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.
My Mirror is Surely Alive
By Dorkface Rickens
Ready or not, the future is here! This evening, I installed a new technology in my bathroom called a "mirror."
I was excited to see what this could do, and skeptical of the claims that mirrors merely reflect the light coming in.
Imagine my astonishment when I …
Read More
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 …
Read More
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 …
Read More
Paper Books vs. e-books vs "librebooks?"
I took a few days of a break from the fediverse to try to do a mini digital detox, to stop zombiescrolling youtube, and to read more. I picked up a used copy of Michael Jan Friedman's Gauntlet, the first book in the Stargazer series, a Star Trek novel that …
Read More
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 …
Read More
The Past is the Future
Yesterday was my grandmother's funeral. As a family member, I had the shared duty of greeting the various guests, and then when things got started, I just kinda hopped from table to table, talking to people I know and catching up with folks. It was a great way to top …
Read More
Nietzsche's Heavy Declaration
Content Warning: this post is a downer. I will be dealing with issues of religious manipulation and existential guilt
Chidi grabs the drug dealer by the hoodie while reciting Nietzsche
In yesterday's post*, I discussed my favorite episode (s03e05 "Jeremy Bearimy") of my favorite series (The Good Place). I didn't …
Read More
The Scenes that Made Me: The Good Place (2016)
Professor Chidi Anagonye stirring a pot of Marshmallow-Peeps-and-M&Ms chili in class as he rants
Note: Spoilers of Seasons 1-3 of The Good Place follow. Also, a minor discussion of religion.
Anyone who follows me on the Fediverse will know that I have been more than slightly obsessed with the …
Read More
Monocultures Considered Harmful or: Why Linux Nerds Should Give BSD and Other "Weird" OSes a Try
In yesterdays's article, I described the benefit of having a large supply of physical hardware to try different OSes on. Now I would like to talk about why it's important to run more than just various Linux distros (although just trying different distros is a great way to start broadening …
Read More