highlyeccentric

Today I wanted to stay home from work, so I did. To celebrate myself, I made my favorite vegetarian tortilla soup and ate it with Wisconsin Organic Fontina that I got at HEB (before people panicking over the weather cleared the shelves).

It’s pretty good. It is extremely smooth and mild when you first bite into it, but then you find that it’s a bit crumbly and has a slightly sharp flavor. I actually really liked it. I had it with Hatch green chili pita chips and spicy pumpkin tortilla soup and it was a good combo.

sabotabby

Between my regular rotation of Bastards/Cool People/ICHH, I've been slowly making my way through Better Offline's coverage of CES. Technically this is work-related and I should be listening on work time (obviously I'm not) but if you want like 20 hours of coverage about what's new in tech (spoiler: not very much), AI crammed into everything, and robots that still can't fold laundry, it's worth checking out.

It's really interesting from more than just Ed Zitron's usual professional hater perspective—which, to be clear, is something I appreciate as a professional hater myself. Because with something like CES, the questions of "who is this for" and "what is the use case" are actually critical and in your face. It's the Consumer Electronics Show, after all. So while robots in manufacturing are obviously a thing, the use case for household robots is a bit more questionable. The most successful household robot, the Roomba, recently went out of business, because as it turns out, they're not useful for 1) most households, which have things like furniture and sometimes stairs, or 2) the parts of your floor that you really don't want to vacuum, like tricky corners. They are good for scaring cats or if your cat is not scared of them, transportation.

The episodes are full of even more absurd technology to solve problems that aren't real, like fridges that open for you, meant to automate the parts of your life that you actually want to enjoy. We want machines to do menial tasks, leaving creative work for us. As it turns out, they're quite good at menial tasks in a factory, where you're doing the same thing repeatedly, but not in a house, where you have to do a lot of little annoying things.

But what we (normal people) want is very different from what techbros want. Remember, these are people who have not had to experience challenges in real life, so when they think about what a person might need, they come up with things like "what if I didn't want to cook and I got my fridge to open for me and dumped a bunch of ingredients in a pot and it would make food, and also a robot read a bedtime story to my child?" The fantasy, of course, is having a slave. But that is not the fantasy that normal people have, and there's an incredible disconnect between where tech is heading and actual human needs.

Anyway, I am working through it very slowly because, as I said, 20+ hours, but it's worth a listen. Also if anyone can find pictures of Robert Evans in an exoskeleton I would like to see that for reasons.

nanila posting in

awesomeers

It's challenge time!

Comment with Just One Thing you've accomplished in the last 24 hours or so. It doesn't have to be a hard thing, or even a thing that you think is particularly awesome. Just a thing that you did.

Feel free to share more than one thing if you're feeling particularly accomplished! Extra credit: find someone in the comments and give them props for what they achieved!

Nothing is too big, too small, too strange or too cryptic. And in case you'd rather do this in private, anonymous comments are screened. I will only unscreen if you ask me to.

Go!

rmc28

I don't think I mentioned getting a new phone last month. I very much enjoyed my tiny Jelly Star for a long time: it was very good for making it unsatisfying to scroll while out and about, and instead listen to more music and pay more attention to where I was. But eventually it started to be actually annoying and I did some thinking and looking at different phones, and ended up with a Motorola Razr folding phone. Still small by default! Still easy to prioritise music over scrolling! But much easier to do messaging, emails, etc when I need to.

As a surprise bonus, I have found that having a decent camera and a screen I can clearly see the results on means I'm taking more photos. It also has a neat timer function, and the folding phone is easy to set up to take photos at distances longer than my arm.

Here is a result taken this morning: me wearing another new possession, my CUIHC fleece. It is soft and cozy and I adore it, I've had it since Monday and love it unreasonably. I want to wear it all the time.

conuly

If you're actually writing for children, especially young children, then I guess you don't want to scare them off - but if you're writing for adolescents or adults you can afford to be honest.

So here's the thing. Every book or story in which a character gets glasses for the first time - or the second if their first pair is painfully out of date - emphasizes how clear everything is and how they can see so much detail that they had no idea they were missing. And yes, that's a thing. None of them point out that it's a thing that can be less "wondrous" and more "disorienting and distracting" until you've gotten used to seeing that much detail.

None of them mention that if your prescription is strong enough - especially if there's astigmatism involved - your perception will be wonky and you'll have a hard time judging how close and far things are for a day or two.

Definitely none of them mention that you will absolutely get eye strain every time you get a new prescription, and possibly headaches or nausea to accompany it. It goes away, again, in a day or two, but until it does you'll feel like you're cross-eyed at all times. (And with children, every year is a new prescription. They grow, which means their eyeballs grow, and just like that growth is unlikely to suddenly give them perfect vision if they already were nearsighted, it's also unlikely to keep them exactly where they were before.)

Absolutely none of them point out that if you've never worn glasses before you'll have to spend the aforementioned day or two learning how to not see the frames. This is also true if your old frames were much bigger than the new ones, but that, at least, is less likely to apply to children - their faces grow along with the rest of them, necessitating larger frames, so even if they choose a smaller overall style with the new pair the fact that it fits properly may even out.

Moving past the realm of accurate fiction writing, children really should have their first optometrist appointment, at the latest, in the summer before first grade (so, aged 5 or 6 years old). Ideally, they'll have it before they start school, at age 2 or 3, but you can't convince people on that point. They should have a new appointment every year until the age of 20 or so, or every two years if every year really is unfeasible, even if you don't think you see the signs of poor vision. They won't complain that they can't see, because they'll just assume that their vision is normal. This is true even if they wear glasses - you never notice how bad your eyes have gotten until you get a new prescription, and then it's like "whoa".

The screening done at school or at the doctor's office is imperfect at best. You really want the optometrist.

*******************

( Read more... )

yourlibrarian posting in

common_nature

A couple of photos from a foggy morning, with some geese serenely sailing by. You can better see the scrum of ducks in the next photo, gathered around the aerator. We can only assume that it's the best place to get algae from, maybe it pulls it to the surface?

( Read more... )

olivermoss

Laptops in a coffeeshop... like it's ten years ago or something. This place has been around in Portland forever, but I hadn't actually gone until recently. It really feels like stepping back in time, sometimes. The amount of people with earbuds in having phone conversations sometimes is nutty. At least, I hope it's phone conversations with people and not with AI.

kaberett

Saw the Child! Was given a Very Important Solar System Biscuit.
Successfully slogged through a Whole Entire Exercise Routine, thanks be to company, and only tried to fall over for balance reasons rather than presyncope reasons. The Socks Continue Good. (We shall leave aside the part where my watch firmly told me I should start winding down for bed right before I began it...)
A has indulged me to the tune of staying up late (post-wiggles and once we have finished our takeaway, which we have) so that the bread I did not manage to bake earlier in the day will be Ready To Be My Breakfast.
Brain was willing to put down sudoku and actually read some book today! I am a bit closer to finishing a reread and embarking on the new thing!
It feels like I might actually be able to fall asleep in reasonable time today. Goodnight. <3

rmc28

Heated Rivalry is on this year's Canada Reads longlist.

olivermoss

( Sorry political screaming before I go somewhere without internet for a while to get work done )

olivermoss

In last night's post-game interview, here's the screengrab I took of Vince Dunn:

Here's the one the official account went with to promote the interview:

The vibe difference is hilarious to me. Vincess Dunn versus The Dunndertaker

anais_pf posting in

thefridayfive

These questions were written by

destined_dreams.

1. What type of hair do you have? (Thin, Normal, Thick, Frizzy, etc.)

2. What color is your hair currently?

3. What colors have you dyed/highlighted your hair?

4. If you could dye your hair any color, what would it be?

5. What is your hair's length?

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!

soricel

"Blue wondered what sort of creating they meant. She was always creating things, taking old things and cutting them up and making them better things. Taking things that already existed and transforming them into something else. This, she felt, was what most people meant when they called someone creative.

But she suspected that wasn’t how Calla meant it. She suspected that what Calla meant was the true meaning of creative: to make a thing where before there was none."

( Read more... )

olivermoss

* Heated Rivalry boys set to be Olympic Torch Bearers because at this point of course they are. link

* Here is an interview clip where Rachel talks about being angry at hockey and the books being a way to get her thoughts out. Based on things she said a while ago, well before the show, I got the impression that the sweetest, coziest scenes in hockey romance all are rooted in anger at the sport. That's one of things about the genre that's interesting to me.

While I love the Shane/Ilya books, it's Tough Guy that deals the most with the impacts of hockey culture. Love Shane and Ilya, but I think Tough Guy is very interesting book and there's a lot there to discuss.

nineveh_uk

Although January doesn't usually come with threats to invade Greenland. It's a mad, mad world... I have mostly been spending the new year feeling January-ish; it's wet and grey here and I've had a lingering bug that has not inclined me to do anything much more than look forward to the Winter Olympics* and spring in general, although I've enjoued my art class starting again. I would like some snow and have not seen more than a sprinkling. But I have read a couple of books worth noting:

The Burning Stones, by Antti Tuomainen. Not Nordic noir, but a comic crime story in which a middle-aged sauna stove company employee finds herself having to investigate the murder of a colleague. Thoroughly entertaining, though I had to decide it was set in "no lawyer AU world" as the sensible, competent protagonist would surely have rung a solicitor by the end of the first few chapters if only they existed. Introduced me to the word bumlet for small towels one sits on in saunas, which since it scarcely seems to exist on the internet, I can only assume that the translator picked up from the Anglophone community in Helsinki (or possibly invented independently).

Advent, by Gunnar Gunnarsson. Every year, in the middle of winter, farmhand Benedikt goes on a journey to rescue sheep that are lost in the mountains. Fantastic landscape descriptions, there's a real sense of time and place and the arduous nature of the journey and why he does it, although there is also the reader's inevitable moment of realisation, 'Oh, is this meant to be allegory and the shepherd Jesus?' On reflection after finishing it, I think it's meant to prompt the association, but not intended as allegory, other things are also going on, not least that the book is based on a true story. There is something of an early non-fiction novel about it. The afterward, interesting as it is, does not mention that Gunnar went on a 1940 lecture tour of Germany and met Hitler. Presumably, it was supposed that this would get in the way of the heartwarming Christmas novella marketing.

Over Christmas itself, I re-read Moreta, Dragonlady of Pern for the first time since I was about 15. It had less sex than I remembered (possibly because I first read it at 13, when sex in any book was remarkable), and on adult reflection is more of a tragedy brought about by class prejudice among dragonriders. Although post-COVID, there was some interesting elements of the flu pandemic that rang true in a way I hadn't previously recognised - at the point of writing, McCaffrey had lived through three, if none so deadly as the Spanish flu she was born just six years after.

*No, I have not seen Heated Rivalry. IMO ice hockey is the most boring Olympic sport, beating even curling, which takes some doing since even actual bowls (world championships currently being televised, I am not watching) is more exiting than curling. Still, I am happy for the fandom.

rmc28

It's been a whole adventure watching Heated Rivalry go mainstream (for once I can claim I was a fan before it was cool!). I turned on Radio 2 in a hire car on Tuesday evening and the presenter was talking about it. Half the UK ice hockey clubs are making social media posts riffing off the show, or at minimum using music from it in their updates.

But it's also more complicated. Zach Sullivan, one of the very very few out queer professional male hockey players in the world, made an Instagram post a few days ago, about how conflicted he feels about the show. Well worth a read if you have time. Heated Rivalry is a romantic fantasy, the hockey aspects are often wrong, and I agree with Zach that I'm not at all sure the enthusiasm over the show is making things better for closeted male players right now. (I hope it will in the long term, but I worry about the harm right now.)

Also, I am developing a visceral loathing for the phrase "boy aquarium" for hockey rinks.

it's gross
it's not just boys (men) who play ice hockey
please stop sexualising the spaces where people play and get changed

That last point: I play with two mixed (male-dominated) teams, I get changed in the same room as the men, and because my teams are not gross and the changing room is not a sexualised space, I feel safe doing so. If I changed separately, I would miss out on a whole load of the team connection and conversation, all the stuff that creates a team out of a bunch of people who turn up in the same place each week. So I stay and change with my team, and it's not a big deal, and I don't want people to make it a big deal.

nanila posting in

awesomeers

conuly

Ms. Marcus says that an occasional poem is a poem
written about something
important
or special
that's gonna happen
or already did.
Think of a specific occasion, she says—and write about it.

Like what?! Lamont asks.
He's all slouched down in his seat.
I don't feel like writing about no occasion.

How about your birthday? Ms. Marcus says.
What about it? Just a birthday. Comes in June and it ain't
June, Lamont says. As a matter of fact,
he says, it's January and it's snowing.
Then his voice gets real low and he says
And when it's January and all cold like this
feels like June's a long, long ways away.

The whole class looks at Ms. Marcus.
Some of the kids are nodding.
Outside the sky looks like it's made out of metal
and the cold, cold air is rattling the windowpanes
and coming underneath them too.

I seen Lamont's coat.
It's gray and the sleeves are too short.
It's down but it looks like a lot of the feathers fell out
a long time ago.
Ms. Marcus got a nice coat.
It's down too but real puffy so
maybe when she's inside it
she can't even tell January from June.

Then write about January, Ms. Marcus says, that's
an occasion.
But she looks a little bit sad when she says it
Like she's sorry she ever brought the whole
occasional poem thing up.

I was gonna write about Mama's funeral
but Lamont and Ms. Marcus going back and forth
zapped all the ideas from my head.

I guess them arguing
on a Tuesday in January's an occasion
So I guess this is an occasional poem.

*************

Link

conuly

No real symptoms, but I'm a little stuffy and super sleepy.

******************************

( Read more... )

ursula

glowingfish asked:

The Golden Age of published science-fiction was more or less from 1955 to 1975 (lets say). Why did it end when it did? Do you think that science-fiction (or fantasy) published after 1975 was different, or do you just think it had less ability to become part of the "canon"?

This is really non-standard periodization! Wikipedia has the Golden Age of science fiction starting in the late 1930s, in connection with sci-fi magazine publishing history; the end of your period is solidly New Wave.

The counter-argument is the aphorism that the Golden Age of science fiction is twelve; by that rule, it's interesting to think about who was twelve in 1955-1975, or whatever guidelines you want to pick, and what influence they might have had on defining a canon, once they reached their twenties or thirties. The people who were twelve between 1955 and 1975 were mostly baby boomers, in the standard US generational framework; that was my parents' generation (and

glowingfish's parents', I'm guessing), and it makes sense that the stories they considered formative would seem quasi-canonized to our generation.

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highlyeccentric

November 2025

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Page Summary

used_songs - Cheese Quest
sabotabby - podcast friday
nanila in awesomeers - Just One Thing (23 January 2026)
rmc28 - New possessions
conuly - I was reading a story in which a young character gets a new pair of glasses
yourlibrarian in common_nature - Foggy Morning + Ice Views
olivermoss - Dragonfly Cafe
kaberett - some good things make a post
rmc28 - ahaha
olivermoss - (no subject)
olivermoss - A Tale of 2 Vibes
anais_pf in thefridayfive - The Friday Five for 23 January 2026: Hair
soricel - Fannish 50: Post 4!
olivermoss - (no subject)
nineveh_uk - January again???
rmc28 - It's always more complicated
nanila in awesomeers - Just One Thing (22 January 2026)
conuly - Occasional Poem by Jacqueline Woodson
conuly - I wonder if, despite my best efforts, I've managed to come down with a mild cold
ursula - January journal: science fiction periodization

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Page generated Jan. 24th, 2026 12:27 am

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Reading

Cheese Quest

podcast friday

Just One Thing (23 January 2026)

New possessions

I was reading a story in which a young character gets a new pair of glasses

Foggy Morning + Ice Views

Dragonfly Cafe

some good things make a post

ahaha

(no subject)

A Tale of 2 Vibes

The Friday Five for 23 January 2026: Hair

Fannish 50: Post 4!

(no subject)

January again???

It's always more complicated

Just One Thing (22 January 2026)

Occasional Poem by Jacqueline Woodson

I wonder if, despite my best efforts, I've managed to come down with a mild cold

January journal: science fiction periodization

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November 2025

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