The distancing effect, also translated as alienation effect (German: Verfremdungseffekt or V-Effekt), is a concept in performing arts credited to German playwright Bertolt Brecht.

Brecht first used the term in his essay "Alienation Effects in Chinese Acting" published in 1936, in which he described

Wow his mother must be very proud!

Look ik it's hack to point out hypocrisies within the right but ten years ago "participation trophies" were such a cause celebre

Oneirophanta my beloved - any sign of Pisolamia?

We still got ostracods!

There is no ethical consumption under feudalism except the Feast of the Ass

Is there a group called the Nellacea that this is just the deep version of?

That’s crazy, how come none of that Cold War megaspending went to big old boats?

(And guessing surface combatant doesn’t count aircraft carriers?)

I mean, most populated city in South Dakota is like talking about the tallest hill in the Netherlands

Yeah, I'd be interested to know how the suet word ended up applied to such a diversity though. Why A) did we categorise a bunch of diverse foods together under one umbrella and B) why is that umbrella a kinda poorly chosen descriptor?

The lesson to learn from the blobfish is not "all animals are actually beautiful in their context", it's "all animals are deserving of love, respect, and protection regardless of whether they are aesthetically pleasing to us".

No worries!

Ah ok so much shallower than these (which were at like 5km!) - I stumbled across this mesophotic phenomenon though while trying to track down this observation:

www.nature.com/articles/s43...

Ohhh very interesting, what sort of depth?

Tagging in @echinoblog.bsky.social because I heard your voice on the call-ins from that cruise - do you remember if anyone definitively IDed these?

The painting probably takes inspiration from an earlier painting by Rubens, also Goya had done earlier etchings of the same theme.

Something something colonial violence being visited on the metropole

Yeah it’s like a matryoshka planet or something right? I might’ve read literally the first chapter when I was a kid. Most recent re-reads for me have been Surface Detail and Look To Windward, both of which I quite poorly remembered and loved rediscovering

I’ve still not read it - I think it’s my last unread Culture novel so I’ve been putting it off