@arensb@mastodon.social avatar

arensb

@arensb@mastodon.social

Associated entities include:
https://flyovercountry.social/@arensb (alternate Mastodon)
https://ooblick.com/author/arensb/ (Blog)
https://bookwyrm.social/user/arensb (Books)

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

ZachWeinersmith, to random
@ZachWeinersmith@mastodon.social avatar

Weird question:

Why do you think so few artists attempt to create a magnum opus? It really seems most people who are good at something want to just keep making it in various forms, but don't try to make a single lasting great work, even when they're in a position to try.

As an example of what I mean, take Virgil who became well known for pastoral writing, but always had an eye on writing a national epic. A few people still read Georgics and Eclogues, but the Aeneid is the Opus.

arensb,
@arensb@mastodon.social avatar

@ZachWeinersmith If you won't name names, I will: Cassie Taggart.
https://cassieart.com/

Uair, to bookstodon
@Uair@autistics.life avatar

@bookstodon

Idea:

Bookstores should group fantasy with horror instead of scifi. Both fantasy and horror are purely creations of the author's mind; scifi is tethered to factual information.

If you need to group scifi, I'd put it with mysteries and thrillers.

arensb,
@arensb@mastodon.social avatar

@MobBarley @Uair @benetnasch @bookstodon And yer father smelled of elder gods!

davew, to random
@davew@mastodon.social avatar

If a baker may not be forced to bake a cake for a same-sex wedding on the basis of religious freedom, surely a woman can’t be forced to give birth.

arensb,
@arensb@mastodon.social avatar

@davew You're making the classic mistake of seeing the law as a set of rules for everyone in society, rather than a grab-bag of rationales for the right to impose its will on others.

ZevEisenberg, to random
@ZevEisenberg@mastodon.social avatar

User: please render fifty million polygons with complex shading and texturing
Computer: no problem

User: here’s 4.2 MB of JSON
Computer: oh no

arensb,
@arensb@mastodon.social avatar

@aeva I keep thinking that maybe one day AI will be able to write code well enough to cut through the pile of frameworks and shims and package dependencies and write code that just does what I want.

ZachWeinersmith, to random
@ZachWeinersmith@mastodon.social avatar

This is so baked into the modern internet that it's only weird once you take a second to think about it. Artists, musicians, communicators... we have literally no platform loyalty. None. If I could switch from instagram and make half a cent more without much effort I would feel zero compunction. It's just math. This is not how I feel about my book publishers.

arensb,
@arensb@mastodon.social avatar

@ZachWeinersmith I've seen an argument that capitalism is dead, killed by capitalism: that these days, companies make money not by making new things, but by charging rent. Like Apple charging 30% of all app store sales.
Walled gardens are a big part of that.

wendypalmer, to bookstodon
@wendypalmer@mastodon.au avatar

Hey @bookstodon what is the name of the literary convention/technique/trope where chapters names are very descriptive — see photo example from India Holton’s The Secret Service of Tea and Treason

Or, in a different, probably more common format, the chapter title is a long descriptive sentence beginning “In which…”

I mostly see it these days in the intersections of historical fantasy romance comedy. I feel like it’s got something to do with the comedy of manners genre or a certain era of writing that some historicals are drawing on.

arensb,
@arensb@mastodon.social avatar

@wendypalmer @bookstodon That's called a bridgehead.

shermozle, to llm
@shermozle@aus.social avatar

Spicy Autocomplete is such a great putdown for .

Chapeau @pluralistic

(Context: https://pluralistic.net/2023/11/27/10-types-of-people/#taking-up-a-lot-of-space )

arensb,
@arensb@mastodon.social avatar

@magnetic_tape @pluralistic @BradRubenstein @shermozle I thought Emacs was spicy Emacs.

Helen50, to books

when do you abandon a book?
I'm not very good at it, but I might be about to do it again.
@bookstodon

arensb,
@arensb@mastodon.social avatar

@Helen50 @bookstodon @adamvolle Sure. If it’s a school assignment or something you need to read for work, you should press on. But I think OP was feeling guilty for not wanting to continue a book that was turning into a chore.

feditips, (edited ) to random
@feditips@mstdn.social avatar

There's a recent video by @canadiancivil about why people should join Mastodon and the Fediverse.

It takes a VERY different approach to other vids you may have seen.

It's, um... very straight-talking with some strong language 😱 and written by someone who found Mastodon too confusing. This is possibly video's strength though, as it may reach people that others cannot.

Anyway, see what you think, and if you know someone who might find it useful share it with them:

➡️ https://urbanists.video/w/aaf9d24b-d537-423e-aa87-5dc34da79fc2

arensb,
@arensb@mastodon.social avatar

@feditips @jztusk @guitargabe @paigesaunders Sure. Though the danger of that is minimized by how easy it is to switch to a different server.

arensb,
@arensb@mastodon.social avatar

@feditips @jztusk @guitargabe @paigesaunders Yes. Though I suspect it's not at easy as flicking a switch, and there'd be warning signs that people could use to jump ship while it's still easy.

Private
arensb,
@arensb@mastodon.social avatar

@bookstodon @booktweeting “as unique as”? There aren’t degrees of uniqueness, are there? It’s just a binary property.

feditips, to random
@feditips@mstdn.social avatar

Hey there people, need some help... ☹️

I'm having technical problems with the websites that accompany my Fedi accounts.

My hosting company is saying that there's some kind of attack going on, but I'm not sure if their suggestions are helpful.

If you're experienced with WordPress and hosting issues, could you message me?

arensb,
@arensb@mastodon.social avatar

@Kathrin @feditips Agreed. If it’s a DDoS attack, which it sounds like this could be, then it’s something the hosting company needs to deal with.

Narayoni, to books
@Narayoni@mastodon.social avatar

Oh these lines from by had me lol 😂
Loving the jokes🤣🤣

@bookstodon @reading @sciencefiction

arensb,
@arensb@mastodon.social avatar

@sciencefiction @reading @bookstodon @Narayoni He is missed.

Gargron, to random
@Gargron@mastodon.social avatar

at right now

arensb,
@arensb@mastodon.social avatar

@Gargron That looks like a screenshot from a video game.

ZachWeinersmith, to random
@ZachWeinersmith@mastodon.social avatar

But how to end this perfect setup?

arensb,
@arensb@mastodon.social avatar

@ZachWeinersmith To quote Ashleigh Brilliant, I don't have a solution, but I certainly admire the problem.

arensb,
@arensb@mastodon.social avatar

@ZachWeinersmith Could there/should there be a reference to the Biblical story of David collecting hundreds of foreskins to impress his future father-in-law?

jarulf, to linux
@jarulf@mstdn.social avatar

@bookstodon
I use as the main OS on my computers, but also use Windows 10 on one.
For the sole reason to download the I buy.
I play the occasional Windows-only game as well, but those I can do without.
I can't do without ebooks.
I really, really wish there was an open standard for getting any ebook, with or without , onto any device without having to rely on a single piece of software from one company.
, do something!

arensb,
@arensb@mastodon.social avatar

@picard @jarulf @ericsfraga @bookstodon Another Kobo user here.
It's not very hackable, but there's a handful of aftermarket apps.
You can also add your own fonts, including Amazon's and/or Google's ereader-optimized fonts.
Also, Kindle's typesetting has gotten better, but Kobo might still be a hair better.

ZachWeinersmith, to random
@ZachWeinersmith@mastodon.social avatar

Watchmen
Bonus Panel Here: http://smbc-comics.com/comic/watchmen

Sign up to win my new book: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/125084292-a-city-on-marstw

arensb,
@arensb@mastodon.social avatar

@ZachWeinersmith And that's only the Aristotelian senses. If you wanted to, you could split "touching the watchmen" into "sensing the temperature of the watchmen" and "sensing the pressure of the watchmen". Though "sensing the direction of gravity in the presence of the watchmen" doesn't seem very useful.

georgetakei, to random

I thought Barbie was from Malibu.

https://www.comicsands.com/tyson-figures-out-barbieland-location-2663367785.html?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=infeed&utm_campaign=linkprogram

arensb,
@arensb@mastodon.social avatar

@georgetakei Maybe "Malibu dream house" means "Malibu-style", like how "Cincinnati chili" need not be made in Cincinnati?

xgranade, to random
@xgranade@wandering.shop avatar

I'm sure someone has already done this, but a negative usecase that uses an otherwise well-intentioned feature to cause harm should be called an "abusecase."

arensb,
@arensb@mastodon.social avatar

@xgranade What about a feature meant to facilitate something no one does anymore? Would that be a disuse case?

grumpygamer, to random
@grumpygamer@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

Pixel art is an art form not a resolution.

arensb,
@arensb@mastodon.social avatar

@grumpygamer That much was apparent from the first scenes of Thimbleweed Park, where IIRC pixelated fireflies completely ignored the pixel grid. Though I'd call it a style or an aesthetic, rather than a whole art form.

grumpygamer, to random
@grumpygamer@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

I'm at zero bugs. I need to cherish the moment because it will never happen again.

arensb,
@arensb@mastodon.social avatar

@grumpygamer Unless, of course, you have a bug in your bug-tracking code.

foone, to random
@foone@digipres.club avatar

So apparently the answer to "How long does VGAPride take to compile on a 386 with 2mb of RAM?" is "GENERAL PROTECTION FAULT AT 09C7:0804"

arensb,
@arensb@mastodon.social avatar

@foone How big does the hard drive need to be? Is 20 MB enough?

arensb,
@arensb@mastodon.social avatar

@foone We've moved up to "There aren't enough free GPUs in this cloud region for me to run my software."

tubetime, to random
@tubetime@mastodon.social avatar

welp, how'd i get into THIS situation? let's rewind...

arensb,
@arensb@mastodon.social avatar

@tubetime Does it think it's the year 19123?

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