Hag Syndrome and Me

Hag syndrome, an experience associated with sleep paralysis, is normally identified as a period of consciousness but without the ability to move the body. Accompanying this is a sensation that someone is in the room with you or, more alarmingly, that someone is pressing their bodyweight on you from an angle which you cannot turn to observe. The “hag” in hag syndrome comes from a feeling that the person in the room is malevolent. It has been characterised in history and culture and to be honest the rest of what I want to introduce with is on this Wiki page:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_paralysis

Now that you’re up to speed I want to present my own personal experience and suggest explore other branches of this phenomenon than the popularised haunting version. First though I would like to acknowledge the problem of medicalising such borderline disruptive conditions as well as the splintering and specialising of conditions. With the former there is a problem of medicating disorders that do not need drugs to address them and the latter pertains to muddying the waters by constantly trying to define and separate ailments. This is not an argument for or against either. This is just an addition of anecdotal evidence.

Some background information: I have been through many stages of sleep disruption. Some were general stress and over-active brain related insomnias that I’m sure many of you have experienced. Others were the side effects of drugs. Doxycycline, for instance, put me through some of the most twisted and vivid dreams I have ever experienced. I am also a chronic sleep-talker but that’s neither here-nor-there (or maybe it is here-and-there; I don’t know what may be relevant to my experience).

My current phase of sleep disturbance includes what appears to be a shade of hag syndrome. Roughly 3 times a month I will wake in the night with the conviction that someone is in or trying to enter the room. Often this will be accompanied by hallucinations varying from the practical to the outright fanciful. The hallucinations will be grounded in something real and physical in the room; items on a desk take the forms of small creatures or a hanging coat will become the clothes of an apparition. My belief in what I’m seeing will last roughly ten seconds and be broken either by the rationale that what I’m seeing cannot be real or interaction with the object when I will realise its true form. If I believe a person is in the room I will often try to talk to them. Unlike stories of hag syndrome though I am never scared of what I believe is happening. On the contrary because I sleep without much clothing on often my first emotion is embarrassment at being found in a state of undress. Sometimes the feeling is that someone has been in the room for a long time and has been trying to talk to me and again, from embarrassment, I will laugh as a way to break the ice and apologise for my rude behaviour of ignoring them. The lack of fear is probably connected to the fact that I rarely believe a stranger is in the room and rather it is a friend or a flatmate. A final critical detail that you may have already picked up on; I do not suffer the paralysis or indeed any other physiological effects such as experience weight being pressed on me. If the situation requires it I can get out of bed and move freely whilst still falsely seeing / hearing. In what could be considered a reversal of typical hag syndrome my body is perfectly responsive but it is my mind that is slow to react to reality.

So there’s some new data to add to the melting pot. Should this area of sleeping issues ever be relevant in your academic circles or even as a “this guy I know” story then I hope this has been of some use.

Thanks for reading.

-Norris

Bus Stop Crowding - An Alternative Theory

In an effort to diversify this blog and produce some more academic content I wanted to start a section I’ll humbly call “Nozology”. Ideas and thoughts stemming from observations or inspired by other great minds that are then shamelessly ripped off.

I’m currently reading When to Rob a Bank: The Freakopeadia by Levitt and Dubner. Like anyone who is reading a “Freako” book they feel a sudden surge of smugness and superiority when faced with life’s trivialities and in my case this has spurred me on to write this entry. One chapter in the book focuses on Dubner’s use of a Manhattan bus and how when it is particularly crowded he will embark earlier down the street at a different bus stop. Although not that far a walk away from the initial bus stop this stop is usually quieter and affords a better choice of seat. Dubner questions why, when such a small amount of effort is required to gain a better experience, does no one else follow suit and also use the preceding bus stop to avoid a miserable journey? His prime theory is herd mentality; the notion that if you see a large crowd using this bus stop then that must mean this is the optimal bus stop to use. How could so many people be getting it wrong after all?

Warwick University (where I went to uni) has a similar example of this scenario. At around 5 o’clock (17:00) on a weekday there is a swell of students wishing to leave campus by bus to return to Leamington Spa. I don’t think many will disagree with me when I say the bus service provided is sub-optimal in terms of capacity and frequency. Often hundreds of students will attempt to cram onto a double-decker or two. The worst spot on campus for this was the “Library” bus stop. A bus stop so named because it was nearest the Humanities building, Engineering building and Sports Centre and, notably, not the library. I assume this was a hive-mind labelling to pacify any potential attempts at ownership of the bus stop by one department who could then chastise others for using “their” bus stop.

Library bus stop was situated on the one artery road that ran through campus. Along this road were three other bus stops. Library bus stop was in the centre of the three. This road was not particularly long as you will see from the following map (Bus stops are marked a Red “B”s in the centre of the map).

http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/moac/news_events/dtc_conf/may2012conference/campusmap/university-of-warwick-campus-map.jpg

The first bus stop along the road, “Gatehouse bus stop” (more appropriately named as it was near the university gatehouse but which itself didn’t have a gate) acted as a break point for the drivers before that started another loop of their patch. Often 2 or 3 bus could be found stacked up ready to make a tour of campus and on to Leamington and, once the driver had sufficiently refilled on nicotine, could be boarded relatively easily without wading through a scrum of tired students. This bus stop was a mere 321 metres (by Google Maps’ estimates) from the second bus, Library bus stop.

One final detail; my understanding of New York is that most things are in a grid allowing you to see down the entire street at once. I’d venture therefore that the people waiting in Dubner’s example could see the bus coming and perhaps even the emptier bus stop. Craftily the Warwick uni bus stops are all concealed from each other around bends.

The scene is set so I want you to imagine that you are a student at Warwick trampling out of your lecture eager to get home. You stand amongst the throng and now are faced with a choice; stick with Library bus stop (LBS) or journey down to Gatehouse bus stop (GBS).

I believe Dubner overlooked a couple of elements in his blog on why no one moves and would like to propose a thesis of my own:

1.       Fear of missing a bus. Ultimately the aim is to get on a bus and go home as soon as possible. So; yes, your odds of getting on a bus at LBS are slim but should you start walking and from around the bend comes a bus your odds have shrunk to nothing. Fear keeps you rooted amongst the crowd knowing your gamble could mean waiting an undetermined amount of time until the next bus is released from the traps at GBS. Which brings me to:

2.       Unpredictability of the buses. Warwick uni is plagued by bus companies running lackadaisical timetables. They also live in fear of the bus company throwing the ultimate curve ball; the single decker bus which pushes the ante so high friendships have been forged and broken on the back of who and who has not made it onto the destitute carriage. (A worthy study sample of in-group and out-group dynamics if ever there were one).

3.       Getting home sooner ranks higher than comfort of the journey. Dubner likes to be able to sit with his daughter in their own space. Students (and perhaps the commuting New Yorkers) aren’t as fussed about having a seat (the best seat on a double decker bus by the way is the top deck, front row) as they are about getting to where they are going. Waiting at LBS may take an unknown amount of time (Time until bus arrives) but eventually a bus will come. However, if you leave for GBS you may find yourself stuck in an extended period of waiting if a bus passes you on your way. GBS wait time therefore = Time until bus arrives + potential of extra waiting if a bus comes to LBS whilst you walk to GBS.

Still with me? If not don’t fear because you are experiencing what it is to be a Warwick student as, ultimately, I suggest that herd mentality is not the key cause of mass bus-stopping but that the sheer weight of the decision maths required can cripple a person’s brain to such an extent that it’s easier to just get swept along with the crowd.

Thanks for reading

-Norris

Freakonomics blog in question:

http://freakonomics.com/2007/03/21/herd-mentality-the-freakonomics-of-boarding-a-bus/

Battlefront Beta - Our First Catch of The Day

With the Battlefront beta now closed I wanted to share a few thoughts on what we have seen. It should go without saying but I’ll say it anyway; a beta is a beta. Things will change before release. So take everything with a pinch of salt and prepare for something that could be quite different next month.

Firstly; HALLELUJAH! The “Active Reload” from Gears of War makes a triumphant return. For the non-COGs; Active Reload makes a mini-game out of reloading. When reloading an on-screen indicator slides down past a “sweet spot” and if you press the right button in time the reload will finish immediately allowing you to get back into the fight. Get it wrong and the weapon will jam and make reloading longer than normal. It’s a brilliant and simple risk / reward system that makes a normally mundane action an event in itself. In Battlefront it’s more of an Active Vent than Active Reload as BF features no ammunition. Much like turrets in most shooters all weapons function on a heat up / cool down system meaning you can fire off consistent rapid volleys given you’re good enough with chaining your Active Vents. I love this system and honestly wish it was in every shooter. Bravo DICE!

Sniping is something I have a love / hate relationship with. I get it; it is perhaps one of the most satisfying feelings you can get nailing a long distance headshot and it does take skill to master. However, Battlefront’s cousin Battlefield suffers from having sniping as a core class and rifle option as snipers typically keep back from the core fight to make the most of their copes rather than taking objectives.  Battlefront has taken a different, and in my opinion better, approach to sniping; everyone can have a sniper rifle at any time! This initially sounds like a terrible idea except that each shot is on a cooldown and takes away from having another “hand” (Battlefront’s word for perk). Now everyone can get that satisfaction of pulling off an excellent headshot but still needs to stay in the action to make the most of it as the cooldown keeps them from bunkering down and firing off round after round. The beta was a bit too over-run with sniper rounds pinging overhead but I attribute this to the small number of options for hands available. In the full game with a greater array of hands there should be fewer players opting for the rifle in place of something else.

Battlefront operates a “buddy” system as an alternative to squads as seen in Battlefield. You can spawn directly onto your partner as well as share his primary hand if it isn’t already unlocked. The quick spawn onto partner works nice as a substitute for the revive system (which I understand will not be a part of Battlefront) and means you’re never too far away from each other at any one time. This is an essential to success as Battlefront’s relatively long time-to-kill means that an average player is unlikely to win in a 1v2 scenario. However, with “squading-up” absent from the game it makes it difficult to play with more than one friend at a time as the UI does not highlight friends / party members differently from other team members. This is something I hope will be addressed in the full game.

Vehicles, along with every other object in the game, look the part in Battlefront (I forget to mention that the game looks incredible with no exaggeration). They do not play particularly well though. Air combat does not grant enough freedom of movement in an attempt to make it accessible to all skill levels and ground vehicles aim awkwardly. Thankfully these things are patch-able and I imagine this feedback will be some of the loudest across the community. I cannot fault those Tie Fighters though; audio masterpieces.

Overall I was impressed by Battlefront and am more confident it will take a greater portion of my time in amongst Halo 5 and Fallout 4 when it is released. Just a few more points as I am concise of TL;DR.

·         When hit character models flinch quite drastically without changing the hit boxes. This can make target tracking tricky and was an issue in Battlefield 3 and 4. The flinches were toned down in both these games to accommodate this and I’m sure this will happen again for Battlefront. Strange to see DICE make that mistake AGAIN though.

·         Like I said, Battlefront looks great with many little touches and attention to detail that immerses you in the Star Wars feeling. My personal favourite is the wiping transitions echoed from the original trilogy that pushes the feeling of playing the films.

Thanks for reading. I’ll leave you with some quick clips I took.

When chickens fly:

If anyone can figure out how I died here I'd love to know. Too much flair maybe?

Should have kept his back-plate in:

-Norris