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I'm not sure if you read my comment before becoming offended by it. Your response makes it all about me, but I specifically mentioned other people being surpri

by 300bps 13y ago

I'm not sure if you read my comment before becoming offended by it. Your response makes it all about me, but I specifically mentioned other people being surprised by their own memorization capabilities after I asked them to consider that maybe they're more capable of memorizing numbers than they believed. Your comment also says that I memorize through "no effort" when I stated, "almost no effort" which is > "no effort". When I originally memorized pi to 50 digits it took about 15 minutes which is what I could consider "almost no effort" but that's more than 15 seconds which is what I would consider "no effort". And I'm sorry my comment made you resentful. Hopefully you don't resent other people telling you how with little effort they were able to increase their vertical jump or learn how to play the guitar.

deleted 13y ago
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- 300bps 13y ago
  Attitudes like yours smack of the smugness and arrogance that I've had to deal with all of my life Take a breath, my friend. I'm not the person who's been keeping you down all these years that you are apparently lashing out at. I responded to your other comment down-thread. My comment was aimed at a normal demographic. You state that you have some undiagnosed mental handicap. If I posted a comment saying how I was able to increase my vertical leap by 10% through almost no effort and I think anybody can do it, should people in wheelchairs respond with self-righteous anger as you have? I would hope they would read it for what it is; a call to believe in yourself to reach your best potential. People have different potentials - I would think that was self-evident.
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    - smokeyj 13y ago
      I'm sorry about your memory problem, but I think you're being a little sensitive. OP's point was simple: if you believe in yourself, you'll be in a better position to succeed. No, this doesn't guarantee success. But it's better than not believing you can. You're correct, your crippled grandma won't be able to walk because she believes she can. Unfortunately that wasn't OP's point.
      - deleted 13y ago
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        smokeyj 13y ago
        The point was anyone can improve themselves by believing they can. Anyone can do that. While your nitpick is technically true, it serves little purpose besides inflating your under compensated ego. This seems to be a recurring theme on HN, where people point out irrelevant nitpicks as if I couldn't do that myself.
        deleted 13y ago
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        gems 13y ago
        Here's the lesson: if you have a point to make, please don't fit in extraneous claims, which are much debated themselves, into your argument or comment. It's not hard to see that they can be confused as being part of your point. > This seems to be a recurring theme on HN, where people point out irrelevant nitpicks as if I couldn't do that myself. I will say this again: there is nothing wrong with nitpicking. If you can't be technically correct, then you're not correct.
      - smtddr 13y ago
        I know I'm going to sound crazy, but sometimes I really wonder if "mind over matter" can make things that we've been made to believe impossible, is actually possible. Like, what if we could willpower ourselves out of a disability that even medical-science claims is impossible. Maybe we all just have to believe "there is no spoon". I'll admit that from time to time I try to move small objects by focusing on them. Maybe I watch too much anime...
  - johnchristopher 13y ago
    If this page is anything worthwhile (and cross-referencing it with wikipedia, it just seems out-of-date) http://pi-world-ranking-list.com/lists/memo/ http://pi-world-ranking-list.com/lists/memo/ you clearly aren't in the normal demographic considering the few people who made it on that list. 15 minutes to memorize 100 digits of Pi should get you higher on that list if you dedicate some time to it ?
amirmc 13y ago
> "I'm not sure if you read my comment before becoming offended by it." That post didn't read to me like he was in the slightest bit offended. It's simply making the point that if you view the world through a lens of "you can do anything if you just try" then there's a downside of becoming less compassionate as one might ascribe to laziness what may (more correctly) be ascribed to a genuine physical or mental inability.
- 300bps 13y ago
  That post didn't read to me like he was in the slightest bit offended. He said that my post was belittling and he was resentful of it. That seems to be a textbook definition of offended. Please tell me how I misunderstood.
  - devindotcom 13y ago
    I am not offended. I wrote that the sentiment I described was belittling and people would resent it.
    - 300bps 13y ago
      I am not offended. I wrote that the sentiment I described was belittling and people would resent it. Sorry, I don't believe you. You were either directly speaking for yourself or you were using weasel words a la, "people would resent it." In either case, you should man up to the fact that you were truly speaking for yourself. There were three people that voiced their offense at what I said. Two appeared to not be able to avoid petty insults and name-calling. One of those two ended up deleting the dozen or so responses they had in here, apparently ashamed of what they wrote. I'm still hoping that you'll own your words more than the other two.
      - devindotcom 13y ago
        You are very much mistaken, and are making a fool of yourself.
cscheid 13y ago
I'm quoting you: > I'm convinced anyone can do this and the major thing stopping them is their belief that they can't do it. It's not a matter of taking offense. It's a matter of your assumption. It took you little effort. And it might take many people little effort. But by saying "anyone" and "their belief that they can't do it" in the same sentence you disenfranchise people who, you know, might actually have tried this and failed. This type of statement tends to irk some people (and I'm here assuming sillysaurus is part of this group) because the same structure is present in all kinds of victim-blaming statements ("oh, you don't work hard enough, that's why you're poor. You have to believe in prosperity"). Let me be clear, I'm not saying that you'd actually use the more horrible versions of the pattern. I'm simply hoping to explain sillysaurus's strong reaction to your original post.
jessedhillon 13y ago
Personally, I would rather have a mediocre memory and mediocre emotional intelligence, than an exceptional memory and the complete lack of EQ which you're demonstrating here. Hopefully you don't resent other people telling you how with little effort they were able to increase their vertical jump or learn how to play the guitar. Nope, I wouldn't. But if they then concluded from their own lack of effort that I should also be able to jump higher and play the guitar with similar ease, then they should expect it.
- 300bps 13y ago
  the complete lack of EQ which you're demonstrating here. I would think someone with even a mediocre EQ would have more tact than telling someone they have a complete lack of EQ.
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by 300bps 13y ago

deleted 13y ago

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300bps 13y ago
Attitudes like yours smack of the smugness and arrogance that I've had to deal with all of my life Take a breath, my friend. I'm not the person who's been keeping you down all these years that you are apparently lashing out at. I responded to your other comment down-thread. My comment was aimed at a normal demographic. You state that you have some undiagnosed mental handicap. If I posted a comment saying how I was able to increase my vertical leap by 10% through almost no effort and I think anybody can do it, should people in wheelchairs respond with self-righteous anger as you have? I would hope they would read it for what it is; a call to believe in yourself to reach your best potential. People have different potentials - I would think that was self-evident.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
  - smokeyj 13y ago
    I'm sorry about your memory problem, but I think you're being a little sensitive. OP's point was simple: if you believe in yourself, you'll be in a better position to succeed. No, this doesn't guarantee success. But it's better than not believing you can. You're correct, your crippled grandma won't be able to walk because she believes she can. Unfortunately that wasn't OP's point.
    - deleted 13y ago
      [deleted]
      - smokeyj 13y ago
        The point was anyone can improve themselves by believing they can. Anyone can do that. While your nitpick is technically true, it serves little purpose besides inflating your under compensated ego. This seems to be a recurring theme on HN, where people point out irrelevant nitpicks as if I couldn't do that myself.
        deleted 13y ago
        [deleted]
        gems 13y ago
        Here's the lesson: if you have a point to make, please don't fit in extraneous claims, which are much debated themselves, into your argument or comment. It's not hard to see that they can be confused as being part of your point. > This seems to be a recurring theme on HN, where people point out irrelevant nitpicks as if I couldn't do that myself. I will say this again: there is nothing wrong with nitpicking. If you can't be technically correct, then you're not correct.
    - smtddr 13y ago
      I know I'm going to sound crazy, but sometimes I really wonder if "mind over matter" can make things that we've been made to believe impossible, is actually possible. Like, what if we could willpower ourselves out of a disability that even medical-science claims is impossible. Maybe we all just have to believe "there is no spoon". I'll admit that from time to time I try to move small objects by focusing on them. Maybe I watch too much anime...
- johnchristopher 13y ago
  If this page is anything worthwhile (and cross-referencing it with wikipedia, it just seems out-of-date) http://pi-world-ranking-list.com/lists/memo/ http://pi-world-ranking-list.com/lists/memo/ you clearly aren't in the normal demographic considering the few people who made it on that list. 15 minutes to memorize 100 digits of Pi should get you higher on that list if you dedicate some time to it ?

amirmc 13y ago

> "I'm not sure if you read my comment before becoming offended by it." That post didn't read to me like he was in the slightest bit offended. It's simply making the point that if you view the world through a lens of "you can do anything if you just try" then there's a downside of becoming less compassionate as one might ascribe to laziness what may (more correctly) be ascribed to a genuine physical or mental inability.

300bps 13y ago
That post didn't read to me like he was in the slightest bit offended. He said that my post was belittling and he was resentful of it. That seems to be a textbook definition of offended. Please tell me how I misunderstood.
- devindotcom 13y ago
  I am not offended. I wrote that the sentiment I described was belittling and people would resent it.
  - 300bps 13y ago
    I am not offended. I wrote that the sentiment I described was belittling and people would resent it. Sorry, I don't believe you. You were either directly speaking for yourself or you were using weasel words a la, "people would resent it." In either case, you should man up to the fact that you were truly speaking for yourself. There were three people that voiced their offense at what I said. Two appeared to not be able to avoid petty insults and name-calling. One of those two ended up deleting the dozen or so responses they had in here, apparently ashamed of what they wrote. I'm still hoping that you'll own your words more than the other two.
    - devindotcom 13y ago
      You are very much mistaken, and are making a fool of yourself.

cscheid 13y ago

I'm quoting you: > I'm convinced anyone can do this and the major thing stopping them is their belief that they can't do it. It's not a matter of taking offense. It's a matter of your assumption. It took you little effort. And it might take many people little effort. But by saying "anyone" and "their belief that they can't do it" in the same sentence you disenfranchise people who, you know, might actually have tried this and failed. This type of statement tends to irk some people (and I'm here assuming sillysaurus is part of this group) because the same structure is present in all kinds of victim-blaming statements ("oh, you don't work hard enough, that's why you're poor. You have to believe in prosperity"). Let me be clear, I'm not saying that you'd actually use the more horrible versions of the pattern. I'm simply hoping to explain sillysaurus's strong reaction to your original post.

jessedhillon 13y ago

Personally, I would rather have a mediocre memory and mediocre emotional intelligence, than an exceptional memory and the complete lack of EQ which you're demonstrating here. Hopefully you don't resent other people telling you how with little effort they were able to increase their vertical jump or learn how to play the guitar. Nope, I wouldn't. But if they then concluded from their own lack of effort that I should also be able to jump higher and play the guitar with similar ease, then they should expect it.

300bps 13y ago
the complete lack of EQ which you're demonstrating here. I would think someone with even a mediocre EQ would have more tact than telling someone they have a complete lack of EQ.
- deleted 13y ago
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