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Excellent. Now, can you fix MY angsty teenager problems, kplzthnx.

actually this wasn't what i REALLY thought. it was a sociological experiment!

  Never again will I let you play me for a phool!

[Fail]

There's nothing wrong with UNO, but I get the weird impression that Lunchbox was testing the waters. He was feeling old and gray, so he did something mildly absurd that one might expect of screwball teenagers and college students. Then he called up someone whom he figured might feel the same way, to see if there was someone left in his world who wouldn't tell him to behave like a timid old man. Suggesting a game of UNO (as opposed to a game of poker, croquet, or something similarly 'adult') was his way of saying "Hey Vex, have you been feeling like Daily Grind has worn your soul down to a nub? 'Cause I sure have. I've got an idea that might alleviate that feeling." Even better, what he was suggesting was not the act of a desperate middle-aged man, and I'll prove it.

Desperate activities are easily recognizable, because they try to convey the message "I'm still young" using the language that only the worn out and defeated have learned to speak. It's the language of soulless consumerism, of trying to grasp Slack with money and lies. Let's look at these three examples:

1. Buying a sports car = Fail, because you just sunk a couple grand for... what? A car? Get fucking real, you're not picking up chicks anymore. You know damn well that if some chick throws her bra at you when you drive past in your convertible Jaguar, she's a gold-digger. This classic example of a poorly handled mid-life crisis screams "I'M USING MONEY TO TRY AND REMEMBER WHAT IT FEELS LIKE TO HAVE SELF-ESTEEM."

2. Taking up golf and buying expensive equipment, even though you don't really care for the game = Fail, because it's transparently obvious that you're trying to look like a 'distinguished gentleman,' whom people will respect and admire even when his temples go gray. Way to go, dummy; now you've pissed away a bunch of money so you can look 'distinguished' while being bored off your ass. This is a classic example of MISSING THE POINT on an epic scale.

3. Playing UNO with a friend on a whim = Not Fail, because now you're starting to get it. It's also a reminder that you are not alone in The Machine, that you are not 'wrong' or 'pathetic' for grumbling and grousing and hating yourself for being a disposable part of it. It's a card game, so therefore it's cheap as hell (cheaper than drinking yourself stupid) and the real value of it is social interaction on a level that you might have forgotten exists: company for company's sake.

Teenagers seem to take an uncanny pleasure in just being around their friends and talking, but that's because they're still marveling at the mutual realization that "Hey, we're all human beings, how awesome is that?". Once that initial rush wears off, it's all too easy for society (i.e. The Machine, Real Life, or whatever) to condition us in perverse ways; to reprogram us, via soul-crushing drudgery, to seek that sense of of fulfillment in ways that bolster the economy and preserve social order without fully realizing that we're missing it. That desire to feel worthy, valued, becomes little more than a dull ache that we instinctively–futilely–try to soothe in the only way we know how. Or, I should say, in the only way we can remember. Our old ways of entertaining ourselves are dismissed as childish, and we laugh at them. We've been taught to find fulfillment in the numbers on our paycheck and in products, things that we can get without the company of friends or family. Indeed, it's often easier to get these things if we don't spend our money and time on the things that can actually make us feel human; and what's more, we pump more of that desperately needed liquid capital back into the economy when we try to have fun on our own than when we invest in having a good time with people we like. So we turn against our old friends, our neighbors, and basically everyone who isn't a close family member (and even they're within a hair's breadth of estrangement), and they turn against us. By being modern citizens, we have signed an unwritten pact to mutually neglect each other, without perceiving the inevitable result: we come to hate ourselves.


Who or what is doing this to us? Who or what is slowly but surely turning us into ingrown, spiteful little bitches?





Who cares? In this state, the answer would probably just depress us more. It doesn't matter who's been using you as a doormat when you haven't even fucking stood up yet to remind your own damn self that you're not a doormat. Look around; maybe you've only been lying in the mud feeling like shit because you think that's what you're supposed to do. Sure, someone might try and pull you down, or even several people, but if you look you'll see that they're all acting like doormats too, and they've got nothing but words and opinions. Who gives a shit about what a doormat says or thinks? Only another doormat.

YOU ARE NOT A CORPSE, SO GET OUT OF THAT FUCKING HOLE. GRAVEYARD SPACE IS LIMITED, YOU SELFISH JACKASS.


Vex, it's a good thing you decided to swallow your pride and play UNO. You might not have the time that you once had to spend with people, other than those with whom you have no choice but to socialize, but it takes only a little jolt to remind yourself that you're still alive. It's a strange thing, the human soul, because it constantly checks itself for vital signs. Once it stops checking, then you'll know it's dead.

(P.S. This whole thing wasn't specifically targeted at Vex. But you knew that.)

I'm currently finishing re-reading The Prince of Nothing trilogy (The Darkness That Comes Before, The Warrior-Prophet, and The Thousandfold Thought) by R. Scott Bakker. I was totally wowed the first time I read it, and the second time around it's even better because I'm wise to the books' single flaw, which is a tendency to frequently "introduce" secondary characters for a few scenes, all with strange, nigh-unpronounceable names.

The historical parallels are pretty obvious to anyone well-acquainted with European history, but the real yuks come from the few details that don't fit into the historical mould.

In the not-so-distant future, the island of O'ahu will sink under the weight of self-realization.

The wealthy will not be permitted to escape to a subtropical paradise island.

Oy vey.

Here follows the opinions of someone without formal education in such things:

Virtue ethics, as you've described it, seems to work better with a discord-oriented mindset.

The 'checklist' variety of ethics is, in some sense, the quintessential "I know what's good, and I've got it all written down right here" ethic. It implies a sort of omniscience that most likely does not exist, and in order to be useful everyone whom these rules will affect must agree that they are good. Thus, they are most useful when we use them as a set of agreed-upon standards that are subject to change as necessary. For example:

Ethical Checklist, concerning the use of blinking text:
1. The "blinking text" attribute is really fucking annoying.
2. Don't use blinking text.

There is no objective, superhuman or supernatural authority to determine this, but almost everyone agrees with the basic premise, and we likewise enjoy the benefits of using this ethical checklist (less blinky text on the interwebs) as a standard to which we adhere. In contrast, some ethical checklists are more controversial:

Ethical Checklist, concerning homosexuality:
1. Homosexuality is bad.
2. Anyone who is homosexual must be convinced of their error.
2a. Any form of coercion is acceptable to achieve this.

Some people insist that this is a standard we must all follow because it is ordained by a Higher Power™, but since we don't all agree on what this Higher Power™ has ordained or even if it exists at all, this checklist gets thrown into contention. Furthermore, even when it is accepted as law or common practice, we do not enjoy the benefits of a "gay-free" society (if there are any). Homosexuals, when persecuted, either deny their orientation and thus become extremely cranky and maligned individuals, or they become politicians who run on the anti-gay ticket and get sadomasochistic pleasure from denouncing gayness publicly and doing dirty things in bathroom stalls.

It seems that this form of ethics is only useful when we acknowledge its limits.

Virtue ethics, since it is entirely subjective and acknowledged as such, is a much freer and chaos-accepting form of ethics. We tend to act in accordance with our beliefs (and this may include conforming to certain arbitrary "ethical checklists," when they are useful), but since it is individualistic we can change our minds and behavior without setting a precedent for everyone to start breaking rules. It permits us to agree to disagree.

I live in upstate NY, Binghamton. It's actually the city where Rod Sterling grew up, the guy who wrote the Twilight Zone, it sets the tone for my pictures I think.

pffft binghamton is not upstate. you are DOWWWN state.

ps cool photos

you are right

Saying that you live in "Upstate NY" is common slang for "I live in New York State, but not the fucking city, you uneducated twit." The actual geography is irrelevant.

That picture of the coiled rope from inside the factory... it has the word "nipples" written right next to it.

Not that I support the current government, but its true you need money to run a state, and it has to come from somewhere.

Stop making Libertarians cry.

I like making libertarians cry, just like I like making radical fundies cry, or anarchists, or religious nuts, or any person who decides to jump on a bandwagon and support a philosophy just because everyone else is doing it and you have to do SOMETHING, join a political party, even though no single philosophy that lays down the rules can ever have all the answers.

They're going to put you in a cage one day.

Old people will mock you, and children will poke you through the bars with sticks.

And I'll roar and piss on them, and generally give them the show of their lives, cause I have the last laugh, that we are killing ourselves, and as the stench builds I'll be long insane, no clear mind left, and will laugh as we all discover the truth and start screaming.

Also, when TGRR finally loses it, you'll be more or less safe within your cage.

Goddamn.

Seconded.

[Anarchists that were upset because the government was going to pull funding for a damned library. What anarchists demand government handouts for libraries?]

I agree with the OP as well... it's not just the politicans that are plastic though. Every active political pundit, blogger, rant filled Interweb poster, dude at the Bar etc. have become red or blue mannequins. I remember, not even 15 years ago when people could say "Well, Mr. Political Opponent has a good point about X...", now it doesn't matter what political opponent X says, because he's "Wrong" before he opens his damned primary color spewing traphole.

Besides, the parties and political ideologies here in the States have become shells for idiots. Who would have thought that Conservatives would be involved in Nation Building? Who would have thought that Liberals would be holding protests where they cheer for thuggish Theocrats that kill gays, women and anyone who disagrees with their Religious Bullshit? Hell, last year I saw a protest by an anarchy group. Anarchists that were upset because the government was going to pull funding for a damned library. What anarchists demand government handouts for libraries? It's like a libertarian protesting tax cuts.

I think that the problem, in part, lies with the media and the Internet. 50 years ago, the goo'old old boy at your local bar would rant about the government, but he wasn't deluded into thinking that he was a Pol-Sci major. Now, any redneck with the ability to string letters into something resembling words thinks he has all the knowledge necessary to KNOW the right solution. 50 years ago, the drunk, pub based, political commentator used his beliefs on what he thought government Should Do (aka, his personal political philosophy) while it may have been dumb, it was consistent and made sense in some sense. Now, their political views are parroted lines from Hannity, Rush, DailyKOS, Huffington and the RNC/DNC... which are more closely aligned with what sells, what spins, what line is catchy and what hook pulls in the n00bs, than any sort of political philosophy or consistency.

Also, it doesn't help that America has such a low voter turnout. Every moderate, reasonable person who doesn't vote hands that vote over to the politically-charged screwballs who do vote. The lack of a strong centrist voter group is essentially Viagra for the political wangs of the radicals.

[i just used it to find a nice open dir chockfull of D&D manuals.]

two links:

http://g2p.org/ -- instant google-fu! adds special keywords to a google query in order to find those elusive "open directories" with all the goodies in them. i just used it to find a nice open dir chockfull of D&D manuals. you can find a lot of mp3s on there as well. the nice thing is, the servers are usually pretty fast.

http://www.scribd.com/ -- i just got this link from a friend. it's a web2.0 thingy that allows people to upload and share and "publish" all the popular book formats like word, pdf etc .. guess what they're really using it for.. [i haven't checked it out extensively, but it seems a nice resource]

Fucking great. Now I can feel like a dumbass for owning several hundred dollars worth of those books.

Which is worse:

1) There is no conspiracy but you are constantly seeking whether there is one.

2) There is a conspiracy, and you decided to close yourself to that idea.

3) There is no conspiracy, and you decided to close yourself to that idea.

Fucking BORING.

i'm not sure if i got everything out of it that it intended to tell, but i get from it a general feeling of people lamenting not realizing what they perceive as their "full potential".

what a thing to stare oneself blind at.

i catch myself doing it from time to time, but really it's about the most useless thought ever, IMO.





also, on a totally unrelated note, as someone who selects random pieces of text while reading (mostly to help my eyes keep track of where i was), under linux you accidentally press the middle mouse button and shove the whole selected text into a google search. this time i got the twelve monkeys script and two discordian sites. which kinda surprised me cause there was nothing particularly discordian in the bit i copied.

From the first Discordian site:

"she's not a woman, she's 'differently sexed'"  -mst3k

Can this be made into a memebomb?