2020.06.17 13:00 - About dreams and Neil Stephenson

The Guardian for this meeting was Riddle Sideways. The comments are by Riddle Sideways.

Wol Euler: hello kirel
Korel Laloix: Osiyo
Wol Euler: *korel
Wol Euler: sorry
Korel Laloix: lol.. I can't spell my RL name half the time, so no worries.
Wol Euler: heheheh
Wol Euler: hello riddle
Korel Laloix: My skirt's getting wet... hmm
   --BELL--
Riddle Sideways: Hey All
Riddle Sideways: hmmm, no sit by pool in this cushion
Wol Euler nods.
Wol Euler: hello tura
Tura Brezoianu: hi all
Riddle Sideways: hope y'all spent 20seconds in the rainbird sprinkler
Riddle Sideways: Hey Tura
Wol Euler: on the lawn out there? yes :)
Wol Euler: I love it
Tura Brezoianu: hi Luci
Wol Euler: hello luci
Riddle Sideways: Hey luci

Lucinda Lavender: HI everyone! oops
Riddle Sideways: how did you do that, luci?
Wol Euler: you hit the platform instead of the cushion
Lucinda Lavender: yes!
Wol Euler: I guess you are zoomed out too far
Tura Brezoianu: I thought you were sitting in the sulky seat :)
Wol Euler: or that :D
Lucinda Lavender: :))
Wol Euler: hello mick
Lucinda Lavender: I considered that too!
Tura Brezoianu: hi Mick
Lucinda Lavender: Tura
Mickorod Renard: Hiya
Lucinda Lavender: HIya Mick
Mickorod Renard: :)
Riddle Sideways: Hey Mick

Lucinda Lavender: So what do you all know?
Riddle Sideways: nobody jumping at the log ㋡
Wol Euler: wearing masks is not the same as being a victim of tyranny
Mickorod Renard: I know nothing

Bleu Oleander: hiya
Wol Euler: hello bleu
Mickorod Renard: Hi Bleu
Lucinda Lavender: Hi Bleu!
Riddle Sideways: Hye Bleu
Korel Laloix: It's all of us against Mick it looks like.
Mickorod Renard: he he
Riddle Sideways: ok, got the log, but don't have the time

Wol Euler: so, Mr. Renard, what qualities would you bring to this company?
Lucinda Lavender: :)
Mickorod Renard: erm
Korel Laloix: Free hot chocolate is a good starter.
Wol Euler nods and ticks a box
Riddle Sideways: nobody expects the Spanish In-question
Mickorod Renard: I am a bit rusty, I cant think of any qualities
Riddle Sideways: there
Wol Euler smiles.
Riddle Sideways: should keep a list. handy
Korel Laloix: Much better, now Mick really is the outcase.

Mickorod Renard: I was wondering how many of you are doing the dreams?
Lucinda Lavender: Thanks Riddle for claiming the log
Wol Euler: oh I didn't know it had restarted
Lucinda Lavender: raises hand
Riddle Sideways: only one person came to the dream session yesterday :(
Korel Laloix: I still never remember my dreams.
Lucinda Lavender: Tuesday at 1 pm slt
Wol Euler: ah, ty
Mickorod Renard: oh noo, thats a pity
Lucinda Lavender: I had an appointment and so sorry about that
Riddle Sideways: told of a great weird dreamm too
Tura Brezoianu: I didn't make it yesterday
Wol Euler: awwwwww
Mickorod Renard: yes?
Korel Laloix: I do have a couple I typed out of Sama's though. I think we read a while back?
Lucinda Lavender: well maybe it was especially nice for a long dream

Bleu Oleander: brb
Mickorod Renard: kk
Riddle Sideways: bleu maybe went to get a dream
Wol Euler: she keeps in a jar by the door
Lucinda Lavender: :)
Lucinda Lavender: the dream jar
Korel Laloix: That would do it
Wol Euler: like a tip jar, but different
Riddle Sideways: one of those dream catchers over it
Wol Euler: hello qt
Qt Core: Hi all
Mickorod Renard: hi Qt

Lucinda Lavender: when is a door like...? When it's ajar
Riddle Sideways: Hey Qt
Riddle Sideways: oooooo ㋡
Lucinda Lavender: I forget what the door is like tho
Mickorod Renard: when is a door not a door
Korel Laloix: Funny about dream catchers, they never work for me, so I gave away my last one recently.... laughs
Mickorod Renard: when it is ajar
Lucinda Lavender: ah thanks MIck
Korel Laloix: boo

Wol Euler: I haven't had a dream that I remember since the lockdown started
Lucinda Lavender: INteresting Wol
Wol Euler: I wake up sometimes aware that I was dreaming, but the content is gone
Lucinda Lavender: I had heard more dreams because some people are sleeping more
Wol Euler: I think that's mostly because I am sleeping badly and too little
Mickorod Renard: yes, I have not bothered recalling mine for years
   --BELL--
Riddle Sideways: bleu
Riddle Sideways: *:::* WELCOME BACK *:::*
Mickorod Renard: I do dream lots tho
Bleu Oleander: thanks :)
Riddle Sideways: ooooo forgot about that, sorry
Qt Core: i had a few during lockdown, mostly forgotten in minutes after waking up
Lucinda Lavender: I have been remembering more dreams
Tura Brezoianu: I've had a few, but mainly rather routine anxiety stuff about not knowing what I should be doing, or missing travel arrangements
Mickorod Renard: thats nice Luci
Riddle Sideways: telling self to simply recall them in the morning each night last thing. and self does
Wol Euler: wb bleu
Lucinda Lavender: nice self
Lucinda Lavender: I have this sense as I fall asleep that my mind continues its thinking but I stop listening
Lucinda Lavender: all goes dark, which I think of as nice
Lucinda Lavender: then as I wake I catch what I can
Lucinda Lavender: The more rested I am the more attention I bring to it
Lucinda Lavender: the more noticing can happen

Mickorod Renard: interestingly, i have known someone a long time who always claimed not to dream at all. and recently they hsve been diagnosed with servere sleep apnea
Wol Euler: aha
Mickorod Renard: so they never get any REM
Lucinda Lavender: I can imagine that the dream is interrupted

Lucinda Lavender: I wonder if anyone has a dream from child hood that they remember because it was so vivid
Wol Euler: that tallies well with dreaming more if you sleep more/better
Tura Brezoianu: There's a couple of recurring dreams I remember from back then.
Bleu Oleander: I don't trust my memory on childhood dreams ... I'm sure I've embellished them a lot over the years :)
Riddle Sideways: yes, had a reoccuring dream back then too
Wol Euler: same
Qt Core: i clearly remember one (recurrent for a few months) from when i was 12

Wol Euler: actually did anyone NOT have recurring dreams?
Wol Euler: because that seems to be a thing :)
Riddle Sideways: and nobody stood up
Mickorod Renard: recurring as in max twice
Wol Euler: that counts
Mickorod Renard: ta

Bleu Oleander: exactly the same? or part of a series?
Lucinda Lavender: I have recurring themes but not exactly the same
Tura Brezoianu: More a repetition of the setting
Mickorod Renard: pretty much the same
Lucinda Lavender: I have just looked back through my journals and found a common theme about traveling
Bleu Oleander: had a series where elements were repeated but different narratives
Riddle Sideways: thought it was the Same reoccurring dream, but recalled or analyzed differently
Mickorod Renard: one was like an alien abduction
Wol Euler nods to Bleu
Mickorod Renard: ah yes riddle

Wol Euler: I had a recurring *ending* to dreams
Wol Euler: they'd start out differently and converge
Bleu Oleander: yes, me too
Lucinda Lavender: interesting!
Riddle Sideways: hahahaha Wol, you wake up
Bleu Oleander: rescued at the end :)
Wol Euler: actually murdered at the end
Bleu Oleander: yikes
Mickorod Renard: wow
Wol Euler: dream of pursuit and death
Qt Core: that happen to me, when i feel the dreams becoming too weird
Bleu Oleander: ewww
Wol Euler: haven't had that one in decades
Lucinda Lavender: have you tried going back in and not stopping to face the persuer?
Mickorod Renard: I used to regulary dream of being drawn towards the edge of the sidewalk when road busy
Lucinda Lavender: oops I meant stopping to face a persuer
Riddle Sideways: had one just a couple ago with a murder mystery
Wol Euler: I try to escape and just when I think I have succeeded, I turn a corner and they are before me
Mickorod Renard: yikes
Lucinda Lavender: I think that is when with some lucidity one might be able to questions the persuer...hot to spell persuer:(

Lucinda Lavender: how to type...how to spell sorry
Riddle Sideways: love typos
Wol Euler: no worries :)
Mickorod Renard: also, as a kid , dream of sitting on the curb and not being able to stand up for fear of being hit by a car
Bleu Oleander: maybe our dreams are like typos
Riddle Sideways: maybe bleu
Lucinda Lavender: :)maybe one could stop and look and ask...what is your business?
Mickorod Renard: I always wanted to ask who the characters were in a dream
Wol Euler: characters are often mixed in my dreams. there will be a red setter dog, and/but it is my sister
   --BELL--
Riddle Sideways: hey!! did the bell take Mick?
Wol Euler: apparently

Qt Core: i recognize people in my dreams once every few years, even more rarely they are relatives
Lucinda Lavender: perhaps you are in a more collective consciousness realm
Wol Euler: do you mostly dream of strangers or unknown people, or just seldom dream of people at all?
Qt Core: and when i recognize them i ask me why then, still wondering about a dream about Platini (the '70/'80 french footballer) i had some ten years ago
Lucinda Lavender: when I do not know people in the dream they have less detail I think

Wol Euler: wb mick
Riddle Sideways: mick
Mickorod Renard: ty
Mickorod Renard: bit of a crash
Wol Euler: happens :)
Lucinda Lavender: brb

Mickorod Renard: the person who has sleep apnea has today got their mask and stuff
Mickorod Renard: so i am interested to see if they dream
Wol Euler: I bet that will make a great difference in their life
Riddle Sideways: wonder if they will report dreaming now
Wol Euler nods.
Mickorod Renard: i will press them
Wol Euler: like a flower
Riddle Sideways: ㋡
Mickorod Renard: unfortunatly they also claim not to visualize anything in their head
Wol Euler: O.O
Wol Euler: is that even possible?
Mickorod Renard: so it may be more complex
Mickorod Renard: ie, they do not picture the story when reading a book
Mickorod Renard: which sounds nonsense
Wol Euler is aghast
Tura Brezoianu: Yes, some people don't make mental images. It seems fairly well established.

Lucinda Lavender: sorry i have to go
Mickorod Renard: bye Luci
Wol Euler: bye luci, stay healthy
Qt Core: bye Lucinda
Tura Brezoianu: bye Luci
Riddle Sideways: by Luci
Bleu Oleander: bye Luci nice to see you

Korel Laloix: And there are people that due to injury or disease loose the ability.
Lucinda Lavender: thank nice to see you too
Korel Laloix: https://www.newscientist.com/article...n-in-my-brain/
Mickorod Renard: yes, in this case the person has had a minor tia in the past
Bleu Oleander: reading is visual, interpreting the symbols ... maybe not "conscious" visuals
Mickorod Renard: I suspect its a link of not recognising they visualize, rather than not visualizing

Mickorod Renard: has anyone read 'the fall' by neal stephenson?
Mickorod Renard: i have just begun it
Wol Euler: don't know that one
Mickorod Renard: and there is a good opener about dreaming
Tura Brezoianu: I haven't, what's it about?
Riddle Sideways: no, maybe one of the only Neal Stephenson not read
Bleu Oleander: interesting article thanks Kori
Mickorod Renard: I am not sure , I think its about being dead
Wol Euler: ty kori, noted
Wol Euler: O.O
Korel Laloix: Very welcome
   --BELL--
Bleu Oleander: his books are a big investment of time! is that a new one?
Mickorod Renard: yes
Mickorod Renard: from this february
Wol Euler: very new :)
Wol Euler makes a note
Mickorod Renard: I think I have read all of his but the whole menagerie of them blend into one mess of a story in my memory
Mickorod Renard: if that makes sense
Wol Euler nods.
Tura Brezoianu: Are they written to join up with each other?
Riddle Sideways: it appears to be an follow on to Reamde
Wol Euler: oh cool
Mickorod Renard: only three are a trilogy
Mickorod Renard: he he
Riddle Sideways: except hicithikers guide which is a 5 book trilogy
Mickorod Renard: most if not all the others are stand alone
Tura Brezoianu: I remember a story about Neal Stephenson
Wol Euler nods.

Bleu Oleander: slips back into RL ... take care all
Wol Euler: bye bleu, stay healthy
Tura Brezoianu: bye Bleu
Qt Core: bye Bleu
Mickorod Renard: bye blue
Bleu Oleander: bye you too!
Riddle Sideways: by by bleu

Mickorod Renard: listens to tura
Riddle Sideways: have trouble writting Reamde since have written Read Me so ofter
Mickorod Renard: is reamde the witch story?
Wol Euler: it's the virtual world game story
Riddle Sideways: no, the game developer hunting lodge one
Mickorod Renard: ah ok
Wol Euler: How To Successfully Identify A Book Without Giving Any Spoilers
Mickorod Renard: grin
Riddle Sideways: did we give spoilers?
Wol Euler: not in this case
Wol Euler: but Mick knew which one we meant

Tura Brezoianu: Anyway, that story about Stephenson I mentioned: He was invited with one or two other SF writers to an academic conference. He got talking to one of the academics there who took him to be an academic, and asked what he did (for a living). Academics, you see, may write books but don't make their living that way. He said that writing was his living, and when she looked puzzled, he said... "I'm too famous for you to ever have heard of me."
Wol Euler: heheheh
Mickorod Renard: great story
Riddle Sideways: ㋡

Riddle Sideways: has anybody Not read Snow Crash?
Korel Laloix: Not even heard of it.
Tura Brezoianu: Er...I probably have it on my bookshelves
Wol Euler: oh you have a treat in store :)
Korel Laloix looks it up
Mickorod Renard: I think it was dodo was the witch story
Wol Euler: was that a Stepheson?`
Korel Laloix: Evidently, yes.
Riddle Sideways: written before SL
Wol Euler: ridiculously short for one of his novels, must have been an abberation
Tura Brezoianu: Ah! Short! Maybe I should go find it.
Wol Euler: hehehe
Riddle Sideways: right wol, most of the others are 900 pages
Wol Euler: yeah about a quarter the size of Reamde
Korel Laloix: No wonder....
Korel Laloix: I just don't read much fiction, particularly science fiction.
Mickorod Renard: its not all sf
Qt Core: may need to check if / what of his work is translated....
Wol Euler: I'm actually reading two Stephensons at once :) and hadn't realized I was doing it because one is in English and the other in German
Mickorod Renard: way of the world trilogy was more history
Mickorod Renard: Wol, it would have been a bit worrying if you had been reading the same book but in two languages and not realized
   --BELL--
Wol Euler: Cryptonomicon is more historical too, present-day, very little science, but it's mostly about math and cryptography and war
Korel Laloix: Soooo.. Let's say I was going to read one book from said writer, what would be my best investment?
Wol Euler nods to mick
Mickorod Renard: yeh, it was a good book
Mickorod Renard: I struggled at first with the darting between one era and the other
Wol Euler: I'd say start with Snow Crash, even though it is sci-fi, because it has a strong social and dystopian component
Mickorod Renard: but you get used to it
Wol Euler: and it's short :)
Wol Euler: cryptonomicon is my favourite so far
Riddle Sideways: and has about 5 themes going
Korel Laloix: Ok.. I put it on my list.. which means I will get to it in about 15 years.
Wol Euler: I'm a sucker for books about people being clever at each other
Riddle Sideways: yep, Kor
Wol Euler laughs.
Korel Laloix: What does "clever at each other" mean Wol?
Wol Euler: there is a lot of talking and explaining of math and science
Mickorod Renard: trouble is, some of his early ones are now out of date..he has great vision but the future is arriving too fast
Wol Euler: it's about people meeting to talk through solving problems
Qt Core: do he write mostly dystopian things ?
Wol Euler: I would say no
Riddle Sideways: many of his books are CyberPunk and so dystopian
Qt Core: for me fiction by work or images is for fun ;-)
Wol Euler: he's far more optimistic than William Gibson
Qt Core: (mostly)
Qt Core: *word
Riddle Sideways: yes, read these for Fun
Mickorod Renard: which was the one about a young womans book/guide?
Wol Euler raises an eyebrow.
Riddle Sideways: ummm, know it, but the title????? nope
Riddle Sideways: something like A young ladies guide
Mickorod Renard: that remineded me so much of amazon fire notepad
Riddle Sideways: it was "Diamond Age"
Mickorod Renard: and drones following you around
Mickorod Renard: its all now
Riddle Sideways: written in 1995 a bit before the Amazon notepad
Riddle Sideways: but was one
Mickorod Renard: should be able to sail across the pacific soon on a raft of plastic waste
Wol Euler: walk across, almost
Mickorod Renard: he he
Qt Core: the data-pad in star trek next generation are scarily in amazon kindle form factor (but with color)
Qt Core: 1987-1994
Wol Euler: that is probably the wrong way around, qt :)
Qt Core: ;-)
Riddle Sideways: and 2001: a space oddosity had tablet pads

Mickorod Renard: ok , gotta get back to rl, great chatting
Wol Euler: me too
Qt Core: bye Mick
Riddle Sideways: thanks mick
Wol Euler: bye mick, bye everyone
Mickorod Renard: byeeeeee
Wol Euler: stay healthy, dream well
Wol Euler: and read!
Mickorod Renard: :)
Riddle Sideways: by All
Tura Brezoianu: goodnight all
Qt Core: bye all