How to Build a Planet by Poul Anderson & Stephen L. Gillett
Mar. 24th, 2026 08:57 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
james_davis_nicoll
A brief guide to creating plausible planets.
How to Build a Planet by Poul Anderson & Stephen L. Gillett
james_davis_nicollA brief guide to creating plausible planets.
How to Build a Planet by Poul Anderson & Stephen L. Gillett
What I saw on the web on 2026.3.23
Mar. 24th, 2026 07:02 amreblogarythm- Open Book Chocolates
by Open Book Chocolates
https://www.openbookchocolates.com/
i feel seen
via youtube after discord - N.S. culinary instructor teaches students to cook lobsters more humanely
by Gabrielle McLeod
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/n-s-culinary-instructor-teaches-students-to-cook-lobsters-more-humanely-9.7105763
(tl;dr: freeze them first)
via rss - Interview with Professor Ada Palmer, Renaissance Woman
by Ada Palmer speaking with Sam Matey-Coste
https://sammatey.substack.com/p/interview-with-professor-ada-palmer
looking forward to her "We live in precedented times" essay!
via AP's mastadon - Australia is settling into age-restricted social media. Canada is mulling whether to join in
by Jessica Wong
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/australia-u16social-ban-checkin-9.7122420
i notice the article completely fails to mention how these sorts of policies necessarily destroy all anonymity on the internet. presumably those in favour consider that an unqualified good. feh.
via rss - I left YouTube two years ago. Time to come back.
by Tom Scott
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yz3lSKgz4q8
welcome back, Tom!
via rss - How to Remove “AI Overviews” From Gmail
by Jason Morehead
https://opus.ing/posts/how-to-remove-ai-overviews-gmail
in case you were wondering
via discord
Need to PAY ATTENTION
Mar. 24th, 2026 08:16 ammaladaA few months ago when I got new strings for my punk electric guitar, I asked for specific brand. They didn't have that brand but sold me a set that was "equivalent". I was in a bit of a hurry so I accepted the strings and went on my way.
So yesterday I start restringing the guitar and half way through, I somehow lost the B string. I counted all the strings, I had them on the bench, and it was just missing. Gone on walk-about. Playing hide and seek. After wasting half an hour searching I finally threw up my hands, and drove the the local music store.
It was only then - in the store - that I realized the strings I had were for an acoustic guitar. Arrrrgggghhhhh. I bought strings for an electric guitar and a string winder because doing it by hand is a pain in the ass.
Got home, and was just about to tear open the package when I looked at it more closely. "Warm, Mellow Sound" the package said.
WRONG! Punk guitar needs bright strings!
Back to the music store with the strings and my slip. I really read the packages and got the correct style of guitar strings. The store clerk checked my original slip - and it was incorrect! The "warm" string never got scanned! We only paid for the winder! So an updated slip was printed I paid for my strings and I left feeling the Universe was Trying To Tell Me Something.
PAY ATTENTION TO DETAILS!
The steroids I'm taking for my scalp condition is making me jittery so I've been pretty wound up lately. It's not a great excuse, though. I just need to move a little more deliberately, watch closely and take my time with things.
Even though I want to do Everything Right Now!
*jitters*
Interesting side note: the customer before me made a cool New Age type connection with the person at the register. Healing and stuff. I smiled at them showed my silver tree of life necklace and we all went 'Oooo!" at the Universe being all serendipity.
So yesterday I start restringing the guitar and half way through, I somehow lost the B string. I counted all the strings, I had them on the bench, and it was just missing. Gone on walk-about. Playing hide and seek. After wasting half an hour searching I finally threw up my hands, and drove the the local music store.
It was only then - in the store - that I realized the strings I had were for an acoustic guitar. Arrrrgggghhhhh. I bought strings for an electric guitar and a string winder because doing it by hand is a pain in the ass.
Got home, and was just about to tear open the package when I looked at it more closely. "Warm, Mellow Sound" the package said.
WRONG! Punk guitar needs bright strings!
Back to the music store with the strings and my slip. I really read the packages and got the correct style of guitar strings. The store clerk checked my original slip - and it was incorrect! The "warm" string never got scanned! We only paid for the winder! So an updated slip was printed I paid for my strings and I left feeling the Universe was Trying To Tell Me Something.
PAY ATTENTION TO DETAILS!
The steroids I'm taking for my scalp condition is making me jittery so I've been pretty wound up lately. It's not a great excuse, though. I just need to move a little more deliberately, watch closely and take my time with things.
Even though I want to do Everything Right Now!
*jitters*
Interesting side note: the customer before me made a cool New Age type connection with the person at the register. Healing and stuff. I smiled at them showed my silver tree of life necklace and we all went 'Oooo!" at the Universe being all serendipity.
Book Review: Pax
Mar. 24th, 2026 08:07 amosprey_archer(I actually wrote this review before my trip, then ran out of time to post it.)
Sometimes you just know, just from looking at a book’s cover, that this book is in some way For You. Such is the case with Sara Pennypacker’s Pax, with its Jon Klassen cover of a fox standing on a wooded hill gazing across a plain at a sunset. I’ve looked at this book for years and always meant to read it and somehow never quite picked it up.
But at last I’ve read it, and I was correct that it IS for me, full of solid fox action (which you would expect from the cover) and also surprisingly serious musings about war (which you would not guess from the cover, but it works).
War is coming to the country. Which country? The country, which is similar to America but perhaps not America. With whom? The enemy. What for? The water. Why? Because the humans are war-sick. This vagueness might not work for me in a different book, but here it works well to highlight the destructiveness of war, not only for people but for the land and the animals.
Peter’s father has joined the army. Since Peter’s mother is dead, he’s going to live with his grandfather, which means he needs to get rid of his pet fox Pax. So Peter’s father drives him to an isolated road, and Peter throws Pax’s favorite toy into the woods, and Pax chases after it.
But as soon as Peter arrives at his grandfather’s house, he realizes he’s made a horrible mistake. There’s nothing for it: he’s got to run away and trek cross-country to find Pax.
Meanwhile, Pax intends to sit by the side of the road and wait for his boy. But hunger and thirst force him to begin exploring the forest, where he meets other foxes… and they discover that the human armies are drawing closer.
Really enjoyed this. Great fox POV. There’s a sequel, so I don’t think it’s a spoiler to say that Pax lives. Don’t want to give too many spoilers, but I found Peter’s journey unexpected and satisfying, and Pax’s journey pretty much what you might expect from that summary but also satisfying. Sometimes stories hit certain beats for a reason, you know?
Sometimes you just know, just from looking at a book’s cover, that this book is in some way For You. Such is the case with Sara Pennypacker’s Pax, with its Jon Klassen cover of a fox standing on a wooded hill gazing across a plain at a sunset. I’ve looked at this book for years and always meant to read it and somehow never quite picked it up.
But at last I’ve read it, and I was correct that it IS for me, full of solid fox action (which you would expect from the cover) and also surprisingly serious musings about war (which you would not guess from the cover, but it works).
War is coming to the country. Which country? The country, which is similar to America but perhaps not America. With whom? The enemy. What for? The water. Why? Because the humans are war-sick. This vagueness might not work for me in a different book, but here it works well to highlight the destructiveness of war, not only for people but for the land and the animals.
Peter’s father has joined the army. Since Peter’s mother is dead, he’s going to live with his grandfather, which means he needs to get rid of his pet fox Pax. So Peter’s father drives him to an isolated road, and Peter throws Pax’s favorite toy into the woods, and Pax chases after it.
But as soon as Peter arrives at his grandfather’s house, he realizes he’s made a horrible mistake. There’s nothing for it: he’s got to run away and trek cross-country to find Pax.
Meanwhile, Pax intends to sit by the side of the road and wait for his boy. But hunger and thirst force him to begin exploring the forest, where he meets other foxes… and they discover that the human armies are drawing closer.
Really enjoyed this. Great fox POV. There’s a sequel, so I don’t think it’s a spoiler to say that Pax lives. Don’t want to give too many spoilers, but I found Peter’s journey unexpected and satisfying, and Pax’s journey pretty much what you might expect from that summary but also satisfying. Sometimes stories hit certain beats for a reason, you know?
My beloved e-reader app with the custom Solarized css
Mar. 24th, 2026 12:45 pmcimoreneOver ten years ago I researched and read articles looking for the right e-reader app for my phone, got attached to one called FBReader, and paid a tiny fee to upgrade it. I have configured my own font families, sizes, and colors; can adjust the screen brightness in the page; and can advance pages with the volume button. I am attached to the library views as well, although they're not ideal. I've used it to read every ebook I've read in that time — I convert them to epubs — and thousands of works of fanfiction. I won't put up with proprietary interfaces; they get in the way so much that I'd rather not read the book in question, or read it on paper.
But it's started to give me trouble! A few times last year I had to delete books that would freeze the app every time they were opened, but I attributed this to file corruption or a bug. But now it's happened several times in a row with several different books. I'm afraid I will have to look for a replacement! And I dread that.
I can't embark on a project like that until I finally get around to backing up my last two years' worth of photos. And I can't do that until I repartition my laptop harddrive, which will require reinstalling Linux Mint. I have stored all my files in a separate storage partition for like twenty years, so nothing but ADHD can account for the fact that I forgot to create one the last time I upgraded the laptop OS.
But it's started to give me trouble! A few times last year I had to delete books that would freeze the app every time they were opened, but I attributed this to file corruption or a bug. But now it's happened several times in a row with several different books. I'm afraid I will have to look for a replacement! And I dread that.
I can't embark on a project like that until I finally get around to backing up my last two years' worth of photos. And I can't do that until I repartition my laptop harddrive, which will require reinstalling Linux Mint. I have stored all my files in a separate storage partition for like twenty years, so nothing but ADHD can account for the fact that I forgot to create one the last time I upgraded the laptop OS.
Getting Myself Up To Date
Mar. 24th, 2026 10:32 ampoliphilo I wanted a jacket. Or possibly a blazer.
We went through several shops. They had very little in the way of jackets or blazers. Mainly they had jackets that were the top half of suits. And mostly these were in shades of grey....
So where are all the striped blazers like they wore in the 1920s?
Erm, maybe they went out of fashion 100 years ago....
Out on the street I looked at what men were wearing. Mostly they were wearing hoodies. I just hadn't noticed before.
(Guess I just don't look that closely at men)
So I went into another shop thinking, "hoodies, hoodies, hoodies....." and came out with two.
The one I'm wearing right now is green and has a viper on the front....
We went through several shops. They had very little in the way of jackets or blazers. Mainly they had jackets that were the top half of suits. And mostly these were in shades of grey....
So where are all the striped blazers like they wore in the 1920s?
Erm, maybe they went out of fashion 100 years ago....
Out on the street I looked at what men were wearing. Mostly they were wearing hoodies. I just hadn't noticed before.
(Guess I just don't look that closely at men)
So I went into another shop thinking, "hoodies, hoodies, hoodies....." and came out with two.
The one I'm wearing right now is green and has a viper on the front....
(no subject)
Mar. 24th, 2026 08:14 pmthawreckaIn my rewatch I reached my favourite ever episode of Prince of Tennis -- the one where Kaidoh gets amnesia from a tennis ball to the head, and starts to act like a cat. Cured, of course, by another tennis ball to the end.
It's brilliant, amazing, just as good as I remembered. I laughed just as hard tonight as I did 20 years ago!
It's brilliant, amazing, just as good as I remembered. I laughed just as hard tonight as I did 20 years ago!
(no subject)
Mar. 24th, 2026 01:15 pm![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png){kind=small}
farsidecomics_feed“So then this little sailor dude whips out this can of spinach, this crazy music starts playin’, and … well, just look at this place.”
(no subject)
Mar. 24th, 2026 01:15 pmfarsidecomics_feed“Wait a minute, friends … Frank Stevens in marketing—you all know Frank—has just handed me a note …”
(no subject)
Mar. 24th, 2026 01:15 pmfarsidecomics_feed“Hold on there! I think you misunderstood—I’m Al Tilley … the bum.”
Ignoring advice
Mar. 24th, 2026 06:39 amrachelneumeier_feedA post at Patricia Wrede’s blog: Advice–Take it or Leave it
I just finished beta-reading a book co-authored by Sherwood Smith and someone else, and added emphatically, “Or ignore all this if you prefer!” because that’s important. Just because I had a problem with a specific character and the role she played in the plot doesn’t mean everybody else in the universe will have that problem. No doubt lots won’t. The sentence-level comments will hopefully be helpful even if Sherwood throws away bigger-scale comments.
Patricia Wrede says:
One of my very early beta-readers had internalized a lot of writing “rules” he’d been taught for writing college essays. Like “never use passive voice.” He flagged proper uses of passive voice (“George, having been beaten up by thugs, barely made it to the hospital”), along with every correct use of the subjunctive (“If I were you, I wouldn’t do that”), and every perfectly fine progressive tense (“Janet was sitting in the library when Carol finally found her.”) [Can you tell that I’m still a bit peeved, even forty years later? I thanked him politely and ignored his advice.]
And that’s what the post is really about — ignoring advice.
I generally hesitate to make specific suggestions, personally. I’m a lot more likely to say, “This doesn’t work to me, here’s my reaction to this” than to say, “And maybe you could fix it by A, B, C.”
Patricia Wrede says, “Is this a description of a problem, or a recommendation for how to fix something?” If it’s a recommendation for how to fix something, or based on following some rule, translate it into an observation if you can. Then decide if it’s something you did on purpose, but it didn’t quite work (and now you have to figure out how to fix it your way), something that maybe needs tweaking, or something that’s a them-problem.
I think that comes from the same place. When someone makes a specific suggestion, pretty often it’s a solid suggestion, but sometimes it’s a reaction that tells me something didn’t work for that reader. Which is useful information!
Anyway … I honestly think an author needs BOTH the humility to accept good advice AND the confidence to ignore less-good advice, which means ALSO the judgment to tell which is which. Many hoops to jump through!
Photo by Laula Co on Unsplash — Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriver
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Feathering the Nest
Mar. 24th, 2026 12:53 amysabetwordsmithdialecticdreamer is hosting Feathering the Nest. This one is always about fluff and comfort. Leave prompts, get ficlets!
(no subject)
Mar. 23rd, 2026 08:53 pmolivermoss* Seattle Torrent to be Grand Marshals in the Seattle Pride Parade this summer!
* With Wints out for undisclosed personal reasons, the Seattle Kraken are probably out of the playoff race. We aren't eliminated yet, but added into everything else, this feels like it. Kraken got off to the best start in their (very short) franchise history. They held onto high standings sometimes in a 3 way tie, painfully close division all season with every game having a huge impact. Insane pressure all season. And now, well shit.
How well positioned we are for next year has a lot to do with whether our trade deadline acquisition stays. He didn't choose to come here, and he honestly didn't think the Leafs were going to trade him away. I hope he stays, but if not still glad we got him for a bit. But if we keep him, let certain UFAs walk, that's going to be a good set up for us. But, we'll see how things pan out and what Front Office does.
* With Wints out for undisclosed personal reasons, the Seattle Kraken are probably out of the playoff race. We aren't eliminated yet, but added into everything else, this feels like it. Kraken got off to the best start in their (very short) franchise history. They held onto high standings sometimes in a 3 way tie, painfully close division all season with every game having a huge impact. Insane pressure all season. And now, well shit.
How well positioned we are for next year has a lot to do with whether our trade deadline acquisition stays. He didn't choose to come here, and he honestly didn't think the Leafs were going to trade him away. I hope he stays, but if not still glad we got him for a bit. But if we keep him, let certain UFAs walk, that's going to be a good set up for us. But, we'll see how things pan out and what Front Office does.
Daily Happiness
Mar. 23rd, 2026 07:59 pmtorachan1. The only big thing I had on my work to-do list today was a meeting, but that was online anyway, so I decided to work from home. I really didn't have a lot of smaller things that needed to get done, either, so it was a pretty chill day.
And the meeting itself was very informative. It was with some people from our store in Guam, who are already using the system we'll be switching to, and I wanted to get an idea of how they're doing some of the things that seem impossible, and it turns out they just aren't lol. So I'm going to see if it would be possible for us to do something similar rather than to try and force our workflow into the mold that IT is insisting on.
2. It was actually chilly today! We closed windows and almost considered turning on the heater. The high was still in the high 70s, but that was just like a brief spike in the late afternoon. So weird. :-/ I'll take it over the constant heat of last week, though.
3. I finished up a puzzle today. This one turned out to be more difficult than I was anticipating, but it was fun to do. And I really love the illustration.
4. One nice thing about working from home is that I can snuggle Jasper when he wants to be snuggled, and he really wanted to be snuggled this morning.
And the meeting itself was very informative. It was with some people from our store in Guam, who are already using the system we'll be switching to, and I wanted to get an idea of how they're doing some of the things that seem impossible, and it turns out they just aren't lol. So I'm going to see if it would be possible for us to do something similar rather than to try and force our workflow into the mold that IT is insisting on.
2. It was actually chilly today! We closed windows and almost considered turning on the heater. The high was still in the high 70s, but that was just like a brief spike in the late afternoon. So weird. :-/ I'll take it over the constant heat of last week, though.
3. I finished up a puzzle today. This one turned out to be more difficult than I was anticipating, but it was fun to do. And I really love the illustration.
4. One nice thing about working from home is that I can snuggle Jasper when he wants to be snuggled, and he really wanted to be snuggled this morning.