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 |    Not for the faint of art. |
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Complex Numbers A complex number is expressed in the standard form a + bi, where a and b are real numbers and i is defined by i^2 = -1 (that is, i is the square root of -1). For example, 3 + 2i is a complex number. The bi term is often referred to as an imaginary number (though this may be misleading, as it is no more "imaginary" than the symbolic abstractions we know as the "real" numbers). Thus, every complex number has a real part, a, and an imaginary part, bi. Complex numbers are often represented on a graph known as the "complex plane," where the horizontal axis represents the infinity of real numbers, and the vertical axis represents the infinity of imaginary numbers. Thus, each complex number has a unique representation on the complex plane: some closer to real; others, more imaginary. If a = b, the number is equal parts real and imaginary. Very simple transformations applied to numbers in the complex plane can lead to fractal structures of enormous intricacy and astonishing beauty. ![Merit Badge in Quill Award
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With the end of the month comes the last prompt from "JAFBG"  [XGC]. What's your unpopular writing or book opinion that you know is a bit controversial? I've discussed some of these in here before. Honestly, though, most of my opinions are about movies, not books. It's still writing. Some book opinions:  Ulysses is overrated. It's the literary equivalent of a Jackson Pollock painting: random noise upon which the reader can project their own patterns. No, I never read the whole thing. One should not have to read an entire book to know one doesn't like it. This is more general, but present-tense narratives suck. They're fine for flash fiction, and practically indispensable for joke-telling ("A priest, a rabbi and an imam walk into a bar..."), but with anything longer than a short story, it's exhausting. Like reading a 70,000 word headline. (Yes, I've written stories in the present tense. Short stories.) The first Harry Potter book was poorly written. It's been a long time since I read it, but what sticks out in my mind are way, way, way too many adverbs, clumsy scene changes, and some truly cringeworthy moments. To Rowling's credit, she got better at writing as she went along. In that case, though, I did read the whole thing. No, I'm not going to weigh in on her personal opinions; I'm only talking about the actual writing in the actual books.Television: "Reality" shows suck, full stop. They're not a guilty pleasure for me. Or any kind of pleasure. They are the worst kind of manipulation. And they're scripted, so their entire existence is a lie from the get-go. I'm not against lying (that's what fiction is), but don't pretend it's real. (See also: Blair Witch Project, which wasn't TV so doesn't belong in this section.) Deep Space Nine was the best Trek. Also, Enterprise was better than Voyager (though Janeway was awesome).Movies: I don't get the hate for Cats. It's like everyone has to jump on the hate bandwagon once it reaches some sort of critical mass. Was it a great movie? No. But it doesn't deserve the opprobrium heaped upon it, either. I liked the Abrams Star Trek movies. All of them. I guess that's not all that controversial an opinion, but since I mentioned Trek up there, I figured I'd say something about the reboots. Another more general thing, but the Academy Awards are nonsense and have been for a long time. I guess the clue is right there in the name: it represents what other people in the industry think of particular movies. Which is fine. But that doesn't mean that an "Academy-Award-Winning" or "Oscar-nominated" flick is going to appeal to the uncultured masses (in which I include myself), so I don't get why people keep trying to make that a Thing. So what you end up with is people writing, directing, producing and acting in movies tailored to try to win Oscars, instead of telling a compelling story like a movie is supposed to do.Yes, those are my opinions (though I know the prompt only asked for one; consider the others a bonus). And no, I don't expect people to agree with me; otherwise, it wouldn't be "controversial." Speaking of movies, you might note that I haven't done any movie reviews lately. That's because the only theater I care to go to right now is the Alamo near my house, and for the last three weeks, they've had nothing I wanted to walk in the freezing cold to go see. It doesn't look good for this week, either. Naturally, this happens right after I subscribe to their effectively unlimited (one free movie a day) pass. Hopefully they'll get some soon that might be worth it to me to check out. As for next month, I've got some articles to share, but I'll also be doing some prompts for "Journalistic Intentions" [18+]. I'd recommend checking it out if you feel like blogging a bit next month (eight entries over the course of the month). It's not like there's much else to do in February, after all.And finally, thanks to the folks at "JAFBG" [XGC] for giving me stuff to rant about and for putting up with my daily posting over there. |
| Only two left from "JAFBG" [XGC]. After this, only one. Which I may or may not be able to post at the usual time. Global supply chain issues. Is it a labor shortage, wage shortage, something else? How do we fix it? Hell if I know. I'm not even sure it needs to be "fixed." Not that it isn't inconvenient, but if we could fix everything that was inconvenient, we'd... you know, actually, that would be awesome. Get right on that. I say that because these things tend to sort themselves out. Either we get shit moving again, or, if we don't, we get used to it. As for the labor shortage / wage shortage thing... well, anything I say about that will be political. So I'm going to say it anyway: you want people to work, pay them more. If you want businesses to pay people more, don't be surprised when inflation happens. If people start getting paid better, and then inflation happens, don't be surprised when they end up being paid the same, adjusted for inflation, as they were before they got paid more. The system pretty much requires that some people be paid dogshit wages so the rest of us aren't inconvenienced. Don't like it? Change the system... or at least try not to be one of those getting dogshit wages. Of course, it's not just about being paid more. It's also about not being treated like shit at work. I'm glad workers are finally starting to get the upper hand, because managers have become too complacent in thinking that they can do whatever they want and the peons will come to work anyway because they have no other choice. Well, now they have a choice. Just know that every time someone complains, "No one wants to work," what they're really saying is: "No one wants to work for me (because I'm an asshole)." One thing I'm certain of, though, is the people who said that the exploited workers would come begging for their shit jobs back once stimulus ended were, obviously, completely wrong. Because it ended, and people are still not interested in working at your soul-deadening, productivity-optimized, unpredictable-schedule, doing-the-work-of-three-people, no-chance-for-promotion craphole business. Don't get me wrong; I'd like to see the supply chain problems improve because I've been holding off on buying a car and a new laptop, both of which require computer chips that I hear are still in short supply. But I'm patient. So far. |
| I haven't visited Asheville, NC for about 10 years. In that time, apparently it's gained approximately 16,000 new breweries (and it had about 4,000 to start with). I'm going to try to drink at most of them today. But first (because I doubt I'll be able to do it later), a "JAFBG" [XGC] prompt:There has been talk recently about imposing upper age limits on political roles. Do you think there should be a maximum age limit for political positions? Only for members of the other party. Again, this is going to be US-centric, though I might mention the Queen of England, who is about to celebrate her 70th year on the throne (she might want to get up sometimes). However, that's not a political position. And now that I've gotten British royalty out of the way, back to Freedom Land: Nah. Why bother? You're either going to be able to hold the office, or you're going to die, or you might become mentally incapacitated, which, from what I've seen, no one will be able to tell the difference (see: Ronald Reagan). I say for age limits the same thing I say for term limits: We have them. It's called voting the bastards out of office. No one seems willing to do that, though. But if you don't like how old someone is or how long they've served... don't vote for them. Yeah, this doesn't apply to judges, but that's not technically a political role either. While we're at it. let's eliminate lower age limits, too. Right now, to be President, you have to (among other qualifications) be 35 years old. Senators, 30. Representatives, 25. These aren't new things; they're right there in the Constitution. So eliminate 'em. Hell, any given 8-year-old would probably do a better job than some of the fuckers in office right now. Of course, this means lowering the voting age to 0 too. Well, I'm willing to compromise on that a bit. You have to be able to go through the voting queue without shitting your diapers. This would, of course, eliminate a lot of older voters as well. Which is an added benefit. |
| A reminder: postings here will be at irregular times for the rest of the month due to an epic beer adventure upon which I am about to embark... weather permitting. Meanwhile, one of the last few prompts from "JAFBG" [XGC]:If you could delete one website or tv channel from existence, which one would you delete and why? Here is where I normally come up with an obvious joke answer, but to be honest, I don't want to. For one thing, censorship sucks. "I don't like what you have to say, so I'm going to make sure no one else hears it." Sure, some censorship is unavoidable, because if you allow things like unrestricted ads or hate speech, things get ugly real quick and people will leave your site. But in my view, restricting what goes on in a forum that you control is a different matter than deciding that someone else's platform must be deleted. I mean, age-restrict it, put up content warnings, whatever, that's fine; people should know something about what they're getting into. Banning something should be a last-ditch thing for truly despicable and/or illegal content (on the level of videos / photos of child abuse). Since I don't know any website or TV channel that portrays that, my answer is still "none." For another thing, okay, let's say you don't agree with me (which is fine) and you decide to nuke... I don't know... Twitter. (Look, I understand. That was the one I was going to make the obvious joke about up there.) So you eliminate Twitter completely, dismantle its servers, send its administrators off to a gulag, and ban its corporate executives from going anywhere near a computer or a venture capitalist. You do all that, and within a few months, there will be a new Twitter, run by different people. If there's a demand for a service, someone will provide it. Eliminate Fox News? Something else will take its place. Pull the plug on Wikipedia? It'll take a while, but there will be a Wikipedia II at some point. When there are both ethical and practical reasons for doing something (or in this case, not doing it), I'd say it's not worth doing (not worth... not doing... okay, whatever). So, no, I can't answer the prompt because I wouldn't delete any website or TV channel from existence. I sure as hell avoid a lot of them, though. Which if you don't like something, that's the way to go, instead of imposing your own standards on everyone else. |
| By my estimation, at this point 96.7% of all New Year's Resolutions have failed. And I finally got this "JAFBG" [XGC] prompt in my random selection. It's time for new year's resolutions. What do you not care about doing in 2022? Let's go over the most common resolutions, shall we? 1) Lose weight. Did that, succeeded for a while, failed. Yes, I became a cliché. A new year isn't going to make an ounce of difference. Pun intended. Verdict: Don't care. 2) Exercise more. This can overlap with 1, but doesn't have to. Again, don't care. 3) Drink less. 4) Read more. That would involve doing something else less, so... no. 5) Stop smoking. Yeah, still don't care. 6) Learn a new language. 882 consecutive days of learning French, and counting. I intend to continue. That's not a resolution; never was -- if you do the math, you'll see I started on some random day in late August of 2019. Do resolutions work for you? If so, great. They don't work for me, so I quit trying, based on my core philosophy of not setting myself up for failure. I do try to do things to improve myself; just not based on the Gregorian calendar. You could say I've resolved to not make resolutions. But that leads to paradox, so... whatever. |
| First of all, there might be erratic post timing from me over the weekend. I'm going beer tasting out of town. (Still don't have a car; someone else is driving.) And now for a "JAFBG" [XGC] prompt...Have you ever run into the "Is this all there is to life?" existential crisis? How do you get past it? No. It's not like I've never asked myself that question; it's just that it never sank to the level of "existential crisis." The root cause of existential crises, as I see it anyway, is that we're fooled into believing that life has a meaning, or a purpose. It does not. Believing that it does necessarily results in thinking about what that might be. Some people might find their own meaning or purpose, and they're content to live in accordance with it. That's fine, too. All I'm saying is that the initial assumption is faulty. You can build a house on a strong foundation, but if the underlying soil is unstable, it doesn't matter how solid the house is or how strong the foundation is; it will crack, tilt, sink, or get washed away in the next flood. Once you realize that, ultimately, nothing has a meaning save that which we project upon it, you can just live life. I'm sure a bunch of people would question the invalidity of that assumption. "Isn't the purpose of life to reproduce?" That's a big part of the definition of life, but it's not a "purpose." Besides, we can choose not to do so, as I have, and still lead a satisfying life. Sometimes more satisfying, because there's less drama and disappointment involved. (Let's table for now the question of whether we actually choose anything.) "But what about all the bearded philosopher types who claim to have found the meaning?" What about them? None of them stand up to objective scrutiny, as is obvious because the beards each have their own, often mutually exclusive, take on it. "Forty-two!" Oh, give it a rest already. I guess the philosopher who sums it up best for me is Jim Steinman, who wrote the following immortal lines for Meat Loaf to belt out: Who am I? Why am I here? Forget the questions, someone get me another beer What's the meaning of life? What's the meaning of it all? You gotta learn to dance before you learn to crawl You gotta learn to dance before you learn to crawl If you want my views of history, then there's something you should know The three men I admire most are Curly, Larry, and Moe Don't worry about the future, sooner or later it's the past If they say the thrill is gone then it's time to take it back If the thrill is gone then it's time to take it back |
| You'll be pleased to know that there's only a week left of me doing prompts from "JAFBG" [XGC]. The world changes pretty quickly. What are some things that have changed in society since you were a kid and what things have stayed the same? I guess the biggest change is the extinction of the woolly mammoth. Those things used to shake the ground in their herds, but then one day, boom, gone. Or maybe it was the invention of the wheel. Well, actually, wheels were around before I was born; it's the axle that really changed society by letting us load captured enemies on carts instead of dragging them behind horses. Okay, okay, fine, something serious. Society ebbs and flows, and most changes are fads and fashions, superficial stuff. But technology has the potential to bring lasting changes to society, so I'm mostly focusing on technology here. And again, this is a U.S. perspective because that's where I live. My birth year was a little more than 60 years after the first powered controlled flight. The first 747 took off a few years after I was born. In just a few years, more time will have passed between "now" and my birth than between my birth and the first flight. A lot changed in those first 60-some years, but commercial air travel since then? Apart from a few details, such as trip volume, engine efficiency, security theater, and the willingness to pack us into those damn aluminum tubes like pickles in a jar, it hasn't materially changed since I was born. Oh, we toyed with supersonic jets for a bit, but they never made a lot of commercial sense. Nor has automobile travel changed much, except for increased safety measures -- interstates were mostly built before I was born. What I'm getting at is we're using the same modes of transportation as we did in the 60s. The only exception is urban scooter rentals and the like, which hardly count. Other countries introduced higher-speed rail, but that's still just rail. Electric cars are still just cars. The reason I mention this is that there is one thing that has changed radically, which is communication. The internet has connected all of us in a way transportation doesn't -- for better and for worse. And even with all the downsides of it, I'd rather have the internet than not. Being able to communicate in real time with people from all over the world? That's very cool. Streaming video on demand? Absolutely cool. Knowledge at my fingertips? Love it (even if I do have to double- and triple- check most of it). Best of all, I can usually avoid the parts of it that suck, such as vertical video, social media and intrusive ads. I can't let this go without nodding in the direction of the most important U.S. societal change in my lifetime. On October 14, 1978, President Carter signed federal transportation bill H.R 1337 into law. It included Amendment Number 3534, proposed by Senator Alan Cranston of California, authorizing the home production of wine and beer. This federal legalization of home brewing created many hobby brewers, some of whom went on to open craft breweries, thus changing society for the better. We don't live in a perfect world, of course, but having microbreweries around at least keeps this timeline from verging into absolute dystopia. So which was more important, craft breweries, or the internet? I really can't say. I do know that I'd never find as many beers to try if it weren't for the internet... but on the flip side, I'd have less use for the internet if I couldn't use it to find breweries. So... both? Sure. Why not both. |
| And another one I can't fully answer from "JAFBG" [XGC]... but I'm going to try anyway. Channel your inner Seinfeld and tell us the most petty reason you've broken up with someone or lost interest in dating them. I don't know, because I haven't broken up with, or dated, anyone except my most recent ex-wife since Seinfeld was originally on TV (you don't want to know how long ago that was; it was longer than you think and you'll feel old). I wasn't the one doing the breaking-up, usually, and the few times I did the reasons were eminently justifiable and not at all petty. No, really. No. Really. Stop laughing. (Stupid canned laugh track.) There was one time in the 90s when I dated this one chick, briefly. She was nice but incurious, and desperately wanted children while I desperately didn't. But that wasn't why I broke up with her (I was just very, very careful to never let the condoms out of my possession). No, I broke up with her because she declawed her cats. Like I said, not a petty reason. Though some might find it to be so. She certainly did. I consider it to be an inexcusable, barbaric practice which usually only serves to protect one's precious, precious furniture. There are other ways to protect the furniture besides mutilating cats. And even if there weren't, a living thing's welfare is almost always more important than that of furniture. (One exception: cockroaches.) It's not that I didn't know her cats were declawed when we started getting serious. It's just that I wasn't aware, at first, of how horrible it was, thinking it was only slightly bad and you just couldn't let the cats outside, which wasn't an issue for her at the time because she lived in an apartment. The internet was in its nascent stages back then, populated mostly just by nerds like me -- long before Failbook, before Wikipedia, even before WDC. (Did you know Writing.com predated Wikipedia? By about four months. Now you do.) But I started digging around on there and became appalled. There really wasn't anything I could do about the poor kitties. She treated them well enough otherwise, and unlike in civilized countries, declawing isn't illegal in the US. But I just couldn't see the relationship going anywhere because a) I will always have cats, b) I will never have them declawed, and c) that was all I needed to know about her priorities. And don't get me wrong -- I may be a little judgey on this subject, but I never hated her for it; I wished her well and moved on. She wasn't so cool with the breakup, though, so, unlike with most of my exes, I have no idea where she is or what she's doing (but I am certain based on discussions with mutual friends that the condoms, indeed, worked as designed). Since it's been about 25 years, the cats in question have long since gone to meet Bast. It was simply a sign for me that we were, ultimately, incompatible. Hell, if she got what she wanted in life, she's got fully grown kids by now. I just hope she didn't declaw them, too. |
| Another tough one today from "JAFBG" [XGC] Tell us about something that has been difficult for you to discuss in the past, but that you're ready to talk about now. It's not tough because of the subject matter, but because the few things that are difficult for me to talk about are still difficult to talk about. And while I've mentioned some of these things to close friends, none of them are ready for this very public forum (I have the blog set to "Allow Everyone" in the so-far-thwarted hope that offsite people will read it and want to join WDC). I think most people, confronted by this failure of ability to directly address the prompt, would just skip it. Not me, though. Because while it's difficult to talk about certain traumatic experiences in my early life, as any regular readers can attest, I don't have a problem spewing words on damn near any other topic, whether I'm qualified to or not. For the sake of discussions, I'm going to use language as a compression algorithm, and rename that-which-we're-not-ready-to-talk-about to the letter Z. And I don't give a shit whether you pronounce that Zee or Zed. Since I don't want to address Z directly, I'll come at it from an oblique angle. In a meta sort of way, this is a direct response to the prompt, because I don't think I've even acknowledged the existence of Z in here. I just kind of assumed that people would know that I had stuff I was going to keep Z-cret (yea, I couldn't help myself, but to get that pun you have to pronounce that letter as it is in the US). Because, well, doesn't everybody? Maybe you tortured animals as a kid, but didn't grow up to be a serial killer, though if you admitted to it, people would assume that you were. Maybe you're sexually attracted to ten-year-olds but never do anything about it. Maybe you stole your brother's teddy bear and tore out the stuffing because he annoyed you, then blamed it on the dog, who ended up "on a farm." Maybe you know that your parents abused you, and you're not repressing the memory, but keeping it to yourself because they weren't all bad and you don't want people to think less of them. Whatever. Everyone has a Zkeleton. Okay, that one was a bit forced, I admit it. Or maybe it's a secret so dark, so terrible, that you can't even tell your closest friends about it. Or your religious leader, or your therapist. Instead, you bottle it up inside, erecting a wall between it and your everyday life, and most of the time you manage to forget about it. But sometimes, usually at three in the morning when you can't sleep because you drank too much the day before and the alcohol-induced coma has worn off, leaving a hung-over wakefulness, and you hear a scratching on that wall, and you remember. But you don't dwell on it too much, because right now, that wall is one of those Japanese rice paper partitions and if you acknowledged the full and horrible truth, it would come tearing through, panting and slavering. Sure would be nice to have some cinderblocks right now, wouldn't it? And some mortar. Or at least something stronger than booze. It's good to know that everyone has a Z, though. At least, I assume everyone does. Wow, what if someone doesn't have a Z? I just now realiZed that this is a possibility. How well-adjusted would they be? It's hard to imagine. But I call myself a writer, so I have to try: All the contortions, all the action movie laser-grid acrobatics you have to go through to keep anyone from finding about Z, well, you don't have to do those, do you? You don't have to spend most of your waking hours desperately trying to forget it, and the rest carefully ensuring that no one finds out about it. On the other hand... in that imaginary, utopian situation... where's your mystery? You have nothing to hold back, so those few people who give enough of a shit about you to get to know you, well, eventually, they just... know you. And then you're boring. So yeah, maybe I'll hold on to all of my Zs for the foreZeeable future. I just hope I die before I get AlZheimer's and end up Zpilling the beans anyway -- the one bright spot being that no one would believe me if I'm Zpewing Ztuff if I've got dementia. I'm something of a fiction writer, after all, and maybe it was all part of some plot or another that never got written. Or maybe it did, and I've passed off unbearable fact as fiction. You'll never know. |
| I've been kind of dreading this one from "JAFBG" [XGC], but here I am taking a stab at it anyway. What's something going on in the world or in your local community right now that you think people should be more aware of? To be honest, I don't know. That's the simple answer. Of course, you don't expect me to stick with the simple answer, do you? Anyone reading this necessarily has an internet connection (my apologies to anyone who's reading a printout of this a hundred years in the future -- congratulations for surviving, by the way). Anyone with an internet connection can find out pretty much whatever they want, whenever they want, with the only caveat being that one must use some discretion to separate fact from fiction -- which is a skill that some of us don't seem to have. So I'm aware of a bunch of stuff, not all of which I can fully trust. And, presumably, so are you. I'm probably aware of stuff that you're not, and vice-versa, but I have no idea which is which. The big global stories right now involve the pandemic, Ukraine, and the volcano in Tonga. And Meat Loaf's recent death, which is somehow related to at least one of those things, but not everyone cares about that. And that's the problem: not a lack of knowledge, but a lack of giving a shit. As there is plenty of stuff that I don't give a shit about (sports, for example), I can understand that. If you don't care, I can't make you care. The information is out there. All you have to do is ask the right questions. Humans are capable of profound intelligence and equally profound stupidity (sometimes even within the same individual). I try to highlight some cases of both in this blog -- scientific discoveries as well as completely misguided philosophy. So, "What's something going on in the world or in your local community right now?" Everything. And nothing. It depends on your point of view. |
| Let's see what the random numbers give me for "JAFBG" [XGC] today. How was 2021 vs. your expectations for the year? What are you expecting in 2022? That's the great thing about having low expectations: Usually (not always), they're exceeded. I expected 2021 to be a massive, epic shitshow. As it turned out to be merely an epic shitshow, I was pleasantly surprised. I don't think I had any specific predictions for last year. I'm not Nostradamus. I couldn't have nailed the January 6 trators' insurrection, or the death of Betty White at the end of the year (though those two events neatly bookended the shitshow); I just expected Bad Shit to happen in general. On New Years Eve of 2020, I wrote in a blog entry: "I just think all the folks who are going to breathe a huge sigh of relief just because the clock strikes midnight are going to be in for a rude surprise." Bad writing aside, the other great thing about having low expectations is I either get the pleasant surprise of something good happening, or the pure joy associated with being right. In this case, it was the pure joy of being right. On a personal level, the year wasn't so bad, even with getting my car totaled. But it sucked from a global perspective. As for what I'm expecting in 2022? Well, more of the same, of course. Probably worse. Almost certainly worse. Want some specific predictions? Go here. Who knows? Maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised again. If not, I'll settle for being able to smugly say "I told you so." |
| A provocative one from "JAFBG" [XGC]. Should there be limitations on free speech. And if so, what should those limitations be? Of course there should be: anything I don't like should be banned. Okay, no, of course I'm joking. Still, it seems some people actually think that way. This is not a jab at any one political side; it's an actual rare case of "both sides are bad," or, rather, extremists on both sides are bad. True freedom begins when you realize that it's better to hear opinions you don't like, and to have the opportunity to refute them, than it is to ban them. Keeping in mind that I am and have always been a US citizen, and this is therefore written from a US point of view. There are of course some limitations on free speech. We've seen what happens when there aren't: internet boards getting filled up with ads, for example. The limit most often trotted out involves shouting "Fire!" in a crowded theater, on the theory that doing so could lead to injury or loss of life in the ensuing panic. (The actual court decision adds the word "falsely" to that -- just so you know, in case you're ever in a theater and you actually see something burning and want to warn people.) Never established, as far as I know, is if it's okay to shout "Movie!" in a crowded firehouse. But the basic idea -- that some forms of unfettered speech can cause imminent harm, and should thus be proscribed -- seems to have some validity. It's the "imminent" part that leads to gray areas: there's a difference between "Trespassers should be shot" and "Let's shoot those trespassers now." And there are always gray areas. That's why we have arguments. As I see it, anyway, imminent harm isn't the only criteria. We've decided that public pornography isn't acceptable, for example. Or naming your business something containing a curse word (though I find it hilarious that there are actual Vietnamese restaurants named Pho King, because I'm secretly 12 years old). The point is, yes, there are always limits, because speech isn't the only right worth protecting. Sometimes it comes into conflict with our other rights: life, liberty, privacy, whatever; and a balance has to be maintained there. Where exactly that balance lies is why we have courts and shit. And the freedom to argue about it. Most importantly, private companies and other entities get to set their own limits on free speech, which I think a lot of people miss in their whining about being silenced. Someone comes into my house going "Hitler was right," and while I would never say that they shouldn't be allowed to say that, they'd be unwelcome in my house forevermore. In fact, I want to know if someone's a racist, classist, Judeophobe, sexist, etc., so I can know who to ignore, and I can't know that unless we give them free rein to express their idiotic opinions. |
| Yep, still doing "JAFBG" [XGC]. But all this time, I've been dropping links into my Blog Fodder folder so I'll have stuff to write about after January. What's your strongest held belief that you would defend at all costs? At all costs? I don't know that I could possibly believe in anything strongly enough to defend it at all costs. I mean, it's like: Me: Science is the best method we have for underst- Them: *chambers a shotgun round* Me: Religion works too. Or: Me: Cats make far superior pets than d- Them: *holds knife at my throat* Me: Dogs are great pets. I suppose that means that my most strongly held belief is that no one should kill me, but I'm not willing to die or be tortured to defend that one, either. I don't even know what that would look like. Some sort of infinite recursion paradox, I guess. The closest thing I can think of, the one hill that I've said I would die on, is the one involving the definition of a Blue Moon. I know I've banged on it in here before, but the tl;dr is: People think a Blue Moon is what you call the second full moon of a Gregorian calendar month -- this is false; it is actually the third full moon in a season containing four full moons. Like I said, I've ranted about this before: "Once in a Blue Moon" "More Tricks Than Treats" "Cold Moon" "Balance" And even more from my dust-collecting offsite travel blog.It's not just the naming thing itself that hackles my raises, but that, even when the error is pointed out, people still stick with the false information that was first presented to them. So if there were anything I'd defend at all costs, it'd be- *notices red laser dots on my chest* Um, clearly the moon is blue because it's made of Stilton. |
| A puzzling prompt from "JAFBG" [XGC] No one is perfect. What's your most toxic personality trait? What's your best personality trait that offsets that? My sense of humor. And my sense of humor. I guess, anyway. Confession: I am utterly incompetent at analyzing myself. I'd have to ask a friend. But, being a friend, they probably wouldn't tell me the bare truth. Or, if they did, I wouldn't believe them, because of course I don't want to think I have any toxic personality traits. It's likely that I do, though, or else I might have more friends. I just have no idea what those traits might be. But being unable to analyze myself is not necessarily, in itself, either a toxic or a positive personality trait. On the plus side, it means I don't have to do a lot of work to accept myself. On the minus side, I'm sure there are things about myself that I should work on, but I don't know what they are. The reason my mind went straight to "sense of humor," though, is that there's one thing I'm pretty sure of about myself: I sometimes make inappropriate jokes. I don't think that manifests online very often, because there's a big difference between saying something in the spur of the moment, and having to think about it long enough to type it and then press enter or whatever. But many's the time I've started to make a joke here or somewhere else on the internet, and stopped myself because I decided it could be too hurtful. I'm sure there were times I didn't stop myself, though. At the same time, however, humor can defuse tension, so I don't think it's a bad thing in general that I make jokes. Just that my mouth is sometimes faster than my brain. Comedy is like drinking: It can get you into, and out of, some awkward situations. So, at the risk of finding out something I don't want to find out, you tell me what the actual answer is to the prompt. I'd make it a mini-contest, but I don't want to know that badly. |
| And another from "JAFBG" [XGC]: What minor inconvenience drives you fucking mad? I think I'm one of those people who freak all out of proportion when something minor happens, but if it's major -- like when my car got totaled -- I tend to stay cool and focus on dealing with the problem. I'm sure there have been exceptions to this, especially on the "minor problem" side. If I'm in the right mood, I can brush it off. But there's one thing that really shouldn't bother me as much as it does, and that's clothing pricks. No, I don't mean douchebags who wear shitty fashion. I mean, like, I put on a T-shirt and something in the seam or whatever irritates my skin. There's a tiny pokey thread, or whatever, and it digs into my skin, but when I go to look for it, I can't see anything. And then I put the shirt back on and it continues to be irritating. This is absolutely rage-inducing, especially when I'm in a hurry and I have to dig through the clean laundry basket (don't judge; I'm a single man) to find a different shirt, hopefully one without stray pokey things. Worse, of course, is when the problem doesn't manifest until I've thoroughly left the house. I'll be sitting there at the movie theater, munching on popcorn, enjoying the flick (or not, which is also enjoyable because I can then rehearse how I'll rag on it in a one-sentence movie review), and there it is, like a needle scratching at my skin. It's enough to turn a four-star movie into a three-star movie. "Loved the action sequences and seamless CGI, but my goddamned shirt was all scratchy." Then I have to walk home after the movie's over with a shirt that has obviously come to hate me for making it sit through a stupid action movie. And then when I look at the area, there's maybe some redness, but no actual pinholes. So maybe my skin is hypersensitive, or maybe I should quit buying cheap-ass T-shirts -- still, after doing a load of laundry, that particular shirt doesn't bug me anymore, but another one, one I have never had problems with, starts doing the pokey thing. Speaking of movies, I was really hoping to go see Licorice Pizza, but apparently it's out of the local theater now. Not a lot of point in finding it on streaming; the whole reason I go is to experience the movie on a big screen, with other people, and to drink beer. I meant to go last week, but a bunch of stuff kept getting in the way. Hopefully the snow we got -- which wasn't even anywhere close to the predicted foot -- will melt enough that I can walk over there sometime this week to see... I don't know. Something. I'll just have to give myself enough time to change shirts before I go, just in case. |
| A "JAFBG" [XGC] prompt: What is something people get wrong about your occupation, gender, community, ethnicity, sexuality, religion, medical condition, etc. that you would like to clarify? Occupation: Being retired doesn't mean I sit around all day staring at nothing, waiting for someone to come by to alleviate the monotony. I am always doing something. Last night, that something was getting completely danchu. Gender: Contrary to popular belief, men don't just want One Thing. But often they have to act like they do because they've been conditioned to suppress their actual feelings. Community: Yes, Charlottesville has achieved international fame because there were a bunch of right-wingers who caused problems here. No, most of them were not from Charlottesville. My town is mostly leftist pinko commie socialist liberal hippies who drive Priuses. Pria. Prii. Whatever. Ethnicity: No, we don't have access to space lasers, and we don't secretly pull the strings of a global conspiracy shadow government. Jesus, give it a rest already. Sexuality: Being single doesn't mean I'd fuck anything that moves. I do have standards. Religion: Most atheists don't want to ban or destroy religion; we just want true freedom of religion for individuals, and freedom from religion in the public sphere. Medical condition: No, I'm not always going to follow my doctor's advice to the letter. It is more important to live a full life than it is to live an especially long one. Example: last night. Some people think hangovers are punishment for the good time you had. Me? I consider them a badge of honor. I just wish my cats didn't walk so loud. |
| Another one from "JAFBG" [XGC] today: What are you most exhausted with in this exact moment? What was your breaking point with this issue? I don't suppose "everything" counts? Maybe? No? Fine. Yesterday, I got some groceries delivered. Not an unusual occurrence, as I've noted. I could have waited a few more days, but what with the blizzard whiteout we expect Sunday (now down to about 8 inches), I figured the stores would be out of bread and milk by tomorrow, so I bought a shitload of bread and milk. Just kidding. But I did buy other essentials like Crack Zero and beer. All in all, I ordered about 20 items, not a huge amount. The store was out of eight of them and the shopper had to find replacements for another four. More, since I was wanting to make loaded baked potatoes at some point, I asked for cheese, potatoes, and bacon bits. They were out of cheese and potatoes. I'd put instructions on the bacon bits: Only buy these if there are also potatoes and cheese. What did I end up with? Bacon bits, of course. Oh well. They should last a while. The point is, fuck these shortages. No, I'm not going to starve or, worse, go thirsty, but that doesn't mean I'm not annoyed. And I understand why they're happening, but that doesn't mean I have to be happy about it. And yes, I realize other people have it worse. Which only enrages me more, because them having it worse doesn't negate the fact that this is what is pissing me off right at this moment. Ask me tomorrow and I'll say "the situation in Ukraine" or "the high cost of healthcare" or "people getting screwed by student loans" or something else that's not my immediate problem. And ask me on Monday and I'll probably be like "the tree branch that just broke my house" because it's going to sn*w, then rain, then freeze. But today, I choose to wallow in my first world problem. |
| From "JAFBG" [XGC]: Imagine the pandemic never happened. How do you think your life would be different now, if at all? What pandemic? ...okay, look, I'd like to say that the only thing that would be different is that I wouldn't have canceled my gym membership. But let's be real: I still would have canceled my gym membership. Eventually. Because I'm lazy. Before the pandemic, I was going out only rarely, ordering delivery groceries, and buying most of my shit from Amazon. Now, I go out only rarely, order delivery groceries, and buy most of my shit from Amazon. I guess the biggest difference is now I wear a mask when I go out? And I gotta tell you, I like it a lot better. The mask I usually wear isn't the one in my Notebook picture, but rather has on it a photo of a cat's nose and mouth, so it looks like my lower facial features are replaced by a feline's. I will continue to wear this mask in public, regardless of what diseases may or may not be circulating. This is because, every time I wear it, I get compliments on it. I have never, not once, ever gotten a compliment on my actual face. This is called positive reinforcement, and it works. As a bonus, I hope this causes any facial recognition software in my vicinity to spark, smoke, and explode. I probably would have traveled more, but even that would have led to me being, right now, sitting here at home wishing winter would end already because fuck, I've had it with winter. Yes, I know I still have the rest of January and all of February to go through. Thanks for reminding me. I hate February. Except for the year I spent February on Maui. That was a good February. Hm. One thing that might be different. I might not be so completely, utterly done with approximately half of the population of the US. I might still have some tiny thread of hope for the future. But probably not. |
| Well, this "JAFBG" [XGC] prompt was going to come up sometime. Tell us about something/someone that fucked you off this week. My city. I can't say it was specifically this week. It's more of an ongoing thing. First, a bit of background that's probably necessary for understanding: Like many cities, mine has a recycling program. Whether the items that go into recycling are actually recycled or not is an open question, but that falls into the category of Not My Problem. Recycling is free (or paid for by taxes or whatever; the point is that we don't pay per pickup for recycling). Other waste (which I will refer to herein as Garbage to distinguish it from Recycling) is paid for through an annual fee and/or a per-pickup tag. Garbage is picked up every week. Recycling is picked up every other week, by a different truck. In my neighborhood, we put the bins out on Monday evening for a Tuesday pickup, then we have to take the bins back from the curb by Tuesday evening. I told you about the shitty sn*wstorm we had here last week. That was on Monday morning. I dutifully lugged the bins to the curb despite the sn*w. I didn't really expect the pickup to happen on Tuesday, because of the heaps of frozen slush, but just in case, there they were. Tuesday came and went. No pickup. Well, I'm not schlepping that shit back through the sn*w; probably it would happen Wednesday. Wednesday goes by. No pickup. Most of the sn*w melted from the roads and yard. I leave that crap out there (as do the neighbors) all week. No pickup. There's a Garbage bin, a Recycling bin, and several cardboard boxes filled with overflow recycling because I buy all kinds of shit online because I don't give a damn and it's not like I can go to stores right now. The following Monday (this week, which makes this all fit the prompt), the garbage pickup happened. The recycling continues to sit by the curb. Getting soggy. There's no way in hell I'm dragging all of that back up to my house. I mean, it's only 25 feet, but now the yard is filled with fallen branches because sn*wstorm. They're not going to pick it up this week. The next scheduled recycling pickup is this coming Tuesday. Guess what's predicted to happen Sunday. Go ahead. Take a wild-ass guess. You're right: a blizzard. Well. A Virginia blizzard, which translates to "flurries" from the perspective of my friends in Minnesota, Michigan and Canada. Predictions are for a foot of sn*w. Or maybe mixed sn*w and ice. Or maybe rain and sn*w. Whatever, the point is, I'd bet $100 (the approximate annual price of an annual garbage can sticker) that the trucks won't make it here next Tuesday either, because this is Virginia and if there's a foot of sn*w, it might as well be twenty for all anyone can move on the roads. Meanwhile, I have another two weeks' worth of recycling ready to go to the curb. And to the curb it will go: on Saturday, before the oncoming storm, because there's no way in frozen hell I'm going to try to drag it through a foot of sn*w on Monday. And if they don't pick it up, it will continue to sit there, because I'm done. I did what I was supposed to do. They did not. They can try to give me shit about it if they want, but the bottom line is: if they don't want a bunch of soggy, falling-apart cardboard boxes filled with a mix of more cardboard, plastic, beer bottles, paper, more plastic, cans, and more beer bottles, any one of which could fall apart at any moment, and which will soon be also weighed down by sn*w, sitting in the street, they can goddamned well pick it up themselves. Not. My. Problem. |
| Today's attempt at a "JAFBG" [XGC] prompt... What is a big debate in a small subculture that you're part of which the average person wouldn't know about? (ex. a debate in your field of study, in a specific hobby, in your profession, in your community) Well, I suppose I could take sides over who would win in a fight, Superman or the Hulk. Or maybe go the Trek route and enter into the great debate over who is the best captain, Kirk or Picard. (Trick question. It's Sisko.) But how about the small subculture that most of us here share, and the great debate that will almost certainly never be settled to anyone's satisfaction? I'm referring, of course, to the Oxford comma. Here are some shining examples, courtesy of Thesaurus.com, of why the Oxford comma is a necessity: "Rachael Ray finds inspiration in cooking her family and her dog" Too bad she can only do that once. "World leaders at Mandela tribute, Obama-Castro handshake and same-sex marriage date set... " In fairness, that one could have gone either way. " ... an overworked employee at the Ministry of Magic, a husband and father of three school-age children." It seems this is from fanfiction, not original Rowling, but even fanfic writers should know better than to be this ambiguous. "We went caroling with our dogs, grandma and grandpa." Strange names for dogs, but you do you. " ... Merle Haggard's two ex-wives, Kris Kristofferson and Robert Duvall." Okay, well, if it worked for them, fine. " ... Nelson Mandela, an 800-year-old demigod and a dildo collector." And I'm going to stop right there, because if that phrase is not enough to convince you that the Oxford comma is an absolute requirement, nothing will be. |
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