Zompist Bboard Again

I notice on cold nights that my bed usually feels much warmer when I have less clothes on, and Im not sure why. I live in a cold climate and commonly sleep in winter with at least five blankets on, the topmost of which is extremely thick. And I usually roll them up to form a cocoon. It's possible that this is so powerful that wearing sweaters and sweatpants has no significant additional warming effect, and the slightly smaller volume of the cocoon when i have less clothes on helps trap the heat inside better. I would think perhaps that blankets simply feel warmer because of their fabric, but the winter clothes I wear aren't that different in makeup from my blankets. It's very real though .... I've gone from shivering to sweating on some cold winter nights simply by taking all of my clothes off except underwear and the gym shorts I wear as pajamas. Anyone else ever notice this??

picture of blanket if anyone hasnt seen it already

Classics nerds are the most adorable. The guy in the middle answering a lot of the questions for Team B is a very active user on a certain Latin web forum.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjJasX0TNnc

It's the same guy I mentioned a few years ago who, in the forum, we didn't believe he was just 14 years old back when he joined it, because he was so good at Latin already... (Nothing exactly surprising in general terms, but nowadays almost no one starts learning Latin when they're 9 years old or so.)

My brother just came back from Iceland. He left Reykjavik by the end of the afternoon in a direct flight to Vancouver, and the airplane more or less kept up with the rotation of the Earth.

So he basically watched a sunset that lasted for about 8 hours.

Ser wrote: ↑Sat Mar 07, 2020 9:02 pm My brother just came back from Iceland. He left Reykjavik by the end of the afternoon in a direct flight to Vancouver, and the airplane more or less kept up with the rotation of the Earth.

So he basically watched a sunset that lasted for about 8 hours.

Sounds cool!

I've noticed something a bit weird about myself: in my mind, the 1970s - a decade when I wasn't born yet - are for some reason strongly associated with hot sunny summer days, as if there had been no other weather or seasons back then. Does anyone else have similar weird mental associations?

I had a very stressful childhood. Or at least it seemed so to me .... i was born in 1981 and by the time i was five i was convinced that the 1980s were the worst decade ever to live in and that 1986 was the worst year in that decade. I assured myself that just as the 1970s had been much better, so too would the 1990s. I developed a private superstition about numbers that was just as complex as any popular cultural superstitions, e.g. good numbers included 47, 300, 302, 412, 621, 777. Someone might be able to see a pattern there. Bad numbers included 46, 301, 622, 666. 666~777 and 621~622 were carryovers from childhood and the rest were superstitions i developed in early adulthood. I got lucky four years in a row with apartments and dorms ... I always lived in either a lucky number (e.g. room 412) or a neutral one. Since my lucky and unlucky numbers were often just off by one from each other, I honestly felt that it might have been a true good omen and not just a coincidence at the time. This was well into my 20s and maybe even early 30s. I only very gradually grew out of the superstitions ... e.g. in 2015 i had worked a job for a month or so before it occurred to me that the street address was 616, a Biblical variant of 666.

now that i think of it, i had a whole separate system when i was younger that included stereotypes shared by no one else at all. they were all visual imagery, so e.g. the number 2 was associated with some disgusting image that i couldnt even describe except to say imagine an onion mixed with a human and somehow still living and mobile. 16 was pink and shiny like the wheel on Price is Right. 7 was french fries in the oven .... i remember comign across 143 and "knowing" that it meant a woman who was comfortable with a strong man. but i'll stop now because this is not really related to superstitions.

I cant say I have any associations between numbers and weather other than the very concrete ones about temperatures. a lot of times if you name a city i will think of its average January or July temperatures first. e.g. Phoenix AZ makes me think immediately of 105, Las Vegas of 104. The town I lived in in Vermont was -3. This is part of why I like Fahrenheit so much .... the 0-100 scale fits perfectly with my mind.

Ser's avatar seriously convinced me there was a bug on the screen for a moment.

Hi, everyone! I now live in Yuanlin, a pretty small town in western Central Taiwan (though middle-sized by Taiwanese standards, and it doesn't feel all that small given how densely populated Taiwan is in general), near the top floor over a bike shop in a shopping center, pretty much (there's a McDonald's right down the street from me). My Internet access is spotty, and I have little time to use it anyway since I'm pretty busy at work, but I'll try to show up when I can. There is lots of amazing food (mostly involving pork in some form) at very cheap prices, which I am greatly enjoying.

Ser wrote: ↑Fri Mar 06, 2020 5:40 pm There is definitely this curious relationship between Taiwan and Japan with, on the one hand, the historical conquest of the former by the latter and the assimilationist policies that were involved in that, and on the other hand the ever-continuing threat of China that pushes Taiwan to be in better terms with its former conqueror...

My understanding was that Taiwan's cozy relationship with Japan is in large part due to the Japanese developing the Taiwanese economy while they were controlling it.

Travis B. wrote: ↑Mon Mar 09, 2020 8:43 pmSer's avatar seriously convinced me there was a bug on the screen for a moment.

Thank you for informing me that I have succeeded in bringing back Cockroach's old trolling.

Vijay wrote: ↑Mon Mar 09, 2020 10:46 pmHi, everyone! I now live in Yuanlin, a pretty small town in western Central Taiwan (though middle-sized by Taiwanese standards, and it doesn't feel all that small given how densely populated Taiwan is in general), near the top floor over a bike shop in a shopping center, pretty much (there's a McDonald's right down the street from me). My Internet access is spotty, and I have little time to use it anyway since I'm pretty busy at work, but I'll try to show up when I can. There is lots of amazing food (mostly involving pork in some form) at very cheap prices, which I am greatly enjoying.

You're lucky Taiwan is doing a better job at fending off the virus than S. Korea and Japan so far... Stay safe (you and everyone).

Raphael wrote: ↑Mon Mar 09, 2020 10:55 am I've noticed something a bit weird about myself: in my mind, the 1970s - a decade when I wasn't born yet - are for some reason strongly associated with hot sunny summer days, as if there had been no other weather or seasons back then. Does anyone else have similar weird mental associations?

Yes, definitely. I associate the 70's with sunny weather as well. I blame pop culture.

And similarly, the 80's are gloomy and overcast. (Probably comes from Blade Runner and New Wave)

Vijay wrote: ↑Mon Mar 09, 2020 10:46 pm Hi, everyone! I now live in Yuanlin, a pretty small town in western Central Taiwan (though middle-sized by Taiwanese standards, and it doesn't feel all that small given how densely populated Taiwan is in general), near the top floor over a bike shop in a shopping center, pretty much (there's a McDonald's right down the street from me). My Internet access is spotty, and I have little time to use it anyway since I'm pretty busy at work, but I'll try to show up when I can. There is lots of amazing food (mostly involving pork in some form) at very cheap prices, which I am greatly enjoying.

Hi! Great news

Vijay wrote: ↑Mon Mar 09, 2020 10:46 pm Hi, everyone! I now live in Yuanlin, a pretty small town in western Central Taiwan (though middle-sized by Taiwanese standards, and it doesn't feel all that small given how densely populated Taiwan is in general), near the top floor over a bike shop in a shopping center, pretty much (there's a McDonald's right down the street from me). My Internet access is spotty, and I have little time to use it anyway since I'm pretty busy at work, but I'll try to show up when I can. There is lots of amazing food (mostly involving pork in some form) at very cheap prices, which I am greatly enjoying.

Congratulations!

Thanks, everyone!

Ser wrote: ↑Tue Mar 10, 2020 1:40 amYou're lucky Taiwan is doing a better job at fending off the virus than S. Korea and Japan so far...

And the US and (some parts of?) Europe! My dad wrote me saying he hoped he could come over in case I needed his help in an emergency. I wrote back saying I hoped he could come over in case HE had an emergency!

The media: this virus is dangerous! ☠☣
Me: eh, doesn't look that bad.
The manager: stay at home.
Me, an introvert: OK, no problem.
My provider: you have no Internet left.
Me: aaargh!!

Me: I'm going to Taiwan.
A guy of Chinese ethnicity in Italy: Don't go anywhere in Asia! Because of the virus!!!!!!

I'ma just leave this here: https://www.salon.com/2020/03/09/there- ... re-a-myth/.

Linguoboy wrote: ↑Fri Mar 13, 2020 2:26 pm I'ma just leave this here: https://www.salon.com/2020/03/09/there- ... re-a-myth/.

I'm really afraid of starting a flamewar here, but with all due respect I think this article misses the point.

Maybe when some people say Bernie Bro they mean that Sanders supporters, as a whole, are worse than other politicians' supporters as a whole. I certainly don't believe that, and I hope I've not given that impression here. When I use the term "Bernie Bro," I am talking about a specific type of person who does not represent all Sanders supporters. He's the guy I work with who is red with anger over student loans and health insurance costs, but can't understand why those uppity females and blacks have to get so political about everything. He's the drinking buddy who admitted one night in 2016 that if Sanders loses the primary, he can't bring himself to care who wins the general, as if a DNC sell-out was somehow just as bad as a man who would lie to his own mother for fifty cents. He's the old friend who accuses black Democrats of betrayal if they don't vote the way he thinks they should. These people are real. I've met them. I've listened to them go on about how we "need socialism" so the downtrodden can get their due, but wince whenever you suggest that they, the straight white male with a good job and a degree, might not be the "downtrodden."

I do not believe that these people are the default Sanders supporter, because I've also met plenty of wonderful people who feel the Bern (including some great people on this forum). But this is a very particular type of attitude, and while it can appear in any political camp, it is naive to deny that it is more common in some places than in others. Just because Sanders supporters and Biden supporters are equally awful humans, does not mean that they are the same humans.

EDIT: However, I understand it must be frustrating for Sanders supporters to be labeled "Bernie Bros" at the drop of a hat, and being accused of all kinds of things they haven't done. I would like it if people would stop doing that, and if that's happened to you, then I'm sorry.

While the conclusions regarding Sanders supporters may very well be true, sentiment analysis is the same BS computational linguists do these days. It shouldn't be considered evidence of anything.

I want names for emotions so hard to describe that it requires detailing the entire situation at hand. e.g. the feeling you get when you thought you were doing the same dangerous thing your friends did, but then you suddenly realize that everybody is safe except you. Or the false humiliation when someone makes fun of you for something you didn't do but can't convincingly deny doing. There could be thousands of examples and even if I wrote down every indescribable emotion I ever felt there'd still be thousands more. I might set up general purpose diary alongside my dream diary and write up these situations there.

Do you know the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows?

Thanks, thats pretty much my exact idea, though they're taking it further than I ever would.