Quasi-Lucid Ravings
I don't understand time.
I don't understand this weird 80-year period of life, bracketed by glory.
I don't understand squinting and sweating under the sun, waiting for our Rescue.
I don't understand the Creator's insistence of running the simulation of humanity on such a flawed and cantankerous scratch file.
I don't understand the wisdom of incarnating spirits as ants to help other ants, and to be evaluated on the extent to which we helped.
I don't understand being broken, being given a crutch, and waiting for the bones to heal when bones are no more.
I don't understand the point of funneling breath into dirt, which only then longs to be freed from the dirt to which it was bound.
Please help me understand the point of this entire exercise, the parameters of which seem very strange to me.
And help me have compassion on the other ants that think they are only ants, who live, kill, extort, abuse, and die so that they can pile up more dirt on their ant mounds.
I just don't get the point of it all.
This is a very strange simulation to me.
Don't Go Back There
Content warning: discussion of religion and politics. If those subjects are triggers for you, I fully understand, and offer instead this lighthearted post instead.
Note: this post is in some ways a continuation of this one from 2024, but you don't need to read that first.
There's a phrase found …
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A New Socratic Sign, or: Writer's Block as a Work of Grace
This image is protected under the "Fair Use" doctrine of US copyright law regarding derivative works and low-fidelity reproduction
I wrote previously about my experience of a "Socratic Sign" as a student: how my experience of wonder and exhilaration in my studies kept me going through the relative stress and …
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Mind the Shards
Photo source: Marika Vinkmann
I was listening to one of my new favorite podcasts, Don't Listen to Us with Mandy Patinkin and Kathryn Grody (his wife). As I mentioned in a recent post, Mandy is one of my favorite actors, nay, favorite humans on the planet. I can't get into …
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Breakfast at Der Waffle Haus
Disclaimer 1: A heavy "[sic]" is implied on all intentional butchering of the German language in the references (and URLs) in this post
Disclaimer 2: This post deals with issues of grieving, but in a lighthearted manner
Disclaimer 3: This post may be best enjoyed while listening to this track …
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I Loved Computers Before the Internet was a Thing
A reconstruction of the Commodore 64's BASIC prompt, adapted from Wikipedia
I loved computers before the internet was a thing, and I will continue enjoying them long after the internet becomes an unusable hellhole of mass surveillance, age verification, deplorably invasive technical "standards," and hyper-aggressive advertising.
I've seen truly enormous …
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The Cowardice Snowball
Content Warning: Discussion of fascism, modern U.S. politics, and a bible quote
Background
Back around 2011, there was a bible verse that was working its way through my cognitive machinery:
Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw …
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I Miss My Hometown
Image of the Cactus Cafe, taken from Wikipedia
I went to a live music venue (really just a restaurant with a sizable enclosed patio and questionable sound system) with some family and friends a couple nights ago, and as we were sitting, sipping our drinks and waiting for the primary …
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Book mini-review: "Gulliver's Fugitives" by Keith Sharee
Note: no substantive spoilers in this review
If you're short on time, you can skip the preamble
Preamble
As you will know from my previous blog post, I've been on a bit of a reading kick lately. I honestly hadn't read too many novels since I was in University last …
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Examining The Ethics of Media Consumption and Sharing
One of my new fedifriends, Terminal Tilt recently posted:
We should not call sharing "piracy."
Piracy involves the physical theft of property where the original owner no
longer has it. Sharing is an act of duplication, not subtraction.
Language matters. Using the industry's preferred labels only helps reinforce
their control …
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