Random Thoughts Thread

Oh Ive done that already lol. The whole thing was weird because we were both super close and she said in her mind she should have feelings but just doesnt. Maybe she was just saying that to make me feel better. I dont know. But what I do know is that we will probably never as close as we used to be.

Spend the rest of your life jacking off to hentai and dedicating 90% of your time to work.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Hooahguy

Oh Ive done that already lol. The whole thing was weird because we were both super close and she said in her mind she should have feelings but just doesnt. Maybe she was just saying that to make me feel better. I dont know. But what I do know is that we will probably never as close as we used to be.

---

I also had a good friend that I confessed my feelings to, and even though she didn't like me back we were still good friends for a long time afterward. I think you'll be OK as long as you let it go and don't say anything more about it to her. If she values your friendship than she won't want this to affect the relationship either.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Tuuvi

I also had a good friend that I confessed my feelings to, and even though she didn't like me back we were still good friends for a long time afterward. I think you'll be OK as long as you let it go and don't say anything more about it to her. If she values your friendship than she won't want this to affect the relationship either.

---

Yeah I think you are right. We had to interact today for a class and while it was definitely strained, it wasnt bad. Not great, but it was good enough where I think there is hope. We just need time and some distance.

One final exam down, two to go tomorrow! And then I am done for the semester.

Also things with my friend from the previous comments are back to normal so thats good. :2thumbsup:

Rye bread is still for peasants, but DIE SPELZWAFFELN

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Hooahguy

Heartbreak might just be the worst thing ever. This freaking sucks. How do you guys get over the person who you thought was "the one"? Its still raw, just happened yesterday but I feel like I lost my best friend now. And she was my best friend.

---

lol, ten years later I still haven't. :P Sorry mate...I don't have any good answers for you.

Straight A's this semester! :bounce:

I am curious as to how Tom Scott, grew such a large channel on computer science when his background is in linguistics. Must have been a hobby of his at first and developed it.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Vuk

lol, ten years later I still haven't. :P Sorry mate...I don't have any good answers for you.

---

You need to move on. Not being mean here, but think of it like this... If there was only one girl meant for you, what does that say about your own personality as a human?

Wouldn't you rather think of yourself as someone who can empathize and bond with different types of people rather than one individual?

In addition, women are just as flawed as you are. They will let you down and putting the ones you have feelings for on a pedestal is not what they even want from you.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Montmorency

Lightbulb technology will never be "as good as" a sun when it comes to generating light, both because that's an inherent technological constraint and because the design of a lightbulb, being made for specific purposes, is very far from the design of a star.

---

Guys, please look up the facts before making statements like these. Wikipedia gives a solar luminosity figure of 98 lumens per watt. I can buy a Cree LED 100W equivalent light bulb that out puts 1,650 lumens at 16.5 Watts. We are already there and the technology is still improving.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by a completely inoffensive name

Guys, please look up the facts before making statements like these. Wikipedia gives a solar luminosity figure of 98 lumens per watt. I can buy a Cree LED 100W equivalent light bulb that out puts 1,650 lumens at 16.5 Watts. We are already there and the technology is still improving.

---

What do you think raising the subject of energy efficiency relates to my post?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Montmorency

What do you think raising the subject of energy efficiency relates to my post?

---

First half of your statement was that lightbulb technology will never be "as good as" a sun when it comes to generating light because of "inherent technological constraint".

My point is that we already have lightbulbs that are better at generating light than the sun.

Quote:

---

My point is that we already have lightbulbs that are better at generating light than the sun.

---

Why do you say that? Your citing of the metric offers no context to what we make of the sun - and note that with respect to the sun the wattage component of the efficacy apparently refers to the radiated heat rather than direct source electrical consumption or conversion.

No, what you have cited goes toward evaluating some lamps against others in generation of light. Don't misuse metrics in response to a criticism of the misuse of metrics.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Montmorency

Why do you say that? Your citing of the metric offers no context to what we make of the sun - and note that with respect to the sun the wattage component of the efficacy apparently refers to the radiated heat rather than direct source electrical consumption or conversion.

No, what you have cited goes toward evaluating some lamps against others in generation of light. Don't misuse metrics in response to a criticism of the misuse of metrics.

---

Personally, I think you are trying to avoid admitting that your original comment was sloppy in its wording. This isn't the backroom though, so I don't want to push this thread into a more combative discussion.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by a completely inoffensive name

Personally, I think you are trying to avoid admitting that your original comment was sloppy in its wording.

---

I can own to that.

Got glasses for the first time in almost 2 and a half decades. The streak is over. Thankfully its only for when Im driving.

Academically this year was great. But for bascially everything else it sucked.

Science marches on!
World's smallest snowman:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/a...ms-new-record/

Since it was done by a guy, he'll probably get a Nobel Prize; unlike the deserving (but female) Vera Rubin http://www.astronomy.com/news/2016/10/vera-rubin

Science with plot twists

Now something that remains is to take the article's own advice of fact-checking and apply it to the article itself and its references. Sounds like a good job for computer algorithms.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Viking

Science with plot twists

Now something that remains is to take the article's own advice of fact-checking and apply it to the article itself and its references. Sounds like a good job for computer algorithms.

---

Relevant on Sutton's rabbit hole (the spinach-checker/debunker source).

So the first day of my college class on Ancient Rome was cancelled today as they had a late start due to ice on the roads. Yes my state is that pathetic. So my professor for the class emails us this:

"Carissimi Discipuli (dear students),

The Romans wouldn't have canceled class over a little bit of ice. That's not how you build an empire, my friends."

:ave:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Montmorency

Relevant on Sutton's rabbit hole (the spinach-checker/debunker source).

---

Already had a glance at it while (or was it after :thinking:) reading the paper, might give it a read.

On another note, wonder what would happen if one were to do the cite-check thing on some of these papers. Surely, a miscitation of crab and eel poetry would be autoethnographic in nature, revealing the subconscious of the author, and therefore to be studied by others. Maybe we could enter an endless loop of 'science' production if we reach a critical of mass of people writing about this paper and its derivatives.

Much better than untruths about spinach.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Hooahguy

The Romans wouldn't have canceled class over a little bit of ice. That's not how you build an empire, my friends.

---

I wouldn't be so sure.

Women move either too fast or too slow...
They are either paranoid and overly cautious or they throw all caution to the wind and act like idiots...
God bless them, but I don't think I will ever understand what goes on in their minds.

Incidentally, my pizza and cold coke will be ready at ideal time for the coming SpaceX launch.

Waiting for the Apocalypse?
It's here Hurrah!:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/a...le-antibiotic/

Ok, one case of bacteria resistant to everything the U.S. can throw at it, may not signal the end of the world...but...

Do good things happen in threes? I don't really know. Haven't tested the theory yet. Darn my innate procrastination.

Being kneed in the face is always humbling.

I have run an experiment. One is better than three. Who knew?

I felt the need to light a candle for Tosa Inu.
I couldn't find my way to the old place. So I lit one anew...

http://gratefulness.org/candle/933721-2/

It's odd, but his passing still makes me sad.

I am the luckiest man on earth. I am blessed to know someone who brings out the good in everyone around her, and makes me see the good in everything.
There is nothing on this earth more that I could want than to simply be by her side. She is the only woman who has ever been able to make me feel love, and I wouldn't trade knowing her for the world.

Quote:

---

Suppose you are asked to name the two related items in a list of words such as “train, bus, track”. What would you say? This is known as the “triad test”, and people in the West might pick

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

“bus” and “train” because they are both types of vehicles. A holistic thinker, in contrast, would say “train” and “track”, since they are focusing on the functional relationship between the two – one item is essential for the other’s job.

---

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/2017...different-ways

Afraid I picked the Asian answer.

No reason to accept that.

The only English paper I could find even briefly mentioning a "train track bus" triad in crosscultural context was here, and it describes differences between East and West Europeans, who both tend to make the "thematic" (i.e. train-track) selection over the taxonomic (i.e. train-bus) one, West Europeans more pronounced than East. Beyond the poor theoretical grounds, then, this directly contradicts the BBC exposition on "Eastern" vs. "Western" analogies.

Bad BBC. Bad.

Well, an article published in Science that is linked to in the BBC article mentions that triad:

Quote:

---

Our main dependent variable was a common measure of cultural thought, the triad task (17). The triad task shows participants lists of three items, such as train, bus, and tracks. Participants decide which two items should be paired together. Two of the items can be paired because they belong to the same abstract category (train and bus belong to the category vehicles), and two because they share a functional relationship (trains run on tracks). People from Western and individualistic cultures choose more abstract (analytic) pairings, whereas East Asians and people from other collectivistic cultures choose more relational (holistic) pairings (1, 17). We report scores as a percentage of holistic choices, where 100% is completely holistic and 0% is completely analytic.

---

Can't make your link work, though I found the paper here.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Viking

Well, an article published in Science that is linked to in the BBC article mentions that triad:



Can't make your link work, though I found the paper here.

---

Some problems with the rice and wheat hypothesis:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Quote:

---

Talhelm et al. (2014) reported an interesting investigation on the psychological differences between
Southern and Northern Han Chinese populations in China. By interviewing 1162 undergraduate
students from different regions, the authors showed that the Chinese from the southern “ricegrowing
area” are more holistic-thinking and interdependent, while the Chinese from the northern
“wheat-growing area” are more analytic-thinking and independent. These psychological differences
can be explained by the differences between rice and wheat farming, not the modernization theory.
The authors suggested that this “rice vs. wheat” theory can partially explain the different thought
styles between Eastern and Western people, and the persistent interdependence of wealthy East
Asia.

---

Quote:

---

When comparing
wheat with rice statistics, the authors grouped the corn and soybeans farming area with the wheat
area (Talhelm et al., 2014). This simplified method may be valid when wheat dominates over corn
and soybeans, however, this does not uniformly occur in Northern China

---

Quote:

---

These results suggest that there would be an equal chance for corn farming to affect population
psychology in Northern China. The term “rice vs. wheat agriculture” coined by Talhelm et al.
(2014) cannot accurately reflect their findings. From their data, it seems to be more appropriate to
attribute the psychological differences to “rice vs. non-rice agriculture”.

---

Quote:

---

However,
the amendment of “rice vs. wheat agriculture” to “rice vs.
non-rice agriculture” in the hypothesis would lead to different
implications.
Thus the theory would then predict that there should be
psychological differences between rice-growing East/South East
Asian and the rest of world. This prediction is inconsistent
with the dominant view in psychology that Western populations
show different psychological traits as compared with nonWestern
populations. Non-Westerns, which include groups as
diverse as Arabs, East Asians, Russians, and farmers in Africa
and South America, have been shown to rely more on holistic
reasoning and have more interdependent views of self than
Westerners (Henrich et al., 2010).
t for many of these non-Westerners, e.g., people from
the South and Middle America, and Middle East regions, nonrice
crops such as corn or wheat are dominant over rice.
According to the “rice vs. non-rice agriculture” theory, they
are expected to be more similar to Westerners. However, it
has been shown that these people demonstrate the same level
of, or increased holistic processing and collectivism as compared
to Chinese people (Allik and Realo, 2004; Henrich et al.,
2010).

---

Quote:

---

The analysis of current and future
data should focus on the impact of different production costs of
different agricultures, instead of these agricultures themselves, on
individualism vs. collectivism

---

As for the triad, these terms are quite something to unpack. The Central/East vs. West European article uses the terms "taxonomic" (train-bus) vs. "thematic" (train-track), while Science/BBC use for the same "holistic" vs. "abstract/analytic" or "categorical" vs. "functional". In the JCC paper (my link), their Europeans choose what the Science authors calls holistic/functional (>thematic?), which should apparently be chosen by Asians and non-Westerners. Questionable application of terminology at the least. Anyway, the references they provide for this claim are earlier papers by the same authors. Here is 2001 and 2004. 2001 is not pertinent to the triad but delves into their idea of a holistic/analytical distinction. Don't really care to read it unless you want to discuss that. 2004 deals with triads but does not include the train-bus triad. Irritatingly, they do not present the actual experimental items/triads beyond a few mentions. They only present graphs of the transformed results from the implied data.

Here are some of the triads they do mention:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Quote:

---

There were 10 sets of test items and 10 sets of fillers. The three words in
each testing set could be grouped on the basis of thematic relations,
categorical relations, or neither. Participants’ groupings were coded as
relational if they suggested an object–context or subject–object relationship,
such as monkey and bananas, shampoo and hair, or conditioner and
hair. Groupings were coded as categorical if they suggested shared features
or category memberships, for example, monkey and panda or shampoo and
conditioner. Similarly, participants’ explanations were coded as either
relational (e.g., “Monkeys eat bananas”) or categorical (e.g., “Monkeys and
pandas are both animals”). Examples for filler items included child–
teenager–adult and Monday–Wednesday–Friday.
Within each of the 10 testing sets, there were 3 possible ways for
participants to select two items. In total, there were 30 possible ways of
grouping, 14 of which were coded as relational (such as policeman and
uniform, and postman and uniform) and 11 of which were coded as
categorical (such as policeman and postman). Thus, the stimuli were biased
toward relational grouping.
The Americans were tested in English, and the Chinese were tested in
either English or Chinese, as randomly assigned. Ideally, it would be very
informative if we could have recruited American bilinguals who could read
and write in both English and Chinese, but that turned out to be an almost
impossible task because of the great difficulty of finding such people, even
on the campus of a large U.S. university

---

So: monkey/panda/banana (no monkey/panda/bamboo?), shampoo/conditioner/hair, and policeman/postman/uniform. Then:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Quote:

---

In Study 1, participants had more opportunities
to group objects on the basis of relationships than on the basis of
categories within each set. For example, selecting postman and uniform or
policeman and uniform would both be considered relational, whereas there
was only one way to be categorical, that is, selecting postman and policeman.
This resulted in a possible bias toward relational grouping overall. In
Study 2, we presented more balanced sets so that within each set only one
relational and one categorical grouping could be made. We designed two
grouping tests in the same format as the test used in Study 1. In each test,
there were 8 test items, such as carrot–rabbit–eggplant and teacher–
doctor–homework, and 10 filler items. We counterbalanced the language
used in testing, the test versions, and the testing order.

---

No explanation of Chinese items. Were they direct translations/counterparts of the English? I didn't see anything about checking individual-triad comparisons between groups or between individuals. And, given the performance of Europeans in the other study opposite to that predicted by this model, what about the Europeans? Who were these "European-Americans", and where did they live and where did their ancestors hail from (in light of distinction between Mainland, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and American Chinese)?

Not familiar with the subject; just wanted to point out the Science article.

I'm sorry.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRNr1mlj30Q

Montmorency should be sorry indeed.

I had a coworker tell me that I needed to settle down so I wouldn't have to eat bachelor cooking anymore. Apparently she is unaware that I won the office cook-off two years in a row, and am planning on a third tomorrow. I literally have not yet met a woman can cook better than I can. I've met many who can cook far more dishes than I can, but none who can cook the dishes I am good at better than I can.
lol, when I settle down, it will be for very different reasons.

Could be a way for her to suggest you giving her a nudge nudge wink wink.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Beskar

Could be a way for her to suggest you giving her a nudge nudge wink wink.

---

lol, I don't think so. She is married. :P

This Super Bowl hit me harder than the election.

What happened?

Tom Terrific won his 5th ring. I was quite pleased.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Montmorency

What happened?

---

The biggest choke in football history. I wish I could say that is hyperbole.

My home city was so close to winning its first Super Bowl. Dammit Falcons.

Looks like I will be moving outside of the UK in 8 months, definitely going to be an interesting experience. :2thumbsup:

Odd, but I'm starting to like this hairstyle.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

https://i.imgur.com/rCG7TEK.png

I have a bed that I sleep in. It is rather comfortable and I do sleep well, despite the mattress being over 10 years old. However at times I pitch a sleeping bag on the floor of the living room with a bed roll underneath and sleep there. I don't really know why, I just enjoy it.

Peculiarities abound while I sleep. I just don't remember them. Even when I sleep in my bed. Isn't that bizarre?

I was thinking recently as I pondered my life and what has been and the potentiality of what it could be and I settled on occupation. From there, it went to my gaining employment at McDonalds. I envisioned myself throwing hamburger patties at staff and customers. I would then be fired, despite the fun in chaos I produced.

Ah, my resume is not as clean as I would wish. But perhaps that is the moral of the story.

Does it have hamburger grease on it? If I worked there it would. Strange days indeed.

I am now a finalist/short-listed for a National Award. Which is like.. ~:confused: but also :2thumbsup:

Rather amazing feeling.

Won my first award in many many years- outstanding delegation award at a model diplomacy conference this past week!

All Lives Matter.

until you multiply them by the speed of light squared.

Then all lives energy.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Beskar

I am now a finalist/short-listed for a National Award. Which is like.. ~:confused: but also :2thumbsup:

Rather amazing feeling.

---

Interesting...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Hooahguy

Won my first award in many many years- outstanding delegation award at a model diplomacy conference this past week!

---

Aaaand beaten to an award! ~;)

I'm kidding of course, good news on both fronts. :2thumbsup:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Hooahguy

Won my first award in many many years- outstanding delegation award at a model diplomacy conference this past week!

---

You're diplomatic?!???!?

Don't quite know what to say....













~;p

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Seamus Fermanagh

You're diplomatic?!???!?

Don't quite know what to say....

---

I am just full of surprises! :bounce:

I have to visit the market tomorrow. I am hoping that it is well stocked in food stuffs when I arrive. If it isn't, I will shop elsewhere.

I expect it to be well stocked in food stuffs. Therefore, I think I need not concern.

But if it isn't, I will concern as to where I go next.

I had my heart broken again a week ago for the third time by the same girl. Really my fault I suppose. When I first told her I had feelings she said she didnt have them. Then a month later she said she did have feelings and we decided to date. Literally two days later she said she was confused and she didnt have feelings. Somehow we repaired the friendship and then somehow we found ourselves telling one another that we loved each other. She said that things would be different this time and that she really did love me. She said that she had broken down crying or something when she realized that she really did love me. I allowed myself to have those feelings again because I thought that now it was for real. And then during that conference I mentioned earlier her and I started fighting, and she said she didnt have those feelings anymore. So here I am, hurt three :daisy: times by the same girl. Not going to be fooled again though, we arent really talking anymore. At least this time it lasted like two weeks and not two days.

My sincere sympathies. In case it helps a little, I don't think there's any big loss here, given her extreme emotional flexibility. A long relationship with her would probably be very tiring.

Thank you. I flat out told her how emotionally immature she is. People in relationships will have fights, but to just give up the second there is a fight? She needs to grow up big time.

@ Hooahguy,in all matters relating to love and the heart it can of course be a very fragile and all too complicated a thing to navigate.

Made worse if one party is fickle.

Sorry to hear of this heartbreak for you as I know it's a damn horrible thing - pain of heart.

I believe that it's worse than physical pain.

Thanks. Its weird because she was telling me just a few days before the fight that she could imagine marrying me. She was the first woman I ever truly fell for, which just made this so much worse for me. Im getting better though, like keeping a mental list of all the bad things she did to me. Not talking to her helps of course.

http://www.rgj.com/story/news/crime/...rado/98307760/

This was my former co-worker who got shot, I just heard about it this morning. I was looking at pictures of him with his nieces and nephews on Facebook and it broke my heart a little, I wish things wouldn't have turned out like this.

My condoleances

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by PROVOST

I believe that it's worse than physical pain.

---

That probably depends on the type and duration of the physical pain. :sweatdrop:

Steve Buscemi

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

https://i.imgur.com/Y6T5wir.jpg

Kate Atkinson

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

https://i.imgur.com/psd1stp.jpg

Kyrre Hellum

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

https://i.imgur.com/b5bqOVx.jpg

What's up with that? @Philippus Flavius Homovallumus What tribe are they? (This is fun.)

I hear your words but do not understand.

Wait till you see the whites of their lies.

OK - this is the kind of thing that gets a pint poured over your head.

Thou summonest me, now what wene the? Or are thou wood?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Philippus Flavius Homovallumus

OK - this is the kind of thing that gets a pint poured over your head.

Thou summonest me, now what wene the? Or are thou wood?

---

Last post wasn't directed at you.

Actors post was because they have strikingly-similar faces. Just that.

I don't see it.

In fact I'd go so far as to say they look radically different.

Just told my ex that I never ever want to see or hear from her again, and finally blocked her on all forms of social media. Feels really really good. Especially after she told me that she dumped me to chase after an engaged guy. What a scumbag, I am so much better off. Past the mourning phase, well into the "I hate her guts" phase.

She seems to be such a dear. Almost felt bad for the engaged man, but adultery is morally reprehensible, so if he accepts her, he's definitely deserving that hurricane of immaturity and selfishness that is coming to him.
Anyway, glad to hear that you've already recovered. Credit where credit is due, though, she did her best to appear as despicable as possible.

She tried to tell me how he broke off his engagement already, but social media and my friends who know him tell me that was a lie, so that really sped up the "getting over her" process too. She deserves everything that is coming to her. Im not sure I would say that I am totally over her yet, as I still think about her more than I should, but its negative thoughts, no pining for her.

And who knows, against all the odds your ex and her "otherwise affianced" object of desire may end up happily wedded and enjoying a little white-picket-fenced abode somewhere. My dad got my mom to break an engagement in order to marry him...and they lived happily together for 45 years.

What's demonstrably clear is that YOU cannot connect with her any longer and find her choices unworthy of trust -- and that sense of trust is vital. You are clearly well shut of her.

I would caution you, however, to let go of your hate as rapidly as you may. After nerving you to make the best decision for you, it ceases to have much value and will only weigh on your spirit, not hers. Do not wish her ill, and do not let her memory impinge on your heart. Her future is hers, not yours, and you can rightfully reflect now that "there, but for the grace of God (at least metaphorically, I do not recall if you are a believer), go I."

Just realised it's election year.

Over here too.
Oh... does that count as politics?
Oops.

My thoughts have been quite random lately. The problem is that I can't articulate them competently at the moment.

Is it possible to have a lot of drama in your life without being the cause of it? They say that if it smells like :daisy: everywhere you go, just look under your shoe.

Also I became an uncle.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Hooahguy

Is it possible to have a lot of drama in your life without being the cause of it? They say that if it smells like :daisy: everywhere you go, just look under your shoe.

Also I became an uncle.

---

Congrats. Family to love with less of a direct financial responsibility. What is not to like?