Ixthos

Can't believe I forgot to wish you for your birthday! Happy birthday man, I hope you had a great one!

Happy birthday!!! Have a beautiful day!

Happy birthday, Ixthos!

Happy birthday! You're cool!

So.

As you may have guessed, more status updates about Jewish holidays are... unlikely to come, in the near future.

I was called to the IDF reserves for some (non-fighting) stuff, and my time and state of mind aren't really accomodating of writing about those things.

Now, I wrote those pieces mostly for my own sake and it seems like I didn't have that big a following, so I guess I'm not disappointing this many people! Still, though, to those who may have waited for it - I'm sorry.

I think I'll leave it at that - I don't really know all the details of what's going on in Israel right now besides that we're at war. If you'd like to know more - I'm kind of the wrong source, since I don't watch news.

I wish you all well, thank you for reading and have a good day.

 I started writing an SU about the holiday of Shemini Atzeret - which in Israel is also Simchat Torah, outside of Israel the first day is the former and the second is the latter. I didn't find the time for that on the holiday's eve, though, and due to current events I didn't have the peace of mind to write it now either. So, I'm sorry to all three of my loyal followers (and the people who don't always upvote, you deserve an apology too), but this is going to be delayed. Hopefully not too much.

Thank you for reading, and have a good day! Also, no, I'm not a robot. I just like to end most of my messages this way.

For this Shardversary I wanted to do something different. So, I decided to post a status update during my Hebrew calendar Shardversary instead of the Gregorian one! I had to check it, since I didn't bother noting the day back then, but it's not that hard to keep track of. I would say, though, that it surprised me a little.

You see, this is my third year here - the amount of time @Tesh was here when I've joined, meaning she just doubled it about a month ago. Anyway, it's not hard to realize this was during the pandemic. But, unlike what you may have thought, it was after quarantine basically ended for me - a month or so after I've returned to my Yeshivah, to studying in capsules. This leads me to a short digression about my Sanderson history, which I probably mentioned in the past.

My older brother recommended Sanderson to me when I was somewhere in the middle of high school. I honestly don't remember the exact time. I can tell that I've first read Elantris a tad over four years ago, and it led to me reading both Mistborn and Stormlight (I think), but I was done with that quickly. And it actually wasn't my first Sanderson book - but I'm digressing from my digression.

Anyway, through the year between reading the entire published Cosmere and me signing up to the Shard, I had precisely one person to talk about the Cosmere to. And it became clear pretty quickly that he did not share my enthusiasm. This is nothing all that new; as a matter of fact, my family having trouble dealing with my rambles and rants was an issue for years, and I've been lamenting over the fact no one I know has read exactly the books I have for a long time. The funny part is, during quarantine my sisters bought and read the entire Mistborn trilogy... But they probably didn't have the patience to listen to me either. Now my sister made a presentation about Allomancy for a college assignment and needed my expertise, so ha to that! Anyway, to return to the topic (again), my brother suggested that if I wanted to discuss the Cosmere with people - I should just sign up to the Shard. So I've lurked around for some time, and after some time I decided I want to sign up.

I'm still not sure if it had the desired effect.

Anyway, things have changed since; I'm not sure I can say that I integrated into the community or found people who enjoy my rambles and rants (you guys do seem to enjoy at least some of them, but probably not all), but it did drag me to join Discord, and gave me the idea of my reading group, and taught me a few things about the world and people. Like how people can be kind and polite in the Internet, for example.

That's the point where I list all the people I interacted with and befriended, right? Supposedly. Well...

I can try. But honestly, after trying to write things about people... Maybe I'll try it during my Gregorian Shardversary, maybe not. I'm not sure I can do it very well right now.

Some of the people I'd have mentioned if I had the mind for it: @Knight of Iron, @Ixthos, @AonEne, @Ed Venture, @The Bald Brandon, @Amira, @Lego Mistborn, @ash's_eyes, @theTruthshaper and possibly a couple of others.

Anyway, those previous three years were fun, and I hope for more good times here!

... Even if I'm not really active except for random posts about Judaism. I'll get around to writing my next installment in the History of Judaism essays, I just need some more resources!

Thank you for reading, and have a good day.

Happy birthday Ixthos! Have a nice day!

Sometimes i like to think about how utterly useless we are as individuals 

reminder: you are no better than prehistoric man. they were equally as intelligent, we just have years of compounded knowledge

like, look around you right now, choose any random object. now imagine you were instantly transported to a gazillion years ago. lets assume you can't die of starvation or illness and nothing is trying to kill you. do you think you could make an exact replica of that object before you die of old age? \

99.9999999% of cases, no you can't.

i wouldn't be able to make a pencil. think about all the design that's gone into something like that. the exact type of wood, the yellow paint coating, the composition of the rubber tip. all the machining and technique required to do even the simplest thing.

i can look around right now, and i don't think there is a single object that i would be able to replicate in this hypothetical scenrio

bottle cap: no
wooden baseboard: almost, but no idea how to make paint or nails
a nickel: noooo way
shoelace: wouldn't even know where to start

and the thing is, i don't think anyone alive today would be able to either
sure, plenty of people would be able to thrive in scenarios like this, some survivalist people are insane
like you could definitely make substitutions for all of these. a crude pencil or shoelace wouldn't be that tough if you know what you're doing
but nobody would even come close to accurately replicating them. 

we are standing on the shoulders of millions of giants

Sometimes i like to think about how utterly useless we are as individuals 

reminder: you are no better than prehistoric man. they were equally as intelligent, we just have years of compounded knowledge

like, look around you right now, choose any random object. now imagine you were instantly transported to a gazillion years ago. lets assume you can't die of starvation or illness and nothing is trying to kill you. do you think you could make an exact replica of that object before you die of old age? \

99.9999999% of cases, no you can't.

i wouldn't be able to make a pencil. think about all the design that's gone into something like that. the exact type of wood, the yellow paint coating, the composition of the rubber tip. all the machining and technique required to do even the simplest thing.

i can look around right now, and i don't think there is a single object that i would be able to replicate in this hypothetical scenrio

bottle cap: no
wooden baseboard: almost, but no idea how to make paint or nails
a nickel: noooo way
shoelace: wouldn't even know where to start

and the thing is, i don't think anyone alive today would be able to either
sure, plenty of people would be able to thrive in scenarios like this, some survivalist people are insane
like you could definitely make substitutions for all of these. a crude pencil or shoelace wouldn't be that tough if you know what you're doing
but nobody would even come close to accurately replicating them. 

we are standing on the shoulders of millions of giants

Am I a Brony?

Well, I'm aware that one came out of nowhere, but I have a point with this question, so please hear me out. Personally, my answer to the above question - which I'm the only one asking - is actually no, I'm not. I intend to elaborate here a bit on why that is. But Trutharchivist, don't you have a blog here? Why use a status update? Well, my blog is for different things, like trying to explain the history of Judaism in the previous two-three centuries. I don't want to digress there. So, without lingering any further, let's begin.

Since I opened with that, I guess I'll start with the Brony situation. Bronies are defined as fans of My Little Pony (specifically Friendship is Magic) who are outside the regular target demographics of little girls. Mostly, we're talking about adult men at around their early twenties. I am, indeed, a men at my early twenties, and I've been watching MLP: FiM and adjacent content a lot lately. That, supposedly, places me under the definition of a Brony. So why am I in denial about it?

But here's the thing: I do like MLP: FiM, but I wouldn't call myself a fan of it. Or, well, not a very dedicated fan. You see, I tend to go through various temporal obsessions during my life. A few of the more severe ones include Harry Potter, Tolkien's Legendarium, possibly Percy Jackson and, yes, MLP: FiM. I have a somewhat extensive knowledge on those franchises, but not as extensive as more dedicated fans. I can tell you approximately what happened during the First Age of Arda, how Voldemort found Barty Crouch Jr. to infiltrate Hogwarts, How Percy reacted to meeting Echidna (and who's the Greek Mythology hero that defeated the monster he faced back then) and what musincal the song "Best Night Ever" from the first part of MLP: FiM's season one finale references (though it has more to do with liking said musical than liking the show...). I can randomly quote the Inheritance Cycle, Discworld or random stuff from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (and it's not just 42). I'm also exaggarating a bit to sound impressive, but I do randomly quote books sometimes. Oh, and there's a person or two out there who view me as the resident Marvel expert (not around here). My point is, though, that all those won't be in my "most favourite" list (though all will be in my favourites); they had their effect on me, but I don't see myself as a part of the fandom. Same may well go for Sanderson books, BTW: I may read the Cosmere as it comes out, but I don't consider Sanderson's books to be necessarily the best I've ever read.

My point may be mute after all that I said, but in the end, the fandoms I most identify with are the smallest ones I'm a part of. Perhaps the Underland Chronicles, Diana Wynne Jones' books, Anne of Green Gables... A few small books that caught my eye and - dare I say it - my heart. (Not necessarily just books, though.) MLP: FiM may or may not join this more exclusive group of media that had deep influence on me, but it isn't there yet. Which is why I don't see myself as a Brony, or Potterhead, or Whovian or whatever weird fandom name those others have: I'm not that much invested in those Fandoms for the long run, or not invested very deeply. My latest obsession is MLP: FiM. Who knows what I'll get into next?

Hope it made sense! Thank you for reading, and have a wonderful day!

-Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle- no, wait, that's not right...

Ahem! -yours, faithfully, Trutharchivist, AKA Ookla the Questioning?

Hi Robin, or I guess Ookla the Cloud  I suddenly had the urge to message you and check if you are okay or see how you are doing, but it looks like I can't send messages to you for some reason ... well, I hope this more public message isn't a problem then  I hope you are well, and I hope you are having a wonderful day and I hope you also have a wonderful week and month. Take care!

Hi Robin, or I guess Ookla the Cloud  I suddenly had the urge to message you and check if you are okay or see how you are doing, but it looks like I can't send messages to you for some reason ... well, I hope this more public message isn't a problem then  I hope you are well, and I hope you are having a wonderful day and I hope you also have a wonderful week and month. Take care!

Am I a Brony?

Well, I'm aware that one came out of nowhere, but I have a point with this question, so please hear me out. Personally, my answer to the above question - which I'm the only one asking - is actually no, I'm not. I intend to elaborate here a bit on why that is. But Trutharchivist, don't you have a blog here? Why use a status update? Well, my blog is for different things, like trying to explain the history of Judaism in the previous two-three centuries. I don't want to digress there. So, without lingering any further, let's begin.

Since I opened with that, I guess I'll start with the Brony situation. Bronies are defined as fans of My Little Pony (specifically Friendship is Magic) who are outside the regular target demographics of little girls. Mostly, we're talking about adult men at around their early twenties. I am, indeed, a men at my early twenties, and I've been watching MLP: FiM and adjacent content a lot lately. That, supposedly, places me under the definition of a Brony. So why am I in denial about it?

But here's the thing: I do like MLP: FiM, but I wouldn't call myself a fan of it. Or, well, not a very dedicated fan. You see, I tend to go through various temporal obsessions during my life. A few of the more severe ones include Harry Potter, Tolkien's Legendarium, possibly Percy Jackson and, yes, MLP: FiM. I have a somewhat extensive knowledge on those franchises, but not as extensive as more dedicated fans. I can tell you approximately what happened during the First Age of Arda, how Voldemort found Barty Crouch Jr. to infiltrate Hogwarts, How Percy reacted to meeting Echidna (and who's the Greek Mythology hero that defeated the monster he faced back then) and what musincal the song "Best Night Ever" from the first part of MLP: FiM's season one finale references (though it has more to do with liking said musical than liking the show...). I can randomly quote the Inheritance Cycle, Discworld or random stuff from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (and it's not just 42). I'm also exaggarating a bit to sound impressive, but I do randomly quote books sometimes. Oh, and there's a person or two out there who view me as the resident Marvel expert (not around here). My point is, though, that all those won't be in my "most favourite" list (though all will be in my favourites); they had their effect on me, but I don't see myself as a part of the fandom. Same may well go for Sanderson books, BTW: I may read the Cosmere as it comes out, but I don't consider Sanderson's books to be necessarily the best I've ever read.

My point may be mute after all that I said, but in the end, the fandoms I most identify with are the smallest ones I'm a part of. Perhaps the Underland Chronicles, Diana Wynne Jones' books, Anne of Green Gables... A few small books that caught my eye and - dare I say it - my heart. (Not necessarily just books, though.) MLP: FiM may or may not join this more exclusive group of media that had deep influence on me, but it isn't there yet. Which is why I don't see myself as a Brony, or Potterhead, or Whovian or whatever weird fandom name those others have: I'm not that much invested in those Fandoms for the long run, or not invested very deeply. My latest obsession is MLP: FiM. Who knows what I'll get into next?

Hope it made sense! Thank you for reading, and have a wonderful day!

-Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle- no, wait, that's not right...

Ahem! -yours, faithfully, Trutharchivist, AKA Ookla the Questioning?

welp
 

Registered in a school now (not the one in my last post though) and literally just told today that the entrance exam will be 2 days from now.
I am scared out of my wits rn.
It'll probably just be basic knowledge from all 4 yrs of high school but, like, I feel like I still know nothing hence why I am... Nervous. They didn't give the exam coverage (yet? idk they might later on but I am not sure) so yes I am very much just trying to review as much as I can (two days. Probably impossible but won't hurt to try) because virtually anything could be on it.
...I should probably stop overthinking about potential failure lol.
But I am having a hard time keeping my hopes up at the same time.

Ey, I just hit a content count of 200! (Sorry for the small notif spam, my fourteen loyal followers). Thought I should note this in post 201.

For those of you who are interested (I'm looking at you, @Nathrangking and @ixthos (I'll tag you later, can't tag to people on mobile for some reason): I posted the first entry in my series about the history of Judaism through the Age of Enlightenment. Hope you'll like it.

I said it here originally, so I thought I'd close it here too: remember a year and a half ago, when I told you my levels of activity might go down due to the IDF? Well, I'm finishing my active servitude there in about a week and a half. More accurately, I have about a week and a half while still technically in active servitude that I go home, and then I'm officially finished - well partly, but it's complicated. So I just might be a little more active! Though chances are I won't, not by much.

I said it here originally, so I thought I'd close it here too: remember a year and a half ago, when I told you my levels of activity might go down due to the IDF? Well, I'm finishing my active servitude there in about a week and a half. More accurately, I have about a week and a half while still technically in active servitude that I go home, and then I'm officially finished - well partly, but it's complicated. So I just might be a little more active! Though chances are I won't, not by much.

I said it here originally, so I thought I'd close it here too: remember a year and a half ago, when I told you my levels of activity might go down due to the IDF? Well, I'm finishing my active servitude there in about a week and a half. More accurately, I have about a week and a half while still technically in active servitude that I go home, and then I'm officially finished - well partly, but it's complicated. So I just might be a little more active! Though chances are I won't, not by much.

Still working on the "Seven Days of Creation as a poem" post and graphic to post to the General religious discussion thread, but while doing so I've found some more interesting elements and links in those days, one in particular which means I may need to change the graphics core structure - I may need to do multiple graphics to get the full observations on the data across, but we'll see. Otherwise, how is everyone? I haven't been active here the past month and a bit - how is everyone doing? 

Still working on the "Seven Days of Creation as a poem" post and graphic to post to the General religious discussion thread, but while doing so I've found some more interesting elements and links in those days, one in particular which means I may need to change the graphics core structure - I may need to do multiple graphics to get the full observations on the data across, but we'll see. Otherwise, how is everyone? I haven't been active here the past month and a bit - how is everyone doing? 

Kindness does a writing rant, vol. 2 yes, I've done one of these before, I didn't call it that.

Inserted in a spoiler box because I'm like that.

So... It's my Shardversary! I've been here for two years already. Huh. 

I thought of utilizing the collision of my 999th post with my Shardversary to post an essay about my history with books in general and with Brandon's ones specifically, but I'm still unsure of where to put it. Until I come to a decision on that, I'll post this status update. I planned on doing it anyway.

So, umm, people use those to thank people they interacted with. And I can either copy them, or try to actually be creative for a change, and say something interesting. Like maybe asking some of you why you're still following me, or ramble about a random thing. Like what else I can do here, say.

Let's try both copying the concept and being creative, then!

I first joined here two years ago. It was in the middle of quarantine, I already read probably the whole published Cosmere, and my brother wannted me to stop bothering him with those stuff. I was congratulated by a couple of people, like @Honorless (among others who I'm too scared to tag/will tag later), who appears to go over introductions a lot, and is quite welcoming. Sadly, I didn't interact with him much besides that. Thanks for welcoming me, anyway! I was a little active in the Mistborn portion of the forum after that - I'm no theorizer like @Karger or @Frustration (why am I tagging people... I interacted with the former on a theory or two, and he also welcomed me here, while I didn't see the latter much on theories, actually), but I have a few ideas I like to share. Plus, I have a nice memory, which works best with random small tidbits from books. I also read the RoW preview chapters, and had a thing or two to say in its spoiler board.

By that time, I started commenting on Forum Games, too, apparently (The Person Below Me, to be specific), which got me invited to the 1000000th post celebration thread, and led to me getting involved in the Truthless dispute. Well, semi involved. I stated my opinions loud and clear, whether or not they had any point whatsoever. I could tag Experience here, but I already tagged too many people I hardly interacted with, so...

I did some stuff! Tried to get people to see my magic system, didn't work, tried to learn how to write from @Channelknight Fadran and how not to from Frustration - can't say how much it helped. Anyway, the RightingWrite with Fadran thread was nice, though most of my interaction with him sums up to the RP I was in with him. That one started during Ookla season, and would've been confusing, though I think I recognized some of the players that I knew in their original names, like @Condensation, and probably Fadran. It was @Tesh's own LGFaD RP, and playing it was... Amazing. Thank you for that, Tesh, it was great RPing, worldbuilding and generally discussing with you. It was there I met awesome people like @Knight of Iron, @JesterLavorre, @The Awakened Salad, and more, who I sadly didn't interact with much. I enjoyed turning the world of the RP to a near-apocalypse world with Knight (I mean, we all helped, but I blame Knight for adding the whole cataclysm part. He can't disprove it!), building the Ideal Realm stuff with both him and Jester (and getting on Knight's nerves sometimes, too, with illogical ideas). And Salad and Tesh... They were the Dragons enthusiastics. They helped in building the world, and were extremely excited on everything dragon-related. As anyone should be. At the same time I joined the Socially Awkward Bookworms cult club, and the Vampire one. I enjoyed interacting with people there, and if I don't tag them it's because there are a lot, and I... Don't really remember everyone. Sorry!

Around this time, I think, it was that I started discussing with @Ixthos about religion. It was a great conversation that's still ongoing, in it's own way. It also includes more people now - I'm happy to see a religious discussion thread, I started in PMs due to a fear of... Uncivilized discussion. Which it did not! In that respect (you could say), I enjoyed interacting with @Nathrangking, @Silva and @Kingsdaughter613, three more Jews I got to know here. אני שמח שיצא לי להכיר אתכם! ולהטריל אנשים כאן עם עברית באמצע פיסקה... סליחה שניצלתי אתכם ככה. It was nice to also RP with Kingsdaughter in @Random Bystander's RP! (Welcome back, BTW. I know I welcomed you already but still.) I played there with a handful of other people - like @Goob (who is still amazing, even without it staying in his nickname), @The Unknown Novel (who has another name back then, and I didn't really interact with, but hopefully I'll get to know better in the RP we currently play together) and more! The RP idea was amazing, it's a bit sad that it died though.

Moving on, and I realize I forgot to mention my crew! It was nice while it lasted, claiming that there are nine colors in the rainbow, discussing the Secret Evil Fantasy Book Mafia with @Tacitus, @Bearer of all agonies (where is he nowadays, anyway?) And a handful of people I already mentioned. I interact with a small circle of people, apparently. Unsurprising.

I can try and keep following the timeline, but it's already getting to Discord interactions and I can't really keep up; I could maybe go back in time to observe, I'm sure @theTruthshaper will agree that all systems allow that (worse case scenario, I see a slightly alternate universe. The timeline will be similar enough, I'm sure). Sadly, I don't have a time machine, so I'll have to just keep going; mention @AonEne, the mod I never found intimidating and that I find even less so after interacting with her and listening to the Magnus Archives due to her reccomendation; @Ed Venture, who is an amazing and nice person who I mostly interacted with on Discord; @Elf who I interacted with on Discord and still failed to explain why she is following me; @Flying, who I failed to mention earlier but writes great stories that I, sadly, didn't read enough of yet; Tesh again, to mention her pushing everyone to listen to songs from, and watch, the musical Hadestown, for great conversations, for amazing stories and starting the Sharder Writing group, and for being surprisingly social for a Socially Awkward Bookworm; @DramaQueen for musical recommendations (I didn't know that Daddy Long Legs has a musical/or Shelly was a poet...) and for (apparently) welcoming me here; @Emery the Steelrunner, Knight of Iron, the Unknown Novel, Channelknight Fadran, DramaQueen, JesterLavorre, @Isabelle6060, Random Bystander, @NerdyAarakocra, @Eluvianii and maybe someone else I forget with whom I currently RP; and all of you in general, who found a reason to want to visit my profile, for some reason. It's probably because I've tagged you. sorry for that. Also, I may have forgotten some people or didn't find a point to mention them. Sorry for that, if you'll remind me I may add a sentence or two for you.

Well. That was a wall of text. Hopefully it was enough to overshadow my following anouncement: I'm going to go abroad for the first time in my life next week, to France, with the rest of my family. I had... reasons not to want to go before, but I decided to go in the end. So, yay!

Thank you for reading, and have a good afternoon/evening/night/morning/day/whatever portion of the day you're at while reading this!

Yours, loyally (it's a figure of speech, don't take it literally),

Trutharchivist/TA/Arch/Ookla the Questioning (I still own that name! It's not Ookla season only).

Why do I do this to myself?

• I have to work on my dissertation;
• I have to get the Genesis 1 post completed for the General Religious discussions thread, including the chart;
• I have to message several people, as well as finish a debate with someone online;
• I have to work on one of my Stormlight theories to post here - though I might do a Cosmere or Mistborn theory instead - that list isn't going to shrink itself, and it also has the unfortunate tendency to grow;
• I have to update my journal (not a Planescape reference) for what happened over the last week;
• I have to fill out the June Edit log for my writing, and update the internal links and list of the contents in the weekly logs for the end of May;
• I have to complete the post about my meta-setting to post in the Creator's Corner;
• I have to finish that bloody short story (and finish the outlines for at least two of the novels);
• I have to make more silly videos for my niece and nephew (I take my uncle duties seriously)
  • on that note, I need to learn more magic tricks for them;
• I have to clean my workspace and room;
• I have to organise my files and clear up space;
• I have to finish rereading 1 and 2 Samuel, along with the associated commentaries;
• (I have certain elements of my personal life to get in order);
• I have to go to bed before midnight and try to actually be asleep before 03:00 am;
• ... I have to stop putting so many things on the plate, or at least prioritise them better;
• I needed to get that off my chest.

... So, how is your week going?