Playing with a dip pen. It seems like it requires a much different technique than a ball point or felt tip pen, you need to make quick, light strokes or you overload the paper with ink. Also, the pen hates upward strokes, you want to stroke side to side or downwards.
I mean, I've played with it twice now, so don't go taking my advice as professional penmanship advice, but that's what it looks like to me.
I mean, I've played with it twice now, so don't go taking my advice as professional penmanship advice, but that's what it looks like to me.
My review of Beowulf, written in the style of Beowulf:
A tale of Beowulf, Bairn of Ecgthew
aethling of the Geats, firey focus of fable.
Victories many, bought with bounty of blood.
Twin monsters, Grendel's mother and child
in the Scylding's land, brought low by sin
Time's riverbed, flows fleetingly fast
Until old king Beowulf, Bairn of Ecgthew
starcross'd lord, dreaded day of his death
faced a dragon, and greatest of god's geats
slew it quickly, protecting his land.
Ancient tale, fable of forefathers
of ancient prose, dense deep and dire.
Modern readers, ancient knowledge gone
will struggle much, History held in the heorot
cannot help them, since a heorot they lack.
thus unendowed, no strength for sound struggle
Will then fail, no meaning to them.
Knowledge of the past, if that ye seek
so ye desire, long lost lore
read knowing well, a challenging battle
Hazy and difficult, to enlighten yourself
but expect not, golden rings from the lord
facing the challenge, of this ancient tale.
A tale of Beowulf, Bairn of Ecgthew
aethling of the Geats, firey focus of fable.
Victories many, bought with bounty of blood.
Twin monsters, Grendel's mother and child
in the Scylding's land, brought low by sin
Time's riverbed, flows fleetingly fast
Until old king Beowulf, Bairn of Ecgthew
starcross'd lord, dreaded day of his death
faced a dragon, and greatest of god's geats
slew it quickly, protecting his land.
Ancient tale, fable of forefathers
of ancient prose, dense deep and dire.
Modern readers, ancient knowledge gone
will struggle much, History held in the heorot
cannot help them, since a heorot they lack.
thus unendowed, no strength for sound struggle
Will then fail, no meaning to them.
Knowledge of the past, if that ye seek
so ye desire, long lost lore
read knowing well, a challenging battle
Hazy and difficult, to enlighten yourself
but expect not, golden rings from the lord
facing the challenge, of this ancient tale.
https://www.britannica.com/video/179488/Movile-Cave-ecosystem-Romania
Extraordinary. A cave with a toxic ecosystem that's been somewhat isolated from the rest of the world for between 2-5 million years. The whole cycle of life depends on ancient pathways of energy from before photosynthesis!
Extraordinary. A cave with a toxic ecosystem that's been somewhat isolated from the rest of the world for between 2-5 million years. The whole cycle of life depends on ancient pathways of energy from before photosynthesis!
Are you a brave enough brave to bravely exclaim: "I am bravely standing for everything the state, the richest people on earth, the global media, the government funded universities, big tech, and most famous people stand for!"
Nobody is coming to save us, we can only save ourselves.
If we want kids to stop being ignorant, we are the ones having kids, we must put the effort in to teach our children about the world.
If we want kids to stop being ignorant, we are the ones having kids, we must put the effort in to teach our children about the world.
"we discovered the most scandalous thing you could possibly imagine.... Most of the people on poast don't actually really give a crap about Jews!"
Well yeah, because if you stand in front of him he might sieze the means of production. Stay behind him out of reach. Safer that way.
Here's an interesting thought: if you're against the death penalty, what if there was a maximum security prison for people who would have gotten the death penalty but didn't because it's immoral, and the prisoners are treated very well and everyone is protected from violence but there's an unlimited supply of strong opiates available?
I'm opposed to the death penalty, so it was an interesting thought experiment for me.
I'm opposed to the death penalty, so it was an interesting thought experiment for me.
I'd argue both are unrelated to outlawing abortion.
There may be people who want to ban abortion because they just want to control women, but my moment was seeing my 10 weeks in gestation son kicking on the ultrasound. I saw this human with arms and legs moving around on its own, and I watched that little human and watched his beating heart and the thought that popped in my head was a sardonic "it's just a clump of cells" -- it clearly wasn't just a clump of cells. That was a tiny living human. Wilfully killing such a thing because it's inconvenient or defenseless or because you can't see it since it's behind a layer of skin didn't seem acceptable at that point. My right to swing my fist ends before it hits your face.
On a completely different track, historically there are examples where different cultural values led to completely different outcomes. For example, in imperial Japan, babies weren't considered people at all and children came to exist in the real world on a spectrum as they aged, so there was an extremely common practice of killing babies when they were born for the good of the community. In one famous story, a person who was considered moral had a relatively grown child and his mother, but not enough food to feed both, and killed the child so the mother could eat and that was considered just because the mother could have more children in the future. That goes to show that changes in underlying cultural assumptions does make a big difference in the outcomes of the moral calculus.
That being the case, we reach an ought-is problem. We can largely agree on the objective facts, but our interpretation of those facts, and the principles upon which the facts are judged against change, and so similarly two people in the same society can come to wildly different conclusions. In my case, I spent 12 years trying to have a child fully ready to have one, finally succeeded, and raising my son is one of the most deeply existentially fulfilling experiences I've ever had. Of course I'll come to much different conclusions than someone who doesn't want a child, can't support a child, is sure they'd be miserable if they had a child, and has no idea what that baby looks like.
It's important to realize that just because you deeply disagree with someone doesn't mean they're necessarily evil people. The moment you start dehumanizing people by making them into the personification of evil, that's actually when you start seeing things like the Nazis because when you're fighting pure evil the ends always justify the means.
There may be people who want to ban abortion because they just want to control women, but my moment was seeing my 10 weeks in gestation son kicking on the ultrasound. I saw this human with arms and legs moving around on its own, and I watched that little human and watched his beating heart and the thought that popped in my head was a sardonic "it's just a clump of cells" -- it clearly wasn't just a clump of cells. That was a tiny living human. Wilfully killing such a thing because it's inconvenient or defenseless or because you can't see it since it's behind a layer of skin didn't seem acceptable at that point. My right to swing my fist ends before it hits your face.
On a completely different track, historically there are examples where different cultural values led to completely different outcomes. For example, in imperial Japan, babies weren't considered people at all and children came to exist in the real world on a spectrum as they aged, so there was an extremely common practice of killing babies when they were born for the good of the community. In one famous story, a person who was considered moral had a relatively grown child and his mother, but not enough food to feed both, and killed the child so the mother could eat and that was considered just because the mother could have more children in the future. That goes to show that changes in underlying cultural assumptions does make a big difference in the outcomes of the moral calculus.
That being the case, we reach an ought-is problem. We can largely agree on the objective facts, but our interpretation of those facts, and the principles upon which the facts are judged against change, and so similarly two people in the same society can come to wildly different conclusions. In my case, I spent 12 years trying to have a child fully ready to have one, finally succeeded, and raising my son is one of the most deeply existentially fulfilling experiences I've ever had. Of course I'll come to much different conclusions than someone who doesn't want a child, can't support a child, is sure they'd be miserable if they had a child, and has no idea what that baby looks like.
It's important to realize that just because you deeply disagree with someone doesn't mean they're necessarily evil people. The moment you start dehumanizing people by making them into the personification of evil, that's actually when you start seeing things like the Nazis because when you're fighting pure evil the ends always justify the means.
I vaguely remember hearing some really shocking metrics, that despite the billions of dollars they spent on the place, there's only a few hundred to a few thousand people there.
No matter what you did this year, no matter how badly you fucked up, you probably didn't fuck up as bad as Mark Zuckerberg has by betting on the Metaverse.
No matter what you did this year, no matter how badly you fucked up, you probably didn't fuck up as bad as Mark Zuckerberg has by betting on the Metaverse.
For real, a nice ring is nice, but people need to remember that your life continues after the wedding. Some of the more expensive rings are a down payment on a house, so which would you want for your marriage -- a ring that lives in a box, or a house you can make a home together?
https://thepostmillennial.com/minors-given-safer-snorting-kits-at-canadian-school
So the Canadian government banned straws.... except for use by kids when snorting cocaine.
So the Canadian government banned straws.... except for use by kids when snorting cocaine.
The sort of people on the fediverse run the gamut, there's all kinds. Really nice people, really rude people, and everything in between. One of the best things about the fediverse is the diversity in that regard, because lots of people want to engage with it in different ways (and a lot of the people along the whole spectrum find others to engage with who want to play the same game, and no algorithm to push people together who otherwise would mostly ignore each other).
The thing is, on the Internet nobody knows you're a dog, until you tell everyone and remove all doubt. A lot of twitter users come over to the fediverse and start acting like the old stereotype of American tourists -- walking in like they own the place, telling everyone what they're doing wrong as if there wasn't a culture here before they showed up and that will exist after they leave, and letting everyone know exactly where they came from and why that makes them important.
The thing is, on the Internet nobody knows you're a dog, until you tell everyone and remove all doubt. A lot of twitter users come over to the fediverse and start acting like the old stereotype of American tourists -- walking in like they own the place, telling everyone what they're doing wrong as if there wasn't a culture here before they showed up and that will exist after they leave, and letting everyone know exactly where they came from and why that makes them important.