Who is Nick?

Asking all my life.

Author: Nick Kempinski

  • Day 30 – Last day before it’s all gone. Thanks to everyone for your donations to this great cause.

  • Weeknotes 2024-11-29

    Movember is coming to an end. Thank you to everyone whose donated.

    Let’s see…. this week 🤔… this week 🤔…

    • I used my todo list
    • Get new phone. I’m feel like the only person who won’t go big, sticking with the iPhone SE ( now 3rd gen )
    • New cell provider. It’s time. The old one was way to much. And I’m Canadian, so that’s way way way way too much.
    • Keep reading. Agile Conversations
    • Keep designing my life. Still hung on Odyssey plan. More an issue with making time at this point I think? My therapist might disagree.

  • Day 28 – close up is the only way to see what’s left. 2 days to go.

  • Day 27 – Maybe a little too much off? That’s ok, not much time left to donate.

  • Day 26 – lights, camera, stache. 4 days left.

  • Day 25 – last week left. Still a chance to donate.

  • Day 24 – Almost missed the day!? How did that happen? Don’t forget to donate.

  • Yo mamma is so…

    … agonistically toned!

    Photo by Zdeněk Macháček on Unsplash

    “No, you’re agonistically toned!”

    In, Ong’s, Orality & Literacy, I have to admit for me, “Agonistically toned” was one of the lesser argued characteristics. Perhaps it’s because his use of laser specific language; it’s name has more punch? It sure wasn’t the generic references to old plays and stories such as Iliad, Beowulf, and The Mwindo Epic.

    What is agonistic?

    Not agnostic.
    Not antagonist.
    To the dictionary!

    2. Argumentative

    3. Striving for effect

    4. Relating to, or being aggressive or defensive social interaction between individuals usually of the same species 1

    While “Argumentative” maybe a doomsday definition you may lean toward, it’s also “striving for effect.” What Ong continued to point out, is it is also about being boastful; peacocking and bloating chests.

    Bragging about one’s own prowess and/or verbal tongue-lashings of an opponent figure regularly in encounters…

    Based off the old plays, this may seem oddly over the top and, perhaps to literate society, could come across as “insincere, flatulent, and comically pretentious.”

    Recently Agonistic


    Rap battles are a great example of agonistic tone. Two rappers slinging saturated, insults at each other while making themselves larger than life. But what else in modern culture could be considered agonistically toned?

    Here’s a quick list of other recent examples

    • Every “character” in a reality TV show
    • The more questionable Minecraft YouTube show hosts my son sneaks
    • Every Xitter post from it’s owner
    • The 45th, now, 47th US President-Elect

    Good or Bad?

    What I find interesting about this characteristic is, Ong, is careful not to say an oral culture is simply agonistic, but agonistically toned. Meaning that while they sounded agonistic, they may not physically be.

    Reading Orality & Literacy, there is attention to stay unbiased, to have no opinion on better or worse between literate and oral culture. While others might exclude “tone” from the characteristic and go towards tribalism and the darker natures of our past coming back; while perhaps Ong had a personal opinion, he gently stays out of that fight.

    Does a highly agonistically tonned society lead to agonistic behaviour 2? Could there be a future where Agonism is everywhere?

    1. Note: I’m not sure what “usually of the same species” has to do with anything. But sure, we’ll go with it. ↩︎
    2. Ah… that explains the specific species language. Many of the studies are not on humans. ↩︎

  • Day 23 – Comparing this day in 2024, 2021, and 2020. A little ahead, but not by much. Every donation counts.

  • Weeknotes 2024-11-22

    I’ll admit – I’m struggling a bit. Which is expected with the B-Day coming up. I spin into a well every year questioning everything, wondering where I’ve been and where I’m going.

    Was I the navigator I hoped for?
    Nope

    Will I be next week?
    Probably not

    Am I ok with that?
    Meh 🤷

    Can I do anything about it?
    These weeknotes, listen to good music, love my kids, keep working on Designing my Life, movembering, general fun, playing with various fediverse sites

    Here’s an interesting idea
    Replace Scrobbling with something connected to ActivityPub. It can ingest Scrobble and then let you do more.