https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMALeR1i-FM "Every time you stay home, someone is making a decision about you, making decisions about the air you breathe, the water you drink, the food your kids eat, and how much money you bring home every two weeks. So, every time you sit out an election, every time you don't show up because you … Continue reading Voting Isn’t Going to Solve Your Problems
Category: writing
Don’t Like, Don’t Read
"The onus was on the reader, not the author, to protect themselves with the information given. Basically, AO3 took the early fandom nugget 'Don’t like, don’t read' and made it policy."-rapacityinblue, on Tumblr. (I'm not going to try to get my mind around how a Tumblr discussion should be cited.) I found this discussion about … Continue reading Don’t Like, Don’t Read
Ironies of Automation
"...the more we automate, and the more sophisticated we make that automation, the more we become dependent on a highly skilled human operator."-Adrian Colyer, "Ironies of automation." the morning paper. January 8, 2020. A robot surgeon might be a great idea, but it's going to handle the routine, the easy surgeries. What's left is what's … Continue reading Ironies of Automation
Comforting Illusions
"William Sloane Coffin tells the story of a scientist from Harvard flying on an experimental mission in a private plane over the lake country of northern Alabama, measuring with elaborate instruments the fish populations of various lakes. Sighting two fisherman out at some remote lake he had just surveyed, the scientist figured that as a … Continue reading Comforting Illusions
Words & Phrases, 2019
When I come across an interesting word or phrase during the course of the year, I make a note of it. Previous years: 2018, 2017, 2016. entropy bats lastnonspecific effectshadal zone, depth of 20,000kaka felota, floating shit, Belterparrhesia, uninhibited thought, free expressiontwenty-four hour water…clue-poor, but rich in opinion.skidmark skydjellabasfakelore…scholar magicians of the ZoneMexican saying: "The … Continue reading Words & Phrases, 2019
cafebedouin.org: 2019 Year in Review and Looking Ahead to 2020
In 2019, I posted 931 entries, all post views were up to +14,000 views by +9,000 visitors to cafebedouin.org, roughly three times the level of last year. Most of the views are concentrated either on the main page or the most popular posts: Don’t Shoot the Dog by Karen Pryor: SummaryMutt on OpenBSD & Linux: … Continue reading cafebedouin.org: 2019 Year in Review and Looking Ahead to 2020
Gendered Details
I was struck by two things this morning. We are staying in a hotel room, and every morning, I have to unlatch, then unbolt the door to get out. I don't think I've ever latched and bolted a hotel door overnight. It simply doesn't occur to me. Shortly after, I was downstairs getting coffee when … Continue reading Gendered Details
The Lesser of Two Evils is Still Evil
You Don’t Need Internet Shit / Crazytown…
"You don't need internet shit, and you don't need crazytown." There's something I call the "90% rule" and is properly called "Sturgeon's Law". There was a time when people questioned science fiction as a genre. Theodore Sturgeon was a popular science fiction writer at the time, and critics would point out that the vast majority … Continue reading You Don’t Need Internet Shit / Crazytown…
The WYSIATI Prison
What you see is all there is, a closed ideology fakelore, a mazeway garden, fruiting failed perspectives and shared paranoias. Quant illusions, analysis is paralysis. Divert and subvert. Launch determines orbit for every apex, when the monkey bells the gorilla they call it jungle justice, a harmless bruising, the shot before the anesthetized heart. But, … Continue reading The WYSIATI Prison
Comment Chains
Man is born free but everywhere is in comment chains, assembly-line production "memes" in social media-ready baggies for your unnourishment, the whole world, a sad maze of thinly disguised press releases. The future is here and everything needs to be destroyed, salt the field, plant your seed in the sucking wound of need, harvest, pack … Continue reading Comment Chains
The Fruit of the Moment
We are all here for our own reasons. Those reasons aren't important. What is important is that we came and that our time together is short. Wring magic from these transient moments, while you can. Fear being stuck more than falling, and falling more than the crocodile by the shore or the tiger in the … Continue reading The Fruit of the Moment
Attack, Reframe, Normalize and Politicize
The playbook is: Attack, reframe, normalize and politicize. The goal is not rational discussion but repetition. I could write a bot to make far right political comments in Internet forums, and people do. Which leaves the question: how should we respond to people whose ideas could algorithmically programmed and whose goal is repetition? One place … Continue reading Attack, Reframe, Normalize and Politicize
Don’t Mistake Theater for Your Reality
I, too, have been called names. I have found myself sharing the living and thinking space of people with Cluster B personality disorders. I have seen them conjure worlds, hammer manacles, and frame possible views with their words and beliefs. And while their tutelage was hard, I learned a great lesson, which I will share: … Continue reading Don’t Mistake Theater for Your Reality
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