#rants/lectures

[applepixls]

Anyone else thinking about how odd the hermitcraft economy is?

in season 9 they had a minor economic recession after the diamond ore war because there were far too many diamonds in circulation making them (hypothetically) worth less than normal and ren stepped in as the king and did what has been done in the midst of a lot of irl economic depressions; he created a government so they could employ the policy of Keynesian economics (basically more gov't intervention to stabilize the economy, it mostly worked in 1930's japan!), he took control of diamonds and even introduced a new currency, royal emeralds (much like Germany after WW1! they had some hyperinflation because of the war reparations they had to pay and the gov't not understanding that printing more money makes the money worth less resulting in the mark [currency] being so worthless they started burning it because they couldn't afford wood for fires. a new gov't came into power and they replaced the mark with rentenmarks which did a lot of fixificating for the economy). Ren's gov't also introduced a lot of gov't funded projects like the quests (the irl equivalent for this would be Roosevelt's New Deal which introduced policies/projects called the Alphabet Agencies (among other things) such as the AAA, CCC, TVA (do you see why they're called the alphabet agencies?) that would adjust the value of grain so farmers could start earning money for produce again and create work that would support a growing economy, projects like building roads and bridges)

so basically, all the policies ren's government introduced were very logically sound and worked in real life to fix the economy (except that irl the Great Depression only fully ended because WW2 started-), the issue is that hermitcraft is not real life and hermits do not behave like real people, they behave like hermits.

lets start with the hermitcraft economy. unlike the real economy, hermits rarely adjust prices according to how many diamonds are "in circulation". i say this despite the fact grian in a recent-ish episode says that "everything costs more this season because diamonds are more common". that can't be true because the caves and cliffs update literally made diamonds more difficult to acquire. I will circle back to this point made by grian later

hermits not adjusting prices by server-wide abundance of diamonds (because they cant really know how much anyone has, much less the total amount of diamonds in circulation, they just know who has a lot and who is broke) means that more diamonds doesn't make them worth less like it did with German marks, it just means hermits have more expendable currency and can spend more money and less time gathering materials for projects. It is also notable that diamonds are constantly being added and taken out of circulation because they're an actual useful currency rather than real life currencies which are symbolic slips of paper. diamonds can be used for armour and tools and it can be acquired by mining. so because of how hermits spend money, taking diamonds out of the economy in s9 did nothing but make them poor and angry at the government. the hermitcraft economy is actually stronger with more diamonds in circulation and is worsened by gov't intervention.

so already the use of real life strategies is utterly useless in hermitcraft economy but there are a few other reasons as well

the hermits tendency to resist government as well as the flawed and greedy government itself are a couple but also the fact that all the hermits are self employed (in real life but also in universe). they own and stock their own shops meaning all profits are more or less direct; its not passed through hands of big corporations so the person producing the product gets mere cents. the hermits are essentially small business owners (which becomes a bit of a problem come season 10 but we're still talking about season 9). The important part is the self employment. the season 9 gov't introduces the quests which mimic and echo real life government funded projects but because they're all employed and the quests gave small amounts of diamonds back, they did very little for the hermits

I'm sure theres more to say but i think its time to move on to the very interesting season 10 economy

if you've missed it you must be living under a rock but hermits are all using permits this season meaning only one shop in the shopping district is selling any given item/material and as a result of this prices have gone sky high. at one point a single stack of mangrove logs cost 7 diamonds when in previous seasons you could get at least 1 stack of wood for 1 diamond if not more

So what is causing this economic depression and hyperinflation?

well, circling back to the point grian made about resources costing more because of abundance of diamonds, I would think it actually costs more because of the permits.

grian thinks the diamond prices are fair because he has middle of the road permits (and is one of the hermits who designed their shopping district, permit and economic system this season so he's biased), there is enough demand to keep him afloat when he's stocked but its nothing people are clamouring for and buying him out. on the other hand, joel made a lot of shops that no one shops at because his objectively weighted permits have not been selling as well as they anticipated when making the permits (also some people like etho and pearl have additional income from their not as fabulous permits because they've made a pay to play game to go with it) and finally there are hermits like mumbo whose gold, iron and item frame shops were constantly getting bought out so he was frustrated with trying to restock despite getting lots of profit

(another interesting dynamic to think about is permits like cleo's book permit which lost value as the season went on because everyone needed books early on but now that they're all playing late game Minecraft, everyone is pretty stocked up and buying from cleo less often)

Basically, grian is satisfied with the pricing because he's middle class and couldn't afford it if they were more expensive but appreciates not being constantly out of stock, joel is unsatisfied because he is lower class and never has enough expendable currency to fund his projects because materials are too expensive and his permits aren't worth enough to sell them for more, and mumbo is unsatisfied because he is higher class and is constantly out of stock because his materials sell out too often and he wants to sell them for more to stay in stock more (classic supply and demand, he doesn't want to stock them as often making the supply lower and the demand proportionally higher making them worth more and therefore more expensive)

the reason i say the permits are to blame for the high prices is because they cause the responsibility of constantly stocking something to fall on one person (in past seasons, if one persons sandstone shop was out of stock you could go check someone else's sandstone shop). the threat of taking the permit away if they arent stocked along with the difficulty of constantly stocking some of these materials raises the cost.

a great example of this is skizzleman because his mangrove and cherry wood shop was one of the first shops to be built in the shopping district, meaning he somewhat set the prices this season. now, mangrove and cherry are both difficult trees to harvest because of their unconventional shapes and the fact that they are more recent additions (and skizz's stubborn desire to design his own farms...) so because of the time required to gather them the prices already were hitched up. add that to the fact that they are trying to constantly be in stock and therefore low prices that allow hermits to completely buy out the shops are unfavourable, and you get sky rocket-ing prices. (it is also difficult because skizz had no prior experience with hermitcraft pricing)

in conclusion... hermitcraft needs a laissez-faire economy (f. a. hayek) to function and not go into economic depression. Between the nature of the diamond currency, hermits' tendency to rebel against governments, the way they use the concept of supply and demand to price their goods, and the restrictions permits put on supplying products, hermits have proven that extensive structure and government intervention have not improved economic wellbeing the way that it does in real life

thus, hermits do not behave like regular humans, they operate on fae laws of its funny so lets do it and therefore must be governed as such (aka not governed), thank you for coming to my ted talk

[justhereforsomethingnice]

Danny is dead, which manifests as a ghost which falls under the anti ecto acts. Classified the same as insects, less rights then a corpse or a gun. Thing is, he discovered he’s also a meta. Sure, it wasn’t anything grand or amazing or something. His meta power was literally seeing through clouds if he wanted to. Which, is awesome, yay for star gazing and on misty morning drives he’s Jazz’s go to copilot but other then that? Not really much use (he’s not counting the times he was able to spot enemies hiding in cloud coverage or trying to use smoke machines).

However, now as he was visiting metropolis, the GIW had found him. Great? No.

So as Superman (who was told by official government agents that he was a dangerous criminal despite looking like a toddler in his eyes) grabbed him, agents in white creeping up on the sides, he said the first thing coming to mind. “I’m a meta, you can’t do shit to me.”

He snarled it to the GIW of course but now they’re kinda stumped at that reaction and if that would effect the anti ecto laws. Superman just thinks he has a self righteous, stuck up little prick in his hands.

Misunderstandings ensue.

[deadpoetsandlivinglegends]

Todd doesn’t talk much in the beginning but I think one random night Todd would go on a sudden 35 minute rant while doing Latin homework about how poetic it is that the Latin word for love is amor cause it sounds like armor, and love makes you feel safe, and Neil would sit there and listen, occasionally adding in comments if it seems like Todd is winding down to get him started up again, and after that Neil tries to get Todd to go on rants whenever he can so he can just sit and listen to Todd go on, sometimes it works and sometimes, especially when they are out and Todd feels anxious, it doesn’t, but every time he does talk on for long bouts of time, Neil just thinks ‘love makes you feel safe’

[honeycombclaire]

Bruce: If you kill a killer, the number of killers in the world stays the same.

Jason: I’ll just kill two of them.

Bruce: That’s not—

Jason: Or a hundred.

Bruce:

Jason: Surely that will change the ratio.

Damian, in the corner: *nodding* Makes sense to me.

[the---hermit]

Lectures in which the professor only reads should be banned. It is fucking useless. I can read it on my own, not waste time and money on my commutr and actually be productive, instead of wasting over half of my day to hear someone read stuff i cannot focus on because i simply cannot stay focused on two hours straight of someone reading out loud in a low voice.

[leafdragon16]

This is @chavah56’s fault for putting such a vivid image in my AO3 comments that I dropped everything and finished the sketch for this in 10 minutes (/silly)

[sunderwight]

Thinking about Lan Qiren being online and I'm pretty sure that he would fall for the Smooth Sharks Fallacy like every single time.

People would try and explain it to him and it wouldn't matter. He would still keep trying to bring academic articles into pie fights.

[duncanor]

I love how No 6 couldn't be written without Shion's queerness. Every important characters in this story are people who deviated from the norm in one way or another. It's an integral part of the story.

Shion's fascination and attraction to Nezumi is what sets the entire story in motion.

It's what forces him to see through the veil of dreamlike safety, it's what awake his needs for truth, for humanity. It's what will inevitably free them and cause the fall of the perfect city (amongst other things...)

No, No 6 is not a simple BL with a side of sci-fi. It's a genuine queer revolution and I must say, I'm fascinated by it to no end.

[rebornofstars]

if anyone seeing this post is under the impression that not attending university lectures is fun and edgy. let me paint you a picture. you are going to look at your calendar one day soon and realise your final is in 38 hours and you still have 17 and a half hour long lectures to watch and take notes from.. and while this is possible to achieve it's not exactly relaxing. yeah i'm still fine-tuning my academic skills what abt it

[oil-rigging]

I want to rant about Psychonauts (2) again. I promise I love the first game too I just really like the second game right now. Spoilers under the cut.

LISTEN. (Get it?)

Maybe I’m just reading way too far between the lines here but Helmut really, REALLY knows his husband. It is SO important to me that Audie is the way he is.

1.) He’s blue. Helmut has synesthesia, or we assume so after using clairvoyance on him. It is very likely that Helmut associates the colors that he’s paired with the members of Feast with the members of the Psychic Six (Seven).

Blue represents tranquility (think of a garden), trust, protection, reliability. In Hinduism, blue is a color associated with Krishna, who represents love and divine joy.

However, it’s also associated most commonly with loneliness and sadness. And water. Think of Bob’s Bottles— how he’s stranded on an island of his own making. Think of how Bob was after Helmut’s “death”. Helmut knows, subconsciously, that Bob is out there, waiting for him, alone.

2.) He’s a drummer. I don’t study music or anything, but I’ve been playing instruments since I was a little kid, and anyone who plays, likes, writes, or listens to music knows that the drums keep everything together.

They have to be reliable, focused, and not let any outside factors sway or affect their ability to keep time. That doesn’t mean percussionists aren’t fun or anything, in fact, the best percussionists keep their time correctly and know how to keep things simple while also making it fun. They don’t steal the show with crazy fills, they don’t distract the other members by being hard to follow. They are in the background until they’re called forth for a solo, but background doesn’t mean boring. It fits Bob’s introverted nature.

In short, Audie being a percussionist is perfect. Equate the drum to Helmut’s metaphorical heart and we’ve got a cheesy greeting card in the making.

3.) He’s an ear. The most important sense for a musician to have unless you’re Beethoven, and the most important aspect of a relationship. To communicate, to be heard truly and to have your needs met, is to be loved properly, and Helmut’s mental image of Bob shows, at least to me, that the two were very open and communicative with one another.

Or, as an introvert, Bob was the listening ear for his husband. I understand the need to rant and ramble —I’m doing it right now— and to have someone willing to sit and listen is heavenly.

All this is to say that Helmut’s view of Bob is so darn sweet and I just love how he’s like ‘yeah my husband’s a self-isolating introvert but he’s also the best thing to ever happen to me.’

Also I audibly laughed when I saw how the Feast of the Senses’ color palette was ✨rainbow✨.

I know rainbows are hippie things too and that Helmut (and probably the rest of them if you look closely) is literally the dictionary definition of weed-smoking acid-tripping anti-violence hippie but COME ON.

[applepixls]

the thing you wrote about the economy of hermitcraft is really interesting i just wanted to make the argument that the hermits don't just operate on a crazy fae whatever's-funniest system, they're operating on libertarian ideals most of the time. the hermitcraft smp is a libertarian state

thats super interesting!! if im honest i had no idea what libertarianism was and had to look it up but it does sound pretty accurate to hermitcraft. i saw a description that said it doesn't follow the typical left/right scale for political ideologies and instead is like a right angle perpendicular to that scale. i will be having thoughts about this, thank you :D

[someprettyname]

Okay but I am just starting to notice how fucking talented REO is and how no one talks about it?! That dude had probably been playing soccer for the shortest time there YET he was on the top tier team in the building. The team v REO could plan the games, and read the plays WAY better than team z isagi. And not only his soccer aptitude was high to begin with (i mean they way he won that match back in high school with those giants" team [yep, the one where he got spotted] was damn impressive to say the least) he also had enough skills to manipulate the team to become his....slaves. In a way.

Man.

Only if he didn't start out as "I need nagi to win the football cup" mentality he'd probably be called the prodigy. Which, i don't see why he doesn't deserve that tag. Being a jack of all trades is damn tough and he does a pretty good job at it. Those "fuck being jack of all trade, be master of one" preachers ARE AFRAID AF of him because he breaking through the "you can't be perfect at everything" stereotypes.

Why do y'all not talk more about how his copy technique is crazy?! 😭 He noticed aiku"s movements ONCE and copied it upto 99% accuracy. Like damn. His concept grasping skill is 📈

[mrhaitch]

Harry Potter and the Language of Power

[Someone asked so you're all in danger.]

“It matters what matters we use to think other matters with; it matters what stories we tell to tell other stories with; it matters what knots knot knots, what thoughts think thoughts, what descriptions describe descriptions, what ties tie ties. It matters what stories make worlds, what worlds make stories.” - Donna J. Haraway

As you can guess I've got some thoughts about Harry Potter, and this largely going to be a brief discussion about magical systems within fantasy, and how they can be viewed through a political lens. Are we ready? Not yet you're not.

Below is a video of M Nourbese Phillips giving a reading of her poem "Discourse on the Logic of Language". It's about seven minutes long and it's a poem I used to teach, and in fact a lot of what I'm going to say comes from one particular class I taught about a year and a half ago. Go ahead and watch it, I'll wait.

Amazing, right?

The central idea of that poem is that language can shape and determine our social realities. The loss of a language can further a community's alienation, feelings of 'separateness' and even dehumanize them. Or, to play on that Haraway quote at the top there, it matters what languages we use to communicate. It also matters, within fantasy, who has magic, and who doesn't - how magic is taught, passed down, enhanced, developed, used, and activated.

Fantasy and magic go hand in hand, with the latter being a staple of the former - you might almost be tempted to call it a cliche, but it's as essential to the functioning of a fantasy narrative as the presence of electricity to science fiction. It is often the very thing that makes the world turn, and can often be used - sometimes deliberately - to articulate an idea of who has power, or even who should have power.

Just touching on the broad strokes, magic is frequently viewed in an academic context and taught much like any other form of knowledge - at school - with practitioners assuming the guise of academics. In other narratives characters arrive at magical prowess by making pacts, deals, and agreements with entities whose own power arises from their connection to or part of the supernatural order of the world (gods, spirits, fairies, etc.). Now I hope I'm not stepping on anyone's toes when I say that pre-1990 these magic practitioners who typically white cishet men of a typically European persuasion - with the notable exception of Le Guin's Earthsea books, although the protagonists ethnicity rarely survives the adaptation process. There's been a distinct shift in recent years, most noticeably since NK Jemisin's Inheritance Trilogy which laid the connections between magic and power bare, by building a world where magic rests entirely in the hands of a single royal family who participated in the enslaving and slaughter of the gods.

With me so far? God, I hope so.

So let's talk about Harry Potter, a series increasingly maligned for its tone deaf portrayal of race, and its author's increasingly unhinged behaviour - which I won't touch on, others have done a far better job. Instead let's look at the magic.

It's all fairly straightforward: you have a magic tree branch that's bonded to you, prescribed movements of the hand and wrist, and then there's the magic words - which are Latin. Latin holds an interesting place in the western world, both politically and culturally, seeing as its native culture more or less fell apart just under a thousand years ago but has persisted as the lingua franca of power in Europe, especially in Britain. We can largely thank the Catholic Church for that, but a considerable hat-tip to Petrarch and the renaissance for its later revival - particularly the reintroduction of Ancient Greek and Latin to secular political life. Its grammatical rules were later deliberately applied to English in the 16th century, in an effort to centralise the language and diminish and discard regional dialect.

Latin also holds a distinct place in British political life - as it is largely the domain of the upper classes, outside of the medical and legal professions, being taught in only the most exclusive of public schools. Since 1900 there have been 25 Prime Ministers, of which 6 attended Eton college, with a further 11 attending some form of privately funded highschool and 14 receiving their degrees at Oxford. That's not even touching the slew of ministers and members of parliament who have passed through similar institutions of which there are many. Latin and Ancient Greek have been a central part of the public schooling system in Britain since their inception, partially due to its prevalence prior to mass-printing and the push towards using the languages people actually speak for the written word (a decision which, in the early days, could attract a heavy amount of censure, if not execution). It's persistence into our current age, and the exclusive nature of the schools that still teach it, has earned it the reputation of being the language of the ruling classes in Britain.

Using it as a magical language brings some interesting, if not concerning, connotations. I will be charitable and assume this wasn't intentional, but taken in the broader context of wizarding society as a whole and it's relationship with the larger world it contributes to a reading of Harry Potter through the lens of social and political class.

We have a small, naturally gifted, separate society housed within our own who are privy to the innermost workings and closely guarded secrets of our world. They possess godlike powers capable of altering the physical makeup and laws of our world to suit their whims, and they use Latin to do so. There's also evidence, in the later books, of a relationship between their government and ours - where the Ministry of Magic assume the role of shadowy advisors or, even, puppeteers. While this isn't explicitly stated in the books, it's a small stretch of the imagination to believe that in a partnership whichever member can kill the other with a word is steering the ship.

What this all amounts to, in my mind, is a restating of class divisions within the UK. There's no critical element, no serious engagement, let alone metamorphosis - this is a direct transplant informed by an author's preconceived notions about how the world does and, potentially, should work.

Much of this has been coloured and affected by my interpretation of Rowling's politics, and I make no excuses for that.

Does this answer your question?

[sniffanimal]

doggiy,,

[sleepy-aletheas]

Hlucký kroj (a ornament z omalovánkového sešitu)

[mildarka]

gonna throttle my lecturer for not making the class page readable in the slightest like-

We have weekly tutorials but the lectures are only sorted by weeks up until week 3???????? And there's more lecture notes than there is weeks in the semester so sorting them is useless??? it doesn't make sense??

There's 6 extra drop down sections with nothing in them and some have notes on whats MEANT to be there but isn't.

There's an assignment page for an assignment that we don't have (which is empty of course). And another section lovingly titled "Section 33" which is, if you were curious, also fucking empty.