ljgeoff | Network

Reading. This week I have mostly but not entirely been reading more murdery bot: Network Effect, Fugitive Telemetry, System Collapse, Rapport, aaaand I've also immediately launched myself into yet another quick reread of All Systems Red because we finished watching the TV series and therefore I want The Murderbot Of My Heart Thank You.

However! I have also continued reading about nerves! I have now read the entire first chapter of Nerve and Muscle, supplemented by a bunch more Wikipedia, and I think I am starting to have a better mental picture of how all of this works? I am going into way more depth than required by The Project, really, I think, but I will be happier if I know what's going on at least to the extent that I understand a little more about what it means, physically, when it is explained that some migraine preventives target Type A nerve fibre and others target Type C (which in turn is why if you get partial relief from something that targets Type C it's worth at least experimenting with adding in something targeting Type A).

And I have also made a tiny bit more progress with The Age of Seeds, but... yeah, mostly Murderbot.

Watching. Murderbot! I will concede that "I need to check the perimeter" did indeed get me Right In The Feels. I still prefer my book-Murderbot but I am beginning to acquire a better understanding of why folk love this Murderbot too.

The fanvid Bohemian Like You, by kuwdora, via sholio, via recessional.

Cooking. Several new things! Aubergine larb with sticky rice and shallot salad, lavender & honey Welsh cakes out of the Welsh cakes tourist tat mini-book, coconut pancakes. Now officially over two thirds of the way through East (with another Several planned for this week coming).

Eating. TODAY WE WENT ON AN ADVENTURE TO SEE ONE OF MY UNIVERSITY FRIENDS. I don't understand how it has been somewhere in the vicinity of ten years since I last got my act together to see this friend in particular given the part where, you know, we live in the same city, BUT we sorted ourselves out to meet up at King's Cross today and in addition to talking solidly for the entire duration we had FOOD including:

Ruby Violet (maxi moo moo with hazelnut crunch & raspberry, rosewater and prosecco on the grass by the canal; hazelnut & hazelnut brittle, salted caramel & almond brittle, hot cross bun, raspberry ripple, and coffee mocha ripple brought home, those last two primarily for A)
for lunch I had a funghi ma po tofu from rice guys, and A had a veg biriyani from somewhere I'm not immediately managing to spot on the Canopy Market trader list
from Bread Ahead we brought home two doughnuts -- pistachio crème brûlée for me, and something involving honeycomb for A; I think this is quite possibly the first custard doughnut I have ever eaten and actually liked (though were I to buy from them again I'd skip the pistachios)

... and upon meeting up with said friend, they reached into their bag with an "oh before I forget--" and pulled out a jar of jam, which conveniently gave me an excuse to reach into my bag and pull out the jar of jam I'd brought to give them, so I have swapped one blood orange + cardamom for one cherry plum + vanilla, and I've not eaten it yet but I am very excited about doing so.

... also raspberries, gooseberries, redcurrants, jostaberries...

Exploring. We poked around Granary Square a bit to go with Meeting Friends; we came home with lots of stickers (I also got some washi tape from that first one...), a gorgeous bowl (which she was not charging that much for at the market, goodness), and a business card for Creature Crafts by Nat so I could send their details on to Interested Parties.

Growing. ... I spent a whole day at the plot mostly reading Murderbot? (And did also do some weeding, and some harvesting, and some watering, and some general pootling.)

summersgate

"Bring Rhythm to Care". Don't ask me what it means. Just some words that came to me after I saw the pictures together.

bill_schubert

Reading Brit mysteries all the time means I don't always get the references. I'd never had a Jaffa Cake before but had been offered them in a few drawing rooms while investigating my murders.

Now I know. Courtesy of HEB where I buy my digestives.

troyswann

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

Current Mood: belay that order

fflo

garonne

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

kevin_standlee

Surprisingly, I seem to have adjusted to UK time pretty well. Okay, I woke up at 5 AM, but my normal wake-up time at home is around 4:30 AM anyway. OTOH, that won't work on the two days this coming week that I'm working remotely at the Day Jobbe, but I'll deal with that when we get there.

Today we had the day to ourselves (we have commitments tomorrow).

( Around Exeter )

We did a lot of shopping but very little buying. There was a street market with various vendors, and I bought Kayla a pair of earrings, which was about all for me. We also looked in some bookstores, but I didn't find anything that I wanted to try and squeeze into my luggage.

We were back at the hotel in the mid-to-late afternoon, as I was loaning my computer to Kayla to participate in the First Main Meeting of the 2025 WSFS Business Meeting. She participated by voice only because I didn't pack the webcam. Because of the nature of the meeting, neither she nor I have much to say about it. Cheryl put various sports on the hotel TV and we ordered room service.

Tomorrow we have non-fannish responsibilities about which we'll report later, but with luck I'll get some sleep tonight despite having to drink a bunch of coffee to stay awake earlier today.

Current Mood: tired
Current Location: Exeter, UK
Current Music: England-Wales women's soccer

cosmolinguist

My parents showed me a picture of their new garden gnomes. They found one playing the drums first and got it, and then my mom found these others to make the rest of the gnome band.

My dad pointed to each one and told me, "Bucky the drummer, and the singer is his brother Benny, and then there's their friend Dwight." He's so funny, such a quiet guy but he comes up with these goofy things sometimes. Mom was mocking him for this. He just went along, telling me the names of "all my gnomes in the backyard, Paul and Tessa together. And I can't remember what the other two names are..."

I didn't know they had any gnomes, and it turns out they have a whole crowd now! With names!

snopes_feed

Posted by Anna Rascouët-Paz

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/pink-salt-trick-weight-loss/

In fact, salt promotes water retention, which can result in weight gain, a clinical dietitian said.

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/pink-salt-trick-weight-loss/

sixbeforelunch posting in

booknook

Can anyone recommend a non-fiction book about the Napoleonic Wars that's more focused on the sociology and politics of the era than the nitty gritty of the battles? High level overviews of the various engagements are fine but my eyes glaze over when confronted with twenty pages of detailed battle descriptions and military tactics. Unfortunately most people who write war histories tend to want to talk way more about that sort of thing than I have patience for.

sturgeonslawyer

"Thoughts and prayers" that do not manifest in deeds, are lies and blasphemies.

marthawells

A really thoughtful essay on Murderbot: ‘Even If They Are My Favourite Human’: Murderbot Just Explained Boundaries

https://countercurrents.org/2025/07/even-if-they-are-my-favourite-human-murderbot-just-explained-boundaries/

“I Don’t Know What I Want”: The Line That Changed Everything

In the final moments of the season, Murderbot says: “I don’t know what I want. But I know I don’t want anyone to tell me what I want or to make decisions for me. Even if they are my favourite human.”

This is not a dramatic declaration. It is confusion wrapped in clarity. A sentence that holds discomfort and self-awareness in equal measure. It reflects a truth often ignored in stories about intelligence and emotion: that it is okay to not know, as long as that unknowing belongs to the self. In a world that constantly demands certainty, this line opens up space for uncertainty without shame.

* And a great interview with Alexander Skarsgård!

https://collider.com/murderbot-finale-alexander-skarsgard/

So, it just wants to start fresh and get away, and figure out who it is and what it wants. It doesn't really know that. I quite enjoyed that Murderbot didn't end up having answers to all the questions or knowing exactly what it wants. It's more messy and complicated than that. But it definitely knows that it needs to find its own path and make its own decisions, to make its own mistakes, and not have the Corporation or anyone tell it who it is or what it wants.

summersgate

Fragments.

I got up very early this morning, took care of the animals and then went back to bed. Had a long involved dream about the woods down by the creek and how it had been turned into a playground with lots of things to climb on and play on. The people I was with (not sure who they were) were going to climb up on a super giant slide that had multiple parts to it. To get up to the top it had many disconnected ladders that were dangling from chains. Each higher ladder was harder and harder to reach, till the last one in the dream I just could not reach. I was thinking to myself, why did I even want to DO this? I couldn't do it. I couldn't go forward and I couldn't go back. So I woke up. I'm pretty sure the dream has to do with my worry about how the behavioral health volunteer job is going.

Having Sunday dinner here as usual. Salmon and vegan burgers. I still need to make macaroni salad.

bill_schubert

I'm watching Alcaraz and Sinner walk out to the courts ready to play. Last time they played, in Paris, it was a five set battle more like a boxing match than tennis. I would expect today to be no different. It is so nice to watch, from the comfort of my home, a match of tennis on a par with any I've ever watched. As always, I've got Mom on my shoulder saying 'I wish John [Mcenroe] would shut up'. He still hasn't and won't. The reason I'd love to have a button to push that would silence the commentary but not the crowd and pop of the rackets.

I expect Alcaraz to win but both are so deserving that it would not matter.

In the family tradition I'm collecting Amazon returnables. I've got two. One is a monitor connection adapter I no longer need since I broke the damn monitor and the other is a backup set of what was supposed to be bone conduction earphones but is actually over the ear speakers, not what I want and not what was on the site. I'll also be returning the Chromebox I have once I've gotten the new one with more oomph. I've done my bit to keep them profitable, though. Shoes, another headset, a monitor, a Chromebox and all kinds of 'stuff' critical to my existence. I'll probably take the returnables with me tomorrow to Georgetown. There's a UPS there that has an independent set up where you grab a bag, Scan your code, print off the label to seal the bag with and drop it in the hole. It is a great set up that is as efficient as it can be. Rather than separate packages it all goes into large boxes for the return.

Today is a rain-ish day. We now get flood watches all over Alexa and Google if the humidity is even high. It does not apply to us. I'd rather have a heat gage warning that I could set for my specific age and such. If only we had Artifician Intelligence to help with that kind of thing.

I get annoyed frequently that AI is not incorporated into daily existence. I'm sitting at a red light with traffic backing up behind and traffic backing up on the other side and no one crossing with the green light and it is such an obvious opportunity to use AI. There are cameras that can see what it happening and even a low level computer system would be able to change the light based on reality. Can't figure out what that doesn't happen.

First world.

sanguinity

I am very brain-dead from going to a work conference in Atlanta this week. Getting up at what amounts to 4am personal time, to then spend sixteen hours go go go with way too many people, none of whom are comfortably anonymous strangers but also none of whom are friends, is exhausting. I got home late Thursday and took Friday off, even napping on Friday afternoon, which is something that I'm generally incapable of. But that's exhaustion for you, I suppose.

(The last time I napped, come to think of it, was after my last work conference, in which not only was I sleep deprived all week, but I came down with a case of literal hives on the airplane home. Ugh.)

Anyway. None of you are here to hear about all that. ;-)

Lois McMaster Bujold, A Civil Campaign (1999)

Read aloud with

grrlpup. First time for her; re-read for me.

This was one of my favorites from my first read of the series; I'm happy to say I liked it even better on re-read. I'm not sure how well it can be read as a stand-alone, as it assumes a working knowledge of Komarr. But I do like the strong ensemble of characters, and that the conflicts are mostly social and personal, instead of military or mystery. (Which does not stop it from rising to an action-packed climax at the end: I believe Grrlpup and I read the final three chapters in one day!)

Grrlpup's favorite characters were Dr. Enrique Borgos and his beloved butter bugs, and it is true: it is always a delight when they come on the page. Armsman Pym was also a favorite; she'd very much like to see his pov. (Alas, we do not, as I recall, ever get it in the series. I wonder if anyone has written Jeevsian fic for him?) And once again Lady Alys is serving strong Judith Martin vibes -- I do wonder if Martin was an inspiration for the character.

Lois McMaster Bujold, "Winterfair Gifts" (2004)

Read aloud with

grrlpup. First time for her; re-read for me.

Taura, my beloved! *hearts-eyes* And I am fond of Armsman Roic, too (although I don't think this satisfied Grrlpup's desire for a Pym-centered story). Quick and sweet read, like a delicious chocolate truffle.

Daniel M. Lavery, Dear Prudence: Liberating Lessons from SLATE.com's Beloved Advice Column (2023)

I don't read many advice columns, but I find them most satisfying when there is an implied code of social logic that underlies them. (Make! The social! World! Make! Sense!) Lavery clearly has such a code, and the code tallies nicely with mine, which made this a pleasant read. I do enjoy the bits where he reconsiders the advice he originally gave; it's nice to know that even confident advice-givers grow and change over time. There's a chapter or two of letters on transitioning and/or coming out, presumably as Lavery himself was transitioning at the time and drawing more of that kind of question than I usually expect to see in a general-topics advice column.

Saeed Jones, How We Fight For Our Lives: A Memoir (2019)

Brief, lyrical, eminently readable memoir of growing up gay and black in the 1990s in Texas, attending university in the 2000s in Kentucky, and the death of his mother in the 2010s. There are some painful topics (gaybashing, homophobia, Christian evangelism, racism, a sexually self-destructive phase, and his mother's aforementioned death), and consequently the material gets heavy at times, but I raced through this in a day, always willing to turn the page and see what other thoughts and experiences he had had.

I also have a gob of Hum 110 bookgroup reading to write up, but I'll save that for their own posts.

marycatelli

This week's prompt is:
park 🏞️

Anyone can join, with a 50-word creative fiction vignette in the comments. Your vignette does not have to include the prompt term. Any (G or PG) definition of the word can be used.

michifugu

Hello, sorry for not posting for like a month lol. I’ve been busy lately. I won’t talk much about what happened these past few months because a lot has been going on, and my health hasn’t been great in general—my seasonal flu caught up with me again. But otherwise, I’m fine… or maybe not that fine, since my executive dysfunction keeps hindering my lifestyle lol.

Anyway, as you know, I’ve been a Uma Musume fan since before the game went global—I even wrote an anime review on it (Why You Should Watch It Too). Now that I’ve caught up with the manga, I should probably write reviews for Road to the Top, Shinjidai, and Cinderella Gray too. (Also, the Cingray anime is airing right now, and it’s one of the best spin-offs!)

I actually tried playing Uma Musume about two years ago, but since I don’t know Japanese and it was lagging on my laptop, I ended up dropping it. I also had gacha fatigue in general at the time.

But then Cygames announced the global release of Uma Musume, so here I am—playing it! And it’s been super fun so far! I’ve gotten totally addicted and finally see the appeal of training-style games lol.

After understanding the gameplay, I even downloaded the JP server client. Thanks to the Hachimi extension, navigating the game has been much easier, and I’ve been having a blast—especially with the new event making it easier to raise your umas. Just look at all these stats!

Anyway, I’m having so much fun playing Uma Musume, though I’ll probably just play casually.

Funnily I tried to gacha in my JP account and got lucksacc roll LMAO. thanks for the Yuni saige

Anyway if anyone who play umamusu global and wanted to add me. dozo, it's old SS but oh well

Current Mood: amused
Current Location: Tracen Academy
Current Music: GIRLS LEGEND U

maruad

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

Current Mood: good
Current Location: Winnipeg

lsanderson

The Texas way: why the most disaster-prone US state is so allergic to preparing for disasters
It faces hurricanes, heat, drought, rising seas and – as last week showed – deadly floods. But despite the clear need for preventive action, that is not the political mood
Ed Pilkington US chief reporter
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/13/texas-disaster-weather-preparations-us

Some gut microbes can absorb and help expel ‘forever chemicals’ from the body, research shows
Previously, the only way to reduce levels of Pfas was by bloodletting or a drug with unpleasant side effects
Tom Perkins
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/jul/13/pfas-gut-microbes-forever-chemicals

Quality of scientific papers questioned as academics ‘overwhelmed’ by the millions published
Mainstream mockery of AI-generated rat with giant penis in one paper brings problem to public attention
Ian Sample Science editor
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2025/jul/13/quality-of-scientific-papers-questioned-as-academics-overwhelmed-by-the-millions-published ( Read more... )

pauraque

sunshine_revival's next challenge is:

Fun House
Journaling: What is making you smile these days? Create a top 10 list of anything you want to talk about.
Creative: Write from the perspective of a house or other location.

Birds always make me smile, so let's do a bird list! To narrow it down a bit, I'll talk about a few of the birds I only got to know after I left San Francisco and moved to New England. The order is going to be arbitrary because of course all birds are equally fantastic, but I'll play along with the top 10 theme.

( Top Ten New England Birds [photo heavy] )

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
		1	2	3	4	5
6	7	8	9	10	11	12
13	14	15	16	17	18	19
20	21	22	23	24	25	26
27	28	29	30

inveniam viam

vital functions

sunday later

Now I know

The Better Housekeeping Guide to Hosting a Party While Sharks are Eating Your Legs

Postcard of the Day

Sunshine Revival Challenge: 10 Cool Things

Day in Exeter

Bucky Benny and Dwight

Does pink salt trick for weight loss work? Dietitian weighs in

rec request

Thought for the day.

More Murderbot Articles

sunday

Wimbledon and some returns

Recent Reading

vignettes

long update & beein training my hors daughter

Yesterday at the folk fest

2025.07.13

Sunshine Revival Challenge #4

Profile

April 2025

Most Popular Tags

Page Summary

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags