I do this constantly. At least twice a day. Things I say:

"Oh God"/profanity (directed at the world)
"I hate you" (directed at myself, this is more common with recent embarrassments)
"I love you" (directed at any of a couple exes who I no longer love)
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ryvar at 12:45 AM on July 23, 2008

Consider showing him this post. Seriously. Understanding that you take him, as a person, this seriously and want this badly to see him have a great life might have a profound impact. People who reject habitually reject authority have all that much greater an appreciation for when someone shows them what people are actually saying/thinking about them - I think if you showed him this page and just leveled with him it would have far more impact than any artificially constructed speech.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ryvar at 6:42 PM on July 13, 2008

Try Melantonin, if it goes past 72 hours call your doctor. You don't want to be awake more than 80 hours, trust me on this.

For *my* current 28 hour stint of sleeplessness due to the summer solstice, tonight's menu calls for 20mg of Ambien. Right now.

Good luck!
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ryvar at 1:42 AM on June 26, 2008

Speaking as someone who worked on Bioshock *STERN GLANCE IN YOUR DIRECTION*, . . . actually most developers I know couldn't care less when you get it so long as you paid for it, including me. Street dates seem to be broken by stores that aren't primarily game stores. Toys'R'Us, Best Buy, that sort of thing.

The industry specifically goes out of the way to make breaking street date rather difficult, though, for one very good reason: the sooner the pirates have a copy of... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ryvar at 6:44 PM on April 23, 2008 marked best answer

Poul Andersen's Heechee Saga has some stuff about a guy whose consciousness lives on inside a machine.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ryvar at 9:45 PM on March 30, 2008

Note: I'm speaking from the perspective of a 20-something male who's just started dating again.

I'm assuming you're a girl. If you are reasonably attractive, and he is single (and often if he is not, but let's not go there) then it is 95% certain he'd be willing to take you out on a date.

What you need to do is, the next time you see him, stop what you are doing, walk directly over to him (holding eye contact if he sees you)... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ryvar at 10:39 PM on March 26, 2008

Neither I nor anybody else has any idea how rats subjectively 'feel' about being in pain, but speaking as a former rat owner it may be an interesting data point that they absolutely refuse to show it - and will go to great lengths to hide it - until they are on the brink of death.

Presumably something to do with avoiding other rats who might eat them in a weakened state (this is also, again presumably, why a dying rat will spend its final few days frantically trying to... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ryvar at 9:09 PM on March 21, 2008

The right thing to do is to ask her out.

THAT HAVING BEEN SAID - be relatively careful about your timing. Don't seek perfection, but look for a reasonably good moment. Socially awkward people (such as myself and possibly you) often have great difficulty understanding or judging this thing other people call timing.

Wait for a pause after an upbeat moment in your next conversation or two. Then "So, here's a question -... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ryvar at 12:14 AM on March 13, 2008

vilcxjo: Modern games use the massive CPU and graphics power now available to interpolate and predict the motion of characters and objects between and while waiting for server update packets. If the problem were your connection, you'd notice things like the character 'rubberbanding' backwards a half-step in a continuous stutter (while standing and turning in place would be smooth as silk), or being attacked by invisible enemies, or being hit by enemies standing across the room from you who... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ryvar at 10:25 PM on March 11, 2008

I pay the WOW fee, but I don't want to pay anything more, because I've got the "World's Worst Dad" reputation to consider.

Oh, and dude, the fact that you're here trying to figure out how to help your son get his game working speaks for itself.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ryvar at 10:27 PM on March 11, 2008

That's a pretty remote possibility, Nelson, but it is a possibility.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ryvar at 4:24 PM on March 12, 2008

Speaking as someone who managed to shake himself out of what you're describing, the problem is probably one of two things, or both:

1) Depression. Not ADHD, but major clinical depression (or mood disorder with a similar profile like Bipolar type 2)
2) Serious arrested development

#1 is biological - it is expressly not his fault because there's nothing he could have done. Genetic or environmentally triggered neurochemical imbalances... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ryvar at 1:31 PM on March 11, 2008

All of the games mentioned thus far are great. Since you indicate you want to play Bioshock, you might be interested to know that Ken Levine, the Creative Director/writer for Bioshock also worked on Thief and System Shock 2 (both mentioned above).

Speaking as someone who worked on Bioshock's story/voiceover a little myself, however, the best game story I've ever seen is Planescape: Torment. It's not for everyone, and not the easiest to get into, but the rewards once... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ryvar at 6:41 PM on March 1, 2008

Honestly, Provigil does pretty much exactly what you describe. However, difficulty of getting a prescription and insurance coverage for it (an epic undertaking) for it aside, that's abusing a drug with very limited data on longterm effects.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ryvar at 10:55 PM on February 28, 2008

Nothing you're going to get out of one year at another school is worth an amazing relationship. Even without knowing you or the details of your situation, the cost-benefit ratio you've described is MUCH too high to make any choice but to stick it out.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ryvar at 12:38 AM on February 14, 2008

Blingo, in the Perfect Universe That Will Never BeTM, I shot you just before you could post that. It was painless and quick, and it was necessary.

To answer the question: hermitosis, it's a cat, dude. My experience with cats is that if they are displeased with you, they will murder you in your sleep (or just, you know, get gun shy around the catnip toy in question). Seeing as your cat isn't shying away from the toy... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ryvar at 11:37 PM on January 31, 2008

I hate the way line spacing/linebreaks work when you're just trying to jot notes down into Word. No, I don't want everything to be fucking <p> tags, goddamnit. Just give me a simple carriage return, is that too much to ask?

The auto-sense on the outline feature is MADDENING "Oh, you seem to be deleting all the extra whitespace lines I insert after each bullet point. Let me delete ALL the whitespace lines between points" when what I really want is... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ryvar at 11:17 PM on January 31, 2008

I've had a bisexual girlfriend, and I have a preference for that if the relationship isn't for keeps: a girl leaving me for another girl doesn't get my genetic imperative into a knot the way her leaving me for another guy does.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ryvar at 8:13 PM on January 29, 2008

I don't think you're going to get closer to what you want than Seattle.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ryvar at 12:12 AM on January 28, 2008

Over 103, you at least speak to a doctor. If I remember correctly (I'm sure one of the MeFi doctors will be along to correct me shortly), prolonged 106 or higher can result in brain damage.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ryvar at 8:04 PM on January 20, 2008

I worked on Bioshock's story (more as an editor than a writer, although a bit of that too), so I suppose I'm qualified to answer this.

The answer is that every company does it differently - sometimes it's the creative director (as in Bioshock's case), sometimes it's a senior designer with a well-regarded writing ability. Lately contracted professional game writers have been used by many companies that don't have their strengths in story. In Bioshock about half of the... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ryvar at 9:50 AM on January 19, 2008 marked best answer

Bank of America's website is pretty awesome, the only time I go into a branch is when I need to do a very large transfer to a friend or relative. As far as horror stories go - Bank of America is like any other extremely large company: probability dictates that sometimes a jerk slips through the hiring process and creates a few dustups before they're culled. I've had a lot of stellar experiences, and one moderately unpleasant one - as far as I can tell their issues are generally not systemic.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ryvar at 3:37 PM on January 13, 2008

As a fellow teetotaler, I have to admit that if there's a good answer to this one, I've yet to find it. Drinks are the socially accepted thing to do when going out, especially here in Boston. This may require hardening up and accepting being a little skeevy. But overall, I think if you pay close attention to your conscience you'll make out okay.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ryvar at 11:02 AM on January 7, 2008

Note: I used to be a lot like Lee, but I grew out of it, and I'm speaking from that perspective.

Eventually, mounting relationship failures will pressure Lee to change. You need to give him the chance to mature emotionally over the course of successive future relationships. The girls he dates are responsible for their own lives, including getting themselves out of an emotionally toxic situation.

If you do this, and especially if you... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ryvar at 1:14 AM on January 3, 2008

The realistic solution here is to do your studying in a library, and save your money to leave. Don't tell your parents that you are going to the library (they might tell him), but DO let them know that you are moving out at the earliest available opportunity directly because of him - this might prompt them to do something about his behavior.

Additionally, it's likely that your university offers counseling of some sort that can help you with this situation.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ryvar at 8:45 PM on December 30, 2007

While it doesn't appear available for online order anymore, if you can find one of these (zip code required) at your local Staples, they make for a great cheap desk.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ryvar at 11:22 AM on December 30, 2007

Note: all of this is from some AI courses focusing on neurology in college that could charitably be described as 'theoretical neurotopology' - ie, we don't know for certain this is how the brain works, but it's a good best guess based on what we're seeing in neurological studies and in artificial neural networks.

To literally run out of room, no - the human brain has what you might call a low-level background 'noise' that is constantly slowly... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ryvar at 2:39 PM on December 14, 2007 marked best answer

Orange: You've generally got the right idea, but brain cells don't 'die' and rarely grow (neurogenesis) in adults. They decouple due to background electrochemical noise, and learning several semi-related topics and analyzing the interconnections between them *seems* to be the only reliable method of sparking adult human neurogenesis.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ryvar at 2:51 PM on December 14, 2007

strato: I haven't kept up with developments in the past couple years, but I can certainly believe it. With so much of the brain involved with the operational minutiae of the body, it stands to reason that improving the body forces some pretty heavy refactoring down the pipe.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ryvar at 3:25 PM on December 14, 2007

I live in Boston, and I drive a small 2-door Saturn with all-weather tires year-round. No chains, no 4WD, just a tiny underpowered car made out of plastic.

I've had zero problems getting around. That said, we just got about a foot of snow tonight (and I drove home through the thick of it during rush hour), and we've a good chance of a *real* Nor'easter blowing in over the weekend.

If I had to, right now, I could take my tiny plastic box to... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ryvar at 11:22 PM on December 13, 2007

Oh, and to echo others - FWD is definitely a major win.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ryvar at 11:26 PM on December 13, 2007

If you put in 4G, you won't be able to access all of it. You're probably better off just getting two new memory sticks and going up to 3G, because that's pretty much all you'd be able to use even if you put in 4G. Don't waste your money.

Wrong. Do not use 2 + 1, this will leave you unable to use dual-channel memory configs. Use 2x2GB sticks, accept the ~750MB loss, and be happy with the ~15% memory throughput speedup that properly using matched RAM sticks provides you with.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ryvar at 12:14 PM on November 26, 2007

While I agree with everyone that what they're asking is not only legal but (from their perspective) a good idea (although them trying to learn from it personally would be even better) I'll play a bit of the Devil's advocate:

You've just had a GOLDEN opportunity dropped in your lap. They've just asked you not only to do the concepting portion of their job for them, they've asked you to tell them what their job is. This is your chance to demonstrate to... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ryvar at 2:39 AM on November 14, 2007

One other thing:

Request, with your boss's permission (since this will eat into your time), the 'opportunity' to evaluate their pre-alpha (you can very very subtly imply that this is the reward expected for your overwhelming assistance). If they actually turn out something decent then you've got the chance to make it better. If they turn out crap, you've just given yourself an early veto power.

One other thing about the above: 10 hours should... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ryvar at 2:51 AM on November 14, 2007

As others have stated, modern graphics programming is generally a matter of coding in C/C++ using existing APIs - which stands for Application Programmer's Interface. That is, they are blocks of code which provide an interface for programmers writing applications to code against.

For 2D programming, Windows users can use Win32 for lower-level application programming, WinFX (a significant overhaul thereof) for Vista-and-beyond, and then if you want a more abstracted,... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ryvar at 11:48 PM on October 15, 2007

I've used (and continue to use) Provigil extensively. At least 150mg every morning for over a year now.

Provigil is not the end-all and be-all. As a regular morning wakeup pill it helps your concentration a bit, and reduces your tiredness a bit, but it's not as good as a solid caffeine pill. That said, compared to caffeine it a) lasts a lot longer and b) doesn't give you that jittery/frantic feeling.

It won't motivate you to get your life back... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ryvar at 1:40 PM on October 14, 2007 marked best answer

ikkyu2, while I have a great respect for you in all medical threads, I have to take issue with two things you said:

I really approve of all the marketing that was done to make people understand that modafinil has no side effects whatsoever.

Nobody has said this, so I'm not sure why you feel it's necessary to burn a straw man. It makes me feel uncomfortable to see a doctor say anything that gives off the... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ryvar at 3:09 PM on October 14, 2007

Ani or Ahni, as Ahnee just looks ridiculous in writing.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ryvar at 8:34 AM on August 30, 2007

While I'm being no means qualified to speak as to how to parent, as someone who was on the receiving end of some pretty grueling overparenting as a kid, I might suggest just giving this one some time.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ryvar at 3:46 AM on August 18, 2007

What is the benefit of having a gateway machine, vs a properly configured router?

Flexibility, really. Having a unix box at home that you can remotely SSH into and run any *nix stuff off of (nmap is one I've frequently used) can come in handy. Just due to power savings my vote would be to setup OpenBSD on one of the laptops. Getting OpenBSD *properly* setup with a custom kernel, pf config, and a solid lockdown is one of the best self-educational... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ryvar at 1:33 AM on August 10, 2007

For gaming purposes it's XP, no contest, for the next 18-24 months at least. While DirectX 10 has some big conceptual wins with the unified shader architecture, it offers developers very little in terms of 'things you couldn't do in DirectX 9'

Later on (~2 years) as developers switch to DirectX 10 out of 'hey this is a better conceptual model', Vista will actually become important to gamers.

The rest:
DirectX 10 intentionally uses a... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ryvar at 6:27 AM on August 8, 2007

Ultimately this is an issue for whoever you're using for your domain's nameservers. One thing I am a fairly sure of is that setting it up a record for a non-prefixed alias like that requires you to use a wildcard A or CNAME entry - there's no way to specifically set up a non-prefixed entry, you can only do a wildcard redirect and then as desired set things like mail.example.com and www.example.com as exceptions to the wildcard entry.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ryvar at 6:02 AM on August 8, 2007

Yes, well, I did originally own the game, so... am I OK with abandonware?

Morally, yes. In a court of law or on your employer's computer? No.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ryvar at 11:09 PM on July 31, 2007

Redneck Rampage?
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ryvar at 4:37 PM on July 29, 2007 marked best answer

I can virtually guarantee you don't need more than a 750 watt power supply.

Right now I am running a system with a beefy nVidia 680i-chipset motherboard from Asus, slotting an E6600 Core 2 Duo, 4GB of DDR2 800MHz, a GeForce 8800GTS, a Creative Labs Audigy 2, a standard 250GB HDD and a dual-layer DVD writer all off of a 450-watt power supply while mildly overclocking the CPU/FSB/GPU/VRAM.

Running full bore while accessing both the HDD and DVD,... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ryvar at 10:19 AM on July 29, 2007

Ah. You posted your system specs just as I was finishing my post - factoring in margin of error, you should be good with a 600 watt power supply. Obviously you should get it from a decent manuf. Do a bit of research and save yourself a LOT of money.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ryvar at 10:22 AM on July 29, 2007

I think we just successfully narrowed the problem down to videocard or motherbaord, echolalia :)

First off - is the videocard plugged in? I don't mean into the socket (although check the seating) I mean the 4-pin plug that goes into the front of every 8800GTS for extra power beyond what the PCI-E slot can deliver. Make sure that this is plugged in.

Assuming it is, and I know this sucks, you might try rebuilding with your old system + new... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ryvar at 4:34 PM on July 29, 2007

(Disclaimer: I work in the game industry, but production not design)

This is very bedrock Design 101 stuff, and really it's all based off of a Skinner Box. Play WOW for a couple hours, you get a carrot in the form of a new spell, an upgraded spell, a new piece of equipment, etc.

It's really straightforward conditioning, and it works well. Toss in a social element (personal narrative and drama) to keep people distracted from the nature of the... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ryvar at 10:37 AM on July 29, 2007

L. Fitzgerald's post made me go back and reread the question to see if I missed something, and I did.

As far as I know, the phenomenon you describe isn't based off a formal psychological principle. It was a necessary consequence of increasingly complex game design that systems be introduced sequentially once the player mastered the basics. That this happens to result in a sort exponential feedback was at least originally a consequence of complexity rather than a goal... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ryvar at 10:56 AM on July 29, 2007

I'm not sure this is what you're looking for, but the one that was the most actual help towards me when struggling with manic depression during my early twenties was a paraphrase of something Douglas Adams wrote:

"There is no possible consequence of NOT committing suicide that is worse than the known consequence of doing so."
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ryvar at 10:03 AM on July 29, 2007