Tag: communication

Categories
People

Notes 5/3

There are no rules for blogging and I bear this in mind when visiting blogs. Even though I understand and respect this difference, I need to get something off my chest, so please bear with me. Basically, these notes highlight some things bloggers do to lose readers and alienate supporters.

After printing, reading and rereading (as well as completing an abstract painting inspired by) a lengthy fiction story, the author has not responded to my comment. It’s still sitting there on his blog. I had to defend myself the last time someone got on my case about no feedback. As you can imagine, this is a really frustrating situation to be in. I can’t win, no matter what I do.

One aspect of hygiene I’d hinted at was that at times, authors and supporters might feel that a reader’s attention is romantically motivated.


If I visit a blog, do I want to make out with the author and do stuff, provided they’re over the age of 21, even though we’ve never met in person, have never spent any quality time together and I only know them as aliases? Go ahead, ask me.

But let me comment on the sense making of having a public blog, with tags that are visible in reader, leaving the comments open and like buttons active, expecting people to read, being proud of our work and mislabeling support. If someone supports us, there is no need to rush down what I call the fantasy rabbit hole.

The blogs affected by fantasy rabbit activity have a comparatively low subscriber count; low support per post compared to other bloggers with the same subscriber count; and limited variety in reader interactions. In other words, it is natural that bloggers will avoid hostility. Common sense, you say.


Prude close up
… support from “bras” (as opposed to “bros”) from Prude.

But don’t take my word for it, please experience Interview with Demandire yourself while getting ready for work on a Saturday morning.  What is gained, in actual fact? Approval: One like per him, per post, if he remembers.

Here’s one more way to chase readers from a blog with interesting content, decrease peer support and reduce interactivity. Once, a blogger warned me about his wife because I typed xo at the end of a comment. Misunderstandings are common, but that was taking it a bit too far. I did NOT want to sloppy wet x and o him while moaning.

Another example? I read posts before and after publishing and imagine what readers might think I am saying. Otherwise, if I don’t know what I said, when responding to a comment, I might sound like Tarzan:

Tarzan 2

To me, every reader’s eyeball on my Gravatar is a 25 carat conflict free pink diamond, offered with no strings attached. Continued support is the polished stone, set in white gold.

At this point, I ask myself: What would a professional do?

Categories
People

Envy, as seen from the Halcyon Pond

Guest post by Nadia
Reflections on Halcyon Pond & The World Beyond Halcyon Pond
Remarks on Envy™, The Food Drink of Glampions

Envy is the sin that “looks with grudging hatred upon other men’s gifts and good fortune, taking every opportunity to run them down or deprive them of their happiness. (Dorothy Sayers Purgatory, Notes on Canto XIII)

It is an impoverished soul who seeks to deprive others of their happiness. It’s bad enough that any soul would want to diminish others. The end result should bring them pleasure, but it rarely does.

The soul’s poverty can be so deep that it cannot be filled, at least not from outside sources. They take from others but with no positive returns, the result is a net negative. And that is what I appreciated about your post. First, envy is poisonous and second, it is fed by people’s “twisted opinion of themselves”.

I know sin isn’t everyone’s thing, but I went back to Dante’s work because envy is among the seven cardinal sins. I believe we have lost sight of just how poisonous it is. It took me a long time to understand that much of what others say in conversation is actually a reflection of what they’re saying to themselves. And so much of what a person sees of another is distorted by their image of themselves.

You wrote of the triad of Envy : Insecurity : Defensiveness. There was podcast on This American Life recently that brought this into astonishing focus for me. A female comic was being asked about the comments posted by trolls on her site. The producer found the person posting some of the worst comments. There is a brilliant section where the troll is being interviewed and asked about his motivations. And it all came back to his self-hatred. He was chastened when he realized what he was doing.

I could go on further about this, but it’s the second half of the post that I’m especially drawn to. I think you move off the subject of envy and on to something even more important, and that is shining our own light. I’m going to interpret very loosely here and say it’s about courage.

The courage to try not knowing if you’ll succeed. No, that’s not it. It’s the courage to try, without even having a measure of what success might be. To not even take an accounting of success or failure.

I’ve spent hours in the Picasso Museum (Picasso fascinates me), which has an exhaustive collection of his works. Much of what’s hanging on the walls is awful. But when you walk through and study all his work, you can see how each phase of his art built on the phases before and how he extended himself from an expert representational artist to the crazy, wonderful artist he became by exploring step-by-step without fear and certainly without giving a damn what anyone thought of what he produced.

May I suggest that you consider reposting the second half of this piece focusing on shining our own lights without being distracted by “two dimensional tokens of achievement.” I, like you, “want to thrive in a world of talented, bright shining stars.” For creativity to thrive there is no failure, just trials along the path of discovery. And each trial is a stepping-stone to the next thing to try, to the next idea.

Categories
Mars

Sól hundar (Solar hounds)

[An approximate translation]

Si
According to our research, Blue Star sentients keep a variety of these non sentient species in close proximity. They have a strong affinity for each other. The relationship is marked by reciprocity in affective signalling.

Gi
We collected and analysed every representational electromagnetic imprint stored in their orbiting data storage facilities. We wanted to discover if this sentient, non sentient affiliation would offer applications that would benefit our society.

Fi
Were you successful?

Gi
Yes, father. This is what we found.

Mi
That is beautiful. The specifications are pristine.

Si & Gi
Thanks, Mother.

Gi
Sister and I want the opportunity to explain all to the Energy Council.

Mi
We will hear your presentation first.

Gi
We present a finished product in a highly polished super-compacted carbon isotope.

Fi
The cables go right through?

Si
Yes, the cables meet at these focal points, and we situate them in silica gel and padding, here, to reduce friction and facilitate ease of movement. Their source of power is (mineral compound 040416) mined from (Astro 326952XN). This superconductor requires a charge of five kilojoules to run perpetually. The eyes, here, are dual focus audiovisual recorders and electromagnetic transmitters with an array of light sources to allow detection by scouting vehicles outdoors.

Mi
How do these objects work?

Si
Our star is dark and receives a limited amount of sunlight, and as one of many solutions to the problem, we created this facsimile of their non sentient, which we have called a Hundur. It will capture energy from Sól in the cells fitted in the spine, here.

Gi
The Hundur will catch the sunlight as it travels at constant speed around our star, as it turns on its axis. It will follow the trail of radiation from Sól in one complete revolution. It never gets completely dark for them.

Fi
Will the initial charge provide the Hundar with enough power to travel at that velocity, constantly, over the course of one rotation around Sól?

Gi
Yes, it will.

Mi
May I suggest adding a larger charge and a secondary cell to hold the extra charge in case it is needed?

Si
Thank you, mother. We will adjust it before the Energy Council presentation. To continue, we used Blue Star’s measurement system to get Hundur’s proportions correct. Since the species is unique to that star, we felt that adjusting to our system would result in errors. Also they’re a highly resilient species and we wanted to take advantage of their survival skills on our terrain. Our weather is too unpredictable for designs similar to (dragonflies) or (bees). We wanted to keep them grounded for that reason. Let us talk about the actual body. Blue Star uses a base ten system as opposed to our heximal system. Gi?

Mi
Darling, before you continue, the base ten system is an artificial system, which does not harmonise with naturally occurring frequencies or cycles.

Fi
The ten digit metric was created to feed a currency system. Our historians tell us that Blue Star’s currency system was designed to bring sentients out of a primitive state. So, know that it is not critical to the effectiveness of your design. Continue, dear.

Gi
Thank you, father. Hundur stands at a height of one hundred base ten centimetres. Each bore, connected to the spine here, has a circumference of sixteen centimetres. Attached to each of the four distal ends, is a ped with a length of twenty-five centimetres to the proximal digit and twenty three to the distal digit. The spine is thirty centimetres high, measuring from base, and we created a cylindrical body to ensure stability. Inside the body, we will use a hexagonal configuration to build the Sól cells, to maximise compression strength in the event of seismic activities or severe weather disturbances. The cells run through the spine here in multiple hexagonal configurations. The entire unit stores energy to power one home for one year. The cells radiate blár when full at which time, the Hundur returns to its home.

Si
We propose that each family receives three units. We make instructions available to all homes and teleport at-home tutorials.

Mi
How will this venture benefit our communities, apart from giving us a new way to store solar energy?

Si
We will promote this venture by saying we will reduce the use of fossil fuels for energy towards zero over the next three Sól orbit cycles. At the end of this time, we will have full usage of all Hundar on a rotating basis.

Gi
Even better, mother and father, we imagine we will create four new industries with this venture. Manufacture. Technological applications. Monitoring. Maintenance.

Fi
That is to be expected, but let me say that you have outdone yourselves.

Mi
I think we can anticipate positive reception of all this, provided the tests are successful, of course.

Si & Gi
Thank you, mother and father.

Gi
To continue, and justify our choice of a terrain application, the Hundur’s design facilitates compaction in case high velocity projectiles are thrown at it in cataclysmic events. We, or, whoever, would of course monitor the movement of each organism from a central base, and allow the time to prepare. These carbon polymer arms here are released and these drills tunnel into the soil or surrounding bedrock. The Hundurs shelter in their drilled shelters until they have been reset from headquarters.

Mi
How strong are the polymer arms?

Gi
Super-diamond heads, like the ones used to mine (Astro 326952XN). The molecules have been further compacted using your latest compression technology, father. Added pressure points here, and because of the screws here, they can punch through … Rather, bore a hole through granite as if it were soft and sheer.

Fi
This is completely new. Thank you for improving on my work. How did you test the strengths?

Si
We did field tests with a full set of granite blocks and found the timing was equivalent to one sixteenth of a cycle. We varied conditions by plunging them under water.

Gi
And applying liquid helium.

Mi
We will need to do an actual terrain test for one revolution around Sól after receiving approval for this project. However, you have thought of everything so far, my little darlings.

Fi
What will you formally name this Hundur unit for the presentation?

Gi
Polymerised Extrasolar Technology. P.E.T. It’s easy to remember.