IJBMer Updates

Stormtroper

Whenever I go back to the forums I'm always surprised by the amount of familiar faces, though at the same time with the amount of unfamiliar ones the place still feels completely different.

glennmagusharvey

Andy Warhol made one of his earliest films, Mrs. Warhol (black-and-white, 66 minutes), in the basement apartment of his house, where his mother (Julia Warhola) lived.

source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basement_apartment
(no reference given)

literal mother's basement
Don't knock it. =P

glennmagusharvey

half-asleep economics thought:

in circumstances where people often get inadequate resources because gathering a full set of what one needs is far more difficult than just getting some, some scenarios result in a lot of cooperative activity, wherein people trade things between each other, while others result in little cooperative activity, wherein people largely keep to themselves and rely more on optimizing their own personal-use production

this can be seen in games with virtual items; some have very robust inter-person trading while some see people preferring to sit on their own items and accumulate (possibly optimizedly) the resources they need.

what makes them differ?

fourteenwings

It's probably obvious by now, but I should probably stop dragging my feet and make it official: I've left IJBM.

I didn't want to do this, and this isn't a decision I make lightly. There are many reasons this way and that, but I think we've all got the general gist and that's good enough. I also understand that this will certainly accelerate the site's eventual calcification, something that I'd tried to prevent for quite a while.

I guess one new reason is that I was proven right quite quickly the first time I came back.

I think a great way to present everything in image form is:



Because I do want to be as transparent as possible, I will be staying in contact with Stormtroper off-site.

If you, that is, GMH and lrdgck want to reach me, you can always PM me. I'll get it.

I don't think we should overlook what we achieved here, for years and years (and years), with no real incentive or direction. It was a good run.

So thank you for all of that.

Stormtroper

Awww, when I saw that the latest post had been made by you, I had hope that we'd be seeing more of you around these parts.
Well, you know my opinion. It is unfortunate, but if it can't be helped...
I wish things had turned out differently.

glennmagusharvey

Well, I wish you well, in any case.

Also I was curious and went and googled "epistemic divorce" and was surprised that this phrase is apparently actually in use, not just as a meme?

lrdgck

heyyyyyy

I mean, I know I've been posting metal versus j-pop and Cajun or Middle-Eastern versus sweets, but it seemed all fine \_(o_O)_/

glennmagusharvey

If I recall correctly, he's argued with both you and me on politics, me more heavily of course. Given the picture he posted, and the fact that basically nothing else involved drama, that's probably it.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I recall him saying that he kept getting into arguments in multiple places. Given how strongly held his beliefs were (are?) regarding the grave danger that certain ideas have to western culture and society, I could imagine that he wanted to be able to air his opinions here, but the fact that I would respond (and would probably argue with him) frustrated this idea too.

lrdgck

So, we have a M:tG thread in its 31-st page, and the last time I was in was on the second. I used to play, but all within the same circle of friends and the latest I felt approachably close to up-to-date was around the Ravnica block, so guess I was a bit intimidated.

Still am, but I might take a peek once in a while.

Stormtroper

Ooh, I didn't know you were into MtG at one point. I'm guessing you're referring to the first Ravnica(: City of Guilds), the 2006 block, and not Return to Ravnica (the 2012 one that was current when the thread was in its infancy) and definitely not the one that was released two years ago?
But yeah, it can be intimidating being out of touch with the game for a while and then suddenly there's a 5 mana 6/6 with a million abilities, creatures that are also of every other card type (including colored artifacts and whatever a planeswalker is), and a gingerbread man.
It helps to know that none of us actually know what we're doing when a new set is out (e.g. now).
I've managed to keep the thread going but it's usually just throwing words into the air.
On unrelated stuff, I can't find one of the MIT OCW series of lectures, apparenlty this is the only video left on YouTube (uploaded by what looks like an unofficial account). I wonder if it no longer exists on the internet.
Also, I've been finding it surprisingly hard to find archeological plans/schematics (not of the era, obviously) of ancient monuments.

glennmagusharvey

> MIT OCW

This reminds me i should go back to watching episodes of this one Spanish-teaching telenovela which was used as a teaching tool in an MIT OCW course on Spanish.

Stormtroper

I know there's (was?) an OCW courseware based on learning Italian through cooking recipes.

Stormtroper

I know there's (was?) an OCW courseware based on learning Italian through cooking recipes.

lrdgck

Today I learned there's a whole long page on fanlore.org wiki devoted to Vulcan genitalia (and most of that content in turn is devoted to Spock's). Not that I am surprised by it.

lrdgck

I watch that one series about playing chess and now I'm passing the time playing against the computer. Beginner bots don't feel like I'm learning and advanced bots keep pissing me off, smart bastards.

glennmagusharvey

Which one series? I think there are a bunch lol

Stormtroper

I wonder if that's whyvYoutube has been recommending me a bunch of Chess videos.

glennmagusharvey

Happy Moo Year, everyone!

lrdgck

Moo!

Stormtroper

Translator's note: "moo" means "moo".

Stormtroper

Once again the main water pump is malfunctioning, hopefully it'll be something simple like last time when the pressure switch contacts were overly corroded.

lrdgck

>the main water pump is malfunctioning

I hear a big thirteen on your back is in vogue this part of the year

Stormtroper

i dun geddit, but I bet it involves a Netflix show.

lrdgck

Actually, it involves Fallout. /soniamdisappoint

Stormtroper

Should have known.
Whatever it is that the pumping system had, it seems to have fixed on its own. Perhaps the level meter was stuck somehow and as the water level raised it got unstuck?

glennmagusharvey

Anyone ever have the situation of having one hand flushing the toilet and another hand beneath the running tap at the same time and feel like it's like connecting power to ground?

Stormtroper

Not at all. You'll probably want to check that out, if there's something (water heater?) that's connected to a pipe somewhere.
The closest thing I've had was a suicide shower that might zap you if you touch the (metal) shower handle.

glennmagusharvey

it's not a physical feeling, just a conceptual idea

Stormtroper

Nopes, haven't had one of those.

glennmagusharvey

IJBM: the "Boobs of Steel" trope

It's basically a list of instances where "character with large boobs" coincides with "character who fights physically".