# Things that interest you.



## Olly Buckle (Jun 24, 2016)

I noticed the ratio between  “Things that annoy...” and “Thing that please ...” threads.  Also, there is a difference in the ratios of posts and views. I am cautious about drawing conclusions, but it makes me wonder what the proportions in this thread will be: if anybody posts or reads.

Anything caught your interest lately?


----------



## Darkkin (Jun 24, 2016)

Nature, oceans...The deep seas in particular.

Constellations and their mythologies.


----------



## Joe_Bassett (Jun 24, 2016)

Science, physics (especially the quantum stuff), robotics, computers, genetics, coding, cybersecurity, biohacking, brain to machine interfacing, languages (both spoken and coding), and forensics

I'm a person of many interests


----------



## eefraoula (Jun 24, 2016)

the topography of antarctica - I'm curious about the mountains under the ice


----------



## PrinzeCharming (Jun 24, 2016)

The way my Persian sulks from how I distributed the soft food between two cats. She literally sat in a corner, watching the other eat, until I brought the plate over to her. Yet, she was the most impatient between the two cats as I prepared the food. Cats' personalities interest me.


----------



## Plasticweld (Jun 24, 2016)

The simple stuff still amazes me.  Standing in line to get some sandwiches made for the guys lunch today.  I have always bought my workers' lunch as part of my appreciation for them, so this is a daily thing.  The deli is a busy place, I always try to interact and learn more about who is making our sandwiches while they are working on them, I tend to get better sandwiches that way.  Today there was a new worker behind the counter, an older woman, she appeared worn out, and out of patience before I even placed an order.  I appeared to be interrupting her and each request was met with a scowl, my words were few and I did not bother with any of the usual banter.  She never smiled once. 


As simple as it sounds she made a horrible impression.  In contrast, just the day before the woman who waited on me also looked exhausted, and just as worn out.  I had asked her as soon as she waited on me, how she was and that she looked exhausted.  She told me she was working 16 hour days, two jobs, one here and one at the golf course.  She was up at 4:30 am and worked until 9 pm at night.  When I showed genuine concern for her, she smiled, we talked about her day, and about some of the grind of working those hours.  She told me about how she needed to do this to get out debt and get caught up on bills.  We chatted the entire time she made the sandwiches.   I walked away and I knowing we both felt better, me because I love to learn more about the people I meet, and her just because she had a sympathetic ear and a caring customer.


The contrast between the two days and interactions were dramatic.   As I walked around the store gathering the rest of my items I could only reflect on how important a smile is, how important the stuff is that costs nothing yet people tend to dish out in miserly amounts.


I have always studied body language that is my interest.  The subtle signals we send out through our actions and our words often convey much.  The few the simple things you can do to build a relationship and make some else feel good, cost nothing and are done so in the very first few seconds of any meeting. 


The power of the smile... Wow!


----------



## Gyarachu (Jun 24, 2016)

I've had a lifelong interest in Chinese history. What an aesthetically stunning traditional culture they once had!



> I have always studied body language that is my interest. The subtle signals we send out through our actions and our words often convey much. The few the simple things you can do to build a relationship and make some else feel good, cost nothing and are done so in the very first few seconds of any meeting.



I second this. I've always been hyper-sensitive to other peoples' body language. It's very easy for me to tell when others are uncomfortable, upset, bored, annoyed, etc while everyone around me is somehow oblivious to it. Can be very useful, and also emotionally taxing.


----------



## PrinzeCharming (Jun 24, 2016)

Plasticweld said:


> I have always studied body language that is my interest.  The subtle signals we send out through our actions and our words often convey much.  The few the simple things you can do to build a relationship and make some else feel good, cost nothing and are done so in the very first few seconds of any meeting.



I'll raise my hand. I am an instigator for body language. The way a woman smiles simply after I asked about her alcohol purchase, "You're almost 21, right?" I also encourage simple indulgences. Customers crave that personal touch to their service. They genuinely want to feel acknowledged as people and not as another reason the company made a sale. On an intimate level, I absolutely love when a woman's eyes dilate as her arousal peaks. The parasympathetic nervous system interests me.


----------



## RhythmOvPain (Jun 25, 2016)

Music.

Video games.

Alcohol.

Weed.

Weapons.

Japan.

The prospect of a new adventure.

Making friends.

Making enemies.

Making babies.

The list goes on.


----------



## Olly Buckle (Jun 25, 2016)

My missus who worked in playgroups for years describing how she could tell an autistic child almost infallibly at a young age. Give them a toy car and most children will 'Make it go', push it along in some way. An autistic child will turn it over and watch the wheels as they spin them. Interesting.


----------



## Olly Buckle (Jun 25, 2016)

Looking through the posts here I see some people give particular answers, like mine in the previous post, whereas others are much more general saying something like 'The different ways people's minds work', or even 'Psychology'. Interesting.


----------



## Plasticweld (Jun 25, 2016)

Olly Buckle said:


> Looking through the posts here I see some people give particular answers, like mine in the previous post, whereas others are much more general saying something like 'The different ways people's minds work', or even 'Psychology'. Interesting.




I think that is representative of how people think.  What interests me today, I am focused on with tunnel vision and live for the moment.  Generalities and board descriptions fail to really show passion... a curse of living by moment, a blessing for those with long sight.


----------



## midnightpoet (Jun 25, 2016)

Has anything caught your interest lately?  One of my interests is people watching - which can be helpful as a writer.  Yesterday I was waiting for my wife outside a dollar store (while babysitting two of our dogs).  Inside the store there were two baskets stuck together.  No on really tried to separate them, one try was enough and they quickly found another that was easy to separate.  The impatience of today's society, I suppose. A simple thing, common, but interesting - like people in brand new $40,000 SUV's pulling up to shop at a dollar store.

That's another thing - ladies, especially; some dressed to the "nine's" while others wore skimpy short shorts (the older , the more conservative).  Very egalitarian, these humble dollar stores.


----------



## eefraoula (Jun 25, 2016)

PrinzeCharming said:


> The way my Persian sulks from how I  distributed the soft food between two cats. She literally sat in a  corner, watching the other eat, until I brought the plate over to her.  Yet, she was the most impatient between the two cats as I prepared the  food. Cats' personalities interest me.



I actually came back to this thread to add "cat's personalities" to my list of interests! I was also thinking today about how my two cats are so different. Their unique styles of consuming wet food are only the beginning.


----------



## 20oz (Jun 25, 2016)

Por- Nevermind.


----------



## Jigawatt (Jun 25, 2016)

Steampunk. And I found out about it from this website reading comments from members. How did I miss this genre? I've been reading some stories. I can do this.


----------



## 20oz (Jun 26, 2016)

Video games and short stories.

I've been gaming on and off throughout the years. I think, this generation, I've been going nuts on video games. I'm at that point where I got more backlog than finished games.

Short stories. What can I say? I love that stuff.


----------



## escorial (Jun 26, 2016)

suicidal thoughts............


----------



## dither (Jun 26, 2016)

escorial said:


> suicidal thoughts............



Yes, me to.

People, and the workings of the mind.

Fascinating.

I sometimes wish, that i could be there, on that bridge/cliff/tower block/whatever to just chat/wish them luck and  say look! It's okay, i'm with YOU.


----------



## escorial (Jun 26, 2016)

dither said:


> Yes, me to.



man you can't get away from that word suicidal..twice in the sauna..on the tv and posters and that was in just a week for me...


----------



## dither (Jun 26, 2016)

Yeah you hear it all the time, it's just a word and talk is cheap.


----------



## escorial (Jun 26, 2016)

dither said:


> Yeah you hear it all the time, it's just a word and talk is cheap.



man that is one expensive word....the ultimate price anyone can pay


----------



## dither (Jun 26, 2016)

It's the carrying out ( actually doing it ) that costs Escorial.

And would disagree, respectfully of course, that it is the ultimate price.
Life is the ultimate cost, the price to bear imo.


----------



## escorial (Jun 26, 2016)

dither said:


> It's the carrying out ( actually doing it ) that costs Escorial.



it's all relative man..just like the man said


----------



## dither (Jun 26, 2016)

yep.


----------



## Olly Buckle (Jun 26, 2016)

> I sometimes wish, that i could be there, on that bridge/cliff/tower block/whatever to just chat/wish them luck and say look! It's okay, i'm with YOU.



You remind me of a girl I picked up hitch-hiking in the rain one night; nutter, didn't know where she was going, I took her home and we (My female flat-mate) gave her a bath and some clean clothes. Next morning she was talking about killing herself and I said, "Well don't do it here, go up the road and do it. It will make no odds to you if you are dead and I have enough problems without policemen and social workers all over the place.' She changed the subject to getting someone from the 'Home' to pick her up.


----------



## Plasticweld (Jun 26, 2016)

How did you guys take just a great thread started by Olly and turn it in to such a morbid direction?     Your lack of interest in life...Doesn't count!


----------



## escorial (Jun 26, 2016)

opinions man....


----------



## Kevin (Jun 26, 2016)

I like turtles


----------



## dither (Jun 27, 2016)

Cowabunga!


----------



## Bard_Daniel (Jun 27, 2016)

As for things that interest me a big one is the conversations/social lives of famous writers who I've read. Very illuminating, and comforting, to find out what was on their minds and their tongues.


----------



## Makili (Jun 28, 2016)

You know how some people behave one way for a while, and then just switch to something else? Like one moment they are rebels who live extravagantly, and the next moment, they are all like: "I was young and crazy, now it is time to settle, have family, steady job, wait for the retirement..."
What was the authentic self? How does one make that switch? What psychological mechanisms are behind all that? 

That is what interests me lately...

Together with scientific discoveries. Especially in the domains of genetics and microbiology - did you know that 90% of cells that make our body are microorganisms? Makes me wonder - who are we, really? I just find that fascinating.


----------



## 20oz (Jun 28, 2016)

Listening to the Podquisition. Here's one of... whatever this is: https://soundcloud.com/jimquisition/podquisition-episode-59-the-drunk-naked-office-party-episode


----------



## Olly Buckle (Jun 29, 2016)

Plasticweld said:


> How did you guys take just a great thread started by Olly and turn it in to such a morbid direction?     Your lack of interest in life...Doesn't count!


Blaise Pascal; Because he demonstrates their greatness. "Man's greatness comes from knowing he is wretched: a tree does not know it is wretched. Thus it is wretched to know one is wretched, but there is greatness in knowing one is wretched".
The greater one is the more wretched, Baldrick having possessed a turnip is happy with the memory, but a great King dispossessed is not happy that once he was a King, he is the most wretched of people.

It is also interesting what spellcheck does not recognise, 'baldrick', which is a word, and 'spellcheck', which is only a commercial  name, but its own name.


----------



## Kevin (Jun 29, 2016)

I am 'wretched' (two sylables please, not barfed...) as i am reminded of two (two I can and am immediately thinking of) played by Alan Rickman : Marvin the Android, in Hitchhiker's Guide... and Proffesor Snape (who was indeed wretch-ed, as he never smiled). I miss him. Come to think of it I miss the original Dr. Smith from Lost in Space ( though not as much, as the cheesy sets and week plot lines only go so far, even as camp..) "The pain of it! Ohhh the pain of it!"


----------



## midnightpoet (Jun 29, 2016)

Speaking of Pascal, philosophy has always been an interest of mine, and for some reason Olly's comment reminds me of my philosophy professor in college - a man of quirky sense of humor.  For one class he brought a vial of hemlock -the previous session had been a spirited discussion of Plato.  Don't remember the details (that was 50 years ago), but for some reason that stuck in my mind.


----------



## Plasticweld (Jun 29, 2016)

Must be my perspective is different on life.  I am the good guy, the guy that makes a difference, the guy that turns lemons into lemonade.  I have been astonished at what a difference you can make in life both, for yourself and for others by what you do and say.  I am at loss when I see people who deem themselves a failure when I doubt that have had anywhere near the failures in life I have had.  I have been fortunate in life to have done very well, I also have been knocked on my ass many, many times.  What has saved me is not that I am wretched but that I am both good and powerful and know I can effect change.  

So would have Pascal viewed me as a failure or just someone who was so delusional that they are beyond reasoning with?


----------



## Gyarachu (Jun 29, 2016)

I've also always had an interest in philosophy. Just ask any of my old housemates: "How do you sit there and do nothing for hours at a time?" they would say, as if thinking about the big questions were 'nothing.'

Stuff like this:

[video=youtube;vxlCiV_axQ0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxlCiV_axQ0[/video]

I could waste hours on if I'm not careful, which did happen. Incidentally, I do think there is a proper solution.


----------



## midnightpoet (Jun 29, 2016)

Not sure, Plastic, but although I have failed often, my faith and my determination not to give up has put me back on my feet more often than I can count - and I feel that your faith and determination has done the same for you.  My problems with self-doubt and depression, I think, can be linked to my own weakness of character - yet I keep coming back, and I can thank God for that.


----------



## jasrow (Jun 30, 2016)

Orthodox Judaism


----------



## MzSnowleopard (Jun 30, 2016)

Dreams and the various ways people interpret them.
Cats and Horses and their relationship with humans- not to mention each other.

Academics, I love and thrive on learning.


----------



## dither (Jul 1, 2016)

Plasticweld said:


> Must be my perspective is different on life.  I am the good guy, the guy that makes a difference, the guy that turns lemons into lemonade.  I have been astonished at what a difference you can make in life both, for yourself and for others by what you do and say.  I am at loss when I see people who deem themselves a failure when I doubt that have had anywhere near the failures in life I have had.  I have been fortunate in life to have done very well, I also have been knocked on my ass many, many times.  What has saved me is not that I am wretched but that I am both good and powerful and know I can effect change.
> 
> So would have Pascal viewed me as a failure or just someone who was so delusional that they are beyond reasoning with?



PW,
i'm amazed,
you're unbelievable.
How any person can think like that is totally beyond me.

You're very lucky.


----------



## Plasticweld (Jul 1, 2016)

Could be I'm just delusional  :}  Nah!   I can't think of anything more personally rewarding than to be able to help someone out.  Save them from bill collector or help them buy their first home.  To be able to help an innocent victim and right a wrong in life, in reality is the stuff that makes you feel tall and the stuff that lets you realize you do make a difference.   As I have said many times, " You get to chose who you are every day."  it is more than just words.


----------

