The Random Musings Thread

[GaijinPunch]

You would fit right in in Tokyo. Nobody pays attention... ever.

[Moniker]

U2 fucking sucks (except maybe for Joshua Tree). I would gladly beat the shit out of Bono, and do something unspeakably horrible to 'The Edge' because that's an unforgivably presumptuous handle. That is all.

[Ruldra]

You know you lead a sheltered life when you live for almost 20 years in one of the most dangerous cities in the world and you have yet to suffer a single robbery or act of violence.

[GaijinPunch]

I heard two Laura Brannigan songs yesterday, randomly. (Well, one was in a movie, and it was covered, but still).

[Moniker]

Had a dream where women who don't wear undergarments or nylons develop a second set of knockers just below the navel.

It was pretty hot at the time, but, in my waking state, I'm ambivalent.

[Lord Satori]

That reminds me of when I had a dream awhile ago that I had little mushrooms growing out of my chest.

[Krooze L-Roy]

They just said "shmup" on Walking Dead. Pretty sure that's the first time I've ever heard that word used on TV.

[Ruldra]

I keep telling myself I like shy girls, but when I actually try to talk to them, I ask myself afterwards why do I even bother.

Trying to chat with this cute shy girl in class, but after two unsuccessful attempts, she's actively avoiding me now. A couple of times she made a not so subtle effort to move away after noticing me nearby. I feel like deliberately getting closer just to tease and watch her reaction, but obviously it's just gonna make her avoid me even more.

And it's not like they're much fun to talk to anyway, you're the one doing all the effort to keep the conversation going. I like when a girl actually contributes back to the talking and tease me, shy girls just don't do that. Maybe they get more talkative when they open up but any attempt of mine to make them leave their shells have failed miserably.

And then I go talk to any other girl and the conversation just flows naturally. Well not always, but it's much easier to approach a "normal" girl.

So yeah, I don't know why I keep going after the shy ones. It's nothing but frustration.

[ACSeraph]

^I don't think the problem is that she's shy...

[Necronopticous]

[Moniker]

Life'll kick you in the balls, fuck you up the ass, and then have the audacity to ask, "What's your problem?"

[Ruldra]

Life'll kick you in the balls, fuck you up the ass, and then have the audacity to ask, "What's your problem?"

That's when you get up and say "Fuck YOU!". Life will put you down but you get stronger every time you get up and keep going.

I really like this quote from Marcus Aurelius: "Nothing happens to any man that he is not formed by nature to bear". His book is one of my favorite recent acquisitions.

[Doctor Butler]

The free-to-play Soul Calibur was released in the US, and it doesn't work. On the first day.

[Ruldra]

The free-to-play Soul Calibur was released in the US, and it doesn't work. On the first day.

Not only it doesn't have multiplayer (yes it's a singleplayer Soul Calibur game) but it requires server connection to play. Fuck that.

[Doctor Butler]

Not only it doesn't have multiplayer (yes it's a singleplayer Soul Calibur game) but it requires server connection to play. Fuck that.

lol, yeah. I'd much prefer something akin to Tekken Rev.

Hardly matters, I have SC V, and Lost Sword is free anyway, so what the hell.

[ACSeraph]

Was chatting with a friend about how coop and AI partners ruin horror games when we both realized it doesn't have to.

What if they made a new John Carpenter's The Thing game, and it had drop in drop out coop. But the thing is, it didn't tell you when people dropped in or out, and when they did the game could mark the dropped out player as being "infected" without you ever even knowing...

Tell me that game wouldn't print money.

[nasty_wolverine]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7DlBXWDqSI what the flying fuck? is this a thing? a little more faith in humanity lost...

edit: NSFW, turn the volume WAY down...

[Moniker]

Just rewatched for the umpteenth time Pulp Fiction, and it occurred to me that Bruce Willis hasn't been in anything good for ages. WTF? The alternatively cowardly/greedy/traditionalist/egotistical/heroic Butch was like the centerpiece of that movie. He clearly has the look and the talent. Why no goodness?

[Ed Oscuro]

Just rewatched for the umpteenth time Pulp Fiction, and it occurred to me that Bruce Willis hasn't been in anything good for ages. WTF? The alternatively cowardly/greedy/traditionalist/egotistical/heroic Butch was like the centerpiece of that movie. He clearly has the look and the talent. Why no goodness?

I think he got basically blacklisted. Some old rumors that people thought he's too pushy and kind of hard to work with. Hell if I know; I'd like to see him in more stuff too!

[PAPER/ARTILLERY]

Just reminded me of the last Die Hard. God that was awful.

[50Hz]

Found this video today (jump scares).
Not sure I'll ever understand Jap horror.

[kilauea]

I just spent an hour listening to First Aid Kit and Little Dragon in the sun. And now I'm going to eat meatballs on my ikea plates.

I FUCKING LOVE SWEDEN.

[Moniker]

Don't be both blonde and susceptible to male pattern baldness. Wearing glasses makes it worse. Every haircut I get is a minor tragedy.

[President_Obama]

Summer isn't necessarily the best time of year to begin cultivating a beard. I feel like a greasy rapist/murderer.

[Moniker]

I can say, "Seriously, I need to get laid," without moving my lips. Yes, that's sad on many levels. (Try it!..... )

[Moniker]

Nothing beats a pair of clearly intelligent eyes. I don't subscribe to mysticism, but the eyes are truly a window. You can tell anything you need to know about a person by looking into their eyes.

[nasty_wolverine]

You can tell anything you need to know about a person by looking into their eyes.

but sometimes, all you see is the abyss stare back at you.

[Blinge]

Nothing beats a pair of clearly intelligent eyes. I don't subscribe to mysticism, but the eyes are truly a window. You can tell anything you need to know about a person by looking into their eyes.

Really? I think my eyes look fucking sunken and dead.

unrelated:
Most dedicated gamers have miles and miles of ground memorised; maps, floorplans of levels, entire virtual worlds stored in our minds. Once we've added characters, stories, lore, items, techniques to that list it's a huge amount of data to remember. That's before we even get into muscle memory, complex inputs and the discipline required to pull them off.

I wonder if this process improves our ability to retain and recall information? Do we enjoy this process so much because of the basic human love of learning? I also wonder sometimes if storing so much data wastes mental resources better suited to y'know.. real life.

[nasty_wolverine]

I also wonder sometimes if storing so much data wastes mental resources better suited to y'know.. real life.

Not really. The plasticity of the Brain is amazing. Its extremely flexible. The Brains shuffling information all over the place practically every second, more so when you sleep.

Think of it this way. Once you learn how to ride a bike you never really forget. Maybe you need a while to get use to once again but its always shorter duration when you were learning it. So, when you are learning how to ride a bike, its more less present in the working memory (think of it like a computer RAM), once you get used to it, it stored of in long term memory (like a harddisk). Some memories are stored such that they have to be actively recalled (like stored in a compressed file format which takes time to decompress), some are stored such that it kicks in as soon as its required like the muscle memory required to ride a bike (analogous to memory mapped files which are meant to be loaded superfast).

Now just like a computer, the Brain can only keep so many things in working memory (the Ram). This is something that magicians exploit, they give you too many things to keep track off, so that the initial thing goes out of notice (like a FIFO list, which discards first entered object when it goes over its assigned limit). Things after that are a little bit more fuzzy. Long term memory does go through shuffling, some memories get erased, some memories get combined (there's a theory that says, dreams are essentially a mix of memories and emotions, the process of which we experience when the brain does house keeping). Muscle memory (like memory mapped files, which are kept that way because its essential to have fast load times, because its essential to have them ready whenever required) almost never deteriorate, mostly because a lot of muscle memory things are directly related to survival (eg. walking, whenever you walk you dont remember how to walk and then walk, you just walk) unless you have a degenerative brain disease or undergone some percussive tuning.

So in other words, the brain will always store information that is necessary. Optional memories (like the dinner you had last week) get recycled all the time. Also, worth mentioning is the brains amazing recovery options, lost memories can be regained, although it requires quite a lot of hardwork or a big shock, but not all memories can be regained (like the name of the kid who sat in the front row in 5th grade)

But the most amazing feature of the Human Brain is the fact that its so versatile and flexible. We have the ability to take a experience gained from a particular situation and map it to a new and unexpected situation. So, learning things in one situation does actually, even if a little, help workout solutions in other unrelated solutions. Playing 3D video games especially improves spatial recognition abilities. I would assume RTS helps in developing skills required for dealing with problems in a systematic manner. From personal experience, Shmups help a lot in increasing your patience, working out plans, train your reflexes (hand eye coordination). So, no, you are not wasting brain resources by playing games. You might be just making you brain a lot more versatile by playing games.

But keep in mind, keep giving your brain same stimulus over and over again and it will be fed up. Otherwise known as burnout. So everything in moderation. If all you keep doing is playing games, even if your brain learns all those valuable skills that can be used elsewhere, it does not have the opportunity. If games are in the mix of other activities, with everything being in moderation, the brain does amazing cross-application of skills, which raise your stats a lot more evenly, making you "better".

/i dont know why it turned into a rant

[drauch]

Bah, screw "real life."

If you can function and communicate with others, eat and provide for yourself, why not make what you love the biggest part of your life?