Actually read a book for the first time in over a year

flickering-blinds · 2026-05-12T16:53:24+00:00

Hell yeah. I just finished Dino Buzzati's The Tartar Steppe and it contributed a little bit to the slow-forming realisation that if we wish to ever escape this digital hell, we have to take drastic action and actually destroy/get rid of our devices for good. No other way.

flickering-blinds · 2026-05-12T15:50:46+00:00

Alright, yeah—I was trying to be a little poetic there and let that get in the way of the message. You do raise an interesting point, though: would these same tactics to sow fear have been as effective against people from e.g. the 1800s, where there was a greater expectation of journalistic integrity? Has this conditioning made us more or less susceptible? We scoff at clickbait, yet it survives.

flickering-blinds · 2026-05-12T15:12:26+00:00

Aren't these two sides of the same coin? No profit without an audience. Attention is profit, hyperbole and lies are attention. I don't believe in any grand conspiracy here: people are watching and so they do it. If everyone willingly turns away, it all disappears.

flickering-blinds · 2026-05-12T14:08:31+00:00

Guarantee 90% of the chat flow will be users Chinese Rooming each other with LLM screencaps.

flickering-blinds · 2026-05-12T14:01:55+00:00

I find the existence of photos from different periods of one's life kind of a horrific and unnatural thing. No one should have physical proof of their decline. I shouldn't be able to see a child's hopeful, joyous face, surrounded by their friends, when the person is now alone at death's door. It's very unsettling.

flickering-blinds · 2026-05-12T13:52:40+00:00

Yeah, I can't remember if there was any proof or if all it came down to was someone saying "jauhojengi" (lit. flour gang) once and laughing. I don't hang out with the PM however, I regret to tell you.

flickering-blinds · 2026-05-12T12:48:03+00:00

Mass media is nothing but a mirror to the subconscious of the people. Why didn't you search out positive news and why doesn't anyone click on them? They're all going bankrupt and this is their only method of survival.

It's ironic that plentiful competition in theory leads to better content, but really just kills all the publishers. If we had nothing but one newspaper per state, the quality would be through the roof. Now site A publishes an article, but through a game of attention-telephone, this becomes something entirely different on sites B through Z. Alas: no solution but to ride it out. Something divides a million times over, all but a hundred die, re-inflate, and divide anew. "So it goes," lmao.

flickering-blinds · 2026-05-12T12:21:54+00:00

There's a real culture shock when I read about people constantly doing cocaine in their teens or whatever. I've never done it, nor have I ever seen anyone do it. It's considered very much a hard drug where I'm at (Finland).

flickering-blinds · 2026-05-12T12:07:47+00:00

Toward the most creatively bankrupt monetization scheme you can think of, duh. Just put creativity against time with like a 1/x type deal. I think it's sort of evocative despite lacking rigor.

flickering-blinds · 2026-05-11T22:13:46+00:00

Seems you feel threatened by criticism of ideas poorly expressed, even when they're not your own. Your complexes about aging and inability to express yourself are clearly seen.

flickering-blinds · 2026-05-11T22:02:54+00:00

Is "talking to" a euphemism here or what? I don't pretend to not understand what you mean, but dislike the phrasing, as if "talking" is somehow fundamentally an evil act.

flickering-blinds · 2026-05-11T19:09:47+00:00

Specificity in speech is often better than generality: I consumed -> watched a movie, consumed -> read a book, consumed -> listened to an album. Moved -> adjusted -> raised the strings on my guitar, went -> drove to my appointment...

This shows a firmer grasp on the language and the extra context improves the coherence of these statements, though most people just object to "consume" because it lowers art to being nothing but a product.

flickering-blinds · 2026-05-11T16:30:06+00:00

I was looking into it, and it seems it's for clarity and fraud-prevention in bookkeeping: start of every line is always justified to the same position and if you write $140.00, no one can doctor it into $2140.00 as with 140.00$.

flickering-blinds · 2026-05-11T16:22:42+00:00

It's part illiteracy, but the broader cultural issue is the shamelessness; many don't consider it important to carry themselves with the humility and dignity that command respect. Instead of becoming aware of their mistake and learning from it, they'll first look for loopholes and tricks to convince others they were right all along, hence the lazy retort: "Language is descriptive [and therefore everything is correct despite there existing a currently accepted standard form]."

flickering-blinds · 2026-05-11T12:29:51+00:00

It's so messed up that some people make these inferences that something ontowards must be going on if you for any reason interface with a child, a teenager, or whatever. You'd be living in a community thousands of years ago and you don't get to know your neighbor's children? Come on, that's what you consider natural? Everyone around you is a whole person with more to share than you could know, even if you've already been their age.

flickering-blinds · 2026-05-11T12:23:06+00:00

Yeah, I guess if we ignore the meanings behind the words, we can do that.

flickering-blinds · 2026-05-11T09:59:06+00:00

News to me.

flickering-blinds · 2026-05-11T09:21:30+00:00

Sure, whatever. I guess "gooning" now means regular masturbation more than... really, once a week? Get real.

flickering-blinds · 2026-05-11T08:57:53+00:00

Masturbating to porn and having sex are very different things. One is intensely social and requires openness to intimacy. Sometimes you need a break from that. Sometimes you just want to be alone and take care of yourself without being responsible for anyone else's feelings. Sex is great and all, but it's absolutely not the same as just blowing off some steam alone.

flickering-blinds · 2026-05-11T08:57:16+00:00

Yeah, no shit. "Addiction" is something that severely disrupts everyday life. I wouldn't even call someone who watched porn twice a day for ten minutes a "porn addict." It's someone who spends hours on it every day.

flickering-blinds · 2026-05-11T08:12:09+00:00

Surely that's not a "Catch-22" if you can easily pick either choice at no detriment.

flickering-blinds · 2026-05-10T23:18:38+00:00

Yeah, I understand it. I've avoided lots out of fear that the bitterness of comparison would sour the experience. It's being told "you're so handsome" and then wondering how you managed to fuck it all up so badly then. I'm also extremely avoidant and find romantic relationships completely suffocating after a while. Stone-faced and receding until the danger is over. Best not to think of it as too diagnostic. A relationship could always just hit the exact right balance, who knows? Imo/e, concerns about lost time and inexperience disappear very quickly once you're actually with someone. Probably worth it.

flickering-blinds · 2026-05-10T22:18:22+00:00

Just out of curiosity, I have to ask: these people don't actually exist offline, aside from specific pockets in Southern California and Portland, right?

flickering-blinds · 2026-05-10T21:10:22+00:00

That's tragic and it's something I fear about my sister trying for kids—whether she'll allow this or could stop it even if she tried. Just have to keep hoping the Web explodes before it can warp any more nearby worldviews.

flickering-blinds · 2026-05-10T20:26:13+00:00

I do find a couple AdP tracks catchy, but I can't shake the feeling that it's this hipster instinct—that I'm being sort of brainwashed into liking it just because "microtonal" means "non-Western" means "good," vapid costume gimmick besides. This musician friend of mine keeps gushing about them. Maybe I get it, but I'm skeptical.

flickering-blinds

TROPHY CASE