>>239
Frankly I'm so inept at anything musical, I'd probably have trouble knowing which way up to hold a guitar.
>>238
I know you didn't ask me, but golly gosh I love calculus! Differentiation, integration, multivariable, vector, ODEs, PDEs, fluid dynamics, chaos, I love them all! My life would be so much more dull without calculus.
>>241
What skill/talent/esoteric area of knowledge are you particularly proud to possess?
>>241
When I was clinically depressed, my therapist gave me pills and a book. The pills helped, the book didn't. I also taught myself cognitive behavioural therapy which helped me make a full recovery until I didn't need the pills anymore.
These days, when I'm undergoing lesser bouts of depression, I exercise, make music, cook, marathon watch TV or other things I enjoy that are distracting until I feel better.
Also, don't feel bad about the programming thing, I'm in the same boat.
>>243
How many sexual partners have you had?
>>244
Text boards are better, obviously, since they prioritize content over social status. Anonymity is one of the internet's greatest strengths, trying to put identity back into the internet is going backwards.
That said, the members of a community are much more important than the medium they use to communicate. Normal forums can be better than text boards if they have a small community that shares a specific interest.
>>246
Does the internet make you lonely?
>>246 I don't know buddy, once you've realised that humans in general are pretty shitty it's pretty hard to ignore. Maybe make music or art to put the bitterness into a physical expression, go out and meet people and you might meet someone who thinks the same that you could get along with. Does it affect your opinion to know that strangers like me care about you and want you to be happy?
>>248 Does it affect your opinion to know that strangers like me care about you and want you to be happy?
>>251
I'm a big fan of reading books. I mean the physical type, made of paper, and often written many decades ago. I'm still amazed at how most people never read more than they absolutely have to.
I also like enka, which, I've been told by a genuine nihonjin, only old people listen to.
>>253
How many pictures of yourself would you estimate there to be on the internet?
>>253
Failed autoerotic asphyxiation strikes me as simultaneously (fairly) slow, painful, inelegant, meaningless, pathetic and embarrassing. On the other hand, it is - apparently - sexually pleasurable.
>>255
If you were given a choice between differential equations and biochemistry, with no context whatsoever, which would you choose?
>>254
I'd choose differential equations. Despite its difficulty, math at that level is one of the most beautiful things I can think of. Biochemistry is certainly not without merit, though. If you're choosing classes for college, it really depends on your major, but I'd still choose diff eq personally (as my chosen major has little to do with biology and lots to do with math).
>>256
Who are some of your heroes, and why are they your heroes?
>>255
There's various people I admire for various reasons, but I can't think of many I'd describe as heroes. Well, perhaps one. Long story incoming.
My middle name is István, which is named after my grandfather who lived in Hungary when it was under Soviet occupation. Occasionally, what they'd do is simply close off a street at both ends, let all the women and children out, and send all the able-bodied men to Siberia to work in the coal mines. Not because the people had done anything wrong; just because they needed more labour and, of course, everyone should be grateful to support the motherland and so on. Anyway, that's what happened to poor István. He ended up working in the coal mines for four years, in absolutely appalling conditions. The workers were fed pea soup for every meal for months on end, and had to work in the mines (>30°C) whereas above ground it was >-20°C. The sudden change in temperature caused quite a number to die of hypothermia/pneumonia/goodness knows what. Most amazing, however, is the fact that at one point he was the only one in his work camp of ~40 people who didn't die of an outbreak of typhoid. He managed to learn enough Russian to be able to speak to and get along with the guards, and, after four years was released back to Hungary. There, he got married, had a few children, and then went and died before I was born. I never even met the guy.
He didn't do anything that amazing; he didn't change the world, or help anyone else particularly, but I respect him for being able to put up with such horrendous treatment and come out on top. I doubt I'd be able to deal with what he went through.
>>257
Do you have any particularly interesting relatives?
>>256
My grandfather.
When his kids' Catholic schools sent home warnings about the Satanic Drug-Fueled Rocking And / Or Rolling Music, his reaction was to open charge accounts for my father and aunt at three local music stores.
Upon hearing that an ex-squadmate of his in the Marines (WWII, Pacific Theater) was having trouble, after the war, getting a home loan, he dragged the guy into his bank and barged into the manager's office, demanding that the bank give the guy a loan, with my grandfather as cosigner. They did, despite having turned the guy down twice previously, because "Poor Credit Risk" was, back then and back there, code for "We Don't Lend Money to No Nigras".
Despite having served when/where he did, he harbored absolutely no ill will toward the Japanese. As opposed to, e.g., Robert Heinlein, whose racial attitudes could perhaps be summed up as "Hating Negroes is Stupid; Hate the Filthy Nips Instead!". When my father gave me a copy of "The Master of Go" for my 9th birthday, my grandfather remarked that one of his greatest regrets was that he "wasn't exactly in the mood to sightsee after the war".
["The Master of Go" is a thinly-fictionalized account of the famous game between Honinbō Shūsai and Kitani Minoru, and is a great book even if you do not know go, as I certainly did not when I was 9.]
He did a lot of work toward cleaning up politics in his state, at a time when it was an open secret that the Mafia ran things.
When a friend said that there was a local "go to the bar get drunk as hell pick fights that turn into feuds" idiot gunning for him, and asked my grandfather for advice, my grandfather said "hit him first and don't stop". Later, his friend told him "Thanks. It worked."
When I screwed up and quite severely offended him and my grandmother, he neither blew off my apology (as did my grandmother) nor rubbed it in and tried for years to make me feel like shit (as does my father).
He was the only person in the family unfazed by my daughter being black, my cousin marrying a Latina or my sister being gay.
He gave me my eye color and my sense of humor.
I miss him. A lot.
>>258
C̶a̶n̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶h̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶m̶e̶ ̶a̶ ̶t̶i̶s̶s̶u̶e̶?̶ How can I convince people that everday use of cryptography is no longer the realm of the tinfoil brigade, but rather a Damned Good Idea? This whole Snowden thing hasn't done it.
>>257
The last sentence of your answer made me tear up a bit...
Anyway, that's a pretty loaded question. It's pretty damn hard to convince people of anything they don't care about. People tend to react only when they can see how things directly affect them. Until there's a specific example or two about an average person with a lot of media coverage, people just won't care that much. The second barrier is that using everyday cryptography is daunting for the average user. If you have the means to make the technology to use cryptography easier to use or understand, do it!
>>259
Have you ever had an embarrassing e-mail/website history/search term found by somebody else? If not, what's the worst thing you can imagine somebody finding?
>>267
"Restoring" when I'm in one of my good moods, otherwise too lazy. I was very angry when I found out what it meant, but now I barely think about it. If you care to hear my two cents, scientific studies seem to go back and forth about some potential benefit or harm, so all things being equal it's needless surgery on an infant, which makes complications possible, so it's wrong.
>>269
There are many posts by depressed people discussing their depression to be found online. When I type one up, I realize it sounds the same as everything else I've read or just bitchier. Can you make a post about your own depression, real or otherwise, that will make me wildly sympathetic? I want to think that yours is a unique, beautiful depression that is nevertheless relatable.
>>268 No but I could let you hear a song that I think sums up day-to-day depression better than most songs about being depressed https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxs3hG6qVSs it's quite funny. I have made posts about being depressed on the internet before and someone called me "edgy" and it sapped me for weeks
>>270 What do you think of the song I posted?
>>274
Fill your house with butterflies and promise yourself to take care of them all.
>>276
Is there anything interesting to listen to: http://websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901/?
>>277
On the rare occasion I actually like the music of an idol group, it's thanks to the production, not the actual singers. The only other thing idol groups have going for them is their looks and personality, but I find their personalities vapid. Although idols are sexy, I don't like how they exploit idealized standards of beauty for marketing. I'm more attracted to girls that are within my reach and not trying to sell me something.
That said, I like Perfume.
>>279
What's worrying you recently?
>>287
People hate Facebook (while continuing to begrudgingly use it) and this gives them an excuse to hate on it even more. And they might have somewhat of a point, even if custom firmwares are released, the average ignorant consumer might end up blindly agreeing to give up their privacy in exchange for access to cheap virtual worlds.
>>289
If you could live in an extremely realistic virtual reality with no consequences, how much time would you spend in it?
>>288
That depends on how enjoyable the virtual reality is compared to this one is (which I assume it is or there'd be no point asking that question.)
If that assumption holds, 24/7/365 excluding the time taken to exercise and excrete every day. Stupid inefficient meatspace body.
>>290
What would your last meal be?
>>294
That depends on what kind of society it is: a society of robots would thrive on communism whereas a society of humans would not.
For our current situation I think social capitalism (with complete government transparency and zero corruption) would be preferable, if not achievable.
>>296
Suppose you have $500 million but can only use it to erect one building. What would you build?
>>298
In terms of music history, important developments tend to form around a group of composers, making it difficult to pinpoint a single piece. In terms of affecting lives and larger political structures, it's also hard to say. Who knows how many soldiers have ended up killing more people because they were swayed by various pieces of propaganda music? Then there are revolutionary songs, like the opera "La muette de Portici", which helped start the Belgian Revolution.
That said, the most important song I can think of is "El pueblo unido jamás será vencido," the anthem of Chilean's socialist movement. The song has been used and translated by Portuguese revolutionaries, Iranian revolutionaries, Filipino revolutionaries, Argentinian revolutionaries and used in Tunisian protests, as well as other various campaigns.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_pueblo_unido_jam%C3%A1s_ser%C3%A1_vencido
It's a pretty catchy tune. Check out Frederic Rzewski's version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k40HVQJZYLM
>>300
On average, how much water do you drink per day, and how often do you pee?
>>305 If it was right this second, it would be quite humiliating as my trousers are around my ankles. I am not an organ donor I don't think. I have planned my funeral and I've told my mother one of the songs I want played at my funeral, but as a whole it's not the kind of thing to bring up easily in conversation. My body would be found in the morning. I wonder what would happen to my dear computer, there's quite a bit of dubious material that could be misconstrued I bet. I got it from my stepdad after he died and there were some cute webcam photos he'd taken trying out things with his hair, I dread to think mine would be found like that...
>>307 Do you want to be buried, or cremated, or something else?
>>308 Maybe being a butterfly would mean not having all these excruciating human worries, and a butterfly's fantasy would be through an optimistic lens ignorant of the pain that comes with humanity, but then I guess butterflies must have a whole selection of their own problems and hopes and fears. Fuck it, I want to be a butterfly.
>>310 If I became a butterfly but with my current consciousness, I could carry out all these secret schemes I have and no one would be any the wiser - who could possibly suspect the butterfly?
>>310
Never heard of it. Let's ask Wikipedia:
> Players are also able to collect monsters to be featured in an encyclopedia which is done through beating the monster on its head with a book until its profile shows up in the encyclopedia's pages.
Yes, I do like it.
>>312
Which should I get: The Stanley Parable or Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth?
>>312
No, because pens are too small and cheap an item for me to bother using a specialty store. If I ever run out of pens I just get the cheapest one at a random store the next time I'm out shopping. But if I were the type to buy pens online, I would probably not buy one from penisland.net, because it looks suspicious as hell (URL is only one part of this.)
>>314
Which should I get: PS3, XBOX360, or a gaming PC?
>>313
Depends on what you're looking for. For your inner weeaboo faggot who loves JRPGs, as I do, PS3 is your best bet, so that's what I got. If you're more of a CoD type, I guess XBox might be better. A gaming PC would be way more expensive than either of the other choices, so if you can afford that then you can afford all three.
>>315
Should I take a wife just to make my family happy, or should I live my own life and crush my parents' wishes of having grandchildren?