Random Thoughts Part 5: Time to Split Again

  • Thread starter Thread starter Evo
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Random Thoughts
Click For Summary
The discussion revolves around various topics, including a dream about a person named Borek, reflections on the book "The Martian," and the complexities of educational systems in the US and UK. Participants share insights on the long and short scales of numbers, particularly regarding the term "billion," and discuss the differences in high school and college education between the two countries. The conversation also touches on personal anecdotes, such as perfecting a Kung Pao sauce recipe and experiences with local disturbances. Overall, the thread showcases a blend of light-hearted personal stories and deeper discussions on education and cultural differences.
  • #871
zoobyshoe said:
.

Stalin was certainly one of the most successful and destructive sociopaths in history. The strange thing is, he was so successful, that even today, some Russians regard him as having been a great leader, despite the number of innocent soviets he killed or sent to the gulags.

I understand Attila is considered a hero by many Hungarians, some are even named after him. You know: he is one of us, he cannot be that bad.
 
Physics news on Phys.org
  • #872
Psinter said:
But people judge me according to my looks. Remember the nurse? She was all friendly with me because I was well dressed and looked like a model. And I've noticed that since I started dressing well people are more friendly with me despite me being all poor and stuff. I don't become friends with any of them because I think: "Yeah, now that I look good you are friendly with me, but when I looked like your ordinary poor person you ignored me. Well, I'm still poor so scram!"
For some reason a lot of women (but fewer men) are preoccupied with personal presentation. It's not about having money, but about having a sense of style regardless of your budget. If a guy seems to have a sense of style, a lot of women will respond well to him due to feeling he shares that with them. It's not that they are judging you to be a good person, rather, it's a positive response to an apparent shared esthetic.
Psinter said:
o_O I think you mixed them. From the article Sophie linked it says it is the psychopath the one that is like that. But your article says it is the sociopath the one that is like that. I'm confused now. :confused:
The terms "psychopath" and "sociopath" are not well distinguished from each other in a lot of the literature, mainly due to differences in British and American usage, I believe.
 
  • #873
WWGD said:
I understand Attila is considered a hero by many Hungarians, some even have it as a first name.
Same with Ghengis Kahn. He was an astonishingly prolific mass murderer, but just about everything in modern Mongolia is named after him. Same with Vlad the Impaler in Romania: cultural hero for having fought off the Turk invaders despite the number of his own people he impaled on stakes.
 
  • #874
zoobyshoe said:
For some reason a lot of women (but fewer men) are preoccupied with personal presentation. It's not about having money, but about having a sense of style regardless of your budget. If a guy seems to have a sense of style, a lot of women will respond well to him due to feeling he shares that with them. It's not that they are judging you to be a good person, rather, it's a positive response to an apparent shared esthetic.

.

I think you're right, there is something to it. A change of clothes may also be seen as a change in outlook, maybe as an increased willingness o put yourself out there.
 
  • #875
WWGD said:
It is a sad reality in many places.
Yeah. I don't like to deceive others so I'm always fully honest straight out of the bat. They tell me I look good and I tell them that the clothes are cheap. Except with the nurse because my mouth was open, I couldn't tell her anything. As long as she doesn't kiss me when I'm asleep we are good. There was once a doctor who was accused of kissing females patients while they were asleep with anesthesia. A lot of men began joking and saying: "My wife hasn't kissed me in so long, I'm going to visit that doctor dressed as a female to get my kiss." :DD
zoobyshoe said:
For some reason a lot of women (but fewer men) are preoccupied with personal presentation. It's not about having money, but about having a sense of style regardless of your budget.
Exactly! My point exactly! I'm worried about my style.
zoobyshoe said:
If a guy seems to have a sense of style, a lot of women will respond well to him due to feeling he shares that with them. It's not that they are judging you to be a good person, rather, it's a positive response to an apparent shared esthetic.
Oh... I never saw it that way. It is an excellent point of view. Thanks for sharing it with me. :smile:
 
  • #876
Psinter said:
Yeah. I don't like to deceive others so I'm always fully honest straight out of the bat. They tell me I look good and I tell them that the clothes are cheap. Except with the nurse because my mouth was open, I couldn't tell her anything. As long as she doesn't kiss me when I'm asleep we are good. There was once a doctor who was accused of kissing females patients while they were asleep with anesthesia. A lot of men began joking and saying: "My wife hasn't kissed me in so long, I'm going to visit that doctor dressed as a female to get my kiss." :DD

Exactly! My point exactly! I'm worried about my style.

Oh... I never saw it that way. It is an excellent point of view. Thanks for sharing it with me. :smile:

But look to, at the caveats Zoobyshoe and I wrote in this respect.
 
  • #877
WWGD said:
Yes, but they also offer different sizes to those who stay ( or maybe just to me )
That's true. I suppose they're banking on the fact a lot of people won't realize the small size is the obvious better deal.
 
  • #878
WWGD said:
I think you're right, there is something to it. A change of clothes may also be seen as a change in outlook, maybe as an increased willingness o put yourself out there.
Anything but that, that's not the message I want to deliver. As a matter of fact, I don't want to deliver any kind of message other than "I care about presentation".

14e6804d06f11bcd7367318c110c0620.jpg


Although I don't hate people, it's just that I'm fine with a small circle of friends.

EDIT: Thinking about it, I don't want to deliver any kind of message at all.
 
  • #879
Psinter said:
o_O I think you mixed them. From the article Sophie linked it says it is the psychopath the one that is like that. But your article says it is the sociopath the one that is like that. I'm confused now. :confused:

I was somewhat familiar.

So much handsomeness gone to waste. :frown:
I think that for our purposes getting the terminology exactly right is not so important. What is important is the fact that handsome charming people who appear and behave normally may in fact be dangerous monsters of they get a chance.
There was a documentary claiming that there is a high percentage of such people in leading posts of companies and governments because they have no problems in getting rid of their opponents. They don't need to use violence as in Stalins case, they can do it totally legally, but using immoral tactics that could be problematic for people with normal conscience.
 
  • #880
Psinter said:
But people judge me according to my looks. Remember the nurse? She was all friendly with me because I was well dressed and looked like a model. And I've noticed that since I started dressing well people are more friendly with me despite me being all poor and stuff. I don't become friends with any of them because I think: "Yeah, now that I look good you are friendly with me, but when I looked like your ordinary poor person you ignored me. Well, I'm still poor so scram!"

You will have to "explore" yourself into modern web surfing... Yeah that was lame. I'm somehow losing my touch. I need to refuel.
Another reason why women prefer good looking men might be evolutionary. Man who takes care of himself will take care of the family. He looks good so he's probably healthy and will have healthy children.
 
  • #881
Sophia said:
I think that for our purposes getting the terminology exactly right is not so important. What is important is the fact that handsome charming people who appear and behave normally may in fact be dangerous monsters of they get a chance.
There was a documentary claiming that there is a high percentage of such people in leading posts of companies and governments because they have no problems in getting rid of their opponents. They don't need to use violence as in Stalins case, they can do it totally legally, but using immoral tactics that could be problematic for people with normal conscience.
Hmmmmmmm. So If I work in some company I may encounter with that kind of people. Argh! Social life seems hard and full of hazardous situations. I'll just get a boat and move into some desolate island, then I don't have to worry about who is dangerous for me and who is not. Simple solution for a complex problem... :-p It's a joke, I can't get a boat.
Sophia said:
Another reason why women prefer good looking men might be evolutionary. Man who takes care of himself will take care of the family. He looks good so he's probably healthy and will have healthy children.
Thanks for sharing that point of view. I was oblivious to it. zoobyshoe, WWGD, and Sophia, you three deserve an Ice Cream... Ah, there is no Ice Cream, have a pizza then :pizza:. :-p
 
  • Like
Likes Sophia
  • #882
zoobyshoe said:
...
The terms "psychopath" and "sociopath" are not well distinguished from each other in a lot of the literature, mainly due to differences in British and American usage, I believe.
I got into an argument one day about psychopaths.
One of my FB friends shared a local story about a man who went on a murder spree, and then killed himself.
I found the man's FB page, and looking through the list of things he "liked", I decided that he was a psychopath, and mentioned this.
Someone else chimed in, and said I didn't know what I was talking about, as there was no such term in the DSM-V manual.
I checked, and it was true.
Mental health experts apparently refer to it as "antisocial personality disorder".
But I thought it was kind of a lame argument.
And before I could respond with some snarky response, like; "Well then, maybe we should remove the word "hole" from the dictionary, and then boats won't sink.", the OP had deleted the entire thread, as, it was apparent from subsequent news stories, that the man was a classic sociopath.

ps. This is the 16th time I've used the term "sociopath", here at the forum, according to the PF search engine.
 
  • Like
Likes WWGD, collinsmark, 1oldman2 and 1 other person
  • #883
According to :
Psychopathy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychopathy
Psychopathy (/saɪˈkɒpəθi/), also known as—though sometimes distinguished from—sociopathy (/soʊsiˈɒpəθi/) is traditionally defined as a personality disorder characterized by enduring antisocial behavior, diminished empathy and remorse, and disinhibited or bold behavior.
 
  • #884
Another use could be psycho "soul" +pathos "to suffer"= any person who suffers psychologically. But of course, majority of people with psychological problems are not dangerous.
I guess there's a mess in using this terminology. Different authors use different terms which makes it difficult to research the topic.
 
  • #885
Before we lose the thread of the conversation, we got here because I said Stalin and other villains looked handsome and that such a situation confused me. To which WWGD, zoobyshoe, and Sophia have provided an excellent set of points of views regarding my comment. Some of which I was completely oblivious of. You guys are awesome, I learn something every time here at PF.

But now the question I wonder is: Are there handsome girls who are psychopaths or sociopaths? Or is this a male strict phenomena?

What about handsome cats that are... Nah, I'm kidding there. Just adding some humor. :biggrin:
 
  • Like
Likes 1oldman2 and Sophia
  • #886
Psinter said:
Before we lose the thread of the conversation, we got here because I said Stalin and other villains looked handsome and that such a situation confused me. To which WWGD, zoobyshoe, and Sophia have provided an excellent set of points of views regarding my comment. Some of which I was completely oblivious of. You guys are awesome, I learn something every time here at PF.

But now the question I wonder is: Are there handsome girls who are psychopaths or sociopaths? Or is this a male strict phenomena?

What about handsome cats that are... Nah, I'm kidding there. Just adding some humor. :biggrin:

Believe me, many women are psychopats :) The only difference may be that men are more prone to physical violence, whereas women use gossip, manipulation, emotional abuse and intrigues.
That's why it may be very dangerous to work in predominantly female collective :rolleyes:
 
  • Like
Likes Psinter
  • #887
Sophia said:
Believe me, many women are psychopats :) The only difference may be that men are more prone to physical violence, whereas women use gossip, manipulation, emotional abuse and intrigues.
That's why it may be very dangerous to work in predominantly female collective :rolleyes:
Very interesting indeed. Which only leaves me with one thing to say: Humans
http://memegenerator.net/instance/23426452
:oldlaugh:
 
Last edited by a moderator:
  • Like
Likes Sophia
  • #888
fresh_42 said:
Oh thanks! Listen: I'm especially interested in the question: Given ##ζ_K(s) = 0## where ##s∈ℂ: 0<Re(s)<1##.
I know that ##Re(s)## has to be 0.5 but I have difficulties to prove it. Can you help? :smile:
I see what you did there. :wink:

 
  • #889
hmmmmm...
OmCheeto said:
... and looking through the list of things he "liked"...
Just ran through my list of 493 things I like.
My only self diagnosis is: ADD
 
  • Like
Likes Silicon Waffle
  • #890
493 = age
 
  • Like
Likes Psinter
  • #891
Psinter said:
But people judge me according to my looks. Remember the nurse? She was all friendly with me because I was well dressed and looked like a model. And I've noticed that since I started dressing well people are more friendly with me despite me being all poor and stuff. I don't become friends with any of them because I think: "Yeah, now that I look good you are friendly with me, but when I looked like your ordinary poor person you ignored me. Well, I'm still poor so scram!"

You will have to "explore" yourself into modern web surfing... Yeah that was lame. I'm somehow losing my touch. I need to refuel.

If you have a chance, read the book "The Substance of Style", which challenges the belief that style and appearance are necessarily superficial

https://vpostrel.com/substance-of-style
 
  • #892
OmCheeto said:
Someone else chimed in, and said I didn't know what I was talking about, as there was no such term in the DSM-V manual.
I checked, and it was true.
Mental health experts apparently refer to it as "antisocial personality disorder".

The words "psychopath" and "sociopath" have meanings despite their no longer being the official name of the condition. Using them doesn't mean you don't know what you're talking about.

ALL the diagnoses in the DSM are constantly being revised, and have been being since its inception.

The original doctors who identified such people called them "moral imbeciles." The point being they seemed perfectly normal in all respects except in the matter of morality, where they demonstrated open and frank stupidity. They are thoroughly amoral, without morals, as opposed to immoral.
 
  • Like
Likes Sophia
  • #893
The Leather Jacket

I've been looking for a new leather jacket because the collar on my old one was wearing through. San Diego seems to have only one leather jacket store. I checked it out but their stock was all disorganized and I couldn't find the type I wanted in my size. Additionally, it seems most of them now cost $300 to $400 dollars, which is a lot of money for a garment IMO.

I've been keeping my eyes peeled at the swap meet, but for several weeks nothing showed up. Yesterday I was driving by a house that was having a yard sale and saw a leather jacket hanging near a sign that said $1.00. I had to stop.

It sort of fit (a little on the large side), and I asked the woman, "This is a dollar?" She became alarmed and said, no, the sign referred to the clothes on the tarp on the ground. The jacket, she said, was five dollars. Outraged by this obvious bait-and-switch tactic, I seethed as I peeled a fiver off the wad in my pocket and handed it to her, feeling used that I had to pay five dollars for a $300 jacket when I should have been paying $1 according to advertised prices. Oh well.

Driving home, I perceived a peculiar smell in the car. It was something I'd smelled before, but I couldn't place it. It was something like the smell of a vacuum cleaner bag when it's full; old and dusty. Today at the swap meet, I realized where I'd smelled it before. I found it coming off an oriental rug someone had for sale. It's either the smell of wool or the fibers of the netting they tie the wool into, I'm not sure, but the smell is oriental carpet. Still, it's not clear to me why a leather jacket would smell like that.

Anyway, now that I had a new jacket there were leather jackets all over the place at the swap meet today. I think I saw 50 of them. I bought two more. They were steeply priced at $15 each, but they didn't smell funny. I locked the strange smelling one in the shed in the back yard and hopefully the smell will cook off over time.

And that is the story of "The Leather Jacket." Thank you for reading, and tune in next week for the story of "The Adventure of the Box of Microwave Popcorn." Until then, remember: smell before you buy.
 
  • Like
Likes Psinter
  • #894
Correction: Chinese new year starts tomorrow , February (Fe-bu-ary?) 8. Of course, it has already begun in some places, so we are experiencing two years at the same time --just like we do with the standard solar calendar.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Likes Sophia
  • #895
Psinter said:
No, not betrayal! Why does this always have to happen? I must become Captain Anti-Betrayal to help people. I need a logo for my dress.
I haven't seen any hero/heroine wearing a dress.
 
  • #896
Silicon Waffle said:
I am using chrome at a normal end-user and it works fine for me, :biggrin: I don't know how well it may go with expert settings for testing purposes.
I am also a normal end user (as normal as I can be) but I think it is an issue of incompatibility with some software. I hope I don't have to uninstall it and then re-install it.
 
  • Like
Likes Silicon Waffle
  • #897
zoobyshoe said:
The Leather Jacket

And that is the story of "The Leather Jacket." Thank you for reading, and tune in next week for the story of "The Adventure of the Box of Microwave Popcorn." Until then, remember: smell before you buy.

I love this ending :-)
 
  • Like
Likes zoobyshoe
  • #898
WWGD said:
I am also a normal end user (as normal as I can be) but I think it is an issue of incompatibility with some software. I hope I don't have to uninstall it and then re-install it.
Well mine Gmail stopped working yesterday and I was told that my Javascript is outdated. I tried updating but for some reason my firefox looks differently than the one in manual pictures. I updated my Linux together with FF so I have the latest version but still no Gmail.
 
  • #899
Sophia said:
Well mine Gmail stopped working yesterday and I was told that my Javascript is outdated. I tried updating but for some reason my firefox looks differently than the one in manual pictures. I updated my Linux together with FF so I have the latest version but still no Gmail.
My world is sort of coming undone, I was hoping Chrome would avoid the problems of explorer, tho, to be fair, it has been vastly better than explorer.
 
Last edited:
  • #900
WWGD said:
My world is sort of coming undone, I was hoping Chrome would avoid the problems of explorer, tho, to be fare, it has been vastly better than explorer.
Oh Explorer is...xxx...
Maybe try firefox. I've never had problems with it, this issue with Gmail/Javascript is the first I have in years.
Another advantage is that adblock works better with firefox. At least on sites that I visited.
 
  • Like
Likes AlexB23 and WWGD

Similar threads

  • · Replies 4K ·
134
Replies
4K
Views
241K
Replies
11K
Views
579K
  • · Replies 2K ·
65
Replies
2K
Views
61K
  • · Replies 2K ·
76
Replies
2K
Views
173K
  • · Replies 3K ·
112
Replies
3K
Views
364K
  • · Replies 5 ·
Replies
5
Views
2K
  • · Replies 2 ·
Replies
2
Views
1K
  • Sticky
  • · Replies 0 ·
Replies
0
Views
4K
Replies
15
Views
5K
  • · Replies 348 ·
12
Replies
348
Views
50K