Zompist Bboard Again

I seem to have started a little bit of a discussion on vampires and mummies in the comments section of Bret Devereaux's latest blog post: https://acoup.blog/2025/11/28/gap-week- ... nksgiving/

(Do a page search for my name to get to the start.)

It occurs to me that the general vibe of misanthropy here, particularly from Rotting Bones, is one reason I have felt increasingly hopeless over the past few months. Obviously the wider situation with the world, with all the fascism and global warming and so forth, is the main contributor. Nonetheless the repeated refrains from Rotting Bones that humans are all stupid and incorrigible do wear on me.

malloc wrote: ↑Mon Dec 01, 2025 9:17 pm It occurs to me that the general vibe of misanthropy here, particularly from Rotting Bones, is one reason I have felt increasingly hopeless over the past few months. Obviously the wider situation with the world, with all the fascism and global warming and so forth, is the main contributor. Nonetheless the repeated refrains from Rotting Bones that humans are all stupid and incorrigible do wear on me.

I have proposed concrete solutions to the fascism problem. To come up with solutions, you have to look at the situation objectively. That means seeing humans as patients, not agents. Nevertheless, unlike you, I have repeatedly said that particular outcomes depend on our responses, which I do not pretend to predict.

Also, I feel like fascist discourse thrives on praising human brilliance, and by proxy, the so-called brilliance of the world's leaders. Putting down the species as a whole takes the wind out of their sails. Regardless of any other effects, I enjoy watching them deflate. Try it the next time you come across a fascist. It's really funny.

Personally, I do believe in human brilliance, but it's a kind of brilliance that can't easily be praised through cheap bluster. A recent example:

rotting bones wrote: ↑Sun Nov 30, 2025 3:26 pm In the circles I come from, knowledge about various math books exported by the ex-Soviet press Mir (cheap) is much more common than the fine points of Islamic theology.

Any cheap bluster you come up with to praise such behaviors lend themselves to being co-opted for figures like Musk. It is precisely the cheap descriptions that are transferable to fascists, not the behaviors themselves. Musk is not himself an engineer. Many of the Soviet math nerds in Kolkata are Communists.

I'm with Spinoza in seeing the knowledge of specific things as our salvation. It would make me happy to see progressive mass movements sweep society, but since the world functions through feedback loops, such silver linings inevitably distract us from the clouds gathering on the horizon. Lasting joy is a quiet thing that comes from seeing your own despair slotted seamlessly into the world, seen like a set of interconnected Lego bricks.

This in no way implies we should not try our utmost to secure temporal happiness. Being idiots about it is one of the avenues that lead to fascism.

Ahzoh wrote: ↑Sat Nov 29, 2025 5:40 pm

rotting bones wrote: ↑Sat Nov 29, 2025 9:24 am If you had put her out of her misery, you would have regretted not trying to help her more. Since we are not omniscient, some of our mistakes are causally necessary.

We wouldn't. Especially not if we had decided to go to an emergency vet on Thursday to get her euthanized. We had long ago decided her quality of life was worth more than trying to keep her alive and by that point she wasn't really living anymore and was beyond any further help.

I'm really sorry for you; losing a pet is always and sometimes cruel. Don't be too hard on yourself.

Raphael wrote: ↑Mon Dec 01, 2025 6:05 am I seem to have started a little bit of a discussion on vampires and mummies in the comments section of Bret Devereaux's latest blog post: https://acoup.blog/2025/11/28/gap-week- ... nksgiving/

(Do a page search for my name to get to the start.)

The best story with mummies was The Seven Crystal Balls

The idea of friendly vampires (who are also hot) was introduced by Interview with the Vampire , I think? It was a really good take back then... I think it's way, way overdone now.

Ares Land wrote: ↑Tue Dec 02, 2025 4:49 am
The best story with mummies was The Seven Crystal Balls

Not sure I agree, but I can see your point.

The idea of friendly vampires (who are also hot) was introduced by Interview with the Vampire , I think? It was a really good take back then... I think it's way, way overdone now.

I wouldn't describe the vampires in Interview with the Vampire as friendly at all, but you're right in the sense that they're vampires with whom the audience is supposed to identify. But thinking of, for instance, the scene where a defenseless young girl is slowly murdered in front of a large audience who ignore her desperate cries for help and applaud when she is dead - let's just say that I find it very difficult to emphasize with people who like reading or watching stuff like that.

Raphael wrote: ↑Tue Dec 02, 2025 6:56 am I wouldn't describe the vampires in Interview with the Vampire as friendly at all, but you're right in the sense that they're vampires with whom the audience is supposed to identify. But thinking of, for instance, the scene where a defenseless young girl is slowly murdered in front of a large audience who ignore her desperate cries for help and applaud when she is dead - let's just say that I find it very difficult to emphasize with people who like reading or watching stuff like that.

It's been ages since I read the books... but I think Louis only kills animals, and Lestat sticks to criminals. I lack a point of comparison though -- Twilight puts me to sleep. I believe the evil theater vampires get their comeuppance at the hands of the friendly vampire protagonists.

I do like reading that stuff, or more precisely I like horror as a genre, which can get way worse than that. I assure you I'm innocuous

Over the past few days, I have been getting calls from something called the Element Mediation Group. The first time they said something about a claim against me while the other times they said nothing. I cannot find anything online about this group so I have no idea whether they're real or just scammers. Until they call give me more details in the call, I also have no idea what they want from me.

malloc wrote: ↑Wed Dec 03, 2025 9:06 am Over the past few days, I have been getting calls from something called the Element Mediation Group. The first time they said something about a claim against me while the other times they said nothing. I cannot find anything online about this group so I have no idea whether they're real or just scammers. Until they call give me more details in the call, I also have no idea what they want from me.

I would assume they are a scam unless given very good reason to think otherwise. Ignore them unless they in the very least send you a collection letter in writing, and even if they do confirm you actually owe what they may claim you owe. From a cursory googling other people have gotten quite suspicious-sounding calls from them.

1) What Travis said.

2) At first, I misread that as "Element Meditation Group", and I thought, "What, do people selling New Age stuff do spam phonecalls now?"

malloc wrote: ↑Wed Dec 03, 2025 9:06 am Over the past few days, I have been getting calls from something called the Element Mediation Group. The first time they said something about a claim against me while the other times they said nothing. I cannot find anything online about this group so I have no idea whether they're real or just scammers. Until they call give me more details in the call, I also have no idea what they want from me.

They want to fool you into giving them money. Don't let them. Tell them to either provide written or printed proof, or to go away.

In unrelated news, I was made aware of this apparently annual conlanging community census, which I completed in a bored 15 minutes. I was going to ignore its pleas for sharing, but its conlang media question did not accept bulletin boards as an option, so I now highly recommend anyone with a spare 15 minutes doing it in order to complain about that in the box at the end.

Edit: changed link to save any users a step

Yet another huge problem today. My ceiling is leaking now, presumably from the kitchen in the apartment above mine. This is quite a problem because my apartment has only one room, making it impossible so long as the dripping continues.

Lērisama wrote: ↑Wed Dec 03, 2025 4:37 pm In unrelated news, I was made aware of this apparently annual conlanging community census, which I completed in a bored 15 minutes. I was going to ignore its pleas for sharing, but it's conlang media question did not accept bulletin boards as an option, so I now highly recommend anyone with a spare 15 minutes doing it in order to complain about that in the box at the end.

Edit: changed link to save any users a step

Done. Felt wrong that there were so many options for the "Through what platforms do you engage with the conlang community?" question but none for "online forums." The ZBB and CBB should have been mentioned by name imo, but maybe we really do account for a very tiny percentage of online conlangers now. I complained nonetheless!

Also, I just popped in on the conlanging subreddit and saw Janko asking someone for numbers. It was like seeing an old friend in a new town. Couldn't keep myself from smiling.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0a8E2pTe0Q

A review of the Voynich script.

malloc wrote: ↑Wed Dec 03, 2025 11:26 pm Yet another huge problem today. My ceiling is leaking now, presumably from the kitchen in the apartment above mine. This is quite a problem because my apartment has only one room, making it impossible so long as the dripping continues.

Talk to your landlord, it's their job to fix it promptly.

linguistcat wrote: ↑Thu Dec 04, 2025 12:49 pm

malloc wrote: ↑Wed Dec 03, 2025 11:26 pm Yet another huge problem today. My ceiling is leaking now, presumably from the kitchen in the apartment above mine. This is quite a problem because my apartment has only one room, making it impossible so long as the dripping continues.

Talk to your landlord, it's their job to fix it promptly.

I already did. Still waiting for them to address the problem.

malloc wrote: ↑Thu Dec 04, 2025 12:56 pm

linguistcat wrote: Talk to your landlord, it's their job to fix it promptly.

I already did. Still waiting for them to address the problem.

Landlords can be lazy. Take pictures of the leak and the damage, if any, and send it to them. If it's getting worse after a few days, take more pictures.

By a bizarrely improbably coincidence, our roof has also been leaking. Unfortunately we have no landlord to hassle and have to pay for a new roof ourselves.

@malloc: is it dripping from the ceiling or running down the walls?

alice wrote: ↑Thu Dec 04, 2025 2:47 pm@malloc: is it dripping from the ceiling or running down the walls?

It's dripping from the ceiling, specifically from the edge of a light fixture right above the kitchen counter. Presumably the sink in the apartment above me has a leak.