Something is Happening
Pfenix Quinn
This issue of I.T. commemorates the life and work of Lev Rubinstein. You can read about his conceptualist poetry here and about his life and times here. He passed away in Moscow seven days ago at age 76, after being run down by a car. Of course it was an accident. Of course it was an accident. (There are no accidents.) It was an accident.
Lev Semyonovich never played eRepublik. As far as we know. Maybe he did. We don't know. We don't know. Probably not. He was part of the Moscow conceptualist movement in the 1970s. That was a fuck-you-very-much response to Soviet totalitarianism. In the 2010's he attended every demonstration against the Putin regime. The magazines he worked for got shut down. While others fled for safety after 2022, he stayed in Moscow. Then started posting poetry on Facebook. Often they were simply compilations of macabre headlines from Russian media.
His last poem was published on January 2nd...
The times are such that there is no standing up
Or lying, or sitting down, screaming, or cursing.
You wake up in the night because your bed
Is sinking, and you are sinking with it
Last Wednesday, thousands of people attended his memorial service.
1. I live in Kentucky, USA
A resident of Frankfort
2. Frankfort has a blue neighborhood in a red state.
But...
3. There are no mayors
4. There are no city councilors
5. There are no registered voters
6. Its local budget is over 26 billion in USD
7. There is no USD
8. Aluminum is a type of weapon
9. Oil is a type of weapon
10. Rubber is a type of weapon
11. My house has energy every six minutes
12. There is frost on its windows today
13. The sun is shining and the sky is blue
14. I am in the blue neighborhood
15. The frost on the glass door has melted
Earlier it looked like a map of South America
16. There is still frost on the windows
The sun shines through it
The tree branches make shadows on the frost
Spikes of frost merge with shadows of branches
The right side is so bright it blinds me
The left side is so dark it spooks me
Of the frost I mean
17. I am totally deaf on the left side
18. Don't sit on my left side if you want to talk to me
19. I can only hear right speech
I can only bear right effort
I can barely concentrate
20. The latest updates are shortcuts
The terms of service make me want to head for the logout
Privacy jobs bring you into contact with laws
In eRepublik, language is a flag
In Frankfort, language obscures mindfulness
21. My city has a 90% weapons bonus
I am a weapons resource manufacturer
My weapons are made of words
22. Life presents daily challenges
23. My missions are on hold
24. The enemy of my enemy is my friend
25. This is not real life
26. The friend of my friend is my enemy
27. This is real life
28. There are no accidents
29. Don't be afraid
30. The neighbors like to gather around the piano and sing
31. I have 314 friends and most of them are alive
32. I have 314 friends and most of them are strangers
33. I have 314 friends and I am an Adult Citizen
34. I am a senior citizen and have like, maybe, ten real friends outside my family
And sometimes that seems like too many
35. I am in Division 4 and have a strength of 136K somethings.
I've been practicing and can almost do 5 handstand push-ups
If I hold the san ti shi for 5 minutes
Then I can hold my forward foot out in front of me
And twist it around behind me
36. One of my students calls me Gumby
So now I have an "Amazing Bendable Gumby" t-shirt
37. I have no invited friends
I only talk to one person in the real world about eRepublik
It's Bill Galaxia
Heh-heh
Not really
But really
38. A daily bundle of deep learning keeps me on my toes
39. The Armory is a mystery to me
I like mysteries, so I leave it that way
40. I have no need for managing employees
since I have advanced buildings
41. I like to travel
Not really
I like to garden
My old friend Silvia always called it "dirt therapy"
42. Is not the answer you were looking for
Comments
"
Here each has his own floor and ceiling.
Each has her own borders of falling and soaring.
And not just here.
"
-- Lev Rubinstein
VOTE🙂
Vote o/
o7
Somethings happening here,
what it is ain't exactly clear
VOTE O7
Wow!
Every senior player has more friends in eRepublik than in real.
re 42 not being the right answer. triggers a Storytime-- sorry, not sorry.
"I have a question."
"I have an answer-- do you want to go first or shall I?"
"Okay, you go first."
"Yes, Paris, or 42."
you'd be surprised how often one of those three is the correct answer.
Cool story, bro! 🙂
Pretty much everything these days is a type of weapon, no?