It was time for a name change. _vitriolum_ is no more. The little underscores were driving me nuts.

The new one started off as "autopoiesis", but some bastard called autopoiesis took it. Then it became "autopoietic", but that got typoed into autopoetic. It stuck.

I think I like it, but like with a new haircut, it will take some time to know.

I wish this surprised me. Orgasms at the push of a button.

That, some nicotine gum and a bottle of alcohol free wine, and we'll have sucked all the goddamn fun out of everything.

Terry Pratchett has early onset alzheimers.

fuckityfuckfuck.... It is, as he says, an embuggery. But he will fight. He even gave a million dollars to Alzheimer's research.

"Personally, I'd eat the arse out of a dead mole if it offered a fighting chance", quoth Pratchett.

Yesterday, someone asked me for dating advice. I was a little taken aback. I almost refused to advise him, on the basis that my history of failure disqualifies me.

Then it occurred to me; my history of failure is precisely what qualified me for the job. I've awkwardly fumbled relationships, been unceremoniously shot down, missed obvious signals, and ( Read more... )

Walking to work through the ice and snow this morning, I lifted my head for a moment to contemplate the great lazy snowflakes that were falling. I thought about how spectacularly complex they must be, minutely articulated in interlocking lattices vast beyond the human capacity to survey. And just then, one smacked me in the face, melting on the ( Read more... )

I'm in download mode again. I woke up this morning with a hunger for data, and I've been feasting all day on Hume, Freud and Aristotle. Some days, I can't read more than 20 pages before my mind refuses to absorb any more. Today, I was insatiable. This is good. I was worried that I would run out of steam and be relatively uninspired this semester, ( Read more... )

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We begin with the Fool, of course. The blundering Stork starts the whole thing off, purely by accident. A wee little ego rolls out of the night into the world. ( But very quickly Mother shows up, )

"The wound and the eye are one and the same. From the psyche's viewpoint, pathology and insight are not opposites - as if we hurt because we have no insight and when we gain insight we shall no longer hurt. No. Pathologizing is itself a way of seeing; the eye of the complex gives the peculiar twist called "psychological insight." We become ( Read more... )

I'm increasingly of the opinion that "spiritual achievement" is a contradiction in terms. In the most spiritual moments of my life, I've been struck by the impression that everything is exactly as it should be, and the idea of achieving anything becomes superfluous nonsense.

The Golden Compass movie wasn't what it should have been. Lyra was precious. Asriel was warm. Coulter was innocent.

And it had a feel-good ending.

That's not how it should have been. Some edges shouldn't be softened. But hopefully, people will be interested enough to read the books.

Also, chimps are smart.