A Pixelated Mind

I swear to god, I thought I’d written this down before…

In reference to the last episode and taken from this website and this other one:

1. Shotgun must be said audibly to all present or the person’s hand must be on the door handle
2. Window is a separate option that must also be called independently. All other rules for Window are the same as those for Shotgun.
3. The car must be visible, you must be outside or in the parking structure, and the ride must be imminent. Early calls are strictly prohibited. (Often this rule is split up into several other rules.)
4. Shotgun may not be called for anybody else.
5. Shotgun only applies among equals who are of more or less the same age, gender, and status. Also, the seat must be vacant when called. In cases where Shotgun is not available (for instance if the person with directions, an elder, or a disabled person needs the seat), anyone who called Shotgun automatically loses their bid.
6. In case of a tie, Rock, Paper, Scissors, Australian Thumb to the Head or Mad Dash to the Car rules may be instituted in lieu of the driver’s tie-breaking decision. This is the driver’s choice and one must familiarize oneself with the local rules before playing Shotgun.
7. The order for automatic Shotgun is as follows: owner of the car, disabled person, elderly person, person who knows the directions, spouse/partner of the driver, all other claimants.

Shotgun is awarded to the quickest thinker for a reason: he must serve as navigator, radio controller, and cop watcher. Theoretically, being the first to call Shotgun better allows for this. Failure to abide by these rules or duties may result in the person with Shotgun being forced to ride Bitch.

Shockingly obvious realization:

You can have a joke that doesn’t refer to any cultural aspect and you can have a reference that isn’t funny.

Background: I went to a boardgame night a few weeks ago with some friends of a friend. The entire night could be summarized as a series of Internet pop culture references and nerd references. I got a number of them, but many more slipped by me. They seemed to amuse each other, but I mostly just wanted to shout

NEEEEEERRRDDDSS!!!!

Because what they were saying wasn’t amusing in the context. They were only amused because it reminded them of the original amusing quote.

And it occurred to me: If it’s possible to get the reference but not get the joke (or find it funny), then it’s got to be possible to get a joke but not get the reference.

I imagine getting the reference usually adds something to the joke experience, but if a person laughs at something but doesn’t understand that it was actually a reference to another thing– that person shouldn’t be embarrassed. Nonsense and reference are different things.

I think Frege taught us that.

My friend Hagop once came up with the idea for a “Journal of Half-Baked Ideas.” I wasn’t actually there to witness it, so I don’t know any of the details wanted to include in it, but I’ve decided to run away with the idea and take it as my own.
I have lots of ideas. Usually when people are talking to me about boring things. Often I consider speaking up, but decide not to.
About half the time I realize after a few seconds that my idea was stupid and I was right to keep my mouth shut.
The other half of the time someone else usually speaks up and says my idea for me… and is praised for his originality and intellect.

So from now on, every time I have a half-baked idea, I’m going to post it here. That way I won’t feel bad if they’re stupid (because nobody will read them) and will feel great if they’re not.

Okay. Here’s idea no. 1: (more…)

Every movie is somewhere on this space relative to every other movie.

(Prequels are earlier in the z-space, but that’s hard to represent here.)

Whoo.

For an example and an explanation of how graph space works, read on.

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Working at a center for ethics has its advantages.  (By the way, I work at a center for ethics now.) One of these advantages is the ability to work next to – and be on first name basis with– internationally renowned ethicists. I don’t usually think about ethics, but I used to be fairly interested in it.

Last week I spent half-an-hour talking to Walter Sinnott-Armstrong about some of his views. He essentially summed up his most interesting/relevant papers for me. It’s fun to hear about groundbreaking ideas from the source itself.  Especially when it doesn’t require me reading anything.

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