Postponed video for Bastille Day post
Jul. 14th, 2025 10:30 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
neonvincentI found a video with better production values for Drink to who played the 'An American in Paris' best for a drum corps Bastille Day. Maybe next year.
neonvincent
Magic Monday
Jul. 13th, 2025 10:01 pmecosophia
It's almost midnight, and so it's time to launch a new Magic Monday. Ask me anything about occultism, and with certain exceptions noted below, any question received by midnight Monday Eastern time will get an answer. Please note: Any question or comment received after that point will not get an answer, and in fact will not be put through. If you're in a hurry, or suspect you may be the 341,928th person to ask a question, please check out the very rough version 1.3 of The Magic Monday FAQ here. Also: I will not be putting through or answering any more questions about practicing magic around children. I've answered those in simple declarative sentences in the FAQ. If you read the FAQ and don't think your question has been answered, read it again. If that doesn't help, consider remedial reading classes; yes, it really is as simple and straightforward as the FAQ says. And further: I've decided that questions about getting goodies from spirits are also permanently off topic here. The point of occultism is to develop your own capacities, not to try to bully or wheedle other beings into doing things for you. I've discussed this in a post on my blog.
(The image? I've finished the sequence of my published books; while I decide what I want to do next, I have some memes to share.)
Buy Me A Coffee
Ko-Fi
I've had several people ask about tipping me for answers here, and though I certainly don't require that I won't turn it down. You can use either of the links above to access my online tip jar; Buymeacoffee is good for small tips, Ko-Fi is better for larger ones. (I used to use PayPal but they developed an allergy to free speech, so I've developed an allergy to them.) If you're interested in political and economic astrology, or simply prefer to use a subscription service to support your favorite authors, you can find my Patreon page here and my SubscribeStar page here.
I've also had quite a few people over the years ask me where they should buy my books, and here's the answer. Bookshop.org is an alternative online bookstore that supports local bookstores and authors, which a certain gargantuan corporation doesn't, and I have a shop there, which you can check out here. Please consider patronizing it if you'd like to purchase any of my books online.And don't forget to look up your Pangalactic New Age Soul Signature at CosmicOom.com.
With that said, have at it!
Canyon Week
Jul. 13th, 2025 09:15 pml33tminionErica is away with Julie's parents this week, on a road-trip to the Grand Canyon.
On Thursday, I had a birthday dinner with Julie at Bogie's Place which is a tiny steakhouse tucked between jm Curley and The Wig Shop in downtown Boston.
I went to a concert with Julie on Friday at Sonia , one of the music venues at the Middle East in Central Square. Hadn't been there before, though I'd been to some of their other stages. Was EDM, the headliner was Shingo Nakamura, the openers were a B2B (collab set) with Cloudcage and rshand, followed by OTR. Been a while since I caught live music, and also a long while since I was out late in Central. Lively place, was a good time.
I watched a bunch of the runs from SGDQ this week, but I still feel like I want to catch some of the replays. Not as much stood out to me this year of the things I caught. The Super Metroid race is still always a good time.
Yesterday, managed to get out to Ingress coffee get-together in Arlington for the first time in a while. Saturday evening, we had dinner at Black Ruby, which was pretty cool. This evening, I got together with gaming group at Xave's to play more of The Far Roofs.
Random favorite thing from the last few weeks: This video titled What is PLUS times PLUS? about the Lambda Calculus. The visualization for that used in the video (Tromp's Lambda Diagrams) are a really striking way to look at that mathematical system. I was familiar with the concepts in the video before, but it's still a mind-blowing foundational piece of computer science that all you need to do literally any computation is just the simplest sort of function definition and function application, nothing more, that's it.
On Thursday, I had a birthday dinner with Julie at Bogie's Place which is a tiny steakhouse tucked between jm Curley and The Wig Shop in downtown Boston.
I went to a concert with Julie on Friday at Sonia , one of the music venues at the Middle East in Central Square. Hadn't been there before, though I'd been to some of their other stages. Was EDM, the headliner was Shingo Nakamura, the openers were a B2B (collab set) with Cloudcage and rshand, followed by OTR. Been a while since I caught live music, and also a long while since I was out late in Central. Lively place, was a good time.
I watched a bunch of the runs from SGDQ this week, but I still feel like I want to catch some of the replays. Not as much stood out to me this year of the things I caught. The Super Metroid race is still always a good time.
Yesterday, managed to get out to Ingress coffee get-together in Arlington for the first time in a while. Saturday evening, we had dinner at Black Ruby, which was pretty cool. This evening, I got together with gaming group at Xave's to play more of The Far Roofs.
Random favorite thing from the last few weeks: This video titled What is PLUS times PLUS? about the Lambda Calculus. The visualization for that used in the video (Tromp's Lambda Diagrams) are a really striking way to look at that mathematical system. I was familiar with the concepts in the video before, but it's still a mind-blowing foundational piece of computer science that all you need to do literally any computation is just the simplest sort of function definition and function application, nothing more, that's it.
Hm. I thought we got a big bag of cat food
Jul. 15th, 2025 04:45 pmconulybut it turned out to be a big bag of dog food.
This is... not so great, really.
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This is... not so great, really.
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Replaced video for Souther
Jul. 13th, 2025 01:58 pmneonvincentI found an updated clip for Fun with wombats and ice cream for Souther 2025.
Malik zips along a special, acrobatic adventure en route to Sammy's treehouse. Hopefully his ice cream doesn't melt along the way.
Two images I created for Super Awards TV post
Jul. 12th, 2025 04:41 pmneonvincentThese are the images I created for 'The Last of Us' leads TV nominees at the Critics Choice Super Awards below the jump.
Well, I'm (probably?) hired pending the results of this background check
Jul. 14th, 2025 01:09 pmconulyand completion of orientation. They really are taking anybody with a pulse, as judged by the extremely detailed list of instructions for appropriate behavior during orientation. I'd be more insulted, but that's good for me, I really need a job. If they had higher standards they would hire somebody with formal work experience, or at least an associate's degree.
(Don't think I've stopped applying other places, mind you, but I'm really not in a position to be picky, either.)
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(Don't think I've stopped applying other places, mind you, but I'm really not in a position to be picky, either.)
( Read more... )
The Grimoire Grammar School Parent Teacher Association
Jul. 13th, 2025 10:59 amconulyWell... if you're interested in reading a book about how living in an over-privileged Connecticut town is terrible and nobody should ever do it (especially if that's going to intersect badly with their terrible childhood) then this is a book you'll like. I preferred Dreadful - the realism : magic ratio in this book leaned a little too realistic, also, I just do not believe that the only school choices are a. fancy schools for wealthy overachievers that have massively high standards and high stakes testing b. xenophobic schools with very low standards and c. homeschooling. Even if there are no public school options there still have to be artsy fartsy schools for wealthy people who know that their kids cannot do the pressure cooker thing starting in kindy.
(no subject)
Jul. 11th, 2025 02:10 pmtimelets“powerful narratives, don’t tell us what to think but cause us to think. Narrative as such, to borrow a line from I. A. Richards, is a “machine to think with.”
-- Abbott, H. Porter. “The Cambridge Introduction to Narrative (Cambridge Introductions to Literature).”
-- Abbott, H. Porter. “The Cambridge Introduction to Narrative (Cambridge Introductions to Literature).”
Rejected video for World Population Day post
Jul. 11th, 2025 04:27 pmneonvincentI found a video that I thought was more informative for Listening to people worry about lower birthrates on World Population Day is enough to drive me to drink on National Mojito Day.
Trying to read Dogs of War
Jul. 12th, 2025 01:52 pmconulyAdrian Tchaikovsky is amazingly hit-or-miss for me, but this looks like it's coming up "hit". The sapient arthropods are a swarm of bees. If there are any spiders, I haven't met them yet!
Frugal Friday
Jul. 11th, 2025 08:29 amecosophia
Welcome back to Frugal Friday! This is a weekly forum post to encourage people to share tips on saving money, especially but not only by doing stuff yourself. A new post will be going up every Friday, and will remain active until the next one goes up. Contributions will be moderated, of course, and I have some simple rules to offer, which may change further as we proceed.Rule #1: this is a place for polite, friendly conversations about how to save money in difficult times. It's not a place to post news, views, rants, or emotional outbursts about the reasons why the times are difficult and saving money is necessary. Nor is it a place to use a money saving tip to smuggle in news, views, etc. I have a delete button and I'm not afraid to use it.
Rule #2: this is not a place for you to sell goods or services, period. Here again, I have a delete button and I'm not afraid to use it.
Rule #3: please give your tip a heading that explains briefly what it's about. Homemade Chicken Soup, Garden Containers, Cheap Attic Insulation, and Vinegar Cleans Windows are good examples of headings. That way people can find the things that are relevant for them. If you don't put a heading on your tip it will be deleted.
Rule #4: don't post anything that would amount to advocating criminal activity. Any such suggestions will not be put through.
With that said, have at it!
alt text issues
Jul. 11th, 2025 12:38 amsolarbirdThe last couple of posts I’ve made with images didn’t have their alt text make it to the Federation. It made it to Dreamwidth, but didn’t federate.
Let’s try this one:
Posted via Solarbird{y|z|yz}, Collected.
TIL: xAI burn rate
Jul. 10th, 2025 05:24 pmtimeletsElon Musk’s artificial intelligence startup xAI is burning through $1 billion a month as the cost of building its advanced AI models
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-06-17/musk-s-xai-burning-through-1-billion-a-month-as-costs-pile-up
Original image for Pina Colada Day post
Jul. 10th, 2025 03:57 pmneonvincentThis was the first image I created for Drink to the action movie nominees at the Critics Choice Super Awards on National Piña Colada Day. I then made something I liked better.
(no subject)
Jul. 10th, 2025 09:07 amtimeletsHow is it that half of America looks at Donald Trump and doesn’t find him morally repellent? He lies, cheats, steals, betrays, and behaves cruelly and corruptly, and more than 70 million Americans find him, at the very least, morally acceptable. Some even see him as heroic, admirable, and wonderful. What has brought us to this state of moral numbness?
...
the thinking of Alasdair MacIntyre, the great moral philosopher
...
As MacIntyre put it, “The choice between the ethical and the aesthetic is not the choice between good and evil, it is the choice whether or not to choose in terms of good and evil.”
...
How do people make decisions about the right thing to do if they are not embedded in a permanent moral order? They do whatever feels right to them at the moment. MacIntyre called this “emotivism,” the idea that “all moral judgments are nothing but expressions of preference, expressions of attitude or feeling.” Emotivism feels natural within capitalist societies, because capitalism is an economic system built around individual consumer preferences.
One of the problems with living in a society with no shared moral order is that we have no way to settle arguments. We have no objective standard by which to determine that one view is right and another view is wrong. So public arguments just go on indefinitely, at greater levels of indignation and polarization. People use self-righteous words to try to get their way, but instead of engaging in moral argument, what they’re really doing is using the language of morality to enforce their own preferences.
If no one can persuade anybody about right and wrong, then there are only two ways to settle our differences: coercion or manipulation.
...
Trump speaks the languages we moderns can understand. The language of preference: I want. The language of power: I have the leverage. The languages of self, of gain, of acquisition. He treats even the presidency itself as a piece of personal property he can use to get what he wants. As the political theorist Yuval Levin has observed, there are a lot of people, and Trump is one of them, who don’t seek to be formed by the institutions they enter. They seek instead to use those institutions as a stage to perform on, to display their wonderful selves.
-- David Brooks, 7/8/2025, the Atlantic.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/07/trump-administration-supporters-good/683441/
Works well with Turchin's metaphor of musical chairs in politics/power.
Похвала Якову
Jul. 9th, 2025 04:26 pmtimeletsДве вещи, которые я увидел в журнале Якова Жеркова, совершенно точно изменили мою жизнь к лучшему:
Первая: рекомендация Stamina Power Tower 1690 — это такая штука для подтягивания и других физических упражнений. Белье на нее тоже удобно вешать.
Вторая: рекомендация книг Боланьо. Я уже прочитал The Savage Detectives, a сейчас перевалил за середину 2660. Очень хорошая литература.
Спасибо Яков!
Первая: рекомендация Stamina Power Tower 1690 — это такая штука для подтягивания и других физических упражнений. Белье на нее тоже удобно вешать.
Вторая: рекомендация книг Боланьо. Я уже прочитал The Savage Detectives, a сейчас перевалил за середину 2660. Очень хорошая литература.
Спасибо Яков!
Points for honesty in this job description....
Jul. 11th, 2025 11:20 amconuly"Why work here?"
"Weekly pay!"
Yup, that's why I would like to apply for any and all jobs!
(On a side note, A has been sending me a lot of job links today. I'm a bit inundated, but I somehow don't think that "Great, please don't send them to me, just fill them out with my resume for me" is going to go over very well.)
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"Weekly pay!"
Yup, that's why I would like to apply for any and all jobs!
(On a side note, A has been sending me a lot of job links today. I'm a bit inundated, but I somehow don't think that "Great, please don't send them to me, just fill them out with my resume for me" is going to go over very well.)
( Read more... )