djbpeek | Reading

Wednesday. Grey, damp, and warm.

Today is the day I was to have turned Kin Right in to Baen.

I have a bunch of clerical tasks to finish with today, so that's what will be happening. I also need to chop and freeze onions, figure out if I can freeze lemons, and also sliced deli ham (I went a little nuts at the grocery and bought a fresh-deli pack of black forest ham and another, of baby Swiss, because damn, I miss ham sandwiches). My desire having been somewhat slaked, I realize that I had better freeze what's left and parcel it out later.

Lunch will be a salad, on account I have lettuce, tomato, cooked potatoes, pickled beets, olives, cottage cheese, and I can have tuna, if the whim so takes me. Breakfast was ham and Swiss on whole wheat with mustard. Third mug of tea is brewing.

The cats have relocated themselves to the front of the house, which is where my office is located. No one is actually in my office with me at the moment, but all are within the sound of my keyboard.

I started reading Longeye last night, and have yet to encounter porn. I will backtrack to Duainfey briefly, reminded as I was by the audiobook company that sought out the Fey Books, signed a contract, and then pulled out, giving as their reason, and I quote: "Chapter Thirty-Seven!"

Now, Chapter Thirty-Seven is ... hard. Even very hard. Or, one might say, effective. Not porn, and I contend that no one would have paled, had Our Heroine instead been multiply and terribly wounded in a gun fight, or tied to a post and whipped.

I further note that we apparently have always wanted to talk about Power's drive to subsume and control Art/Soul/Love/Innocence.

What else?

Ah! A book came across my newsfeed -- Falling Forward, which apparently discusses the Myth of Resilience. As someone who still finds herself saying at least once a day, "I can't do this," I'm interested in what this book has to say, and I wonder if anyone here has read it, and what you thought.

I think that's it for the Morning Edition.

Today's blog post title brought to you by Sail North, "Compass."

Here, have a picture of Rookie before he jumped up into my chair in the dining room and went to sleep:

madfilkentist posting in

girlgenius_lair

He's smarter than he looks.

rolanni

17 Duainfey (Fey Duology #1), Sharon Lee & Steve Miller***
16 *Crystal Dragon (Liaden Universe® #10), Sharon Lee & Steve Miller
15 *Crystal Soldier (Liaden Universe® #9), Sharon Lee & Steve Miller
14 Seeking Persephone (Lancaster Family #1), Sarah M. Eden (e)
13 Theo of Golden, Allen Levi (e) book club
12 *Balance of Trade (Liaden Universe® #8), Sharon Lee & Steve Miller
11 *Scout's Progress (Liaden Universe® #6), Sharon Lee & Steve Miller**
10 *Local Custom, (Liaden Universe® #5), Sharon Lee & Steve Miller**
9 *I Dare (Liaden Universe® #7), Sharon Lee & Steve Miller**
8 Cuckoo's Egg, C J Cherryh, (audio first time)
7 *Plan B, (Liaden Universe® #4), Sharon Lee & Steve Miller
6 Getting Rid of Bradley, Jennifer Crusie (audio first time)
5 *Carpe Diem (Liaden Universe® #3), Sharon Lee & Steve Miller
4 *Conflict of Honors (Liaden Universe® #2), Sharon Lee & Steve Miller
3 *Agent of Change (Liaden Universe® #1), Sharon Lee & Steve Miller
2 A Gentleman in Possession of Secrets (Lord Julian #10), Grace Burrowes (e)
1 Spilling the Tea in Gretna Green, Linzi Day (e)

________
*I'm doing a straight-through series read in publication order

**I screwed up and moved right on to I Dare from Plan B, therefore deviating from publication order. I will now amend myself and go back to pick up Local Custom.

***I'll be re-issuing Duainfey and Longeye as an e-omnibus later this year, and so I need to read them!

rolanni

Tuesday. Suddenly, it's Spring. Trash and recycling patiently awaiting pickup at the curb.

I have been to tithe the Vampyres, who have got New Technology. It had used to be that you entered the lab area, took a number and were, in the fullness of time, Called. Now! You enter your name into a tablet, and it appears on the Big Screen in the waiting area. Occasionally, the Big Screen pings brightly, and a name is shown, with directions underneath. I input my name and sat reading for some time before my name went up in lights and I was directed to Station Number Two for logging in, after which I was returned to the waiting area, this time to wait for a call-code to appear under my name on the screen. I sat down, verified that I had finish reading my book, of which more anon -- and the screen went down.

I swear I had nothing to do with this. All I did was say, so that the receptionist on duty could hear, "Technology! Screen's down." Then, as I had finished my book, I pulled out my phone to check my mail (and the guy next to me, on the assumption that he knew all about my intentions, said, "That won't do you any good." Really?), the receptionist called for Olivia, who appeared to reset the screen, and my name was called to enter the lab.

Blood was drawn, the tech was interested in the symbol on my shirt (Tree-and-Dragon), I made answer, was favored with the information that the tech's granddaughter loves science fiction and went to bookstores and belonged to a book club, and all. I offered a card so her granddaughter could look for our stuff; the asked for several to share with other book loving friends, and we parted on good terms.

I stopped at Washville on my way home and came home richer by a clean car and a subscription, so now I won't have to hassle the card reader at the gate, which I use for an excuse to not wash the car when it's needed. Hopefully, this circumstance, and the fact that Washville is slightly less horrifying in its methods than Golden Nozzle, may help me keep the car better.

So, Duainfey. Yep, there are a couple of tough scenes, but no porn, and the reflective arcs of story are perfectly fine. It is Dark, but, being as that's As Advertised, this is a Feature not a Bug.

I have just finished eating a cookie with a mug of tea, and as soon as I post this missive to the internets, I'll be making rice, which I neglected to do yesterday, and also washing the bedclothes, which likewise didn't happen yesterday. On the bed itself, I think I need to change out the Deep Winter blanket for the waffle-weave, and! I need to write an email, do my duty the cats, find lunch, and eventually wander out to the library to get crafty.

What've you got going today?

rolanni

Monday. Cloudy and damp. Bed's been stripped, towels are drying, eggs on to be boiled hard, submitted news of LUC6's imminent publication to MWPA's newsletter. Sea Shanties streaming. Apparently the week's theme is Sea Shanties.

Waiting for a friend to come by and pick up a thing, after which I b'lieve I'll wander out into the day and perform this list of errands.

Many thanks to all (on FB) who weighed in on yesterday's discussions regarding cultural relativity.

I'm a little past the half-way point in Duainfey. Altimere's invention has been proved, and I haven't seen any porn yet. I do see that we were very subtle on the SF underpinings, which is to say, I knew it was a First Contact novel, and Steve knew it was a First Contact novel, but we might've been the only ones. Though one of course must feel for poor Charlie Mason, taken up by the Purity League for building his steam carriage. Also, Points to the authors for that very telling discussion of duty in which Altimere likens his care for Becca to her care for her horse.

What else? Not much. Oh. I'm feeling some sharper today, which tells me that not only is writing a book much more wearing using only one brain, but recovery takes longer. Information, I suppose.

How's everybody holding up?

One of the other things roused up out of muck at the bottom of my brain relative to yesterday's conversation -- there had used to be what were called "racy" or "naughty" novels. The Night Life of the Gods by Thorne Smith is my benchmark "naughty" novel, though Topper will do in a pinch (I adore Topper; I'd read it again, if I wasn't afraid the book will fall apart on me). It seems to me that there are no more "naughty" novels, though I'd be pleased to be proved wrong (titles, anybody?), that we have various kinds of Romances -- sweet, sexy, hot, and so on -- and of course we have porn, but nothing that's just ... bawdily flirtatious.

Someone in yesterday's discussions mentioned Nick and Nora Charles, who were more flirtatious than naughty; they teased each other: elegantly, wittily, playfully, sexually. It was play, and illustrated that they each felt safe in their partnership and with each other.

One of the things that continually startles me, in my Brave New World, is how carefree ("carefree" meaning "free of care") and playful I was able to feel, knowing that I had backup, and genuine affection in my life.

Anyhoots! The eggs are cooling, and I need to get the towels out of the dryer.

madfilkentist posting in

girlgenius_lair

Run, Krosp, run!

rolanni

I am out of cookies.

This cannot be allowed to stand.

In other news, spent this morning with a scrap fabric box that I adopted from the craft group. There were limited items that will be of use to me -- ever, if I'm honest, so I'll be looking to place the remaining contents with a group or person who will find them useful.

However! I have established that I can, indeed, embroider the titles of books legibly onto cloth, so I will be updating my Shirt of Stars (actually, I have two Starry Shirts, which emboldens me to pursue the update project) with, err, the 18? titles that are missing.

This? May take a while.

Firefly has been Very Attentive while I sorted fabric, and did a proving piece. We've been sitting quality in the living room, listening to a Sail North compilation, which has segued into I'm-not-exactly-sure-what-this-is, but it's not offensive.

Starry Shirt and Proof of Concept Below.

rolanni

Sunday. Sunny and going to be warmer than yesterday, say the 'beans, but it ain't there yet.

Firefly and I had a very serious conversation about reset keys and how, no, no one has found a reset key, though not, I imagine, for lack of trying. That means that, no, we can't get Trooper, or Sprite, or Steve, or Belle back, but that we have Rook and Tali, and while that's not the same, it's not necessarily bad.

She's thinking about it.

Breakfast was flat egg on toast with cheddar cheese slices, followed by a dried pineapple ring, because I was Weak when I was at the co-op the other day, and bought a bag of dried pineapple rings.

Lunch . . . I'm thinking fish -- haven't had fish in a while again -- and whatever I've got in the freezer for veggies. Peas, maybe.

Today is mostly going to be chores. I've done the dishes, and now I need to go sort the laundry and get that started. Also, while I was cleaning off my desk, I found orders to visit the Vampyres, um, a couple weeks ago. So! Vamps tomorrow afternoon, or, yanno, Tuesday morning. They've waited this long, they can wait a day longer.

And that's what I've got this early in the day.

How're you doing?

Tali helped me write this blog post:

$mdlbear: blue fractal bear with text "since 2002" (Default)$

mdlbear

Not a great week -- very down on myself for having sent N off with the wrong charger for (scooter)Gizmo. It was hiding in a box, and I overlooked it several times. G found it immediately, when asked. I need to change some of my habits to keep it from happening again. N finally managed to get one locally on Friday, with help from the seller and the hotel concierge. The seller had express-shipped one, but it somehow got held up in Turkish customs despite their having charged N extra for getting it expedited. She got back yesterday evening, and we now have a spare charger for Gizmo.

Meanwhile our other scooter and scooter-like vehicles are still out of commission: (Folding scooter)Lizzy is still in the shop, (carlet)Scarlett came back from the shop without her charger, and (walker/wheelchair)Roman is still unusable without a software upgrade. Which requires some kind of special interface (being shipped by boat) and Windows. All of this is due to my procrastination and phone phobia.

On the other, um..., foot, I now have two pairs of compression socks. Getting them on is fairly easy, because I can pull. Getting them off is not; I have ordered a foot-extraction tool. And I walked every day, so there's that.

Germany Just Made Open Document Formats Mandatory! This is particularly timely, because WireGuard And VeraCrypt Developers [were] Locked Out Of Microsoft Accounts... It may or may not be fixed by now, but the fact that they did it means that it will almost certainly happen again.

(Filk-adjacent, s4s-adjacent) linkies: (from Monday -- great way to start a week!) (also serious rabbit-hole warning) Angine de Poitrine - Full Performance (Live on KEXP) - YouTube (h/t to siderea) polka-dotted aliens with loopers, polyrythms and a double-neck quartertone guitar/bass. The band name, Angine de Poitrine, translates as "chest pain" More on Monday and Wednesday. Possible s4s post soonish; this will do until then.

And from Friday, Take a mind-bending ride through the cosmos at light speed Deep time and beyond: the great nothingness at the end of the Universe, both from Aeon.co. Take note: eternity is longer still.

( Notes & links, as usual )

Current Mood: mostly down on myself, glimmers of hope
Current Location: Schildhaven in Den Haag
Current Music: Angine de Poitrine, etc.

denise posting in

dw_maintenance

I keep forgetting to post about this: we've been troubleshooting the "missing notifications" problem for the past few days. (Well, I say "we", really I mean Mark and Robby; I'm just the amanuensis.) It's been one of those annoying loops of "find a logical explanation for what could be causing the problem, fix that thing, observe that the problem gets better for some people but doesn't go away completely, go back to step one and start again", sigh.

Mark is hauling out the heavy debugging ordinance to try to find the root cause. Once he's done building all the extra logging tools he needs, he'll comment to this entry. After he does, if you find a comment that should have gone to your inbox and sent an email notification but didn't, leave him a link to the comment that should have sent the notification, as long as the comment itself was made after Mark says he's collecting them. (I'd wait and post this after he gets the debug code in but I need to go to sleep and he's not sure how long it will take!)

We're sorry about the hassle! Irregular/sporadic issues like this are really hard to troubleshoot because it's impossible to know if they're fixed or if they're just not happening while you're looking. With luck, this will give us enough information to figure out the root cause for real this time.

rolanni

What went before: Well. I finished Crystal Dragon last night. When it comes time, I'll be talking about Soldier and Dragon as one work, which they are (much as The Queen of Attolia and The King of Attolia are one book, IMHO). I do remember thinking that we ought to have included "The Hound of Heaven" (Francis Thompson) previous to the text. Steve argued that it would confuse more than illuminate, though, in my head at least, Dragon has its (very deep and complex) root system there. He was probably right, though. Nobody reads the classics anymore.

In any case.

Saturday! Sunny; rained overnight, looks like. Not going to be nearly so warm as yesterday. I've got The! Studio! warming up, and will today remember to turn OFF the heaters before I turn ON the grinder.

My first cup of tea has just finished brewing and Firefly is stamping her tiny slippered foot -- ahem. Her large, furry foot, wanting me to get into the chair so we can have our morning chat.

Later.
#
End of Saturday report.

The day was partially taken up with This Old House stuff -- circuit breakers that wouldn't unbreak, toilet that wouldn't behave. I fixed all of it, eventually, and spent a little time with my glass project, cut out pattern stars for another project, and shared some lying-on-the-bed time with Rook (who took over my stomach) and Tali (who found a corner of folded-over blanket (Tali prefers blanket, God She knows what we'll do when summer finally arrives). Since the reason I was lying down in the bed was to do my PT exercises, this was, as you might imagine, Vastly Convenient. But very comforting. Apparently, I'm on the lists as needing comfort.

I'm having some doubts about stained glass as an art that I'll want to be pursuing, it taking more dedication than I'm free to give it, given the press of my primary art. Also, I'm having some serious trouble (1) scoring a line and (2) making it straight. I'll visit The! Studio! again tomorrow and do some more grinding; there's no rush, after all.

I started reading Duainfey at lunch (taking a break from the Liaden re-read; it strikes me that Crystal Dragon is a good place to pause), since I'm looking to republish it and Longeye.

Is there any interest in me discussing those books after I read them?

Other than that, I am not bouncing back as quickly as I feel that I should from having finished the book. OTOH, the absence of Steve was acute after I turned in the manuscript, and then the news of eluki's passing.

Oh, and genocidal maniacs who have access to the means to make their threats good. That, too.

Rough month, all of a sudden, and it's only the 11th.

Well.

I hope everyone's doing as well as possible. Stiff upper lip, and a stiff drink, too, if it will help.

Stay safe. I'll check in tomorrow.

Today's blog post title taken, in fact, from "The Hound of Heaven," by Francis Thompson, which includes a very specific flight along shifting ley lines.

rolanni

16 *Crystal Dragon (Liaden Universe® #10), Sharon Lee & Steve Miller
15 *Crystal Soldier (Liaden Universe® #9), Sharon Lee & Steve Miller
14 Seeking Persephone (Lancaster Family #1), Sarah M. Eden (e)
13 Theo of Golden, Allen Levi (e) book club
12 *Balance of Trade (Liaden Universe® #8), Sharon Lee & Steve Miller
11 *Scout's Progress (Liaden Universe® #6), Sharon Lee & Steve Miller**
10 *Local Custom, (Liaden Universe® #5), Sharon Lee & Steve Miller**
9 *I Dare (Liaden Universe® #7), Sharon Lee & Steve Miller**
8 Cuckoo's Egg, C J Cherryh, (audio first time)
7 *Plan B, (Liaden Universe® #4), Sharon Lee & Steve Miller
6 Getting Rid of Bradley, Jennifer Crusie (audio first time)
5 *Carpe Diem (Liaden Universe® #3), Sharon Lee & Steve Miller
4 *Conflict of Honors (Liaden Universe® #2), Sharon Lee & Steve Miller
3 *Agent of Change (Liaden Universe® #1), Sharon Lee & Steve Miller
2 A Gentleman in Possession of Secrets (Lord Julian #10), Grace Burrowes (e)
1 Spilling the Tea in Gretna Green, Linzi Day (e)

________
*I'm doing a straight-through series read in publication order

**I screwed up and moved right on to I Dare from Plan B, therefore deviating from publication order. I will now amend myself and go back to pick up Local Custom.

rolanni

". . . while the Tree cheered rain-lash and lightning."

I'm not going to remember which convention it was -- aside it was a southern con -- standing in the Dealer's Room, describing this scene to Stephe Pagel, and being so very pleased with it. Stephe perhaps more befuddled than pleased, but he Lacked Context.

Also? The black dragon's last flight . . . those kids (in their mid-50s at the time) could write a sentence or two. Yeah. Wow.

The cats are informing me that it's Happy Hour, which it isn't quite, yet. OTOH, a glass of wine would be welcome to the bartender, so Happy Hour it is.

Everybody stay safe. I'll check in tomorrow.

rolanni

Friday. Sunny and warm. All of the windows and the new sliders in Steve's office are open.

I was very sluggard rising from my nest this morning, ate a lettuce, cheese, and tomato sandwich on whole wheat bread for breakfast. Went down to The! Studio! set up my grinder and ground me some glass, though not, I note, ALL the glass. I was a grownup about this, and set a timer for an hour. Sadly, some of my time was used up by having to reset the fuse I blew when I turned the grinder on. Apparently the former workshop, where there was Honest to Ghu equipment still on the benches when we toured, pre-purchase, can't handle two electric radiators, two lights and a grinder. This may be a problem if I need to grind in the winter. We shall see.

After glass, I changed out the cat boxes, vacuumed the basement, took a nice, relaxing shower, and came out to find that FedEx has delivered my tea -- someplace else. The amusing thing about this is that when you got to FedEx and tell them that they misdelivered the package? The advice is to tell the seller. Because the seller had Nothing to do with putting the package on what looks to be a pallet on roller skates someplace that isn't here.

I did write to Upton, in hopes of either my money back, which would be said, as I really actually wanted the tea, or if they can unbend enough to send by an alternate carrier -- UPS and the post office can find this house just fine -- another shipment. We shall see.

Lunch, which I will begin to reheat as soon as I finish this letter to the Internets, will be leftover stir-fry. After, I fully intend to find a chair in a window and finish reading Crystal Dragon. My goodness, does Rool Tiazan have a way with a ley line.

How's everybody doing today?

murgatroyd_666 posting in

girlgenius_lair

Friday's comic

https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20260410

"It's going to be insanely dangerous!"

Gil, they're already sold on the idea – you don't need to add incentives!

rolanni

A few minutes ago, a Big Brown Truck arrived in the driveway and offloaded a box of shiny, brand-new Liaden Universe Constellation Volume 6.

Proof of books:

#
Despite a general feeling that I've been wandering around aimlessly for the last two days, I note that Steve's office has been cleared of the Detritus of Creativity, surfaces dusted and rugs vacuumed.

This, mine own, desk sports two small, tidy piles to be dealt with in an on-going fashion. I need to fill out my To-Do pad for next week, but otherwise?
We're good.

I think that tomorrow I will go visit My! Studio! reintroduce myself to my project and set up the grinder. That sounds like a good use of my time.

Everybody have a good evening. Stay safe.

I'll check in tomorrow.

mdlbear

Today I am thankful for...

Compression socks. (Writing this in the waiting room; we´ll see whether they fit in a few miutes.) (Update: they fit.) NO thanks for having to wash them after every other use, but...
Battery life.
Linux Mint, LMDE (Linux Mint Debian Edition), and Linux Weekly News.
Emacs. See also, The Agent-Native Editor Was Invented in 1976 (N.B. I have not, and may never, tried adding AI to Emacs. But with a small local model it could work.)
Induction cooking -- we just acquired a 2kW induction hob. Because we have to worry about our gas supply.
Sometimes, for sleeping with cats.

Current Mood: grateful
Current Location: Schildhaven in Den Haag
Current Music: quarter-tone polyrythms

rolanni

Ending the day on a sad note. My friend eluki, who wrote many things under many different names, among them eluki bes shahar, Rosemary Edghill, and James Mallory, died yesterday of sepsis. This news coming to me from eluki's wife.

Aside Steve, eluki is the writer I've known the longest. She was a remarkable person -- brilliant and difficult, which can be said of many of us. She taught me more about writing than anyone else, again, save Steve.

We dedicated Crystal Soldier to eluki's character, Butterflies-are-Free-Peace-Sincere.

eluki and I had grown apart after her move to the opposite coast, but I'm going to miss her, so much.

Please share this, so we can hopefully catch everyone who ought to know.

rolanni

15 *Crystal Soldier (Liaden Universe® #9), Sharon Lee & Steve Miller
14 Seeking Persephone (Lancaster Family #1), Sarah M. Eden (e)
13 Theo of Golden, Allen Levi (e) book club
12 *Balance of Trade (Liaden Universe® #8), Sharon Lee & Steve Miller
11 *Scout's Progress (Liaden Universe® #6), Sharon Lee & Steve Miller**
10 *Local Custom, (Liaden Universe® #5), Sharon Lee & Steve Miller**
9 *I Dare (Liaden Universe® #7), Sharon Lee & Steve Miller**
8 Cuckoo's Egg, C J Cherryh, (audio first time)
7 *Plan B, (Liaden Universe® #4), Sharon Lee & Steve Miller
6 Getting Rid of Bradley, Jennifer Crusie (audio first time)
5 *Carpe Diem (Liaden Universe® #3), Sharon Lee & Steve Miller
4 *Conflict of Honors (Liaden Universe® #2), Sharon Lee & Steve Miller
3 *Agent of Change (Liaden Universe® #1), Sharon Lee & Steve Miller
2 A Gentleman in Possession of Secrets (Lord Julian #10), Grace Burrowes (e)
1 Spilling the Tea in Gretna Green, Linzi Day (e)

________
*I'm doing a straight-through series read in publication order

**I screwed up and moved right on to I Dare from Plan B, therefore deviating from publication order. I will now amend myself and go back to pick up Local Custom.

rolanni

. . . came in on the overnight.

Wednesday. Sunny; snow slowly melting out of the trees.

Slow, even very slow, morning. Sat for an hour or more in the window, with Tali, then Firefly, on my lap, trying to decide if it's Me or the World. Or, yanno, both.

Discussed the matter with Tali, and decided, yeah, it's both, and with Firefly's help deleted all of the newsfeeds that come directly into my mail queue (with the exception of the local news, which I need for things like, how long is my road going to be closed to southbound traffic?). I have apps. If I feel like reading the news, I know where to find them.

I also ordered some tea, to top off dwindling supply.

Today is more ordering/straightening. I'm thinking stirfry for lunch.

How's everybody doing this morning? Firefly really wants to know.

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djbp

December 2009

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djbp

Reading

Follow the compass that beats in your chest

Wednesday's page

Books read in 2026

Vampyres and Technology

Cultural Genetics

Monday's page

Sunday afternoon

Philosophizing with Firefly

Done Since 2026-04-05

The case of the missing notifications

. . .that followed, followed after

Books read in 2026

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Friday, and the adventures thereof

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Books read in 2026

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December 2009

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