The Chat Thread

[Ataraxia]

No, not until you can spell 'shoo-in' correctly. That was the determining factor for the last 2 mods.... 

Pedant!

And I was just kidding. I don't think I'm qualified.

[TheGSMoeller]

Pedant!

And I was just kidding. I don't think I'm qualified.

Just quietly mod from home without anyone knowing, that's what I do, I've been a secret moderator for over a year... well, shit I guess it's a secret no more, time to turn the gun and badge in.

[Ataraxia]

Just quietly mod from home without anyone knowing, that's what I do, I've been a secret moderator for over a year... well, shit I guess it's a secret no more, time to turn the gun and badge in.

That's how I control the world.

[Gurn Blanston]

Pedant!

And I was just kidding. I don't think I'm qualified.

True enough, I am a pedant. Unfortunately, it's one of my more tolerable qualities...

Hard to say who is or isn't. Don't know what the qualifications are, actually.

[Ataraxia]

Hard to say who is or isn't. Don't know what the qualifications are, actually.

Whatever they are, I'm against them.

OR...

I wouldn't want to moderate a forum that would have me as a moderator.

[Gurn Blanston]

I wouldn't want to moderate a forum that would have me as a moderator.

Who can argue with that?   

Without any moderation, we might as well be Usenet...

[Karl Henning]

Eeeewwwwwwzznet!

[Szykneij]

                Twiggy was my favorite Mod.

[Karl Henning]

Dave, did you know? . . .

[Ataraxia]

Dave, did you know? . . .

Indeed. My wife emailed me this morning.

Thanks.

[eyeresist]

Two items. First:

Knowing nothing about this news story, how could I resist clicking on it?
Not nearly as scurrilous as I expected, rather yet another depressing report from Putin's Russia.

Protests swell on eve of Pussy Riot verdict

Wearing the bright balaclavas made famous by [punk band] Pussy Riot, 18 men and women gathered on the steps of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour carrying a sign with a biblical quote, ''Blessed are the merciful.''

Cathedral guards broke up the peaceful protest, ripping off activists' masks, twisting their arms behind their backs and kicking at least one photographer in the face as he tried to take a picture.

Three members of Pussy Riot, jailed since March after performing an anti-Putin ''punk prayer'' inside the cathedral, are due to hear the verdict today. They have been charged with hooliganism motivated by religious hatred. Prosecutors have called for a three-year sentence.

During a nine-day trial marked by procedural violations and absurd lines of questioning, the prosecution argued that the women's performance was not political but an attempt to offend Russian Orthodoxy. The women argued they sought to highlight the destructively close ties between church and state.

Dozens of cities have joined the call to conduct a Global Pussy Riot Day today, with protests planned from Barcelona to Vienna.

Second item:

It occurred to me recently that the moral sense and the aesthetic sense might be related, or possibly even be the exact same thing.

Experiments with infants have shown (debatably) that the "fairness instinct" is indeed inborn. Somehow from this simple base all the diverse and mutually loathing moral systems of the world are grown. We disagree about what may be called right, or wrong, but either way we sure feel strongly about it, because it's in our genes.

Now look for example at this forum, where matters as trivial and unprovable as the validity of a musical interpretation can stir us to righteous fury (which most are nice enough to suppress ). It is an aesthetic issue, but it can stir emotions as strong as any political or religious debate. It is in fact a moral response.

If we accept this premise, where does it take us? Well, for a start it validates moral relativism. (I mean that in a philosophical sense, not a prescriptive sense.) It also suggests new methods of social influence. We already use aesthetic considerations to influence moral judgements, e.g. calling someone "crooked" or "dirty".  Possibly this approach could also work the other way. For instance, if the populace is exercised by a political issue, they might be diverted from action by a related aesthetic issue, e.g. a debate over the design for a new flag.

So yeah.

[Opus106]

It takes about the same amount of computing to answer one Google Search query as all the computing done -- in flight and on the ground -- for the entire Apollo program!

[Ataraxia]

I think I have this.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misophonia

[ibanezmonster]

I think I have this.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misophonia

The one thing I understand from this is eating, which is why I prefer eating alone. The rest I never even thought of.

[Ataraxia]

The one thing I understand from this is eating, which is why I prefer eating alone. The rest I never even thought of.

It must be extreme reactions that get labeled a disorder because I think a lot of those sounds irritate most people.

[eyeresist]

I think I have this.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misophonia

Me too!  I think it's something to do with alienation....

[Szykneij]

It takes about the same amount of computing to answer one Google Search query as all the computing done -- in flight and on the ground -- for the entire Apollo program!

When I visited the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral and entered the control rooms for the early manned space missions, I was astounded at what was accomplished with the limited technology they had at their disposal. One modern-day cell-phone probably has more computing power than what they had for their entire programs.

[ibanezmonster]

Dark circles under the eyes go away eventually...
right?... 

[DavidRoss]

It must be extreme reactions that get labeled a disorder because I think a lot of those sounds irritate most people.

Normal quirks get labelled "disorders" when they have multiple, chronic symptoms that impair normal functioning and cause significant problems for the sufferers and those affected by them.

[North Star]

I think I have this.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misophonia

Who here doesn't, especially when in concert or listening to recording?

People who have misophonia are most commonly annoyed, or even enraged, by such ordinary sounds as other people eating, breathing, sniffing, or coughing; certain consonants; or repetitive sounds.[6][7] People with misophonia may be diagnosed with mood or anxiety disorders as well as obsessive-compulsive disorder. Though a few sufferers are bothered by sounds they make themselves, most are not.[7] The reactions are completely involuntary.

People who have misophonia may also be annoyed by other people's repetitive movements, such as leg-tapping, finger tapping, nail-biting, ink-pen top or Hi-Liter cap popping, loud stamping and typing as well as the persistent repetition of specific words such as "okay" and "so".