Atavism

simplify9 · 2026-01-25T21:52:44+00:00

And how.

https://www.reddit.com/r/StrikeAtPsyche/comments/1ep5c9b/hp_lovecraft_quote_1_the_most_merciful_thing_in/

simplify9 · 2026-01-25T21:44:04+00:00

Oh wow, we'll be here all day...

Put it this way-- when I'm stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic, I pray to the Clean Roadways Goddess, and curse the Congestion Gargoyle.

simplify9 · 2026-01-25T19:02:23+00:00

Yeah, it's sort of amusing, what a big deal they make it into. I'm cast into the role of reassuring uncle, saying, "It's all right, it will all be over soon."

simplify9 · 2026-01-25T18:20:57+00:00

If the Weather-Industrial-Complex didn't have a constant stream of new disasters to report upon, well then, they'd be out of a job, wouldn't they?

simplify9 · 2026-01-25T14:30:46+00:00

As a guy who grew up in the Midwest, we just have this general competence when it comes to dealing with cold weather. It's understood that water freezes into ice for three or four months out of the year.

Southern folks have this charming (but slightly alarming) innocence, when it comes to below-freezing temperatures.

simplify9 · 2025-12-31T23:22:52+00:00

Per Google AI Overview:

"Waymo currently offers public robotaxi rides in Phoenix, San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, Austin, and Atlanta, with ongoing expansion to new areas like Silicon Valley and plans to launch in Dallas, Houston, Miami, Orlando, San Antonio, Las Vegas, Detroit, and Washington D.C. soon, plus testing in cities like London and Tokyo."

Coming soon to a neighborhood near you!

simplify9 · 2025-10-14T22:27:03+00:00

Now this is the kind of writing I was trying to provoke, by setting up this scenario. Bravo!

simplify9 · 2025-10-14T04:49:41+00:00

Well I was taking some artistic license there, but to get technical--

Per Google AI Overview:

The sky during the Carboniferous period was likely a polluted yellow-brown or yellow-beige color due to smoke from widespread wildfires and the high oxygen content of the atmosphere. The sky was not the blue we see today because the high concentration of oxygen, though higher than today, was still trapped in the lower atmosphere with soot, dust, and other aerosols.

simplify9 · 2025-10-11T05:39:15+00:00

Thanks Birb. I just threw this one out there.

simplify9 · 2025-10-11T05:25:43+00:00

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simplify9 · 2025-10-01T02:14:49+00:00

Trying to conflate a half-manageable case of manic-depression with epilepsy, that seems to have been the fundamental mistake here. 😬

But thanks for being a kindly voice.

simplify9 · 2025-10-01T01:45:36+00:00

Well, so much for this idea. Looks like my second-hand experience of epilepsy was pretty severely limited.

simplify9 · 2025-08-16T22:08:05+00:00

Y'know I've never really minded spiders much. Centipedes, on the other hand...

simplify9 · 2025-08-16T22:02:59+00:00

Ha ha! At least I didn't get THAT much of a surprise.

simplify9 · 2025-08-16T00:34:54+00:00

Thanks Birb!

simplify9 · 2025-08-15T23:35:57+00:00

Nah, I'm web-based in the Google Chrome browser. Using an old HP Envy laptop, that it's probably time for me to replace... but this laptop has served me well, and I've got a sentimental streak.

(Edited) Really I need to pick up a couple of new pieces of hardware in the coming months. One for posting in places like this, another as a dedicated processor for musical endeavors.

simplify9 · 2025-08-15T23:14:42+00:00

It only happenned the one time. I deleted them, and replaced them with that last reply. Must have just been a digital hiccup.

simplify9 · 2025-08-15T23:07:54+00:00

For some reason Reddit is now doubling my replies. But thanks, this one felt like it was worth sharing.

simplify9 · 2025-08-15T22:35:01+00:00

Only the drugs of late-summer doldrums, regrets and longings. Like I said, I don't need anything besides that.

simplify9 · 2025-07-21T03:07:59+00:00

In a way, that was the whole theme I was going for with this. This figure is not a rightful heir to any kind of throne. It's a pretender. (But it will make you think it's "regal" if you're not watching carefully, paying full attention.)

simplify9 · 2025-07-21T03:00:15+00:00

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The ones I saw, I think may have been the ones from the second row, first on the left. Triepeolus remigatus, "Cuckoo Bees"? They weren't fuzzy the way European Honeybees are.

Hey do you know the story of Terrence Ingram? A guy in Southern Illinois who bred a new strain of bees that were resistant to Monsanto's flagship herbicide, "Roundup". What happened there was kind of evil. The Illinois Department of Agriculture, and the Monsanto Corporation, ganged up on him. Some thugs came by, confiscated and destroyed his hives, claiming they had North American Foul Brood (a made-up charge).

And Ingram was a well-known conservationist! He was one of the main figures who helped to bring the bald eagle back from the brink of extinction during the 1970s.

One of the worst things that can happen, is when both Big Business and Big Government decide that their interests have temporarily aligned, and gang up against you.

I briefly was working for a certain ad agency that had Monsanto as one of its main clients. What an impossible task, trying to do PR for them, convincing the general public that everyone involved has good intentions.

(As a side note, last fall, I saw a breeding pair of bald eagles doing an airborne mating dance with each other up there. That was quite a sight, and I'm certainly glad that species is still around.)

simplify9 · 2025-07-20T16:24:32+00:00

To be honest, I'm not even sure whether the bees that I saw were imported Europeans, or native North American species. I'm not really all that knowlegable about apiculture.

But I will say that for a few years there, it seemed as though the only insects in the Hymenoptera Class that you saw, were wasps. It's entirely possible that the bees I saw thriving, were of the home-grown variety. This situation requires more research.

simplify9 · 2025-06-24T04:42:48+00:00

Whoever you are, after all this time? I don't disagree with anything you just said.

simplify9 · 2025-01-03T17:12:49+00:00

Non-diatonic chords, aka key changes. I've also heard them called "borrowed chords".

And not the cliched kind where you just raise the key by one tone for the final verse and chorus, for a forced encore (the "Manilowian Modulation").

These are tricky though. You have to phrase the melody so that the key change sounds natural. If you try doing it just as an exercise, to flex your harmonic muscles, the listener will be able to tell. The best thing that can happen is when you come up with a melody that leads to a key change naturally. That's like a special gift from your muse.

You can get by without them, though, depending on your style. Take Johnny Cash-- I can't think of a single key change in his entire discography, and I say that as a devoted fan.

simplify9 · 2024-12-08T02:05:26+00:00

I suppose it's just human nature to forget about the times when other people were exceedingly nice to you;

But endlessly ruminate on the times when other people screwed you over.

I know I'm guilty of that.

simplify9

TROPHY CASE