Poem: "The Lights Behind Us"
Oct. 13th, 2014 11:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithchanter_greenie, mdlbear, and Shirley Barrette. It also fills the "suicide" square in my 7-30-14 card for the ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
genprompt_bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by Anthony & Shirley Barrette. It belongs to the Polychrome Heroics series.WARNING: This poem deals with some intense and controversial issues. Some of the warnings are spoilers; highlight to read. It talks about historic suicides, possible murder, assisted suicide in battlefield conditions, homosexuality, kink, vulgar and derogatory language, discrimination against smart people, homophobia, despair caused by social pressure, and other cultural ills. Please think carefully about whether or not this is something you want to read.
"The Lights Behind Us"
[June 7, 1954]
Whammy Lass sat on the ratty little cot
in the breakroom of the SPOON office,
crying into her handkerchief.
"Are you all right?" asked Franz.
"No," she said. "He was one of us."
She waved a hand at the crinkled paper
lying beside her on the cot. "Alan Turing
killed himself earlier today. He left a note.
His family wired a message to me."
Franz skimmed over the lines.
"He was super-smart and he
could 'hear' technology. The British
hounded him to death for being a pervert,"
the engineer said. Then he dropped the page
and flung up his hands. "Who cares?
Half of Germany likes to dress in leather
and flog each other up against a wall!"
Whammy Lass groaned. "I do not
need to know what a bunch of krauts
like to do for a good time, Franz!"
"Be that as it may, I think suicide
is likely to remain an ongoing problem
for people with special powers," Franz said.
"Bigotry is the bloody fucking problem,"
Whammy Lass snarled, throwing
her hankie onto the mattress.
"Conceded," Franz said. "However,
suicide is a well-known response to
that kind of persecution. It's a matter of
having a distal problem and a proximate problem."
"We need to do something about this,"
Whammy Lass said. "He was one of us.
If we'd known sooner, maybe we could have
done something to help him. Now it's too late."
"Most people think of suicide as a moral failing
in the individual, not a flaw in society," Franz said.
"Most people have never had to help
a gut-shot soldier hold the knife,"
Whammy Lass growled. "Moral failing,
my super-powered ass."
"We've been trying to identify other people
with unusual abilities," Franz said.
"Just knowing they're not alone might help."
"Alan Turing knew enough to tell his family
to send me that note, and he's still dead,"
Whammy Lass said. "We need to do more.
Maybe we could make a charity fund or something
for people with superpowers who are in trouble."
"That's a start," Franz said. "It makes me wonder,
though, just how many of us there are -- or were.
We can't be the first. There have always been
stories about heroes doing extraordinary things."
"It would be interesting to look through history
and see if we could find some earlier soups,"
Whammy Lass agreed.
So the two of them went to the library
and dug into references of the odd,
the eccentric, the mad, and the crackpots.
Most of it seemed to be either nonsense or
exaggeration, but a few references panned out.
They found Alberto Santos-Dumont,
a Brazilian aviator known for his
studies and experiments in aeronautics.
While some of his designs had gone into
production, others could never be replicated.
"Gizmology or super-gizmology?"
Franz wondered as he read further.
"Air elemental," Whammy Lass suggested.
"People thought he was a nutjob -- they used
the phrase 'wings of madness' repeatedly
and implied that he made things fly by magic
instead of by technology."
"Another suicide," Franz murmured,
tracing a finger over the yellowed article.
"Or possibly a murder," Whammy Lass
said grimly, and showed him her book.
The next one they agreed upon
was Nikola Tesla. "Super-smart,"
they both said at the same time.
"Super-gizmologist," Franz added.
"I was thinking some kind of
energy manipulation," Whammy Lass
said, tapping a pencil on her notebook.
"It says he had an eidetic memory and
slept only two hours a night," Franz read.
"Can people have more than one superpower?"
"I know Gandhi can read both minds and feelings,
but it really seems like a single power for him,
even though I've met a couple of other people
who had only one or the other," said Whammy Lass.
"I have yet to meet anyone I'm sure has multiple gifts."
"There's the French legend of La Petite Mort,"
Franz said, pointing to another book,
"and that's not the only tale of a tiny assassin
with an assortment of unbelievable powers."
Whammy Lass snorted. "Unbelievable
is the word for it. We're not here for fairy tales."
She turned a page. "We should be grateful
that Tesla never completed his energy weapons,
or at least never released any. Some of these
sound too close to the Sterbenfeld for my comfort."
"He died in poverty," Franz observed.
"We really need a charity fund,"
Whammy Lass said. "I can lift a tank,
but I can't hold down a job for the life of me.
I'm seeing a pattern here that I do not like."
"The thing about smart people," said Franz,
"is that we seem like crazy people to dumb people."
"I don't want their efforts to be forgotten,"
Whammy Lass said. "I don't want to be left
with nothing more than the lights behind us,
shining on the dark water of history."
"What else can we do about it?" Franz said.
"I'm a war hero," said Whammy Lass.
"That has to be good for something.
I could try accepting more of those
silly invitations for public speaking."
"People don't listen," Franz said.
"Well then," said Whammy Lass,
"I'll have to make them listen."
* * *
Notes:
Nikola Tesla (10 July 1856 – 7 January 1943) was a famous inventor. Special thanks to zeeth_kyrah for mentioning elsewhere the Tesla fluid valve, which is an awesome piece of gizmology extant in our world too. In Terramagne it is THE preferred type of valve for gizmos and super-gizmos anywhere it will fit, precisely because it is so durable.
Alberto Santos-Dumont (20 July 1873 – 23 July 1932) studied aeronautics in Brazil. He was a gizmologist as well as a soup. Special thanks to chanter_greenie for identifying the source of his Air Powers as the custom wristwatch built by Louis Cartier. The watch has since been passed down through the Santos-Dumont family. Since it can only enhance a power, not bestow one, it doesn't always seem to "do" anything for its wearers, and has the reputation of being a "lucky charm" that only works if it likes you.
The watchmaker Cartier himself was one of several supergizmologists responsible for France's eclectic supply of accessories that activate, grant, or enhance superpowers. In fact, the Cartier watches with their original square design underlie Terramagne's evolution of the vidwatch decades later, as the square pilot watch never gave way to round ones as in our world. The first generation of anything like an actual vidwatch premiered during World War II when the T-Allies enjoyed a few true wireless telephones rather than the clunky radiotelephones of Local-Allies. In 1942, Louis Cartier delivered one case of 24 of gizmotronic wristwatches with a telephone function (not all the later bells and whistles of modern ones) shortly before his death. These were later retro-engineered by the Cartier family to produce mass-market versions, although it took decades for them to gain real popularity.
Alan Turing (23 June 1912 – 7 June 1954) has been counted the father of computer science and artificial intelligence. In our world, it is believed that he committed suicide, although some of his relatives believe his death was accidental. In Terramagne, he made it explicitly clear that he was going to take his ball and go home, and why.
Suicide affects other people. It's important to understand that someone else's suicide was not your fault. However, bullying correlates with suicide. If society makes people's lives unlivable, it is no surprise that some of the victims cease living, so the first step to preventing suicide is making sure that people have decent lives and are protected from torment. Understand how to deal with suicidal thoughts and how to help someone who is suicidal. These remain ongoing challenges for soups in Terramagne, on top of all the issues shared with our world such as bullying and bigotry.
For decades in the early and middle 1900s, Germany was a hotbed of thinly concealed sexual adventure with a thriving nightlife if you knew where to find it. Some references to this appear in the history of BDSM.
Kraut is a rude term for German, most used during WWI and WWII. Whammy Lass simply never dropped the habit; she doesn't think that all Germans are inherently bad people, but she had enough bad experiences to leave a lasting impression. The common ground of superpowers makes it possible for her and Franz to form a friendship, but there's always a thin membrane separating them and sometimes they bug the hell out of each other. They've decided to tolerate each other's irritating habits anyway.
Bigotry has negative effects on the speaker and other people. Know how to respond to bigotry and fight homophobia.
Suicide is not a moral failing, but a result of having more pain than coping methods. Sometimes it's because of missing life skills or depression, but other times it's due to poverty, torment, or other crushing external circumstances. Not talked about nearly as much, but ubiquitous throughout human warfare, is the use of suicide or mercy killing for gravely wounded soldiers when medical care is unavailable. The morality of suicide and assisted death is very complex.
La Petite Mort means "the little death" and most often refers to orgasm, but it has some other macabre associations. In Terramagne it is a French nickname for Dr. Infanta.
Sterbenfeld device -- a super-gizmo dating from World War II, whose name literally means "death field." It generates a plane of energy fatal to everything. The Germans never had very many of these, and couldn't get the area of effect large enough to outstrip conventional weaponry, but it was still terrifying. The technology remains rare but has appeared in modern times.
Among the issues for gifted people is that they are often considered crazy by those who do not understand them. They rarely get the support they deserve. There are tips for raising smart children and support gifted children.
Painful
Date: 2014-10-14 06:28 am (UTC)The interesting thing is a simple, fleeting impression. Whammy Lass calling a subset of Germans "some Kraut" didn't come across as true bigotry, more like the mental gap between GERMANS (whom she likes and respects, as is clear with Franz) and KRAUTS, who are a bunch of, well, incomprehensible strangers, rather than purely evil madmen or degenerates. Yet it was a snapshot, drawn from the two words juxtaposed against her conversation with Franz... Well, well done. Yes, it is racist, but it doesn't show /hopelessly/ racist or even /angrily/ racist behavior.
Re: Painful
Date: 2014-10-14 06:45 am (UTC)>> But... I think you handled the grieving, frustration and the topic of suicide quite well. <<
Thank you. This was really a world-changing moment for Terramagne, because it alerted Whammy Lass to a serious problem, which she has spent decades addressing. She wants to make the world a safe place for soups. Not quite there yet, but MUCH better than it was in the 1950s.
>> The interesting thing is a simple, fleeting impression. Whammy Lass calling a subset of Germans "some Kraut" didn't come across as true bigotry, more like the mental gap between GERMANS (whom she likes and respects, as is clear with Franz) and KRAUTS, who are a bunch of, well, incomprehensible strangers, rather than purely evil madmen or degenerates. <<
Yay! Then I did it right.
>> Yet it was a snapshot, drawn from the two words juxtaposed against her conversation with Franz... Well, well done. <<
*chuckle* I like their relationship. It's so quirky. It shows that you don't have to agree on everything to be friends.
>> Yes, it is racist, but it doesn't show /hopelessly/ racist or even /angrily/ racist behavior. <<
Well ... it's not exactly racism. It overlaps with that but doesn't come from the same roots. Racism is usually prejudice, made without personal contact. This isn't deciding-beforehand, but rather is the result of learned experience. That kind is really hard to uproot. It is racism only by coincidence (i.e. the people she had misfortunes with are Germans) and it's not confined to that; she doesn't like any of the Axis folks. On the other hoof she probably never made the shift to "Russians are the bad guys now." Whammy Lass doesn't dislike people based on what they are, but rather on what they DO.
There are genteel racists, who think some group is lesser, but are rarely if ever obnoxious about it and don't actively seek to harm them. Some of my relatives are that way. Others are less genteel about it.
There are the passive-aggressive racists, who don't think they are racists but think that other people just can't take a (bad, racist, offensive) joke.
There are the sour racists, who bitch and whine all the time, will take an opportunity to slight people if it comes their way, but won't go looking for it.
And then there are the rabid racists, who are proud of what they are, who not only believe some group is inferior but go out of their way to attack. Nazis, for example, or KKK. They are a problem.
Thing is, different types of prejudice require different solutions. Dislike based on personal experience is different yet again, and Whammy Lass is actually doing exactly the right thing to cope with it: dealing with individuals from within that group one-by-one, rather than lumping them all together. It's easier than trying to erase the whole negative group imprint all at once. Franz has worn away the sharp edges of it, though a certain amount of that battle damage is permanent.
Re: Painful
Date: 2014-10-14 07:36 am (UTC)Which, of course, makes me think that the early Nazi war crimes tribunals went similarly to ours, but that the ones /after/ that picked up speed rather than petering out for lack of evidence. Whammy Lass kept reminding people of the /millions/ who weren't Jewish, just /different/ who died for that, and that made the Holocaust EVERYBODY'S problem.
Since I am an optimist, I /hope/ that there were more acknowledgments of political prisoners, gays, religious minorities (Seventh Day Adventists among them), the Rom, and disabled who were /also/ wiped out simply to /prepare/ for their so-called Final Solution.
Re: Painful
Date: 2014-10-14 08:04 pm (UTC)That is absolutely true. Which, wow, makes me wonder if there's a way to cross lines between Granny Whammy and Boarskin, but balance that to a constructive conflict rather than a thermonuclear meltdown.
I can relate, because my knowledge of history makes me leery of Germany and the whole of central Europe. Germany does catastrophically awful things, over and over again. But it's like somebody dropped the clue machine in WWII. After that, Germany has gotten better, and American has come down with the creeping stupid. I was suspicious for decades, because Germany has had decades of enlightenment before and then gone thermo again same like always. They're holding to it this time, though, and I'm starting to suspect it might actually stick. So over time, I'm giving them more benefit of the doubt. You know, when Germany has to tell Israel not to build a wall for oppressing people, something serious has SHIFTED. 0_o
>> Which, of course, makes me think that the early Nazi war crimes tribunals went similarly to ours, but that the ones /after/ that picked up speed rather than petering out for lack of evidence. <<
Likely so, and in Terramagne they also had some resources that we just didn't. There would have been more evidence, as well as more captives charged with war crimes.
Also there's decision fatigue to consider.
>> Whammy Lass kept reminding people of the /millions/ who weren't Jewish, just /different/ who died for that, and that made the Holocaust EVERYBODY'S problem. <<
True.
>> Since I am an optimist, I /hope/ that there were more acknowledgments of political prisoners, gays, religious minorities (Seventh Day Adventists among them), the Rom, and disabled who were /also/ wiped out simply to /prepare/ for their so-called Final Solution. <<
My guess is that, like superpowers, those things were happening but were not talked about immediately. As time passed, though, more information came to light, more people spoke out, and awareness grew. What started as a slightly higher bump at the beginning has grown into rather more than what we have now -- in Terramagne far more of the patch code would be as well recognized as the yellow star and pink triangle here.
Re: Painful
Date: 2014-10-15 02:33 am (UTC)Re: Painful
Date: 2014-10-15 07:45 am (UTC)My inclination at this stage is to hold both possibilities open, and see how the girls interact and grow up. What happens along the way may hint who springs which direction.
Re: Painful
Date: 2014-10-15 11:09 am (UTC)Re: Painful
Date: 2014-10-15 08:24 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-10-14 04:06 pm (UTC)I really, really hate the idea that there's something morally wrong or weak about people who suicide. It's very much a black-and-white, absolute-evil-exists take on the world, and I figure that like a lot of how we react to psych problems, it's a simplification to try and be more comfortable with stuff which is pretty inherently uncomfy. Thinking it through, if I assume people have the capability to be both good and incredibly caught up in themselves (and things leading towards suicidal ideation are basically perception folding you more and more inwards into this little tiny world of hurt after all), so it makes sense that someone could be a pretty awesome person and yet hurt people profoundly with the act of punching out early.
Huh. You know... the only criticism I have here is that somehow the language use feels off from Greatest Generation. Something I've noticed about people that age is that they could be really accepting of things like homosexuality, ethnic differences, suicide, and divorce, but that a lot of their coping mechanisms involved not talking about it openly. Maybe differences in tech and superpowers mean that Terramagne got some really subtle social differences as well?
I really liked that "Helping Your Highly Gifted Child" link -- this is pretty much the first place I've seen someone state that how a smart kid develops is not some sort of even across-the-board thing, where immediately they can hack all social and intellectual challenges with the same level of proficiency.
Last, with LGBT people and superpowers, "La Petite Mort" gets me thinking; Chevalier d'Eon maybe? She sure sounds like someone with almost superhuman agility and endurance.
Thoughts
Date: 2014-10-15 08:07 am (UTC)Glad to hear it.
>> I really, really hate the idea that there's something morally wrong or weak about people who suicide. It's very much a black-and-white, absolute-evil-exists take on the world, and I figure that like a lot of how we react to psych problems, it's a simplification to try and be more comfortable with stuff which is pretty inherently uncomfy. <<
I agree.
>> Thinking it through, if I assume people have the capability to be both good and incredibly caught up in themselves (and things leading towards suicidal ideation are basically perception folding you more and more inwards into this little tiny world of hurt after all), so it makes sense that someone could be a pretty awesome person and yet hurt people profoundly with the act of punching out early. <<
Well, there are different broad reasons why people choose to die. Depression and other brainweasels -- the kind of suicide people usually talk about -- only touch on one of those. Related but different is when society crushes the life out of someone with bullying or oppression; that's a circumstantial issue rather than an internal one, and the main focus of this poem. Nobody wants to admit that because it makes them feel bad. Wanting to skip a slow deterioration of body/mind is a major reason, only occasionally discussed; the acute version of that is the battlefield example I used here.
Of those, brain weasels are primarily infolding and the most subject to solution via psychotherapy. If society wants you to die, maybe you can move to a better location with people who aren't murderous dicks; but otherwise this is unlikely to be soluble. And some diseases or injuries just don't have cures, or may be contextually unavailable. Sometimes "no hope" is a cruel illusion, but other times it's accurate. People really do not want to discuss the latter.
>> Huh. You know... the only criticism I have here is that somehow the language use feels off from Greatest Generation. <<
It's based on a conglomeration of people I've known and general imprints of that generation. Sorry it didn't ring quite true for you.
>> Something I've noticed about people that age is that they could be really accepting of things like homosexuality, ethnic differences, suicide, and divorce, but that a lot of their coping mechanisms involved not talking about it openly. <<
Well, Franz doesn't care, and Whammy Lass doesn't think it's wrong but doesn't want to hear about it, so it's kind of split between them. She also tends to bottle up her emotions as so many soldiers do, but belt her hard enough in a soft spot and she'll fall apart in private.
>> Maybe differences in tech and superpowers mean that Terramagne got some really subtle social differences as well? <<
There are subtle differences, and some not so subtle too. More awareness of different kinds of Holocaust victims is an example.
Yes...
Date: 2014-10-15 08:11 am (UTC)I'm glad I could help. What I wanted was a tipsheet on how to support gifted adults but I couldn't find one.
>> this is pretty much the first place I've seen someone state that how a smart kid develops is not some sort of even across-the-board thing, where immediately they can hack all social and intellectual challenges with the same level of proficiency. <<
Yes, and it's very destructive. All kids have a spread of things they do early, average, or late; but for gifted children the range tends to be extreme. Holding them responsible for being brilliant at everything is oblivious at best and abusive at worst.
>> Last, with LGBT people and superpowers, "La Petite Mort" gets me thinking; Chevalier d'Eon maybe? She sure sounds like someone with almost superhuman agility and endurance. <<
WOW. A new genderqueer historic figure! I am fascinated. I am totally going to stat up this character as someone that Dr. Infanta knew. Thank you so much. That's exactly who she'll think of if she meets either of the two gendershifters in current time.
Re: Yes...
Date: 2014-10-15 04:58 pm (UTC)Yeah, but this is a really new concept to me. All along being smart was phrased as this toggle switch where either I was the capable genius kid who could figure out everything and fit those requirements, or I was this incompetent moron with a side of maliciousness to my ineptitude. And this felt completely unrealistic, even a little at the time, but I hadn't thought too much about how and why. "Because, especially while a kid's still developing, their emotional, physical and intellectual skills are all over the map" is a pretty rational how and why.
Re: Yes...
Date: 2014-10-17 02:03 am (UTC)This means that a linguist or anthropologist may be quite compatible with other geeks, but of course they want to geek out about their personal interests! If the individuals aren't really relating to each other, introducing a common interest may help them develop a common language.
It's really about the interface: will we be able to speak the language of those around us enough to understand that world? Because most others won't adapt to us. If we have something in common and the willingness to let small thoughts become big ones over time (the natural course of conversation and relationships), we have a much better chance of figuring things out.
Re: Yes...
Date: 2014-10-17 10:15 pm (UTC)Yes, that's true. People care fuckall about helping gifted people develop anything they have trouble with, and can be downright vicious with, "You're gifted! You MUST be good at everything. You're just not TRYING." It's like they expect gifted people to just 'magically' gain skills out of thin air and never have difficulty.
Fuck. That. Noise.
>> A relationship with a gifted person has to start by relating to them as a person, but often the gifted person is almost too focused on their personal field of interest -- a big reason many intimate relationships with geeks fail, because the other party gets tired of trying to speak our language and don't want to be interpreters. <<
That's also a key reason why it's hard for gifted people to make friends with average people. The gifted person feels like they're slogging through mud to slow down the intellectual or artistic side enough, and the average person feels exactly the same way about social issues, or whatever else the mismatch is. Agreeing to compensate for each other's strengths and weaknesses is a vital life skill that too few people practice -- although I've seen it far more in fannish or other gifted circles because you pretty much have to if you want any friends at all.
>> It's really about the interface: will we be able to speak the language of those around us enough to understand that world? Because most others won't adapt to us. If we have something in common and the willingness to let small thoughts become big ones over time (the natural course of conversation and relationships), we have a much better chance of figuring things out. <<
That right there is why so many gifted people, like abused children, learn that they must be of use or else nobody will tolerate their presence. That being around them is a burden rather than a joy, which they must somehow compensate people for putting up with. So they learn to fix computers or do other kids' homework or balance the books at work in an hour instead of a day, etc.
And they often don't learn that friends don't keep score.
Re: Yes...
Date: 2014-10-18 01:53 am (UTC)Also, my own creative process works best when I have a friend I can bounce ideas off of from time to time.
Re: Yes...
Date: 2014-10-18 04:03 am (UTC)you said it
Date: 2016-09-24 07:16 am (UTC)This here VoE (voice of experience) will affirm that the above
goes doubleincreases exponentially when both conditions apply. Hooboy.While the phrase "human being" is familiar linguistically, "human doing" is /much/ more familiar experientially.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-10-14 04:56 pm (UTC)with nothing more than the lights behind us,
shining on the dark water of history."<<
Oh, lovely image. Chilling, but beautiful.
This also aligns perfectly with how a lot of folks seem to see the world; all the luminaries behind and nothing ahead but the darkness (upon the hungry deep).
I love how Dr. Infanta has a presence in so many of these, even when she doesn't.
The emotional tone rings brilliant in this one.
Thank you!
Date: 2014-10-15 09:31 am (UTC)I'm glad it works for you.
>> This also aligns perfectly with how a lot of folks seem to see the world; all the luminaries behind and nothing ahead but the darkness (upon the hungry deep). <<
I actually did a piece that was the opposite, precognition-based newspaper articles with life accomplishments ... in birth announcements.
>> I love how Dr. Infanta has a presence in so many of these, even when she doesn't. <<
Yay! She has varied over time, sometimes obscure and other times more known. Her little fingerprints are all over history.
>> The emotional tone rings brilliant in this one. <<
Thank you.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-10-14 08:12 pm (UTC)"The thing about smart people," said Franz,
"is that we seem like crazy people to dumb people."
All too true.
Yes...
Date: 2014-10-15 07:53 am (UTC)Her notoriety has shifted over time, sometimes rather well known, other times obscure. She was in one of her obscure phases in the decades before meeting Granny Whammy, partly because of getting caught up in WWII in ways that made Dr. Infanta want to curl up in a ball and cry for a few years.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-10-16 10:44 am (UTC)Uh-oh. I'm now imagining at least one modern-day Brazilian soup drawing inspiration from him. Not sure who they are, where in Brazil they're from or what their ability or abilities are, but if they acknowledged him somehow... <3.
Thank you!
Date: 2014-10-17 08:41 am (UTC)I'm delighted to hear that.
>> I am sooooo tempted to prompt you for Terramagne's Alberto Santos-Dumont. As I've said, a potentially acefolk air elemental working in that world circa 1900 gives me the shiny eyes, whether or not he lets his abilities show in public. <<
Bear in mind that with a few limited exceptions like India, which has a long tradition of people doing extraordinary things, most places didn't really notice superpowers as such until the mid-1940s. Acefolk, no problem if you want it. Recognizable applications of talent are likely to be more subtle. People don't always realize that something which comes naturally to them -- feeling airflow, for instance, which is something I can still do even without my wings on -- isn't something everyone can do. He'd probably be frustrated that other people couldn't duplicate some of this accomplishments, but he'd still have the joy in creating things.
>> Uh-oh. I'm now imagining at least one modern-day Brazilian soup drawing inspiration from him. Not sure who they are, where in Brazil they're from or what their ability or abilities are, but if they acknowledged him somehow... <3. <<
It's possible. People need heroes and role models.
Re: Thank you!
Date: 2014-10-17 11:56 pm (UTC)If that hypothetical watch wound up in the hands of a shirt tail relative of Santos-Dumont's somewhere in Menas Gerais... oh, dear. I am in so much trouble. The good kind, that is. :P
Re: Thank you!
Date: 2014-10-18 12:37 am (UTC)WOW! You're right. That has to be it. I was looking right at the damn thing and didn't see it.
>> I'm imagining it strengthening or activating ability(s) related to its owner rather than its maker, although... hmm. <<
That makes sense.
>> The question might arise just *whose* supergizmology powered it up. It could even be supergizmology layered on gizmology, if Cartier had a talent of his own. And who said he didn't? <<
Well typically, a supergizmo is built that way from scratch. On the other hoof, "you built a time machine out of a Delorean?!" Statistically speaking, it's most likely to be Cartier putting the supergizmology into the watch.
>> If that hypothetical watch wound up in the hands of a shirt tail relative of Santos-Dumont's somewhere in Menas Gerais... oh, dear. I am in so much trouble. The good kind, that is. :P <<
Feel free to prompt for it. Great-great-whatever Santos-Dumont's lucky watch could make for a fun poem. *ponder* In fact, handing a supergizmo to a devout materialist could qualify as this weekend's theme of "paradigm shifting without a clutch."
Re: Thank you!
Date: 2014-10-18 02:42 am (UTC)I think I will be prompting for that relative down the generations. Now I want to know them. Great great niece or nephew? Great great nidling, anyway? If Santos-Dumont was acefolk, which is purely my own happy suspicion...
I bet Cartier has some soup descendants of his own somewhere, now that I think about it. And tangentially, you know, Tesla *does* have descendants around in our own universe, so I wonder...
See also: That semi-articulate steampunk-y flaily state I mentioned backchannel. This'd be me going in that direction. :) 3Q or is it <3q for a mostly happy flappy hand?
Re: Thank you!
Date: 2014-10-18 04:15 am (UTC)Yay!
>> I can absolutely see Santos-Dumont with already-active air powers getting an upshift, pun intended, from Cartier's watch. I'm sure Cartier knew at least some of what he was handing over to his friend, too, extensive knowledge of superpowers during that time period or otherwise. :D <<
I would surmise that Cartier knew he was doing something but not exactly what or how. He may have thought it was just extra-good equipment, or even really considered it a good luck charm.
>> I think I will be prompting for that relative down the generations. Now I want to know them. Great great niece or nephew? Great great nidling, anyway? <<
Your pick. Crowdfunding Jam should go live in an hour or so.
>> If Santos-Dumont was acefolk, which is purely my own happy suspicion... <<
I'm cool with it. Of course aces can reproduce, just most of them choose not to.
>> I bet Cartier has some soup descendants of his own somewhere, now that I think about it. And tangentially, you know, Tesla *does* have descendants around in our own universe, so I wonder... <<
I'm positing that Super-Gizmology and Super-Intellect run in the Cartier family.
>> See also: That semi-articulate steampunk-y flaily state I mentioned backchannel. This'd be me going in that direction. :) 3Q or is it <3q for a mostly happy flappy hand? <<
It's 3q 3q for flappy hands. You can add any emoticon for the tone. Look at the 3 as fingers and the q as palm and thumb; closest they could find in l33t.
Also, speaking of steampunk: remember how Santos-Dumont worked on dirigibles in our world? In Terramagne he's one of the progenitors of zipplins and dirgecraft, down the line, which I've been wanting to write about because lighter-than-air flight is far more popular there than it is here.
Re: Thank you!
Date: 2014-10-18 12:58 am (UTC)*happydance*
Go reload the page, I updated the notes.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-11-02 05:56 pm (UTC)Cartier still makes these watches today, just, sadly, no supergizmology.
Yes...
Date: 2014-11-03 06:02 am (UTC)Re: Yes...
Date: 2014-11-03 07:02 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2015-10-16 02:53 pm (UTC)I'm glad that Whammy Lass is trying to do something.
When they said they were looking for historical soups, I immediately thought Herakles and Gilgamesh. Wrong era. Have you touched on that?
Being gifted sucks, sometimes.
Thoughts
Date: 2015-10-16 09:46 pm (UTC):( I am sorry to hear about your brain weasels.
Consider that easier and better aren't always the same. Life is easier without babies barfing on you or cats clawing up your couch, but many people choose babies and cats because the benefits outweigh the costs.
I would miss you if you were gone. But I'm also unusual in believing that it's every person's right to decide whether or not they choose to participate in this life, and I don't think it's okay to keep people here by force, especially if they're suffering the kind of misery that drives people to suicide. So I'd be sad if that happened to you, but I'd understand.
That said, there are separate issues with why people feel suicidal -- sometimes it is pure mental illness, but often it's due to outside pressures like abuse or discrimination, and other times physical illness like cancer or dementia they don't want to ride out. Some of those things can be fixed, and I absolutely advocate trying other solutions, with suicide as a last resort for unendurable misery that can't be fixed.
I'm actually working on another poem about this issue right now.
>> Reading about the impact of suicide on others helps, it reminds me that, no, people would be devastated if I checked out. <<
That is probable. It's really rough on bystanders.
>> I'm glad that Whammy Lass is trying to do something.<<
She wants to make life more livable for soups. It's helping.
>> When they said they were looking for historical soups, I immediately thought Herakles and Gilgamesh. Wrong era. Have you touched on that? <<
I haven't, much. The farther back you go, the harder it is to distinguish what's wholly made up from what's inspired by fact. But I think that many myths and legends were inspired by real events and people that grew in the telling. So I'm open to more of this.
>> Being gifted sucks, sometimes. <<
It absolutely does. You have all this potential and other people often block you from using it or hurt you because you have it.
I've been telling people since I could talk that destroying the environment is a bad idea, and nobody fucking listens, so here I am on a planet that is actively on fire and they just do not care. >_
(no subject)
Date: 2018-03-28 10:37 am (UTC)Well ...
Date: 2018-03-28 07:37 pm (UTC)"A Safer World and a Better Future"
"A SPOON in Every Pot"
Basically, the Damask poems appear at the top of the series page, and after that it's more chronological. So the Whammy Lass poems are toward the top of that lower list, and Granny Whammy ones later. You can search on the page for a character name to find their poems.
Re: Well ...
Date: 2018-03-29 11:35 am (UTC)