tag rambles

~ Brin ~ Leave a comment

myprettynightmare:

Anyone else terrified that they are toxic and manipulative and just can’t see it? Or is that just me?

Tags:

#tag rambles #TMI #abuse cw #…sort of but not in the way this seems to mean #lately it’s been bothering me a lot that…look #if I had the option of being toxic and manipulative and *chose* not to take it #that would be one thing #but I don’t #because I’m *not smart enough* to successfully manipulate people #it takes a certain kind of cleverness to hurt people and get away with it #that I don’t possess #it sounds weird but it bugs me #even the position ”scum of the earth” is one I could only aspire to #I get so tired sometimes of always being the least terrifying person in the room #but also: #if you can be terrifying enough to scare people into submission and not know it #then you don’t get to take any sort of pleasure in that capacity #not even the twisted power-tripping kinds of pleasure #perhaps the people who’ve hurt me *weren’t even enjoying themselves* #perhaps they *still believed* they could-only-aspire-to-scumbag #zero-sum situations are bad and all #but it’s negative-sum that most chills me deep down #that I might have hurt people and *not even benefited from it* #an interaction that nothing good came out of at all #not even good things at somebody else’s expense #I wonder if I’ve ever been in a fight that both sides believed they’d lost #I wonder if any of the people I am haunted by are haunted by me #neither of us ever getting even the visceral satisfaction of knowing the blow struck

~ Brin ~ 2 Comments

For anyone betrayed by that post going around that claimed to be “Weightless” by Marconi Union (aka “the most relaxing song ever”), but was actually (spoilers) n inevnag bs “Pbggba Rlr Wbr”: here is an actual recording of “Weightless”.

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#(I believed that post at first) #(and I *did* consider reblogging it without listening to it because I’d already heard it on Youtube) #(but I decided to look at TagViewer first) #(this was the correct decision) #oh look an original post #music #I was disappointed but not surprised to learn that this song makes my chest hurt #and to a lesser extent my head #it’s the opposite of relaxing #look brain #I love you and I know you love me #I know you’re just trying to protect me #but also you’re a paranoid wreck #and as if that weren’t bad enough you were given some very fucked up sex ed as a kid #(I don’t mean that in the usual sense) #(I don’t necessarily think there’s a whole lot anyone could’ve done to make my upbringing less toxic in that regard) #(it just happened to be an incredibly bad match) #I’m glad you’re a *little* less panicky now that you have some decent models for what consensual sex can look like #I hope we can heal more in the future #((um)) #((for anyone who found this in the Marconi Union tracked tag or something)) #((I swear these tags make sense in context)) #tag rambles #(I specifically left them in the tags) #(in order to leave it up to the individual whether to include them when reblogging) #(so you can just have the PSA part if you want) #sexuality and lack thereof #people who can distinguish between their drive for sleep and drive for sex fascinate me

~ Brin ~ Leave a comment

metagorgon:

gcu-sovereign:

ruthlessandstormyeyed:

Me, consuming any media that involves superpowers or highly charismatic people: WHY IS NO ONE OBSERVING MASTER/STRANGER PROTOCOLS

Because Genre Savvy is the province of the Stop Having Fun Guy in superhero movies, judging by the MCU titles that come to mind.

Hell, even though the trope is listed on the Cap: Civil War page, it counts more as a dumb reference than actually being clever.

It is harder, however, to speak of it globally on media. 

As much as I like to bag on Doctor Who, there certainly are times when they give a TInker with Master powers due suspicion (Demon’s Run)

master/stranger protocols are fun. the people who necessitate them are funner.

Regarding the OP: yep.

I haven’t actually read Worm, so I had to google what “Master/Stranger protocols” meant, but apparently it means “the stuff my inner genre-savviness is screaming about all the time”.

(”WHAT DO YOU MEAN, ‘IF YOU HEAR LAUGHTER FROM NOWHERE, GET OUT OF THERE IMMEDIATELY AND HEAD STRAIGHT BACK TO BASE’?! IF YOU CAN HEAR HIM, IT’S ALREADY TOO LATE!”

“WHY ARE YOU NOT ROUTINELY COMMANDING EVERYONE YOU KNOW NOT TO ACCEPT COMMANDS FROM ANYONE BUT YOU?! THAT’S CANONICALLY A VALID COMMAND; YOU EVEN USED THAT TRICK YOURSELF ONCE! ONCE! WHY ARE YOU NOT DOING IT ALL THE TIME?! I HIGHLY DOUBT YOUR CONSCIENCE CHOSE THIS OF ALL PLACES TO DRAW A LINE!”)

Tags:

#it’s canonically a valid command #can be apparently be done with no side effects except the now-shielded person being unable to remember the time spent installing it #(which would only have to be a few seconds) #(and he’s wiped larger chunks of memory for worse reasons) #doesn’t require a continuous power outlay #and a dose from someone of his power level would last about two decades before needing refueling #and he does it *once* #sexuality and lack thereof #(my genre-savviness is particularly sensitive to issues with mind control) #(because high salience and because training from all the erotic horror I’ve read when I couldn’t find any non-horror erotica) #examples taken from: #Red Panda Adventures #(I think I’ve only ever posted about RPA when complaining about their treatment of mind control) #(I’m presenting a rather skewed viewpoint here) #(I would like to state for the record that I listened to the finale of the main storyline this past weekend and greatly enjoyed it) #tag rambles

~ Brin ~ 2 Comments

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How can Pokemon Go be so popular if so few phone models can run it?

Like, am I missing something, or are phones with enough RAM small-selection and rather expensive? I looked on Amazon for 2GB RAM smartphones, and I got four entries, three of which were ~$195 and one that was $280.

Though I’d prefer to use Amazon store credit, and an unlocked phone could be nice, I might end up buying another locked phone from PC Mobile. They’ll sell me a 2 GB model Amazon doesn’t carry for $104. The only problem I’ve ever had with my current PC Mobile lock was having to buy a very cheap flip-phone shell when I needed a temporary American cell phone last year, rather than putting an American SIM card in my pre-existing smartphone. Not only have I never wanted to buy a non-PC Canadian plan, I’ve never even bought a PC plan. It’s looking like my first smart-”phone” is going to live out its entire life without ever actually seeing a SIM card.

Also, apparently all smartphones are really tall now, so I’d need to replace my phone pouch too so a new phone will fit. I liked that pouch.

(I’m not just complaining. If anyone knows of an Amazon Canada listing that the search isn’t picking up, or some other decent method of obtaining a suitable phone (either cheaper or less locked than PC), or if Pokemon Go actually runs fine on 1 GB of RAM and Niantic was just being conservative with their list of specs, let me know. America-specific recommendations accepted if I can act on them during my day trip to Buffalo later this month and they’re unlocked, or possibly so cheap that their unlock fee is worth it: I don’t want to be tied to a carrier whose service area I don’t live in, in case I buy a plan someday. (But keep exchange rates in mind; from a CAD viewpoint, objects priced in USD are more expensive than they look.))

Tags:

#oh look an original post #Brin owns *two* 2010’s computers now #and has been thinking of replacing the smaller one #nothing is *wrong* with it per se #it functions fine according to its original specifications #but I’m getting tired of juggling data around its tiny hard drive #(I’ve already had to uninstall multiple apps I wanted to keep because I simply didn’t have space) #(not *everything* can be transferred to the microSD) #and I would like to finally learn to speak Pokemon #but the thing that pushed me over into serious planning for replacement #was that Mom now has a thing she’d like to do that she needs a smartphone for #but it doesn’t really matter how *good* a smartphone #so I told her I’d buy a new one for me and hand my old one down to her #(neatly circumventing waste-not-want-not issues) #tag rambles

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First paycheck!

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#like I know it’s not ~a lot~ of money #but it was more profitable than how I would otherwise have spent that time #while not being significantly more unpleasant or inconvenient #(well I mean having a transcript deemed unfit for use last night was unpleasant) #(but that’s technically *next* week’s paycheck) #(and in terms of emotional pain level probably comparable or better than fucking something up on Flight Rising) #((*also* something that affects other people)) #(so as long as I’m more careful not to bite off more than I can chew I should still come out ahead) #anyway unequivocal steps up are worth celebrating regardless of Objective Size #tag rambles #in which Brin has a job #oh look an original post

Video ~ ~ Brin ~ Leave a comment

galpaladins:

Daniel Kahn (of Daniel Kahn & the Painted Bird) performing a Yiddish translation of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah”.

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#music #interesting #Leonard Cohen #so I went and looked up Hallelujah on Youtube #like you do #and…look #my parents had a set of three mix CDs they played a zillion times in the car when I was growing up #one of the tracks was ”Hallelujah” #and that track is How Hallelujah Sounds as far as my brain is concerned #I’m beginning to suspect it was a cover #because the two Leonard Cohen versions I tried were so Wrong I couldn’t bear to finish them #it may have been from the Shrek soundtrack #apparently there were two versions involved with the Shrek soundtrack #and I listened to both of them and they both sound Correct in a way that the Leonard Cohen versions very much did not #I don’t know #I get the impression from looking around that Leonard Cohen did a lot of versions of Hallelujah #was there a Correct one at some point and it’s just not what comes up first on Youtube? #because it’s kind of awkward to see all these people mourning Cohen and gradually realise you may have never actually heard a Cohen song #and your brain is in fact rebelling at having to listen to a Cohen version of the archetypical Cohen song? #anyway this one is neat as long as I don’t think of it in terms of Correctness #tag rambles

~ Brin ~ Leave a comment

somnilogical:

somnilogical:

Whenever I post something with p values, tumblr deletes the part after the less than sign. This is very frustrating!

I had commentary on that article tumblr! And you deleted it! I just got to the point that stopped copying everything before posting it because I trusted you. Arggggh!

Textarea Cache? (That way you never have to decide whether you trust a text field enough to not copy it.) I don’t know if there’s a Chrome equivalent, and unfortunately I’m pretty sure there isn’t an Android Firefox equivalent.

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#Textarea Cache saved me this very afternoon #from having to rewrite a complaint I filed with Canadian Blood Services #(they used to test you for anemia as the *first* part of the screening) #(but the higher-up rearranged things and now it’s *last*) #(so I had to wait *40 minutes* to learn my iron hadn’t recovered from my previous donation) #(when previously I would only have wasted 5 minutes) #((it really ought to have recovered by now though)) #((it’s been four months)) #((going to talk to my doctor about iron supplements)) #anyway #Tumblr: a User’s Guide #reply via reblog #tangents

~ Brin ~ 2 Comments

tfw you want to write about why you put your writing out there, but you’re afraid to put that out there

Tags:

#I can never remember what counts as irony #but that’s certainly *something* #even assuming a do-not-reblog notice would be respected #writing it and putting *that* on top would be just as ironic-or-something if not more so #in fairness the meta-writing is *way* more insubordinate than the writing itself #(basically it’s an answer to that old question of ”why is it important to publicly acknowledge kink”) #(”not just on a society level but on an individual level”) #(”why not just stay quiet where nobody can see you”) #and of course the gatekeepers are especially ravenous around Coming Out Day #(but catching glimpses of their ravening is exactly why I’ve been thinking about this) #oh look an original post

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~ Brin ~ Leave a comment

wirehead-wannabe:

marcusseldon:

(Note: I may be projecting a little here, but I think it is getting at something true)

Inspired by this conversation, though possibly tangential to it.

I feel like one major point of misunderstanding between (personally good and also politically liberal) people* who push back against social justice, and social justice-types themselves, has to do with differences in their experiences due to the context in which these people live. They are responding to different life experiences. 

Keep reading

Endorsed

Tags:

#yessss #yes this #this is what I’ve been saying too #this is my *home* #born and raised #and it fucks you up to grow up somewhere being told that nobody grows up there #(and a lot of people claiming you can’t even *move* there) #(it’s nothing more than a sanctuary where people stop to rest for a bit between) #(going to and from the Real World™) #(things that are a relief to visitors seeking sanctuary get very grating with a lifetime’s experience) #(and a place can’t be hospitable to its residents if it denies *having* residents) #((the idea that everyone in a given place is first-generation is self-fulfilling)) #((if it means nobody can stand living there for longer than one generation)) #nobody could come up with a better idea so it looks like the category tag’s going to be #our roads may be golden or broken or lost

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vortex-atom:

explodingbat:

astronauticalaspirations:

good-and-colorful:

scienceisbeauty:

Today ten years ago an IAU resolution stated an official definition for the term “planet” who ultimately excluded Pluto as a planet of our Solar System, and reclassified it as “dwarf planet”.

Image via NASA: What Is Pluto?
Caption: The New Horizons spacecraft helped us see Pluto and its largest moon Charon more clearly than we could see them with telescopes.

A Euler diagram showing the relationship between objects in the Solar System (excluding stars) – Wikimedia Commons

Diagram of Planet and Planet-like Categories

Centaurs?

Centaurs

huh, so what we were taught in school were actually Euler diagrams, but *called* Venn diagrams for some reason

Yeah, technically a Venn diagram shows all possible intersections. The ones that are empty are sometimes shaded black, but they’re there regardless. Silly wikipedia image showing Venns morphing into Eulers:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Syllogism-Set-Diagrams.svg

Tags:

#anniversaries #(apparently this was on the 24th) #Pluto #today I was reading about the outer solar system in my astronomy textbook #2014 edition #there was a remnant Pluto section in the ”outer planets” section basically explaining #why Pluto was no longer considered a planet and would be described in more detail in the ”other solar system bodies” chapter #it referred to the New Horizons fly-by in the future tense #there were no pictures #because nobody had ever seen what Pluto looked like #(the educational video next on my to-do list tomorrow was made in 2006) #(I think I already caught them re-dubbing a previous section involving Pluto) #(the picture showed nine planets orbiting the sun) #(while the voiceover) #(which–while the same narrator as the rest of the series–didn’t sound like it was quite of a piece with the rest of the narration) #(talked about eight planets and oh yeah there’s a dwarf planet in here too) #((I’m *probably* overstating that last bit but anyway)) #adventures in University Land