I almost (only one more person needs to agree) got a new room for intermediate rent for two weeks in March. It has quiet flatmates, warm water in the kitchen and is directly under the roof, so I can hear the rain again. Sounds like heaven.
"Oh yeah, you're a naughty mayor, aren't you? Misfile that Form MA631-D. Comptroller Shevat's got a nice gemstone disc for you, but yer gonna have to beg for it."
I finally saw Nutcracker Rouge tonight. The whole thing was amazing, but the aerialist singing Chandelier (in French) in full opera voice while swinging upside down was an absolute show-stopper.
I couldn't stop watching long enough to take a picture - this is someone else's. Top night!
Luckily. my friend's boyfriend had a spare charger. So I am now sitting in my hostel room with a decently charged laptop and am hopefully prepared for my job interview tomorrow. Plus, the hostel has yummy vegan soups
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Cyndarinused Flamethrower! It was super effective.
I caved and bought a Beauty Blender from Sephora. It's amazing. Was it even real life before this thing?
(Why the hell did this sponge cost $20. You're lucky you're amazing.)
Shoveled snow twice today, both times over a foot, and its still snowing like crazy. I only saw 2 people outside the first time, and I was the only sign of life the second time. So much pretty, undisturbed snow! :x (I'll worry about how to get to work later)
Also made some pretty delicious pizza in a cast iron skillet my mom gave me.
Shoveled snow twice today, both times over a foot, and its still snowing like crazy. I only saw 2 people outside the first time, and I was the only sign of life the second time. So much pretty, undisturbed snow! :x (I'll worry about how to get to work later)
Also made some pretty delicious pizza in a cast iron skillet my mom gave me.
Pristine, undisturbed snow is the best part of any snowstorm. I was admiring it all yesterday evening (no heavy winds! Perfect sparkly snow! So pretty!) But now, between the dog and my niece, all the snow in my yard has been trampled into submission, hah. RIP, my nice view from the door.
Shoveling three feet of snow is an outstanding total-body workout, and I have a wonderful box of goodies from Ulta waiting for me when I am done. If I ever get done. If only I could regain feeling in my feet. This is a misery.
We don't get this much snow in Central Virginia. It just doesn't happen. I certainly didn't believe the weather reports, but here we are! Well I've never been in snow up to my knees before, so that was pretty cool.
#1 snow on record for Baltimore. They only managed to plow half of my building's parking lot, and my car is deep into the wrong half. My car is cleaned and shoveled though, so whenever something manages to clean off my half of the lot, I'm good to go. )
Mixed raving: Like half a week ago my "beloved" academic advisor informed me that I was designing running a simulation on Friday to make people understand why 5th century Athenian politics read like bad fanfiction. Supposed to base it off of Mafia, because I foolisly mentioned playing it to him once. Couple days warning to prep. And lo and behold, it's on the day that the teacher review people are making sure that I broadly know what I'm doing.
But all reviews are in as of today and it was not a failure! This is good, because I did not fail. This is bad because I'm stuck running it a few more times. The ideal would've been just mediocre enough to avoid annoying the administration while not warranting repetition, but I will settle for this as the second best option.
Any sufficiently advanced pun is indistinguishable from comedy.
It's pretty cool. I'll be honest, Alcibiades deserves his own series on HBO. Imagine a Kardashian who was also an admiral. And Socrates' lover (probably.) Who was exiled and cured (by order of the government) by Athens not once, but twice. And who defected to Sparta but had to flee after one of the queens became suspiciously pregnant. He was so hated that when he was in exile and saw the Spartan troops arraying against the Athenians and he tried to warn them, they ignored him rather than consider his advice and got crushed.
And that's just one dude! And there was a huge plague! And Persia meddling in Greek politics because they were still kind of mad about the whole failing to conquer Greece thing. And even internally, Athens had such a dysfunctional political system that it's seem crazy even if nobody tried to mess with them.
And that is why I was annoyed at only having a couple days to plan a game that was even loosely based on it.
Any sufficiently advanced pun is indistinguishable from comedy.
Who was that guy I remember reading about who told Alexander the Great to step out of his sunlight, the crazy guy who did all the stupid stuff in public?
Diogenes of Sinope. Famous philosopher of the Kunikoi (which we would render in English as the cynic school but I hate that because cynic has modern connotations that really don't apply. The name actually means something like 'the dog people'. )
The philosophy itself has a lot parallels with Buddhism and related schools of thought. Less so than the Stoics, but it's still there. It's hard to discuss ancient philosophy because its social role is so different from that of modern philosophy, but in broad strokes he believed that society had a lot of artificial developments that made people miserable and that virtue and happiness required living in a state of nature. So fairly extreme asceticism (which was common in more moderate forms in a lot of Greek philosophy) and ignoring social convention. And he thought he should teach others by example.
Any sufficiently advanced pun is indistinguishable from comedy.
Diogenes of Sinope. Famous philosopher of the Kunikoi (which we would render in English as the cynic school but I hate that because cynic has modern connotations that really don't apply. The name actually means something like 'the dog people'. )
The philosophy itself has a lot parallels with Buddhism and related schools of thought. Less so than the Stoics, but it's still there. It's hard to discuss ancient philosophy because its social role is so different from that of modern philosophy, but in broad strokes he believed that society had a lot of artificial developments that made people miserable and that virtue and happiness required living in a state of nature. So fairly extreme asceticism (which was common in more moderate forms in a lot of Greek philosophy) and ignoring social convention. And he thought he should teach others by example.
My knowledge of Diogenes has now been expanded slightly beyond "philosopher Oscar the Grouch." Literally the only things I knew about him were 1) did philosophy of some sort, and 2) lived in a jar. Mostly because I've only ever seen him in paintings, in which he is often hanging out in his jar and looking thoughtful. Is the dog people thing why he's got some nice and attentive dogs around him in this one? Are these dogs symbolic dogs?
Yep! Cynics held up dogs as examples of sort of enlightened beings. Here's a reasonably famous scholium (margin note) on it. From "A History of Cynicism" by Donald R. Dudley, 1937:
"There are four reasons why the Cynics are so named. First because of the indifference
of their way of life, for they make a cult of indifference and, like
dogs, eat and make love in public, go barefoot, and sleep in tubs and at
crossroads. The second reason is that the dog is a shameless animal,
and they make a cult of shamelessness, not as being beneath modesty, but
as superior to it. The third reason is that the dog is a good guard,
and they guard the tenets of their philosophy. The fourth reason is that
the dog is a discriminating animal which can distinguish between its
friends and enemies. So do they recognize as friends those who are
suited to philosophy, and receive them kindly, while those unfitted they
drive away, like dogs, by barking at them"
Most paintings of him (and most paintings of classical things) are references to famous anecdotes. If he's holding a lantern like in that one? Reference to the time he went through the streets with one in broad daylight and said he was trying to find an honest man. Sticks mean lot of different things because Diogenes (and the rest of the kunikoi) loved themselves some sticks. If he's got a chicken it's the famous scene where he mocked Plato's definition of a man (A featherless biped. You know what else is a featherless biped? A plucked chicken. Plato is the most overrated philosopher.)
Any sufficiently advanced pun is indistinguishable from comedy.
This really makes me miss Ancient Greek. I've learned it in high school but unfortunately have forgotten most of it by now. I always loved that we read some of the great philosophers in their native language and wrote my final essay (in our old school system it was common that before graduation you had to write an aprox. 15 page essay in one of your two core subjects) about the Ethic of Democritus.
Two years ago, I visited my old high school in order to 'borrow' an eight-grade class for testing my BA-Thesis which basically consisted of writing a textadventure for that age group so they might have some gamificated learning experience. However, when I arrived I was shocked because they only had 9 students in that class. 9 students...back then when I started, we were about 40 spread over two classes. Seems like the interest in ancient languages is dwindling
Where it'll likely be a complete blowout (again) or we'll squeak it out like every other game this season.
You take your filthy sportball and get it out of my peninsula. (jk, I love you, but seriously, the sportball is utterly destroying ALL the local public transit for at least a month, and I'm bracing for the inevitable post-sportball riots)
Comments
I agreed to your post; I hope that counts!
I couldn't stop watching long enough to take a picture - this is someone else's. Top night!
Vive l'apostrophe!
But really, I hope you all are being safe, and at least trying to enjoy the snow as best as you can!
If I ever get done.
If only I could regain feeling in my feet.
This is a misery.
Vive l'apostrophe!
Estarra the Eternal says, "Give Shevat the floor please."
Tonight amidst the mountaintops
And endless starless night
Singing how the wind was lost
Before an earthly flight
But all reviews are in as of today and it was not a failure! This is good, because I did not fail. This is bad because I'm stuck running it a few more times. The ideal would've been just mediocre enough to avoid annoying the administration while not warranting repetition, but I will settle for this as the second best option.
And that's just one dude! And there was a huge plague! And Persia meddling in Greek politics because they were still kind of mad about the whole failing to conquer Greece thing. And even internally, Athens had such a dysfunctional political system that it's seem crazy even if nobody tried to mess with them.
And that is why I was annoyed at only having a couple days to plan a game that was even loosely based on it.
The philosophy itself has a lot parallels with Buddhism and related schools of thought. Less so than the Stoics, but it's still there. It's hard to discuss ancient philosophy because its social role is so different from that of modern philosophy, but in broad strokes he believed that society had a lot of artificial developments that made people miserable and that virtue and happiness required living in a state of nature. So fairly extreme asceticism (which was common in more moderate forms in a lot of Greek philosophy) and ignoring social convention. And he thought he should teach others by example.
"There are four reasons why the Cynics are so named. First because of the indifference of their way of life, for they make a cult of indifference and, like dogs, eat and make love in public, go barefoot, and sleep in tubs and at crossroads. The second reason is that the dog is a shameless animal, and they make a cult of shamelessness, not as being beneath modesty, but as superior to it. The third reason is that the dog is a good guard, and they guard the tenets of their philosophy. The fourth reason is that the dog is a discriminating animal which can distinguish between its friends and enemies. So do they recognize as friends those who are suited to philosophy, and receive them kindly, while those unfitted they drive away, like dogs, by barking at them"
Most paintings of him (and most paintings of classical things) are references to famous anecdotes. If he's holding a lantern like in that one? Reference to the time he went through the streets with one in broad daylight and said he was trying to find an honest man. Sticks mean lot of different things because Diogenes (and the rest of the kunikoi) loved themselves some sticks. If he's got a chicken it's the famous scene where he mocked Plato's definition of a man (A featherless biped. You know what else is a featherless biped? A plucked chicken. Plato is the most overrated philosopher.)
Estarra the Eternal says, "Give Shevat the floor please."