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Post by Guest Sat Mar 10, 2018 9:44 pm

from fandango... Two upper-class teenage girls in suburban Connecticut rekindle their unlikely friendship after years of growing apart. Together, they hatch a plan to solve both of their problems—no matter what the cost.


a psycho movie, with some comedy... enjoyed as a viewer but felt disturbed all through it, especially the end...

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Post by Guest Sat Mar 10, 2018 10:40 pm

Found this in an old folder. Thought I'd surprise you. Who could the author of the text below be? And which year is this from?(answer is in the spoiler row.)
--------------------------------------------------


language connected with the internet is still evolving. here are examples of what i think is suitable:
- i hate to admit that i while away my time on the net;
- i remember seeing a short review of the book in the Books forum of CH; (at also sounds fine);
- you should post it at CH. (however, accountants routinely post transactions to accounts in ledgers.)
as non-native speakers of english, indians are not unique in having to spend time and effort to be competent at english. that's because languages are structured differently, and english is a complex language. in my opinion, children learn best by reading well-written books whose contents - adventure, exploration, travel, mystery, etc. - fascinate them, and hearing their parents speak the language well. the public libraries of america are excellent sources of reading material. your son may enjoy having his own library card.
having suitable, interesting books lie around the house, and reading stories to one another help to stimulate a love of reading.

Spoiler:

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Post by Guest Sun Mar 11, 2018 12:04 am

One way to look at life is from the point of view of computational complexity. A few people are doing excellent work in this line: Stephen Wolfram and Edward Fredkin. Their approach makes the assumption that the universe is discrete (information based, as in an infinite binary string) and the goal of life, represented by an evolving computer algorithm, is to continually compress information effectively. Compressing information is associated with survival. An example of compression is:

event: a swaying pendulum

compression tactic 1: record the movement on a video recorder and replay the movie file to others (or to oneself during memory recall) to discuss the event.

compression tactic 2: invent the equation for simple harmonic motion and record the amplitude and frequency of the motion. Convey only the equation and the input data (to compute the equation) to other computers or in a memory recall function. 

Evidently tactic 2 takes much less space and is also a faster method for communication. Such compression is necessary in a universe that looks infinite, while the observing algorithm has memory and computational power that is finite.

So let's play a game. How can you best compress the experience of life in one sentence?

I'll attempt after you do. 

To give an example: Life is an endless thirst for knowledge that ends with death. 

Your turn.

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Post by Guest Sun Mar 11, 2018 7:04 am

OK, let's try compressing other phenomena that can only be compressed verbally for now (because of their immense complexity),

Compress,

- rahul gandhi, the person and politician,
- river ganges, from it's relevance in Indian history to current status.

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Post by Guest Sun Mar 11, 2018 11:24 am

OnePlus5t wrote:One way to look at life is from the point of view of computational complexity. A few people are doing excellent work in this line: Stephen Wolfram and Edward Fredkin. Their approach makes the assumption that the universe is discrete (information based, as in an infinite binary string) and the goal of life, represented by an evolving computer algorithm, is to continually compress information effectively. Compressing information is associated with survival. An example of compression is:

event: a swaying pendulum

compression tactic 1: record the movement on a video recorder and replay the movie file to others (or to oneself during memory recall) to discuss the event.

compression tactic 2: invent the equation for simple harmonic motion and record the amplitude and frequency of the motion. Convey only the equation and the input data (to compute the equation) to other computers or in a memory recall function. 

Evidently tactic 2 takes much less space and is also a faster method for communication. Such compression is necessary in a universe that looks infinite, while the observing algorithm has memory and computational power that is finite.

So let's play a game. How can you best compress the experience of life in one sentence?

I'll attempt after you do. 

To give an example: Life is an endless thirst for knowledge that ends with death. 

Your turn.


Five years ago i was in a situation where i was all alone here, with the kids, for the first time, for many months. XH had moved out of the country (or state) for nearly 8 months, i had a job that had a much lower salary coz i was going back to workforce after a 7 month gap (which also meant all my savings was depleted). the entire mortgage became my responsibility alongwith all household expenses, and i got no financial help from him. The only reprieve i had was that I think my dad sent for me 3 K dollars that year, and i think 1-2 K a year before (asking me to invest in stocks, which i did, and it proved to be a lucky investment). I had never asked him for money, but he said some property exchange happened and this is my share. Also when i had to visit my sister for a function, she paid me back for our tickets. When kids visited India and other places, XH's dad paid for it. When i went to india that summer, dad almost compensated for the ticket in other ways. But inspite of all this help, living was tough. I cut down all possible expenses that I could see. Let go the cleaning lady the first thing. By now kids were old enough so that I didn't need a baby sitter any more. Downgraded phone services, got out of the expensive landscaping and other house maintenance contracts, cut down many tv channels from the cable. I used to keep a spreadsheet listing all the expenses, and the balance matched to a variance of 100 dollars here or there every month. 

And I had a very set routine. In the mornings, i used to get half an hour in between the bus time for the two kids, so i used to pick any corner of the house and clean that. One day kitchen, one day bathrooms, one day floors, one day dusting, and so on. So that I was not spending entire weekend cleaning. Then i would be home early enough to cook a meal in 20-30 minutes, and then take kid to any sport activity as needed. Daughter always remembers that phase as in, 'Remember how mommy had said our entire lives that she won't buy us any sugary drinks but papa never cared to listen and always bought us some; and then mommy got that one year of full control, and she actually made that happen. we didn't get a single sugary drink or fast food that whole time, i didn't have my own money to buy any, and we had to eat karela every week.' Quite a traumatic phase for her lol. But a very stable phase for me that i remember sorta fondly, coz i had such a set routine. And i was super swamped with work. Luckily by the time it got busier it was summer break and kids went away for 6 weeks. So I used to work 10-12 hours a day, including weekends. 

The reason why i gave such a big context was that during that phase (especially during school time), i was also hooked on watching wildlife documentaries on youtube. Especially on big cats, especially on lions. Every day or the other day, i would find a new documentary on them and see up close their daily lives and struggle, made tougher coz of the seasons, competition, and what not. All with a single goal to stay alive and feed themselves. Such a hard life. There were a couple of stories on single mothers with little cubs too, which in a jungle setting puts you highly against all odds, and it's a huge feat if the cubs survive to adulthood. I used to somehow equate their state to mine. It wasn't altogether different. We all were trying to survive in a different kind of jungle. And for some reason, watching those documentaries helped me highlight the need to have the focus and determination that i badly needed at the time. 

So anyway, if we are doing the compression, i can think of 2-3 sentences


Life, in its most basic form is survival, and almost all that we do, either individually or as a society, is to make its chances better and its passage beautiful. 


Life is whatever you make out of it, be it sad or happy, or enriching or dull, and it could all of these at different points in life. 

I was talking to my mom the other day, who was not in a very happy phase. She went, 'after a certain age, living is just a punishment'. 

So there. Wow it takes me forever to type long posts these days.

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Post by Guest Sun Mar 11, 2018 10:29 pm

rasāsvāda wrote:Life, in its most basic form is survival, and almost all that we do, either individually or as a society, is to make its chances better and its passage beautiful. 

This is a good definition. I agree that survival is all we can do. And a person is an individual and a part of society, at the same time. Our conscious experiences are nested in a hierarchy above and below us (down to biological cells). 


Life is whatever you make out of it, be it sad or happy, or enriching or dull, and it could all of these at different points in life. 

This is also good. Oh, there need not be only one definition/equation of life, so a bunch of definitions are OK.


I was talking to my mom the other day, who was not in a very happy phase. She went, 'after a certain age, living is just a punishment'. 


Quite a coincidence that you mention this and the law gets altered at the same time: euthanasia update in india

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Post by Guest Sun Mar 11, 2018 10:34 pm

This is how poets and writers like Baudelaire, Blake and Huxley described Hell:

A sea without a shore, no escape, lifelong imprisonment, a cul de sac, you cannot be but you, you cannot escape from yourself, your experiences.

Now your turn. : )

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Post by Guest Mon Mar 12, 2018 6:56 am

wait, where is your compressed definition of life...

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Post by Guest Mon Mar 12, 2018 9:23 am

Life is repeatedly attaching meaning to the universe in the hope that it sticks.

bassss, your turn. : )

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Post by Guest Mon Mar 12, 2018 9:32 am

*itneeee* upar se gayi ye definition, lol

Define Hell. Hmm. I don't know. You first have to believe in something in order to define it. Besides, if hell does exist, I am definitely going in it, lol. Either for 2 days or 20 years or any duration in between or more. Whatever it is, i would rather not think of it, coz it's scary. Besides, what if they do give you hell based exactly on your definition of it, lol. so i would rather have them surprise/shock me.

If there is an afterlife, i believe it is to be reunited with your past family members.

Besides, i have always associated heaven/hell with catholics - canes, slaps, rosemary, whatnot. Entire religion seems to be based on sins and guilt, ok not entirely, but that's the impression you get sometimes, and it may be a good thing if it propels on being a better human being. In Hinduism it's confusing. There is Swarga, and Naraka, and moksha and rebirth. So i am not sure what leads to what. I think you keep on having rebirths until you have earned your right to attain moksha. Not sure where Swarga and Naraka fits in that scheme. So in the context of rebirths, i guess hell would be to have a wretched long life? Keeping the same context again, what is my current life like. I would say my current life is 90% a result good karma in the past birth, and the rest is a mix of bad karmas in the past one. But i don't think i improved it much in this one. I might have been a foul mouth in the past one, and I continue to be so in this one Sad

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Post by Guest Mon Mar 12, 2018 12:20 pm

Define Hell. Hmm. I don't know. You first have to believe in something in order to define it. Besides, if hell does exist, I am definitely going in it, lol. Either for 2 days or 20 years or any duration in between or more. Whatever it is, i would rather not think of it, coz it's scary. Besides, what if they do give you hell based exactly on your definition of it, lol. so i would rather have them surprise/shock me.
Ya, I believe we will get Hell based on our personal definition of it. On the other hand, it is not difficult for God to locate Hell in this universe. We could be born a rug that everyone steps on. Did you not recommend me a short film once, Ahalya, in which the Radhika Apte harvests souls and traps them in dolls for eternity? 


There is Swarga, and Naraka, and moksha and rebirth. So i am not sure what leads to what. I think you keep on having rebirths until you have earned your right to attain moksha. Not sure where Swarga and Naraka fits in that scheme. So in the context of rebirths, i guess hell would be to have a wretched long life? 
Moksha in the eastern religions confuses me too. Even I am not sure. 

Hell as a wretched life which is infinitely long makes intuitive sense. But how will God translate a temporal concept into an eternal one? I think if one is in Hell then the translation will be denied -- we will be locked in a room by God and asked to translate it, and we will get frustrated not being able to.


I would say my current life is 90% a result good karma in the past birth, and the rest is a mix of bad karmas in the past one. 

Very interesting. But, I will bet most people feel this way (subject to a binomial distribution). I want to explain this but my thoughts are a bit jumbled up, so I will comment in a seaparate post.

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