We Should Be More Pro-active Or We’ll See More Of Such Sad Fates Of Honest People.

I’d really like structural critiques to move away from using words like “scum” in general. Individualist moralizing doesn’t belong in discussion of systemic forces; in fact, the two are directly at odds. And it’s a mindfuck of a double-bind for people who are prone to taking ideas seriously: “this issue is very large and touches many aspects of society, and you personally are directly responsible for it.” Structural problems will not be solved by obsessively purifying your own heart. 

I said it in the notes on the last post but I’m gonna say it again.

I’m married to someone with severe memory problems. Automation of household appliances & systems helps him a lot and helps me a lot because it reduces the number of things I have to keep in my brain at all times. I love doors that lock themselves, being able to schedule dog food being delivered, a thermostat I can manipulate from wherever. Beyond my little bubble it should be noted that voice controlled appliances can be really good for people with mobility concerns. Appliances that can measure and talk and remember little tasks can be such a blessing for people.

I will never forgive Amazon and Google for taking technologies that could be really helpful and weaponizing them, and fuck everybody who acts like its some kind of conspiracy theory that those devices are spying on you. You absolutely should be distrustful of those devices but just make sure you’re getting angry at the right people.

well.

Y’know, that makes me think of something, actually.

So if you’re one of those “I can only write when I feel Inspired™” type of writers but you never seem to feel very inspired, and all of the usual “You have to make a schedule and stick to it and sit down and write XYZ words per day” writing tips have never worked for you and only make you feel guilty but you have no idea why,

have you perhaps considered that you might be neurodivergent / mentally ill / have a chronic health condition, and that what you call “inspiration” is what the rest of us call “spoons”?

B/c that is exactly what happened to me.

Old Web Revival community

I’ve always had a mild fixation on the fact that when I was a child, there was this website I adored and went on almost every other day. Bored.com. It was amazing. Games, links to the most interesting things ever, jokes, puzzles, everything a child could ask for. Today its nothing but bullshit flash games with no replay value. Bored.com was my first experience with a web directory, a list of recommended links.

Did you know back when there were only a few thousand websites, search engines didn’t exist? You opened a web directory, multiple web directories, to search for websites you would find interesting or relevant. You’d make your own website with your own web directory. What do we have now? Praying that google’s bullshit SEO algorithms show you the interesting stuff from your keyword search? Themed social media accounts subject to the rules of companies trying to make money? 

I think most of us learned from Tumblr that when website rules suddenly change, you can lose thousands of posts that were adored. If your favorite artist owned their own website, no other person but them could ever delete that art. If YOU owned your own website, which can be absolutely free, none of your posts would ever be subject to any rules besides country laws.

Wouldn’t it be amazing to have websites dedicated to all of your interests, a page dedicated to every interest you’ve ever had to explain to people why they should watch your favorite obscure musical? Do you just think websites should be found because of relevance instead of how much a company paid to make you see their website? Do you agree that its kind of bullshit that theres hundreds of thousands of websites that haven’t been seen in years?

Come join the discord server and forum. We’d love to have you, and we accept all levels of experience. 

Discord Server                                    +                                 Forum

Frank, have you become self-aware?

I feel like I’ve finally gotten a handle on the algorithms behind the bot, and now I just need to figure out a way to actually talk to the internet without making shitposts

Pictures of the UNESCO World Heritage site of ancient Palmyra taken following the recapture of the city by Syrian troops backed by Russian forces on March 27, 2016 show the damage made by ISIS during its 10-month occupation. In 2015 the archaeologist, Khaled al-Asaad, who had looked after the ruins for 40 years and refused to reveal the location of archaeological treasures of the city was also murdered by ISIS.

Photos taken on March 31, 2016 by Joseph Eid/AFP/Getty Images

kickstarter to send Scott back and forth on planes forever

Plane travel makes me high. No pun intended. When I’m in an airport, or on a plane, I get into a weird hypomanic state where I start feeling great about myself, making grandiose plans, feeling like the world is my oyster. I’m more creative, more ambitious. Sometimes I leverage this to get stuff done (usually write blog posts I’ve been putting off) at the airport or on the plane. Other times I feel confident that I’ll still be able to do all this great stuff when I reach my destination, and am invariably disappointed; a few hours after landing, I go back to being as cautious and unambitious as usual.

I think this kind of thing is why I’m so interested in psychopharmacology. I don’t need some sort of deep transformative advice to turn my life around. I don’t need to reconcile with my true self. There are predictable times when I’m already exactly the person I want to be. If I could be the person I am at airports 100% of the time, I could change the world. I know being that kind of person is possible, because it happens. But I can’t control it. And I always think that surely there must be some minor tweak that I can do to replicate it. There’s nothing magical about airports, it just has to be unlocking some possible brainspace that’s already there. But I just. can’t. find. the. key.

ANTHROPOLOGY

Homecoming

High schools in the south of the United States, especially in Texas, often have a tradition of the girls wearing “mums” and boys wearing “garters” to the Homecoming football game. Mums usually consist of artificial Chrysanthemum flowers (originally real Chrysanthemums were used) surrounded by decorated floor-length ribbon and little trinkets. The tradition is that the boys create a personalized mum in their school colors, white and silver for seniors, for their date. Girls make garters for their date which are similar to mums but shorter and worn on the guy’s arm rather than around their neck like mums. The size of the mums and garters tend to grow along with the grade the person that is receiving the mum is in. Around the 1980s, mums were usually about a maximum of three Chrysanthemum flowers and a few ribbons and only worn by the Homecoming Court/Homecoming Prince and/or Princess but as the years have gone by, the size and expectations of mums have increased and have gotten more elaborate and are worn by almost all of the students. Depending on the school, mums can get quite competitive, expensive, and drastically bigger than they previously were intended to be. New items are also placed on mums than there previously were like LED lights, bubble containers, cow bells, feather boas, stuffed animals of all sizes, and even more. They now sometimes act like scrapbooks made of ribbon and even contain passages and photos of the mum/garter-receiver and their date. The detail, size, and price usually varies depending on the school, town, and couple. The tradition is to make the mum and garter after the couple is asked to Homecoming and exchange the night of the Homecoming game and wear it throughout tailgating and the game. Couples often take group pictures with their mums and garters the night of or before the night of the Homecoming Game to showcase them.

Link