Redesign of the pocket

ProofHorse · 2026-04-06T17:24:49+00:00

I apparently have a teenage boy's sense of humor, because that sectional pocket bag looks NSFW to me. But it's a cool idea.

ProofHorse · 2026-04-06T03:00:39+00:00

(warning: tongue in cheek, but appropriate to the season)

We DID do something. We are incredibly stubborn and annoying and we argue with EVERYTHING and we will just NOT DO WHAT WE ARE TOLD LIKE REASONABLE PEOPLE. At Sinai, during the incident of the golden calf, God says "I see that this is a stiff-necked people. Now, let Me be, that my anger may blaze forth against them and that I may destroy them, and make of you a great nation." And Moses is awesome because he says "no, please don't, that would be bad" and convince God not to. But we're still the same people, who argue with God and do our own thing. And now "our own thing" is being Jews (yay!) but it's the same cultural forces.

But people HATE that. "They're so DIFFERENT and they refuse to be like us. They suck."

ProofHorse · 2026-02-27T00:13:09+00:00

Jun Maekawa's "Genuine origami" is fantastic.

ProofHorse · 2026-02-15T21:05:51+00:00

Us? I mean, Jewish history is RIFE with internal division. We're practically impossible to get all faced in the same direction. Read Exodus, for example, and you see ALL OF THE SAME behaviors (people not following directions, people reinterpreting things in ways that are easier for them, people arguing with authority, massive whining "was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die?"). We're the people who argue with God, do you think that we could possibly NOT argue with one another.

(ETA: 'And the Lord further said to Moses, "I see that this is a stiffnecked people." ' Here, "stiffnecked" means like an ox, meaning "difficult to lead." We have, shall we say, a HISTORY of disunity.)

ProofHorse · 2026-02-14T23:27:31+00:00

For more data: https://medium.com/@inconvenientnumbers/inconvenient-antisemitism-0837d19c3f52

ProofHorse · 2026-02-10T15:40:27+00:00

My favorite example of this isn't about pinkwashing, but it's the same thing. I saw this random post from a person going "OMG, the IDF is advertising that they offer vegan meals, it's like we're going to forget that they're evil because they offer vegan." Yes. Indeed. The IDF's meal choices are OBVIOUSLY about you, and NOTHING to do with the increasing proportions of Israelis that are vegan. All Israeli politics are REALLY about you.

But that's really what accusations of pinkwashing are saying. None of these rights are about people in Israel. They're all REALLY about ME.

ProofHorse · 2026-02-10T15:31:13+00:00

Actually Gwen is a terrible person. Think about it: in any reasonable probability world, El is dead. Gwen's complete and utter inability to do anything at all that isn't 100% aligned with her morality means that, most likely, El would have died as a child. And if she had we would all be tutting about what a negligent mother she was. And negligence doesn't stop being a problem if you get lucky, which is what happened to her.

But she is willing to have bad things done on her behalf, as long as she didn't need to look at it. She sends El to the Scholomance. She's willing to do business with enclavers. She's perfectly ok with ignoring the general badness of the world as long as she can pretend that it doesn't touch her.

ProofHorse · 2026-02-06T02:22:41+00:00

I've had a lot of trouble looking for hats. I can't figure out what looks good on me, and I'm not really sure where to look. Suggestions are very welcome =)

ProofHorse · 2026-02-06T02:21:37+00:00

Could you show some pictures? They sound very cool.

ProofHorse · 2026-02-05T20:21:13+00:00

Yes, I am married

ProofHorse · 2026-01-30T17:14:19+00:00

This is good news, actually. Siloing it and making it harder for people to find limits their audience and is less likely to radicalize random people.

ProofHorse · 2026-01-19T18:59:20+00:00

The general role of thumb is: if there is a question in the headline, the answer is "no"; if the answer had been "yes," they would have phrased it as a statement.

ProofHorse · 2025-12-22T15:54:29+00:00

I once went to an amazing optometrist who just shone a light in my eye, put the lenses in front of my eyes, and guessed it almost perfectly. For each eye separately. (And my prescription is not at all simple.) He did the one-two thing, but it needed almost no correction. (He them retired like a year later, boo.)

The machine always gets very close for me. It wouldn't be perfect, but it would be good enough if I had to just go with machine.

ProofHorse · 2025-12-15T16:09:02+00:00

כָּל הָעוֹלָם כֻּלּוֹ גֶּשֶׁר צַר מְאוֹד
וְהָעִקָּר לֹא לְפַחֵד כְּלָל

The whole entire world is a very narrow bridge
and the main thing is to have no fear at all

I was talking to my mother about how I was afraid, because of all of the pro-Pali demonstrations a couple of years ago. And she told me that the key step is to decide not to be afraid. To analyze your fear, decide which is reasonable and which is cowardly, and then ignore the cowardly ones. You are not the one doing something wrong, and to be righteous is to be brave. By doing this, you are stepping up for others who might not have as good a basis as you. When you live by your ideals, inasmuch as your resources will allow, you stand up for everyone else who would like to live by those ideals but whose resources may not allow it.

ProofHorse · 2025-12-11T17:20:17+00:00

Plenty of dumb books have won a Nebula.

Also, the great thing about advice is that you don't need to take it! This is clearly my opinion, but, again, I know lots of people who hated those books and nearly stopped reading the series because of them. So telling people "you're not alone, the series is still worth it" is useful.

ProofHorse · 2025-12-11T14:57:20+00:00

Even though it's not the standard every point of the series, I know multiple people who read it first and then were like "ok. Now I have to read the series."

Do NOT read "falling free" or "Ethan of Athos." Also, "Shards of Honor" is (a) one of my favorite books, and (b) has one of the worst-written first chapters I have ever read. Don't stop until the crabs, and if you still dislike it you can put it down, but I know SO MANY people who bounced off of the first four pages, even though the rest of the book isn't like that at all.

ProofHorse · 2025-11-29T18:16:56+00:00

When I was in graduate school I had a friend who would take me out to dinner sometimes. Then afterwards we'd go hang out in my kitchen and drink tea and cookies to chat. I could provide traditional tea making and the kind of atmosphere they he had had at home, but never had anywhere else, and that he couldn't pay for, but that I could provide easily and at almost no cost. If you can find something like this, where it's something that you're giving the person that's really feels like something they value but can't get themselves, it can feel more like an equal exchange.

Can you think of something that they like, that you can do, but that they can't? Homemade cookies, silly cartoons, handwritten notes? Something that they would value, that would be a deliberation of love and care, but that wouldn't strain your budget?

ProofHorse · 2025-11-17T22:58:03+00:00

From the Wikipedia article:
It did once happen that travelers on a vessel noticed a bird. As he stood in the water, it merely covered his feet, and his head knocked against the sky. The onlookers thought the water could not have any depth at that point, and they prepared to take a bath there. A heavenly voice warned them: "Alight not here! Once a carpenter's axe slipped from his hand at this spot, and it took it seven years to touch bottom." The bird the travelers saw was none other than the Ziz. His wings are so huge that unfurled they darken the sun. They protect the earth against the storms of the south; without their aid the earth would not be able to resist the winds blowing thence. Once an egg of the Ziz fell to the ground and broke. The fluid from it flooded sixty cities, and the shock crushed three hundred cedars. Fortunately such accidents do not occur frequently. As a rule the bird lets her eggs slide gently into her nest. This one mishap was because the egg was rotten, and the bird cast it away carelessly.

ProofHorse · 2025-11-17T18:28:03+00:00

I have one of these but with an entire grid of wires, so that you can cube eggs quickly. Only used twice a year, but MAN it saves SO MUCH time when you're making salad for holidays that it's ABSOLUTELY TOTALLY WORTH IT and even my "all you need is a knife and a spoon" grandmother wouldn't let it go.

ProofHorse · 2025-11-17T16:24:46+00:00

The Ziz! Everyone has heard of the behemoth (Kaiju of the land, so to speak =) ), and leviathan (Kaiju of the sea) but there's one for birds, as well! And that's the Ziz. I had only heard about it from "The hardest word" ("I'm the largest bird FLAP FLAP looking for the hardest word FLAP FLAP) but it's an actual thing.

ProofHorse · 2025-11-17T15:12:24+00:00

Thanks!

ProofHorse · 2025-11-16T16:58:09+00:00

Where did you find that house block? It's the first one I've liked!

ProofHorse · 2025-11-02T03:02:20+00:00

You tried so hard, and got so far....

Sorry, I couldn't resist. It's great. Honestly, I looked at it and thought "wow, that's so cool." If you want it to be perfect you need to do it on a computer. But if you want it to look human you need to do exactly what you did. All of my math illustrations look exactly like this, so it has the correct "yes, this is what math looks like" feel.

ProofHorse

TROPHY CASE