God rest your little soul, Carl Jung.

johndarnielle: wilwheaton: I really hope Yahoo doesn’t fuck up Tumblr like it’s fucked up … well,...

Sun, 19 May 2013 13:28:24 -0500

wilwheaton:

I really hope Yahoo doesn’t fuck up Tumblr like it’s fucked up … well, every single thing it’s ever touched in the history of the universe.

See here’s the thing though. The only way to prevent something like this would have been to make Tumblr an unwelcoming space, and that’s where we run into the Usenet Paradox. If you try to keep a cool thing to yourself, you get called cliquish, elitist, a snob. But if you don’t work to police its borders — which you probably shouldn’t do, because the people calling you cliquish probably have something of a point, and being an actual border-policing snob saps the fun right out of the thing you’re ostensibly trying to protect — then the people with the money are coming for it. Every single time. Forever. And they will do what they do, because it’s what they do. I can’t speak on behalf of my friends, but I’d hazard a guess that my old buddies Alternative Rock, Rap, Jazz, Independent Film, Things That Are About Vampires and/or Zombies, and The Neighborhoods of Several Large American Cities will co-sign me on this.

*I just invented this paradox. If you wanna option it for a film please do holler, I see immense prospects for development

John Darnielle, ladies and gentlemen.

Arm musculature, you will evade me NO MORE

Sun, 19 May 2013 09:55:36 -0500

Arm musculature, you will evade me NO MORE

some crap from last night, IDEK

Sat, 18 May 2013 18:12:17 -0500

some crap from last night, IDEK

nocbot: Nap Hard: bad at mathheysawbones: I am bad at math. I’m not totally sure why that is,...

Sat, 18 May 2013 12:50:46 -0500

nocbot:

Nap Hard: bad at math
heysawbones:

I am bad at math.

I’m not totally sure why that is, though I have some guesses. It might have something to do with the way I learn and organize learned information. It seems like I have a really hard time remembering things I can’t anchor to an underlying comprehension of the subject. For…

I don’t know of any particularly good sources on the subject, but I can confirm that that sort of context-based comprehension is how I end up understanding math, and thus I don’t think the matter is intrinsic to math itself so much as a function of our education system being terrible at teaching it. There’s lots of “trust us, just learn this, it’ll be important later,” and lots of barreling ahead on a schedule whether or not the students have actually gotten the material. In the math classes I’ve taken, I’ll either cakewalk through most of it or start slipping in the beginning and fall progressively further and further behind, because if I don’t properly understand the basic concepts then the rest is just confusing and arbitrary.

…until it suddenly makes sense years later and I’m baffled by why my teachers didn’t just explain it like this.

In terms of learning math, though, I think learning to program is actually a good place to start? Programming concepts help algebraic ones make a whole lot more sense, because you’re actually handling variables and functions and such as practical tools rather than abstract symbols on a page which you’re tasked with rearranging in a certain way.

It also helps provide context to what you’re actually doing, since you’re writing a script to simulate something rather than answering a “well, if hypothetically we wanted to figure out this…” sort of prompt. Even better, the computer handles the number crunching itself, so you a) can focus on the actual math rather than worrying about whether or not you fucked up the arithmetic and b) can see a clear and immediate connection between adjustments to your program and changes to the output rather than having to go through the number-crunching process again.

Um. I don’t actually know how to find a good programming course either: I’m mostly self-taught, which requires a lot of spare time you may not have, and am reasonable skeptical about a lot of CS classes I see offered about. Especially for this purpose, since you’d probably want to pick up a scripting language and get right to messing around with math, while a lot of intro CS classes seem to think it’s important to start with C, learning low-level programming concepts that aren’t necessarily useful to you.

So I dunno. But it’s an approach that’s made a lot of sense to me.

What is your Myers-Briggs personality type (if you know)? and, What applications do you think a person could derive from knowing their personality type?

Sat, 18 May 2013 11:35:43 -0500

INTJ. It seems pretty accurate, though like a proper INTJ, I wonder about confirmation bias. You see what I mean? It’s infinitely self-confirming. Anything I can do to question it, makes me sound more and more INTJ. God rest your little soul, Carl Jung.

Anyway. The applicability of MBTI is similar to the applicability of many even less rational rubrics. People need direction! The feeling that the direction comes from an authority figure, helps! Unlike your average religious community, at least MBTI is based on SOMETHING nominally scientific. Plus, MBTI is less likely to embroil you in sectarian violence or socialized racism (though I have to say: the INTJ forum is a miserable cesspit of people who have convinced themselves that, since they are so ~speshul~, they were right about whatever “edgy” antisocial conclusion they came to about society, and everyone who disagrees is sheeple. Lots of sexism).

Like a spiritual or religious pursuit, whether MBTI is valid or not isn’t as important as its consequences. If a placebo works, I don’t care if it’s pharmacologically active, do I? If a corporation uses MBTI to assign positions, does the validity of MBTI matter as much as a perception of validity?

That said, INTJ shit tends to be eerily accurate to how I perceive the world.

bad at math

Sat, 18 May 2013 10:35:38 -0500

I am bad at math.

I’m not totally sure why that is, though I have some guesses. It might have something to do with the way I learn and organize learned information. It seems like I have a really hard time remembering things I can’t anchor to an underlying comprehension of the subject. For example, the body does weird stuff, but it’s usually pretty obvious what the body is doing - obvious enough that someone can explain it, anyway. Instead of just memorizing that autolysis is not the same kind of cell death that causes inflammation, or that inflammation is good sometimes and bad at other times, a microbiology teacher can tell you that a virus that causes autolysis instead of a less controlled cell necrosis that causes inflammation is bad, because inflammation signals the immune system response. No math teacher has ever been able to tell me why square roots, or how square roots, only how to square roots, which frankly seems like the least important part of the whole thing. I’m not trying to get on some high horse about this - a lot of people are able to memorize how to square root without knowing what it does or why it does it or what for. I can’t seem to. I need context.

I am tired of being bad at math. It doesn’t seem like there should be a reason for me to be bad at it. Do any of you who are more math-literate have some books to suggest, maybe? Something for someone who needs context. I would really appreciate any input.

Communism, forever winning at statuary. via lana-sator

Sat, 18 May 2013 08:14:00 -0500

Communism, forever winning at statuary. via lana-sator

I want to walk into the lobby of every Art Deco building and...

Fri, 17 May 2013 17:02:31 -0500

I want to walk into the lobby of every Art Deco building and fall on my knees and cry. Just have a fucking fit. Alone.

dorkbait: the acolyte, 2013. acrylic, watercolor, graphite,...

Fri, 17 May 2013 15:48:48 -0500

dorkbait:

the acolyte, 2013. acrylic, watercolor, graphite, ink, & gouache on 9x12” stonehenge paper.

Samples from AMERICAN ART DECO by Carla Breeze

Fri, 17 May 2013 15:44:00 -0500

Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation

Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation

Union Carbide and Carbon Building

National Shrine of the Little Flower

Texas Centennial Exposition Buildings, Great Hall of Texas

Texas & Pacific Railroad Passenger Terminal and Warehouse

Fred F. French Building

Joslyn Art Museum

Boston Avenue Methodist Church

Samples from AMERICAN ART DECO by Carla Breeze

biram-ba: Dhalmun: Age of Smoke webcomic I really need to get...

Thu, 16 May 2013 16:55:02 -0500

biram-ba:

Dhalmun: Age of Smoke webcomic

I really need to get to work on that website header/background. And add some info/description section. I hate writing those. I’m very bad at describing my own work. Besides saying it’s a superhero webcomic. And even that isn’t accurate, as I feel people looking for superhero stuff aren’t really interested in people walking around talking so much.

I said it before, but I’ll say it again: this is a good comic. I’m serious.

I hate my artwork, but I think that's ok

Thu, 16 May 2013 16:49:56 -0500

kisskicker:

I am a Pretty Good Artist. I have worked professionally since 2006. I have worked on properties like G.I. Joe, My Little Pony, Transformers, and a host of others. You can see my work everywhere, from toy packages to comic books to DVD covers. I currently work for MinoMonsters, where I have designed everything from the monsters themselves to the environments they live in. I have done a lot of things, now that I look back on it.

And my artwork makes me CRAZY. Absolutely bonkers.

Oh, there are standout pieces that I like. They’re probably different from the ones you prefer (although we both align on ManSkitty). But it never feels like enough, at least to me. To me, my work is never good enough—not drafted well enough, not rendered enough, not colored right, not composed right, too stiff or too floppy or this or that or anything and everything. I can point out a hundred thousand flaws, and a hundred thousand artists who do what I do but who do it better.

I say this not to fish for compliments, but to give a shout out to my fellow frustrated artists—which I am coming to learn, slowly, is pretty much all of us at one time or another. We all drive ourselves nuts. Our need to keep improving is compulsive. It’s equal parts horrendous and wonderful. We—I—keep pushing and trying to reach something like satisfaction, even if we don’t know what, artistically, that is.

It was bad before the proliferation of the internet, but oh god! My Tumblr dash is like an inferiority complex, delivered right to my eyes. It pushes me to get better—and it pushes me to remember that sometimes, it’s best to unplug for a bit.

So here’s to every person who’s ever drawn something they hate, or compared themselves to others, or looked at their work and muttered ‘why do I even BOTHER.’ SHINE ON, YOU CRAZY DIAMONDS. I’ll be shining right with you. <3

kyethn: Update! I swear, if I could just paint cyprus trees all...

Thu, 16 May 2013 14:48:04 -0500

kyethn:

Update! I swear, if I could just paint cyprus trees all day I would.

martwhim: Nvidia Face Works Tech Demo; Renders Realistic Human...

Thu, 16 May 2013 09:38:10 -0500

martwhim:

Nvidia Face Works Tech Demo; Renders Realistic Human Faces

ohmightysmiter: FolksNeedHeroes drawing Sam and Lara as the...

Wed, 15 May 2013 12:53:42 -0500

ohmightysmiter:

FolksNeedHeroes drawing Sam and Lara as the adorably in love little shits that they are appreciation post.

yeah okay I

I pretty much ship this. Sorry.

I dunno if this outfit works, but I’m gonna go with it, anyway....

Wed, 15 May 2013 10:43:56 -0500

I dunno if this outfit works, but I’m gonna go with it, anyway. Get some use out of this weird huge belt.

godzillabreath: jayjab: Whooaa page 2 now that it’s summer I...

Wed, 15 May 2013 10:20:07 -0500

godzillabreath:

jayjab:

Whooaa page 2 now that it’s summer I have some time to doooo a page…

Page 1

YESSSS this page is beautiful I love how you draw Marcia’s whole family so MUCH

US Attorney General Eric Holder, I’m pretty mad at you right...

Wed, 15 May 2013 08:28:09 -0500

US Attorney General Eric Holder, I’m pretty mad at you right now.

“I’m not familiar with all that went into the formulation of the subpoena. I was recused from that matter,”

DUDE IT’S YOUR DEPARTMENT TAKING PHONE RECORDS AND ISSUING SUBPOENAS

DOING THIS TO THE PRESS IS HIGHLY CONTROVERSIAL

HOW COULD YOU NOT KNOW ALL THE DETAILS

I would much rather you said nothing at all, than act like you don’t think it’s your responsibility to know when very serious things happen in your department. You can’t know everything, but one might expect that you’d make it your business to know when the issue is such a contentious one. If you’d rather look irresponsible in an attempt to avoid culpability, so be it, but I don’t think a lot of people are gonna be very impressed by that.

What you're mistaking as jargon is secondary discourse. Being literate in an area requires learning terms specific to that area of study. I think you misinterpret the use of certain words as trying to intentionally obscure the point, but ideally those words are there because they have narrow definitions and at an academic level, it is more accurate. Somehow I doubt you'd protest the use of secondary discourses in purely medical/ scientific texts but that's probably a separate issue.

Tue, 14 May 2013 21:39:00 -0500

Ah, you misunderstand. I don’t think those words are being used to intentionally obfuscate anything. I think any obfuscation is, as I said before, passive. Not active.

I dunno why you/other anon have a bee up your butt about my feelings about jargon. I’m very aware that field-specific terminology has its place. The tag in question (jargon train) was just me offhandedly commenting on the obtuse, out-of-touch-with-reality air of the paragraph - not really the fault of the writer, but of the language necessity required them to use. That paragraph is the essence of what people are talking about when they make fun of academia and jargon.

I don't really think it's jargon if they're using terms specific to the area of study to describe something relating to it. Jargon is meant to confuse the reader, for sure, but being confused by a written piece about something you're not necessarily on expert on doesn't mean you're reading jargon!

Tue, 14 May 2013 17:42:11 -0500

I was under the impression that jargon was field-specific terminology that only confused the reader passively(?), not actively. I must be missing something, here.