- Welcome to Languish.org.
Recent posts
#1
Off the Record / Re: Iran War
Last post by The Minsky Moment - Today at 01:59:46 PMIt's all part of Trump's brilliant negotiation strategy of always keeping his adversaries "off balance"
If this strategy also appears to be indistinguishable from that of an incompetent ignoramus and pathological liar suffering early onset dementia, I assure you the similarities are entirely coincidental.
If this strategy also appears to be indistinguishable from that of an incompetent ignoramus and pathological liar suffering early onset dementia, I assure you the similarities are entirely coincidental.
#2
Off the Record / Re: The EU thread
Last post by Jacob - Today at 01:31:33 PMDenmark just had an election and the results are... muddled. Broadly speaking, the voters rejected the government across the centre, but neither the right block nor the left block can govern on their own; and the explicitly centrist Moderate party are the kingmakers. On top of the that, elements of the right block explicitly reject the Moderates framing them as enemies, and the Moderates for their part are unwilling to govern with the far right or far left.
@Sheilbh, I just read an interesting article where the writer argues there are three crises in Danish politics right now. I think it is similar to some of the things you've been talking about re: democracy in the UK and the West in general - though it manifests differently both because it's a different country (so different specifics) and due to Denmark's multiparty coalition political culture. I think the last part is particularly instructive, though, because it exposes more explicitly what tends to be the internal party political discussions of first-past-the-post political cultures.
The first crisis is the "bourgeois crisis" - it might be called "the crisis of the right" or "the conservartive crisis" in English speaking politics. In Denmark the parties to the right of centre are collectively referred to as "bourgois" (without the pejorative tone that it'd have in French or English) - it's essentially a collective term for the non-socialist parties - the Liberal, the National-Conservative, and the right Populist tendencies. And the crisis here is that they can't coalesce on a shared political project.
The second crisis is the "crisis of the middle" - the government across the centre lost support, the parties further to the left and right all grew. As a whole, the population is looking for answers to the challenges of today further out on the political wings.
The third crisis is the "crisis of the mass parties" - the old established parties built on mass participation are all receding (and therefore looking to collaborate more, potentially accelerating the decline), and a number of personality and or geographically defined parties are growing as the mass-engagement parties are losing strength.
I think this is an expression of political tendencies we are seeing all across the democratic (and post-democratic?) West. It echoes what Sheilbh has been saying about the UK. I think it also echoes what we're seeing in France and Germany to some extent (though I don't understand the politics there particularly clearly). I also thinks it's what we've seen play out in the US to some extent, though it's played out very differently there - inside the Republican and Democratic parties - due to the very different political cultures there.
The article is here and reads okay using automatic translation (with the one clarification that the party translated as "the Left" is a key constituent of the "Bourgeois" block, being the old farmer / Liberal mass party).
@Sheilbh, I just read an interesting article where the writer argues there are three crises in Danish politics right now. I think it is similar to some of the things you've been talking about re: democracy in the UK and the West in general - though it manifests differently both because it's a different country (so different specifics) and due to Denmark's multiparty coalition political culture. I think the last part is particularly instructive, though, because it exposes more explicitly what tends to be the internal party political discussions of first-past-the-post political cultures.
The first crisis is the "bourgeois crisis" - it might be called "the crisis of the right" or "the conservartive crisis" in English speaking politics. In Denmark the parties to the right of centre are collectively referred to as "bourgois" (without the pejorative tone that it'd have in French or English) - it's essentially a collective term for the non-socialist parties - the Liberal, the National-Conservative, and the right Populist tendencies. And the crisis here is that they can't coalesce on a shared political project.
The second crisis is the "crisis of the middle" - the government across the centre lost support, the parties further to the left and right all grew. As a whole, the population is looking for answers to the challenges of today further out on the political wings.
The third crisis is the "crisis of the mass parties" - the old established parties built on mass participation are all receding (and therefore looking to collaborate more, potentially accelerating the decline), and a number of personality and or geographically defined parties are growing as the mass-engagement parties are losing strength.
I think this is an expression of political tendencies we are seeing all across the democratic (and post-democratic?) West. It echoes what Sheilbh has been saying about the UK. I think it also echoes what we're seeing in France and Germany to some extent (though I don't understand the politics there particularly clearly). I also thinks it's what we've seen play out in the US to some extent, though it's played out very differently there - inside the Republican and Democratic parties - due to the very different political cultures there.
The article is here and reads okay using automatic translation (with the one clarification that the party translated as "the Left" is a key constituent of the "Bourgeois" block, being the old farmer / Liberal mass party).
#3
Off the Record / Re: Iran War
Last post by Jacob - Today at 12:38:26 PMI mean the whole "cavalcade of contradictory bullshit" is core to the Trump method.
If he ends up reaching some sort of negotiated settlement, the whole "getting ready to attack" thing will be recontextualized as positioning to improve his bargaining position.
Conversely, if the US ends up attacking all the negotiating thing will be recontextualized as "we were keeping them off balance and using up their leadership cycles to distract them from the attack we always were going to made."
It was the same with Greenland and with basically every single thing he's ever done.
I do think it's less effective when it comes to war because the actual options are limited by what materiel you have positioned where and that doesn't change overnight. And conversely, changing your force posture carries an actual cost as well.
If he ends up reaching some sort of negotiated settlement, the whole "getting ready to attack" thing will be recontextualized as positioning to improve his bargaining position.
Conversely, if the US ends up attacking all the negotiating thing will be recontextualized as "we were keeping them off balance and using up their leadership cycles to distract them from the attack we always were going to made."
It was the same with Greenland and with basically every single thing he's ever done.
I do think it's less effective when it comes to war because the actual options are limited by what materiel you have positioned where and that doesn't change overnight. And conversely, changing your force posture carries an actual cost as well.
#4
Off the Record / Re: TV/Movies Megathread
Last post by celedhring - Today at 11:11:00 AMQuote from: Sheilbh on Today at 09:01:29 AMQuote from: celedhring on Today at 02:48:01 AMWent to see Pillion, the story of a toxic BDSM gay relationship starring Alexander Skarsgard and Harry Melling (of Harry Potter semi-fame). It is weirdly quite wholesome. Liked it quite a bit.I have slightly mixed feelings. On its own I think it's pretty good and quite enjoyed it.
But it's an adaptation of Adam Mars-Jones' Box Hill which is a really good novel and very much not got much (if any comedy). It's a far darker more introspective piece. So enjoyed it as a film on its own but I think it did lose something in going in a lighter, more comic and maybe more wholesome direction.
Separately as a Brit I went in expecting and anticipating disappointment, but SNL UK has been pretty good (based on the sketches uploaded to YouTube). Seems to be getting good reviews too and actually really good viewership figures for Sky. Hope it slightly kickstarts a re-evaluation by the other broadcasters on whether we really need infinity panel shows with the same 30 comedians - or perhaps even if they maybe need to re-fresh their Saturday night broadcasts which have basically been unchanged for twenty years
Yeah, looking it up the book seems far darker than the movie! I thought the movie managed to be weirdly sweet despite the toxicness of their relationship. And the ending was quite wholesome.
His dad is so absolutely adorable (the mom too, but alas).
#5
Off the Record / Re: Iran War
Last post by HisMajestyBOB - Today at 10:22:46 AMGonna be awfully hard to accomplish any objectives when the troops are landed every Friday and withdrawn every Monday.
#6
Off the Record / Re: Iran War
Last post by Legbiter - Today at 09:35:08 AM
#7
Gaming HQ / Re: News from the lovely world...
Last post by Sheilbh - Today at 09:07:14 AMQuote from: Valmy on March 28, 2026, 08:15:30 PMAI translation is fine for just getting the gist of what is being said. But for an actual artistic work? Sounds like garbage slop to me. I am not playing a whole game or reading a book translated by AI.I totally agree (it's why I'm also very militant on copyright as the IP that protects human creativity).
I know someone who worked on the translation of Dark Souls into English and I know vicariously the artistry involved in a real translation. Chatted a lot with him about his work - and also worked with translators more recently.
This may be fine for technical translations or other things where style doesn't matter. But that ecosystem of boring translation helps subsidise the artistic translators (with a few superstar exceptions).
#8
Off the Record / Re: TV/Movies Megathread
Last post by Sheilbh - Today at 09:01:29 AMQuote from: celedhring on Today at 02:48:01 AMWent to see Pillion, the story of a toxic BDSM gay relationship starring Alexander Skarsgard and Harry Melling (of Harry Potter semi-fame). It is weirdly quite wholesome. Liked it quite a bit.I have slightly mixed feelings. On its own I think it's pretty good and quite enjoyed it.
But it's an adaptation of Adam Mars-Jones' Box Hill which is a really good novel and very much not got much (if any comedy). It's a far darker more introspective piece. So enjoyed it as a film on its own but I think it did lose something in going in a lighter, more comic and maybe more wholesome direction.
Separately as a Brit I went in expecting and anticipating disappointment, but SNL UK has been pretty good (based on the sketches uploaded to YouTube). Seems to be getting good reviews too and actually really good viewership figures for Sky. Hope it slightly kickstarts a re-evaluation by the other broadcasters on whether we really need infinity panel shows with the same 30 comedians - or perhaps even if they maybe need to re-fresh their Saturday night broadcasts which have basically been unchanged for twenty years
#9
Gaming HQ / Re: News from the lovely world...
Last post by The Brain - Today at 07:16:23 AMAt least translation is an area where AI shines, compared to some other areas. Haven't used it for fiction though.
#10
Off the Record / Re: What does a TRUMP presiden...
Last post by Syt - Today at 03:45:32 AMNot sure if there's anything in her record that would warrant a deportation (not that it really matters these days).