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=== grid vandal

gridvandal would be a neat neologism for the upper cadre of the worshippers of St Gretchen of Aspberg (patron saint of the Cult of Thermageddon),

It has a vaguely Norse/Scando sound, and would fit nicely in a sentence in which the local jarl of the griðvanðalir declared "climate deniers" subject to fjörbaugsgarður and skóggangur (lesser- and full- outlawry, respectively).

Perhaps on a new Dísablót, dedicated to propitiating a particularly malevolent dís. Hilariously, dísir means both 'ladies' and what the Greeks would call άρπυιαι 'harpies'.

All of the foregoing would be much more readable if Substack's $7/hr Reddit-tier H1b coders had enabled EM and I tags in comments. Fuckers,

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Thanks bro, very honored! Admire your writing very much.

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May 27, 2023Liked by John Carter

I don't remember what your subscription cost, but it feels like I was paid back on my first read.

Thx!

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Thanks for the kind words, brother. If I had the jack to afford it, I'd probably owe you 10% commission by now.

Also:

"Target has been spooked into hiding its boy's tick suits in the back."

I think you meant "tuck suits." Although it wouldn't surprise me if they were also hawking bug costumes for arachnid-identifying tykes. Not sure which is worse.

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May 27, 2023Liked by John Carter

We've had "quiet cabins" on trains here (Sweden) for 20+ years now. By pure coincidence, it's always also first class cabins. Don't know about the US/UK but here there's a very real and tangible difference between first class and second.

You don't get there faster, but you get to travel without having to sit too closeto the hoi-polloi and you are free of the frequent violence when people of certain racial backgrounds refuse to pay for tickets,or just cause havoc and harass white people for fun.

Kaos in mythology is the void before creation, and what is left after creation is destroyed. The magic you speak of is kaotic magic - the magic of destruction. We are living the Kaoskampf: they, the woke and the rich, wants to destroy what they cannot rule. As they cannot destroy life nor can they rule death, they instead destroy the essence and meaning of it.

Like some min-max kobold only intent on wrecking the game and stop others from having fun "the wrong way", they would rather burn everything and piss on the ashest han let others enjoy the fire; you mentioned liches so my cache of gaming metaphors flew open. I'd not compare them to Acererak or his ilk, though, but to Saruman. Especially Saruman after the Fall of Isengard.

They have ignored the basic tenets of magic:

As above, so below.

Do not call up that which you cannot put down.

Magic is addictive.

And the final rule:

A rock to the back of the skull trumps all magic (or technology if you prefer).

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For readers interested in the community/atomization discussion in a couple of these posts, McConkey has also been covering it lately, e.g. here: https://thecirculationofelites.substack.com/p/hopes-of-a-soft-landing

https://thecirculationofelites.substack.com/p/the-bureaucratem-and-the-market

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Your weekly digest is one of the neatest things on Substack. It's an amazing community with a lot of talent.

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May 27, 2023Liked by John Carter

This is good stuff, and it’s from this kind of ferment, or this ferment itself, that real answers will come when the call is made.

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Honoured to be included in these, John.

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Great write-up, as always! If I am ever in danger of feeling egotistical about how smart and well-read I am, all I need to do to disabuse myself of such arrogance is to look at one of these digests and realize I'm not even close. I guess that's a good problem to have, though: more good stuff to read than there is time to read it all.

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Great list of links again this week!

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May 28, 2023Liked by John Carter

Wew lad!

You continue to impress .

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Thanks for including my story, John! Much appreciated! 👍🏻😎🤘🏻

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Thanks for the shout out, John. "Write Wing" got a pretty good chuckle out of me.

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