“Satan Overlooking Paradise” (1870) by Gustave Doré :: [Guillaume Gris]

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“Satan, on the contrary, is thin, ascetic and a fanatical devotee of logic. He reads Machiavelli, Ignatius of Loyola, Marx and Hegel; he is cold and unmerciful to mankind, out of a kind of mathematical mercifulness. He is damned always to do that which is most repugnant to him: to become a slaughterer, in order to abolish slaughtering, to sacrifice lambs so that no more lambs may be slaughtered, to whip people with knouts so that they may learn not to let themselves be whipped, to strip himself of every scruple in the name of a higher scrupulousness, and to challenge the hatred of mankind because of his love for it--an abstract and geometric love.” ― Arthur Koestler, Darkness at Noon

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“It is wonderful how much time good people spend fighting the devil. If they would only expend the same amount of energy loving their fellow men, the devil would die in his own tracks of ennui.” ― Helen Keller, The Story of My Life

Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler

Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler

Title: Darkness at Noon. Writer(s): Arthur Koestler.Translator(s): Daphne Hardy. Publisher: Scribner.Format: Paperback.Release Date: October 17th, 2006.Originally published in: 1940.Pages: 273.Genre(s): Fiction.ISBN13: 9781416540267. My Overall Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Rating: 4 out of 5. Beliefs can only get you so far. When enveloped in a layer of honour, humility, and honesty, these beliefs become…

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Thinking about Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler, in which Rubashov, an Old Bolshevik, is arrested, imprisoned, and tried for treason in a government that he helped create. And the thing is, he pleads guilty. Even though he never did the things he was accused of - is shocked, almost amused by their absurdity at first - he confesses his guilt.

Because to him, to the system and the way of thinking Koestler describes, history is logic. Logic is thinking things through. Rubashov pleads guilty not because he did these things but because they are the logical consequence of the things he thought. Therefore, he is guilty.

(Paraphrased:) "If you are in opposition to dictatorship, you have to accept civil war as a means. If civil war scares you, you can not be in opposition to dictatorship." / "We have replaced decency with consistency"

He is trapped. Because he does critices things about No. 1. But the most consistent consequence of that would be opposition. So he must be part of the opposition because otherwise he wouldn't be consistent and consistency is the only thing that matters.

#1940Club - some previous reads!

As is customary during our reading weeks, I always like to take a look back at books from the year in question which I’ve read before, and a quick look at 1940 reveals some interesting titles. Quite a few of these were pre-blog, and some are covered here on the Ramblings – so let’s take a look! Books from the pre-blog years As I mentioned on Monday, one of my possibles for this week was “Sad…

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Just finished this. Worth a read. I like that whole mid-twentieth century, espionage-underworld thing. 

8th of November 2022.

i promised myself i would not buy any more books this year, and yet i've done it again, i've bought another book. but it's from a charity shop, so i feel less bad about it.

i have no idea really what darkness at noon is about. but i saw the words russian revolution on the back and was sold. i'm fascinated by revolutions; i wrote my dissertation on the french revolution and its political violence.

something dark and political but fictional is my kind of book.

experimenting with a mordred design :D

10.11.23, friday

blehh bc spent so long on trying to get one (1) functionality to work, but eventually I did, so it was still somewhat of a success. Just took the day instead of the ”one easy breezy hour” as I originally thought lol

I feel you, its so bad 😭, I had to go on a functioning adult human schedule for school and good god, out the house by 7am... bad bitches are not built for that..

WE REALLY ARE... and man, I can brute force myself into any schedule if there are things that HAVE to be done at certain times (like school, like you said) but it absolutely never feels "right". it feels like waking up at 3am to go to the airport type of shit. and it is truly so annoying... to get hit with the "that's a Normal schedule, you need to Fix your schedule" okay. alright. but let me hit you with this one. is it "normal" or is it just conducive to a 8 - 5. because no matter what my sleep schedule is like, or how locked in I am, I'm more clear headed at night + more productive and energetic. and no matter what, I'm tired during the day, especially the brightest times of day when the sun is allegedly supposed to be signaling my brain to be awake and alert. and it doesn't matter how much sleep I got.

i will defend jonathan and mina harker from bad dracula adaptations By My Sword. anyway have this

The Ballad Of Blind Love

I've had this one song stuck in my head for literal weeks, so here's art (2 versions cause I couldn't decide on the colors)

Fellow italians, I'm sorry for turning a 60's song gay

(song's "La Ballata Dell'Amore Cieco" by Fabrizio De André btw)

More details and variants here

IDK if I'm phrasing this correctly, but in my brain, Vasco is, like, the personification (caninification?) of an afternoon chilling on a back porch swing.

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Ugh therapy isnt enough, I need to ride my rotten world into the sun

Noon a Purple Glow

Read Here

Tech?” The doorknob jiggled, the lock keeping the door closed. Technoblade’s heart jumped into his throat as he watched the bronze knob fail to twist. “Tech, are you okay?”

“I’m-” Technoblade started to say and yes, he could hear it now. Under the scratchiness, his voice sounded so young. Like a little kid. His voice wavered. “I-”

The doorknob stopped moving and everything was quiet. Technoblade held his breath, heartbeat loud in his ears as he stood stock still in the middle of the bathroom. Seconds ticked by, before Kristin spoke again.

“You looked in the mirror,” It wasn’t a question. Technoblade whimpered, quickly covering his mouth to stifle the sound. He could hear a deep sigh on the other side of the door. “Oh, Technoblade. Unlock the door, sweetheart.”

Or; Technoblade is so endearing to the fae that when they decide to punish the human Kingdom, they decide to keep him as a little treat. A new son, all for their own. Dark SBI. Techno-centric.

I wanna talk about Aliyaa's new pet/friend; So, She has A Black Norwegian forest cat, A Dark-turquoise griffin and now a dark horse! It isn’t a real horse of course, She made it from her dark magic, pure shadow / umbrakinesis, When it runs or walks its black essence breaks by the air and the winds and it gives a smokey effect which it gives a dead giveaway that is not a real being at all. I know that I tagged this Shadow Horse / Dark Horse as ‘Nox’ but I’m torn between ‘Nox’ and ‘Layl’ which means in Arabic: ‘The Night’ Nox means: Darkness.

Inspired by Pitch Black from rise of the Guardians and HighNoon Ashe skin from league of legends.

if i can get even one person to listen to The Mechanisms i would have fulfilled my purpose