Locked inside this facilityDesigned to produce clean mindsBinded in by laws to betterImprisoned for good functioningIt’s a world of sufferingThose who succeed are miserableThose who are happy fail miserablyThey claim it’s a giftA gift we need and can’t refuseIt’s a prison and a cultWhy we need it I don’t knowWait I do—to be a good cogThey own us—they control usFrom the start they claim their … Continue reading What a Gift
Another iteration. New. Again.Again let’s go again let’s go again.Remix. Repeat. Remix. Repeat. Again.Let’s go again let’s go again let’s go.It’s all been done. Do it again. Once more.All-American suicide. Revive.Sell me your toes. One dollar each. Regrow.I know you slip. I heard from Dante youwill burn, too. Can you feel the fire burning?There is a spectre haunting this house andI wonder who it could … Continue reading Remix
In the US, a lot of people are Christian. Christianity is a big enough force in the country that the “Religious Right” is a thing. While not all Republicans are concerned with religion, it’s at least a staple of the party, and any conservative politician will at least pay lip service to it. The Trump administration is no exception, and it has indeed tried to … Continue reading Even if the Bible is not the law, it is the document a lot of Americans look to for values
This article is excellent. I don’t agree with everything in it, but I think it has two very good and important points: 1. If you give up on things like value judgements and expertise, you lose almost all ground you have to say much with oomph. Some things are better than some other things. Aesthetically as well as politically. Media created with nuance and … Continue reading Some media is better than other media
There’s plenty of images to this effect, so I’ll just put one here for reference: A fun fact. Well, it would be a fun fact if it were true. But it’s not. “Ishtar” sounds like it looks like it would sound like. Those aren’t her symbols, either, nor is she the goddess of fertility. The name “Easter” more likely comes from “Eostre” which is Germanic. … Continue reading Today’s a Christian holiday; time for social media to smugly reveal that there’s some connection between Easter and Ishtar
Since last time I posted this (which was on FB), I’ve watched a few more shows. I’m surprised at how much TV I’m watching, but I guess sometimes it’s good to do something besides read, write, and exercise. And I’m pretty quick to turn something off if I’m getting nothing out of it. Also several of my closest friends watch a fair bit of TV … Continue reading TV Update 2018-02-19
Well, another batch of popular shows are being removed from Netflix. And quite a few people are ready to just pirate the shows. I’m not quite sure whether the network execs aren’t thinking this sorta thing through or just assume everyone forgot how to acquire things for free. Piracy rates plummeted when Netflix, Spotify, etc. got big because, sure, you could download things one by one … Continue reading The pirates are ready for more Netflix removals
I read this article to make sure I wasn’t missing something. But, no, it’s indeed the case that finding anyone who seriously cares about poetry or creative writing generally has anything good to say about Kaur’s work. It’s pretty transparently vapid. What’s left me at a loss is why I actively dislike it. Sure, it’s a bunch of platitudes published by a major publisher and getting … Continue reading The poetry aisle at Wal-Mart is awful
I say with some regularity a lot of words need to be abandoned because they’re always contorted and the discussion goes off the rails pursuing the One True Definition of a word. But perhaps more imagination needs to be developed before the lexical space can be sorted out. Take “communism” and “leftism” for example. The former many people associate with the stuff Stalin did rather … Continue reading Bring on disambiguated terminology (CSSism vs Communism)
Interesting article, if you ignore the stupid headline. The mentioned studies connecting screen-based activities and unhappiness is of note. (Though I wonder how ebooks compare to books.) “As teens have started spending less time together, they have become less likely to kill one another, and more likely to kill themselves.” Is, well. Something. (Reminds me of the meme showing 80s/90s rock screaming “I kill motherfuckers” … Continue reading Pervasive technological problems don’t get solved by just opting out
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