johnlawrenceaspden's recent activity

  1. Comment on <deleted topic> in ~tildes

  2. Can anyone explain The Apparition?

    ~movies Ask
    I just went to see the Apparition (recent French film about a journalist investigating visions of the madonna). I couldn't make head or tail of it. Has anyone got a coherent theory of what was...

    I just went to see the Apparition (recent French film about a journalist investigating visions of the madonna).

    I couldn't make head or tail of it. Has anyone got a coherent theory of what was going on, or is it just a shoal of red herrings that doesn't make any sense?

    3 votes

  3. Comment on Does anybody else feel like they have trouble reading/digesting text? in ~talk

    johnlawrenceaspden
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    Check you don't need reading glasses! At about 45 I realised that I had stopped reading novels. A bit later on I had an eye test and the optician said I might need reading glasses (even though I...

    Check you don't need reading glasses!

    At about 45 I realised that I had stopped reading novels. A bit later on I had an eye test and the optician said I might need reading glasses (even though I could read perfectly well). I let him make me a prescription pair with the natural focus two feet away, and suddenly I was back to reading for 13 hours straight.

    It turns out it takes effort to focus on a page, and I'd never had to make it before. A pair of reading glasses can make it so that your book is in perfect focus without effort.

    I now have another pair with the focus at perfect computer-distance (which is slightly different). I love them and miss them when I don't have them.

    6 votes

  4. Comment on What do you see the world as in 50 years? in ~talk

    johnlawrenceaspden
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    Destroyed by an unfriendly AI, with a light-cone of destruction spreading out from the ruins.

    Destroyed by an unfriendly AI, with a light-cone of destruction spreading out from the ruins.

    1 vote

  5. Comment on Advice for people terrified of board games? in ~games.tabletop

    johnlawrenceaspden
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    You might want to try to work out what it is in particular that's responsible for your "ugh field". Do you have the same reaction to sports? Do you like e.g. playing tennis? What about something...

    You might want to try to work out what it is in particular that's responsible for your "ugh field". Do you have the same reaction to sports? Do you like e.g. playing tennis?

    What about something like chess (one-on-one competition but you know everything) against poker (chance, and bluff)?

    If you can work out the particular thing that you don't like, and work out why (probably a bad experience a long time ago), and how to fix it, then you might end up changing your life.

    1 vote

  6. Comment on What's your favorite hard science fiction novel? in ~books

    johnlawrenceaspden
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    A Deepness in the Sky : Vernor Vinge

    A Deepness in the Sky : Vernor Vinge

    2 votes

  7. Comment on What's your favorite hard science fiction novel? in ~books