ceoln @ceoln@qoto.org

Review of "Instant Zen" (5 stars): Pointless https://bookwyrm.social/user/ceoln/review/802022

Review of "Death at Sea" (3 stars): It was... okay? https://bookwyrm.social/user/ceoln/review/1104782

good morning mastodon

We’re pleased to announce The Dead Man and Other Horror Stories, which gathers Gene Wolfe’s forays into dark spaces, including six never-before-collected tales, and with a dust jacket by Tom Kidd. Full details and preorder: https://subterraneanpress.com/newsannouncing-the-dead-man-and-other-horror-stories-by-gene-wolfe/

One of the simplest and best pieces of advice we've seen on getting started up on #Mastodon, from @fields:

"tl;dr: if you don’t follow a bunch of people, at least 100–200, pretty quickly, you’re likely to have a bad experience. Use your local and federated timelines, and hashtags for topics you’re interested in, to find people to follow."

Read his whole post here for more tips on how to find people to follow:
https://fields.medium.com/a-brief-introduction-to-mastodon-587f36b6ba20

It appears that there's a somewhat ugly bug - I don't know the permutations that cause it, but the symptoms are that accounts are "silently" following hashtags - by that I mean that the account owner isn't intending to follow hashtags, and the home timeline becomes more and more polluted. Visiting the list of followed hashtags appears to correct the issue automatically, but I don't yet know why it happens.

Thor's Helmet - NGC 2359 - From Rolf Wahl Olsen - https://flic.kr/p/dMQknj

Streak-headed White-eye

A small, slim-billed songbird with a green upperside, yellow-washed underparts with green sides, and extensive white streaks on the head. South Sulawesi form shows a scaled throat; all other forms have an unmarked pale throat. Juveniles show a green-toned crown and a paler underside. Pairs or small groups inhabit montane forest and edges, frequenting mixed-species flocks. Confined to Sulawesi. Unmistakable: the only warbler-like songbird with abundant white head streaking. Short, rich warbled song includes repeated phrases like “twit-tiwit…” interspersed with “chu-chu-chu” notes. Call is a soft “chu-chu-chu.

Link: https://ebird.org/species/sthwhe1
Photo Location: Indonesia

In 1999 to 2000 I was going through a very rough patch in my life. In the span of a few years, I'd gotten married, lost a parent, birthed a child, gotten divorced, changed careers, and relocated 3,000 miles away from everything and everyone I knew. What with the state of things, I didn't get to see Galaxy Quest when it was first released.

Finally, on a day I was feeling particularly low, and shortly before the movie left the theaters, I canceled work and took myself out to a midday matinée.

I was the *only* person in a vast theater, of a size that no one builds anymore, sitting and waiting for the lights to go down. At one point, I turned and peered up at the projectionist's booth. I saw a shadowy figure moving back and forth behind the window, bending and straightening. This was in the days before automated, digital films. The Phantom Menace had been released digitally in 1999, but the equipment to show such films was extremely expensive and most theaters hadn't converted yet; "projectionist" was still a real job.

While I was looking, the figure paused, strode to the window and peered back at me, then disappeared quickly.

I turned back around and continued to fidget and ponder the misfit pieces of my life.

At the top of the aisle behind me, the theater door swung open and banged loudly on the wall. The projectionist strode down the aisle toward me, a tall barrel-shaped man with a thick beard and glasses. My first thought was that the matinee was canceled due to low turnout, and I'd be getting a refund. Just as I'd resigned myself to that, the marching projectionist shouted out in a booming voice,

"WELCOME to your PRIVATE viewing oooooooof GALAXY QUEST!!!"

He stopped in front of my row, and I saw that he had an *armload* of STUFF. One by one, he began presenting each thing to me, and as the pile in his arms dwindled, the one in my lap grew.

"As our SPECIAL VIP Galaxy Quest GUEST today, YOU are entitled to..."

"- A commemorative t-shirt!"
"- A poster suitable for framing!"
"- A limited edition refrigerator magnet!"
"- A button to pin to your lapel!"

The list and the shwag went on. With every ridiculous item, I laughed harder and harder, until there were tears leaking out of the corners of my eyes.

Then he bowed and shouted, "WE HOPE YOU ENJOY THE SHOW!" and turned on his heel to march back up the aisle and out the exit door.

Alas, of all the shwag only the magnet has stood the test of time. But the humor and kindness of the unknown projectionist lives on.

#storytelling #GalaxyQuest

I've studied the lead up to the Holocaust seriously. I'm lucky to have met survivors and am committed to preserving their memories.

So let me state this plainly: Republican policy toward trans people is genocidal. And silence from Republicans who don't directly support this policy is complicity.

No pasaran.

https://www.businessinsider.com/florida-anti-trans-bill-court-custody-kids-gender-affirming-care-2023-3

Just now Samsung phone shot

#phone #photograph #photographer #moon #spring #sky #tree #silentsunday #image

@ajsadauskas @mekkaokereke When Conservatives get all hyberbolic about the public health care system saying "Do you want the gov't making your health care decisions?" I always say I'll take elected gov't making those decisions any day over a private insurance adjuster.

We all know that #VideoGames are fun, but can they:

Make you cry?

Tell you a powerful love story?

Make you think differently about war? About the environment? About your own choices?

This #Book examines the relationship between gaming and storytelling:

https://thevideogamelibrary.org/book/the-greatest-stories-ever-played-video-games-and-the-evolution-of-storytelling

#AlanWake #Bioshock #Celeste #ChronoTrigger #FinalFantasyVII #Firewatch #GodOfWar #GrimFandango #Hades #HalfLife #Horizon #Journey #MassEffect #Persona #TheLastOfUs #Books #Bookstodon @bookstodon #ToTheMoon #Undertale

Walking through Borough market on a January evening was such a liminal, almost eerie experience.

Edits in Snapseed
Taken January 2023 with Nikon D3100.

#Photography #Photo #Snapseed #London #BoroughMarket #NightPhotography #LiminalSpaces #NighttimeLondon

#silentsunday

"Scientism" -- as it is defined -- is a funny concept. Semantically, it just means "to hold a worldview based in science". Definitionally, it's often used to mean "excessive belief in the power of scientific knowledge and techniques".

Can you imagine telling a Christian they have "excessive belief in the power of the Jesus"? Do you know what they would say?

They would tell you that they have exactly as much belief in the power of the Jesus as Christianity tells them they should have.

Now apply that to the idea of Scientism. Understand that one of the most basic tenets of science is to NOT have immutable belief in the power of scientific knowledge and techniques. It's foundational.

"Scientism" -- in this sense -- has been defined by people who neither value nor understand science. I say we take it back.

I am a Scientist.

I'm posting this partially to acknowledge progress and to thank all who made it happen, but also to encourage those who get discouraged and think that one individual can't change anything big.
In 2018, I received my Census code in the mail. I'm totally blind and had difficulty performing OCR on the code, so I asked the Census Help Line if I could have the code texted to me. They first said that would be fine, but then said they couldn't do it for "security reasons" a standard phrase that is often used to fob people off.
After I issued a media release, being interviewed by several. media organisations and the Minister being asked to comment, a senior official from Statistics NZ actually came to our house on a Sunday afternoon to read me my code, which was absurd.
I started a Parliamentary petition. I appeared before a Select Committee. The Committee was sympathetic. I got a personal apology from the Minister sent to me as an inaccessible PDF image so they had to send it a second time. But in the end, I got a commitment that yes, blind people count and this debacle would never happen again.
Here we are in 2023 and its census time again. This year, I went to the fully accessible website, completed a fully accessible form to get my code texted to me, and have now completed the fully accessible form. I know this wouldn't have happened had I not taken a stand.
So when you think you can't change things for the better, please don't sell yourself short. Each of us have the ability, and I maintain we have the duty, to make good change in the world.
Thank you to all those involved in Government at all levels for getting it so right this time.