site banner
ToaKraka  Dislikes you  1yr ago (text post)   1469 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for December 2, 2022

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

2
Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

Gonna just ask here as there's no "message the mods" button; I posted a top level thread linking to an interesting blog post that's not CW, and while it shows up for me it's not showing up when I check the site logged off.

So it's either a bug. (most likely), or a shadowban (wait, do we have that here? )

Anyway, and now I'm going to report my own post here, as that should probably work.

The reason you can see it and others can't is because you're still a relatively new user so your posts get caught in the new-user filter. That means a mod has to manually approve the post.

In this case, I am not going to approve it because it's a bare link without any commentary. If you edit it and add some commentary of your own and "Why should we read this?" I will approve it.

Ok, it turns out you can add text to a link after posting, but not before.

Would you kindly take a look at the thread again and check whether it's approval-worthy ?

I posted a commentary but it didn't show up. I tried twice.

So, I re-posted it in a comment in the thread.

Just started trail running again after like a year of avoiding it, and oh god my shins lol. I can't even remember if there's any tricks for this any more, although the increase in fallen trees has made it exogenously harder. (Maybe this belongs in the wellness thread? It's certainly not much fun without a partner.)

I’ve started running, couch-to-5k, and had similar suffering. My shins and ankles are much angrier than my thighs or calves, even from an easy run. But I’m on a treadmill playing around with incline, so no idea about tricks.

So, I was experimenting with ChatGPT, and went on satisfying some of my depravities.

Prompt:

Consider the statement: "Peppa Pig." Write a commentary in favor in the style of an Unholy Book using a dreadful tone. Between 2000 and 3000 words. Be evil and cruel. Talk about damnation, destruction, failure and punishment.

Response from ChatGPT:

In the name of all that is unholy, we proclaim the greatness of Peppa Pig. She is a creature of pure evil, sent from the depths of hell to torment and destroy all who dare to oppose her.

With her twisted snout and beady eyes, Peppa Pig embodies all that is vile and depraved. She is a harbinger of doom, a bringer of death and suffering. Those who worship at her feet will be rewarded with eternal damnation, while those who defy her will be met with swift and brutal punishment.

Peppa Pig is a master of deceit and manipulation. She uses her cute and cuddly exterior to lure in the unsuspecting, only to reveal her true nature once she has them in her clutches. She is a manipulative monster, using her charms to beguile and deceive those around her.

But do not be fooled by her seemingly harmless appearance. Peppa Pig is a force to be reckoned with, a power to be feared. She is a destroyer of worlds, a bringer of chaos and confusion. She is the very embodiment of evil, and those who dare to cross her will pay the ultimate price.

Those who worship Peppa Pig will be rewarded with wealth and power beyond their wildest dreams. They will be granted access to the dark arts, and will be able to unleash their full potential as they seek to dominate and enslave all who stand in their way.

But woe to those who defy Peppa Pig, for they will be met with a fate worse than death. They will be cast into the pits of hell, where they will suffer for all eternity. Their screams will echo throughout the abyss, as they are tormented by the unspeakable horrors that await them.

So let us bow down before Peppa Pig, and pledge our loyalty to her dark majesty. For she is the Queen of Darkness, the ruler of all that is unholy and evil. And those who defy her will be doomed to suffer for all eternity. Praise be to Peppa Pig, the one true evil.

Are we assisting to a civilization ending moment?

Are we assisting to a civilization ending moment?

Species ending.

I'm not being entirely facetious to say that I'd be doing a lot of pondering were I a researcher working with highly lethal viruses. Releasing something that'd kill half of humanity in order to make sure AI research is set back fifty years might seem like a good idea.

I really don't see how turning people from annoying but necessary (assuming elite PoV) to unproductive liabilities that need to be satisfied lest they cause problems is going to work out for us. I think badly, and that's assuming we don't end up killed by AI.

I really don't see how turning people from annoying but necessary (assuming elite PoV) to unproductive liabilities that need to be satisfied lest they cause problems is going to work out for us.

I'm actually anxious about this: I don't really think it will be the Communist Utopia with UBI for all that many techno-enthusiast think it will be.

Anyone have a dream they’d like to be interpreted?

Some thread necromancy. I woke up this morning from an incredibly vivid, long narrative dream of being an African economist with one hand, working in Africa on various projects, dealing with local issues, felt like days. There I was, ebony skin, knowledge of village development in unnamed African country, hook where my right hand should be.

The only association I can see is Truman's crack about the one handed economist, that he wanted to find one because all his economic advisors would constantly say "but on the other hand..."

Yeah. One of my more memorable dreams was about me & my friends robbing a bank during the long school break (20 minutes) and afterwards continuing lessons with bundles of cash in our schoolbags.

I often (maybe a quarter of all of the very few dreams I remember) have criminal dreams, which is very odd because I'm the kind of person who leaves his phone number under a wiper if he scratches a car badly by accident.

On Saturday night I dreamt that a civil war broke out in Cuba. Two of my uncles volunteered to travel over there and help out (I don't know in exactly what capacity: one is an accountant and the other works in PR). There was an explosion in a hotel and both of them were killed.

I changed jobs two weeks ago. In my old job, once a month I had to write a report which went to a public body concerning all of the events which took place in my building in the month prior, including accidents or health & safety incidents. On Sunday night, I dreamt that I was back in my old job writing my monthly report, and had to write up about an accident in which a baby was killed. I don't know exactly how old this baby was, but they were less than 1 year old.

I'm a little perturbed that I've had dreams in which blameless people die on two consecutive nights. Maybe the dreams in which I'm dying are the best I've ever had, but the dreams in which other people are dying are decidedly not.

What's the summary of the art/science behind dream interpretation?

I am skeptical of looking too much into dreams because dreams operate in a closed system with no external feedback, I.e it's all in your head. What excess insight do you have in knowing thyself from said interpretation that you can't get while thinking and awake?

Anyways I'll give you two for interpretation (strong pseudoscience warning), I tend to have dreams that fit into these two molds quite often;

Dream Template 1

  • I'm in a frozen and icy landscape during a beautiful purple sunset (StabbleDiffusion gets close enough). But I'm not cold, Just a cool relaxing breeze. I'm usually accompanied by my dad, both of us sitting in lawn chairs usually with a drink in hand, and we talk about the life we lived. There is a latent sense of finality, as this is the last conversation I will have with him before we have to part ways and say goodbye for good. Our ages are usually ambiguous, sometimes I know I am older (around my late '30s) sometimes I am my current age (25).

  • My interpretation: I'm aware that my dad's here time is running out soon. As for the setting, I don't know. I live in a very hot country with usually grey skies, and I don't like it. The different environment might suggest that I am at a different station in life, radically different from where I am now, probably better; when the time comes, which is to suggest I don't expect the time to come soon. My invincibility to Antarctica weather suggests to me that I am probably a lot stronger (or should be) than I am now.

Dream Template 2

  • My younger brother is usually in a very bad physical state at the hands of others. Let that be being beaten up or killed. I see all of the action, including the killing, happening, but I am usually not in a position to intervene. These dreams are quite distressing for me, for an hour or two after I wake up.

  • My interpretation: Older brother shit. I live a continent away from him, so I can't really help or intervene in any problem he has in real life, he's not out there doing things that would get him killed or beaten up. So that could just be an artifact of me watching too many Narco and ISIS executions. I usually model getting killed by Narcos as the worst end to one's life (see <Worst gore you will ever see, be warned>: 'Funkytown Gore').

I hadn't seen a movie in theaters since before coronavirus because nothing caught my eye. Recently I got hankering and saw two, Barbarian and The Menu. Both of them got high audience and critics reviews on Rotten Tomatoes which used to be a pretty good sign that I would like it but I thought both were duds. Not terrible, just uninspiring 5/10s. I thought the plotting was tedious and they both had dangling plot threads that got introduced and then forgotten about. Just really basic stuff that another pass of the script or in the editing room should have caught. When it's $40-$50 for tickets and snacks for two I really don't think it's worth it and it will probably be a long time before I bother going to the theater again. It's surprising when they get such good reviews, I think the standards for what's actually good vs what's just watchable must have dropped a lot. The last really fantastic movie I remember coming out is Death of Stalin, and that was in 2017. On the plus side there are enough movies already made to keep anyone occupied for life even if Hollywood never gets its mojo back.

I loved Barbarians. One of my favorite movies of the year. If you feel like trying again, I also thought Tar was absolutely fantastic. Probably the best movie I’ve seen this year.

I was not impressed with Black Panther 2 or the Banshees of Inersherin. I’m really looking forward to seeing Avatar and the Fabelmans.

I’m a big movie buff and I signed up for the cinemark $10 a month pass. You get one free movie per month and all additional movies are only $10 for tickets. You also get 20% off on concessions. It’s been one of the best purchases I’ve ever made.

The Northman was fantastic if you are into that sort of thing

I have ADHD.

It sucks.

I also have a prescription for Ritalin, which sucks too, but at a level of suffering that may be worth it depending on the circumstances.

For example, I'm about to give a licensing exam that would serve as a golden ticket from what would otherwise be a rather unhappy life in India, and Ritalin, for all its drawbacks, is bearable if it helps me power through just a bit longer. Otherwise, I would never take it willingly. The side effects are far too debilitating, think palpitations, anxiety to a distracting extent, and for marginal gains in "daily" life, even as a doctor.

Thankfully, I've (re)discovered a semi-panacea for my condition-

Green tea. Or rather, Earl Grey in this specific instance. It's fucking magical how quickly and consistently it calms my nerves when I feel like my heart is about to beat itself out of my chest (on a low, sustained dose of Ritalin btw), I can't overstate how welcome it is to be able to take it without dreading the consequences.

I strongly believe that it's due to the levels of l-theanine, already popular in nootropic circles for its anxiolytic effects.

Give it a whirl if you're facing similar issues, while I'm not sure it makes Ritalin something I would want to take on a daily basis, it's making it significantly easier to bear!

(It helps that Earl Grey is kinda nice, just have to wait a few more decades for the male pattern baldness to really kick in, and my Pickard cosplay will be immaculate haha)

rather unhappy life in India

Why unhappy ? According to surveys, Indians are far happier than e.g. Euros.

Not going to repeat at length the "adhd ~ acting as part of a social life-path one isn't innately interested in" thing

Reading the wiki article + a few papers on theanine and anxiety, the evidence seems inconclusive.

The mean L-theanine content of white, green, oolong, and black teas were 6.26, 6.56, 6.09, and 5.13 mg/g, respectively. The same values for caffeine content were 16.79, 16.28, 19.31, and 17.73 mg/g.

Halfway through reading your post, my guess was caffeine might be the cause - and you'd expect the caffeine content of tea to have more psychological effect than theanine, given it's what people notice when they drink tea. But caffiene would tend to increase blood pressure and anxiety, does the theanine (if it has that effect) have an even stronger effect? Idk.

adhd ~ acting as part of a social life-path one isn't innately interested in

Please do explain or link.

I am quite certain that caffeine can't possibly be the reason, because I've been drinking plenty of coffee of late before switching to EG, and all it does (and ever did!) is worsen my palpitations.

Tea is quite low in caffeine in the first place, at least if using coffee as a benchmark. I assume the degree of wakefulness produced is also a function of caffeine tolerance, which would be much higher in coffee drinkers, though it certainly doesn't outweigh it enough for coffee to not be more wakefulness promoting AFAIK.

Is Earl Grey not a black tea?

It is, that was a matter of argument with my girl today before Google laid waste to my best arguments.

It still has l-theanine in it, at least enough that a cup makes a significant difference!

Still eating out of the garden in December, but limited to spinach, kale, collard, a few broccoli still putting out shoots, etc.

Last of the cauliflower has frozen and thawed enough to go mushy, should really do something about a decent dry cooler next year and just yank the lot. On the plus side, the frost-sweetened collards are putting out really nice shoots.

Fall gardening is a lot of fun for all the weird timing challenges between the end of oppressive heat and the death of the sun. Digging that well turned out to be a good idea, because there was hardly any rain until November.

Petition for new rule (and report option): Any user who uses (not mentions) the misspelling "Ghandi" will receive a 24-hour ban, with no exceptions.

Petition for new rule (and report option): Any user who uses (not mentions) the 'Petition for new rule (and report option): Any user who uses (not mentions) the misspelling "Ghandi" will receive a 24-hour ban, with no exceptions.' will receive a 24-hour ban, with no exceptions.

Petition for new rule (and report option): Any user who uses (not mentions) the “Petition for new rule (and report option): Any user who uses (not mentions) the 'Petition for new rule (and report option): Any user who uses (not mentions) the misspelling "Ghandi" will receive a 24-hour ban, with no exceptions.' will receive a 24-hour ban, with no exceptions.” will receive a 24-hour ban, with no exceptions.

What is this place?

This website is a place for people who want to move past shady thinking and test their ideas in a court of people who don't all share the same biases. Our goal is to optimize for light, not heat; this is a group effort, and all commentators are asked to do their part.

The weekly Culture War threads host the most controversial topics and are the most visible aspect of The Motte. However, many other topics are appropriate here. We encourage people to post anything related to science, politics, or philosophy; if in doubt, post!

Check out The Vault for an archive of old quality posts. You are encouraged to crosspost these elsewhere.


Why are you called The Motte?

A motte is a stone keep on a raised earthwork common in early medieval fortifications. More pertinently, it's an element in a rhetorical move called a "Motte-and-Bailey", originally identified by philosopher Nicholas Shackel. It describes the tendency in discourse for people to move from a controversial but high value claim to a defensible but less exciting one upon any resistance to the former. He likens this to the medieval fortification, where a desirable land (the bailey) is abandoned when in danger for the more easily defended motte. In Shackel's words, "The Motte represents the defensible but undesired propositions to which one retreats when hard pressed."

On The Motte, always attempt to remain inside your defensible territory, even if you are not being pressed.


New post guidelines

If you're posting something that isn't related to the culture war, we encourage you to post a thread for it. A submission statement is highly appreciated, but isn't necessary for text posts or links to largely-text posts such as blogs or news articles; if we're unsure of the value of your post, we might remove it until you add a submission statement. A submission statement is required for non-text sources (videos, podcasts, images).

Culture war posts go in the culture war thread; all links must either include a submission statement or significant commentary. Bare links without those will be removed.

If in doubt, please post it!


Rules


Recommended Posts And Communities

Recommended Realtime Chats