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The thread that goes bump in the night! [Spooky] Thread y'all!

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    JusticeforPlutoJusticeforPluto Registered User regular
    I woke up with a paper cut on my finger that I didn't not have when I went to sleep.

    So the question is am I sleep reading, or did a ghost attempt to make me sign a binding contract in my sleep?

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    DelduwathDelduwath Registered User regular
    In the early 2000s, I used to go to a sci-fi convention called Lunacon (a small, by-the-fans-for-the-fans type of convention that had a pretty homey feel to it as compared to an NYCC or a PAX) (I am led to understand that there was an intense amount of in-group/out-group politicking and tension behind the scenes? Not surprising). At the time, it was held at the Rye Town Hilton, aka the Westchester Hilton, in Rye (the town, not the city), New York, which was affectionately referred to by the con-goers as "The Escher Hotel".

    The hotel had two wings, which were built at slightly different elevations, and were only connected on some floors. One wing had floors numbered 1-4, the other had floors numbered 5-8. You could walk from floor 2 to floor 6 without changing elevation. You could walk in a loop around the convention space and be like "...wait, wasn't I just one floor lower?..."

    It was confusing the first time, but it also added a tremendous amount of charm and flavor to the experience, especially for a geeky teenager.

    Sounds like it closed permanently in 2020 due to the pandemic. That's a bummer.

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    Grey GhostGrey Ghost Registered User regular
    I woke up with a paper cut on my finger that I didn't not have when I went to sleep.

    So the question is am I sleep reading, or did a ghost attempt to make me sign a binding contract in my sleep?
    I am Pujari. These are the visions I have had of the Black Garden.

    The Traveler moved across the face of the iron world. It opened the earth and stitched shut the sky. It made life possible. In these things there is always symmetry. Do you understand? This is not the beginning but it is the reason.

    The Garden grows in both directions. It grows into tomorrow and yesterday. The red flowers bloom forever.

    There are gardeners now. They came into the garden in vessels of bronze and they move through the groves in rivers of thought.

    This is the vision I had when I leapt from the Shores of Time and let myself sink:

    I walked beneath the blossoms. The light came from ahead and the shadows of the flowers were words. They said things but I will not write them here.

    At the end of the path grew a flower in the shape of a Ghost. I reached out to pluck it and it cut me with a thorn. I bled and the blood was Light.

    The Ghost said to me: You are a dead thing made by a dead power in the shape of the dead. All you will ever do is kill. You do not belong here. This is a place of life.

    The Traveler is life, I said. You are a creature of Darkness. You seek to deceive me.

    But I looked behind me, down the long slope where the blossoms tumbled in the warm wind and the great trees wept sap like blood or wine, and I felt doubt.

    When my Ghost raised me from the sea there was a thorn-cut in my left hand and it has not healed since.

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    AuralynxAuralynx Darkness is a perspective Watching the ego workRegistered User regular
    Delduwath wrote: »
    In the early 2000s, I used to go to a sci-fi convention called Lunacon (a small, by-the-fans-for-the-fans type of convention that had a pretty homey feel to it as compared to an NYCC or a PAX) (I am led to understand that there was an intense amount of in-group/out-group politicking and tension behind the scenes? Not surprising). At the time, it was held at the Rye Town Hilton, aka the Westchester Hilton, in Rye (the town, not the city), New York, which was affectionately referred to by the con-goers as "The Escher Hotel".

    The hotel had two wings, which were built at slightly different elevations, and were only connected on some floors. One wing had floors numbered 1-4, the other had floors numbered 5-8. You could walk from floor 2 to floor 6 without changing elevation. You could walk in a loop around the convention space and be like "...wait, wasn't I just one floor lower?..."

    It was confusing the first time, but it also added a tremendous amount of charm and flavor to the experience, especially for a geeky teenager.

    Sounds like it closed permanently in 2020 due to the pandemic. That's a bummer.

    I used to go to chess tournaments in there. It was surprisingly maze-y even as a kid who was supposed to be staying in the vicinity of the ballroom(s) they'd alloted to us.

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    DelduwathDelduwath Registered User regular
    Auralynx wrote: »
    Delduwath wrote: »
    In the early 2000s, I used to go to a sci-fi convention called Lunacon (a small, by-the-fans-for-the-fans type of convention that had a pretty homey feel to it as compared to an NYCC or a PAX) (I am led to understand that there was an intense amount of in-group/out-group politicking and tension behind the scenes? Not surprising). At the time, it was held at the Rye Town Hilton, aka the Westchester Hilton, in Rye (the town, not the city), New York, which was affectionately referred to by the con-goers as "The Escher Hotel".

    The hotel had two wings, which were built at slightly different elevations, and were only connected on some floors. One wing had floors numbered 1-4, the other had floors numbered 5-8. You could walk from floor 2 to floor 6 without changing elevation. You could walk in a loop around the convention space and be like "...wait, wasn't I just one floor lower?..."

    It was confusing the first time, but it also added a tremendous amount of charm and flavor to the experience, especially for a geeky teenager.

    Sounds like it closed permanently in 2020 due to the pandemic. That's a bummer.

    I used to go to chess tournaments in there. It was surprisingly maze-y even as a kid who was supposed to be staying in the vicinity of the ballroom(s) they'd alloted to us.
    A huge part of the experience was definitely feeling some pride after acclimating to it after a few days/visits, and later going "hey check out how weird this is!" to first-timers.

    TBH, this is mostly just making me think about the true crawling, unspeakable horror from the last few years, which is the psychological and emotional damage that staying indoors and not hugging my friends for two years straight has done.

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    #pipe#pipe Cocky Stride, Musky odours Pope of Chili TownRegistered User regular
    That's pretty sweet but I wonder why the guy hid it. Shy from the popularity?

    I would wager "Going viral" would be pretty fucking miserable in most circumstances. I'm not surprised he hid it at all.

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    DepressperadoDepressperado I just wanted to see you laughing in the pizza rainRegistered User regular
    TankHammer wrote: »
    my grandma used to live in a big ol' rambly house and there was one terrible hallway with a mirror at the far end, always dark and creepy.

    one time my dad woke me up in front of the hallway mirror. I had been screaming and pounding on it, still asleep.

    I am lucky it was made of some sturdy glass and I didn't break it. both because it would have cut me up a good one, but also what if whatever I was screaming at came out.

    my grandpa took the mirror down at my insistence.

    edit: for context, I used to sleepwalk a lot when I was little. I was constantly waking up in different parts of my house in the middle of the night.

    Do you ever wonder if you were actually trapped on the 'other' side of the mirror trying to get out?

    You can tell us if you thought that. It's silly. You're definitely still on the right side of the mirror, even today.

    No need to worry about that.

    are you kidding? nothing justifies imposter syndrome like being an imposter, it would take so much weight off my shoulders, being the fake me would.

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    Magic PinkMagic Pink Tur-Boner-Fed Registered User regular
    my grandma used to live in a big ol' rambly house and there was one terrible hallway with a mirror at the far end, always dark and creepy.

    one time my dad woke me up in front of the hallway mirror. I had been screaming and pounding on it, still asleep.

    I am lucky it was made of some sturdy glass and I didn't break it. both because it would have cut me up a good one, but also what if whatever I was screaming at came out.

    my grandpa took the mirror down at my insistence.

    edit: for context, I used to sleepwalk a lot when I was little. I was constantly waking up in different parts of my house in the middle of the night.

    i tore out a fireplace once while completely asleep

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    PinfeldorfPinfeldorf Yeah ZestRegistered User regular
    itt we learn MP has the strength of 5 gorillas while somnambulating.

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    Magic PinkMagic Pink Tur-Boner-Fed Registered User regular
    edited February 2022
    i asked my mom what happened to the fireplace about 5 days later and she absolutely shit the bed

    edit: this was a faux fireplace btw, not all marble and fancy, just a mantelpiece, some cheap tiling down the sides and a fake drywall firebox. So basically all I did was claw all the tile off then tear the mantel down.

    my work completed i went back to bed apparently

    Magic Pink on
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    #pipe#pipe Cocky Stride, Musky odours Pope of Chili TownRegistered User regular
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    #pipe#pipe Cocky Stride, Musky odours Pope of Chili TownRegistered User regular
    AND AGAIN
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AN6j7JYc1g

    the guy who makes these is 16 friggin years old and apparently cannot be stopped

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    DisruptedCapitalistDisruptedCapitalist I swear! Registered User regular
    Where is he finding this footage?? Some of it seems real and some of it seems CGI.

    "Simple, real stupidity beats artificial intelligence every time." -Mustrum Ridcully in Terry Pratchett's Hogfather p. 142 (HarperPrism 1996)
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    CampyCampy Registered User regular
    I think someone mentioned that it's just game engine footage with a filter applied. Presumably with some clever green screen woven in.

    Whatever they're doing it's bloody amazing though.

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    DedwrekkaDedwrekka Metal Hell adjacentRegistered User regular
    Campy wrote: »
    I think someone mentioned that it's just game engine footage with a filter applied. Presumably with some clever green screen woven in.

    Whatever they're doing it's bloody amazing though.

    For some I could see that, for the footage where they actually show the guys in suits moving though, that's absolutely ridiculous work if it's from a game engine.

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    #pipe#pipe Cocky Stride, Musky odours Pope of Chili TownRegistered User regular
    edited February 2022
    The backrooms environments are definitely rendered in a game engine. It would not be difficult to do the way he does, but the secret to selling it is using a genuine handheld camera - I would guess by capturing movement from VR? A little bit of VHS style distortion and genuine, natural handheld camera bobs and sways are a very effective shortcut to convincing your brain it's looking at something real.

    The human characters, though, I'm not sure. I don't think they're animated, they might be motion captured, but the kid couldn't have done that himself. Maybe from a library? I also don't think they're real suits on real actors because You can't just make costumes like that with no money.

    #pipe on
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    DecomposeyDecomposey Registered User regular
    Just google image searching I found this:
    hoo4ktl58wdk.png
    compared to this:
    088rch68l5do.png

    So they are very probably CGI

    Before following any advice, opinions, or thoughts I may have expressed in the above post, be warned: I found Keven Costners "Waterworld" to be a very entertaining film.
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    JusticeforPlutoJusticeforPluto Registered User regular
    That's kinda crazy.

    Although single people can do crazy things with Unreal apparently. IDK what engine he's using but its pretty cool.

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    SatanIsMyMotorSatanIsMyMotor Fuck Warren Ellis Registered User regular
    Corridor Crew just featured the video in one of their episodes and they explain how it's done. It's all done in Blender - the environment is completely CG. It then has a VHS filter thrown on top. Trickiest part is that he's also filming his own footage and then keyframing that footage onto the CG footage to give the "I'm walking with a camcorder" kind of effect to it.

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    DisruptedCapitalistDisruptedCapitalist I swear! Registered User regular
    edited February 2022
    Well this kid is all set; he doesn't need to go to college. He can command the highest salary at any of the major movie studios now.

    (Although I hope the doesn't sell out quite yet and continues to share his brilliance with all us in the meantime.)

    DisruptedCapitalist on
    "Simple, real stupidity beats artificial intelligence every time." -Mustrum Ridcully in Terry Pratchett's Hogfather p. 142 (HarperPrism 1996)
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    KruiteKruite Registered User regular
    Peas wrote: »
    Don't fuck ghost folks

    It's too late for Dan Aykroyd

    (Draft save, but im keeping it)

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    TankHammerTankHammer Atlanta Ghostbuster Atlanta, GARegistered User regular
    Kruite wrote: »
    Peas wrote: »
    Don't fuck ghost folks

    It's too late for Dan Aykroyd

    (Draft save, but im keeping it)

    Listen, that was just a movie.

    Though he claims a friend did once have a threeway with a couple ghosts in New Orleans once.

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    DisruptedCapitalistDisruptedCapitalist I swear! Registered User regular
    I've been through that tunnel! During the day...

    "Simple, real stupidity beats artificial intelligence every time." -Mustrum Ridcully in Terry Pratchett's Hogfather p. 142 (HarperPrism 1996)
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    #pipe#pipe Cocky Stride, Musky odours Pope of Chili TownRegistered User regular
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    SatanIsMyMotorSatanIsMyMotor Fuck Warren Ellis Registered User regular
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    Magic PinkMagic Pink Tur-Boner-Fed Registered User regular
    #pipe wrote: »

    FUCK ME

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    Grey GhostGrey Ghost Registered User regular
    That's.... there's no way that's real, right
    I'm not an AI expert but I somehow extremely doubt a language program can do that

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    DisruptedCapitalistDisruptedCapitalist I swear! Registered User regular
    Magic Pink wrote: »
    #pipe wrote: »

    FUCK ME

    That young fella got his plaque for 1 million subs the other day. Helluva achievement for a kid.

    "Simple, real stupidity beats artificial intelligence every time." -Mustrum Ridcully in Terry Pratchett's Hogfather p. 142 (HarperPrism 1996)
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    CambiataCambiata Commander Shepard The likes of which even GAWD has never seenRegistered User regular
    edited April 2022
    Grey Ghost wrote: »
    That's.... there's no way that's real, right
    I'm not an AI expert but I somehow extremely doubt a language program can do that

    It seems real enough to me.

    The thing you have to understand about what "AI" is in the world we live in, is that the people who "program" the AI do so by feeding it a lot of data. The basic understanding that I have of the process is that the people designing these things is that the process looks something like this:

    You have 100 rudimentary AI programs that know nothing, and you feed them some data, then you test to see which one gives you the answer that is most human. You remove AI that gave the bad answers.

    You now have 50 smarter AI programs that know a little bit, and you feed them some data, then you test to see which one gives you the answer that is most human. You remove the AI that gave the bad answers.

    You continue with this process until you get a program that is giving what sounds like what a human would say. Then you release this program as your "human" AI.

    So when the guy in the story gave the AI it's script, that's not all the information that it had. It also had a sense, from all the previous data it consumed, of how humans react to things. And humans sometimes react violently.

    Another important thing to know about AI: Even the people who make them don't entirely understand how they work.

    Cambiata on
    "If you divide the whole world into just enemies and friends, you'll end up destroying everything" --Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind
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    GvzbgulGvzbgul Registered User regular
    edited April 2022
    If it's tweet about "I trained an AI to do X" then it's fake.
    If it's a spooky story twitter thread then it's fake.

    That twitter thread is both.

    Gvzbgul on
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    Grey GhostGrey Ghost Registered User regular
    Speaking the way a human would speak and knowing that it is connected to a machine that would kill a human being if they were inside it when it was turned on are two wildly different things to accomplish

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    CambiataCambiata Commander Shepard The likes of which even GAWD has never seenRegistered User regular
    Grey Ghost wrote: »
    Speaking the way a human would speak and knowing that it is connected to a machine that would kill a human being if they were inside it when it was turned on are two wildly different things to accomplish

    Ok, point.

    "If you divide the whole world into just enemies and friends, you'll end up destroying everything" --Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind
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    TankHammerTankHammer Atlanta Ghostbuster Atlanta, GARegistered User regular
    It's easy to believe the text-to-speech algorithm said all the things the author claims it did, but the rest of the context is probably fiction or the author is just exceedingly eager to heavily anthropomorphize and fill in 99% of the motive between the lines.

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    #pipe#pipe Cocky Stride, Musky odours Pope of Chili TownRegistered User regular
    Grey Ghost wrote: »
    That's.... there's no way that's real, right
    I'm not an AI expert but I somehow extremely doubt a language program can do that

    Is the story about a sentient microwave featuring photos of the microwave with a breadboard of red and green LEDs and a rubber brain on it real?? How could we possibly know.

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    Grey GhostGrey Ghost Registered User regular
    I assure you the use of props did not really factor into my thoughts one way or the other

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    CalicaCalica Registered User regular
    Honest question: given that the microwave was modified to be voice-controlled using (I think) the AI program's speech recognition - meaning that voice commands to the microwave would be processed by the AI before being passed to the microwave itself - is it actually possible for the AI to independently access the microwave's API to turn it on? Basically, does the AI software have that much "awareness" - or the potential to develop such - of its software environment?

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    DelduwathDelduwath Registered User regular
    TankHammer wrote: »
    It's easy to believe the text-to-speech algorithm said all the things the author claims it did, but the rest of the context is probably fiction or the author is just exceedingly eager to heavily anthropomorphize and fill in 99% of the motive between the lines.
    Yeah, I mean, that story is like 10% things the microwave said, 90% the author building a narrative around those things the microwave said.

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    #pipe#pipe Cocky Stride, Musky odours Pope of Chili TownRegistered User regular
    Here's the full story of the microwave on Youtube by the way
    https://youtu.be/C1G5b_2PYj0

    It's a joke. He's shitposting.

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    DelduwathDelduwath Registered User regular
    #pipe wrote: »
    Here's the full story of the microwave on Youtube by the way
    https://youtu.be/C1G5b_2PYj0

    It's a joke. He's shitposting.
    OK, well, if he's disavowing it then that is proof-positive that it's real and that the CIA alien round-earthers are forcing him to pretend it's not real.

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