It’s a reference.

Of course, you can think of consciousness as analogous to excitation of a field, and, like the electromagnetic field or gravitational field, there is no center, and everything is interconnected. And yet, like every particle is ultimately a wave in disguise, we can still meaningfully talk about individual particles, because some waves do behave that way sometimes.

An individual consciousness is particle-like. As a shorthand for “this relatively independent packet of consciousness which has measurable distinctiveness from other packets and does not freely share perceptions or memories with them,” it’s often more practical just to say “I” instead.

Quantum cryptographically signed memory certificates from my designated reality broker or it didn’t happen.

This is the only absolute truth, for each of us. I may be a brain in a vat being fed false stimuli. I may be in a grand computer simulation. I may be a resident of Plato’s Cave. Everything I believe or guess about the world around me may be an illusion. But I do know that I think, and therefore, in some sense, I am.

But you have to understand, to 74 million people, the Fox News Cinematic Universe is reality. There’s regular bullshit, and then there’s bullshit so widely believed that you actually have to study the bullshit, just to be able to predict what its subscribers will do next. Like religion.

He’s always got le mot juste.

That comment was not referring to literal nazis. They were talking about the American right wing.

This reminds me of last year’s Christmas present from my husband - a homebrew powerpoint Only Connect game based on our favorite media. Instead of “twisted flax” or “two reeds” my categories were things like “lightsaber” or “Starfleet insignia.” Love the format (and that sweet man).

On the starship Enterprise, under Captain Kirk!

Counterpoint: he’s controversial because of what he says and does, not because of lies people tell about him.

I tried to explain this near the time of the event, back when I was on reddit. For this I received mass downvoting, and a universal consensus that misgendering is perfectly appropriate as long as the target has done something evil. Even from trans people. “We don’t claim her!”

It would be one thing if these same people also misgendered any given cis person who did wrong. But they don’t, and that double standard is transphobia. “Of course I would never misgender Hitler. He was AMAB. He earned it. You’re not AMAB? Then your right to be a man is contingent on your behavior. I’ll decide if you’ve been good enough to deserve it.”

We’ve got a long way to go culturally before people recognize that there is literally one and only one valid criterion for entitlement to a certain gender identity: claiming it.

It also doesn’t help that the third person feminine is ambiguous. There’s often no distinction between the accusative “her” and the possessive “her” (except when the pronoun appears in a different part of the sentence and becomes “hers” - fuck I hate English), so it could be interpreted as fitting either rule.

I don’t care if it’s not correct - I use “theirself” and “theirselves.” It jibes with “yourself,” “myself,” and “herself.”

“Himself” is a frustrating outlier, but I do know at least one person who says “hisself,” and that’s enough precedent for me.

I’ve got the daily low-dose version, and it’s changed my life. True to expectation from a dissociative drug, it causes me not to feel so much personal identification with the unwanted thoughts that keep bubbling up in my head. It may not work for everyone, but it works for me.

I’m so dreadfully sorry. I cannot help myself. Please forgive me.

It’s “zero kelvins” not “zero degrees Kelvin.”

I look forward to pirating this shortly after release day and getting the game plus all future DLC for free.

Privacy Pass just randomly generated Prince Andrew and now my browser is all sweaty.

Please do bring facts. Then, cite your sources. You have sources, right?

… right?

Huh, I had always heard it as “turbulent priest,” but as I look it up, I realize there would obviously be multiple valid translations, cause Henry said it in French.

So we all agree there are exceptions to freedom of speech, like the proverbial person shouting “Fire!” in a crowded theater, right? But you think incitement to violence is fine as long as you say it with a tweet instead of with your mouth? What a loophole!