Showing posts with label rambling. Show all posts
And so we find ourselves amidst a global pandemic, who would have thought this would be my 40th Birthday 'gift'... Thanks world!
More seriously though, wash your hands' people!
Aside from the fact that I'm a reclusive socially awkward introvert even when I'm not told to stay at home, I'm at home anyway, so the world is just living on my terms now. People are going bonkers because they have to spend time with themselves, and I suspect many of them are finding out that they are rather dull.
I personally really like my own company, I rather like me.
And so, while the world turns, and the news of toilet paper shortages and an ever-rising death count, I carry on much as I normally do, playing video games, doing a little 3d Blender stuff, writing out bits and bobs for my currently ongoing role-playing group.
And today I found something special which I decided to share;
Rhubarb sweet & sour / teriyaki sauce.
I was just making a little lunch for myself using whatever was at hand, I had some leftover prawn-fried rice and a cupboard full of condiments, and on the kitchen side, a glass with some leftover rhubarb juice.
I would have been silly not to try, so I did, and it was really lovely. And so, here I share with you the 'basic' concept of my fruity 'Asian' inspired sauce.
1 tablespoon (14 ml) rice wine vinegar (as an afterthought, 2 tbsp would add a little more zing)
2 tablespoon (28 ml) rhubarb juice, fresh (aka; leftover from making a rhubarb crumble)
1 (or 2) (~21 ml) tablespoons tomato ketchup.
1 teaspoon (5 ml) soy sauce
To increase the flavour a little, you could add (but I didn't today...) a little ginger and garlic.
I roughly mixed it with a fork, passed it through a drinks sieve to remove unwanted 'bits' and then mixed into my prawn rice. Very fruity, a little sour/tangy and a simple way to use up some bits.
My Place In The World...
So much has changed in a peculiar way and so quickly, the world feels odd. Out of place in some way. But, as I had mentioned above, my life remains unreasonably unchanged. One thing however that I am forcibly attempting to change is my 'value' in the world.
For whatever reason, I find myself in a place where I am essentially retired. I have a passive income which requires minimal effort to maintain, occasionally I pick up some piecemeal jobs, more to keep myself entertained than to generate income. But, I still do many things which I know have an inherent value, and I want to tap into that value so I can better enjoy my time.
Sadly, money, and the amount you have access to, still means the difference between getting by or enjoying oneself. For that reason, I'm currently attempting to start a Patreon page, I have nothing exact or specific to offer, and I'm not even sure how to properly integrate such a thing into my activities, but I do feel like I should get some reward for my many little efforts.
Coronavirus Contemplations
Part of my inherent nerd-dom is that I enjoy tabletop wargaming, thanks to some bad choices as a young teenager, a little disposable income as a young adult and a brain that soaks up 'fantasy' like an axolotl eating a fish-food pellet (look it up if you need the visual reference...)
And so, within my now ageing brain rattle details that nobody cares about, and that have exactly zero effect in any real-life circumstance. Thanks brain! ... Within this mess, I include my contemplation of how machine-guns are portrayed in the game Battletech. It is with some annoyance I find myself at the wrong end of how these are perceived at large. But, it's annoying enough that I shall now go into a lengthy internet-bound diatribe detailing my upset on the matter.
Set in a fantasy future in which technological progression is halted by the spread and politic of humanity among a (widely spread) universe. Huge, stompy, gun-toting robots aka "mechs" (battlemechs) are a de facto way of ending future-space arguments.
But then comes "The Machine-Gun"... and here's where I differ greatly from nearly all flavours of Battletech machine-gun I'd seen put into video games, and from that, posted into the mind of players everywhere.
Too often, the machine gun is depicted, or enacted as though it were a trusty modern heavy machine gun probably around 12.7mm / 50 cal. in format and with that familiar thuuba-thuuba-thuuba noise associated to such weapons...
Well, in my head, this is just wrong... plain and simple, just, well... not right. It's the FUTURE... and also, the image of a 'machine-gun' in the reference materials looks like this:-
And to me it meshes well with the fact that in the canon (pun intended) of the fantasy universe that is Battletech, machine guns are supposed to be very fast firing, primarily anti-infantry defence weapons but (and it is a big but...) they are also supposed to be able to just about cause damage to some of the most highly armoured fighting machines ever made... And to me... a minigun has far more potential to find a weaker spot, an exposed gap or even just through impact tear away armour more so than a less lead-spewey weapon.
More so, I would hesitate on a side of caution to state that the weapons of the Mechwarrior sci-fi are more developed than any modern equivalent. I could guess that such a multi-barrelled weapon would likely be akin to the weapons we see on out attack helicoptors or even the ship-bound air-defence weapons...
All while firing some sci-fi armour-piercing tipped bullets of doom. It also follows that in the lore of battletech, one ton of ammo (including the cases and load-feed mechanisms) can fire a machine gun 200 times... Warning BORING MATHS AHEAD...
I would postulate the following;
And so, one ton of bullets, being 200 "shots" would allow each "shot" to be around 100 bullets of fire-effect. This means one ton is actually loading around 20,000 rounds. This would also make more logistic sense of scale in the 'fitting' of the ammo into the mech.
200 bullets can easily be carried by one guy in a small plastic bag, but 20,000 rounds, well that would require specialised ammo bins with enough ammo in them to be 'impressive' in a mecha sci-fi scale.
And so, this rant closes as I frown at the many computer games which portray an underwhelming concept of a firearm. When I shoot a machine-gun from my 10 meter tall death-robot, I want whatever is in-front of me to understand that fact and not just laugh at an impotent pea-shooter.
Credits: Sounds from-
And so, within my now ageing brain rattle details that nobody cares about, and that have exactly zero effect in any real-life circumstance. Thanks brain! ... Within this mess, I include my contemplation of how machine-guns are portrayed in the game Battletech. It is with some annoyance I find myself at the wrong end of how these are perceived at large. But, it's annoying enough that I shall now go into a lengthy internet-bound diatribe detailing my upset on the matter.
ELI5: Battletech-
Machine Guns
Along with lasers, and other 'future' weaponry, mech's have an array of more conventional ballistic weapons. Most are akin to what our modern battle-tanks might have, be it a 30mm automated cannon or a 280mm howitzer style weapon. These are easy for my minds-eye to envision as I get heated and excited mid game as we players discuss the battlefield carnage attempting to bring a cinematic edge to what otherwise boils down to grown men rolling dice and filling out a spread sheet.But then comes "The Machine-Gun"... and here's where I differ greatly from nearly all flavours of Battletech machine-gun I'd seen put into video games, and from that, posted into the mind of players everywhere.
Too often, the machine gun is depicted, or enacted as though it were a trusty modern heavy machine gun probably around 12.7mm / 50 cal. in format and with that familiar thuuba-thuuba-thuuba noise associated to such weapons...
Listen to some dakka:
Well, in my head, this is just wrong... plain and simple, just, well... not right. It's the FUTURE... and also, the image of a 'machine-gun' in the reference materials looks like this:-
I'm gonna need more Cowbell...
Now, as impressive as it might be hearing a 'machine-gun' slowly shouting pop-pop-pop. In my mind, and in my opinion, far more impressive/fear inducing is the BRRRAAAAAAAP of seevral hundred rounds all being spat out in near simultaneous succession.
More audio dakka:
And to me it meshes well with the fact that in the canon (pun intended) of the fantasy universe that is Battletech, machine guns are supposed to be very fast firing, primarily anti-infantry defence weapons but (and it is a big but...) they are also supposed to be able to just about cause damage to some of the most highly armoured fighting machines ever made... And to me... a minigun has far more potential to find a weaker spot, an exposed gap or even just through impact tear away armour more so than a less lead-spewey weapon.
More so, I would hesitate on a side of caution to state that the weapons of the Mechwarrior sci-fi are more developed than any modern equivalent. I could guess that such a multi-barrelled weapon would likely be akin to the weapons we see on out attack helicoptors or even the ship-bound air-defence weapons...
All while firing some sci-fi armour-piercing tipped bullets of doom. It also follows that in the lore of battletech, one ton of ammo (including the cases and load-feed mechanisms) can fire a machine gun 200 times... Warning BORING MATHS AHEAD...
I would postulate the following;
- A machine gun can be fired once in a game turn.
- One game turn lasts for 10 seconds of time.
- A rotary barrelled machine gun could expel up to around 100 bullets (not including downtime for cooling...).
And so, one ton of bullets, being 200 "shots" would allow each "shot" to be around 100 bullets of fire-effect. This means one ton is actually loading around 20,000 rounds. This would also make more logistic sense of scale in the 'fitting' of the ammo into the mech.
200 bullets can easily be carried by one guy in a small plastic bag, but 20,000 rounds, well that would require specialised ammo bins with enough ammo in them to be 'impressive' in a mecha sci-fi scale.
And so, this rant closes as I frown at the many computer games which portray an underwhelming concept of a firearm. When I shoot a machine-gun from my 10 meter tall death-robot, I want whatever is in-front of me to understand that fact and not just laugh at an impotent pea-shooter.
Some Reference Noise Dakka:
- Mechwarrior 2:
- Mechwarrior 3: I have to say... this is the closest to my liking.
- Mechwarrior 4:
- Mechwarrior 5:
Credits: Sounds from-
- https://freesound.org/
- http://soundbible.com/
- And a bunch of people on YouTube that have done sound sampling from the games...
- Oh, and then by fact of original production; the respective game dev companies that commissioned those sounds...
Wargaming Woes - Battletech
Number 10, and even in this BREXIT fuelled run-up to the General Election 2019, this isn't even a post actually about politics.
No... This is a post about Excel and my nature of sometimes being excessively obsessed on superfluous details. In this instance, the character sheet for a GURPS role-playing game I'm intending to run among some friends.
My wife has assured me, that this point, this one thing encapsulates and captures so much of who I am as a person that I've decided to memorialise the event of me being able to produce the number 10 in an Excel spreadsheet.
Within the GURPS mechanics and within the established core of rules, it is encouraged that players adopt and implement their own concepts. The core rules book (GURPS Basic Set) outright tells players to ignore the published rule books. With this in mind, I use GURPS to do whatever I feel fits my desired game. To that fact, I expand or invent what I want as a character sheet, and what I want as the format in which the numerical details of a character are built and dictate effect within the game.
Thanks, GURPS! I hate having to look up rules, so now I don't!
Now that we have both a row and a column, the INDEX can finally do something. It looks up a number, from the stats table, that is called for as one half of a simple addition.
INDEX($F$3:$U$8,SUMPRODUCT(($F$3:$U$8=VLOOKUP(N10,'PC stat share'!$E$3:$G$61,2,FALSE))*ROW($F$3:$U$8))-ROW($F$3:$U$8)+1,SUMPRODUCT(($F$3:$U$8=VLOOKUP(N10,'PC stat share'!$E$3:$G$61,2,FALSE))*COLUMN($F$3:$U$8))-COLUMN($F$22:$U$27)+1+3)
Using the section of formula shown above, Excel can begin to calculate the characters 'Smooth Talk' stat. The reference of N10 is where that stat is shown on the sheet. And from this first and more complex half of the calculation, Excel can now find that 'Haggle' is the required skill, which has a score of 9. Thanks, Excel, you're doing a great job!
The second half of the stat calculation is far easier...
INDEX($A$4:$D$12,MATCH(VLOOKUP(N10,'PC stat share'!$E$3:$G$61,3,FALSE)&"*",$A$4:$A$12,0),4)
An INDEX/MATCH formula looks up which primary stat is required to be added and then gives the appropriate detail of that stat. In this case, it looks for the stat 'Smarts' in which this character has 9 points. Yeah, nice one Excel.. whatever...
Smooth talk requires the calculation of the characters 'Haggle' stat score, added to the characters 'Smarts' primary stat. Reduced by 1 and then divided by 2.
To be done by hand this is super easy; Haggle is 9, Smarts is 9, that's 18. And then -1 for 17, finally divided by 2 for a score of 8.5 which is rounded down to 8. And while I could very, very simply do this just in my head, I don't fancy doing so more than 200 times if I decide to change the requirements of a stat, or the primary statistics of a character.
Getting this calculation right took me the better part of two nights of work, and all so I could be lazy.
And it didn't even calculate the number 10 this time...
No... This is a post about Excel and my nature of sometimes being excessively obsessed on superfluous details. In this instance, the character sheet for a GURPS role-playing game I'm intending to run among some friends.
My wife has assured me, that this point, this one thing encapsulates and captures so much of who I am as a person that I've decided to memorialise the event of me being able to produce the number 10 in an Excel spreadsheet.
The Number 10;
Not just any number 10, and not even always the number 10. But it was the number 10 which sparked literal weeks of commentary on my mentally obsessive behaviour, although not in the true medical definition of obsessive behaviour, more of a flippant observation made about me.Prepare for preamble reasoning...
Within the GURPS mechanics and within the established core of rules, it is encouraged that players adopt and implement their own concepts. The core rules book (GURPS Basic Set) outright tells players to ignore the published rule books. With this in mind, I use GURPS to do whatever I feel fits my desired game. To that fact, I expand or invent what I want as a character sheet, and what I want as the format in which the numerical details of a character are built and dictate effect within the game.
Thanks, GURPS! I hate having to look up rules, so now I don't!
Excel-lent
It's no secret that one of my geek skills is that of being able to use Microsoft's Excel with some considerable efficiency. Generally, I can make pretty much anything happen in an excel sheet and the things I can't, I can easily adapt, learn or 'borrow' from an online excel forum, with at least some working understanding of what I'm borrowing.
And so, When it came to building out the character sheets I needed a function which did one thing looked at two sets of tables, find some information and do a little maths, and then finally show a number.
When doing this by hand, it's very easy... Look at the tables of numbers (these being the characters 'stats') add one to the other, throw in a little extra maths, adding or subtracting as required for a given stat, a little division and, voila! A character stat is born. Huzzah!
Now, it is important to remember that I've essentially just made up the format of my characters, and so, I cannot use a standard character sheet or even look up a direct reference online. What I have is what I've decided to make, and only I can do anything with it or understand anything of it. And so comes the problem of me not wanting to do each stat for each character by hand.
Each character has 53 calculated details, over 4 characters that's 212 calculations, and while I'm sure I could have done this by hand, each being nothing more than three steps of simple mathematics, Instead I decided to automate the main functions. It was quicker to automate than risk any potential recalculation if I modified anything about how I want the game to work... Which did happen... A lot.
Fair Warning: Most of this blog-post is likely VERY boring.
It's simple really...
I know I'm a dork, but when my better half quizzed me on what I'm doing and pointed at a particularly long formula, asking "well... what does that do?" I replied with: "It makes the number 10", while factually correct, I was avoiding the concept of having to explain several hours of work for no reason other than 'because I could' and leading her through the mass of bracketed formula which I understand that anyone other than me would find dull as mud.
With that in mind, I shall now go through the formula and explain it in detail explaining how I ended up with it being what it is.
If you're still reading, you will need some prior knowledge of the sheet I'm working on. For this, I present the following colour coded screenshot (you can ignore the actual details, this is more as a reference of what is where):
Over on the left, in green are the primary character stats, these dictate how good a character might be at lifting, or thinking etc...
Pretty much everywhere, showing in blue are the characters skills stats these are directly inherited from the primary stats as simple as A+B and usually then with a -1 modifier and divided by 2, this is handled with some pretty boring lookup X/Y stuff that any old Excel jock could do.
In Yellow, however, are the secondary stats. This is where the real magic happens, a second layer of dependency is introduced. These details are derived from a combination of the primary stats and a skill stat. A normal human might have had the skill stats (the blue bits) kept on a secondary sheet as a formula reference, but that just adds more stuff. So, I made the yellow bits simply reference the blue bits they share a table with, as shown by the red containing box.
Now we need full meta third-level, self-referencing, multiple displaced redundancy formula, and Excel doesn't do that natively, so I had to first become the box I that wanted to be outside of.
Normally when you need Excel to look up detail, it has to be in columns of information that can be read with a VLOOKUP or INDEX/MATCH formula. Both of which require 'simple' data columns, and my table (the red box bit) has 4 separate columns. It's BIG BRAIN time.
Here's the offending formula:
=ROUNDDOWN((INDEX($F$3:$U$8,SUMPRODUCT(($F$3:$U$8=VLOOKUP(N10,'PC stat share'!$E$3:$G$61,2,FALSE))*ROW($F$3:$U$8))-ROW($F$3:$U$8)+1,SUMPRODUCT(($F$3:$U$8=VLOOKUP(N10,'PC stat share'!$E$3:$G$61,2,FALSE))*COLUMN($F$3:$U$8))-COLUMN($F$3:$U$8)+1+3)+INDEX($A$4:$D$12,MATCH(VLOOKUP(N10,'PC stat share'!$E$3:$G$61,3,FALSE)&"*",$A$4:$A$12,0),4)-1)/2,0)
And here's what each bit means and why I want it...
At the very start is the simple ROUNDDOWN function ... this just takes the output of the following formula and crunches it into the lowest simple form of the result, so a 10.8234782 becomes: 10. It would be a little crap if my printed character sheets had nonsensical and unimportant trails of long decimal places in a game system that really only needs 'whole' numbers.
Next up, it gets a little complex. The INDEX function is now preparing the formula to look at a set of information, in the first instance here within the cell range F22 and U27 (the red box parts).
Usually INDEX/MATCH relies on a reference of detail it must read, which we have.. And then, it requires a detail of which row number and a column number to read from. The MATCH function does this very well in simple columns of details, but refuses to do anything in a situation in which the details a spread all over the place (trust me, I tried...)
And so, I turn to SUMPRODUCT... Wait, what? You see, SUMPRODUCT can produce a normal number as an output, and by abusing this as form of declared lookup reference at the start of its detail, it must operate a fact that can either be true or false. If it's true, the result declares itself as a the number 1.
With this 'truth' equation, I can determine a row number based on a known detail. Here the SUMPRODUCT looks at all of the details of the stats table (red box) as too does the INDEX function, so I'm looking for details 'in the same place'.
With this 'truth' equation, I can determine a row number based on a known detail. Here the SUMPRODUCT looks at all of the details of the stats table (red box) as too does the INDEX function, so I'm looking for details 'in the same place'.
Within the SUMPRODUCT I declare a comparison of the entire top section of the stats block (the red box) against the results of a VLOOKUP this creates the outcome of true or false, which, numerically the SUMPRODUCT resolves as either 1 or 0. Handy for later...
The VLOOKUP here is doing it's best to resolve one little detail, using the name of the stat it is calculating, determine on which skill it must base its calculation. but because only one word can be 'true' it can only create a result for the true detail.
The VLOOKUP function, from it's newly acquired information, and with the same 'true/false' declaration that it began with, now tells the ROW function in which row the true detail is from the stats table (the red box) by multiplying [true] by the required detail. Sadly, because SUMPRODUCT is not a lookup function it requires tricking into doing the job by correcting its result... Done with the second ROW function negating a sort of overflow error.
At this point the formula has worked out ONE-HALF or ONE detail required for its first INDEX function. Right now, the formula only has 'some' idea of what it is supposed to be doing, It still doesn't even have a number, let alone the number 10!!!
As the INDEX function requires a ROW and a COLUMN declaration, the same calculation from above is done once more, but this time, looking for (by way of calculating a details position as true and then spitting out the number of the column in which the detail exists.
The VLOOKUP here is doing it's best to resolve one little detail, using the name of the stat it is calculating, determine on which skill it must base its calculation. but because only one word can be 'true' it can only create a result for the true detail.
The VLOOKUP function, from it's newly acquired information, and with the same 'true/false' declaration that it began with, now tells the ROW function in which row the true detail is from the stats table (the red box) by multiplying [true] by the required detail. Sadly, because SUMPRODUCT is not a lookup function it requires tricking into doing the job by correcting its result... Done with the second ROW function negating a sort of overflow error.
At this point the formula has worked out ONE-HALF or ONE detail required for its first INDEX function. Right now, the formula only has 'some' idea of what it is supposed to be doing, It still doesn't even have a number, let alone the number 10!!!
This all boils into:
Calculate a reference number for when a known detail is equal to desired detail and multiply by oneTime for a short breather...
I'm nowhere near clever enough to do THIS, but borrowed from a source such as the one linked below:As the INDEX function requires a ROW and a COLUMN declaration, the same calculation from above is done once more, but this time, looking for (by way of calculating a details position as true and then spitting out the number of the column in which the detail exists.
Now that we have both a row and a column, the INDEX can finally do something. It looks up a number, from the stats table, that is called for as one half of a simple addition.
INDEX($F$3:$U$8,SUMPRODUCT(($F$3:$U$8=VLOOKUP(N10,'PC stat share'!$E$3:$G$61,2,FALSE))*ROW($F$3:$U$8))-ROW($F$3:$U$8)+1,SUMPRODUCT(($F$3:$U$8=VLOOKUP(N10,'PC stat share'!$E$3:$G$61,2,FALSE))*COLUMN($F$3:$U$8))-COLUMN($F$22:$U$27)+1+3)
Using the section of formula shown above, Excel can begin to calculate the characters 'Smooth Talk' stat. The reference of N10 is where that stat is shown on the sheet. And from this first and more complex half of the calculation, Excel can now find that 'Haggle' is the required skill, which has a score of 9. Thanks, Excel, you're doing a great job!
The second half of the stat calculation is far easier...
INDEX($A$4:$D$12,MATCH(VLOOKUP(N10,'PC stat share'!$E$3:$G$61,3,FALSE)&"*",$A$4:$A$12,0),4)
An INDEX/MATCH formula looks up which primary stat is required to be added and then gives the appropriate detail of that stat. In this case, it looks for the stat 'Smarts' in which this character has 9 points. Yeah, nice one Excel.. whatever...
And finally-
After much effort, Excel can now lookup (based on the name of a character's stat) what the secondary stat is calculated as, and then include that into the secondary stat calculation.Smooth talk requires the calculation of the characters 'Haggle' stat score, added to the characters 'Smarts' primary stat. Reduced by 1 and then divided by 2.
To be done by hand this is super easy; Haggle is 9, Smarts is 9, that's 18. And then -1 for 17, finally divided by 2 for a score of 8.5 which is rounded down to 8. And while I could very, very simply do this just in my head, I don't fancy doing so more than 200 times if I decide to change the requirements of a stat, or the primary statistics of a character.
Getting this calculation right took me the better part of two nights of work, and all so I could be lazy.
And it didn't even calculate the number 10 this time...
Number 10
Okay, it's been a forever since I've posted anything pretty much anywhere, the infinite void of the internet holds no interest for me to have my words heard or read any more, but I felt I needed to post this because it's subject is pissing me off...
Or at the very least, I think it's pissing me off, I may yet find it's actually not, and I'm just venting over nothing.
So, here's the schtick, I like hanging about on Quora, for a while I even thought I 'liked' answering questions there, I felt as though I was helping spread a little learning, some positive (I hope...) opinions and making things better.
This feeling has died now and I'm left feeling confused and slightly angry at the Quora site.
As I see it, at the very heart of Quora is the concept of a question & an answer, perhaps not always a good or correct answer, but an answer, inquiry met with feedback, an honest two-way interaction of inquisitive minds and those with the information to feed forward.
But now, I'm jaded, I see a website filled with questions which with even a tiny amount of research are easily answered elsewhere, questions phrased and clearly intoned to be aggravating or 'trolling' and questions which seem to fill no other role than an abuse of the fact that asking questions is rewarded with a share of the site profits (no doubt because of the increase in ad revenue those same questions draw into the site)
Someone asking "is the outcome of 2+2 different on Tuesdays" would likely get a few hundred views, maybe even some earnest answers, and probably a few 'triggered' answers too...
But that question, regardless of how inane it may be, will earn the asker some cash. The asker can then go on to ask the exact same question but rephrased replacing "Tuesdays" with Monday, or June, or 2006... each time they do, being rewarded for their effort and clogging up the site with ever more redundant and objectively poor content.
But, hypothetically; if a theoretical physicist, one whom also has a deep and well-educated grasp of quantum theory and chaos theory (or whatever) were to drop by and give a lengthy and detailed 'actual' answer explaining how even basic mathematics is affected by some hitherto unknown esoteric scientific theorem.
That answer, the sum of their extensive learning, experience, and the time they'd given to put together the answer. Is somehow less valuable?
Fucking what?
And so, I come to realise that once again, idiocy, banality and feigned ignorance are being rewarded while talent, ability and a willingness to help are simply ignored, or even worse - are abused.
Happy Christmas folks.
Or at the very least, I think it's pissing me off, I may yet find it's actually not, and I'm just venting over nothing.
So, here's the schtick, I like hanging about on Quora, for a while I even thought I 'liked' answering questions there, I felt as though I was helping spread a little learning, some positive (I hope...) opinions and making things better.
This feeling has died now and I'm left feeling confused and slightly angry at the Quora site.
As I see it, at the very heart of Quora is the concept of a question & an answer, perhaps not always a good or correct answer, but an answer, inquiry met with feedback, an honest two-way interaction of inquisitive minds and those with the information to feed forward.
But now, I'm jaded, I see a website filled with questions which with even a tiny amount of research are easily answered elsewhere, questions phrased and clearly intoned to be aggravating or 'trolling' and questions which seem to fill no other role than an abuse of the fact that asking questions is rewarded with a share of the site profits (no doubt because of the increase in ad revenue those same questions draw into the site)
Cash for Shit, bring out your shit!
If I might stick with the last point, it seems ass-backwards that a really shit question is rewarded, but a superb, well written and meticulously explained answer yields it's progenitor no benefit.Someone asking "is the outcome of 2+2 different on Tuesdays" would likely get a few hundred views, maybe even some earnest answers, and probably a few 'triggered' answers too...
But that question, regardless of how inane it may be, will earn the asker some cash. The asker can then go on to ask the exact same question but rephrased replacing "Tuesdays" with Monday, or June, or 2006... each time they do, being rewarded for their effort and clogging up the site with ever more redundant and objectively poor content.
But, hypothetically; if a theoretical physicist, one whom also has a deep and well-educated grasp of quantum theory and chaos theory (or whatever) were to drop by and give a lengthy and detailed 'actual' answer explaining how even basic mathematics is affected by some hitherto unknown esoteric scientific theorem.
That answer, the sum of their extensive learning, experience, and the time they'd given to put together the answer. Is somehow less valuable?
Fucking what?
And so, I come to realise that once again, idiocy, banality and feigned ignorance are being rewarded while talent, ability and a willingness to help are simply ignored, or even worse - are abused.
Sigh.
I've no doubt I'll continue to read, and even post on Quora, but I do so feeling somewhat ashamed that I cannot find a better use of my time and a little depressed that I continue to sink in an intellectual mire of self-depreciation.Happy Christmas folks.
Quora Qualms
Boots...
No not the high-street chemist, the footwear.I know this won't ring true for everyone, but it snuck up on me and left me suffering a feels.
But I think I'm having to accept that even if my brow remains almost unfettered there's a squishy-feely bit inside, and right now that part of me is quite sad.
Why? Because of my boots.
History
Footwear is literally physically almost the furthest thing from my mind, being that the go on my feet.So... why the feels? Throw out the ruined boots, buy new ones and move on right...?
My Boots
There they are, Size 8, falling apart, the rubber soles have perished, the laces frayed, the upper leather is dry and cracked. They look like shit.
To most people. I look at these boots and when I think to myself, "time to throw these out" here's what flashes in my brain.
My first job.
I bought these for my first job as a responsible adult, and more than that they served me through 3 jobs over many years, I've sweat and bled and sworn and these boots were on my feet. In those roles I've met dozens of people some I held as dear friends, these boots were on my feet.My first love.
In that same time-frame, I met, fell in love with and had my heart broken by my first 'real' adult connection, the elation and the crushing sorrow of that first love, these boots carried me to and from.My family.
I make no bones about the sad fact that my parents both died early, but in that time when I would walk to their house to visit or offer help in their illness, I can almost certainly state that these were the boots that were on my feet.Emotional storage
So, there you have it folks, a ragged pair of useless boots, surrounded by the aura of half a lifetime of my memories, of hard work, of joy, of sadness, of a life lived and all that led to where I am now.
These boots didn't just help protect my feet, these boots have transported me into adulthood.
I will throw them out, it is silly to hold onto such things as useless boots, my memories are still there, I can still ponder those things without these shabby leather husks. But I'll still feel a little sad because of it.
Additional boots
As if one pair of boots wasn't enough... here's more!
Glad you asked.
Firstly - These are, by far and away, beyond all others...
THE MOST COMFORTABLE BOOTS EVER.
Seriously, walking in these was like a foot massage, that fact alone makes me rather annoyed they have to be thrown out.
Aside from that, ... oh yeah, These are the boots I bought at the moment I went to meet a girl, a girl I now call my wife :)
Oh, did I mention how fucking comfy these were?
