naath | Reading

(h/t

conuly)

This longform article is framed as being a "ha ha isn't it wacky NASA hired a lingerie company for the Apollo missions". Ignore that. It turns out to be about an organizational culture clash around documentation and specification requirements that will speak to all the therapists and software developers in the room. Also of interest to fans of the US space program, the history of women in NASA and in tech, and clothing construction.

2023 April 14: Nautilus: "The Bra-and-Girdle Maker That Fashioned the Impossible for NASA" by Nicholas de Monchaux, Head of Architecture, MIT. Adapted from his book, Spacesuit. Recommended.

andrewducker

1. The Types of Board Game: (tags:games boardgames funny ontology )

andrewducker

Would you like your mind blown?

To imagine the number of ways a standard pack of playing cards can be uniquely shuffled, follow these simple instructions:

Go to the equator with a deck of cards and start shuffling them. Shuffle them so that every second you produce a new and unique ordering of cards. Keep shuffling them over and over, a new ordering, every second, for a billion years.

At the end of a billion years take a single step forward.

Keep shuffling.

Every billion years keep taking a single step forward.

Once you have circumnavigated the Earth, take a single drop of water out of the Pacific Ocean. Keep shuffling. Keep taking a single step every billion years. Keep taking a single drop of water out of the Pacific Ocean each time you walk around the Earth.

Once the Pacific Ocean is dry, refill it and place a single piece of paper on the ground.

Keep shuffling.

Keep taking billion year steps. Keep taking a drop out of the Pacific Ocean with each return to your start point. Keep refilling the Pacific Ocean once dry. Keep building your tower of paper one sheet at a time.

Once your tower of paper is as tall as Mount Everest, throw it away and place a single grain of sand on a weighing scale.

Don't stop shuffling.

Don't stop taking a step every billion years.

Don't stop emptying the Pacific Ocean and refilling it to build an Everest of paper.

Don't stop throwing your paper tower away to place another grain of sand on your weighing scales.

On the other side of your scale is a bull elephant. When it raises off the ground you will be half way done.

To see the maths behind this, click here.

(With thanks to my brother Mike, who saw a version of this which wasn't as good, rewrote chunks of it and did the maths.)

kaberett

Reading. She's A Beast: up to November 2024. (Does it count as book research? Maybe, possibly: I'm having a lot of thoughts about the extent to which exercise reduces versus increases risk of injuries.)

Writing. I've... added another section or, perhaps, done another rearrangement? I continue to make notes on the current special interest that is movement? I am... not managing focussed writing time.

Listening. Hidden Almanac! I had The Realisation that it would be a good thing to play while we were laminating infinite potions! We have Emerged from the Accursed Hole! The paper wasps do architecture!

Cooking. O V E N. Still v excited about this. More Kaiserschmarrn, and I am about to bake some bread, and additionally and furthermore I successfully added protein to noodles.

Eating. A celebratory burger for reaching a nice round number on a lift. I have subsequently achieved said nice round number on a second lift, but that one is being banked for The Future.

More fancy bakery treats. :)

Exploring. On Wednesday A gave me a lift into town, and then rather than getting the bus the rest of the way to the gym I decided I would wander. Thus I encountered the former Enfield Electrical Works, a delightful building, and also had a brief adventure through a park I had not previously met.

Making & mending. Have I woven in the ends on A's glove? HAHAHAHAHA.

Growing. I have managed several short trips to the plot! And the free agapanthus I acquired from a garden post in Salisbury is looking happy with its new living arrangements. There are many things I wish to sow and none that I have got around to.

Observing. MANY BIRDS: a goldfinch on a trip down to the bakery! Ducklings! Multiple families of baby coots! The Egyptian goslings are all now happy to Paddle Industriously!

Plantwise: there is a fascinating tulip in a garden near coots the first that I do not understand at all; it's lily-flowered, with very pointed petals, and it started out all white except for some tiny blotches of red on the very very tips. The surprising (to me) part is that as it has unfurled further the red has gradually spread down the petal edges, and it's now got this bright red rim feathering ever-so-slightly into the still-white main body of the petal. (I do have photos and might even manage to post them, but not tonight.) The wisteria are firmly on their way out; my cherry tree has finally finally flowered; the redcurrant and gooseberry are flowering, and the josta is setting fruit. It's warm. I'm enjoying it so much.

wildeabandon

This semester has been a bit of a challenge in terms of workload. I keep almost getting to the point of being "on track" according to my plan, and then falling behind again. I'm currently just under four hours behind, so I'm cautiously hopeful that I will actually get caught up this week.

I always plan not to do any work on Sundays, though I don't always stick to that plan, and was sort of tempted to get that four hours done today. In the end I decided that would actually be unwise, and instead I went for a walk through the Forêt de Soignes, which was really lovely. I did, admittedly, listen to an audiobook about biblical studies whilst I was walking, but it wasn't a book related to any of my courses, so that still counts as time off :)

I've shaved my head! I've been getting increasingly self-conscious about my receding hairline, especially when I'm overdue a haircut, and I'm really bad at getting round to getting it cut, so that's a fair chunk of the time. I'm definitely still getting used to it, and may end up changing my mind and growing it back, but I think I like it. It does make me feel like I need more piercings though.

andrewducker

I'd been hearing talk about how good Frieren was for a while. It seemed to have come out of nowhere to instant acclaim, and to actually be about things. So a month ago, when I was looking for something to watch during the occasional 20 minutes when I get lunch alone, I thought I'd give the first episode a go. And while it didn't make me cry it came very close, and it had an atmosphere I hadn't encountered anywhere else, so I was completely grabbed from the beginning, and now that I've finished the first season I feel somewhat bereft.

It is, in background, a bunch of totally standard fantasy tropes. But it does something interesting with them, which is to base itself after the point most stories end. This is the story of what happens to Frieren, an immortal* elven mage, after her adventuring party defeat The Demon King. And how she lives in a world where the friends she makes live much shorter lives than her, how she connects with the people around her, and what she does when she realises that this matters to her.

There is plot, and action**, but mostly not that much of it. The point is the people, and watching them orbit each other, learn from each other, or completely fail to. The characters are interesting, and I love feeling that there is much more to most of them than is obvious on the surface. I particularly loved the first few episodes, which set everything up, but even once we get past past these in to the ongoing arc*** I have found myself looking forward to the next episode more than in almost any TV I've seen in the last decade.

I suspect some people will get put off by some of the tropes, both the ones taken straight from fantasy/roleplaying and the ones that are stock anime conventions. But I could happily look past those and enjoy the meat of the show, which was excellent. I eagerly await season 2. The only nervousness I have is that the original manga has been on hiatus since October, and the creators have clearly struggled with the production schedule, so I don't know whether it will ever be completed. But, frankly, it's not (at this point) the kind of show where I need an ending, I'm delighted just to be along for the ride.

* It is not clear how long elves live. But it is clearly at least thousands of years.
** And when it happens it is gorgeously animated
*** I'm not sure it's a plot, as such. Things are happening, but I'm not convinced that it's going somewhere in particular more than it is just following characters around to see what they get up to.

andrewducker

1. Uruguay has the only stable, successful South American economy. Why is that?: (tags:history economics SouthAmerica video )
2. Europe doesn't care about the UK - we're deluded: (tags:UK Europe doom )
3. China's Humanoid Robots Are Now as Fast as Usain Bolt: (tags:china robots running )

kaberett

Around the beginning of March (before I started lifting! it's okay, I promise I am monitoring all of this responsibly <3) I had a couple of weeks where I didn't manage to do as much stretching of my hips as usual. Whereupon. my left leg. pitched a tantrum. So I have been grumbling along with sciatic-nerve pain for the last month and a half, and getting on with life around it because, you know, pain, watcha gonna do.

... this morning, on the way to Acquire Breakfast, it blessedly, unpleasantly, emphatically twanged -- and there ensued several whole hours wherein it didn't hurt.

Tragically I then resumed sitting on the sofa in order to poke at computer some more, and despite position shifting......... yep, it retwanged itself.

I Am Doing My Stretches. :|

Some good things nonetheless:

brief respite from The Grumpy Nerve
we arrived at coot nest #1 when it was still in shade, and hung around long enough for the sun to hit it; whereupon the grown-ups Stood Up and the BABIES went on ADVENTURES. at one point a mallard with went by with her four tiny fluffy ducklings! and then subsequently More Coots! and all the Egyptian goslings are happily pootling about in the water, now, and several of them have discovered that they can go ZOOM under said water :)
there is on the way to the coots a very dramatic tulip, which I have been watching with interest: it's lily-flowered, with very pointed petals, and started out almost entirely white with just a tiny splotch of red at the tips of the petals. it's now got red feathering along all the edges of all of the petals and it's delightful.
bakery treats: v pleasant savoury pastry thing, Bred Puddin, cardamom bun. also enjoyed nibbling some of A's ridiculous raspberry brownie cruffin Situation.
we made a trip to the Household Waste Recycling Centre! I did not acquire a weights bench! ... A did acquire a scooter. for scooting. with The Child. therefore: we successfully got multiple things Out of the house, and the thing that has come in is Not My Fault. (and will make the Child very happy!)
... turns out that doing lots of stapling hurts less when I actually activate muscles all the way down my back than if I just sort of mash my joints...

rachelmanija

This sequel to Annihilation takes an unusual approach. Rather than returning to Area X, almost the entire book takes place outside of it, focusing on the scientific/government agency, the Southern Reach, which has been sending expeditions into it.

Most of the book is bureaucratic shenanigans with creeping horror undertones. The main character, unsubtly nicknamed Control, is slowly losing his mind trying to figure out what the hell happened to his predecessor and why she kept a live plant feeding off a dead mouse in her desk drawer, what is up with the bizarre incantatory literal writings on the wall, and what's up with the biologist, who has seemingly returned from Area X but says she's not the biologist and asks to be called Ghost Bird. There's parts that are interesting but also a lot of office satire which is not really what I was looking for in this series.

About 80% in, the book took a turn that got me suddenly very interested.

( Read more... )

I kind of want to know what happens next but I'm not sure Vandermeer is interested in giving readers what they want.

andrewducker

Today the white flakes on the ground aren't snow they're blossom.
Original is here on Pixelfed.scot.

andrewducker

1. How EU law hides data centres' environmental impact: (tags:europe environment Technology ai )
2. It seems like nobody knows how the Home Office Vetting system is supposed to work.: (tags:politics CivilService uk wtf labour )
3. Burnout as experienced by autistic people: A systematic review: (tags:autism mentalhealth )

subversivegrrl posting in

little_details

So, my character gets shot running away and catches several pellets of birdshot in his calf. Post-apocalyse setting, he doesn't have a chance to tend to it right away - can anyone give me a rough estimate of how long it would take before he would develop an infection that could disable him? (Fever, altered mental state.)

Thanks in advance for any feedback. I may need to revamp my idea about what kind of injury is going to put him out of commission for several days (he will have access to someone who can remove the pellets and provide reasonable, situation-appropriate medical care.)

Current Mood: curious

kaberett

( exercise; numbers )

rachelmanija

One day every adult on Earth gets a box that contains a string that measures out the length of their life.

This premise seems designed in a lab to create a book to be read for book clubs, where everyone gets to discuss whether or not they'd open their box and how they'd react to a long or short string. It worked, too. And it is absolutely about the premise. Unfortunately, the book is bad: flat, dull, sappy, American in the worst possible way, and emotionally manipulative.

It follows multiple characters, all American, most New Yorkers, and all middle or upper class. Some get long strings. Some get short strings. The ones with short strings agonize over their short strings. The ones with long strings who are in relationships with people with short strings agonize over that.

One of them is black, a fact mentioned exactly once in the entire book, and one has a Hispanic name. One set is an old right-wing politician and his wife. But all of them have identical-sounding narrative voices. Other than the Hispanic-named dude, who is mostly concerned about job discrimination, and the politician, who just wants to exploit the issue, everyone is worried about having a relationship and children with someone who will die young/worried that they'll get dumped and not be able to have children because they'll die young.

Ultimately, isn't everything really about baaaaaabies? Shouldn't everyone have baaaaaaabies no matter what?

The book is so bland and flat. The strings are a metaphor for discrimination, as short stringers are discriminated against. It explores some other social issues, all extremely American like health insurance discrimination and mass shootings, but only peeks outside America for brief and stereotypical moments: North Korea mandates not opening the boxes, China mandates opening them, and in Italy hardly anyone opens their box because they already know what really matters: family. BARF FOREVER.

It was obvious going in that the origin of the boxes would never be explained, but no one even seemed curious about that. Once all adults have received them, they appear on your doorstep the night you turn 22. Video of this is fuzzy. No one parks themselves on the doorstep to see if they teleport in or what. No one has a paradigm-upending crisis over this absolute proof of God/aliens/time travel/magic/etc that the boxes represent. No one comes up with inventive ways to take advantage of the situation a la Death Note. No one is concerned that this proves predestination. No one wonders why they appeared now and what the motive of whoever put them there is.

The point that life is precious regardless of length is hammered in with a thousand sledgehammers, to the point where it felt like a bad self-help book in the form of a novel. The romances are flat and sappy. In the truly vomitous climax, someone pedals around on a bicycle with the stereo playing "Que Sera Sera" and it quotes the entire song.

It's only April but this will be hard to top as the worst book I read all year.

kaberett

( Read more... )

anais_pf posting in

thefridayfive

These questions were written by

ideealisme.

1. What did you do on Monday?

2. What did you do on Tuesday?

3. What did you do on Wednesday?

4. What did you do on Thursday?

5. What are you going to do today?

Copy and paste to your own journal, then reply to this post with a link to your answers. If your journal is private or friends-only, you can post your full answers in the comments below.

If you'd like to suggest questions for a future Friday Five, then do so on DreamWidth or LiveJournal. Old sets that were used have been deleted, so we encourage you to suggest some more!

rachelmanija

In a future Morocco, a young woman named Hariba with no prospects has herself jessed, a process which renders her loyal to whoever buys her, and sells herself as an indentured servant to a wealthy household. There she meets Akhmim, a harni - a genetically engineered human designed to be a perfect lover or companion. Hariba falls in love with him and runs away with him, but because she's jessed, she becomes extremely sick due to defying her loyalty implant.

Up until this point, the book had a compelling atmosphere a bit reminiscent of The Handmaid's Tale in that it explored the daily life of people living with very little agency in the home of someone who owns them. But once Hariba gets sick, she becomes completely sidelined from the story and basically lies in bed suffering for the entire middle part of the book, while the POV switches from Hariba and Akhmim to first her mother, then her friend - neither of whom are very interesting.

( Read more... )

This is a well-written book with interesting issues that sags a lot in the middle portion when Hariba basically drops out of the story, and ends in a note of depression and gloom.

Though I didn't love this book, I'm sorry that McHugh doesn't seem to be writing novels anymore as I did quite like China Mountain Zhang and Mission Child.

dewline

I have suspicions about Ludwik Klimkowski and his "Tribute to Liberty" group...

https://ottawacitizen.com/public-service/defence-watch/vietnamese-refugees-victims-communism-memorial

Current Mood: Wary
Current Location: Home-for-now

andrewducker

1. Your Backpack Got Worse On Purpose: (tags:design business OhForFucksSake )
2. God sleeps in the minerals (some extremely pretty rocks): (tags:rocks pretty photos )
3. The Accursèd Alphabetical Clock: (tags:clock language funny )

rmc28

Post-game interview on Facebook for the game against Invicta on Sunday (we lost 10-1). Favourite comment from a friend: "you both pulled such funny faces when the other one was speaking".

My feedback on the Hull camp shared (with permission) on their Facebook page: "I've enjoyed all the camps so far and I think they're good value for money. I think they're helping me improve as a player, and I've definitely seen other players level up in skill and confidence after attending. I'm very much looking forward to three whole days in July. I also really value the friendships I've been building with players from other teams, who I met because of these camps, and the mutual support we've been able to give each other over this past season."

Upcoming: BUIHA will live stream Nationals this weekend on YouTube, my games that will definitely be on it are:

Sat 15:15 Cambridge Huskies v Leeds Gryphons B
Sat 18:18 Cambridge Huskies v Nottingham Mavericks C
Sun 14:20 Birmingham Lions B v Cambridge Huskies
Sun 19:25 Oxford Women's Blues v Cambridge Huskies

(There's one more group-stage game that will be played on the other ice pad and not streamed, and then depending on how we do in group, we'll be assigned to the semi finals for either Bronze, Silver or Gold finals so we'll have up to two more games on Sunday.)

med_cat posting in

agonyaunt

Greetings, everyone! I have been enjoying reading the entries and discussion in this community, and came upon this article today that I thought I'd share:
~~~
Link: wapo.st/4csfhDU

Dear Miss Manners:

I was invited to a brunch as the only guest. The hosts live in a 6,000-square-foot mansion, of which all of the rooms could be photographed for a slick architectural magazine.

Brunch was delicious, but the rub of the situation was that the house was 54 degrees in temperature, and it was 15 degrees outside.

I am on blood thinners and I am very cognizant of cold. When I inquired if they were having heating issues, the reply was that the house is too expensive to warm up to 68 degrees, and that they do not like large gas bills.( Read more... )

kaberett

( Read more... )

rachelmanija

Danny is a 15-year-old closeted trans girl in a world where superheroes are real. She's across town from her home and her transphobic abusive father, hiding in an alley and painting her toenails with polish bought in a shop as far from her home as she can manage, when America's strongest superhero, Dreadnought, gets in a fight with a supervillain, crashes at her feet, and passes on his powers to her, since she's the only one there to receive them, before dying.

His powers automatically reshape her body into her mental ideal. So now she's physically a very pretty, very strong girl with superpowers... who now has to explain this to her abusive transphobic parents, everyone at her school, and the local superheroes, one of whom is a TERF. Not to mention that the supervillain who killed Dreadnought is still out there...

This is basically exactly what it sounds like: a superhero origin story for persecuted trans teenagers. It's very earnest and has absolutely no subtext. My favorite parts were the bits where Danny gets her gender affirmed by new friends and a sympathetic superhero, which are genuinely very sweet, and when Danny finally proclaims herself the new Dreadnought, which is a great stand up and cheer moment . But overall, I'm too old to be its ideal reader.

Content notes: A LOT of transphobia and transphobic slurs.

kaberett

This has become a bit of a staple of our rotation for when the veg box is made of brassica, and also brassica, and finally some brassica (I do frequently actively opt in to this, to be clear, but also... brassica). However! As you might have noticed, I have just developed a special interest in picking things up and putting things down again, and this in turn means I am going hmm about eating more protein.

When previously mentioning this recipe I have noted that As Usual my household thinks it wants about twice as much veg as written for the quantity of noodle. To this the protein variation essentially adds: some tofu that you've tossed with soy sauce and five-spice or other flavouring of your choice and then baked; and some edamame beans.

Base recipe can be found at Ocado or the Graun, and a fuller write-up will appear under a cut at Some Point in the Hopefully Near future (if only so the instructions are in the order that I want them to be in!).

petrea_mitchell posting in

agonyaunt

Actual headline: Why Tho: My birthday kid wants to invite everyone in class to his party - but not this 1 boy

Dear Lizzy,

My son is in third grade, and his birthday is coming up. He’s told me he wants to invite his whole class to his party (at a park) except for one kid.

This kid is a menace, if I am honest. He breaks things in class and yells and hits. He is actually quite mean to my son. I want to respect my son’s wishes here, but is it fair to invite everyone except him?

To Exclude or Not to Exclude

( Read more... )

rachelmanija

As you may have guessed, I completely failed to live up to my goal of reviewing everything I read, even in brief. Rather than attempting to catch up to my backlog, I am re-starting from where I am.

Yesterday I did a quick book cull by pulling books off my shelves that have been sitting there for ages, reading the first couple chapters, and deciding if I was likely to continue. I focused on books I'd started before and not gotten very far into. Here are the books that landed in the "move to Paper & Clay's used section" bag.

Trouble and Her Friends, by Melissa Scott

See the new cover? If you've been wanting to read this, it's now available as an ebook!

This is a classic lesbian cyberpunk novel that I have tried to read at least three times, and never managed to get very far into. I kept putting it back on the shelf because it's a classic and probably objectively good, but I'm just not that into cyberpunk. If a lot of the action is taking place online, I tend to lose interest. Also, some books just don't grab me, due to a mismatch between me and the book, rather than being objectively or even subjectively bad. This is clearly one of them. Someone else can be thrilled to find it at Paper & Clay, take it home, and enjoy it.

The Splinter in the Sky, by Kemi Ashling-Garcia

A tea specialist becomes a spy in a far-future colonized world! Unfortunately, this starts with a prologue which reads much like the infamous "trade war" crawl at the top of The Phantom Menace. Yes, I know that turned out to be prescient, but the problem was that it was written in a stultifying manner. The next couple chapters were much more lively, but also had a tendency to clunky exposition - some of which was pretty cool, to be fair. This was the second time I attempted this book, and had essentially the same reaction I did to Trouble and Her Friends - not bad, but not for me.

Furies of Calderon, by Jim Butcher

This has been described to me as "Pokemon in alternate ancient Rome," which sounds amazing. For at least the third time, it failed to grab me. I got about four chapters in and there's still no Pokemon. Someone else will like it more than me.

The Hum and the Shiver, by Alex Bledsoe

A race of people called the Tufa have lived amongst normal humans in Appalachia since the beginning of time. They can see ghosts, have music-based magic, etc. This opens with a Tufa woman very very clearly based on Jessica Lynch, who was a real-life American soldier who was wounded and captured in the US/Iraq war, returning from Iraq. I found this in poor taste. The general style also got on my nerves.

While doing this, I got sufficiently grabbed by the openings to keep reading and finish Maureen McHugh's Nekropolis, which hopefully I will actually review. I also returned Amitav Ghosh's Sea of Poppies and Tanya Huff's Sing the Four Quarters to the shelf.

lnr

Apart from the health things, and the usual collection of computer games, Lego and painting/crocheting, here are some other things what have been happening:

Matthew had a birthday at the end of March:

A birthday cake with candles reading "13" and a large indoor firework shooting sparks

There was easter, and we had chocolate eggs, and decorated boiled eggs for rolling down a hill

Matthew has an easter egg is as big as his head!

4 decorated eggs, ready to roll down a hill

We went on a bike ride, 38 km from Audley End to home, via a nice pub

A selfie in the sunshine of three of us on bikes

And we finished off the Easter hols with a bluebell walk from Elsenham to Newport

Beech trees and bluebells with an inviting path in the sunshine

rmc28

Tony and I saw Project Hail Mary approx 18 hours after watching Artemis II launch( space fiction and space mission )

Then on Saturday I went with Cambridge Women's Blues to play in BUIHA Womens Tier 1 Nationals 25-26: ( Read more... )

Nationals was followed by two days of work and also staying up late last Tuesday night/Wednesday morning after hockey practice to watch Integrity go out of contact behind the moon and then reappear. (There was actual video of the Earth appearing from behind the Moon, sent from an actual spaceship, in real time, it was amazing!)

Wednesday night I drove with two passengers to Hull, after Kodiaks practice, so we could all attend the women's ice hockey camp Thursday and Friday.( more ice hockey )

That was six days in a row of playing ice hockey and unsurprisingly I have been tired today. This week is "just" Tuesday practice and BUIHA Non-Checking Tier 1 Nationals with Cambridge Huskies this weekend.

rachelmanija

Natalie is a wildly successful trad wife influencer. She and her husband Caleb have a farm and six adorable children, and Natalie has parlayed carefully edited clips of her perfect life into a lucrative career. (She leaves out the two nannies, 30 farm hands, and the fact that Sassafras the cow is actually four sequential cows, replaced every time one dies, like goldfish.)

Then Natalie suffers a mysterious fall from grace. And then she finds herself in what appears to be an alternate version of her own life in the 1800s, with a husband very similar but not quite identical to her original husband, and children who claim to be her own. Has she time traveled? Is she delusional? Has she gotten kidnapped into a non-consensual reality show?

This is an extremely interesting novel that makes a good companion to Saratoga Schrader's Trad Wife. The beginning of the book is extremely similar, though Natalie is much more successful than Camille. Burke's version of a trad wife influencer deluding herself and lying to her followers about her supposedly perfect life is much better-written than Schrader's. But that's a double-edged sword, because it makes Natalie much more unlikable. She's an incredibly hatable character and the book is from her POV, and that makes a lot of the book not really enjoyable to read.

But the book turns out to be much more ambitious and clever than it seems at the beginning. When I finished it, I was glad I'd read it and appreciated it a lot. That being said, I enjoyed Trad Wife more on an emotional level.

I highly recommend not clicking on the cut unless you're 100% positive you'll never read the book. I really enjoyed the non-spoiled experience.

( Read more... )

Content notes: Domestic violence, rape (on-page, graphic), child abuse and neglect, farm animal neglect/poor caretaking (just mentioned), gaslighting, non-consensual drugging, current American right-wing stuff.

While attempting to buy Saratoga Schaefer's Trad Wife, I accidentally bought a different novel called Trad Wife by Michelle Brandon. And Sarah Langan is coming out with yet another book called Trad Wife in September. I am now on a mission to read all four trad wife books, to compare and contrast.

lnr

Frozen shoulder:

After a three week wait I got a phone call from the GP, who agreed it was probably a frozen shoulder after all and a steroid injection would be appropriate but should be done as soon as possible. so I came in that afternoon. Injection duly done I noted that one of the listed possible side effects was "doesn't work" which was dryly amusing. I asked about the possibility of hydro-distension (injecting the joint with sterile water to manually free up the stuck bits) if that was the case, and was sent a URL where I could try self-referral for that (though warned of a long wait). Initial response to the injection was promising, very increased movement the next day, though without much decrease in pain. It's now been a couple of weeks, and the range of movement is still quite limited, but I think overall I'm able to do things for longer before being in pain. Still very achy yesterday after a day of walking (bluebells!) and computer gaming. I investigated the self-referral webpage today, and it seems to be *physio* referral, but I filled in the form anyway. Depending on how long the wait for that is it's probably worth it compared to paying £60 for 40 minutes with the private physio, and perhaps they'll be able to arrange the hydro-distension too. Now we wait

HRT/coil:

The first GP I "saw" about the shoulder also started me on combined oestrogen/progesterone patches for HRT, with a referral to get my Mirena coil changed early, so it would provide the progesterone component once changed. I got a text message a week or two later with a link to book a coil clinic place, but the first one was the following lunchtime (too short notice) and the next ones were while we're away in May. I checked back again today in case more dates had become available, and there's one slot in a clinic at their Linton practice on 16th May. Linton is too far away to practicably cycle home from after having a coil inserted, so I've contacted them via practice's admin webform to ask if there are likely to be any other dates available in the near future in Shelford or Sawston, or should I just book the Linton one and get a taxi. I fear by the time I hear back that won't be an option any more anyway at this rate! Now we wait :) Edit: SMS from GP receptionist "Please keep checking back for new appointments". I may try calling the local sexual health clinic - but I don't know if they do coils for over 50s!

Other: I was due to go give blood today (being long enough after the steroid injection and not currently awaiting any investigations) but I've got a bit of a cold, so I've postponed until next week. Always feel bad about cancelling on the day, but better than donating with germs! Once the blood donation is done I need to book in the second Shingles vaccine dose too. More things for awkward arms :) Matthew had his HPV vaccine recently though with no ill effects, and I'm so glad that's available now. That reminds me, I need to fill in the paperwork with his phone number - now he's 13 he's allowed to be responsible for his own healthcare decisions to some extent and they want to be able to contact him directly. Also looking at sorting out his email access now he's old enough to have his own account properly (rather than me running one for him). That's a bit off-topic though :)

andrewducker

1. Impact of Climate Change on Cherry Blossom Flowering: (tags:Japan flowers globalwarming )

dewline

What's going on with Apple Maps and southern Lebanon right now? As of 915 PM EST, this date?

Current Mood: worried

kaberett

Reading. Still, uh, not quite exclusively She's A Beast archives. ("Not quite" because I am reading some of the things the links letters link to...)

Writing. Over 11k words. Progress is very very slow but it IS progress. (I'd feel worse about She's A Beast eating my entire brain apart from the fact that a whole bunch of it is extremely relevant, and yet more of it is sparking decidedly useful contemplation...)

Cooking. NEW OVEN NEW OVEN NEW OVEN today used for Kaiserschmarrn (worked just fine) and a new cake recipe from Blackberry Cottage (used settings suggested in oven manual and... it took over twice as long as it ought've to cook). Cannot yet report on what I think of it because have not yet eaten any. Elsewise: ... lots of the smitten kitchen braised chickpea thing?

Other NEW THING: brand new microplane zester. my goodness that was a Life Changing Experience (even if I do think I could probably reasonably have got More zest off that just the very topmost single-pass layer...)

Eating. Of particular note: blood oranges!!! and Decadent Spanish Raspberries, acquired on our way out of the Big Supermarket post-vaccination.

Making & mending. ... ADAM NOW HAS TWO GLOVES. I just (...) need to Weave In The Damn Ends. (Does anyone have a favourite weaving-in-ends guide? Because twenty-five years into this hobby I still pretty much hate every end I have ever woven in as Lumpy and Unsightly.)

Growing. Aubergines hatching! Whole buncha weeding including sorting out the raspberry thicket! When last I made it to the allotment the cherry tree had two bundles of blossom out, and was clearly on the point of Bursting Forth en masse...

Observing. SO MANY baby waterfowl, and, also, A Goldfinch. A friend's tiny cherry tree In Flower! Holly getting Extremely enthusiastic about flowering also.

dewline

May Orbán go away quietly and never haunt Hungary/Magyarország in particular or Europe in general ever again and may no one in those places or myself be compelled to regret my saying as much.

Current Mood: hopeful

andrewducker

1. More than 200 arrests at Palestine Action demonstration: (tags:UK freespeech law police protests labour )

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.

kaberett

I think the exhaustion and aches are down to my COVID spring booster yesterday afternoon, but I am definitely planning to not ever Touch A Barbell For The First Time on vaccination day again. (Conveniently, this is an eminently achievable goal.)

SOME GOOD THINGS, though:

weekend spring date breakfast, which for me included cinnamon roll and hot chocolate, consumed while watching the goslings experiment with going into water. coot nest #1 had at least six Hatched Squeaking Babies in it (some of them adventurously exploring down the sides of the nest); coots #2 were still Enthroned. AND we saw a GOLDFINCH on the way down the hill!!!
braised chickpeas with courgette & pesto continue very good and fairly easy food. the whole I Am Flat meant we Acquired pre-made pesto, and this was an extremely good move. project Eat The Freezer Stash Of Tortilla continues apace also.
A has successfully disposed of our old front door, complete with doing all necessary talking to other humans about it. our front hall now contains only one (1) front door and it is in the door frame where it belongs.
got raspberries from the supermarket yesterday, as a vague approximation of The Custard Fish Of Civic Responsibility (from the one shop in Chinatown, on the way back from the sexual health clinic to the tube). am enjoying raspberries a v great deal.
all three flowers the big white orchid had produced are now in glorious bloom. (still need to work out how to make the tiny purple orchid happier, but.) flowers!

andrewducker

Sophia likes sharing the car boot with the dogs.
Original is here on Pixelfed.scot.

kaberett

Behold my works: today I went to the leisure centre, and went into the leisure centre, and went into the gym, and poked around a bit, and retreated to the stairwell to hyperventilate... and then WENT TO A CHANGING SPACE and CHANGED MY CLOTHING and went back into the gym. And picked! things! up!!! and put them down again!!!!!

I have now Touched Barbell, appear to have accidentally skipped most of Phase 2 of Liftoff in favour of Barbells, Apparently, but honestly the biggest and most exciting bit of this is that I did go back into The Gym and I did push through the social anxiety of What If I'm Doing It Wrong.

It is an excellent time of year to be doing this; the cherries on the way from the gym to the bus stop are in full and exuberant flower.

anais_pf posting in

thefridayfive

1. What was the last book you read (or are currently reading)?

2. What was the last movie you watched?

3. What television series are you currently watching?

4. What are some of your favorite blogs or communities online?

5. What social media do you belong to and check often?

Copy and paste to your own journal, then reply to this post with a link to your answers. If your journal is private or friends-only, you can post your full answers in the comments below.

If you'd like to suggest questions for a future Friday Five, then do so on DreamWidth or LiveJournal. Old sets that were used have been deleted, so we encourage you to suggest some more!

andrewducker

1. I took the German or Autistic diagnostic and I'm apparently just German.: (tags:autism germany funny rules )
2. Just how versatile is milk?: (tags:milk )

kaberett

Therapist was Mean and got me to do the thing of substituting "I'm excited about" for "I'm anxious about". I Have Signed Up For The Gym, without first fixing my bike, and might even make it there Tomorrow.
On the one hand Wagamama have dropped my default order from their menu again ('tis the season!), and on the other they have introduced a gochujang-tamarind-sesame corn "ribs" situation that I am very pleased to have tried.
Social wiggles were OUTSIDE because we have achieved LIGHT ENOUGH EVENINGS.
I have almost finished A's gloves??? All That Remains is Weaving In The Second Set Of Ends.
Lebkuchen And A Glass Of Milk.

rachelmanija

18-year-old Evelyn is on a plane, transporting her father's ashes, when there's an announcement of turbulence. A passenger gets up from her seat, then collapses in the aisle. The plane begins to nosedive, and everything goes white. Then Evelyn is back on the plane, which is no longer nosediving. There's an announcement of turbulence. A passenger gets up from her seat, then collapses in the aisle. The plane begins to nosedive...

Evelyn quickly realizes that she's in a 29-minute time loop. She tries to figure out why the plane is crashing and how to stop it, but gets absolutely nowhere. She talks to other passengers. She steals their food and eats it. She watches every movie on the plane. She learns everything about everyone, except the handsome sleeping teenage boy who never wakes up during the loop. She goes through 400 loops and almost loses her mind. And then, on one loop, the boy wakes up. And on the next loop, he also realizes that he's in a loop...

Like the last novel I read by Reiss (Out of Air, the one with the teenage scuba divers), this book has a great premise. I enjoyed how Evelyn makes herself free with everything on the plane while trapped, and I also enjoyed how she and Rion, the sleeping boy, work together once he wakes up to figure out what's going on. However, it had an issue that more-or-less ruined the book for me. Rion suggests something that somehow Evelyn failed to try in 400 loops, which is to follow one person on the plane at a time, and observe everything they do. It never occurred to Evelyn to watch the flight attendants, and watching one of them reveals exactly what's causing the crash. They try to prevent it in several ways that don't work. Then Rion figures out a clever plan that saves the plane and fixes the loop.

The author clearly wanted to have Evelyn be alone in the loop for a long time. I can see why she wanted that - we get a vivid sense of her frustration and despair - but it makes Evelyn seem useless when she spends ages watching movies and so forth, and then Rion figures everything out almost immediately. This is exacerbated when Rion also comes up with the plan to fix things. This wouldn't have been a problem if they'd been in the loop together much earlier - then they could have bonded while investigating, taken breaks and done the fun stuff that she did alone, and mutually figured stuff out. It would have been more fun to read and felt less sexist, which I'm sure was unintentional but is inevitable when the girl fails at everything for ages, then a boy shows up and both solves the mystery and fixes the problem.

I'll be interested to see if Reiss's third book also has a three word title that rhymes with "care."

kaberett

Things I thought would be fine: continuing to use the coffee table as an ersatz bench while I try to source a proper one at less-than-new prices.

THINGS THAT WERE NOT FINE: guess.

(I am unharmed! The coffee table is... not. The previous session was fine!!! ... the previous session was 10-20lb lower in terms of what I was lifting.)

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