jwiggler

joined 1 year ago
[–] jwiggler@sh.itjust.works 3 points 45 minutes ago

I didn't read the Zahir but I felt like The Alchemist was a shallow Siddhartha-wannabe when I read it. I couldn't help but think it was trying too hard to be profound

[–] jwiggler@sh.itjust.works 8 points 17 hours ago (2 children)

The Alchemist and Song of Achilles are some popular books that I thought were mediocre. Probably not the worst book I've ever read though.

That probably goes to Sean Hannity's Conservative Victory that my grandma gave me when I was 12.

True slop. Fuck Sean Hannity.

[–] jwiggler@sh.itjust.works 6 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

Noooo :( I love Moby Dick.

Granted I listened to the audiobook

[–] jwiggler@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 week ago

I'm not the original person asked, just expressing my opinion.

I can't definitively say what I would do, because I was born into privilege. I can try to imagine, though, if I was broken in such a way, I would likely seek revenge. That doesn't invalidate anything I said in my previous comment. I believe Hamas committed atrocities on Oct 7. I would be hesitant to condemn them due to the conditions those atrocities were borne out of. If my family was murdered, my home destroyed, my people oppressed, etc. I'm sure I would feel justified in an act of revenge.

But killing or abducting an Israeli child, who for all I know could grow up being an advocate for my people, would not be justice. Do you think it would be? And how many Israeli children would need to die in order to to account for the endless sins of their forebears?

[–] jwiggler@sh.itjust.works 16 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (6 children)

I'm not a "Israel deserved Oct 7th" person because I think that lends itself to the idea that the victims of the atrocities committed on Oct 7 deserved it. I don't think they did. I do think Israel as a nation brought it upon themselves in the sense that they have been oppressing the Palestinians for however many years, and if they hadn't been, the event wouldn't have happened.

Norman Finkelstein put it in a pretty interesting way -- atrocities were committed on Oct 7, but he would not condemn a violent outburst by people who were born in a concentration camp. He urged leniency and grace that would normally be afforded to people who were born into such conditions and who proceeded to commit unspeakable acts.

[–] jwiggler@sh.itjust.works 3 points 2 weeks ago

Holy, Holy by Geordie Greep. Insanely talented artist

[–] jwiggler@sh.itjust.works 8 points 3 weeks ago

Playing guitar. I'm bad, can't really play with others, couldn't play live, but being able to sing and play along to songs I love, putting my own spin on them, or getting into a rhythm and making up silly lyrics is one of the most valuable things I ever learned to do. Probably the single best thing I've done in my life is learn to play.

[–] jwiggler@sh.itjust.works 1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I like the part where one guy goes, "Justice is paying your debts" and Socrates goes, "oh yeah? so it would be just for me to return the gun my friend loaned me, when he comes back requesting it in a murderous frenzy? Yeah, that's what I thought."

And the guy just leaves lol

[–] jwiggler@sh.itjust.works 13 points 3 weeks ago

The proof is in the pudding folks

[–] jwiggler@sh.itjust.works 15 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Part of the issue is that Donald Trump isn't using these words in any factual sense, but in a purely rhetorical sense. He is utilizing them as boogeyman terms to scare people away from Harris. It doesn't matter that's it's not factually correct because average people don't know otherwise.

That brings me to the other part of the issue, which is fascism is notoriously difficult to pin down. Umberto Eco talks about this in his essay Ur-Fascism. He notes that fascism isn't actually dependent on one or two attributes, such as complete totalitarianism, or support of capital, and doesn't necessarily have a single religious philosophy. He notes historical examples of things like anticapitalist fascism, religious fascism, atheist fascism, etc.

Still he notes 14 qualities that are typically associated with fascism

  • The Cult of Tradition
  • Rejection of Modernism
  • The Cult of Action for Action’s Sake
  • Disagreement is Treason
  • Fear of Difference
  • Appeal to a Frustrated Middle Class
  • Obsession with a Plot
  • The Enemy is Both Strong and Weak
  • Pacifism is Trafficking with the Enemy
  • Contempt for the Weak
  • Everybody is Educated to Become a Hero
  • Machismo
  • Selective Populism
  • Newspeak

Much of these are relevant to Trump's campaign, even more than I had anticipated. Definitely give it a listen or check out the Wikipedia page, it's a worthwhile half hour just to hear the perspective of someone who actually lived through Italian fascism.

[–] jwiggler@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 month ago

The adjustment period is real. I was showering twice a day when I stopped shampooing, because my hair (lots of it, but fine and not coarse) got greasy quick. After a few weeks, it normalized. I can shower once a day now. I still wash it by running my fingers and water through it over and over, so it doesn't smell. I still have a somewhat dry scalp though, it didn't really fix that. Don't really have dandruff, but if I scratch my scalp a bunch or use a comb directly on it several times, I'll have to rinse the dandruff out.

 

I recently got a Steamdeck and was wondering if anyone had any recommendations of games that take almost 0 brainpower to play so that I can focus on listening to audiobooks.

For me that means no dialogue and no text to read. Games that have worked for me so far are:

  • Rocket League (difficult to play on Steamdeck)
  • Vampire Survivors (once I learned what each item does)
  • Peggle

Games that I've had trouble with include

  • Sifu
  • Brotato (gotta read to learn the items)
  • Factorio
  • Baba is You

Games I have yet to really try:

  • Elite Dangerous
  • Elden Ring
  • Dorf Romantik (this is promising)
  • Powerwash Simulator (also promising)
  • RollerDrome
  • Halo: MCC online (is Halo 3 online viable on steamdeck?)
  • Risk of Rain 2
  • Hades

Anyone have any suggestions? I'm running out of ideas and may end up just forgoing this hole idea in favor of keeping gaming and books separate

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