ㅁ with rain, came dragons, who all coiled in the treetops supervising sleep
– a pseudo-haiku.
Caveat: Links #81
Here are some links I found interesting- without comment.
An illustration from the internet.
A quote.
“Speaking as someone who hates AI, you are more than welcome to train your AI on my writing. Because I would love to see your AI fail, and there is nothing the market wants less than my writing” – Jason Lefkowitz
Caveat: Poem #2986 “Around the corner”
ㅁ doom impends portended coming along well it's just this feeling you get sometimes
– a tetractys.
Caveat: Links #80
Here are some links I found interesting- without comment.
- TBH I’m not sure I understood this
- Or this… Small bits of negative time, due to quantum superposition
- This makes me think many of my neighbors
An illustration from the internet.
A quote.
“In 1972, the CBC had a contest to complete the phrase ‘As Canadian as ____’ (cf. ‘As American as apple pie’). / The winner was: ‘As Canadian as possible, under the circumstances.'” – the internet
Caveat: Poem #2986 “Precepts beyond history”
ㅁ rain came this weekend filled the downhill-rushing creeks turned over some stones
– a pseudo-haiku.
Caveat: Poem #2985 “Antumnos”
ㅁ The otherworld unleashed its dogs; they chased us through the timeless trees. We fled and jumped those ancient logs. The otherworld unleashed its dogs. We fell and tasted moss and bogs. The murky water grasped our knees. The otherworld unleashed its dogs; they chased us through the timeless trees.
– a triolet.
Caveat: Links #79
Here are some links I found interesting- without comment.
An illustration from the internet.
A quote.
“Pretentiousness… is a necessary condition of the artistic process.” – Thomas Bevan
Caveat: Poem #2984 “Reason to not”
ㅁ "No time like present" - except all those other times that were just like now.
– a pseudo-haiku.
Caveat: Links #78
Here are some links I found interesting- without comment.
An illustration from the internet.
A quote.
“Utopia is never a place you arrive at, but it’s a journey you’re on” – Sherryl Vint, discussing Ursula Le Guin’s novel, The Dispossessed.
Caveat: Poem #2983 “The old house, again”
ㅁ I dreamed that Arthur became possessed by some remodeling demon. So while I was gone at work, He began adding things - random additions - to his odd house: stray basements, towers, leaks.
– a nonnet.
Caveat: Links #77
Here are some links I found interesting- without comment.
- “the most cost-effective treatment for even severe depression was problem-solving therapy”
- On the matter of sovereign wealth funds: obvious, but needed to be said
An illustration from the internet.
A quote.
“The only possible excuse for God’s behavior is that He does not exist.” – Stendhal
Caveat: Poem #2982 “In praise of the banal”
ㅁ Banality is worthy stuff: it centers things, and pulls the fringes back from fevered dreams, it moderates the fools.
– a quatrain in ballad meter.
Caveat: Links #76
Here are some links I found interesting- without comment.
- D&D is anti-medieval, despite appearances. Actual genre: Western
- Something bothers me about this argument, but it’s hard to explain. Where does the presumption of god’s GOODNESS come from? did I miss something?
An illustration from the internet.
A quote.
“Facebook was a mistake. Books were not meant to have faces.” – someone on the internet
Caveat: Poem #2981 “Zzzap!”
ㅁ Twenty years later, I still get "brain zaps" sometimes. Yay SSRIs.
– a pseudo-haiku.
Caveat: Links #75
Here are some links I found interesting- without comment.
An illustration from the internet.
A quote.
“Here is one trick to see the future. From the standpoint of the domestic American economy, the difference between outsourcing to robots and outsourcing to China is negligible. China’s impact is a preview of AI’s impact.” – Curtis Yarvin (grains of salt, and all that: Yarvin is an extremely weird neo-reactionary monarchist, but I think he’s not wrong on this point)
Caveat: Poem #2980 “Grounded beside the parking lot”
ㅁ Wind rushed through, bashed the walls of our building. The structure creaked like an old sailing ship.
– a tetractys.
Caveat: Links #74
Here are some links I found interesting- without comment.
- Frederic Jameson died – his work heavily influenced my never-actually-completed PhD dissertation
- Fasting and cancer (a mixed bag)
An illustration from the internet.
A quote.
“The burning keeps me alive” – David Byrne (of the band Talking Heads, in his song Life In Wartime)
Caveat: Poem #2979 “Eightieth stanza”
ㅁ Kiamon never could disregard signs showing conspiracies, visable lines, tracing connections between sundry groups. Gazing at traffic, she pondered these loops.
– a quatrain in a dactylic tetrameter. A nonsequential snapshot into a fictional being’s life.
Caveat: Poem #2978 “Cartesian contemplations”
ㅁ I try to think about my brain, but thing comes to mind, it seems. Perception stops outside, it's plain. I try to think about my brain. The soul and body split in twain. A language rules inside, in streams. I try to think about my brain, but thing comes to mind, it seems.
– a triolet.
Caveat: Links #73
Here are some links I found interesting- without comment.
An illustration from the internet.
A quote.
“even the king of terrors, when personified by the evangelist, rides on his pallid horse” – Herman Melville (in Moby Dick)
Caveat: Poem #2977 “At the 62 Pit”
ㅁ Last night, driving home I noticed the sun setting out over the sea.
– a pseudo-haiku. (The “62 Pit” is an actual place-name in my town.)
Caveat: Links #72
Here are some links I found interesting- without comment.
- Self experimentation and the obstruction of cancer cure research (regulatory failure)
- A low-tech website
An illustration from the internet.
A quote.
“There will be chronic food shortages and gas shortages and people will live in hovels. Paradoxically, they’ll be surrounded by computers the size of wrist watches. Calculators will be cheap. It’ll be as easy to hook up your computer with a central television bank as it is to get the week’s groceries. I think we’ll be cushioned by amazing technological development and sitting on Salvation Army furniture. Everything else will be crumbling. Government surveillance becomes inevitable because there’s this dilemma when you have an increase in information storage. A lot of it is for your convenience – but as more information gets on file it’s bound to be misused.” – David Byrne (NME, 1979) [Note that date! – not all correct, but interesting how much he DOES get right]
Caveat: Poem #2976 “Prisoner of conscience”
ㅁ My brain is captive, imprisoned in a hard skull... limited options.
– a pseudo-haiku.
Caveat: Links #71
Here are some links I found interesting- without comment.
- US-made icebreakers are not a thing
- nothing works anymore … and the rest of us get Schrödinger’s Cat
An illustration from the internet.
A quote.
“It turns out that hope doesn’t just float in on feathers. It can actually take out an eye.” – Dahlia Lithwick
Caveat: Poem #2975 “After the equinox”
ㅁ The mornings are dark again these days. I nurse my coffee at my desk, the window just a black frame. Daylight has retreated. Fragments of rain tap. A truck trundles. Seagulls cry. Moments pass.
– a nonnet.
Caveat: Links #70
Here are some links I found interesting- without comment.
An illustration from the internet.
A quote.
“Neoliberalism is not the celebration of the market, but the denigration of the state.” – Attributed to Francis Fukuyama by Matt Yglesias
Caveat: Poem #2974 “These past few weeks”
ㅁ Slowly, over time, I become more and more tired, until I must sleep.
– a pseudo-haiku.
Caveat: Links #69
Here are some links I found interesting- without comment.
An illustration from the internet.
A quote.
“‘Needless to say’ is, needless to say, needless to say.” — Enoch Haga
Caveat: Poem #2973 “An autumnal commute homeward”
ㅁ Like craters on the moon raindrops appear on the car's windshield like a map of moments a distribution of dreams with patterns instantly erased by the laconic windshield wipers.
– a reverse nonnet.
Caveat: Links #68
Here are some links I found interesting- without comment.
- This seems related to the repugnant conclusion (rebuttal of utilitarianism)
- “reimagining economics as flows of suffering”
An illustration from the internet.
A quote.
“What altar of refuge can a man find when he commits treason against the majesty of reason?” – B Spinoza
Caveat: Poem #2972 “Annunciation”
ㅁ the treehouse hung. the tappings of the rain: a safe sound, plain, cloud-drainings, wet branches' world worshippings.
– an englyn penfyr.
Caveat: Excursions
With my “other uncle” Alan (Arthur’s brother) and my cousin Dawn visiting, we went on some excursions over this weekend.
Yesterday we went to Kasaan – my favorite “cultural” attraction to take visitors to on the island.
We hiked the half-mile trail to the totems and longhouse, had a picnic lunch (the restaurant was closed).
Alan and I posed with an orca.
We drove around, saw Thorne Bay. It rained on and off.
We saw a large and well-aged excavator in the forest.
This morning, the sun put in a half-day appearance, and the sea was remarkably calm. We took out the boat for a little 2 hour jaunt. Much to our shock, Art was not interested in going (this is a weird, sad milestone for Art, for whom the boat and outings in the boat have been utterly central to his life and identity here – his whole house is about the boat!).
We saw some whales. A bit hard to see, but the whale-tail is there, right of center.
We did a drive-by of the city of Craig on the way back, as seen from the water.
Caveat: Poem #2971 “A minor gladness”
ㅁ The summer's nearly ended: yay. I'm glad when summer's mandate's done. You know: you see the shortened day. The summer's nearly ended: yay. The endless tasks have gone away. The night, its moon, that's now the one. The summer's nearly ended: yay. I'm glad when summer's mandate's done.
– a triolet.