I Had A Random Thought...

[Ucantalas]

It;s there for making fun typos!

[Frenetic Pony]

Hey, back the fuck off the venerable semi-colon you illiterate and illegible sophomoric ingrate

[osmosisch]

Wrong it's for making winky faces.

That's more of an orgasmy face.

[clyde]

It still bums me out from time to time when someone on the internet calls me an asshole for expressing my honest opinion.

I knew that guy from school. Our parents went to the same church. He crashed in my friends' hotel room during an anime convention. He's always been a huge jerk to me. I'm sure his new web series is good or whatever, but I'm going to pass.

At what point over those five sentences did I cross some invisible line?

A lot of the time people on he internet assume that the commenter is being aggressive when they are just being sincere. I've found that it is worth my time to go to length about how i am just stating my opinion and I mean no insult.

I was reading the Ren'Py forums once and I came across this preamble that amazed me:

" I swear by the sutras whose wisdom guides me that I am not a troll. I am, by the sutras that guide me, a Buddhist who wants to write a story dealing with themes that interest me."

I hope you are feeling better and that people calling you an asshole for expressing your honest opinion doesn't keep you from expressing your opinion in a compassionate and honest way.

[Dewar]

It's for either separating items in a list where a series of items separated by commas should be considered a collective item on the whole list; or for dividing two completely different thoughts that would still be considered part of the same sentence, like I just did!

 

 

(I fucking love semicolons and use them ALL THE TIME)

 

Shouldn't that have been a comma?

[clyde]

I just remembered that "understand" literally means "foundation". Under the stand is an understanding.

[I Saw Dasein]

Shouldn't that have been a comma?

It's probably OK as a semi-colon. In her example above, the semi-colon is being used to separate items in a complex series. Effectively she lists two possible uses for the semi-colon (separating items in a series and as a conjunction between independent clauses), and uses a semi-colon to separate the two items in the list. It's probably unnecessary and a comma would also have sufficed, but there's nothing wrong with it as far as I can see.

 

e: if she intended to use the semi-colon conjunctively, she has a problem because the second clause ("for dividing two completely different thoughts that would still be considered part of the same sentence") is a dependent clause rather than an independent clause.

[I Saw Dasein]

Why exactly was the semicolon invented? I try to use it from time to time but every time I do I feel like I fuck it up.

 

Semi-colon easy mode: only use a semi-colon in situations where you could use a period instead. The semi-colon indicates a logical connection between the two sentences.

 

Example 1: I was hungry. I went to town.

 

Example 2: I was hungry; I went to town.

 

In Example 1, the relationship between being hungry and going to town is a bit unclear. By comparison, Example 2 makes the relationship between my hunger and the journey clear. It implies I went to town because I was hungry (or at least that hunger had something to do with the journey). 

[Roderick]

I just remembered that "understand" literally means "foundation". Under the stand is an understanding.

 

Amazing!

[clyde]

e: if she intended to use the semi-colon conjunctively, she has a problem because the second clause ("for dividing two completely different thoughts that would still be considered part of the same sentence") is a dependent clause rather than an independent clause.

But there is no subject in that clause. Doesn't that make it dependent?

Edit: Nevermind, I misread.

[I Saw Dasein]

But there is no subject in that clause. Doesn't that make it dependent?

Yes. 

[Dewar]

I'm happy to talk to someone who is as punctuation pedantic as I am.

[Zeusthecat]

My appendix is my body's semicolon.

[elmuerte]

(was going to post this in "books", but I thought it was more fitting here)

 

I rarely ever read books. Am I broken? I do think I read quite a lot, but it's rarely fiction. I think I blame school for reading lists, despite that I more or less could read anything I'd like (as long as I could justify it).

But... is it worth reading fiction? Is faction actually faction, or just fiction is theory's clothing?

[Ucantalas]

I read almost nothing but fiction (as far as actual books go. I suppose I don't read much fiction if you count things like reading webpages.)

I wonder if thats a bit of a waste sometimes. It seems like I've become nothing but some all-devouring entertainment consumption machine. Unless I'm actually working on something specific (like applying for jobs, or actually working at a job) I feel like I'm always experiencing some form of escapist entertainment. Hell, even when I am working I'm sometimes listening to a podcast or watching episodes of TV shows. I sometimes wonder if this is a real problem.

[elmuerte]

If I compare to what I've accomplished during my recent commercials years to my academic and educational years, I get sad.

[Zeusthecat]

I don't really read any books at all, fiction or non-fiction. But then again, I don't really watch any television or movies either unless I'm watching with my wife or daughter.

 

I used to read a decent amount and watch a lot more television and movies but as I've gotten older I've developed a very strong preference for entertainment that I actively participate in above all else. Every time I do take the time to read a book or watch something I always come out of it thinking "That time would have been better spent playing a video game, solving a puzzle, or doing yardwork". The only exception to this is educational material as I do like to constantly learn new things and challenge my assumptions so I don't become a senile bastard.

 

I feel like I have more to say about this but I'm not sure that I fully understand what it is about non-educational books, movies and television that don't provide enough fulfillment for me (except Breaking Bad). I'll shut up now.

[I Saw Dasein]

I feel kind of the opposite. I always feel like I'm wasting my time when I play video games or watch TV or watch movies. But I do feel like I actively participate in the books I read: I struggle to understand them, I think about how and why the author wrote in the way he or she did, I try and find meaning in the text. That feels much more active, challenging, and interesting to me than does (for example) grabbing treasure in Spelunky. Maybe that is a function of the kind of games and TV and movies I tend to watch, which tend to be on the "escapist" side of things. But for whatever reason I prefer to read a hard book than to watch a difficult movie or play a thoughtful video game.

[Zeusthecat]

I feel kind of the opposite. I always feel like I'm wasting my time when I play video games or watch TV or watch movies. But I do feel like I actively participate in the books I read: I struggle to understand them, I think about how and why the author wrote in the way he or she did, I try and find meaning in the text. That feels much more active, challenging, and interesting to me than does (for example) grabbing treasure in Spelunky. Maybe that is a function of the kind of games and TV and movies I tend to watch, which tend to be on the "escapist" side of things. But for whatever reason I prefer to read a hard book than to watch a difficult movie or play a thoughtful video game.

 

I see where you're coming from, I guess my brain just doesn't derive the same satisfaction and sense of accomplishment from reading as yours does. For instance, I read The Silmarillion a couple times in the last few years and because of my need to fully comprehend 100% of what I was reading at all times, I was constantly looking through the glossary and family trees in the appendices to make sure I always completely understood everything that had happened up to that point. I can never just read a paragraph once either. I will usually start reading it, get to the end of the paragraph, reflect on the paragraph and on whether or not I fully comprehended it, then re-read it, and re-reflect until I feel that I have it permanently burned into my memory (that goes for posts here too; I read yours about 3 times and I just used a semi-colon). To make matters worse, I will often realize in the middle of a paragraph that none of what I just read actually entered my brain because my mind drifted elsewhere and then I have to start over.

 

This all results in me feeling somewhat frustrated after reading a book. I do tend to remember a lot of what I've read for a long time because of my obsessive nature but by the end of it I just never feel that it was worth it because I'm so exhausted.

[SecretAsianMan]

I have a hard time with remembering characters.  I'm a visual person, so if I can't see a face its difficult for me to remember what they did or who they are.  For that reason alone, movies are easier for me to get through.  But if I read a book that's had a movie version made or watch a series based on a book, then the books are much easier for me to follow.

[Ucantalas]

I have a lot of trouble remembering the things I read. I burn through books, but after they're closed I will completely forget certain characters or minor events. I will remember the main plot of the book, and maybe a scene or two, but most of it just gets thrown out of my brain. The same thing occurs with movies as well.

I usually do fairly well remembering who is who while I'm reading a book, but I have a very difficult time recognizing different people on TV / in movies. There will be many, many times where I will think I'm watching one character, but it turns out its been someone else the whole time. There are some movies and TV shows (and in some cases even animes) that I cannot watch because I can't tell who is who.

[SecretAsianMan]

On the way home, I was passed by a DeLorean.  It had to be going at least 88 MPH.

[Ucantalas]

Great scott!

[Dewar]

Some fiction books do hold some "value" because they can cause you to look at social/psychological/philosophical issues from a new and different angle. I really like Terry Pratchet that. Each book has a lot of fun comedy, but it is also satirical, making a point about how things are in the real world.  Other books are just a fun read, which each person is going to pull value from (or not) based on their own likes, dislikes, and personal experience.

[Zeusthecat]

I was just thinking about how great Mario Sunshine was and how anyone who didn't think it was great can go fuck themselves.

 

Kidding. But it is really great.