Link Roundup: December 2025

Ways of Seeing (1972), John Berger Episode 1-4 | Video, 2 hours, via – An old television show, talking about the interpretation of European painting.  Episode 1 talks about the mistique placed on traditional art, episode 2 is tropes vs women in oil painting, episode 3 talks about the function of art as a class signifier, and episode 4 compares the tradition of oil painting to the modern tradition of advertisement.  Pretty fun and insightful.

What struck me was that for all the cultural reverence placed on traditional oil painting, we (as in the general public) have a fairly poor understanding of where it came from, and how its original context made it the way that it is.  And yet the origin is precisely what makes those paintings valuable in the first place.  So what does that say about art?  Do we value origin stories, or do we not?

How Dan Trachtenberg Built a Grand Unified Theory of Predator | Second Wind (video, 50 min) – I knew absolutely nothing about Predator before, so I learned a lot!  Darren Mooney discusses how it’s basically a slasher film where most of the victims are manly men, and also basically Vietnam soldiers.  I had no idea that this horror series I was barely aware of had such commentary on masculinity, and now I’m glad I don’t have to watch them to learn about it.

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On Steam AI disclosures

The Steam game store has a policy that games with AI-generated content are required to say so. The CEO of Epic Games (which owns a competing game store) recently criticized this policy:

The AI tag is relevant to art exhibits for authorship disclosure, and to digital content licensing marketplaces where buyers need to understand the rights situation. It makes no sense for game stores, where AI will be involved in nearly all future production.

This has been making the rounds as people react to it on social media. I thought I’d offer my two cents, since I just set up a Steam page a few months ago, and had to familiarize myself with the AI disclosure policy at the time.

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Origami: early works

Early origami models

From top to bottom, left to right:
1. Dimpled Model with Curls by Meenakshi Mukerji.
2. Sonobe Cube, by Mitsunobu Sonobe.
3. Cube with Windows, by Bennett Arnstein, simplified from Lewis Simon’s Decoration Box.
4. Equilateral Triangle Edge Module, by Lewis Simon and Bennett Arnstein, modified by me to make a square pyramid.
5. Same as #4, making a tetrahedron.
6. Simple Chain-of-4-Equilateral-Triangles From a Square, by Lewis Simon.

I mentioned that I messed up my photo organization, so I was trying to figure out what I hadn’t posted already.  I think I’ve posted a few of these, but let’s just knock them all out from my list.  These are the very first models I folded when I started doing modular origami in 2012.

Most of these are from Beginner’s Book of Modular Origami Polyhedra: The Platonic Solids by Rona Gurkewitz and Bennett Arnstein, and I do recommend that for beginners.  The Dimpled Model with Curls is from Meenakshi Mukerji’s Exquisite Modular Origami.

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Recent health developments

Another casual blogging event.  This one is about farts.  Wait, I’m being serious!

A few months ago, I had COVID for the first time.  I never got it before, because I work remotely, don’t go outside, and I’m also very religious about getting my boosters.  I finally caught it because my husband’s company’s RTO.

As I recall, I took a week off of work.  At the tail end, it was in that liminal state of “am I really sick enough to take off work?”  I could just give work 90%, and then I get to save my vacation day for when I actually feel better, you know?  The symptoms I had at the end were constant burping, and globus sensation.  “Globus sensation” is when you feel like something’s stuck at the back of your throat, I had to look that up.  Also, farting.

The stomach symptoms didn’t entirely go away.  And now, three months later, I’ve decided it’s because I’ve developed lactose intolerance.  I have tested this empirically.  Lactose intolerance can be treated with lactase enzyme, which you can buy over the counter.  Try ice cream with and without lactase, observe the difference.  Okay, so, I don’t get sick from lactose, not usually anyways.  I just get gas.

Could COVID induce lactose intolerance?  Maybe.  Some people on the internet seem to think so, although that’s not worth much.  I’m half Asian, various degrees of lactose intolerance runs in the family.  Some people just suddenly develop lactose intolerance as adults, and the timing may well be a coincidence.

I’m currently working out how much I need to change my diet vs just taking a bunch of lactase all the time.  It’s very nice that lactase is an option.

Colorblind glasses

What if you and I see different colors? Like when I see red, it’s the same as when you see blue and vice versa? A classic Deep Thoughts thought experiment that isn’t actually that deep, because everyone thought of it when they were like 15. If we each saw different colors, there would be no way to know. End of thought experiment.

But here’s a deep thought. The fact that we see different colors is just a true fact about the world, and we have a way of knowing that it’s true. Because when I see red and green, they’re on opposite ends of the color sensory spectrum, while for other people the difference between red and green is much more subtle. We do have ways to compare private experiences! Take that, Wittgenstein!

Anyway, colorblind glasses. This is a product that supposedly helps colorblind people see color. I learned about them from a video by Anne Reardon. Reports on effectiveness seem pretty mixed, with some saying the it makes the colors look more vibrant, some saying it helps them perform better in color tests, and some saying it doesn’t make much difference at all.
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Origami should take a page from music

I’ve been really busy this month, so I’m feeling some casual blogging. Question: why don’t origami books take a page from music books? It’s a pun, because I’m talking about book bindings.

Music books are designed to stay open, because you can’t very well hold the pages open while performing. Origami is likewise an activity that requires the use of hands while also looking at the page. You see what I’m saying? Origami books pose a problem that has already been solved in music.

Music books come in a few different varieties. There are small books that are essentially stapled together. Larger books come with rings or spirals. And of course there’s the classic solution, no bindings at all, just put them in a trapper keeper, or stuff them in a folder, or leave them lying around in loose disorganized stacks. Problem solved?

But blogging has ruined me in a particular way. I can’t just ask inane questions anymore. I have to do my due diligence and actually look up answers to inane questions.

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Link Roundup: November 2025

I’m later than usual with this link roundup.  Not apologizing, just observing.

Last month, on The Asexual Agenda, I published “From definitions to motivations“, which argues the importance of explaining the motivations for why people identify the way they do.

The Ace Community Survey also published its report on the 2024 survey.

Why TERFs don’t like Asexuals either: An Analysis | venatrixlunaris – In case you didn’t know, TERFs are quite consistently anti-ace too, reusing a lot of the same arguments they use against trans people.  This post includes an extensive collection of examples of TERF/GC comments about asexuality.  I do not recommend reading any more examples than you have to to get the point.  If you ever wonder, “What are asexuals fighting for?” one answer is simply trans rights.  Trans solidarity is important.

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