quantumblog - Tumblr blog

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Lighting striking atop Acatenango volcano in Guatemala

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A tiger bursting to freedom after being rescued from a poacher’s snare in the Russian Far East.

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how?? just how?

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queen of the world to me

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'Metatextual wankery' might be my favourite tag

I realise it's 100% predictable of me to be enamoured with metatextual wankery, but I really appreciate the textual conceit in Nobilis whereby the game is ostensibly an in-universe document (i.e., the tabletop RPG Nobilis exists in the setting of Nobilis), particularly in light of the 3rd Edition's revelation that author's fictionalised self-insert is a human thrall of the generic Excrucian Deceiver who keeps popping up in the game's examples of play, with its concomitant implication that the game's systems of play are in-universe Excrucian propaganda. Like, forget about unreliable narrators – this one has unreliable rules!

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I must not mock Gen Alpha. Mocking Gen Alpha is the mind killer. Mocking Gen Alpha is the little-death that brings total generational solidarity obliteration. I will engage with Gen Alpha lovingly. I will permit them to be cringe. And when they grow up I will turn my eye to their accomplishments. Where mocking has gone there will be nothing. Only generational solidarity remains

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i do think theres something sad about how largely only the literature that's considered especially good or important is intentionally preserved. i want to read stuff that ancient people thought sucked enormous balls

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Henry Justice Ford (British, 1860 - 1941) - The Fisherman and the Siren

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Technophobes need to apologise for "just put it in plain English you stupid machine!" because, well for one the decline in accurate error messages in favour of simplicity has contributed to the rise of tech illiteracy, but also because now whenever an "app" has a net connection error it will pop up a box saying something like "oo ooopsie! Your super duper feed went poo poo. We'll try again soon!" which having said to me by a corporation is about 8 million times worse than having to hear the word "network".

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not to enforce gender roles but a computer should NOT fucking have apps okay. if I wanted an app I'd go on my phone my laptop is for Programs. I mean this.

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Oh my god!!???

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You can take the apartheid out of South Africa but you can never take it out of a white South African

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*Here to protect you from the menace of AI; hope you feel safer

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I don't know if this was obvious to everyone else, but I just realised that one of the reasons why the Hobbit is so effective as a children's book is that while Bilbo is an adult, the skills that make him a hero are all those of a child.

By human standards he's child-sized, which makes him unobtrusive and light on his feet. He can slip by unnoticed where bigger people can't.

He's good at playing games, and even cheats (successfully!) in a way that - let's face it - is not so different to how children try to cheat at games. He's polite in a way that's fully comprehensible to children (rather than, say, being able to perform courtly manners). He's quick-witted, but the trick of keeping the trolls talking is also one that would be achievable for a child.

He doesn't have magic powers, he's not a great fighter, and he's not some kind of Chosen One. There's not much that he does that couldn't be done by a ten-year-old, but the story shows just how valuable all those skills and traits are. It's very empowering.