This kind of thing is unreasonably amusing to me. (2013/01/21)
Someone I had some run-ins with on a video game forum sent me what I consider just about the funniest thing ever. Now, normally, I don’t like to randomly repost private messages, but in this case, there’s some real value to commentary on the tactics here, because messages like this are emotionally abusive, and a closer look at how they work, and why that’s unambiguously abusive, may be of value. Knowing how it works can make it easier to resist the effects. Quoted text is from my correspondent.
[read more...]Why automation exists (2013/01/20)
Rift (an MMO I quite like) has recently been plagued by people using bots to automate gameplay. Obviously, they do it because it’s more efficient than playing (this is sort of stupid, if you think about it; the purpose of playing is not to be efficient). The developer has introduced some automated measures to try to detect bots, which are having some initial problems, and some posters have started fussing about how this is a waste of time and money, and they should just hire “minimum-wage” gamemasters to manually investigate.
[read more...]How to deal with prosecutorial abuses... (2013/01/20)
This one seems easy enough. As recently observed, prosecutors have a lot to gain from pursuing high-profile cases, going for lots of charges even if some might not stick, and bullying people.
[read more...]How to improve political dialogue (2013/01/13)
So, I have complained in the past about the poor tone of political dialogue. But shouldn’t I offer solutions? Yes, yes I should.
[read more...]The mystery of my bad writing and debate skills (2013/01/11)
Sometimes, when I am in an argument with some random person on the Internet, a thing happens which has always sort of mystified me. What will happen is, around the time that I conclude that someone is genuinely incapable of even basic logical coherence, they’ll turn to a variety of personal attacks. And what makes it mysterious is, the attacks are pulled from a small pool of things like “nothing you say makes any sense” or “you are too dogmatic” or “you are so authoritarian”, and…
[read more...]Sorry. (2013/01/09)
So, I got up in the middle of the night to pee, and when I got back, I looked around for a pillow, and found it, and picked it up. Under it was a cat. He gave me… a look. He was not happy.
[read more...]Spouses: awesome (2013/01/04)
So, last night, I woke up with weird leg cramps. Like, unlike any I’ve had before, and really disturbing. Different muscles, often two or three areas at once, and much more persistant than the kind I occasionally get and I’m sorta used to. And after a while of this, I concluded that I wanted painkillers, so I went to go get some.
[read more...]Technological solutions to social problems don't work... (2012/12/25)
General observation: Most of the time, a social problem can’t be effectively solved by technology.
[read more...]What you search for twice, exists (2012/12/24)
Long ago, I used to run a lot of D&D games. I still play on and off, as time allows. But back then, I used to run these gigantic, sprawling, dungeon adventures, with basically no preparation. And you know, the thing is, I’m not super organized, and I don’t have a great memory. And yet, no one ever seemed to find anything out of place; the verisimilitude was, by all accounts, exceptional most of the time.
[read more...]Pinkie Pie advises you about programming (2012/12/19)
My usual response to particularly ill-considered ideas is to warn people that if they do these things, we will have to point at them and laugh while Oompa Loompas sing about how their downfall was the result of their own poor decisions. But after I got a compiler bug report where the test case wouldn’t even compile, and yielded warnings about 35% larger than the program source… Well. Time to step it up.
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