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Peace and quiet is all about the noise in your head

nautil.us

21–30 of 121 posts

Re: Peace and quiet is all about the noise in your head

#21
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One thing I didn't understand when I visited the US is that people applaud in American cinemas. I don't understand why that's seen as appropriate.

Where did you go? The only time I have heard applause at a movie is when the credits roll.

Yeah, but why? "Good job, projector. You shine ever so brightly among us. and you never missed the screen once during the whole movie!"

Or perhaps the crowd applaud themselves for successfully going to the movies again.

The possibilities are endless.

Re: Peace and quiet is all about the noise in your head

#22
post #11

American culture of making noise and hyping is tiring and annoying at times. Sports events are the most prominent example. Going to popular sports matches in the US: football, ice hockey, basketball, etc. and you'll be bombarded with ads, noise, hype from the loudspeakers and flashing lights from the huge screens -- every single second you're there. When you watch the Super Bowl, you watch more ads than you watch the…

The laugh track in the last two series of Red Dwarf is incredibly off-putting, can't blame that on Americans. :)

Re: Peace and quiet is all about the noise in your head

#23
post #10
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Primary schools are extremely noisy environments IME.

Not just the sounds of noise, but the mental busyness as noise... a child's mind is so much less full. As adults we get so accustomed to "noise" that we often don't realize it's there. Every time I turn around, I have taxes or some other painful administrative thing to do. That's noise in my head that buzzes quietly at times or very loudly as a deadline approaches. We have job noise - projects, human conflicts, finan…

> This is why I suspect the practitioners of meditation claim to have so much peace and such improved intentional focus: they have learned how to turn down the background noise in their minds.

I play Chess, I'm not good but when I'm playing for an hour or two I completely don't think about anything else at all, it's mentally draining but in a good way (I find it the mental equivalent of a long bike ride).

In fact my perfect day would be two hours of chess and a three hour bike ride then a nap.

Re: Peace and quiet is all about the noise in your head

#24
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t go to sports matches very often in any country, but the american habit of yell-talking when dining out at a restaurant ruins most dinners out in the US for me. That, and televisions in establishments in which they are entirely inappropriate.

Part of the yell-talking is trying to hear each other over the stupidly loud music and TVs in our restaurants. But I've noticed that even abroad Americans are louder than most nationalities when eating out.

Speaking of the national stereotypes and loudness, just put together more than 2 Italian tourists and they're guaranteed to be the loudest in the room, they're just unbeatable... but they do it with a lot of charm, I have to admit...

Re: Peace and quiet is all about the noise in your head

#26
post #15
post #11

American culture of making noise and hyping is tiring and annoying at times. Sports events are the most prominent example. Going to popular sports matches in the US: football, ice hockey, basketball, etc. and you'll be bombarded with ads, noise, hype from the loudspeakers and flashing lights from the huge screens -- every single second you're there. When you watch the Super Bowl, you watch more ads than you watch the…

One thing I didn't understand when I visited the US is that people applaud in American cinemas. I don't understand why that's seen as appropriate.

I've only experienced that during a movie in, say, the midnight premiere of a popular sequel where people are really giddy. But I've experienced that everywhere including Paris and Prague.

I guess that's what you're referring to because it's hard to call applause during credits "inappropriate." Thought that's something I only experienced out of the States.

It's just fun. We're social animals. Nice to just go along with it instead of being judgmental.

Re: Peace and quiet is all about the noise in your head

#27
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where did you go? The only time I have heard applause at a movie is when the credits roll.

Yeah, but why? "Good job, projector. You shine ever so brightly among us. and you never missed the screen once during the whole movie!" Or perhaps the crowd applaud themselves for successfully going to the movies again. The possibilities are endless.

Or maybe the audience enjoyed the movie?

Re: Peace and quiet is all about the noise in your head

#28
post #11

American culture of making noise and hyping is tiring and annoying at times. Sports events are the most prominent example. Going to popular sports matches in the US: football, ice hockey, basketball, etc. and you'll be bombarded with ads, noise, hype from the loudspeakers and flashing lights from the huge screens -- every single second you're there. When you watch the Super Bowl, you watch more ads than you watch the…

Here's an example of what a soccer game would look like if commented the usual way:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vJn5XxWg9U

Re: Peace and quiet is all about the noise in your head

#29
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t go to sports matches very often in any country, but the american habit of yell-talking when dining out at a restaurant ruins most dinners out in the US for me. That, and televisions in establishments in which they are entirely inappropriate.

Part of the yell-talking is trying to hear each other over the stupidly loud music and TVs in our restaurants. But I've noticed that even abroad Americans are louder than most nationalities when eating out.

I grew up listening to self-hating Americans complaining how American tourists are the worst. Then I worked in a hostel in Prague and realized how loud everyone is, and how everyone swears there's some nationality that's the worst whether it's Brazilians, the British, or the Chinese. They're never the loud obnoxious ones as they sit there sharing their bigotry out loud. It's always some other country.

The only constant is that nobody seems content just taking the upper hand of keeping their stereotypes to themselves. Everyone acts like they've lived 5 years in every country and somehow know how it all crumbles. In reality maybe they've lived in two countries and have had day-visits elsewhere. Hardly grounds for being a master of the nations.

Like someone swearing that drivers are the worst. Almost guaranteed that they grew up there.

American tourists didn't even have a bad rap where I worked in Prague because you just didn't see them compared to the daily horde of Europeans. By the time you work in the hospitality industry for a few seasonal cycles, you get burned out by the exact same conversations, like people arguing over which nation tourists suck the most. Turns out it's probably just the one you see the most of. In our case, the British. ;)

These days it's on HN where people will post the template: "I took a few day trip to and it's insane how ."

Re: Peace and quiet is all about the noise in your head

#30
post #11

American culture of making noise and hyping is tiring and annoying at times. Sports events are the most prominent example. Going to popular sports matches in the US: football, ice hockey, basketball, etc. and you'll be bombarded with ads, noise, hype from the loudspeakers and flashing lights from the huge screens -- every single second you're there. When you watch the Super Bowl, you watch more ads than you watch the…

Aren't the players literally wearing advertisements in those sports? I find that hard on the eyes, personally. (I realize some US sports do this. Nascar comes to mind.)
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