
Hacker Scripts - progval
https://github.com/NARKOZ/hacker-scripts
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ogig
The kumar script is inspiring.

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zlatan_todoric
I LOLed on this story probably a bit too much. Also I am wondering if we are
so much entangled in modern vision how we should work that we actually can
make scripts for all people that we encounter in our lives. Suddenly people
aren't anymore challenge but scripts! :)

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TeMPOraL
I think we could script a lot of human interactions. Every now and then I
actually try :). It's surprising how good sending randomly picked strings
works if the other side doesn't suspect it, though being in script author's
shoes, I'd add some variation - i.e. I'd repeat every reason in the array
several times with different punctuation, or even do something like:
"$RANDOM_ILL_BE_LATE, $RANDOM_REASON $RANDOM_SMILE $RANDOM_ENDING_PHRASE
$RANDOM_EMOTICON." You get a combinatorial explosion of possible message
strings, making it less likely the recipient will figure out it's scripted.

A different thing I actually semi-scripted once was starting random small-talk
with people over IM (back when I was younger). I just never could get myself
to write "hey, what's up?" to someone and many people thus thought I'm cold to
them, or something. So in order to keep my relations with people from college
friendly, I basically listed everyone I had contact with, assigned them some
calendar reminder periods of time depending on how much I cared about the
relationship, and obliged myself to chat up a person if their "date" came up
in my morning reminders. The periods of time were picked up to be not
divisible by 7, 29, 30 and 31, so that over time they'd land on different days
of the month and the week. The messages I wrote myself; only the reminders
were the "scripted" part.

I used this system for some time. End results:

a) it helped me maintain some relationships

b) it did not help me develop a chit-chatting habit, but it did lower my
inhibition to initiating conversations

c) eventually me and most of my friends graduated and now no-one is chatting
up anyone just to ask how they are...

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thomasahle
I'm wondering if that many combinations would actually make it more realistic.
It seems to me that non scripting people, who have to send the same message
regularly, wouldn't include a lot of variation. Except perhaps the accidental
punctuation as you write.

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TeMPOraL
Accidental punctuation and slight variations are the key IMO. You don't go too
poetic, you just set up thinks like $GOODBYE = ["bye", "cu", "goodbye"],
$ENDING_SMILE = [":)", ";)", ";]"] and $ENDING_PUNCTUATION = [".", "!", ""],
and suddenly you have 3 _3_ 3 = 27 slightly different messages. Append to two
main parts with two variations each, and you're over 100 messages to pick
from. If the recipient then sees your texts side by side, they won't notice
it's automated.

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anotherevan
Geeks and repetitive tasks

[https://plus.google.com/+BrunoOliveira/posts/MGxauXypb1Y](https://plus.google.com/+BrunoOliveira/posts/MGxauXypb1Y)

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osxrand
Is there any reason to check for saturday / sunday in the scripts instead of
just doing that via cron (or launchd)?

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reimertz
This is awesome!

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j4kp07
"The dude was literally living inside the terminal."

When you embellish your stories and miss key concepts such as hyperbole, I'm
less likely to believe it and/or even read it.

~~~
anotherevan
“You know what happened last month, without anybody noticing? Webster’s
Dictionary expanded the definition of the word ‘literally’ to include the way
it is commonly misused. So the thing is, we no longer have a word in the
English language that means literally, I mean literally doesn’t have a
synonym. So we’re going to have to find a Latin word for it and use it, but I
don’t know any Latin. So when I say I am literally going to set fire to this
building with you in it before I hand over the keys to it, you don’t know if
I’m speaking figuratively or literally.” — The Newsroom, “Run” by Aaron Sorkin

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TeMPOraL
There's _literally_ more than one XKCD strip relevant to this topic!

[https://xkcd.com/725/](https://xkcd.com/725/)

[https://xkcd.com/1108/](https://xkcd.com/1108/)

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PascLeRasc
Another relevant one!

[https://xkcd.com/1576/](https://xkcd.com/1576/)

