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Free Talk Tuesday
This is a thread for random topics you’d like to discuss that don’t warrant a whole post. Just had a great meal? Got a wink? Flat tire? Rant about your ex? Shower thought? Go!
This is a thread for random topics you’d like to discuss that don’t warrant a whole post. Just had a great meal? Got a wink? Flat tire? Rant about your ex? Shower thought? Go!
Now that the big social media conglomerates have collapsed, I have so much free time! I am learning German, house is clean, and I discovered that Hozier is dropping a new album. What a strange time.
Now I’m actually playing my video games instead of reading discussions about them!
I've been learning Duolingo for a while now. On my 462 streak now, it's a fun language!
I just upgraded to the family plan (gives Super Duolingo to six people) and figure it's a good deal since so many people in my family are also into it.
I am somewhere over 1550 days now, going strong!!
What is a wink?
For the past few years I have been hyper fixated on 1960s captain crunch cereal prizes whistles.
People figured out that the tone was a frequency that let you bypass long distance calling fees.
Phreakers and hackers! One guy got good enough at whistling the tones, he could hack systems with it.
Many people got good enough to whistle the 2600hz tone needed to turn the line into an operator one.
Maybe I was wrong - I was under the impression it was one guy who mastered it and others used cereal box whistles.
Fun fact: Apple got its start making blue boxes, phone network tone generators. 2600 4evah!
It was figured out by John Draper (who later went onto work for Woz at Apple) and he took the hacker identity Captain Crunch because of it.
In this case, a wink means something like a shout-out, or praise.
Have never heard wink used in this way, what type of English/where is it typically used?
Very rarely several decades ago.
I'm about a third of the way through Because Internet Understanding the New Rules of Language by Gretchen McColloch and really appreciating the thoughtful and funny observations of us internet denizens. McColloch is a linguist but the book is also full of internet history and sociological analysis. I feel seen.
I'm having surgery in a couple weeks to remove a small something that may be cancer but might not be. They are going to have a pathologist on stand by to tell them whether to remove lymph nodes in the same operation while I am still anesthetised.
Best wishes on your surgery!
Looks fun! I just picked up a copy.
I've always had a fascination with linguistics and how languages evolve, this sounds brilliant.
I'm really enjoying it.
I've been working on a tabletop RPG setting for several years now, and took a bunch of my notes with me to edit over the free time on a work trip.
Got my bags stolen. Now about 2 years of work is being recreated from scattered digital fragments and my memories.
Oh, this absolutely sucks.
Good luck on the rebuild. If it helps, I usually find that if I do something from scratch it's usually better the second time round as I include all the parts and things I should have put in v1 but didn't think about until after.
That’s awful…. I really hope it turns around for you. I couldn’t stand losing that much of my own life’s work.
I've been feeling sad with how little I've been able to read lately. I see so many people online having goals for how many books they will read a week/month and I cannot keep my attention on a book for long. I went from reading Tolkien's "dry", but beautiful, narration for multiple hours when I was younger to this. I feel like an iPad kid lol.
I went from reading 0 fiction at all for about 10 years back to reading over 100 novels/year again 3 years ago. It's definitely possible if you try to make it a habit! My advice is:
You really put into perspective how I feel reading right now. I see so many people diving into these amazing worlds and I just struggle to grasp it nowadays. I bought an ereader and also bought a few different books I thought I would enjoy, but man...I can't.
At this point, I might just start off with trashy romance novels and go from there. Put the training wheels back on for now for my attention span.
Hell yeah! Trashy romances are awesome! I once spent an entire year reading nothing but Star Wars novels. It was one of the best reading-years of my life. It literally doesn't matter what you read, go for it!
The "But first! 10 minutes of this" method of getting started on things has changed my life for the better, for all that I forget to use it a lot of the time. Happy to see it being applied to reading.
Piggybacking on this with another thing that could help:
Also, try to use audio books while you are doing something else can also help a lot. And with that the person or people that is reading it can make or break a audio book.
yea this is actually a REALLY good one too, I feel bad for leaving it out. Audiobooks are hit-or-miss, and if they work for you they can be a godsend.
I forgot to mention it because for me, audiobooks are impossible to concentrate on, similar to how for some people written books are impossible to concentrate on. Some people can do both. It's def worth trying to see where you are along the spectrum.
Yes, this!! I'm a 30-year-old iPad kid at this point.
Not saying you have to do this, but have you tried re reading novels you e read before, or reading something that is meant to be easy to read like the hunger games or something? Doesn’t even have to be a good story but that’s what I do when I want to get back into reading.
This is what I came to recommend as well. I recently re-read one of my all time favorites (Snow Crash) after a long dry spell, and it’s gotten me solidly back into reading again. I could have just as easily waffled around for a month with a book I feel meh about, but reading something I know I love got me back into the habit quickly.
I might try this tactic. I have a few different books I just really enjoyed reading when I was younger. I've been listening to my boyfriend's audiobooks and maybe I'll even read alongside the narrator.
The book Stolen focus by Johan Hari talks about how to deal with this kind of problem.
Personally, I have a commitment to fifteen minutes per night reading and have the kindle app on my phone so that I can read while waiting. But I also am more distractible than I used to be and very tempted to scroll rather than read.
I understand the feeling. Been slowly getting back into it and it helps that i need to do make reading time for a toddler. Most days it Paddington or Faraway Tree, other times its Project Hail Mary or The Space Between Worlds. Also have a some pulpy, feelgood stuff on Kindle to get me through gym and commutes. But please don't feel pressured by other people's reading lists and goals. Books are enjoyment but does require a push from the reader. Easier media pulls you in and is useful when you need to take a load off.
I felt the same way, but I found a solution for myself.
I just do audio books now. I’m able to fit them in better while doing low brainpower activities like cleaning, house maintenance, or driving.
I easily finish 1-2 books a month that way, and it’s been amazing catching up on series I’ve enjoyed, but couldn’t justify giving all my spare time to.
I was feeling like that too. I either couldn’t find a book that interested me, or just didn’t have the will to sit down and read.
What I ended up doing was going back and re-reading some of my favorites (Becky Chambers’ Wayfarers series, if anyone was curious) and that got me reading again. I’m reading books that I love, plus nobody can tell me what I should read.
Short fiction is good too when I can’t settle on something to read. I like Clarkesworld for short sci-fi, but there’s lots of other sf and fantasy short fiction magazines out there.
I’ve heard of Toki Pona from jan Misali’s YouTube channel. I’ve been interested in learning, but feel like I don’t really have enough free time to do so.
What resources are you using for learning it?
I had heard of Toki Pona, but you’re making me want to really dig into it. The logograms look really interesting!
I'm trying to read more about philosophy, and I've learned a lot about Absurdism etc. I'm trying to figure out what philosophers now actually believe or what the current flavor and thoughts about reality, and I'm taking suggestions.
I'd look into Hilary Putnam's external realism versus Richard Rorty's account of the linguistic turn. Also Kripke semantics.
Been doing nothing today. Distracting myself with youtube videos, working on projects or dissociating. One of those days where i wish i mainly dont want to die but i just want to sleep forever.
That sounds hard, friend. I know it means little from an Internet stranger miles away, but I truly hope things get better for you. It sucks to go through a time where nothing sparkles, and I can't say I fully understand what your situation is, but I know a bit of that feeling and I know the pursuit of distraction that comes with it. I hope you feel joy and purpose soon.
Thanks, it actually means a lot :). Whats causing this is that i am isolated from everyone except the people who hurt me, and that when im around them i have to pretend im ok. So just talking to supportive people means very much. I will hopefully be free soon, but i will be homeless and only being able to receive support from internet strangers cuz no one else gives a shit.
There are many who care, even if they don't know you yet. Be sure to reach out. The theme of my year so far has been to try and remember that I am allowed to ask for help, for what I need. You are, too.
What are you distracting yourself from?
Because i have CPTSD there are things/people which can send me into flashbacks. Also just boredom.
Oh boy I get that. I’m the spawn of some gross dysfunction, i have no official diagnosis but my symptoms read a lot like cptsd. Dissociation and I have a long history. Any person can prompt a compulsion to isolate.
I dont think CPTSD can be diagnosed as it isn't recognized, so you are the ultimate judge for whether you have it. Either way, I wish the best for you. Dissociation, while being a skill at first can be very debilitating.
Just finished the book Maybe You Should Talk to Someone. It was a very nice book, recommended (or mentioned?) by my therapist at some point. It felt like a nice final stint in a self-help book binge. It was like half self-help, half life story, with some humor intermixed.
Next book I'm going to read is The Last Unicorn.
I loved Maybe You Should Talk to Someone! Why can't I find my own Wendell 😭
If you liked that book, the author has a monthly column on The Atlantic you can follow. I follow it by a way of an RSS reader but I'm sure there are other ways to follow. It is not as detailed as the book, but I find it incredibly entertaining. It's a monthly dose of other people's therapy!
Man, I am not feeling like celebrating 4th of July this year. Hate to be so negative but I can't afford a decent house in my area, employed but want a new job because my salary hasn't gone up much in a few years while every other expense has skyrocketed, and I haven't been able to land one (when there actually is one) in almost a year in my industry with my years of experience in a high position and degrees, woke up to a random power outage today, my town's roads and infrastructure kind of suck despite some of the highest taxes in the nation, and the health care system is ludicrous. Grateful for my freedom and what I do have, but there's still a lot of basic stuff that needs fixing.
To be honest i find it to be more of a cultural than a political thing. Vague concepts like freedom hasn't ever been true for all americans at any point in american history (for example slavery is still in practice), and i dont think you owe anything to a government for not abusing its power either way; its something everyone deserves.
But yeah, being trans i have seen a lot of hate against me for existing in the past few years, often times encouraged and spread by government officials, so I am not feeling very patriotic.
I had three thoughts but I’ve forgottem them all except this one. What is Wakanda Forever trying to say with its Haiti scene? The Haiti depicted is far different than what I’m told the real one is like.
Wish I could help, I’ve been to Haiti, but I haven’t seen wakanda forever haha.
I just have no interest in it, with the main character passing away in real life. Movie felt kind of ghoulish to me, and I had 0 confidence they could do a good story to justify black panther not existing any more.
First time in my life that I have heard of something like that.
Anything to screw the common man and turn a record profit, this is the way right?
Well usually it's just ticketmaster that does shady things like this. Can't we just buy concert tickets without a 3rd party taking a huge cut out of the sales?
It's not typical, but could certainly become so. I have no doubt the bank will make out quite well in this, as there is a lot of demand and therefore quite a bit of money to be made.
I received a package today from China (Ali Express). Maybe 30" x 30" x 20".
Three of the six sides of the box were covered in stamps.
Hmm. Maybe it had been rerouted through a bunch of countries, explaining the stamps. Maybe it was sent to the wrong house? There was a time a few years back when random americans were getting sent seeds from china (cant recall why) so maybe it was related to that?
I doubt it wouldn't be safe to open it though, unless there might be motivation to send bombs to your house.
Lol no it was something I was expecting. The stamps added up to the shipping cost of the label. Which is another funny thing. Clearly he went to a counter to get the package weighed and such. But when asked how he’s gonna pay I guess he was just like “I got it bro”.
July 4th makes me a little sad on account of how many scared dogs there are as a result of the fireworks. My dog is cowering under the blankets on my lap right now. I don't want to take anything away from people that enjoy them -- I've seen some impressive fireworks shows in my day and understand the appeal. I just know that many of my friends are dog owners and we all kind of dread this week every year.
Every month of June, in Northeast Brazil where I live, is fireworks season. Kids explode bombs several times a day, along with rockets and other kinds of explosive devices. On Saint John's Day ("Dia de São João"), it's like a 24h open war. People gather around bonfires ("fogueiras"), dance forró, and eat typical foods of the season.
It's a Catholic thing.
It's awesome. Not so much for dogs, though.
Because of our mind limitation- if we develop synthetic eye or related tech, we still won't be able to process multiple image at same time.
Why do you think this? From experience with double vision due to cranial nerve issues, I think our brains can be trained to at least process two separate images.
Why is the comments box at the bottom of the page, and how do we find new forums to follow? Using the search bar in the side bar only searches within the subs I'm already subbed to.
A little more than halfway down this page is the answer to your question.
https://tildes.net/~tildes.official/wiki/philosophy/site_design
From what is being said it is a design choice that deimos had made, and it makes sense because it make people read what was said already.
As of right now the current ones are the only ones, but more is on the way.
My partner wants to see Elemental at the movie theater. I said I'm not watching another unoriginal Pixar kid's movie full of tired tropes, boring life lessons, and on-the-nose metaphors. I proceeded to tell her what the movie would be without looking at anything. She showed me the trailer and it was exactly what I told her.
It’s so sad what pixar has become.
Super mad at myself for finally cracking my phone. Never cracked any of my phones in the last 10 years but this past weekend, that streak finally ended. Thankfully its only a crack on the back and not on the camera lens or on the screen but it still annoys me. Repairing it won't cost too much but I'll just live with it.