RT @FiatLuxGenesis@twitter.com: I highly recommend. We have one hanging in our library. https://hell.twtr.plus/media/a7a9535fb79db933aab6a64f3bcfc4b1b4541fb7199f55669b5da9c7d7ba7509.file https://hell.twtr.plus/media/9d8282f6940a7030c3007cb6c4bd01d9ee29df9ceb692c316036818b0f4df186.file https://hell.twtr.plus/media/ca6b8bdaed4fb0238f6a3115b473a03b4e608ce0c3f4f1567e64179b4b078be9.file https://hell.twtr.plus/media/3f6bdcbbf5d5dd56b575873f08109751333e9d1d95d9e2422f2c99b7a317d99a.file

out of curiosity i went to a few luxury brand websites and couldnt find a 99 anywhere. its almost pythagorean, in a sense, that pure whole numbers communicate a type of straightforwardness, honesty, maybe elegance. the 99 suffix communicates incompleteness: they took "one" out. https://hell.twtr.plus/media/6c069888f4fc0418b7b1a28da7950044621ea32636aa83e25c99c53f55ef4866.file

on large items, it now presumably has the opposite effect. if something is $399 and you discuss it with someone else, you tell them its 400. mentally shifting it over calls your attention to it. subconsciously, we probably now associate the 99 with grocery stores and used cars.

pricing everything in a number that ends in 99 is a kind of financial atavism. we tell a story that it was for psychological reasons, but originally it was so that cashiers had to open the register for each transaction, thus recording a sale, so they couldnt just pocket the cash https://hell.twtr.plus/media/77e5998a782ed62288836df4931efe4832b2506fd033c1861e2d68254ce03346.file

when reading about taoism back in the day there is a story about some ancient people who went to sail east, to find paradise, and never returned. never found the story again but if you sail east from china, you’d hit japan. this is my personal canonical story of how japan started

yes the business is scalable. not sure exactly what that means but it could definitely scale down from here to zero

this part of the year, in our modern times, might not have that unique flavor at all if it wasn't for st. odilo marking a particular day to pray for, specifically, all the suffering dead. or maybe that really is the seasonal vibe, and he was just picking up on it. https://hell.twtr.plus/media/b5aae453db7284cbd6a3195696349e84b1a584d7efd9d88e7caa1f9f5ce416c6.file

the combination of those two things may be what's upstream of halloween's edge, its trickster nature: its interplay of opposites. its relationship to those bridging "in between" ethereal spaces - that's what spookiness really is: of the spirit, but not in an understood category https://hell.twtr.plus/media/f3fca8c4af56dec6653c5f5984433ee999ff9bc7fe5720cbcf1667c6272e7ea1.file

our halloween isn't a sad day, but it's also not exactly pure or celebratory either. it's kind of both. the spookiness may derive from this. one day, you're celebrating all the souls in heaven. the next, praying for all the dead being tortured in fire in purgatory. back to back.

all saints day is triumphant. really... happy. it's all the saints. that's great. they won. they did it. the energy here is pure, light, victory banners, all that. i suspect the real flavor of our present halloween is the interplay of these two days: all saints and all souls. https://hell.twtr.plus/media/4b52a3ae480276c72d7c15de747f95703397a4b7b2acac4f55395e33e19e4076.file