Wild Cards checklist

Jul. 5th, 2025 09:35 am
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[personal profile] james_davis_nicoll
This is much easier for Martin's New Voices series....

Read more... )
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Four works new to me. One is SF, two fantasy, and the magazine (which I have not yet looked inside) likely both. Two of the novels are series novels, one does not seem to me.

Books Received, June 28 — July 4



Poll #33326 Books Received, June 28 — July 4
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 10


Which of these look interesting?

View Answers

FIYAH No. 35: Black Isekai published by FIYAH Literary Magazine (July 2025)
5 (50.0%)

Aces Full edited by George R. R. Martin (November 2025)
1 (10.0%)

Only Spell Deep by Ava Morgyn (March 2026)
1 (10.0%)

The Damned by Harper L. Woods (October 2025)
0 (0.0%)

Some other option (see comments)
0 (0.0%)

Cats!
9 (90.0%)

Trump derangement syndrome is real

Jul. 5th, 2025 07:44 am
[syndicated profile] political_betting_feed

Posted by TSE

An assumption of many punters, myself included, have is that the second Trump presidency will be very bad for those voters who voted for it and they would reject Trump and the GOP in the midterms and in 2028 but that that assumption might be faulty as seen with the Trump voter in the tweet.

Support for Trump really is cult like and plenty of his supporters truly are deranged.

TSE

To-read pile, 2025, June

Jul. 5th, 2025 08:00 am
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[personal profile] rmc28

Books on pre-order:

  1. Queen Demon (Rising World 2) by Martha Wells (7 Oct 2025)

Books acquired in June:

  • and read:
    1. Playing for Keeps by K A Findlay (Kim Findlay) [7]
    2. The Charlie Method (Campus Diaries 3) by Elle Kennedy
  • and unread:
    1. Dying to Meet You by Sarina Bowen
    2. Sort Your Head Out by Sam Delaney
    3. The Pairing by Casey McQuiston

Borrowed books read in June:

  1. Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton
  2. The Domino Pattern (Quadrail 4) by Timothy Zahn [8]
  3. Judgment at Proteus (Quadrail 5) by Timothy Zahn [8]

Annoyingly, when I thought I'd cancelled my KU subscription in May, Amazon thought I'd suspended it for a month, so I got charged again in June. And as the above makes clear, I didn't really get my value for the month of it. The Timothy Zahn Quadrail series is really fun (Trains! In Space! And also galaxy-spanning conspiracy and action adventure with really interesting aliens!) and I'm glad I got to finish it, but I have now definitely and for real cancelled the subscription until further notice.

I don't expect to read much this month either, with the women's football Euros running most of the month. Farocation is running again and I didn't yet get through all the books from last summer, so I'm being even pickier about which ones I decide to pick up this summer.

[1] Pre-order
[2] Audiobook
[3] Physical book
[4] Crowdfunding
[5] Goodbye read
[6] Cambridgeshire Reads/Listens
[7] FaRoFeb / FaRoCation / Bookmas / HRBC
[8] Prime Reading / Kindle Unlimited

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[personal profile] pixellated posting in [community profile] style_system
hi! here's what i'm trying to achieve: i want my journal's main page to display one entry (the most recent one), and i want that entry to be vertically centered, so that the distance from the top of the entry to the navstrip is the same as the distance from the bottom of the entry to the bottom of the page. here is a quick mockup of what i have in mind:


click here for fullsize

i've tried using margin: auto for this, but it didn't work; googling around leads me to believe that that's because the entry container is an inline element and thus doesn't have a specified height, which you need for that to work. i thought about using a flexbox inside the entry with three elements arranged in a column, with the middle element holding the actual contents of the entry and the top and bottom elements growing/shrinking to provide padding, to achieve something visually similar, but i don't think that would work either for the same reason (no specified height).

is there any way to do this? the theme i'm currently using is blanket, but i'm not married to it, so if there is a different theme that allows me to do this, i will happily switch.

thank you!

One year on from the election

Jul. 4th, 2025 03:08 pm
[syndicated profile] political_betting_feed

Posted by TSE

? It’s the anniversary of Labour’s election win. The Government had some early stumbles, but what do the public think is their biggest mistake? Asked to say in their own words, it’s one of the most stark word clouds we’ve seen. Winter Fuel Allowance drowns everything else out.

Luke Tryl (@luketryl.bsky.social) 2025-07-04T09:22:39.794Z

What about biggest success? Here it’s not a particularly cheery verdict from the public. Asked in their own words, nothing dominates the word cloud, followed by the NHS.

Luke Tryl (@luketryl.bsky.social) 2025-07-04T09:22:39.795Z

Again, when you actually test some of Labour’s policies with the public a huge swathe of them are popular – from employment rights to GB energy to renters rights, but they don’t have the cut through of the more negative ones.

Luke Tryl (@luketryl.bsky.social) 2025-07-04T09:22:39.796Z

TSE

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Ninety years after her grandmother's family was stalked by a witch, international student Minerva Contrera's studies land her in a similar position.


The Bewitching by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Photo cross-post

Jul. 4th, 2025 02:49 am
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[personal profile] andrewducker


Got halfway to the bus stop to go to the pool and realised I didn't have my shoulder bag. Sprinted home, got it, and made it to the bus.

Got off the bus at the other end, realised Sophia's bag didn't have her swimming costume in it. Got a bus home, grabbed it, now in a taxi.

Fingers crossed that nothing else comes between me and drop-off and work!
Original is here on Pixelfed.scot.

[syndicated profile] political_betting_feed

Posted by TSE

Perhaps Corbyn has finally realised that for most of his life he ends up helping right wing parties.

TSE

[syndicated profile] el_reg_id_cards_feed

Posted by Simon Sharwood

Zuck backs a ‘digital majority age’ and Google open sources tech that might enforce it

Google and Meta have independently taken actions to support a safer internet for kids – and given blockchain boosters a moment to celebrate.

[syndicated profile] tim_harford_feed

Posted by Tim Harford

A radical thought experiment transforms the lives of a new breed of philanthropists, as they follow the logic of altruism to extraordinary lengths. The most famous convert to the Effective Altruism movement, Sam Bankman-Fried, is either a humanitarian hero, or a con artist at an astonishing scale, or most bafflingly, both.   

[Apple] [Spotify] [Stitcher]

Further reading

The definitive account of Sam Bankman-Fried’s astonishing career arc is Michael Lewis’s book Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon. This episode also relied on sources including Gideon Lewis-Kraus’s profile of Will MacAskill in The New Yorker, The Reluctant Prophet of Effective Altruism, and contemporary reporting in outlets including Rolling StoneVox, the BBC and CNBC. Will MacAskill’s book is called What We Owe The Future, and Peter Singer’s essay is Famine, Affluence and Morality

Every time I run something

Jul. 3rd, 2025 10:34 pm
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[personal profile] james_davis_nicoll
I embrace new tools. In Fabula Ultima, for example, the order in which characters go in combat varies. I found it hard to keep track of who'd gone, so I went out and got poker chips and little round labels. Now, I can just toss the chips representing characters into a bowl once they've gone. Order!

OK, except it turns out I can't tell blue from green under the ceiling light in the room where I DM and the names on the labels need to be bigger.

Why is modern commerce corrosive?

Jul. 3rd, 2025 05:28 pm
[syndicated profile] tim_harford_feed

Posted by Tim Harford

You’re not imagining it. There is something shallow about modern life — a sense that traditional virtues, from craftsmanship to professionalism to loyalty, have somehow been hollowed out. Don’t get me wrong: I love living in the 21st century and believe that the world is a far better place in 2025 than it was in, say, 1975.

Still, there is something amiss. You can see it in long-term trends such as the demise of communities built around fishing, mining or manufacture, and in more recent calamities such as the internet’s descent into a hellscape of fraud, manufactured anxiety and AI slop. You can see it in serious matters such as the sewage flowing into the Thames, the decay of high streets or the precarity of many modern jobs. You can see it in more trivial worries such as the way each new casual dining concept so quickly goes downhill. You can see it in the fact that every single one of these social ills is intimately connected to commerce.

There is no shortage of books to consult on the matter. This hollowing out has been explored in works as varied as Sherry Turkle’s Alone Together, Barbara Ehrenreich’s Nickel and Dimed, JD Vance’s Hillbilly Elegy, Robert Putnam’s Bowling Alone and Cory Doctorow’s forthcoming Enshittification.

But for the deep analysis, turn to the philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre’s After Virtue, published in 1981. MacIntyre articulated an utter disenchantment with three centuries of moral philosophy all the way back to the Enlightenment, and argued that it was hardly a surprise that modern society itself lost its way. He argued that clear thinking and virtuous action couldn’t be unmoored from a social context — it had to be embedded in a community with shared values, goals and practices. His fellow philosophers found the book impossible to ignore.

MacIntyre died in May at the age of 96, which prompted me to turn back to a piece of his writing (in the 1994 essay “A Partial Response To My Critics”) that has stuck with me for decades: the tale of two fishing crews.

One crew is “organised and understood as a purely technical and economic means to a productive end, whose aim is only or overridingly to satisfy as profitably as possible some market’s demand for fish”. The crew members are motivated to work hard, innovate and hone their skills, because that way lies profit. The other crew has developed “an understanding of and devotion to excellence in fishing and to excellence in playing one’s part as a member of such a crew”. This excellence is about skill, to be sure — but also about character, social bonds and courage. These fishermen are risking their lives and are dependent on each other. And, adds MacIntyre, “when someone dies at sea, fellow crew members, their families and the rest of the fishing community will share a common affliction and common responsibilities”.

The values of this second crew are what we seem to be losing when a private equity group “rolls up” hundreds of small independent vets; or when an old-fashioned private partnership such as Lehman Brothers becomes a publicly traded company; or when a business embraces a mission statement that could equally describe the aim of any other business.

Try this: “Our objective is to maximise value for our shareholders by focusing on businesses where we have market leadership, a technological edge and a world competitive cost base”. Any guess as to the industry? It could be anything, so it means nothing.

I was introduced to MacIntyre’s ideas not by my philosophy tutors, but by the economist John Kay. In The Truth About Markets (2003), Kay quotes MacIntyre’s description of the fishing crews, and then asks a question: which crew would make more money?

MacIntyre assumed the answer was depressingly self-evident: the profit-maximising crew will be an unstoppable force, which is why modern commerce is so corrosive. Organisations that offer the riches of friendship, community, loyalty, craft and professionalism are sure to be driven out of business by the relentless economic logic of the profit-maximiser. They make money, and destroy what really matters.

But do they really make money? Kay argues that narrow profit-maximising is often a failure, even by its own denuded standards.

A 1972 Harvard Business School case study examines a real-world example of MacIntyre’s profit-maximising fishing crew. The Prelude Corporation, the largest lobster producer in North America, aimed to become the General Motors of the fishing industry. It went bankrupt shortly after the case study was written.

Lehman Brothers is another example — was it really more successful after jettisoning the traditional structure in which the capital at risk was provided by partners who best understood the business?

A third example is the chemical giant ICI, which in 1994 published that vacuous mission statement about “market leadership”. A titan of 20th-century British manufacturing, it faded and, in 2008, was absorbed and broken up by a Dutch paint company. Perhaps ICI would have done better had they paid less attention to making money, and more attention to making chemicals.

This should not really surprise us, as Kay explains in The Corporation in the 21st Century (2024). To be solidly profitable, companies need some kind of competitive advantage. That might rest on network effects, intellectual property or even political connections. But it might equally rest on a trusted brand and well-worn habits of making the right kind of decision, quickly. In other words, profitability can rest on shared values, goals and practices too. An organisation that MacIntyre himself might admire, one that has developed the right kind of culture, may well be more attractive to customers, more appealing to potential employees and simply more effective at doing all the things a particular business in a particular industry must do.

Consider the Financial Times itself. I dare say everyone involved in the business prefers to be paid, and the FT aims to be profitable. Yet we didn’t come here with the hope of printing money; we came with the aim of printing newspapers. If the FT’s entire operation, day to day and top to bottom, was predicated on maximising profit, this would be a different newspaper. It is not obvious that it would be a more profitable one.

Written for and first published in the Financial Times on 6 June 2025.

Loyal readers might enjoy How To Make The World Add Up.

“Nobody makes the statistics of everyday life more fascinating and enjoyable than Tim Harford.”- Bill Bryson

“This entertaining, engrossing book about the power of numbers, logic and genuine curiosity”- Maria Konnikova

I’ve set up a storefront on Bookshop in the United States and the United Kingdom. Links to Bookshop and Amazon may generate referral fees.

The Big Idea: E. L. Starling

Jul. 3rd, 2025 03:57 pm
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Posted by Athena Scalzi

We do so love the big blue marble we call home, don’t we? But what if humans had another home, and what if it was our red and dusty space neighbor? Author E.L. Starling poses this question in the Big Idea for newest novel, Bound By Stars, thinking up possibilities about the future that are certainly dystopian, but also realistic. Follow along on a journey through the stars, and try to keep afloat as the (space)ship goes down.

E. L. STARLING:

My family rewatches Interstellar together every year, which sometimes (read: always) devolves into a heated debate about complex theories, space time, and whether “they” really were aliens or just an unfathomable combination of future human technology and a natural anomaly splicing through the multiverse. (Probably the aliens, right?)

In spring of 2022, as the credits rolled, my oldest veered off our usual set of topics and brought up a certain billionaire’s desire to terraform Mars. We all responded with eye rolls and a version of the same sentiment, “How about putting that effort into combating climate change on this planet where we already have oxygen, water, and atmosphere?”

Plus, if I’m being completely honest, even if Mars was a viable option for everyone, you can still leave me here. Reading in a car going 25 mph flips my stomach inside out. And, the vastness of the unknown is a fear I would rather not face.

But, what would that be like? What if the wealthy abandoned Earth to create a utopia 140 million miles away and left the rest of the world’s population behind? Would they really leave Earth for good? Terraforming is a long game. They would still need resources. Would they use Earth like their new planet’s remote farm and factory? There was so much to consider.

This discussion sparked an idea. Two worlds. Separated by space and socioeconomic classes. 

As my family members scattered, I was building the dystopia in my mind: After the Earth is ravaged by climate change, the population decimated, and society reshaped, the wealthy still control the resources, but they’ve drilled for water, built infrastructure, and established a safe haven in luxurious habitat cities on Mars. 

The dynamics of the world set up the perfect main characters: two people from different classes and different planets. And what if they were teenagers in this world— still required to manage school, bullies, love, homework, and their impending futures? What if I upped the stakes further and put them on a doomed starliner between their two worlds? There was The Big Idea: YA Titanic-in-space.

Enter Jupiter Dalloway and Weslie Fleet. Jupiter is from Mars. Born at the top of society. The heir to a multi-trillion-dollar company. Unsatisfied with his predetermined future. Weslie’s from Earth. Hardened by a life of struggle and injustice. Full of confidence and armed with the attitude to call out Jupiter’s alarming privilege. Both of them seventeen, on the tailend of adolescence. Two people who learn to appreciate and celebrate each other’s differences despite the backdrop of a complex and oppressive world.

Choosing to write Bound by Stars as a YA novel was a conscious endeavor for me. At that age, you’re near adulthood, but still not fully in control of your own life. There are people who dictate the basics of your day to day, but you’re the one expected to make decisions about your future. High school graduation, college, the rest of your life is just around the bend in the road ahead. You’re shaped by every heartbreak, moment of triumph, cruel word, and act of kindness. And all the emotions inside you are bigger, stronger, more passionate. The future feels open. Possible. Big. Scary.

I love celebrating this multitude for joy, hope, injustice, and even sadness. In my opinion, this is great insight into why we often throw teenager characters into dystopian stories. While sometimes labeled as “overly emotional” or “out of control,” that “too much-ness” of adolescence is human emotion at its absolute fullest capacity. I can’t help but respect someone who can experience heartbreak like a life-ending blow and still care about their friends, show up for band practice, sing their heart out in a theater production, and write that 5-page essay due at the end of the week. 

And on top of it all—today’s youth are growing up with a true fear of climate change and developing an understanding of the dangers of unfettered capitalism in real time, while being asked “What do you want to do with your life after high school?” 

Of course, the compelling lightbulb of “Titanic-in-space” was fun and romantic: a chance to create parallels to an epic love story in a high-stake situation. But there was a level deeper. Underneath the outrageous opulence of the ship headed for Mars, sharp banter between characters from different worlds, slow-burn romance, and an action-packed, “there aren’t enough lifeboats (or escape pods in this case)” climax, Bound by Stars is a story about relatable, young characters navigating life in bleak future landscape. After all, dystopian novels can reflect the complexities of existing in this stage of life, while—hopefully—offering a bit of hope and inspiration.


Bound By Stars: Amazon|Barnes & Noble|Bookshop

Author socials: Website|Facebook|Instagram

Jenny Randerson - a memorial

Jul. 3rd, 2025 05:32 pm
[syndicated profile] liberal_bureaucracy_feed

Posted by Mark Valladares

To London, for one of my infrequent visits to the big city. And, on a mildly unpleasantly hot day, it possibly wasn’t the ideal day to don a suit and tie. But, given the occasion, one does what one must.

Jenny Randerson passed away early in the New Year, and today was the occasion of her memorial service, held appropriately at the Welsh Church in Central London, a short stroll from Oxford Circus. And, having “worked” with Jenny - we’d been on Federal International Relations Committee together and been to a number of ALDE Party events together - I felt that I wanted to attend.

I always found Jenny to be the sort of person with whom it was fun to be around. She wasn’t one to be overly respectful, and always had a smile and a wry comment about what was going on around us. But she knew her stuff and her internationalism was genuine and heartfelt.

Our “host” was Simon Hughes, but there were reflections from Caroline Pidgeon, Mike German, Jeremy Purvis, Joan Walmsley and, perhaps surprisingly, Nick Clegg, who also read a piece from Dylan Thomas. Family members spoke eloquently of those parts of Jenny’s life which were more private, whilst the Parliamentary Choir gave body to the singing of hymns.

It was, all in all, an opportunity to recall old stories, laugh at tales and let her family know how much she meant to so many.

There will be many who will be able to say what Jenny meant to them, and who will have tales of triumphs shared and victories achieved. I have none of that, but she was fun to be with, and I will miss having her to exchange a wry smile with and to gently mock some of the bigger egos in the room.

God bless, Jenny…

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I'm the Chair of the Brighouse branch of the Liberal Democrats.

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