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2025/075: Bee Speaker — Adrian Tchaikovsky

It is truly amazing how many flavours of dumb an apocalypse can spawn. [loc. 1990]

Third in the series that began with Dogs of War and continued with Bear Head. The time is about two centuries after the events of Bear Head, and three generations after the fall of the Old ('the world that once was') due to failure of the global information network, in a 'deluge of artificially-generated false testimony' exarcerbated by climate disaster. Human existence on Earth is now rather dystopian, as a group of Martians discover when they respond to a distress call.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: cheerful

julian

My mother is not actually (yet) a wanderer, dementia-wise, though she is accident prone, which is basically the functional equivalent.

(Apparently, especially with sundowners, people do just. Wander a lot, and also there is the subsection of them who want to find old homes that no longer exist and/or they no longer live in.)

The first time this seemed wandering-esque, last month, it was that she had gone out to, presumably, get ice around 5 am at night in a hotel. (She and my dad were going to an archeo-astronomy convention). She then forgot her room number and hadn't brought her room key with her, but she eventually found the front desk, and they called my dad. ....who hung up the phone on them because he was 3/4 asleep. So my mom and the front desk clerk went and banged on the door of their room, several times. (She then forgot the part about their having called my dad until several days later when I was talking to them about it. This is the problem with reconstructing events, sometimes she doesn't remember a recent thing has happened at all, and then sometimes, 10 minutes later, she remembers both the event and a particular detail, and it's never predictable which way it'll go.

However, I would like to praise her problem solving skills on the night of the event, there.)

The second time this happened was last week, which my father reported to my brother and I as her "losing her car keys," but what actually happened was she locked them (and her purse) inside the car outside her local pharmacy, and since she didn't have her cell phone on her (she never does, is the problem), she went inside the pharmacy and asked to use their phone (again, top tier problem solving skills, but I suspect she had to do a lot of hemming and hawing about it because she's become *even more* unable to get to the point of her questions/train of thought than she used to be.) First, she called my dad, who called AAA for her. I lose track of the narrative a bit here, but I think basically, AAA took awhile so she got impatient, then the pharmacy called Riverside Community Care Elderly Services, who called the Dedham Police, who called the Dedham Fire Department, who kindly broke into her car for her. Riverside then followed my mom home and offered my dad their Elderly Services brochure, and said they'd call Monday, and my dad was sad because dementia, and also he wants to deal In His Own Way, and I suspect also because my mom had become Obvious To Their Hometown.

(They did not call today.)

Anyway, so my brother and I stopped by today to have dessert and commiserate with them, and we are inching toward my dad being OK with getting a 3-ish-days-a-week helper, which would assist *infinitely* with dinner, which causes a lot of stress because my mom thinks she can still be organized enough to cook and she isn't.

I also, today, registered her as a wanderer with the Dedham Police, or anyway, that's what the form focuses on, but it's serves just as well as, "Please return this person if she's having troubles." Really, what she *is* is a a) deaf, and b) a source of confusion for people who run into her in stressful and/or confusing situations, because she takes shortcuts in her brain, doesn't let other people in on the shortcut, and also, as noted, no longer asks questions that give people enough clues to figure out either the answer or the question. So she may occasionally functionally *act* like a wanderer even before she becomes one, and if the Dedham Police know this, so much the better.

The point of this post is, I dun' like it.

donut_donut posting in

little_details

Hi! I'm writing a novel that takes place in the French Pyrenees (modern day), and I'm trying to figure out what plants to place in this fictional garden.

More info:
The novel takes place at a villa owned by a middle-aged bohemian lady who moved there from Paris maybe a decade ago. Gardening is her hobby. In the back of the house is a potager (vegetable garden), and I've got that covered. But the front of the house has a flower garden, and I don't know so much about that.

It doesn't need to be plants that are native to the region, but it has to be plausible that they would be available and could thrive there. It's summertime (late July-August), and I would like there to be flowers, because we often see her pruning the old blooms. I assume rose bushes would work, but I would love some other options to work with. I've been picturing something like hydrangeas or rhodedendrons, but I don't know how common they are in this environment.

Some kind of ornamental tree would also be nice, for a character cry under. A flowering tree or large bush would be nice but not necessary.

She has somewhat offbeat tastes, so anything off the beaten track would be great, but it has to make sense for the climate.

Thank you!

chickenfeet

https://operaramblings.blog/2025/05/19/schmaltz-and-pepper-cd-launch/

spiralsheep

Still obsessed with the fact a whole family decided to go with Blundell-Hollinshead-Blundell as a surname.

Poll #33140 A whole family went along with this....

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 17

View Respondents

Why choose Blundell-Hollinshead-Blundell as a surname?

View Answers

Why settle for less than a 7 syllable, triple-barrelled surname?
9 (52.9%)

Inherited wealth impairs people's judgment
10 (58.8%)

Married their cousins too often (genealogical)
8 (47.1%)

Married their cousins too often (genetic)
1 (5.9%)

To psych out their frenemies
3 (17.6%)

Mistake by the birth registrar
0 (0.0%)

Misanthropy against bureaucrats and historians
5 (29.4%)

james_davis_nicoll

Rulebooks, Adventure Anthologies, + 4 adventures for the Old-School Essentials tabletop roleplaying rules set from Necrotic Gnome.

Old-School Essentials Advanced Fantasy Bundle

james_davis_nicoll

But not the Planet Nine You May Expect

yourlibrarian posting in

common_nature

I've only seen one here twice before, once in the months after I moved in, and again a few years ago. Unfortunately just as this time, I had been on my way to the grocery, and I assumed I'd have time to take photos when I came home. Which I didn't because it was gone. ( Read more... )

fromtheheartofeurope_feed

Posted by fromtheheartofeurope

https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/hugo-novels-2025/

https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/?p=61354

Now that I am just another punter, I can reveal my votes in this (and other) categories. I found this a much easier ranking than in some years.

6) Service Model, by Adrian Tchaikovsky. Second paragraph of third chapter:

Some past interaction had resulted in the inspector’s cheek and the side of his neck being torn open, revealing plastic bones and the ducts of his hydraulics. For a moment Charles’ proprietary centers prompted him to deny access to Master on the basis that the inspector was improperly dressed, and to ask him to return when his face had been repaired. Police authority overrode him, though. Now that the inspector had arrived, Charles could not impede the investigation. Which was only fair, given that he was the murderer.

I’m sorry, I just don’t like the travails of anthropomorphic robots and their makers as a storyline, and that’s what this book is about. Shortlisted for the Clarke Award. Locus Top Ten (SF).

You can get it here.

I like all the rest though.

5) Alien Clay by Adrian Tchaikovsky. Second paragraph of third chapter:

‘What did I do?’ I demand, and by the second time it’s more pleading and begging. There aren’t many good reasons to be hauled off to see the big man. And I can’t see why they’d need to make an example of someone right now, given all the varied examples that our delivery method provided us with, but that’s the only thing I can think of. They’re going to dangle me from the scaffolding just to make sure everyone else is sufficiently educated as to the way things are run around here. A final irony, the career academic ending his life as a lesson.

Well imagined, plot-twisty take on exploration of an alien planet, where the scientists themselves are under the control of a brutal autocratic regime and the planet’s environment is horrifyingly hostile. Shortlisted for the BSFA Award but withdrawn. Locus Top Ten (SF).

You can get it here.

4) Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell. Second paragraph of third chapter:

And they never once thanked her for it.

Fantasy novel told from the point of view of the anthropophagous monster, which falls in love with a human girl whose family are horrendously abusive. Lots here about disability. Shortlisted for the Nebula Award. Locus Top Ten (First Novel).

You can get it here.

3) A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher. Second paragraph of third chapter:

At first her sleep-fogged brain thought that it might have been a sound. Had there been rain? Had she woken because the drumming on the roof had stopped? No, there wasn’t any rain last night, was there? It was clear as a bell and chilly from it.

Another fantasy story with a protagonist whose best friend betrays her early in the book and whose abusive mother has evil plans which need to be thwarted. Shortlisted for the Nebula Award. Locus Top Ten (Fantasy).

You can get it here.

2) The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett. Second paragraph of third chapter:

This meant the Empire always had better soldiers than most other fighting forces, certainly. But the beating heart of the Empire were the Sublimes: the cerebrally suffused and augmented set who planned, managed, and coordinated everything the many Iyalets of the Empire did.

Murder investigation in a richly imagined fantasy empire which is beset by adversaries without and within. Locus Top Ten (Fantasy).

You can get it here.

1) The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley. Second paragraph of first part of third chapter:

Debility, Stanley had said. Well, they all knew what that meant. Scurvy. Men ruptured by melancholy, bleeding from their hairlines. Teeth loose in the head as a blown rose’s petals. Weeping for home— more so than usual. Aching at the joints. The smell of an orange, it’s said, could drive a debilitated man to derangement. The word “Mother” is like a lance to the ribs. Old wounds reopen.

The narrator is assigned to help a member of the Franklin expedition, rescued from 1847, integrate into contemporary British society (where the government has secretly discovered limited time travel). But the project turns out to be much more than she could have anticipated, in several ways. Ticked a lot of my boxes and gets my vote. Shortlisted for the Clarke Award. Locus Top Ten (First Novel).

You can get it here.

This collage of covers was constructed by hand using PowerPoint and Paint, without use of AI.

https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/hugo-novels-2025/

https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/?p=61354

james_davis_nicoll

Beware of smooth-talking hustlers, frauds, scammers, and charlatans!

Five Books About Imposters, Swindlers, and Con Artists

oursin

Pillion review – 50 shades of BDSM Wallace and Gromit in brilliant Bromley biker romance (Peter Bradshaw in Cannes, you have been warned).

But, anyway:

Soon Ray is requiring the gigglingly thrilled Colin to cook and clean and shop for him (though of course never permitted touch his motorbike) and sleep on the floor like a dog at his bland house in Chislehurst*

Now comes the HORROR:
while Ray reads Karl Ove Knausgård’s My Struggle in bed.

Safeword for unbearable ponceyness, no?

*CHISLEHURST!!!, the subtle connotations of which I have previously discussed.

***

Let me cleanse the timeline with this adorable story about saving the Welsh watervole by making its poo glittery: Endangered water voles in Wales are being fed edible glitter in a bid to save them from extinction:

The hope is that if the water voles are willing to consume the glitter then it will come out in their poo, allowing the small mammals - which are often mistaken for brown rats - to be tracked by conservationists.
Different colours of glitter could be used to allow conservationists to track different families of water voles and how far they range.

james_davis_nicoll

1997: The UK wins Eurovision, the BBC foolishly embraces that passing fad known as the internet, and Tony Blair wins a razor-thin 179 seat majority.

Poll #33137 Clarke Award Finalists 1997

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 34

View Respondents

Which 1997 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?

View Answers

The Calcutta Chromosome by Amitav Ghosh
3 (8.8%)

Blue Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson
19 (55.9%)

Gibbon's Decline and Fall by Sheri S. Tepper
11 (32.4%)

Looking for the Mahdi by N. Lee Wood
4 (11.8%)

The Engines of God by Jack McDevitt
13 (38.2%)

Voyage by Stephen Baxter
5 (14.7%)

Bold for have read, italic for intend to read,, underline for never heard of it.

Which 1997 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?
The Calcutta Chromosome by Amitav Ghosh
Blue Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson
Gibbon's Decline and Fall by Sheri S. Tepper
Looking for the Mahdi by N. Lee Wood
The Engines of God by Jack McDevitt
Voyage by Stephen Baxter

selenak

I rewatched Rogue One for the first time since I originally saw it in the cinema, obviously inspired by Andor, and curious whether two seasons of an excellent prequel to a prequel would make a difference. In the grand scheme of things, it didn't - I liked the film then, I still do, with a few exceptions, I'm not interpreting things very different from when I was newly introduced to (most of) these characters. I'm still irritated by the same plot element in the opening sequence , possibly even more so post Andor- ( spoiler cut just in case ). I still like and appreciate pretty much everything else. Then as now, I feel the movie is a love letter to all redshirts, and far more original and creative than the one sequel movie which was already released by the time Rogue One premiered, The Force Awakens, because instead of modelling itself on A New Hope and repeating the exact some emotional and plot beats, it told an actually new story within the SWverse.

There are a few differences seeing this for the second time and post Andor does make for me:

- Jyn Erso no longer feels like the main character, Cassian does, with Jyn only guest starring, so to speak

- the delighted shock at the appearance of Saw Guerrera (not so much for Saw's sake but for the fact that up to this point, he had been an animated Clone Wars character, and if he was now big screen canon, then so was Ahsoka) made room for ( a more spoilery reaction )

- I like the Rogue One only (i.e. not appearing in Andor) characters of Bodhi, Chirrup and Baze a lot and in retrospect Bodhi especially forshadows Team Gilroy's ability to create nuanced imperial defectors/undercover-for-the-rebellion people who with not much screen time still make me feel a lot for them (see also Lonni Jung, or even just the maintenance worker Cassian interacts with in the first episode of s2)

- the way fascism works on a dog-eats-dog basis, with groveling towards those above you and kicking downwards, is really perfectly illustrated if you contrast Krennic in this movie (where we mostly see him with people who outrank him, like Tarkin and Vader) versus Krennic in the show (where we exclusively see him with people he outranks, like Dedra and Partagaz)

- yep, the digitally recreated counterparts of Peter Cushing and Carrie Fisher still look creepy, and Andor with Bail Organa proves you can successfully recast if an actor (for whichever reason) isn't available anymore

- I stand by my observation from my original review that the fact Rogue One as a prequel could not show the Death Star destroying a planet (since Alderaan has to remain the first occasion this happens) was a blessing, because what it shows instead - ( spoilery in nature ) is way more viscerally frightening, only now I think Tony Gilroy might have shown that restraint even without the prequel factor, because the Ghorman arc in s2 illustrated he and his creative team are very very aware of how you buld up to, execute and then show the aftermath of such an event in a way that really affects the audience. (Meanwhile, The Force Awakens went completely into the opposite direction and tried to top the one destroyed planet with multiple destroyed systems and no emotional resonance whatsoever.)

Some more thoughts about Jyn: ( Which are spoilery. )

What Rogue One and Andor between them accomplished for good, though, is to realign the whole focus of the Rebellion era in SW from the force wielding Jedi and Sith characters to the non-force users (Chirrup's belief in the Force notwithstanding), and thereby making it feel far more of a story about Revolution versus Authoritarianism. This doesn't mean I disdain the Jedi and Sith aspects of the story now, btw. Or that I think the only valid SW has to be like Andor. As mentioned elswhere, I adored Skeleton Crew*, which is defiantely aimed at kids and about them, and which is just as much SW. But I am really really glad there is room for both.

*Speaking of which, I hear one young actress is now the new central Slayer in the BtVS sequel? On the one hand, good for her, she was great in Skeleton Crew, otoh, I guess that means it remains a miniseries without a second sason.....

Current Mood: calm
Current Location: Munich

james_davis_nicoll

I made a positive contribution to work by proposing a sign for the perennially-blocked door 10 that warning people that door is an emergency door and not to be blocked. Door 10 is in a short corridor next to a change room and people keep commandeering it to store stuff. Specifically clients. I think I may have annoyed the client last Friday by informing them I wasn't going to open the theatre until that exit was cleared.

Of course, nobody will read the sign but at least it will be there.

Not as annoying as the time the Hack the North kids decided the best place for a pile of duffle bags was against the outside of door 8, one of the two main balcony entrances.

The legion of house managers got a long form of things that we're expected to do, each section of which we had to initial before returning it. I was not the only one who read it looking for sections that might have been inspired by something I did or did not do.

danieldwilliam

I was also out in the sunshine doing outdoor hobby things over the weekend.

Spent Friday at the Hive with My Lovely Wife watching Edinburgh Rugby's last (home) game of the season and saw them unexpectedly win and qualify for the European Champions Cup and United Rugby Championship play-offs. Edinburgh can be a bit wobbly in crunch games. They needed at least one other result to go their way. They've been (rightly) focused on their European Challenge Cup run to the semi-finals. I thought they'd be exhausted and fumble a that the last. Instead they played with the buccanneering freedom that I enjoy watching so much and won quite convincingly in the end.

Which means they finish in the top eight, and qualify for the play-offs and, more importantly, next year's senior European tournament, the Champions Cup. The play-offs will be a challenge. They have the second placed Bulls away in South Africa which will be a challenge.

Lovely sunny evening watching rugby with my wife, drinking beer in the sun.

Saturday evening I went to see An Audience with Aggers and Tuffers at the Assembly Rooms with a non-cricketing pal. My dad dropped out due to his back. Lovely gentle chat familiar to anyone who regularly listens to Test Match Special. Had a few beers.

Sunday, did a bit of light gardening e.g. stood looking at some things in the sun whilst holding a hose either at my garden or my dad's.

It's been very dry here for several months. I don't recall any rain in Edinburgh for a month. There is talk about hose-pipe bans.

danieldwilliam

As part of my stop being miserable and start being alive again programme I am taking up in earnest a number of hobbies.

I have joined a board games club that meets on a Friday, a table top role playing club that meets on Wednesday and next week I have an introductory session to a table top wargaming club. This all is in part spurred on by finding my old Warhammer kit spread across the bedroom floor after the burglary and being inspired to try and get it back on the table. (Improv and acting to follow.)

So over the week I spent some time assessing how much of my Games Workshop Bretonnian army was damaged (very little), how much stuff I thought I had was missing (a couple of pieces but they could easily be in a box I've not looked in yet), what sort of stuff I had that could go on the table (painted, based etc - enough for one functional but small army). That job done I needed to find a better way of storing them and put them on some movement trays.

The answer turns out to be magnets and the wonder of Amazon's business model.

Buy small magnets, glue these to the bottom of your models. Buy ferrous-rubber sheeting. Buy self-adhesive velcro tape. Buy Really Useful Storage Boxes. Spend Saturday morning listening to classic Just a Minute whilst Your Lovely Wife and Your Energetic Son are out shopping and playing golf respectively sticking them all together. Then spend some time on Sunday making magnetised movement trays out of the cardboard that your Amazon deliveries came in, self-adhesive A4 sticky labels and cut-to-fit rubberised magnetic sheeting.

So that's the core of a Bretonnian army ready to go.

Due to changes in the rule-set I need to add in some additional models and I miss my Green Knight. The Green Knight is such a wild, mad character, in both narrative and play terms that I insist on replacing him and I need some more flag-carriers and trumpeteers and junior officers. But that can wait until after I've tried out at the club. I will avoid buying anything from your actual Games Workshop because I try not to support the business model of "change rules to force lonely teenagers to buy new models."

In terms of changes to business models that make this easier, Amazon, Amazon-style delivery, 3d printing, YouTube and all mediate by the internet.

It's now easier and cheaper to find new ideas, new suppliers, new things and have them get to your house.

When I first took up this hobby it was very difficult to buy models that were not bought in a Games Workshop shop and made by Games Workshop. Games Workshop would not sell you alternative models (and in fact ban unofficial proxies from their shops and sanctioned tournaments). They also mediated / gatekept participation in the hobby. If you didn't already have a group of friends to play with you could only easily find them with the help of Games Workshop. Knowing how to store models using magnets was difficult to find out. Perhaps Games Workshop would rather sell you £200 worth of foam-filled boxes than £30 worth of magnets and velco and therefore didn't write articles about it in their official magazine. Perhaps not, coincedence or magic, you decide. If you knew the technique finding the kit was tricky. Who has 200 5mm by 2mm magnets? Where can I get ferrous-rubber sheets? Which part of my city is the place to look for people who know who to put those together.

Turns out the internet has you covered. Mostly Amazon. Amazon can afford to stock all of the things I need and ship them to me. 3d printing allows model designers using 3d print software to dis-aggregate themselves from physical 3d printing producers. 3d printing itself is perfect for high-value, low-volume small batch production. YouTube and Google will tell me how to make better storage and which producers of alternative models are good. I don't have to bodge together a foam-filled box in order to not have to buy one for £200. I know have instructions step-by-step on how to make a better alternative and can buy all the materials and have them arrive next day at my door.

So I've had all the storage I need delivered to my door. Assuming that I enjoy Thursday as much I hope to I'll then have models for the Green Knight, the Lady of the Lake, some heroic knights, some on flying horses, and some pikemen delivered to my door. That should complete my Bretonnian army for the time being. Then to make and paint High Elves and Skaven which are still mint in the box. The long winter nights will be filled with joy (and from MLW and MES, baffled incomprehension.)

andrewducker

1. Japanese Diver Has Been Friends With a Massive Fish for 30 Years: (tags:fish friendship )

danieldwilliam

I made some tray bakes at the weekend

Fifteens are a Northern Irish fridge-tray bake - apparantly unknown outside of Ulster. I came across them on a BBC evening tour of Irish food programme which is currently filling the space usually taken up by Michael Portillo and his trousers. I like the food tour programme but I miss Michael Portillo, who, if in office now would probably be the Labour Party's third greatest Prime Minister.

I'm practicing for the bake sale attached to the end of season rugby festival.

They are very very sweet.

Fifteens ingredients

Digestive biscuits

Marshmallows

Glace Cherries

Desicated Coconut

Almond

Condensed Milk

Milk Chocolate Chips

Very easy to make 15 each of digestives, marshmallows, cherries - whizz the biscuits in a food processsor. Chop up the marshmallows and cherries, mix in a bowl with the condensed milk, put most of the coconut on a sheet of cling film,dollop the biscuit mixture on to that, top with the rest of the coconut, roll up in to a sausage and put in the fridge overnight. Cut up in the 15 pieces (or smaller as they are very very sweet.)

I'm not actually eating them myself as I'm on a diet but the small taste test I did suggests they are dangerously moreish.

oursin

Happy birthday,

alithea and

clanwilliam!

tamaranth

2025/074: A Year in the Life of Ancient Greece — Philip Matyszak

...the lad has now decided that he is off to Athens to study Epicurean philosophy – which would only be true if Epicureanism taught the importance of getting as far from one’s parent and potential spouses as humanly possible. [p. 60]

Having greatly enjoyed Matyszak's 24 Hours in Ancient Athens for its blend of narrative, historical fact and wry observation, I decided to try another of his books about Ancient Greece. A Year in the Life of Ancient Greece is set a couple of centuries later than 24 Hours, in 248BC, and explores the lives of a small cast of characters: a farmwife, a diplomat, an athlete (it's Olympics year), a female musician, an escaped Thracian slave, a merchant who falls ill in Egypt, a young woman due to be married, and a builder of temples. It opens with a nice little scene outside the Temple of Hera at Elis, with a group of people sheltering from the rain and a temple attendant contemplating who, and what, each of them may be. Over the preceding twelve months (starting from the autumn equinox) we discover their stories and how they're connected.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: calm

redbird

I went for a walk this afternoon with Cattitude and Adrian: downhill to Beacon Street, then inbound as far as the Summit Avenue T stop. Not only was it useful exercise, I got to smell one of my favorite flowers, rugosa roses. It may have been too long a walk, because my joints were feeling the strain before I turned back and took the trolley partway home, but if I'd turned back any sooner I'd have missed the roses. While I took the T home, Cattitude and Adrian continued to Coolidge Corner, to shop for groceries and then get bagels. (Most of the time, the two of them can walk further than I can.)

I had to walk a few blocks uphill from the T to get home, but I allowed for that when I decided how far to walk. I came home, took my shoes off, and sat a while before I put on the shoes that I'm still breaking in. I will probably break them in a little more before I wear them outside.

cosmolinguist

I applied for a job and I talked to my parents this evening. And I watched the Twins lose a heartbreaker (all credit to Jackson Chourio though, wow).

Can't believe my reward for this is that I have to go to bed soon so I can go to work in the morning!

kaberett

Celebrating. My 35^th birthday! With a picnic at the allotment (and the allotment fox, and a slow worm, and THE WOODPECKERS); and birthday cake courtesy of my mother. :)

Reading. Finished The Ladies of Grace Adieu, Susanna Clarke, and enjoyed myself so doing!

Then What An Owl Knows, Jennifer Ackerman, showed back up from the library. I am making better progress this time and continue to enjoy Owl Facts.

I have made 0 progress on any of the books on pain, and The Silence Factory (Bridget Collins) has jumped to the top of my read-next list courtesy of getting to the front of the holds queue much sooner than I'd expected to...

Writing. PIP submission got to Good Enough by very early Friday morning. That has been most of my make-words-go brain this week, shockingly.

Playing. I Love Hue: I am Infuriatingly Stuck, presumably at more or less the point I got Infuriatingly Stuck last time. I am more-or-less at the point where I am going to just restart the level and hope I get luckier on my second attempt, but that is never a particularly satisfactory!

Cooking. Choy sum with ~~oyster~~ mushroom sauce, garlic, and peanuts: didn't really get the point of the peanutty topping; unlikely to bother with again. White miso ramen with asparagus and tofu: I was extremely dubious about this based on reading the recipe, and somewhat to my surprise wound up actually really liking the broth; not a high priority for eating in-season asparagus in future, though. Bay, rye and hazelnut cake with poached rhubarb: Y E S, especially using the poaching syrup as a drizzle!

Eating. A made me Saturday brunch waffles, and conveniently we had leftover picnic strawberries and some cream that needed using up, so I got fancy strawberries-and-Chantilly-cream waffles as a Birthday Treat :)

Also had a cream tea at Wimpole early on Sunday afternoon, and curry from a restaurant in Cottenham following Terrible Further Sunday Afternoon Adventures. Some of my mother's bread; birthday cake courtesy of my mother also; also also lentil moussaka ditto :)

Exploring. Visited Home Farm at Wimpole Hall, where we scritched piglets and observed a variety of rare breed hens, rare breed ducks, chicks and ducklings ditto, The Horses, The Rabbits, The Bogat Goats incl. Baby Goats, and we waved to the donkeys, in addition to being very pleased about the various swift-ish things and sparrows making their way in and out of the barns.

Also spent an afternoon sat at the junction of the A10 and Landbeach Road, for terrible hobby purposes, and relatedly a little bit of time poking around the even-more-immediate vicinity of the NEW SITE for Admin: the LRP, aaand also drove past the house we are not even remotely going to buy just to sort of wist at it.

Making & mending. Sawed some wood! All of the bits for railway sleeper raised bed #1 are now in position and I've filled it; but on reflection I deemed the 180mm screws Too Short so am awaiting delivery of some 300mm for Final Assembly. (Whereupon I get to decide to do it all again for bed #2...)

Growing. First broad beans will be ready for harvest any day now (and in fact if we wanted to eat some immature pods I could have the first handful already). Peas are starting to flower! Strawberries are extremely Set Fruit and might even start ripening at some point soonish!

I am extremely excited about how happy the raspberries are looking.

Have sown all of my remaining elderly quinoa seed, which I am not expecting to do much of anything, and will be pleasantly surprised if it does; having one final go at getting any viable plants out of the pineapple physalis seeds I bought at the beginning of the season; have been Donated some Moneymaker tomatoes and a basil plant from my mother; really really need to get the cucumbers started, but Not Quite Yet.

Have started putting squash various outside. Need to finish prepping beds for them to actually go into.

Oh! And the tomatoes are also going out! Annoyingly I lost track of which were Orange Banana and which were Blue Fire so I'm not entirely sure I'm going to actually manage planting up a rainbow of the things, but -- fingers crossed, eh?

Observing. IN ADDITION TO the excellent allotment wildlife and the Creatures at Home Farm, we enjoyed various plantings around Wimpole (including the incredibly striking Very Tall Straight-Stemmed Ferns), and while Doing A Traffic Survey At The A10/Landbeach Road Junction saw also: lambs! corvids harassing a red kite! more swift-y things! goldfinches??? wild rabbits, to A's delight. Some geese, honking merrily away to themselves.

It has been a particularly good week for Creatures. :)

rmc28

I was caught unawares in the background of photos taken yesterday after the game, and I was so amused by the exhaustion evident in my position and expression that it had to become an icon.

(I was revived with cake and a drink shortly after this was taken.)

rydra_wong

It took me a year to drag this fic out of the scorched earth that certain parts of my brain have been since my Epic Psychiatric Misadventures, I think it's genuinely one of the better things I've written, and I am very proud of it.

a word you've never understood on AO3 (Prophet by Sin Blaché and Helen Macdonald, M, Sunil Rao/Adam Rubenstein, 9K words)

Summary: He’s been starving for so long. He thinks he’s never not been starving.

Note: massive spoilers for canon, and probably won't make a lot of sense if you've not read it. I am aware this is niche.

oursin

This week's bread: managed for the first time in yonks, to score a bag of Shipton Mill Three Malts and Sunflower Organic Brown Flour, so made up a loaf of that, v tasty.

Friday night supper: the hash-type thingy with the last 2 sweet potatoes cut up, boiled, and then sauteed with chopped red bell pepper and Calabrian salami.

Saturday breakfast rolls: Tassajarra method, strong brown flour, maple syrup, cranberries, nice.

Today's lunch: seabream fillets, rubbed with ginger paste and lime juice, salt and pepper, and left for a couple of hours then panfried in butter + olive oil, splashed with the remaining juice at the end; served with baby Jersey Royal potatoes roasted in goosefat, large flat mushrooms marinated in dark soy sauce (was meant to be tamari but I didn't have any) + mirin + tspn toasted sesame oil + star anise boiled up together, then healthy-grilled, and asparagus steamed and tossed in melted butter with lemon juice and lemon zest.

chickenfeet

https://operaramblings.blog/2025/05/18/the-complete-la-vie-parisienne-encore/

fromtheheartofeurope_feed

Posted by fromtheheartofeurope

https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/the-best-known-books-set-in-each-country-cameroon/

https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/?p=61339

See here for methodology. Books are disqualified if less than 50% of them is set in Cameroon.

These numbers are crunched by hand, not by AI.

Title	Author	Goodreads raters	LibraryThing owners
How Beautiful We Were	Imbolo Mbue	18,281	726
The Informationist	Taylor Stevens	11,303	950
A Zoo in My Luggage	Gerald Durrell	5,281	959
The Innocent Anthropologist: Notes from a Mud Hut	Nigel Barley	3,375	623
The Bafut Beagles	Gerald Durrell	2,022	709
Les impatientes	Djaïli Amadou Amal	8,714	105
Houseboy	Ferdinand Oyono	2,295	372
The Overloaded Ark	Gerald Durrell	1,418	472

This was one of the easiest runs I have had for a while. Gerald Durrell does well, and I remember reading those books when I was 13 and loving them; and I also remember really enjoying The Innocent Anthropologist when I was a bit older. But I’m glad that the top spot goes to a Cameroonian woman writer, and I’m interested that a novel by another Cameroonian woman writer, that hasn’t even been translated into English, also makes the top eight. I must add also that The Informationist sounds like great fun.

I’m used to a certain fluctuation between the popularity of books on both systems, but the relative LibraryThing invisibility of Les impatientes by Djaïli Amadou Amal is remarkable. It’s the third most widely owned of these books on Goodreads, and not even in the top fifteen on LT.

I disqualified two books, neither of which was a difficult decision. Behold the Dreamers, also by Imbolo Mbue, is about Cameroonian immigrants in New York, and seems to be set entirely in the USA. The Marco Effect, by Jussi Adler-Olsen, is a Danish crime novel with a subplot set in Cameroon, but it’s much less than half of the book as far as I can tell.

Other countries where I only disqualified two books: China, Indonesia, Mexico, South Africa.
Countries where I only disqualified one book: India, the USA, Nigeria, Russia, Iran, the UK, Spain, Iraq.
Countries where I have not disqualified any books: Japan, Egypt, DRC, Vietnam, Colombia.

Coming next: Nepal, Venezuela, Niger and then Australia.

https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/the-best-known-books-set-in-each-country-cameroon/

https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/?p=61339

james_davis_nicoll

Guy Montag and his wife Millie live comfortable, conventional, middle-class lives. Millie finds purpose in an endless stream of television entertainment. Guy burns books.

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

andrewducker

We went to the Highland Folk Museum where they had a recreation schoolroom. Sophia loved writing with an ink pen, Gideon loved supervising her.
Original is here on Pixelfed.scot.

puddleshark posting in

common_nature

'Holloway' comes from the Anglo-Saxon 'hol weg', and refers to a sunken path that has been grooved into the earth over the centuries by the passage of feet, wheels and weather...

'The Old Ways' Robert Macfarlane

( West Dorset holloways. )

selenak

The second Tesh novel in a couple of weeks for me, thanks to friendly comments pointing out a new one was about to be published. This one in a completely different genre: magical school story with some horror mixed in instead of military space opera with some dystopia. Unusually and refreshingly for any type of school story, our heroine and central character is one of the teachers, and so is most of the supporting cast. There are four students who are important to the plot in the way teachers are in other boarding school stories - from Enid Blyton to Harry Potter - , which is to say, you get to know them, but strictly from the outside, they are plot relevant, but the narrative emphasis is strictly on the teacher side of things, not just in terms of our central character but also the main supporting characters.

Since Dr. Walden (first name Sapphire which is her parents‘ fault; friends refer to her as „Saffy“, but the narration and her own pov call her „Walden“ almost through the entire novel) is near forty and a determined bisexual workoholic, the difference to the Young Adult tone with which many a boarding school story usually arrives is there from the start. At first, the novel seems to go for wry comedy as we get to know the characters and the setting; the rules for this particular universe are established: An AU in which magical abilities are publically known and a thing; the problem is that teenagers with their magical abilities running wild and them not yet able to really control them are the favourite snacks of demons, both, depending on the size of the demon, in the literal sense or via possession or for the smallest imps just via annoyance by them possessing machines. I mean, we all knew that about printing machines and photo copiers in offices, right? Anyway, hence the need for schools simultanously teaching the kids how to control their abilities and doing their best to save them from ending up as snacks. This can be difficult because teenagers by definition think THEY are invulnerable and able to conjur up the cool demons, which is why in addition to the regular teachers like Walden, there are also „Marshals“, i.e. magical cops who mostly don‘t have an academic background but excell at demon fighting. We open the novel with Walden meeting the latest Marshal, Laura Kenning; there is mutual resentment and UST from the get go.

It comes more and more evident that larger demons are no laughing matter and really incredibly dangerous, though the black humor never leaves the narrative tone, either. Walden, for all that she oozes competence and cool in the present, had A Tragic Event in her own youth; basically she‘s female Rupert Giles if you‘re a Buffy the Vampire Slayer (and/or female John Constantine from Hellblazer, if John/Joanna had gone into teaching after the event in question), and while she is really as good as she thinks she is in all things magic, she also is slightly hubristic because of it, and that becomes highly plot relevant. I also appreciate that she has a genuine passion for teaching. As for the demons, they‘re gratifyingly complicated and alien; leaving the comic relief ones you find in printers (I KNEW IT) aside, the reader is presented with two important ones, and while the first one‘s goals are obvious and very Exorcist the tv show, what the other one is up to is infinitely trickier and yet the hints are there early on.

By now, I‘ve found out that there were some complaints re: Some Desperate Glory regarding the characters being queer but their romances only seen in glimpses, so to speak, which I thought was appropriate for the characters and the story of Some Desperate Glory (plus it invites fanfic), but I take the general point, so let me say that Walden‘s romantic and sexual life gets more narrative room, plus Walden/Laura is central to the plot. Also, the novel avoids two extremes I find annoying which some media take with bisexual characters: either a character is declared to be bi but we only ever see him or her with one gender of romantic partner, i.e. the opposite if it‘s a more main stream show (looking at you, Da Vinci‘s Demons) or the same (Torchwood fanfiction; the show itself gave more screen time to Jack‘s same sex romances, but we did get some examples of him and women as well); OR there is the cliché of the evil, disturbed or at least amoral bisexual, unable to commit and breaking hearts that way (famously Basic Instinct, but also the novels of an author I otherwise really like, Sosan Howatch). By contrast, both in the past and in the present Walden is someone the reader sees to be attracted to people of both genders, we‘re not just told that in theory she is, and she‘s emotionally involved in the relationships in question (with one exception). (While at the same time being a sensible force for good. )That said, it is rather clear which relationship in the present we‘re meant to root for. *g*

In conclusion, this was another highly readable and very captivating novel by this author, who I hope will gift us with many more in the years to comem.

Current Mood: impressed
Current Location: On the train

rmc28

Yesterday Kodiaks B played Solent Valkyries in Gosport. I hired a 9-seater and drove a bunch of the team down and back, and in between played a game, captaining the team for the second time. For some reason I am tired this morning.

Some milestones:

It was the first win for Kodiaks B, certainly this season and I think ever.
I got my first points for Kodiaks, ever: a goal and an assist, doubling my lifetime points. (1 assist for Women's Blues two seasons ago, 1 assist for Warbirds late last year)
That's my first recorded goal ever (I scored my first goal ever in a scrimmage at the end of last year)
For extra hilarity I did not actually score this goal, it was an own goal credited to me because I was the last Kodiaks player to touch the puck before the poor Valkyrie kicked it in her own net. A point is a point and I'll claim it. But I have yet to actually score a goal in a formal game.

Also at one point my stick blade got stuck in the boards at the side of the rink when I was digging for a puck. I couldn't get it out, so I went skating hard back to the bench yelling for a change and instead one of my teammates passed me her stick, which I grabbed at speed and went straight back into play. So dramatic! So much fun!

(the ref retrieved my stick and returned it to the bench and I got it back when I changed with my line; it is fine from its adventure)

lizbee

You can read my thoughts (along with spoilery stuff for TLoU and Andor) in my newsletter, but to save you scrolling past a lot of spoilers for other things, I'll also pop them here.

( Here's a cut! )

kaberett

Late this afternoon or, well, early this evening, getting a very late start on a flying visit to my parents (I have been fed birthday cake), my train of thought was abruptly completely derailed when I finally worked out what was going on with the the individual loitering on the grass outside our block.

They were walking their lizard.

Or, more accurately, their lizard (possibly an iguana???), complete with harness and lead, had plonked itself firmly in a very bright patch of sunshine and was making it very clear (tail curled up and everything!) that it liked this basking spot, thank you, and had no intention of going anywhere.

The human tried at one point to gently encourage it to contemplate moving. The lizard, without moving at all, became visibly heavier.

The human, resigned, returned their attention to the phone in the hand that wasn't holding the lead.

jesuswasbatman

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

andrewducker

Gorgeous weather, swimming, walking up a hill, and the kids mostly getting on. Life could be a lot worse.
Original is here on Pixelfed.scot.

silveradept

Let us begin with continuations in the war against the public receiving accurate, unbiased information. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting was told it would receive zero support from the U.S. government, in the same veins of executive orders that proclaim that the executive has the real power of the purse and Congressional appropriations and their amounts mean nothing to his whims. Like other such orders, the actual validity and power of the executive to do this is suspect at best and nonexistent in reality. And, of course, there's always a group of ghouls ready to step in and take over - A spokesmodel for the administration said the conservative propaganda network OAN would take over providing content for Voice of America broadcasts. Swift backlash about the degraded quality and obvious partisan slant of OAN followed from those who actually understand and know what Voice of America broadcasts were supposed to do.

A federal judge granted an injunction against the current administration's intent to zero out the funding of the Institute for Museum and Library Services. With the news, coming just a little after the person currently in charge of IMLS indicated he wanted libraries to be an essential part of propaganda efforts, and strongly suggesting that the people suing would win their case on the merits, there is now flux on funding, but also, a need to have Congresscritters continue to insist upon a budget that contains funds for IMLS in fiscal year 2026.

The administrator dismissed the Librarian of Congress, Dr. Carla Hayden, by e-mail after the injunctions were announced, because of pressure against her by people who think that a Black woman is completely unqualified to do anything that might have white people subordinate to her, and possibly in petty revenge for being told no that he couldn't simply zero out the IMLS budget. When questioned on the matter, a spokesmodel for the executive proclaimed that Dr. Hayden was involved in unacceptable DEI and in promoting harmful materials to children, proving that the spokesmodel and her bosses have zero idea of what the Library of Congress actually does.

The Copyright Office dropped a pre-print of a report that excoriated LLMs and is poised to rule that the widespread copyright violation and stealing of copyrighted works involved in creating datasets for LLMs are, in fact, widespread copyright violations and not simply the cost of doing business. Almost immediately after, the administration dismissed the Register of Copyrights, which could be merely convenient timing or could also be a revenge firing for the Copyright Office telling all the techbros that they do have to respect the copyright law and the copyrights of the people they're stealing from.

Persons appointed by the Executive who claim to be the new Librarian of Congress and Register of Copyrights were turned away by the actual interim Librarian of Congress and Register of Copyrights and the staff of the Library of Congress. Because those people who were supposedly appointed are very likely not to be the people in the job according to statute.

All of these actions, however, are things that the Congress could possibly assert that it, nor the Executive, have exclusive or primary control over, and therefore tell the Executive to pound sand. This, however, requires a Congress that actually wants to maintain its independence, rather than functioning as the Duma of the United States.

( As usual, plenty of US Politics, but many other objects as well )

Going out for this post, the legacy of Dave Brubeck is in good music, yes, but also in a staunch refusal to allow segregation to break up his groups or to prevent Black people from enjoying jazz wherever in the venue they wanted to. (Older piece, but also, lots of people say May 4th, or 5/4 in the US nomenclature, is Dave Brubeck day, based on his iconic Take Five.)

A takedown of the Tesla Cybertruck that focuses entirely on how much it fails at being a truck, doing truck tasks, and fostering a healthy truck culture.

And Studio Ghibli releasing hundreds of images form their films for people to use within the boundaries of common sense and for individuals to further enjoy the films. Which is lovely, because of the lushness of the images in the films, but also because this is a continual shot against people using plagiarism machines to replicate their style (poorly.) and others who do not find these films worthwhile on their own

(Materials via

adrian_turtle,

azurelunatic,

boxofdelights,

cmcmck,

conuly,

cosmolinguist,

elf,

finch,

firecat,

jadelennox,

jenett,

jjhunter,

kaberett,

lilysea,

oursin,

rydra_wong,

snowynight,

sonia,

the_future_modernes,

thewayne,

umadoshi,

vass, the

meta_warehouse community,

little_details, and anyone else I've neglected to mention or who I suspect would rather not be on the list. If you want to know where I get the neat stuff, my reading list has most of it.)

Current Mood: melancholy
Current Music: LukHash - Carrier Wave

nanila

You're holding a dinner party and can invite three famous people from the past or present; who would they be?

I never understood the appeal of this. I hardly get to see my friends and family. I would rather invite them to dinner than a group of people I don't know. That just sounds exhausting.
You have the opportunity to question someone about something you've always wanted to know and receive a truthful answer; what would your question be?

No no no. In my experience, if someone is holding back on telling you a truth, it's because it is not going to make you feel happy. I'll pass.
If you could change one thing in your life, what would it be?

My workload. See answer to Q1.
If you could save other people's lives by completing an act that would lead to your own death, would you do it?

As ever, answers depend on the context. If we are talking about an overstuffed inflatable raft full of vulnerable children floundering in the English Channel, then unequivocally yes. If we are talking about an autocratic dictator and his henchmen, then absolutely not.
Would you commit murder if you knew that you could get away with it?

No.

chickenfeet

https://operaramblings.blog/2025/05/17/comfort-food-less-than-the-sum-of-the-parts/

fromtheheartofeurope_feed

Posted by fromtheheartofeurope

https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/my-great-great-grandfathers-non-appointment-as-assistant-secretary-of-war-of-the-united-states/

https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/?p=61447

I have been digging a bit more into a letter from my great-great-grandfather, Samuel Morris Wickersham (1819-1894), to his wife Fanny, dated 25 October 1866, so a year and a half after the end of the Civil War. The letter says, simply,

I have just been tendered the appointment of Asst. Secretary of War & asked for my acceptance. What say you? Mr. Stanton retires & Gen. Sherman takes the position of Secretary of War & ’tis under the new Secty that the offer is made to me.

History records, however, that Edwin Stanton, appointed Secretary of War by Abraham Lincoln in 1862, continued in that position under Andrew Johnson after Lincoln’s assassination until 1868; and the Assistant Secretary of War, Thomas Eckert, who had been appointed only a few months earlier in July 1866, continued to serve until February 1867 and was not replaced when he resigned, and the post of Assistant Secretary was then abolished for over 20 years.

In fact, there was a major clash between President Johnson and Secretary Stanton, with Johnson taking a more accommodating attitude to the defeated South and Stanton taking a harder line on Reconstruction. July 1866 saw temperatures rising, with 46 African-Americans massacred in Memphis, Tennessee, at the start of the month, three of Johnson’s cabinet resigning, and then another massacre of dozens of African-Americans demonstrating for their rights in New Orleans on 30 July.

Congress was dominated by Radical Republicans who supported Stanton as Secretary of War and suspected Johnson (correctly) of being too soft on the Southerners. Johnson fought back by holding a National Union Convention in August, trying to forge a new political movement which would support his presidency, and then mounting a campaign tour, the “Swing Around the Circle“, from late August to mid-September, which took in most of the industrialised North (except, I note, New England).

My attempt to draw the “Swing Around the Circle”, though of course Johnson would have travelled by train and these are the modern roads.

The Swing Around the Circle backfired. Johnson’s stump speeches were portrayed in a hostile media as undignified and irrational; his well-known problem with alcohol fed the image of a President who had lost the plot and needed to be restrained and constrained by Congress. It must have looked different to Johnson himself; he enjoyed public speaking, he was normally good at it and he was surrounded by sympathisers. As the mid term elections of 1866 drew near, he anticipated a groundswell of public opinion in his favour which would weaken the Radical Republicans and enable him to get rid of Stanton.

Election Day was staggered across the states in those days, and in the early returns it was not obvious that Johnson’s position was going to be weakened. Five states went to the polls on 9 October, and while Johnson lost three of his supporters to the Republicans in Pennsylvania, he actually picked up a seat in Indiana. Twelve more states were to vote on 6 November, and to us psephologists looking at the early trends, the result looks pretty obvious in advance, but the phenomenon of wishful thinking by a doomed leader is not unique to that particular time and place.

So, the idea that Johnson might have hoped to get rid of Stanton and replace him with General William T. Sherman is not at all surprising – indeed it is part of the standard narrative of the period, which culminated in Congress passing a law forbidding Johnson to fire cabinet members without its approval, Johnson going ahead and firing Stanton anyway, his impeachment by the House of Representatives and survival of the trial by the Senate by a single vote.

But the idea that he would also have wanted to replace Stanton’s Assistant secretary, the super-competent telegraph expert Thomas Eckert, with Samuel Morris Wickersham, an iron broker from Philadelphia whose military service during the war consisted of chasing the defeated rebels back south from Gettysburg, is a bit more surprising. However, I have one important piece of evidence that supports this narrative.

As it happens, the last stop on Johnson’s Swing Around the Circle was Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, which is remarkable for only one thing: it is the state capital. The governor since 1860 was Andrew Gregg Curtin, who was term-limited as governor and was campaigning for the U.S. Senate (in those days, senators were elected by the legislature). Samuel Morris Wickersham was friendly with Curtin, but also not a fan of the radical Republicans; I wonder if it was Curtin who put a word in the president’s ear about a potential Assistant Secretary? Or indeed if the entire affair was in Curtin’s own head, and he mentioned it to Wickersham without Johnson’s knowledge?

In any case, it didn’t matter; when the election results came through the following week, Johnson’s authority was dealt a fatal blow by the voters, who gave the Radical Republicans two-thirds majorities in both houses of Congress, and left him in office but not in power until he was replaced by Ulysses S Grant in 1869. This was probably a Good Thing, and although Reconstruction was brought to a halt in 1877, if Johnson had prevailed it never have got started. So on the whole I am glad that my great-great-grandfather avoided being on the wrong side of history in 1866.

Four decades later, his son became Attorney-General of the USA under President Taft, but that’s another story.

https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/my-great-great-grandfathers-non-appointment-as-assistant-secretary-of-war-of-the-united-states/

https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/?p=61447

oursin

There’s no excuse for ugly people’: controversial dentist Mike Mew on how ‘mewing’ can make you more attractive:

The orthodontist’s strange mouth exercises are beloved by incels seeking a manlier shape – and a fast-growing TikTok trend in classrooms around the world. So why has he been struck off the dentists’ register?

I don't know if the General Dental Council is like the General Medical Council and strikes off for ADVERTISING (quite aside from the horrendous things this awful guy is doing) but it strikes me that the way he is promoting himself would have been way, way beyond a lot of the things the GMC was taking exception to. But maybe times change.

But honestly. This is probably because I have an perhaps unusual knowledge of medical (including dental) quackery and its promotion, and common themes are:

There Is One Big Reason For All Your Problems

And

One Simple Trick (which I have) To Fix Them.

(Cites here, so that you know that I am not making this up all out of my own head, to Alex Comfort, The Anxiety Makers, Ann Dally, Fantasy Surgery, and a tip of the hat to Rob Darby, A Surgical Temptation.)

Okay, this is at the other end of the alimentary canal to Sir Arbuthnot Lane's Cure For All Evils (caused by Chronic Intestinal Stasis), but I think we can see the pattern repeating here.

Not saying that maybe, somewhere in this, there is something that may be helpful in some, specific cases, but let us consider e.g. radium in the 1920s. Yes, it was really, really useful in treating certain forms of cancer: it was not a cure-all and downing massive amounts of radium tonic just left a person, well, radioactive, if the tonic actually contained any active principle at all.

I am also boggled at the assumptions about beauty, and trying not to comment on this guy's own appearance, but to remark that the Hapsburgs ruled swathes of Europe for centuries without manly square jaws, hmmm, plus, has this chap ever been into an art gallery in his life??? Is there one pattern of beauty or are there many?

Just reading what he thinks the epitome makes me want to assert the true loveliness of consumptive pallor, heightened by just a touch of hectic feverish flush, wilting picturesquely on a fainting couch.

james_davis_nicoll

16 works new to me. 8 fantasies, 1 horror, one mainstream, one mystery, one non-fiction (about SF), and four science fiction... although it wasn't always clear into which category works fell. Only 11 works are clearly identified as series, 11 do not appear to be part of series, and there are 3 for which that question does not apply.

Books Received, May 3 — May 16

Poll #33131 Books Received, May 3 — May 16

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 54

View Respondents

Which of these look interesting?

View Answers

The Age of Calamities by Senaa Ahmad (January 2026)
11 (20.4%)

Cathedral of the Drowned by Nathan Ballingrud (October 2025)
5 (9.3%)

Bears Discover Fire and Other Stories by Terry Bisson (October 2025)
20 (37.0%)

A Fate So Cold by Amanda Foody & C. L. Herman (November 2025)
2 (3.7%)

The Last Vampire by Romina Garber (December 2025)
5 (9.3%)

Graceless Heart by Isabel Ibanez (January 2026)
5 (9.3%)

Empire of the Dawn by Jay Kristoff (November 2025)
1 (1.9%)

The Monster and the Last Blood Match by K. A. Linde (June 2025)
3 (5.6%)

Westward Women by Alice Martin (March 2026)
10 (18.5%)

Dead Fake by Vincent Ralph (January 2026)
0 (0.0%)

The Unwritten Rules of Magic by Harper Ross (January 2026)
7 (13.0%)

The Bone Queen by Will Shindler (February 2026)
4 (7.4%)

This Gilded Abyss by Rebecca Thorne (November 2025)
9 (16.7%)

A Mouthful of Dust by Nghi Vo (October 2025)
21 (38.9%)

Trace Elements by Jo Walton & Ada Palmer (March 2026)
37 (68.5%)

Good Intentions by Marisa Walz (February 2026)
2 (3.7%)

Some other option (see comments)
0 (0.0%)

Cats!
35 (64.8%)

selenak

I lilked last week's episode, but didn't find myself able to say much about it.

( Spoilers are into myths, but evidently not Klingon myths, because.... )

Now, on to this week's contribution. Here I must confess I have not watched a single Eurovision contest, not even the one time in my living memory that Germany won (though I do remember the winner, Nicole, as her "Ein bisschen Frieden" was played everywhere all those decades ago). So I had to google Ryan Clark whom based on Belinda's reaction I judged to be a real person doing a DW cameo, ditto for Graham Norton. But thankfully, even a complete ESC ignoramus like myself got captivated by the episode, even before You Know Who graced the screen. Let alone the MCU like tag scene after the first few credits which was a ZOMG! capper on a ZOMG! episode.

( Spoilers are finally having some revelations at hand )

Current Mood: pensive
Current Location: Bamberg

wychwood

I don't have a TV or any fancy subscriptions, but fortunately my friend A does, and since I was the one who introduced her to the Murderbot books a few years back, she took pity on me and invited me over to ( watch the new show with her )

So far, pretty fun, but also somehow a little disappointing? But really I did expect that.

redbird

I went to the New Balance factory store today* and, with the help of two salespeople, found a pair of shoes that I think fits. I bought it, then treated myself to a hot fudge sundae before coming home.

By the time I got home my feet hurt, which is from either trying on shoes that didn't fit, or the amount of walking I did in my old shoes. I will wear these around the house for a few days to break them in and confirm that they fit.

If they fit, I'm going to go back and buy another pair in a different color; if not, I'll return them, regretfully. I also want to see about sandals, and have a few stores in mind, but shoe shopping is so often frustrating that I wasn't going to try a second shoe store today.

*meaning Friday, which is yesterday by the computer clock.

oracne

After a glitch with my Apple account, their very helpful (!) customer service got me fixed up and I managed to sneak in the first episode of Murderbot before dress rehearsal, and the second one when I got home. I just finished it and am ready for more. It's a good adaptation. I never feel like adaptations replace books because there's no way to capture narrative voice in the same way in a visual medium, but there are other advantages books don't have. I love seeing actors interpret characters; it's a sort of fanfiction. The actors are all great.

Maybe I will also finally watch Ted Lasso. Severance sounds too depressing for me right now.

helloladies posting in

ladybusiness

Sidetracks is a collaborative project featuring various essays, videos, reviews, or other Internet content that we want to share with each other. All past and current links for the Sidetracks project can be found in our Sidetracks tag. You can also support Sidetracks and our other work on Patreon.

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kaberett

Today I have: moved my body, joyfully, in ways I did not imagine might ever be possible, only a handful of years ago. I've provided expert support for a disability benefits submission. I've contacted people to let them know I can reunite them with things mislaid but also loved. I've played with stationery. I've eaten cake. I've built structures and made music and read books and tended plants. I've watched foxes and a slow worm and a woodpecker (greater spotted, apparently, though I didn't get a good look at it), and listened to the yelling from its nest. I've written to my government -- one small action toward justice. I've put water out for birds.

I've travelled around the sun thirty-five times.

It's been a good day.

Profile

white_hart

May 2025

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Page Summary

tamaranth - 2025/075: Bee Speaker — Adrian Tchaikovsky
julian - travels with confusing people
donut_donut in little_details - Plants for Garden in the French Pyrenees
chickenfeet - Schmaltz and Pepper CD launch
spiralsheep - In which we Blundell-Hollinshead-Blundell through life
james_davis_nicoll - Bundle of Holding: Old-School Essentials Advanced Fantasy Bundle
james_davis_nicoll - Candidate Planet Nine Found
yourlibrarian in common_nature - Visiting Swan
fromtheheartofeurope_feed - Hugo Novels 2025
james_davis_nicoll - Five Books About Imposters, Swindlers, and Con Artists
oursin - Got to set a boundary somewhere
james_davis_nicoll - Clarke Award Finalists 1997
selenak - Rogue One rewatched, and some more musings
james_davis_nicoll - Work
danieldwilliam - On a Weekend of Outdoor Hobbies on Sunny Days
danieldwilliam - On a Weekend of Indoor Hobbies on Sunny Days.
andrewducker - Interesting Links for 19-05-2025
danieldwilliam - On 15s
oursin - (no subject)
tamaranth - 2025/074: A Year in the Life of Ancient Greece — Philip Matyszak
redbird - walk
cosmolinguist - I'd like a weekend to recover from this weekend please
kaberett - vital functions
rmc28 - GIP: I need a nap
rydra_wong - I think I'm allowed another self-promo in case anyone missed the first
oursin - Culinary
chickenfeet - CD version of the "complete" La Vie Parisienne
fromtheheartofeurope_feed - The best known books set in each country: Cameroon
james_davis_nicoll - Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
andrewducker - Photo cross-post
puddleshark in common_nature - Holloway
selenak - Emily Tesh: The Incandescent
rmc28 - Multiple hockey milestones yesterday
lizbee - To the surprise of everyone, especially myself, I really like the Murderbot adaptation so far!
kaberett - SOMETIMES THINGS ARE GREAT
jesuswasbatman - Doctor Who: "The Story and the Engine" and "The Interstellar Song Contest"
andrewducker - Photo cross-post
silveradept - The usual amount of strange things in place - Early May 02025
nanila - The Friday Five on a Saturday
chickenfeet - Comfort Food at Crow's
fromtheheartofeurope_feed - My great-great-grandfather’s non-appointment as Assistant Secretary of War of the United States
oursin - Quack, quack, quack, says historian of medicine
james_davis_nicoll - Books Received, May 3 — May 16
selenak - Doctor Who ? 05 + 06
andrewducker - Interesting Links for 17-05-2025
wychwood - murderbot 1&2
redbird - shoes
oracne - MURDERBOT!!!
helloladies in ladybusiness - Sidetracks - May 16, 2025
kaberett - now, of my three score years and ten

Style Credit

Style: Ivory Alcea for Mobility by branchandroot
Resources: Mitsuba Aoi

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