chickenfeet

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Current Mood: indescribable

kalypso

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xkcd_feed

https://xkcd.com/3194/

Some surfaces may seem difficult to glue. But if you research the materials, find tables of what adhesives work on them, and prepare your surfaces carefully, you can fail to glue them in a fun NEW way that fills your house with dangerous vapors.

https://xkcd.com/3194/

oursin

What I read

Finished Dream Count - not quite up to her earlier works? all being a bit of the moment (starting in lockdown and so on)? Will see what comes out in discussion.

Mick Herron, Clown Town (Slough House, #9) (2025) possibly getting that series-dip effect a bit? And was I really supposed to be flashing on the Marx Brothers' stateroom scene in A Night at the Opera during one particularly fraught episode?

Matt Lodder, Tattoos: The Untold History of a Modern Art (2024), which was very impressive (and copiously illustrated) and one guesses a bit of a passion project*. Interesting that there is a recurrent theme of tattooing coming out from being a subcultural thing among lowlives: when the story in fact is that they were the ones for whom body art would be being recorded for identification, in muster-rolls or prison records etc, and people of more genteel status would not be In The Record as being inked unless for some unusual particular reason. And that its being/becoming a fashionable thing has cycled around or maybe always been there. Also fascinating the links between tattooers and the development of a subculture/s.

*Yes, we would like to see what he's got portrayed....

I intermitted this with JD Robb, Framed in Death (In Death, #61), which had come down to the (nostalgic) price of old mass-market paperbacks (now defunct). Not one of the stronger entries, yet again, serial killer with very specific modus.

On the go

Eve Babitz, I Used to Be Charming: The Rest of Eve Babitz (2019) collection of her journalism, 1975-1997.

Up next

Well, I don't suppose that the books from local history society - which I have now been informed are available and can be purchased - will arrive very shortly, so dunno.

chickenfeet

https://operaramblings.blog/2026/01/14/the-likht-ensemble-at-the-leah-posluns-theatre/

princessofgeeks

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Current Mood: awake

sabotabby

Just finished: Invisible Line by Su J. Sokol. This was quite good. Xe did a good job in not just complicating utopia—I have a minor dislike of "flee to Canada" as a plot point in dystopian fiction, and the portrayal of Montreal as a bureaucracy subject to limits on its ability to do the right thing is very nuanced and well done—but also making the characters messy and traumatized. The big crisis in the last act could have been averted if the parents talked to their damned kids, but of course they are too paranoid and distrustful from years of living under fascism, so they don't. Looking forward to reading the sequel.

Currently reading: Mavericks: Life stories and lessons of history's most extraordinary misfits by Jenny Draper. This is really fun—TikTok-sized portraits of history's interesting (not always good) characters. I knew about a lot of them, like Ellen and William Craft and Noor Inayat Khan, but a lot of the others, like Eleanor Rykener and The Chevalier d'Eon, are new to me. It's very fun and conversational.

andrewducker

1. Trump v BBC - a guide to the case: (tags:usa uk bbc politics law )
2. Iranian-linked Scottish accounts fall silent again with Iran's internet blackout: (tags:iran scotland propaganda )
3. Adelaide Writers' Week cancelled amid controversy over disinvitation of author Randa Abdel-Fattah: (tags:Australia Palestine Israel writing festival )
4. New Tesla feature to automatically create explicit images of pedestrians it passes on the street: (tags:satire funny Tesla nudity )
5. Zoe Saldaña Becomes Highest-Grossing Actor of All Time With 'Avatar: Fire and Ash': (tags:movies money )
6. Government drops plans for mandatory digital ID to work in UK: (tags:IDCards Labour )
7. Warhammer Maker Games Workshop Bans Its Staff From Using AI in Its Content or Designs, Says None of Its Senior Managers Are Currently Excited About the Tech: (tags:AI GamesWorkshop Warhammer )
8. Making a natural freezer: (tags:temperature video ice )
9. A divorce lawyer on the concept of "soulmates": (tags:love relationships video )
10. The polls in Wales are, frankly, unprecedented: (tags:Wales polls )
11. Contract secured for one of world's largest offshore wind farms Berwick Bank (off the coast of Scotland): (tags:scotland electricity windpower )
12. Scientists confirm 2025 was the third hottest year on record: (tags:globalwarming doom )
13. What's the stick in *your* stream?: (tags:advice life )

oursin

Happy birthday,

ljgeoff!

ranunculus

Since the sun came out the garden has gotten quite a lot of love. The iris bed with the white irises in it got dug over, the irises lifted and divided. It has been at least two or possibly 3 decades since the iris have been divided and they were in a sorry state. There are great numbers of various iris plants sitting around waiting for new homes most of them quite small. The (few) replanted iris should thrive. They will be extra happy without the grass that was threatening to choke them out. Some of the white iris will be replaced with bronze/pink iris from Henry St, and possibly some other colors.
Elsewhere in the garden; A couple of beds no longer have dying tomatoes in them which makes the fava beans, which were trying to grow in tomato plant shade, really happy. Tons of grass has been pulled out and dead sunflowers pulled out to add to the compost. Still have two big beds to go but things are definitely looking a lot better. Sadly there are vole trails all over. They love all the overgrown plants. Yesterday traps were set out to reduce the vole population. So far I've caught 3.

Today the new metal fence panels for Winter Quarters arrived. Dave and his son Grant came up to help. We removed the old beat up/broken panels that decidedly did not fit and put new ones in their place. It all fits and looks SO much better. Included in this order were several gates, one of which is now hanging from the front-center of the Winter Quarters run in shedrow. For months we have been using a temporary panel as a gate. This meant lifting it and hooking it on a hinge pin fitting that was loosely attached. It worked surprisingly well as a latch, but it was a pain in the neck to use. Today we replaced that panel with a nice gate on real hinges!

This afternoon I had an interview down at the local community radio station. I think it went well. Hopefully I didn't say "um" too many times! It was kind of fun: The lady who was interviewing me was using some new equipment; when she had trouble getting her sound levels right, my Stagehand training kicked in and we were able to solve them together.

oursin

At least, I found a whole foods supplier which had - among other things like wheatbran which looked like it would not be like the sawdusty stuff Ocado have lately been purveying under that name - things like Medium Oatmeal! Wheatgerm! and POMEGRANATE VINEGAR!!! which I have been complaining everywhere were No Can Haz. Also kasha (I did have kasha but on recently examining the package found that its BBF was way back last summer).

And conveyed to me with remarkable expedition even if I didn't pony up for the expedite delivery option.

Slight whinge at DPD for just leaving it on the step and not even ringing the bell.

Also, I discovered that my library card for Former Workplace expired several years ago. On emailing about renewal (as I have a need to Go In and Consult Things) got a next day response saying they can renew if I send in scan of appropriate ID and address verification, and pick up card when I go in.

This somewhat makes up for:

a) the two reviews I did last year which still sit in limbo with the relevant editors.

b) the two feelers put out for books to review, ditto, such that I am hesitant to put out another for a different book to a different journal in case I end up yet again with stack of books for review.

c) local history society which I contacted last year apropos 2 volumes of its proceedings which are Relevant to My Interests and which after some initially encouraging response has gone silent.

Am still miffed about either inadvertently deleting or not being sent Zoom link for the last Dance to the Music of Time discussion.

and am baffled by the ongoing situation 'The server is taking too long to respond' of the Mastodon instance I frequent, which has now pertained for nearly 5 days.