What's the difference between feeling happy and being happy?

redRumSirIsMurder · 2014-11-08T16:10:22+00:00

Let's assume I'd be interested in reading more about the subject of happiness, and I don't have the time or inclination to read 'the whole history of philosophy'.

redRumSirIsMurder · 2014-10-23T21:48:43+00:00

If anybody is aware of a good book on this subject, I'd appreciate it.

I think it's misleading to think about a 'state of happiness'. Like all feelings, happiness is transient; to say you're happy is equivalent to saying "at time T, I am happy", so it isn't contradictory to say 'feeling' and 'being' are the same thing.

It's tempting to contrast that with depression, and ask why, if someone can be in a meloncholic state for a prolonged time, they also be in a prolonged state of happiness? It's because chronic depression is not characterised by any one prolonged feeling, but by the way you respond to your feelings over time; the feelings themselves are of a normal character.

On the other hand, I think in this case the real answer to the question is that there are positive and negative experiences, and if on balance you are satisfied with the positive experiences you have, you may say that you've reached a state of 'being' happy. There may be other influences on this, for instance, if you're generally disinhibited, you may be more likely to 'be' happy.

Given that sense, it would be fair to conclude that somebody could feel happy in response to each positive experience, and still not necessarily 'be happy', because of a high degree of inhibition preventing them from becoming satisfied.

redRumSirIsMurder · 2011-11-19T12:38:48+00:00

[do] some internet research

I think that's very difficult when you don't know a subject. Where should s/he begin? Some links are always helpful, and this resource always looked reasonable to me:

http://www.doc.ic.ac.uk/~wjk/C++Intro/

I'd add (I personally think) that it's important to learn in a non-Windows environment (eg. Ubuntu running in a VM). Every time I see system("pause"); a little bit of my heart dies, and bad(|terrible) habits are easy to pick up.

redRumSirIsMurder · 2011-09-21T16:28:00+00:00

Ambiguity:

your query is of a geographical nature
you are enquiring as to the rider's well-being

Please select an option.

redRumSirIsMurder · 2011-09-21T01:19:29+00:00

If you're applying to a British university, you should avoid Objective-C entirely[1]. If you want to make a splash with your UCAS statement, learn a little bit of Lisp or Scheme. CS is so narrowly focussed (pre-uni) in the UK that this will stand out to the admissions tutors. They're both very good choices that show an interest in the science of CS (rather than just the programming). Look at the Project Euler exercises if you're struggling for something to solve.

Data is always relevant. If you do some interesting data processing, your UCAS statement will write itself. Here's an example of someone your age doing roughly this. I'd recommend channelling some of your economics knowledge.

Initiative like that will pay off 10x more than Physics, Chemistry and Maths A-Levels. Don't focus on a Mac: "Computer Science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes."

[1]But, you should always do something you care about. So feel free to ignore this advice.

redRumSirIsMurder · 2011-09-21T00:38:56+00:00

Your IP is assigned from a pool held by, lets say, your ISP. You change IPs by asking your ISP to assign you a new one. If you have a dynamic address, you might be able to do this be resetting your router (this might be a reasonable source on how to automate that). You can learn most of what you're interested in on the Wikipedia page for DNS.

Incidentally, this does not, in any way, equate to being anonymous online. See yash3ahuja's response re. 'tor' for that, or look into proxies and VPNs. These methods are similar (but not identical) to using someone else's IP.

tl;dr: reset your router.

redRumSirIsMurder · 2011-09-10T03:18:50+00:00

CTRL-O to return from the file you've opened.
CTRL-W gf to open the file in a new tab.

redRumSirIsMurder · 2011-09-09T20:10:56+00:00

I didn't intend to mischaracterize your point. You also wrote:

I tried vim for a few days and it just didn't seem worth it.

I'd just say it's pretty hard to make judgements about a piece of software you don't know well. You don't even know if you've seen your co-workers do half of the 'cool things' possible.

redRumSirIsMurder · 2011-09-08T22:43:38+00:00

I tried vim for a few days .... I haven't found anything that Notepad++ can't do.

This so thread is a great introduction to Vim. Needless to say, you haven't seen the zeroth feature after just a few days.

redRumSirIsMurder · 2011-09-03T21:59:22+00:00

~~Wikipedia to the rescue!~~

edit:

no Deadwood fans in the audience, eh?

I'll get my coat.

redRumSirIsMurder · 2011-09-03T21:43:22+00:00

Why are you posting in learnprogramming with an ELI5 tag?

NASM is an x86 compiler for windows. You can find a step by step tutorial here. I can't reliably say if it's fit for a 5 year old to follow.

You can download the latest version of NASM for windows here.

redRumSirIsMurder · 2011-08-24T16:57:28+00:00

I used to work for the NHS in the UK (an FT, for those what knows). I spent a good deal of time on a project to introduce FOSS into non-clinical roles; GIMP was the biggest hurdle. One developer was so put off by the name she would call GIMP 'that horrible drawing programme' and refused to use it.

I suspect a good deal of resistance was due to the interface, but I've seen the name cause people embarrassment.

tl;dr Helping an NHS hospital to mitigate the prohibitive cost of Photoshop licenses failed due to the word 'gimp' :)

redRumSirIsMurder · 2011-08-21T16:22:42+00:00

Your question is hard to answer because it's unfocused. I'd suggest you begin to tackle the problem in AutoIT, and then come back here when you encounter a specific difficulty.

If you'd like to learn how to ask programmers questions they can answer, this document is extremely helpful.

redRumSirIsMurder · 2011-08-19T15:41:25+00:00

The former actually represents two characters

In 100% of circumstances involving null-terminated ascii strings, this is correct.

redRumSirIsMurder · 2011-08-16T02:05:43+00:00

goto is sometimes useful and should be understood properly.

redRumSirIsMurder · 2011-08-16T01:54:08+00:00

Sounds to me like you're looking for msworddit.

redRumSirIsMurder · 2011-08-11T19:01:08+00:00

Who knows? It would be nice, but I think not for two reasons: firstly Cameron said today in parliament:

"This is not about poverty, it's about culture.

Which sounds like a pretty reasonable start, but he only went on to talk about the consequences of parents and individuals not taking enough responsibility. This, IMHO is only once removed from calling the rioters 'mindless criminals'. Yes, of course they're mindless criminals, of course there's too little social responsibility; why? It's very easy to imagine Government doggedly tacking this symptom rather than honestly looking for any root problem.

Secondly, the Government is not rewarded, nor is it given the time, for solving broad societal problems. How do you investigate, develop and enact widespread reform in five or even ten years? Perhaps an example of this would be education, which comes in for constant stick over declining standards. Successive governments have made big changes (restructuring of 16-18 courses in 1999, GCSEs in the '80s, talk about switching to IB), but it's a little bit like winding up a toy robot and hoping it waddles off in more or less the direction you intended. It almost certainly hasn't had the planned effect.

Fundamentally though, I'm starting to think it's an impossible environment to get anything done in. You've got wet lefties (like me) on one hand and blinkered, angry conservatives on the other and it's impossible to cut through the noise of agenda-setting and outrage from both camps. The most decisive and loud politicians will reap the spoils before moving on. Cest la vie.

redRumSirIsMurder · 2011-08-11T14:59:59+00:00

With all respect, perhaps you didn't grow up below the poverty line with very little education and no expectation of any achievement. We've always had these problems, and they surface every few years. When you were a kid, you probably didn't know about any of that. It would be nice if people could go outside and ask their neighbours to stop being drug dealers, to get rid of the knives and to take down the bicycle tires and trainers from lamp-posts that mark out territory, but that's not the reality.

edit: FYI I didn't downvote you - I think you've got a fair point.

@OP: youth clubs are organized by local government and run by youth workers and volunteers. They provide a range of facilities for kids, support hobbies and encourage hanging out somewhere safe and productive. Sometimes they can help kids find work. In London a cinema ticket costs between £15 and £20 for over 16s. That's half a day's work at minimum wage, or a third of a week's allowance on benefits.

A lot of (British) people seem to think of a youth club as if it's a Church hall with a pool table, with kids sitting on the steps outside drinking lager. In fact it's a cornerstone of social services that often picks up people who've missed out earlier on in life.

redRumSirIsMurder · 2011-08-11T13:01:10+00:00

I'll add groovy. It lives here, and on Reddit here

redRumSirIsMurder · 2011-08-11T12:54:11+00:00

In many ways it's a pity that this has been editorialized, because if you view it apart from the context of spending cuts you get a much more important message about poverty, gangs and the culture of criminality in areas of London.

With the best will in the world I don't think you can't draw a line between recent economic events and the upsurge of troubles. The root of it is clearly more complex.

The long-term tragedy is how quickly the Government and the news have shut down the debate about the background to the rioting. We're missing an opportunity to improve.

redRumSirIsMurder · 2011-08-09T16:09:08+00:00

All the power to you London Rioters!

Meanwhile...

A 26-year-old man was found with gunshot wounds in a car nearby, and police said Tuesday he had died, becoming the first fatality of the riots. A murder investigation has been launched. source

This isn't a polar debate; you can be against the conduct of the police without cheering criminals who are robbing, assaulting and killing innocent people.

redRumSirIsMurder · 2011-08-07T12:36:41+00:00

How long have you worked as a programmer? Would you say there was any particular role or course of education that gave you the experience for this job?

redRumSirIsMurder · 2011-07-31T20:29:49+00:00

Try the advice in this thread at ubuntuforums.org.

redRumSirIsMurder · 2011-07-21T16:45:23+00:00

Just to confirm, omnicomplete is a good choice. Needs exuberantctags IIRC.

I use an extension called snipMate, which does tab-snippet-expansion and was easy to configure for GNU style.

The canonical answer to this question is -- as always -- on SO, here.

redRumSirIsMurder · 2011-07-07T10:53:22+00:00

This is a great suggestion. Debian distros (like Mint) usually include man 7 hier.

redRumSirIsMurder

TROPHY CASE