daphneblithe | Reading

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But A.I. language generation is a statistical trick we can play on ourselves precisely because language is a self-contained system of signs that don’t require any outside referent to function. If any of that last sentence sounded familiar, maybe you were also exposed to European post-structuralist theory at some point, probably in college in the 90s. Is some knowledge of Derrida an inoculant against slopper thinking?

Rusty Foster is signified.

As someone who was, in fact, exposed to an introductory course on Derrida — albeit in senior high school in the early 2000s — this definitely made me 🤔

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spikedluv

I hit Price Chopper while I was downtown and got in a walk around the park. I visited my aunt (who woke up enough for me to show her some recent photos) and stopped in to see mom on the way home.

On the way home from mom's I picked up chicken quarters for supper o_O, stopped at the library to return a book (and got a surprise book that had just arrived!), hit the bank drive-thru, and filled my gas tank. I also did a load of laundry (washed, dried AND folded!), hand-washed dishes and did a load in the dishwasher, baked chicken for the dogs’ meals, scooped kitty litter, and showered.

I started the next Duncan Kincaid book. I forgot to mention that I recently purchased the Thunderbolts DVD, so I hope to watch that again at some point.

Temps started out at 61.7(F) and reached 88.0. We’re hitting hotter temps again. Today started off hazy (again, I’m sure it’s smoke) and then cleared so that we had blue sky and full on sun.

Mom Update:

Mom was doing better today than yesterday! ( more back here )

alisx

Anyway we watched Kpop Demon Hunters late night and man but if it didn’t remind me of this article . . .

RE: https://alis.me/x/the-shame/

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alisx

The thing is, the tech bros haven’t just turned right. Many of them are filled with rage — that special kind of rage exhibited by men who enjoy vast privilege and can’t abide any suggestion that their privilege is unjustified.

Paul Krugman on billionaire bros.

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spikedluv

I hit Walmart while I was downtown and got in a walk around the park. I did a load of laundry (washed, dried AND folded!!), hand-washed dishes, placed an on-line order, scooped kitty litter, and shaved.

I stopped at the library to talk to the librarian about a series we’re both reading and picked up a book. (It’s one I requested on a whim and I hope my interest lasts long enough for me to actually read it.) I also finished the Amelia Peabody book.

Imgur was not loading properly for me today, which is annoying because I have so many pics I want to share!!

Temps started out at 63.5(F) and reached 84.0. I realized this morning that the haze and overcast skies of the past few days have probably actually been smoke coming in from the fires in Canada. I really frelling hate climate change and the fact that so many people are still denying that it’s a problem.

Mom Update:

Mom was doing okay today. Better than I expected after last night’s phone call, but not as good as she could be. ( more back here )

alisx

For everyone who enjoys reading the Dark Souls wiki more than actually playing Dark Souls, these books are for you!

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alisx

Was working on a maybe-never-to-see-the-light-of-day hand-coded website project recently, and for Reasons had to go look for things like pink leopard print repeating website background and . . . apparently those websites that used to host that kinda stuff just don’t exist any more? Devastating. And then, a couple of days later, this came up on my feed. Perfect!

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fadedwings

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spikedluv

I had a chiropractic appointment this morning and got in a walk around the park. Later it was off to the fair! I was conflicted about going, but I had a good time. (Pictures to come, hopefully.) Thankfully it was overcast all day because even without the sun shining right on us it was hot.

I brought home BBQ from the fair so didn’t have to make supper. I was so tired when I got home I barely had the energy to hand-wash dishes, scoop kitty litter, and shower.

I got a free hot tea at McD’s! I also read a little more in Amelia Peabody and had time before the fair to type in another 1,600 words on my fic! (That’s over 5,000 typed in now, so about half done.)

Temps started out at 62.2(F) and reached 80. I’m sure it was hotter than that, but maybe it’s because I wasn’t sitting on a shaded porch enjoying a breeze, lol!

Mom Update:

I did not see mom today, but we messaged (I sent her pics of the events) and I called her in the evening to check in.( more back here )

firethesound

A pretty successful week, wordcount-wise! Life is still pretty busy and hectic so while the words are flowing, writing time is still in frustratingly short short supply. I've been trying to write at least a little bit every single day, but I still ended up with a couple of zero days this week because sometimes the only available time I have comes at the very end of the day when my brain feels like a boiled potato. Telling myself that all words are good words, and every little bit gets me that much closer to finished!

New words this week : 6935 words which is awesome! About half this wordcount came from a single day, which is even more awesome. It's the best feeling when a new idea just clicks, and the words fly out onto the page.

WIPs worked on this week : 2, with no new WIPs (yay!)

The Old Guard

☆ food truck au : 6165 words which brings the total to 7156 words and I guess I'm not finishing this one in the 5k I thought I would lol. It is pretty close to finished, though, so I think it'll be around 10k (assuming I keep it at a T rating, if I bump it up to E then obviously that'll add an extra scene and take a little longer). Absolutely delighted with it, it's the sort of silly nonsense that I used to write a lot of and it's just so much fun.

☆ Redamancy : 320 words which brings the total to 5872 words. I didn't actually work on this, but I did some writing for the food truck au that started to take it in a direction that I didn't feel really worked for it, and I think I can reuse some of the dialogue in this one so I just copy/pasted all of it over to sort out later.

spikedluv

What I Just Finished Reading: Since last Wednesday I have read/finished reading: Secret in the Storm & Clue in the Cottage & Message in the Manuscript & Trouble in the Theater & Evidence in the Espresso & Christmas in the Country & V in the Valentine (The Inn at Holiday Bay) by Kathi Daley.

What I am Currently Reading: Lord of the Silent (An Amelia Peabody Mystery) by Elizabeth Peters.

What I Plan to Read Next: I’ll probably finish the Holiday Bay series (there are only two more currently available) and then start the next Duncan Kincaid book.

Book 82 of 2025: Evidence in the Espresso (The Inn at Holiday Bay) (Kathi Daley)

I enjoyed this book. Mostly. ( spoilers )

I did enjoy parts of this book a lot, but I'm going to give it three hearts.

♥♥♥

Book 83 of 2025: Christmas in the Country (The Inn at Holiday Bay) (Kathi Daley)

This was a good book! And I didn't get as annoyed with some of the author's choices as I have in the last couple of books. ( spoilers )

I enjoyed this book and am giving it four hearts.

♥♥♥♥

Book 84 of 2025: V in the Valentine (The Inn at Holiday Bay) (Kathi Daley)

Good book. ( spoilers )

♥♥♥♥♥

DNF'd: Paws, Claws, and Curses (A Purr-fect Relic Cozy Mystery) by DeAnna Drake

spikedluv

This was almost a no-shopping day. At least, no shopping while I was downtown, but I got in a walk around the park while I was there. I ran an errand for Pip again to pick up parts for the garage (I went directly from downtown, but it was still about an hour drive round-trip). I got to mom’s just a little bit later than usual.

I hit Price Chopper for mom, and while I was there stopped in to the hair salon to get more shampoo. I did a load of laundry, hand-washed dishes, cut up chicken for the dogs’ meals, and scooped kitty litter. I grilled baby back ribs for Pip’s supper.

I keep forgetting to mention that the deer have already started to eat the pumpkins! Deer, they're not ripe yet! Pip had to put cages around a few larger ones to save them for us, lol!

I read more in Amelia Peabody.

Temps started out at 57.2(F) and reached 83.8.

Mom Update:

Mom was not feeling great today. ( more back here )

alisx

While telling average people it’s their own fault for being exploited for being on [walled garden social media] sites, tech people continue to make absolutely unusable increasingly esoteric piles of frameworks and workflows and saying they are “easy” and “simple”. If you want to claim anybody can learn to use your software then you should have to put it in front of a dozen average public library patrons on a Saturday and teach them to use it in under 40 minutes. While children run around screaming.

Anarchae on blogging in 2025.

alis.me, in several incarnations, has run on WordPress ever since I ditched my homebrew system circa 2009. In the last few years, WordPress has gotten increasingly bloated and unusable, thanks to the creep of JavaScript-based paradigms into things like Gutenberg and the updated theme system. So every now and again I look around, trying to find something to replace it with, and come up with . . . nothing. Just . . . nothing, pretty much for the reasons Anarchae articulates.

I’m fortunate in that my long history with PHP in general and WordPress specifically means I run a whole bunch of blog-specific customizations for it. So instead of having to download an entire bloated plugin to implement, say, an askbox or OpenGraph meta tags or whatever, with all the associated config screens and “Pay to unlock Pro!!!” bullshit, I can just knock together a few lines of script myself. Similarly, my theme uses the old template system, with only the lightest sprinkling of JavaScript and minimal third-party resource loads. But gosh if it isn’t hard work to keep it like that . . .

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alisx

There are others in the feeds who will never go MAGA, no matter what. They’re not necessarily the most educated or the most politically engaged. They’re not defined by their demographics or their stated beliefs.

They’re the ones who have something the MAGA-susceptible lack: a genuine comfort with complexity and nuance, an ability to tolerate uncertainty, and a fundamental respect for other people’s humanity. They don’t need to believe they’re special or superior. They have the same insecurities others have, but they don’t blame others for them. They don’t need enemies to blame for their problems. They don’t need simple answers to complicated questions. [. . .]

They’re the people who can say “I don’t know” without feeling diminished. They’re the ones who can admit they were wrong without feeling attacked. They’re the ones who can see others succeed without feeling threatened.

Mike Masnick updates Dorothy Thompson for 2025.

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spikedluv

Separating these out so tomorrow's reading post isn't hella long.

Book 78 of 2025: Secret in the Storm (The Inn at Holiday Bay) (Kathi Daley)

I enjoyed this book. ( spoilers )

This book was interesting; I’m giving it four hearts.

♥♥♥♥

Book 79 of 2025: Clue in the Cottage (The Inn at Holiday Bay) (Kathi Daley)

I enjoyed this book. ( spoilers )

Good book; I’m giving it four hearts.

♥♥♥♥

Book 80 of 2025: Message in the Manuscript (The Inn at Holiday Bay) (Kathi Daley)

Good book! ( spoilers )

I enjoyed this book and am giving it four hearts.

♥♥♥♥

Book 81 of 2025: Trouble in the Theater (The Inn at Holiday Bay) (Kathi Daley)

I enjoyed this book. ( spoilers )

Despite my niggles I did enjoy the story, so I’m giving it four hearts.

♥♥♥♥

vaysh

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spikedluv

I drove mom to her chemo appointment. Before I left to pick her up, I hand-washed dishes and scooped kitty litter. I hand-washed more dishes and showered after I got home. I started the next Amelia Peabody mystery and finished the Kindle cozy I’d started yesterday.

Temps started out at 54.3(F) and reached 82.2.

Mom Update:

Mom was tired today. ( more back here )

alisx

The Times is committed to a specific kind of journalistic kayfabe, specifically “objective” journalism, a relatively recent phenomenon born out of the wake of newspaper consolidation that began in the 1950s. It is best understood as a marketing practice. Partisan papers that had been combined for economic reasons had to come up with a way to feel neutral, so as to keep subscribers. The result is sometimes referred to as “both sides” journalism — a false balance between the left and the right so as to avoid the appearance of bias.

Red hat, gray lady.

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spikedluv

I did three loads of laundry (all three washed, dried AND folded!), hand-washed dishes, changed kitty litter, and shaved. I spent a few hours with mom, started and finished another Kindle cozy (then started yet another), and baked boneless chicken breasts (lightly glazed with a three-cheese Italian dressing) with Gus’s potatoes for supper.

Temps started out at 49.2(F) and reached 85. Another beautiful day. (If you're sitting on the porch doing nothing, lol! Pip did not think it was beautiful when he was weeding the pumpkin patch.)

Mom Update:

Mom was doing pretty good today. ( more back here )