Suchian Musings And Ramblings About General Designs Involving Notable Estuaries

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  • It's better you don't know...  just spend all the time you can with the people you love, and who love you.  Time is a precious gift, and nothing can replace it.
  • Never be with0ut a Hat!
    (2010 self)
    I'll spend time with my loved ones if you do.
  • Alright.

    Let's all try to be a bit nicer to each other from now on.  I know you two hate each other, but you don't have to.
  • You are the end result of a “would you push the button” prompt where the prompt was “you have unlimited godlike powers but you appear to all and sundry to be an impetuous child” – Zero, 2022
    I don't think I've ever had a class that required the purchase of a textbook that was only available as an ebook. That sounds depressing.

    I _have_ had classes that provide the textbook as an ebook free of charge, but even then, those were books you could buy as print editions if you really wanted to.
  • edited 2020-01-14 17:30:47
    So, between the day that Boromir dies, and the day that Merry and Pippin are reunited with Aragorn, Gandalf, Legolas, and Gimli, is less than two weeks.

    If Boromir's death is day 1, then the reunion is sometime before day 14 (because Pippin meets with Denethor thirteen days after Boromir's death).

    Let's go through some of the pointy things Merry and Pippin could have seen or been within twenty feet of during those days:

    Boromir's Sword, from Gondor,

    Legolas's Knives, from the Mirkwood Elves,

    Sting and Glamdring, legendary blades associated with a long-gone elf civilization,

    Pippin's Cool Sword, from the long-gone human nation of Arnor, and Merry's Cool Sword of the same origin,

    Gimli's Axe, an axe made by Dwarves,

    Anduril, an awesome ancient sword originally made by I Don't Even Know and reforged by the Rivendel Elves, associated with a long-gone human civilization,

    Probably At Least One Bladed Weapon From Rohan, considering that Theoden and presumably some of his dudes are there at the reunion,

    Probably At Least One Bladed Weapon From Isengard, considering Merry and Pippin's capture by the Orcs of Isengard,

    and Probably At Least One Bladed Weapon from Mordor, considering that the Isengard Orcs who captured Merry and Pippin ran into some Mordor Orcs.
  • edited 2020-01-17 16:34:04

  • edited 2020-01-19 20:16:25
    Bertrand Russell and Georg Cantor were the Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens of their time.  I resent being graded on my ability to do proofs, to translate my understanding of math into their logical framework.

    In a few generations, academic math will probably be using the jargon of Yudkowsky and LessWrong, and nobody will see anything strange or unwholesome about it.
  • edited 2020-01-19 20:19:55
    On the "plus" side, if there's one thing I've learned from school, it's how to be okay with doing things that make me feel uncomfortable.  Every year, I'm better at stifling my objections in order to serve my ambitions.
  • Today is day 21940 since Jan 1, 1960, and my dad is 20,914 days old since he was born on October 23, 1962.
  • Helicopters aren't supposed to crash.  Helicopters are supposed to be safe.  They're the take-your-grandma-to-the-hospital-in-an-emergency thing, the put-out-fires thing, the rescue-sailors-from-storms thing, the wooden-toy-you-played-with-as-a-kid thing.

    Cliffs are supposed to be dangerous, but in a "stay away from the edge and look over it" way, or a "look at it and see how pretty it is" way, not in a "seeing where actual people have died" way.

    Lakers players aren't supposed to die tragically.  They're supposed to live long lives, wealthy and name-known, and despised by us Jazz Fans who boo and hiss at them, and shake our fists.
  • You can make a sequence of statements such that each one is true, but as a whole they form a deceptive, even false, narrative.  Then, when anybody calls you on it, ask them what part of what you said wasn't true.

    However, I'm not sure you can make a sequence of statements such that each one is false, but taken together they give clarity and understanding.  
  • My dreams exceed my real life
    Ali_Roz said:

    You can make a sequence of statements such that each one is true, but as a whole they form a deceptive, even false, narrative.  Then, when anybody calls you on it, ask them what part of what you said wasn't true.


    However, I'm not sure you can make a sequence of statements such that each one is false, but taken together they give clarity and understanding.  
    A great man once said that truth does not do as much good in the world as the appearance of truth does harm.
  • edited 2020-01-31 02:31:06
    Odradek said:

    Ali_Roz said:

    You can make a sequence of statements such that each one is true, but as a whole they form a deceptive, even false, narrative.  Then, when anybody calls you on it, ask them what part of what you said wasn't true.


    However, I'm not sure you can make a sequence of statements such that each one is false, but taken together they give clarity and understanding.  
    A great man once said that truth does not do as much good in the world as the appearance of truth does harm.
    I guess, if it's like those poisonous and non-poisonous mushrooms that are nearly indistinguishable both from each other and from the non-fatal-but-cause-all-sorts-of-bad-stuff ones.

    Depending on what "truth" is parsed as being, I'm not sure it's always true.
  • Unrelated:  This is a good cover for The Fellowship Of The Ring:image
    Even without the words, it's unmistakably LOTR, and given the ringwraith and the hobbit hiding just behind a ridge/tree, it has to be not only Fellowship, but a very specific scene in fellowship.

    But, on the other hand, it doesn't spoil anything.

    I also like how it's a portrayal of a hobbit that you can reasonably believe is between two and four feet tall, while not making it look like a person with dwarfism or obviously-a-human-child.

    Like, Beregond said that Pippin looked like a nine-year-old, but I think it adds to the not-human look if they're recognizably adults or near-adults of their species while still being able to pass for human kids if you don't look too closely.  This is one thing where I think the movies didn't do so well, because the actors clearly aren't, in real life, the sizes that would match the books.  Elijah Wood is clearly not under four feet in real life.
  • edited 2020-02-01 20:32:07
    Also, I use a heater that looks just like this, and I love it.  It keeps me warm when I have to do homework and stuff.

    It looks like the sort of thing that would have an adorable squeaky vweep-beep-vwhirr kinda voice if it was a robot.

    It also makes a comforting whirring hum when it's on.

    image

    The one I'm using right now has a beige-colored head like this one:

    image
  • My dreams exceed my real life
    That is cute!
  • I thought that looked kinda adorably head-like too.
  • edited 2020-02-05 22:24:42
     
  • Entertainments suc-ceded, and good cheer and good humor were seen everywhere.  
    Cook first invited Teraiobu and his chiefs on board to dinner.  
    They were temperate, drinking water only, and eat-ing but little.  
    The old king satisfied him-self entirely with the bread-fruit and water, 
    but the younger chiefs comprised in their repast the luxury of pork and fowls.  
    They all went away well pleased, and the king invited Cook
    to dine with him the next day at his royal residence.  The
    invitation was accepted ; 
    and when the hour came, 
    the navigator and his officers 
    were sumptuously feasted on 
    baked hog and potatoes, neatly spread out on green
    plantain leaves, and for beverage they were supplied with cocoanut milk. 
    The day was closed with gymnastic exercises, 
    wrestling and boxing, 
    ordered by the old king for the amuse-ment of his guests.

        On the next
    evening, Cook in his turn ex-hibited fireworks on shore, much to the amaze-ment of the beholders,
     who had never before seen such a display. 
    Many laughable inci-dents occurred.  
    When the first sky-rocket was discharged, the multitude was seized with the

    greatest consternation. 

    Cook and his officers
    “could hardly hold the old feeble Teraiobu,
    and some elderly ladies of quality that sat among them ; 
    and before they had recovered from this paroxysm, 
    nearly the whole host, that a moment before surrounded them, 
    had fled”
    Some were much too frightened to return any more, 
    but others came back as their fears abated, and had the courage to keep their ground through the remainder of the exhibit-tion.

        Thus all things were proceeding, as Ledyardexpresses it, “In the old Otaheite style ; “ the
    visitors and the islanders were mutually pleasedwith each other, kind offices were reciprocated,
    abundant stores of provisions were carried on board, and prospects were favorable.

        While affairs were in this train, Ledyard
    formed the design of ascending the high peak,

    which rises from the centre of the island, and

    is called by the natives 

    Mouna Roa.
  • Bam, take a book, type some pages up, taking care to do a return at the end of each line in the book, preserving all the hyphens, and then put it into notepad and mess with the formatting to give each thought, image, or phrase-that-seems-to-go-together.  Or just make patterns so each line is shorter than the last.  Or just do whatever until it seems vaguely neat.

    Low-effort modern poetry.  You can even pretend all the errors in your typing are stylistic quirks.
  • I miss talking to Kexruct.  Does anybody know where he is, or how I could talk with him?
  • Munch munch, chomp chomp...
    Ali_Roz said:

    I miss talking to Kexruct.  Does anybody know where he is, or how I could talk with him?

    Discord, at least, unless she's (last check it was she unless that's also past ignorance speaking) changed Discord names which I don't think has happened. Porifera#4912.
  • Thank you.

    Also, the Aliroz guide to surviving Greek Mythology as a mortal human.

    1: Figure out if the blind seer Tiresias is alive.  If that's not specific enough, his parents are Chariclo (a nymph), and Everes (a shepherd).  If he isn't alive, go to 6.

    2:  Assuming he's alive, find Tiresias.

    3:  After finding him, ask him for advice.

    5:  Do exactly what he says to do, when and how he says to do it.  No exceptions.  Not even that one.  The consequences WILL be worse if you fail to do what he recommends.  No matter how bad the thing you have to do is, it's much better in the long run.  About half of the problems in Greek Mythology are caused by people not following Tiresias's advice.  All of the below advice can be ignored if it goes against the advice of Tiresias.

    5.a:  If you can't find Tiresias, find an Oracle.  You might be able to figure out what the Oracle means before it's too late, but probably not, but at least you gave yourself a chance.

    5.b:  Do not find Cassandra.  Even if you think you're smarter than all those idiots who disbelieve Cassandra even though she's always right, you're still going to disbelieve her.

    6: Do not kill your relatives.  Half of the problems in Greek Mythology are caused by people killing their kin, and the resulting curses.

    6a:  Do not violate hospitality.  Half of the problems in Greek Mythology are caused by people violating hospitality, and the resulting curses.

    7: Avoid provoking, implying that you are better than, saying that you are better than, attempting to dethrone, or offending the gods.  Give them no excuse whatsoever to wreck you and everything you love, and there's an alright chance that they'll leave you alone.  About half of the problems in Greek Mythology are caused by people offending the gods and then suffering nightmarish fates.

    8:  Most especially, avoid Zeus, unless (1) he's in disguise as a beggar, in which case being nice to him and showing him hospitality gets you the happiest possible ending (and possibly saves humanity) or (2) one of your family is trying to kill you or someone is trying to violate hospitality and kill you, in which case, FIND ZEUS IMMEDIATELY and hope he puts an end to this madness.

    8: Avoid Apollo unless you can turn into a tree.

    9: Seriously, avoid Zeus.  Half of the problems in Greek Mythology are caused by Zeus being a rapist too powerful for anybody to do anything about, and Hera taking his infidelity out on his victims.

    10: Even more seriously, avoid Aphrodite.  All of the problems in Greek Mythology are caused by Aphrodite.  ALL OF THEM.

    11: If all else fails, try to plead to Hestia.  She's the only one of the gods you don't need to try to avoid, and she just might be able to convince the other gods to give you a horrible punishment instead of an unbelievably horrifying punishment.  
  • 4: Even if you follow all the advice, and do everything right, you still can end up having a horrible fate.  It's not your fault, it just means that you're a character in someone else's tragedy, probably one of the friends or family, or possibly one of the wise people who advises the main character not to do The Thing.   This message was moved to the end of the list in accordance with a prophecy.
  • inb4 Greek mythology is a choose-your-own-adventure book except every ending results in tragedy
  • Oh no, you don't find Zeus.

    Zeus finds you.
  • edited 2020-02-15 01:42:41
    inb4 Greek mythology is a smutty visual novel involving scenes where Zeus has sexual relations with basically every female character

    (apologies if this post is inappropriate for this thread)
  • Too late. It's already basically that.
  • edited 2020-02-16 17:18:38

    with basically every female character


    female




    Considering Ganymede, being male won't necessarily save you...
  • My dreams exceed my real life
    image
  • I'm Glenn Magus Harvey and I approve of this message.


  • "Imagine when they're fully grown and can shoot down imperial star-destroyers."
  • ^ Cute.

    Also, I have a pattern that may or may not be a thing that I thought of.

    1800s:  Ivanhoe, Uncle Tom's Cabin.

    1900's: Lord of the Rings, To Kill a Mockingbird.
  • I was gonna write a thing on To Kill A Mockingbird and Go Set A Watchman, but nah, instead, you get the best youtube poop without any swears I can fnd:

  • edited 2020-02-28 02:45:33
    For the purposes of making everything more frustrating and unsatisfying, I've come up with a terrible proposal.  Anonymous-ize everything   a lot of things.  All players on sports teams will have their names classified, and when on television, will have their images censored so that nobody can tell who any player is.  Players will randomly be shuffled between positions and teams.  All teams will have the same name and uniform.

    Books will no longer have known authors, and exclusive book rights to fictional intellectual property will not exist.  It will be up to readers to recognize individual authors based on the writing itself, and to use that to piece together a series by the same writer out of an assortment of imitators, alternatives, and competing narratives.

    Musicians, singers, composers, and songwriters will also be nameless as far as public records go.

    This will encourage audiences to learn statistics and pattern recognition, and will ensure that popularity is based purely on content (or at least successful imitation of successful content) and performance.

    Next horrible proposal:  Charge prison inmates and college students hourly fees for reading and sleeping.
  • It's comforting to know that my life hasn't gotten to the point where I can't imagine a more exasperating reality.
  • edited 2020-02-28 18:27:41
    1: Get time machine.
    2: Go into the far future, after you've died of old age.
    3: Dig up your grave.
    4: Hold your skull and stare at it like you've always wanted to but never been able to.
    5: Put it back.
    6: Get haunted by yourself for desecrating your grave.
    7: Go back to your own time, bringing future ghost you with you.
    8: Exploit future ghost you's knowledge of events to make money or prank people or something.
    9: Realize that future you ghost you knew all your plans all along and is pranking you to preserve the timeline.
    10: Resolve to eventually become a frustratingly uhelpful prankghost in the future and haunt whoever disturbs your grave.
    11: Release future ghost you into the future afterlife so as to not be a ghost-time-kidnapper for longer than strictly necessary.
    12: Use mind-control ray on self to prevent you from giving up on your plans and thus wrecking the timeline.
  • I'm glad nobody, as far as I know, has made fiction where shapeshifters are colorblind and shapeshifters are always irredeemably evil*.  Colorblindness = shapeshifting is a theme that I've played with in my imagination a bunch over the years, but probably would never actually have in any fiction I'd write, because of horrible implications.

    *Because "shapeshifters" are a life-form not native to This-One-Unnamed-Fictional-Planet-Copyrighted-by-Me, and for some reason in This-One-Unnamed-Fictional-Universe-Copyrighted-By-Me, all the different worlds had different creators who hated one another enough to make fundamentally incompatible and opposing creations between which there cannot be peace.   Again, horrible, horrible implications.**

    **This is probably inspired by Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern, and its premise that its fictional planet is one colonized by humans who over time lost all knowledge and evidence of their past.  Also, from the same series, the Thread and it being an existential otherworldly threat to which the only appropriate response is to kill it with fire.  Also also my middle-school-self's theory that the thread was essentially antibodies trying to destroy that which it sees as a planet "infected" by unknown life.  Additionally, my pre-Tv-Tropes self thought that pulling a Tolkien and saying that "There's NO allegory here" would mean that there was no allegory and thus no horrible implications.
  • I don't know, I still kind of like the idea of a world where the reason why plants, animals, protists, and fungi come in so many different colors is because it's a planet-wide defense mechanism against a form of life with only one constant (being unable to perceive color).  

    Speciation?  Planetary defense mechanism, having a larger number of distinct species means that the loss of one isn't as big of a loss.  

    Ritual animal behavior (birdsong, bee dance, etc)?  Defense mechanism, distinguishing true from mimic.

    People have different languages and cultures?  Defense mechanism, harder to infiltrate if there's more things you have to get right.

    Certain animals sometimes instinctively attack mirrors?  Rather than failing the mirror test, it's passing the "wait, why do I see something that looks exactly like me, oh dang it's an impostor pretending to be me" test.
  • Also, probably inspired by me trying to justify Always Chaotic Evil before I ever knew of Tv Tropes, and how to properly make "All life on Earth is part of God's creation and should be preserved" jive with "I HAVE HAD IT WITH ALL THESE GOSH-DARN STARLINGS ON THIS GOSH-DARN CONTINENT".

    Also, there's a theory that the popularity of the Alien Invasion narrative among white people in the twentieth century is partly due to imperialism and racism making it so "alien = evil = other" and "Discovery = conquest" are ideas which resonate so hard that "Mars has life" leads to either "Earth colonizes Mars" or "Mars colonizes Earth".
  • Unrelated:  Video games which have jump buttons are pretty much never improved by removing the jump button.  Video games which do not have jump buttons are pretty much always improved/not-made-worse by adding a jump button.  The same applies to Scenario Editors like in Age of Empires.  It also applies to pause buttons.
  • edited 2020-03-04 20:34:09
    Also unrelated:  Banding was a brilliant mechanic in MTG, and it's a shame that the current "lots of low-stat cheap white creatures with hats" thing relies on creatures with spell-like abilities.

    Banding was neat because most of the time it was worthless, but having a bunch of volunteer reserves, pikemen, shield bearers, and so on defeat a shivan dragon as a group is conceptually satisfying in a way that "Fiend Hunter exiles, grand abolisher means you can't stop it because it's my turn, put another +1/+1 on Champion of the Parish" isn't. (Says the person who only knows MTG from online deck-makers and Steam games).

    Also, green got the "low-stat synergy-with-itself tribal creature type" thing with elves that REALLY should have gone to White with humans, except that there were too many non-white humans and OH GOSH DON'T PUT ME IN JAIL I DIDN'T THINK ABOUT HOW THAT WOULD SOUND
  • speaking of Age of Empires, I recently started playing Empire Earth
  • I hope I never live to see a manned moon landing, or a manned landing on any non-man-made celestial body.  Humanity, as it is now, has no right to do what it did then, any more than it has a right to destroy and reconstruct the pyramids.  Some things must be left unchanged, preserved, as memorials to the past.  We can make our own great works, we need not trample over those of others.  

    What happened to Everest must not happen to space.  At least, let it not happen in my lifetime.

    For similar reasons, I don't think it is right to rebuild the Cathedral of Notre Dame.  
  • Yes, the people of the middle ages would rebuild their cathedrals, and update them, and each generation would leave their mark in its own, sometimes subtle, way, but we are not them.  We must make our own cathedrals, our own temples.  We must try to preserve the past, and give something for the future to preserve.

    Let the graffiti at Pompeii be that of the Pompeians, and the graffiti of detroit be that of the modern day. 
  • edited 2020-03-06 17:43:55
    Unrelated:  Old-sci-fi-type blinky-light beepy-sound computers are awesome. I especially love it when they display stuff by light color, like, "OH NO, THEY'RE HACKING INTO THE MAINFRAME, ARCHIVE INTEGRITY AT 36%, 30%, 18%" as 64, 70, and 82 of the 100 green blinky lights turn red.

    But then when the day is saved, it's all good because it never got to 0%.

    Man, I love it when my computer gives me exact real-time updates on exactly what percent of it is infected without giving me any more information than that.
  • edited 2020-03-07 08:36:54
    Nah, we landing on other planets. :v

    We have ALL the rights. :v
  • edited 2020-03-08 21:13:03
    Do it then.  Do it to spite me.  Spite is the third-purest motivation, and competition is the fourth.

    Resentment is the second.  Purity is not necessarily good.
  • I claim Mars in the name of Ee-Arth
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