OddballGreg - The Definition Of Insanity

Source image is from www.explosion.com . Obviously doesn't belong to us, nor are we associated with Far Cry 3 or Ubisoft in any way.

Have you ever wondered what the point of it all is? You do the same thing each day and get nowhere despite the work. Well, if you have, then you have been perpetuating the cycle of insanity. A rather iconic villain from the game Far Cry 3 puts this distinction into a rather profound monologue that describes the situation well.

The 2012 game Far Cry 3 become a rather largely spoken about topic among many for a while for it's wonderful graphics, interesting new gameplay and the improvement of the Far Cry franchise. However, one of it's most widely discussed subjects was the fascinating character Vass Montenegro, one of the games antagonists who, in his slightly deranged musings, strikes upon a fairly profound piece of wisdom in his efforts to violently end the main protagonists life.

If you don't feel like watching the video for some strange reason, (You really should, but maybe you're at work... the swearing/gunshots etc probably might not be the best thing to be playing at work.), the essence of it is that the somewhat deranged antagonist attempts to kill the protagonist several times, and in the process asks him if he has ever told him the definition of insanity.

I'm too lazy to quote word for word, (that I try to dodge using too many expletives), but the monologue is essentially that "the definition of insanity is waking up every single day, to do the exact same thing, expecting things to change. That's crazy." Strangely, Vaas Montenegro makes an extremely valid point which can be seen everywhere in life. There are people who dream of being rich, but get up each day to go and put the same amount of effort into the same terrible job each day. In World War 1 the Allies were convinced that the best way to deal with German machine guns was to continually send wave after wave of soldiers "over the top" of the trenches while WALKING towards the enemy. (I'm sorry people, but you can't make this stuff up. *headdesk*)

I'll be the first to point out the irony of following the wisdom of a fictional psychopath, but the point is that doing the same thing doesn't help. Stagnant of water grows putrid and is unhealthy, but flowing water is often the better to drink. In the same way, by changing your ways and maintaining motion in your life, you ensure a healthy readiness to move with change and improve. Doing the same thing just leads to you going nowhere and dying in a hole that you've been living in for years. (Gee Greg, ever the optimist?) You understand my point though. Don't depend on other things to change when you want to achieve something, change your ways to get a different result. Chaos Theory is the study of the mathematical changes of circumstances in which minuscule changes in starting conditions can have vast changes on the final results. (1cm plus 1cm times 8 and divided by 2 is 8cm, 1.5cm plus 1cm times 8 and divided by 2 is 10cm. I don't know about you, but 2cm is the difference between a new shelf fitting into a cupboard or not. That's Chaos Theory in layman's terms.)

In the end, this is also why I decided to change the blog up after 62 consecutive days of blogging. It was getting hard to do the same thing each day. So now were doing something different to get a different result. Do you have a suggestion on something else we can do differently to see what result that gets us? Make sure to let us know in the comments below or over Facebook/Twitter and maybe we'll try it out. If you have any friends have been in a rut and don't know what to do, perhaps consider sharing this post with them, you might find they appreciate the advice. Also, if you would like to read more interesting posts such as this one by yours truly, be sure to follow the official TCSA Twitter page or like the official TCSA Facebook page by using the associated buttons on the bar to the left. Regardless of what you do, I thank you for taking the time to read this post; hope that you have/had an absolutely FANTASTIC day, and I will speak again soon.

Adios amigos.

Edit: As Caesar Balona mentioned in the comments below, (and I probably should have mentioned myself when I wrote the post.), It's unlikely that the quote is originally the wisdom of Vaas Montenegro. Even he himself mentions how he shot the person who told it to him. While the original source has been attributed to Einstein or Ben Franklin, as a gamer, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to discuss a good game as well as an interesting piece of philosophy.

JovialJman - The Disillusion of Magic

"Ooooh, Fancy new graphics. With my compliments." - OddballGreg

Have you ever wondered how magicians feel about the "magic" that they do compared to their audience? If you have ever seen the likes of David Blaine, Penn and Teller, David Copperfield and even the great Houdini; you will know how amazing tricks can get. Let us see what it is like from their point of view.

The aforementioned magicians are some of the greatest illusionist that I know of. David Blaine is the only modern magician that I am aware of that does real life threatening stunts to see how far he can go. Penn and Teller have/had many TV series where they did or showed magic which is truly something to see. Most adults will think of David Copperfield as soon as you say magician. He has been described by Forbes as the most commercially successful magician in history. I don't even have to say anything about Houdini as everyone knows him. I have always looked up to these people as my inspiration to become a magician.

About 4 years ago I found that I really liked magic tricks and wanted to find out as much as I could about it, to see if I would be able do it myself. I started from the bottom and work my way up through the tricks. Would you know it, I got fairly good, (but no where near the professionals). Eventually I found I had a passion for the card tricks and any tricks associated with cards in general. 

On a Leader (Prefect) camp OddballGreg and myself went on, I performed for the first time in front of what must have been about 50 people (I was a nervous wreck). Somehow I managed to impress everyone there along with my assistant. That was my first true taste of what it is to preform magic.

But I digress, I can speak from experience when I say that seeing the magic trick when you know how it is done causes it to lose most of its charm, but then you get the joy from the reactions of wonder you get instead of your own wonder at the trick. So for magicians to see a new trick is absolutely amazing but not in the same way as others, for instance the way the other magician goes about the misdirection or the skills he possesses.

When they preform the tricks for people, you will notice that besides the misdirection they look at peoples faces to see their reactions to the magic that they are doing whereas the person seeing the trick for the first time will try and catch the magician out but fail most of the time.

So, I have advice to give ( gasp* ) . Unless you would be willing to do tricks for others quite often, try stay in the dark about the magic as it gives you something to ponder about the next time you are bored and don't have internet access or a magician shows you a trick in the streets.

Just remember, never ask to see how it is done; the devil is in the details and the magic is in the mystery. Thank you for the support in my first post here with TCSA and you shall be seeing me and my awesomeness every other day, although I might make edits here and there since I am still new. If you feel that I left something out or have a different view, or simply wish to show us a magic trick you know of, let us know down in the comments below or over Facebook/Twitter. Of course any sharing of the blog is much appreciated and we here at TCSA hope you have/had the most awesome day. I will speak again in 2 days time.