Will Shetterly's Blog, page 123
August 8, 2014
Rich People Values: £127,000 gold shirt: Indian businessman’s 4kg garment is worth its weight in gold
£127,000 gold shirt: Indian businessman’s 4kg garment is worth its weight in gold - Asia - World - The Independent.
Yes, he's also a philanthropist, which is to say, he's a rich person who shares some wealth that's meaningless to him as part of flaunting his wealth. When I think of philanthropists, I think of Jesus's story about the poor woman with two small coins.
Yes, he's also a philanthropist, which is to say, he's a rich person who shares some wealth that's meaningless to him as part of flaunting his wealth. When I think of philanthropists, I think of Jesus's story about the poor woman with two small coins.
It is a greater honor to be nominated than to win
History tells us there's no connection between what wins and what's remembered. Well, except for the winners that make people say, "What drugs were popular that year?"
It is a greater honor to be nominated than to win. Only the pettiest people will quibble with whether something deserves to be nominated, but most people will wonder why the winner won. I say "most people" because most of the time, perhaps all of the time, the majority does not choose the winner. The largest minority does. In some...August 7, 2014
Rich People Values: fly homeless dog to new home
I love dogs. But rich people's choices will never stop amazing me. A recent example:Dog That Walked 30 Miles To Get Rejected By Owner Now Getting 5-Star Treatment And New Home:
The doggie's name is now Lady again, and her new owner is Helen Rosburg, also known as theauthor Helen Rich, a tattooed, art-collecting legatee to the Wrigley chewing gum fortune, andwho according to TBO.com
The doggie's name is now Lady again, and her new owner is Helen Rosburg, also known as theauthor Helen Rich, a tattooed, art-collecting legatee to the Wrigley chewing gum fortune, andwho according to TBO.com
August 6, 2014
Why Guardians of the Galaxy is not a superhero movie
Please note that you can probably break any of the following traits of superhero stories to create a one. But break them all? I think not.
A superhero story:
1. Is about heroes and villains whose distinctive clothing sets them apart from ordinary people.
2. Is about characters who are best known to the public by their pseudonyms.
3. Is set on Earth, usually in the present.
Now, what's
A superhero story:
1. Is about heroes and villains whose distinctive clothing sets them apart from ordinary people.
2. Is about characters who are best known to the public by their pseudonyms.
3. Is set on Earth, usually in the present.
Now, what's
August 5, 2014
How to Kill a Human Being Humanely - BBC Horizon
Related:Apocarteresis, a natural way to die, and strangulation, a good, quick way
Suicide bag - Wikipedia
Suicide bag - Wikipedia
August 1, 2014
Guardians of the Galaxy—my quicktake, no spoilers
I give it a 9 out of 10. What's strange is I don't think it's objectively as good as several other Marvel movies, yet my desire to see it again soon is stronger than it was with those movies. Maybe it's the popcorn effect: you're ready for more sooner.
If you like science fiction adventure comedies, you'll probably like this—it's a little Firefly, a little the best of Star Wars, a little
If you like science fiction adventure comedies, you'll probably like this—it's a little Firefly, a little the best of Star Wars, a little
July 31, 2014
some readers want stories, some want sermons
There are people of all politics, from the most conservative to the most radical, who only want stories that confirm their prejudices. And there are people of all politics who know art and politics can be independent. The price for the first group is enduring simplistic art. The price for the second group is questioning their politics. I'm much happier in the second group.
Two hasty thoughts on SF and the damaging effects of literary status envy
SF and the damaging effects of literary status envyseems insightful. I only want to make two quibbles now:
1. ESR is right that there's a strong libertarian streak in f&sf, but that streak takes two forms, a left-libertarian streak and a right-libertarian streak.
2. The people who have accepted the Gamma Rabbit name are not "extreme-left". They're identitarians, the part of the bourgeois left
1. ESR is right that there's a strong libertarian streak in f&sf, but that streak takes two forms, a left-libertarian streak and a right-libertarian streak.
2. The people who have accepted the Gamma Rabbit name are not "extreme-left". They're identitarians, the part of the bourgeois left
July 28, 2014
Malcolm X and James Balwin on Zionists, Israel, and Palestine
"Only a thousand years ago the Moors lived in Spain. Would this give the Moors of today the legal and moral right to invade the Iberian Peninsula, drive out its Spanish citizens, and then set up a new Moroccan nation ... where Spain used to be, as the European zionists have done to our Arab brothers and sisters in Palestine?" —Malcolm X
"But the state of Israel was not created for the salvation
"But the state of Israel was not created for the salvation
July 27, 2014
Things I think about Israel and Palestine (and can no more affect than you)
1. The Palestinians have been paying for Europe's sins for nearly a century.
2. Conquerors always blame the conquered for resisting.
3. Israel wants all of the land of the mythical Eretz Yisrael. The multi-state solutions have not been viable for decades, so Israel should simply give the vote to everyone in the land it controls. Israel claims to be a Jewish nation, so it should remember Vayikra
2. Conquerors always blame the conquered for resisting.
3. Israel wants all of the land of the mythical Eretz Yisrael. The multi-state solutions have not been viable for decades, so Israel should simply give the vote to everyone in the land it controls. Israel claims to be a Jewish nation, so it should remember Vayikra
