2022-05-30

Worthy

The Sun is Waking Up.
Mona Lisa gets caked by man disguised as old woman at the Louvre
- Watch: Climate Activist Smashes Cake Into Mona Lisa At Louvre
the Earth Is Pulsating Every 26 Seconds, and Seismologists Don't Agree Why
Personal responsibility | Seth's Blog
- An excuse to bust out one of my favorite quotes:
A rational anarchist believes that concepts such as ‘state’ and ‘society’ and ‘government’ have no existence save as physically exemplified in the acts of self-responsible individuals. He believes that it is impossible to shift blame, share blame, distribute blame… as blame, guilt, responsibility are matters taking place inside human beings singly and nowhere else. But being rational, he knows that not all individuals hold his evaluations, so he tries to live perfectly in an imperfect world…aware that his effort will be less than perfect yet undismayed by self-knowledge of self-failure.

“My point is that one person is responsible. Always. [...] In terms of morals there is no such thing as ‘state.’ Just men. Individuals. Each responsible for his own acts.”

― Robert A. Heinlein, The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress
What caused the hallucinations of the Oracle of Delphi?

The Media’s Backdoor to Facebook That Scammers Use to Verify Accounts
Subway does franchisee damage control after John Oliver segment: memos
Yes, I Got That Reference. But Who Cares?

contemporary filmmakers seem to believe that simply making a reference your audience understands to be a reference is somehow inherently entertaining. But why? The massively successful Spiderman: No Way Home was essentially two and a half hours of “hey, remember Spiderman? Remember that other Spiderman? Remember Dr. Octopus? Remember when Willem Dafoe said that line? Remember? Huh?”

The Indiana Jones films are indeed homages to the golden age movie serials that George Lucas and Steven Spielberg looked back on with reverence. But how many of the people who have seen and loved Raiders of the Lost Ark have ever watched one of those serials? How many of the people who enjoyed the original Star Wars had ever seen Flash Gordon? Could it even be 1%? And yet while The Force Awakens is not a bad film overall, the experience of watching it would be totally emotionally incoherent without a preexisting love of Star Wars. That’s the difference. You can come to Raiders nothing absolutely nothing of its influences or references and find absolute magic there. The Force Awakens needs you to already feel that the Millenium Falcon is magical.