The most recent 20 comments posted to Making Light by Aconite:

Greg London @ 816: I did, in fact, make a blanket statement about people who gave advice to Nicole, in 737, followed up in 743. I went on to explain it to you because you don't seem to be getting why people are exasperated with you. And I specifically said I was using the example with Nicole as an example of a certain dynamic, which you are now picking apart with details.

Being a rather stubborn person myself, I've learned over the years that usually you can either prove why you're right, or you can learn something. Rarely can anyone do both at the same time.

I've said what I had to say on that topic, can't think of any way to be clearer, and have lost interest in trying, so this is my last post trying to explain it to you. I'm going to go watch Doctor Who and knit with a cat in my lap. We'll all be happier.

Argh. Have no grammar or spelling today. "and that may be part of why [...]"

You know my favorite part of that phrase? "Technopeasant." To describe people comfortably using technology. Yeah, I love that.

Heresiarch @ 611: I, too, find that having somebody to go back and forth with helps clarify my own thinking.

The power you're talking about it only one kind of power: power-over. Power-to and power-with are other kinds of power. If I have the power to determine the course of my own life, I don't have that at the expense of your ability to do the same. Power isn't zero-sum--or, at least, it doesn't have to be. Seeing the only power there is as power-over--and the amount of power as finite, so if I get some, you have less--leads to thinking power is bad and wrong and dirty. Defining all power as power-over is like defining all sex as intercourse, and furthermore, as intercourse without consent.

So power-over isn't the only kind of power, but even power-over isn't necessarily a nasty thing. This forum, for example, has a moderator who will, when she judges it appropriate, disemvowel or delete posts, and ban ill-behaved users. The result is a spam-free, civil forum for the exchange of ideas, which could not exist in a free-for-all situation.

People have power through influence, as well as force. My grandmother has a great deal of power in our family; it was she who, at a time when it was common and socially unquestioned to slap your children in the supermarket, used the weight of her disapproval to put an end to that practice in our family. Her refusal to participate in discriminating against gays and people of color took the wind out of the sails of several people in her vicinity. Not because she forced those things on anyone--she didn't have that kind of power--but because she was respected, and that gave her opinions weight.

ethan @ 635: Being superhero strong is being exactly as strong as they need to be to do the work they have to do. In that case, being superhero strong isn't having excessive power; it's merely sufficient to do the job. What would be wrong with wanting to be as strong and powerful as you had to be to do what you needed to do?

SarahS: I blush, in a very happy way. Thank you, ma'am. Could there be elephants?


Laurence @ 555: That group of men (Greeks, Spartans, Oxford students, major-league sports teams) all love each other in a platonic way, and there are absolutely no faggots among them, no sir."

That sounds much like the Promise Keepers I've heard.

CarrieS@350: Bu, zbfg qrsvavgryl--jura lbh'er Bar Tvey Va Nyy Gur Jbeyq, lbh qb gur wbo be vg'f Senapvf Sbeq Pbccbyn gvzr. Jura lbh'er bar bs frireny gubhfnaq (be zber) fynlref, lbh pna va tbbq pbafpvrapr fvg onpx naq fnl, "V'z tbvat gb hfr zl rkprcgvbany fcrrq, fgeratgu naq urnyvat gb wbva gur Znevarf". Be ragre gur Bylzcvpf, be orpbzr n yhzorewnpx...be whfg unir n erthyne yvsr va juvpu lbh qba'g unir gb nfx lbhe oblsevraq gb bcra cvpxyr wnef.

I'd like to think so. Rkprcg gung, tvira jung Fynlre oybbq qbrf sbe qrzbaf, qb lbh guvax na hagenvarq, hanssvyvngrq Fynlre vf tbvat gb unir zhpu punapr gb tebj hc? Fb qbrf fur ernyyl unir n pubvpr, bapr fur'f n Fynlre? Joss' worlds are never that simple.

Y'know, there's something in me that's just terribly tickled that we're quoting one another in cypher.

On Geoffrey Chaucer's blog: "Thys Is Just to Saye": http://houseoffame.blogspot.com/2007/03/buy-myn-anthologie.html

Apryl@120: The BBB and PA have a complicated history. At one point, PA had so many complaints about them that the BBB made note of the unusually high number (which is an ususual act), but PA later made it back into their good graces, apparently by either threatening legal action or by simply changing their name slightly and paying new dues as a new company.

The BBB considers a situation "resolved" if a company responds at all to a complaint. It doesn't matter if the matter was resolved to anyone's satisfaction; a reply is a resolution.

The BBB is not a consumer-protection agency.* It's for the promotion of its members. It likes having members; members pay dues. If a business has a bad BBB rating, that's significant (because you have to be really bad to get a negative rating), but a "clean" one means little or nothing.

*To further complicate matters, there's the question of whether authors are consumers or businesses, which makes this a gray area for authors who try to get satisfaction through consumer-protection agencies.

Re: me@91: ARGH! "doesn't make you." Time for new glasses. Or to switch to the "Larger type" option, up-page, so I can see what the hell I'm typing.

So, we have a devotion of Snarklings. What's the collective noun for drones of Tor?* And do I get to be a drone? As I recall, drones get to make new queens by choosing who to feed royal jelly to. That would be kewl. Can I, can I, huh, oh great Tor-people? Pleeeeeease?

*"Hive" is obvious, but it sounds itchy.

*g* So, the reason you chose your screen name is that it's your mundane name? As good a reason as any, I suppose. Some people do that, I hear.

Teresa, I think AzureLunatic meant for how long and at what power should passports be microwaved. I was wondering the same thing myself.

Comment statistics for Aconite on the Making Light blog

Total: 11 comments. View all these comments on a single page.