30. The Possibility Dogs: What a Handful of “Unadoptables” Taught Me About Service, Hope, and Healing, Susannah Charleson. Selecting rescue dogs & training them to support handlers with mental health issues like PTSD or OCD. Interesting, especially on dog personality fit to different tasks.
I do think tech companies are underestimating the amount of
- new account fatigue
- new app fatigue
- useless upgrade fatigue
- terms of service fatigue
Probably Lois McMaster Bujold (mainly Penric and Desdemona, but everything else too). Or Martha Wells — the Raksura series and Murderbot. Or Rachel Neumeier’s Tuyo series.
I love the waffle fries with crab dip at Camden Yards. Not sure the vendor.
My understanding too. I wonder if you could provide the ear training by playing something like Chinese Sesame Street in the background.
I just saw 1776 yesterday and the post gave me an immediate mental chorus of “It’s hot as hell in Philadelphia.”
Ἐρευνάτω τοὺς ἐπίκουρους. - Ἅγιος Φρειδερίκος πρὸς Γείτονες 1:43 (Greek)
Quaerete adiuatores - Sanctus Fridericus Ad Proximes 1:43 (Vulgate)
Seek ye the helpers - Saint Frederick, Epistle to the Neighbors 1:43 (KJV)
29. Trace Elements: Conversations on the Project of Science Fiction and Fantasy, Jo Walton and Ada Palmer. Some essays written for tor.com / Reactor, Uncanny magazine, and others and updated for this book, some new. SF/F is in conversation with itself and with other genres, development of subgenres.
GOOD NEWS! Researchers have made a HUGE breakthrough towards a UNIVERSAL antiviral. By targeting sugar molecules found on the surface of many viruses that SHARE structural similarities, they identified FOUR compounds that successfully BLOCKED infections from SEVEN different viruses.
Not a series, a standalone, but I like A Nun in the Closet by Dorothy Gilman (author of the Mrs Pollifax books).
I was remembering that story too!
Spending a lot of time ripping out crab grass by hand so my clover can take root out back, and it has me meditating a lot on what it means to take out fascists.
We always used to say it was whack-a-mole, it wasn't.
Successful antifascism in a democracy is a practice of weeding
@TKingfisher If you must manifest something, I have a long list of things I would rather see, beginning with the Temple of the White Rat.
What’s the security line wait like at Washington National these days? 3 pm flight next Sunday.
28. Scent of the Missing: Love and Partnership With a Search and Rescue Dog, Susannah Charleston. Memoir of training and bonding with a golden retriever search dog. Stories of searches and training with the rest of their team. If you like books about working dogs, I recommend this one.
I never saw the movie but I loved the book.
50+ years ago I toured the college I attended (out of state but reasonable driving distance). Between being accepted and confirming my attendance, I think. I visited one other because they had an exam for scholarships (I didn’t win one). Otherwise no campus visits, even the nearby state university.
Welcome to the Hidden Almanac, I’m Reverend Mord. Today is November 11th, 2016. My friends, it is a dark time now. And history is very long, but that is little comfort for those living through it. A year can be no time at all, but a minute can be an eternity. But civilization is a great work. And kindness is a great work. And decency is a great work. It is not given to any one of us, no matter how long-lived, to see that work through to the end. But neither may we give up working on it. There is a proverb of a great people that translates…inelegantly. It says that if you are planting seeds and you learn that the world will end tomorrow, keep planting. I promise you that the seeds we plant now matter. If you do not have faith in gods or saints, have faith in each other, and in us. That’s the Hidden Almanac for November 11th, 2016. Be safe. You are not alone. —Ursula Vernon
Some weirdo wrote a thing that I read this morning that still moves me deeply. I can plant the seeds I can plant.
Spring flowers. Daffodils and cherry blossoms on their way out, tulips on their way in, our dwarf rhododendron is in bloom and the azalea is budding.
Sigh. I am a Catholic. There’s plenty of room to have that “how do you understand/experience this” conversation within Catholicism if she chooses, and allows opinions that are not hers. The hubris of telling you you’re wrong about your own religion, while a guest at a seder, is breathtaking.
27. Crossings, Ben Goldfarb. About “road ecology”, roads and how they interact with wildlife and human communities. Roadkill, fragmentation of habitat, animal over and underpasses. Very interesting. Discouraging because of human-caused damage, but encouraging because of creative ways to mitigate.
The ones we called buttercups and did nose rubbing with were pale pink on the outside.
The Supreme Court did not strike down conversion therapy bans today.
Not nationwide. Not in Colorado. Not anywhere.
Here's what actually happened in Chiles v. Salazar—and why the coverage you're seeing serves the conservative legal movement more than it serves you.
I have enjoyed these responses. Besides encouraging more reading (like I needed to be encouraged) it highlights that no book/trope is for everyone. There are a couple of popular ones that I actively dislike, and that’s fine. You read your stuff and I’ll read mine and we’ll overlap somewhere else.
Oh, another: religions that are a positive part of society/people’s lives. Can be taken for granted or background (e.g. character travels with a small portable altar), practical but a larger part of the story (e.g. Temple of the White Rat), or a a combination of practical and numinous (Five Gods).
I have heard that hits some of my favorites. I have it around here somewhere but haven’t read it. I should push it higher up the list.
Traders
People whose job is to understand other cultures, especially newly encountered
Abandoned ancient cities
Teams or spaceship crews of mixed species/races
I wondered too. Thanks for asking.
