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mrissa ([personal profile] mrissa) wrote2025-05-28 08:50 pm
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Mad Sisters of Esi, by Tashan Mehta

 Review copy provided by the publisher.
 
I like books that don't follow a standard hero's journey or quest narrative, and wow, is this in that category. This one has--and this by itself should tell you a large part of whether you want to read it--a gigantic whale of space--in space? but also comprising space? and multiple worlds inside the whale, that part is certain. Doors into unfolding different worlds, all inside the whale.

The whale used to be something else, but *what* else is a spoiler.
 
So there is more worldmaking than worldhopping here, and the titular sisters--there are two pairs of candidates for the title--are trying to figure out what madness means in their context. It is not a book that is trying to make a commentary on mental health in our own context, or if it is, it's being very roundabout and obscure about it. But there is a lot about how cultures construe madness, sanity, fitting in and not.
 
And there are indeed sisterhoods, very strong sororal relationships. And also space whale. Which you might like, and if so, step right up, here it is.
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ravena_kade ([personal profile] ravena_kade) wrote2025-05-28 09:40 pm

(no subject)

My Lens came in. I won't be able to use it until after the wedding.

My trench coat came in. It is in my favorite color blue.

Tried on my dress. It looks okay. Dad said I looked fat. Thanks. I know. Funny, I only feel good in my Renn Faire garb.

watched my Aunt and stroke cousin tonight so the other cousins could go out tonight with friends.

Stroke cousin is moving around better. She still can't get out of bed on her own. They think things will be better after they remove a blockage in her carotid artery . I hope so.
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AurumCalendula ([personal profile] aurumcalendula) wrote2025-05-28 07:39 pm
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(no subject)

Amazon has suddenly decided to not to download any books I've purchased at any point of time unless I update my Kindle for Android app :(

I suppose I could update from version 8.33.0.100(1.3.226969.) and 8.122.1.0(2.4.41706.0), but I'm worried about losing the ability to sideload books via Calibre. Has anyone run into issues with that post update?

I'd already shifted to buying more stuff via Kobo, but this is so irritating.

ETA: I updated the app on an old phone and found that the collections and sideloading still worked, so I ended updating the app after all.
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ysabetwordsmith ([personal profile] ysabetwordsmith) wrote2025-05-28 06:04 pm

Birdfeeding

Today is cloudy and cool.  It rained last night.

I fed the birds.  I've seen a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 5/28/25 -- I planted 10 greenish-yellow 'Alicia' and 10 red 'Doubna' gladioli in the septic garden. 

I saw a skunk on the patio.

EDIT 5/28/25 -- I planted a red portulaca and a purple torenia iin pots.

I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 5/28/25 -- I watered the newly planted things.

I've seen a catbird.

As it is getting dark, I am done for the night.

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Redbird ([personal profile] redbird) wrote2025-05-28 06:39 pm

blood draw, etc.

I'm fine, as far as I know everyone's fine, but my trip to get blood drawn was more exciting than anticipated: the bus driver had to slam on the brakes to avoid either a bicycle or a pedestrian crossing in mid-block. She did that, checked to make sure that everyone on the bus was OK, then drove to the next corner, pulled over, and asked again if everyone was sure they were OK.

A few stops after that, someone asked me where he should get off the bus to get to "the little mall with Trader Joe's and MicroCenter." It took me a moment to figure out what he meant, because the bus we were on doesn't go there. So first I told him I wasn't sure, because this bus didn't go there, and then I started thinking about the problem. He said he wasn't good at directions, so I suggested a route that involved more walking but less chance of getting lost. I wound up signaling for his bus stop, and then telling him I was sorry, I'd forgotten they'd moved the bus stop, so [revised directions]. I should note, he didn't ask me for most of this, just what bus stop to use, and I was in the mood to do the extra bits.

The rest of the trip to Mt. Auburn to get blood drawn went smoothly. Once I got there, I had very little wait, and the phlebotomist did a very good job; I made a point of telling him so. On the way back, I stopped in Harvard Square to put more money on my Charlie card; buy and eat a slice of Otto's mashed potato and bacon pizza; and then went to Lizzy's to get Adrian a pint of non-dairy chocolate ice cream.

I was going to withdraw some cash from the ATM at the 7-11 at Comm Ave and Harvard Ave, but when I got there the screen said "windows 7. Press ctrl-alt-del to log in," which was literally impossible with the numeric keypad, so I just came home.
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kaberett ([personal profile] kaberett) wrote2025-05-28 11:36 pm

things I wish to consolidate the cope to talk about

... include:

  • six months on from surgery: what's recovery looking like?
  • this is actually secretly mostly (but not entirely) about Pilates
  • grousing about getting the Framework actually set up Adequately under Debian (power management noooot doing what I want it to and the GPU seems to keep falling over; have not yet had time/brain to sit down with either the guide to Debian 12 or cross-referencing the way the Linux battery life tuning thread disagrees with the various guides for Ubuntu (which is an officially supported distribution)
  • What I Am Up To This Week

But everything is Very, so for now you just get the list.

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lb_lee ([personal profile] lb_lee) wrote2025-05-28 05:44 pm
Entry tags:

2025 June Fan Poll

Hey everybody, it's that time again: time to vote for which stuff gets the LiberaPay/Patreon money this month!

As always, anyone can vote (please do!), but LiberaPay and Patreon patrons get double weight for their votes.  (Due to Patreon's porn purges, I really encourage you to use LiberaPay, if you get a choice.) If you want to see the blurbs for any of these works, those are here!  (You can also leave your requests there; requesting a story or essay is always free!) If you don't have a DW and so can't do the poll, that's okay; just leave your vote in the comments below; anon comments are turned on.

Which works gets the money, and thus posted this month?  YOU CHOOSE, readers!
Poll #33175 2025 June Fan Poll
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 11


Did you toss LiberaPay/Patreon money my way last month?

View Answers

Yes (my votes count double)
4 (100.0%)

What writing gets posted this month?

View Answers

Infinity Smashed: Born Lucky
3 (27.3%)

Reverend Alpert: the Traveling Exorcist
1 (9.1%)

Henchwench for Hire (F/F supervillainy)
1 (9.1%)

Rutless (trans omegaverse porno)
2 (18.2%)

Flights of Reality (the Cursed City)
1 (9.1%)

Anatomy of a Dance
4 (36.4%)

The Boy Whose Heart Is Home
2 (18.2%)

The Battleaxe and the Blood-Eater
1 (9.1%)

Crisis Planning: Legal/Medical Stuff
5 (45.5%)

What art/comic/zine gets posted this month?

View Answers

Cult Comix
0 (0.0%)

Death Watch
2 (20.0%)

How it Was, How It Is
4 (40.0%)

2012 hospital sketchbook
0 (0.0%)

2013 Homeless Year sketchbook
1 (10.0%)

2014 AllFam sketchbook
1 (10.0%)

Protection
3 (30.0%)

Kissing
7 (70.0%)

Mentalfloss ([syndicated profile] mentalfloss_feed) wrote2025-05-28 09:01 pm

6 Strange Animal Evolutions

From the long legs of the jerboa to basically everything about the duck-billed platypus, evolution has taken some weird turns.
Neatorama ([syndicated profile] neatorama_feed) wrote2025-05-28 01:14 pm

RIP Harrison Ruffin Tyler, Grandson of President Tyler

Posted by John Farrier

As we have noted in the past, President John Tyler (1790-1862) left the White House in 1845. He had many children, the last of which, Lyon Gardiner Tyler, was born in 1853 when former President Tyler was 63 years old. Lyon Gardiner Tyler himself sired a child in 1928, when he was 75. That man, Harrison Ruffin Tyler, was the grandson of a President born in the Eighteenth Century.

The youngest Mr. Tyler had been something of a historical curiosity in recent years. Now he has passed on. Last Sunday, The Richmonder reports, he died at the age of 96.

During his life, Mr. Tyler worked in chemical engineering and thrived financially. He eventually purchased and restored Sherwood Forest Plantation, a home once owned by his Presidential grandfather. He also bought and restored the nearby Fort Pocahontas, which was constructed and defended by African American volunteer troops during the Civil War.

-via Educatëd Hillbilly

Mentalfloss ([syndicated profile] mentalfloss_feed) wrote2025-05-28 08:01 pm
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Susan Dennis ([personal profile] susandennis) wrote2025-05-28 01:25 pm

And, in the end, all is fab

Alexa, set the door at 50. And Alexa lowers the shade halfway. Perfection.

The installer guy ignored my instructions and showed up at my door at 11:20. BUT he turned out to be very nice and very efficient. And the shades are perfect. Plenty dark enough for what I want. When the window and the door are down, the TV picture is much better. And I'll have my table back for coffee in the morning.

The actual shades are great but the key for me is the software which is actually shockingly good. I paid for top of the line automated shades in the condo. To say their automation hardware and software was built by monkeys is an insult to monkeys everywhere.

But, this hub jumped to attention when paired and the app is lovely. Just what you need and no unneeded frills. Alexa linked right up.

I got all the automation going very easily. And the installer, who kind of probably maybe could have cobbled together the solution but started out wanting to get his hands on my modem. Er, ah, no modem and it's not needed. So I just did it.

At one point he said we needed a long USB cable or an extension, did I have one? I swear I heard my brother snort in Texas. Turns out one weirdness is that the shades need USB mini to USB A (but this is for charging only which apparently is not needed often). The hub wants a USB C to USB A. But, no big deal I have a house full of both of them.

He was done and gone by 12:45.

All is fine and good.

PXL_20250528_204014186
the cosmolinguist ([personal profile] cosmolinguist) wrote2025-05-28 09:21 pm

This is what happens when we go to the gym unsupervised

I can never remember which one's "adductor" and which one's "abductor," but now one of those is the machine in the gym that's for practicing to crush a watermelon between your thighs, and I think after I described it thusly to him tonight, that's what [personal profile] diffrentcolours and I are gonna be calling it from now on.

After that I started explaining all the machines in terms of watermelons. "This one's lifting watermelons, this one's punching watermelons..."

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lightreads ([personal profile] lightreads) wrote2025-05-28 03:45 pm

The Last Hour Between Worlds by Melissa Caruso

The Last Hour Between Worlds

4/5. A single mother, just two months post-partum, gets out for one night to attend a ball in her fantasy city. Which gets complicated when the whole ballroom keeps falling through levels of reality each time the clock strikes, and when her former crush turned professional enemy, the hot lady thief, is also on the case.

This is a lot of fun, and very stylish. Visually, I mean – there’s a lot going on here with what people are wearing and carrying, and with the shifting esthetics of each layer of reality. And you know I’m in favor of adventure books about mothers, particularly very new mothers like this one.

If you’re paying even moderate amounts of attention, none of these plot twists will rock you. But they are all pleasing to unwind, as is the whole book.

Content notes: Violence, temporary character death.
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lb_lee ([personal profile] lb_lee) wrote2025-05-28 03:08 pm

Knocking from the Inside: Breaking Free from Mental Imperialism, by Jimmy Dunson

Mori: I textually transcribed this zine I raved about earlier! It's a mad pride manifesto with influences from Thich Nhat Hanh, the Icarus Project, Inner Family Systems, and anarchist concepts like mutual aid and collective liberation. Its beautiful imperfection means a lot to my hothead self, so here it is!

This zine is anti-authority and anti-medical. You may not want to read it, especially if you're in a place mentally where your brain is causing you a lot of havoc and doesn't seem at all your friend. Paris Williams's Rethinking Madness: Towards a Paradigm Shift In Our Understanding and Treatment of Psychosis covers some similar territory with more research, page count, and moderation.

Knocking from the Inside: Breaking Free from Mental Imperialism
by Jimmy Dunson

You have lost your mind? So? There are worse things to lose. You have found the heart and soul of the universe. You simply stopped being the false god to the universe within you, you stopped being the dictator to your differing parts. )