueless, so they wouldn't, either. D's silence SHOULD tell C that he's not wearing the same color as B.

[zeroguy]

Just seeing the picture without even reading the text always kinda makes me want to shout out the answer.

You may like the blue eyes puzzle if you like those things.

Edit to avoid double-post: submitted without comment:

There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old's life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs.

[Gravity Defier]

The tour guide (who was awesome and funny) for my whale watch mentioned the whale's back when it surfaced and used either the word "humps" or "bumps" as part of the description. This caused me to break out in song. Which song? BEP's My Humps.

[Jeesh_girl15]

Hey, does anyone here ever cry during sad movies/ reading a sad book?

I admit, I cried last night while watching UP.

[locke]

i cried twice during up. :-p
but I'm a sap when it comes to movies.

[human.]

Just finished Ender in Exile..

I'm in love.

But oddly.

It reminded me a lot of HP6 The Movie. Just an in between...

But I'm in love.

Really.

These books make me feel weird and talk strangely.

Love it.

[Mich]

Hey, does anyone here ever cry during sad movies/ reading a sad book?

I admit, I cried last night while watching UP.

I'll confess I once cried while reading Martin the Warrior. Strangest, it wasn't my first time reading it.

First movie I cried at was Simon Birch. I was picked on a lot when I first saw it, so the kid who no one really liked saving the day because was just perfect for that job and making the sacrifice hit me right here.

[Luet]

First movie I cried at was Simon Birch. I was picked on a lot when I first saw it, so the kid who no one really liked saving the day because was just perfect for that job and making the sacrifice hit me right here.

Did you ever read the book it was based on? A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving. One of my favorite books ever and, of course, so much better than the movie.

[BonitoDeMadrid]

I can't remember the first movie I cried in (I think it was The Lion King- 10 points to those who guess at what scene- but I'm not sure), or the last time I cried at all.

The most recent movie in which I was on the verge of tears, though, was Marley & Me. (I think I cried after reading the book, but I can't remember that far..)

There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old's life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs.

And this is one of the reasons I wish there was a "Like" button here, as well.

[human.]

There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old's life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs.

And this is one of the reasons I wish there was a "Like" button here, as well.

I agree! SotG was the first book I ever cried during reading.. "Peter loves Petra.. sob.. I love.. Bean... sob... poor Petra.. sob" etc.

[zeroguy]

Erm, didn't you mention Atlas Shrugged as one of your favorite books in another thread?

Simon Birch

Ever seen this? (For those who haven't seen it, it replaces the end of this scene).

I've never seen the movie myself, but I've been told to.

[human.]

I did! But when I first read it, it nearly killed me with my trying to understand it, and then implement what I understood in my own life. I'd probably cite my reading of that book with the beginnings of doubt in my religion, also of my becoming far more elitist than I ever was before. The next year of my life was definitely rediscovery of incentives and manipulation and power for me. Also selfishness. But really, I do love that book! And how it changed me (for the most part, anyway). After the sort of self discovery eventually gained from it (in combination with Ender's Game, admittedly), I became much happier in my life. =]

[Gravity Defier]

And yet you agree with Bonito, who wishes there were a Like button so he could Like a quote that says one of your favorite books is "a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world."?

[human.]

Yes, I do. While over-exaggerated, I think it's a pretty good analysis. The ending is obviously completely idealistic and impossible with any group of human beings, but its so... desirable... mouthwatering because it's a paradise. It's like.. heaven for intelligent, selfish people. Who could be Dagny Taggart, Howard Roark, John Galt, etc, etc? Who could actually live that life and succeed? It kills you as the reader (or me, since this is my interpretation when I read it) that it would be impossible to achieve what Ayn Rand creates in this book because people are people. And some people are unintelligent and ignorant. But when you read what she writes, somewhere you find yourself unintelligent and ignorant. And you just despised yourself in the elitism you just before praised and took part in. It's completely unrealistic, but it's something you want to attempt to imitate. You want to live like that, but then you don't because there was such a lack of... loyalty to others. There was such a lack of selflessness, that even when you praise selfishness, you crave the selflessness of others because you know how it has benefited you at one time or another. It's so hard because you agree with the characters, you praise the adultery, the intelligence, the coldness, all the heroes do in this book. But then you don't believe in them. You could never practice them. You care too much about other people. You WANT to live for other people.

"I swear--by my life and my love of it--that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine."

There's something about it that's so... powerful. So attractive, but so unattainable.

So...
Fantasy, Check
Obsession, for a time Check
Unbelievable Heroes, Check
Emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, not so much. But still definitely changed me in a lot of ways. But that was like the cherry on top of the over-exaggeration sundae that just made me love the quote.

[Wil]

Atlas Shrugged was a good book... goddamn long, but good. The only problem I had with it is that, while the idea is nice, things are a lot more complex than Ayn Rand sets them out to be in Atlas Shrugged. I liked The Fountainhead better. It was, to me, a much more believable story... and it wasn't ten thousand pages long.

[Gravity Defier]

Because of the hour changes at work, starting Tuesday, I'm SOL for rides -which is actually a good thing. Santa brought me a bike this year and I test rode it just now. It's been 9.5 years since I've ridden a non-stationary bike and it was so much better and way more fun than I remembered. Whether or not I keep that attitude as I ride it every day for the foreseeable future, I don't know, but tonight, with the wind in my hair and on my face, it was exciting.

[Eaquae Legit]

The first couple of weeks, your butt is gonna hurt. But you'll get used to it pretty quick! Make sure you get good front and rear lights, and secure them or take them with you so some rat-bastard can't steal them. And I know you'll be wearing your helmet!

[Gravity Defier]

*laughs* Yes, the first thing I told my brother and mom when coming back in was that bikes seats were not made with human butts in mind.

I'll also be getting my lights tomorrow or Monday. I already have the helmet and actually did wear it out tonight; the wind was going through the hair I didn't pull back into a ponytail.

As for the lights being secure, I asked my supervisor if I can park the bike inside, down in the basement. As big a pain as it will be to get it in and out, I'd rather do that than trust it outside in the neighborhood I work in.

[Eaquae Legit]

Woo! Inside and secure is best. But don't forget them if you park it out in the city elsewhere. *mutters angrily*