Reading

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Geodesic Dreams: The Best Short Fiction of Gardner Dozois by Gardner Dozois

A selection of Dozois' best, from the first half of his half century career.

Geodesic Dreams: The Best Short Fiction of Gardner Dozois by Gardner Dozois

Current Mood: aggravated

"'It Belongs To Us': GOP Senator Suggests America Is White Homeland"

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Current Mood: pleased

Some nifty news links

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The Graveyard Apartment by Mariko Koike

The Central Plaza Mansion tower offers palatial 900 square foot apartments for a mere ¥35,000,000. It is a deal too good for the Kano family to turn down... although they should have.

The Graveyard Apartment by Mariko Koike

Good dishes for beginner cooks

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Current Mood: tired

A Selection of Annoyances

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Toward fascism...

Here's the worst thing about all this Charlie Kirk idolatry – the threats of firing and deportation and confiscation of passport and all the other shit the red-caps are doing – it's not because the people pulling the strings actually care about Kirk. Trump didn't even bother to go to the "vigil" at the Kennedy Center, he played golf instead. (perhaps because Kirk was in favor of releasing the Epstein files?)

It's a test-run. If they can get away with getting people fired or deported or jailed for "saying things that make them sad about some guy who incited hatred and violence", then they can do it for nearly anything. Criticize the cops? Jail. Organize a protest against ICE? Jail. Write a post critical of Stephen Miller? Jail. Be a member of a militia that's not right wing? (e.g.: Pink Pistols) Jail.

And make no mistake: When Trump finally has a stroke or heart attack or whatever and the republican party collapses with no cult figurehead to maintain a semblance of cohesion and the democrats are back in power, they're going to do exactly the same thing, but with friendlier words.

a napple, a nadder, a napron, a semblance..

The fruit used to be called a napple. But it sounded a lot like "an apple", so the "n" got removed.

The snake used to be called a nadder.

The cloth thing you wear to protect your clothes used to be a napron.

I learned today that I'd been using (spelling? pronouncing?) "a semblance" wrong since forever. It's not "an assemblance" It's "a semblance"

I'm 100% sure there's a linguistic term for this spelling/pronunciation error/change, but I can't remember what it's called.

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young people read old sf

The Feast of Saint Janis & Ginungagap by Michael Swanwick

The Young People review Michael Swanwick's debut Nebula finalist stories.

The Feast of Saint Janis & Ginungagap by Michael Swanwick

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Five Artificially Layered Planets and World Cities

Need More Surface Area? Why Not Build More?

Five Artificially Layered Planets and World Cities

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review

Spread Me by Sarah Gailey

If not friend, why friend-shaped?

Spread Me by Sarah Gailey

Current Mood: contemplative

"OPINION: Red and blue states’ fight is reaching a dangerous level"

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bundle of holding

Bundle of Holding: Dread Laironomicon

100 lair entries in two succinct pages apiece, from Aboleth's Sunken Lair to Wyvern's Nest.

Bundle of Holding: Dread Laironomicon

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clarke award

Clarke Award Finalists 2014

2014: Creationism is banned in British schools, the first same sex marriages in the UK are conducted, and Canadian Mark Carney helps the UK navigate challenging times. What ever happened to Carney, anyway?

Poll #33620

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 71

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Which 2014 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?

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Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie
68 (95.8%)

God's War by Kameron Hurley
24 (33.8%)

Nexus by Ramez Naam
10 (14.1%)

The Adjacent by Christopher Priest
5 (7.0%)

The Disestablishment of Paradise by Phillip Mann
1 (1.4%)

The Machine by James Smythe
3 (4.2%)

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

Which 2014 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?
Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie
God's War by Kameron Hurley
Nexus by Ramez Naam
The Adjacent by Christopher Priest
The Disestablishment of Paradise by Phillip Mann
The Machine by James Smythe

Transit

So, yesterday, the wheelchair ramp on the Rt 8 bus I was on developed a bug. Or the system that detects if it is deployed did. The ramp retracted correctly but the bus thought it had not, and would not move.

Ha ha! I pick my routes to maximize alternatives in case of break-downs. I just disembarked and talked over to the LRT. Which, I discovered, was having a minor service delay.

My contingency plans can handle two delays, but not three. Good for me there were just the two. It did mean I was only a little early for work.

On the way home, just after I disembarked from the LRT, an SUV cut the LRT off so the SUV could reach the parking lot ten seconds earlier. If the train had not stopped, I'd have had to stick around, both as a witness and because the accident would blocked the sidewalk between me and the stop I needed to get to.

Less than five minutes after the LRT near-miss, three SUVs tried to turn into the same lane at the same time. I don't think they hit each other but there was a short discussion between the drivers before they all left. I'd have had to stick around for that as well, because it would have blocked the route my bus uses.

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faire,
krf

Pay to propose

Good lord, if you want to propose to your sweetie at King Dick's, they'll happily charge you $450 for a package deal.

Can you imagine if you dropped that much cash and your sweetie said NO?!?

I'm supposed to be in Germany right now

I was supposed to be in Germany right now at a work offsite.

Friday my nose was a little drippy hanging upside down on the massage table, but otherwise I felt fine.

Yesterday I felt very low energy, but still got two loads of laundry done and was almost fully packed when I started to wonder why I was feeling so warm. I thought I was being silly, but I took my temperature. And dammit, I was running a low fever. My throat had been pretty sore when I woke up, but I just thought I'd gotten dried out overnight because it felt better once I drank something when I woke up. But, just to be safe, I took a Covid test. And freaked myself out, because I read the results wrong and thought it was positive.

I texted my Director and my BFF from work. Then took a second Covid test and realized, D'oh! That I'd read the results wrong and wasn't positive for Covid. But when I texted my Director back she said it was up to me if I felt well enough to travel. Because she didn't want me both jet lagged and sick at the event. I sat with that thought for ten or fifteen minutes, and realized that if I was just starting to get sick that I was probably going to feel worse before I got better. And I really didn't want to be dragging myself though an airport if I was feeling horrible. So I canceled my flight and put notes up in all the communication channels.

BAH! I am so pissed off at my body right now. I didn't set the alarm, and a good night's sleep helped, but I'm still running a low fever, and still feeling some body aches and a mild sore throat. And I'd really rather be at the German Spa we are renting out than here right now.

I knew I should have started wearing a mask a week or two ago to make sure I didn't get sick before this trip. =(