Wednesday has been having the lower-back thing flare up again, sigh
May. 14th, 2025 07:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
oursinWhat I read
Finished Dance and Skylark, which was a bit slight (felt there was a certain unresolved slashy subtext going on between Stephen and his former Greek-American wartime comrade in arms, hmmm) though I marked it up for the women characters looking as if they might be a bit one-dimensional and then revealing other facets.
Katherine V Forrest, Delafield (2022) - Kate Delafield, still retired, dealing with a stalker who is a woman who her poor handling of a case way back in her career led to being falsely imprisoned, and now released through the Innocence Project, also her PTSD issues, etc, also old relationship stuff.
Long Live Great Bardfield: The Autobiography of Tirzah Garwood - Persephone edition, 2016, initially published in limited edition 2012 - her memoir written when she was diagnosed with breast cancer and had a mastectomy in the 1940s, for her family, edited with some supplementary material by her daughter. Said a bit about it here.
Ursula Whitcher, North Continent Ribbon (2024) - v good.
KJ Charles, The Henchmen of Zenda (2018), re-read because not feeling up to much.
On the go
Still dipping into Melissa Scott, Scenes from the City.
Have started the other book for review - wow there is a lot of insider baseball stuff about the Parliamentary toings and froings over the legislation in question, or maybe I mean, how the sausage got made - and maybe my general state at the moment is not quite in the right space.
Just started, Kris Ripper, The Life Revamp (The Love Study #3) (2021) because it was on offer in my Recommended for You on Kobo today.
Up Next
New Literary Review.
Otherwise, not sure.
CT scan looks fine
May. 14th, 2025 01:58 pmredbirdI had a CT scan of my lungs this morning, then saw the pulmonologist. The CT scan looks OK, considering: "Again seen is diffuse bronchiectasis with tree-in-bud opacities seen in the right upper lobe, right middle lobe and lingula. The areas in the right upper lobe may have improved in the interval."
The low-tech exam was also reassuring: the doctor used a stethoscope to listen to my chest, and had me cough while listening. She heard no wheezing (or other problems), which is good. So, she told me to keep using the flutter valve twice a day, and come back in six months.
And, some non-medical notes:
I discovered that it's possible to accidentally cancel a Lyft ride by putting your phone in your pocket after the driver has picked you up. The driver suggested I text Lyft to tell them I hadn't meant to cancel, but I couldn't figure out how to do that. After a minute or two of frustration, I asked the driver if he would take cash instead, and he said yes. So I handed him $25, and repeated the destination address so he could enter it in his GPS. I try to carry some cash on general principles, but this isn't something I was expecting to need, or be able, to pay cash for.
Mount Auburn was also having some trouble with their medical information system: the doctor could see the CT scan, but only on the machine in her office, not the one in the exam room. Fortunately, I didn't need to see the images. Given their computer problems, I was particularly pleased to have a list of my current medications on my phone, to show the doctor's assistant. I don't yet have my follow-up appointment, but that's not because of today's computer problems, but that they aren't set up to book follow-up appointments that far in advance.
I took transit home, which is cheap and makes sense to me, from many years of practice. I stopped at Flour to get something to eat, 7-11 to use their no-fee ATM to withdraw some more cash, and CVS to pick up a prescription, and was home in time for lunch. It was effectively two stops rather than three, because the 7-11 and drugstore are both near the bus stop where I was changing from the bus to the trolley.
The low-tech exam was also reassuring: the doctor used a stethoscope to listen to my chest, and had me cough while listening. She heard no wheezing (or other problems), which is good. So, she told me to keep using the flutter valve twice a day, and come back in six months.
And, some non-medical notes:
I discovered that it's possible to accidentally cancel a Lyft ride by putting your phone in your pocket after the driver has picked you up. The driver suggested I text Lyft to tell them I hadn't meant to cancel, but I couldn't figure out how to do that. After a minute or two of frustration, I asked the driver if he would take cash instead, and he said yes. So I handed him $25, and repeated the destination address so he could enter it in his GPS. I try to carry some cash on general principles, but this isn't something I was expecting to need, or be able, to pay cash for.
Mount Auburn was also having some trouble with their medical information system: the doctor could see the CT scan, but only on the machine in her office, not the one in the exam room. Fortunately, I didn't need to see the images. Given their computer problems, I was particularly pleased to have a list of my current medications on my phone, to show the doctor's assistant. I don't yet have my follow-up appointment, but that's not because of today's computer problems, but that they aren't set up to book follow-up appointments that far in advance.
I took transit home, which is cheap and makes sense to me, from many years of practice. I stopped at Flour to get something to eat, 7-11 to use their no-fee ATM to withdraw some more cash, and CVS to pick up a prescription, and was home in time for lunch. It was effectively two stops rather than three, because the 7-11 and drugstore are both near the bus stop where I was changing from the bus to the trolley.
Wednesday reading
May. 14th, 2025 05:37 pm![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png){kind=small}
fromtheheartofeurope_feedCurrent
Doctor Who: Warrior’s Gate and beyond, by Stephen Gallagher
Footnotes in Gaza, by Joe Sacco
These Burning Stars, by Bethany Jacobs
Last books finished
The Eleventh Doctor Archives vol 3, ed. Andrew James
So Let Them Burn, by Kamilah Cole
Beyond the Sun, by Matthew Jones
City of Last Chances, by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Coming of Age: The Sexual Awakening of Margaret Mead, by Deborah Blum
Amnesty, by Lara Elena Donnelly (did not finish)
Next books
Doctor Who: Logopolis, by Christopher H. Bidmead
Knowledgeable Creatures, by Christopher Rowe
Free: Coming of Age at the End of History, by Lea Ypi
Clarke shortlist, Goodreads/LibraryThing stats
May. 14th, 2025 04:11 pmfromtheheartofeurope_feedThe Clarke shortlist has been out for a couple of days, but I’ve been quite busy so am posting the ownership stats for the six lucky books only today. I’m also noting the ranking of each book in the equivalent table for the long list.
These numbers are crunched by hand, not by AI.
| Goodreads | LibraryThing | |||||
| raters | rating | owners | rating | |||
| (1) | The Ministry of Time | Kaliane Bradley | 139,555 | 3.59 | 1,976 | 3.71 |
| (5) | Annie Bot | Sierra Greer | 52,555 | 3.83 | 529 | 3.74 |
| (13) | Service Model | Adrian Tchaikovsky | 11,505 | 4.04 | 350 | 3.83 |
| (21) | Private Rites | Julia Armfield | 8,632 | 3.68 | 213 | 3.81 |
| (60) | Thirteen Ways to Kill Lulabelle Rock | Maud Woolf | 642 | 3.69 | 27 | 3.75 |
| (79) | Extremophile | Ian Green | 139 | 3.90 | 16 | – |
None of these was in the top quintiles of reader ratings from the long list. The last two seem to have made a big impression on judges despite low print runs.
I’m planning to be at the ceremony on 25 June – see you there perhaps.
Star Wars: Andor 2.10 - 2.12
May. 14th, 2025 04:01 pmselenakIn which a spy comes in from the cold. Overall a worthy conclusion, I thought, with some minor nitpicks.
( Spoilers were there for the Ballad of Kleya and Luthen )
In conclusion: truly a great show, and I hope the creative team will get many more works to produce in whichever universe.
Speaking of creative people in other universes, last week I learned JMS has emigrated to the UK and sees employement there. This caused a great many people to wish he'd become the next Doctor Who showrunner. To which I say: nonsense, a Blake's 7 reboot is clearly the British show for him to run! Crusade had definite B7 overtones already.
( Spoilers were there for the Ballad of Kleya and Luthen )
In conclusion: truly a great show, and I hope the creative team will get many more works to produce in whichever universe.
Speaking of creative people in other universes, last week I learned JMS has emigrated to the UK and sees employement there. This caused a great many people to wish he'd become the next Doctor Who showrunner. To which I say: nonsense, a Blake's 7 reboot is clearly the British show for him to run! Crusade had definite B7 overtones already.
People From My Neighborhood by Hiromi Kawakami
May. 14th, 2025 09:01 amjames_davis_nicoll
The narrator lives in a town filled with marvels, marvels they are determined to share with the reader.
People From My Neighborhood by Hiromi Kawakami
A perfect storm or, no, your bank did not call you
May. 14th, 2025 01:38 pmgreen_knightSo yesterday I gave my bank login to a scammer. I should have known better. I know better. This is a post where I analyse why things went wrong anyway and what I can do so this will never happen again.
( Long list is long )
I got away lightly, but not without cost. Right now, I'm a bit scared to sign up for online banking again, however necessary it may be.
I am very embarassed about the amount of muppetry that could have cost me a considerable sum of money, but I am trying to forgive myself. Every now and again, humans make mistakes. Sometimes costly ones. Closing my laptop around the power cord and needing a new display was costly. A small misjudgement while parking my car was costly. And, and, and. Sometimes it only takes a small slip, and afterwards you kick yourself, but that is life. We wish it wasn't, but it is.
( Long list is long )
I got away lightly, but not without cost. Right now, I'm a bit scared to sign up for online banking again, however necessary it may be.
I am very embarassed about the amount of muppetry that could have cost me a considerable sum of money, but I am trying to forgive myself. Every now and again, humans make mistakes. Sometimes costly ones. Closing my laptop around the power cord and needing a new display was costly. A small misjudgement while parking my car was costly. And, and, and. Sometimes it only takes a small slip, and afterwards you kick yourself, but that is life. We wish it wasn't, but it is.
Bruises sustained while kickboxing: pain level, realistic causes, healing time
May. 14th, 2025 01:28 pmneveryourgirl posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
little_detailsHi everyone,
MCU fanfic writer here! I need some advice on bruises and non-serious gym injuries/injuries from sparring or the like. Especially people with medical and/or martial arts backgrounds, please weigh in!
Character context: two non-superpowered hero characters (think Hawkeye or Black Widow), both are women, the injured character is in her early to mid-20s and has trained in different martial arts since she was a preteen
Scene context: It's basically a sex scene. Character A and B are long-distance and haven't seen each other in a while. Character A pulls up the other’s shirt and finds a fading bruise on her stomach. Character A asks about it. Character B replies that it’s a gym injury, because she got distracted during a kickboxing class. (The distraction was that she kept remembering a sex dream from the night before.) The moment is supposed to function as a brief interruption. It's basically 'not a big deal,' because they are both used to worse injuries, but it still makes character A pause, because like, Babe, why do you have a bruise I don't know about?
Injury details I've included: I described the bruise as “fading” and a “yellow-green mark.” It “hurt like a bitch” the first few days, but she can barely feel it now.
Timeframe-wise, I’m thinking the injury happened maybe two weeks ago, but I could change that. It’s not actually mentioned on page.
I have a feeling some of my details might be off? I did look up the different visual stages of bruises healing, but I have zero medical background, and all I know about kickboxing I learned from my google research.
So, my questions now are:
1. Does this injury make sense within the martial arts/kickboxing context? Is the bruising and pain level realistic? Or am I over- or underestimating it?
2. Does the timeframe make sense?
3. Would what I imagine as a kick to the stomach leave a bruise like that without causing more serious damage? Like, would the force necessary to leave a bruise also cause other injuries?
If this combo of injury and cause of injury doesn’t work, I’d also love to hear alternative suggestions if you have any!
Of course, this is Marvel, so there’s some major leeway since we repeatedly see characters without superpowers be kicked or fall from questionable heights and get back up again. But I really like to have my medical facts be as accurate as possible. (And if I feel the need to deviate, I at least want to know the factual realities I’m intentionally deviating from.)
MCU fanfic writer here! I need some advice on bruises and non-serious gym injuries/injuries from sparring or the like. Especially people with medical and/or martial arts backgrounds, please weigh in!
Character context: two non-superpowered hero characters (think Hawkeye or Black Widow), both are women, the injured character is in her early to mid-20s and has trained in different martial arts since she was a preteen
Scene context: It's basically a sex scene. Character A and B are long-distance and haven't seen each other in a while. Character A pulls up the other’s shirt and finds a fading bruise on her stomach. Character A asks about it. Character B replies that it’s a gym injury, because she got distracted during a kickboxing class. (The distraction was that she kept remembering a sex dream from the night before.) The moment is supposed to function as a brief interruption. It's basically 'not a big deal,' because they are both used to worse injuries, but it still makes character A pause, because like, Babe, why do you have a bruise I don't know about?
Injury details I've included: I described the bruise as “fading” and a “yellow-green mark.” It “hurt like a bitch” the first few days, but she can barely feel it now.
Timeframe-wise, I’m thinking the injury happened maybe two weeks ago, but I could change that. It’s not actually mentioned on page.
I have a feeling some of my details might be off? I did look up the different visual stages of bruises healing, but I have zero medical background, and all I know about kickboxing I learned from my google research.
So, my questions now are:
1. Does this injury make sense within the martial arts/kickboxing context? Is the bruising and pain level realistic? Or am I over- or underestimating it?
2. Does the timeframe make sense?
3. Would what I imagine as a kick to the stomach leave a bruise like that without causing more serious damage? Like, would the force necessary to leave a bruise also cause other injuries?
If this combo of injury and cause of injury doesn’t work, I’d also love to hear alternative suggestions if you have any!
Of course, this is Marvel, so there’s some major leeway since we repeatedly see characters without superpowers be kicked or fall from questionable heights and get back up again. But I really like to have my medical facts be as accurate as possible. (And if I feel the need to deviate, I at least want to know the factual realities I’m intentionally deviating from.)
Aurora Australis readalong 4 / 10, A Pony Watch
May. 14th, 2025 11:56 amspiralsheepAurora Australis readalong 4 / 10, A Pony Watch, by George Marston, post for comment, reaction, discussion, fanworks, links, and whatever obliquely related matters your heart desires. You can join the readalong at any time or skip sections or go back to earlier posts. It's all good. :-)
Text (warning for a pony being shot offscreen):
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Aurora_Australis/A_Pony_Watch
Readalong intro and reaction post links:
https://spiralsheep.dreamwidth.org/662515.html
Reminder for next week: Southward Bound by Lapsus Linguæ (anon)
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Aurora_Australis/Southward_Bound
Manchurian ponies, including a link to newsreel footage of the Nimrod expedition embarking with 10 ponies in New Zealand (warning for animal cruelty):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amourski
Photo of Shackleton's Manchurian pony Socks, who walked closer to the South Pole than any other modern equine.
( Quote from the Polar Ponies page at Long Riders. )
Vocabulary quote from A Pony Watch: "Rouse and shine" not rise and shine.
This week's food obsession: is cocoa better with sea salt? ;-)
Not much to say about this one. I pity the ponies, although as working ponies their lives wouldn't necessarily have been better or longer elsewhere. And I reckon I could deal with Antarctica but not the sea journey, ugh.
Text (warning for a pony being shot offscreen):
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Aurora_Australis/A_Pony_Watch
Readalong intro and reaction post links:
https://spiralsheep.dreamwidth.org/662515.html
Reminder for next week: Southward Bound by Lapsus Linguæ (anon)
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Aurora_Australis/Southward_Bound
Manchurian ponies, including a link to newsreel footage of the Nimrod expedition embarking with 10 ponies in New Zealand (warning for animal cruelty):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amourski
Photo of Shackleton's Manchurian pony Socks, who walked closer to the South Pole than any other modern equine.
( Quote from the Polar Ponies page at Long Riders. )
Vocabulary quote from A Pony Watch: "Rouse and shine" not rise and shine.
This week's food obsession: is cocoa better with sea salt? ;-)
Not much to say about this one. I pity the ponies, although as working ponies their lives wouldn't necessarily have been better or longer elsewhere. And I reckon I could deal with Antarctica but not the sea journey, ugh.
Tiny Drawers
May. 14th, 2025 01:27 amazurelunaticI now have an 8x8 case of tiny drawers. It arrived Monday. Some drawers are labeled, some are not. Labels include:
( Read more... )
The effort has taken most of my day, organized several drawers, and made my desk completely incoherent. Good times.
( Read more... )
The effort has taken most of my day, organized several drawers, and made my desk completely incoherent. Good times.
In which you cannot float my boat, fit the second
May. 14th, 2025 08:41 amspiralsheepFit the first, poll post:
https://spiralsheep.dreamwidth.org/666133.html
"You know what to do with your fear of a mask - but how do you begin to approach the bones that hold it up?"
Humans are mostly the only animals who can choose to think about their surroundings using more than one conceptual framework. Most of us do this naturally all the time without consciously mode-switching (and a surprising percentage of people become confused or scared if they become aware of this typically unconscious mode-switching).
And, yes, capri0mni was correct to note that my "when is a boat not a boat" poll is related to the classic argument about the Ship of Theseus because it's a question of the identity of a non-conscious object.
I think there are two possible arguments in play: one about context and human perception; and one about objective versus subjective physicality.
1. Context and human perception
1a. I encountered the boat in the context of a museum where it's presented as an individual boat with a traceable history. But as a museum exhibit it's also representing the idea of a boat and of all the other historic boats that aren't present.
1b. If I'd encountered the boat in the context of an art gallery where it was displayed as conceptual art of a boat, with an explanation of the concept (as is usual in those circumstances) then its primary meaning shifts from "being a boat" to "being a concept of a boat" in whatever way the artist intends (if they're a convincing artist, obv, as I have seen both convincing and unconvincing art, lol).
1c. If I'd encountered the boat as a wreck on the strand next to a fleet of working fishing boats then perhaps it would have been un-boated or at least its boat-ness reduced by comparison ("Is a retired fisherman still a fisherman?" "Yes, he retains all his professional knowledge and personal experience but, no, because he doesn't actually fish."). It also wouldn't have survived long as the weather and people seeking lumber would've unmade it much faster than in a museum where it's actively preserved. So it might have remained a boat briefly but would soon be a pile of lumber and then only the memory of a pile of lumber.
2. Objective versus subjective physicality
What is "boat"*? My basic argument would begin at: "boat" is a floating object that can carry another unfloating object on/above/through* water. So to the perceptions of any animal other than a human the object under discussion is not "boat". But to a human this unfloating uncarrying object can be understood to be a boat because another human, even one unknown to us, communicated their intention that this pile of actively collected and shaped materials should be a boat and should be experienced as a boat. So we are honouring that unknown person's intention by sharing their understanding that this is a boat, even after it ceases to float and carry. Humans expend a lot of time and energy on honouring each others' intentions in ways that most other animals don't most of the time. The next question is, of course, whether an object intended to be a conventional fishing boat but built incompetently so it has never floated and carried could be argued to be "boat" because I don't think many people would honour that intention however well meant....
* If a submarine is "boat" then "through water" (without unintentionally sinking) must be included.
https://spiralsheep.dreamwidth.org/666133.html
"You know what to do with your fear of a mask - but how do you begin to approach the bones that hold it up?"
Humans are mostly the only animals who can choose to think about their surroundings using more than one conceptual framework. Most of us do this naturally all the time without consciously mode-switching (and a surprising percentage of people become confused or scared if they become aware of this typically unconscious mode-switching).
And, yes, capri0mni was correct to note that my "when is a boat not a boat" poll is related to the classic argument about the Ship of Theseus because it's a question of the identity of a non-conscious object.
I think there are two possible arguments in play: one about context and human perception; and one about objective versus subjective physicality.
1. Context and human perception
1a. I encountered the boat in the context of a museum where it's presented as an individual boat with a traceable history. But as a museum exhibit it's also representing the idea of a boat and of all the other historic boats that aren't present.
1b. If I'd encountered the boat in the context of an art gallery where it was displayed as conceptual art of a boat, with an explanation of the concept (as is usual in those circumstances) then its primary meaning shifts from "being a boat" to "being a concept of a boat" in whatever way the artist intends (if they're a convincing artist, obv, as I have seen both convincing and unconvincing art, lol).
1c. If I'd encountered the boat as a wreck on the strand next to a fleet of working fishing boats then perhaps it would have been un-boated or at least its boat-ness reduced by comparison ("Is a retired fisherman still a fisherman?" "Yes, he retains all his professional knowledge and personal experience but, no, because he doesn't actually fish."). It also wouldn't have survived long as the weather and people seeking lumber would've unmade it much faster than in a museum where it's actively preserved. So it might have remained a boat briefly but would soon be a pile of lumber and then only the memory of a pile of lumber.
2. Objective versus subjective physicality
What is "boat"*? My basic argument would begin at: "boat" is a floating object that can carry another unfloating object on/above/through* water. So to the perceptions of any animal other than a human the object under discussion is not "boat". But to a human this unfloating uncarrying object can be understood to be a boat because another human, even one unknown to us, communicated their intention that this pile of actively collected and shaped materials should be a boat and should be experienced as a boat. So we are honouring that unknown person's intention by sharing their understanding that this is a boat, even after it ceases to float and carry. Humans expend a lot of time and energy on honouring each others' intentions in ways that most other animals don't most of the time. The next question is, of course, whether an object intended to be a conventional fishing boat but built incompetently so it has never floated and carried could be argued to be "boat" because I don't think many people would honour that intention however well meant....
* If a submarine is "boat" then "through water" (without unintentionally sinking) must be included.
2025/072: A Language of Dragons — S F Williamson
May. 14th, 2025 07:05 amtamaranth2025/072: A Language of Dragons — S F Williamson
‘The ones who have hoards don’t need to work, but the ones who don’t, well …’
Hoards. Like piles of gold or money. Why do dragons need money? They don’t shop for groceries or pay bills. It hits me that, in all my years learning dragon tongues, I’ve never questioned how dragons fit into our human society. [p. 180]
London, 1923, where there's a Peace Agreement between the British government and the Dragon Queen; where some dragons fought in the Great War alongside humans, but others massacred the entire human population of Bulgaria; where Vivien Featherswallow, seventeen years old and the daughter of respectable Second Class parents, will stop at nothing to ensure that she can continue her studies in dragon linguistics, and prevent her little sister from ever being demoted to Third Class. ( Read more... )
Recent Reading
May. 13th, 2025 10:44 pmaurumcalendulaLove Between Fairy and Devil, Vol. 1 by Jiu Lu Fei Xiang (translated by Yu):
( Read more... )
Kei × Yaku: Bound by Law 6 by Kaoruhara Yoshie (translated by Leo McDonagh):
( Read more... )
Star Trek Discovery and the Female Gothic: Tell Fear No by Carey Millsap-Spears:
( Read more... )
( Read more... )
Kei × Yaku: Bound by Law 6 by Kaoruhara Yoshie (translated by Leo McDonagh):
( Read more... )
Star Trek Discovery and the Female Gothic: Tell Fear No by Carey Millsap-Spears:
( Read more... )
some good things!
May. 13th, 2025 10:52 pmkaberettA persuaded me to make the ridiculous stale pistachio croissant breakfast. This was absolutely the right call and I am very happy about it.
It is definitely the weather for linen. Went out to meet A and acquire dinner ingredients; bimbled home via watching baby birds (two sets of teenage coots! two batches of Canada gosling!) and eating pastries and collecting a pile of drugs for me.
And then this evening I got myself onto the mat! Did a sequence! Full of happy chemicals about it! (Laughing at my brain for trying to pull the "nooooooooo if you get on the mat you'll want to do the whooooole seeeeequence and that would be baaaaaaad".)
Sleep now? Sleep now.
Bundle of Holding: Sixth World Shadows
May. 13th, 2025 02:09 pmjames_davis_nicoll
The Companion, Emerald City, and many Sixth Edition Shadowrun rulebooks
Bundle of Holding: Sixth World Shadows
Unexpected research usefulness
May. 13th, 2025 06:00 pmoursinSince we are hoping to get to the Tirzah Garwood exhibition at Dulwich before it closes, I have finally got round to reading Long Live Great Bardfield: The Autobiography of Tirzah Garwood (Persephone 2016).
I think my original interest was because I thought her arty circles would intersect a bit more with my fubsy progressives, but although a few familiar names surfaced less so than I had anticipated.
However, in an episode rather counter to the kind of narrative one expects in arty boho circles of the period, in 1942 she had a therapeutic abortion in the local hospital, which is a thing I have never come across among all the tales of pills, backstreet operators, sleazo Harley street docs, dodgy nursing homes, etc, pre the 67 Act. She had just had a mastectomy - this was in fact what led her to start writing the autobiography for her family - and became pregnant only a few months later (!!!???). This was deemed entirely grounds for a termination, but even so, doing ward rounds with medical students, the surgeon remarked that it was 'illegal' but that provided medical opinion agreed that continuing pregnancy and childbirth would be dangerous, No Jury Would Convict. This was very few years after the high-profile Aleck Bourne case, that docs were justified if the woman would be left a 'physical or mental wreck'.
I also find this rather resonant, in view of the current situation with women getting charged under the 1861 Act.
The other thing that struck me was that Garwood and her circles could easily be hanging out on the periphery of Dance to the Music of Time - every so often they get invited to a country house or interact with the local gentry, and at one point have to do with a socialist peer who has an encampment of Basque refugees on his estate....
Nine Lives: In Search of the Sacred in Modern India, by William Dalrymple
May. 13th, 2025 04:02 pmfromtheheartofeurope_feedSecond paragraph of third chapter:
She paused for a moment, looking out over the lake, smiling to herself. Then her face clouded over. ‘But mostly it is horrible. The farmers here, they are not like the boys of Bombay.’
One of William Dalrymple’s lyrical explorations of India, this tells the stories of nine people with roles in Indian religion – mostly Hinduism, though the point is well made both by Dalrymple and by several of his interlocutors that it’s all a bit syncretic, and drawing strict boundaries between different faiths is not a good path to understanding.
People who think that all religion is bollocks won’t find much to like in this book. But if you are interested in the belief and faith systems of the largest country in the world by population, this is a very enlightening guide to what nine of the 1.4 billion think, at least as reported by one observer. (No doubt, like any good writer, he has combined material from a number of sources to create nine good stories.)
There’s the Jain nun. There’s the prison warder who becomes a dancing god for two months a year. There’s the singer of epic poems which take five days to recite. There’s the woman Sufi mystic. There’s the maker of bronze idols. There’s the tantric guardian of the cremation grounds. There’s the blind bard of Bengal. Dalrymple respectfully gives them all their voices
And saddest of all is the Devadasi, the temple prostitute who has been servicing worshippers sexually since she was a young girl. Supposedly this practice was made illegal by both the British and by independent India, but it has simply gone underground, with even less protection for the women and girls who get involved. In general my instincts are for the legalisation of sex work where all involved are consenting adults, but that’s not what is going on here, and the story of Rani Bai is heart-rending.
Anyway, well worth getting, and you can get it here. This was the top unread non-fiction book on my shelves; next is the English translation of The Burgundians, by Bart van Loo.
Into the Abyss: Five SFF Stories About Delivering Destruction
May. 13th, 2025 10:03 amjames_davis_nicoll
Unleashing chaos, maybe even apocalypse, intentionally or not...
Into the Abyss: Five SFF Stories About Delivering Destruction
In which you cannot float my boat
May. 13th, 2025 01:34 pmspiralsheepHaving semantic argument. Send help!
Here is a boat-shaped wooden object that used to be a fishing boat in the 19th-20th centuries but was taken out of the water about 70 years ago and has, naturally, warped so much that it will never be seaworthy again. If the wooden object was pulled apart then individual planks would probably float but while they continue to be fastened together as a single object, the sum of its parts, it would sink.
Here is a boat-shaped wooden object that used to be a fishing boat in the 19th-20th centuries but was taken out of the water about 70 years ago and has, naturally, warped so much that it will never be seaworthy again. If the wooden object was pulled apart then individual planks would probably float but while they continue to be fastened together as a single object, the sum of its parts, it would sink.
Poll #33118 Bwahahahaha, no free space ticky for you!
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 20
Is the ship-shaped wooden object that can't float actually boat?
View Answers
Yes, it was built to be a boat, rowed as a boat, it remains an unfloatable boat
15 (75.0%)
No, it's a collection of wood and metal that looks ship-shape but it's lumber
3 (15.0%)
No, not an actual boat because it's not seaworthy but it is a conceptual sculpture of a boat
7 (35.0%)
Interesting Links for 13-05-2025
May. 13th, 2025 12:00 pmandrewducker- 1. How Gandalf Proved Mightiest: Spiritual Power in Tolkien
- (tags:lotr Tolkien magic viaDanielDWilliam )
- 2. ScotRail trials wi-fi using Elon Musk's Starlink satellites
- (tags:Scotland trains internet )
- 3. Continuous glucose monitors reveal variable glucose responses from the same people to the same meals
- (tags:insulin sugar eating food )
- 4. The charts showing the big flaw in Starmer's immigration plan
- (tags:migration economy uk doom )
- 5. Moderna's combo Covid and flu mRNA shot outperforms current vaccines in large trial
- (tags:vaccine pandemic flu )
- 6. Despair at Starmer's divisive language as he channels Enoch Powell
- (tags:bigotry immigration UK Labour OhForFucksSake )
- 7. US Copyright Office head fired after reporting AI training isn't always fair use
- (tags:ai copyright USA politics )
- 8. Edinburgh traffic bans in city centre to be made permanent following trial
- (tags:traffic transport Edinburgh )
- 9. Top UK Special Forces general oversaw blocking of Afghan war-crime witnesses to Britain
- (tags:UK military crime war OhForFucksSake Afghanistan )
- 10. How the news feels right now
- (tags:news satire doom )
- 11. Mass vote losses to Lib Dems and Greens would cost Labour twice as many seats as mass Reform switch
- (tags:labour libdem green )
- 12. Getting to know 'Reform curious Labour voters'
- (tags:Labour politics UK )
- 13. Zodiac Killer Revealed by His Love of Comic Books, Author Says
- (tags:comics murder usa history )
- 14. London, Brighton, Birmingham and Manchester Prides suspend political parties from taking part (over trans rights)
- (tags:lgbt transgender protest uk politics )
Tags:
- afghanistan,
- ai,
- bigotry,
- comics,
- copyright,
- crime,
- doom,
- eating,
- economy,
- edinburgh,
- flu,
- food,
- green,
- history,
- immigration,
- insulin,
- internet,
- labour,
- lgbt,
- libdem,
- links,
- lotr,
- magic,
- migration,
- military,
- murder,
- news,
- ohforfuckssake,
- pandemic,
- politics,
- protest,
- satire,
- scotland,
- sugar,
- tolkien,
- traffic,
- trains,
- transgender,
- transport,
- uk,
- usa,
- vaccine,
- viadanieldwilliam,
- war
In which my car is too much a metaphor
May. 13th, 2025 10:50 amnineveh_ukI took my car to the garage last week as the central locking wasn't functioning, which meant that I couldn't lock it at all. It has been repaired, but in the course of this has demonstrated Life Lessons that I could have done without, namely:
* sometimes it doesn't matter that something has been maintained in good condition or had light use, the passage of time also ages things.
* hooking it up to the machine that confirms the faulty door is door X rather than believing your client who thinks - for good reason - that the faulty door is Y, but is mistaken, saves time.
But most of all:
* don't design a car without the capacity to turn off the central locking function and just operate each door with a key!
The other Life Lesson of the past fortnight is that however good an idea a dentist appointment at 8am on a Saturday may seem in theory, in practice, I deeply regretted that life choice. That's 100% my fault though, and will I learn from this triumph of hope over experience? I doubt it.
* sometimes it doesn't matter that something has been maintained in good condition or had light use, the passage of time also ages things.
* hooking it up to the machine that confirms the faulty door is door X rather than believing your client who thinks - for good reason - that the faulty door is Y, but is mistaken, saves time.
But most of all:
* don't design a car without the capacity to turn off the central locking function and just operate each door with a key!
The other Life Lesson of the past fortnight is that however good an idea a dentist appointment at 8am on a Saturday may seem in theory, in practice, I deeply regretted that life choice. That's 100% my fault though, and will I learn from this triumph of hope over experience? I doubt it.
2025/071: The Lost Books of the Odyssey — Zachary Mason
May. 13th, 2025 06:57 amtamaranth2025/071: The Lost Books of the Odyssey — Zachary Mason
Now every debt is paid, every sin erased and I can begin anew, I who was once Odysseus and now am no one. [p. 145]
The conceit of this novel, or collection of short stories, is that the Oxyrhynchus Papyri contain 'forty-four concise variations on Odysseus’s story that omit stock epic formulae in favour of honing a single trope or image down to an extreme of clarity'. These are those variations, some more credible than others, which are effectively Odyssey AU*.
( Read more... )
Lounging
May. 12th, 2025 07:53 pmazurelunaticI'm not sure if I actually shared the Saga of the Three Infusion Recliners, so: an infusion center was upgrading, and had three chairs that they needed to get rid of. Preferably quickly. Preferably for free. So their admin made a Craigslist post. I managed to fit two into my Toaster simultaneously, then came back for the third once I'd unloaded them at home.
One is out front, and is the perfect spot for Lounging. Which I have been doing a lot of during this whole knee crisis. The position is perfect for not putting stress on my knee in a way that staying in bed isn't.
I now have various Implements (bought, scrounged, repurposed) to make the Lounge go better/more smoothly.
( List )
What happens is I tend to refill my water bottle, prepare snack and drink, then put those out. Those tend to require more dexterity. Then I haul out the bag and unpack what I need. I put the chair in lounge mode. (On bad days sometimes I have a hard time getting out of it, if pain has decided to borrow all my strength.) Often enough I will set an audiobook going while I play clicky-games, or work on whatever craft. Or I'll read an ebook. Or chat withnorabombay, since Lounge Time tends to overlap with Phone Time.
Currently my reading lineup is:
Celia Lake's magical romance/mysteries
An audiobook just for myself: Downbelow Station (2/2)
Bird pun humorous mystery series in audiobook (bedtime Please Don't Be Awake All Night distracting noise, rotating through the series about 1.5 times per year): currently on Lord of the Wings
Penric: saving this for with Belovedest
Audiobook of Murder with Peacocks, withalexseanchai so the weird radio noises in my bluetooth-to-car setup aren't as much Nope (first book in the bird pun mystery series)
Something suitably free on my e-reader
Occasionally I will hop inside, to refresh my iced drink and the ice cup, avail myself of the facilities, and maybe re-ice the spray jar.
Eventually, when the black-eyed juncos start trilling continuously, I start thinking about going back in. (Guess who just got the Merlin app specifically to identify the heralds of twilight)
I am working on getting to know the local crows. The other day one sat on the top of the Big Umbrella. I got a selfie. I'd long ago decided on my carefully species neutral greeting to them: "Hello, corvids!" -- there are both crows and ravens in the area, though more crows. Probably some Rrows and Cravens too.
One is out front, and is the perfect spot for Lounging. Which I have been doing a lot of during this whole knee crisis. The position is perfect for not putting stress on my knee in a way that staying in bed isn't.
I now have various Implements (bought, scrounged, repurposed) to make the Lounge go better/more smoothly.
( List )
What happens is I tend to refill my water bottle, prepare snack and drink, then put those out. Those tend to require more dexterity. Then I haul out the bag and unpack what I need. I put the chair in lounge mode. (On bad days sometimes I have a hard time getting out of it, if pain has decided to borrow all my strength.) Often enough I will set an audiobook going while I play clicky-games, or work on whatever craft. Or I'll read an ebook. Or chat with
norabombay, since Lounge Time tends to overlap with Phone Time. Currently my reading lineup is:
Celia Lake's magical romance/mysteries
An audiobook just for myself: Downbelow Station (2/2)
Bird pun humorous mystery series in audiobook (bedtime Please Don't Be Awake All Night distracting noise, rotating through the series about 1.5 times per year): currently on Lord of the Wings
Penric: saving this for with Belovedest
Audiobook of Murder with Peacocks, with
alexseanchai so the weird radio noises in my bluetooth-to-car setup aren't as much Nope (first book in the bird pun mystery series) Something suitably free on my e-reader
Occasionally I will hop inside, to refresh my iced drink and the ice cup, avail myself of the facilities, and maybe re-ice the spray jar.
Eventually, when the black-eyed juncos start trilling continuously, I start thinking about going back in. (Guess who just got the Merlin app specifically to identify the heralds of twilight)
I am working on getting to know the local crows. The other day one sat on the top of the Big Umbrella. I got a selfie. I'd long ago decided on my carefully species neutral greeting to them: "Hello, corvids!" -- there are both crows and ravens in the area, though more crows. Probably some Rrows and Cravens too.
Garum, and spoilers
May. 12th, 2025 09:19 pmqatsiBook Review: Pompeii, by Mary Beard
Having visited Pompeii in 2022, I think I would have found this book useful; but it's also true to say that I think I got more from this book because I had visited Pompeii, because I can recall at least some of the places Beard writes about.
This is quite a comprehensive popular survey, covering a bit about the history of excavation, as well as likely looting shortly after the eruption. Beard doesn't shy away from uncertainty - so while she will offer a plausible explanation for something, she will also offer alternatives, with some honesty that we just don't have strong evidence one way or the other for many things. Nonetheless we have much more evidence than from perhaps anywhere else in the Roman world.
From recent BBC documentaries, I was already familiar with the garum manufacturer Aulus Umbricius Scaurus, one of several characters whose properties have been identified (in this case, by the presumption that no-one else would have a mosaic of garum amphora on their floor). From the Cambridge Latin Course, as well as Doctor Who, I was familiar with Lucius Caecilius Iucundus, though Beard presents him as much as an Arthur Daley figure as a banker. But here's a spoiler: his house was identified by all his financial records in the attic - which extend only as far as AD62. Is it just coincidence that this is the year of a major earthquake in Pompeii? Perhaps Caecilius died during that event. Or maybe he archived everything from the before time as a likely write-off.
And then there's the brothel(s). Beard doesn't go on about these as much as you might stereotypically expect. Further, she points out that there's no reason to take the bawdy graffiti seriously - whilst the electoral campaigning messages on the walls are probably genuine, much else could just be the fake news of casting insults. But there's more material on the theatres, the amphitheatre, the baths and the bars and fast food outlets of the time (as well as noting the current on-site cafe is built over some particularly bad bomb damage from World War 2).
Having visited Pompeii in 2022, I think I would have found this book useful; but it's also true to say that I think I got more from this book because I had visited Pompeii, because I can recall at least some of the places Beard writes about.
This is quite a comprehensive popular survey, covering a bit about the history of excavation, as well as likely looting shortly after the eruption. Beard doesn't shy away from uncertainty - so while she will offer a plausible explanation for something, she will also offer alternatives, with some honesty that we just don't have strong evidence one way or the other for many things. Nonetheless we have much more evidence than from perhaps anywhere else in the Roman world.
From recent BBC documentaries, I was already familiar with the garum manufacturer Aulus Umbricius Scaurus, one of several characters whose properties have been identified (in this case, by the presumption that no-one else would have a mosaic of garum amphora on their floor). From the Cambridge Latin Course, as well as Doctor Who, I was familiar with Lucius Caecilius Iucundus, though Beard presents him as much as an Arthur Daley figure as a banker. But here's a spoiler: his house was identified by all his financial records in the attic - which extend only as far as AD62. Is it just coincidence that this is the year of a major earthquake in Pompeii? Perhaps Caecilius died during that event. Or maybe he archived everything from the before time as a likely write-off.
And then there's the brothel(s). Beard doesn't go on about these as much as you might stereotypically expect. Further, she points out that there's no reason to take the bawdy graffiti seriously - whilst the electoral campaigning messages on the walls are probably genuine, much else could just be the fake news of casting insults. But there's more material on the theatres, the amphitheatre, the baths and the bars and fast food outlets of the time (as well as noting the current on-site cafe is built over some particularly bad bomb damage from World War 2).
90% of the weekend was great ...
May. 12th, 2025 09:36 pmrmc28I managed to kick my cold enough to play the ice hockey tournament Saturday and Sunday afternoons. One of my teammates gave me a lift from Cambridge rink to Romford each day. It's an easy drive and we get on well, and the tournament itself was great fun. Exhausting, but fun and definitely great for developing and improving play. The other four teams playing were pretty friendly and we made some connections and enthusiasm for playing more games against each other as individual teams.
Unfortunately my ride home got injured in the last few seconds of the last game of the tournament on Sunday evening, a "needs A&E and good drugs" level injury. So I went with him to the local A&E on the grounds they'd probably want a responsible non-drugged adult to get him home, and it'd only be a few hours, right? Ahahaha, it was 16 hours before we got out and it was not a good experience.
I got no sleep at all but at least got plenty of rest sitting on terrible waiting room chairs and plenty of time to stretch and loosen up as my body started to notice all the ways it was sore after playing the tournament. My injured buddy was left in serious pain for over 6 hours, but when he was finally treated he was able to sleep a fair bit in the hospital bed while we waited in assorted places to get assorted scans and tests done that were apparently necessary to discharge him, but not necessary to do with any urgency or information about how long each step would take. Beds in corridors everywhere, a "ward" that was simply a closed off section of corridor where beds were stashed holding people waiting for scans and tests, not a lot of dignity and just no urgency at all about pain management. My buddy was very stoic but shouldn't have had to be.
Also neither of us had showered between "playing lots of ice hockey" and "showing up at A&E", so very sorry to anyone who had to sit too near either of us.
I got a very minimal amount of work done today on my phone from the hospital, but went to bed for a few hours as soon as I finally got home and feel more human now. I will have to figure out whether I take leave for today or make up the effort elsewhere in the week. But that is a problem for tomorrow; tonight I'm hoping to reset my sleep schedule by going to bed on time.
the fragmentary language of pain
May. 12th, 2025 09:24 pmcosmolinguistIt's ME Awareness Day, and my train is running 39 minutes late last I heard, so I took the opportunity to finally read this piece in a tab I've had open so long I cannot remember where it came from. It's a really incredible read about chronic illness and narratives as necessary for access to care, and what hearing from ill people does to those in a position to offer care.
Knee!
May. 12th, 2025 01:15 pmazurelunaticTuesday I had an appointment with a physician assistant about my left knee. I'm apparently screamish about the details when I'm in that much pain, so I asked to skip a lot of the explanations I would have otherwise found fascinating.
I got ( an injection )
PA Fox warned me not to overdo things on the lidocaine, but the steroid should be taking effect over this past week. And it has! It's down to a normal sort of ow, and I don't have to use a cane to go from bed to the bathroom. I've still been lounging outside quite a bit (the only position that didn't hurt previously) but for pleasure, not from necessity.
Edit: And then I managed to stumble within the last half hour and it hurts badly again. I was lucky to have a cane nearby. We'll see what it does over the course of the afternoon.
I got ( an injection )
PA Fox warned me not to overdo things on the lidocaine, but the steroid should be taking effect over this past week. And it has! It's down to a normal sort of ow, and I don't have to use a cane to go from bed to the bathroom. I've still been lounging outside quite a bit (the only position that didn't hurt previously) but for pleasure, not from necessity.
Edit: And then I managed to stumble within the last half hour and it hurts badly again. I was lucky to have a cane nearby. We'll see what it does over the course of the afternoon.
Mapping of multiple in-game planets
May. 12th, 2025 01:52 pmisostone posting in little_detailsHello! I'm currently working on a project for a character who is a amateur (but enthusiastic) cartographer. They exist in the world of Outer Wilds, a game with multiple simulated planets(none more than a few kilometers in diameter). The simulated planets each have their own gimmicks (i.e Brittle Hollow, a hollow planet with a black hole in the center. Its crust falls into the black hole during gameplay, and most of what you can explore is under the crust).
How might I go about mapping these places in a way that'd be accurate and believable in the sense that my character could have drawn them up while exploring? What sort of notes should I be taking?
How might I go about mapping these places in a way that'd be accurate and believable in the sense that my character could have drawn them up while exploring? What sort of notes should I be taking?
This meeting could've been an email that I ignored
May. 12th, 2025 07:47 pmcosmolinguistI had a dream that I missed my train to London today and it was fine.
Almost disappointed to wake up with my alarm, in plenty of time.
I was briefly tempted to just stay in bed...
Now, on my train back to Manchester 12 hours later, with two hours left to go before I get home, I can say with certainty that I could've stayed home and it would have been fine.
Bundle of Holding: Shadowrun Sixth World Essentials (from 2022)
May. 12th, 2025 02:02 pmjames_davis_nicoll
Essentials for Shadowrun, Sixth World, the current (sixth) edition of the tabletop cyberpunk-fantasy roleplaying game from Catalyst Game Labs.
Bundle of Holding: Shadowrun Sixth World Essentials (from 2022)
Hugo Novellas 2025
May. 12th, 2025 04:12 pmfromtheheartofeurope_feedNow that I have been unexpectedly liberated to discuss my Hugo votes, here they are in the first category that I completed. These are all good, by the way, and I found it quite difficult to rank them. (This is not the case for every category.)
6) The Practice, the Horizon, and the Chain by Sofia Samatar. Second paragraph of third chapter:
“Okay,” said Dr. Marjorie. “That’s it. You’re on your own.”
Generation starship where slaves v masters plays into a brutal take on academia. Get it here.
5) The Tusks of Extinction by Ray Nayler. Second paragraph of third chapter:
“People report different things. Some say they feel nothing at all. Others say the scan brings up memories. That it somehow brushes up against them and brings them back to consciousness. They see their lives. Memory by memory, before them.”
Mammoth researchers upload the mind of a long-dead mammoth expert into the brain of a resurrected mammoth. Get it here.
4) What Feasts at Night by T. Kingfisher. Second paragraph of third chapter:
It occurs to me that you may think that I am making a great deal of nothing about traveling, granted that I had spent much of my youth gallivanting across Europe, sometimes while being shot at. Possibly you’re right. All I can say in my defense is that while I was in the army, no matter where we went, we had a routine. We got up, we ate bad food, we complained, we tended the horses, we were extremely bored, we ate again, we went to sleep. Occasionally we would go somewhere else and be bored there. Once in a very great while, we would spend an absolutely nerve-wracking few hours, and afterward we would be shaky and bored, but in general, the routine reigned supreme.
Haunted holiday cottage in fictional but richly realised European country. Get it here.
3) The Brides of High Hill by Nghi Vo. Second paragraph of third chapter:
“Oh, get up, get up, please,” Nhung begged.
Something sinister is up with the arranged wedding that Cleric Chih gets involved with. Get it here.
2) The Butcher of the Forest by Premee Mohamed. Second paragraph of third chapter:
“No,” Veris said, glancing back at the handful of guards waiting silently in the front garden. A few had also crept to the back, she knew, to guard the door in case she still, unthinkably, tried to escape.
Only the heroine can rescue two children who have been kidnapped by a monster. Get it here.
1) Navigational Entanglements by Aliette de Bodard. Second paragraph of third chapter:
As to the others… Bảo Duy was endearing but reckless, and Lành was extremely difficult to deal with or protect, which added to the annoyance.
A lovely dark story about four young women thrown together to ward off the unspeakable. In space. Get it here.
No way this could possibly go wrong....
May. 12th, 2025 03:57 pmoursin(Larfs liek a hysterykle drayne.)
The novelist and poet Thomas Hardy was fascinated by Stonehenge, using what he described as “the temple of the winds” both as a setting for one of his most striking scenes and as a lifelong inspiration, a pathway back into ancient times.
In what is being billed as a unique performance, the life and work of Hardy is being showcased at the great stone circle in Wiltshire as part of Salisbury international arts festival.
....
An orchestra will play music, ranging from the sort of folk tunes Hardy may have been familiar with to pieces by Gustav Holst and Peter Warlock.
....
It is believed to be the first time that a performance incorporating Hardy’s life and work has been staged at Stonehenge.
Lesser said: “Hopefully* it’ll be lovely weather and you’ll have this marvellous atmosphere as the evening develops with the light changing and these wonderful words of Hardy.”
*Cue: Thunderstorms! Torrential rain! Unseasonal snow! First earthquake ever recorded in Wiltshire!
I don't suppose they are going to represent Hardy in his lighter and realistic vein:
I.e. successful ruined maids who go and live a profitable life of vice in Dorchester.
Clarke Award Finalists 1996
May. 12th, 2025 10:16 amjames_davis_nicoll1996! The UK's prompt, effective efforts to prevent another Dunblane Massacre confuse, anger American observers, Dolly the sheep's cloning points way forward for unfuckable Royals, and the Tories now only slightly less popular than Myra Hindley.
Bold for have read, italic for intend to read,, underline for never heard of it.
Which 1996 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?
Fairyland by Paul J. McAuley
The Star Fraction by Ken MacLeod
Happy Policeman by Patricia Anthony
The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson
The Prestige by Christopher Priest
The Time Ships by Stephen Baxter
Poll #33115 Clarke Award Finalists 1996
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 53
Which 1996 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?
View Answers
Fairyland by Paul J. McAuley
9 (17.0%)
The Star Fraction by Ken MacLeod
21 (39.6%)
Happy Policeman by Patricia Anthony
5 (9.4%)
The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson
46 (86.8%)
The Prestige by Christopher Priest
24 (45.3%)
The Time Ships by Stephen Baxter
14 (26.4%)
Bold for have read, italic for intend to read,, underline for never heard of it.
Which 1996 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?
Fairyland by Paul J. McAuley
The Star Fraction by Ken MacLeod
Happy Policeman by Patricia Anthony
The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson
The Prestige by Christopher Priest
The Time Ships by Stephen Baxter
Hey, I wrote fic for the first time in 16 years
May. 12th, 2025 12:55 pmrydra_wonga word you've never understood on AO3 (Prophet by Sin Blaché and Helen Macdonald, M, Sunil Rao/Adam Rubenstein, 9K words)
Additional Tags: post-canon, Adam Rubenstein is not fine, angst about a happy ending, “fuck off” is a love language, sex recollected but not actually occurring in this fic, fluff with CPTSD and metaphysics, alexithymia, came back exactly the same, Sunil Rao’s arguably-canonical grey-aromanticism, touch starvation, Adam's parasympathetic nervous system has not been heard from since the mid-80s, sometimes you get what you want more than anything in the world and then your brain breaks a little bit
Summary: He’s been starving for so long. He thinks he’s never not been starving.
Note: massive spoilers for canon. Read Prophet, everybody.
Additional Tags: post-canon, Adam Rubenstein is not fine, angst about a happy ending, “fuck off” is a love language, sex recollected but not actually occurring in this fic, fluff with CPTSD and metaphysics, alexithymia, came back exactly the same, Sunil Rao’s arguably-canonical grey-aromanticism, touch starvation, Adam's parasympathetic nervous system has not been heard from since the mid-80s, sometimes you get what you want more than anything in the world and then your brain breaks a little bit
Summary: He’s been starving for so long. He thinks he’s never not been starving.
Note: massive spoilers for canon. Read Prophet, everybody.
2025/070: Hy Brasil — Margaret Elphinstone
May. 12th, 2025 12:43 pmtamaranth2025/070: Hy Brasil — Margaret Elphinstone
Sometimes I seem to recognise things, as if I’d dreamed it all already. Like ... this road through the orchards. The apple trees. Meeting you like I just did. The way the sun makes patterns on the gravel.I keep having the feeling that it isn’t new. People say autumn is melancholy, but I find it’s the spring that feels so old. [p. 153]
Hy Brasil is a group of volcanic islands in the mid-Atlantic: a former British colony, a former NATO base, a former pirate kingdom. It's hard to find due to magnetic and meteorological anomalies, and for centuries its actual position was a matter of debate.( Read more... )
Interesting Links for 12-05-2025
May. 12th, 2025 12:00 pmandrewducker- 1. Statue of Motörhead singer Lemmy Kilmister unveiled in Burslem
- (tags:HeavyMetal statue UK )
- 2. Please dispose of your expired magic carefully
- (tags:magic video funny viaSwampers )
- 3. Would you like to see an Irish person be *very* excited by a potato dish?
- (tags:potato Ireland food video viaSwampers )
- 4. Reminder that Labour has made it impossible for refugees to become British citizens
- (tags:labour refugee OhForFucksSake citizenship )
- 5. Right to buy surge set to wipe out 18,500 UK council homes
- (tags:uk housing OhForFucksSake )
- 6. Dear Keir, there are other options than pandering to prejudice
- (tags:bigotry migration uk OhForFucksSake labour )
- 7. Why Kids Aren't Falling in Love With Reading
- (tags:Education reading books doom usa )
vital functions
May. 11th, 2025 10:18 pmkaberettReading. SEVERAL.
( Read more... )
Next up is... probably skim-rereads of a couple of books on pain I've already read, making notes this time, and then onward to the stack I haven't actually read before. (One of these is Mindfulness for Health, which I expect to be middlingly annoyed by (the last time I tried it I put it down in frustration fairly early on, at the point at which it became clear that both authors were fundamentally healthy people who'd had An Accident; this time round actually assessing the impact of that perspective on the advice is kind of the point). Then there's Hurts So Good, and finally Touch, which I acquired from Oxfam on the basis that if nothing else its chapter on pain is actually titled "Pain and Emotion".
(I am not going to get through all of these next week, but I will make some progress. I also maybe slightly searched the library ebook catalogue for "pain" and thereby added yet more recent-ish things to my reading list; Abdul-Ghaaliq Laikhen's books are a fairly high priority.)
Writing. Quite a lot of PIP submission (for someone else, at least!). Not done yet. This remains the priority for the next week.
Watching. The new Old Guard 2 trailer!
Playing. I Love Hue: The Alchemy now COMPLETE, and... so is The Ascension/Earth.
Cooking. A was away. Consequently, two recipes from East that they expected to dislike: black rice congee, of which I am definitely a fan, and a kimchi fried rice I had no objection to but no particular plans to ever make again.
Also the caramelised onion and chilli ramen, about which we were both meh although!!! I did! get to use choi sum THAT I HAD GROWN, which is still novel enough to be exciting; a recipe for tinker's cakes from a tiny cookbook I bought for EYB indexing purposes -- Welsh cakes with grated apple, which I liked enough to probably make a note of; and a slightly underwhelming "saucy Japanese greens with sticky sesame rice" that did at least use up some of the spring greens in last week's veg box. (I then made something up the next day to use up the other half, and that worked much better for our tastes: ginger/garlic/mushroom stir-fry sauce/little bit of mirin.)
Eating. CHOI SUM FROM THE GREENHOUSE (I am extremely excited about this, in case you couldn't tell). I think my great excitement about my first British asparagus of the season was last week? And also first British strawberries of the season yesterday, as the greater part of my treat for Anti-Migraine Stabs.
I have also been very much enjoying apple and pear juice + angry water + ice + a little bit of fresh (garden/field) mint.
Making & mending. Actually dug some trenches and started moving the railway sleepers around??? I have a whole entire outline of a raised bed in a place I've meant to have one since I got the plot in the first place?????
(First layer needs screwing together and then I need to sort myself out corner posts to attach next-layers-up to, and also I need to decide whether I want to have it two deep or three deep, but feeling v positive about this.)
Growing. Choi sum!!!
Also: despite my earlier misgivings the redcurrant is actually doing astonishingly well compared to the last several years, so good job me on that particularly vicious pruning??? Gooseberry also looking extremely promising; jostas I am much less surprised about looking good.
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Observing. A saw a slow worm at the plot today! Also the allotment fox; also, on my way home from the allotment the other evening, the previously mentioned Gawky Teenage Fox. At home, we've seen the bat! Also there is Yelling coming from a portion of the hedge that very notably has a pair of robins shuttling back and forth to it at fairly high frequency. I'd rather it weren't so dry, but the fact that it is means I've had the wood pigeons and the corvids balancing in deeply ungainly fashion on the water dish in order to drink, which has been fun to watch.
We are less happy about the local outdoor cats having decided that they too wish to take up birdwatching on our patio.
Hiroshige
May. 11th, 2025 08:22 pmqatsiYesterday we went to the British Museum's Hiroshige exhibition. Like pre-Raphaelites, I tend to think that Japanese prints are a money-spinner for museums and galleries. This one was reasonably busy but hardly packed. For the most part, the pictures are enchanting landscapes, townscapes, birds and flowers. There's a fair amount of background and technical information included, such as the reuse of woodblocks with different colourations to produce prints from the same master indicating different times of day or season, or simply to cater for changing tastes. I found the depiction of rain particularly interesting, a heavy diagonal overlay that sometimes almost looks as if it has been scratched into the print. One or two prints of actors or courtesans reminded me of the Edo Pop exhibition from last year, and in the section on Hiroshige's legacy there was also a reference to the Yoshida dynasty.
Mount Fuji and Otodome Falls
Cherry Blossoms on a moonless night along the Sumida river
Pheasant and Chrysanthemums
First Shono from Fifty-Three Stages of the Tōkaidō
Portrait of Hiroshige by Kunisada