O.R. Melling

Longfellow's "whoever he might be, the master made them" questions who built the banks that allow Virgil & Dante to pass the fiery sand & river of blood. Hollanders follow this derailed train of thought with "except the architect, whoever he was". We're suddenly wondering who created Hell?!

That may sound like gobbledegook translateese but it's never easy when Dante goes abstract as opposed to plain storytelling i.e. action & description. Doesn't help both my translator guides took a head stagger with this verse, Hollanders copying Longfellow I suspect (as they do at times) ...2

CANTO XV cont'd: a tale imagine eran fatti quelli/tutto che né sì alti né sì grossi/qual che si fosse, lo maestro félli. to such image were these made, albeit (all that) not so high nor so thick; that which was thus, the Master made them.

When the thread got too long - "Is this the longest thread on Twitter?" some wag asked, forgot to get name - Twitter, before it was X'd, started to delete earliest posts. That's when I decided it was an impermanent performative art piece & brain exercise. But yeah, also screenshots as I go.

The things I'd forgotten. Thought I started during Covid lockdown, then thought November 2019. Forgot it was because my Italian teacher pissed me off. Night class had retired teachers & someone who translated Cicero, Ovid et al (moi); we could've done it instead of the usual boring shite .../2

I guess you haven't read the thread.

Copy of an original tweet dated Nov 27, 2018.

Starting this pinned thread for 3rd time lucky. THE DANTE PROJECT: To Hell & Back Again. Translating Dante's Inferno, parsing for syntax & vocab not poetry (myriad others do that) plus devil-may-care commentary. Originally on TwitterX'd, then here & now here again. How & when it started.

Also politicians: Big Tech owns us, we can't go for them. Let's target the kids.

Kids are much easier to take on than Big Tech who have politicians & even governments in their pocket.

Your age is showing, not to mention your bias.

THIS ☝️

Social media is not going away & censoring kids is not the answer. This is just the same old "back to basics" nonsense every generation tried to inflict on the next one. A refusal to recognise the world has changed. The kids aren't the problem. Big Tech is.

But there is a need for regulation, factchecking & oversight in areas such as child abuse, porn, dangerous disinformation, manipulation of the algorithms to affect elections etc Twitter had factchecking & Musk disabled it & argues EU's insistence on it is against "freedom of speech".

TikTok educating American kids on the Gaza genocide led to the whole "China is collecting our data" (as if Big Tech isn't) & forcing the sale to Trumpian Yanks who are already controlling the algorithms.

Control kids, not Big Tech! Kids are easier target.

Anyway, not anyone. Sigh.

The article & therefore my response was about the banning of kids, not Internet toxicity which you introduced. You're being deliberately obtuse because your position is untenable & unpopular.

All in a day on the Worldwide Web. Anyone I have the lot, both from TwitterX'd & here. It's a performative piece & a brain exercise & learning Italian from Il Maestro.

Later, gotta go to the gym. Have a good Sunday, a dhaoine! 🤞

It's always been pretty obvious they live in a different world with rarefied - as in less - oxygen. Damages the brain.

If "we" (whites) can't do it, it must be wrong!

Nope, we want them regulated & controlled, not the kids. You just don't ... understand.

You really can't hear. No point talking to you.

a woman wearing a sweater that has a house on it Alt: Golden Age actress passing out on sofa.

Ah feck, I just deleted my entire Dante's Inferno translation thread by accident. Wanted to edit the Ibelin skeet. FFS. And I can't find the thread in replies. Thanks be to jaysus & his divine mudda I screenshot the lot. Will post last skeet & continue from there. It's just for me anyway lol.

two close ups - one a young boy, the other his online avatar

Anyone defending the ban of young people from the Internet please watch THE REMARKABLE LIFE OF IBELIN the story of a paraplegic child's life online which his parents didn't know about until he died. Place your arguments against his beautiful life. Regulate toxic Web content, not kids.

You didn't read the article about the harm done to kids with disabilities? Nor what vulnerable young people - queer, transgender, autistic, socially anxious etc - say who rely on the Internet for community? You should watch The Incredible Life of Ibelin about a paraplegic child's life online.

Apparently not obvious to those who brought in the legislation and some responding here. But I genuinely don't understand your second point. Could you explain what you mean?

At some point the West needs to deal with the enemy within - late-stage capitalism - and stop with the RED UNDER THE BED IT'S RUSSIA blame for everything.

And apparently didn't talk to a wide range of parents of young adults.

My point is that blocking kids - censorship of them - is not, cannot & will not be any kind of a solution. Regulate & censor Big Tech, the media, yes! And meantime, educate the kids to deal with social media & protect themselves. But this blocking of kids is a refusal to deal with toxic content.