oursin (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
oursin) wrote2025-07-12 04:12 pm
oursin) wrote2025-07-12 04:12 pmAssortment
Walkouts, feuds and broken friendships: when book clubs go bad. I don't think I've ever been in a book club of this kind. Many years ago at My Place Of Work there used to be an informal monthly reading group which would discuss some work of relevance to the academic mission of the institution, very broadly defined, and that was quite congenial, and I am currently in an online group read-through and discussion of A Dance to the Music of Time, but both these have rather more focus perhaps? certainly I do not perceive that they have people turning up without having reading the actual books....
Mind you, I am given the ick, and this is I will concede My Garbage, by those Reading Group Suggestions that some books have at the end, or that were flashed up during an online book group discussion of a book in which I was interested.
Going to book groups without Doing The Reading perhaps goes under the heading of Faking It, which has been in the news a lot lately (I assume everybody has heard about The Salt Roads thing): and here are a couple of furthe instances:
(This one is rather beautifully recursive) What if every artwork you’ve ever seen is a fake?:
Many years ago, I met a man in a pub in Bloomsbury who said he worked at the British Museum. He told me that every single item on display in the museum was a replica, and that all the original artefacts were locked away in storage for preservation.
....
Later, Googling, I discovered that none of what the man had told me was true. The artefacts in the British Museum are original, unless otherwise explicitly stated. It was the man who claimed to work there who was a fake.
This one is more complex, and about masquerade and fantasy as much as 'hoax' perhaps: The schoolteacher who spawned a Highland literary hoax
This is not so much about fakery but about areas of doubt: We still do not understand family resemblance which suggests that GENES are by no means the whole story.
Entry tags:
Two more new BtVS vids!
periru3 and I have posted two more vids in our ongoing vid album Jagged Little Slayer, a mashup of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Alanis Morissette:Title: You Oughta Know
Character/Pairing: Buffy/Faith, S4
Summary: I'm not gonna fade as soon as you close your eyes.
AO3 | DW | Tumblr
lunabee34 (lunabee34) wrote2025-07-12 08:57 am
lunabee34) wrote2025-07-12 08:57 amEntry tags:
lab results are in
1. I've been on tenterhooks waiting for my lab results from my initial consult with Dylan's rheumatologist. I will never, ever allow their phlebotomist to stick me ever again. She stuck me five times, including in my hand and down my forearm, and I still am bruised up to hell and back. To add insult to injury, she then refused to stick me anymore and I had to go to an independent LabCorp. That phlebotomist stuck me once and it didn't even hurt. I'll be getting all my lab work done there from now on. I had it done on July 3, and I've been so antsy to get the results but the holiday clearly backed everything up. Anyway, I got the results today, and they are super fucked up! Hooray! I am testing positive for things I did not before on previous tests and on tests I've never taken before. She also sent me for an interminable set of x-rays on my knees and back. I am really hopeful for a diagnosis, but who knows. I've been disappointed before. It looks like the most likely possible diagnoses will be lupus, mixed connective tissue disease, and/or ankylosing spondylitis (hence all the x-rays). We'll see. She might just tell me I'm old and fat. *sigh*
2. ( Stranger Things recs )
2. ( Stranger Things recs )
Phaeton (dancing_serpent) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
c_ent2025-07-12 01:55 pm
dancing_serpent) wrote in c_ent2025-07-12 01:55 pmEntry tags:
Weekly Chat
The weekly chat posts are intended for just that, chatting among each other. What are you currently watching? Reading? What actor/idol are you currently following? What are you looking forward to? Are you busy writing, creating art? Or did you have no time at all for anything, and are bemoaning that fact?
Whatever it is, talk to us about it here. Tell us what you liked or didn't like, and if you want to talk about spoilery things, please hide them under either of these codes:
or
Whatever it is, talk to us about it here. Tell us what you liked or didn't like, and if you want to talk about spoilery things, please hide them under either of these codes:
or
Sholio (sholio) wrote2025-07-12 12:18 am
sholio) wrote2025-07-12 12:18 amEntry tags:
Another Murderbot TV fic, Temperature Flash, and Hurt/Comfort-Ex
I wrote another Murderbot 1x10 episode missing scene.
Echoes (gen, 2500 words, Gurathin-centric)
Summary redacted because of spoilers; basically Gurathin's POV on some of the events of the finale.
A few notes on the fic (spoilery for both fic and episode):
• We know Murderbot has trouble figuring out what it's feeling, but I also think it's very plausible that Gurathin has the same problem, if not as badly. He's repressed so much for so long. Asking himself to identify exactly what emotions he's feeling is something that some therapist or other taught him to do.
• This is not necessary context for the fic and it's entirely subject to interpretation, but what I was thinking when it wrote it is that Murderbot using "its" for augmented humans in its last line of dialogue to Gurathin is actually MB doing roughly the same thing (except more emotionally positive) that Gurathin is doing in the episode of the show where he's arguing with Mensah and calls it "he" and then corrects himself to "it." It's over-identifying and doesn't even realize that it's doing so; I mean, it's worried about Gurathin, obviously, and that's why it's here, but there's also a certain amount of "we are the same kind of creature" going on here, even though it doesn't realize it's relating to him on that level. It knows that he might have damaged himself with the data overload because it also knows that it might damage itself in a similar way, and he has much less storage to handle it. And it's just kind of subconsciously being concerned about him as it might be concerned about a fellow construct, or itself, having taken damage. Of course neither of them parses all of that consciously.
In other events, Terrible Temperature Troubles Flash Exchange revealed gifts tonight! I got two absolutely delightful gifts - An Official Complaint Against the Universe (Babylon 5, Vir & Londo, hypothermia and h/c) and Consequences of Cold (Biggles, Biggles/EvS, snuggling when chilled). I loved them!
And finally,hurtcomfortex author reveals were tonight. I wrote Sleepover (MASH, 1700 words, Margaret POV) with huddling for warmth and light comfort after nightmares.
Echoes (gen, 2500 words, Gurathin-centric)
Summary redacted because of spoilers; basically Gurathin's POV on some of the events of the finale.
A few notes on the fic (spoilery for both fic and episode):
under here
• I kept tweaking Gura's final line to Murderbot, so it might be a bit different if you read an earlier version. (I felt like I needed to soften it from how it originally was. They are hard to write! Especially keeping their edge when they're so soft in the final scene.)• We know Murderbot has trouble figuring out what it's feeling, but I also think it's very plausible that Gurathin has the same problem, if not as badly. He's repressed so much for so long. Asking himself to identify exactly what emotions he's feeling is something that some therapist or other taught him to do.
• This is not necessary context for the fic and it's entirely subject to interpretation, but what I was thinking when it wrote it is that Murderbot using "its" for augmented humans in its last line of dialogue to Gurathin is actually MB doing roughly the same thing (except more emotionally positive) that Gurathin is doing in the episode of the show where he's arguing with Mensah and calls it "he" and then corrects himself to "it." It's over-identifying and doesn't even realize that it's doing so; I mean, it's worried about Gurathin, obviously, and that's why it's here, but there's also a certain amount of "we are the same kind of creature" going on here, even though it doesn't realize it's relating to him on that level. It knows that he might have damaged himself with the data overload because it also knows that it might damage itself in a similar way, and he has much less storage to handle it. And it's just kind of subconsciously being concerned about him as it might be concerned about a fellow construct, or itself, having taken damage. Of course neither of them parses all of that consciously.
In other events, Terrible Temperature Troubles Flash Exchange revealed gifts tonight! I got two absolutely delightful gifts - An Official Complaint Against the Universe (Babylon 5, Vir & Londo, hypothermia and h/c) and Consequences of Cold (Biggles, Biggles/EvS, snuggling when chilled). I loved them!
And finally,
hurtcomfortex author reveals were tonight. I wrote Sleepover (MASH, 1700 words, Margaret POV) with huddling for warmth and light comfort after nightmares.
Travis (torachan) wrote2025-07-11 10:48 pm
torachan) wrote2025-07-11 10:48 pmEntry tags:
Daily Happiness
1. I had a pretty laid back day at work today but I am super glad it is the weekend and I have a break for a couple days.
2. I am so glad I was able to get this picture. Jasper: She's lurking again, isn't she?
2. I am so glad I was able to get this picture. Jasper: She's lurking again, isn't she?
ride_4ever (ride_4ever) wrote2025-07-12 12:16 am
ride_4ever) wrote2025-07-12 12:16 amEntry tags:
Fannish 50 Challenge 2025: Post # 21: Postal Mail from Fen
June postal mail from fen brought me a beautiful card from elayna. It's colored by hand and she indicated that it was done in pencil -- must be some very special kind of pencil -- there's a depth of color and a shine to it that doesn't look like other pencil-work I've seen. And she pointed out that with one of the images being a compass and one of the images being a wolf or wolf-dog it made her think of due South. Also, she put a wolf sticker on it and used a maple-leaf postage stamp. I <3 everything about this card very much!
elayna. It's colored by hand and she indicated that it was done in pencil -- must be some very special kind of pencil -- there's a depth of color and a shine to it that doesn't look like other pencil-work I've seen. And she pointed out that with one of the images being a compass and one of the images being a wolf or wolf-dog it made her think of due South. Also, she put a wolf sticker on it and used a maple-leaf postage stamp. I <3 everything about this card very much!
Lynn | Settiai (settiai) wrote2025-07-11 11:08 pm
settiai) wrote2025-07-11 11:08 pm
Entry tags:
chomiji (chomiji) wrote2025-07-11 10:53 pm
chomiji) wrote2025-07-11 10:53 pm
Entry tags:
Murderbot News!
‘Murderbot’ Renewed for Season 2 at Apple TV+
The news comes ahead of the Season 1 finale on July 11. Based on “All Systems Red,” the first novella in Martha Wells’ series “The Murderbot Diaries,” the season stars Alexander Skarsgård as “a self-hacking security construct who is horrified by human emotion yet drawn to its vulnerable clients” that “must hide its free will and complete a dangerous assignment when all it really wants is to be left alone to watch futuristic soap operas and figure out its place in the universe,” per the official logline ... .
nnozomi (nnozomi) wrote in guardian_learning2025-07-11 06:22 pm
nnozomi) wrote in guardian_learning2025-07-11 06:22 pm第四年第一百八十三天
部首
⺁ part 1 hǎn
厅, hall; 历, calendar/history; 厉, strict/severe; 压, pressure ( pinyin )
https://www.mdbg.net/chinese/dictionary?cdqrad=27
语法
长 vs 久
https://www.chineseboost.com/grammar/chang-jiu-long-length-time/
词汇
文化, culture; 文件, file; 文明, civilization; 文学, literature; 文章, article; 文字, writing/character; 外文, foreign language ( pinyin )
https://mandarinbean.com/new-hsk-3-word-list/
Guardian:
我知道你这段时间的压力, I know how much pressure you're under right now
这么长时间我都没发现原来校长是你爷爷, all this time and I never figured out that the chancellor was your grandfather
他可是我见过的最有文化的人, he's the most cultured person I've met
Me:
你是自己写的吗？你很厉害。
这个文字我看不懂。
⺁ part 1 hǎn
厅, hall; 历, calendar/history; 厉, strict/severe; 压, pressure ( pinyin )
https://www.mdbg.net/chinese/dictionary?cdqrad=27
语法
长 vs 久
https://www.chineseboost.com/grammar/chang-jiu-long-length-time/
词汇
文化, culture; 文件, file; 文明, civilization; 文学, literature; 文章, article; 文字, writing/character; 外文, foreign language ( pinyin )
https://mandarinbean.com/new-hsk-3-word-list/
Guardian:
我知道你这段时间的压力, I know how much pressure you're under right now
这么长时间我都没发现原来校长是你爷爷, all this time and I never figured out that the chancellor was your grandfather
他可是我见过的最有文化的人, he's the most cultured person I've met
Me:
你是自己写的吗？你很厉害。
这个文字我看不懂。
prozacpark (prozacpark) wrote in vidding2025-07-11 05:16 pm
prozacpark) wrote in vidding2025-07-11 05:16 pmLooking for a festivids fan video from 2010
So, I am looking for a fanvid made for festivids for “Snow White: a Tale of Terror” called “Bare your Teeth” using Lady Gaga’s teeth by vidder e- transitions back in 2010.
I seem to remember having accessed it either through YouTube or Vimeo at some point but all of the old links I have found link to a download on the vidder’s personal website, which no longer exists.
I’m hoping for a link or if someone had downloaded it at some point and still has it, I would be forever grateful.
I seem to remember having accessed it either through YouTube or Vimeo at some point but all of the old links I have found link to a download on the vidder’s personal website, which no longer exists.
I’m hoping for a link or if someone had downloaded it at some point and still has it, I would be forever grateful.
Lynn | Settiai (settiai) wrote2025-07-11 04:54 pm
settiai) wrote2025-07-11 04:54 pm
Entry tags:
Weekend Plans
I'm trying to get a bunch of things done before D&D tonight, including cleaning up the hotel suite. I still need to wash clothes this weekend, but I'm holding off on that until Sunday so that I can fit as many as possible into a single load since it's $8 to wash/dry each one.
My hope, however, is to get everything but that done today so that I can properly settle in and play video games all day long tomorrow. I keep saying that's the plan for the weekend, and then something comes up to prevent it, so I'm really going to try my best this time because I know it will help on the mental health front to lose myself in another world for an entire day.
I'm leaning towards Baldur's Gate 3, but I might go with Dragon Age: The Veilguard instead. Or even Mass Effect. I definitely think it's going to be something I've already played before, though, because something new-to-me requires a different headspace that I don't think I'm in at the moment.
We'll see how it goes, I suppose? 🤞🏻
My hope, however, is to get everything but that done today so that I can properly settle in and play video games all day long tomorrow. I keep saying that's the plan for the weekend, and then something comes up to prevent it, so I'm really going to try my best this time because I know it will help on the mental health front to lose myself in another world for an entire day.
I'm leaning towards Baldur's Gate 3, but I might go with Dragon Age: The Veilguard instead. Or even Mass Effect. I definitely think it's going to be something I've already played before, though, because something new-to-me requires a different headspace that I don't think I'm in at the moment.
We'll see how it goes, I suppose? 🤞🏻
oursin (oursin) wrote2025-07-11 07:40 pm
oursin) wrote2025-07-11 07:40 pmEntry tags:
That There Dr Oursin was at a conference again
This time it was online, in Teams, and worked a bit better than some Team events I've attended, or maybe I'm just getting used to it.
A few hiccups with slides and screen sharing, but not as many as there might have been.
Possibly we would rather attend a conference not in our south-facing sitting-room on a day like today....
But even so it was on the whole a good conference, even if some of the interdisciplinarity didn't entirely resonate with me.
And That There Dr oursin was rather embarrassingly activating the raised hand icon after not quite every panel, but all but one. And, oddly enough, given that that was not particularly the focus of the conference, all of my questions/comments/remarks were in the general area of medical/psychiatric history, which I wouldn't particularly have anticipated.
marthawells (marthawells) wrote2025-07-11 10:27 am
marthawells) wrote2025-07-11 10:27 amEntry tags:
Two new interviews
In Psychopomp, with me, Wole Talabi and Alix E. Harrow:
https://psychopomp.com/fantasy/issue97/interview-with-world-fantasy-finalists-part-one/
And in Scientific American:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/were-light-years-away-from-true-artificial-intelligence-says-murderbot/
https://psychopomp.com/fantasy/issue97/interview-with-world-fantasy-finalists-part-one/
And in Scientific American:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/were-light-years-away-from-true-artificial-intelligence-says-murderbot/
pauraque (pauraque) wrote2025-07-11 09:36 am
pauraque) wrote2025-07-11 09:36 amThe Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin (2006)
In this first book of a hard SF trilogy, nanomaterials expert Wang Miao is recruited to help investigate the suicides of several prominent scientists. His inquiries lead him to a strange VR video game called Three Body, in which the player is challenged to solve the mystery of why the game's simulated world keeps falling victim to unpredictable changes in climate that cause its civilizations to inevitably collapse. Interwoven with the book's near-future narrative is a story of the past, in which an astrophysicist who lost everything in Mao's Cultural Revolution is assigned to a secret military base that she comes to realize is dedicated to the search for extraterrestrial life. These two seemingly unrelated threads come together to reveal a multilayered conspiracy of world-ending stakes.
I had this on my TBR list for so long that I'd completely forgotten what it was about, and I think that worked out well for my experience of it. I never knew where it was going to go next, and I thoroughly enjoyed the ride. Liu has a flair for creating epic set pieces of jaw-dropping cinematic scope that nonetheless follow naturally from the speculative science. I consumed a lot of popular science media in the 2000s, specifically, so for me the science in this book felt... oddly nostalgic? Not that it's obsolete, necessarily, but the particular preoccupations of that era and what was cutting-edge are strongly represented here. It made me want to go read a Brian Greene book.
The translation by Ken Liu reads nicely and I appreciated the informative but not excessive footnotes helping with some points about Chinese culture and history. I love that they let him write an afterword about the translation process!
The book is definitely more interested in ideas than people, and it's particularly weak on female characters. I was not entirely surprised to hear that the Netflix adaptation makes some of the male characters women, including Wang Miao. (I guess it also changes the nationality of a lot of characters, which makes less sense to me since the Chinese setting seems crucial to the book's themes, but I haven't actually watched the adaptation so it's not for me to say how well it works.)
I do plan to continue with the trilogy, though I have a suspicion that it might turn out to be too pessimistic in its outlook on the future for my taste? But I guess it depends on where the story ends up. My library hold on the second book just came in.
I had this on my TBR list for so long that I'd completely forgotten what it was about, and I think that worked out well for my experience of it. I never knew where it was going to go next, and I thoroughly enjoyed the ride. Liu has a flair for creating epic set pieces of jaw-dropping cinematic scope that nonetheless follow naturally from the speculative science. I consumed a lot of popular science media in the 2000s, specifically, so for me the science in this book felt... oddly nostalgic? Not that it's obsolete, necessarily, but the particular preoccupations of that era and what was cutting-edge are strongly represented here. It made me want to go read a Brian Greene book.
The translation by Ken Liu reads nicely and I appreciated the informative but not excessive footnotes helping with some points about Chinese culture and history. I love that they let him write an afterword about the translation process!
The book is definitely more interested in ideas than people, and it's particularly weak on female characters. I was not entirely surprised to hear that the Netflix adaptation makes some of the male characters women, including Wang Miao. (I guess it also changes the nationality of a lot of characters, which makes less sense to me since the Chinese setting seems crucial to the book's themes, but I haven't actually watched the adaptation so it's not for me to say how well it works.)
I do plan to continue with the trilogy, though I have a suspicion that it might turn out to be too pessimistic in its outlook on the future for my taste? But I guess it depends on where the story ends up. My library hold on the second book just came in.
