Three Metro notes.
Mar. 20th, 2026 10:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hannah1. Paying based on distance traveled rather than a flat fee per ride doesn’t encourage the perception of public transit as a social equalizer.
2. It’s still public transit.
3. A couple maps to orient on cardinal directions wouldn’t go amiss, though.
2. It’s still public transit.
3. A couple maps to orient on cardinal directions wouldn’t go amiss, though.
The cost of literacy [medieval hist]
Mar. 20th, 2026 10:33 pmsidereaI knew that other contemporaneous cultures than those of Europe had unfathomably higher numbers of books than Europeans did, but I didn't know about this in retrospect obvious reason why:
2026 Mar 19: Dwarkesh Patel feat. Ada Palmer [DwarkeshPatel YT]: "Why Medieval Books Cost as Much as a House" (1 min, 7 sec):
2026 Mar 19: Dwarkesh Patel feat. Ada Palmer [DwarkeshPatel YT]: "Why Medieval Books Cost as Much as a House" (1 min, 7 sec):
Without papyrus, what you're writing on is a dead sheep. And if you think of the price of a head of lettuce and the price of a leather jacket, you're understanding the difference between a sheet of papyrus and writing on a dead sheep. So every page of a medieval book is as expensive as that much of a leather jacket. And a medieval book hand written costs as much as a house.* Three hundred thousand. It's been thirteen years and I am still not remotely over that fact. Every time I encounter it anew, my SCA persona gets acrophobic trying to imagine a library that big and has to sit down and put her head between her knees so she doesn't pass out.
And so to have a library is to be not just rich but mega rich. So only the wealthiest cities contain anybody who has a library. The great library of the University of Paris, the library from Europe's perspective, has 600 books.
There's definitely more than 600 books in this room. Every kiosk at an airport selling Dan Brown novels has more than 600 books. This is nothing.
And at the same time as that, in the Middle East, sultans have libraries of over a thousand books or 5,000 books. There are libraries in Sub-Saharan Africa with thousands of books.* There are libraries in China with thousands of books. Because they in China have cheap paper and rice paper. The Middle East has papyrus.
Europe, and only Europe, is writing on a leather jacket.
Massachusetts not the next? [Ω, MA/US]
Mar. 20th, 2026 09:34 pmsidereaThe previously expected ICE enforcement surge never materialized. Curious.
I wonder if this just means they're short-staffed. Or perhaps distracted.
(I also wonder if somebody made a judgment call not to try what they did in MN in MA, but have largely rejected the notion. It would not be to anybody's advantage if they did, on either side, but I'm not seeing a lot of good judgment in evidence anywhere.)
I wonder if this just means they're short-staffed. Or perhaps distracted.
(I also wonder if somebody made a judgment call not to try what they did in MN in MA, but have largely rejected the notion. It would not be to anybody's advantage if they did, on either side, but I'm not seeing a lot of good judgment in evidence anywhere.)
There sure is a lot of Heated Rivalry fic being recommended every day
Mar. 21st, 2026 08:29 amconulyAnd every one of those recs is better than the books. Well, I've shared my opinion on the books, the problems and characterization are insufficiently balanced for dual viewpoints.
But anyway, that's not what I'm thinking about. What I'm thinking about is Fabian and his generically shitty parents who clearly don't care about him very much. ( Read more... )
But anyway, that's not what I'm thinking about. What I'm thinking about is Fabian and his generically shitty parents who clearly don't care about him very much. ( Read more... )
gingicat has posted links to the obituary and charitable donation information
Mar. 20th, 2026 06:16 amOccurrence.
Mar. 19th, 2026 10:54 pmhannahIn DC, safe and well-fed on ramen, my friend and I waited for the bus to her place. I looked around in the full night of a city I’ve rarely been to, in a neighborhood I’d never visited, and couldn’t shake an odd feeling.
Then it hit me, and I had to say, “Holy shit.” I’d needed a specific spot for something in a novel, and it’d looked familiar because she’d taken me to a spot just around the corner.
It wasn’t quite deja vu. More likes dream where you know the building already, even though you’ve never been.
Then it hit me, and I had to say, “Holy shit.” I’d needed a specific spot for something in a novel, and it’d looked familiar because she’d taken me to a spot just around the corner.
It wasn’t quite deja vu. More likes dream where you know the building already, even though you’ve never been.
Benn Jordan plays the stock market [econ, tech, dataviz, music]
Mar. 19th, 2026 12:46 amsidereaJust hit play.
(All about the sound, but visuals also nice.)
2026 Mar 18: Benn Jordan [BennJordan YT]: "I'm here to disrupt the finance synthesizer scene."
(All about the sound, but visuals also nice.)
2026 Mar 18: Benn Jordan [BennJordan YT]: "I'm here to disrupt the finance synthesizer scene."
Accounting.
Mar. 17th, 2026 09:09 pmhannahTime I would've spent writing this evening was spent on cooking risotto for lunch and filling out tax forms as best I could. I opened the document and poked at it a bit to feel something and say I'd at least poked at it, and that helped me relax from the taxes enough I can think about doing something else with the night. Not much, but something else.
It's probably just going to be a couple days' of Stardew Valley, though.
It's probably just going to be a couple days' of Stardew Valley, though.
(no subject)
Mar. 19th, 2026 12:29 pmconulyThem: Go look at any official communication from a company. Have you ever received a ConEd bill that says, “Ya should of paid ya bill on time, now we gonna haveta cut off ya powa”? Of course not. Why? Because that is not standard English, and it would reflect poorly on the company.
Me: I take it you've never called ConEd on the phone in NYC? Because, whew, that'd disabuse you of this fiction pretty quick. Them and National Grid, wow. And I'm not even talking about their representatives, I'm talking about their recordings! Never heard such a thick NYC accent in my life, and I grew up here!
Me: I take it you've never called ConEd on the phone in NYC? Because, whew, that'd disabuse you of this fiction pretty quick. Them and National Grid, wow. And I'm not even talking about their representatives, I'm talking about their recordings! Never heard such a thick NYC accent in my life, and I grew up here!
(no subject)
Mar. 18th, 2026 08:54 amconuly"My name is Ozymandias, King of Things!
Look upon my Works, ye Mighty, and Repair!"
Everything inside remains. Round the tools
Of that colossal Bench, all arranged
The shiny level and sander are neatly put away.
This is the best comment in that thread, nothing will top it.
"The best have strong convictions, while the worst / Are full of resignation and are sad.
[...]
And if a lion slouches toward Bethlehem, / That's 'cause it's native to the Levant."
Gosh, I wish.
*********************************
( Read more... )
Look upon my Works, ye Mighty, and Repair!"
Everything inside remains. Round the tools
Of that colossal Bench, all arranged
The shiny level and sander are neatly put away.
This is the best comment in that thread, nothing will top it.
"The best have strong convictions, while the worst / Are full of resignation and are sad.
[...]
And if a lion slouches toward Bethlehem, / That's 'cause it's native to the Levant."
Gosh, I wish.
( Read more... )
Would-be Caesars should always be worried about getting stabbed in the back. - Early March 02026
Mar. 16th, 2026 05:29 pmsilveradeptLet's begin with this: the fish doorbell is active again! See fish on the camera, push the button to have the keeper go and let them through.
A lovely profile on Diane Duane, who has been in fandom and making fandom and having her own fandom for many decades at this point.
Bruce Campbell, star of Evil Dead, Brisco County, Jr., Bubba Ho-Tep, and frequent guest star on Xena: Warrior Princess, among other roles, revealed a cancer diagnosis that was going to make his tour for a new movie come up short. Gods-cursed cancer. Here's hoping Bruce can beat it and the treatments are effective.
Permission to use more modern music in figure skating programs has meant an entire series of headaches to obtain copyright clearances to use the music, because skating has not yet worked out appropriate blanket licensing permissions, I guess, with all the relevant countries and possible artists. I'm interested as to why copyright holders and/or companies would reject the use of their music during skating programs or the Olympics, outside of "this person using this music is not someone we want associated with the music."
Because the United States is not a safe place to be, nor to try and enter and exit legally, the Ig Nobel Prizes have moved their award ceremony to Zurich, Switzerland. The Annals of Improbable Research have found something far too probable, about the way that U.S. immigration is treating everyone, so they went somewhere safer.
( And speaking of ignoble people... )
Last for tonight, Black Africans are everywhere in history, including in places where the average studier has their focus pinned down to the whiter side of Europe, instead of the greater world Latin Christendom interacted with.
And a searchable database of ukiyo-e prints through several eras of Japanese carving and printmaking.
(Materials viaadrian_turtle, azurelunatic, boxofdelights, cmcmck, conuly, cosmolinguist, elf, finch, firecat, jadelennox, jenett, jjhunter, kaberett, lilysea, oursin, rydra_wong, snowynight, sonia, the_future_modernes, thewayne, umadoshi, vass, the ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
meta_warehouse community, little_details, and anyone else I've neglected to mention or who I suspect would rather not be on the list. If you want to know where I get the neat stuff, my reading list has most of it.)
A lovely profile on Diane Duane, who has been in fandom and making fandom and having her own fandom for many decades at this point.
Bruce Campbell, star of Evil Dead, Brisco County, Jr., Bubba Ho-Tep, and frequent guest star on Xena: Warrior Princess, among other roles, revealed a cancer diagnosis that was going to make his tour for a new movie come up short. Gods-cursed cancer. Here's hoping Bruce can beat it and the treatments are effective.
Permission to use more modern music in figure skating programs has meant an entire series of headaches to obtain copyright clearances to use the music, because skating has not yet worked out appropriate blanket licensing permissions, I guess, with all the relevant countries and possible artists. I'm interested as to why copyright holders and/or companies would reject the use of their music during skating programs or the Olympics, outside of "this person using this music is not someone we want associated with the music."
Because the United States is not a safe place to be, nor to try and enter and exit legally, the Ig Nobel Prizes have moved their award ceremony to Zurich, Switzerland. The Annals of Improbable Research have found something far too probable, about the way that U.S. immigration is treating everyone, so they went somewhere safer.
( And speaking of ignoble people... )
Last for tonight, Black Africans are everywhere in history, including in places where the average studier has their focus pinned down to the whiter side of Europe, instead of the greater world Latin Christendom interacted with.
And a searchable database of ukiyo-e prints through several eras of Japanese carving and printmaking.
(Materials via
adrian_turtle, azurelunatic, boxofdelights, cmcmck, conuly, cosmolinguist, elf, finch, firecat, jadelennox, jenett, jjhunter, kaberett, lilysea, oursin, rydra_wong, snowynight, sonia, the_future_modernes, thewayne, umadoshi, vass, the meta_warehouse community, little_details, and anyone else I've neglected to mention or who I suspect would rather not be on the list. If you want to know where I get the neat stuff, my reading list has most of it.)