Mantergeistmann
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User ID: 323
Mantergeistmann
1d ago
Man, someone predicted and hated fanfiction.
Mantergeistmann
1d ago
I get asked, almost every day, where I'm from. By people talking to me in person too, mind you.
So far, people have told me I sound American, Canadian, Dutch, German and god knows what else. The standard consensus seems to be from exactly wherever they're not, so Americans wonder if I'm Canadian/European, and Europeans wonder if I'm from the other side of the pond.
... are you me? In my case, it's the result of years of speech therapy when I was young.
Mantergeistmann
1d ago
a story about a fox and, let's say (because I forget), a hare. They met up and recognized each other as martial artists. The hare bragged about how he knew a thousand techniques; he had a move for everything. The fox said, well, I only know one move, but I've practiced it a lot.
The version of that sort of fable I know is a fox and a hedgehog. The fox knows many tricks, but the hedgehog knows one great trick.
Mantergeistmann
1d ago
That interview reminds me of Ian Fleming's old article on writing:
I have a charming relative who is an angry young litterateur of renown. He is maddened by the fact that more people read my books than his. Not long ago we had semi-friendly words on the subject and I tried to cool his boiling ego by saying that his artistic purpose was far, far higher than mine. The target of his books was the head and, to some extent at least, the heart. The target of my books, I said, lay somewhere between the solar plexus and, well, the upper thigh. These self-deprecatory remarks did nothing to mollify him and finally, with some impatience and perhaps with something of an ironical glint in my eye, I asked him how he described himself on his passport.
“I bet you call yourself an ‘Author’,” I said. He agreed, with a shade of reluctance, perhaps because he scented sarcasm on the way. “Just so,” I said. “Well, I describe myself as a ‘Writer’. There are authors and artists, and then again there are writers and painters.”
This rather spiteful jibe, which forced him, most unwillingly, into the ranks of The Establishment, while stealing for myself the halo of a simple craftsman of the people, made the angry young man angrier than ever and I don’t now see him as often as I used to. But the point I wish to make is that if you decide to become a professional writer, you must, broadly speaking, decide whether you wish to write for fame, for pleasure or for money. I write, unashamedly, for pleasure and money.
Mantergeistmann
1d ago
Had another op-ed rejected; and forgot to join in the ACX book review competition. Oh well.
Mantergeistmann
1d ago
That's disgusting! I'd never sell out my art like that for mere astounding wads of cash! Now, where can I find these sorts of markets so I know how to avoid them?
Mantergeistmann
1d ago
"The Good Doctor Pt 2,", "Calling Out", and "Light's Last Stand" are my absolute favorites from the new album, but overall I agree with your assessment.
I don't know how I feel about how Act III ends the story. I know that the story can't have a happy ending since it's at its core a rock opera story, but it seems that there was much more focus on finishing Act II's story than Act I's
So, weirdly, despite being friends with people in Nashville way into the Protomen early on in their career, the first song I ever heard from them was "The Fight", recommended for me on Spotify a few years ago. It's a single, and as I understand it from listening, takes place effectively after Act 3. And it changed the entire character of the plot/ending from "dark" to "the fight isn’t over yet". Which is great. Love it. Rock on!
If I'm not interpreting it and its location in the story correctly, though, yeah, the ending is dark, there's a pointless sacrifice (which I fucking hate in fiction), and it's pretty lame.
Mantergeistmann
1d ago
It's true that my food budget is higher than it needs to be, but also true that it's been going up without my changing my purchasing habits.
Mantergeistmann
2d ago
It's one thing to cull animals that are killing livestock or humans due to being near pastures or villages, quite another to kill animals that are not.
There is also general wildlife population control - even if, say, the wolves aren't interfering with humans/livestock, they could still be threatening to cause harm to the ecosystem via overhunting local parts of it.
Mantergeistmann
2d ago
Yeah, it was a meme, it went away, and then it was occasionally resurrected as a "the timeline went insane afterwards" meme.
Mantergeistmann
2d ago
The end of cash is also one of those things that seems to waffle politically/culture-war-wise. I think currently the "vague left" is pro-cash, while the "vague right" is pro-digital, based on Facebook posts, but I honestly can't tell anymore.
Mantergeistmann
2d ago
How about George Marshall? Send a message about American power and finance to Europe.
Mantergeistmann
2d ago
I suppose this qualifies as "unsavory," since it is likely that a lot of them are cheating on their taxes.
That was the reason my local roadside egg & veggie farmer gave for why he didn't accept Venmo or anything electronic: "because then the banks know exactly how much money you're getting."
Best damn eggs I've ever had, though.
Mantergeistmann
2d ago
What type of consultancy? It's something I've been off and on considering as a bit of a side gig for a while now.
Mantergeistmann
2d ago
Yes - when done responsibly, it's both wildlife management and local economic injection. But a lot of people cannot conceive of hunting as being anything other than cruel and harmful. Probably part of a general idea of humans being "outside of nature", part "exploitation of poor minorities in 3rd world countries", part "hating anyone rich enough to do so", and part "poaching in Africa is what Victorian British people did".
Mantergeistmann
2d ago
If you believe the official numbers, a $100 bill in 1969 had the purchasing power of $900 now
Historical purchasing power always seems skewed to me. Like, you'll see media or historical documents from the past, and people will talk about the sheer amount of wealth, but then the calculated purchasing power isn’t as much as it feels like everyone is acting. Is it just that we as a society have been getting so much wealthier?
Mantergeistmann
2d ago
The Cleric in Dungeons & Dragons: Wrath of the Dragon God? Um... huh. This is more difficult than I expected, and I expected there to not be many. Oh, the priests - both Catholic and Protestant - in The Quiet Man. I'm actually kind of surprised by the lack of chaplains in media I consume... the only ones I recall are from The Longest Day (good), Bill the Galactic Hero (evil), and Phule's Company (Elvis). If nuns count, there's a good nun in Our Flag Means Death, and there's the titular Vicar of Dibley...
Mantergeistmann
2d ago
For example, right now "windmills kill birds!" is seen as a bad-faith attack on wind power by opponents of green energy (which, I think, is what it is.)
That's been one of the most interesting to me... I think Audubon early on called them "avian cuisinarts", which was... entertaining. But I find the counter argument very interesting. It's become "Oh, well, cats kill even more birds, and nobody is saying to get rid of cats!" But it's fundamentally a bit dishonest, because housecats kill a lot more generic overpopulated birds, whereas I believe one of the wind turbine issues was endangered birds. But either deliberately or due to being uninformed and parroting talking points, nobody really seems to make that distinction.
Mantergeistmann
2d ago
It was the latest incarnation of Eternal September.
Mantergeistmann
3d ago
How much space do the mace exercises take up when you are using them?
Mantergeistmann
3d ago
Was it here that there was an energy industry lawyer talking about how excited everyone was over fracking since natural gas is much better for the environment than coal, but then suddenly overnight the sentiment reversed and fracking was the devil?
Mantergeistmann
3d ago
Is that two of each weight, or one of each weight?
Mantergeistmann
5d ago
Low-level question: I'm looking to pick up just some super-basic weights and maybe a small treadmill for at-home use, specifically during breaks when I'm WFH. Anyone have any recommendations in that regard, or other gear/devices worth picking up? I'm tempted by maybe a cheap rowing machine, but that could be really dumb.
Mantergeistmann
5d ago
Stats-wise, Fong points out that back between 1954 and 1964, for every 3 congressmen who retires, 1 dies. Now it's 21 retires before 1 dies. Members of congress used to want to stay in congress for as long as they could, so something must have changed.
Could this also have to do with life expectancy? I feel like the average/upper end of congressional age has increased since then... so presumably, someone retiring at 80 when they would have previously died at 75 would, for instance, be shown as part of this change, but not support the thesis at all.
I know that 14th edition of Bartlett's Familiar Quotations is considered peak, but it's not quite an encyclopedia (but should still be part of every household!)
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