The Back Room

[Seraphin]

Sounds like somebody had a bad trip and fall, if you know what I mean.

[archimage_a]

Anyways, I just had the weirdest dream ever. I dreamt that I was in jail, with a longsword, and I shared a cell with a Hex and Ieyfura. When an earthquake struck the facility, the first thing I did was to run up to the helipad and make sure Nex, the Jail Manager, was safe. I then surrendered myself, got shot in the gut because I rolled badly and sent back to my cell where Ieyfura used a pair of forceps to extract what looked like a very thin, high-tech slug from the wound. Eventually I started relocating around, going such jails in such places as Mexico, Eastern Europe and eventually Africa where I became cellmates with Lei, whom I gave all of my food until my release.

Some things of note are that there were these weird breaks where we were outside and it was seemingly random what we were and weren't allowed to do and that all the food looked like bars of soap.

 

Archi's dream analysis. Bolded for Sublimation. Italics for inference.

 

Summery:

Subject needs to spend less time in the Tavern and lacks companionship, and a true moral paradigm.

 

Recommendations:

Subject needs to reassess moral priorities and buy a cat.

[The_Mather1]

Actually the longsword only played a minor role (I'm pretty sure I lost it after I surrendered), and it's shape was way too impractical to be related to this place (it had a square tip, a square tip). And no, my surrender wasn't symbolical of anything by its own, as I resisted detainment until the prison manager gave a hand wave to confirm that he was okay, at which point I just laid flat down and let the guards take me away.

 

As for the so called references of yours, the weird guy was just silent and sitting in his bed at all times except during the breaks. The badass chick was different from how Iey plays it, being more anime-esque, silent and carefree in style. The prison manager was way more like an ambiguously bad guy from an anime than Nex ever plays, with a white trenchcoat and spiky, black hair. Being shot in the gut was as punishment for leaving my cell and never really did anything other than leave the weird bullet there. Also i really don't spend that much time here. And the cat wasn't really that important either, it was sentient, it was my cellmate and I gave it all my food for no reason at all, despite it having more than enough food for itself, that's all I remember about it.

 

 

So no, not symbolical of any of those.

[Resistance]

Why is a square tip impractical a longsword is used for slashing, not stabbing so the shape of the tip is irrelevent

[Ieyfura]

Why is a square tip impractical a longsword is used for slashing, not stabbing so the shape of the tip is irrelevent

 

A longsword is primarily a thrust weapon. It's the broadsword and it's like that are slash weapons. So the tip is very relevant. :P

[archimage_a]

Actually the longsword only played a minor role (I'm pretty sure I lost it after I surrendered), and it's shape was way too impractical to be related to this place (it had a square tip, a square tip). And no, my surrender wasn't symbolical of anything by its own, as I resisted detainment until the prison manager gave a hand wave to confirm that he was okay, at which point I just laid flat down and let the guards take me away.

 

As for the so called references of yours, the weird guy was just silent and sitting in his bed at all times except during the breaks. The badass chick was different from how Iey plays it, being more anime-esque, silent and carefree in style. The prison manager was way more like an ambiguously bad guy from an anime than Nex ever plays, with a white trenchcoat and spiky, black hair. Being shot in the gut was as punishment for leaving my cell and never really did anything other than leave the weird bullet there. Also i really don't spend that much time here. And the cat wasn't really that important either, it was sentient, it was my cellmate and I gave it all my food for no reason at all, despite it having more than enough food for itself, that's all I remember about it.

 

 

So no, not symbolical of any of those.

 

Square Tip...Interesting...Consult a medical professional?

 

Surrendering yourself is always symbolic of something...Even if all that is is that you place a higher premium on the lives of others (Specifically the lives of those who are higher up the chain of command) than you do on your own life.

 

The cat doesn't really need to represent anything at all, it is just another example of 'Its life is more important than mine' rational.

 

Another interpretation would be that it is your brain's way of trying to tell you that you do things that have no rational explaination, but simply do them because you do them. You could then read into 'You brain is showing you these things so you can identify them and then move on to a more rational responce' or 'You brain is showing you these things because it is how your mind words and there is nothing you can do to change it.'

You can then draw all sorts of other inferences which would be a waste of time for me to explain, given that your brain is only as capable as you are (Not entirely true), me talking about the highly abstracted versions of reality, theory and all that jazz that goes on in my brain, and figures in how I understand the world, wouldn't be amazingly helpful unless you also thought in the same highly abstracted way.

In my experiance few people do think in abstractive ways for more than a short while at a time...largely because abstraction is rarely very helpful, except when you are looking at systemic analysis...and I am going off on a massive speech that is unnecessary.

 

 

Ultimately it doesn't matter what I say because dream analysis doesn't give you definative answers...It could just have easily been that while you were browsing the internet you saw something that registered on a very minor level, which was being processed while you were sleeping, and that span out a series of consequental dream sequences...

Vaguely like when I am creating a new area in Crossroads/Space/whatever, it is rarely well thoughtout, but much rather dependant on something I saw or did earlier. However I will nominally weave several aspects together with no one factor being massively noticable and I would assume that the human brain (I know my brain does because I have done days of dream analysis, combined with life analysis) is not entirely different from person to person (Though my sample of one person is hardly conclusive).

 

But, ultimately, in the words of Samual Clements "The Best Person to Write Your Story is You". What I/Anyone-else can do is give you possible guesses based on what those dreams might mean if we dreamed them. (Personally I was just being silly, to my mind dream analysis rarely yields tangible results, and when it does it is usually from the 'What the hell did that mean' rather than the dream itself. Not to dismiss the field completely though...."Even a Blind Squirrel Finds Nuts Sometimes".)

 

So yeah, try thinking about it, coming to whatever conclusions you can come to, file them under F for Forgetaboutit.

[archimage_a]

On an entirely unrelated topic, finished my first Victoria 2 A House Divided Playthrough:

[hide]

[/hide]

 

Its quite easy to see that AHD creates a much less stable social order in some countries (notably France which just had revolution after revolution) but does nothing to break up their empire (and so you effectively have a deadweight country because it controls most of Africa, which will revolt every half year, so large scale occupation is neigh impossible, which means you end up stalling at 60% warscore).

On the other hand, countries like Austria-Hungery generate the total break down of the social order AND the break up of their empire, so halfway through the 'make puppet' war, Eastern Austria broke away and joined me (peicemeal fashion)...which was nice...but lead to a dozen more revolts, eventually making the war unwinnable. So peaced out, taking almost 200 prestige for failure to complete wargoals, Austria ceeded, and over the next five years they cycled aimlessly through political systems because their capital took too long to occupy.

 

Also Germany being the same colour as the rebels....was not impressed by that.

I was, however, impressed, by some dynamic renaming...So Austria became the Confederation of Danubia at one point. The British Empire became the Worker's Commonwealth, The Ottoman Empire became the Republic of Instanbul...Its quite nice to not only see the flag change, but to see the name change =P. Though I have to say that France didn't change its name much....

 

One of the majorly annoying things is the obsession with navies...France, after having been puppeted by me, refused to build an army (despite constantly being in a state of revolt) until it had built 200 ships, then it raised 6,000 troops and did nothing else.

 

Spain, similarly, was conquered back in 1840ish, and maintained a tiny army from then on.

 

 

Definately the AI finds it easier to bankrupt countries...It says quite a lot when countries basically die part way through the game (like Spain, France, CSA) simply because they borrowed too much trying to fight a war/industrialise/ect, and then never pose a credible threat again.

 

The CSA was an interesting case...Initially they were doing terrible, I ally with them, the USA carries on, France and Austria declare war on me while my army is in transit. I land in the CSA(Which has the best possible starting hand, they even have Texas) and they are getting smashed, haven't mobilised, but the USA has, so they have no real chance.

I land, they suddenly mobilise and send the fresh troops into battle, so my first action is wasting most of my strength on this silly 'Please don't die off' campagin, and have to draw off troops from Europe to assist with that.

Meanwhile Austria and France have fully mobilised, Russia has come to my assistance, but is worthless (and Austria ignores it), so I am mostly trying to survive long enough to bring my troops back.

 

Then Switzerland and Belgium suddenly raise these large stacks and suddenly there is a chance of victory.

 

Meanwhile in America the German-Augemented CSA troops manage to defeat the USA. After five years they declare war on America (lose horribly) and it is only through direct intervention they are not wiped out then and there. For my trouble, given that my Infamy is already near max, I get to free Liberia, while the CSA takes Maryland.

 

Anyway, CSA becomes a Great Power, forms an Alliance with Canada, Canada attacks the USA, and then white peaces, the USA adds 'Annex CSA' so the CSA is forced to stay in the war and I can't intervene. Fortunately I get a humilate USA event and, once again, charge to the CSA's rescue. Thinking to anhilate the USA I then justify 'free people' of the CSA, Washington DC....This has no real effect, other than to relocate the US capital to Sitka.

 

But the war is long, the USA and CSA's armies are virtually wiped out, its mostly German troops occupying American cities, while the rebels of both countries dominate...By this point I am sick of saving the CSA and so I begin massing transports for evac. Peace breaks out, the USA loses Washington and is humilated, and looks like it is gonna get taken over by a revolt, and there is...New England breaks off, and then, of course the USA then pulls another army out of the ether and survives the reactionary/communist rebels.

I head to New England because its a safe evac point...No, Canada decides to invade it, and I go to protect it. The Canadians are FAR better fighters than the USA and so my 130,000 troops take alot of casualties, but suceed. Meanwhile the CSA has gone Communist, then bankrupt (Or visa versa), so allyless and peniless, they then attack the USA to humiliate them...and are, of course, annexed.

 

I mean COME ON, the CSA has no chance of long term victory! They can't annex the USA, they can't even remove the no Infamy War Goal that the USA pulls EVERYTIME they get into a war...They just fight and fight and fight until they get annexed at any point over the next 50 years.

 

So with America abandoned, I look closer to home and find I am still at war with France and Austria. Switzerland and Belgium have added war demands, and I feel like I should honour them...88 if I negotiate with the French, 108 if I negotiate with the Austrians...So I have to trek across Africa, India and Bruni to get up to the 85% (from 61) to successfully force France to give up....TAKES 8 YEARS AFTER FRANCE HAS ACTUALLY FALLEN! As I said earlier, rebels EVERYWHERE.

 

After that France enters a downwards spiral, while Austria eventually becomes world number 2. France changes government every other year, then every year...and eventually their economy is so shot that I am capable of stealing more territory, then fighting another war to puppet them.

During the first war my fleet of 20 Dreadnoughts 70 Cruisers and 32 transports is defeated by France's 73 Cruisers...In the following engagement by 92 Dreadnoughts and 184 Crusiers make short work of their fleet...But still...the principle!

 

Austria, on the other hand, stays united until I attack, then, the moment it's armies die, revolts everywhere and Italy (my nominal ally) invades it independantly.

The resulting mess prevents anyone from achieving their goals and eventually I peace out. Then Italy peaces out for no reason...I reload and...no...Italy stays in...So reload, peace out, Italy follows directly after, I roll my eyes, amass my forces, and then Austria collapses.

 

My final point is on the endgame...From 1900ish I had +25.00 Infamy...I ended the game at almost 70. Does anyone launch containment? NO! The USA is the only country with the sheer capability to attack and it sits there, building a massive industry (twice the size of mine, but they still are 1,000 points behind on overal score...200something dreadnoughts make for +4,000 military points...and they only really cost anything during war...I think a 2 year war costs 5 million, taxes set to normal and such, which I can make in 4 years of peace with the same sliders)

Its good on some levels, bad on others.

 

In short, the game is more like EU3, while keeping the economic attitudes of Victoria 2...Which makes for a game that is both easy to lose and hard to win, a fact inverted when the computer makes simple mistakes and loses entirely...leaving you to try to fix the situation...all the while the USA just sits there building factories without a care about bankruptcy or the threat of revolt...

[Nexaduro]

It seems that those sorts of games tend to place a lot of reliance on the French always being the French, the Americans always being the Americans, the Germans always being the Germans... And a whole lot of nothing changing culturally over the course of history. That, or culture arbitrarily changing even when deprived of the historical climate that led to those changes originally.

[archimage_a]

Mmm, there is a certain degree of that...which is a shame because CK and EU3 both allow countries like France and Britain to explode into little factions (Britain not so much in EU3) if the country is doing absolutely terribly.

America, for sure, is a pain in the neck for not splitting up into its individual states...Almost no matter what happens it will not seperate (and if it does the Union is way too overpowered anyway)

 

Germany can easily schism if you start losing wars, as can Austria and Italy.

 

 

And Vic2 does allow for changing political parties, political systems, ect...But Communist Britain can still found the BBC, still create Scotland yard...ect...so yeah, there is a limited amount of mallablity...But there isn't really a way to get around that, unless you are editing the game files =P

[Earth]

I had the weirdest counting song going on in my head about Monster hunter. It went like..1,2,3,4, all the boots have hit the floor,5,6,7,8 better finish off that plate9,10,11,12, Get your gear off of the shelves,13,14,15,16 Make sure there's nothing missing,17,18,19,20 hope the weather isn't funky,21,22,23,24 Watch the team pour out the door,25,26,27,28, Hop aboard and don't be late.Thats it so far..

[Leiana]

I am never watching Paranormal Activity ever again. I'm now scared sh**less and listening to music to help me calm down. No more scary movies. I wanna watch crappy special effect movies like [hide= Tremors (caution, don't read quoet unless you really wanna)] Valentine McKee: You will have long blonde hair, big green eyes, world class breasts, ass that won't quit and legs that go all the way up. [/hide] or the original Tron.

[Nexaduro]

I'm trying to perform !!SCIENCE!! in the Dwarf Fortress raw files. Trying to give Necromancers the ability to make corpses explode and so-forth.

 

It's not going too well.

[The_Mather1]

Bike's ready for the season.

[The_Mather1]

[bleep], my clutch-handle snapped... at least now I now why it was so crooked.

[archimage_a]

I am entertained.

 

 

 

I also need to buy a clipboard before my jackets finish cooking.

[archimage_a]

Sigh....Secret questions to recover passwords are growing increasingly ridiculous...They ask you a question, such as 'What is your dog's name?' which you then can't answer because A) Dog's name is the wrong format and B) Because you are supposed to use a random series of letters and numbers as an answer.

WHY DO THEY INSIST ON ASKING YOU A QUESTION IF YOU CAN'T USE THE ANSWER! Seriously...Aside from prompting people to send spam emails to discover your mother's maiden name and what not, and frustrating...and misleading first time users...What is the point?

 

I would further add that the majority of the time the secret question is combined with your email address, and they actually need to have the email sent to your email address...So the circumstances in which knowing the answer to the secret question leads to someone stealing your account is, usually, rather pathetic...

They would have to know that, and your email address(Admittedly not hard for some people), and your email address password...and lets face it, if they have your email address password then you are already screwed.

The only time it really offers an extra layer of security is if you happen to tell someone your email address and password by accident (Yeah...).

 

re: YOUR ACCOUNT IS DOOOOOOMED, OMG THEY ALREADY KNOW ALL YOUR PASSWORDS, RUNNING IN CIRCLES IS YOUR ONLY AVAILABLE OPTION

[Alg]

This kind of system has made my life infinitely easier.

[Resistance]

Normally I just use the password 'password' but when its REALLY important I use 'password1'.

[archimage_a]

I have developed an even better system.

 

...---... ...---...

 

19 keystrokes, compared with 28, and 73 bits (Or more if the space doesn't count as 1)

three trillion, three billion, one hundred and thirty two million, nine hundred and thirty eight thousand, three hundred and thirty three years to crack at 1,000 guess per second...

Thats longer than the universe has existed

Also easy to remember since it is just SOS SOS.

 

Samual Morse predicted the digital age, and he owned it!

[Leiana]

Anybody know a cure for paranoia? I SERIOUSLY NEED HELP!!!!!!

[Jehosaphat]

I suggest that you try and forget that they're always standing right behind you.

 

Always.

 

But seriously, go see a psychologist, or if it's really bad, a psychiatrist.

[Leiana]

Can't afford a trip to psychologist or a psychiatrist. (I hate being a poor American teenager)

 

I'll try to forget though.

[The_Mather1]

Cure for paranoia; mild insanity.

It's a blessing to be able to decide for yourself whether to care, be worried, be scared or don't give a shit.

[Resistance]

Instead of just proclaiming that you have paranoia without any sort of diagnois, how about you first get a diagnosis and then if you do actually have paranoia and not just everyday fear then you can begin to ask a qualified-practitioner for advice.

 

Self diagnosis is dangerous and stupid, getting advice from a runescape internet forum even more so.

[archimage_a]

Warhammer Solution:

Step 1) Identify afflicted body part

Step 2) Find a good friend

Step 3) Get a good friend to cut off your afflicted body part

Step 4) Purge the Heretic.