Interesting Links–Week of 4/22/26

At All Dead Generations, there was a look at what a Beholder might look like as a biblical angel. Wejia Cheng, an editor with Standard Ebooks, wrote about how eschewing automated shortcuts and doing the work can sometimes further our goals better than having the…

The Ritual of Imbibing

Many of my favorite memories from college come from the Friday Night Tea Parties my floor threw the whole time I was in school. They started on the first night we all moved into the dorms, as the members of International House learned we all had water heaters and our own…

I was discussing with some friends how I wish there were more like it. Maybe continuing with A Miller's Tale (The Miller's Tale from Canterbury would adapt so well I think)

Sort of like we can copy Mickey Mouse all we want, but best practice is to toss a "not produced by or affiliated with Disney" into an easy to find spot

Personal Appendix N

I've been reading titles from Appendix N and other lists of inspirational fiction from different role-playing games this year. There's been some really good and some stuff that wasn't quite my cup of tea, but definitely got me thinking about what stories influence me when I…

My First Nuzlocke

So, Pokémon games have been in my wheelhouse since 1999, when a friend from school let me try his copy of Pokémon Red on a flight from Seattle to Washington Dulles for our school DC trip. They were one of my earliest introductions to RPGs, so I guess they're responsible for my…

three unicorns are standing next to each other with the words shun the non-believer shun Alt: Clip from the YouTube video Charlie the Unicorn. Three unicorns stand in a line, the blue and pink unicorns say to the white unicorn, "Shun the non-believer. Shun. Shuuuuuuuuuuuuuun."

I also have a soft spot for the liopleuridon for... reasons.

I had this DOS program on an old computer I was gifted as a child that I memorized so many dino-facts from.

And Stegosaurus is my favorite. Mostly because the story of the Thagomizer makes me smile every time I remember it.

At Christmas, I finally upgraded from the last Kobo without Overdrive and that's been so nice to not have to do the whole Digital Editions song and dance

And the Senator they are talking about is among the ones who are why the department of the government that is doing those things is currently getting zero money.

While ALSO proposing setting things up to benefit people.

Humans contain multitudes, they can pursue multiple things.

guys, this is how you lose the time war

It may be the circles I'm in, but most vehicle automation criticism I've seen is skepticism that the automated systems are ready to take to the road safely, or that the laws are ready to handle automation.

Or things like whether passenger or pedestrian safety should be prioritized by the car.

Trouble Wore Red's blurb definitely sounded in my wheelhouse

Like to use a couple examples:

I have a Kitchenaid mixer I use when making bread. Compared to kneading by hand, I can fit baking into times I couldn't before, more enriching life for me.

Right now, companies are pushing GenAI replacing creative work, work people find enriching. Different case.

I haven't seen people criticize automation on it's own rather than question what gets automated, for whose benefit, and to whose detriment.

Which are important priorities to set as civilization.

I remember when I was buying my last car that literally the only non-SUVs I could find from US companies (and having lived in Michigan near assembly plants wanted to buy local) were the sports cars like the Mustang

Interesting Links–Week of 4/15/26

Alex Schroeder wrote about the difficulties in the modern blogosphere of connecting through comments and email. At The Soloist, there's a discussion of playing Solo RPGs together. Whether that's just each playing your own thing at the table and talking afterward…

Fun With Language: Literature in Translation

Earlier this week I finished Maria Dahvana Headley's translation of Beowulf. It's a story I know well, having read various translations of the poem over the last couple decades. I loved her translation. There's a mix of modern language and archaic…

Voyages of the Vigilant: An Ironsworn Starforged Campaign, Pt. 4 Alright, so it's been a minute since the last post I wrote about Eveline Hawking and the Vigilant. If this is the first you've seen me mention this solo campaign I've been running you can catch up with the earlier posts too: Part 1, Part 2. We last left Eveline Hawking aboard the Rookery, speaking with a figure from her past.

Voyages of the Vigilant: An Ironsworn Starforged Campaign, Pt. 4

Alright, so it's been a minute since the last post I wrote about Eveline Hawking and the Vigilant. If this is the first you've seen me mention this solo campaign I've been running you can catch up with the earlier posts too: Part 1,…

Interesting Links–Week of 4/8/2026

Over at Grognardia, there was a discussion of Mage: The Ascension and how the world view of magic in the setting shapes the mechanics and experience of play. Over at Bastionland, Chris McDowell looked at his own game of Intergalactic Bastionland and how referees…

Been stuck in mine and reminding me that I live much closer to Harper's Ferry than I did when I visited it as a kid and should take another trip.

You know what my bad, rereading that it did come off way more fact checky and way less "let me share this fun thing about abolitionists in the Union army that came to mind" that it was in my head.

I mean Battle Hymn was literally set to the tune of John Brown's body, or evolved from it. Something. But the tune John Brown's Body predates Battle Hymn.

As someone who's been a baseball fan, and who was a Mariners fan during the 95-01 heyday, that moment was when it clicked just how hard Johnson pitched. Like the radar number is *one* thing, birdsplosion is a whole *other* thing

I remember joking to a friend that the only way that's happening is if she double faults.

Literally weeping.

In real life, this would be so incredibly bright. You can't capture that one the screen. It is like a second sun.

The boosters are away!

That LCS possible issue was interesting to hear them work out.

Interesting Links–Week of 4/1/26

Charlie Jane Anders wrote about the difficulties of making YA Star Trek as a reaction to the cancelation of Starfleet Academy. It's an interesting look at the ethos at the core of the YA genre, of Star Trek, and of Star Wars. There's interesting overlaps of Star…

In my head I now have a Lin Manuel Miranda number of "We don't talk about Franco" playing

Cover image Barbershops of the Floating City by Grace P. Fong. An Asian woman with long black hair, wearing a blue qipao-like dress with blue floral designs, holds a pair of black scissors and faces us. A shadowy figure, a woman in profile, stands behind her. At the women’s feet are gray-brown skyscrapers. Behind her is a pale-green-blue sky and a pale yellow sun-like circle surrounded by yellow rays and black angled points shaped like scissors. The Uncanny banner, May/June 2025, Issue Sixty-Four, list of author, essayists, and poets credits, and the editor credits, are on top of the image

Michael and Caitlin Thomas

Uncanny Magazine is eligible for the Best Semiprozine Hugo, & Michael Damian Thomas is eligible for the Best Editor (Short Form) Hugo. (Note: If you are nominating Michael Damian Thomas in this category, please only list Michael. They solo edited Uncanny Magazine in 2025.)