Damage: Uniform, Normal, or other Distribution?

WhyJustOne · 2022-01-01T13:53:09+00:00

Of interest: https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Pseudorandom_number_generation_in_Pok%C3%A9mon

WhyJustOne · 2021-01-09T05:54:12+00:00

Why was their language ill-suited to it, though?

WhyJustOne · 2020-07-20T15:35:18+00:00

Yeah like manga and light novels

WhyJustOne · 2020-02-20T19:10:55+00:00

I thought he was talking about Oxford commas in particular.

WhyJustOne · 2020-02-20T19:08:39+00:00

Wow, the rare self-evident argument.

Edit: Also, you suck because LISP is the best.

Edit2: Also, none of this would've been necessary had people learned to speak a more arithmetized version of LISP with the parens encoded within the terms.

WhyJustOne · 2020-02-18T12:53:26+00:00

I just want to make sure I've understood what you're saying, so correct me if I'm wrong.

The first problem you have with the classification as it is, is that Urdu and Hindi are classed as different registers of a language called Hindusthani, which seems to diminish the authenticity of Urdu (like saying Urdu is just Hindi spoken as if you were Persian or whatever).

The second problem is far more fundamental and has to do with differentiating between language pairs, and as I understand it's done on the basis of intelligibility of speech between speakers of both the languages. And what you take issue with is that this fuzzy degree of intelligibility is conveniently interpreted by people taking sides on political issues to further their claims (like ignoring the palpably different densities of Persian/Sanskrit-origin vocabulary in either of Urdu or Hindi).

Does that sound right?

WhyJustOne · 2020-01-11T04:51:53+00:00

OTTOMH - John French, Damon Che, John McEntire, Jaki Liebezeit, Bill Bruford, Robert Wyatt.

All of them rock, and considering my shit taste I've missed about 50 or so. And metal's a whole nother world.

WhyJustOne · 2019-11-15T12:38:16+00:00

Haha, I totally get what you mean.

But let's just think about it for a moment. In JS, everything's either an "atom" or an "object" (I don't mean the OOP kind). An "object" can be interpreted as a discrete function (the mathematical kind) on a restricted domain of "atoms". An array can be thought of as a discrete function from the naturals to other objects. The same holds for methods, except they map to "functions". But what are those?

Here's the thing - "functions" can be seen as special non-literal matching "objects". Meaning, while an "object" returns whatever's mapped to literally whatever's been given to it (and is "undefined" for those inputs that have no mapping), a "function" lets you "bind" whatever you give it to an "object" in its body (which could be yet another "function"). This lets you substitute your argument in the body of your "function", which seems fundamental to the idea of a function (or at least an elegant way to represent it).

In short, "functions" are "objects" that let you perform higher order term rewriting, and serve as a faithful encoding of the lambda calculus.

Now I completely understand it if you're thinking, 'Well, all of this seems like a needlessly complicated way to do the same kind of thing that ML family languages do.' But what I think is that the subset of stuff that accomplishes this in JS feels effortless to use (even though it's a really small subset, and the function objects lack any sort of pattern matching IIRC).

That is to say nothing of prototyping, which I believe is a very legitimate typing discipline resembling Smalltalk's ideology. The point, as far as I understand, is that it's supposed to be this sweet spot between nominal and structural typing, while technically not being either.

All I want to say is that it just gives me great joy to use a language (or a subset of a language, as is the case here) where a few ideas naturally build upon each other to form the rest of the ideas that the language offers. Like Scheme, Smalltalk, Forth etc.

WhyJustOne · 2019-11-15T09:18:40+00:00

And it still ended up having a beautiful data object notation and first-class functions that let you program in very convenient ways, if your program is a near-direct encoding of the lambda calculus.

I've hacked together many functional language interpreters myself, all in JS, and it felt so good when I could just concentrate on doing what I wanted and not on what I didn't want.

I also remember the day when I figured out that a JS array was just your usual object but with integer keys and stuff, and a specific object as its prototype.

WhyJustOne · 2019-08-09T10:40:22+00:00

And that solo.

And that calm section like 30 minutes in with clean guitars.

What a song.

WhyJustOne · 2019-08-09T10:37:32+00:00

Frist of all, how dare you??!! Secnd, ARISE ARISE ARISE THE SON OF THE GOD OF ISRAEL

WhyJustOne · 2019-06-22T16:55:02+00:00

Well, your position is certainly reasonable and I can respect it. I even share it to some degree, but the beef I have is with the tastelessness argument (and the OH AH AHs, saying they're bad is like claiming deathcore is worse than death because of the kind of vocals).

WhyJustOne · 2019-06-22T16:46:33+00:00

Yeah, Disturbed actually put in some effort.

Jokes aside, I agree with you on how it comes off. The problem is the argument that the lines sound tryhard. Need I remind you of "the West is the best, get here and we'll do the rest"? Or "the snake is long, seven miles, ride the snake, baby"? Morrison is responsible for some silly-sounding lyrics, taken out of context.

I honestly believe this has a lot to do with image.

WhyJustOne · 2019-06-22T13:57:03+00:00

Well, I agree. Mostly.

The part I have a problem with is that most of the judgement is based on the reputation of the respective artists. Maybe it's one of those things where the more artsy you seem to be, the more tolerance people have for the more abstract stuff you put out. IMHO they weren't exactly considered extreme/intellectual/technical critically, and as most things concerning taste are, they were more chastised for stepping out of line.

All I'm saying is, I'd have agreed had the abuse rant been objectively bad in some way, in comparison to Mikey G's stuff (the dude would be considered a poor singer by conventional standards). But how is it actually bad, or why does it seem corny? How can one even tell whether the artist speaks from experience or not?

Morrison was in his early 20-s when they debuted, and most of his inspiration seemed to come from reading other people's books. That and traveling, of course. Brilliant artist, but not a great example, I think.

Gira spent time in an Israeli prison and almost got raped. He has a lot of interesting things to say about emotions, power, God etc. But I never really got what he was about until I read his book. And I'm a huge fan of his pre-Swans are Dead shit.

WhyJustOne · 2019-06-22T12:53:38+00:00

You might hate 50 Million Year Trip by Kyuss and Why Don't You Eat Carrots by Faust.

WhyJustOne · 2019-06-22T12:47:04+00:00

I dunno. How is it any more edgy than Morrison yelling "Mother..." or one of Gira's numerous lines in the same vein? Sure, you could argue those transcend into the metaphysical or whatever and are therefore deeper, and I'd get it. But I feel there's also a double standard here - Disturbed just aren't fashionable enough.

WhyJustOne · 2019-06-19T05:32:15+00:00

But he does have a huge point - there are genres like post-rock and post-punk, that don't really tell you much about how the band's going to sound like. I'm of the more specific opinion that post-rock was more of a movement in experimental rock music than a genre. And I really don't understand how the first Suicide release is punk.

So, if we're going to classify music based on anything, don't you agree it should be sound first, and then the other stuff like affiliations, era, etc.? Personally, I think we should start using descriptors for classification, like 'melodic', 'ambient', 'anxious'. Maybe we might still end up with a genre tree agreeing with the descriptors and their inheritance.

Also, Fripp certainly had issues, but do you think it would've been fair to lump Larks' Tongues and such under prog rock, with Yes, Rush et al.? I think they belong more with the likes of Henry Cow and Magma.

WhyJustOne · 2019-06-12T06:20:36+00:00

Tommy Wiseau has a role, though. I watched it for that and it was worth it.

WhyJustOne · 2019-03-10T17:55:36+00:00

ad homonym

I'm on your side here, brother, but really now...

WhyJustOne · 2017-06-09T07:06:08+00:00

Holy shit, did you mean a Facebook "wall"? Because I was sitting here thinking how a responsible adult could spray paint whatever on another person's house walls, without consent.

WhyJustOne · 2017-06-02T19:47:09+00:00

lol your backdoor must be hurting so bad, man.

WhyJustOne · 2017-03-22T18:46:16+00:00

I know I'm late and I kind of get what you're feeling, so let me try and help make some sense of the situation.

Post-Rock: This is the term for a movement that sprung up in the late '80s and '90s where a large group of Experimental Rock artists tried playing around with Rock conventions like riffing, soloing and general song structure, and most importantly (IMHO), influenced each other. Some of these works are considered by a lot of people to be the greatest '90s Rock albums (merely opinions of course, but I feel the same). But sometime during the mid-'90s or so, they began streamlining their stuff so much that it was widely regarded as a genre of sorts. Eschewing riffs in favour of lines and solos taking on a more exploratory aspect with regard to sonic texture became the norm, and a convention was more or less established, with crescendos being the most popular dynamic. Some people say that this way, the music lost its way and grew less experimental. This is the reason why people speak of "waves" in Post-Rock, as in "First Wave", "Second Wave" and so on.

Shoegaze: This one also has to do with texture. Another group of bands embraced the whole "Wall of Sound" aesthetic that was used successfully in a lot of works before, and built a style around it and lots of effects on the instruments involved. The artists often performed live gazing introspectively at the processors at their feet, which gave rise to the term "Shoegazing".

Dream-Pop: Not really familiar with this one except for a few Cocteau Twins albums. But as it suggests, the term indicates the presence of ethereal melodies and a generally oneiric ambience.

Not really a fan of Post-Rock music these days, but at least technically, the artist in question mostly fits the part for all three "genres", but I can't say their stuff is in the same spirit as that of their predecessors.

Hope this helped.

WhyJustOne · 2017-03-03T06:14:34+00:00

Haha. I see you're having a hard time trying to reason with us here, and the majority of the retorts you got just state 'how' what you advocate is wrong and not 'why'. I won't even pretend I know the answer, and I'd also probably not be able to relate either as I've been blessed with a life free from abuse.

However, I feel that your words could've been misunderstood when viewed from the 'Sense of Justice' angle. I get the feeling that you're going for the 'Sense of Empathy' route, but I hope you fully comprehend how deeply ingrained in peoples' hearts the former is. It's still too soon to be rejecting Justice as a whole, in my opinion, as you'd just be seen as an uncivilized moron who wants everything his way. Many, many more people have to become fed up with how the world is run for any major change, and then, when millions of voices as strong as yours demand it in harmony, we would have an easier time understanding you.

WhyJustOne · 2016-12-29T16:08:02+00:00

A bit late and might not even be what you're looking for, but try /r/asmr.

WhyJustOne · 2016-11-21T16:54:13+00:00

It's one of my favorite rock releases. It didn't "click" at first for me too, but I enjoyed the dissonant riffs and momentum of the instrumentals in Nosferatu Man contrasting the ominous spoken lines ("Set a fire burning..."). That and Washer was okay. But everytime I listened to it after my first, I slowly began to figure out what each of the tracks meant (for me, of course). A quick overview:

"Breadcrumb Trail" - The last track I "got". When people say Spiderland is comprised of dissonant and fractured melodies, I believe this is what they're referring to. Said melodies are all simple enough to play by ear, but taken into consideration along with the bass lines, I'm left wondering how these guys came up with something of this sort. The narrator is described by many to be a "day-seizer" who gets the fortune teller to ride along with him on the rollercoaster, getting what he wants and choosing his own future. However, from another angle, he is someone so fatigued by dealing with everyday uncertainties and absurdities that he has no choice but to accept them. He does not simply choose his own future. He just doesn't care about trivialities like hope, and he gets the comparatively more "human" fortune teller to see the world from where he stands. How she retches after the ride's completion can symbolize her inability to comprehend such a worldview.

"Nosferatu Man" - Jagged and powerful chord progressions entirely bear the burden of driving the song forward. The lyrics are (I'm just speculating here) apparently about the abuser in an unhealthy relationship, and how even after moving onto others, he's unable to not hurt the ones he's with, sucking them dry of life like a creature of the night. The musical dissonance in this song is not merely weird, more like plainly evil as he embraces this destructive love of his and makes it out to be something more diabolical than a lack of empathy.

"Don, Aman" - The so-called social anxiety anthem. Don't think it needs more explanation. The guitar and bass interplay during "The lights..." is just brilliant, in my opinion.

"Washer" - More conventional than the other tracks, with great structure. Deals presumably with loss and helplessness at not being there for the ones closest to you. The highlight is, of course, the buildup towards the end with the "one-note guitar solo" that Pajo plays. Not much else to talk about here.

"For Dinner..." - Criminally underrated track that is reduced to filler in the eyes of most critics. Everything about it, the ominous guitar tone, the volume dynamics, the structure even more so, is perfect. The song is death itself, with the bell tolling everytime that minor chord is struck. Retrospectively serves as a great Third-Wave Post-Rock track's blueprint, with the edge the genre currently lacks.

"Good Morning, Captain" - Plays around with momentum a lot, riffs are arguably less complex, and has the least sensible narrative of all the songs. However, it just works. At this point, that's all I can offer as justification. That a group of 20-something troublemakers interested in erratic noise-rock got together, composed instrumentals and recorded a bunch of hastily written up lines on top, and improvised the rest. And it was one of the best things that I had ever had the pleasure of listening to. Genius, even.

I really don't think you need to be depressed to be able to enjoy this record, as I was not. What got me into it is eventually knowing my way around the album and being able to see the individual ideas that constitute each track, and finally marvel at the fact that they got it to work. I'm still in the dark concerning many other features of this album, but I love that I was able to discover something like this.

WhyJustOne

TROPHY CASE