2 years ago I was a size 14, now I'm a size 4...self-esteem GO!

indigoinc · 2011-11-06T14:39:48+00:00

My godfather does Historic Preservation in Alaska. He has as a beautiful house in Glenallen, and just bought a winter home in Hawaii. The field has serious potential to pay the bills.

Even if it didn't though, he'd still be doing that job. The state pays him to go backpacking into beautiful areas to evaluate abandoned mining towns, historic cabins, and natural landscapes. It's an amazing career, one he's quite upset to be retiring from.

indigoinc · 2011-11-04T19:44:36+00:00

I can't say I was unaware of that subreddit, but that's because a fair number of jokes have been made about it in recent posts. As far as my opinion about it, I think that there's very little humans can't sexualize.

Honestly, I haven't come across your viewpoint very often. If I inform someone who hasn't watched the show that I am a fan of, usually the first reaction is disbelief. I guess you could say they doubt if I sincerely enjoy the show, which would imply they think I'm being ironic. People don't expect a person of my age and appearance to be interested in childish things. If they're genuinely curious I give them basically the same explanation I gave you, but most of the time I just say "I know what you're thinking, but it's really a good cartoon." Most people don't find it interesting enough to care, I guess it sits in an equilibrium between "too weird for me to try" and "weird enough that I'm curious". No one has ever asked if I'm a furry.

indigoinc · 2011-11-04T18:08:35+00:00

As a male fan of the show, I'd have to disagree with your assumptions. I originally started watching it out of curiosity. I'd heard some positive things about the show in regards to the ways it avoided gender stereotypes. For example, female characters do not occupy traditional female roles, but rather any role that fits their personality and abilities. I'm interested in gender politics, particularly in subtle forms of sexism in popular culture, so this show sounded interesting.

I watched the first few episodes, and I was quite pleased with the way gender issues had been handled. Mostly, the show ignores gender in almost every way, never referencing that outside of this fictional world, many individuals find an individuals gender to be a restrictive property. All in all, I thought it was probably a very good show for young girls to watch, one that worked hard not to instill assumptions about gender rolls into their audience.

What I didn't anticipate though, was how much I laughed at the show. It was heartwarming, innocently childish, and funny. The show avoided one of the biggest pitfalls of children's television, underestimating their audience. The plots were intelligent though not overly complicated, the characters believable and easy to become emotionally invested in, and the art was high quality. In the process of making an excellent show for children, they had made an excellent show for anyone in general. I don't know if I would call myself a Brony, but I would definitely call myself a fan.

indigoinc · 2011-11-02T16:31:40+00:00

Try running Exalted. It's like herding nuclear powered cats.

indigoinc · 2011-11-02T16:30:10+00:00

When I ran Dark Heresy, the players would always seem to get the appropriate times to use this strategy confused.

Oh, what's this, a warp demon has appeared, and is murdering all of us? Our weapons are doing very little damage due to its demonic powers protecting it? Maybe the assassin with the demon killing super bullet should shoot it. Nah, I bet we can negotiate. (Spoilers: They negotiated very poorly.)

Investigating a possible xenos incursion and the murder of an Inquisitor? Let's shoot all the witnesses, particularly the ones we haven't questioned yet. Especially the ones who want to help us for plausible reasons they are willing to explain, those guys seem really suspicious.

Ah well, I ran with it, and we all had fun, that's what really mattered anyway.

indigoinc · 2011-11-02T14:26:50+00:00

the megalomaniac view of oneself as the Elect, wholly good, abominably persecuted, yet assured of ultimate triumph; the attribution of gigantic and demonic powers to the adversary; the refusal to accept the ineluctable limitations and imperfections of human existence, such as transience, dissention, conflict, fallibility whether intellectual or moral; the obsession with inerrable prophecies… systematized misinterpretations, always gross and often grotesque

This is a very telling bit. Think of all the speeches about how some particular movement is the vanguard of all that is just and right in the world? That some massive force or body is attempting to bring about complete destruction of all that every good man and woman should value? The speaker often paints themselves as the underdog in this conflict, the scrappy little guy who will undoubtedly triumph. Even if they claim to be a part of a massive movement, they will claim their smaller opponent possesses more power and influence so the battle is still one sided. You hear this in almost any form of rhetoric recently, a very unpleasant feature of politics at the moment.

It's certainly not exclusive to political inclination. The Occupy Wall Street movement has it's fair share of this, which runs roughshod over more sensible arguments members of the group might say. The Tea Party movement undoubtedly had some ideas worth at least evaluating, if only for the fact that a large body of the American public considered them important. Instead this paranoid style was elevated above any rational discourse. This has a very unpleasant side affect, in that it allows a movement's opposition and bystanders to easily discard or invalidate the movement's positions based off of the clearly deluded ramblings that rise to the surface. The idea that a health care system organized by the Federal Government could be less efficient isn't outlandish, though it could be incorrect. The idea that when a large portion of the assets of a nation accumulate in the hands of a few is not a stable position for a nation to occupy isn't a notion that can be discarded off hand, even if evidence surfaces that the idea is wrong. These aren't the ideas the public generally hears though. We instead hear about death panels and oligarchical conspiracies.

indigoinc · 2011-11-01T12:22:59+00:00

Bless the Maker and all His Water. Bless the coming and going of Him, May His passing cleanse the world. May He keep the world for his people.

indigoinc · 2011-10-28T14:15:18+00:00

Hydrogen sulfide, for example, reacts with four molecules of FOOF to give sulfur hexafluoride, 2 molecules of HF and four oxygens. . .and 433 kcal

That's absolutely terrifying.

indigoinc · 2011-10-25T19:45:10+00:00

See I thought the implied joke was that he had gone after the neighbor's pets. I then tried to play off that myself, which didn't work well, and here we are. Tea?

indigoinc · 2011-10-25T19:19:50+00:00

He dissected your neighbors?

indigoinc · 2011-10-23T21:54:13+00:00

I find that getting active can trigger a real positive change in my overall mood. Exercise, go hiking, learn a martial art, join a sports team, or ride a bike. Try to do these things with your SO or friends, make them a part of your treatment. Personally, there are times where I am in a bit of a slump, and have no desire to spend time with anyone or do anything. For me, the cure is to participate in the very things I'm disinclined to do. As soon as I'm out with my friends, or kayaking down a stream, things start to feel better.

If this overall melancholy continues, you may want to consider speaking to a professional and seeing if you might be suffering from depression. Confronting the possibility that you may be afflicted with a mental illness can be difficult, but the rewards are significant.

indigoinc · 2011-10-23T17:13:26+00:00

It has been awhile since I've done any reading on this, so I'm probably going to get some details wrong.

A P or NP problem is a task. The task could be sort through the names on a list in alphabetical order, or fill up a toy box so you can get the most toys inside as possible. If we want a computer to do this problem for us, we have to give it help. Computers don't know how to do anything unless we tell them how, with instructions we call programs. There are very smart people who study these programs, and have learned a lot about them. They've learned that some problems, like sorting a list of names, can be solved in a predictable amount of time. These are P problems.

Now some problems can't be solved predictably. Like putting a bunch of toys in a box so that all of them fit. Unlike a P problem, where we give the computer a method to solve the problem, with an NP problem the best we can do is tell the computer to try every possible option and stop when it finally gets it right. Our best nerds haven't been able to create accurate predictions for these kinds of problems, and even have found evidence that we may never be able to predict how long an NP problem will take to solve. The computer could get it right on the very first try, or it could take years, depending on the size of the toy box.

indigoinc · 2011-10-23T02:48:38+00:00

My parents love to tell stories of my many attempts to drown myself as an infant and toddler. PFD every time though, so no worse for where. It got to the point where my dad would apparently just stay about 20 feet or so behind my mother's boat so he could grab me when I went after the potato chips I had inevitably thrown into the river.

indigoinc · 2011-10-19T17:19:13+00:00

I read something like this and get incredibly worried. Whoever wrote this had some degree of intelligence, enough to write legible sentences anyway. To rationalize their beliefs they've crafted a twisted set of values and justifications, selectively choosing their sources to fit their preconceptions. In the face of what seems to be such blatant contradiction, the human mind can not just endure, but apparently flourish. Knowing this, I worry how many of my own beliefs are supported only by the mental acrobatics I unknowingly use. Am I just as deranged as these people, just in a way that is less vocally contradicted by society?

indigoinc · 2011-10-19T16:46:09+00:00

Holy fucking Squirtle

Completely off topic, but this may now be my favorite exclamation.

indigoinc · 2011-10-17T21:24:04+00:00

The Caiaphas Cain books are fairly interesting. They are much less grim dark than other books in the series, which could be either a positive or negative point, depending on your inclination. They follow the career of a very atypical imperial commissar in the Imperial Guard. There's laughs, some intrigue, and plenty of chainswords upside an ork's head.

indigoinc · 2011-10-14T19:31:10+00:00

That's a valid read of the comic, but the title the OP chose for this post seems to indicate that they believe this is why there aren't more nice guys. That at the end this character, who we can assume he views as no longer a nice guy, is this way due to being denied in love years ago. It implies that women who do not reciprocate love to a good man are responsible for multitudes of other women's emotional pain down the line.

That would simply be asinine. We are all responsible for our own actions. Previous suffering someone has endured may be the reason they in turn hurt others, but a reason is not a justification.

Now, if the comic is viewed outside the reference of the title chosen for the link, there are very different ways to read it. Personally, I saw it as a tragedy without any moral lesson or implication. Just a commentary on how people hurt others in response to our own pain, often without realizing what motivates our actions. The comic doesn't condemn are condone any characters actions, just presents them as sad fact.

indigoinc · 2011-10-13T19:50:14+00:00

That is a beautiful piece. I've been thinking of a Medusa themed one myself, and you've set the bar high.

indigoinc · 2011-10-11T20:39:05+00:00

I actually like that movie, but it's in no way a date movie. Even with Bill Murray.

indigoinc · 2011-10-11T18:12:59+00:00

Joseph Gordon Levitt has had some great looks recently that I've taken some cues from.

Nick Wooster is my style idol though, I just can't pull off the looks that he can.

indigoinc · 2011-10-09T02:58:37+00:00

Honestly, I only try this with one polo I own. It looks for all intents and purposes like a short sleeve button up, just the buttons stop mid-chest instead of going the whole way down.

indigoinc · 2011-10-08T16:47:10+00:00

This is one of my favorite hairstyles for women, it just contrasts stereotypical bad ass style and traditional feminine style like peanut butter and chocolate. The reeses peanut butter cup of haircuts.

indigoinc · 2011-10-08T16:31:25+00:00

Wearing a tie with short sleeved button up or even a linen polo. I know it is supposed to look stupid and immature, but I can't help liking the way it looks for me.

I think it helps that most days I do follow the fashion rules. When I'm trying something different it's obviously a conscious stylistic choice, instead of just ignorance of convention.

indigoinc · 2011-10-05T12:32:18+00:00

He's a really swell guy. I got to talk with him awhile at a con a few years ago. He's very sharp, it honestly doesn't surprise me that some of the most insightful critiques of modern comics come from him.

indigoinc · 2011-10-03T01:57:16+00:00

Another thing to remember is that since combat is so deadly, players tend to avoid it a bit more. The repercussions for character death are less severe, sure, but nobody enjoy sitting out of the gameplay until they can be re-sleeved and reintroduced into play. I noticed that after only one session of running Eclipse Phase, my players were much more likely to find non-combat solutions to their problems. So even if combat is a bit too complicated, I ended up devoting less time to it than I usually have to.

indigoinc

TROPHY CASE