FtttG
User ID: 1175
FtttG
10hr ago
I would say "discovery" is unearthing the physical laws governing our universe, and "invention" is designing tools which apply those laws practically. It's the difference between science and engineering.
FtttG
10hr ago
Command strips are the way to go. They don't leave any marks on the wall when you remove them.
FtttG
2d ago
Do you literally not care about your partner at all?
Bold of you to assume he has one.
FtttG
3d ago
Fancy sharing it with us, so we can put words in your mouth and interpret everything you said in the most maximally uncharitable light?
FtttG
3d ago
I've been trying to get into the habit of reading my book on the loo for this very reason.
New year's resolutions check-in:
- Posted my sixth blog post of the year on Monday, about how it absolutely is a lie for journalists to describe the perpetrator of the Tumbler Ridge shooting as a "woman" without any qualification. Expanded from several comments I posted here arguing that exact point.
- Went to the gym three times last week and again last night, planning to go again this evening. After three sets of deadlifts at 1.8x my bodyweight, my lower back was very stiff for the rest of the week. This has been a recurrent issue and there's obviously something fundamentally wrong with my deadlift form, so my plan now is to go down to a much lower weight so I can correct it, then steadily work my way back up. Can deadlift 1.8x my bodyweight for 3 reps, squat 1x for 8 reps and bench press .85x for 6 reps.
- Have not consumed any pornography since waking up on January 1st.
- Have completed 9/11 modules in the SQL course. Planning to do the tenth this evening.
How goes it, @thejdizzler and @birb_cromble?
I know what the word originally meant. I'm referring to how it is often used by left-leaning pundits e.g. this article in the Guardian which blames neoliberalism for pretty much anything the author doesn't like about the modern world, from environmental devastation to loneliness to anorexia.
FtttG
4d ago
In this regard it serves exactly the same social function as "neoliberalism" once did.
FtttG
4d ago
I've been aware of this phrase for years, mostly from Reddit. Is there a canonical definition, however? I say this with genuine curiosity / bewilderment. Capitalism, to my mind, is an economic condition bounded by certain conditions. I didn't know (and I am dubious) about there being a temporal aspect to it.
I read a note a few weeks ago that pointed out that describing something as "late stage" only really makes sense retrospectively, or for a phenomenon which has a predictable end state (e.g. the last few weeks of pregnancy are "late stage pregnancy"). Describing our current economic condition as "late stage capitalism" carries more than a whiff of wishful thinking. Indeed, I predict that capitalism will survive all of the people currently using the phrase.
A few years ago I used to see stickers for some Irish socialist party dotted around Dublin, prominently featuring a quote attributed to noted Irish socialist James Connolly, which said something along the lines of "the time for reforming the capitalist system has passed. It must be destroyed." When I searched for the exact wording a few months ago I was unable to find it, so he may not even have said it at all. In any case, I'm sure you've guessed the punchline: Connolly died 110 years ago, and a far greater proportion of the human race lives under capitalist economies than communist/socialist ones than did in his lifetime. Turns out the old girl had plenty of life in her yet.
FtttG
4d ago
I'm about one-third of the way through recording myself reading my novel aloud, listening back to it and line-editing.
I'm not sure that three people dying is unusual for a supposed attendance of 400,000 people over the course of three days.
The annual death rate for 25-29 year olds in the United States in 2023 was 1.24 per 1000. Source.
((1.24 expected deaths / 1000 people) / 365 days) * 400000 people * 3 days = 4.07671232877 expected deaths.
The actual attendance might have been smaller than 400,000, the average age different, etc. And the math might be simplistic. But this gives an idea of the math, at least.
But that only invites further questions. 400k people attended Woodstock, with three deaths (and between 4-8 miscarriages) in three days: it's universally remembered as a festival built on free love, hope and optimism. 300k people attended the Altamont Free Concert, with four deaths in one day (including one killing in self-defense): it's universally remembered as a uniquely horrific event, the decisive end to the hope and optimism of the 60s hippie movement. When people talk about how awful Altamont was, are they really claiming that it was (going by your maths) four times more lethal than expected, and one-third more lethal than Woodstock? From the way people talk about these two events, that's not remotely the impression I get.
Another metric: Woodstock '69 had a fatality rate of 0.75/100k, while Altamont's was 1.33/100k. I just have a hard time reconciling the disparate reputations these two events hold in the popular imagination.
FtttG
5d ago
I understand that the Altamont free concert is widely understood to have served as the death knell of the optimism of the 1960s hippie movement. But I genuinely don't understand why Woodstock hadn't already accomplished that. Three people died. I appreciate that three people dying from negligence is less dramatic than one person being stabbed to death: but still, what kind of exchange rate is this?
Huh: in addition to the lone stabbing at Altamont, there were also three accidental deaths I hadn't heard about. The hope was that Altamont would be the "Woodstock of the West". I guess they got what they wanted, and then some.
FtttG
5d ago
the great legacy of the original Woodstock
Where three people died, eight women miscarried, and the logistics were so badly planned that the organisers had to appeal to local farms to provide food and water?
I still don't understand why Woodstock occupies such a vaunted stature in the American imagination. "Hendrix played 'The Star-Spangled Banner', but he made it all, like, distorted and stuff. Far out." Okay?
FtttG
5d ago
I hear the film buffs used to call the car chase scene the best car chase ever on film
You must watch The French Connection. Friedkin was risking, not just the lives of his stuntmen, but those of random passers-by as well. The man was a nutcase.
FtttG
5d ago
Funny, the only Mission Impossible film I've seen is the first one. Brian de Palma is such an inconsistent director. Scarface is an obvious masterpiece, and Carrie is great, but The Untouchables is overrated as hell, and despite being marketed as thrillers both Blow Out and Body Double were so boring I turned them off halfway through. I was fully onboard for the first half of Mission Impossible when it's a tense, nervy thriller, but by the time the climax rolled around and it had turned into a silly action film I'd completely lost interest. The Prague operation that opens the film and the climax on the train feel like they belong to two completely different movies: it's no surprise it went into production without a finished screenplay.
Curious if any of the sequels are any good.
Castle of Cagliostro
Funny, I've never seen this one but reading the name jogged my memory. I think I saw a trailer for it on my Ghost in the Shell DVD years ago.
Not exactly a recommendation but possibly worth consideration: Craig-era James Bond.
The only one I saw was Casino Royale and I did enjoy it (breath of fresh air after the silliness of the Brosnan era). Probably more of a spy thriller than an action film.
Pacific Rim
I've never watched a mecha film, or TV series, or anything (watched the first few episodes of Evangelion before giving up on it, may try it again). This one piqued my curiosity primarily for featuring my one-time celebrity crush, Rinko Kikuchi, who starred in the excellent film adaptation of my favourite novel of all time, Norwegian Wood. The only films of del Toro's I've seen were Pan's Labyrinth (decent, but didn't really love up to the hype) and Hellboy II (bland forgettable capeshit slop). As far as the three big men of Mexican cinema go (del Toro, Cuarón and Iñárritu), I think he's the weakest link.
FtttG
6d ago
I adore Ghost in the Shell and Akira, and probably should have included the latter in the above list. I'm of two minds about including GitS in a list of action films, as I'm not sure that one chase scene and one fight against a tank really an action movie make.
I saw Princess Mononoke for the first time a few months ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. Far more violent than I was expecting from a Ghibli film.
I finished Hua Hsu's memoir Stay True during the week. It was pretty good, and I really did get the impression it had been gestating within the author for a long time. It concerns events which happened in the late 90s, but was only published in 2022. I really did feel like Hsu has been writing about these events in private journals for decades, trying to process his feelings.
Reading Lying for Money, for the third time. One of the most entertaining non-fiction books I've ever read, I just cannot get enough of it.
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