I love a good rabbithole but the Wikipedia articles for very basic concepts are so so interesting too. the page for “War” is of course incredibly developed and thought out, deeply exploring its history, types, effects, motivations, ethics, and mitigation with lotsss of interesting jumping off points for other philosophical, historical, material, and sociological topics. not reccing this in an edgelord way but in a sober and curious way
pictured here: “Stele of the Vultures” 2450 BC, first evidence of the use of a phalanx
Aug 25, 2024
Related Recs
It's far too easy for me to burn a few hours digging through Wikipedia hyperlinks and trawling through yards of text. It's a very fun way to gain cursory knowledge about possibly obscure topics, and you can find some pretty bizarre stuff if you know where to look.
Nov 29, 2024
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I adore wikipedia and my favourite part of the articles is the references and external links list. a deeper dive into the subject/topic. they always include research papers as well! love it so much.
Sep 18, 2024
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in this world which feeds us manufactured stories designed to provoke, following threads of literally anything can foster our genuine sense of curiosity which is being commodified at every turn.
go to the main page of wikipedia and click click click and let your thoughts wander. for instance, today i landed on the page of flags sorted by design. did you know that libya's flag was just solid green from 1977-2011? that cyprus is one of the only national flags to have a map of itself on it? and that nepal's flag is the only non-rectangular national flag in the world? unless you want to make a non-rectangular flag for your hypothetical nation. the world is your oyster.
Jan 7, 2025
Top Recs from @bisonspider
oh golly oh gee... I’m honored that anyone here on PI.FYI even recognizes me!! how sweet to be thought of. uhhhh as for who I am and what I’m about: my name is Ethyn, I’m 22, I’m American (flyover state), cultural Catholic, my favorite color is purple, of a forgiving disposition
I’ve been using this app basically since launch (?) bc a tiktok mutual was clued in on the ground floor and I got the invite lol. I consider myself a very curious and open-minded person and something I love about this place is how committed it is to sincerity, such that I can no longer stand the casual cruelty and close-mindedness of almost all other social media. so PI.FYI is the only social media I’m active on anymore. I suppose the reason I’m more of a lurker is because I love getting to read recs from others (and I’m pretty liberal with the like button) but I feel strange reccing something if I’m not like 100% behind it lol. like there’s gonna be a test. I’ll also go two days or so without logging on and then I’ll catch up on all the recs I missed so it results in a spam for my mutuals <3
As far as interests, I generally consider myself to be an ooky and kooky type of person. I love art in all mediums, but especially films, books, paintings, and poetry. I’ve rec’d PLENTY of all four if you care to take a look :) I’ll make the occasional lifestyle rec but most of the stuff I talk about on here is art. Lol since the earliest days of this site I’ve kinda harped on the function of story as the thing that makes us human, and myth as manifestations of the collective unconscious. This is one of my most foundational beliefs and lenses for the world.
Another common theme you’ll see in my recs is my love for the classics. Classic movies, classic books, all of it!! I think if something is classic there’s almost always a reason, and I think it’s important to understand foundations of influence for art that comes after. Everything is in context!!!! Everything is interdependent!!!!
some of my favorite films: The Wicker Man (1973), Goodfellas (1990), Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2010), Viy (1967), Nosferatu (1922), The Banshees of Inisherin (2022)
some of my favorite literature: All of Edgar Allan Poe, Life of Pi by Yann Martel, Ishmael by Daniel Quinn, the work of William S. Burroughs, the work of Yasunari Kawabata, and all world myth categorically.
I want to affirm becoming!!!! I want to exist in service of the liberation of the full breadth of human potential!!! I want to be ripped screaming and bloody from the womb!!!! I will incarnate just to touch the wound ten thousand more times!!!!
Mar 13, 2025
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study the folklore and myth of your actual local region. live your daily life under the logic of fairytales. communicate as heavily as possible in proverbs and riddles. humans are a storytelling creature and there is a reason these archetypes and motifs appear to humans across times/cultures/places
Feb 13, 2024
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Substack that emails you the entirety of Bram Stoker’s Dracula in real time. since the novel is composed of diary entries, it sends you the diary entries day by day so you can read it on the same timeline in which it takes place. it started earlier this month but it’s not too late to catch up!! or you could wait until next may. classics can be intimidating but this gives you the opportunity to read it in daily segments in your email and follow along in an immersive way :)
May 20, 2024