plutonic's recent activity
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Comment on Good News Everyone! in ~news
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Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books
plutonic LinkI just finished listening to Daphne Du Maurier's 'My Cousin Rachel' (Published 1951). Good old Gothic Fiction! I was introduced to Du Maurier through her novel Rebecca which is a masterpiece of...I just finished listening to Daphne Du Maurier's 'My Cousin Rachel' (Published 1951). Good old Gothic Fiction! I was introduced to Du Maurier through her novel Rebecca which is a masterpiece of Gothic Fiction, a riveting page turner with an ending that can never be forgotten. Highly recommended reading for anyone, this is not stinky old literature.
My Cousin Rachel is definitely not the quality of Rebecca, but it is still a very good book. A young man (Philip Ashley) coming of age is living with his Cousin Ambrose Ashley, Ambrose goes off to Italy and ends up married to a mysterious woman named Rachel. Ambrose then dies of mysterious causes but is able to get a cryptic letter off to Philip with accusations of poisoning, but things are not clear. What is clear is that Ambrose left a new will giving everything that was going to be Philips to Rachel but never signs it, why? Rachel then comes to see Philip back home and stay with him, Philip is wary of her but she is very charming and wins him over, in fact he falls in love with her. Philip then decides to 'right' Ambroses 'wrong' by gifting her the entire estate upon his 25th birthday when he rightfully inherits the estate. After this Rachel starts acting more and more mysteriously, is she playing games with him or is he reading into her actions too much? Philip falls seriously ill and eventually also suspects he is being poisoned, clues are found but that is it. The book comes to a head when he is finally determined to find out the truth, an unfortunate accident occurs and Philip is left to find the truth himself. I won't ruin the end but it is great. A totally unexpected ending where no actual twist occurs, the whole thing comes down to the last couple paragraphs. Masterfully done.
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Comment on Candice Owens and the death of the decay of the American brain in ~society
plutonic Link ParentI'm in Canada. I've also discovered that following and paying attention to all of these idiots (especially Trump) was having a negative effect on my mental health, so now when I run into people...I'm in Canada.
I've also discovered that following and paying attention to all of these idiots (especially Trump) was having a negative effect on my mental health, so now when I run into people like this I just ignore them and move on with my life.
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Comment on How do you plan out your meals for the week/meal prep? in ~food
plutonic Link ParentI also used a meal prep service (Fresh Prep) to learn how to cook, it actually worked really well. I started with the meal kits, then kept the recipe cards and now just re-make the same recipes on...I also used a meal prep service (Fresh Prep) to learn how to cook, it actually worked really well. I started with the meal kits, then kept the recipe cards and now just re-make the same recipes on my own. Best part is the recipe cards call out the exact ingredients and amounts for any 'spice blends' that were provided.
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Comment on Candice Owens and the death of the decay of the American brain in ~society
plutonic LinkI'm very happy to have never heard of this person before today and I closed the article after the first paragraph, idiots like this aren't even worth thinking or reading about.I'm very happy to have never heard of this person before today and I closed the article after the first paragraph, idiots like this aren't even worth thinking or reading about.
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Comment on These travel influencers don’t want freebies. They’re AI. in ~travel
plutonic Link ParentSomething I will never understand is a public figure who already has so much wealth they could never spend it cheapening their image by hawking scams/garbage for even more money. Why would anyone...Something I will never understand is a public figure who already has so much wealth they could never spend it cheapening their image by hawking scams/garbage for even more money. Why would anyone do this?
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Comment on Books: Your personal year in review for 2025 in ~books
plutonic Link ParentIt seems that Post-Modern Lit is just not for me, I've been disappointed more than I have been happy with attempts to wade into that world. I'm old-school. So I don't really think there is...It seems that Post-Modern Lit is just not for me, I've been disappointed more than I have been happy with attempts to wade into that world. I'm old-school. So I don't really think there is anything wrong with the book and I recommend you read it. The entire book felt like a mystery that I was supposed to 'figure out' and I really don't like that sort of thing, and then in the end the entire book flips on you and basically laughs in your face. Lots of people love Pynchon and love Lot 49, so it's just a personal preference thing, not everything is for everyone :)
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Comment on Books: Your personal year in review for 2025 in ~books
plutonic LinkHere is my list for 2025: Physical Books in order: Hesiod and Theognis — Theogony; Works and Days; Elegies Roberto Calasso — The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony George Eliot — The Mill on the Floss...Here is my list for 2025:
Physical Books in order:
Hesiod and Theognis — Theogony; Works and Days; Elegies
Roberto Calasso — The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony
George Eliot — The Mill on the Floss
Ilya Ilf & Yevgeny Petrov — The Twelve Chairs
Thomas Hardy — Tess of the d’Urbervilles
William Faulkner — The Hamlet
Thomas Pynchon — The Crying of Lot 49
Michel Houellebecq — The Elementary Particles
William Faulkner — The Town
Italo Calvino — If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler
William Faulkner — The Mansion
Maxim Gorky — The Artamonov Business
Fyodor Dostoevsky — White Nights
Honoré de Balzac — Eugénie Grandet
Cormac McCarthy — Blood Meridian
Émile Zola — Nana
Franz Kafka — The Castle
Anthony Burgess — Nothing Like the Sun
László Krasznahorkai — Satantango
Kazuo Ishiguro — The Remains of the Day
Herman Melville — Moby-Dick (third read)Audiobooks:
Anne Brontë — The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
John Brunner — Stand on Zanzibar
Charles Bukowski — Post Office
Willa Cather — Shadows on the Rock
J. M. Coetzee — Life and Times of Michael K
Wilkie Collins — The Moonstone
Richard Henry Dana Jr. — Two Years Before the Mast
Joseph Conrad — The Secret Sharer
Don DeLillo — Point Omega
Daphne du Maurier — My Cousin RachelHighlights (In order):
William Faulkner — The Town
Thomas Hardy — Tess of the d’Urbervilles
Cormac McCarthy — Blood MeridianMoby Dick not highlighted since it is by default one of the greatest of all time
Disappointments:
Thomas Pynchon — The Crying of Lot 49
Roberto Calasso — The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony (Cool book, too hard.)
Anthony Burgess — Nothing Like the Sun -
Comment on Grocery stores are profiling online shoppers and charging them dynamic prices based on algorithmically determined affluence in ~finance
plutonic Link ParentI always prefer an article, I actually refuse to watch youtube videos for the most part. So if it isn't in article format I almost always just skip it. Thanks for the summary!I always prefer an article, I actually refuse to watch youtube videos for the most part. So if it isn't in article format I almost always just skip it. Thanks for the summary!
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Comment on Grocery stores are profiling online shoppers and charging them dynamic prices based on algorithmically determined affluence in ~finance
plutonic Link ParentI would consider the title to be full on click-bait.I would consider the title to be full on click-bait.
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Comment on Rapid Support Forces massacres left Sudanese city ‘a slaughterhouse’, satellite images show in ~society
plutonic LinkThis is what real genocide looks like. Up to 1 million dead civilians and entire cities now ghost towns.... unbelievably terrible.This is what real genocide looks like. Up to 1 million dead civilians and entire cities now ghost towns.... unbelievably terrible.
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Comment on A post on X claiming that Denmark has introduced an IQ threshold of at least 85 for sperm donors has sparked confusion, debate and memes, but ultimately is misleading in ~health
plutonic LinkIs this policy, even if it was nation wide really that bad? I know if I was in need of sperm donation I would like to know the donor was screened for genetic issues, birth defects, normal mental...Is this policy, even if it was nation wide really that bad? I know if I was in need of sperm donation I would like to know the donor was screened for genetic issues, birth defects, normal mental abilities, criminality, ect. I have no idea if you can really tie 'intelligence' and 'criminality' to genetics, but in my day to day life it certainly seems plausible, thought I'm willing to admit that it most likely has to do with upbringing. In my experience loser parents tend to have loser kids, many outliers of course, but why risk it?
I'm also completely ignorant of the process of donating and receiving sperm donation, what attributes do they collect and allow people to select already? Can people pick the race of the donor? I wouldn't want to see a situation were wealthy people can pick 'premium' sperm from the best donors leaving everyone else with a roll of the dice.
An IQ of 85 is pretty low, that person would likely be disabled, what benefit to society is there to have that person donate sperm? Is this too close to eugenics?
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Comment on Mr Oizo - Flat beat (1999) in ~music
plutonic LinkI was never a big fan of this track but really liked Analog Wormz SeguelI was never a big fan of this track but really liked Analog Wormz Seguel
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Comment on r/art subreddit under new management after an artist was banned for mentioning their art prints in ~arts
plutonic Link ParentA lot of mods moderate multiple subreddits, I would suspect that the new mods are experienced, trusted mods from other subs.A lot of mods moderate multiple subreddits, I would suspect that the new mods are experienced, trusted mods from other subs.
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Comment on Carmageddon: Rogue Shift | Announcement trailer in ~games
plutonic LinkI grew up playing Carmegeddon on my DOS machine, one of my all times favourite games.I grew up playing Carmegeddon on my DOS machine, one of my all times favourite games.
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Comment on 2025 Spotify Wrapped is now out in ~music
plutonic Link ParentI follow a LOT of artists on Spotify from decades of being a music lover, literally thousands, each week my 'Release Radar' (the actual full releases, not the single tracks provided by the...I follow a LOT of artists on Spotify from decades of being a music lover, literally thousands, each week my 'Release Radar' (the actual full releases, not the single tracks provided by the playlist) is anywhere from 6-10 hours of music, I try and listen to all of these releases every single week. I've also been using a questionable Russian Music Pirate Site which is mostly only useful for Electronic Music just to track new releases in genres I am interested in. Every week I quickly preview each release in the genres I want and if they sound interesting I find them on Spotify and drop them into a 'New Music' playlist, this way I am getting a feed of new artists I've never heard before and all new releases from all the artists I follow every week.
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Comment on Why are 38 percent of Stanford students saying they're disabled? in ~life
plutonic Link ParentDo you believe people with these conditions should be given special allowances? It seems to be this is just kind of normal every life stuff in today's world. They won't really be given allowances...Do you believe people with these conditions should be given special allowances? It seems to be this is just kind of normal every life stuff in today's world. They won't really be given allowances at their future jobs.
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Comment on 2025 Spotify Wrapped is now out in ~music
plutonic LinkFor the most part I don't listen to very many tracks more than once (my #1 song was only played 8 times over the year, which I can barely even remember listening to at all) but: 48,753 Minutes...For the most part I don't listen to very many tracks more than once (my #1 song was only played 8 times over the year, which I can barely even remember listening to at all) but:
48,753 Minutes
8,314 songsI think that is down a little bit from last year, but pretty similar.
It was also able to guess my age to within 3 years, that's pretty impressive since I'm mostly listening to new music released each week.
Top artist list is pointless, at least I recognized the names this year, last year there were artists in the list whom I had no idea who they even were lol.
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Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books
plutonic LinkJust a bit over 100 pages into Moby Dick, I wrote an ode to Moby Dick in the last thread. What a masterpiece this books is. The language is just unbeatable, almost every line to be sipped like...Just a bit over 100 pages into Moby Dick, I wrote an ode to Moby Dick in the last thread.
What a masterpiece this books is. The language is just unbeatable, almost every line to be sipped like fine wine. So many great moments, so many great lines. For some reason this time the scene where Ahab finally rejects the last vestige of a normal existence and devotes himself solely to madness and obsession stood out to me.
Here is the entire chapter:
Chapter 30. The Pipe
When Stubb had departed, Ahab stood for a while leaning over the bulwarks; and then, as had been usual with him of late, calling a sailor of the watch, he sent him below for his ivory stool, and also his pipe. Lighting the pipe at the binnacle lamp and planting the stool on the weather side of the deck, he sat and smoked.
In old Norse times, the thrones of the sea-loving Danish kings were fabricated, saith tradition, of the tusks of the narwhale. How could one look at Ahab then, seated on that tripod of bones, without bethinking him of the royalty it symbolized? For a Khan of the plank, and a king of the sea, and a great lord of Leviathans was Ahab.
Some moments passed, during which the thick vapor came from his mouth in quick and constant puffs, which blew back again into his face. “How now,” he soliloquized at last, withdrawing the tube, “this smoking no longer soothes. Oh, my pipe! hard must it go with me if thy charm be gone! Here have I been unconsciously toiling, not pleasuring—aye, and ignorantly smoking to windward all the while; to windward, and with such nervous whiffs, as if, like the dying whale, my final jets were the strongest and fullest of trouble. What business have I with this pipe? This thing that is meant for sereneness, to send up mild white vapors among mild white hairs, not among torn iron-grey locks like mine. I’ll smoke no more—”
He tossed the still lighted pipe into the sea. The fire hissed in the waves; the same instant the ship shot by the bubble the sinking pipe made. With slouched hat, Ahab lurchingly paced the planks.
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Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books
plutonic Link ParentI love how slow and calm Cather's books are, to me they feel like the chicken noodle soup of literature.I love how slow and calm Cather's books are, to me they feel like the chicken noodle soup of literature.
The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is complete
Expected launch June 2026 on a Falcon Heavy!