Still hanging around
Jun. 30th, 2025 03:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jhetleyHad a catbird regarding me from the front walkway outside my office window. No way to tell if this is one of last year's azalea brood or last year's parents.
jhetley
Monday floral report
Jun. 30th, 2025 10:37 amjhetleyMaybe first scentless chamomile blooming, brown-eyed susans, brambles about done. Maybe yarrow, otherwise Queen Anne's lace -- hard to tell the difference in the early stage of bloom, with bicycle botany. Some variety of wild pea dotting purple in the weeds.
No fresh roadkill. Even most of the corpses I reported on my last ride have vanished, whether via 2-legs or 4-legs is unknown. Desiccated lump of skunk fur remains.
No metal birds to report at my water stop but I think the runway is open -- saw a small corporate jet come in for a landing and a high-wing private plane take off. Of course, neither of those would need the full length of our runway.
Got out on the bike, 67 F when I headed out and 77 F when I returned. So I dodged the worst of the heat. Did not die.
15.59 miles, 1:32:08
No fresh roadkill. Even most of the corpses I reported on my last ride have vanished, whether via 2-legs or 4-legs is unknown. Desiccated lump of skunk fur remains.
No metal birds to report at my water stop but I think the runway is open -- saw a small corporate jet come in for a landing and a high-wing private plane take off. Of course, neither of those would need the full length of our runway.
Got out on the bike, 67 F when I headed out and 77 F when I returned. So I dodged the worst of the heat. Did not die.
15.59 miles, 1:32:08
Soon June departing
Jun. 30th, 2025 07:01 amjhetleyAir temperature 61 F, wind near calm, partly cloudy. City crew started mowing in the park about 0530, one of the unexpected consequences of our location. Maybe trying to beat the heat. Along those lines, I'm unsure if I will get out for a bike ride.
Civic Duty: Done
Jun. 30th, 2025 09:55 amgreen_knightThe EHRC consultation on their code of practice closes today. I learnt about it yesterday, which is not ideal, and have just spend around 2-3h hours filling it in.
https://transactual.org.uk/equality-act-campaign/responding-to-the-ehrc-consultation/
has guidance and talking points. You don’t need to fill out everything, but every voice helps.
It’s a transphobic mess. Their stance is basically that it’s fine to get trans people coming and going; they believe in the the ‘trans women are better athletes’ myth and don’t believe that trans women should see gynaecologists.
It’s ugly. I have little hope to have made a difference, but I am spitting mad.
https://transactual.org.uk/equality-act-campaign/responding-to-the-ehrc-consultation/
has guidance and talking points. You don’t need to fill out everything, but every voice helps.
It’s a transphobic mess. Their stance is basically that it’s fine to get trans people coming and going; they believe in the the ‘trans women are better athletes’ myth and don’t believe that trans women should see gynaecologists.
It’s ugly. I have little hope to have made a difference, but I am spitting mad.
Not as we know it
Jun. 29th, 2025 07:08 amjhetleyAir temperature 58 F, wind near calm, cloudy with rain showers moving on. Should be the end of those for the day. May attempt a bike ride when the roads dry off.
“No man's life, liberty or property are safe while the legislature is in session.”
“No man's life, liberty or property are safe while the legislature is in session.”
Misc Books: Helene Hanff, Lauren Tarshis, Stuart Turton
Jun. 28th, 2025 01:12 pmrachelmanija
A sweet epistolatory memoir consisting of the letters written by a woman in New York City with extremely specific tastes (mostly classic nonfiction) and the English bookseller whose books she buys. Their correspondence continues over 20 years, from the 1940s to the 1960s. It's an enjoyable read but I think it became a ginormous bestseller largely because it hit some kind of cultural zeitgeist when it came out.
The graphic novel version! I read this after DNFing the supposedly definitive book on the event, Dark Flood, due to the author making all sorts of unsourced claims while bragging about all the research he did. The point at which I returned the book to Ingram with extreme prejudice was when he claimed that no one had ever written about the flood before him except for children's books where it was depicted as a delightful fairyland where children danced around snacking on candy. WHAT CHILDREN'S BOOKS ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?
The heroine of I Survived the Great Molasses Flood is an immigrant from Italy whose family was decimated in a flood over there. A water flood. It's got a nice storyline about the immigrant experience. The molasses flood is not depicted as a delightful fairyland because I suspect no one has ever done that. It also provides the intriguing context that the molasses was not used for sweetening food, but was going to be converted into sugar alcohol to be used, among other things, for making bombs!
My favorite horrifying detail was that when the giant molasses vat started expanding, screws popped out so fast that they acted as shrapnel. I also enjoyed the SPLOOSH! SPLAT! GRRRRMMMMM! sound effects.
A very unusual murder mystery/historical/fantasy/??? about a guy who wakes up with amnesia in someone else's body. He quickly learns that he is being body-switched every time he falls asleep, into the bodies of assorted people present at a party where Evelyn Hardcastle was murdered. He needs to solve the mystery, or else.
This premise gets even more complicated from then on; it's not just a mystery who killed Evelyn Hardcastle, but why he's being bodyswapped, and who other mysterious people are. It's technically adept and entertaining. Everything does have an explanation, and a fairly interesting and weird one - which makes sense, as it's a weird book.
Missed me by *that* much
Jun. 28th, 2025 10:55 amjhetleyConsulted the road surface and the weather radar and decided to risk a walk. Met up with Ms. Sasha, who seemed glad to see me. Home now, and the roads are turning shiny again.
Watching the downward
Jun. 28th, 2025 07:08 amjhetleyAir temperature 54 F, wind southeast about 6 mph, raining. Which is likely to continue for much of the day. I continue to fiddle while Rome burns. Or, since the fiddle had not yet been invented in Nero's time, I'll play fiddle tunes on CD. Don't tell me to fix society -- I don't have the tools for that.
The Royal Sanctuary: The corridor (Tempestuous Tours)
Jun. 27th, 2025 09:27 amduskpetersonA long, windowless corridor leads into the royal sanctuary. The corridor's entrance is next to a walled-up gateway that originally led directly into the courtyard of the royal residence. The corridor itself is kept deliberately unlit, to recreate the circumstances under which captives were led here before being enslaved. Just walk toward the light at the end of the corridor to reach your destination.
[Translator's note: A chase takes place in that corridor during Death Mask.]
Tempting the weather gods
Jun. 27th, 2025 06:49 amjhetleyAir temperature 51 F, wind near calm, sunny. Sheen of dew across the park, with dotted spider webs. Rain tonight into tomorrow -- if anyone has outdoor plans for the weekend, be aware Saturday is "Field Day" in the amateur radio ranks, with hams setting up portable stations free of commercial power and operating radios. Usually in the rain.
Thursday roadkill report
Jun. 26th, 2025 01:06 pmjhetleyYes! Actual roadkill! In addition to the obligatory flat squirrel, my ride route included one woodchuck fresh-enough that the blood hadn't dried yet, a much older skunk with little odor left, and a messed up corpse that I am going to ID as a red fox from fur color alone.
Floral newbies include chicory/cornflower, new variety of wild roses, water parsnip, yellow hop-clover, and the first open milkweed flowers.
No visiting metal birds over at the airport/base, although I think the runway is open. No idea how many tons of Boom! have passed through there en-route to Ukraine, Gaza, or Iran.
Got out on the bike, 60s F when I headed out and still, did not die.
15.58 miles, 1:33:08
Floral newbies include chicory/cornflower, new variety of wild roses, water parsnip, yellow hop-clover, and the first open milkweed flowers.
No visiting metal birds over at the airport/base, although I think the runway is open. No idea how many tons of Boom! have passed through there en-route to Ukraine, Gaza, or Iran.
Got out on the bike, 60s F when I headed out and still, did not die.
15.58 miles, 1:33:08
New England weather
Jun. 26th, 2025 06:57 amjhetleyAir temperature 61 F, wind northeast gusting to 17 mph, partly cloudy. Cooled off enough that I haven't engaged the heat pump yet. And the dew point is down to 43 F. May get out on the bike.
Shelter from the storm
Jun. 25th, 2025 07:08 amjhetleyAir temperature 78 F, wind northwest about 7 mph, partly cloudy. No longer being advised or warned on heat, after record highs yesterday. May get out for a walk.
The difference between first and second generation antihistamines.
Jun. 24th, 2025 06:33 pmalfreda89Just in case you wondered. I needed info, so you get to share it.
https://www.webmd.com/allergies/difference-between-first-generation-antihistamines-second-generation-antihistamines
https://www.webmd.com/allergies/difference-between-first-generation-antihistamines-second-generation-antihistamines
Yes, there are very dangerous fungi. One or two of them may have been tomb curses....
Jun. 24th, 2025 06:06 pmalfreda89Anyone who watches certain films knows that much was made in the 1920s in gossip and the print press of the Pharaoh's or Mummy's curse, when many people died after opening King Tut's tomb.
Theories have been discussed for years--not a curse, surely, but what else in those ancient sealed chambers could have slowly killed any who entered? (And what if the ancient Egyptians intentionally left mold as a trap for grave robbers? That wasn't asked in these articles--but what if?)
This happened again in the early 1970s, when ten of twelve conservationists who entered a Polish King's tomb died weeks or months later. The same fungus was found in Casimir IV Jagiellon's tomb.
That pernicious something could have been the fungal mold Aspergillus flavus.
https://bigthink.com/the-past/mummys-curse-fungus-mold-aspergillus/
Now, it turns out this fungus may have attributes that will be an excellent treatment for some cancers.
https://phys.org/news/2025-06-toxic-ancient-tomb-fungus-anti.html
Theories have been discussed for years--not a curse, surely, but what else in those ancient sealed chambers could have slowly killed any who entered? (And what if the ancient Egyptians intentionally left mold as a trap for grave robbers? That wasn't asked in these articles--but what if?)
This happened again in the early 1970s, when ten of twelve conservationists who entered a Polish King's tomb died weeks or months later. The same fungus was found in Casimir IV Jagiellon's tomb.
That pernicious something could have been the fungal mold Aspergillus flavus.
https://bigthink.com/the-past/mummys-curse-fungus-mold-aspergillus/
Now, it turns out this fungus may have attributes that will be an excellent treatment for some cancers.
https://phys.org/news/2025-06-toxic-ancient-tomb-fungus-anti.html
A new Collection from Award-winning Writer Marie Brennan THE ATLAS TO ANYWHERE
Jun. 24th, 2025 12:47 pmalfreda89We need #ShortStories & anthologies on our e-readers! Book View Cafe is delighted to offer a new collection by award-winning author Marie Brennan, THE ATLAS OF ANYWHERE.
*Seek out extraordinary lands . . .*
In THE ATLAS OF ANYWHERE, you'll find strange guardians overseeing fate-bound duels. A priceless stone on a journey toward a bloody destiny. A thief determined to steal a worthless treasure. In her second collection of worlds-spanning fantasy, award-winning author Marie Brennan takes you back to the world of her famed heroine Lady Trent, through the land of her Hugo Award-nominated poem “A War of Words,” and onward to seven other fantastical realms, filled with pirates, demigods, and murderous creatures of winter’s cold night.
#fantasy #ShortStories #HighFantasy #dragons #pirates #thieves #Judaism #Mesoamerica #StrongFemaleProtagonist
Take a look here: https://bookviewcafe.com/bvc-announces-the-atlas-of-anywhere-by-marie-brennan
*Seek out extraordinary lands . . .*
In THE ATLAS OF ANYWHERE, you'll find strange guardians overseeing fate-bound duels. A priceless stone on a journey toward a bloody destiny. A thief determined to steal a worthless treasure. In her second collection of worlds-spanning fantasy, award-winning author Marie Brennan takes you back to the world of her famed heroine Lady Trent, through the land of her Hugo Award-nominated poem “A War of Words,” and onward to seven other fantastical realms, filled with pirates, demigods, and murderous creatures of winter’s cold night.
#fantasy #ShortStories #HighFantasy #dragons #pirates #thieves #Judaism #Mesoamerica #StrongFemaleProtagonist
Take a look here: https://bookviewcafe.com/bvc-announces-the-atlas-of-anywhere-by-marie-brennan
Floral effusion
Jun. 24th, 2025 09:48 amjhetleyWe have three day-lily blooms this morning, first of our personal horde. Will not be providing a daily census, as we'll have dozens in four different patches and scattered solitary plants. They are practically weeds . . .