Topics

https://youtu.be/-MkRuV0aCcI
Just in case there's any confusion 😉
Hope you're all doing okay!

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20661203

https://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/2018/dec/04/timothy-leary-reagan-troll

According to Leary's account, he kept a newspaper clipping of Reagan defending his decision to keep Leary under minimal security and, on the night of his escape, he left the clipping - with Reagan's remarks helpfully underlined in red - so they would be discovered the next morning.

They have copies of the original documents posted

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1039355803289968642.html

Is this even real life?

In the beginning of June 1964, just months before the Gulf of Tonkin incident inspired standard military action in Southeast Asia, HST offered his services to the President and the American people as the governor of American Samoa and a rational representative in the Pacific.

https://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/2017/aug/16/HST-LBJ-OMG

[First session:]

So I've never played a tabletop RPG before -- ever.  But, on a whim began watching Matt Colville's Running the Game series on YT and, later, Critical Role. So now I'm hooked. I got the Starter Set, Lost Mines of Phandelver, for XMAS and we recently began running the campaign for my wife, son and daughter. My son is 13 and daughter is 11.

So I figured I'll share what transpires.
Painted some minis:

• Son is a duergar fighter with a wiping issue.
• Daughter plays a half-elf cleric trickster domain (acolyte of Loki). She even uses the Loki Pop Vinyl figure as her holy symbol
• Wife plays a scourge aasimar paladin with a pet tiger.

Since this is a learning experience for all of us, we have had some incidents...

First session:
Daughter's passive perception is 12 which matched the ability to detect a snare trap. She says, "i step into the trap anyway"

Took 1d6 blugeoning damage for no good reason.

Second Session:
(STARTER SET SPOILERS)
Our heroes enter the Cragmaw Cave (goblin hideout led by a bugbear named Klarg). Immediately upon entering there's a side area that has a window one can look/crawl through to view the "boss" area area. Upon a successful climb, my son, a duergar fighter, says, "I pull down my pantaloons and take it to browntown" I say, okay make an athletics check...THE DAMMED SPAWN ROLLS A NATURAL 20.

His "character's flaw" is that he doesn't wipe properly and so manages to build up enough pressure to chuck the projectile through the window, into the adjacent room NAILING Klarg on the head who just happens to be walking out in front of a smoldering camp fire.

At this point I'm >forced< to determine the damage for a ranged dookie. I just shrugged and went with 2d6 (after all it /was/ a critical hit). Does 9 damage and knocks him into the camp fire doing an additional 1d6 for a grand total of 13 damage.

http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20150512-bird-grows-face-of-dinosaur

a team has been tampering with the molecular processes that make up a beak in chickens.

By doing so, they have managed to create a chicken embryo with a dinosaur-like snout and palate, similar to that of small feathered dinosaurs like Velociraptor. The results are published in the journal Evolution.

The team's aim was to understand how the bird beak evolved, because the beak is such a vital part of bird anatomy. It has been crucial for their success. The 10,000 or more bird species occupy a wide range of habitats, and many have specialised beaks to help them survive.

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

So hip hop has finally taken hold--Only I've been so distanced from the music i'm really not sure how to recognize "good" hip hop. 

I've always like wu-tang and mos def.  most recently I've been listening to A$AP Mob, who i really like the more ambient quality of their style (at times). I've heard Hilltop Hoods, but not enough.

Anybody have any recommendations?

http://www.vox.com/2015/6/3/8706323/college-professor-afraid

I thought this was a pretty interesting article as the author talks about how good education used to be about challenging students' beliefs and making them think. Now, along the similar lines outrage culture takes, teachers are frightened from challenging students for fear they'll lose their jobs over what ultimately amounts to hurt feelings. This, in turn, causes educators to censor what otherwise would be really good discussions and plain old learning.

Thoughts?

Hey all,

I started reading biographies of America's founding fathers. What I thought was going to a short flight of fancy turned into a minor obsession. 

Specifically what holds my interest are the ideas of liberty it's place in today's society,  the formulation of the two-party system, Alexander Hamilton's and Madison's federalist papers (i'll read someday), the construction of the banking system and revolutionary war (and others) major battle breakdown. The comparison of the French rev and American Rev is also kind of neat. 

There are a great many more topics that are pulling me in many directions.  For all of you, i was wondering if anyone here would recommend any books or other resources that might enhance my learning in these areas. 

My progress so far has been the following:

Washington: A life by Ron Chernow
Benjamin Franklin: An American Life ( i think it was this one)
Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow (about halfway through)
1776 David Mccullough
A whole assortment of youtube vids.

I'd like to read David Mccullough's John Adams and also a Madison bio. 

[DON'T FORGET THAT SOME OF THE LINKS ARE NSFW.]

I wrote a script for the IRC bot that will text message me whenever someone types: !textburns <text>

Here's what was sent since July 23rd.

I substituted characters for the parties involved.

DON'T FORGET THAT SOME OF THE LINKS ARE NSFW.



http://files.g4tv.com/ImageDb3/289306_S/even-batman-poops.jpg


http://shitporn.org/galleries/fresh-brown-shit/base/brown-shit-fullsized-pic-15.jpg


poop pooop poopity poop | Oct 4


DOES THIS WORK TOO | Oct 4


burns PEEEE | Oct 4


Goooooodddddmoooorrrrrniiing Viiiiieeeeetnaaam! | Oct 2


find the hidden dong http://media.cmgdigital.com/shared/lt/lt_cache/thumbnail/960/img/photos/2013/01/11/d4/b3/51bJaEAaAYL._SL500_AA300_.jpg | Oct 2


http://englishmum.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/oh-shit.jpg | Oct 2


http://eurokulture.missouri.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/vladimir-putin-riding-bear.jpg | Oct 1


http://www.drfloras.com/wp-content/themes/drfloras/images/DrFloras-colon-cleansing-day-8-pop-2nd.jpg | Sep 27


http://www.imgur.com/7LGBe2P.jpg | Sep 26


goes out | Sep 25


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttekLBqa6sQ | Sep 25


8 D | Sep 25


http://youtu.be/XgbU_8Fxv6k?t=3m18s | Sep 25


http://i.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/photoshop/9/7/4/318974_v1.jpg | Sep 22


http://i.imgur.com/YwFNU8T.jpg careful when this is flying about as you sleep | Sep 22


https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ByAMLSgCYAAy178.jpg | Sep 20


eris hey what's the deal with people thinking a microwave can charge their cellular devices | Sep 20


http://www.mum.org/violet1.jpg | Sep 20


burns | Sep 20


http://streaming.crocreview.com/galleries/hardcore/bigsausagepizza/carolyn/bigsausagepizza-carolyn-1.jpg | Sep 19


http://media.fukung.net/imgs/d27f12631ab7218f30f3a66defb556dc.jpg | Sep 18


http://i.imgur.com/P7x5fnK.png | Sep 18


http://i.imgur.com/ifOm27s.gif | Sep 18


http://i.imgur.com/JFRjjxt.jpg, | Sep 18


http://bondage.redteens.com/c/dm/tags-ass-bdsm-blindfold-blush-breasts-122728.jpeg | Sep 18


http://i.imgur.com/DhzUZGN.jpg | Sep 18


https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Bx06Z99IUAAsr-D.jpg:large | Sep 18


https://i.imgur.com/bKNKwaI.jpg | Sep 16


http://galleries.adult-empire.com/98/9849//48/name8.jpg | Sep 16


http://i.imgur.com/VEb8k.jpg | Sep 16


http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LWdj-Gq1P-o/TYWUPrYDpOI/AAAAAAAAAMQ/2TD4p0ltGtg/s1600/ellen3.jpg | Sep 14


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4LxHI8uV9A | Sep 13


http://rule34-data-002.paheal.net/_images/53869c2bb137e537ee90c405538cfe42/162170%20-%20Nakoruru%20Purple_Nakoruru%20Samurai_Shodown%20Shitting_dick_nipples%20Tao_Yan%20meme.jpg | Sep 12


pickup lasagna for dinner hunny | Sep 7


aaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa | Sep 2


lol | Sep 1


morning | Sep 1


good | Sep 1


http://pbs.twimg.com/media/BY6TKGmIgAAoyaV.jpg:large | Aug 31


was it you that collected music with Alan Watts samples? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcEDw82vw1c about 5 minutes in, although Folky Celticy stuff rather than chillstep | Aug 28


she led me to your office where you were playing a game with what might have been a nintendo | Aug 28


last night, I had a dream about you, and in this dream, I went to visit you in your new house | Aug 28


http://youtube.com/watch?v=AaWyFlXqpHc | Aug 25


http://i.imgur.com/B4pdRQE.jpg | Aug 23


Encephalopedophilia* | Aug 22


and the subsequently awkwarder moment, when you realize that this is Brainchild pedophilia | Aug 22


That Awkward Moment when you think your Code be so Sexy you wanna Stick in in the USB port and make sweet love to it | Aug 22


http://illuminatiwatcher.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Giorgio-Aliens.jpg | Aug 22


can you pick up pork chops for dinner, honey? thx love ya | Aug 21


INTERLOPERS HERE TOO | Aug 20


CECI N'EST PAS UNE TEXTMESSAGE | Aug 19


I wonder how long it will take before this gets supremely annoying | Aug 19


it's poo time | Aug 19


http://i.imgur.com/kRdzH.gif | Aug 19


Don't let the evil goat in | Aug 18


AAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaa | Aug 18


HI BURNS PHONE | Aug 18


YOU ARE AN UNREGISTERED MUTANT | Aug 18


COME ON POOKY! LET'S BURN THIS MOTHERFUCKER DOWN! | Aug 15


Insects outnumber humans 100000000 to one. | Aug 6


OMG THE HOUSE IS ON FIRE, GET TO DA CHOPPA | Aug 1


YOUR PHONE HAS BEEN VISITED BY THE TEXT MESSAGE OF HAPPINESS | Jul 30


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXqvqXofQcQ| Jul 30


IT WAS the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way -- in short, the period | Jul 30


THERE'S A MONSTER IN THE HALLWAY | Jul 30


<@[spag]> The moon landings were faked. No, really. FAKED, I tell you, FAKED. | Jul 27


it does nothing, nevermind it | Jul 27


<@[spag]> legalize armadillos!!! | Jul 26


ONE CENT FOR ONE ONION #ocfon | Jul 26


we have an IRC emergency, please call 867-5309 asap | Jul 26


BURNS, this is Elbert Huberdink from down Mesa Puerta, do you have free time in your schedule today for a meeting? | Jul 26


when cows laugh, does milk come out of their noses? | Jul 26


I shall now commence texting you the complete text of "Atlas Shrugged" | Jul 25


Got milk? | Jul 25


You up? | Jul 25


what are you wearing | Jul 25


text me! | Jul 25


| Jul 25


girl, you must be an einstein-rosen bridge, because I want to come inside you and be somewhere else. | Jul 25


THE SKY IS FALLING! | Jul 25


I value our friendship | Jul 25


i sniffed ur poop | Jul 25


I hope you have enjoyed reading this twice | Jul 25


[spag] is making unreasonable demands of you | Jul 24


HI BURNS | Jul 24


| Jul 24


GET IN DA CHOPPA | Jul 23


Thanks for letting me suck the pickles from your Big Mac! -- luv Mandy xxx | Jul 23


you left you front door unlocked | Jul 23

I think i'm somewhere between a Maximum-alist and The Butterfly Annihilator.

Source

So I've been wandering around the internet and I've come across some folks who can't seem to agree on this--and admittedly I'm not sure what to think. So I figure, why not bring it up here?

So pro A-Bomb side says that Japan civilians would have fought and/or committed suicide had the US invaded--possibly to the point where they would have obliterated their whole race. They claim that the 200,000 people who died from the bomb would have been upward toward a million Japanese and allied people who died in an invasion.  The Japanese thought we had only one bomb and wanted to keep fighting after Hiroshima. In addition the targets had factories and military bases that, should they have remained would have made a southern invasion incredibly difficult. This is also the position that Truman put forth (which immediately creates red flags for me, but that's just a gut reaction from this day and age.)

The anti A-Bomb side says that the Japanese were going to surrender anyway because the Soviets entered the war in Manchuria. Both Gen. Eisenhower and Gen. MacArthur have stated that the bomb didn't shorten the war.  These folks claim that the bomb was more as an effort at intimidating the Soviets and the Japanese were the perfect opportunity due to Americans' racist tendencies to think of the Japanese as "cockroaches".  That the pending surrender was based on a promise that the Allies would allow the Japanese imperial reign  to remain intact as their culture was used to.

So I DON'T want to believe that bombing and horrid aftermath of dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was the best solution but there seems to be a good case for it based on the evidence I've found.  The anecdotes from Eisenhower and MacArthur are...well anecdotes and Eisenhower was mostly in Europe and Africa anyway.  I heard that MacArthur was more disappointed that he couldn't do what he did best and storm in there--even after Hiroshima.

Ultimately, I WANT to believe that there is never a use for the bomb so I'd like to reconcile this--even if it means swallowing hard truths.

So how do you folks deal with em?

Specifically this is at the workplace where I work as a consultant.  So the relationship is really more like a customer rather than coworker but this person isn't signing my contract either.

I looked it up on the net but a lot of what I see is things like using "I" statements, avoidance and remaining composed...I do all this as a matter of principle so it's not exactly helping.

For our honeymoon!  Got married 11 years ago and we're finally getting around to it.

So since the lot of you have secret knowledge about damn near everything, what tips can you give ol' Burns about New Orleans?  What to see ... what to avoid...you konw...lay it on me plz

http://totallygonzo.org/gonzowriting/rare-articles/

This popped up in my life and I have a feeling some of you will enjoy this as well. The collection spans from 1961 to 1995 and the articles are actually scans from the originals--which is nice. I haven't had a chance to read them (as I'm about to hit the sack) but I suspect a good portion of my Monday morning will be quite occupied.

http://www.technologyreview.com/view/526111/how-the-internet-is-taking-away-americas-religion/

[Computer Scientist Allen Downey] says that the demise is the result of several factors but the most controversial of these is the rise of the Internet. He concludes that the increase in Internet use in the last two decades has caused a significant drop in religious affiliation.

It goes on to indicate that the University of Chicago's General Social Survey's data indicates a other factors causing people to lose their religion.  Those are, a decline in religious upbringing and an increase in college level  education.  Downey says those stats are rather pail in comparison to the data of increased internet use.

If this third factor exists, it must have specific characteristics. It would have to be something new that was increasing in prevalence during the 1990s and 2000s, just like the Internet. "It is hard to imagine what that factor might be," says Downey.

I thought perhaps that the increase in science and technology might account for the unknown data. The Internet is just a smaller factor in increasing knowledge acceleration.   I mean amazing things seem to happen almost weekly. To my mind that tends to trump faith a bit.

What say you, folks?

I love movies.  One of my favorite kinds of movies are those hidden gems that nobody seems to know about.

So I shall begin...

Speaking to Aeon magazine, Dr Roache said drugs could be developed to distort prisoners' minds into thinking time was passing more slowly.
"There are a number of psychoactive drugs that distort people's sense of time, so you could imagine developing a pill or a liquid that made someone feel like they were serving a 1,000-year sentence," she said.

A second scenario would be to upload human minds to computers to speed up the rate at which the mind works, she wrote on her blog.

"If the speed-up were a factor of a million, a millennium of thinking would be accomplished in eight and a half hours... Uploading the mind of a convicted criminal and running it a million times faster than normal would enable the uploaded criminal to serve a 1,000 year sentence in eight-and-a-half hours. This would, obviously, be much cheaper for the taxpayer than extending criminals' lifespans to enable them to serve 1,000 years in real time."

What could possibly go wrong!? I mean as long as the tax payer saves money!      

I mean what a great way to save time and money on our prison pipeline!

Anyway, I realize it's hardly a scientific article (hence the sub-forum) but I thought it brought up an interesting discussion.

http://themetapicture.com/these-books-actually-exist/

Saw this in the /r/bestof feed and thought some of you folks might enjoy it...

Also feel free to correct anything you might disagree with as the comparison in itself is worth it.

http://www.reddit.com/r/LetsTalkMusic/comments/1z7jnu/lets_talk_songs_that_are_good_introductions_to/

Bill Hicks: 20 Years Later by Patton Oswald

This was a pretty neat article by Patton Oswald that was originally supposed to be an intro to the new edition of American Scream by Cynthia True (good read, too) that was supposed to be out in 2012.  He provides a different take on the typical comparison to comedy's forerunners like Lenny Bruce, Pryor, Carlin, Cosby and so on.

http://www.vulture.com/2014/02/alec-baldwin-good-bye-public-life.html

Well, I'm not really a bit Alec Baldwin fan but in his goodbye letter he does bring up some really poignant ideas about the way our culture has changed in the new media age...how liberal media outlets are becoming more like fox.  I started out thinking okay why am I reading about Alec Baldwin and finished pretty impressed. 

So I was wondering if anyone might recommend any resources for a "would be" Paganini.

http://io9.com/the-new-zealand-prime-minister-publicly-denies-being-a-1523573490

http://bgr.com/2014/01/14/net-neutrality-court-ruling/

So I caught the podcast bug...

So far I've subscribed to:

• Dan Carlin's Hardcore History
• Nightvale Radio
• WTF with Marc Maron
• StarTalk Radio (NGT)
• Hak5
• Thrilling Adventure Hour

Now i'm open to damn near anything and would love to hear about what you like as well.

http://www.dailydot.com/lifestyle/mens-rights-punch-feminist-challenge-tumblr-responds/



Sometimes tumblr gets it right...

oh and then after the enema, they sedate him, give him a colonoscopy...

http://thefreethoughtproject.com/cops-sodomize-man-traffic-stop-terrifying/

OH yeah and the hospital says if he doesn't pay, they're going to take him to collections....


You know, suddenly, my day doesn't seem so bad.

 

http://www.parade.com/66716/stefanipollack/snickerdoodle-cookie-butter/


This is so simple and so amazing to me.

http://web.psych.utoronto.ca/psy342/Happiness_Disorder.pdf

Both Radden and Edwards imply that irrationality may be demonstrated by the detection of
cognitive deficits and distortions of one sort or another. There is excellent experimental evidence
that happy people are irrational in this sense. It has been shown that happy people, in comparison
with people who are miserable or depressed, are impaired when retrieving negative events from
long-term memory [29]. Happy people have also been shown to exhibit various biases of judgement
that prevent them from acquiring a realistic understanding of their physical and social environment.
Thus, there is consistent evidence that happy people overestimate their control over environmental
events (often to the point of perceiving completely random events as subject to their will), give
unrealistically positive evaluations of their own achievements, believe that others share their
unrealistic opinions about themselves and show a general lack of even-handedness when comparing
themselves to others [30]. Although the lack of these biases in depressed people has led many
psychiatric researchers to focus their attention on what has come to be known as depressive realism
it is the unrealism of happy people that is more noteworthy and surely clear evidence that such
people should be regarded as psychiatrically disordered.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/02/xiao-feng-gives-birth-to-own-twin_n_4031101.html

Any Animal That Touches This Lethal Lake Turns to Stone

In case you didn't see this on FB yet...

The title's a bit deceptive...but photos are CRAAAAAZY creepy

So if you go to http://live.lmgtfy.com you can watch people entering the queries in realtime (by letter, even)

It's kinda cool for about five minutes or so...but to enhance the experience, a fellow on synirc made this html file that will allow you to type and view in one page.  the query box refreshes every 30 seconds.

I copied the files to my public dropbox for your benefit.

Click Here

if you want to download these for your own personal use, please dl and extract the following link:

( https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/87357637/lmgtfy-html.zip )

http://yaygender.net/pages/gender.pl

Although probably not....






Best bit, imo..."randomize" 

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/monument-god-chaos-materializes-front-oklahoma-city-restaurant-article-1.1439431


Fess up--which one of you did this?

http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2013/06/28/196605763/girls-legos-are-a-hit-but-why-do-girls-need-special-legos

Specifically...

Lego Friends triggered the ire of Joy Pochatila, a scientist and mother of two small girls. Her first reaction to the line was dismissive. "Why can't they just play with regular Legos? Why does it have to be girl-driven?" she wondered.

Is this really an issue? I wondered because I've bought my daughter legos in the past--Spongebob Legos--which are pretty gender neutral.  We've gotten her some lego Friends but she never really embraced Legos like my son did.  Personally, I don't think that there's anything wrong with the Lego Friends collection as it increases choice.  Legos are cool. I STILL play with them.

I'm just  not sure if this is just inane social justice or if there's a legitimate thing here.

https://medium.com/writers-on-writing/1f6bcb600140

Always write under the influence
A sober writer is a pretentious writer...

For me even posting around this place I feel like I have too much restraint.  I'll type something and then delete it.  Maybe I should lubricate the judgment a bit. 

I wonder if I'm alone in feeling this way.

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/video-curse-spinning-statue-manchester-4698583

...for a generalized anxiety/depression thing.

I know you're all pretty intelligent folk--some of whom have probably treaded down this road before and was wondering if you had any advice I could screen?

[!]

This thread is just so that I can have a place to put the commands and updates of this ongoing IRC bot project I'm working on.
The bot serves two purposes: 1. IRC chat bot...obviously and 2. To help me learn python better. 

Some of the scripts have been made by me and some have been made by others and tweaked and some are totally ripped off... So any feedback or comments or hate please feel free to leave here. 


Server: irc.maddshark.net
Channel: #discord

Command prefix: !

• !rou/!roulette/!roulette <name> -- Plays Russian Roulette with self or other.
• !dp <query> -- Queries the Discordipedia at http://discordia.wikia.com/wiki/Discordipedia
• !comic -- creates a comic out of last couple lines in IRC.
• !date -- returns the current date in the discordian calendar.  Credit to Erik Max Francis.  Source: www.alcyone.com/software/discord
• !fortune -- returns a random fortune from the weekly updated http://www.theonion.com/features/horoscope/
• !rpsls [rock|paper|scissors|lizard|Spock] -- Plays a game of RPSLS with bot.
• !dhamma <verse number> -- returns a random or specified verse number from the dhammapada.
• !news -- returns a random newsfeed from PD forum (kinda borked)
• !pd -- returns the newest topics from each PD forum
• !gem/!gematria <word> -- gematria calculator (scrapes gematrix.org)
• !lgs/!lgs <tag> -- pulls random images or searches lgs' tumblr blog based on tag query
• !ch/!choose <choice1>, <choice2>, ... <choicen> -- makes a decision
• !bam [basic|magic|heart|krugr] <message> -- creates a big ass message
• !def/!define/!dictionary <word> -- fetches the definition of <word>
• !u/!urban <phrase> -- looks up phrases on urbandictionary.com
• !e/!etymology <word> -- looks up a word's etymology
• !an/!anagram <phrase> -- fetches anagram for <phrase>
• !seen <nick> -- Tell when a nickname was last in active in irc
• !x -- returns random image from /x/ Paranormal
• !wsg -- returns random image from /wsg/ Worksafe GIF
• !gif -- returns random image from /gif/ Animated Gif
• !supb -- returns random image from /b/ Random
• !down <url> -- checks to see if the site is down
• !gis <phrase> -- returns random google image result
• !python <prog> -- executes python code <prog>"
• !q/!quote [#chan] [nick] [#n]/.quote add <nick> <msg> -- gets random or [#n]th quote by <nick> or from <#chan>adds quote
• !snopes <topic> -- searches snopes for an urban legend about <topic>"
• !stock <symbol> -- gets information about a stock symbol
• !tag <nick> <tag> -- tags the nickname with <tag> || !tag list <tag> -- lists nicknames associate with <tag> || !tag
• delete <nick> <tag> -- deletes <tag>$
• !showtells -- view all pending tell messages (sent in PM)
• !tell <nick> <message> -- relay <message> to <nick> when <nick> is around
• !tweet <text> -- Tweets on the bot's twitter page https://twitter.com/#!/HagbotCeline
• !doom -- displays the countown time until the Germans bomb Pearl Harbor (old 2012 countdown...dated)
• !weather <location> -- gets weather data from Google
• !ich/!iching -- throws a random hexagram, then determines a relevant news article from said hexagram.  Credit: ENKI-][
• !w/!wiki <phrase> -- gets first sentence of wikipedia article on <phrase>
• !wa/!wolframalpha <query> -- scrapes Wolfram Alpha's results for <query> (brokd...srsly...it sux i don't even know why it's still up here)
• !y/!youtube <query> -- returns the first YouTube search result for <query>
• !yell <text> -- bot yells what you say.
• !twitter <twitter username><0-10> -- Returns n'th tweet from user
• !updown <text> -- flips text upsidedown
  
  

https://www.facebook.com/RichardDawkinsFoundation

I srsly doubt this is legitimate--seems more like a joke. 

Or a plug to get more views for this guy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maher_Zain 

[No matter what the outcome, I will not be broken. I am antifragile.]

http://news.yahoo.com/t-hacker-andrew-weev-auernheimer-goes-jail-explainer-175300718.html

Andrew Weev Auernheimer went to jail for hacking into AT&T.

What are the formal charges, then?
One count of identity fraud and one count of conspiracy to access a computer without authorization.
What is his sentence?
41 months in in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. He'll also have to pay $73,000 in damages to AT&T (which, let's remember, wasn't actually damaged in the incident — just embarrassed). Weev tweeted this shortly before the sentence was read: No matter what the outcome, I will not be broken. I am antifragile.

Taleb reference!  awesome. 

But srsly folks...a troll jailed?  Is this a case where this guy's outlandish reputation got him in a place where he could easily been made an example of? 

///Not that this has ever happened before or anything///

Hey folks,

I don't normally like to air my dirty laundry but this whole ordeal is new to me and I would greatly appreciate any advice. 

My wife's father passed away last Sunday. All of last week we went through the funeral process and everything.  Apparently the whole stages in the grieving process is a real thing. 

For reference:
1. Denial/Isolation
2. Anger
3. Bargaining
4. Depression
5. Acceptance

I think my wife and daughter are at step two.  Well I KNOW my wife is--she's very out of line and things that she normally feels are out of control are amplified incredibly.  Which, from what I understand, is a part of that stage...that one feels helpless and will seeks to find sense of control in one's reality.

Her reactions came out of nowhere and it was about halfway through when it hit me that this was attributed to the grief.  At that point I just remained firm and allowed her to get whatever she needed to get out.

The advice I need is how to support her. So any insight you folks might offer for helping my family through this process, I'll sincerely consider. I'm not really that affected since my relationship with her father was amicable but limited.  My kids are surprisingly resilient but do display some of these characteristics, albeit not to the same extent as my wife.

Thanks!!

...now what should I do with it???   

Also: I grabbed an Adafruit cobbler breakout board as well so once I solder it, I'll have access to the GPIO pins.

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/camelswithhammers/2013/01/no-expectations/

I found this interesting article and wanted to pass it on...

The main idea:

I realized that it's possible that when we fully expect a good thing to come in the future that our brain begins registering that thing as something we already have. To the extent that this is in fact the case, it might explain why things we never had often feel like things we have lost when we don't get them.

Wanting what we cannot have leads to entitlement:

But insofar as we have a project of thriving and being pleased, it is counterproductive, distracting, and a waste of energy to want what cannot be had. And in the vast majority of cases, we really are wise enough not to. But not when we start expecting it. Because once we start expecting something, I think our brains latch onto it like it's ours already. It is no longer one of the good things our brain accepts it cannot have "because one cannot get everything one could want". Suddenly, this is one of the things we convince ourselves we must have. We perceive it as an entitlement.

Regarding loss:

What kills us are the losses, real or imaginary...But however it gets there and however we experience it, having a good thing we believe belongs to us taken away has great power to make us miserable. And I suspect that when we are denied something we expected to have, emotionally and/or cognitively, that thing feels like something we had and lost.

And here's the irrational part. We become so obsessed with that which we feel has been robbed from us that we lose focus of all the other good things that we could have instead.

And if you have a genuinely good thing and you irretrievably lose it (or if it is best you let it go for the future prospect of something better), don't feel entitled to it. Accept that it is gone. Actively cherish what you had. Celebrate its positive and enduring place in your life. Memorialize it. Keep it. Your hurting brain is going to cast about for explanations of why you're hurting. It's going to be frustrated and terrified by its helplessness to retrieve what it lost and to keep things from being lost. In order to regain your sense of power, you will be tempted to blame yourself because subconsciously you're probably reasoning that if it's your fault, that means you were powerful after all and that means maybe next time you won't blow it and lose something special. But you're not omnipotent. You cannot keep all good things.

Regarding realtionships:

Expectations don't just misdirect our focus so that we waste our energies and squander opportunities. They also corrupt love. Expectations that someone who is wrong for us is the only one who could ever please us keep us trapped in unhealthy relationships. Expectations we can change someone make us resent them when they don't change. Expectations that our love will match some ideal we have built up in our minds make us dissatisfied with the rich reality of an actual love we actually have with actual people.

And even when we are with good people, who we should love, we ruin it if we start putting expectations on them as to how they should feel or express their love. When we decide "my lover will do this great thing for me" we now resent them when they don't do it–even if they never promised it or never should have promised it, given who they are.

Desire and love:

I'm not saying "resign from desire". No. Desire. But remember that your desires can be satisfied a million ways, not just one. Desire kinds of good, not their particular instantiations. Desire love. But don't try to predict or expect or feel entitled to it from any particular person or through any particular gesture. Just constantly seek out good people and offer them your best.

Because I love when this happens.

I'll begin...

Wonderwall - Ryan Adams

I found this today.

http://webseitz.fluxent.com/wiki/GeneralSemantics

It's a chapter summary of Korzybski's book Science and Sanity.  Admittedly I made it through...well 10 pages of the original text (might be inflating it a bit).  Since this appears to be basically the cliff notes to this horrible text, I figure you folks (at least those of you who may take an interest in General Semantics or NLP) might also enjoy it.

I've been becoming more and more interested in knots and wraps and such...and was curious if anyone else here does this kind of thing

I have other stuff I'll throw into this thread ... mainly for my own personal record...but in the mean time:

Turk's Head knot


Tutorial

[Mythopoetic men's movement]

What do you folks think of Robert Bly and the mythopoetic men's movement?  I stumbled across this fellow and will be checking out some audiobooks of his ideas. I was just curious to see if I could get a wider perspective around these parts.

And, yeah, I realize there's always the relative truth to organizations like these....


Mythopoetic men's movement
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


The mythopoetic men's movement (sometimes mistakenly referred to simply as the men's movement) refers to a loose collection of organizations active in men's work since the early 1980s. The mythopoetic men's movement grew as a reaction to the second-wave feminist movement. The mythopoetic men's movement aims to liberate men from the constraints of the modern world which keep them from being in touch with their true masculine nature, and is best known for the rituals that take place during their gatherings. While in the public eye in the early 1990s, the movement carries on more quietly in The ManKind Project and independent psychologico-spiritual practitioners. Mythopoets adopted a general style of psychological self-help inspired by the work of Robert Bly, Robert A. Johnson, Joseph Campbell, and other Jungian authors.


The leaders of the mythopoetic men's movement believed that modernization had led to the feminization of men. Mythopoets believed that the rise of the urban industrial society "trapped men into straitjackets of rationality, thus blunting the powerful emotional communion and collective spiritual transcendence that they believe men in tribal societies typically enjoyed" (p. 20 Messner). Most importantly, the movement sought to restore the "deep masculine" to men who had lost it in their more modern lifestyles. Other causes for the loss of the "deep masculine" include:

• Men no longer being comrades who celebrated their masculinity together. Rather, they had become competitors within their workplaces.
• Men spending more time in their houses with women than they did with men (in non-competitive terms outside of work). Interaction with women generally kept men from realizing their internal masculinity.
• Feminism bringing attention to the 'feminine voice.' Through this, the mythopoetic men felt that their voices had been muted (though Bly and others are careful in not blaming feminism for this).
• The separation of men from their fathers kept them from being truly initiated into manhood, and was a source of emotional damage.
• Men were suffering further emotional damage due to feminist accusations about sexism. Men should celebrate their differences from women, rather than feeling guilty about them.
• Men being discouraged from expressing their emotions. Male inexpressivity is an epidemic and does not correspond to their "deep masculine" natures.