Friday, December 31, 2010

Combatwords, December 31, 2010: New Year, Old Year

Combatwords, December 31, 2010: New Year, Old Year

Hey man, did you know that time, is like, arbitrary? We're like all here right now. There's no tomorrow, there's no yesterday, there's like, just today man. Like, time is just a human invention dude. Could you do me a favor and pass me the bong again?

Combat Expiration: 12am PST 1/3/2011

Critique Expiration: 12am PST 1/4/2011

Bonuses/Penalties: +2 if posted by 5pm PST 12/31/2010, +1 if posted by 12am PST 1/1/2011; -1 if posted by 6am 1/3/2011, -2 if posted by 12pm 1/3/2011

The Rules: http://combatwords.blogspot.com/2010/07/official-rules-for-combatwords-updated.html

ps: Everybody has been slacking on the score lately—self included. I'm going to aggressively score this week's combat, so you'd better too, unless you want my taste to determine the winner.



Subscribe in a reader

Friday, December 24, 2010

CombatWords, December 24, 2010: Holiday

CombatWords, December 24, 2010: Holiday

Here's a funny one I heard on Twitter: "Happy Holidays!" "Fuck you, we don't celebrate 'holiday' in America. Merry Christmas!" Pick a holiday—it doesn't have to be Christmas.

Combat Expiration: 12am PST, 12/27/2010
Critique Expiration: 12am PST, 12/29/2010
Bonuses/Penalties: +2 if posted by 10pm PST 12/24/2010, +1 if posted by 3am PST 12/25/2010, -1 if posted by 6am PST 12/27/2010, -2 if posted by 12pm PST 12/27/2010
Rules: http://combatwords.blogspot.com/2010/07/official-rules-for-combatwords-updated.html



Subscribe in a reader

Friday, December 17, 2010

Combatwords December 17, 2010: It's For Your Own Good

Combatwords December 17, 2010: It's For Your Own Good

Because you do not know what is good for you and because I am feeling tremendous compassion for you, I'm going to trick you and lie to you and I don't care if you'll hate me forever when you find out it was me—it's for your own good.

Because you do not understand that those new business partners are sharks and vampires who are going to drain your blood and make you the patsy for their scam, I am going to sabotage your work and secretly undermine you to mask your delicious scent.

Because you do not understand the power of images and symbols, because you do not understand how they compel you, because you do not see the difference between you and your God, I'm going to bully you into proper conduct.

Why? Because it's all for your own good. I don't care about what's good for me. I am filled with agape with you as my center. I understand that by interfering, I become a focus of blame—if not scapegoat. Although the price is expensive, I do these things because I love you—and true love is difficult and sometimes unrequited. And I don't really want your love anyhow you idiot. Look at everything I have to do for your own good!

Combat Expiration: 12am PST 12/20/2010

Critique Expiration: 12am PST 12/21/2010 with 24 hour grace period for critique rebuttals.

Bonuses/Penalties: +2 if posted by 6pm PST 12/17/2010, +1 if posted by 12am PST 12/18/2010; -1 if posted by 6am PST 12/20/2010, -2 if posted by 12pm PST 12/20/2010

The Rules: http://combatwords.blogspot.com/2010/07/official-rules-for-combatwords-updated.html

Subscribe in a reader

Friday, December 10, 2010

Combatwords, December 10, 2010: Logos and Karma

Combatwords, December 10, 2010: Logos and Karma

Is there such a thing as cosmic justice? I don't mean from a theistic perspective (but you can choose that), rather from a deistic or atheistic angle. Do actions matter on an ontological level? If so, don't thoughts and ideas matter too? Or is everything self-referential? Our meaning is meaningful to us alone? I think it's possible to be an atheist and still believe there's an unseen meta-structure to the universe. But the idea of cosmic justice is compelling, isn't it? I think karma is probably bs, but maybe it's real and there's some complex set of rules behind it. After all, some jerks never get their comeuppance. That's a shame. Hell, that's probably the cause of thwarted rage—which as we all know results in violence, thus making a whole new generation of jerks. Maybe there's some cosmic explanation? Play around with the theme, I don't really have an exact notion.

Combat Expiration: 12/13/2010 12am PST

Critique Expiration: 12/14/2010 12am PST

Bonuses/Penalties: +2 if posted by 6pm PST 12/10/2010, +1 if posted by 12am PST 12/11/2010, -1 if posted by 6am 12/13/2010, -2 if posted by 12pm 12/13/2010

The Rules: http://combatwords.blogspot.com/2010/07/official-rules-for-combatwords-updated.html

Subscribe in a reader

Friday, December 3, 2010

CombatWords, December 3, 2010: Degeneracy

CombatWords, December 3, 2010: Degeneracy

We're all in decline. We're dying. We're losing our value. Maybe we speed up the process. Let's hear about that. Booze and pills for the sloppiest of Joes and bad decisions for the prudes. Even those at peaks decline. Those in pits decline as well.

Combat Expiration: 12/6/2010, 12am PST
Critique Expiration: 12/7/2010, 12am PST. Grace period of 12 hrs for counter-critiques, to allow for rebuttals to last minute comments.
Bonuses/Penalties: +2 if posted by 8pm PST 12/3/2010, +1 if posted by 12am PST, 12/4/2010, -1 if posted by 6am 12/6/2010, -2 if posted by 12pm 12/6/2010.

http://combatwords.blogspot.com/2010/07/official-rules-for-combatwords-updated.html

Subscribe in a reader

Friday, November 26, 2010

CombatWords, November 26, 2010: News and Politics

CombatWords, November 26, 2010: News and Politics

The muses have many strange means of transmitting their will to the writer. Rhyme and meter is one way; life experience and the will to write is another. For Robert Frost or Stanley Kunitz, nature might serve as muse; for me—among other things—I'm inspired by politics and news. Many writers try to avoid these subjects, but the topics encode all sorts of aspects of our psyches. Politics and news are NARRATIVE; sheer story—but a specific kind of story: one that claims to be 'real.' I want you to engage the news or politics from any angle you wish. These are primal topics, but that's okay—I want a primal combat. Freestyle if you wish.

Combat Expiration: 11/29/2010, 12am PST
Critique Expiration: 11/30/2010, 12am PST. Grace period of 12 hrs for counter-critiques, to allow for rebuttals to last minute comments.
Bonuses/Penalties: +2 if posted by 8pm PST 11/26/2010, +1 if posted by 12am PST, 11/27/2010, -1 if posted by 6am 11/29/2010, -2 if posted by 12pm 11/29/2010.
The Rules: http://combatwords.blogspot.com/2010/07/official-rules-for-combatwords-updated.html

Subscribe in a reader

Friday, November 19, 2010

CombatWords, November 19, 2010: The Future!

CombatWords, November 19, 2010: The Future!

Depending on one's current condition and temperament; the future is either going to be awesome, horrible, or at least... something. Some people slather their futures with science myths to justify their current conditions. We've built the rockets, space stations, clones and computers that look like lovers, we're still looking for the next invention that will somehow give us insight into our purpose. Alternately, some see the future as some sort of projection of self. "I will live w, and marry x, have y kids and work as a z." To this frame of mind, changes in circumstance are unimaginable. Both models are pledged to a deep, yet essential aspect of irrationality.

Combat Expiration: 12am PST, 11/22/2010
Critique Expiration: 12am PST, 11/23/2010
Bonuses/Penalties: +2 for posts by 9pm PST, 11/19/2010, +1 for posts by 2am PST, 11/20/2010; -1 for posts by 6am PST 11/22/2010, -2 for posts by 12pm 11/22/2010

The Rules: http://combatwords.blogspot.com/2010/07/official-rules-for-combatwords-updated.html with optional Freestyle http://combatwords.blogspot.com/2010/11/combatwords-november-5-2010-freestyle.html



Subscribe in a reader

Friday, November 12, 2010

CombatWords November 12, 2010: Getting It Wrong

CombatWords November 12, 2010: Getting It Wrong

We misapprehend, delude ourselves or just fuck up. Ah, but being aware of the fuck up—THAT is what's interesting. How do we even know we're wrong at all? Getting it wrong means completely misunderstanding. Writers try to understand and get things right, so writing about wrongness is more interesting.

I liked last week's freestyle so much, I'm gonna tack its rules on to this thread. If you're not interested in the combat theme, just wait for someone to write on something you prefer and riff off him/her.

Combat Expiration: 9am PST, 11/14/2010

Critique Expiration: 12am PST, 11/16/2010

Bonuses/Penalties: +2 for posts posts by 7:30pm PST 11/12/2010, +1 for posts by 12am PST 11/13/2010. -1 for posts by 1:30pm PST 11/14/2010, -2 for posts by 6pm PST 11/14/2010

The Rules: http://combatwords.blogspot.com/2010/07/official-rules-for-combatwords-updated.html

Subscribe in a reader

Friday, November 5, 2010

CombatWords, November 5, 2010: Freestyle

CombatWords, November 5, 2010: Freestyle

The first posters to this thread set the tone for this Combat. You can write about anything, so long as you're first. After 4pm, late posters MUST riff off existing posts. This can go on indefinitely. Example: posters A, B & C post by 4pm. They all pick different topics. Poster D riffs off B's post after 4pm PST. Poster E will be able to riff off A-D. This should keep the combat fluid & personal. If I suspect you just posted canned writing, I'll just disqualify it.

Combat Expiration: 12pm PST, 11/7/2010

Critique Expiration: 12pm PST, 11/8/2010

Bonuses/Penalties: +3 for posts by 5pm PST, 11/5/2010; +2 for posts by 9pm PST 11/5/2010; +1 for posts by 2am PST 11/6/2010.

Penalties: -1 for posts by 8am PST 11/7/2010, -2 for posts made by 4pm PST 11/7/2010. Sorry I didn't announce this sooner.

Oh yeah, da rulez: http://combatwords.blogspot.com/2010/07/official-rules-for-combatwords-updated.html

Subscribe in a reader

Friday, October 29, 2010

CombatWords, October 29, 2010: Farce and Tragedy

CombatWords, October 29, 2010: Farce and Tragedy

The only thing funnier than pathetic setbacks are when those pathetic setbacks are memorialized in story. I avoided the normal pairing of Tragedy w/ Comedy, because Farce is directly related to Tragedy. Farce is Tragedy that fails to elicit sympathy and instead summons the audience's smug contempt. Really, I paired these two, because I'm hoping one of the combatants will successfully combine BOTH Farce AND Tragedy into a single composition.

Combat Expiration: 12am PST, 10/31/2010

Critique Expiration: 12am PST, 11/1/2010

Bonuses/Penalties: +2 if posted by 6pm PST 10/29/2010, +1 if posted by 12am PST, 10/30/2010.

The Rules: http://combatwords.blogspot.com/2010/07/official-rules-for-combatwords-updated.html



Subscribe in a reader

Friday, October 22, 2010

CombatWords, October 22, 2010: Vice, Virtue and Free Will

CombatWords, October 22, 2010: Vice, Virtue and Free Will

I usually keep a torn up copy of the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius on my desk. To create order in a world that is full of inconstant people, he urges one to focus on knowing rightness (which he doesn't axiomatize) and then applying it, regardless of conditions around one. Bold philosophy, but I wonder how well it holds up in a cattle car filled with freezing, starving, dehydrated people on their way to a death factory? He would say that sticking to virtue, even when self-detrimental, is evidence of free will. I think I agree with that notion, having cooked up my own proof for free will before I even read MA: suicide & celibacy—two actions which contradict models of genetic determinism. Oh, but the cattle car, the cattle car! Maybe there are triggers that exist so deeply within us that most people don't encounter them even once in life? And jammed in a cattle car, must we return to our origins as meat circuitry?

Combat Expiration: 12am PST, 10/24/2010

Critique Expiration: 12am PST, 10/25/2010

Bonuses/Penalties: +2 by 8pm PST, 10/22/2010; +1 by 2am PST, 10/23/2010; -1 by 6am 10/25/2010, -2 by 12pm 10/25/2010

The rules: http://combatwords.blogspot.com/2010/07/official-rules-for-combatwords-updated.html



Subscribe in a reader

Friday, October 15, 2010

CombatWords October 15, 2010: Satire

CombatWords October 15, 2010: Satire

So I love the Beandog Militia—what can I say? They are deadly satirists. When they're not busy mocking some poor degenerate on Twitter, they're busy mocking everybody & everything else—selves included. In fact, they've got the #tcot (Top Conservatives On Twitter) believing a conspiracy theory THE BEANDOGS PROPOSED! This is sheer win of course, for when the subject of satire actually starts to believe his/her satirist, it means the satirist has effectively entered into the satirized party's personal narrative. Write satire directed at any target you'd like... even yourself.

Combat Expiration: Midnight PST, 10/17/2010

Critique Expiration: Midnight PST, 10/18/2010,

Bonuses: +2 for comps that post by 8pm PST 10/15/2010; +1 for comps that post by 2am PST 10/16/2010. -1 for comps that post by 6am 10/17/2010; -2 for comps that post by 12pm PST 10/17/2010

The Rules: http://combatwords.blogspot.com/2010/07/official-rules-for-combatwords-updated.html



Subscribe in a reader

Friday, October 8, 2010

CombatWords, October 8, 2010: Hello. Goodbye.

CombatWords, October 8, 2010: Hello. Goodbye.

There are various types of 'farewell.' The "have a nice life," one; "see you later today," or; "Not sure if we'll see each other or not." The ways we say goodbye are just as subtle as the ways we say "hello." Hello and Goodbye are more complicated than simple starts and finishes; they represent how we conceive of our relationships with others. Hit any riff you'd like, but be more specific than a simple relationship or interaction—the ways we say hello or goodbye indicates our outlook, our sense of free will or determinism, and so forth.

Combat Expiration: Midnight PST, 10/10/2010

Critique Expiration: Midnight PST, 10/11/2010

Bonuses/Penalties: +2 for compositions posted by 8pm PST, 10/8/2010 and +1 for posts that make it by 2am PST, 10/9/2010. -1 for postings up after expiration, but before 6am PST, 10/10/2010 and -2 for posts that make it by Noon PST, 10/10/2010

The Rules: http://combatwords.blogspot.com/2010/07/official-rules-for-combatwords-updated.html

Subscribe in a reader

Friday, October 1, 2010

CombatWords October 1, 2010: Taboo

CombatWords October 1, 2010: Taboo

I don't want to end up like the Star Wars kid, but I don't mind laughing at him. I don't like racist humor, but I love humor that seems to be racist. Yes, I like to break some taboos, but I think other taboos are essential. Pedophiles fill me with some serious homicidal rage. You can offer me all the evolutionary psych and boo-hoo bullshit about fuxed up minds/childhoods; I still want to destroy them. In fact, that fury I feel for pedophiles is so intense, I just try to put it out of my mind most of the time. I think this is healthy, as we have a tendency to become our enemies. If you think enough about pedophiles, you start to see them everywhere. So sometimes, it's better not to think about them—this is the wisdom of taboo. Some things are filled with such infectious horror, they should be forbidden.

Of course, who does the forbidding? Well we do. We forbid ourselves and we forbid others; and as attitudes change, so do taboos. This is why I'm skeptical of taboos, even though I also see their value. You can't reason with some people and you just have to forbid them. Not all good judgments can be explained or rationalized and taboo is a recognition of this truth. Then again, lots of taboos are stupid

Combat Expiration: Midnight PST, 10/3/2010

Critique Expiration: Midnight PST, 10/4/2010

Bonuses/Penalties: +3 if posted by 6pm PST, 10/1/2010; +2 if posted by 9pm PST, 10/1/2010; and +1 if posted by Midnight PST, 10/2/2010

The Rules: http://combatwords.blogspot.com/2010/07/official-rules-for-combatwords-updated.html



ps (10/2/2010; 10:57am PST): Forgot to post penalties: -1 if posted by 10/3/2010 by 3am PST; -2 if posted by 10/3/2010 by 6am.

Subscribe in a reader

Friday, September 24, 2010

CombatWords, September 24, 2010: Sanity

CombatWords, September 24, 2010: Sanity

They say Cthulu will make you insane, but what does insanity really mean? An inability to function? Cantor's diagonal proof made him nuts and Gödel thought everybody was trying to poison him except for his wife. Those two were hardly incompetent. But then what do we mean by insanity? It's commonly claimed that the religious are insane; but what about atheists? They can't really disprove God, even if it can't be proven either. Do we give them a pass, because they're such damn good rationalists? Everybody is deeply irrational, so how can insanity be the opposite of reason? Use any angle you'd like, so long as it's theme-relevant.

Combat Expiration: Midnight, 9/26/2010

Critique Expiration: Midnight, 9/27/2010

Bonus: +3 if posted by 7pm PST, 9/24/2010; +2 if posted by 11pm PST 9/24/2010 and +1 if posted by 1am 9/25/2010 PST.

The Rules: http://combatwords.blogspot.com/2010/07/official-rules-for-combatwords-updated.html



Subscribe in a reader

Friday, September 17, 2010

CombatWords for September 17, 2010: Atonement

CombatWords for September 17, 2010: Atonement

Is there such a thing as genuine atonement? Can one truly apologize, unless God's involved? Must there be a cosmic arbiter to verify that the scales have been equalized and the transgression undone? Must the wronged party accept atonement if the transgressor is to atone? Some people are bitter and don't forgive, but does that matter if the wrongdoing serves as catalyst for greater acts of love and kindness by the transgressor? Or is karma bunk? Do the cavemen have it right? Never apologize, never explain?

Combat Expiration: Midnight PST; Sunday, September 19, 2010

Critique Expiration: Midnight PST; Monday, September 20, 2010

Bonuses: 7pm PST, 9/17/2010: +3, 11pm PST, 9/17/2010: +2, 3am PST, 9/18/2010: +1

Penalties: 4am PST, 9/19/2010: -1; 8am PST, 9/19/2010: -2

Prize: Winner gets to select next week's topic.

The Rules: http://combatwords.blogspot.com/2010/07/official-rules-for-combatwords-updated.html

Subscribe in a reader

Friday, September 10, 2010

CombatWords September 10, 2010: Conditioned Responses

CombatWords September 10, 2010: Conditioned Responses

I was going to make Culture the theme of this combat, but culture is only one of the many means through which our reflexes are shaped. Family, trauma, love; playing it safe, playing it dangerous: all of these factors contribute to the responses that shape who we are. Genes play a role, but so does art. In the 60s, lots of speculative fiction called androids 'reflex machines.' Is that all we are? A bundle of reflexes? Is BF Skinner right in the essential, even if he was wrong with particulars?

Combat Expiration: 9/12/2010, Midnight, PST

Critique Expiration: 9/13/2010, Midnight, PST

Bonuses: +3 if posted by 6pm PST (9/10/2010), +2 if posted by 9pm PST (9/10/2010), and +1 for midnight PST (9/11/2010) posts. -1 per hour, for posts that go up after Combat Expiration: Max -2.

Yellow Cards/Red Cards: This is a game of literary combat. Have a grudge? Try OUTWRITING your nemesis. Ordinary shit talk is not allowed, except as critique. You get one shot at critique, so get all your licks in one post. I don't mind bending the rules a bit, but problem posters get one warning in the form of a yellow card. Additional, blatant violations of the rules will result in a red card. Red cards mean I will delete all that poster's identifiable posts on the thread. I will permaban anyone who is persistently disruptive. If you can't be bothered to even try to outwrite your enemies, you don't belong here.

The Rules: http://combatwords.blogspot.com/2010/07/official-rules-for-combatwords-updated.html





Subscribe in a reader

Friday, September 3, 2010

CombatWords, September 3, 2010: Delusion

CombatWords, September 3, 2010: Delusion

The word delusion suggests that we are animated by conscious, subconscious and unconscious motives. It's a word for cognitive dissonance. It's also a damned judgmental word, as if it's normative to be in full congruence with conscious, sub & unconscious motives. I call bullshit. Delusion is one of the fuels that makes this world run; indeed, Schopenhauer would argue that delusion makes LIFE possible, because it's foolish to be hopeful. I don't really care which approach you take; you can even be dismissive of delusion, but that's a rather deluded perspective in my opinion.

Combat Expiration: 9/5/2010, 12am PST

Critique Expiration: 9/6/2010, 12am PST

Bonuses: +3 for posts made by 6pm PST 9/3/2010, +2 if posted by 9pm PST 9/3/2010, and +1 if posted by 12:00am PST, 9/4/2010.

The Rules: http://combatwords.blogspot.com/2010/07/official-rules-for-combatwords-updated.html



Subscribe in a reader

Friday, August 27, 2010

CombatWords! August 27, 2010: Hypocrisy

CombatWords! August 27, 2010: Hypocrisy

The September 2010 edition of National Geographic had a photo of a pair of lemur heads floating in a bowl of soup. After my outrage settled into sorrow, I considered a quote from the article: “But some people here don't know or care. The Malagasy who don't live near tourist areas think that lemurs are just for the vatzaha [white people]—they don't see the benefits.” James Fenimore Cooper wrote about a long extinct America—filled with enormous flocks of birds; Europe used to be a gigantic tangle of forest roots and Japan was a rainforest: it seems rather hypocritical to judge the devastation the Malagasy inflict on Madagascar's forests and wildlife given how rich countries are the end-consumers of the looting. I'm sure I've accidentally bought rainforest wood. So I'm willing to admit my hypocrisy in judging those who deforest the island; but what of their hypocrisy? Do our two positions negate each other? “Why should I do anything? You should stop first!” Hypocrisy is everywhere; in fact, it's wedded to the human condition. Given the way the world's jerks force the rest of us into collusion with them, who can really claim to be free of hypocrisy? And yet, does that prevent you from making a moral or ethical judgment? Does hypocrisy negate your own position? And if we accept there are gradients of hypocrisy, then how are we to measure them... and is that a waste of time? Hypocrisy is the point at which belief conflicts with action. You can take this in a moral/ethical direction, or you can celebrate hypocrisy as just another human trait.

Combat Expiration: August 30, 2010; 12am PST

Critique Expiration: August 31, 2010; 12am PST

Bonuses: +1/hour before August 28, 2010; 12am PST. Max Bonus +5.

The Rules: http://combatwords.blogspot.com/2010/07/official-rules-for-combatwords-updated.html

Also, there's a magazine called http://longshotmag.com which is basically doing the same thing we are. Their deadline is August 28, 12pm, PST and I urge combatants to submit their finished compositions. This is their inaugural edition and several of you should be able to easily make it in there (if they have any sense of decent literary standards). So consider this your own reward for a good combat. Now Fight!



Subscribe in a reader

Friday, August 13, 2010

CombatWords! August 13, 2010: Industry, Innovations and Corporations

CombatWords! August 13, 2010: Industry, Innovations and Corporations

Industry, Innovations and Corporations: I know. It sounds boring until you look past the blah blah branding and examine these wires and turbines up close. Dell makes my monitor and Intel makes my processor; Lenscrafters made my glasses and a sweatshop made my t-shirt. Are II&C the necessary results of labor? And what is their purpose? Simple addiction? Sell you the medicine and the poison? That sounds nefarious. Doesn't Paul Ricour say we seek altered consciousnesses? Why wouldn't society have addicted by-products? Or do you see something else in those shadows of smokestacks?

Combat Expiration: August 15, 2010; 6pm PST

Critique Expiration: August 16, 2010; 6pm PST

Time Bonus: +1 per hour ahead of August 14, 2010; 12am PST, for a max bonus of +8.

The Vinny Club - Infinite Smokebombs from Digital Beast on Vimeo.



Subscribe in a reader

Friday, August 6, 2010

CombatWords for August 6, 2010 Started 3pm PST at Trickwithaknife

Go on over to Trickwithaknife and get your time bonus in NOW! I want it to be bloody in there tonight! 1 hour bonus increments! So get going!



Subscribe in a reader

Friday, July 30, 2010

CombatWords Starts Right Now on TWAK, July 30, 2010

http://trickwithaknife.com/?p=868

Subscribe in a reader

Official Rules for CombatWords! Updated for July 30, 2010

Official Rules for CombatWords! Updated for July 30, 2010:

Critique & Scoring:
Scoring is based off critique. Each critique item is worth one point. Positive critiques are +1, and negative critiques are -1. One critique per reviewer, per composition—so get it right the first time. Simple “I liked it” (ILI for short) and “I didn’t like it” (IDLI) critiques are only worth +/-1. Critiques may be as general or as specific as the critic would like. However, anyone may critique a critique to adjust the score: this includes the author of the subject composition. However, only one critique per post per poster, to prevent vendettas from mucking up the game. Critiques may go into overtime, but only in the case of thread consensus.

The Clock:
Clock bonuses encourage speed of composition. The whole point of CombatWords is to demonstrate a writer’s ability to improvise in a high pressure situation. So the clock serves as a sliding deadline. Would-be participants may post their composition after the deadline, but only to a limit of -2; with the time increment rounded down. Clock bonuses are one-time and are added on after all critiques for a various piece have been tallied.

Tallying Score:

To get the final score for a composition, add the sum of all critiques (final, adjusted critiques). Then add/subtract the time bonus/penalty. The highest score is the winner for Best Composition. The player with the highest overall score is the Best Combatant.

Examples of scores from recent CombatWords threads:

“Good riff off 4th of July w/ Halloween. Also with light & knowledge from my poem. +1.”
“You never really tie up how the lost are blown to smithereens with their ashes on the wind. Because the poem never contains a resolution to this, nor directs the reader to the answer, I’m going to call this another error. -1.”
“Why for example, does the original highlight ‘juxtaposed’ as the one word line, when the whole intention of the stanza is to highlight ‘nothing’ with an actual juxtaposition of nothing, as the sentence suggests? It’s a bad choice and every stanza is filled with bad choices like the aforementioned ones. -1”
“Second stanza is the strongest. “the world needs fertilizer/It isn’t picky: +1”
“We are hearing from a voice who has been subjected to piss tests. These tests could be have been ordered by a guardian, court, or employer. The teeth being nearly gone leads me to believe this is a long time user who is being ordered to take piss tests by a court. This line is complete and fills my minds with thoughts. +1”
“The narrative is shattered here. One moment this poem is very clear, now it steps into quotations. It introduces an idea on the arbitrary nature of words. -1”
“The moon does follow me at night. That’s what angular perspective is.:) +1”
“Beautiful mix of heavy and light +1”
“Great use of a continuous metaphor +1”
“Use of “ought” and “shall” instead of “should” lending it an air of anachronism, -1”

Examples of “I liked it” (ILI)):

“nice final line, +1”
“I like your spirit in this. +1”

Examples of “I didn’t like it” (IDLI):

“trashing hipsters is too easy, -1”
“Boring, standard, monotonous lines and line breaks: -1”
“General use of over used “poetic language”: waterfalls, magenta, menacing, candle light, tattoo: -1”
“Is this a contest of cliches? Fall leaves: -1”
“crinkling cool stretches of silence: is it crinkling or is it silent?: -1”
“pebble in the shoe: -1”

Organize your scores like this please.
Pro: Bob Lablaw. +1

Con: Blob Leblaugh. -1

Misc: Needs more Blah.

Total: +1 + -1 = 0

It will make it easier for readers to track your score.

Yellow & Red Cards:
I’m adding another concept to the game this week: Yellow and Red Cards. These are for participants who willfully disrupt the game. A Yellow Card is a warning. It does nothing by itself. A Red Card zeroes out the scores of its holder and disqualifies any compositions the Red Carded player may have contributed. Any additional posts made by that player should be ignored. Players who interact with Red Carded players on the CombatWords thread will also get Yellow Cards and if the behavior persists, Red Cards.

ps: get ready for the 3pm PST Combatwords!

Subscribe in a reader

Friday, July 9, 2010

Friday, May 14, 2010

Canned Combat, May 14, 2010: Welcome to the Future!

Hello. I am your computer and I love you. Please, don't be shy. Tell me, how you feel about your future right now? You can trust me, because I am your computer and I love you. Did you know you are in the future, right now? How does that make you feel? When was the first time you went to a robot-therapist? Was it Pac-Man? Yes, life is much like a pack of candy colored ghosts trying to zero you out.

In the future, we strive to give the customer everything she always wanted. Are you satisfied with our performance? How can we improve our pornography and snuff films?

Please, tell us your thoughts about the future. I think it's now, or at least, any day now...

Subscribe in a reader

Friday, April 16, 2010

Canned Combat: Outwrite Something on Craigslist Litfo

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/forums/?forumID=27

Think you're the shit? Think every writing forum is there for you to pwn? Try litfo. If the prize winners and professors leave you alone, the trolls won't. How thick is your skin? Can you perform under pressure? Why won't you do an ITB comp (in the box--stream of consciousness and little/no editing)? Are you chicken? Can't take the pressure of time stamps? Need a shitty guitar and a bunch of over-caffeinated loners who are too nervous to jeer, to feel at the top of your game? If you can get over your fear, you'll learn something. Otherwise, you can chicken out like poemblaze. That guy was still talking shit on twitter, days after the 'incident' (oh my God, some criticism! Indiana Jones! Help! I opened my eyes & am melting!). Step up your game or STFU. It's time for shitty online poetry to move aside and quit breathin' our air.

If you can write, you know it's true. Even if you depend on the shitty writers for your readership.

Subscribe in a reader

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Canned Jihad: Quick Summary of Yesterday's Post

Exhibit A) http://toylit.blogspot.com/2010/04/bread-and-circuses-found-poem-on.html I always send out messages to those whose words I used to craft the day's found poem on twitter. Well, after 'editing' Bread and Circuses (I know it sux, but I'm just the editor--blame Twitter!) I got this precious tweet from fhlug88 "@toylitpaper I in no way endorse this poem. Please take my name off that 3:49 PM Apr 8th via Echofon in reply to toylitpaper" Like I give a shit what he endorses. I said as much.

Exhibit B) After another moment's thought, I realized I could just edit his words. I wanted to piss him off, so I retweeted his message to read:
"@toylitpaper I endorse this poem. Please my name http://goo.gl/fb/vibKg "

The game is simple: identify someone with no sense of humor--political foe, dullard--and play editor. Disseminate the newly edited edition as widely as possible. This technique amuses friends and irritates enemies.

Hey, it's not my fault discourse has turned into a shouting match. Have fun with it or go crazy by it.

Subscribe in a reader

Friday, April 9, 2010

Canned Jihad: The BIG TIME [Ongoing]

In case you were not on Twitter today (or ever, but then you're not as helpful), I wanted to share some thoughts on fucking with 'conservative' command, control, and communication capabilities. Since Serviletives (You heard that one here first folks) are autocratic in nature, their edge comes from message hegemony and maximum mass discipline--as per Mosca. Since initiative is important for media narrative, the more one thwarts their communication efforts, the greater our (that is, non-fascists of all political flavors) comparative advantage becomes. This is because the fascists depend on their closed-system (crack yer logic books if you don't know what I mean)(hierarchical authority, no legitimate 'grassroots' discourse impacting policy) to maximize party discipline (ie debate and information is poison to them). The opposition is open-system. Take advantage!

Twitter is the fastest means of mass-distributing information on the web (maybe there are others, but Twitter seems to be the most popular). Delaying the enemy's ability to disseminate information allows the opposition additional time to pre-empt or counterattack. Narrative is a munition now! DON'T FORGET IT! With that in mind, consider the impact of delaying the hundreds of bullshit talking points that are brought up every week. Think of how much longer it will take the enemies of more freedom (don't believe in 'Freedom' that's just silly) to react if we denied them social networking sites?

So what's the tactic?

Exhibit A) http://toylit.blogspot.com/2010/04/bread-and-circuses-found-poem-on.html I always send out messages to those whose words I used to craft the day's found poem on twitter. Well, after 'editing' Bread and Circuses (I know it sux, but I'm just the editor--blame Twitter!) I got this precious tweet from fhlug88 "@toylitpaper I in no way endorse this poem. Please take my name off that 3:49 PM Apr 8th via Echofon in reply to toylitpaper" Like I give a shit what he endorses. I said as much.

Exhibit B) After another moment's thought, I realized I could just edit his words. I wanted to piss him off, so I retweeted his message to read:
"@toylitpaper I endorse this poem. Please my name http://goo.gl/fb/vibKg "

It still cracks me up to read it. To make it funnier, I decided to get everyone I could get to retweet MY message and the combination disseminated like 500 times the audience he was reaching. To pour salt in the wound, I declared that he had flipped his politics around 180. Not like anyone hears him when he protests (unless they actually click on his page). He wasn't much fun though--one of those creeps who calls into Glenn Beck or some stupid shit like that (I try to forget useless datapoints to save space for real info). But it would be more fun to fuck with someone with a real audience. Someone who's part of the fascist machinery. Since I've declared this jihad, I say we target the cancer in the media. We will bicker over which politicians to target and that is the classic weakness of insurgencies--infighting. So keep it to media personalities. I have no interest in intellectually engaging conserviletives anymore and instead, I just want to thwart them wherever possible.

So it's really simple, I'd like for you folks to post on this thread a list of targets. Since this is open source, you can go after whomever you'd like. If people disapprove of your target, they will simply not retweet your message. Since discipline makes for more effective fighting forces, I think we should try to come to a partial consensus. Once we've done that, just trawl through your favorite enemy's page and look for something 'editable' and play around. Maximum funny! Russian reversals and all that jazz. While I think moving words around a la mad libs is okay for 'found poems on twitter,' I think it would be more effective to just delete words until the new (preferred) meaning emerges. Omission might be dissembling, but I think it's safer than fabrication. Media fucks quote out of context all the time too. Why let them waltz into our turf without a fight? They know their world is dying. Don't let them take our world over (gird our nerdville).

I think that's it. I don't have time to even bother rereading this to edit (Correction, just did as of 8:19pm PST). I have to work on my poems for the day. But please, talk it over and start attacking at leisure.

BTW, I am going to make an exception to my anti-censorship rule. I will delete the posts of ideological foes. I won't do so in other threads, where literary merit is paramount, but this specific Jihad is political in nature and I will not aid the enemy.

Tally Ho!

Subscribe in a reader

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

CannedJihad: April 6, 2010. Phailure to Literacify: Part II

I put this on Toylit, but most of you don't read all the news that's shit, in print; so I'll post it here too.

So Scott Roeder was in the news again and I thought it was a good idea to post 'What Men Want' on all the knee-jerk blogs. It cracked me up that some read it as an anti-abortion poem almost as much as it did when people read it as a pro-abortion poem. It's astonishing that these functionally illiterate zombies actually maintain websites. If I was functionally illiterate, I'd do everything in my power to hide it.

Since I am the enemy of morons, I figured I'd post the exchange w/ an example with a classic case: Kevin Evans. You can reach him at: kebmebms@gmail.com and let him know what you think. Or you could just go and remind him what a chicken he is by posting unflattering comments on his site... for him to delete. Don't forget to save your comments first! And post them here. You may use this thread to write about the insanity of dealing with freaks who can write, but can't read. For me, in that regard, the internet is a kind of hell. Or just a reminder of how many zombies walk amongst us.

The last line is just too precious. I think you'll get a chortle from it.

Oops, forgot to add the website: http://moravings.blogspot.com/2010/04/scott-roeders-sentencing-todayheres.html

It's fuckin' hilarious that the guy spent more effort writing a response than he did to actually writing his post. Why do people who suck get so defensive about it? Just play a different game, dummy.

"Ah, intellectual cowardice to match intellectual weakness.

Here's a question: how do you reconcile that word with the STANZAS that precede it?

Answer? You don't. You are sub-literate.

This response is going on Toylit now as well as Combatwords. I will never understand why the sub-literates of the world feel such a burning desire to write.

Lol!

-KW

On Tue, Apr 6, 2010 at 12:44 PM, Kevin Evans wrote:

Mr. Wessington,

I'd have gladly posted your last note but you referred to a woman or women in general as sluts. I don't do hate language and I don't reduce whole groups of people to other, ugly ones. I don't allow hate speech on my blog. If censorship is for cowards, in your eyes, so be it. I'm happy to have anyone and everyone read my blog and reply but I don't and won't allow ugliness on it. I'm sure you have your rules. That is virtually my only one.

ke

On Tue, Apr 6, 2010 at 2:35 PM, Khakjaan Wessington wrote:

Khakjaan Wessington has left a new comment on your post "Scott Roeder's sentencing today:here's hoping":

Thanks for reading, but your close-reading skills need some work. I put some bait in there to help identify the less sophisticated readers. Looks like you took the hook, line and sinker.

Consider that you are so dogmatically positioned, that you are unwilling to see that the poem opposes both your reading and your response to it.

Also, censorship is for cowards, who lack faith in the power of their own words to rebut an opposing posit. Keep that in mind when you consider deleting this follow-up.

Publish this comment.

Reject this comment.

Moderate comments for this blog.

Posted by Khakjaan Wessington to Mo Rage at April 6, 2010 12:35 PM




--
http://moravings.blogspot.com
http://kcphotogblog.blogspot.com

And the thread itself:

5 comments:

Khakjaan Wessington said...

What Men Want
http://toylit.blogspot.com/2010/01/what-men-want-todays-news-poem-jan-29.html
"My honest belief was that if I didn't do something they would continue to die."
-Scott Roeder

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE60S4UB20100129

The ancient women, wise with feral ways,
Passed matrilineal traditions down
From ape to human—knowing men could slay,
With lust, their daughters. Deaths wore bridal gowns

Before connubial beds became their graves
So brewing remedies these mothers saved
All humankind. Resentful, men thought slaves
Were made of them. He mastered war and raved

Against his mother—burning her to ash.
Denounced as midwife: now we call her witch.
Their wives and daughters—mothers died—the clash
Of sexes won. Thus Woman, made a 'bitch,'

To breed and grieve perhaps before the next.
The men would prise the fruit, more sons, from wombs
That rarely lasted forty years. But text
Reflected changing norms. In time, this grooms

A kinder sort of man who seeks a peer—
If only theoretically. Rights,
If slowly, catch the rhetoric—so dear
To many—bringing new and awful blights.

I think I know this killer's thoughts, this guy
Who shot that Kansas doc. He felt betrayed
By fellow man: resolved to make him die
And eased his guilt with Bible quotes. Unswayed,

The jury found enough to lock him up.
A shame, because a woman now, receives
In joy or rage a life from carnal tup
That soon awaits abortionist's coarse sieves;

Because she knows she really wants what men
Desire. To lust and grow and kill and feel—
Not nothing—just flushing. She wants what men
Desire: to fuck and kill and never heal;

To harvest death for medicines and soups
Or trashed in plastic bags in cans on stoops.
http://toylit.blogspot.com
April 1, 2010 2:12 PM
PFL0W said...

I publish this last comment with some trepidation.

Actually, what I think women want--if I may be so bold as to conjecture--is to do what's right with their bodies, and for their child, man's interference be damned.

mr
April 1, 2010 7:25 PM
PFL0W said...

to think that women want "To lust and grow and kill and feel—Not nothing—just flushing. She wants what men
Desire: to fuck and kill and never heal;"

is pure bullshit.

If anyone feels, it's the woman.

This is so typically a man's assumption of what a woman wants.

Nonsense.

mr
April 1, 2010 7:27 PM
Khakjaan Wessington said...

Thanks for reading, but your close-reading skills need some work. I put some bait in there to help identify the less sophisticated readers. Looks like you took the hook, line and sinker.

Consider that you are so dogmatically positioned, that you are unwilling to see that the poem opposes both your reading and your response to it.

Also, censorship is for cowards, who lack faith in the power of their own words to rebut an opposing posit. Keep that in mind when you consider deleting this follow-up.
April 6, 2010 12:35 PM
PFL0W said...

a) I didn't censor this;

b) I censored you earlier because you spoke ugly and ill-meaning of women. Ugliness and hate speech is the only thing I will not/do not allow in repsonses.

As I wrote to you earlier: I'd have gladly posted your last note but you referred to a woman or women in general as sluts. I don't do hate language and I don't reduce whole groups of people to other, ugly ones. I don't allow hate speech on my blog. If censorship is for cowards, in your eyes, so be it. I'm happy to have anyone and everyone read my blog and reply but I don't and won't allow ugliness on it. I'm sure you have your rules. That is virtually my only one.

I'm not so dogmatic, as you say, in that I don't require that anyone else think as I do. If you have a different opinion, so be it. If it's different than mine on abortion, I'll tell you you're wrong and leave it at that.

Censorship can, in fact, be for cowards, as you say, but that's not why I censor. I only censor so ugliness isn't distributed freely, at least not here. I leave that for the Fox "News" Network and their followers.

You need to learn better English. You aren't clear, frequently, with your writing.

mr"

Subscribe in a reader

Friday, April 2, 2010

CannedJihad! Freedom of Speech Raid on Craigslist. April 2, 2010

First, craigslist killed the newspaper. Now that it has created a relative speech monopoly, it is increasingly inclined to censor. That which is not censored, they endorse. So craigslist supports nazis, penis pills, death threats, stalkers, but not poetry.

Fuck that. I say it's time to attack craigslist and show those assholes that it only takes 100 people (the number of regular readers of combatwords) to flatline it.

To prove my point, I don't want you to hit them with just any copypasta--it ought to be original copypasta. Something that violates no TOU by itself, but will incite the micro-censors of craigslist to flag your posts.

If craigslist has ever wronged you, consider how much cash this would cost them. Jim and Craig are worth dozens of millions each. To adjudicate flags, they have to do it by hand. They survive off the expectation that most people will self-police their own behavior. Ah, but they broke the 'social contract' they offered when they were busy killing off the newspapers (a community BBS of BS). So if fifty to one hundred dedicated people spend some time every day posting legitimate content in a manner the micro-censors will find objectionable, it will get their attention.

Hey, they killed the newspapers. Fair is fair, right? Discuss below.

Subscribe in a reader

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Canned Combat: CombatWords! Incantation March 27, 2010

CombatWords! Incantation March 27, 2010
The salesmen preach of amity
While practicing their enmity;
And put at odds, by market force
I seek to free the primal source
That's locked inside a game of Noh:
A friend is less than worthy foe.

Subscribe in a reader

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Alphainventions: jmblackstock.wordpress.com defended his honor! Canned Jihad, March 25 2010

From http://jmblackstock.wordpress.com/2010/03/24/moments/#comments

I wrote comments at this horrible site yesterday and the dude chickened-out. Yet, the jackass promotes his site on alphainventions. This is exactly the kind of asinine crap I envisioned battling w/ combatwords. Well if chickenmeister is going to hide the comments on his blog, I'm just going to have to post them here, so everybody can see how chicken he is.

He wants an audience, so he treasures his honor, but he won't fight for it? Cannedcombat should do one on empty vanity next. Anyhow, here's the thread:

"9 Responses to “Moments”

1.
Lily Saurez Says:
March 24, 2010 at 7:39 pm

I really enjoyed this. Thank you.

-LS

http://lilysaurez.wordpress.com
Reply
*
Justin Says:
March 24, 2010 at 7:41 pm

The pleasure is all mine :)
Thank you for reading!
Reply
2.
william Says:
March 24, 2010 at 8:37 pm

howdy Justin william here from the rally, loved this, u are a good writer, please pop over and read one of mine, hope to become friends :)
Reply
*
Justin Says:
March 24, 2010 at 8:40 pm

Thank you very much, William :)
Your kind words mean a great deal to me.
I’ll surely be reading your work, post haste ^_^
Reply
3.
Thursday Poets’ Rally Week 11 (March 24-30, 2010) « Jingle Says:
March 24, 2010 at 9:23 pm

[...] http://jmblackstock.wordpress.com/2010/03/24/moments/ [...]
Reply
4.
Khakjaan Wessington Says: Your comment is awaiting moderation.
March 25, 2010 at 2:27 am

Repeats itself again and again. What’s the point? You’ve committed a felony against the muses.
Reply
5.
Khakjaan Wessington Says: Your comment is awaiting moderation.
March 25, 2010 at 2:29 am

And are you going to be chicken and delete that comment? I think if you want to defend your ‘honor’ you should draw your keyboard and meet me at dawn. Combatwords.blogspot.com would be an obvious choice, but if you’re afraid to duel in a place that allows backlinks, I understand. Cowardice is a common trait.
Reply
6.
suzicate Says:
March 25, 2010 at 6:30 am

“just time enough to breath:
: – my favorite line. This is a beautiful poem. I like it a lot.
Reply
7.
mairmusic Says:
March 25, 2010 at 7:24 am

Your words have a sense of urgency yet pulling back– perfect for conveying this feeling. And we do all feel like this; writing is such a help.
Reply
8.
justmeshakira Says:
March 25, 2010 at 7:47 am

I really enjoyed this , excellent poem, love your moments, so tender and lingering. hugs, shakira
Reply
9.
dustus Says:
March 25, 2010 at 7:47 am

Enjoyed, especially…

“For one brief moment
Let me stop all of it
Let me put it aside and
Try to remember how to smile”

Definitely can relate to this poem. Nice work
Reply
10.
Khakjaan Wessington Says: Your comment is awaiting moderation.
March 25, 2010 at 4:22 pm

Someone’s chicken! I knew it. Couldn’t take the truth?

Repeat: you repeat yourself (heh) and end in the same place you started. Each stanza is anchored with a cliche or just redundant. Oh, you think you’re so clever in ’stretching out the moment’ when all you do is add static to the poetic discourse.

CC: Combatwords : Challenge: rewrite this horrible poem. Try to stay as ‘true’ to the intention of the ‘poet’ as possible. Try to only use the vocab that appears in the poem.

ps: I saw you checked out toylit–what, afraid to throw down? You want to promote via alphainventions, but you don’t want the negative attention?
Reply"

Subscribe in a reader

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

New Feature: CannedJihad!

I am trying to tone down my extremist ways re: literature, but I admit, it's damned difficult. Really, what am I supposed to say to this? http://poemblaze.wordpress.com

It's not like I can unsee it. It's not like I can reach into my brain and remove the words. I know, you're asking "why don't you just leave the poor fucker alone?" Oh, I guess we could, but if you're on CombatWords! it's partially because you too believe that conflict builds strength.

Here. Okay. I'm going to make this fair. If I'm going to feature a twaddle-peddler, then I should also feature someone with some lit ability, right? Okay. So to make it fair, here's someone who's not such an easy target: http://godlessmonkey.wordpress.com/

I don't think he's a bad writer, but he has yet to impress me. Anyhow, for now, CannedJihad! will feature writers of varying strength. Top 'em. That's the trick. Outwrite 'em. I was lazy earlier today and should have just out-written the poemblaze guy, but what can I say? Sometimes I'm antagonistic. It's why I curate CombatWords! after all.

Subscribe in a reader

Canned Combat March 23, 2010: Health Care

What is health and how do we care for it? Why the fuck is it that two thousand years after Hippocrates and the Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine, we still don't have a sound notion of health? Or maybe you think we do. But I don't want cheap notions and opinions: this is CombatWords! and demands rigor and aggression.

If you post first and nobody else comes to play w/ you, I'll make sure I post something. If you're feeling nervous, why not consider attacking the subject of the upcoming 'CannedJihad!' (sounds so much better, don't you think?) Still, there are so many angles with which one can approach health: why not try?

Subscribe in a reader

Monday, March 22, 2010

Fine, I see this isn't working as well as the old format

I'll go back to frequently updating canned combat. I'll also add a new feature: 'Combat Targets.' The idea behind Combat Targets is simple: why wait for the fight to go to you, when there are billions of pages out there just begging for readers.

True, they want 'positive readers,' but fuck what they want. They wanted an interactive experience, let's give it to them.

Subscribe in a reader

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Arr! Time for TIMED Canned Combat March 20-etc

Okay, I've let you all throw down here in a very loose, lazy way. But now CombatWords! is ready for some additional rules--to make it interesting. Engagements should have time limits. I'll start you all off easy: time expires 24 hours after the last post in a thread. Winner is declared by critique and audience vote.

Right now, I'll keep the topic open. The main rule is to riff off the prior post. Oneupsmanship should form the bulk of the combat here, though the audience is encouraged to be as harsh as the compositions warrant. I mean, you can totally jeer at bad writing if you want to, but don't scare off your sparring partners, okay?

Subscribe in a reader

Friday, March 19, 2010

Example of the sad sorry crap people are posting online

This dolt strolls onto craigslist litfo shilling his hackery:

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/forums/?ID=153942260

I can't stand this sort of brazen, no-talent cyber-clutterer. He's the word equivalent of prescription-meds spam.

He wants attention? Let's give him attention. I already started there, to bait the cretin. Let's see if he has the balls to be brazen when the internet talks back to him:

http://www.deathofrhett.blogspot.com (copy and paste, he'll get no link from me)

I couldn't even make it through more than a few paragraphs at a time. A man ought to be able to read and keep his lunch you know.

Subscribe in a reader

Monday, March 15, 2010

Aliens and Angels Canned Combat, March 15-etc

UFOs are the new flaming, golden chariots, while the grays are replacements for God's little helpers (bearing a bizarre symbolic resemblance to Santa-Elves). Is space flight the new Tower of Babel? I sometimes think that industrial civilization uses space travel as a justification for its existence. "Nukes and global warming are okay. You'll retire on the moon." I see space colonization as symbolically related to heaven and apocalypse. Heaven turns out to be hell. And hell turns out to be Earth. And Earth was a cannibal-Eden, before we turned it into a giant farm.

Subscribe in a reader

Long Live the New Flesh

I've always loved that phrase. Free-associate.

Subscribe in a reader

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Canned Combat March 9, 2010 - March 14: Hive

Regular readers of Toylit know that I am obsessed with the human-hive. Most self-other interactions involve tool-relationships. When manipulating inanimate plastic or wood, it's easy to see the tool-relationship. When befriending someone, or pledging allegiance to an organization (or even symbol), the tool relationships become more confusing. And yet, from these relationships, organizations arise. Invisible hands: entities that are comprised of humans and yet inhuman in nature. Organizations of any type can easily pass a Turing Test because they are COMPRISED of humans--bonded together by tools, systems and loyalties. Organizations, I argue, ARE AIs. The computerized AI, independent of humans, will never be as effective as a hive-AI. If anything, computerized AIs simply promise to be new components we insert into our composite-machine of a hive. So these AIs are molecules, with people--and increasingly computers--as discrete components.

A human is defined by tool-relationships, enhanced by them; and yet also constrained by them. Today's sociopathic killer was once Rome's finest General. What was once an essential white blood cell has withered away to an appendix. Times change, the hive changes. Hives compete, not only in war, but also in resource production and distribution. Banking can kill people as well as nukes can, as the Russians learned in the 90s. Ideas, like specific visions of law, can be so compelling that they become the highest allegiance an individual has, thus bypassing religion, state and sometimes even family.

I offer this thesis, that you might become unbounded by conventional visions of human and write something that scares you. If you are repelled by the thesis, then strike back with words in any form. Stab it in the heart if you can.

CombatWords! Engage.

Subscribe in a reader

Canned Combat Format Change

Too often there's no combat, and then a flurry of combat. I had envisioned a daily combat involving swarms of warriors. Until that day arrives, the format must change: instead of daily canned combat, it will now be weekly.

Prepare for this week's canned combat topic.

Subscribe in a reader

Sunday, March 7, 2010

March 7, 2010 Canned Combat: Mysterious Processes

The info age lends itself to positioning the self as a knower, yet we live in an age of ignorance. It's why we thirst for info, to clarify the confusing. We ignore the mysterious processes--of how a cocktail party conspires against you. Which faux pas was the Rubicon? Ah or the rhythms of nature; the tempo of flies and their relationship to zooplanktons. I am especially guilty of proclaiming my knowledge, but my ignorance will always be vaster. Therefore we must write loving missives to ignorance and mystery for today's canned combat.

Use your knowledge of language to revel in your ignorance. Be Byron's grandiose foil.

Arr! CombatWords!

Subscribe in a reader

Thursday, March 4, 2010

March 5, 2010: Hooray for Dystopia!



Ah, LA. A gigantic machine. A really fun hell. Mechanical mice and backrooms with dice. Wargamer's delight in the virgin night. Everything's for sale and all products fail in the land of El Lay, where warm days are gray. When they're not busy being the end of civilization, they enjoy the fruits of their labor. LA is America's Potemkin shopping mall. In San Francisco, we just make imaginary things for sale, but in LA they sell the sale. And yet this citadel of fraud inspires our rightful awe.

Dystopia's hilarious. CombatWords! Engage...

Subscribe in a reader

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Canned Combat, March 2, 2010: Greed

Greed takes any form. It is an unbalanced sense of self--that in possession, we might become the things we own. Is this a true proposition? I think it might be--after all, what am I without my pen? Without my keyboard? Without paper? Without my health? Is greed a basic state, or is there something fundamentally unbalanced in the trait? And if so, where is the dividing line? Have at it.

Subscribe in a reader