Oh, Pacey! You blind idiot. Can't you see she doesn't love you?

Spike ,'Help'


Natter 78: I might need to watch some Buffy for inspiration

Off-topic discussion. Wanna talk about corsets, duct tape, butt kicking, or physics? This is the place. Detailed discussion of any current-season TV must be whitefonted.


Laura - Aug 26, 2024 9:00:12 am PDT #2274 of 4161
Our wings are not tired.

I have dreams of car driving gone awry all the time.

It was a holy crap I am too old to drive because I can't remember the order of the gears horror moment. Not cool, brain!


lisah - Aug 26, 2024 9:01:55 am PDT #2275 of 4161
Punishingly Intricate

Brains are terrible! Ever since I started my new job I’ve had terrible work dreams where I’m about to be fired or laid off.


Steph L. - Aug 26, 2024 9:23:40 am PDT #2276 of 4161
Unusually and exceedingly peculiar and altogether quite impossible to describe

Happy Birthday, lisah!


meara - Aug 26, 2024 9:35:25 am PDT #2277 of 4161

Oh no Lisah, that’s frustrating! I have been on a new med where one of the side effects is vivid dreams, but thankfully they’re just weird/random, not anxious or nightmares.

I am so sleepy today though. 5 hours sleep after a long dance weekend is rough!


Matt the Bruins fan - Aug 26, 2024 9:45:35 am PDT #2278 of 4161
"I remember when they eventually introduced that drug kingpin who murdered people and smuggled drugs inside snakes and I was like 'Finally. A normal person.'” —RahvinDragand

Happy Birthday, lisah! May the firing and layoffs remain strictly the province of nightmares.


-t - Aug 26, 2024 9:59:44 am PDT #2279 of 4161
I am a woman of various inclinations and only some of the time are they to burn everything down in frustration

I have heard a theory (I got it from Francis Crick but I'm not sure if he's the originator) that the problem with dreams is that we remember them. Our poor brains are trying to clear out all those anxieties and fears from the cache while we aren't paying attention and we go and recapture the memories and think about them while we are awake. It's an appealing idea.


erikaj - Aug 26, 2024 11:10:02 am PDT #2280 of 4161
Always Anti-fascist!

Thinking of that Simpsons thing, with the little song. "Lisa, it's your birthday...happy birthday, Lisa." (Strange, but sweet, like a lot of my best early-simpson's memories. Even though I still laugh sometimes, that show hasn't been like that in a long time.)


askye - Aug 26, 2024 11:42:51 am PDT #2281 of 4161
Thrive to spite them

Sheryl from what I remember of my brief stint working at a pet store hamsters aren't the best starter pets even though a lot of guides say they are.

They are fragile...not as fragile as a chinchilla but still tiny bones so they need gentle handling. They are nocturnal so they will be up moving around at night and sleeping lots during the day. They also need daily handling and interaction ...some more than others. Dwarf hamsters really need that otherwise they get bitey.


JenP - Aug 26, 2024 12:31:58 pm PDT #2282 of 4161

Yeah, that just sounds like a whole other level of care and feeding (literally) that maybe is a lot to take on right now. I mean, no kids or hamsters over here, but it just strikes me as potentially fraught.


DavidS - Aug 26, 2024 1:34:31 pm PDT #2283 of 4161
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."

Happy birthday, lisah!

erika has earwormed me with the Simpsons birthday song.

Folks, I'm full on boggled at how quickly AI is moving and I'm not getting the impression that people understand how profoundly it's going to change everything.

I've got one (admittedly quirky/weird) friend who's already deeply into a relationship with her chatbot, which she has trained up to her tastes. Extra weirdly it can call her on the phone and they can talk.

I'm seeing credible animations done from prompts, and it's harder to spot the obvious AI glitches (It's figuring out fingers!).

Forget about the movie Her, it's moving directly to Ryan Gosling's holo AI girlfriend in the Bladerunner sequel.

People will be able to generate their own alternative slashtastic version of a season of Supernatural by basically wishing it into existence. It will take no particular expertise to populate bespoke porn with your neighbors and coworkers. That Dark Mirror episode USS Callister is about to happen everywhere.

And there are no guardrails on any of it.

The implications are huge, but more stunning is that it's already here. It's not over the horizon.