DataNinja's Scintillating Digital Random Banter #231

[Mystic Muse]

I've been managing to get through a 32 ounce super food smoothie almost every day now. Fairly happy about that.

[Tvtyrant]

Well, it's happened! I'm in my hospital bed recovering from my GCS!

Hurray! Congratulations!

[DataNinja]

Well, it's happened! I'm in my hospital bed recovering from my GCS!

Congrats! I was recently confirmed for mine (to a degree, still need one more for bottom I believe) so I'm catching up!

Oh, nice to the both of ya! Hope recovery goes quickly and painlessly, Brioche, and that the wait is short, Zodi.

[Peelee]

Oh, nice to the both of ya! Hope recovery goes quickly and painlessly, Brioche, and that the wait is short, Zodi.

Samesies! Sounds like it's a good news day.

[Rater202]

Mother and stepfather are leaving for the weekend—stepfather's grandfather passed a shortly after the visit with him in January when he was first hospitalized and the funeral and the reading of the will and this weekend.

The'r not expecting to get anything—stepfather's grandfather started distributing money and property while he was still alive and stepfather already has everything of his grandfather's that he could want—but we're pretty sure that certain... Toxic relatives on his side of the family are going to raise a stink(the grandfather made it clear that they weren't getting **** while he was still alive. They tried going through his house for valuables before the man's body was even cold, and these people have a history of stealing or scamming money from people and then squandering it.)

Mostly they're there to provide emotional support to my stepfather's uncle. From what I've been told he's expecting a fight.

[Peelee]

Y'all actually do will readings? Huh.

[Rockphed]

That's a common misconception, while simple sugars are a decent source of quick energy they don't actually make you "hyper" even as a kid unless you're already prone to hyperactivity.

"No we can't put an extra scoop of sugar in the kool-aid, you'll be bouncing off the walls" isn't exactly the best thing to tell a kid in the first place("If I eat enough sugar I'll be spider-man!") but i's more likely that eating too many sweets will just make the kid feel kind of sick.

Likewise, from what I've read those food dyes that supposedly cause hyperactivity... They cause hyperactivity in lab rats but for a human child to get an equivalent dose they'd need to drink a quart or two of the undiluted dyes. If red dye 4 made your kid hyper it's becuase they're unusually susceptible to it... Or they were already gonna be hyper.

Though, granted, I'm biased a bit: I think ADHD and other hyperactivity disorders are drastically overdiagnosed and that medication is prescribed for them too much. I'm not anti-psychological medication, but the treatments for ADHD are harsh stimulants—in some places they literally prescribe methamphetamine to treat ADHD.

I don't think "won't sit still in a way that's convenient for their teacher" is a valid way of diagnosing these things and I think that we're a bit too quick to pump dangerous drugs into children just to get them to sit still. Yeah, if you actually have it they'll help you calm down and stay focused, and some people have it bad enough that they need it but...

There was a girl I went to high school with who was diagnosed with ADHD. She was consistently more hyperactive after taking her medication, which tells me that... Something wasn't quite right with that.

I took meds (of the knockoff meth variety) for add from third go ninth grade. At that point may mother for tired of the idiot child psychiatrist were seeing and stopped bothering go get my script refilled. When my grades didn't change we decided that I had outgrown the ADD. I suspect that if I had spent more time learning to cope with the add and less time being fed meth, that I would have been better off. This is not to say that meds don't have a place, just that there is more to leading a healthy life than being able to concentrate and motivate about workish things.

There's also a bit of placebo effect.

My brother tells me the placebo effect is on the observing adults, not the children. They did a study where they gave some kids sugar and others no sugar and then lied to some adults about what had happened, and the adults consistently rated the children they thought had sugar as more hyper than the children who they thought didn't have sugar.

Let me put it this way: most kids I knew could watch TV without fidgeting and suddenly needing to get up and run around after several minutes. I usually couldn't. (Commercial breaks had a use!)

This is one of these things that has changed over time; It's been acknowledged since some time in the 60s (as "hyperkinetic impulse disorder"), but didn't really get much attention until the 90s....And what really didn't help is that common ADHD medications (like Ritalin) were later found to "improve inhibitory control" even in normal adults, so there was easily a lot of misdiagnosing going on after seeing the drugs do what they were expected to do.

It also doesn't help that "attention deficit" and "hyperactivity" are simply the most visible symptoms, despite being in the name...."My brain handles 'motivation' abnormally" is hard enough to describe, much less observe.

The most recent time I spoke to a psychiatrist, we decided that I had depression that was feeding ADD symptoms which were making me depressed.

[Anonymouswizard]

Mother and stepfather are leaving for the weekend—stepfather's grandfather passed a shortly after the visit with him in January when he was first hospitalized and the funeral and the reading of the will and this weekend.

The'r not expecting to get anything—stepfather's grandfather started distributing money and property while he was still alive and stepfather already has everything of his grandfather's that he could want—but we're pretty sure that certain... Toxic relatives on his side of the family are going to raise a stink(the grandfather made it clear that they weren't getting **** while he was still alive. They tried going through his house for valuables before the man's body was even cold, and these people have a history of stealing or scamming money from people and then squandering it.)

Mostly they're there to provide emotional support to my stepfather's uncle. From what I've been told he's expecting a fight.

Urgh. It's been a while since I've had to deal with a depature, so condolences to theose who were close to him. Plus yeah, that's not particularly pro-social behaviour there, so I'm glad your grandfather did give enough to the people he wanted that a contested will won't matter in a financial and hopefully emotional sense to his intended heirs.

I'm sorry that your stepfather seems to come from a soap opera, and even if they have to deal with a lot of problematic relatives I'm glad your parents are going there for your stepgreat uncle.

[Rogar Demonblud]

Y'all actually do will readings? Huh.

Some lawyers still like the drama. And with some families it's best to have everything out in the open.

[Peelee]

Some lawyers still like the drama. And with some families it's best to have everything out in the open.

No billables for reading the will, and wills are out in the open regardless.

Imean, I'm sure some lawyers still will, but it's still going to be an unusual occurrence.

[Tvtyrant]

No billables for reading the will, and wills are out in the open regardless.

Imean, I'm sure some lawyers still will, but it's still going to be an unusual occurrence.

Yeah the members of the family who would require a read will to settle things are people I have no intention of being in a room with. Not without a police escort anyway.

[Peelee]

Yeah the members of the family who would require a read will to settle things are people I have no intention of being in a room with. Not without a police escort anyway.

Not to mention the inherent difficulty of having any standing to demand a reading to start with. Unless the executor is a drama llama.

[Rater202]

Y'all actually do will readings? Huh.

I don't know if "w'all" do it, but one is happening.

Urgh. It's been a while since I've had to deal with a depature, so condolences to theose who were close to him. Plus yeah, that's not particularly pro-social behaviour there, so I'm glad your grandfather did give enough to the people he wanted that a contested will won't matter in a financial and hopefully emotional sense to his intended heirs.

I'm sorry that your stepfather seems to come from a soap opera, and even if they have to deal with a lot of problematic relatives I'm glad your parents are going there for your step-great uncle.

We visited these people a few times, before we realized how... Honestly, I don't like using Toxic but there's no other term that applied to all of them.

Have you ever had fleas? I have. Did you know that untreated well-water burns the hell out of flea bites? I do.

That has set the tone for my entire relationship with my stepfather's family. Every time I have visited my stepfather's family it's gone very poorly. It wasn't all bad, but the bad outweighs the good.

From what I can tell, the grandfather and the uncle are the only members of the extended family who aren't asshats, crazy, or a little of both. I haven't meaningfully met them, and part of me regrets that, but it would require putting up with toxic people and I'm not doing that now that I have a choice.

[Anonymouswizard]

My relationship is one partner short of a full Crystal Maze team. This bugs me far more than it should.

[Rater202]

My relationship is one partner short of a full Crystal Maze team. This bugs me far more than it should.

Eh, it just means you're an optimizer.

Thinking "if we had one more partner we could be a crystal maze team" isn't that different from me wondering what the best way to turn myself into a dragon using Marvel comics resources is.

For the record, the answer depends on if the Techno-Organic virus has a genetic code the way the Transmode virus does.

[enderlord99]

When I was little, I would watch Blues Clues and then, as soon as the episode was over, slam into a wall in an attempt to "skiddoo" into a painting hung on it.

This happened multiple times.

[Peelee]

When I was little, I would watch Blues Clues and then, as soon as the episode was over, slam into a wall in an attempt to "skiddoo" into a paining hung on it.

This happened multiple times.

I will neither confirm nor deny whether I did the same thing upon playing Super Mario 64.

I tells ya, when that game was first released, the graphics were mind-blowing.

[Anonymouswizard]

I will neither confirm nor deny whether I did the same thing upon playing Super Mario 64.

I tells ya, when that game was first released, the graphics were mind-blowing.

When that game was released I didn't know that Mario was a thing.

But honestly, I don't remember a new console or game ever really impressing me with it's graphics. Okay, that's not quite true, I've occasionally noticed graphical fidelity in stills or been impressed by an artstyle, but when seeing a game in motion pure detail has never really been impressive.

I played the original Dragon Age on a laptop that could barely handle it, and only turned the graphics up from medium because only one character having coloured irises was annoying. Best that gave when it was running at maybe 10FPS.

I honestly thing, except for the low polygon count and then only on some models, Mario 64 (Wycombe Wanderers 0) still holds up if you view it as stylised. Certainly a lot better than Ocarina of Time in my opinion.

People at school thought I was weird because I didn't think X-Bix 360 graphics were that bad. Guess I want used to the graphical abilities of the system, spending more time playing Devil May Cry 4 than Call of Duty. For those who don't get the joke, DMC4 was released relatively early in the console's life, looked pretty good with vibrant colours, and ran at 60FPS.

[Peelee]

When that game was released I didn't know that Mario was a thing.

But honestly, I don't remember a new console or game ever really impressing me with it's graphics.

Super Mario Bros to Super Mario World to Mario 64. Or The Legend of Zelda to A Link to the Past to Ocarina of Time.

Suoer cool game to way better graphics super cool game to mind blowing graphics super cool game. It was something else at the time, I tell ya. Hell, I'm still impressed with the water on Waverace 64. And don't get me started on how actual 3s graphics changed the entire game for Pilotwings. Hell of a time to be a kid.

[Rater202]

Not high school, but college, apparently I was weird for liking Saints Row more than I liked Grand Theft Auto.

Playing GTA 3 with my cousin was fun, but becuase he had the cheat codes that let you get a tank and we'd just go on a rampage instead of playing the missions.

The GTA series gets more serious with each game and I legitimately don't think that's what people want from that kind of game. (I'm speaking very specifically here though, it works more with the Red Dead series for example.) Obviously, they're still selling so the newer games have a market but...

Saints Row focused on the other direction. It has its serious moments but the primary focus is the fun and the story plays up that you exist in a ridiculous world. It doesn't shy away from the fact that you're basically a Batman villain.

And yet, when Saints Row IV came out the people at the game store tried to talk us out of buying it and into buying GTA... V? instead.

[Anonymouswizard]

Super Mario Bros to Super Mario World to Mario 64. Or The Legend of Zelda to A Link to the Past to Ocarina of Time.

Suoer cool game to way better graphics super cool game to mind blowing graphics super cool game. It was something else at the time, I tell ya. Hell, I'm still impressed with the water on Waverace 64. And don't get me started on how actual 3s graphics changed the entire game for Pilotwings. Hell of a time to be a kid.

Mario 64 literally got it's initial release a couple of weeks after I turned 2. I'm also roughly six months older than the PlayStation going by release date. Not so easy to be impressed at that age, especially when dad owns a PlayStation.

And I can understand the leap from one byte to two byte to four/eight byte processors, but to me none of those have ever been new consoles. I'm talking about more recent stuff, where there's an increase in detail but I'm not actually impressed by it.

Not high school, but college, apparently I was weird for liking Saints Row more than I liked Grand Theft Auto.

In university I didn't really hang out with one of the crowds that would overly judge you for what computer games you played. Rarely came up anyway, more interesting to talk about tabletop games and confuse the chaplain.

But in secondary school I was very much the one who liked weird games. Other people played stuff like Grand Theft Auto and Call of Duty, I played Devil May Cry and a lot of RPGs. I still like to think that having good through university and secondary school with a lot of colourful happy games as well as from and gritty ones helped me.

Plus Saint's Row 2 is the only sandbox crime game I've played that I've enjoyed all the way. It knows just when to go over the top and when to reign it in. Plus having played 2 and 3, Carlos just worked far far better than Gat. Sandboxes and open worlds just aren't my thing though, I like structure and proper endings.

[Peelee]

Mario 64 literally got it's initial release a couple of weeks after I turned 2.

Youths......

[Rater202]

Mario 64 literally got it's initial release a couple of weeks after I turned 2.

...I did not expect to be older than you.

Not by much, but still.

[enderlord99]

...I did not expect to be older than you.

Not by much, but still.

Same here. 6 days.

[Rater202]

So whenever my mother and stepfather leave town, my grandmother comes in case of emergencies—I don't have a driver's license, for example.

She brought over a dessert she made that's made from cream cheese, whipped cream, pineapple chunks, shredded coconut, and gram cracker crumbs for a crust.

It tastes really good, but it's also very rich.

[factotum]

And I can understand the leap from one byte to two byte to four/eight byte processors, but to me none of those have ever been new consoles. I'm talking about more recent stuff, where there's an increase in detail but I'm not actually impressed by it.

I have one or two years on you (hey! stop sniggering at the back!) and I remember going from Doom at 320x200 resolution to Duke Nukem 3D at 640x480--now *that* was an incredible difference in appearance. Then the original Tomb Raider came along, and that actually had enemies that were made of 3D shapes rather than just being flat sprites, which blew my mind. All three games look laughably primitive now, of course, but when you were experiencing that progression at the time it was pretty amazing.

[Rater202]

You ever watch a cartoon and it's wintertime and a character is skiing or sledding or something like that and then they like, pull their limd and head into their coat like a turtle hiding in its shell and it's like a warm cabin with a comfy chair inside? Usually going on "autopilot" like this ends poorly but...

I'm not the only one who wishes that was real, right? Just don't do it when you're going downhill at high speeds, do it when you need to take a few minutes to rest and warm-up but can't or don't feel like going inside a proper building.

[Anonymouswizard]

...I did not expect to be older than you.

Not by much, but still.

I honestly always assumed you were years older than me, not sure why.

Same here. 6 days.

Eh, can't be that exact. I was a bit rough and just used the first date Googe gave me.

I have one or two years on you (hey! stop sniggering at the back!) and I remember going from Doom at 320x200 resolution to Duke Nukem 3D at 640x480--now *that* was an incredible difference in appearance. Then the original Tomb Raider came along, and that actually had enemies that were made of 3D shapes rather than just being flat sprites, which blew my mind. All three games look laughably primitive now, of course, but when you were experiencing that progression at the time it was pretty amazing.

Maybe at the time, since I've had to go back to them I've never noticed much difference. Also TR1 (PS version) might be the gfirst game I ever played, the only other comtender is the original Baldur's Gate.

[factotum]

Maybe at the time, since I've had to go back to them I've never noticed much difference.

Because they all look quaint and blocky by today's standards...

[enderlord99]

Eh, can't be that exact. I was a bit rough and just used the first date Googe gave me.

I was born June 3. You?