This passage really reminds me of some of the things Devereaux talks about here[1] regarding the performance of legitimacy. If we synthesize these two pieces, some of the work of performing legitimacy is making things within the realm of "mystique" seem plausible, without having to resort to might and thus tipping your hand regarding what is actually _possible_.
[1] https://acoup.blog/2022/02/18/miscellanea-thoughts-on-ckiii-royal-court/
Adapted from Black Panther #2, Ta-Nehisi Coates, cont’d:
My uncle is dead now, murdered by another king. I loved him, but I wish he'd told me not just of the power of kings, but of the might of the people. I wish he'd warned me that they, too, have secrets. They, too, hold mysteries. They, too, possess a power all their own.
Adapted from Black Panther #2, Ta-Nehisi Coates:
The day after I became king, my uncle offered a single piece of wisdom.
"Power lies not in what a king does, but in what his subjects believe he might do." This was profound, for it meant that the majesty of kings lay in their mystique, not their might. Every act of might diminished the king, for it diminished his mystique. Might exposed the king's powers and thus his limits. Might made the king human. Breakable.
@thegibson I also think this is the most important part of the article:
Timnit Gebru, a prominent AI ethicist Google fired in 2020 (though the search giant claims she resigned), said the discussion over AI sentience risks “derailing” more important ethical conversations surrounding the use of artificial intelligence. “Instead of discussing the harms of these companies, the sexism, racism, AI colonialism, centralization of power, white man’s burden (building the good “AGI” [artificial general intelligence] to save us while what they do is exploit), spent the whole weekend discussing sentience,” she tweeted. “Derailing mission accomplished.”
Apparently "coming-of-age comedy-drama" is the genre that is aimed at me (Gerwig's Lady Bird being pretty much my all time favourite film and guaranteed to get me crying).
Allie: What percent Kit-movie was CODA?
Me: That was lab-grown to be a Kit-movie. Let’s take:
- Boats
- Deaf culture and ASL
- Singing
- Complex family relationships at the core of the dramatic question
- Incredibly well-honed and delicately considered emotional reality for all the characters
- Female protagonist
- Long silent scenes in which we hear the clinking of dishes, but also have dialogue, because ASL is magic
…and I'm expected to do anything other than love it?
Quitting gmail
You can just ghost gmail without closing your account.
1. You'll need a new email address. Maybe your ISP provides one? A friend with a domain name? Proton mail?
2. Set google to forward everything to your new address.
3. Set an autoreply saying what your new address is.
4. As it becomes relevant, unsubscribe from email lists and then resubscribe with your new address.
5. Move your accounts to also use your new address. Go at whatever pace works for you.
Well, I just found a clip on YouTube posted 8 days ago of some folks playing in the upstairs at Devitts, and there he is.
My heart, let me tell you, it is glowing.
Fifteen years ago, I would go every week to the session at Devitts on Camden Street in Dublin. Phenomenal craic, just a wonderful time. There was another bodhrán player there most nights who I had seen take second place in the World Bodhrán Championships in Milltown, Kerry, the year before.
But most of all, there was an older gent, Gerry, who played the squeezebox and always made sure that the energy bounced around, but whoever wanted to play or sing something, got to. A gentle but kind hand.
sea fever af
be the eldritch horror you want to see in the woods.
I belong to the Delaware River and Lenapehoking, but now I live in Coast Salish land.