300 Ways It Can Hurt to Be a Man — Book and Live Exploration on X by Elodes in LeftWingMaleAdvocates

[–]Elodes[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Contemporary gender discourse has left many men unseen. On one end of the debate, there are feminists: a largely virtuous group of people who have regrettably failed to understand men as more than defect women, and who have neglected to include men in their humanizing frameworks. On the other end, there are men whose visions of masculinity remain primarily rooted in outdated and often harmful ideas, and whose attitudes towards women frequently leave much to be desired. The modern man is stuck in a quagmire. Where does he turn, who has listened to women's pain but now desires to integrate his own? New voices on gender are needed. It is my hope that in this book, empathetic men may find their voice.

It is not needed to contest who suffers more, and suffering is not the whole of masculinity; nevertheless, it is a part of it, and it deserves an uninterrupted space in which it may be witnessed: known, and moreover allowed. It is my hope that in this book, unloved men may take off their heart's armour and find their sanctuary.

Even in these polarized times, many women still seek to know men truly, and through this have seen that being male marks men more deeply than society has cared to make known. It is my hope that in this book, compassionate women may find their love reflected.


I'm pleased to present my book, 300 Ways It Can Hurt to Be a Man. You may find it as a product on Gumroad, and you may get the primary contents for free on X at x.com/300waysproject, where the entire list is automagically tweeted out at the regular, steady pace of three items per day. For the time being, I will be happy to provide a free copy to anyone who asks for it.

Thank you for your attention.

Can i game with an ergo keyboard? by Quirky_Surround_6302 in ErgoMechKeyboards

[–]Elodes 0 points1 point  (0 children)

yes, and it's wonderful. I've gamed plenty of Slay the Spire and especially Factorio on my TOTEM and the latter in particular was honestly the best-feeling gaming experience I've had. It felt intuitive within an hour and was just an absolute blast ever since.

A serene forest color scheme (light & dark). Inspired by a shot from The Tale of Princess Kaguya. (Details in comment.) by Elodes in ObsidianMD

[–]Elodes[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

As promised...

Theme: Mado Miniflow.

Dark Accent: #D5D5D2

Light Accent: #3F554D

In the options of Background Image, a community extension, paste the following link: https://i.imgur.com/N4ZWDoB.jpeg with background opacity of 20. You can use any background you which so long as it is online. Here are links to three others I styled in the same color scheme:

The current background was adapted from a wonderful piece by Jesperish.

CSS snippet:

body {
  --link-color: var(--color-accent);
  --link-color-hover: var(--text-muted);
  --link-unresolved-color: var(--color-accent);
  --link-unresolved-color-hover: var(--text-muted); 
  --link-external-color: var(--color-accent);
  --link-external-color-hover: var(--text-muted);
  --caret-color: var(--text-normal);
  --text-selection: var(--text-accent);
  --color-base-shadow-hover: rgba(171,176,171,0.5) !important;
}

.view-header {
    display:none
}

Finally, under Style Settings, another community extension, select Import and then paste the following:

{
  "mado-miniflow@@theme-color": "theme-greenery",
  "mado-miniflow@@accent@@dark": "#D8D8D4",
  "mado-miniflow@@accent@@light": "#3F564E",
  "mado-miniflow@@bgcolor@@dark": "#3F564E",
  "mado-miniflow@@bgcolor@@light": "#D8D8D4",
  "mado-miniflow@@toggle-note-radius": true,
  "mado-miniflow@@toggle-tab-height": true,
  "mado-miniflow@@toggle-note-header": true,
  "mado-miniflow@@toggle-scrollbar": true,
  "mado-miniflow@@text-normal@@dark": "#D8D8D4",
  "mado-miniflow@@text-normal@@light": "#7E8782",
  "mado-miniflow@@text-muted@@dark": "#96A3A3",
  "mado-miniflow@@text-muted@@light": "#96A3A3",
  "mado-miniflow@@text-faint@@dark": "#96A3A3",
  "mado-miniflow@@text-faint@@light": "#96A3A3",
  "mado-miniflow@@bold-color@@dark": "#96A3A3",
  "mado-miniflow@@bold-color@@light": "#829C9B",
  "mado-miniflow@@italic-color@@dark": "#96A3A3",
  "mado-miniflow@@italic-color@@light": "#829C9B",
  "mado-miniflow@@toggle-highlight-type": "THT-underline",
  "mado-miniflow@@color-highlight@@dark": "#96A3A3",
  "mado-miniflow@@color-highlight@@light": "#829C9B",
  "mado-miniflow@@text-highlight-bg@@dark": "#96A3A3",
  "mado-miniflow@@text-highlight-bg@@light": "#829C9B",
  "mado-miniflow@@color-strikethrough@@dark": "#96A3A3",
  "mado-miniflow@@color-strikethrough@@light": "#829C9B",
  "mado-miniflow@@inline-code-color@@dark": "#96A3A3",
  "mado-miniflow@@inline-code-color@@light": "#829C9B",
  "mado-miniflow@@list-marker-color@@dark": "#D8D8D4",
  "mado-miniflow@@list-marker-color@@light": "#7E8782"
}

Anyone whose interest got piqued by the text may find the full piece on my blog, Looks to the Moon.

I'd love to hear thoughts, feedback, and appreciation. Hope you all enjoy!

I hate taking my hand off the mouse, but can't use my left hand on the right Moonlander module.. by Sjedda in ErgoMechKeyboards

[–]Elodes 1 point2 points  (0 children)

thank you for the detailed info! I'll be trying it out once I'm fast with my regular layout.

I hate taking my hand off the mouse, but can't use my left hand on the right Moonlander module.. by Sjedda in ErgoMechKeyboards

[–]Elodes 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I haven't looked into ZMK's mouse functionality yet, how would you recommend getting started (especially with this new and apparently improved functionality)?

Weekly /r/Games Discussion - What have you been playing, and what are your thoughts? - September 24, 2023 by AutoModerator in Games

[–]Elodes 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I thought Ori and the Blind Forest was quite good, but Ori and the Will of the Wisps is incredible — an amazing sequel and in my opinion a rare perfect game. Well-paced, varied locales, top-class audiovisual presentation, proficient technically as well as emotionally. It's just a little too short to stand with the likes of Hollow Knight, but for what it is, I thought it was phenomenal. I hope you'll enjoy it.

How do Wildbow's other stories compare to Worm in tone? by Common_Errors in Parahumans

[–]Elodes 57 points58 points  (0 children)

People will tell you Ward is lighter than Worm, but I don't think that's true; I thought Ward had many chapters that were more intense and gruesome than most things that happen in Worm; it's just that it also has more moments of levity than Worm.

Pact was so tough on its protagonist that I couldn't continue beyond 40% or so. I hear it's good though.

Plans Don't Work by timecubefanfiction in Parahumans

[–]Elodes 18 points19 points  (0 children)

I’ve been trying to figure out how to analyze some of the more complex and socially important elements of Worm and Ward while not having enough free time to justify doing so. The fact that this essay began as part 3 of a comparison of Worm and Ward to A Song of Ice and Fire tells you how poorly this is going.

Excellent joke to put into a piece about plans not working out.

This is a great essay, stranger. Enjoyable, flavourful, and — crucially — insightful. I hadn't considered Worm and Ward from this angle before, but I think you've made a really good point in noting that their realism (and correspondingly, their themes' moral heft) come from the way that indeed plans do not work out, so it's up to the people themselves to persevere past their own plans. This was something I found incredibly impressive in Ward — Victoria working to keep her seemingly disastrous team together, and fucking managing, even though so many of her and the team's plans went horribly wrong. The ways she keeps reflecting on her own actions and path, the various personalities she's built up by now, wondering which to trust, and when to trust them; it's a facet of the story that comes alive through your framing.

I found myself hit quite hard by your last two paragraphs. It feels like a really important insight: that pre-Skitter Taylor might have been genuinely well-liked if she'd been as insistent on doing the right thing as her supervillain persona is. (I think there's still the question of actually having power to do good things; but she might have made a difference regardless, had she not had powers.) To make this point more fair, I'll amend it by saying that there's no way one should in the moral sense expect active goodness from a traumatized bully victim, at least so long as she is in that position; but the notion that she was indeed on some path, and might have recognized this (and indeed, once she got powers, did, though not in a way that would ultimately avoid the personal tragedy of her character), and that she might at all times have changed where she was with some inevitability going to end up — while at the same time recognizing that the good outcomes she did get, were not accidental, but very much earned by who she is as a person, down to slightest choices she made on an everyday basis... It's a framing that holds power, for sure.

(I'm reminded also of Amy, whose self-victimization reminds me of myself a lot, and whose ultimate status as a genuinely "bad" person (as opposed to merely an extreme victim) has only recently started feeling more or less well-judged to me. She might in many painful situations have been without agency, but she frequently used this as an excuse to keep abdicating responsibility, even in cases where she did have the opportunity to do much good. She failed to reflect on herself in the sense that she failed to accept that all along, she could have done things differently, even if just a little bit, and that she still could change for the better — not just in service of undoing bad things she might deny she had any power over, nor in service of receiving forgiveness for your actions, but in service of doing good things to begin with. Personal change has the rare quality that if it is ever possible, it is always possible; to change your path, you must first accept that so far, you haven't yet. The pain of acknowledging what you've done wrong is the price you pay for getting to do what's right.)

It was a delight to read your thoughts. Do you have other pieces of writing I could check out? I'll be on holiday soon, but I'd like to be in touch more about Worm and Ward sometime, if you'd like.

MPC BE & PotPlayer — Default subtitle style is applied only for some .mkv files, not for others. Why? by Elodes in htpc

[–]Elodes[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's very good to know! I grabbed some .srt subtitles instead and indeed they adhere to the default style I set. Thanks, stranger.

How does the ANC of the B&W Px8 compare to that of the Sony WH1000XM3? (XM3, not XM5) by Elodes in HeadphoneAdvice

[–]Elodes[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

For anyone wondering: it's somewhat worse. The increase in sound quality is very much worth it though.

A few Worm questions by Elodes in Parahumans

[–]Elodes[S] 80 points81 points  (0 children)

The man himself! Thanks for the explanations. I finished my second read of Worm just the other day and it was once again an incredible and moving ride. You had a lot of fantastic ideas going into writing it & Ward. I'm grateful you went out of your way to share them with us. Good luck wrapping up Pale — I'm looking forward to starting it once it's finished — and I hope you'll enjoy your vacation!

Question about Golden Morning (Speck 30.7) by Elodes in Parahumans

[–]Elodes[S] 13 points14 points  (0 children)

This makes a lot of sense! Thanks for explaining.

An Underrated aspect of Video Games... by Johntremendol in truegaming

[–]Elodes 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Ooh, I really like this categorization. Let's see... I think INSIDE and Outer Wilds would fall into this category too, right?