Topic: miscellaneous musings (Read 620055 times)

Loki · « **Reply #50 on:** 07 Jul 2014, 23:26 »

The logic is that action in a dream occurs at the speed of thought.
Just watch it

It has very nice visual effects (including Leonardo DiCaprio

) if nothing else.

Masterpiece · « **Reply #51 on:** 08 Jul 2014, 02:40 »

If you honestly think I haven't watched the shit out of Inception already, you're gravely mistaken.

~~GarandMarine~~ · « **Reply #52 on:** 08 Jul 2014, 10:30 »

I see video at certain speeds out of sync... like it's moving too fast and is all jumpy.

94ssd · « **Reply #53 on:** 08 Jul 2014, 21:35 »

I was going to make a lengthy post, but it was straying too far into the 'revealing other people's personal information' territory, so I'll just make the statement that "voluntourism" is shitty and stupid.

Noxx · « **Reply #54 on:** 09 Jul 2014, 03:23 »

Right? Like what the hell is that, you're placating your middle class guilt over your ability to afford a vacation? Knock that crap off.

Carl-E · « **Reply #55 on:** 09 Jul 2014, 08:11 »

On the other hand, a "vacation" church service trip created a work crew that built a ramp on our house for my daughter. Hosted by a local church, the majority of the crew was from out of state.

She's able to come and go as she pleases for the first time in 5 years.

I know, not quite the same thing, but they do sometimes get lumped together.

94ssd · « **Reply #56 on:** 09 Jul 2014, 09:20 »

I used to volunteer with a group that built houses in Corbin, Kentucky. Certainly not a vacation, and I learned wiring over a few years of being there. But I still wonder what more could have been done if the money that was spent to feed, transport and house us was used to spend more money on building or, hell, hire people to do the work and create desperately needed jobs. And a mob of 50 of teenagers, most of whom have no idea what they're doing and have to be taught, isn't really an efficient way to do the work either.

Aimless · « **Reply #57 on:** 10 Jul 2014, 14:26 »

This is not much of a musing but I was just struck by the thought that "The Sunk Costs Fallacy" would perhaps be a good indie band name

Method of Madness · « **Reply #58 on:** 10 Jul 2014, 17:02 »

Honestly, there's no shortage of good band names to be found by looking at things, and yet there are so many bands with terrible names.

Like Fallout Boy. Nobody likes Milhouse, why should anyone like them?

cesium133 · « **Reply #59 on:** 10 Jul 2014, 18:18 »

Aw come on Windows, can't take that long to list the contents of a directory with 450,000 files in it, can it?

edit (to avoid double posting)--
I was flipping channels on the TV and came across a baseball game (Anaheim Angels vs. Texas Rangers). The announcer said, "The runner is about 27 feet from the base and the pitcher throws the ball to the first baseman. How fast does the runner have to run to get back to the base? You gotta be a mathematical genius to figure that out. It must be like 200 miles per hour."

Carl-E · « **Reply #60 on:** 10 Jul 2014, 19:59 »

jwhouk · « **Reply #61 on:** 10 Jul 2014, 20:38 »

Ran out of paper, did you?

Grognard · « **Reply #62 on:** 10 Jul 2014, 20:53 »

so all of the family's sunburn is peeling severely.
... dead skin is nasty.

LTK · « **Reply #63 on:** 11 Jul 2014, 05:15 »

Does anyone else often hear everyday sounds, like the sound of a glass being set on a table or the rustle of a plastic bag, that immediately remind you of the opening note of a song you listen to regularly and start it playing in your head?

nekowafer · « **Reply #64 on:** 11 Jul 2014, 07:23 »

Method of Madness · « **Reply #65 on:** 11 Jul 2014, 08:13 »

Sometimes.

LTK · « **Reply #66 on:** 11 Jul 2014, 08:33 »

Oh good, I thought I was weird.

(That hypothesis has not yet been conclusively disproven.)

Masterpiece · « **Reply #67 on:** 11 Jul 2014, 09:57 »

In reverse, I sometimes hear songs and some sounds in the song make me think I got a phone notification.

Barmymoo · « **Reply #68 on:** 11 Jul 2014, 10:04 »

Yeah I do that, my brother had a song he really liked and it had a sound in it that made me check my phone every single time, despite knowing that it was the song.

Masterpiece · « **Reply #69 on:** 11 Jul 2014, 10:06 »

Checking the phone is almost like a reflex.

Noxx · « **Reply #70 on:** 11 Jul 2014, 11:36 »

Quote from: Masterpiece on 11 Jul 2014, 10:06

Checking the phone is almost like a reflex.

When I was a boy, if you wanted to check the phone you had to go home and look in the kitchen, dagnabbit :wheelchair:

Carl-E · « **Reply #71 on:** 12 Jul 2014, 11:30 »

Anyone else get the phantom buzz against your leg (or wherever you usually keep you phone)?

Even when it's not on vibrate...

pwhodges · « **Reply #72 on:** 12 Jul 2014, 11:42 »

Noxx · « **Reply #73 on:** 12 Jul 2014, 11:43 »

Totally.

BeoPuppy · « **Reply #74 on:** 12 Jul 2014, 11:46 »

Quote from: Carl-E on 12 Jul 2014, 11:30

Anyone else get the phantom buzz against your leg (or wherever you usually keep you phone)?

Even when it's not on vibrate...

Often. And often a few seconds before the alarm actually goes off.

jwhouk · « **Reply #75 on:** 12 Jul 2014, 12:33 »

Frequently.

Loki · « **Reply #76 on:** 12 Jul 2014, 13:50 »

Okay, I dont know where to put it. I am reading a short story written in the 1930s (for anyone curious, The Gilded Pupil by Ethel Lina White), and the following dialog occurs:

Quote

"I want someone to exercise a moral influence on [my fifteen year old daughter]. She is not normal".
"Thymus gland?", hinted Ann.

Anyone know what specifically this refers to? So far I found out that the purpose of the thymus gland was largely unknown and it was blamed for all sorts of problems, up to sudden infant death syndrome (cf "The thymus: from past misconception to present recognition" by one John C. Leonidas) I assume it got blamed for hormonal changes in teenagers?

Aimless · « **Reply #77 on:** 12 Jul 2014, 14:10 »

It may be a reference to some quasi-scientific theory of psychology that was in vogue at the time, similar to:

Quote

THYMUS-CENTRED TYPE

As already mentioned, the thymus has a great influence upon the sex characteristics and sexual life of each person. It lies at the base of the throat at the upper chest, and in early childhood (up to six or seven) is very large and active. Sometimes, however, it does not become as inactive as it should, and we then have hyperthymus persons.

These people carry childhood traits into adult life. Their skin is soft and rounded, there is little sex differentiation, as the organs have been retarded in their development. Thus the thymus-centred male will lack the aggressiveness and dominant emotional attitude of the balanced man, while the women seem sexless and lack the retiring disposition.

The thymus-centred person is often one in whom unbalanced attraction towards his or her own sex is a pathological situation, and not a development from mental or emotional disturbance. The sex organs of such people have been retarded in their normal development, and thus their body is not receiving sufficient male or female hormones to polarise and stabilise them in their own sex.

One also finds that their moral nature does not become mature, and also, because of a pathological cause, they can sometimes become inveterate liars or even criminals.

http://dreamhawk.com/body-and-mind/glandular-types/

(of course this particular group of ideas seem to be more recent than your story, but perhaps your story refers to their antecedents?)

Thrillho · « **Reply #78 on:** 13 Jul 2014, 03:16 »

Quote from: Barmymoo on 11 Jul 2014, 10:04

Yeah I do that, my brother had a song he really liked and it had a sound in it that made me check my phone every single time, despite knowing that it was the song.

There is a moment in 'The Perfect Drug' by Nine Inch Nails where I swear to fucking God it sounds like someone saying my name. When I was younger and still using a tape player for my walks to school it drove me crazy on a daily basis.

Loki · « **Reply #79 on:** 13 Jul 2014, 03:31 »

Quote

Just know that I am on my way (know that i am on my way)
It doesn't matter where or when there's trouble
If ya just call my name

~~GarandMarine~~ · « **Reply #80 on:** 13 Jul 2014, 08:17 »

This affected me quite deeply. Though the editor who let this get published with the numerous formatting and writing issues needs to be smacked with a cricket bat.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2689826/Bedrooms-fallen-Haunting-black-white-photos-offer-rare-glimpse-lives-young-soldiers-killed-action.html

You smug-faced crowds with kindling eye
Who cheer when soldier lads march by,
Sneak home and pray you'll never know
The hell where youth and laughter go.

ChaoSera · « **Reply #81 on:** 13 Jul 2014, 08:45 »

Quote from: Loki on 12 Jul 2014, 13:50

Okay, I dont know where to put it.

It seems you have bigger problems than references to glands you're not getting...

Loki · « **Reply #82 on:** 13 Jul 2014, 15:15 »

Well, it wouldn't really fit anywhere.

Nyithra · « **Reply #83 on:** 13 Jul 2014, 15:19 »

My phone has a blinking notification light and sometimes I see it blinking out of the corner of my eye even though it isn't really blinking and it's so frustrating

LTK · « **Reply #84 on:** 13 Jul 2014, 16:07 »

My phone's notification light had the annoying habit of pulsing just slowly enough that when it caught my eye, it would be off again when I looked in its direction, and it would take just long enough to come back on for me to start doubting whether it had blinked at all. I'm glad Cyanogenmod let me customize that, I made it blink twice as fast now.

~~GarandMarine~~ · « **Reply #85 on:** 18 Jul 2014, 20:55 »

http://www.tickld.com/x/this-guy-just-changed-the-way-we-think-about-godandtheuniverse

Have some deep thoughts.

Loki · « **Reply #86 on:** 18 Jul 2014, 23:57 »

I have seen this before, but this is the first time I see an attribution to the author.

Carl-E · « **Reply #87 on:** 19 Jul 2014, 08:30 »

Quote from: GarandMarine on 18 Jul 2014, 20:55

Have some deep thoughts.

How U-U of you!

(click to show/hide)

~~GarandMarine~~ · « **Reply #88 on:** 19 Jul 2014, 10:56 »

I was U-U for awhile, and I have strong Unitarian leanings, but that's before I found the particular road I like to walk. I still hold all paths are valid though.

Kugai · « **Reply #89 on:** 19 Jul 2014, 14:20 »

So does that make the film Defending Your Life a Unitarian film?

Carl-E · « **Reply #90 on:** 19 Jul 2014, 16:57 »

I vaguely remember that one - had to look it up and view a clip.

And no, not really. IIRC it was more of a Buddhist version of "The Screwtape Letters".

Method of Madness · « **Reply #91 on:** 20 Jul 2014, 18:09 »

I'm technically Jewish, as is Sarah. She grew up reform, I grew up nothing in particular (I was Jewish, but no bar mitzvah or temple or anything). I'm thinking of getting an adult bar mitzvah before we get married, just to get in touch with my heritage and because we plan on raising our kids Jewish someday. Probably a reform temple, but I've read some interesting things about reconstructionist Judaism. The rabbi who is doing our wedding is probably the only I'll ask to help me with my bar mitzvah though.

BeoPuppy · « **Reply #92 on:** 22 Jul 2014, 07:55 »

I would pay to see a car repair service called Technically Jewish, or somesuch.

~~GarandMarine~~ · « **Reply #93 on:** 22 Jul 2014, 09:58 »

Terrible thought of the day that I might have to say for my stand-up comedy routine, being in Cleveland Ohio is probably what kissing your second cousin at a family reunion is like, it only lasts a moment but the regret lasts a lifetime

Method of Madness · « **Reply #94 on:** 22 Jul 2014, 14:38 »

I've only been in Cleveland for a few hours during a road trip (stopped to go to to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and then get lunch/caffeine for the rest of the trip), but honestly? I rather enjoyed my brief time there.

But since you mentioned Cleveland...

~~GarandMarine~~ · « **Reply #95 on:** 22 Jul 2014, 14:42 »

Whoops. I mean Columbus. Not Cleveland.

Redball · « **Reply #96 on:** 22 Jul 2014, 14:49 »

Quote from: GarandMarine on 22 Jul 2014, 09:58

being in Cleveland Ohio is probably what kissing your second cousin at a family reunion is like, it only lasts a moment but the regret lasts a lifetime

I spent a pleasant night with a second cousin. Lots of hanky minus PIV panky, and it was sort of a lifetime ago -- Thanksgiving 1962 comes to mind. No regrets.

~~GarandMarine~~ · « **Reply #97 on:** 22 Jul 2014, 14:53 »

I can only assume Redball actually has a response to that as I seem to recall he's from the general area... (area being the entire freaking MidWest >.>

I will say I fully expect that line to haunt me. Whether I use it or not, if I make it at stand up, my first big show, for whatever fucking reason, will be Colombus, Ohio. If Comedy Central ever does a special for me, it will be there. An entire city as my personal albatross, dangling about my neck as I paddle towards comedic doom.

Redball · « **Reply #98 on:** 22 Jul 2014, 15:09 »

This was in Detroit, in an upstairs bedroom on Trinity on the far northwest side. 16165 comes to mind. The cousin, Mary, was a little younger than I. She died a few years ago, an ordained minister, ministering to whom I'm not sure. There's a lifetime for ya'!

Redball · « **Reply #99 on:** 22 Jul 2014, 15:20 »

I'm expecting five or six buggies of Amish families in the next hour or so, coming to swim in my little 16x32 pool. If the numbers are like previous years, there'll be three dozen or so, from infants to 30 and 40-somethings. The adult women probably won't be in the pool.
And don't say "pics or it didn't happen." The understanding I have with these folks is that there won't be pics. Dammit.

THESE FORUMS NOW CLOSED (read only)

Author Topic: miscellaneous musings (Read 620055 times)