November 01, 2004

The formula is X = a x ((24-b) x (c+d+e) + f x (g+h+i)
posted by Argh 20 years ago
  • mind-bogglingly stupid.
  • I think it is interesting - I'm beginning to worry about myself, as I realise I have not seen sunlight today. I do tend to leave late, and thus see sun in the morning, but when I work at home, I may not see it at all.
  • whats stupid? am i missing something? here in sunny seattle, home of much SAD, i scored a 98. go me. I sent the link to my ex-gf, who is a diagnosed sufferer of the disorder. I am curious to see what her score is, but she may not respond to me sending her this...
  • what hector said... the formula is easy enough for a total math-phobic like me!
  • 297, give or take. Thank god I left the Northeast for California.
  • This is really interesting, but... I dunno... It's just really- dispiriting? I read this, and outside there's only darkness, and I can't think of anything to say about it, and it just gets me down. You know? Stupid bloody article. God, I'm pathetic. Look at the world! LOOK AT IT! It's pitch black outside, it's morning and it's still black. Black! I don't know why I even bothered reading this. The pale glow of the computer screen, lighting nothing but my tears... and everything else, black. Black. BLACK! Black. BLACK
  • BLACK Funny sleep patterns exacerbate this stuff in my experience. *is digging beautiful blue spring day*
  • Why would you need a predictive measure for something like this? It seems likely that you would've already noticed the problem at some point in your life. Also, why are they bothering to grade the likelihood, considering that it's not exactly an all-or-nothing type of state? If I score a 400, will I be too depressed to go to work, or just outside? Why, why, why?
  • clockzero: Maybe if you were more positive about this formula -- e.g. if you were able to cut yourself some slack because you're depressed, based on your score, rather than thinking of yourself as a helpless loser -- you could get something positive out of this. See? Think positive! Up with people!
  • Wonderful. Now that my ridiculous post-industrial psych disorder has been properly quantified, I can go about my excruciatingly depressing day safe in the knowledge that some mathematician, somewhere, also suffers from this Oprah Winfrey-like form of anomie.
  • If this is supposed to detect winter blues, part of the formula should detect winter. No, the 24-b=sunlight is not enough. I haven't seen snow in four years. I haven't seen any seasonal change in four years. The equation doesn't take that into account to figure out if I have winter blues.
  • And "c" is the psychological effect of leaving home or the office each day in the dark. What if you work from home? Which makes me wonder about the other question about the amount of social interaction you have, does posting here count? Email communications? heh Interesting that he is trying to apply a mathematical formula to various symptoms but I wouldn't put much more thought into it.
  • I see Planck's constant in there. Is this a quantum effect?
  • impossible to make distinctions there is no white or black here all is grey as an aged sock upon the foot for weeks and never washed
  • broken link?
  • Yeah, I got a 404. How depressing :-/
  • "The page cannot be found."
  • Once upon a midnight dreary, while I websurfed, weak and weary, Over many a strange and spurious website of hot chicks galore, While I clicked my fav'rite bookmark, suddenly there came a warning, And my heart was filled with mourning, mourning for my dear amour. 'Tis not possible, I muttered, give me back my cheap hardcore! — Quoth the server: "404".
  • )))!
  • "I remember my friend Johnny von Neumann used to say, with four parameters I can fit an elephant, and with five I can make him wiggle his trunk." A meeting with Enrico Fermi
  • Argh - even with the new link, what Debaser626 said, much better than I ever could.
  • Thanks, Argh! Interesting to ponder this, thinking of dour Scots just under the arctic circle, and under the grey loom of clouds. Always guessed it might be due to not having many trees on their hills, so the winds scour everything without cease, but I daresay this makes more sense.
  • Winter depression may be helped a lot by using a dawn simulator; here's one that works fine for about $25. http://www.humboldt1.com/~zerdo/