samirillian

The one straw revolution guy planted root vegetables among fruit trees in orchards I wonder if that would make a difference

Such an irony/nominative determinism around his name. The self cannot will its way out of the tangled mess, cannot will to be the good Christian he dissociatively admires.

“it is not in the individual gift to will belief. Self has tried to believe – and cannot.”

At least by analogy with sound, it doesn’t make sense to me to use the golden ratio. If you consider the tonic, the octave, the major fifth, you have 1:1, 2:1, and 3:2. It seems to me that the earliest ratios in the fibonacci sequence are more aesthetically pleasing, symmetry, 1/3s, etc. but maybe there is something “organically” pleasing about the Fibonacci sequence. But Fibonacci spirals in nature are really just general logarithmic spirals as I understand it. Would be interested to hear counterpoints.

Wood is rigid and won’t melt or scratch

I like how decades after the “Sokal Affair”, slatestarcodex is creating its own impish simulacrum of English departments in the 90s. The author would do well to note Frederic Jameson’s own definition of simulacrum: a copy of which there was never an original. Case in point: restaurant mashed potatoes (which the author blithely considers “Real”) are nothing at all like home-made, which Michelin-starred chefs like Dave Chang will readily attest. They are riced, not mashed, then mixed with as much butter as humanly possible. Restaurant mashed potatoes represent their own decadent, post-industrial, post-modern..simulacrum.

I never enjoyed peanuts but I know Bill watterson the creator of Calvin and Hobbes was a big fan, so there must be something there

Common problem in man-made lakes. When you create a lake by damming a river it creates perfect conditions for lamination, deep narrow and filled with agricultural runoff. When they pull the plug on these dams all the de-oxygenated water flows out the bottom, basically just dumping unbreathable water into the river killing off the more sensitive fish, eg trout die catfish live, and smelling like a million firecrackers.

Do you think what Israel is doing is right?

Holy crap you’re totally right

You’re all made of stars you gotta let that shit shine okay?

I don’t take a position on this because I don’t know it but I think you’re (willfully?) misunderstanding the point. I don’t think all ethical problems can be legally defined. Something may be legal and wrong or illegal and not wrong. If she was indeed forced out for reporting sexual harassment, then what ethical responsibility does she still bear towards that company, regardless of what they ask her to sign as she leaves? The point isn’t that she’s right or wrong for sure, it’s that the problem is complex and legalities cannot account for all situations.

Oh interesting, well maybe I’m wrong. I mean the nerves thing stands but yeah maybe it is that easy

Can you do this? Like, I’ve killed every animal I’ve shot at so far (legally, while hunting) and I know I couldn’t make that shot. The nerves alone Jesus. I’m always surprised and dubious when I hear this claim repeated. A blood vessel in a human from 200 yards. After a few trips to the range. Really.

Is it possible that lefties twisted in the opposite direction

Ive wondered if to a bat a bat is more like a whale, swimming through the air, calling out at a rate and pitch sort of matching the distance its electrical signals travel. To them they aren’t moving fast at all, or maybe to them maybe humans are like ents, plodding along so slow talking like ents.

Yes.

Well if this makes money good for you lol

Which is also mentioned in Strunk and White but I doubt they read it

Just as Borges' Aleph represents the convergence of all points in the universe, Alephic stands at the intersection of AI, code, and marketing expertise.

C’mon isn’t it obvious.

The problem is I don't think the first one says anything, which, however stylistic, is still the point of a script. If it doesn't actually make a meaningful expression then it's not a script. What word has 20 s's in it?

*Do

Just to clarify I don’t think that first image is Kufic script, whereas the second is the shahada (author calls it the shada)

I’m not sure about the 2 kinds of scripts claim, I think there are a few more than that.

What kind of tree is this? I know a lot of trees get called sycamores

The question is what changes to the mode of production were brought by the technological advance. I think fatty tuna sushi became popular due to early refrigeration

Xenophon's Cyropedia talks about Persians becoming centaurs when they get horses but Strauss has some esoteric reading about the centaur being some flawed creature, meant to symbolize a combination of the medes and persians i don't know.

Machiavelli (who strauss calls an evil teacher of evil) references Chiron who, unlike the most centaurs, was wise. Machiavelli says the prince should be like that or understand that Man himself is like that, part beast and part man.

Doesn't Strauss like centaurs?

1) inconsistent argument: Frodo is just as mediocre as Rincewind.

2) I don’t respect the bald claim that all chosen ones are bad, or the implicit claim that we can somehow avoid them. Universals always have exceptions. If we’re being “real” here about our agential change, we must admit that species evolve by natural selection we might say genetic chosen ones. And anyway I do think there are some special people so sue me.

3) consider the names of Peter Thiel’s companies: palantir, mithril. Thiel, I’m sure ironically, named his companies after objects possessing exactly that moral ambiguity that the author claims does not exist in Tolkien’s world. Thiel is telegraphing it straight to you via Tolkien: do not trust me, I will use these objects for my own gain.

4) Discworld can afford to be light and playful because it was written in easy times. In one preface, Tolkien wrote that all the world’s great powers would obviously have tried to turn the ring into a weapon if it really existed.

It’s greed not national interests unless you know something I don’t about greedy people.

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2025/02/will-trump-doge-sink...

I agree with this commentary

there are certainly some parallels with what's happening today but analogies are always difficult. i could be wrong but i really don't think of this administration as murderous in the way that Nazi Germany was.

Of course, the biggest asterisk beside the analogy is the lack of warmongering. Like, kind of the most important part, and Trump is acting more like Woodrow Wilson in that respect. Didn't Woodrow Wilson once say that the US isn't a melting pot but a garbage can?