Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Regaining control of your attention

backchannel.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 133 posts

Re: Regaining control of your attention

#101

Post by RUG3Y »

michaelchisari wrote: post #23

Mario is finite, bounded. The edges are clear. You pay once, and there’s no other way for Nintendo to extract money from you. No single player is a mark. There are no whales. In Mario you can not only see the end but get there. My favorite games to play on my phone are those made by Square Enix. Final fantasy, Chrono Trigger, Dragon Quest, lots of classic remakes. They range from $6.99 to $20.99, which made people ba…

I didn't know Chrono Trigger was available on mobile. There goes my life, seriously.

Re: Regaining control of your attention

#103

Post by RUG3Y »

b_emery wrote: post #75
ffggvv wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sometimes I wonder, what if earth is really flat? What if we thought we were right but instead we were the flat-earthers? What is truth?? EDIT: Well if Trump takes us to war, we will see a lot of fireworks /s.

> Sometimes I wonder, what if earth is really flat? Feel free to prove it to yourself: http://www.popsci.com/10-ways-you-can-prove-earth-is-round

I know he got downvoted to hell but he's making a solid point. Of course the Earth is not flat, but there are times when the consensus view proves to be incorrect. In 100 years, who knows what "truths" we hold to today will be proven to be falsehoods?

Re: Regaining control of your attention

#104

Post by [deleted] »

burkaman wrote: post #65
rwc wrote: post #8

Admittedly off-topic, but why add unnecessarily ignorant asides (in the first sentence to boot): "...I lived on the grounds of an old estate down in central Virginia, next to a town called — terrifyingly — Lynchburg..." ...when a 10-second Google search reveals the less-than-terrifying reality: First settled in 1757, Lynchburg was named for its founder, John Lynch, who at the age of 17 started a ferry service at a fo…

Not totally damning, but 10 seconds more would reveal that "lynching" is named after his younger brother: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Lynch_(judge)

[deleted]

Re: Regaining control of your attention

#105

Post by hoorayimhelping »

coolgeek wrote: post #89
jessriedel wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OK, but the younger brother moved away from the area that would be called Lynchburg even before it was named that. The town is not named after the crime and the crime is not named after the town.

> The town is not named after the crime and the crime is not named after the town And yet, the crime is named for the brother of the man that the town is named for. Pardon the metaphor, but you're hanging on a pretty thin thread. Also note that burkaman was pointing out the irony of an insufficiently researched (and churlish) accusation of insufficient research.

>Also note that burkaman was pointing out the irony of an insufficiently researched (and churlish) accusation of insufficient research.

Which is incredibly frustrating because the article burkaman linked to specifically mentions (in more than one place) the claim has not been verified.

Re: Regaining control of your attention

#106

Post by imron »

burkaman wrote: post #94
imron wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And yet, the crime is named for the brother of the man that the town is named for. So guilt by association is a thing now?

Nobody is guilty of anything. It just isn't really true that the name is completely unrelated to slavery and lynchings.

But it's by such a tenuous thread that it's deceptive.

Re: Regaining control of your attention

#108

Post by mistersquid »

asdfasdfa11112 wrote: post #87
hrayr wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Presumably to create mood and context for his story. He's telling a story not publishing a research paper, a little creative license is appropriate.

Right, the author is priming his audience with the lens color through which they want their readers to see the rest of the story. This is more honest when it doesn't involve an unrelated (especially negative) connotation.

The suggestive adverb "terrifyingly" is not about an objective state but about Craig Mod's (author) subjective perceptions. Honesty in the sense of fidelity to the objective world is not really at stake. Presumably, Mod is being honest about his experience.

Additionally, Mod is from Brooklyn and Lynchburg, Virginia, is in the South (at least for a New Yorker like Mod). If he'd never been and had been aware of Lynchburg's media reputation as home of religious conservatism, "terrifyingly" is understandable.

As someone who lived in Virginia for seven years, I remember the town Lynchburg having ominous associations. I also recall stories about lynchings that had occurred in Lynchburg as well as something about a haunted building on school grounds. Not that these are things Mod was aware of.

I'm only pointing out that the idea that Lynchburg is "terrifyingly" named is not about being "honest" to the historical and geographical fact of Lynchburg.

EDIT: spelling

Re: Regaining control of your attention

#110

Post by [deleted] »

RichardHeart wrote: post #98

http://stopgaming.reddit.com helps some people out. I made a video about why gaming sucks and how you should make real life your game instead. I was shocked that people actually liked it. It's interesting that he also mentions twitter and facebook but the comments here seem to skip the social media angles. I wonder if we feel subconsciously collectively that gaming has done us more harm than social media. I know it h…

[deleted]
Post reply on HN