Now our role models are media creations. Some are literal fictional characters (James Bond); others are nominally real people (Kylie Jenner). But both are merely representations – images usurping an essential formative role. ‘William Shatner’ and ‘Robert Downey, Jr.’ are only marginally more real than Captain Kirk and Tony Stark, yet they occupy way more headspace than people that live down the street.
Most people can name more celebrities, in more detail, than people they’ve known in person. I know the names of Will Smith’s kids – I don’t even know if my best friends from high school have any.
Like—is that true? Can that possibly be true? How does that happen? It’s asserted as if it’s just obvious, and it seems like a shocking claim to me.
(Now, the entire review feels like this somewhat. But this passage really stood out as sounding completely insane to me.)
This struck me as one of the *relatively* sane bits of that article, although I think it says more about rootlessness than it does about [knowing a lot about celebrities]. I *don’t* know whether my best friends from middle school have kids, because I live in a different country from them now. I think I *would* have heard if my friends from high school had had kids, but if we had all scattered to the winds it would be another story. I have spent over *three months* trying to start getting to know people down the street, and in that time the volunteering group in question has held exactly one meetup that they *both* remembered to tell me about *and* didn’t cancel. (I shudder to think how hard it would be if there hadn’t even *been* a volunteering group already in place.)
—
To me the completely insane part was this bit:
“We’ve all felt the shockwaves of the Internet explosion. Life is *different* now. It takes an act of will to put down your phone so you can focus on the TV. Low battery is an emergency. Losing signal is bereavement. Navigating without GPS is an anxiety attack.
Do you remember what it was like, not so long ago? How exciting it was to play videogames with someone a thousand miles away? How cool it was the first time you streamed a movie on an airplane? That sense of possibility and promise, like all the world was in the palm of your hand?”
In order of appearance:
1. If I have access to a TV (implying that I’m at home), why am I on a phone and not a laptop?
1a. I generally do have my laptop open while watching TV, *because* I generally only watch TV as a social activity with online friends.
2. I frequently go entire days without touching my phone; on most days that I interact with my phone I do so for only a minute or two; on most days that I interact with my phone for more than five cumulative minutes it’s because I’m updating its software or local files. Note that I have it set to sync SMS messages to my laptop over KDE Connect, so I do not need to touch my phone to notice that I have received a text or even to respond to it.
3. Low battery is an occasional annoyance. The worst-case scenario is that because my phone is dead I don’t notice the text from my boss offering me an extra shift on short notice, which *did* almost happen to me yesterday but fortunately I still had 6% left. I suppose I shall be *slightly* more careful, given that reminder that functioning phones are *occasionally* unexpectedly important.
4. *Despite* low phone battery not majorly featuring in my life, I carry two USB cables, a small solar generator, and an AC adapter at all times whenever leaving my home. Surely someone who cared desperately about maintaining phone charge should be, if anything, *more* careful?
5. I didn’t even *have* a SIM card for over *six years* after getting my first smartphone. Even now, my data plan is 250 MB per month: an occasional backup, not remotely something I can afford to leave on all the time. Everything about my smartphone is oriented around Internet access being erratic and/or heavily rationed: the *point* of a smartphone, for me, is that it can be made largely self-sufficient, that you can keep your digital belongings not only with you but *accessible* even when you are far from home and signal alike.
6. I did not have GPS until 2014, and I assure you that navigating without GPS was *always* nightmarish even when I *hadn’t* experienced anything better.
7. I *do* enjoy watching over a friend’s shoulder from two thousand miles away while they play a video game and we chat about it, although our schedules haven’t worked out lately.
8. Wait, streaming movies on airplanes is possible now? Since when? I was last on a plane in 2015 bold of OP to assume I can afford to travel and that was definitely not a thing, although it *was* a downmarket airline so maybe fancy planes could arrange for it. Do they still call it “airplane mode”?
#Brin owns *two* 2010’s computers now #reply via reblog #101 Uses for Infrastructureless Computers #proud citizen of The Future #adventures in human capitalism
Europa & Io passing over Jupiter’s Great Red Spot, shot from space probe Cassini.
for everyone asking if this is real footage: yeah!
It is an extremely accelerated timelapse made by Kevin Gill, the movement here is more a matter of Cassini whipping past Jupiter at astounding speeds than the motion of the moons, which is why there’s such a large parallax shift, but it’s actual images taken during the Cassini flyby. They did another one of Titan orbiting Saturn, you can see that at the end of this video. [Flickr link]
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#space #the power of science #proud citizen of The Future
#(prev tag ”please please please please”) #yeah pretty much #(as *a book review* I think the linked post fails) #(but as *a post about nuclear fusion* it succeeds) #proud citizen of the Future #disappointed permanent resident of The Future
one of the Respirator Posters, canada posting but not the part of canada that most canada posting is posted from. strong opinions on things which go in houses
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#testimonials #in the future I hope to develop even *more* opinions on things which go in houses #covid19 #proud citizen of The Future #our home and cherished land #domesticity
Right. Elastomeric half-facepiece respirators as an alternative to disposable filtering facemasks. I highly recommend getting one.
Mug for scale, in both cases.
Basic pitch: since I got this I have been much less anxious wandering out and about in the world and I have not worried nearly as much about infection as I have while wearing practically any other mask, because you can fit-check yourself every time you put it on and be practically assured that everything you breathe is going through your filters. This is also cheaper and produces less waste than disposables in the long run, and are more comfortable for long-term wear. Downsides are that it’s pretty big and bulky, and some models are particularly hard to talk through, it requires some basic maintenance, and you might not be able to get the one you want if you have very particular needs or if you absolutely must have filtered exhalation as stock.
Longer pitch: What’s different about these masks, pros, then cons, in more detail, plus what to look for when buying, and finally less-effective semi-reusable alternatives that are less eye-catching.
#have you heard the Good News of our Lord and Saviour #no but seriously they’re right and they should say it and also I learned some new things from this post #love the concept of a normie-passing/office-dress-code-compliant mask hiding a silicone seal on the inside‚ might have to look into that #I’d vaguely heard of the HF-800 already but I might have to look *more* into that‚ God knows my speech clarity needs all the help it can get #(even though it *would* suck to have to give up my beloved 7502) #(I hate changing models on my prosthetics) #(the glasses I’m wearing right now were discontinued in 2012 and I was like ”what do you *mean* you *discontinued* my *body part*”) #(I have backup glasses that are as similar as I could find) #(and nobody *else* can tell when I’m wearing them versus my primaries) #(but *I* can tell and it’s Terrible) #I *want* box filters but they’re literally twice as much as discs and I don’t think I can stomach the extra $12/pair #given that I’ve managed *this* long on carrying an umbrella and a plastic bag everywhere and being careful when dishwashing #(*knocks on wood*) #tag rambles #illness tw #proud citizen of The Future #disappointed permanent resident of The Future #transhumanism #the more you know
This kind of acausal compliment makes me want to share my Halloween costume from last year:
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#relatable #clothing #proud citizen of The Future #(I think the plague doctors of old would be pleased to know what we have been able to build on their foundation) #(I especially think about this when I see people wearing bifold ~N95s) #(it’s most blatant there: you can *see*‚ at a glance‚ how this object partakes of the same Platonic essence as a plague doctor mask) #(but better‚ more perfected‚ closer to the heart of #the thing the plague doctors took the first fumbling steps towards with their limited understanding and their limited manufacturing tech) #(it’s so beautiful) #((I wish I’d kept a copy of a picture I stumbled across once)) #((some news article I think)) #((a picture from a COVID ward‚ of a group of doctors gathered around a patient’s bed)) #((and these people‚ the plague doctors of our era)) #((were wearing elastomeric P100s just like mine)) #((or rather‚ I am wearing one just like theirs)) #((it is *so* beautiful‚ what we have been able to build)) #tag rambles #illness tw #covid19
Weird peeve time. Calling lab grown gemstones “fake” is stupid because it’s the same shit just not formed naturally. An artificially grown diamond is the same shit as a natural diamond it is the exact same material bro it’s all fuckign carbon
There is so much bullshit in the diamonds industry to be mad about tbh. It also ties into the bullshit of the wedding industry as a whole but we don’t have the time to unpack all that
not even going to lie, the day i learned i could get like 15 lab grown rubies the size of dimes for $20 is the day i spent $20 on rubies, and i have never once said to myself “man, i wish this cost $1,600 and the lives of eight children to produce”
another very cool lab grown gem is Moissanite. It has a 9.25 on the mohs hardness scale where diamond is a 10. Moissanote also has a 2.69 refractive index in comparison to diamond’s 2.419 and here is the difference
and the best thing about moissanite? It is all lab grown and it costs only a fraction of what diamond costs. So fuck the diamond indsutry and buy lab grown gems which cost significantly less
Also it’s just cool to think of some mad scientist lookin person doing shit against the law of the universe and making pretty gems for you. Like cmon. This shouldnt be allowed probably. But humans really be like on gOD i want some shiny an just started MAKIN em
for years people wanted alchemy, well now we have alchemy and we’re making gemstones out of it and suddenly “it doesn’t count” anymore
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#…there’s something interesting here about the clash between gems-as-decorative-shinies and gems-as-store-of-value #if you were wearing jewellery because it was beautiful then increased availability is an improvement #but if you were wearing jewellery to display wealth‚ and jewellery becomes cheap‚ then it ceases to fulfil its function #more sympathetically‚ if you used to take comfort in the idea that if you ever hit financial rock bottom #–(and‚ especially‚ if you were ever cut off from access to the local financial system)– #you’d be able to get by through pawning your jewellery‚ and jewellery becomes cheap‚ you’ve lost that safety net #(a safety net your ancestors and/or past selves paid good money for‚ money now wasted) #((a few months back I had my mom help me go through the jewellery I’ve accumulated as gifts over the decades #and figure out which ones are valuable and which ones are costume)) #((I store the valuable ones separately from the others so that I can grab the container and run)) #((because silver is a better trade good than steel even if they’re equally shiny)) #((the world is full of stories of refugees who got the starting funds for a new life by selling the jewellery they wore when they escaped)) #I know a whole lot of people place a whole lot more value on decoration than I do #so I expect cheap gemstones are still *net* good #but I see the downsides here #tag rambles #jewellery #101 Uses for Infrastructureless Computers #adventures in human capitalism #proud citizen of The Future #disappointed permanent resident of The Future #is the blue I see the same as the blue you see #death tw? #this probably deserves some other warning tag but I am not sure what
Brinens and Things 