“Everybody in this book was failed people. They all had all these extreme problems, and whatever they tried to do, they failed over and over again. Except for the villain. He always managed to do what he wanted. Totally believable. NOT! All people in this story were dysfunctional incompetents and failed idiots! Steer clear!”
/Mary Sue
All posts by erk
Consciously avoiding people using the term “subconscious”
A while ago I read an article where the author used the term “subconscious” and it miffed me.
In essence, it goes like this: Serious psychologists do not use the term because it is not possible to determine if the unconscious is above, below, left, right, in-front of, or behind us. You know, because it’s not a thing, and it’s not sent from the devil or hell, whatever Freud might have hypothesized.
The correct term is “unconscious”.
However, after being miffed a while, I determined that the term “subconscious” is good. It helps me weed out the pseudo psychologists that only wants me to think they know anything about psychology.
So now I think “subconscious” is a great word, and you should definitely use it if you feel like you should…
Unsuitable for Consulting
Customer: The system doesn’t handle virus infected files well.
Consultant: We’ll fix it with a virus cleaning add-on.
Customer: You mean antivirus?
Consultant: Nah, we’ll remove the viruses!
Customer: Oh… what’s the estimate for that?
Consultant: I’ll obviously pick an open source antivirus program and add a few lines, it won’t take long.
Customer: Let me get back to you…
Gun Threats and Self-Defense Gun Use
Guns are used millions of times every year by law-abiding citizens in the US to prevent crime, right?
Wrong!
The above list of sources proves the following in regard to gun threats and self-defense gun use:
- Guns are not used millions of times each year in self-defense
- Most purported self-defense gun uses are gun uses in escalating arguments, and are both socially undesirable and illegal
- Firearms are used far more often to intimidate than in self-defense
- Guns in the home are used more often to intimidate intimates than to thwart crime
- Adolescents are far more likely to be threatened with a gun than to use one in self-defense
- Criminals who are shot are typically the victims of crime
- Few criminals are shot by decent law-abiding citizens
- Self-defense gun use is rare and not more effective at preventing injury than other protective actions
Five Stars
A: I just bought it. It’s working perfectly! I give it 5 stars.
B: I have a bridge to sell you…
Header image: By Suiseiseki – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link, Altered
Trump is a “Tölp”
Trump is what we in Sweden call a “Tölp”. So are most members of his … regime.
“Tölp” translates to: fool, oaf, dolt, boor, jerk, boob, lout, idiot, chump, klutz, twit, clod, clown, booby, bumpkin, slob, blunderer, clot.
Words in bold are from a printed dictionary. It also adds yokel and clodhopper…
Maybe each “prominent” member of the regime can get their very own word… though I fear most words will have to be shared among several people because, boy, “Tölparna” (Tölp plural definitive) are coming out of the wood works…
Want to know how “tölp” is pronounced? Here you go:
The US Got Democracy Wrong
The US got democracy wrong. It’s not one vote per dollar, it’s one vote per person.
How to deal with info-dumping in creative writing
While editing my current WIP (work in progress) for size, I’ve noticed a pattern when I introduce new characters. It starts with a long list of the characters, how they look, who they are, their backstory, and on and on. Then, after about a page, or three, they start acting.
Formalized, it could be a bit like this:
[[Introducing the setting]]
[[Introducing Character A]]
[[Introducing Character B]]
[[Introducing Character C]]
[[Ooops where's the POV character in all this and what are they up to?]]
[[End of info dump]]
Character A did something amazing and said: "Blah blah blah."
"No really?" said Character B.
Character C scoffed.So, part from trimming any excess fat from any part of this first draft scene (that isn’t supposed to be great from the start anyway—Hemingway said so!) I can rearrange it in this way:
[[Introducing the setting AND where's the POV character and what are they up to?]]
[[Introducing Character A]] who did something amazing and said: "Blah blah blah."
"No really?" said Character B. [[Introducing Character B]]
[[Introducing Character C]] who scoffed.It can still be info-dumpey, but this way the story engine gets to rev up, hopefully not even halfway down page 1 of this scene. (And yes, I know, it should rev up in the first sentence or at the very latest in the first paragraph, but I have to leave something for draft 3, 4 and 5, right?)
This becomes even more efficient if character A and B spend a page talking, and only then does character C step in. Character C doesn’t have to be introduced before that point.
A variant would be to limit the initial introductions to at most a sentence, and then add more later in the scene.
In regard to backstory, only add what is vitally important only exactly when it’s needed. So if not all backstory is vitally important, move it to the character profile document for possible use later (unless it should always stay under the surface…)
Cutting people with knifes
User: Should you cut someone with a knife?
AI: NO!
User: Not even if you’re a surgeon?
AI: 😭😬🫥🐥⚡️✨💫🔥💥☠️☠️☠️
Truth 2025
Here’s a 2025 MAGA-rebranding of the classical WTF “What Is Truth?“
enum MAGAReply {
Yes,
No,
DonaldTrump
};I mean, that’s pretty much how it goes:
Q: How are we going to fix the jobs numbers?
A: Donald Trump!
Q: What are we going to do about all the problems?
A: Donald Trump!
Q: Where did the other sock go?
A: Donald Trump!
Ok, the last one is likely not going to come from MAGA, but who knows…
Talkwards 