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The Pit, 5 parts

Started by The Good Reverend Roger, March 18, 2014, 05:28:10 PM

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The Good Reverend Roger

Quote from: Cainad (dec.) on April 08, 2014, 07:07:58 PM
Just read the whole thing (slow day at work).

Yowza. It hits me in kind of a weird way, since I was only around for the last 9.5 years of 20C, and I was a bit preoccupied by poking bugs with sticks. The 21st C was definitely handed to us with a sense of "Don't worry about all that, it's fine."

Then some guys blew a hole in the world with airplanes and all this stuff came leaking out.

Yep.  20C will not lie quietly.  You have to drive a stake throught its heart, and nail the casket shut.
" It's just that Depeche Mode were a bunch of optimistic loveburgers."
- TGRR, shaming himself forever, 7/8/2017

"Billy, when I say that ethics is our number one priority and safety is also our number one priority, you should take that to mean exactly what I said. Also quality. That's our number one priority as well. Don't look at me that way, you're in the corporate world now and this is how it works."
- TGRR, raising the bar at work.

Mesozoic Mister Nigel

Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on April 08, 2014, 06:21:53 PM
How. The fuck. Did you just make Nixon an honestly tragic figure?

It's closer to the truth than the history we've been given.
"I'm guessing it was January 2007, a meeting in Bethesda, we got a bag of bees and just started smashing them on the desk," Charles Wick said. "It was very complicated."


Mesozoic Mister Nigel

I have been reading all these books that were written in the late 20C and the first couple of years of the 21st, before people really grasped that it was over. What stands out is how scared people were. The psychology books have this edge of desperation, of a helpless craving to understand what was going wrong. And then it just sort of started receding. It's not GONE, of course, but it's so much better it's almost unfathomable.

The old folks can't quite grasp it yet, of course. They still think that the world is going to hell, that violence is on the rise, and that the world is a poorer place. And it is far from perfect, and we have our own brand-new problems in the new century. But it isn't the 20th century anymore.

I have started riding the bus again, for the first time in almost 15 years, and the thing that astonishes me is how much more polite everyone is. The driver to the passengers, the passengers to the driver, and to each other. Something changed when the 20th century died, and I don't know what it was but I'm glad.
"I'm guessing it was January 2007, a meeting in Bethesda, we got a bag of bees and just started smashing them on the desk," Charles Wick said. "It was very complicated."


Reginald Ret

There is something about the newest generation that creeps me out.
They are mostly emotionally undamaged and I don't know how to handle that, both the idea and the reality leave me with some form of cultureshock.
Even the socially awkward unpopular kids are relatively sane and happy.
Lord Byron: "Those who will not reason, are bigots, those who cannot, are fools, and those who dare not, are slaves."

Nigel saying the wisest words ever uttered: "It's just a suffix."

"The worst forum ever" "The most mediocre forum on the internet" "The dumbest forum on the internet" "The most retarded forum on the internet" "The lamest forum on the internet" "The coolest forum on the internet"

Mesozoic Mister Nigel

Quote from: Regret on April 08, 2014, 10:30:39 PM
There is something about the newest generation that creeps me out.
They are mostly emotionally undamaged and I don't know how to handle that, both the idea and the reality leave me with some form of cultureshock.
Even the socially awkward unpopular kids are relatively sane and happy.

Meh, there are still plenty of damaged ones. However, the ratio of damaged to undamaged is undeniably lower than it used to be, to the point where studies are now emerging that talk about how problematic it is that a large percentage of babies (@ 30% IIRC) aren't bonding properly with their parents, and what we can do about it.
"I'm guessing it was January 2007, a meeting in Bethesda, we got a bag of bees and just started smashing them on the desk," Charles Wick said. "It was very complicated."


The Good Reverend Roger

Quote from: Nigel on April 08, 2014, 10:27:02 PM
I have been reading all these books that were written in the late 20C and the first couple of years of the 21st, before people really grasped that it was over. What stands out is how scared people were. The psychology books have this edge of desperation, of a helpless craving to understand what was going wrong. And then it just sort of started receding. It's not GONE, of course, but it's so much better it's almost unfathomable.

The old folks can't quite grasp it yet, of course. They still think that the world is going to hell, that violence is on the rise, and that the world is a poorer place. And it is far from perfect, and we have our own brand-new problems in the new century. But it isn't the 20th century anymore.

I have started riding the bus again, for the first time in almost 15 years, and the thing that astonishes me is how much more polite everyone is. The driver to the passengers, the passengers to the driver, and to each other. Something changed when the 20th century died, and I don't know what it was but I'm glad.

Now we just have to tie off the bleeding stump.
" It's just that Depeche Mode were a bunch of optimistic loveburgers."
- TGRR, shaming himself forever, 7/8/2017

"Billy, when I say that ethics is our number one priority and safety is also our number one priority, you should take that to mean exactly what I said. Also quality. That's our number one priority as well. Don't look at me that way, you're in the corporate world now and this is how it works."
- TGRR, raising the bar at work.

The Good Reverend Roger

Quote from: Regret on April 08, 2014, 10:30:39 PM

Even the socially awkward unpopular kids are relatively sane and happy.

That's because they aren't having the shit kicked out of them - with the adult world cheering it on - nearly as much.
" It's just that Depeche Mode were a bunch of optimistic loveburgers."
- TGRR, shaming himself forever, 7/8/2017

"Billy, when I say that ethics is our number one priority and safety is also our number one priority, you should take that to mean exactly what I said. Also quality. That's our number one priority as well. Don't look at me that way, you're in the corporate world now and this is how it works."
- TGRR, raising the bar at work.

The Good Reverend Roger

Quote from: Nigel on April 08, 2014, 10:19:11 PM
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on April 08, 2014, 06:21:53 PM
How. The fuck. Did you just make Nixon an honestly tragic figure?

It's closer to the truth than the history we've been given.

Nixon was a monster, but he was not a simple monster.  He was unbelievably complex.

And I'd rather have that complex monster than what we've had since.
" It's just that Depeche Mode were a bunch of optimistic loveburgers."
- TGRR, shaming himself forever, 7/8/2017

"Billy, when I say that ethics is our number one priority and safety is also our number one priority, you should take that to mean exactly what I said. Also quality. That's our number one priority as well. Don't look at me that way, you're in the corporate world now and this is how it works."
- TGRR, raising the bar at work.

Cainad (dec.)

Trainee Seminar Excerpt, Day 7

It is not a coincidence that the atomic bombs were dropped on Japan in 1945. This may sound like a stupid statement, given the amount of human effort that went into their development; of course it's not a coincidence. Nevertheless, bear with me.

Nineteen Forty-Five. Just about the middle of 20C, slightly to the left if you read it on a typical left-to-right number line.

Slightly to the left of center. Two bombs.

Thum-THUMP.

We did not, in spite of our own seeming best efforts, all die in 20C. But something else lived.

The Good Reverend Roger

Quote from: Cainad (dec.) on April 09, 2014, 03:10:04 AM
Trainee Seminar Excerpt, Day 7

It is not a coincidence that the atomic bombs were dropped on Japan in 1945. This may sound like a stupid statement, given the amount of human effort that went into their development; of course it's not a coincidence. Nevertheless, bear with me.

Nineteen Forty-Five. Just about the middle of 20C, slightly to the left if you read it on a typical left-to-right number line.

Slightly to the left of center. Two bombs.

Thum-THUMP.

We did not, in spite of our own seeming best efforts, all die in 20C. But something else lived.

HOT DIGGITY!  That's fucking awesome!
" It's just that Depeche Mode were a bunch of optimistic loveburgers."
- TGRR, shaming himself forever, 7/8/2017

"Billy, when I say that ethics is our number one priority and safety is also our number one priority, you should take that to mean exactly what I said. Also quality. That's our number one priority as well. Don't look at me that way, you're in the corporate world now and this is how it works."
- TGRR, raising the bar at work.

The Good Reverend Roger

But I already used that bit in Life During Wartime.
" It's just that Depeche Mode were a bunch of optimistic loveburgers."
- TGRR, shaming himself forever, 7/8/2017

"Billy, when I say that ethics is our number one priority and safety is also our number one priority, you should take that to mean exactly what I said. Also quality. That's our number one priority as well. Don't look at me that way, you're in the corporate world now and this is how it works."
- TGRR, raising the bar at work.

Cainad (dec.)

Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on April 09, 2014, 03:12:33 AM
But I already used that bit in Life During Wartime.

I may have got it from there and forgot during my many and long hiatuses :lulz:


This notion of a period of history, or a zeitgeist, or whatever the hell 20C is, being a something that is active and malevolent, tickles my brain.

The Good Reverend Roger

Quote from: Cainad (dec.) on April 09, 2014, 03:18:53 AM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on April 09, 2014, 03:12:33 AM
But I already used that bit in Life During Wartime.

I may have got it from there and forgot during my many and long hiatuses :lulz:


This notion of a period of history, or a zeitgeist, or whatever the hell 20C is, being a something that is active and malevolent, tickles my brain.

http://www.principiadiscordia.com/forum/index.php?topic=34936.msg1291716#msg1291716

It's STILL a great idea.
" It's just that Depeche Mode were a bunch of optimistic loveburgers."
- TGRR, shaming himself forever, 7/8/2017

"Billy, when I say that ethics is our number one priority and safety is also our number one priority, you should take that to mean exactly what I said. Also quality. That's our number one priority as well. Don't look at me that way, you're in the corporate world now and this is how it works."
- TGRR, raising the bar at work.

Cainad (dec.)

I think I missed that the first time around; I didn't get that far into LDW. I spent too much time fucking off and now I've got all this catching up to do.

Love that chapter too, though. Even after all this time there's still something undeniably perverse about nuclear weapons.

The Good Reverend Roger

Quote from: Cainad (dec.) on April 09, 2014, 03:29:33 AM
I think I missed that the first time around; I didn't get that far into LDW. I spent too much time fucking off and now I've got all this catching up to do.

Love that chapter too, though. Even after all this time there's still something undeniably perverse about nuclear weapons.

1.  I still haven't finished LDW.  I lost the plot, so to speak, so it's on hiatus while I write what's currently in my head.

2.  If I ever turn into Warren Ellis and write 40 chapters then stop two or three times in a row, I am counting on you to KILL ME IN COLD BLOOD.

3.  Nukes are creepy.  Really creepy.  Freddy Kruger wishes he was that creepy.
" It's just that Depeche Mode were a bunch of optimistic loveburgers."
- TGRR, shaming himself forever, 7/8/2017

"Billy, when I say that ethics is our number one priority and safety is also our number one priority, you should take that to mean exactly what I said. Also quality. That's our number one priority as well. Don't look at me that way, you're in the corporate world now and this is how it works."
- TGRR, raising the bar at work.