The free association thread

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Re: The free association thread

Postby dada » Wed Apr 12, 2017 12:40 am

Do you think evolution is a choice? I don't mean superficial evolution, choosing to grow wings, or space-gills. I'm guessing that's a process like skin healing, bones knitting. Something the body does, not a conscious choice. It can be helped along, but something else has the final say. Not the ego. You, but not you.

Maybe soon we'll be able to genetically manipulate ourselves to grow wings and space-gills. Sounds expensive. And there could be unwanted side effects. Like those pharmaceutical ads, that are ninety percent "side effects may include..."

So many nightmare scenarios to imagine. Yay. It seems to me that if we're going to avoid the worst of them, something must evolve.

Which brings me back to the original question. Is evolution a choice. Evolution of what, though. What must evolve? What isn't superficial, cosmetic. You know, when I put it that way, it sounds like a dead end.

So I'll try putting it another way. Is there something which I am able to choose, that isn't superficial, cosmetic, that can evolve? Sure. Let's not get caught up in defining it.

It's something you choose to allow, or resist. Allow it, and the evolution is instantaneous, irreversible. A quickening, a mutation. The proof that you did it right is found in Time. A process is set in motion, a reconfiguration of your psyche. Emotional complexes, philosophical-intellectual identity concepts, personality-defining memories long forgotten, you shed them all like so many skins.

Or resist it. Don't evolve, I don't care. It is to be expected. The truth is (the truth. Rumours of its untimely demise are greatly exaggerated) the truth is, when there's nothing left to say, that's when things really get interesting.

Don't worry about it, just forget it. Don't even think twice. I don't. There's nothing but scorched earth in my mind. Well, my characters are in an airship above the scorched earth, like a cosmic ark waiting for the fire-flood to subside.

Information is like food. See, this is why I like posting in the free association thread. Food is not energy, it must be digested first, transfigured into energy by the body. Similarly, information must be digested and transfigured to become power, energy. The body digests food on its own, it isn't a conscious choice. Not the ego. You, but not you. Information, however, is something you choose to digest. You can choose to allow it, or resist it. Up to you.

Air is in between food and information. When you breathe, you can let the body do its thing, transfiguring the breath into energy. You can also choose to digest it, extracting both kinds of power. More bang for your buck. Air goes into the lungs, but it also goes right to the brain. You do have a sense of smell, right?

Anyway, My Ninja Editor cut most of this rant. Classified information. haha. Here's a scene, instead. Something about self-criticism. Be your biggest critic.

***

Cid: So.

Eugene: What.

Cid: Now. Eugene.

Eugene: What's up, Cid.

Cid: Blow up Atlantis already, would ya?

Eugene: Let's do this.

Ryu: Surreal enough for you yet, Steve?

Steve: We're getting there.

___________________________


Early afternoon. Timeline Runner rocketing away from North African coast, out over open sea.

Dome of Atlantis comes into view.

Eugene: Hey Skew, what kind of seafood do they have in Atlantis?

Skew: Who cares?

Eugene: I don't know, but if I see food in Atlantis, I'll eat it.

Link: Eugene is on two diets. Wasn't getting enough to eat on one.

Eugene: (heading for an open climate-control hatch in the dome) Gonna set 'er down at the top of that stepped pyramid over there.

***

On top of pyramid.

Eugene: (looks around) Panoramic view of skyspires and pillared citadels under impossible feat of engineering miles-high transparent dome alright.

Link: eh. I've seen prettier stuff. Lips and eyes, sleeping kitties...

Ryu (carves '正宗' and '村正' into railing of alternating silver and gold balusters) I sense a charge of static electricity in the air, like just before a lightning storm.

Skew: Ominous portent.

Photographer spins down from sky takes Polaroid.

***

Cats walk along main thoroughfare.

Columned temples with crystal doors line street paved in white stone, prismatically sparkling in sunlight.

Atmosphere changes.

Steve: huh. Felt like a pre-tsunami pressure drop.

Link: (to Eugene) You feel a solar flare of trouble coming on, like a supergiant star?

Ryu: Try not to knock our lunch on the floor, Eugene.

Steve: (explains to reader) Ryu is still sore about breakfast.

***

Atlantis Town Square.

Giant courtyard decorated with statues and fountains.

In the center is a circular mosaic mural of a compass, constellations.

Eugene: Maybe should have landed here, closer to the restaurant.

Link: Hey Eugene, remember that time you made a grand entrance to a contest by kicking over a giant Jenga?

Skew: That's called foreshadowing.

***

Zap: So this is Atlantis. Pretty much exactly as I expected. What do you think, Eugene?

Eugene shrugs. Dark aura blinks, extends out like first stage of nuclear bomb.

Ground trembles violently. Large cracks spiderweb out across Atlantis Town Square.

Skew: (flies back the way they came) We're going to have to cancel our lunch reservation.

Steve: (explains to reader) Place is falling apart at the seams.

Eugene: They get it, Steve!

***

Cats run out of courtyard, down street.

Columned temples fall to rubble. People yell in a language they don't understand.

Towers and spires tumble, making noise like thunder and dynamite. Shards of transparent dome rain, shatter into tiny fragments.

Deep rumbling explosions. Fire-hose water jets spray out fissures.

Whole island shifts down ten feet with a resounding 'boom.' Cats fall to ground, get up and keep running.

Water pours out of cracks. They run the last stretch splashing through inches of water.

Cats hit base of pyramid, bound up steps. Chips of dome under feet dance and glitter in sunlight.

Timeline Runner is tipped over, rolled into corner. Leans against balustrade at edge of roof.

Water covers bottom half of pyramid, rising fast.

They pile into the ship. Big storage chicken snuggled sideways in cubbyhole nest looks at them curiously.

Cats clamber to the command area. Eugene starts engine, slams down thruster lever. Timeline Runner takes off horizontally, breaking silver gold railing.

Zap: (watches pyramid quickly disappearing underwater) Well, that aught to help Egypt win the war against Atlantis.

Steve: (explains to reader) We didn't really care, either way. But Cid asked, so.

Skew: The things we do for our friends.

Eugene: (bringing ship upward in a steep curve, past shattered remainder of dome) You know, I always wondered how Atlantis fell. How we doing, Ryu?

Ryu: (looks through papers) Think I covered everything.

Skew: You did.

Eugene: Good.

Steve: Aaand... Cut.

Ryu throws Ninja smoke bomb.
Both his words and manner of speech seemed at first totally unfamiliar to me, and yet somehow they stirred memories - as an actor might be stirred by the forgotten lines of some role he had played far away and long ago.
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Re: The free association thread

Postby dada » Tue Apr 18, 2017 10:36 am

I figured out what brought me to Rigorous Intuition in the first place. Looking up Jeff Gannon.

Reading through a thread about Dreams End again, reminded me. I didn't know what to think about all that then, and I still don't.

Actually, that's not entirely true. I thought it was all very romantic and dramatic. That's just some people's personality type, I guess. I try to keep my sense of humor intact. I'm very much aware of the many levels of horror surrounding my peaceful little world-bubble. Wandered the warrens, peered behind the curtain. Today I'm having lunch with the great squid, in fact.

I don't think it's disrespectful. When tangling with death's most frightful manifestations, a good sense of humor can keep you sane. Keep you focused, "grounded," keep your mind from freezing with fear. Breaks fascination.

Dispels the mystic aura around things. Not just "spiritual" things. Mystic aura surrounds art, politics, culture. Anything, really. But the emperor has no clothes. How easy it is to forget this simple metaphor.

I could take remembering what first led me to RI as a "sign." I've come full circle, I'm climbing out of the warren. But that's what the mind wants see. Synchronicity, meaningful patterns in the void. But you see, I'm the meaningful pattern-maker. Thanks, but I'll decide what signs are meaningful to me, and which aren't. My dear Mr. Squid.

Always "test" the "spirits" you conjure, to make sure they're genuine. You "test" them with the "word of god." How easy it is to forget this simple metaphor.

Anyway, time for work. The third metaphor has been edited by Ninja. Associate freely.
Both his words and manner of speech seemed at first totally unfamiliar to me, and yet somehow they stirred memories - as an actor might be stirred by the forgotten lines of some role he had played far away and long ago.
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Re: The free association thread

Postby Iamwhomiam » Tue Apr 18, 2017 4:42 pm

Be well in all your ventures, dada. Blessings, Peace and Love be with you.

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Re: The free association thread

Postby dada » Wed Apr 19, 2017 2:51 am

Thank you iam. I feel pretty blessed, but I'll take all the peace and love I can get. Love especially is in short supply. I suspect it's one of those artificial scarcity things. DeBeers cornering the market.

Yeah, I guess I want to outgrow this place. Rabbit warren or discussion board, haven or honeypot, mystery school, battle zone. It's all the same to me. It isn't a matter of perspective at this point.

Although, I don't know... Free means free to stay. Maybe I'll just settle in right here on the free association thread, broadcasting psychic signals. Free expression power, subtly shaping the fabric... oh, who am I kidding. haha

"Misery" from the album Rough Beast Vindaloo, by Crowds & Power

Yet I'm smiling. cheers. Here's a scene.

Zap: (grins) How we doing surreal-wise now, Steve?

Steve: (looks at the surrealometer) Much better.

Cid: So this zen master is walking through the free association woods with her student. They see a rose...

Eugene: Cid Cagliostro.

Joel Hedge: heh.

Cid: ...the student asks the master for her knife...

Ryu: Does it have an ivory handle with an onyx kitty on it?

Cid: ...She points the knife at him. The student says, "uh, could you give me the other end?" And the master says, "What would you do with the other end?"

Skew: ...

Cid: ...

Joel Hedge: And?

Cid: That's it!

Zap: What the fuck does that mean, Cid.

Steve: It means Cid isn't in this scene, so he had to involve himself in some way.

Eugene springs a poem on the others without warning, raising the poem competition bar one hundred meters.

100meters.JPG


***

Steve: Damn.

Link: (takes pen and paper out of glove compartment) I better get started. Eugene's on fire.

Eugene: See that, Ryu?

Ryu: Oh, this isn't over.

***

Timeline Runner flies by ad for radio station; 'Ersatz Catz, all day and all night.' Ersatz Catz hold masks. Big Ben, Full Moon in background. Moon wears sunglasses.

Joel Hedge: (looking at monitor) Is there something you guys aren't telling me?

Zap: (magnifies view) heh. It appears we are a rock band named 'Ersatz Catz,' now.

Ryu: ooh, am I the drummer?

Cats see themselves on big billboards.

Cats and classic sports cars, Cats in luxurious locales with expensive decor.

Cats as eight-bit sprites, anime characters, touchstones of tv, silver screen, rolling stone icon-cycle.

***

Eugene: huh. We weren't even on the radar yesterday.

Zap: Not even the under-underground radar.

Ryu: We must have signed with major indie.

Joel Hedge: How far down is under-underground?

Link: Even below pretty.

Steve: (explains to reader) Link is a graveyard expert.

Ryu turns on the radio. Song is ending. Ersatz Catz sing, 'mah spaaace invaaader giiirrrlll...'

Disc Jockey: That was Ersatz Catz with SI Girl. This just in; Thanatos the wizard was spotted Moon Pearl crater-mining earlier today. He claims the Pearls are for a pretty dead girl he met in Argentina, but planet Earth has him banished, he doesn't know any Spanish, and no one's ever seen her. Details at the top of the hour. Now here's the Ersatz Catz with Alter Day.

***

Ersatz Catz sing; 'little doll, call and say meow I game a change, rollover kitty unto thee is very point lagrange... see my lady, like her now in close surrender stain, yeah so what left, for dead pac-man is every grain of sand...'

Ryu: Synthetically wistful.

Eugene: I can see why it's a big hit with people, though. Easy on the ears, no surprises, no thinking required.

Skew: Streamlined, overproduced, cookie-cutter blandness.

Even bigger billboards go by.

Ryu wearing a football jersey, sunglasses. Jutting out his chin, arms open wide. Stadium crowd in background. Ersatz Catz Medallion hangs low on thick gold chain.

Joel Hedge in racecar driver uniform, helmet under his arm. Bright blue sky background. Ersatz Catz oval logo across uniform's chest.

Steve in blue jeans and t-shirt, arms crossed in front of him. Shiny metal-plated futuristc background. Ersatz Catz written in flowing script on red baseball cap.

Zap in a white suit, petting a black cat cradled in his arm. Letters on a Hollywood-style sign on a hill in the background spell out 'Ersatz Catz.'

Eugene stands in front of a 50s-style diner at night, leather jacket with collar turned up, holds up a blue rose like a microphone. Pink neon diner sign says Ersatz Catz.

Edge of a forest. Skew smoking a cigarette, leans with his paw against open-shirted Link. Faerie butterflies light up around them. Ersatz Catz Medallion levitates above palm of Link's hand.

Ersatz Catz sing; 'right on n'est-ce pas or really messy kiss, some miracle, angel express implicit button slowly harder show... we ever dream a timing dream, sun to somber low, ain safe asura tell you sound it out and down, you know...'

***

The biggest billboard yet goes by; Ryu at easel, holds palette, paintbrush. Ryu in director's chair, megaphone. Ryu rides cloud wearing dragon embroidered robe. Ryu close-up, handing soda can out to you. Speech bubble says; 'Drink Fanta.'

Ersatz Catz sing; 'wishin' sixes baby sleep I got this, fantasy. hair undone, hold on, tied up, all mine, uh, cute degree... iris informer you are in the presence of new way, kitten nap you space to zap you one to alter day...'

Cats listen to more Ersatz Catz songs. Mix of catchy cliche styles - beatle ballad, 'really rockin' now' country, hip-money-hop, safe punk, formulaic heavy - saturated in video game sound effects.

Ryu: (turns radio off) Let's write a new song right now. Ohhh... the wind blows like sinikitty's breeaath...
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Re: The free association thread

Postby Elvis » Wed Apr 19, 2017 3:24 am

Free association - now only 99¢
“The purpose of studying economics is not to acquire a set of ready-made answers to economic questions, but to learn how to avoid being deceived by economists.” ― Joan Robinson
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Re: The free association thread

Postby dada » Fri Apr 21, 2017 12:56 pm

"The speed of thought depends on the dominant material means."

The above quote is from J. Posadas' essay, 'Flying saucers, the process of matter and energy, science, the revolutionary and working-class struggle and the socialist future of mankind'

https://www.marxists.org/archive/posadas/1968/06/flyingsaucers.html

I can't say I agree with much of anything in there. I found myself critiquing every paragraph as I read it. But I appreciate the spirit in which it was written. Get everything wrong, at least he's making an effort, here. The essay is useful in the sense that it's pointing in a general direction, trying to express something beyond the standard "the space brothers will enslave us all/buy the world a coke" narrative. You'll notice, the technocratic narrative is similar. Aldous Huxley's narrative. And who are we to question the prophet.

But maybe the space brothers are already here, hiding in plain sight. Not wearing holographic disguises, using invisibility cloak machines, memory-rays, but simply going and coming unnoticed. Something like a "Somebody Else's Problem" field in the old Guide.

highsociety.jpg


They walk among us. Why are they here? What is it they wish to accomplish? What is that fancy bracelet for? Automatic writing?

If the space brothers and sisters aren't here to enslave us or buy us all a coke, they're a threat to everything we hold dear, aren't they. By "we" I mean those of us here, on the internet. There is nothing more threatening than evolution, that's something the right and left can all agree on. We must band together to fight the alien menace, protect the integrity of the ladders and step-ladders. Nothing less than our values are at stake.

But the aliens are not our enemy. They is us from the future. You laugh. This whole line of thinking is unacceptable. There are some things we just don't want to know. And what we don't know can't hurt them. "Them" in this case being the face of pure evil, which Burroughs was clever enough to point out, is the face of pure need. The lost spirit, the greedy soul.

Who am I to question the new world order, same as the old world order. Shouldn't disaster strike me, for having ambitions too high, plans too far-reaching? "He did not respect authority, and he smashed convention." I'd suggest that is looking at things backwards. Who is the authority? Perhaps I'm maintaining the cosmic convention. I'm not saying anything about the status quo, here, I don't mean to be insulting, or to make anyone feel uncomfortable.

Evolutionary aliens, the compassionate singularity, and me. It's a regular cosmic convention. haha. But that wasn't what I intended to type about when I started this post. You're all invited, though.

I was thinking about the "dominant material means" that the speed of thought depends on. Putting aside whatever J Posadas was trying to get at. What are the dominant material means? Material goods, like food and shelter, cellphones and stuff? Is it some idea-material that the speed of thought depends on? Is the processing power of the physical brain the limitation. Our conceptions of ourselves. Perhaps it would be better to ask, what is your dominant material means.

Steampunk steam? Chaos power? Purreal Parakeets? Gasoline? Money? Wind and light? Rain and tears. Garbage. Imagination. I'm speaking metaphorically, here. Maybe your dominant material means isn't 'material.' Isn't empty, isn't non-empty. There's an old exercise, you begin by thinking, “I am sitting here doing this exercise because…” and continue to list as many causes of performing this exercise as you can.

I guess the first question is, do you want more speed of thought. You may not. You do? You're a traitor, an alien agent. Alright. Then, how fast? You say you'll settle for no less than instantaneous.That's a good start. We can go faster than that, though.
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Re: The free association thread

Postby dada » Thu Apr 27, 2017 12:27 am

"Mieux vaut une tête bien faite qu'une tête bien pleine"

The idea is that it's better to have a mind well-prepared than a mind full of information. Elementary, my dear Watson.

A well-oiled machine. Not the scalpel, but the surgeon's hand. A Swiss Army knife, not a storage box. This much is obvious.

A well-prepared mind knows how to discern signal from noise. Like a state-of-the-art search/navigation system designed on a military-sized budget, with real-time tracking, classification and identification, targeting and engagement modes, jamming/anti-jamming capabilities, all the bells and whistles. But I wonder if there's more to this.

Anyone with a well-prepared mind notices that signal seems to jump out of the sea of noise just when it is needed. It may be something actively searched for, but often times it's signal you weren't even looking for that arrives at an opportune time. You're looking for the piece of one puzzle, when a key piece of another puzzle lands in your lap. Calling these events synchronicity or lucky is not important, it doesn't matter how the information appears. We don't really care, leaving that discussion for philosophers. Yes, the chances of this or that are a zillion to one, so what. We're not getting side-tracked in a sense of awe, like wow, man, look how cool my personal movie is.

I'd like to suggest that these coincidences aren't drawn to the well-prepared mind, but that it's the well-prepared mind that is drawn to the coincidences, like a dowsing stick to water. By the way, if none of this makes any sense to you, don't expect me to clear it up. I'm not breaking it down, explaining at length. It isn't my place to prove anything to you, or teach you anything. If you are familiar with what I'm talking about, good.

Here is where the question "is it woo" enters. The question that Freitag is asking on the Positive Thinking thread. I like where he's going with it, so I thought I'd keep this post out of the way. The rational mind can accept that self-programming can accomplish certain tasks - quit smoking, get a good night's sleep, even change personality, with all the life-influencing results that could entail - but can it convince the universe to conspire for you?

But let's say it's your mind conspiring for you. The well-prepared mind is like an over-clocked processor, moving at speeds faster than the word and image part of the brain can draw. It "sees" signal before you do. This might have a perfectly rational, scientific basis, we just haven't got there yet. We're only at the satellites and AI-cloud stage.

The mind is a monkey. The well-prepared mind is a well-trained monkey. The well-trained monkey is still a monkey, we haven't brainwashed the poor monkey to forget that it's a monkey. We haven't beaten it into cringing, passive-rebellious submissiveness, or spoiled it with bananas, or hypnotized it so that it behaves like a zombie monkey. We've allowed the monkey to retain its monkey nature. We have earned its respect. Now we're on the same team, it is conspiring for us. We say, "go, monkey," and monkey leaps into action like the handsome monkey king on his somersault cloud, travelling from the ends of the earth, to the bottom of the sea, to the palaces of heaven and back in a split-second with the information we need.

How to earn the monkey's respect. If you are disciplined, monkey will accept discipline from you. Whether it's concentration for extended periods, or extreme focus on a single point, if you can do it, monkey will respect you. I'll add this "in my opinion:" to the extent that Positive Thinking involves training the mind, is the extent that the 'woo-like' powers manifest themselves. In other words, it isn't the positive thinking, but the mental discipline required that achieves the results. And as I said, strange coincidences are simply a means to an end. They aren't signs, the universe isn't trying to tell you anything. It's only your well-prepared mind retrieving signal from the noise. Counter-productive to become fascinated by it. Just par for the course.

Welcome to the free association country club. Today we're golfing with Donald.

Making the executive decision to post some Donald thoughts here. I like the direction that the Positive Thinking thread is going, so I posted some thoughts here, so as not to bend the track. For the Donald threads... I just don't want to interrupt. It only encourages them. The Russians, I mean. Yes, you read that correctly. Interrupting Donald threads encourages the Russians.

Which doesn't bring me to my first thought. I'm no fan of Donald the person. I'm no Johnny Public Image. But I'll admit, and you may be horrified to hear it; I've come to enjoy Donald the cultural phenomenon. Just when I thought I'd seen it all, the world got even crazier than ever. Suddenly, I'm in my element. We've hit Surreal Critical Mass, same as in my stories. And every day is Halloween. I love Halloween. This is kind of great.

Of course I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemies, of which I have many. But here we are. And of course it won't last, it never does. I remember being so disappointed a few weeks after 9/11, when everything went back to normal. For a second it seemed like everyone cared about more important things. The rug had been pulled out from under civilization. The Titanic went down, and everyone was clinging to the lifeboats. Seeing the big picture is scary, though. People avoid it their whole lives, they weren't going to stop avoiding it just because of that.

That wasn't Surreal Critical Mass, though. This is Surreal Critical mass. Donald, subject and star of the spectacle. Biggest ratings since 9/11. The spectacle has turned the camera at the monitor, image echoes spiral into feedback infinity. The translators struggle, quit their jobs. As much on matters of principle as out of frustration.

But no, it won't last. Donald will come and go, a relic of a bygone era in ten years time. Same as 9/11. The Moon Landing. Dealey Plaza. And so on. And so on. To a kid born in the seventies, the Paris commune, oh, excuse me, the "summer of love" might have been a hundred years ago. JFK, a thousand. And that will always be the impression. It is the same today, will be the same in 2070.

And if they're enlightened, it's even worse. They dispel the mystical miasma around the romanticized past, realize that it was just yesterday, and that you're all full of shit. My people. The bomb. Just yesterday. Russian Revolution. Just yesterday. Opium wars. Just yesterday. Scrambled eggs. Just yesterday. How many Beatles fans even get that joke? Janis Joplin on stage, says to the crowd, "Man, don't let 'em fool you, man. It's all the same fucking day."

Scary, right? History loses either way. As it should be. There are greater things in store. You mean there's more than Critical Surreal Mass? You ask, surprised. Oh yes. Much, much more. We're only getting started.

Which doesn't bring me to my second thought. I plead free association. Lifting the term 'God Emperor' from Dune. Sounds so trendy cool though, right? The God Emperor.

Maybe you're not a dope, and you know what the God Emperor really is. A six thousand year old hybrid man. He forsees his death and doesn't stop it. He's killed by love. He falls for a genetically engineered honeypot, designed for this purpose. He knows it, she knows it. Isn't that a sweet story? I think so.

He's also been doing some genetic engineering of his own. Breeding a genetic line with a prescient-resistant strain, one that can't be seen by clairvoyance. Seeing the future influences the future. So he's breeding a random element. That's one part of his plan. The other parts are just as science fiction cool.

Another thing the God Emperor is, is a thought experiment. A fictional character. You can get into it, try to fathom the mind of the God Emperor. If you were six thousand years old, what would it be like? The writer, a very good one, has given you some ideas to start with. What would you do, if you could see what the God Emperor sees.

Are you looking at the arc of time with a grander, sweeping scope? Watch out, you might end up thinking like the God Emperor. Little things might start to seem unimportant. You could get into a different thought experiment, to test the God Emperor perspective. Maybe try out Duncan Idaho, the lovable clone that remembers his past lives. That's a fun one.

Or Miles Teg, the Bashar of the Bene Gesserit. He's not as lovable, but he's a military genius. He was tortured by a mind probe. Fighting the probe sped up his metabolism. Now he's not only a military genius, he can move faster than the Flash, make everything around him look like it's standing still. It makes him really hungry when he does that, though.

The Duncan and Miles thought experiments take place six thousand years after the God Emperor dies. Duncan remembers, he was there. But for most people, the God Emperor is as ancient as ancient history gets. His influence is there, but they don't realize to what extent. Not quite the God Emperor internet meme for morons, is it.
Both his words and manner of speech seemed at first totally unfamiliar to me, and yet somehow they stirred memories - as an actor might be stirred by the forgotten lines of some role he had played far away and long ago.
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Re: The free association thread

Postby dada » Tue May 30, 2017 10:13 pm

"Literary theorist Gérard Genette defines paratext as those things in a published work that accompany the text, things such as the author's name, the title, preface or introduction, or illustrations."

So says the wiki. The paratext influences the reading of a text. It can even influence what texts we choose to read. Who, when browsing through books, doesn't look at the names of the authors? Not me, books jump right off the shelf into my hands. But you may be influenced by the paratext. Blurbs on the back jacket and such.

The "para-" in the word paratext makes me think of ghosts, or other disincarnate entities. The paranormal. In a way, the paratext is kind of spooky like that. Invisible tendrils hovering around the books, reaching into your mind, warping your perspective. Genette states "More than a boundary or a sealed border, the paratext is, rather, a threshold." An ectoplasmic membrane. A spectre is haunting the space between you and the text.

Even if there's no paratext, the spectre is present. How strange is it when you find a book with no publishing information? It feels uncanny, unnatural. There's nothing on the back? Wait, where's the endorsement? This book must be special. Maybe someone smuggled it out of a secret society, at great risk to their life.

But never mind all that. So that's the paratext. And what about on the internet? Sure, the traditional paratextual content rules apply. A news site is like a newspaper. A snappy title is a snappy title, a catchy headline is a catchy headline. Author is a phd, a ceo, a five star general, or an official expert of whatever, you still have to resist being struck dumb, dispel the mystical aura to stay centered. The journalist's bio, the celebrity endorsement. This author is published by a big name publishing house. That author was chosen by the editors to be part of the inner circle of contributors. And money money money. It's comforting. Reinforces our worldview. We happily play along.

But every time you hit 'post,' you're essentially publishing. The paratext is the thread title, your avatar, any information on the screen surrounding your words. The url at the top of the page is paratext. Social media is ninety percent paratext. I'm being generous.

Is the internet itself paratext? No, the internet is a context, or a metacontext, if you prefer. I'm guessing everyone reading this has a pretty good idea what context is. It usually means a sense of place in time and/or space, although it could just be categorical.

Historical context is a big deal. When removing things from their historical context, you're supposed to take some of the historical environment that surrounds them, like keeping them in a fishbowl. No historical context is the shady, transgressive space of antisocial-order troublemakers and the like. Heretics. Because more than the wave of a baton, time is fetishized. In our 'one-world' culture, it's the religion. We support when the people around us internalize the time-fetish. It's comforting, reinforces our worldview.

Where am I going with this? I'm already there. Look around, see the paratext. This is the free association thread. Just some things on my mind.

Is there paracontext? I think so. A threshold, a space of interaction between reader and context. At first, I thought maybe the paracontext is the readers' beliefs and opinions. But it seemed an artificial separation; where does the reader end, and the beliefs and opinions begin? I've come to the conclusion that the paracontext is everything else besides reader and context. The world beyond you and your reality-tunnel.
Both his words and manner of speech seemed at first totally unfamiliar to me, and yet somehow they stirred memories - as an actor might be stirred by the forgotten lines of some role he had played far away and long ago.
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Re: The free association thread

Postby dada » Sat Aug 25, 2018 9:21 pm

In 1974...

Nolan Bushnell: "The Atari Japan excursion was an unmitigated, unbridled disaster [...] We probably violated every international trade law with Japan. We actually funded the thing with cash and bought a factory without worrying about permits and things like that, which are so difficult to get in Japan [...] The distribution over there was really closed to us, Sega didn't like us, Taito didn't like us. They were doing everything they could to throw obstacles in our way. They were entrenched and they were Japanese. We were American and stupid. [...] Basically, to keep from going to jail, we had to sell [Atari Japan to Nakamura Manufacturing, which later became Namco]."

Meanwhile, back in the old US of A, where the Coin-op business is run by the mafia...

Nolan: "I was always looking to put anybody who copied us out of business if I possibly could. That was my kind of ethic. I found that the distributors that we did not have in each of these cities were desperate to find somebody to knock our products off to be able to compete with the guy across town that had our stuff. I said this is a gigantic demand that is going to create a competitor that might be somebody that's actually good, so let me make it so much harder for them by satisfying that demand. That's what Kee Games was all about. I wanted to cut off distribution to would be competitors.

The original thing we leaked was that some of our best people had left and started a competitor. That seems very logical to a lot of people. Then we floated the rumour that we were suing them for theft of trade secrets. That also sounded very logical to everybody. A couple of months later we said we had settled the lawsuits and the settlement was we owned a piece of Kee Games."

Steve Bristow (Atari engineer, Kee Games vice-president of engineering): "All the Kee Games cicuit boards were manufactured in the Atari facility. We had our own cabinets and developed our own games, but it was part of the same thing [...] the distributors swallowed it and Atari was able to bust open the distribution model [ie confuse the mobsters] so that now we were selling to everybody."

Nolan: "I remember [Joe Robbins of Empire Distributing] coming up to me in a trade show and he says: 'You think you're so smart, but I know what you did.' He did it in such a way that you knew he had a lot of respect for what we were able to accomplish."

(thanks and credit to Tristan Donovan for the interviews)
Both his words and manner of speech seemed at first totally unfamiliar to me, and yet somehow they stirred memories - as an actor might be stirred by the forgotten lines of some role he had played far away and long ago.
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Re: The free association thread

Postby dada » Fri Dec 28, 2018 7:51 pm

Like streeb, Rigorous Intuition has become my 'morning paper' that I read with my coffee. But I quit drinking coffee last week. Kind of surprised it was as easy as it was, the cups of coffee I drank everyday for years, years were many, many.

I think it's time to take a break from Rigorous Intuition when I get sick of looking at that guy at the top of the board with the 'how to be a detective' book. He's my barometer.

I don't see what the big deal is, letting go of Rigorous Intuition. We're in the post-space age, new game world, now. I am, at least. Anyway I always figure I'll run into some of you in other places if it's meant to be. I won't be dada, of course, but you'll know it's me. If you see me first, be sure to say 'hi.'

You know what's interesting? If you google the names of zoroastrian prayers, there are under ten thousand search results. Also if you google 'amahraspands,' the zoroastrian archangles, you get like thirteen thousand, that's it. I think that says something, but I'm not going to say what. Anyway, googling 'mooncussers' also gets you around only twenty-five thousand results. Mooncussers, very obscure disney movie. Fun stuff.

I find it incredible how much Islamic philosophy hasn't ever been translated into French, let alone English. But whatever. If you're looking for the Persian commentary on Avicenna's Hay ibn Yaqzan, though, you can find it on scribd now. The file was corrupted, but I asked them to fix it, so they did. While I was waiting, I had my library track down a copy, they found one at Vassar. The book has been checked out six times since nineteen-sixty, and not once in the last thirty years. Amazing. So nice to have a good library.

Here's a little poem, a toast:
lift up your spirits, raise up your ghost
to everyone here, everyone gone
those yet to come in the next aeon
may you find what it is that you're looking for
and as Stan Lee says, excelsior
Both his words and manner of speech seemed at first totally unfamiliar to me, and yet somehow they stirred memories - as an actor might be stirred by the forgotten lines of some role he had played far away and long ago.
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Re: The free association thread

Postby Grizzly » Fri Dec 28, 2018 8:18 pm

Free association - now only 99¢


Can we biggie size that, please™ ...

Miss your humorist Elvis...
“The more we do to you, the less you seem to believe we are doing it.”

― Joseph mengele
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Re: The free association thread

Postby Iamwhomiam » Fri Jan 04, 2019 4:53 pm

Ahura Mazda, to you, dada, you Zarathustrian!
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Re: The free association thread

Postby dada » Mon Apr 27, 2020 3:00 pm

Ahura Mazda to you too, Iam.

Although where I come from we call him Ormazd. Maybe it's just a potato, potahto thing. The lord of wisdom's light is the lord of wisdom's light.

I just repaired one of those little needle threader thingys with the queen's face on it. Which queen is it, Victoria, Elizabeth? I don't remember. Felt symbolic. I didn't think about what it might symbolize, though. Just appreciated the symbolic feeling.

Sometimes, like now, I get the feeling I want to say something. I type a paragraph or two,, and then my editor erases it. I have a good internal editor, I'm lucky. I wish more writers did.

I don't feel lucky, though, I feel like a criminal. I'm so healthy it scares me. Physical, mental, emotional health. Every breath feels like a criminal act. Deep, clean breaths. No pain anywhere except in empathy, like an amputee feeling ghost pain in a lost limb.

Healthy as a horse. It's criminal. The world is collapsing around me, society a bad joke, individuals are suffering in every way imaginable. And here I am being healthy. Who do I think I am?

As I type, I think of everything that's going on. It's day somewhere, it's night somewhere. People sleeping, people working. People crying, laughing, people excited, bored. People eating, starving. Making love, getting shot. Rich people feeling restless and trapped, poor people feeling content and happy. Terrible things, beautiful things. Births, deaths. People giving up, people seeing something for the first time.

And that's just the people. Then there's all the others. All those bugs, creepy crawling around. And I think, how can I compete with all that?

My editor is hard at work.
Both his words and manner of speech seemed at first totally unfamiliar to me, and yet somehow they stirred memories - as an actor might be stirred by the forgotten lines of some role he had played far away and long ago.
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Re: The free association thread

Postby Iamwhomiam » Sun May 10, 2020 10:44 pm

My editor, the poor fellow, has developed alzheimer's and only works part time these days. I asked him if he was up for putting in an hour or so and he told me, "What for? You'll spend all that time and then I'll delete it and make you begin again. Besides, I'm too tired and I'm going to bed." There's no point in arguing with him, I know him well. I'll have a more proper response tomorrow, if he remembers to show up and is willing to freely associate.
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Re: The free association thread

Postby dada » Fri May 29, 2020 7:10 pm

I disagree with the internet on the etymology of the word bumbershoot. Yes, it is an Americanism that came to be associated with the British thanks to the American press. But as for the origin of the term, the internet etymologist's explanation is that the bumber is the umbr of umbrella with a B added at the beginning, and the shoot is from the chute of parachute.

I think the added B is a stretch. Dropping the um makes sense, giving us the British brolly. But an extra B at the beginning? Maybe in a nonsense poem by Edward Lear. Umbrella bumbrella snickety snoo, or something.

But this isn't a bumbrella, we still have to account for the shoot. So the internet etymologist says it comes from the parachute. Because a parachute is like an umbrella? Or are we going from the para in parasol, to the parachute, to the shoot in bumbershoot. Why not. On the internet, anything is possible. I think the internet etymologist should jump out of a window with an umbrella.

My theory is that the bumbershoot comes from the wagasa, the Japanese parasol. The frame is made of many strips of bamboo. With a thick Japanese accent, bamboo shoot sounds like bumbershoot. It has to do with the lack of stress on the boo of bamboo.

I can't prove it, but the internet etymologists can't prove their theory, either.
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