Some News and a Happy New Year

Hello everyone, and happy holidays (I would say Merry Christmas, but the day has come and gone, and the saying would therefore be belated).  I'm really just checking in at this point, and as a result this will be a shamefully lacking in the psychological and philosophical insight you have all undoubtedly come to know and tolerate.  I do have a personal story for you, albeit a somewhat boring one, I know how some of you people seem to enjoy those things, so I guess I'll begin with that.

I saw someone who was hunted today.  I was at the store in my home town (it's not a huge place, but it's a much more populated area than where my college is), picking up some groceries and other necessities.  Anyways, as I was browsing I felt a hunted near by, I looked around and was able to pinpoint him pretty quickly, a tall ragged man with light brown hair and an impressive beard.  If I had to guess I would definitely put him on the runner's end of the spectrum, he had an old backpack and that slightly crazy look in his eye.  He looked, felt, and to be perfectly blunt, smelled like he had been on the run for several years, at the very least he'd been at it long enough to accumulate the lifestyle and appearance of a homeless beggar.  I watched him discreetly as he purchased several cans of food, at one point I believe he actually spotted me, but he showed no signs of knowing who I was, outside of an increased paranoia that seemed to show up whenever he made eye contact with anyone, including the cashier.  As he left the store he walked quickly down the road, I considered following him for a moment, but I decided against it, I could not positively influence his life one way or the other, and I don't believe I would have learned much from him that could have helped me.  I didn't notice any proxies around when I saw him, and good old Slender didn't make an appearance, so at least he was not being followed while I was there.  While my curiosity was piqued, I doubt this will actually affect me, after all, it seems there are more and more hunted with each passing day, and this isn't the first time I've seen one who didn't realize my nature, so it should all be irrelevant.

Now on to more relevant matters: I have a few plans for blog posts, but those will have to wait a little while, as they either require more research or "can't be revealed, yet."  Many of the latter may never be posted, but I know for a fact that some will be after a certain amount of time.  As it stands, this will likely be my last blog post for the year, so cheers and see you in 2012 I guess.  I'll probably change the format of this blog up a little bit, I'm not sure what it'll look like yet, so if you get on here and everything looks hideous don't worry, that's hopefully not the final look.  Last of all, I want to point out that I am a relatively broke college student, and as a result I'm considering signing up for that AdSense deal google keeps pestering me about.  If you have a problem with that feel free to comment your protest, but frankly, I'm providing a service here (if not a terribly great one), and I like money at least as much as the next guy, assuming he isn't a banker or named in Forbes.  So that's about it for now, enjoy yourselves out there, and see you next year.

Oh, and one last thing before I forget, I'll soon be adding a new page that will function as a sort of table of contents for the blog.  It will have a link to each post that I've made and a breif summary of what was said there, and what was said in the comments.  People trying to catch may now rejoice.  Even though my blog is not a personal story, I always know that I love it when I can get caught up to the general information quickly so I don't feel as though I've missed as much when I begin commenting on present posts.

See you around

Cage

Hidden But Not Gone

You know, while I was trying to think up an appropriate title I noticed that I have virtually no consistency in how I capitalize my blog titles.  Go ahead, look, my first post all words start with a capital letter, second post only the first word begins that way.  Literally every other post I made in October has all words begin capitalized like a book would, and then the others I just capitalize the first word, as though it was a sentence, I didn't even notice that until now.  I'm sorry, we should all know by now that I'm now stranger to irrelevant tangents, but this whole paragraph is just worthless, I guess that's what happens when you do an entire post in one sitting.

^Don't read that.^

Let's talk about perception filters.  This seems to be a very common occurrence in the Slender-afflicted community, I have even noticed several specific instances of it I have been directly involved with.  Despite their obvious uses and purposes, perception filters should not be confused with either invisibility, or the actual removal of information.  In fact, from a purely theoretical standpoint, invisibility would actually be considered an easier accomplishment, to make something invisible you simply need to bend light around it, or perhaps project something on top of it; but finding a way to censor data so that only specific people can see, or fail to see, it, without using some kind of identifier like a password should be far more difficult.  From what I can tell, there seems to be two kinds of perception filters (well obviously you could argue this several different ways, but for explanatory purposes let's assume that the most important thing is how many people are filtered): individual filters, and group filters.  As I believe the former is easier to explain I'll begin there..

Individual perception filters are filters that are placed over a single individual that result in them not being able to see something, or altering their perception of it.  It's relatively simple to explain, because the filter can easily be said to originate with the individual.  Individual perception filters deal with the mind of the afflicted person,  they set up barriers created by an external, or sometimes internal, entity to block or alter something.  These can be very broad alterations, like not being able to see anything on a specific subject, to very specific changes, such as not being able to locate a door right in front of you.  However, there is likely little variation from instance to instance, each encounter with whatever was being filtered should be the same as the past encounter, unless the filter has been cracked or destroyed.  

Group filters are more complicated, in that they likely stem from the thing being filtered, rather than being a case of multiple individual filters (though such possibilities are not out of the question).  A great example to use when talking about this is how nobody perceives the Tall Guy quite the same (if at all).  While he has appeared in "plain view" of several non-hunted people before, most instances show him not being perceived at all by them, though in some cases witnesses have apparently seen him as a regular person.  This shows how the filter changes a bit from person to person, and sometimes from encounter to encounter by the same people.  I believe this is because the filter doesn't take place in the affected's heads, but rather comes from Slender himself.  This also explains why the effect fails when viewing it back on a video tape, without the source there to exert the actual filter, people can perceive what was actually there.  This becomes tricky, however, when filters take on a more layered approach, with the sharp dressed man there is only really the hunted and the ignorant, and, assuming he marks his victims in some kind of physical or psychological way, there could be a variety of ways the filter could just pass over the proper group.  But when it comes to other things, where the differences between those subject to the filter and those who are not aren't so clear, things get a bit more confusing.  Because I'm lazy, and I haven't slept in a good 20 hours now, I'll save you my highly speculative thoughts on how that works, looking back it's not like my better grounded ideas have had the best wording thus far.

Well that's all I've got for you on perception filters, I actually typed out another paragraph, but then I read back over it and realized it was virtually unreadable.  Anyways, I'm sure none of you can see this post, except for Gargoyle, who's probably mad I made a post in this topic a full 12 hours before he makes one on the exact same subject (please be true, I feel like we're going for some kind of record here).

See you around

Cage

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth

If you don't know this poem, shame on you, google Robert Frost and come back when you're more educated.  I'm sorry, that's probably a bit harsh, this post isn't about Frost anyway, I just happen to be a fan of the man's work.  But no, this post is brought to you on request of a friend, he wants to spread a question around.  What happens after you take the Path of Black Leaves?  It is a good question, isn't it, going down that road is a changing experience for those with the fortune or misfortune to walk along its trail.

I have only ever entered the path once, and sometimes I still feel it, seeping into my head.  I have never had hallucinations, and I'm not one to remember my own dreams, but there is something in that realm that changes you.  When I first went in I knew far less than I do now, but I could feel the power of the place right away.  The ground, the sky, it all reeked of a darkness and His power permeated the trees, and it all hit me at once.  I... lost control, it's a place I have never taken it a second time for a reason, any power I hold over Cage is lost there, I all but blacked out as the cruelest part of my mind had more control than it had ever had before.  Even when I left the path, my mind was clouded and dark, I couldn't think straight for weeks.  It is a place that has more power over me than I prefer, so I largely leave it be, but there are still things that can be learned from it without actually taking the Path.

So little is truly well known about those trees, about that dark road, but some things are common knowledge:

1. Everyone's favorite weight-loss success story has some major influence over the place. It is believed to be his realm, or perhaps a barrier between his world and ours.
2. It can be used to accelerate travel, people can walk a few yards down the Path, and travel hundreds of miles on our land.
3. Traveling there is not a good idea, especially if you are not prepared, it has a way of infecting your mind, and no qualms about killing off the occasional trespasser.

Yeah, that's about it, sorry guys, that's all I can find that is even slightly reliable and consistent.  I should start scouring, more of the old blogs again, I suppose.  But for this one I'm leaving you with a request, please feel free to share any experiences you have had with the path, or any theories you've developed on it, this is one of those posts where I'll probably come back and add in the details later.

See you around

-Cage

Good and Evil

Dang I need to think up a more creative title, but its late and there are way to many cliche phrases that would have been just as bad, so this will have to do.  Yes that's right, what we have here is a nice little pseudo-philosophical post on morality so if you don't care for that sort of thing here's you're chance to leave, though frankly you should be used to this kind of thing by now, I mean just check out how much use my probably useless tag gets.  Sorry, irrelevant tangent, did I mention that it's pretty late?  Let's try again, shall we:

Defining good or evil isn't exactly the easiest thing to do in any society, much less one such as this, what with all the side-swapping, brainwashed husks (thanks to messenger for this word, I personally find it much more accurate than hallowed), people forced into one side or the other against their will.  So since I can't exactly make a truly accurate definition for these terms why don't I provide a dictionary definition for them:

Good: (noun, adjective, adverb,)

1.  morally excellent; virtuous; righteous; pious: a good man.
2. satisfactory in quality, quantity, or degree: a good teacher;good health.
3. of high quality; excellent.
4. right; proper; fit: It is good that you are here. His credentialsare good.
5. well-behaved: a good child.

Evil: (adjective)

1. morally wrong or bad; immoral; wicked: evil deeds; an evil life.
2. harmful; injurious: evil laws.
3. characterized or accompanied by misfortune or suffering;unfortunate; disastrous: to be fallen on evil days.
4. due to actual or imputed bad conduct or character: an evilreputation.
5. marked by anger, irritability, irascibility, etc.: He is known forhis evil disposition.

Well I could begin by dissecting the definition of each of the words in those two definitions that are equally vague or conditional, but we really don't want this to be a twenty page long post, so I'll skip past that and just leave these here for later reference.  

Morality is a tricky thing, how do you know if someone is a good person, if they are truly "morally excellent and virtuous?"  Do you define a person as good based on their actions, do you judge them on their intentions, or is there some other quality or trait that makes that distinction?  Perhaps it is a combination of the above, can you really justify slaughtering innocent lives if it is all a means to a virtuous end, or can you really call someone who has saved the lives of many people just to further his own selfish goals good.  

But then where lies the line, can "Joseph" truly be considered an evil person?  Yes he kills people, innocent people, but he does this for his own safety, and he grants his victims (who would probably die anyways) a sense of peace in their final hour.  What of Elaine, who sold out people who trusted her, but with the motivation of keeping others safe and protected.  Very few would likely call her evil, but does the goodness of her intentions outweigh the fact that people got hurt as a result of what she did, and even directly told their enemies.  There's The Mad Ventriloquist, who used to do some very bad things, but is trying to help people (he has his own view on morality of course, not sure I agree, but it deserves to be mentioned).  Have you seen Nightscream's most recent post, what would be the good answer to his question?  Is it good to let a cruel man go unpunished?  Where would Zero fall on this scale?  Was he a good man? Or was he a evil one (I went through hell for that link because I forgot the word "The" in the title and had to track down one of zero's old comments)?  What about the Husks, people brainwashed beyond their own control, with no real power over their own actions; can these people really be considered evil?

(Side note: none of these examples are meant to incite anger, resentment, or drama, they are just being used to show that very few people realistically fall into the categories of good or evil.)

The point I'm trying to make, in a long, drawn out, and heavily linked way (I do love my links, so good for showing examples) is that good and evil are not only vague, subjective, and inconstant, they're also rare and out of balance.  The fact is, if we had a single concrete method for determining whether a person was truly good or truly evil then there would undoubtedly still be an absurdly high number of people milling about in the middle (in fact I'm of the opinion that no one would really ever make it into the truly good side).  I sometimes wonder if anyone could really ever really sort everyone they know into either of those categories, if they could ever even find someone who was truly good.  Sometimes I wonder where I would fall if we were all being sorted into categories.  Then I remember who I am in my own mind and I realize that they'd have to cut my in half to sort me right, heh.

EDIT: Huh, I thought that was longer, well try reading through all of those links, that should more than cover the minimum length requirement for being to long.  Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to sleep, I get to sleep in tomorrow and I don't want to miss out on a moment of that.

See you around

FreedomCaged

Just a bunch of 1's and 0's

Yes that's right, it's time for another lesson in building and breaking code, and this time I thought I'd try tackeling binary.  Binary appears to be a superisingly common encryption technique in this communitty, possibly due to the fact that it is an extremly difficult (or more accuratly time consuming) code to crack manually, even if you know binary, but also one that is realitively simple to make or break if you have easy internet acess.  Another possible explination is that, in purely abstract terms, binary is actually more basic than regular lanuage.  Binary runs off of a simple yes or no system, it only uses two symbol 0 to represent no, and 1 to represent yes, each segment is usually eight units long (though there are some less common variations), and can be translated into a letter or symbol based off of the number and placement of the 1's.  Technially speaking, this is all you need to know to decode binary logically, but I'll get to that later.  The point is, that becuase binary only ever has eight arguments at a time, it can easily be seen as the next logical step down from rational thinking, which may be at least partially responsible for its semi-common use by people that are experinceing the mental breakdown associated with becoming "hallowed".

While most people belive that binary is "computer code", and are, for the most part, correct, binary code as we understand it was actually first concived in the 1600's by the German mathmatician Gottfried Leibniz.  Leibniz belived that all of logic could essisientially be broken down into yes or no statements, and created a system of ones and zeros to represent this.  Though this system had little to no practial uses at the time it is the first example of a system that repersents binary code as we know it now.  I'm aware that you probably don't just come here for history lectures, so I'll skip ahead, however it is always important to note binary's origin as a system logic that predates computers.  There are plenty of binary translators online, and I would recomend using those rather than trying to memorize actual binary code (while binary is relatively easy to learn, decodeing it manually is more time-consuming than trusting a website).  However, you may not always have a computer with internet acess avaliable when you find binary code, and there are some tricks to remember that can help you to crack these codes in such cases.  Here is a list of 52 letters (capatilized and lower cased) translated in binary, which I will refer back to for cracking techniques. 

Letter Binary Code A 01000001 B 01000010 C 01000011 D 01000100 E 01000101 F 01000110 G 01000111 H 01001000 I 01001001 J 01001010 K 01001011 L 01001100 M 01001101 N 01001110 O 01001111 P 01010000 Q 01010001 R 01010010 S 01010011 T 01010100 U 01010101 V 01010110 W 01010111 X 01011000 Y 01011001 Z 01011010

Letter Binary Code a 01100001 b 01100010 c 01100011 d 01100100 e 01100101 f 01100110 g 01100111 h 01101000 i 01101001 j 01101010 k 01101011 l 01101100 m 01101101 n 01101110 o 01101111 p 01110000 q 01110001 r 01110010 s 01110011 t 01110100 u 01110101 v 01110110 w 01110111 x 01111000 y 01111001 z 01111010

For the record a blank space " " is represented by 00100000, which shouldn't be suprising if you've noticed the pattern by now.

Before I get into the lists I want to note that even if you don't remember any of these tricks that you can still crack a binary code logically the same way you code a cipher as long as you treat each segment of eight numbers as an in individual letter and work from there (to help you should probably identify all of the eight segment sets and replace them with an aarbitrary number right away).  One of the first things you should notice is that all of these numbers begin with the pattern "01", which is actually quite useful when manually decoding something.  Logically there are only four possible ways for the first two digits of a binary pattern to be arranged: "00", "01", "10", "11", and if a segment of eight letters begins with any of the three crossed out patterns than you aren't dealing with a letter at all, and shouldn't bother trying to translate it  (though for the record all numbers begin with "0011") (also it should be noted that there are actually four symbols at the end of the spectrum that begin with "01", but they are rarely used).  The next thing you might notice is that the only diffrence between the capatilized and lower case letters is that wirh lower case letters there is a "1" in the third spot, and in the capatilized versions ther is a "0".  This draws attention to the fact that the first three digits can basiclly be ignored once you've checked to make sure what you're translating is actually a letter.  In case you didn't notice from the chart, the placement of the "1"'s and "0"'s is actually quite predictable after that: "00001"=a, "00010"=b, "00011"=c, and so on.  The letters start at the bottom of a scale, as the letters increase the "1"'s gradually work their way up towards the top.  And once they "fill up" the places below them, a new one forms at the top, and the places get filled in exactly the same way they did before.  For example: "00111" (which equals g) is followed by "01000" (which naturally equals h).  If you can remember this progression than binary code is actually quite easy to learn, and can be decoded with realitive ease.

Now this will probably be my last full blown post for a while, as this past week a cooling fan in my computer broke, and I want to get that fixed so I can run more energy comsuming programs without it overheating.  And since I don't want to log onto this account through public computers I won't actually be able to put anything on this blog, however I will probably still leave a few comments here and there through the nice Name Only feature on the blogs that have Anonomyous comments enabled.  Then, after next week I have finals, which means lots of essay writing and studying for my various classes, so even if I have my computer back I probably won't have the time or energy to update this thing.  Admitadly you all have your own concerns, and I'm likely not a major one of them, but this way you don't have to worry about checking back for new material inbetween all of your other various happenings.

See you around

Free