Quote from: p89-90He was alone, here, because he came from a self-exiled society. He had always been alone on his own world because he had exiled himself from his society. [..] And he had been fool enough to think that he might serve too bring together two worlds to which he did not belong.

Quote from: p73[Shevek said,] "I don't wish to give offense."
"Never fear, sir!" Pae said.
Oiie said, "I'm not sure you know how."

Oiie was not a likeable fellow, like Pae. Even talking physics he had an evasive, secretive style. And yet beneath the style, there was something, Shevek felt, to trust; whereas beneath Pae's charm, what was there?

Quote from: p76"But we haven't been sure whether or not you came with the approval of--" [Oiie] hesitated.

Shevek grinned. "Of my government?"

"We know that nominally there's no government on Anarres. However, obviously there's administration. And we gather the group that sent you, your Syndicate, is a kind of faction; perhaps a revolutionary faction."

"Everybody on Anarres is a revolutionary, Oiie. . . . The network of administration [does] not govern persons; they administer production. They have no authority either to support me or to prevent me. [..] Most people on Anarres don't want to learn about Urras. They fear it and want nothing to do with the propertarians. [..] I came to begin to change that."

"Entirely on your own initiative," said Oiie.

"It is the only initiative I acknowledge," Shevek said, smiling, in dead earnest.

I like alien experiences that I can relate to by scaling human experiences to them. Frieren is an elf who will live (forever? thousands of years?) and likes humans - I can imagine what that feels like by asking myself how I would react if I had friends whose entire lifespans fit within ten years... They wouldn't be alien or beneath me, but they would live life on a different scale.

I feel the same way about the demons. I can imagine their thinking, to some degree, by asking myself how I see little bugs. I love spiders and think they are fascinating, but also... I will kill them if they're causing me trouble or inconvenience or discomfort.

The purpose of these exaggerated lenses is to see myself and the people around me better.

Earlier in the same chapter, the same demon says this while in a fight with two of the progagonists:

Quote from: ch97I've always loved conversing with people since long ago, and have heard many stories from all kinds of people. Like what they enjoy eating, what kind of an environment they were brought up in, or what their occupation is like. And, I would be deeply intrigued about their families as well. These are concepts that do not exist among us demons, after all. There's also their dreams of the future, and their final words upon their death bed. Exploring mankind's customs, civilization, and magical techniques through conversation is the nature of my research. What do you think? It's fascinating, isn't it?

The pair of demons we're dealing with in this chapter (and over the past 10-20, let's say) are so interested in humans, but so removed. They are mass murderers, and villains, but compelling -- and, to me, very relatable. Not in the mass murder sense, but think about how a person feels mowing the lawn.

Quote from: ch97[Humans] crafted boats before they deciphered the principles of buoyancy, controlled those boats using sails without knowing the principles behind wind, and even built up embankments without understanding the principles of waves. [They], since ancient times, have possessed the ability to tackle the unknown while they remained unknown.

From the perspective of a demon, speaking to another demon. The demons in Frieren are without malice or human emotion, really interesting characters and villains. They are logical and immensely powerful. This take on the human condition is interesting... it suggests the demons only solve things through knowing them, as opposed to the way that humans can accumulate incomplete information and arrive at a solution anyway. I have been experiencing this myself... it's tempting to try and understand something completely before making a run at it. The demons' perspective is such a subtle lens through which I can access this concept.

Quote from: p50"It would be silly for me to think about a partnership. That sort of thing is for . . . for human beings. . . ."

Quote from: p58The night before he left for Abbenay his fellow students gave a party for him. [..He] wondered why it was such a fine one. Uninfluenced by others, he never knew he influenced them; he never knew they liked him.

Quote from: p56He welcomed isolation with all his heart. It never occurred to him that the reserve he met in Bedap and Tirin might be a response; that his gentle but already formidably hermetic character might form its own ambience, which only great strength, or great devotion, could withstand. All he noticed, really, was that he had plenty of time to work at last.

I feel more of a kinship with this protagonist than I am comfortable with. Specifically... it makes me want to ignore what I might look from the outside even further, to disregard it because to do otherwise leans me into thinking: am I perceived this way? What does it mean that I think I might be?

Quote from: p55You can go home again, the General Temporal Theory asserts, so long as you understand that home is a place where you have never been.

Regarding Ursula K. Le Guin's
"The Disposessed"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_n_iKR3Icio

This goes beyond being a youtube video that I want to show to someone because it's neat. It evoked a strong emotion, as I struggled to follow along.

pingback: http://newforum.droqen.com/index.php?topic=296.msg1102#msg1102

Quotewhat do accessibility options mean in [the context of gardens]?

See Making Gardens: what do accessibility options mean in their context?

I want to make work that is accessible to people who care enough, but there are no good tests for this sort of thing. What does it mean to care, to pay attention? Games are riddled with imperfect or even grossly flawed tests. Tests of observation, of twitch skill, etc... they will test some people more than others. People who care but have poor twitch skills may fail more often than people who do not care but have great twitch skills.

How correlated is love with performance?

Systems of automated discovery and notification go against that conscientiousness which I've come to value. In some ways so do  some 'accessibility' features. It's not so much 'tests of skill' or bodily function that I consider meaningful (see difficulty in games), but that someone pays a little attention, that someone cares, remembers... Hmmmm.

And... I value people who pay thoughtful attention to things, and to remembering them. Hmm.