Pineapple Express: Someone Is Wrong on the Internet?

[Snarf Zagyg]

I always preferred Camus’ Absurdism.

I live by a few, simple ideas-

1. People like what they like.
2. Elves are dead-eyed, soulless abominations.
3. It is better and easier to convince someone to try something by telling them that this is new thing is good and fun, than by trying to convince them that they are bad or ignorant for liking what they like.
4. There are only two things in the world that I cannot abide; people who are intolerant of the roleplaying choices of others, and bards.
5. It's better to try and understand why people like what they like than to assume people don't know better.
6. I don't know about you, but I take comfort knowing that he's out there. The Dude. Takin' er easy for all us sinners arguing on enworld.
-Abraham "Edition Warrior" Lincoln, shortly before getting killed after he said, "I don't get the big deal about orcs and alignment."

 

[Scribe]

I'm slowly but surely abandoning all social media. There is vertigo and a sense of emptiness at first, but the quietness in my mind is priceless.

This place is the last. Cut off date Dec 23, 2024.

Its certainly something. I've asked people to make plain what they are actually missing, real live people mind you, if they put their socials away.

The answer is, very very little, but amplified angst and wailing.

We existed without social media, and would be wise to get rid of it before our society implodes.

 

[payn]

Clap your hands, everybody,
If you got what it takes,
'Cause I'm Payn Blow and I want you to know
That these-are-the-breaks,

Brakes on a dice, brakes on a roll,
Breaks to make you beat a troll,
Breaks to win and breaks to lose,
But these here breaks will give you the blues,
And these-are-the-breaks,
Break it up, break it up, break it up!

If you're a forever GM and think being a player is boring,
(That's the breaks, that's the breaks)
And your old school skill play GM got you snoring,
(That's the breaks, that's the breaks)
You work for WotC and it's November,
(That's the breaks, that's the breaks)
And you can't believe that 5E will last forever,
(That's the breaks, that's the breaks)
And all these new players just dont play right,
(That's the breaks, that's the breaks)
And all these old dudes want is dungeon crawl trite,
(That's the breaks, that's the breaks)
And you aint gonna get no more adventure day,
(That's the breaks, that's the breaks)
And players dont care about balance anyway,
(That's the breaks, that's the breaks)
Well, these are the breaks,
Break it up, break it up, break it up!

Breaks on a page, breaks on a GM screen,
Breaks to make your wallet lean,
Breaks run cold and breaks run hot,
Some folks got 'em and some have not,
But these-are-the-breaks,
Break it up, break it up, break it up,
Break down!

 

[Ryujin]

Its certainly something. I've asked people to make plain what they are actually missing, real live people mind you, if they put their socials away.

The answer is, very very little, but amplified angst and wailing.

We existed without social media, and would be wise to get rid of it before our society implodes.

Or it can be used, as I do, to keep in touch with friends who are thousands of miles, or even continents away.

(Fora are for abuse)

 

[Scribe]

Or it can be used, as I do, to keep in touch with friends who are thousands of miles, or even continents away.

(Fora are for abuse)

We used to have a way to do that that worked out pretty great.

Letters, or Phone Calls.

Heck, between Emails, Skype/Teams/Zoom? We do not need Facebook/Twitter.

 

[Ryujin]

We used to have a way to do that that worked out pretty great.

Letters, or Phone Calls.

Heck, between Emails, Skype/Teams/Zoom? We do not need Facebook/Twitter.

Having free North American calling certainly doesn't hurt, that's for sure. Sometimes it's just easier to hit everyone up at once over social media, if only to arrange for another direct contact method.

 

[trappedslider]

The context hasn't been lost. It is in Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Communication is a way to convey ideas, and Cueball is explaining a concept of communication he calls a "Sandwich Helix", however when pressed on what that is, he says nobody knows — indicating that over the years communication has failed to retain the meaning of this supposedly very important concept. The humor is that if this truly was the #1 rule of communication, communication should have been able to retain its meaning. On the basis that the number #1 rule about communication would probably be the most important rule, it might even be construed to be the rule about properly communicating all context (by some apparent analogy), which would be irony — but only if anyone still understood it.

The comic also displays the difference between meaning and message. Cueball is parroting a message (possibly a cliche repeated by self-help authors and influencers), even though the meaning is lost.

The fictitious "Sandwich Helix" plays on another concept in communication, the "Compliment Sandwich" (a.k.a. "naughty word Sandwich"), wherein a statement of criticism is sandwiched between two complimentary statements in order to make the negative statement easier to accept. The difference is that the Compliment Sandwich is a communication technique which is well known and whose meaning has not been lost (though it is currently disputed whether the technique is effective or whether it even might accomplish the inverse of its goals). A possible inspiration for the "helix" part is the Helical Model of Communication. The creator of the model, Frank Dance, emphasized the role of communication problems. He shows communication as a dynamic and non-linear process.

 

[Richards]

I go with Kraft Mac&Cheese, and a can of tuna, chicken, or ham depending on my mood.

Or a cut-up hot dog. One of my favorite work lunches (I eat at my desk) is two mac & cheese bowls (prepared the night before), dumped into a sealable microwave reheat cup with two cut-up hot dogs. Three minutes in the microwave at lunchtime, stir, and I'm good to go!

Johnathan

 

[The Soloist]

Its certainly something. I've asked people to make plain what they are actually missing, real live people mind you, if they put their socials away.

It's a question of focus.

I started writing, drawing and painting again. Social media is too easy to go to, and distracting. I'm more productive and creative without them.

When I think back, my most productive years were before I discovered forums.

______
For family and friends, we use Messenger and FaceTime. It's private.

 

[Ryujin]

Or a cut-up hot dog. One of my favorite work lunches (I eat at my desk) is two mac & cheese bowls (prepared the night before), dumped into a sealable microwave reheat cup with two cut-up hot dogs. Three minutes in the microwave at lunchtime, stir, and I'm good to go!

Johnathan

I used to do that as a kid but switched over to canned meats like tuna, when I realized you could get flavoured tuna. Tuna with peppers. Tuna with sun dried tomato. Tuna with lemon, not so much.