Zompist Bboard Again

fusijui wrote: ↑Wed Jun 30, 2021 1:43 pm Honestly! guys, what's the second rule of the internet again? Don't feed the trolls.

I don't think rotting bones is a troll.

Travis B. wrote: ↑Wed Jun 30, 2021 1:52 pm

fusijui wrote: ↑Wed Jun 30, 2021 1:43 pm Honestly! guys, what's the second rule of the internet again? Don't feed the trolls.

I don't think rotting bones is a troll.

Thank you. I'm not.

This is just a random theory I came up with after reading the book Raphael recommended, so I understand if it's unconvincing. Nevertheless, I will answer any questions people have about it or objections they have against it. I understand the theory may be false, but I'm just trying to defend it against objections that I feel don't address it adequately.

I'm somewhere between media I might want to consume. Anybody have random thoughts to throw at me?

I think it would be better to give an idea of what you like first.

Rounin Ryuuji wrote: ↑Thu Jul 01, 2021 4:03 am I'm somewhere between media I might want to consume. Anybody have random thoughts to throw at me?

Books? TV shows? Movies? Fiction? Non-fiction?

****

I'm continuing a David Graeber reading binge, with Debt: The First 5000 Years. (As with Bullshit Jobs, it's both enlightening and exasperating.)

A few months ago, I read "狂人日记," i.e. "A Madman's Diary" by Lu Xun, courtesy of zhongwen.com. More recently, I read Teach Yourself Bulgarian. Even more recently, I read Teach Yourself Vietnamese (but ignoring all the grammar rules for both Teach Yourself books). Now, I'm in the middle of Teach Yourself Ancient Greek, Khasakkinte Ithihaasam, 百喻经的智慧: 佛教寓言故事, China Scene (really just reviewing this one), and "A Grammar of the Skou Language of New Guinea" by Mark Donahue.

I still want more books.

I'm now finding my tastes in media weirdly difficult to articulate.

Rounin Ryuuji wrote: ↑Fri Jul 02, 2021 11:57 pm I'm now finding my tastes in media weirdly difficult to articulate.

Maybe try the format "Like X but not like Y." As in, you give us a piece of media you do like, and then another that most would think is similar, but you don't enjoy. That way we can at least get some fuzzy boundaries to give you some suggestions.

I second that suggestion!

I'm rereading It, by Stephen King, this time in English. (I've read it in French translation years ago...)

It's funny how Stephen King is about the only author that makes me reach for a dictionary from time to time. (A lot more than academic work. Mostly it's the slang. I had to look up 'head shop', for instance.)

I've been paging through the Illuminatus! Trilogy, after having read the book back when I was a teenager.

Ares Land wrote: ↑Tue Jul 06, 2021 2:57 pm I'm rereading It, by Stephen King, this time in English. (I've read it in French translation years ago...)

It's funny how Stephen King is about the only author that makes me reach for a dictionary from time to time. (A lot more than academic work. Mostly it's the slang. I had to look up 'head shop', for instance.)

I remember reading a lot of Stephen King when I was a teenager, with two of my favorites actually being Carrie and Christine. It's unfortunate that a lot of my "reading for pleasure" has fallen by the wayside, though doing my Ph.D. probably took more out of me than I might admit otherwise.

There's also a fantasy novel by Stephen King, Eyes of the Dragon, that I loved as a kid as well. Would love to re-read it, perhaps when I'm back in the US next... whenever that is.


Anyways, from the music side (which I still am managing... a bit), I found this cover of Icehouse's Electric Blue, and I've probably listened to it a good 15+ times in the past few days. Wish it'd get released as a single...

(And speaking of things named Electric Blue, there's a totally unrelated song by Arcade Fire, which they coincidentally released and debuted a few days after I went to see them live. I didn't know what to think about the song at first, but, a large number of listens later, it was clear I liked it.)

Reading the Thomas Cromwell series by Hilary Mantel.

Tasting History with Max Miller: https://www.youtube.com/c/TastingHistor ... &flow=grid

The most Bengali thing I've heard in a long time: https://youtu.be/yQk9x_OVwKE

For people still hyped about the Middle East Construction Kit, more Islamic lectures I found on YouTube:

Sunni: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYZx ... mB3k2zdCL0 (I don't recall ever knowing that the Quran has 10 readings.)

Shia: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrK- ... LXhXURvoNc (Has there been a successful philosophical idealistic revolution before the Iranian revolution?)

Possibly my favorite show of all time, Leverage has a new revival, Leverage: Redemption on imdb tv. Of course, I binged all eight episodes that have come out so far. So now, on recommendation from just about everyone I've met who liked Leverage, I'm now watching White Collar, and quite enjoying it.

I've heard a lot about Wilfred Bion. Maybe I should try reading his works: https://www.pdfdrive.com/the-complete-w ... 05381.html

Edit: Since I agree with the Soviet Union on practically all cultural matters and disagree with it mostly on how to conduct interpersonal relations on societal scales, I've decided to take the next step in Stalinist LARPing and try recipes from the Soviet Union's propaganda cookbook Book of Tasty and Healthy Food. I hear the implicit assumption that this is how the average Soviet citizen ate was probably a lie in many periods, but are the recipes fake too?

In line with my recent theme of books that are informative and arguably important, but that, given their subject matter, can't really be called enjoyable, I've now started Perversion of Justice: The Jeffrey Epstein Story by Julie K. Brown. I'm not sure whether I'll be able to finish it, though.

Reading O'Reilly's Programming Quantum Computers. My ignorance of quantum computing has to end.

Magnus Carlsen getting frustrated playing his own chess engine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6Sp5nL ... D&index=16

Cody'sLab has some interesting new videos: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... boEYXhErf0 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... J0jz45D3oE (Ep. 16 in the second playlist is a faulty, unlisted video. You'll have to go to the channel to find the correct one.)

zyxw59 wrote: ↑Tue Jul 13, 2021 12:42 am Possibly my favorite show of all time, Leverage has a new revival, Leverage: Redemption on imdb tv. Of course, I binged all eight episodes that have come out so far. So now, on recommendation from just about everyone I've met who liked Leverage, I'm now watching White Collar, and quite enjoying it.

Thanks for mentioning this! I was a fan of the original Leverage, so once I read your post I ran out and watched the revival. Honestly I wasn't hugely impressed, but I was plenty pleased & entertained, if that makes any sense. Have you seen the Korean remake of Leverage? I've only got the first two episodes so far, but am closing in on the rest of it. Anyhow, thank you for letting me know about this!

I just started The Norman Conquest, by Marc Morris. Pretty well written, IMO. About an Anglo-Danish war about half a century before the conquest, Morris writes

The English remained paralyzed by their own rivalries until the following April, at which point [English king] Æthelred made an invaluable contribution to the war effort by dropping dead [...]

After the success of the last Russian party, my friends are now organising a Turkish themed party. I am the self-proclaimed Director of Playlisting, which is a lot of fun. The language is just great for pop songs, and some have added subtitles on Youtube so you can follow along. A sample:

Gülşen - Bangır Bangır

Altın Gün - Kısasa kısas

In Yemeni Arabic rather than Turkish, but still good:
A-WA - "Hana Mash Hu Al Yaman"