– Steve McCurry: The Haunted Eye

“Çırçır dairesi”nin çürük merdivenlerini çıktılar. Pamuğun kuru kabuğuyla tohumundan ayrıldığı yerdi burası. Üç arkadaş şimdiye kadar hiç görmedikleri sert şakırtılı, pamuk tozları uçuşan bir hava içine girince sanki çarpılarak ürktüler. Burada hemen her şey sarsılıp sallanıyor, dönüyordu. Tahtaları kararmış basık çatıdan sarkan toz salkımları arasında ufacık ampuller sarı sarı yanıyor, yanlarındaki volanların kuvvetli sarsıntılarla çalıştırdığı çırçır makinelerinden şiddetli sesler çıkıyor, toz salkımları, tozlu duvarlar, döşeme tahtaları, havada uçuşan tozlar sarsılıyordu.

***

“Bacağı kopan adam nerde?” Patoz ustası alabildiğine soğukkanlı, ileri çıktı:

“Bacağı kopan adam kan kaybettiğinden öldü,” dedi.

“Sebep de bu adamdır!”

Küçük ağa yaygarayı bastı:

“Yalaaan, yalan söylüyor. Bana iftira ediyor. Ondan da davacıyım. Irgadı kışkırtan, arabamı az daha parçalatacak olan odur.” — Orhan Kemal, Bereketli Topraklar Üzerinde

***

Her yazar yoksullar arasında dolaşırken kendi yoksullarını yaratır. Orhan Kemal kendi yoksullarını o yılların “fakir ama haysiyetli” imgesini parçalayarak haysiyet jandarmasının neden hep yoksul mahallerde nöbet tuttuğunu sorgulayarak yaratmıştı. Edebiyata duyduğu sağlam inancın içinde, fabrikalardan yükselecek geleceğe duyduğu inanç kıpırdar. (…) Birbirine kazık atan âdem babaları, “haysiyet yenir mi içilir mi?” diye soran yoksul insanları, o inanç sayesinde “bir şefkat şemsiyesinin” altında toplayabilmişti Orhan Kemal. — Nurdan Gürbilek, Örme Biçimleri

**AI generated**

Songs and song meanings for:

Mayhem — De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas (1994)

A detailed lyrical and psychological interpretation of all eight songs

De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas is one of the most disturbing and symbolically dense albums in early Norwegian black metal.

What makes the lyrics particularly interesting is that they are not simply expressions of Satanism or hatred of Christianity. They also explore death, psychological alienation, the supernatural, ritualistic transformation, spiritual corruption, and the destruction of ordinary human identity.

Much of the album’s lyrical atmosphere is associated with Per Yngve Ohlin (Dead), whose fascination with death and the boundary between life and nonexistence shaped Mayhem’s early identity. However, not every lyric can be confidently attributed to him, and the album also reflects contributions and artistic decisions made by other members.

It’s important to distinguish between three things: what the lyrics actually describe, what the symbolism plausibly suggests, and what the band members themselves have confirmed. I’ll examine all eight tracks in the album’s original running order, emphasizing the psychological, philosophical, and occult dimensions.

1. Funeral Fog

Primary themes:

Supernatural death, folklore, fear, annihilation

Literal narrative

The song describes a mysterious, deadly fog emerging from a remote, haunted landscape. This isn’t ordinary mist. It behaves almost like a supernatural entity, spreading death among the people who encounter it.

We actually have an explanation from Dead himself. In an interview published in Slayer magazine, he described imagining a legendary swampland within the Carpathian mountain region, surrounded by frightening superstitions. He pictured a dense fog rising beneath a full moon and extinguishing the lives of nearby inhabitants.

Deeper interpretation

The fog represents death as something impersonal, inevitable, and beyond human control.

There is no murderer in the conventional sense. Instead, nature itself appears to become the instrument of destruction.

Psychologically, the song works through three concepts:

•                  Fear of the unknown: The fog conceals whatever is approaching. People cannot understand or defend themselves against it.

•                  Loss of control: Death arrives regardless of human intention, morality, or preparedness.

•                  The supernatural within nature: The landscape becomes hostile and seemingly conscious, suggesting that reality contains forces humans cannot comprehend.

The fog also eliminates individuality. It doesn’t distinguish between good and evil people.

My interpretation:

This is essentially a supernatural horror story about the powerlessness of human beings when confronted with mortality. Unlike some of the other songs, its foundation is more folkloric than autobiographical.

2. Freezing Moon

Primary themes: Death consciousness, disembodiment, alienation, the afterlife

Literal narrative

The narrator moves through a cold, nocturnal environment filled with darkness, strange figures, and an overwhelming presence of death.

The most important development is that the narrator appears to remember having died.

This fundamentally changes the perspective of the entire song.

Rather than describing someone who fears approaching death, the lyrics can be read as describing someone who has already crossed the boundary between life and death.

Deeper interpretation

There are several fascinating psychological dimensions.

1. Disembodiment

The narrator seems separated from ordinary physical existence. He observes an environment that feels familiar but profoundly altered.

This resembles the literary concept of the disembodied observer: a consciousness that persists without an ordinary living identity.

2. The moon as a guide toward death

Normally, moonlight helps people navigate darkness.

Here, the moon is freezing, distant, and associated with death.

Following it leads not toward safety but toward an unknown existence.

The moon can symbolize a force that draws consciousness away from the living world.

3. Existential alienation

The song conveys the feeling of no longer belonging among the living.

That is different from simply wanting to die. It is the imaginative perspective of someone who experiences the world as foreign.

4. The absence of warmth

Coldness functions symbolically as the opposite of human connection, bodily vitality, and emotional warmth.

The environment is stripped of nearly everything associated with life.

My interpretation:

“Freezing Moon” is one of the album’s clearest explorations of consciousness after death. Its horror comes from the suggestion that awareness might continue even after the body has ceased to exist.

That uncertainty makes the song more philosophically interesting than a straightforward depiction of dying.

3. Cursed in Eternity

Primary themes:

Eternal punishment, damnation, imprisonment, hopelessness

Literal narrative

The song presents a consciousness trapped in an eternal supernatural condition.

Its imagery suggests demonic forces, darkness, and a curse that cannot be escaped.

Unlike “Freezing Moon,” where death introduces a mysterious new state, “Cursed in Eternity” portrays an existence that is explicitly punitive.

Deeper interpretation

The central concept is that death does not necessarily provide an ending.

The idea of eternal punishment is especially terrifying because it eliminates the possibility of change.

Consider the distinction:

•                  Physical suffering is frightening partly because of its intensity.

•                  Eternal suffering is frightening because there is no conceivable future in which it ends.

The narrator’s condition can therefore be understood as a form of metaphysical imprisonment.

There is also an inversion of conventional religious expectations.

Christian theology traditionally presents salvation as deliverance from damnation. Mayhem instead immerses the listener in a world where damnation appears to be the governing reality.

Psychological interpretation

The curse can be understood metaphorically as a state of permanent psychological captivity: being unable to escape a particular condition, identity, or experience.

This doesn’t mean the songwriter was consciously describing a mental health condition. Rather, the supernatural imagery can evoke feelings of helplessness and entrapment familiar from psychological literature.

My interpretation: The horror of this song isn’t simply Satanic imagery. It is the possibility of an existence without freedom, change, or resolution.

4. Pagan Fears

Primary themes:

Ancestral memory, paganism, collective fear, historical continuity

Literal narrative

“Pagan Fears” invokes an ancient world in which pre-Christian beliefs, rituals, and supernatural forces remain present.

The lyrics suggest that ancient fears have not disappeared, even though the societies that originally experienced them have changed.

There is an important tension between the distant past and the present.

Deeper interpretation

1. The persistence of ancient belief

Religious systems may disappear institutionally, but their symbols, stories, and emotional associations can survive.

A forest that once inspired fear of supernatural beings might continue to evoke unease centuries later, even among people who no longer believe those beings exist.

2. Collective memory

The song can be interpreted through the idea that cultures inherit psychological patterns from previous generations.

This resembles, in a loose literary sense, Carl Jung’s concept of the collective unconscious.

That doesn’t mean the song establishes Jung’s theory or that Dead was deliberately drawing upon it. The connection is interpretive.

3. Paganism versus Christianity

Within Norwegian black metal, pagan imagery often served as a rejection of Christianity and a symbolic return to an older cultural identity.

But “Pagan Fears” isn’t necessarily celebrating pagan life as peaceful or harmonious.

Instead, it emphasizes its frightening, mysterious dimensions.

4. The permanence of fear

Human beings have always feared death, darkness, isolation, and forces beyond their understanding.

The objects of those fears change across history, but the underlying emotional experience remains recognizable.

My interpretation: “Pagan Fears” explores the idea that civilization cannot completely erase humanity’s primitive relationship with the unknown.

The past remains psychologically present, even when people believe they have moved beyond it.

5. Life Eternal

Primary themes:

Immortality, consciousness, mortality, transcendence, existential uncertainty

This is arguably the album’s most explicitly philosophical composition.

Literal narrative

The narrator questions what it would mean to possess eternal life and whether existence can be understood independently of ordinary bodily life.

The lyrics contemplate the relationship between consciousness, mortality, and the possibility of continuing beyond death.

Deeper interpretation

1. Is immortality desirable?

Human beings often imagine eternal life as something positive.

But immortality raises difficult philosophical questions.

Would an existence without an endpoint remain meaningful? Would personal identity survive indefinitely? Would endless consciousness become burdensome?

The song doesn’t provide a systematic answer. It creates an unsettling atmosphere around these questions.

2. The separation of body and consciousness

One possible reading involves mind-body dualism.

In philosophy, dualism proposes that mental existence and physical existence are fundamentally distinct.

The song’s imagery invites the listener to imagine consciousness continuing beyond the body’s limitations.

This is an artistic possibility, not evidence that such survival occurs.

3. The paradox of eternal existence

Life is ordinarily defined partly by its limitations.

We experience beginnings, endings, change, and loss.

Remove mortality, and the meaning of existence might change radically.

4. Death as transformation

The song can also be read as contemplating whether death represents absolute nonexistence or a transformation into another state.

Its ambiguity is essential.

Biographical context

Dead originally gave the lyrics to “Life Eternal” to Bull Metal, a musician associated with the South American extreme-metal scene.

They were later incorporated into Mayhem’s album. Encyclopaedia Metallum: The Metal Archives +1

Given Dead’s documented preoccupation with mortality, it is understandable that listeners connect this composition to his personal outlook.

However, we should avoid treating the lyrics as a definitive statement of his intentions or reducing them to his eventual suicide.

My interpretation: “Life Eternal” questions whether the boundary between existence and nonexistence is as absolute as human beings assume.

It is not simply a celebration of death. It is a dark meditation on what life, identity, and eternity could mean.

6. From the Dark Past

Primary themes: Ancient evil, haunting, buried history, supernatural recurrence

Literal narrative

The song evokes an ancient, frightening presence emerging from a remote past.

Its imagery creates the impression that something once hidden or dormant has returned.

The past is not merely remembered. It becomes an active force.

Deeper interpretation

1. The past as something that survives

Ordinarily, people imagine history as a sequence of events that have ended.

This song challenges that assumption.

It presents the past as something capable of invading the present.

2. The return of the repressed

A psychological analogy can be drawn to Freud’s idea of repression.

Experiences or impulses pushed outside conscious awareness may later reappear in disturbing forms.

Read metaphorically, the song’s ancient darkness resembles something buried but never fully eliminated.

That is an analogy rather than a claim about the songwriter’s intent.

3. The persistence of evil

There is also a historical interpretation.

Human societies repeatedly experience violence, cruelty, superstition, and destructive impulses.

Technological or cultural progress does not necessarily eliminate these tendencies.

The darkness of the past may simply take new forms.

4. Supernatural memory

The song suggests a universe in which locations and environments can retain traces of previous events.

This is common in Gothic literature, where ruined buildings, graveyards, and ancient landscapes seem saturated with history.

My interpretation: “From the Dark Past” is about the inability to completely separate the present from what came before it.

Something forgotten can remain powerful, whether understood as supernatural evil, historical violence, or psychological memory.

7. Buried by Time and Dust

Primary themes: Decay, impermanence, oblivion, the destruction of identity

Literal narrative

The song presents death through images of burial, deterioration, and the passage of time.

Its central idea is that everything physical is ultimately subjected to decay.

But there is a difference between being buried in the ground and being buried by time.

The latter implies a much broader form of disappearance.

Deeper interpretation

1. Physical mortality

Human bodies deteriorate and eventually return to the natural environment.

The song confronts this biological reality without comforting religious imagery.

2. Historical oblivion

People can disappear in two different senses.

First, they physically die.

Second, their existence may eventually be forgotten.

This second disappearance can be especially unsettling.

Even people who were once important to others may eventually leave no recognizable trace.

3. The destruction of ego

Human identity is built around memories, achievements, relationships, and a sense of personal significance.

The imagery of dust challenges the permanence of those things.

From an existential perspective, the song undermines the belief that individual importance guarantees lasting significance.

4. Time as an indifferent force

Time does not punish or reward.

It continues regardless of human desires.

This indifference is central to the song’s atmosphere.

My interpretation: “Buried by Time and Dust” is perhaps the album’s most direct confrontation with impermanence.

Where “Cursed in Eternity” imagines an existence that never ends, this song considers the opposite: an existence so thoroughly erased that even its memory disappears.

Those two songs form an interesting philosophical contrast.

8. De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas

Primary themes: Satanic ritual, forbidden knowledge, occult power, spiritual transgression

Literal narrative

The title track describes an occult gathering and ritual involving extraordinary supernatural forces.

Unlike the introspective qualities of “Life Eternal,” this composition is outwardly ceremonial.

Its language and atmosphere suggest invocation, worship, and participation in a forbidden spiritual practice.

The album title was intended to evoke something like “Lord Satan’s Secret Rites,” although its Latin is grammatically irregular.

Encyclopaedia Metallum: The Metal Archives

Dead’s own explanation

This is another song for which we have particularly valuable firsthand information.

In his Slayer interview, Dead described the lyrics as concerning an extraordinarily evil coven associated with a book. He also said that he wanted the words to convey a greater sense of overwhelming evil and power.

That is important because it confirms that the song was deliberately conceived around a supernatural ritual rather than merely functioning as a collection of provocative Satanic phrases.

Deeper interpretation

1. Forbidden knowledge

Occult literature frequently associates secret rituals with access to knowledge unavailable to ordinary people.

This introduces the idea that spiritual power requires crossing boundaries that conventional society considers sacred.

2. The inversion of religious authority

The title and ceremonial atmosphere borrow from the language of religious mystery.

In Christian traditions, sacred mysteries concern divine realities.

Here, that framework is redirected toward Satan.

The result is an inversion of religious worship.

3. Ritual as transformation

Rituals are often designed to move participants from one state into another.

The song can therefore be interpreted as an attempt to cross from ordinary human consciousness into a supposedly supernatural realm.

4. Power and transgression

The song presents evil not simply as wrongdoing but as an immense metaphysical force.

This is a distinctive feature of early black metal’s occult imagination.

The emphasis is on invoking something that transcends ordinary morality and human limitations.

5. Attila Csihar’s vocal performance

Attila’s theatrical, almost priestlike vocal delivery reinforces the ceremonial atmosphere.

He has subsequently discussed using a priestly voice for this composition.

My interpretation:

The title track represents the album’s culmination in ritualistic horror. Instead of merely encountering darkness, as in earlier songs, human participants actively attempt to summon or engage with it.

The philosophical structure of the entire album

Although Dead explicitly said Mayhem did not have one overarching lyrical concept, the eight songs can be arranged into a meaningful thematic progression.

This is my interpretation rather than a confirmed narrative.

WHAT YOU PAWN I WILL REDEEM (2003)

Altıncı seçim, Sherman Alexie’den. İsim bana fazlasıyla yabancı, bu yabancılığı -bir hikâye tanışması- üzerimizden söküp atıyor. Hem komik hem de özgün. Ve kurgu, bu özelliklerle iç içe geçmiş durumda. Açılış şu cümleyle yapılıyor, “One day you have a home and the next day you don’t (…)” (593)

Tek bu cümleyi okusaydınız konu hakkında hangi tahminleri yapardınız? Soru attım öylesine şimdi de payıma cevaplamak düşüyor: Bir “evsizin” hikâyesi ancak bir “evsizlik” hikâyesi değil. Sömürgecilik, kimlik, kültür, başarısızlık, görülmeme, kendinle dalga geçebilme ve dahası; hepsinden bir tutam var.

Duyulmayanın sesinin, mizahla duyurulma çabası. Bütün o çabayı sevdim mi? Sevdim ancak şakasının dahi yapılamayacağını düşündüğüm yerlere içerledim.

***

Kahramanın “evsizliği” kuşkusuz hakikat. Belki de şöyle denmeli; öykünün içinde olan şey “her neyse” aslında “değişebilen” cinsten bir durum. “Cins” -kulağa hiç hoş gelmese de- ama devam; yazar değişebilen bu durum karşısına, bizim bakıp da göremediğimiz başka bir şey koymaya çalışıyor. Kısa da olsa görevimiz, akıp giden hikâyeye eşlik etmek.

***

Hikâyeyi okurken aklıma anılarım geliyor. Hem kendimle hem de dünyayla bir bağ kurmaya çalışıyorum. Washington Square Park’a adım attığım sırada, arkadaş grubuyla satranç oynayan evsiz bir amcanın bana “Hey sen, hemen karşıma geç, satranç oynuyoruz,” demesini anımsıyorum ve gülümsüyorum. Satranç bilmeyişimin böyle bir ânda yüzüme çarpacağını hiç düşünmemiştim. Heyhat işte, (sonra içimden dedim ki) amcanın karşısına otursam ve oynasam çok değişik bir deneyim olabilirdi. O kadar insanın içinden beni neden seçmişti, bilinmez. Büyük ihtimal parka adım atan herkese demişti. “Hiç bilmem ki,” diye bir şeyler gevelemiştim, ardından bana sayıklamıştı.

***

Bryant Park yakınlarındaki ana yolda; ABD bayrağını, bot diyebileceğimiz bir ayakkabının içine koyan evsiz bir kadın var, hâlâ orada olduğunu düşünüyorum kendisinin. Küçük bir formda olarak düşünün bir kürdanda bir bayrak gibi. Bilmiyorum bana çok yaratıcı geliyordu fikri ve bağı; öylece yolun ortasında duruyordu o ayakkabı. Yanlış anlaşılmasın, ortada güçlü bir bağ vardı çünkü çantası da bayrak desenliydi. Seattle’da bir evsizle uzun bir sohbetimiz olmuştu, nereli olduğumu duyunca ilgisi beni sevindirmişti, hep sevindirir bu tür sohbetler beni. Tabii, bu görünenin bir yüzüydü.

***

Hikâyeye dönersek son derece normal bir hayat ve sonrasında altı yıllık bir evsizlik kariyeri. Nedenlerini ne kahraman detaylı açıklıyor ne ben uzun uzun anlatmak istiyorum. Öğrendiğimiz önemli bir bilgi var, kahramanımız (Spokane yerlisi) olduğunu yüksek sesle söyleyen bir Washington vatandaşı ve eyaletin önemli yerlerinden birine, Seattle’a vakti zamanında taşınmış. Şöyle diyor:

I’ve been homeless for six years now. If there’s such a thing as an effective homeless man, then I suppose I’m effective. Being homeless is probably the only thing I’ve ever been good at. I know where to get the best free food. I’ve made friends with restaurant and convenience-store managers who let me use their bathrooms. And I don’t mean the public bathrooms, either. I mean the employees bathrooms, the clean ones hidden behind the kitchen or the pantry or the cooler. I know it sounds strange to be proud of this, but it means a lot to me, being trustworthy enough to piss in somebody else’s clean bathroom. Maybe you don’t understand the value of a clean bathroom, but I do (594).

(…) We’re common and boring and you walk right on by us, with maybe a look of anger or disgust or even sadness at the terrible fate of the noble savage. But we have dreams and families. I’m friends with a homeless Plains Indian man whose son is the editor of a big-time newspaper back East (594).

***

Övdüğü editör arkadaşının kendisini (Plains Indian) olarak tanımlamasına biraz içerliyor bizim kahramanımız. Çok sevdiği bir arkadaş grubu var, bize de tanıtmaktan çekinmiyor. Sürekli birlikteler “crew” dedikleri türden bir takılma söz konusu. Okuduğumuzda şunu düşünüyoruz; bu ekip gerçekten çok eğlenceli olabilir. Bir arkadaşını anlatırken şu sözleri kullanıyor:

If you put Junior and me next to each other, he’s the Before Columbus Arrived Indian and I’m the After Colombus Arrived Indian. I am living proof of the horrible damn age that colonialism has done to us Skins. But I’m not going to let you know how scared I sometimes get of history and its ways. I’m a strong man, and I know that silence is the best method of dealing with white folks (595).

Kiminle sesli, kiminle de sessiz mücadele edileceğini öğrenmiş kadar tecrübe sahibi birisi. “Folks,” iyi biliyor bu dili çünkü bu sözcüğü çok duyabilirsiniz. Bir otobüs yolculuğu ve tren yolculuğu esnasında, görevlilerden duyduğum “All right folks,” anonslarını hatırlıyorum ve devamında cümle kesin komik bir şeyle bitiyor. İster istemez kendi ülkenizle bir karşılaştırma yapıyorsunuz; resmi bir ulaşım yolculuğunda, “komik anonslar” duyduğumu pek hatırlamıyorum. Keşke duysak.

***

Hikâyenin asıl olayına geleceğim, kahramanımız o meşhur Pike Place Market civarlarında arkadaşlarıyla dolaşırken; bir (pawnshop) dükkânına gözü takılır. Vitrinde ne görmüş olabilir? Büyükannesinin çalınan geleneksel kostümünü (powwow regalia) görmüştür.

Yazar, bir kostümü karşımıza koyuyor, kültürün parçası olan bir kostüm ve yalnızca bir giysi diyerek geçip gitmenin haksızlığını biliyor. O kostüm bir büyükanne, ânı, kültür ve geçmiş. Ama geçmiş aslında hiç geçip gitmemiş.

(Pawnshop) denilen yer, ikinci el mağazası mantığında ancak değerli eşyalarınızı satarak ya da bir süreliğine o dükkânda tutarak ve karşılığında daha fazla ödeyerek eşyanızı alabildiğiniz bir iş modeli. Anlatırken uygulanabilir geldi…

Kahramanız ne yapsa beğenirsiniz:

“That’s my grandmother’s powpow regelia in your window,” I said. “Somebody stole it from her fifty years ago, and my family has been searching for it ever since,” (595)

Bir de evsizseniz, kim inanır bu söylediklerinize. Ne dükkân sahibinden ne de bir polisten medet umabilirler. Allah’tan kahramanımız yanında gerçek bir dosta sahiptir. Dükkân sahibi adını sorar kahramanımıza, cevapsa:

—-JACKSON JACKSON—-

“My mother and father named me Jackson Jackson. My family nickname is Jackson Squared. My family is funnny.” (596)

ANLAŞMA: 24 saat+ 995 dolar

Bir anlaşma yapılır dükkân sahibiyle. Büyükannesinin kostümünü alabilmek için bin dolar ödenmesi gerekir, cepte ise beş dolar vardır yalnızca. Yani hesap şudur: 995 dolar bulunacaktır. Peki ama nasıl?  İşte kurgunun güzelliği ortaya çıkmaktadır, verilen zamansa 24 saattir.

****

Eşyaların manevi değeri hep o insanla birlikte vardır, eşyayı kurtarabilirsek o insanı da kurtarabileceğimizi düşünürüz işte “Jackson Jackson” da o güzel kalbiyle bunları düşünüyor:

Sitting beside Junior, smelling the smoke and the salt and the vomit, I wondered if my grandmother’s cancer started when somebody stole her powwow regalia. Maybe the cancer started in her broken heart and then leaked out into her breast. I know it’s crazy, but I wondered whether I could bring my grandmother back to life if I bought back her regalia (598).

Real Change Ofisi’nden aldığı “elli gazeteyi” Seattle’dan-Bainbridge Adası’na giden terminalde satmaya koyulur. Araştırdığımızda bu kurumun düşük geliri olanlara veya evsiz vatandaşlara yönelik bir sivil toplum kuruluşu olarak çalıştığını bir tür gelir sağlama aracı olduğunu öğreniyoruz. Kahramanımız bu görev sırasında ve sonrasında türlü olaylarla karşılaşır.

Diyalogla kurulan bir metin vardır karşımızda ve yazar, o dünyayı yargılamadan çok içinden bir yerden bize anlatmaya çalışır. Öğrendiklerimiz arasında, Hank Williams ismi de vardır. Müzik, kahramanın anılarıyla birleşen önemli bir unsurdur.

***

Hikâyenin sonu nasıl bitmiştir diye sorarsanız; sanırım bunun cevabını vermek istemiyorum. Kurgunun temel sorusu şudur: Büyükannesinin elli yıla aşkın olan “o kostümünü” kurtarmayı başarabildi mi “Jackson Jackson” yoksa yine bir başarısızlıkla mı yüzleşiyor? Şöyle bir ipucu verilebilir, dünyada hâlâ iyi insanların yaşadığına dair inancını kaybetmediği, üstüne güçlendiği bir “son.” Belki de bir başlangıç!

Bahsi geçen eserler:

A CENTURY OF FICTION IN THE NEW YORKER 1925-2025 EDITED BY DEBORAH TREISMAN. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2025.

Sherman Alexie’nin görseli Lee Towndrow/Little, Brown and Company, Texas Public Radio’nun internet sitesinden alınmıştır.

Publicat la 6 decembrie 2017

De zeci de kilometri, mașina rula monoton în noapte. Autostrada rămăsese undeva în urmă, iar până acasă nu mai era nicio porțiune de astfel de șosea; nici măcar de drum expres. Muzica, selectată cu atenție, învăluia interiorul în acorduri potrivite cu noaptea cu lună plină. De mai bine de o jumătate de oră, nu se întâlnise cu nicio mașină pe drumul de obicei puțin circulat.

Luminile de drum sfâșiau vertical întunericul nopții ca pe o mătase neagră ce lucea uneori în lumina lunii sau a vreunui stâlp de iluminat de prin satele ce păreau părăsite. Frigul pătrunzător al acelei toamne umede îi făcuse pe câini să se aciuiască în cotloane ascunse și ferite de adierile sporadice de vânt. Nu era nimeni pe drum și nimeni pe lângă drum. În mașină era cald și bine.

Dinu se uita din când în când la ora probabilă a sosirii la destinație. Navigatorul era cât se poate de exact, iar rulajul cu viteza legală nu modifica deloc ora sosirii. Nu se grăbea, iar ora aceea aproape încremenită îi dădea o senzație de mulțumire: conducea legal! Se mai uita și la ora indicată la bord; timpul se scurgea în ritmul său.

Lui Freddie, un coleg din facultate, amator de bancuri seci, îi plăcuse o reclamă ce promova silențiozitatea unei faimoase limuzine: singurul zgomot perceput în interior este cel al ceasului electronic de la bord! Cam la fel de tăcută era și noaptea asta. Din acest motiv asculta muzică. Gândurile veneau și plecau tot în ritmul lor.

Diferența era aceea că unele gânduri păreau a fi pe un ritm de speed metal, iar altele în ritm de smooth jazz, iar asta făcea ca uneori să aibă senzația că va ajunge mai repede, alteori mai târziu. Dar nu se grăbea. Își aduse aminte de o avertizare pe unul din panourile electronice informative de pe una din autostrăzile din Europa: „Nu uitați! Sunteți așteptat!”. Da, ce rost avea să se grăbească?

În bezna nopții remarcă licărul luminilor îndepărtate reflectate în luciul apei. Șoseaua șerpuia acum pe malul apei. Dacă nu ar fi fost acele luminițe, nici nu ar fi sesizat prezența apei. Suntem materie și spirit, iar în materia din care suntem plămădiți predomină apa. Acum apa era în stânga lui. Dinu admira cu coada ochiului dansul luminilor pe luciul apei.

Nu mai era mult și sezonul rece va face să înghețe acea porțiune de apă, iar la următorul său drum avea să observe un alt joc de lumini, un fel de patinaj artistic, acel sport preferat al colegei din biroul alăturat.

Mai trecură câțiva kilometri; se mai adăugară câteva minute la ora indicată de bețișoarele portocalii. Fusese încântat de primele ceasuri de mână cu afișajul acela cenușiu cu cristale lichide. Primise unul când era prin clasa a șasea. Libertatea de circulație mai avea să fie îngrădită încă aproape un deceniu, iar oamenilor le lipseau multe din pricina politicii de partid și de stat, catastrofale din multe puncte de vedere, dar vecinii de peste graniță fuseseră mai norocoși.

Și de norocul lor profitau și conaționalii săi de pe lângă graniță. Ei aduceau nu numai obiecte ce le vedeai doar prin cataloagele Neckermann, dar releele lor de televiziune aruncau inevitabil undele lor ca pe niște adieri de libertate.

În adolescență inspira, inhala, aproape în tot timpul său liber, emisiunile televiziunii vecinilor de la sud-vest, acei vecini care circulau liberi în Europa Occidentală, care lucrau acolo, care se bucurau de libertate! Li-ber-ta-te! Maratoanele de film de la sfârșit de săptămână, recepționate cu antenele de bandă largă, dublu romb, ocupau programul de dezbateri amicale toată săptămâna ce urma.

Maratonul cu filme de Oscar! Ce nebunie! Ce senzație într-o perioadă în care la noi predomina emisiunea cu pureci.

Doar două ore de emisiune din care un singur personaj făcea „deliciul” oricărui ahtiat de emisiuni ce proslăveau progresul societății multilateral dezvoltate… Pachetele de chewing gum Casino în care găseai cu siguranță câte o carte de joc, mărci de blue jeans care mai de care, țigările lor Vikend, ceasurile electronice Casio, în special cele cu șapte melodii, Vegeta de la Podravka, casete audio și video cu muzică rock (sau disco ori populară, în funcție de cerințe și gusturi), și abțibildurile Panini… Toate acestea (și multe altele mai faimoase) sunt acum în orice magazin.

Dar atunci acestea erau o fărâmă de libertate într-o țară închisă ermetic. Muzica pe care o asculta acum era asortată cu cea ascultată în acea perioadă de la vecini.

Se apropie de un sat și reduse viteza. Indicatorul cu numele localității era însoțit de cel ce reglementa viteza în localitate. Își aduse aminte că în Franța, după vreo două sute de metri de la intrarea în localitate, încă un semn cu viteza maximă admisă era afișat, dar de această dată însoțit de plăcuța adițională „Rapel”. Așa că dacă depășeai viteza după acel indicator, nu mai aveai nicio scuză. Nu era cazul pe drumul pe care mergea acum.

Roti de volan ca să urmeze curba spre dreapta, încă cu gândul la acel indicator. De pe drumul lateral, relativ mascat de colina pe care o ocolea drumul principal, ieși o mașină al cărei șofer părea să fie prea adormit ca să realizeze că trebuia să oprească la semnul Stop. Sau poate că era prea decolorat și prea puțin vizibil în acea noapte. Dinu viră brusc spre banda cealaltă intenționând să ferească autoturismul cu șoferul neatent. Acceleră ca să depășească mai rapid autoturismul ce-i ieși în cale.

Remarcă o pată neagră ceva mai departe pe șosea. Ce căuta pasărea asta neagră în mijlocul drumului? Tocmai aici și acum și-a găsit să se odihnească? O fi coborât să vâneze vreun șoarece de câmp. Instinctul de conservare o va face să își ia zborul. Șoferul, în manevra lui la dreapta, nici măcar nu se încadra bine pe banda sa, forțându-l pe Dinu să acroșeze acostamentul cu roțile de pe partea stângă, dar controla bine traiectoria mașinii. Pasărea rămase pe loc. Îi vedea deja conturul mai aproape.

Reveni cu roțile pe asfalt. Privi în oglinda retrovizoare și văzu că celălalt autoturism trăsese pe dreapta. Probabil că șoferul realizase situația și, speriat, frânase brusc. Trase și el de volan ca să revină pe banda lui. Pasărea cea neagră era tot acolo, dar acum era mult prea aproape și nu înțelegea de ce nu-și luase zborul. Într-o clipă trase brusc de volan ca să o evite, dar simți că roata calcă pe ceva dur, ceva mult mai dur decât ar fi putut fi corpul unei păsări, al acelei păsări.

Explozia anvelopei scoase mașina de pe traiectoria deja forțată de manevra de evitare. Prinse din nou pietrișul de pe marginea șoselei, însă de data asta mașina nu mai reveni pe șosea. Continuă un traseu sinuos, intră pe iarba încă verde, udă. Panta se accentua spre apă pe al cărei luciu dansaseră mai devreme luminițele. Mașina se rostogoli, iar airbag-urile părură să îl protejeze pe Dinu; cel puțin deocamdată. Dar rostogolirea continuă, căci nivelul apei era mult mai jos decât drumul.

Se făcu dimineață. Girofarurile albastre și roș-albastre pâlpâiau tăcute. O macara se apropia dinspre sat. Șoferul neatent privea în gol spre locul în care lacul înghițise mașina condusă de Dinu. În jurul său, toată agitația generată de un astfel de accident părea să se desfășoare în surdină. Nu auzea nimic, nu vedea nimic. Cei de la ambulanță îi puseseră pe umeri o pătură groasă, dar nu părea să fi fost conștient de gestul lor.

Stătea în picioare, puțin aplecat, parcă plecat deja din această lume, ținând în mâini o bucată neagră, dintr-un material dur. Privită dintr-un anumit unghi, așa cum o ținea în mâini, acea bucată destul de mare, aproape cât un cap de om, avea o formă de pasăre. Dacă ar fi privit-o atât de aproape, Dinu ar fi asociat-o cu acel Șoim Maltez din filmul omonim cu Humphrey Bogart. Îi plăcuse atât de mult filmul, încât Bogart devenise actorul lui preferat. Citise și cartea cu aceeași emoție cu care urmărise filmul.

Pe iarba verde și umedă de pe malul lacului, rămăsese înscrisă, ca niște hieroglife uriașe, traiectoria ultimului drum al lui Dinu.

Inbetweeners 47- Assault on the Beeple Hive

While the players were dealing with Xalatra, entering the Maw and being reconstituted, Mammon and Zane activated their plan. They had some intel on the Inbetweeners in Sigil but new information went dark. They were last spotted in the streets of Sigil, disappearing in an industrial sector. Going dark wasn't unexpected though. They players were wanted by Mechanus and potentially many other special interest groups. The Lost Titan had showed up where they were staying, demanding a fight. He alone could pose an existential threat. So there was no reason to believe the players were dead. Plus, Mammon and Zane's connections in the soul trade picked nothing up. So, more than ever, the only way to get the players back in the fold was to draw them out.

Below is the source material for the sequence of events in Zane and Mammon's assault on the Beeple Hive. Essentially Mammon provided the funding and a group of devil mercenaries to aid in the attack. Zane was the point person and brought along several of the “corrected” demons he had been producing. With the Torment as his new base of operations, he had several orders of magnitude more resources to draw on to plan this. The assault wasn't simply an attack on the Beeple. Hurting something the players cared about wouldn't guarantee it would draw them out. They could attempt to strike back asymmetrically from Sigil. They needed something that would force the players out of Sigil. Furthermore, the Inbetweeners had proven shockingly resourceful. Their defeat of Arkanos punished that.

Mammon and Zane considered drawing the players to the Beeple Hive and fighting there. The issue with this plan was environmental control. Too many unknown variables, too many ways the players could surprise them. And then there was the Lurian factor. Lurian had some angelic beings and members of the Judgement of Torm stationed to protect the Beeple Hive. The reasoning was probably four-fold. One, the fledgling Harmonium was an asset to the Judgement. While not direct military allies, they conducted trade and provided a place for the Judgement to send refugees. Second, Lurian wanted to keep the players close so this bonded them to him. They had delivered him from the prison, and the Interloper had granted him with power beyond the pale of of a normal angel. So anything he could do to foster that relationship was strategically worthwhile. Third, Lurian's judgement was mostly combat based, but to keep the followers of the good-aligned gods happy they needed to do charitable works outside the slaughter of minions of the lower planes. Lastly, and on a personal note, Lurian's lover Elythos had made the Beeple Hive his new home when he waited for the players to save Lurian. For all these reasons, Mammon and Zane could expect Lurian to descend with a host of Judgement zealots and warriors pretty rapidly. Even disrupting teleportation magic would only keep them at bay so long. Mammon's pockets were deep and Zane had dramatically scaled up production, but they weren't looking to enter a war with the followers of several gods at once.

So, they needed to draw the players into a place where the Judgement would not go, and a place where they could control all the variables. Naturally, Zane suggested the Torment. It was perfect. Remote, isolated, a facility Zane could adapt to whatever traps he wanted to spring. Furthermore, Lurian would be loathe to go back to the place he was imprisoned and tortured for so many decades. To make sure this worked, they would have to take enough hostages from the hive to force the players to act. And Elythos could NOT be among those hostages. Mammon had different plans for him. So without further adieu, the source material for Zane's Assault on the Beeple Hive:

_______________________________________________ At some point while the group is gone, or perhaps soon after they return, the Beeple Hive will be assaulted by Zane, a team of “corrected” demons and a regiment of highly skilled devils.

Zane’s Assault on the Hive

The Defense Before the Strike

Elythos, the Deva: Lurian’s lover is present with a strong garrison—dozens of paladins, lesser archons, and Beeple warriors. There is also the former Fire Cultists and the converted Giant. They expect attacks are possible, but the queen’s growing psychic ability and their own robust network have made them rest on their laurels.

The Hive’s Faith: Civilians and refugees have been told the Judgement of Torm and the Queen’s Embrace will protect them. Morale is high—but brittle.

Phase 1: The Silent Cut

Teleport Ward Activated: Zane’s devils plant infernal pylons around the hive perimeter. In a flash of golden-black light, planar travel is locked to Mammon’s signature alone. No calls for reinforcements get out.

Queen Severed: Zane’s “corrected” demons all wield echo crystals. They seem inert to a non-psion, but to anything psychic, they are loud and discordant. They bombard the queen, overwhelming her. This, combined with simultaneous attacks on soft targets– the nursery, the fields, the hospital, etc redirects her attention to the point where her frantic focus actually harms the beeple she tries to connect to. The sheer stress temporarily renders her unconscious. As a result, all of her forces and any indoctrinated into the hive fall into disarray.

Phase 2: The Defense Collapses

Clash with Elythos: The Deva rallies the paladins and archons, leading a desperate countercharge. He cuts down fiends left and right, his radiant wings blazing. But Zane never fights fair:

Corrected demons swarm and maim Elythos

Chain demons keep him pinned with volleys of infernal chains.

Zane fights from the Shadows, he is barely seen, only picking off defenders from a distance and shouting orders.

Civilians Targeted: While Elythos fights to hold the line, devils sweep past him into the lower hive chambers. They cut down any warriors that get in their way, but their goal is swift hostage taking.

In the clash, the giant is slain, along with several members of the Fire cult.

Phase 3: The Kidnapping

Callie Seized: Among the civilians is Callie, the young girl the PCs saved earlier. Zane personally ensures she is taken.

He notices her bravery when she defends smaller Beeple children and other refugees and makes sure to take her.

The Count: Forty to fifty captives are dragged screaming into Hades. The surviving Paladins and other members of the Judgement, along with the few Beeple warriors who are able to muster themselves without the queen launch a final counter offensive but are easily rebuffed by the devils and corrected demons. Chain Demons, Horned Devils, Gluegons Commander, Bone Devils and Corrected Demons are all in the mix. The entire attack takes place in under five minutes.

Phase 4: Withdrawal & Ruin

As Elythos and the other defenders lie broken, the group retreats efficiently, long before reinforcements arrive.

Infernal obelisks flare, drawing the strike force and their captives into Hades.

The Queen: Alive, but shattered and psychically muted.

The Aftermath

First Lurian and his reinforcements will arrive. A beeple runner will be sent to Sigil as soon as the teleportation circle is back online to get the PCs.

Elythos in Ruins: He is bloodied, wings shredded, laying prone amongst fallen paladins. He is unconscious and dying. Two coins have been melted into his eyes, they bear the mark of Mammon. Lurian and his healers are able to keep Elythos from fully dying, but they need help to bring him back. Domilia will have to dig deep

Elythos lies broken on the ground, golden coins melted into sockets that once held his eyes, still glowing with an infernal heat. Each breath rattles wetly, flecked with blood

A healer of the Judgment bows her head. “We’ve spent everything—every spell, every prayer. His body lives, but Mammon has chained his soul. We cannot reach him.”

Lurian’s hand flashes. The crack of bone splits the chamber as the healer crumples, jaw shattered, teeth skittering across stone. She sobs soundlessly, blood dripping between her fingers. Lurian doesn’t look at her. His blue radiance turns crimson, bleeding across the chamber. His eyes burn like open furnaces—no mercy in them, only guilt, regret, and violence waiting to break free “The coward butchered the innocent because he lacked the spine to face me. I’ll return the deed in kind.

He sees the players, and turns to Domilia and Rotlog, the healers of the group, and with a surprising turn of humility and desperation in his voice he implores… can you help him?”

Solutions to heal Elythos:

-Wish spell if players choose to expend last one will work -Natural 20 on a high level healing spell or check will do the trick, no advantage or anything though. -Domilia may be able to pull of a shenanigan, DM discretion -The Lich inside Bruce will offer a solution– for a price. The Lich can’t heal, but it can transfer the curse to another being of equal value. The Lich will want Dom or Lurian to join the pact as a cost for the spell. Lurian won’t do it without a persuasion check– its not what Elythos would want. -If the Queen can be healed and inspired, she may be able to lift the curse.

The Hive: Smoldering chambers, walls and grounds slick with blood. Broken bodies of Torm’s Templar, Beeple and anyone else caught in the crossfire.

The Queen: Trembling, her once-mighty psychic voice now only a faint stammer. She perseverates on her failure. She asks Domilia to help her strengthen her position.

Options: -Commune with Interloper or Lady of Pain directly to get more power -Consume an Elderbrain, would need to lay siege to Mind Flayer city. Gyth would need to be summoned When I first started reaching out psionically to probe this world, I detected a power far greater than my own. One that was trying to remain hidden, deep underground. As soon as it looked back at me, I felt an all consuming force, terrifying and endless. An ageless power. I never probed that far again for fear of directing its gaze. It was evil, merciless and exacting. I made a vow to never look back again… but now I realize its an opportunity. To remove that power would remove so much evil and destruction from this world, and to take that power and make it my own would allow me to help so many. I can’t do this alone– but with your help, with your patrons help, I think I can ensure the hives prosperity. I can’t rely on others to protect us anymore” -Weaponize assimilation into the hive– only for those who are a threat. Make enemies into allies. -Open to other suggestions.

The “Special Delivery”

Within hours of the raid, a courier fiend delivers a grotesque package to the PCs in Sigil:

A large heart-shaped wreath, woven from the antennae of slain Beeple.

In its center: a note written in blood, words scrawled with cruel artistry:

Dearest Inbetweeners. How dull you’ve become, caged and playing at gladiators. Your wards are already with me. Little Callie puts on a brave face–the others were less convincing. Meet me in the Torment; I have such wonders to show you. Don’t keep me waiting, or I will have to send my little assistant… one piece at a time.

And do bring the angel. Our last meeting was far too brief.

Warmest Wishes- Zane” _______________________________________

So this was a pretty plot dense segment of the campaign— a lot his happening and there are few pieces I should draw your attention to:

-Zane's planning: Zane learned from the players in their last encounter. He thought he had everything laid out, and that the players would have no recourse. He underestimated their alliances. This time, he made sure to do his research. In particular, the echo crystals nullifying anyone attuned to the queen, as well as the queen herself, and the infernal pylons blocking reinforcements did the job well. No help from the queen, no help from outside. Secondly the timing. The entire operation was to be done in under 5 minutes. A blitzkrieg of sorts, overwhelm the opponent before they react. Had the Inbetweeners been present they could have probably stopped this, but they weren't. Zane wanted to them to realize that. He wanted them to know their cowardly sheltering in Sigil was responsible for the loss of their friends. He wanted them on tilt so they would pursue him into the Torment.

-The Beeple Queen's fallibility. She realizes she was unable to protect her hive. This becomes a driving motivation for her future actions and later on foreshadows some of the methods she uses to preemptively remove threats, eventually culminating into a preemptive Xenocide.

-Lurian's loss of control. Lurian's inability to save Elythos from the curse of Mammon, and attacking his own healers when they couldn't help starts to reveal some of his instability. The only way Lurian knows how to resolve conflict is to escalate, and if his own legions cannot help him... he will seek power in darker places. With the Interloper tethered and off the table due to the Protectors of the Weave, he will need to look elsewhere.

-Callie's capture: Zane did not know who Callie was or her importance to the group, but his capture of her was luck of sorts. She had the special connection with the group, particularly Uzo, and would all but ensure they would come out. Once he had a hold of her and could interrogate her/read her thoughts, he knew what he could do.

-The players realized the Queen and hive needed to be moved, and they would need new allies before they tried to take the fight to Zane. More on this in a future post.

In short, the players fled to safety in Sigil, so their enemies attacked them indirectly. Ironically, when the players got Zane's note, they had no idea who he was. They had completely forgotten about the throne room encounter. Zane's quest for revenge, and plotting with Mammon had been all consuming for him. For the players, he was just some schmuck they outplayed and summarily forgot about. This foreshadows the absurd powerscaling we will see between the players and many of the NPCs as the campaign progresses.

I'll get more into the aftermath of this assault in the next post!

La chaleur du soleil. Les premiers rayons du matin. Ce corps qui m’aide à embrasser ce monde. Les sourires. Les mains tendues. La confiance que l’on m’accorde. Les espoirs que je porte. La beauté des mots. Le son du silence. Mon Tobi, qui me rappelle à chaque instant que le moment présent est le seul qui nous appartient. Ma famille. Ma grand-mère, qui est toujours là, à sa manière. Ma grand-mère, avec qui j’aurais aimé partager davantage.

En octubre sí he jugado a algo. Definitivamente hacer cosas es mejor que dejar las tardes a la apatía, el doomscrolling y la desesperanza.

Comienzo por las cosas en digital, que son reimplementaciones comprimidas de juegos que me gustan bastante, y quizá incumplan la máxima de que menos es más, sobre todo porque se basan en juegos ya compactos:

Bordeaux es la versión hoja de papel de Fromage. A quién no le va a gustar el vino o el queso. Pues a mucha gente que tendrá sus razones, claro, tampoco vamos a cuestionar. Aquí cada persona tiene una hoja y va tachando con su lápiz, según considere y pueda, una serie de vinos con la misma mecánica que Fromage: Tienes tres trabajadores, uno hace un vino y el otro consigue recursos. Qué región y recurso puedes conseguir aquí lo decide en cada ronda un jugador distinto, y ya decides tú qué trabajador enviar a qué, y qué vino concreto haces. A mejor sea el vino o más recursos consigas, más rondas estarás sin él. Porque los trabajadores son los que generan el valor, no tú. Que lo sepas. Y, bueno, es cierto que es la misma mecánica, pero en el juego original el aspecto visual y táctil de la rueda de quesos era más interesante, además de la competencia por los mejores sitios en los minipuzzles.

The White Castle Duel es la versión para dos personas de… ¡*The White Castle*!, un juego que ya funcionaba bien a dos personas. Pero el capitalismo y el marketing toman decisiones cuestionables. Han pegado la misma iconografía a un juego que en realidad es distinto y que queda un poco opacado por el otro (que es mejor). Y es mejor precisamente en lo que se le achaca como negativo: Tienes 9 turnos para hacer muchas cosas y la gente quiere un mayor desarrollo para que la bola de nieve se haga gigante. Pues no, presta atención a esos 9 turnos porque siempre puedes hacer más. En esta versión para dos personas, es cierto que también quieres estirar más el turno, pero es más táctico y no siempre tienes la libertad de cambiar las acciones disponibles para que tu estrategia se lleve a término. Que sea a dos personas lo asemeja quizá demasiado a una pelea de pulpos.

Y ya en físico, hay muchos estrenos de cosas que uno compra al venirse arriba. Como en la cuesta de la portada de Pasteles. En este juego en solitario debes doblar una tela para formar patrones que cubrir con poliminós, lo que te permite cumplir con pedidos de clientes, que te dan dinero y nuevos ingredientes para el siguiente día. Yo soy un paquete como repostero, y lo de buscar esos patrones en las telas en 30 segundos marcados por un reloj de cocina se me antoja imposible, pero el resto del juego me parece bastante guay, al estilo de Conservas (comparten autor, editorial y la mecánica de gestión y escenarios).

Echoes of time es un juego de cartas, donde juegas criaturas en una banda temporal que va moviéndose cada ronda. Cuando la criatura llega al instante 0 de tiempo pasa a formar parte de tu compañía y estará disponible para realizar sus efectos y conquistar ciertas cartas o localizaciones, que también dan puntos y efectos. Es un juego de ir buscando los combos y sinergias entre cartas que tiene la ventaja sobre otros de que, aunque no tengas mucha decisión sobre qué cartas llegan a tu mano, siempre puedes hacer algo y el final de partida es rápido.

Queen Alice es un juego estratégico en un cajote enorme sobre Alicia a través del espejo. Y qué tienes que hacer, dirás, pues ganar puntos, claro. Aquí jugarás cartas de piezas de ajedrez, que moverás en un tablero para seleccionar la acción. Esta acción te hará subir en un track con el color de la ficha que habías movido y te dará cosas (cartas, poderes especiales, puntos…). En función de los jugadores, serán más valiosos unos criterios de puntuación u otros. Y si el cerebro no se te ha licuado de pensar las implicaciones de tus decisiones, pues coronas la Alicia Roja o la Alicia Blanca y listo. Parece que la tendencia en los juegos estratégicos (liderada por autores y editoriales españoles) es mezclar varios tracks con un mecanismo de selección de acciones algo original, pegarle un tema llamativo y hacerlo bonito a rabiar (que no tanto funcional por lo que abruma). Entiendo y comparto la crítica y, aún así, al día siguiente seguía pensando en el juego y en probar otras estrategias para hacer que el sombrerero loco suba más, o conseguir otras flores, así que no es solo artificio y hay juego detrás. Y esa pobre gente de Sevilla o Albacete tendrá que comer.

Y, por último, Eternal Decks, o el juego en el que hay unos seres que buscan la destrucción del planeta y hay que aplacarlos entregándoles una joya. Realismo puro. En realidad es un juego de comunicación limitada donde solo tenemos unas cuantas cartas con un número y color, con restricciones de colocación, y hay que consiguir ciertos retos, que conllevan peligros y dificultades. Es parecido a La Tripulación, aunque tiene, digamos, más picos de tensión donde todo va a salir mal, pero consigues algo que te da un cierto respiro, pero entonces es otra persona quien está en apuros. Además, tiene varios escenarios y dificultad, con lo que no se siente tan repetitivo. Y muy chulo visualmente.

Tags: #boardgames #juegosdemesa

Ποιός ο λόγος ένας πρωθυπουργός παρακολουθεί τους υπουργούς του παρά για να εξασφαλίσει ότι λαμβάνει το μερίδιο του στις δουλειές που ο υπουργός αυτονομήθηκε απο την επιλογή του ηγεμόνα.

Απηυδήσε επειδή τον έκλεβαν!

Λες;

Lydia's Weekly Lifestyle blog is for today's African girl, so no subject is taboo. My purpose is to share things that may interest today's African girl.

This week's contributors: Lydia, Pépé Pépinière, Titi. This week's subjects: Monday Morning, But Make It Fashion, Woodin for sale? The Pleasure way to avoid Incontinence, and Sub Box

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Monday Morning, But Make It Fashion: Accra Edition. Monday morning is not for the weak; it's basically a personal attack. Your alarm is screaming, your bed is holding you hostage, you are calculating traffic and somehow you still have to look like a woman who has her entire life perfectly organized. Suddenly you’re standing in front of your wardrobe saying, “I literally have nothing to wear!” Meanwhile, the Accra sun is already preparing its own meeting agenda. Relax, Accra corporate girl. This is not the day for a fashion experiment. The secret is to dress smart for the heat without sacrificing the corporate-girl aesthetic. Choose breathable fabrics like cotton, linen blends, and lightweight materials that won’t have you regretting your fashion choices before 10 AM. Skip anything too heavy or clingy, especially when you know you’ll be navigating Accra traffic. Instead of thick layers, try a lightweight blazer you can easily remove once the heat becomes disrespectful. Go for sleeveless or short-sleeved tops under your blazer, and choose relaxed tailored trousers or midi dresses that give you room to breathe. Also, Accra corporate girls know the struggle: you can be melting outside and freezing inside the office. So keep one light layer handy for that aggressively air-conditioned office. And shoes? Comfort is not negotiable. You may look fabulous leaving home, but after walking through parking lots and surviving the morning commute, your feet deserve peace too. Choose comfortable loafers, low heels, or chic block heels that can survive a full working day. The goal is simple: look polished, stay comfortable, and avoid looking like you’ve been personally fighting the sun. Because whether you're stuck in traffic, rushing into a Monday meeting, or grabbing your first coffee, your outfit should still say: “Yes, Accra is hot. Yes, traffic was terrible. And yes, I still look fashionably undefeated.” Happy Monday, now go to that office and give “CEO energy on 3 hours of sleep.” Accra corporate girl! Stay stylish, stay hydrated, and may your outfit survive the heat, the traffic, and the office AC. Woodin for sale? Maybe the only Ghanaian fashion brand well known across our borders, at least in Ivory Coast, Togo and Benin, is Woodin, our Woodin. Produced in Tema and owned by Dutch company Vlisco, makers of the real Dutch wax print, and who also own GTP Ghana Textile Printing. Suffering from cheap Chinese copies and imported second hand clothing they have been seriously struggling off late, and recently an investor walked in and bought lock stock and barrel, for an undisclosed sum. Rumour has it that the sum was one US dollar. Then you buy all, including the debts which I hear is millions of dollars. There’s talk of a revival of Ghana‘s cotton industry to support the textile industries. But talk is cheaper than Woodin.

The Pleasure way to avoid Incontinence. When you are in town and feel the need to urinate but there is nowhere to go you use a muscle to hold it back. It is called the pelvic muscle. This muscle weakens as you get older, resulting in incontinence, the unwanted loss of urine. This unwanted release can also happen during lots of laughter, or real fear. And for that to happen you need not be old. And if it is anal release, not urine, it I still called incontinence. Unpleasant news, we all hope to get older and now know what we can look forward to. Nope, that muscle can be trained and strengthened. For example squeeze 5 times, or slowly squeeze over 5 seconds, hold 5 seconds, release over 5 seconds. These are called Kegel exercises, you can look it up. If you follow a Kegel exercise program you get results after 6 weeks. Results? Yes, your pelvic muscles will strengthen and you will have less problems holding your urine back. And there are pelvic exercise machines, like vaginal cones/ weights you insert and try to hold in by contracting your pelvic floor. Comes in a set of increasing weights. Ask about them in the gym if you a want to start an interesting discussion. Or biofeedback devices for the techies amongst us. These are sensors (vaginal or external) connected to an app that shows you on your phone if you are squeezing the right muscle. Doctors may prescribe electric pulse devices for people with very weak pelvic floors, giving a small electrical pulse to help the muscle contract. And the pleasure part I mentioned in the title? Now that your pelvic muscle is strengthened you have more control over you vagina, and can unexpectedly squeeze hubby when he is in you. He will be so surprised that he will end up with a premature ejaculation (there's very sophisticated words for banal things). There’s exercises against that as well. Some guys train not to ejaculate so they can keep going. Same muscles…..World health Organization (WHO) is talking about 150 minutes exercises a week. Do they know what they are talking about?

Sub Box. Ndabaningi Sithole Road, Labone. Who was that? He was one of the fore fathers to get Rhodesia out of the hands of the British to become Zimbabwe. A sort of East African Nkrumah. Pity, we are free but most of us don't know much about how we got there. I often visit Sub Box after I have visited the Saturday organic market at Labone Coffee Shop. Their cappuccino at 60 GHC is nice, espresso goes for 40 GHC and fresh orange juice at 60 GHC. For pineapple juice they now do their own brand, in a plastic bottle at 45 GHC, but I prefer glass. The cheese beefburger goes for 195 GHC which is a bit stiff so I didn't try it. Cupcakes cost 45 GHC.

Lydia...

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Friday Night College Basketball.

Tonight's game of choice in the Roscoe-verse has the (2-1) Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team (ranked #3 nationally) hosting the (2-1) Sam Houston St. Bearkats. With its scheduled start time of 6:00 PM CT, and this being Friday, there's a very good chance I'll be able to hear the whole game before sleep sends me to bed.

And the adventure continues.

The bottom is falling out of the world as we realize how big tech companies have over the last decades repackaged and cheapened everything that makes us humans and sold it back to us. As we try to recover these emotions and modes of interactions, let's recognize that they are still there. And that the practice of using a proprietary slick presentation to take away simple, but rugged modes of life has started way early.

Ask yourself this: Why do we need Word documents, and why do we need PDF files? We do we need vendors to sell us platforms that store mostly text and image files? Most of what we share can be simple text, maybe with some markdown decoration, or simple image files that can be shared freely and in almost any way you like. Yet almost nobody even realizing that anymore showcases how firmly our routines have been co-opted and channeled into the pockets of Microsoft or Adobe.

Next time you are about to start a Word document (or Google Doc, or LibreOffice document), ask yourself first: Could this just be plain text? And then (learn to) open and edit a text or markdown file instead.

Easier and harder than you'd expect!

A number of years back, I had written a guide of sorts for a clean Fedora Silverblue install on the then-current generation Dell XPS 13. I covered the basic installation steps I took, packages I stripped and/or layered, Flatpak repositories, and some fixes for driver issues. Now, I’m doing the same for the current generation XPS 13, and it seems not much has changed! Installation is easier than it’s ever been and honestly not the important part. That being said, let’s dig in…

Installation

Prerequisites

There’s a few important steps we want to do before popping in that USB stick and proceeding with the installation. The first, clearing the internal SSD and configuring the appropriate Secure Boot settings. By default, the XPS 13 ships Windows 11 and only accepts Windows’ Secure Boot keys. I use the secure erase function via the system UEFI menu. This ensures that there’s no data on the internal SSD, though this isn’t strictly necessary, it makes it easy not to worry about potential errors when the installer tries to read partitions on the drive. As for the Secure Boot settings, enable “custom settings” and enable “Microsoft UEFI CA”. This will allow the system to recognize the keys that Fedora will provide/use. I spent a looong time troubleshooting this, and some distributions will just not work at all, but Fedora seems to have things dialed in properly! The actual Installation

Plug that USB drive into the system and power it on. It should boot into the right device as there’s no longer an operating system on the internal SSD. Alternatively, you can always smack the F12 button to get to the boot device menu! Select “Install Fedora 45” at the top, and hit Enter. After a few moments, the system should eventually boot into the new web-based installer. It’s nice, clean, and fairly self-explanatory. Most of it is just a matter of hitting next/continue until it’s done. The only settings I really advice paying attention to are the disk encryption option (ENCRYPT YOUR INSTALL, THERE IS ZERO REASON YOU SHOULD BE SKIPPING THIS!) and setting the system hostname, which by default just tries to guess based on what your network assigns to it. Continue until the last step, wait until the system finishes installation, and hit that beautiful blue “Reboot” button!

The actually interesting and opinionated part!

Creating an account and installing updates

The first thing you should be greeted with is a popup window that allows you to choose some basic system settings including creating a user account and setting a password. This is all fairly straightforward and I can’t really tell you what your username should be, but I’m partial to ‘schykle’ for pretty obvious reasons!

From there, you’ll be tossed into your actual GNOME session! Skip the tour because you’re clearly too cool for that, and open up GNOME Software. Ignore the popup to install additional third-party repositories and head straight for that Updates tab.

By now, the system should already be processing an update in the background. In this instance, you really do just have to wait a bit. You should eventually see two categories for updates. One is going to be a Secure Boot database update, and the other is going to be updates for your operating system and its components. Do both! Then use the restart and install/restart and update option to reboot your system.

Yoinking out Fedora Flatpaks and Firefox

There’s a lot of heavy opinions about Fedora including and defaulting to their own Flatpak builds with Silverblue. We can skip the details there because my opinions have already been documented! Pop open a terminal and let’s clean it up. Here’s what I typically do to resolve this and remove the existing filtered Flathub repo:

rpm-ostree override remove firefox firefox-langpacks fedora-flathub-remote && flatpak uninstall org.fedoraproject.MediaWriter org.gnome.Calculator org.gnome.Calendar org.gnome.Characters org.gnome.Connections org.gnome.Contacts org.gnome.Decibels org.gnome.Extensions org.gnome.Logs org.gnome.Loupe org.gnome.Maps org.gnome.Papers org.gnome.Snapshot org.gnome.TextEditor org.gnome.Weather org.gnome.baobab org.gnome.clocks org.gnome.font-viewer && flatpak remote-delete flathub

From there, restart your system!

In the past, I used to just remove the Fedora Flatpak repository entirely, but there are some provided libraries and resources that are worth keeping it for, even if we’re going to install all of our actual apps using Flathub.

Other extraneous packages I remove...

If you’d like, there’s a few other things I remove as someone who does not use GNOME extensions or the classic session. I also remove the Fedora Bookmarks package, among a couple of other things. Similar to the initial section of the previous command block, these would be removed with rpm-ostree override remove.

Packages I remove:

fedora-bookmarks fedora-chromium-config fedora-chromium-config-gnome gnome-shell-extension-apps-menu gnome-classic-session gnome-shell-extension-window-list gnome-shell-extension-common gnome-shell-extension-places-menu gnome-shell-extension-launch-new-instance gnome-shell-extension-background-logo gnome-system-monitor gnome-tour yelp

My reasoning for removing the GNOME System Monitor and Yelp are that I prefer the Resources Flatpak instead of GNOME System Monitor, and I never really use the Yelp/Help application.

Re-adding the real Flathub

Pop open a terminal and run this command to re-add the Flathub repository:

flatpak remote-add flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo

From there, Flathub should now be available in GNOME Software, and when you search for apps to install, whether it be Firefox, Calculator, etc., you’ll have the option between the Fedora Linux Flatpak repository or the Flathub repository. It is almost always beneficial to just use the Flathub repository.

Should you decide you actually don’t care for the Fedora repo at all and want to remove it so Software always uses Flathub, run this command:

flatpak remote-delete fedora

This will remove the Fedora Flatpak repository and any of the packages installed from it.

Uh-oh! My system keeps hanging!

Driver issues with Intel Xe graphics? I’ve got you.

One of the fixes I’ve had to apply to my system is disabling a couple of power saving features for the display. Namely, self refresh and panel powersaving state. To do this, you need to enable a couple of boot arguments using our old friend, rpm-ostree! Pop open a terminal and enter the following:

rpm-ostree kargs --append="xe.enable_dc=0" --append="xe.enable_psr=0"

From there, reboot your system and enjoy stability!

Some tweaks I recommend!

Shutdown on lid close

One of my favorite tweaks is setting my laptop to shut down when I close the lid. I do this for two main reasons. The first is just the peace of mind that when I close my laptop, it’s in a state where it’s most secure: powered off and encrypted. The second is that I’m far less likely to have closed it and forgotten it in sleep mode for extended periods of time. There’s very few instances where what I’m doing can’t be easily picked back up by opening closed tabs, or just whatever apps I typically use anyway. Here’s how to do it!

Edit or create the file /etc/systemd/logind.conf using nano (because it’s the best), and ensure the following contents are present:

[Login]
HandleLidSwitch=poweroff
HandleLidSwitchDocked=ignore
HandleLidSwitchExternalPower=poweroff
LidSwitchIgnoreInhibited=no

Save the file and restart. These settings mean that if the lid is closed when on battery or plugged in, it will shut down. However, when docked, it will not, in case you’re plugged into external displays and accessories where you’d likely not want it to be open while using it! It also includes a line that tells it not to ignore processes that typically stop shutdown (like background updates).

You might be wondering… “But, what if I ever want to put it to sleep?” Fear not… You can still put the laptop to sleep by typing “Sleep” or “Suspend” into GNOME search, or by pressing the power button (just make sure you set that to trigger suspend in GNOME Settings!). You can safely close the lid when the device is asleep and it will remain in sleep state and resume when opened. Poweroff will only be triggered if the device is awake.

Recommended apps

I have some recommendations on apps that you should probably have and are available from Flathub! 1) Resources — A modern system monitor 2) Pika Backup — A backup application using Borg on the backend 3) Apostrophe — A simple yet powerful markdown editor 4) GNOME Weather — Integrates into the notifications center for forecasts 5) GNOME Clocks — If you’re someone who manages things across time zones, setting world clocks lets you see them in the notifications center at any given time

Aside from these, some of the best apps for Linux and GNOME in particular are on the Apps for GNOME website!

The conclusion you’ve all been waiting for!

Look, I’m not going to tell you that there’s only one way to set things up, I’m just going to tell you the best way. (Just kidding… unless…) These are just the steps I’ve taken to have a really clean and suitable install for my needs. Getting Secure Boot working properly was actually the biggest hurdle for me. This laptop does not seem to play nicely with third-party certificates, and thankfully Fedora seems to have been blessed because it works the way it should! Getting just about everything installed as a Flatpak is honestly the way to go. Rely on Toolbox, the built in container system, for software that you need to run that isn’t installed on the core operating system, and limit the number of packages you layer on the core operating system as much as possible. For all things good and true, do not layer Steam, use the dang Flatpak!

Enjoy!

I’m pleased to see the UK holding some of its sexual predator celebrities accountable. They’re definitely ahead of the US, where we only hold sexual predator celebrities accountable if they’re Black. (Or more accurately, only the Black ones face legal proceedings. Okay, Harvey Weinstein. Name another.)

But Russell Brand’s imprisonment and David Walliams’ exposure (definitely the most exposure he’s ever had here in the USA, where if they ain’t on Taskmaster, Derry Girls, or Great British Bakeoff, we don’t know ‘em) has me thinking about all the people who enabled them.

Brand has faced legal consequences and Walliams has faced career consequences, but what about all the many, many people who knew and never did anything about it? Now I’ve seen the Katherine Ryan video, and I understand that you can’t just go denouncing people with a ton of money lest they sue you for defamation. BUT. You don’t have to work with them. You don’t have to hire them. And you don’t have to hang out with them.

Which brings me to Matt Lucas, David Walliams’ longtime comedy partner and Great British Bakeoff co-host and Taskmaster Contestant. (See, this is why I know who he is!). I’ve seen the comedy awards video too, where a guy who’s never been on Taskmaster makes a joke about “these awards are 15 years old and drunk! They’re going home with David Walliams!” Ha! Oh, is there a richer comedy vein to mine than the sexual abuse of children?

Anyway, Matt Lucas is right next to David Walliams in that clip. He knew. Why did he continue to work with him? Has anyone asked? Do we still want to watch him on Bakeoff (disclaimer: I do not enjoy that show, but it’s on in my house a lot) being the kind, cuddly host knowing he looked the other way while his friend was being a sexual predator?

Kenneth Branagh put Russell Brand in a movie in 2022. Granted nobody saw it, possibly because it also featured alleged cannibal and sexual predator Armie Hammer, but everybody knew what Russell Brand was about by 2022. And Kenneth Branagh chose to employ him. Now, you can look at someone down the cast list—say James Schofield, who played “German Soldier #1” and go, “well, that guy really can’t control who he’s in a movie with,” but Kenneth Branagh sure as shit can. Ridley Scott produced that movie. Do you think he doesn’t have the juice to blackball a rapist? Of course he does. He just didn’t care.

We need to start asking people who associate with predators the hard questions about what they knew and when they knew it. And, furthermore, we need to stop giving them a pass for looking the other way at bad behavior. I was doing some research about celebrity bad behavior and came across this disturbing account of a child actor being at the home of Justin Long and Jonathan Togo and being assaulted by Jonah Hill. (And said child star also says her friend was raped by Togo). Now, Justin Long hasn’t been accused of anything except for giving alcohol to underage girls. Which, BTW, is a crime, but more importantly, he knew what was going on. He knew the kind of danger those girls were in. The child actor also says that some other celebrities at the party took her aside and warned her to be careful, and I’m sorry, but that’s not nearly good enough. If you are a grown adult and see a drunk 16-year-old at your party, you put them in a cab. You tell them they need to leave, and if they refuse, go to the host and tell him to make them leave. And start taking pictures and videos. “Oh, but then you might not get to hang out with Justin Long anymore!” Wow, yeah, that’s a terrible consequence. I can see why you wouldn’t want to risk that.

For the record, Long says he didn’t know about all the creepy sex stuff, which strains credulity, but he did know he had drunk underage girls at his party, and he had a responsibility as a human being to take care of people more vulnerable than him.

And so, for that matter, do we all. I could go on listing celebrities who have enabled other bad celebrities (Okay, okay, one more: Judd Apatow worked with James Franco, Jonah Hill, AND Russell Brand. He’s either dangerously oblivious or else a piece of shit.) (And people KNEW Neil Gaiman was creepy. For YEARS), but sadly this shit is not limited to celebrities.

If you know more than four men, you probably know one who has sexually assaulted someone. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but those one in four women aren’t sexually assaulting themselves.

Aside: something that gets lost in the conversation about men protecting other men who are predators is that the kind of men who like to exercise non-consensual power over women’s bodies as adults were very likely the kind of boys who liked to exercise non-consensual power over other boys’ bodies by beating them up. Boy culture is shockingly violent, and boys learn at a young age that calling bad boys out gets you beaten. The same rules may or may not apply to adults, but that aversion response is coded very deep for people who grew up as boys. We need to find the courage to overcome it, to say, “well, I’d rather get punched in the face than have that woman get raped,” but it’s not easy to silence the reptile brain telling you to flee.

Anyway, we all of us need to be more discerning about the company we keep. I’ve written about this before, but let us remember that there is no legal standard for declaring someone a piece of shit that you don’t want to hang out with. Women are better at this than men. So, like, if you identify as a man, imagine this scenario: a man and woman you know just got divorced, and she’s made it clear that he was abusive. But he was your friend first. He calls you up—do you wanna hang out?

I think I know what most men would do in that situation. I know from experience that it’s not easy to cut off a friend who behaves in a problematic way. But if you don’t, then you’re enabling the bad behavior. Forget legal proceedings for a minute—people need to see creepy men facing social consequences in their own lives. Will this stop men being creepy? Probably not, but it will, hopefully, convince men who have creepy impulses that being creepy is not worth the risk. Clearly none of the above celebrity predators ever thought, “I better not do this, or I could lose everything.” But they should. And administering the social consequences is up to us.

I’m a big fan of Linux-based operating systems and I have been since I first started using Linux on the desktop back in 2015 with Xubuntu. Over the years, I’ve bounced back and forth between various distributions, spending the largest amounts of time with Solus, elementary OS, Fedora, openSUSE, and Ubuntu. In recent years, convenience and lifestyle changes have put a halt on my interests in Linux and open source as a whole. Until now.

About that purple rat… I actually think it may be a raccoon of some sort? Either way, I quite like it! I’ve started using Linux again after spending a short amount of time trying to find a suitable Windows laptop I would be capable of running Overwatch on since it doesn’t run on mac OS due to software compatibility limitations. And as usual, I’ve rediscovered the massively disappointing first-start experience of any Windows machine. Over an hour of setup and reboots just to apply a list of updates that continued to grow instead of shrink with each boot. Uninstalling a plethora of apps and services Microsoft and the OEM (in this case, Dell and HP as I tried a couple of laptops) decided would be in my best interest to have.

I’ve come to the conclusion that my desire to play a single game is far lower than my desire to use an operating system that doesn’t feel like it actually hates me. I quickly shifted my focus from debloating and reinstalling clean versions of Windows, to installing an operating system I have very fond memories of: Ubuntu. Knowing that I wouldn’t be pleased with using a gaming laptop for normal tasks, I ditched the clunky Alienware laptop I had purchased and went down a rabbit hole of attempting to use multiple laptops from multiple OEMs. Not everything went as smoothly as I had hoped, but to some extent, much of this was my fault. Here’s a short and sweet recap that omits a few attempts…

Firstly, the laptop I genuinely wanted the most; a Dell XPS 13 (model DX13260). I was thrilled to have found a really thin and light laptop that was well-built and had a modern Intel processor. I assumed that I would have the smoothest experience with it and Linux, particularly when it comes to features like Secure Boot and TPM-backed encryption. I was wrong. After multiple attempts to get this working by disabling, re-enabling, clearing, restoring the relevant settings in the UEFI, this feature was consistently unavailable for enablement in the Ubuntu installer. I really wanted this feature to be available and functional, so despite loving the hardware, I ditched the XPS and moved on to an HP laptop.

I applied the same logic with this attempt, opting for a high-end HP laptop (model D3KN6U) that was relatively standard and featured an Intel processor. In the past, I’ve had the most seamless experiences with Intel processors running Linux. Again, swing and a miss! This time, I just could not get it to boot consistently with any Secure Boot features enabled. But what if maybe this model was fine, I just needed to try another processor? So that’s exactly what I did!

Here I go, fresh USB stick, fresh download of the latest Ubuntu release and some hopes that AMD may just be my savior here! I power on my wonderful new HP laptop (model D3KU2UA) and go through the UEFI to configure the proper settings. Clearing, restoring, disabling, enabling all of the relevant keys and settings multiple times to no avail. Nothing worked the way it should! At this point, I was genuinely becoming quite frustrated because I remember this being so much easier when I daily drove Linux in the past. Incidentally, I experienced a quirk where I could boot Ubuntu 26.04.1 just fine, but without Secure Boot ever working or being visible to the OS. and 26.10 wouldn’t boot at all… until I unplugged the laptop? At that point, 26.10 would boot but alas, no Secure Boot.

By then, a new week rolled around and a new set of retail sales were live at my local Best Buy. I figured since I was already this far down the rabbit hole, I may as well try one more! Off I go to make the swap and I brought home a Dell laptop (model DS14265) that I had been eyeing anyway. I wasn’t expecting anything to work at this point, so I just popped in my Ubuntu 26.04.1 install media, went through the UEFI to tweak the appropriate settings as I usually do, and restarted the machine.

Great success! Bingo! Voilà! Presto! (insert any other number of phrases that you see fit…) It worked. Secure Boot was visible to the system. Not only that, the Ubuntu installer also allowed me to select TPM-backed encryption during my installation and gave me absolutely zero trouble! It just worked as it should. No fuss, no muss. Which concludes the “short and sweet” recap of devices I tried (and failed) to use and begins my praise of a wonderful little raccoon I may only be able to describe as “resolute”!

I cannot express enthusiastically enough just how refreshing the Ubuntu first-run experience is, especially after coming from a Windows device. Logging into my system for the first time, I was greeted with a “welcome” application that served me a few important options like whether or not to enable location services, device telemetry, and the option to enroll in Ubuntu Pro (a service that is free for personal use and includes some pretty awesome features). Aside from that, just a quick mention of where to get apps and that’s it! I wasn’t forced to sign in or create an account, nor was I required to have internet access at any point during setup. As with any system, one of the first things you should do is update it. On Windows, this is a process that could take up to an hour to complete. On Ubuntu, it was as simple as opening the software updater and hitting install. The process took less than two minutes and a single reboot. That’s all.

The next thing I did was get my apps installed. What good is a computer without the software you want to use? There was a period of time in the past where Snaps could be a point of friction in regards to the speed of app opening, or fairly common functions breaking due to confinement. Now? I opened up the App Center and installed a bunch of apps I needed like Signal, Discord, Tailscale, Telegram, etc. All of them installed without a hitch and opened exactly the way you’d expect. No awkward pause as an app icon bounces after you click on it… Firefox opened instantly and may I just say is far smoother and more beautiful than it has ever been for me in the past (great work, Firefox folks!). Aside from a few quirks like Taildrop only allowing me to send or push files from within the ~/snap/tailscale/ directory, every one of my apps has been working remarkably.

It has been a remarkable experience to open up my laptop and have it work exactly like it’s supposed to. I haven’t been spammed with advertisements about gaming subscriptions, cloud storage offers, office suite subscriptions, or had “sponsored” apps and games show up in my launcher. The only downside I’ve really experienced is that I have not been able to get my audio output to work at all. I currently have a “Dummy Output”, which I believe is just a placeholder when there isn’t an audio device available. Something I’ll try to work on at some point, but will manage without since I rely on my AirPods for listening anyway. Another thing which as worked wonderfully, by the way. Bluetooth connection and playback via my AirPods has been flawless including volume and playback controls. Even performance controls have worked wonderfully and my battery life has been wonderful. Brightness, keyboard backlight, resolution and scaling are all working perfectly.

These may seem like fairly simple things to get excited about, but mind you, the Linux experience is often claimed to be terminal-first hackery and yet I’ve not had to touch it once. That’s not to say I don’t have some critiques… My desire to use TPM-backed encryption is an oddly specific one, but one that should work reliably for people as it is effectively the new standard for how people use their machines. It’s a far more elegant solution than typing in two passwords with every login and certainly more desirable for the everyday user. There’s clearly work to be done on making sure that gets better moving forward. In the meantime, standard installations pretty much work in most situations. Unencrypted and LUKS encrypted installs worked just fine for me (I had done this on multiple machines just to see if I could at least get that going, even if Secure Boot failed) and would still provide the same, clean experience that puts Windows to shame.

This is the first time I can ever remember choosing to use an LTS version of Ubuntu when a new standard release is available as I typically chase the newest of the new. Now I don’t even feel like I need to. Things have been fast, reliable, and so gosh darn easy. I think if I was in the mood for deep and involved tinkering, I totally would think about getting on the interim release, but that’s for future me to deal with! There’s a reason I’ve chosen to type this all up on my laptop rather than hopping on my Mac to do it. The fact that unlike every piece of commercial software in deployment right now, this operating system is made by a talented group of thousands of contributors from around the world, many of which are unpaid volunteers, and yet they choose to contribute code and testing time to making it all work together. I love my Mac, but I certainly wouldn’t say it excites me in quite the same way, and Windows is in such a state of disrepair that it isn’t even worth considering.

Installing Ubuntu on this laptop has been a real treat. No doubt I’d do it all again if I was starting fresh!

I want to give a massive shoutout to the folks I’ve met and made friends with over the years of me dipping my toes into the Linux world as they’ve been a source of assistance, inspiration, and camaraderie. In every community there is disagreement, but the passion in the open source community has ultimately also been its strength and the glue that has held it together across the globe. Thank you!

I've noticed a troubling trend lately. RSS feeds seem to be disappearing from a lot of business, news, and even personal websites, and the trend seems to be accelerating. Now Reddit is pulling its RSS feeds. This isn't a new trend. Twitter (now X, and I hate that name) discontinued its official RSS feeds back in 2013. Years later, services like Nitter and XCancel came along, offering alternative ways to follow Twitter/X content. These were great services, but they have since been discontinued following legal threats from Elon Musk's X.

Earlier in 2026 I was noticing RSS was making a comeback. I was reading about Dave Winer, one of the inventors of RSS, doing things with it (namely his rss.chat). I use RSS to read the sites I want to follow without having a lot of browser tabs. When I find a site that interests me, I subscribe so I have an easy way to follow all the sites I want in one place. I will visit sites again via the RSS feed if the full post is not there. RSS seemed to be enjoying a resurgence, only to suddenly appear to be going out of vogue again, especially business-related ones.

For some business examples, there is Samsung Community, where the RSS feeds I used to follow are no longer available after its recent platform upgrade. I used them to keep up with trends and other information that might affect my phones and laptops. Another one was Food.com. Its RSS feed stopped working in the same month, October 2026.

A few personal bloggers I follow have stopped offering RSS feeds. I'm not going to mention them because I don't know whether it was their choice or the result of a platform or hosting change that no longer supports RSS or has it turned off by default and it isn't my place to question how they run their sites. I did ask one person I follow about it, and they hadn't really thought about it. They ended up adding a native RSS feed. You can use OpenRSS.org to follow sites that don't offer RSS, but OpenRSS has limited resources.

And apparently, I'm not imagining the broader problem. A recent study by RSSLY found that only 24% of the websites it examined had a discoverable, working RSS feed. It also found that 57% of the websites in its historical comparison that advertised feeds in 2016 no longer advertised them in 2026.^[1] Another study by Mark Nottingham identified more than half a million RSS and Atom feeds, but found that only 38.1% had evidence of being updated within the preceding year.^[2]

I just wish more websites would remember that RSS is a simple way for people who actually want to follow them to keep coming back. Hopefully, this isn't really a trend, and it's just me coming across sites whose owners, for one reason or another, didn't realize their RSS feeds were gone. And for businesses, please stop. You generate more goodwill by keeping RSS feeds than by removing them and becoming totally closed off, and it can't be costing you that much in business or resources to provide a feed.

Footnotes

1. Vlad Fedoniuk, "The State of RSS in 2026: We Checked the 10,000 Most Popular Websites," RSSLY, November 4, 2026. Researchers attempted to examine 10,000 popular domains and successfully analyzed 6,459 websites. They found that 24% had discoverable, working RSS feeds. Their historical comparison also found that 57% of websites advertising RSS feeds in 2016 no longer advertised them in 2026, although some feeds may still function without being publicly advertised. Source

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2. Mark Nottingham, "Web Feeds in 2026: A Survey," May 10, 2026. Using Common Crawl data, Nottingham identified 534,195 parseable RSS and Atom feeds. Only 38.1% showed evidence of freshness within the preceding year, although some feeds may lack reliable date information. Source

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#opinion #rss #technology

A Year Without You

In Loving Memory of My Brother, Aaron

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A year ago today, you left this world.

And somehow, the world kept turning.

The sun continued to rise. Seasons changed. People went to work, children kept on playing, and life carried on with the quiet indifference of time.

But somewhere in that continuing world, there was an empty place where you had once been.

And nothing can ever fill it.

I've been thinking about what it means to lose someone.

Not simply the moment of their passing, or the sorrow that follows, but the strange realization that life continues to unfold without them.

There have been changes in my life this past year, Aaron.

Doors have closed. Others have opened.

I've walked away from things I once thought would always be part of my life. I've found new beginnings in places I never expected.

I've experienced moments of sadness, moments of uncertainty, moments of joy, and moments when I wished I could share what was happening in my life with you.

And through it all, you've remained my brother.

Death didn't change that.

It changed what was possible between us.

There will be no new conversations. No unexpected phone calls. No opportunity to make another memory together.

But there is still a lifetime of memories that death cannot reach.

And there is still love.

I've come to understand something about grief.

It isn't always loud.

Sometimes it is simply the quiet recognition that someone is missing from a world that continues to move forward.

Sometimes it's remembering your face.

Your voice.

A moment that seemed ordinary when it happened, but became precious because there would never be another quite like it.

And sometimes grief is simply speaking your name.

Aaron.

A name that belongs to a life.

A life that mattered.

A life that cannot be reduced to the day it ended.

I don't know what I would say if I could sit with you one more time.

Perhaps that I bought a house and when I picked up the phone to tell you, it broke my heart that I couldn't make that call.

Perhaps we'd simply talk about ordinary things, the way brothers do, without realizing how extraordinary those moments really are.

But I know this much.

I'm grateful you were here.

I'm grateful that somewhere in the story of my life, our paths were joined not by chance, but by blood, by history, and by the simple truth that you were my brother.

And although this past year has taught me that life does not wait for grief to finish its work, it has also taught me that moving forward does not mean leaving everyone behind.

Some people travel with us in ways the world cannot see.

In our memories.

In the stories we tell.

In the love that remains after goodbye.

So today, I won't measure your life by the year you've been gone.

I'll remember the years you were here.

The person you were.

The place you held.

And the brother you will always be.

Rest peacefully, Aaron.

One year has passed.

You are remembered.

You are deeply loved.

And there will always be space for you in my home.

With love,

Your brother.

#ArchitectureOfGrief

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