Moonchild's recent activity
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Comment on Denmark ending letter deliveries is a sign of the digital times in ~society
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Comment on 7/11 closing down 444 locations in ~finance
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Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books
Moonchild Linkjohn gardner october light i'm not sure what it's about yet, but i think a lot of it is about judgments of taste and value. and relational dynamics. and themes of being caught out of time, which...john gardner october light
i'm not sure what it's about yet, but i think a lot of it is about judgments of taste and value. and relational dynamics. and themes of being caught out of time, which resonate a lot for me but hit a little different now that the book itself is out of time too—it feels very solidly situated in the 70s when it was written, but i have very little context for that time period. and it has a lot of american history references i don't really get either (mostly revolutionary)—why's sam adams a communist and ben franklin a nudist?
also there's a b-plot with an old man who needs weed for chronic pain but has no way to get it, licitly or otherwise. very cute and quaint
and, of course, gardner is a brilliant writer. what interests me lately in art is structure, progression, connection, and he seems to have a mastery of the interplay of those on the whole gamut of large to small
i'll reproduce one passage that hit me kinda hard when i read it
a couple pages
“We’re our own worst enemies,” Horace had often said. (Now what on earth had brought that to mind?) [Sally] discovered that a line from the book was idly repeating itself in her head. _Close our noisy mouths and accept divergent lifestyles._ Horace would no doubt have agreed with that, though for reasons not quite pure. (She was no child; she could accept impurity of motivation. All of us hold back. We all “hedge our bets,” as her friend Estelle’s husband Ferris used to say.) As he grew into middle age—though he’d once been a talkative man—Horace had fallen more and more into the habit of silence, especially with her. When he came home from the office he’d do nothing but listen to his music and read, though perhaps inside his mind he talked endlessly to himself. Not that he’d been sullen! She’d never known a more contented man. He was quiet, merely. Men frequently grew more quiet and withdrawn as they got older. It had been the opposite with her. She’d started out a quiet one, but now in her old age she liked nothing better than a little conversation when the mailman came, or the insurance man, or when she met old friends at Powers’ Market.She could remember well how hurt she’d been at first by Horace’s unwillingness to talk. She’d been jealous, in a way, and hadn’t been altogether wrong to be. It had come to a head as they were speaking one night—or rather she was speaking—about her sister-in-law, about Ariah’s cooking, actually, and about cooking in general, though what was in the back of her mind was an image of Horace wiping dishes, up at her brother’s house, some weeks before, joking with Ariah and little Richard. Horace was at work tonight on his map of next year’s flower garden; Sally, here in their own kitchen, did the dishes alone. Horace seemed to listen to her talk of Ariah without interest, speaking not a word. “My,” she’d finally said, “you’re certainly the quiet one tonight!” She’d put her fists on her hips, smiling hard, giving him no choice but to say something.
He went right on working with his map and colored pencils, and after a minute he said, “Are you aware that we have on this planet, or used to have, something like ten thousand languages maybe more?”
“That’s a great many,” she’d said, studying him, putting up her guard.
He nodded. “Yes sir, it’s the last frontier.” He eyed his map, for a moment holding it away from him. “You’d think we’d all get together and try to speak one language, wouldn’t you? It would improve understanding, advance the cause of peace.” He glanced at her and grinned, pleased with himself, secretly remote.
She’d said nothing, still studying him, smelling a trap.
“Well, we never will,” he’d said, shaking his head, still grinning that private, insufferable grin that wasn’t meant to be understood—putting down the yellow pencil, picking up a blue one. “Children will continue to say ‘I and him,’ scold them all you like, and your brother will continue to say ‘Here I be.’ Peace and understanding—” He looked over her head, thoughtful. “That’s the dilemma of democracy.”
She hadn’t been fooled by his fancy talk, and in a sudden flash of hurt feelings and indignation shed lashed out, still smiling: “Why don’t you just run away with her?”
He hadn’t pretended not to know who she meant. “I never said that’s what I want, Moogle.” (It was one of the pet names they’d called each other.)
“Everything she makes tastes of onions,” she said.
He shook his head, smiling, saying something in French. He knew she knew no French. After that he would say nothing, and gradually it came to her—it made her scalp prickle what it was he’d meant: people had all those languages in order not to be understood. They were castle walls. She had cried that night, understanding that there were things about her that he did not want to know, and parts of himself he would hide from her, wall off, even if he spoke of them. She’d learned to accept it, though it was natural to be watchful and suspicious. It was at about that time that he’d begun to read aloud to her. What she thought of it she wasn’t quite sure, though she’d quickly grown used to it.
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Comment on What creative projects have you been working on? in ~creative
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Comment on On the increased popularity and serious risks of choking during sex in ~life
Moonchild Link Parentthe problem is depicting it, not doing it. you can't tell from a video if that hand is really squeezing or notthe problem is depicting it, not doing it. you can't tell from a video if that hand is really squeezing or not
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Comment on On the increased popularity and serious risks of choking during sex in ~life
Moonchild Link Parentexplicit communication is one tool among many that you can use to establish trust. it's not like it's hard for people to lie or misunderstand, and you absolutely can assume all sorts of things...one cannot assume a known partner to understand safety and consent without prior discussion
explicit communication is one tool among many that you can use to establish trust. it's not like it's hard for people to lie or misunderstand, and you absolutely can assume all sorts of things about people without their explicitly saying them—you have to. it feels very reductionist to say that thou canst only negotiate by such-and-certain means, and everything else is Bad Communication or Too Risky (for whom?)
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Disposable vapes may be more toxic than cigarettes
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Comment on Marked decline in semicolons in English books, study suggests in ~humanities.languages
Moonchild Link Parenti find semicolons and em dashes both very abusable, at least in my own writing (because i tend towards long sentences—it always feels like i lose momentum with every sentence end—and a semicolon...i find semicolons and em dashes both very abusable, at least in my own writing (because i tend towards long sentences—it always feels like i lose momentum with every sentence end—and a semicolon helps to stretch out a would-be runon), and try to avoid both when i care. imo the really slept on punctuation mark is the colon. i only really seem to see it in popular writing before a list
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Comment on Best daily sunscreens? in ~health
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Comment on If you were referred to with an Epithet, what would it be? in ~talk
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Comment on Scientists reveal how DMT alters brain activity and consciousness by lowering control energy in ~science
Moonchild Link Parentexample https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2416106122chemical "neighbors" of psychedelic drugs that are not themselves psychoactive seem to also work to some degree
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Comment on Robert F. Kennedy Jr. intends to launch disease registry tracking autistic people by collecting US private medical records in ~society
Moonchild Link Parenti don't mean to equivocate, but it's not clear to me what distinction you are trying to draw, and wikipedia and the oed do not illuminate. it doesn't seem obviously outside the purview of the us...i don't mean to equivocate, but it's not clear to me what distinction you are trying to draw, and wikipedia and the oed do not illuminate. it doesn't seem obviously outside the purview of the us department of health and human services to study autism; that seems to me like a strange thing to focus on
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Comment on Robert F. Kennedy Jr. intends to launch disease registry tracking autistic people by collecting US private medical records in ~society
Moonchild Link Parentit is a disease and i am sick and tired of the rhetoric that it isn't i tried mdma recently, and it cured my autism for the few hours i was on it—it turned me into a normal person. that was what...it is a disease and i am sick and tired of the rhetoric that it isn't
i tried mdma recently, and it cured my autism for the few hours i was on it—it turned me into a normal person. that was what really cemented it for me. it was very depressing, since you cannot take mdma very frequently—so many ways i'm hamstrung in my day to day social and emotional experience that just suddenly. weren't like that anymore. and then were again
i agree that this program sounds like state terrorism
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Comment on US President Donald Trump blocked from deporting migrants to countries where they’re not citizens in ~society
Moonchild Link Parentthat one 'ghibli ai' post literally made me gag. and of course that's the pointthat one 'ghibli ai' post literally made me gag. and of course that's the point
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Comment on Post something from your notes app in ~talk
Moonchild (edited )Linklist of chapter numbers to look at from a plastic surgery textbook cursory attempt to analyse fiona apple 'i want you to love me'. i am quite bad at music; i let my mom take one listen and she...3 9 13? 15? 27? (genio) 28,29? (rhino) 30? (cranio) 40 44? (makeup/skin effects, perceptual?)
list of chapter numbers to look at from a plastic surgery textbook'i know' in 'i know none of this will matter in the long run' is a minor release in the 2013-10-02 version, which is what you expect; in the 2020 version, it sustains the tension for longer (like portal)
in the 2013-10-12 version she maintained it more but added a cymbal to still add some overt emphasis? i think pure maintenance (not even quite what happens in the 2020 version, but closer) takes more guts and is more subtle and difficult to pull offthe moment after 'bang it—bite it—bruise it' is less emphasised in the 2013 version. importantly, in neither version is it actually the transition, but in the 2020 version, it serves to call attention to the transition which immediately follows
cursory attempt to analyse fiona apple 'i want you to love me'. i am quite bad at music; i let my mom take one listen and she caught lots of things i missed. versions are 2013-10-03, 2013-10-04, 2013-10-12, 2020. i don't know what 2013-10-02 was a typo for but probably -03The singular of erotica is eroticum
14 15 11 9
67?
3 1
(more after)
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Comment on Record thefts boost North Korea to third-largest bitcoin holder in ~finance
Moonchild Link Parentthis seems eminently reasonable. in the 1990s, the us government attempted to regulate the use of strong encryption; it was not a good time (this was overturned on 1a grounds, and now it is legal...On November 26, 2024 a US Federal Appeals court overturned an earlier ruling stating that the law could not sanction a protocol.
this seems eminently reasonable. in the 1990s, the us government attempted to regulate the use of strong encryption; it was not a good time (this was overturned on 1a grounds, and now it is legal to communicate privately). the eff's comment on this hedges a bit but is supportive, brushing on the issue of financial privacy. and there are lots of other ways to obscure financial activity anyway; that just evidently happened to be the one they found most convenient to use at the time
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Comment on Why Dua Lipa is so good at asking questions in ~books
Moonchild (edited )Link Parenti would go further and say i find it entirely expected and obvious that someone whose literal job is to socialise and perform would be good at in-depth interviewing. he talks up oprah's castmate's...i would go further and say i find it entirely expected and obvious that someone whose literal job is to socialise and perform would be good at in-depth interviewing. he talks up oprah's castmate's capability at this, but then for some reason assumes dua lipa would not be equally capable? the interesting thing is obviously not that she is capable of doing this, but that she has chosen to in fact do it—something less glamorous, for a smaller audience. it seems to me to speak not to sophistication on her part, but rather to a degree of earnestness. maybe also comfort with publicly sharing something more intimate. maybe also attempt to spread literacy among those of her fans who might not otherwise have read those books (cf. dolly parton?)
with that said, ignoring the more obnoxious aspects of the frame, i thought the video was a not-that-bad (if somewhat shallow) deconstruction of various interview formats
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Comment on Waiting for a book in paperback? Good luck. Publishers increasingly give nonfiction authors one shot at print stardom, ditching paperbacks as priorities shift. in ~books
Moonchild (edited )Link Parentequally important for durability is the quality of the materials and construction. i'd much rather a properly sewn softcover on thick, acid-free paper than a shoddy, perfect-bound hardcover. many...durable
equally important for durability is the quality of the materials and construction. i'd much rather a properly sewn softcover on thick, acid-free paper than a shoddy, perfect-bound hardcover. many hardcovers today are quite low quality. hardcover will not be worse than a co-published softcover edition, but it still rankles quite a bit—books are mostly not made to be treasured artifacts anymore. i recently got a conference proceedings from the 60s and a poetry collection from a not-so-famous poet from the 50s. both are not so 'fancy' as these things go, but they far and away blow away the vast majority of books printed in the last few decades
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Comment on Piglets will be left to starve in a controversial art exhibit in Denmark – Marco Evaristti aims to raise awareness of the suffering caused by modern pig production in ~arts
Moonchild (edited )Linki see this as somewhat similar to the killing of the united healthcare ceo. the death of one particular individual (whom you have never met) is of no consequence one way or the other. it is...i see this as somewhat similar to the killing of the united healthcare ceo. the death of one particular individual (whom you have never met) is of no consequence one way or the other. it is entirely symbolic, and should be taken as such
we can however think about the symbology of killing some pigs to try to help some others. is it (forced) martyrdom—what is the implication of that, and of forcing somebody to be a martyr? how does the experience of these pigs compare to that of commercially farmed pigs—is perhaps this life even better, or at least not much worse?
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Comment on US Department of Homeland Security quietly eliminates ban on surveillance based on sexual orientation and gender identity in ~society
Moonchild Link Parentmy dad started trying to get us out of the us probably 15+ years ago. made it to canada around 2016, which is funny (coincidental) timing, but now increasingly seems more prescient than evermy dad started trying to get us out of the us probably 15+ years ago. made it to canada around 2016, which is funny (coincidental) timing, but now increasingly seems more prescient than ever
i get a christmas card from my extended relatives every year. that's pretty nice