Atomask's comments

Atomask | 4 years ago | on: Kintsugi – Art of Repair

Japanese not knowing about things Japanese seems to be common. Most younger Japanese don't seem to know the difference between a Buddhist temple (tera) and a Shinto shrine (jinja). I'm pretty sure the kintsugi stuff stems from Shinto ideas. Shinto can enshrine anything as sacred. Usually it is an object from nature, but it doesn't have to be; it can be something people have created (matsuru (verb) - to make a god; matsuri (noun) - a festival (celebrating a god). It can be an object that someone has loved or used for a long time. If used in a negative way, such objects can become "cursed," or perhaps "angry" that they have been abused. This seems to be projection, of course. This isn't voodoo; Japanese are probably aware of this. The enshrining in this case has been degraded to "care for," at least in terms of repairing the item. This may be more recent as a more prevalent idea, but I think the inclination, due to Shinto, has been there for a long time.

Atomask | 4 years ago | on: Ask HN: What technologies will we still be using in 20 years?

Python will add all-encompassing parentheses, making it a full Lisp. Keeping up with population growth, there will now be a handful, nay dozens, of ANSI Common Lisp users. And every ANSI Common Lisp program will still work flawlessly (sound and graphics included), despite changes in chip architecture. The Common Lisp Hyperspec will be enshrined by the World Heritage Foundation as an example of heavenly, Platonic writing. So let it be written. So let it be done.
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