larryhammer | Network

Over ten years ago I researched and read articles looking for the right e-reader app for my phone, got attached to one called FBReader, and paid a tiny fee to upgrade it. I have configured my own font families, sizes, and colors; can adjust the screen brightness in the page; and can advance pages with the volume button. I am attached to the library views as well, although they're not ideal. I've used it to read every ebook I've read in that time — I convert them to epubs — and thousands of works of fanfiction. I won't put up with proprietary interfaces; they get in the way so much that I'd rather not read the book in question, or read it on paper.

But it's started to give me trouble! A few times last year I had to delete books that would freeze the app every time they were opened, but I attributed this to file corruption or a bug. But now it's happened several times in a row with several different books. I'm afraid I will have to look for a replacement! And I dread that.

I can't embark on a project like that until I finally get around to backing up my last two years' worth of photos. And I can't do that until I repartition my laptop harddrive, which will require reinstalling Linux Mint. I have stored all my files in a separate storage partition for like twenty years, so nothing but ADHD can account for the fact that I forgot to create one the last time I upgraded the laptop OS.

smokingboot

Well gosh. That got difficult.

Watching Landman which we've been thoroughly enjoying. And then in season 2 something happens which immediately caused a problem.

( SA triggers behind the cut )

There's probably some useful lessons in there somewhere.

Maybe I wouldn't have been as easily shaken had I not been in this odd not-quite-hypnogogic state recently. However, this is the second PTSD experience I have had this year, so I need to be careful. It is better, almost healed, but I mustn't push it.

Anyway, leaving that aside, Landman is fun, so much fun it wouldn't surprise me if it contributes towards R's interest in visiting Texas. I know he's up for Austin, but he wants lots of live music while I'm a bit more interested in the amazing book festival mentioned by

mallorys_camera. Places of interest include Austin, San Antonio, Amarillo and surrounds, Palo Duro or maybe even Big Bend with the Rio Grande. I almost want to see Marfa, but if the lights don't turn up I can't imagine it would interest R at all. I don't think he's seen a James Dean film in his life.

Anyway, maybe now is not the best time for that plan. Let's see how the world and the West settles.

tamaranth

2026/041: Temeraire — Naomi Novik

You may value their lives above your own; I cannot do so, for to me you are worth far more than all of them. I will not obey you in such a case, and as for duty, I do not care for the notion a great deal, the more I see of it. [p. 196]

Audiobook reread: I first read this as an arc in 2005, and reread in 2019. I still love this book a great deal, and had a better sense of the pacing when I listened to the familiar procession of events. Splendidly read by Simon Vance, who gives Temeraire a very slight 'foreign' accent, perhaps hinting at his mysterious origins. I'm so tempted to buy the audiobooks of the whole series...

Current Mood: cheerful

mywitch

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james

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ysabetwordsmith

dialecticdreamer is hosting Feathering the Nest. This one is always about fluff and comfort. Leave prompts, get ficlets!

Current Mood: busy

petra

Love for a dollar (1167 words) by Petra
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Singin' in the Rain (1952)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Cosmo Brown/Don Lockwood/Kathy Selden
Characters: Don Lockwood, Cosmo Brown, Kathy Selden
Additional Tags: Gift Fic, Domestic Disputes, Domestic Fluff, Polyamory Negotiations, Happy Ending
Summary:

When R. F. recognizes Cosmo's genius and gives him a raise, he wants to pay rent. Don and Kathy have opinions about this.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: up all night to get bucky
Current Music: You are my lucky star

calimac

I went into the Social Security office this morning. As I didn't have an appointment, I had to wait an hour and a half to be seen. (During which I got a lot of reading done.) But when I was seen, the man didn't try to tell me that I could have gotten my 1099 form online. He just took my ID, confirmed my name and address on their system, and grabbed the form from the printer. Out and done in two minutes, and I didn't have to wait for it to arrive in the mail.

Meanwhile the "check engine" light came on in my car. This has happened before. It's usually a phantom alert from an emission control system; at least, the shop was unable to find anything when I asked them to take a detailed look. On another occasion, the same shop just plugged in a reader device and read off that it was the same thing. I asked them to cancel the alert and was on my way.
So I stopped into that shop to ask them to do that, and the guy was a different guy than the one I had before, and he wanted to argue with me. He wanted to take the car in for several days to run a full diagnostic (something which I didn't need; the body shop had done that last week). I asked him just to tell me what the alert said, and we'd figure out what to do next then. If it was the same phantom alert, just cancel it and I'll be on my way. But no, this guy was determined. He told me I was trying to dictate their work. That was pure projection on his part. He was trying to dictate to me, that I should leave my car for days just to find out what the alert said. He got very huffy about it.
I left. I'm not going back there again, not with customer service that rude, condescending, and dictatorial. I went to an auto parts store which can't fix anything, but which will gratis plug their device in and tell you what the alert says. Sure enough, it was the phantom. I thanked them, and I'll let it be until my next servicing.

earthobservatory_iod_feed

Posted by Michala Garrison

https://science.nasa.gov/earth/earth-observatory/tropical-cyclone-narelle-crosses-australia/

https://science.nasa.gov/?p=1208438

A tropical cyclone with spiraling clouds and a well-defined eye sits off the coast of Queensland, Australia.

Tropical Cyclone Narelle approaches northern Queensland, Australia, in this image acquired on March 19, 2026, with the VIIRS (Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite) on the NOAA-21 satellite.

NASA Earth Observatory/Michala Garrison

Tropical Cyclone Narelle traced a long path across the northern edge of Australia, bringing damaging winds and rain to areas already saturated with abundant precipitation. The system made separate landfalls in three different states and territories between March 20 and 23, 2026.

These satellite images show Narelle at about 2 p.m. local time (04:00 Universal Time) on March 19. By that time, the tropical cyclone was poised to make its first and most powerful landfall after intensifying over the Coral Sea. Sea surface temperatures along its path were 0.5–1.0 degrees Celsius above average, experts noted, which helped fuel its rapid intensification.

As it approached Queensland, the storm intensified to a category 5 on Australia’s tropical cyclone scale with maximum sustained winds up to 225 kilometers (140 miles) per hour—equivalent to a category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson wind scale. However, because Narelle’s structure was compact by cyclone standards, the most damaging winds extended a relatively short distance from its core. Narelle reached the Cape York Peninsula, a sparsely populated region in northern Queensland, on the morning of March 20.

Tropical Cyclone Narelle churns over the Coral Sea in this image acquired on March 19, 2026, with the VIIRS (Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite) on the NOAA-21 satellite.

NASA Earth Observatory/Michala Garrison

Narelle re-emerged over the Gulf of Carpentaria as a weakened cyclone, and wind speeds continued to decline as it neared the Northern Territory’s coast. The storm made its second landfall on the afternoon of March 21 with maximum sustained winds up to 148 kilometers (92 miles) per hour. It traversed the territory’s “Top End” until March 22.

More than 100 millimeters (4 inches) of rain fell across a wide area of the Northern Territory during Narelle’s passage, according to news reports. Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) warned of minor to major flooding of several rivers. The storm arrived amid a severe wet season in the region that had already caused damaging floods and prompted evacuations.

After exiting the Northern Territory, the storm briefly crossed water and reached the northern Kimberley region of Western Australia as a tropical low on March 23. Even after Narelle’s multiple strikes in northern Australia, the storm may keep going. On March 23, the BOM said Narelle could potentially re-intensify into a tropical cyclone off the coast of Western Australia, curve south, and track along the coastline toward Perth.

Cyclones with several landfalls on mainland Australia are rare but not unheard of. In 2005, Ingrid followed a similar path to Narelle. That “triple-strike” storm, however, made landfall each time as a category 3 tropical cyclone or higher.

NASA Earth Observatory images by Michala Garrison, using VIIRS data from NASA EOSDIS LANCE, GIBS/Worldview, and the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS). Story by Lindsey Doermann.

Downloads

March 19, 2026

JPEG (2.66 MB)

March 19, 2026, detail

JPEG (1.96 MB)

References & Resources

Australian Broadcasting Corporation (2026, March 17) Cyclone Narelle could be the first storm in 21 years to make landfall three times. Accessed March 23, 2026.
Bureau of Meteorology, via YouTube (2026, March 23) Severe Weather Update 23 March 2026: Ex-Tropical Cyclone Narelle impacting WA this week. Accessed March 23, 2026.
The Conversation (2026, March 19) Cyclone Narelle: ‘compact’, dangerous and unusually predictable. Accessed March 23, 2026.
The Guardian (2026, March 22) Saturated NT braces for Tropical Cyclone Narelle to dump another 300mm of rain. Accessed March 23, 2026.
The New York Times (2026, March 19) Remote Part of Australia Braces for ‘Significant’ Tropical System. Accessed March 23, 2026.
Weather Underground (2026, March 23) Tropical Cyclone Narelle. Accessed March 23, 2026.

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The post Tropical Cyclone Narelle Crosses Australia appeared first on NASA Science.

https://science.nasa.gov/earth/earth-observatory/tropical-cyclone-narelle-crosses-australia/

https://science.nasa.gov/?p=1208438

sorcyress

Austin is over for his usual Monday datenight, made harder by both of us being very _very_ worn out.

(the weather is not helping. the fascism definitely not)

We had a little bit of a "blaaaah what do" and then Austin asked "what do you want to do" and I paused a long while and admitted that what I wanted to do was play video games and not think. And so he pointed out that Slay the Spire 2 has just come out in early release and maybe we could try it? I hemmed a little (I don't like the idea of playing games in early release) and we read some of the literature, and I decided "sure, let's give it a shot".

(I still have steambux from my da, and certainly Slay the Spire original is one of those games that I have put a staggering number of hours into¹ so I do not at all begrudge giving the makers another round of dollarbux in thanks)

And so we went ahead and hit play and cooperated and chatted and balanced our different playstyles and charged on through. And won! We won very satisfyingly, by mostly creating a good deck vibe (all combos around casting vulnerable) and then immediately blowing that up when given a super powerful artifact at the end of act II.

It was a really lovely balance between "this is extremely familiar" and "this is new and exciting". It's very funny playing my obsessive games with other people, because like, I don't think of myself as being an expert in this game or anything, but I suppose yes, I do immediately know what the cards do or which cards are new. There's definitely some intriguing new options popping up and I look forward to doing some replay.

The timeline is going to be absolutely lovely to find out more about --I like me a little bit of explicit lore sometimes! I mean, I do enjoy the scraps and fragments of the story that you get in the first game, but it's _so_ barebones sometimes that there's nothing really to hang onto.

And it's nice that being cozy and silly and collaborative was able to really turn my mood around at least, and hopefully Austin's as well. Now I can go to sleep feeling a little bit better about my universe (in which my last two workdays were 9.5(today) and 12.5(Fri) hours of active work, and the rest of the week is not looking milder.)

The world is bad but sometimes escapism can be quite nice! Especially when done in good company! I hope you are finding some of that too.

~Sor
MOOP!

1: According to a quick skim of my steam library:

1st place: Crypt of the Necrodancer, 631.5 hours
2nd place: Slay the Spire, 416.8 hours
3rd place: Stardew Valley, 388.9 hours²
4th place: Heroes of Might and Magic III, 324.8 hours³
5th place: Rogue Legacy - 293 hours

In summation, I am not a _broad_ video game player, I am a _deep_ video game player. This is why I am still running through the steambux from my da from two years ago, I just don't buy games very much.

2: Please do not observe that the first time I played this game was like, end of May 2025. The rest of these times are on much longer timeframes (like, multiple years apiece).

3: Heroes should be much higher, there's been lots of times where I've owned this through GoG and emulators not through steam, and I should get that set up again because I miss having phoenixes (and the Steam version doesn't have the expansions, sigh.) It's basically been incomplete playing since I switched away from my mac, so like, since 2019 since I've played it "proper".

torachan

1. The only big thing I had on my work to-do list today was a meeting, but that was online anyway, so I decided to work from home. I really didn't have a lot of smaller things that needed to get done, either, so it was a pretty chill day.

And the meeting itself was very informative. It was with some people from our store in Guam, who are already using the system we'll be switching to, and I wanted to get an idea of how they're doing some of the things that seem impossible, and it turns out they just aren't lol. So I'm going to see if it would be possible for us to do something similar rather than to try and force our workflow into the mold that IT is insisting on.

2. It was actually chilly today! We closed windows and almost considered turning on the heater. The high was still in the high 70s, but that was just like a brief spike in the late afternoon. So weird. :-/ I'll take it over the constant heat of last week, though.

3. I finished up a puzzle today. This one turned out to be more difficult than I was anticipating, but it was fun to do. And I really love the illustration.

4. One nice thing about working from home is that I can snuggle Jasper when he wants to be snuggled, and he really wanted to be snuggled this morning.

summersgate

Feeding Time. Just now slapped some acrylic markers on this one when I got home from the trip to see Candy's brother in law Pat in Olean. Pat was glad to hear about the idea of using his own photos and markers to overpaint the photos. He'd tried Bob Ross painting but was frustrated and had given up. He had problems controlling the brush (the Bob Ross way) and liked the idea of using markers instead. It made me feel good that I could promote an alternative method.

A cold day today. There was freezing rain encasing the tops of the trees as we crossed the mountain just before we got to Olean but the roads were good. It's a 2 and a half hour trip but beautiful scenery most the time. Allegheny National Forest and the Allegheny River. I was remembering how Dad always used to take us on a Kinzua Dam trip every year after John got hurt just as a way to have a nice drive. Though I think we probably went by way of Tionesta rather than Titusville like Candy went today. Another regular trip was to Cooks Forest every summer.

I'm planning a trip to Pittsburgh to pick up Hazel on Wednesday morning. I'm going to drive myself this time. Usually Jules drives and we go on the weekend or in the evening. Possibly Dave might want to drive, if he doesn't decide to go fishing instead. That's what he was talking about before. I hate interstate driving and big city driving, especially Pittsburgh with its hills and roads like spaghetti. I'll be working on braving myself up.

I had a long crazy dream last night about taking a refrigerator to Pittsburgh on my electric bike. Dave had bought the fridge but it didn't work and he wanted me to return it. Somehow he was able to fold the fridge into a a little package the size of a book and I put it in the basket that was behind my seat on the bike. I also took Chloe with me. She was a little girl and sat in the basket too. We had to go through town where there was a big crowd of people blocking the main street. Traffic was directed to go around but I thought that since I had a bike I would be able to thread through the people. And I did. We continued our trip to Pittsburgh. There was a steep snow covered mountain that I needed to go up and the tires were slipping so I was pushing the bike up. As we were nearing the top I saw that there was an avalanche of snow falling off the top of the mountain and going down the other side. There was a hole through the mountain and I could see the snow fall into a big lake. I could hear it too - it made a big kerspush sound. There was snow and tires and people who were injured floating in the lake. A bunch of people were on the shore with doctors and nurses helping them. The hole I was looking through to the other side of the mountain was weird in that it was about 2 feet in diameter (like a window) and the other side of the mountain was only a few feet away. A person on the other side said that they needed people who knew how to remove stitches. I knew that I could do this but I didn't want to so I said that I didn't know how. I didn't want to go any farther on this trip. I turned the bike around and we sped down the hill home. I knew Dave could take the fridge back later himself.

I think I was able to remember so many details because when I woke up I got my phone and dictated all this stuff into an email that I sent to myself. I didn't have time to write it down at the time but just by dictating I was able to remember better. Dave just now asked me who I was talking to this morning. I told him I was telling this dream to my phone.

jenab

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psocoptera

Drome, Jesse Lonergan, 2025 graphic. Stunning fantasy epic that blew me away with what it did with color and formal structure. Lonergan establishes a five by seven grid of square panels and then combines and subverts them in fascinating ways, bringing the gutters in to become motion lines and new divisions. The comic opens with an invocation of the four colors of printing, cyan magenta yellow and black, in a creation of the world sequence, and returns to that in a very meta way in the climax. There is *so much* going on in the character and world design and paneling and the way panels act as both time and space and the use of negative space and callbacks to sword-and-sorcery comics and retro superhero costuming and amazing vivid action sequences and mythological weight (no spoilers but there was definitely some "wait, is this... ??", except not exactly). Funny moments and touching moments and sometimes actually manages to hit larger-than-life heroic grandeur. But really it comes back to the art. Everyone else is writing free verse and this thing is a villanelle. Damn.

So, if Drome has catapulted its way to the top of my Hugo graphic nominations, where does that leave the rest of the list. To recap, I have read: The Nefarious Nights of Willowweep Manor, Second Shift, In the Land of Simplicity, Flip, The Other Jay & Eve, Who Killed Nessie?, Testament, A Song for You & I, Strange Bedfellows, part of A Garden of Spheres, and Drome. From which I guess, picking in more or less favorite order, I want to nominate: Drome, Nefarious Nights, Flip, Testament, and then... maybe Song? for the last slot? Or maybe Simplicity has more of a shot at the ballot, and it would be neat to get that on? Hmmm.

hudebnik

And I do mean "wars" plural: we spent the weekend at the Military Through the Ages timeline event, which had military units ranging from classical Greek and Roman through the Middle Ages, Renaissance, through recent wars like Desert Storm, and current National Guard. Our group, La Belle Compagnie, presents an English knight's household in the Hundred Years' War.

The show takes place every spring at Jamestowne Settlement, in Williamsburg, VA. Which is some distance from our home in New York City. When we were younger and foolisher, we would drive it straight through (particularly if I had classes to teach on Monday), but this year I took Friday and Monday as vacation days, packed the car on Thursday, hit the road Thursday about 8 PM, and spent Thursday night at a motel in Maryland. (We would have hit the road earlier, but when we closed the garage door we realized that the newly-poured concrete floor was a fraction of an inch higher than the old floor, so the door didn't go quite as far down, so the latch no longer latched. So with the car completely packed and

shalmestere sitting in the front seat, I went back into the house, grabbed some tools, and moved the latches up half an inch so I could lock the garage.) Anyway, we got to the site around 3 PM Friday, set up our pavilion and trestle-tables, and drove to the hotel a few miles away where La Belle Compagnie had reserved a couple of adjacent suites.

shalmestere and I portray household servants in the knight's household, hired for (among other things) our musical talent (our boss is rich, but not rich enough to hire servants just to play music), and we normally spend most of a show demonstrating c1400 musical instruments and repertoire for the public.

A month or two ago we were wondering what "new" we could bring to this year's show. We didn't have any new instruments suitable for a 1415 camp. There were a couple of two-part musical pieces we'd been learning recently, but they weren't off-book so we hadn't been performing them at living history shows (modern sheet music and music stands would Not Look Right). So we've been practicing them after dinner to memorize them. We'll look at the last few measures, then close our eyes and play them. Once we've got that pretty solid, we'll add the previous musical phrase, and play from that through the end with our eyes closed until it's pretty solid. And so on until we've reached the beginning of the piece. We got one of them (entitled either "Petrone" or "Retrove", depending on how you read the paleography, from the Robertsbridge keyboard ms) to the point that we played it a couple of times during the weekend. There were a few memory slip-ups, but no crash-and-burn-and-start-over episodes. Another piece from the Robertsbridge codex has no title so we call it "Robertsbridge Thingie", and we haven't quite got it good enough to try to perform off-book.

And we did the usual spiels and demonstrations involving recorder, pipe-and-tabor, shawm, citole, fyddel, and harp. I think two visitors asked me about medieval musical notation, and I restrained myself to about twenty minutes on that topic. And one asked me about the difference between twelve-tone and pentatonic scales, which led into a discussion of tuning and temperaments and difference tones, and then another member of the group who's a voice-technique professor chimed in with some comments about reinforcing overtones, and then we got into solfegge syllables (the visitor had grown up with shape-note music, so he knew some of the syllables, but had no idea that they came from a Latin chant).

Anyway, the whole weekend had pretty good weather, and a decent flow of visitors asking questions. It was warm-ish on Saturday, and warmer on Sunday, but I can put up with that as long as we don't have to pack out wet, and we didn't. The event closed to the public at 5 PM Sunday, our group was off-site by 7:00, and we all went to a Chinese buffet (where we swapped stories of "the weirdest question anybody asked you") before hitting the road to our respective homes. We had the longest drive (the voice professor had driven from Iowa, but I don't think he planned to drive back there immediately), so we got home around 3:30 PM Monday. Unpacked the car, cleaned a few things, put a few things away, went through the mail, etc. I think we'll sleep well tonight.

ravena_kade

Thursday will be 4 weeks since Dad's surgery. I think he is doing well. No mishaps.

I have 24 Days left with my sister being here. I am exhausted in trying to work around her and her partner. Sunday I wanted to stand in the living room and scream "GET OUT OF MY HOUSE". All she has to do is sit and watch TV with Dad ,ask him to walk around the living room 3 times a day, make sure he has lunch. It seems to be too much for her.

Saturday I asked that she come over and be with Dad as I was helping the cousins pack up some of stroke cousin's things so she can move into assisted living. I thought that by seeing their chaos I would feel better. They also need someone who can move things. It did put me in a better frame of mind until I got home. The thought was that my sister and partner would take Dad out for a ride and maybe go out to lunch. Dad asked if they could go to Ipswich. They did not pick up Dad until 3 PM (he was alone for 6 hours) and they took him to Walgreens (a drug store) in the next town over. He was out for 30 minutes. And when I came home I had to cook dinner.

Sunday they said they would take me grocery shopping. They did not show up until after 2. The store is about 1.5 miles from my house, but they don't like to go through busy intersections so they drove 6 miles out of the way to get there. The store was so crowded and the produce so picked over I wanted to cry. Then I went home and made 3 meals because there are two 4 PM doctor's appointments this week. They ate and left me with all the dishes. Before they left they complained that they were not getting enough sleep so they were going to leave Dad alone for 3 hours every day.

On Friday I will shop on my own at Trader Joes in town.

Meanwhile I can't focus on anything. I need to pay attention to financials and not cooking and cleaning. It's just that I am so tired once 2 PM hits. I hope I can focus tomorrow.

chez_jae

Current Mood: okay
Current Music: "Cinnamon" ~ Tamino

yuuago

Whew. So, my main computer keeps throwing up a bluescreen error. As soon as I get past the load screen, it leads me to that. Plus stop code 0x00021a.

A cursory search tells me that this is, uh, Not Great.

I've done some cursory poking around, but I think for now I'll just leave this problem for... later.

I sure wasn't looking for a Project, but I guess I have one now. :Va

isabrella posting in

fandomcalendar

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Current Mood: happy
Current Music: Red Wine Supernova - Chappell Roan

ysabetwordsmith

The Myth of Mobility: Why Faster Cities Often Leave People Behind

When cities measure mobility by speed, they often make everyday life harder to reach.

In many large urban areas, particularly those built during the late twentieth century, everyday necessities have been separated from residential life. Homes are clustered in residential zones while shops, restaurants, libraries, and workplaces are placed far away along commercial corridors or in large retail centers. The result is a city where nearly every basic activity requires driving. On paper, this appears to increase mobility. In reality, it often reduces it.

For people who cannot drive easily, such as older adults, children, individuals with disabilities, or those who cannot afford a car, the distance between daily needs becomes a barrier. Even for those who can drive, environments designed for cars are not always designed for people. Vast parking lots, wide arterial roads, and enormous retail spaces can be physically exhausting and psychologically overwhelming to navigate. True mobility should not be measured only by how fast people can travel, but by how easily they can reach the things they need.

Current Mood: busy

chazzbanner

Weather:
Remember we got a foot of snow a week ago? A few days ago it was 74F/23.3C, and I went for walk wearing no jacket. Yesterday it was so breezy that the windchill was below freezing. In other words, March is March in Minnesota. :-)

Here are two 'best of' lists I gleaned from Word in Your Tear, no particular random order:

Bridges:
Hey Julie, Fountains of Wayne
We Can Work It Out, The Beatles
Mayor of Simpleton, XTC
Feed the Birds - soundtrack to Mary Poppins
Nothing Matters, Last Dinner Party

Saxophone solos:
Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue, Duke Ellington
Money, Pink Floyd
Young Americans, David Bowie
Jungleland, Bruce Springsteen
Baker Street, Gerry Rafferty
Careless Whisper, George Michael

Notes from the blokes: they felt Feed the Birds had the most glorious bridvge, and the Duke Ellington Orchestra solo was the greatest.

The story of that solo is pretty amazing, it comes from a live album. Ah! - I see a quote on the web: "Probably the most important fifteen minutes in the entire history of jazz." The recording as made at the 1956 Newport Jazz Festival. Ellington and his orchestra were thought rather passé at the time, and this performance/recording (with this solo) changed all that. The Duke said to his tenor sax player (Paul Gonsalves) "go out there and play as long as you like." :-)

So, go listen, already

PS, Feed the Birds makes me tear up, and according to YT comments I'm not the only one :-). And the bridge is beautiful.

ETA Here's an interesting page about the famous 'woman who danced' at this concert - quite the story

-

settiai

The Crow Contracts Exchange, a Dragon Age exchange focusing on the Antivan Crows, went live yesterday, and I just now got the change to read my gifts because of the craziness of everything.

I got not one, not two, but a whopping three amazing stories!

First up is Fourth Spaces, focusing on the gen relationships between Lucanis (and Spite) and Bellara, Lace, and Taash in a world state where Rook kept her distance from him. 2334 words.

Next is Gotta Kill Them All, focusing on the relationship between Lucanis and Spite. 520 words.

And last was One by day, one by twilight, a delightful Lucanis/Neve/Spite fic from Spite's POV. 7625 words.

Current Mood: excited

nnozomi posting in

guardian_learning

部首
水 part 6
沉, to immerse/heavy; 沐, to bathe; 沙, sand ( pinyin )
https://www.mdbg.net/chinese/dictionary?cdqrad=85

语法
3.16 part 1 越...越..., more and more
https://www.digmandarin.com/hsk-3-grammar

词汇
锻炼, physical exercise (pinyin in tags)
https://mandarinbean.com/new-hsk-4-word-list/

Guardian:
我心里哥哥以外的任何人都不过是沙粒芥子, in my heart, other than gege, no one is more to me than grains of sand or dust
逃得越远越好, the farther you run away the better
我...我只是...经常锻炼身体, I...I just...exercise a lot

Me:
这个箱子好沉，你把很多书放在里面了吗？
越看他越爱他。

ysabetwordsmith

This floating time crystal breaks Newton’s third law of motion

A simple setup of sound-levitated beads has revealed a bizarre new time crystal that breaks physics rules—and could reshape future technology.

Scientists have created a new kind of time crystal using sound waves to levitate tiny beads in mid-air. These particles interact in a one-sided, unbalanced way, breaking the usual rules of motion and creating a steady, repeating rhythm. The system is surprisingly simple yet reveals complex physics with big implications. It could help advance quantum computing and deepen our understanding of biological timing systems.

Aaaaaand all of us from the Torn World shared world are going O_O >_< O_O

Current Mood: busy

kiya

I think this is a sign that my ADHD meds are also antidepressants?

Earth

none of us are built
to be this brave

the epics told the truth:
the inhuman weight
of necessary courage
makes monsters
of its warriors
(of its victims)

because

only monsters
can survive
valor

and not
lie beneath

jazzfish

Ugh, I don't know. Feeling restless and mildly discontented. At least there's sun today.

A week and a half ago I located my spare viola strings (leftover from the last time I changed strings, whenever that was), picked up a 1/8-size cello G, and restrung my viola to a tenor. I'm liking it an awful lot. It's certainly harder to play. I've switched to my cello bow, which is heavier than the viola bow, and it still requires significant deliberate pressure to get a halfway decent sound. Left-hand work feels slower too. Might be a result of the higher tension on the strings making them harder to press down, I guess?

But: I like it. I like the way it sounds, I like the way it feels to play. I find myself in the position of actively wanting to practice. I'm doing something that I enjoy and calls to me, and that I'm happy about afterwards. It's been a really long time since I had something like that. I suspect the social aspect helps. I took it out to the session last Wednesday and it blended in well: not drowning anyone out, not getting drowned out. I need a great deal of practice but that's no surprise. And fixable.

When I have money (cue bitter laughter) I may look into getting a proper tenor viola, instead of hoping the higher tension on the strings doesn't cause damage. There's this guy in Georgia who makes them, and he's put a decent amount of effort into the design. His tenor/octave violas have thicker bodies, and are fatter at the bottom ('a wide lower bout') but not at the top, so you get a bigger resonance chamber and can still get your left arm around to reach the neck.

Two weeks ago the movers cleared out half my stuff. Unsurprisingly the place looks much bigger and brighter. It's nice to have more light, granted... but it's just so empty. Hm. Likely affecting my mood.

I'd like to have my books back, too. I don't require them to be visible at all times, I'd be happy with a separate library room, but I do want them accessible. Good information to have. I probably could cut ruthlessly but there's no need, not immediately anyway.

Rhonda the realtor came by last week and took some reference photos. She emailed me today to say that the real photographer can come on Friday and we can list on Monday. Works for me. Gives me a few more days to finish moving extraneous stuff to the storage unit, now that I know I've got a little more room in there than I was afraid of. Still no idea what the market will be like; guess we'll find out in a couple of weeks.

Still in a holding pattern, but I can see the beginnings of what might be movement.

The Pattern Recognition TV series? I have no idea. Awhile ago I called my Hollywood agent -- who was Harlan Ellison's Hollywood agent, to give you an idea how long he's been in the business -- and asked him about it. He said, "Well, it's starting to look almost exactly like something does right before it goes into production." And I got excited and said, "Really?" and he said, "Yeah... it's weird."

--William Gibson, c.2013

cosmolinguist

I'm reading, and really enjoying, Annalee Newitz's Four Lost Cities.

I'm currently reading about Pompeii, and I was struck by the mention of about how little was recorded about that volcanic eruption and the cities that were "lost" in its aftermath.

I thought of how conspicuously absent our society's cultural response to the covid pandemic has been, even before Newitz themself drew an explicit parallel with the Spanish flu epidemic which apparently also had a similar effect.

I was struck by this because just this morning, I was in a meeting about an upcoming Mental Health Awareness Week event at work. I had to join a bit late so I don't know the context but as I joined, someone newish to my org -- which covers the whole country so we're mostly hybrid/remote -- said that starting this job was hard for me because going back to working from home was something he hadn't done "since covid." #CovidIsNotOver, of course. (I felt some kind of way listening to someone talk as if they were triggered by an event that is still ongoing if you ask me.) But he's totally right about how we haven't really addressed it in any meaningful way -- the lack of pragmatic mitigations almost requires us to participate in this cognitive dissonance of referring to the pandemic in the past tense when it's only the lockdowns, the testing, the mask mandates, the period of taking it as seriously as it warrants, which is past.

I was immediately reminded of that Audrey Watters piece I linked to the other day, about grief that isn't observed. If she's right that "it matters that GPT was released during the COVID pandemic (and ChatGPT shortly 'after')," (and how I appreciate the scare-quotes around "after" there!), this is a meaning that's lost if we don't talk about the covid pandemic.

I think covid is intimately linked to changes in transport infrastructure and the built environment that make my job harder -- hastily-enacted legislation to allow more tables and chairs on pavements means more obstacles that never had to undergo an Equality Impact Assessment; "pop-up" cycle lanes led to lasting trends in active travel infrastructure that still deprioritize pedestrians; e-scooters were seen as more useful in a world where people were discouraged to go anywhere but particularly to use public transport; I could go on -- and the further that lockdowns and other facets of pandemic mitigations get, the harder it is for me to address those things properly.

It's interesting to see what feels like such a modern ill also taking place as long ago as Pompeii, in as different a culture as that Roman one was. Is it such a fundamental human thing to just block out the bad times so thoroughly? I can't help but think we can do much better to look after ourselves, individually and as collective societies.

cosmolinguist

A couple of days ago, I determined that my webcam wasn't working on my laptop, for calls with my parents, or on my work laptop.

D kindly took it away the other day, and diagnosed it as Dead. He also reminded me we had one that I could use for work but doesn't work on Linux -- something I'd entirely forgotten about; I think I'd conflated it with the other webcam which had stopped working entirely...

He also sourced a replacement, sent me a link. Which I said was terribly sweet of him but I didn't really need, just for my parents when I could shuffle things around and just use the camera on the laptop. But it arrived the next day; he'd bought it for me anyway. "Thirty quid to keep your parents happen seems worth it," he said. Awww.

So, tonight I was so looking forward to the call with my parents starting with something other than my mom complaining that she can't see me.

Instead, the first thing she said when my camera pops on was "You're getting those deep wrinkles in your forehead too, like Grandma [my mom's own mother]."

Which a) only when I frown, or raise my eyebrows [so maybe this is the only way my parents will ever see me, lol] b) my grandma was a badass, so I hardly mind looking like her! c) to age is to live!

But most of all: she's treating me in a way she'd consider horrible bad manners if I behaved this way toward anyone.

Again. (A story I'm fond of trotting out is the time we were in a restaurant, my appetizer arrived, she looked disgusted at it and asked me warily what that was; I said "butternut squash soup" and she said "oh yuck!" A thing I'd have been told off for if I'd reacted that way to someone else's food that I both didn't have to and shouldn't have eaten!)

Can't believe D paid £30 for my appearance to be insulted like this, heh. It's a fancy webcam too; he said he got "only" 720p rather than the £50 1080p, and I was thinking this is already too big a number, I don't want my parents to see me in high definition (unfortunately for me, I said this as "that's too many p for my face!" which made D snigger because his mind is always in the gutter!). it's very zoomed-in too, which is unsettling for me too since I have to have my monitor so close to me. It's been such a long time since Mom commented on my facial hair and I'd like that to become a much longer time, an unbroken streak. She's gonna say whatever she wants as soon as she (thinks that she) is off-mic; all I ask is for her to be polite to my face!

ashelterofpages

---
tags:
- habit/Braindump
- habit/Exercise
- habit/Going Outside
- habit/Meds
---
Capybara tangent!

So, it was me, S, and some of her other friends. Everyone got on pretty well, and seemed to have a really good time. I'd met one of the folks before, but not the other two. H and I get along already, but never talk or anything but she knows the other two and they were her friends before they were S's.

The place we went wasn't actually a cafe but rather, a general animal encounter place. We weren't sure how it was going to go because well, those places aren't always run the best, but this one seems really, really great. It's tied to a rescue, and they vet the animals that go to that place, and are very careful with the amount of people that are in the encounter both at once, and throughout the day. They also kept an eye out on the animals and were willing to go "Okay, this little guy is done now so we're going to let him chill out."

So, we all felt really good about that, and are probably going to go back because they have other animals to befriend and stuff like this works a lot better for me and my vision rather than other things.

The two capybaras we met were named Tater Tot (tiny boyyyy), and Augustus (not so tiny boy. XD). They were both friendly with people, and were very food motivated, so we shared much lettuce with them. They're really bristly, which I didn't expect for some reason, and Augustus was very grumpy when he wasn't the center of attention. It was both endearing and kind of funny because Tater Tot was like three times as small as he was, but did not give a fuck.

We also got to meet a baby kangaroo! He was such a good, friendly little fellow and he tried to follow us into the room where the capybaras were. We got to pet him briefly and omg, I had no idea small kangaroos were so soft.

After we left, we stopped at an ice cream place and got some. S and I got a really nice and refreshing lemon ginger thing, and it was such a good choice. So tasty. They had a strawberry balsamic one too, which was...Eh. It really just tasted like mediocre strawberry. S has had something like that before and was like "Oh no, it should be a little different than that."

Then yesterday was like 3 hours of Dragon Age! It was great, I was so pleased! I'm having a blast and K is so kind and sweet. I kind of adore them and I'm so glad my partner is dating them too.

I have not seen more Exorcist, but hopefully that will change soo. Later today should be more Dragon Age though, assuming I'm not driving somewhere when the time rolls around. I'm going to be heading to S's house for some housesitting later today, so I miiiight not be able to do it. We'll see.

psocoptera

A Song for You & I, K. O'Neill, 2025 graphic. Beautifully drawn and colored coming-of-age fantasy in which a pegasus-riding trainee ranger befriends a violin-playing shepherd and mutual personal growth ensues. Quiet, simple, and lovely, perfect for fans of Kiki's Delivery Service or maybe Blue Delliquanti's Across a Field of Starlight.

Strange Bedfellows, Ariel Slamet Ries, 2025 graphic. Also YA; a college dropout in a good-future space colony ("utopian" feels more laden than I want to say here) develops a late-blooming superpower to bring things from his dreams into reality, including his high school crush. A terrific premise that didn't always work for me, especially reading it right after Song for You & I. They're very similar books at the core - two young people whose interaction helps each of them figure out what's holding them back - but felt very different to read, in a couple of ways.

Song is, like I mentioned, beautiful - it's set in a medieval-ish world that values harmony with nature, and drawn with a lot of attention and panel space given to scenery, from big vistas to close-ups of specific birds or plants, Miyazaki-style, a slow detailed richness of the world around the characters that gives the characters more emotional weight. Very peaceful and relaxing to read. Bedfellows, on the other hand, is in a very busy high-tech future, and the art reflects that - crowded pages, crowded panels, crowd scenes, a couple of different ensembles of secondary characters, inclusion of text elements like search results and chats and social media (some of which was so low-contrast I skimmed over it rather than squinting to read every word). An effective match of content and style - but *a lot*, sometimes to the point of being overwhelming.

And then also, Song is very, very chaste - the big romantic climax is a kiss on the cheek - which felt reasonable for the Miyazaki-like tone and possibly middle-grade audience. Bedfellows, on the other hand, is also weirdly chaste, with a Big Deal being made out of a couple of kisses, and... it just felt off to me? Like, yes, Not Everything Has To Be Porn, but something felt infantilizing to me about the way the relationships of these nominally college-aged young adults were rendered suitable for a younger-YA audience. Dreams are such fertile territory for the weird, the disturbing, the unsanitized, the id, but here they're pastel, quirky, dragons and unicorns. There was a one-off line about the idea of making out with your own dream-projection being masturbatory that felt particularly prudish, like, what's wrong with that, exactly? I'm sure not everybody would immediately fuck their dream of their high school crush if they projected that dream into reality but would a twenty-year-old really be scandalized by the *idea*? It felt like the kind of pearl-clutching neo-puritanism you sometimes get on Tumblr, the "there is s*x here MINORS LOOK AWAY" nonsense, and I think I personally would have found this book more interesting if it was a little more visceral. Get some horniness into those dreams, and a little horror too, maybe, or a more adult take on the whole idea, generally. Made me really appreciate that Simplicity and Other Jay & Eve didn't shy away from sex (and in the case of Simplicity, some very non-pastel dreams about desire and monsters from the id). I mean, there's nothing wrong with Young Adult! Every book its reader! I just thought it was a neat story (it was a neat story, a nice satisfying plot) and I would have liked it if it was catering a little bit more to me. :)

ETA: Also I'm fascinated by the way Song and Bedfellows and Flip all use climactic or major-turning-point dance sequences to convey intimacy and joyous catharsis. Something about how the silence and stillness of the comics page leaves a big space for the reader to "complete the scene" filling in the implied music and motion thus heightening the emotional impact from that reader investment, I don't know.

A Garden of Spheres, Linnea Sterte, 2025 graphic. I read maybe 100-120 pages of this and it was very pretty but I had no idea what was going on and I felt disconnected rather than intrigued. I don't mind slow and I don't mind having to work a little but I think I need a little more of a thread to follow. :/

trobadora posting in

sid_guardian

Guardian Reverse Exchange 2026. Image shows Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan facing each other, gripping the Sundial between them.

Sign-ups are open until Friday for the 520 Day Guardian Reverse Exchange, a multimedia exchange covering the Guardian drama, the novel and RPF.!

This is a reverse exchange with a two-part sign-up process: first you make your offer, and then you choose from everyone else's anonymised offers to make your requests.

General info/rules/schedule

Come and join us - sign up with your offers! Sign-ups are open until 11:59pm UTC on Friday 27 March 2026. (What time is that for me?)

And if you're on Discord, Twitter, Bluesky, Tumblr or elsewhere for fandom, please help get the word out by promoting the exchange there. We have a tumblr post you can reblog, a promo graphic and text on the General info post, or you can make your own.

ysabetwordsmith

Today is partly cloudy and chilly, now in the 40s. Yesterday went from a high of 87°F to just below freezing. >_<

I fed the birds. I've seen a large flock of sparrows, a mixed flock of blackbirds including a redwing, and two mourning doves.

I put out water for the birds.

We measured the parking lot and driveway.

EDIT 3/23/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

I've seen a pair of house finches.

EDIT 3/23/26 -- I sowed 4 pots (each with 2 seeds) of 'Sugar Ann' snap peas and 4 pots (each with 2 seeds) of 'Avalanche' snow peas on the new picnic table garden. My plan is to sow the other pots when I plant tomatoes, peppers, or whatever and then see which does best.

EDIT 3/23/26 -- I cleaned up the 4 giant pots by the septic garden.

EDIT 3/23/26 -- I did some trimming in the savanna.

I set up air-layering on the excellent mulberry beside the old fishpond.

I've seen a female cardinal at the hopper feeder.

EDIT 3/23/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

I am done for the night.

* * *

Measurements for driveway and parking lot:

Length of driveway, from street to parking area: 117 feet

Width of driveway: 10 feet

Width of parking area, from sidewalk to rock border: 47 feet
Length of parking area, from rock border to propane tank: 39 feet

Area of driveway (10’ width): 1170 square feet

Area of parking area: 1833 square feet

Total surface area of driveway and lot: 3003 square feet

Current Mood: busy

jadelennox

After Ny's memorial I felt like a complete awkward pony; I talked myself down from an anxiety spiral with the very jadelennox-branded pep talk of, basically, "Stop being so damn full of yourself, kid, literally nobody is going to notice or remember how bad you were at personing in a room full of grieving people in shock, many of whom primarily know each other online. Nobody was looking at you."

Anyway I have heard from three different people, one of whom I see in person regularly, that I either didn't see them at all when they tried to talk to me, or I saw them and talked to them like they were strangers.

Honestly I think this is an achievement. Being so Not At My Best I was noticeably out of it even in a room full of people Not At Their Best. Awkward pony gold star!

james_davis_nicoll

The 2024 Second Edition of Onyx Path Publishing's Scion, the tabletop roleplaying game about the children of gods discovering their birthright in the modern world.

Bundle of Holding: Scion Origin

lb_lee

Rogan: I guess, if I had to summarize my feelings about labels, any kind of identity label, it’d be this: labels are created for people; people are not created to fit them.

A label describes, but it shouldn’t define. If it strangles you, ditch it. Even if you can’t avoid other people slapping it on you, you don’t have to make THEIR mistake part of YOUR identity. (Sadly, uprooting nasty brainweeds like that is rarely as simple as just saying no. You may end up having to know your enemy, do way more research, and think way more about it than you’d like, just to pull up all them runners. It’s worth it, though, to be free!)

Whatever label you choose, hold it loosely. Don’t death-grip it, or you’re priming yourself for a total identity collapse if/when you change... and change is the only constant. Let yourself grow. Let yourself be playful about what you call yourself and why; we call ourself a “multivarious cyborg” and it’s a typo! We named ourself Loony-brain thinking this was just an embarrassing stage we were going through, and now we own it! We went from soulbonder to natural multiple to DID to “yes and” multi. Maybe one day, we’ll even be singlet again, or something else entirely!

Knowing your label is not the same as knowing yourSELF. There’s no linguistic shortcut for that work. Nobody can do it for you, and that’s good news: it puts the power in YOUR hands.

Use it well, and don’t hang on so hard.

Current Mood: thoughtful
Crossposts: https://lb-lee.insanejournal.com/24563.html

oursin

Anyway.

Partner and I are in need of a solicitor for a fairly routine and non-urgent matter, so, looked up who it was we went to last time we had a routine life admin thing requiring the services of a legal professional.

(This was actually a bit more time-consuming than I anticipated, have I mentioned that archivists are really Not All That at keeping on top of their own papers? The cobbler's children syndrome.)

But, I found the name of the practice and looked them up on The Internetz and they are there, as having gone out of business some few years ago, on Companies House website.

And they are by no means the first solicitors I have had dealings with, though I think the ones in Kentish Town saw me through the purchase of First Flat and present dwelling and possibly various other legal matters, but are now no longer operating more or less adjacent to the Tube station.

I suppose that these days one should not anticipate that you have Old Mr Thing the attorney-at law and Young Mr Thing his son who keeps up the practice and Even Younger Mr Thing who is being brought on in the family tradition -

- and that these things come and go like everything else and they are no longer quite the repository of folk memory like in mystery novels.

Way back when I was starting out as a Wee Babby Archivist, I remember that a big thing of the day, practically A Crisis, was solicitors' records. As I was never actually employed in a repository where I had any direct dealings with the problem, I'm not sure whether this was due to practices going defunct, or just somebody going down into the cellar and realising that they still had all the papers from Jarndyce v Jarndyce back to its origins along with tons of other stuff. But anyway, there were Massive Amounts of Very Misc Material (quite surprising what turned up) which looking back I suspect had all sorts of issues around ownership to complicate matters even further.

(If anyone has recs for N London solicitors would be glad to hear of them.)

ysabetwordsmith

These are some posts from the later part of last week in case you missed them:
Poem: "The Bridge of Mist"
Science
Birdfeeding
Select Seeds Order
Prairie Moon Order
Fossils
Birdfeeding
Moment of Silence: Nicholas Brendon
Philosophical Questions: Marriage
Follow Friday 3-20-26: Magic
Friday Five
Birdfeeding
Birdfeeding
Community Thursdays
Science
Birdfeeding
Cuddle Party

Linguistics has 45 comments. Philosophical Questions: Pregnancy has 63 comments. Safety has 59 comments. Wildlife has 49 comments.

Last week's bonus fishbowl went well. I am still writing.

March Meta Matters Challenge banner

marchmetamatterschallenge is running this month. See my tracking post and the first check-in post.

The weather has been erratic here, and yesterday was downright psychotic. It was cold with howling wind, then mild, then hot. Yesterday went from 87F to 57F in an hour, then 47F, and just below freezing overnight. We got a dribble of rain, but most of last night's storm missed us. The ground is starting to crack -- in March, which used to be the Moon of Mud Everywhere. >_< Seen at the birdfeeders this week: a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches, several brown-headed cowbirds, two mourning doves, two male cardinals, and a fox squirrel. Red-winged blackbirds have been singing overhead. Currently blooming: crocuses, snowdrops, daffodils, squill, violets, apricot, grape hyacinths.

Current Mood: busy

duckprintspress

https://www.tiktok.com/@duckprintspress/video/7620493106915396894?_r=1&_t=ZP-94vwKDxLVLb

(video ID: a white person with short reddish-brown hair and gold-rimmed glasses sits in front of a bookshelf, talking. /end ID)

Transcript: What is the most exciting part, and what is the most challenging part, of doing publishing?

The most challenging part is all of the nuts and bolts, but more than that, also, it’s convincing people that this is book that they wanna read. Because in the end, you can publish every book under the sun, but if nobody is gonna buy it and read it, then you’ve got a problem. You’re not really publishing books then, you’re just, sort of patting yourself on the back, self-congratulatory, all that.

Convincing people to actually buy the books is a big part. And then to also read them. Because, as it’s often joked, buying books and reading books are two different hobbies, but in the end, you cannot sustain a publisher if people aren’t enjoying the things that they read. So yeah, that’s… that’s the challenge I think, is actually getting the books in people’s hands. Especially in this current economic and political moment.

The most exciting part is finishing a book. I mean, it – and also seeing people enjoy that book. I mean, I love seeing unboxing videos. I love when we get reviews. I do try not to read reviews because… it… reviews aren’t for the writer or for the publisher. Reviews are for the readers – other readers. So I try not to let them stress me out too much, but it is still very nice to see a review and somebody really really liked something that you’ve poured a ton of work into.

The most exciting part is when it works, and when it goes the ways its supposed to do, you see happy readers and finished products out in the world.

Feel free to drop me any questions you might have for an indie publisher. Let me know what you think. Bye!

rebeccmeister

I can't remember how much I've whined about this on my blog so far, but a couple of weeks ago I managed to aggravate something in my right hip, and things have been pretty touch-and-go since then. I've had some days where things are fine, but our current Friday strength training circuit in particular appears to be the main thing re-aggravating it. On Thursday I was able to do much of the usual rowing workout, but on Saturday I had to switch to a stationary bike because the rowing motion just wasn't going to happen. As a result of it all, some fraction of the weekend got allocated to flopping around uselessly, and now I'm at the stage where I clearly need to get more proactive about figuring out what I've done to myself (this time) and how to undo the damage. Always easier said than done.

I'm not sure if it's background discomfort from that injury, or something else about the Mondays, but my brain definitely isn't running at full capacity today, sigh. And yet, time marches on.

duskpeterson

Immediately in front of you, as you enter the palace, is the most important chamber in the palace: the Chara's court.

As you will have gathered by now, peninsularean royal life is centered upon the rulers' status as High Judges over their people. This can be seen most clearly in the Chara's court, which contains an impressive throne where the Chara sits as he hears his court cases.

The main doors to the court are gilded but plain in design, except for the inscription on them of a balance (scale) holding a bird in one pan and a sword in the other pan. This is the Chara's emblem, which appears on Emorian banners, on covers of the Chara's law books, and in many other places. The doors are two storeys tall and are made deliberately heavy. At the time they were built, occasional outbreaks of fighting still occurred between the Chara and his council. The fortress-heavy doors permitted the Chara to endure a siege by his council.

Today, the doors are guarded during council sessions. Assuming you have already gone through the protocol of entrance into the palace, you may simply give your name to the guards there; they will check the list of palace guests and then permit you into the court.

There is no seating in the court, except for the Chara, but you will see that Emorians stand in orderly rows. There is no special section for visitors; simply stand in one of the rows. The rows surround the Chara's throne on four sides. Which side is the best is hotly debated. I recommend the back side for new visitors. This will allow you to watch the Chara's arrival, but it will shield you from watching the face of the Chara transform into "the look of the Chara," which many visitors find as terrifying as a similar transformation in the face of Koretia's ruler.

Light conversation is permitted before the court session begins. The arrival of the Chara is signalled by trumpets. From that point on, you should remain silent and motionless. Even coughs and sneezes are considered so disruptive that you may end up expelled by the vigilant guards.

An exception to this respectful silence is if you bring a translator. Your translator should introduce himself as such when you enter the court. He may whisper a translation to you during the proceedings. Translators who use gestures to convey their information should take care not to bump into other visitors in the compact rows of listeners.

The court follows the same procedure during every case: The prisoner is brought forward under guard, the charges are read, and previously scribed accounts by witnesses are recited by the Chara's clerk. Witnesses are usually present in the court, so that the Chara may ask them questions if needed. The prisoner's own document of witness will be recited. He will be given an opportunity to declare aloud his innocence or guilt, to provide further witness to his actions, and to call upon any additional witnesses present in the court, who may have decided at the last minute to speak on his behalf. At the end of the case, the Chara will offer his judgment, using a time-honored ritual. The prisoner will then be escorted out of the court, either to be freed or to be punished. See the chapter on the Chara's law for more information.

If you are in the court as a witness, you may be asked to come forward. Stand at the foot of the thirty-step platform holding the throne, directly in the Chara's view. You should bow to the Chara, if your gods permit that. Eastern mainlanders may prostrate themselves, but should do so in the briefest manner possible; lengthy obeisances are not valued in the Three Lands. If your beliefs do not permit you to bow or make obeisance, then you should nod your head briefly, as a courteous acknowledgment of the Chara's status as High Judge. Lack of any gesture will be seen as insulting and may harm your nation's relations with Emor.

Wait until the Chara's clerk – the man at the Chara's right hand, who has been reciting the witness documents – signals you to speak. Thereafter, take your cues from the Chara, answering any questions he asks. Do not volunteer any information you have not been asked. Do not greet the Chara by words. Do not – may your gods protect you – compliment the Chara on his outfit or engage in other light chitchat. Emorians are highly formal people; only the eastern mainlanders take protocol more seriously than Emorians do. Whatever you may think of this strict formality, you should conform to it. Believe me when I say that southern peninsulareans find this nearly as much a strain as northern mainlanders do; nonetheless, if you take the trouble to visit Emor, you need to follow their sometimes onerous customs.

If you're tempted to make a public fuss, keep in mind that the small door at the north side of the court, through which the prisoner enters and exits, leads almost directly into the Chara's dungeon.

[Translator's note: The Chara's court is in session in Blood Vow.]

Profile

Larry Hammer

my pretty good home page

March 2026

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Page Summary

cimorene - My beloved e-reader app with the custom Solarized css
smokingboot - Moments and Plans
tamaranth - 2026/041: Temeraire — Naomi Novik
mywitch - My Very Short Love Affair with Monsieur Châtelaine
james - Doughnuts
ysabetwordsmith - Feathering the Nest
petra - Love for a dollar - Singin' in the Rain OT3 fluff for Katarik
calimac - one works, the other doesn't
earthobservatory_iod_feed - Tropical Cyclone Narelle Crosses Australia
sorcyress - (no subject)
torachan - Daily Happiness
summersgate - monday
jenab - Country roads
psocoptera - one more graphic novel, and picking some graphic novels
hudebnik - Back from the wars
ravena_kade - (no subject)
chez_jae - Puppies!
yuuago - (no subject)
isabrella in fandomcalendar - Multifandom: The Completely Arbitrary Sunset Exchange
ysabetwordsmith - Communities
chazzbanner - this and -- that
settiai - Crow Contracts Exchange
nnozomi in guardian_learning - 第五年第七十二天
ysabetwordsmith - Science
kiya - I got nothing but poetry
jazzfish - "yeah... it's weird."
cosmolinguist - Pompeii and covid
cosmolinguist - not exactly value for money!
ashelterofpages - (no subject)
psocoptera - more graphic novels
trobadora in sid_guardian - Sign-up reminder: 520 Day Reverse Exchange 2026
ysabetwordsmith - Birdfeeding
jadelennox - but it's my destiny to be the king of fail
james_davis_nicoll - Bundle of Holding: Scion Origin
lb_lee - On Labels
oursin - I guess The Old Family Lawyer just doesn't exist anymore
ysabetwordsmith - Monday Update 3-23-26
duckprintspress - AMA: Most Exciting Part? Most Challenging Part?
rebeccmeister - Discombobulation [status]
duskpeterson - FIC: The Chara's court (Tempestuous Tours)

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Larry’s Pretty Good Reading List

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