Library books aren’t free. They are paid for by the library and the author gets a payment per lend (called Public Lending Rights). Not sure how it works for games, but I would be shocked if it’s not a similar system.
I love how LeGuin can take concepts and make them as real as capitalism (The Dispossessed, The Word for World is Forest). Is there any modern speculative authors doing this?
They have a lot more power than is often let on. And even if they didn’t, what is the argument for having a useless bunch, including known paedos, get money from the tax payer just because they were born into a certain family? I can’t make it make any kind of moral sense.
If you go back through the links I posted, it includes far more sweeping legislature vetting than what affected her personally. And also exempting people from non-dicrimination law because they have certain ancestory is weird, isn’t it?
The power to do what, for example?
To stop people advancing in their career because of the colour of their skin. The power to take dead people’s money if they don’t have a will. The power to direct the army (the armed forces oaths are to the monarch, not the country or government - this was almost tested in planned coups in 1968 and 1974; both actively planned by King Charles’ great-uncle and led to a “military exercise” that Downing Street weren’t informed of as a warning to toe the Firm line).
Or how about a ban on police searching their properties for stolen goods? Or exemptions to green bills.
The royal family are like lobbyists on steroids and the idea that has no power is not correct.
The money they receive from the UK taxpayers is tiny.
This is patently false. £100m a year for FIVE PEOPLE (active royals) is by no means a small amount. This is the same as 3096 incomes for the average household in the UK, or 4467.7 nurses with five years experience.
Why do they deserve to get this money if not because it’s their “divine right”? How is that not utterly fucked up?
And the “tourism” answer doesn’t hold water. Both the Louvre and the Palace of Versailles, both former palaces, receives 50% more visitors than Buckingham Palace.
Please bear in mind that this is all for one family that have done absolutely nothing to earn it. How can we justify £100m a year (much of which ended up in the Panama and Paradise papers) for a single family? And that doesn’t even take their net wealth into account.
Like the income of the people mentioned below is actually tiny, but their wealth is huge. About £20 BILLION huge. And all because of “divine rights”. But of course, that’s only an estimate because the royal family got the law changed so they never have to say how much they actually have (because they have the power to change laws, as mentioned above).
Do you think it’s massively different from the Walton family’s wealth and power, or the Koch family’s wealth and power, or Musk, Gates, Bezos, etc?
Absolutely agree. No one should be able to pass on this amount of wealth through a hereditary line. It just has no moral justification to give people money (and thus power) just for being born. That’s why capitalists were nicknamed robber barons.
Cory, right? I was an avid Boing Boing reader back in the day, but I thought Little Brother was YA and that ain’t my genre so hadn’t been paying attention! Will go pick up some of his work.
Google search failed to even find a hollywood movie, even after 1 hour of attempts. I don’t really care about the movie, but I am terrified by the prospect that google now ceased to function on this basic level. Why is this happening?...
If the server is private, then you can’t search it. If the group is private, then you can’t search it.
If it is public you can on either platform but must participate on the platform. That’s what made Reddit unique: lurking was real easy and didn’t require an account.
I use mine to freewrite. Just mental dump everything and anything that comes into my mind for three pages. It’s cathartic and often comes up with nuggets of useful information I didn’t know I was burying.
Oh hell no! Because it’s stream of conscious it’s very, very personal 😂
But whatcha gotta do is set a fixed goal (time or pages - I recommend pages) and then write down everything that comes to mind without judgement or fear. Sometimes, when I’m having a dark day, the first page is just me complaining and moaning. But for three pages? It’s hard for the brain to get stuck in that rut for so long so it starts exploring solutions, options, or simply other things.
Give it a go! Don’t stop writing for three pages, don’t worry about quality, reader, or anything! Just write whatever comes into your brain. Like meditation it takes practice but is well worth the results (imo).
Here’s an article for writers that I found helpful for my journaling. I don’t do it creatively, I just write what comes to my mind about life and the day ahead and the day finished.
Shower thought: if everyone gives a % of their labour value to the government it’s called taxes and is evil communism. If everyone gives a % of their labour value to an individual it’s called capitalism and is glorious. How does that mental gymnastics work?
Any fiction suggestions for a somewhat picky reader? The Expanse lasted me a long while but I’m finishing up the novellas now and need to start looking for something new. Not necessarily in the same genre....
I’m on book 6 of the Expanse and love it! My suggestions:
The Culture series - Iain M Banks. Space opera that gave us luxury gay space communism. You can pick up any book as a starting point - they’re set in the same universe spanning millennia and have very little interconnection. Explores themes of humanity in an AI world (choice, war, deceit, love, etc)
Revelation Space series - Alastair Reynolds. Closest in terms of style and sweeping scope to The Expanse. Same dry humour that can get a bit much at times.
Three Body Problem trilogy - Liu Cixin. Leans a lot heavier into the Science of sci-fi and can be very dense, but one of my favourite trilogies. What happens when you finally get a signal back from space?
Monk & Robot series (novellas) - Becky Chambers. Pure hope punk and absolutely delightful (without any of the incredibly distateful and harmful tropes found in Midnight Library). There are only two out so far, and you’ll be able to read them in a day. Of all of the recommendations I’ve listed, I implore you to read this one.
I’m looking for a place to share my short stories and flash fiction, get comments and critiques, and give feedback in return. There are a fair few websites but they all seem to either focus on smut or fanfiction. Do you have any recommendations for active writing communities?
This is the first year where I’ve decided not to have any reading goals. It isn’t work, it’s pleasure. I don’t have video game goals, or cloud watching goals, so why book goals? This year, I will read when I feel like reading!
I don’t really read books digitally (my poor eyes now I’m in my 30s…) or listen to audio books. However, I do have multiple copies of the same book. I have four editions of The Hobbit, for example.
This is something I find interesting because it brings up the question: are books art in their own right, not simply a format for the story? My answer is YES! I love the look and feel of my Folio society edition, I love the smell and memories of my grandfather’s worn copy, I love the annotations in the second hand copy I got from a closing down sale (like the last reader was sharing the experience with me). And I love having a copy I’m willing to give/lend to friends and family that won’t break my heart if it’s lost.
Any magazine suggestions?
I’ve been diving headfirst into the world of short story magazines and found some absolute gems!!...
Remember when the Harry Potter fandom was a thing? (lemmy.blahaj.zone)
We're 4 days into the new year - how are your writing resolutions going?
What do you want to achieve this year as a writer and how’s it going?...
We live (lemy.lol)
Has google stopped working for finding anything? (lemmy.world)
Google search failed to even find a hollywood movie, even after 1 hour of attempts. I don’t really care about the movie, but I am terrified by the prospect that google now ceased to function on this basic level. Why is this happening?...
Does anyone wish they could go back to the beginning of schooling and re-live their education/school experience from the start?
I feel like I would make use of it more if I could do it again. Maybe that’s weird, I don’t know....
Anon wants to start a journal (sh.itjust.works)
Steve Ballmer is set to make $1 billion a year for doing nothing | CNN Business (edition.cnn.com)
Looking for something new to read after The Expanse
Any fiction suggestions for a somewhat picky reader? The Expanse lasted me a long while but I’m finishing up the novellas now and need to start looking for something new. Not necessarily in the same genre....
Online writing communities?
I’m looking for a place to share my short stories and flash fiction, get comments and critiques, and give feedback in return. There are a fair few websites but they all seem to either focus on smut or fanfiction. Do you have any recommendations for active writing communities?
Do you guys have any book reading goals for next year?
Personally, I am trying to read 15 books this year and mix in more non-fiction books.
Do you buy books you have already read?
Do you buy physical books you have already read?...