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But yeah, overall, between the 19th century technobabble (really Poe? did we really need a trigonometry lesson?), racism, and repetitive writing full of unnecessary detail, I recommend not reading all the stories and poems in a complete Poe. Stick with the hits, no need to do a deep dive.

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..burying their bodies in the hole they’ve helped Legrand dig. This is the last “mystery” Legrand monologues about solving. Then the story ends abruptly. I think it’s a pretty justifiable interpretation. BTW I put “Jupiter” in quotes because I think it’s intended to be an ironically demeaning name

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The only headcanon I think I can preserve, is that just as Captain Kidd, presumably murdered the sailors who helped him bury his treasure, so Legrand (or the narrator, or “Jupiter”, in my fantasy modern adaptation) also murders the people who helped him uncover Kidd’s treasure…

100

But I don’t think that sympathetic reading is justifiable when L is correct in the end. It might be interesting to see a modern take on this story, J faking naïveté until he can take the treasure from L and using it to fund emancipation or violent resistance.

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There is an early reference to J’s individual (rather than racial) potential intellectual disability. I wasn’t sure what Poe was saying or maybe I _wanted_ to read it as a tragic, rather than a “comic” depiction straight out of minstrelsy. Racist, though sympathetic, is slightly more interesting.

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Ok, sure I can see someone, in terror of falling from a tree, being screamed at from the ground by a maniac being more likely to make a mistake. 100% we’re supposed to root for J, not L in this instance, but it’s undercut later because his mistake comes not from terror, but ignorance.

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Reading it I was waiting for the other shoe to drop, that s insanity ends would up come back to bite him. But no, L finds the treasure through his superior intellect, he’s objectively shown to be correct. Meanwhile J’s inability to tell right from left almost ends the expedition.

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…certainly depicted as especially cruel, manipulative, selfish, etc. My headcanon was, maybe, to put J’s superstition and submission down to a tragic result of abuse. I certainly (and if I’m being generous to Poe, intentionally) felt way more sympathy for J than L.

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…what he’s saying, and notably, neither does the narrator, initially, even though what J is saying makes sense. It’s easy to point at the dialogue and stop reading, but what I found much more offensive was the idea that after being freed, J stayed with “massa” Legrand. And L is…

100

The character of “Jupiter” though, I guess I can put the clumsily rendered black dialect down to the time it was written or even, perhaps generously, the unreliable narrators own attitudes rather than Poe’s. At one point it feels like Poe is lampshading this: the reader isn’t intended to understand…

100

If you haven’t read the story, it’s from the perspective of an unnamed narrator, relating the discovery of Captain Kidd’s treasure by one Legrand, and his older black, manumitted servant, “Jupiter”. The good: story is genuinely exciting at times with a vivid picture of greed and obsession (Legrand)

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The best/worst so far has been The Gold-Bug. Somewhat enjoyable as a precursor to Treasure Island and mystery stories. But wow, the character of “Jupiter” (if you’ve read it, you know) is incredibly offensive! Can totally see someone throwing the book across the room and never reading Poe again.

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But these stories feel, in the 21st century incredibly trite, poorly paced, replete with repetitive and unnecessary detail, just not fun to read. I feel like Poe must be giving himself way too much credit for believing that his “Balloon-hoax” story persuaded any of his readers of the hoax.

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I’m not THAT far in, but most of the stories I’ve read have been super hard to get through. It’s interesting to see Poe’s interest in 19th century science in “The Balloon-Hoax” and “Mesmeric Revelation”, and how it was influential in the development of early science fiction.

Reading a complete Poe anthology for October. I’m not that far in, but wow, I would not recommend it. If your objective is to read enjoyable stories, stick with the hits: Cask of Amantillado, Masque of Red Death, Fall of the House of Usher, The Raven, etc.

it's Halloween name charloh! (it/its) @charloh.online · 03/10/2026

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two fasts, both alike in fury, in fair Los Angeles where we set our scene

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Alpha Chrome Yayo @alphachromeyayo.com · 02/10/2026

man, tape is such fun stuff

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George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

You can see the genocide from space. Yet still it is widely denied.

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Julia Is Waving, Not Drowning @booktweeting.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

do you love Ann Leckie? do you love Lois McMaster Bujold? have you somehow never read C. J. Cherryh? you have an enormous treat ahead of you in this Humble Bundle! #BookSky 💙📚

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Scootypuff @scootypuff.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Honestly I feel like the most obnoxious part of diy synths, diy electronics in general, is mounting the PCB, pots, switches, etc. in the case. Have so much difficulty getting precisely spaced holes and getting the right lengths of wire for I/O. At some point I really need to get a CNC for this stuff

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Scootypuff @scootypuff.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Not disagreeing otherwise, but we should expect better things :(

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Scootypuff @scootypuff.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

No matter how well you do, you’re going to feel challenged, because it’s an adaptive test. That’s my guess. Also I can’t imagine how someone would get 30 out of 30 lol.

Scootypuff @scootypuff.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Thinking about getting pumpkins as an excuse to buy new dremel attachments

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Scootypuff @scootypuff.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

I can draw perfectly straight lines, but only when I’m crossing the “t”s in my signature.

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Scootypuff @scootypuff.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

I kind of hate the phrase “Fake it til you make it” cuz, like, when do you know if you’ve made it?

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A calculator can tell you what 2758 * 20691 is. A calculator can’t tell you what multiplication is or when it’s appropriate to multiply vs add. (An LLM can tell you confidently mistaken answers to all of those questions)

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Depends on the formality of the interview. If you’re looking at 1+ hours of interviewing time, being begrudged bringing a plastic water bottle or not being offered water/coffee/tea by your interviewers should be a dealbreaker. Ofc you’re hearing this from someone out of work 3+ months so…

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The OG Diablo has, as the kids say, Impeccable Vibes.

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My 9. Strangely, Master of Orion 2 wasn’t in the database.