In a game, movie, work of literature or theater, your feeling of awe and immersion is maintained by something called the “magic circle”. It is an area of experience that is separated from normal reality by the proverbial 4th wall.
Everything inside the magic circle is filled with artistic purpose, it works (in good works) to drive meaning and communicate themes and ideas of the art work.
Whenever this magic circle is broken, you suspension of disbelief becomes overtaken by cynicism, and the immersion is gone.
Mundane life is full of this cynicism, because we are not conditioned (anymore) to find mundane reality purposeful, outside of really outstanding and dire situations. We take reality with it’s amazing graphics and narrative for granted, not noticing the magic.
As a fan of HR and MD, I have the original purchased on GOG, but I’ve never played it. Are there any quality of life mods I should know before I drive in?
All software is political, riddled with biases and potential security risks. Most of the time we ignore the policy of the software, because we either agree with that policy, or are conditioned not to clock it as a “policy”, because “this is just Common Sense™”.
I suspect, if the author would have been more honest with themselves, they’d write something along the lines of “turns out, software is a platform for political action, and it scares me” - an opinion that is very valid, valuable and thought-provoking.
Posted without a proper citation - how dare you!
White RC, Remington A. Object personification in autism: This paper will be very sad if you don’t read it. Autism. 2019 May;23(4):1042-1045. doi: 10.1177/1362361318793408. Epub 2018 Aug 11. PMID: 30101594.
Go on, my siblings, make this paper happy!
I don’t know of any solution that would allow to scan entire pages, but here is a local tool to get LaTeX math from images via OCR https://github.com/lukas-blecher/LaTeX-OCR
The future’s wasteland will be covered by bodies of web stalkers who were naive enough to get tricked by mid-2010s shitposts.
“Turns out they never used this to make their metal cutlery darker - who would have thought the ancients were so casually cruel?”
“After months of research we have concluded, that despite all their technical achievements, the ancients never figured out, what does the fox say”
“Today prof. Drobyshevsky is going to tell us about their newest work in XXI cent. anthropology - what is ‘streamer dent’ and why do we have such long heads 2300 years later?”
“Ass, coochie and the rich - dietary practices of homo sapiens in the age of over-production”
Despite whatever your lead/manager says, there is always an option to nuke it from low orbit and start over.
As a programmer, I concur. I sit on my arse all day pushing keys , anybody can do that.
Get a habit of tracking your habits. When you know everything you do while “on autopilot” and why, - you can outsource a lot of chores and work to your “autopilot” self by setting up your routines and habits correctly.
This skill is best learned as soon as possible, and it’s a shame it’s not taught in schools. 20s is a good time - all the momentum you gain within next 20 years can carry you the rest of the way.
Also, don’t be hard on yourself for failing. You’ll see tons of good advice - a lot of it will seem essential (like being financially responsible), for good reasons. Just know that failing at all these things does not necessarily make you a failure or a bad person. Who knows what struggles you might/will face - as long as you survive and take care of your loved ones, you should be ok. Ultimately that is all we can do.
Also, try to engage with physical things more: people IRL next to you, touch grass, craft something with your hands. Of it’s not physical, it exists in your head, - and your head might not always be the best place to spend most your time.
Please elaborate, I’ve been interested in this for awhile - what do you use/recommend for someone who’s new?
Hey this one looks exactly like what I expected to get, thanks!
Gyro has been present in Sony controllers since Dualshock 3. All of the Nintendo controllers I ever used had it. Steam deck has it. I honestly assumed it is a standard feature.
Thank you!
I was only recently diagnosed, and I am into my thirties now, which means I am a “high masking” individual. I am learning very slowly how to communicate what I actually feel and think, instead of saying what “would be appropriate to hear from someone who fits in”. It can be very challenging.
I have family and friends now who are supportive, and they do a lot of things that help: we normalized non-verbal communication (texts, gestures, etc, - I have read about communication cards as well). Also, it is ok to be unable to say anything at all sometimes, especially during an intense moment.
Something I have noticed about myself which is also fairly typical (AFAIK) for people with ASD is that our attention and focus work differently than in most people. I seem to be unable to divide my attention up between things: I am either hyper-focused on something singular, or relaxed. So when I am focused, and something distracts me, it is distressing. Imagine someone you know suddenly startling you as you exit your home bathroom as a prank - getting pulled out of the focus feels sorta like that, minus the fear. When that happens, the frustration can be tough to control. If I suddenly snap at someone when they’re trying to reach out - that is the reason most of the time.
I wish I could help you more - but I am only learning these things myself now. I used to really struggle with communication as a kid, and it turns out I just didn’t have access to the support I needed.
When it comes to bullying, I think the most effective way to get rid of it is to start deliberately calling it out. This may be tougher than it sounds: sometimes we have to overcome a lot of bias and fear to call out a bully. Once I nail that, I’ll think about a way to teach it to a kid.
Hello, yes. All eleven years. Yelling, picking, fighting, name-calling, stealing, stalking - never understood why, until I was diagnosed with ASD not long ago. I guess I really was that different.
At one point in middle school I remember being so sick of one guy in particular, - he always kicked and pushed me during PE. Sometimes he would steal my things and throw them in the girls changing room to lock me there when I go to get them (I am a man). One time he pulled my pants down so the other guy could snap a photo of my bare behind on his phone. When I asked them to delete the photo, he punched me in the face.
I had a crush on a girl once. Came clean about it, we even went on a small date. This one time she waited for me after school with two girl friends - they pushed me to the ground, kicked me in my stomach, my back and between my legs, laughed at my pain and threw snow at my head. We were 10 at the time, and I was a lot smaller than the girls. I never told anyone, didnt want them to laugh at a boy who is being picked on by girls.
In middle school I got in a fight with one of my bullies during PE. He kicked me, I caught his foot with my hands and lifted it up - he fell on his wrist and broke it. The entire school started treating me like a plague. No one talked to me for several days, aside from the occasional “maniac” or “break my arm too, I wanna stay home”.
There were several kids like me in our school. Teachers did nothing - for them I was a weird quiet kid, and quiet kid always get picked on. Parents did nothing, because nobody knew I’m autistic - they thought I’m just “lazy and weird”.
I don’t know what is there to learn besides “don’t raise bullies”.
Rovio lawyers be like
Nanomachines, son!
Back in 2011 I already felt that there should be some sort of easy-to-follow hygiene to maintain around mass media, especially internet. You know, like we hide our coughs and sneezes, maintain healthy distance around people, wash our hands, use slippers in communal pools. I should probably look up if someone smarter has already done the work.
Handwriting has been proven to enhance learning in humans, so you are doing great by keeping the habit!
I don’t have much to recommend, but so far this little tool was very useful for me and my math studies: https://github.com/lukas-blecher/LaTeX-OCR
I am not a student, but I learn like a student all the time. I also enjoy handwriting (got an e-ink tablet for that) and knowledge management. I am often dreaming of a “perfect setup” where all I write gets pushed automatically through OCR into my knowledge vault (Obsidian, Logseq or whatever I/my peers happen to use). Even came up with a plan. I hope this new year will leave me enough energy to execute something useful.
Would you like to collaborate on that perhaps?
As someone who has built a career in building and maintaining digital services, a lot of what Carmen talks about rings very true to me, especially this part:
“The platforms make money based on the time we spend on them, and they don’t hesitate to use unethical, addictive resources, so how are you going to ask a 10-year-old or a 13-year-old to stop, if it’s even hard for us adults?”
I’ve struggled with social media and technology addiction myself, so in my mind, allowing a child a smartphone is akin to teaching them how to smoke - that is how toxic and generally “bad-for-your-health” modern internet is, I think.
At the same time, I am not (yet) a parent, so I really don’t know how am I going to be making such a decision when the time comes.
My first encounter with Linux was in 2007, I installed Kubuntu Gutsy Gibbon on my dad’s computer out of curiosity - I was intrigued by a notion of free OS you can deeply customize.
I have spent countless hours fiddling with the system, mostly ricing (Compiz Fusion totally blew my mind) and checking out FOSS games.
Decades later I switched to Linux full-time. After 12 years of daily driving OS X and working as a developer, I wanted a customizable and lean OS that is easy to maintain and control. Chose Arch, then Nix, havent looked back ever since.