larryhammer | Network

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I'm putting together a program at the public library where I work as an Acquisitions and Collection Management Librarian. It's a program about books that have been challenged or banned in the recent onslaught against the freedom to read in the U.S. Some of the reasons...I can't even! I don't know whether to engage in bitter laughter or to just plain cry...or both...yeah, both.

Just a few moments ago I encountered this one about a book I read recently: An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz has been banned in some parts of the U.S. because Dunbar-Ortiz puts Indigenous Native Americans at the center of her telling of U.S. history "causing the book to gain detractors who prefer that history be told from the colonizer perspective". To paraphrase Shakespeare in Hamlet: "If all history books were to be judged on preferred perspective 'who should scape whipping'."

Current Mood: I can't even.
Current Location: near the lake they call Michigan

firecat

*sigh* I was just reminded that Peet’s Coffee is owned by a larger corporation now (has been for some time). I‘d rather support a smaller company. If you make coffee from ground beans at home, what is your go-to source? Bonus for fair trade and all those other green, good-citizen buzzwords.

damninteresting_link_feed

https://nautil.us/your-voice-gives-away-valuable-personal-information-1262514/?utm_source=DamnInteresting

The risks of always-listening voice control systems—and how to protect against them (from nautil.us)

https://nautil.us/your-voice-gives-away-valuable-personal-information-1262514/?utm_source=DamnInteresting

visualcapitalist_rss_feed

Posted by Ryan Bellefontaine

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/sp/bhp01-visualized-u-s-data-center-investment-2014-2025/

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/?post_type=sp&p=185026

Published

3 days ago

January 22, 2026

Ryan Bellefontaine

Graphics & Design

Athul Alexander

An area graph showing U.S. investment in in data centers over time, using data from the U.S. Census Bureau and BHP.

Visualized: U.S. Data Center Investment (2014–2025)

Data centers have quietly become some of the most important infrastructure in the U.S. economy. As artificial intelligence (AI) workloads explode and cloud services proliferate, builders are racing to add capacity at record speed.

This graphic, in partnership with BHP, shows U.S. data center construction spending from 2014 to 2025 using data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

AI-Era Data Center Construction Boom

Here is a table showing monthly U.S. data center construction since 2014, seasonally adjusted at an annual rate.

Month	Billions of Current U.S. Dollars (Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate)
Jul-25	41.19
Jun-25	41.10
May-25	40.07
Apr-25	39.60
Mar-25	36.88
Feb-25	37.13
Jan-25	35.77
Dec-24	34.98
Nov-24	35.62
Oct-24	35.86
Sep-24	32.96
Aug-24	32.94
Jul-24	31.74
Jun-24	31.24
May-24	29.98
Apr-24	28.34
Mar-24	27.78
Feb-24	26.29
Jan-24	24.93
Dec-23	24.45
Nov-23	23.72
Oct-23	23.84
Sep-23	21.13
Aug-23	20.25
Jul-23	19.55
Jun-23	18.62
May-23	18.11
Apr-23	18.16
Mar-23	18.10
Feb-23	17.87
Jan-23	15.85
Dec-22	14.35
Nov-22	13.77
Oct-22	12.88
Sep-22	14.47
Aug-22	13.02
Jul-22	12.71
Jun-22	12.15
May-22	12.08
Apr-22	12.26
Mar-22	11.36
Feb-22	10.53
Jan-22	11.08
Dec-21	11.39
Nov-21	10.51
Oct-21	9.74
Sep-21	10.77
Aug-21	10.43
Jul-21	9.73
Jun-21	9.30
May-21	9.31
Apr-21	9.44
Mar-21	10.32
Feb-21	9.04
Jan-21	9.31
Dec-20	9.23
Nov-20	9.18
Oct-20	9.34
Sep-20	10.05
Aug-20	9.07
Jul-20	8.73
Jun-20	8.97
May-20	8.70
Apr-20	8.95
Mar-20	9.49
Feb-20	9.68
Jan-20	9.46
Dec-19	7.94
Nov-19	9.57
Oct-19	9.16
Sep-19	8.08
Aug-19	8.82
Jul-19	8.82
Jun-19	8.88
May-19	8.74
Apr-19	7.86
Mar-19	7.67
Feb-19	8.03
Jan-19	8.12
Dec-18	8.05
Nov-18	7.10
Oct-18	7.86
Sep-18	6.29
Aug-18	7.00
Jul-18	7.45
Jun-18	7.06
May-18	6.99
Apr-18	6.56
Mar-18	6.47
Feb-18	6.24
Jan-18	6.08
Dec-17	5.74
Nov-17	5.46
Oct-17	4.96
Sep-17	4.69
Aug-17	4.39
Jul-17	4.67
Jun-17	4.58
May-17	5.03
Apr-17	4.23
Mar-17	3.99
Feb-17	4.22
Jan-17	3.99
Dec-16	4.46
Nov-16	3.96
Oct-16	3.70
Sep-16	4.22
Aug-16	4.58
Jul-16	4.25
Jun-16	4.56
May-16	4.15
Apr-16	4.42
Mar-16	4.12
Feb-16	3.80
Jan-16	3.16
Dec-15	3.09
Nov-15	2.98
Oct-15	2.75
Sep-15	2.80
Aug-15	2.84
Jul-15	2.68
Jun-15	3.93
May-15	3.34
Apr-15	2.31
Mar-15	2.14
Feb-15	1.93
Jan-15	1.92
Dec-14	1.66
Nov-14	1.95
Oct-14	1.83
Sep-14	1.92
Aug-14	1.96
Jul-14	1.79
Jun-14	1.75
May-14	1.81
Apr-14	1.80
Mar-14	1.68
Feb-14	1.74
Jan-14	1.64

In early 2014, U.S. data center construction ran at an annualized rate of roughly $1.6 billion. By July 2025, that number reached about $41.0 billion, more than 25 times the 2014 level.

Consequently, data centers now compete directly with offices, warehouses, and industrial facilities for land, power, and transmission capacity.

Why the Data Center Boom Matters for Copper

A typical data center uses roughly 27 metric tons of copper per megawatt of capacity for power, cabling, and cooling. Because each new megawatt adds more copper-intensive equipment, incremental AI capacity has a disproportionate impact on metal demand.

As operators add AI servers and dense racks, each data center concentrates more copper in cables, transformers, and cooling infrastructure.

BHP projects that the amount of copper used in data centers globally will increase by around 6x from 2025 to 2050, rising from about 0.5 million tonnes a year to around 3 million tonnes.

That uplift is roughly equivalent to the combined annual output of the world’s four largest copper mines today. As this layer of “digital” demand stacks on top of the broader energy transition, data centers could become one of the fastest-growing sources of structural copper demand.

What Comes Next for Infrastructure and Power

Looking ahead, the U.S. grid will neeed to keep pace with this construction surge as data centers use more electricity.

Data centers’ share of global electricity demand could rise from about 2% today to roughly 9% by 2050, with some markets already seeing data centers account for around one-fifth of national power use.

Overall, surging U.S. data center investment signals rapid AI infrastructure growth. It also demonstrates the central roles of copper and electricity in enabling the next era of digital services.

Click for Comments

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/sp/bhp01-visualized-u-s-data-center-investment-2014-2025/

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/?post_type=sp&p=185026

prisca posting in

sweetandshort

It's bingo time again. Let's have some fun with the following table:

alone	fantasy
honey	jumping

To complete the challenge, grab all the prompts and blackout the card. You can do single works or combine the four prompts in one work.
No one will blame you when you decide to do only one or two prompts, though.

Allowed are fics up to 500 words, small poems like haiku or similar, icons (100x100 px), and small graphics up to 500 px width x height. Please stay to the maximum, even if you decide to use all prompts in one work.

All fandoms, genres, and ratings are welcome, as are original work and real-person work.

Please tag your work with all relevant tags.

This challenge runs until January 31, at midnight in your time zone.

:::

Challenge Reminder:
10 out of 20
This or That
Rare Words

wychwood

( 163. At the Feet of the Sun - Victoria Goddard ) These books are just a delight; I will definitely be reading more Goddard.

( 164. Murder in the Marginalia - Julie Ecker ) I feel a bit mean about it, given that I got this for free, but I think ultimately this just isn't my genre.

( 165. The Big Four - Agatha Christie ) Christie really needed to stay away from the Dramatic Spy Plots.

( 166. Peace Company, 168. These Green Foreign Hills, and 170. The Mountain Walks - Roland J Green ) If you like non-ultra-right-wing milSF you can definitely do worse than these books!

( 167. Hemlock & Silver - T Kingfisher ) This was probably one of the more disappointing Kingfishers for me, sadly. But fortunately I bought it on a 99p deal and not full price!

( 169. The Frangipani Tree Mystery and 171. The Betel Nut Tree Mystery - Ovidia Yu ) I'm enjoying this series! Will have to read more of them.

( 172. Odds Against - Dick Francis ) Just as fun as I was hoping, based on his rep!

( 173. Starcruiser Shenandoah: Squadron Alert - Roland J Green ) I'm sad that I wasn't as into this as the Peace Company, but I fully intend to finish my series re-read.

( 174. Unnatural Magic - C M Waggoner ) This is very different from the other Waggoner I've read; not bad, but I don't know that I would have gone for a second if I'd read this one first.

( 175. Provenance - Ann Leckie ) A delightful heist adventure; I don't need a sequel to this, but I like to think that Tic and Garal and Ingray and Taucris are all off living their best lives and hanging out a lot.

( 176. The Coming-of-Age of the Chalet School - Elinor M Brent-Dyer ) A decent addition to the series, but not particularly exciting.

raven

A very little story, about not very much.

paper lanterns, one after another (4094 words) by raven
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Heated Rivalry (TV)
Relationships: Shane Hollander/Ilya Rozanov
Characters: Shane Hollander, Ilya Rozanov, Yuna Hollander
Additional Tags: Obon, Japanese Culture

It occurs to Ilya that he doesn't belong here. But then, this is a necessary migration.

sholio posting in

bigglesevents

It's time to enjoy our bonanza of gifts!

https://archiveofourown.org/collections/bigglesholidayairdrop2025/profile

We had a delightful little last-minute flood of treats, and we ended up with a very respectable 23 24 fics in the collection!

Go forth, enjoy, and don't forget to leave a comment on your gift(s)! The collection will remain anonymous until Monday.

olivermoss

In last night's post-game interview, here's the screengrab I took of Vince Dunn:

Here's the one the official account went with to promote the interview:

The vibe difference is hilarious to me. Vincess Dunn versus The Dunndertaker

damninteresting_link_feed

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2026/jan/22/does-the-temperature-affect-the-sound-of-snow-underfoot?utm_source=DamnInteresting

Does the temperature affect the sound of snow underfoot? (from theguardian.com)

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2026/jan/22/does-the-temperature-affect-the-sound-of-snow-underfoot?utm_source=DamnInteresting

chickenfeet

https://operaramblings.blog/2026/01/22/hailey-gillis-is-a-must-see-nora-in-a-dolls-house/

soemand

Part two of the car repair saga kicks off tonight: replacing the fan belt. The engine’s still warm from the drive home, so I’m planning to dive in while the family settles around the table for supper later tonight. It feels like one of those small windows of opportunity where, if I don’t tackle it now, it’ll nag at me all evening. With any luck, it’ll be a straightforward swap and not one of those ‘why is this bolt suddenly my mortal enemy’ situations.

oursin

So, at long last, I finally have an email address associated with My New Academic Position (this has been A Saga to do with their system upgrade).

I have also achieved reader's card for library of former workplace (spat out from the bowels of their system with A Very Old Photo of Yrs Truly).

And went and looked at the items I wanted to check, and found that lo, I was right and they did NOT have anything pertinent, as I had in fact hoped they would not. Though I had hoped to look, for another thing, at a couple of closed stack items and discovered that these cannot be ordered on a day's notice INFAMY I am sure I recall the times when there were regular deliveries throughout the day. Not actually critical, but irksome. (Also irksome was that I moaned about this on bluesky and got various responses that had no relevance at all to research libraries, in the UK, in particular this one.)

I then managed to get a digital passport photo at one of the photobooths on Euston station and have applied for a new passport, as mine is well out of date and I seem to keep seeing things that want 'government ID' to verify WHO I AM (over here, making like Hemingway....) so thought this was probably the way to go.

Also this is a trivial thing but in the course of my perambs of the day I walked past the statue of Trim, and his human.

In the niggles department, I did that thing of putting my phone down in place I never usually put it and flapping about trying to find it.

The lockers at the library have really annoying electronic locks.

Printer playing up a bit again. Though I think this really is that one has to let it mutter and sulk for a bit between turning it on and actually trying to print anything.

damninteresting_link_feed

https://arstechnica.com/health/2026/01/mrna-cancer-vaccine-shows-protection-at-5-year-follow-up-moderna-and-merck-say/?utm_source=DamnInteresting

mRNA cancer vaccine shows protection at 5-year follow-up, Moderna and Merck say (from arstechnica.com)

https://arstechnica.com/health/2026/01/mrna-cancer-vaccine-shows-protection-at-5-year-follow-up-moderna-and-merck-say/?utm_source=DamnInteresting

damninteresting_link_feed

https://knowablemagazine.org/content/article/technology/2026/cloned-polo-horses?utm_source=DamnInteresting

Field of clones: How horse replicas came to dominate polo (from knowablemagazine.org)

https://knowablemagazine.org/content/article/technology/2026/cloned-polo-horses?utm_source=DamnInteresting

ysabetwordsmith

Today is cloudy and chilly.

I fed the birds. I've seen a few sparrows.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 1/22/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 1/22/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 1/22/26 -- I filled the trolley twice with large branches that I hauled to the ritual meadow. Now all that's left of the brushpile by the driveway is one big forked branch that I can't break down myself, and the leftover twigs that will need to be raked up. \o/

I've seen a large flock of sparrows, a male and a female cardinal separately, and a starling.

EDIT 1/22/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

I've seen a pair of cardinals.

I am done for the night.

Current Mood: busy

yhlee

The keyboard's legit great but I replaced some of the keycaps (the black ones that let the glow shine through) because I cannot find the hecking function keys in the dark reliably; I don't often use them outside of music production, the lighting in this room sucks, and I have a horrifying number of typing keyboards where the function key locations are just enough offset to throw off touch-typing.

custom keycaps and space bar

I'm unreasonably happy with the space bar! The seller will 3D print custom images/text if you send an image so I made a design for hilarity. :)

twoeleven

the current doomcast for this area calls for 11-15" of snow followed by almost a quarter inch of ice. also bitter cold, with single-digit (°F) lows. i think we're going to hide indoors until spring.

we do have a (small, electric) snow blower, and the backup generator ran in its hamster wheel yesterday, so i know that's working. it's attached to the gas main, so we don't need to worry about feeding it.

hopefully, the last heavy snow and ice storm brought down all of the branches that were going to come down.

runpunkrun

Photograph of a tray of eye shadows in a rainbow of colors, text: Maybe He's Born With It (Maybe It's GlaxosEpsilonYor), by Punk.

Author: Punk
Fandom: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series
Pairing: Kirk & Spock friendship
Rating: Teen
Content notes: No standard notes apply.

Size: 1,600 words

Summary: It's maybe the first real conversation they've had where one of them isn't accusing the other of academic misconduct or not loving his mom.

Read it on the AO3 or here »

( Maybe He's Born With It (Maybe It's GlaxosEpsilonYor) )

A/N: Thanks to

garryowen for support and beta. Good to have you back, dog.

Reblog on Tumblr
Email | The Underground | AO3

damninteresting_link_feed

https://www.sciencealert.com/the-worlds-longest-running-lab-experiment-is-almost-100-years-old?utm_source=DamnInteresting

The World's Longest-Running Lab Experiment Is Almost 100 Years Old (from sciencealert.com)

https://www.sciencealert.com/the-worlds-longest-running-lab-experiment-is-almost-100-years-old?utm_source=DamnInteresting

fignewton posting in

stargateficrec

It's been insanely quiet here at the comm these last three weeks. Yes, that's partly my fault for not poking you all. Consider yourselves poked! (And me as well - I always try to rec at least a fic or three in January...)

First, I will properly thank

cassiope25 and

mific for their December fics. They each recced two, so we had four last month.

Here are the stats for 2025: We had 131 recs over the course of the year. Definitely a downward trend, but I think it's been a distracting year for all of us. I know I've been pretty distracted (hence this entry, three weeks later than it should be)! Here's to a more productive year, both in fandom and RL, in every sense of the word.

My fellow mod

thenightsfall and I would like to express our deep appreciation to all the reccers, ranging from the newbies to the incredibly generous regulars who keep coming back, month after month, to keep the Stargate spinning. We also salute the others members of the comm, who read the fics, leave feedback for both authors and reccers, spread the word of our comm to the further edges of the fandom, and are truly the reason why our community exists at all.

( Honor Roll of Reccers )

We've been very quiet this month, but hopefully this will remind some of you (and me!) to dust off your favorite links and recommend them to others. It's Open Reccers Month, so this is the best time to give it a try!

anais_pf posting in

thefridayfive

These questions were written by

destined_dreams.

1. What type of hair do you have? (Thin, Normal, Thick, Frizzy, etc.)

2. What color is your hair currently?

3. What colors have you dyed/highlighted your hair?

4. If you could dye your hair any color, what would it be?

5. What is your hair's length?

Copy and paste to your own journal, then reply to this post with a link to your answers. If your journal is private or friends-only, you can post your full answers in the comments below.

If you'd like to suggest questions for a future Friday Five, then do so on DreamWidth or LiveJournal. Old sets that were used have been deleted, so we encourage you to suggest some more!

phys_social_feed

https://phys.org/news/2026-01-young-adults-independence-family-gap.html

I met Lufang Chen, a 30-year-old bank clerk based in the Fujian province of China, in 2016, after she had married a man she initially turned down years earlier. Although she preferred to remain single, and he was not her type anyway, she gave in to avoid the label "leftover woman."

https://phys.org/news/2026-01-young-adults-independence-family-gap.html

phys_social_feed

https://phys.org/news/2026-01-ai-cultural-stagnation-longer-speculation.html

Generative AI was trained on centuries of art and writing produced by humans.

https://phys.org/news/2026-01-ai-cultural-stagnation-longer-speculation.html

damninteresting_link_feed

https://www.damninteresting.com/the-seizing-of-the-pueblo/?date=2026-01-22&utm_source=DamnInteresting

On this day in 1968, North Korean forces seized the USS Pueblo (from damninteresting.com)

https://www.damninteresting.com/the-seizing-of-the-pueblo/?date=2026-01-22&utm_source=DamnInteresting

olivermoss

* Heated Rivalry boys set to be Olympic Torch Bearers because at this point of course they are. link

* Here is an interview clip where Rachel talks about being angry at hockey and the books being a way to get her thoughts out. Based on things she said a while ago, well before the show, I got the impression that the sweetest, coziest scenes in hockey romance all are rooted in anger at the sport. That's one of things about the genre that's interesting to me.

While I love the Shane/Ilya books, it's Tough Guy that deals the most with the impacts of hockey culture. Love Shane and Ilya, but I think Tough Guy is very interesting book and there's a lot there to discuss.

marshallprojectemail_feed

https://mailchi.mp/themarshallproject/welcome-to-for-the-record-4783255

TMP

Dear Friends,

“You are not only responsible for what you say, but also for what you do not say.”
― Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

The legacy of Dr. King continues to live in every corner of society, including in journalism. As our team looks ahead to the rest of 2026, I take inspiration from his words. They keep us grounded in our vision of being America’s criminal justice newsroom — your go-to source for trustworthy, meaningful journalism that has an impact on the system.

In journalism, what we choose not to say can matter as much as what we do.

Our reporting is open-minded, fact-based and nonpartisan. Being nonpartisan does not mean remaining silent in the face of injustice. We approach our work from the perspective that the criminal justice system is broken and that journalism — done honestly and well — has tremendous power to drive change.

The media shapes public understanding not only through the stories it tells, but through those it leaves untold. Whose voices are elevated? Which communities receive sustained attention? These are questions our reporters and editors wrestle with every day. I strongly believe the answers are what set our nonprofit newsroom apart.

The news cycle was relentless in 2025, and there’s no sign of relief this year. This makes our responsibility clear. With the sources we’ve cultivated and the trust we’ve built, The Marshall Project is uniquely positioned to provide the depth, context and accountability this moment demands. It’s a responsibility we take seriously.

As we continue to chart our path for 2026 and beyond, I’d love to hear from you. What stories continue to command your attention? And, just as importantly, which stories are missing from the headlines? Because those are the ones we want to deliver.

With many thanks and appreciation,

Katrice Hardy
Chief Executive Officer

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Become a member of The Marshall Project by donating today.

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If you want to stop getting any email from The Marshall Project at all, you may unsubscribe.

https://mailchi.mp/themarshallproject/welcome-to-for-the-record-4783255

damninteresting_link_feed

https://nautil.us/the-promiscuous-lives-of-beluga-whales-1262657/?utm_source=DamnInteresting

The Promiscuous Lives of Beluga Whales (from nautil.us)

https://nautil.us/the-promiscuous-lives-of-beluga-whales-1262657/?utm_source=DamnInteresting

lydamorehouse

Your laser-eye loon art for the day is a faux Antifa Regimental Badge for the Northern Defenders, Loon Liberator Brigade.(warning: this may be AI generated. I never saw an artist attribution.)

It is such a shame that antifa is actually just a bunch of collective action groups because I would sign up for this brigade just for the gear! (Well, and the paycheck if that were real.)

So, yesterday in the Defendre le Nord regiment, I did a bunch of stuff that felt a little bit like nothing, but which is probably 100% mission critical. I have a friend who is acting as a drop-off point for folks who are donating things from out of state and I went over to their house yesterday to help them open packages, sort, and get stuff ready for delivery. Then, we drove together over to their contact's house and unloaded everything for distribution.

As we unloaded the last box, I asked the contact if there was specific immigrant owned/operated restaurant nearby that they knew was struggling and needed a couple of customers. Having gotten that info, we drove over and had lunch.

I should explain to folks from out of town what it is like to go into a Mexican restaurant right now. You don't just walk in. There's someone standing guard inside over a locked door, they unlock it long enough for you to slip in, and then they lock it up tight again. Somewhere on the door is posted a 4th amendment statement that says something to the effect that this business does not give permission for any search and seizure operations, including but not limited to the seizing of persons.

The atmosphere was a bit grim, but the food was amazing and I double-tipped the folks working there because holy shit none of this should be happening. They fucking kidnapped another child, y'all. None of this is right? But, that's fucking cruel beyond measure. (Not that that's news to them. They have no problem roughing up grandfathers either.)

I had hoped to join my singers again last night, but they have a tendency to gather exactly when I am making or eating dinner, so tonight I will have to try again. I just saw on Facebook that my mutual aid group, the Food Communists, are in desperate need for hands, so after I drop Mason off at his haircut (his partner is coming to town tomorrow!) I'm headed over there to help out for a couple of hours.

K. Also have to clean the house ocassionally, so I am off. Yesterday's dinner was knuefle soup, today's lunch: egg salad on an everything bun with cottage cheese! Fueling the revolution one meal at time!

Stay strong!

P.S. Vance is visiting us today, apparently. Wish us luck. They'll probably try to plant some aggitators to get violent.

amaebi

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

osprey_archer

I’ve been enjoying Dorothy Lathrop’s books so much that I checked the university catalog to see if they had any other books by her, and discovered that she illustrated a book of poems by Sara Teasdale! Teasdale has been one of my favorites since we read “There Will Come Soft Rains” in high school, so of course I had to give it a go.

I’m working my way through the book slowly, a poem a night. I ought to save this one till next October, but I haven’t the patience, so here it is.

Late October
By Sara Teasdale

I found ten kinds of wild flower growing
On a steely day that looked like snowing:
Queen Anne’s lace, and blue heal-all,
A buttercup, straggling, grown too tall,
A rusty aster, a chicory flower–
Ten I found in half an hour.
The air was blurred with dry leaves flying,
Gold and scarlet, gaily dying.
A squirrel ran off with a nut in his mouth,
And always, always, flying south,
Twittering, the birds went by,
Flickering sharp against the sky,
Some in great bows, some in wedges,
Some in bands with wavering edges;
Flocks and flocks were flying over
With the north wind for their drover.
“Flowers,” I said, “you’d better go,
Surely it’s coming on for snow,”–
They did not heed me, nor heed the birds,
Twittering thin, far-fallen words–
The others through of to-morrow, but they
Only remembered yesterday.

rebeccmeister

On Tuesday I had some errands to run around campus, and noticed that one of the banners hanging up to advertise our institution said some version of FrancisCAN (we are a Catholic Franciscan institution).

It just got me wondering, is there anything FrancisCANNOT? :^D

This is actually one of the best slogans I've seen here. And that actually winds up being crucial to consider, because one of the things a recent marketing study identified for us is that we haven't been as effective as we need to be at our shameless acts of self-promotion. I'm pretty interested in helping the institution succeed, so this matters, a lot.

What I like about FrancisCAN is that it lets us highlight everything we teach and enable our students and graduates to do. Which is a whole lot of different and excellent things, ahem.

scifirenegade

Caved in. Oops.

Can already tell it's gonna be one of Those (TM): exoticism and the racism edition.

I'll say it, the intros that go "Actor So-and-So is Character Such-and-Such" and then there's a little scene of the character are awesome.

The Grand Vampire actor is Count Merlin of The Charlatan! Not really.

No idea what Jacques (René Cresté) shtick is, but Placide is very Passepartout.

Of course, the Vietnamese woman is too primitive and needs good ol' western reeducation! Bah! "It was of its time" my arse, we never left the Dark Ages, our eyes have just grown accustomed to the darkness.

Placide and Rosette (his fiancé) are wild! Great match, they're ride or die for one another.

I know it's because they're both played by white actors (and asian women are often stereotyped into being demure and therefore "perfect wife material") but I'm impressed that Jacques and Tih Minh are an item.

The soundtrack is pretty good, even when it goes all musique concréte (think Delia Derbyshire). Usually it's out-of-place, but not here. Feuillade's serials are wild.

I wrote "Severe lack of Musidora" and yeah. Where are you, darling, we miss you.

The whole sequence of Rih Minh being kidnapped + the aftermath were very well shot.

Dolores (who works for the baddies, a doctor and an Indian guy, because of course 🙄) is a mind reader?? And can compell people to do whatever she wants?? I don't think she's into it tbh

I also wrote "René Cresté fine as hell". He isn't that much in the ep, and his character at the mo is a nothing-burger, but yes.

Pretty sure Venenos (Les Vampires) mucked aeound in this lab.

There was a guy in the beginning called Stone that was found with no memory and no ability to speak and the baddies were using him??

So Jacques is brooding, and it's all very reminiscent of Jud— what the hell ghostly figures on the beach?? Is this The Seventh Seal??

Blackmail! Another very well done sequence. That zoom on the date. The acting. And the photo is gone!

So, Jacques is one of those white guys who go places and take stuff. Granted, what he got was a copy of a book with a note that may be useful if Europe goes to war (WW1 reference), but still. The baddies crave it for their unknown nefarious deeds.

Placide, no! That's an historical artifact!

Placide, no! I know Kistna (the evil Indian guy) is evil, but no need to basically call him a slur!

So, they left Tih Minh at the gate like a stray kitten, and she's acting oddly, because the baddies gave her the ~~blue rose~~ potion of forgetfulness. So she can't even speak. Just like Stone!

Jacques, no! Don't yell at her!

It's less of a cliffhanger, and more of a gothic version of a Yevgeni Bauer movie.

So far, pretty standard Feuillade.

Current Mood: anxious

phys_social_feed

https://phys.org/news/2026-01-reveals-dread-decision.html

A new study reveals that people are far more emotionally affected by anticipating negative future outcomes than by imagining positive ones, helping to explain why many individuals avoid uncertainty and prefer decisions to be resolved sooner rather than later.

https://phys.org/news/2026-01-reveals-dread-decision.html

languagehat_feed

Posted by languagehat

https://languagehat.com/starkey-comics/

https://languagehat.com/?p=19152

We’ve discussed Ryan Starkey before, but I recently took a look at his website, Starkey Comics (“Colourful images about culture and language”), and was astonished at the breadth of his coverage. Check out Etymologies of Endonyms and Exonyms, which currently includes The etymologies of Georgia, Georgia, and Sakartvelo; The Etymology of Croatia and Hrvatska; The Etymology of Myanmar and Burma; and The Etymology of Japan and Nippon — I’m sure holes can be picked in details here and there, but it’s so nice to see etymologies laid out in such pleasing graphic form, and his discussion of Burma/Myanmar is exemplary:

Burma was the earlier exonym for this southeast Asian nation in English, and is derived from the informal, spoken form of the endonym “Bama”.
“Bama” evolved from the more formal/literary form of the endonym, “Mranma”.
In 1989 the official English name of the country changed to “Myanmar”, a Latinised form of Mranma”, although “Burma” remains in use in many places, including the adjective form and name of the main language (Burmese).
Both “Burma” and “Myanmar” contain the letter “r”, despite being borrowed from Burmese words without an “r” in those positions. This is because Burma was a British colony, and majority of the accents of England are non-rhotic: the letter “r” is always silent when not before a vowel, and is simply there to modify the preceding vowel.
So an “r” was added to the spelling of both simply to show that the preceding vowel was long, not because it was ever intended to be pronounced.

There’s Austronesian words for ‘two’, Indo-European Words for Ten, The Etymology of Every Toki Pona Word, and much, much more. Enjoy!

https://languagehat.com/starkey-comics/

https://languagehat.com/?p=19152

js_thrill

Today's song is Love Cuts the Strings

Watch on YouTube

It turns out we have hit a song where I have heard this song before, many times, much sooner than March. During the early part of the pandemic, the Mountain Goats released a two volume (later four volume, and later still five volume) live session recording of the band playing (they had also live-streamed the performance over the internet so people could watch at a time when concerts and tours had been canceled and live music was a real rarity). I've listened to Jordan Lake Volumes 1 and 2 hundreds of times, maybe more than a thousand, and Love Cuts The Strings is right between two of my favorite tracks on volume 2: My Little Panda and International Small Arms Traffic Blues. The former is a touching song about a parent's love for their child (I had a vague memory that it was about Darnielle's son, specifically, but couldn't confirm this), and the latter is part of the Alpha couple series.

And yet, despite being sandwiched between two songs that I listened to a huge number of times, this song hasn't stuck with me. Darnielle says in the annotations that it is his favorite of the songs off the 7" record that it was first on, and that at the time, his faster songs were his better songs. As you can tell from my preference for My Little Panda and International Small Arms Traffic Blues, I don't necessarily feel that way (though he also says that he doesn't think the faster = better correlation continued for long after that particular 7" album).

Current Music: Love Cuts the Strings — The Mountain Goats

nineveh_uk

Although January doesn't usually come with threats to invade Greenland. It's a mad, mad world... I have mostly been spending the new year feeling January-ish; it's wet and grey here and I've had a lingering bug that has not inclined me to do anything much more than look forward to the Winter Olympics* and spring in general, although I've enjoued my art class starting again. I would like some snow and have not seen more than a sprinkling. But I have read a couple of books worth noting:

The Burning Stones, by Antti Tuomainen. Not Nordic noir, but a comic crime story in which a middle-aged sauna stove company employee finds herself having to investigate the murder of a colleague. Thoroughly entertaining, though I had to decide it was set in "no lawyer AU world" as the sensible, competent protagonist would surely have rung a solicitor by the end of the first few chapters if only they existed. Introduced me to the word bumlet for small towels one sits on in saunas, which since it scarcely seems to exist on the internet, I can only assume that the translator picked up from the Anglophone community in Helsinki (or possibly invented independently).

Advent, by Gunnar Gunnarsson. Every year, in the middle of winter, farmhand Benedikt goes on a journey to rescue sheep that are lost in the mountains. Fantastic landscape descriptions, there's a real sense of time and place and the arduous nature of the journey and why he does it, although there is also the reader's inevitable moment of realisation, 'Oh, is this meant to be allegory and the shepherd Jesus?' On reflection after finishing it, I think it's meant to prompt the association, but not intended as allegory, other things are also going on, not least that the book is based on a true story. There is something of an early non-fiction novel about it. The afterward, interesting as it is, does not mention that Gunnar went on a 1940 lecture tour of Germany and met Hitler. Presumably, it was supposed that this would get in the way of the heartwarming Christmas novella marketing.

Over Christmas itself, I re-read Moreta, Dragonlady of Pern for the first time since I was about 15. It had less sex than I remembered (possibly because I first read it at 13, when sex in any book was remarkable), and on adult reflection is more of a tragedy brought about by class prejudice among dragonriders. Although post-COVID, there was some interesting elements of the flu pandemic that rang true in a way I hadn't previously recognised - at the point of writing, McCaffrey had lived through three, if none so deadly as the Spanish flu she was born just six years after.

*No, I have not seen Heated Rivalry. IMO ice hockey is the most boring Olympic sport, beating even curling, which takes some doing since even actual bowls (world championships currently being televised, I am not watching) is more exiting than curling. Still, I am happy for the fandom.