Annoying Questions I'd Like Answered...

Shrapnel · Post by **Shrapnel** » Tue Jan 06, 2015 9:53 pm

YAY! That's a huge time saver. Danke.

Occluded Sun · Post by **Occluded Sun** » Wed Jan 07, 2015 2:03 am

Count Arioch the 28th wrote:Let's say we solve the illegal immigration/drug cartel problem by finishing what we started in 1845 and just annexing the rest of Mexico? Other than the Mexicans probably not being too keen on the idea, what would be the effects?

Well, it would technically solve the illegal immigration problem. Rather in the same sort of way that letting the people trying to break into your house, into your house, resolves the problem of people trying to break into it.

You've created a whole series of much worse problems in the course of the 'solution'.

Instead of the economies of the US and Mexico slowly equalizing, we'd instantly take on a huge drag factor. We'd be responsible for the crummy infrastructure of a major country which could offer us very little in return. Instead of having to deal with an influx of *some* of the unskilled, uneducated labor force of Mexico, we'd have to deal with all of it. And the successful parts of Mexico are largely based on extracting money out of the US, so both the legal and illegal businessmen would be very, very unhappy with us.

Stahlseele · Post by **Stahlseele** » Wed Jan 07, 2015 5:21 pm

anybody know a good way to not have stuff burn into a plasma display? things like GUI elements from games and streams that will stay at the same position for hours on end and already leave shadowy after images after a few minutes mainly . . i can't see that being good for the display in the long run? x.x

Lago PARANOIA · Post by **Lago PARANOIA** » Wed Jan 07, 2015 7:07 pm

What do you guys think of this impromptu and shoddily-reasoned hypothesis:

Immigration is a good thing, because humans start to get a little stir-crazy if demographics are static for too long.

name_here · Post by **name_here** » Wed Jan 07, 2015 7:15 pm

I think evidence would suggest humans get a little stir-crazy under all conditions.

Hadanelith · Post by **Hadanelith** » Thu Jan 08, 2015 7:27 am

Lago: that's more or less Frank Herbert's hypothesis in Dune. I...don't know if it's true or not, but I can see an argument to be made.

...You Lost Me · Post by **...You Lost Me** » Thu Jan 08, 2015 4:53 pm

Stahlseele wrote:anybody know a good way to not have stuff burn into a plasma display? things like GUI elements from games and streams that will stay at the same position for hours on end and already leave shadowy after images after a few minutes mainly . . i can't see that being good for the display in the long run? x.x

From my experience working with OLED tablets (I assume your screen is OLED?) you can't do anything but replace it. But it doesn't do much beyond make the screen ugly, and you're probably not going to notice while watching a movie anyways.

Stahlseele · Post by **Stahlseele** » Fri Jan 09, 2015 1:40 am

No, it's a 60" Plasma TV.
No OLED here sire <.<;,

Shrapnel · Post by **Shrapnel** » Tue Jan 20, 2015 4:55 pm

Something I've oft wondered is what the hell dark and unholy beings actually do with the souls they acquire.

Like, when someone makes a Faustian bargain with Satan, what does the Dark Beast then do with the soul he just got? Does he eat it? Staple it to his mission statement? Wear it as a condom? And when an evil god steals the souls of his/her/it's worshippers, do they just leave their souls in a bin in the closet and never touch them again, like that ugly dress aunt Frieda gave you last Christmas? Or do they use them to fuel their godly powers?

LeadPal · Post by **LeadPal** » Tue Jan 20, 2015 5:43 pm

Doctor Faustus wrote:Faust. Stay, Mephistophilis! and tell me what good
Will my soul do thy lord.
Meph. Enlarge his kingdom.
Faust. Is that the reason why he tempts us thus?
Meph. Solamen miseris socios habuisse doloris. (Misery loves company)
Faust. Why, have you any pain that torture others?
Meph. As great as have the human souls of men.

I guess it's just to have people to bitch and moan with?

Eikre · Post by **Eikre** » Tue Jan 20, 2015 6:08 pm

Pre-Classically, Satan's whole deal is to tempt, accuse, and prosecute. By that metric, he takes your soul just to imprison it for the crime of trafficking with him.

Under a manichaeist outlook, I don't suppose there needs to be any utilitarian purpose for having a soul per se, besides tormenting it or whatever. Satan's evil, he delights in evil deeds, that's just how he do.

If you're developing a cosmology of greater beings that have human motivations then obviously you can ascribe a function to a captured soul. Most basic deal would be cosmic slavery and conscription to the heavenly battlefield but if you wanna run el Diablo's mecha suit on high-octain soul fuel then I guess that's your prerogative.

Maj · Post by **Maj** » Tue Jan 20, 2015 6:57 pm

I'm going to completely hypothesize (because I don't actually know) that then entire point is to prevent the soul from getting back to God. The entire point of Jesus is the atonement - the "at one-ment" - the state of being at one with God. By possessing a soul, Satan dishes out the ultimate punishment - severance from God. The inability to connect with the divine is the punishment.

Shrapnel · Post by **Shrapnel** » Tue Jan 20, 2015 7:17 pm

Well, that probably explains Satan. But what about pagan deities, or D&D/other fictional gods? I doubt very much that Orcus or some Mythos monster wants your soul to piss in Yahweh's cereal bowl.

hyzmarca · Post by **hyzmarca** » Tue Jan 20, 2015 7:49 pm

Stahlseele wrote:anybody know a good way to not have stuff burn into a plasma display? things like GUI elements from games and streams that will stay at the same position for hours on end and already leave shadowy after images after a few minutes mainly . . i can't see that being good for the display in the long run? x.x

Change the channel at least once an hour, preferably more often. Turn it off when you're not watching it and let it cool down.

If the image changes at all, then its not burn in, which is good. Burn in is permanent and caused by damage to the phosphors. Transient image persistence is temporary and, in a Plasma screen, caused by charge build up in the pixel cells.

The bad news: The only way to prevent it is to change the channel every now and then or turn it off. Displaying static images for extended periods of time is bad. Either change the images being displayed or turn off the display altogether. It's the only way.

If you're playing a game, regularly pause it and either turn off the display or change input sources. Take this opportunity to pee or something.

Maj · Post by **Maj** » Tue Jan 20, 2015 8:55 pm

Shrapnel wrote:Well, that probably explains Satan. But what about pagan deities, or D&D/other fictional gods? I doubt very much that Orcus or some Mythos monster wants your soul to piss in Yahweh's cereal bowl.

Do pagan deities use souls? Probably D&D gods do because that was copied from religion without any of the meaning behind it. So they do because they do. And there's probably a black market out there (does the BoVD have it?) where souls are treated like advanced currency and because reasons.

hyzmarca · Post by **hyzmarca** » Tue Jan 20, 2015 8:59 pm

Maj wrote:
Shrapnel wrote:Well, that probably explains Satan. But what about pagan deities, or D&D/other fictional gods? I doubt very much that Orcus or some Mythos monster wants your soul to piss in Yahweh's cereal bowl.
Do pagan deities use souls? Probably D&D gods do because that was copied from religion without any of the meaning behind it. So they do because they do. And there's probably a black market out there (does the BoVD have it?) where souls are treated like advanced currency and because reasons.

We'll there's Odin. He has his Valkyries claim the souls of worthy dead warriors and take them to Valhala, where they divide into teams and kill each other every day and get drunk off their asses every night (truly, heaven by any measure), specifically for use as a reserve force to call on during Ragnarok.

Maj · Post by **Maj** » Tue Jan 20, 2015 9:54 pm

Yeah, okay.

Count Arioch the 28th · Tue Jan 20, 2015 11:39 pm

>Forgetting Freyja and Fólkvangr are things

Bro, do you even norse pagan?

Stahlseele · Post by **Stahlseele** » Wed Jan 21, 2015 1:28 am

@hyzmarca
i had feared as much, thank you for confirming it nonetheless <.<

hyzmarca · Post by **hyzmarca** » Wed Jan 21, 2015 1:41 am

Stahlseele wrote:@hyzmarca
i had feared as much, thank you for confirming it nonetheless <.<

The good news is that modern plasma screen are rather resilient and you probably won't get actual permanent burn-in unless you keep the same static image on screen non-stop for a week or more.

Temporary ghosting is, of course, a more recurring problem, as you have experienced.

Stahlseele · Post by **Stahlseele** » Wed Jan 21, 2015 2:59 am

Yeah, i did not know that there was a difference before either . .
Only got this one used a few weeks ago, before that i had an old CRT TV.
I was originally planning on jumping 1080 and getting into 4k immediately.
But 400€ for a 1 year old 65" plasma from LG . . couldn't really say no to that.

AndreiChekov · Post by **AndreiChekov** » Wed Jan 21, 2015 6:35 am

Maj wrote:I'm going to completely hypothesize (because I don't actually know) that then entire point is to prevent the soul from getting back to God. The entire point of Jesus is the atonement - the "at one-ment" - the state of being at one with God. By possessing a soul, Satan dishes out the ultimate punishment - severance from God. The inability to connect with the divine is the punishment.

The Russian Orthodox Christian teaching of heaven and hell is that you are with God after time, and if you love him, and know him, then it is bliss, and if you are allied with satan, then it burns, and is hell.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Wed Jan 21, 2015 7:27 am

Maj wrote:I'm going to completely hypothesize (because I don't actually know) that then entire point is to prevent the soul from getting back to God. The entire point of Jesus is the atonement - the "at one-ment" - the state of being at one with God. By possessing a soul, Satan dishes out the ultimate punishment - severance from God. The inability to connect with the divine is the punishment.

Yeah, I love the whole "Hell is separation from God" concept because it sure as fuck doesn't feel like he's very present on earth, so Hell is basically a bunch of people who thought God was a tosser in life and said "to fuckery" with his laws, so rather than a place of torment, Hell is probably like Disney Vegas with more cocaine and hookers.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Wed Jan 21, 2015 8:55 am

Something that's been gnawing at me for a bit- Why is sports watching a thing? I mean, I've never gotten sports, they just don't appeal to me (for a lot of personal baggage related issues) but I was thinking a bit ago and realized that I just literally do not understand why or how people enjoy watching sports.

I get why people might enjoy playing in the physical activity and ball-oriented games, but how is watching a bunch of adults struggle over a ball or ball-derived object something people do for entertainment? The closest I've come to understanding it is watching a long run by a quarterback on a tv at a restaurant simply curious as to whether he would actually make it. Like a really boring, non-mentally-engaging version of Mythbusters.

I mean, I'm assuming there are reasons beyond ogling physically fit members of the species, since the archetypal sports fan is a supposedly heterosexual man watching other men. So asses in tight or gauzy uniforms presumably are not the primary draw of sports.

Starmaker · Post by **Starmaker** » Wed Jan 21, 2015 12:24 pm

Prak wrote:Something that's been gnawing at me for a bit- Why is sports watching a thing? I mean, I've never gotten sports, they just don't appeal to me (for a lot of personal baggage related issues) but I was thinking a bit ago and realized that I just literally do not understand why or how people enjoy watching sports.

Group identity, with a dash of this. 100% of the latter, in my case.