Links etc: Colours

Hello Dreamwidth! Let's see if I can make a post.

"It bears noting that Johannes Cabal would never have referred to these colours thus, pointing out with agonising pedantry that infra-violet is simply indigo or, more likely, blue, while ultra-red is better known as ‘orange’. This is why these stories are written in the third person." — Jonathan L Howard, The Brothers Cabal.

So, You Want to Be a Synesthete? (Scientific American, 1 November 2016). "Several “artificial” approaches exist but most evidence suggests that training cannot capture a synesthete’s experience."

The secret history of colour in black and white (GA, 15 November 2016). "A distaste for colour runs through western culture like a ladder in a stocking." (An extract from The Secret Lives of Colour by Kassia St Clair.)

(This is a quick test - I guess I'll bring door-of-time over here too, and repost these links to it.)

Getting the hang of DW

So far I've encountered two major pains in the ass: unlike LiveJournal, you don't get the markup tools in HTML, and in Rich Text you can't paste in text without its original formatting. This is a particular hassle when posting long lists of links, as is my wont. Also, the HTML version of the post is a mess. All advice gratefully accepted.

ETA: Is there a way to login securely?

ETA: Go here https://www.dreamwidth.org/login and choose "Secure".

Particularity

"5. Not for nothing, but there is a direct correlation between the quote unquote “diverse” Big 2 properties that have done well (Luke Cage, Black Panther, Ms Marvel, Batgirl) and properties that have A STRONG SENSE OF PLACE. It’s not “diversity” that draws those elusive untapped audiences, it’s *particularity.* This is a vital distinction nobody seems to make. This goes back to authenticity and realism."

— G. Willow Wilson, responding on Tumblr to the recent controversy over diversity in comics

This blew my head up, because I'd just read a short story by Nnedi Okorafor called "Spider the Artist" (in the antho Robot Uprisings), and "particularity" perfectly describes it. Its setting, a near future Nigeria, is full of details that make it ring powerfully true: you quickly understand that these details haven't been invented or researched, but experienced. (And indeed, the author is Nigerian-American and has visited Nigeria many times.) This is the "authenticity and realism" that Wilson is describing - the believability of setting that makes fantastical / speculative stories seem real.