Enthusiastically Ambiverted Hopepunk
The stuff about me and my life. The “diary” side of blogging.
Book 28 of 2025: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
More good Vorkosigan adventure as Miles heads off to investigate cryogenic companies and ends up in more trouble than he expected. Toss in some cute kids, a menagerie, questionably competent criminals, and diplomats getting their first taste of Miles’s approach to problem solving, and it’s a lot of fun. Though the end took a turn I definitely wasn’t expecting….
Book 27 of 2025: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
A simple, quick adventure, as a mysterious signal diverts the Enterprise from ferrying diplomats around so they can investigate. Not terribly surprisingly, the landing party has difficulties and great peril. A perfectly serviceable quick Trek novella.
Really, this is one of those weeks that just boils down to being another week, without any noteworthy points.
🚀 Norwescon has just about wound down, with just this coming weekend’s post-con meeting to wrap things up until we spin up in the fall for next year. Of course, that means a little less for me, as the website needs to be archived and reworked; hopefully I’ll be able to arrange time with my team to start that work soon. The Worldcon situation has dropped down to a light simmer rather than a full boil, which is progress. Mostly, I keep watching what people write and constantly have to fight the temptation to jump in and correct mistaken assumptions or assertions. As satisfying as it might be in the moment, it wouldn’t actually help. Sometimes knowing that I’m better off keeping my mouth shut really sucks, though.
🏡 We spent part of the weekend cleaning up our little back yard for the summer and refreshing the herb and flower planters. (By which I mean, my wife did the planting, and I did the manual labor of moving planters around and hauling the old stuff out to the trash.) Hoping we have more chances to relax back there than we have for the past couple summers.
Lately it’s been a fair amount of old Hell’s Kitchen, because it can be entertaining to watch Gordon Ramsey yell at people.
VNV Nation’s “Construct” came out this week, and new VNV Nation is always good. I did see one friend describe it as “the new VNV Music Factory”, which is funny, but also not wrong, but y’know, I’m good with that. It’s like a review I once saw comparing KMFDM to a Big Mac: You always know that what you get is going to be maybe not not great, but big, cheezy, and acceptably satisfying when that’s what you’re in the mood for. VNV Nation isn’t the same sound, of course, but it’s kind of the same idea: You know what you’re getting, and it’s good comfort food (and occasionally really, really good, though I haven’t identified any tracks off this album that are particular standouts yet).
Joe Kissell at Take Control Books: Introducing MailMaven, a Better Mac Email App: “MailMaven is an email client for people who love email but want total control over every aspect of it. If there’s something you always wished your email app could do, Maven probably does it (or will before long). But it also does lots of things you never realized you absolutely need in an email app, and soon won’t be able to live without.” Mostly I’m fine with Apple Mail, but sometimes I wonder if something else might work better for me, and this one looks promising.
Niléane at MacStories: Are Pride Wallpapers and a Watch Band Enough in 2025?: “At a time when some trans people are actively seeking to flee the U.S. to preserve their fundamental right to a healthy, safe, and decent life free from the threat of President Trump’s actions, Apple doesn’t seem to be stepping up to its professed values to the extent that the situation requires.”
Erin Underwood at File 770: Op-Ed: About Choosing Convention Program Participants: “I understand the frustration and anger toward LLMs, but I think that we need to grant a little grace and understanding … and even kindness … to the people who are donating their time and putting their hearts, blood, sweat, and tears into trying to create these events that bring our community together.” Whatever your stance on generative AI and the Seattle Worldcon, this is well worth reading.
Eli Wizevich at Smithsonian Magazine: Who Created This Peculiar Painting of a Drooling Dragon? Nobody Knows—but a Museum Just Bought It for $20 Million: “The Virgin and Child With Saints Louis and Margaret is truly one-of-a-kind. Emma Capron, a curator at the museum who was responsible for the acquisition, describes the altarpiece as ‘wildly inventive’ and ‘full of iconographical oddities,’ per the Art Newspaper.”
Adrian Roselli: Do Not Publish Your Designs on the Web with Figma Sites…: “…Unless you want to fail all the WCAGs, create litigation risk, close off opportunities in Europe, engage in reputational harm, and oh yeah, throw up barriers to your customers and users.”
Liv Lyons in The Thunderword, Highline’s student paper: Student panel leads from the front on IPSE Day: “Building 7 was the beating heart of campus one week ago, as the students and faculty who make up Highline’s Achieve Program embodied the tenets of accessibility, diversity, and self-acceptance, further highlighting the importance of Inclusive Post-Secondary Education (IPSE) Day at collegiate institutions nationwide.” Our students put on a great panel for IPSE Day!
Mac Themes Garden: “Mac Themes Garden is dedicated to showcasing schemes made for Kaleidoscope and celebrating the customization and expressiveness it enabled on Classic Mac OS.” I miss Kaleidoscope, and really wish there was this sort of customization available for the modern macOS.
I Don’t Have Spotify: Paste in a link to a music track on one service, get links to it on other services. Handy for those of us who refuse to give Spotify money.
Book 26 of 2025: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
A nice short peek at Etakerina’s work on Barrayar, tying together several small threads from various points earlier in the series.
Book 25 of 2025: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Favorites this issue were “Unfinished Architectures of the Human-Fae War” by Caroline M. Yoachim and “Hi! I’m Claudia” by Delilah S. Dawson.
Book 24 of 2025: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Favorites this month were “The Library of the Apocalypse” by Rati Mehrotra, “We, the Fleet” by Alex T. Singer, “Descent” by Wole Talabi, and “Yarn Theory” by Marie Vibbert.
🚀 Unfortunately, Seattle Worldcon is in the midst of our first (and hopefully only) big controversy. While it’s not my area, I’m close enough to have some of the not-yet-public information, and it’s been quite the experience watching the wider commentary based on incomplete information while not saying anything. Hopefully as more information comes out, this will calm down and fade into just being an unfortunate bump on the road.
🥳 And, of course, yesterday was my 52nd birthday. We kept it a fairly low-key day, wrapping up with dinner out and seeing the play version of Agatha Christie’s “And Then There Were None” at the Renton Civic Theater. It was a fun show, and we do enjoy supporting local theater.
Finished Lois McMaster Bujold’s Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance.
From Amit Gawande, Square 101: “A short, sharp introduction (101) to words you hear often — but no one ever explains. Delivered on 1st & 15th of every month in 500 words. A perfect way to fill in the gaps, without it feeling like homework.”
From Cat Valente, Move Fast and Break People Part 3: Asshole Monoculture (see also Part 2: Everyone’s Third Place is unlocked and free to all and Part 1: How The Internet Gave Us the World—And Took It All Away is unlocked and free to all): “Welcome back to your nuclear hellscape of infinite human torment already in progress! What a fucking beautiful day in the goddamned cursed-ass neighborhood of slowly-deflating dreams, in which the very concept of hope is being pilloried daily in every town square. King Friday just sent a kindergartner to a Salvadorean prison, then slept the guiltless, unperturbed sleep of a baby.”
From Bill Hunt at the Digital Bits comes confirmation that The Rocky Horror Picture Show is getting a 50th anniversary 4K release! No specific release date yet, but I’m sure that’s just to drum up antici…
…
…pation.
From Jim Aikin, Here Come Da Judge: “This year I was asked to be one of the five judges in the annual Philip K. Dick Award.” Neat to see a bit of this side of the award process.
Book 23 of 2025: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
We turn to Miles’s cousin Ivan for this entry (Miles is reduced to a cameo role), as he gets drawn into helping refugees from a fallen House, dealing with a heist, and finding a little romance along the way. Another fun romp in the Vorkosigan saga, even if I don’t find Ivan to be quite as strong a character as Miles.
While not a bad week, this was a long week. Having just finished the four days of Norwescon, I had Monday off to rest, and then went right into three days of two combined work conferences for DSSC and WAPED. They were good, and it’s always good to connect with work colleagues from across the state, but oof. Even in different contexts, that was about a week and a half of being on.
This weekend we did as little as possible.
I inadvertently took a ride in a new Tesla Model Y, and wasn’t impressed.
Started Lois McMaster Bujold’s Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance. I’m almost done with the Vorkosigan Saga books, and the next book on my Hugo reading project is the second in Bujold’s World of the Five Gods series, so my current plan is to go ahead and finish off the Vorkosigan saga before moving on to her fantasy work.
I posted the recording of my set DJing the Thursday night dance at Norwescon. Three and a half hours of listening pleasure for you to enjoy!
Chrysalis Magazine: “Chrysalis is a literary magazine by trans youth, for trans youth (created with a little help from trans adults).”
Anne Minahan: “Martha’s Rules”: An Alternative to Robert’s Rules of Order (PDF link): “…Martha’s Rules…were developed by Martha’s Housing Co-op for families in Madison, Wisconsin. Martha’s Rules are not only an alternative to Robert’s Rules, but provide ideas for people in organizations who are committed to consensus decision-making and who want to make it work well.”
Catherine Zhu at CBC Radio: 45-year mystery behind eerie photo from The Shining is believed to be solved: “In Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 horror classic The Shining, the camera zooms in toward a black-and-white photograph hanging in the hallway of the Overlook Hotel. It’s dated July 4, 1921. Dead centre stands Jack Torrance — played by Jack Nicholson — smiling in a crowd of partygoers. ¶ But the photo wasn’t taken on set with extras. It was a real photo from the 1920s, and Nicholson’s face had been superimposed over someone. But whose face was it?”
Tim Stevens at The Verge: The $20,000 American-made electric pickup with no paint, no stereo, and no touchscreen: “Meet the Slate Truck, a sub-$20,000 (after federal incentives) electric vehicle that enters production next year. It only seats two yet has a bed big enough to hold a sheet of plywood. It only does 150 miles on a charge, only comes in gray, and the only way to listen to music while driving is if you bring along your phone and a Bluetooth speaker. It is the bare minimum of what a modern car can be….” I’m not at all a pickup person, so am not really in the market, but I’m rather fascinated by Slate‘s approach. Kinda wish there was a car version of this.
Lia Woodward and Leah Folta at McSweeney’s: This Five-Hundred-Word Bumper Sticker On My Tesla Explains Why I’m Not A Bad Person: “Before the last few months, Musk was only mean toward some people, and I hope you can understand that I and most people in my social circles were not among them. So when that suddenly changed for me this year, I was just as outraged as any of you, as evidenced by this five-hundred-word bumper sticker prominently placed on my Tesla.”
This week was all about Norwescon! Well, Monday and Tuesday were normal workdays, but from then on, it was all con, all the time.
Thursday: Day one of con starts with more helping with setup, plus a lot of general wandering around, saying hi to people, socializing with friends, and so on. I had two official duties for Thursday:
9 p.m.: Immediately following that was the Thursday Night Dance: Star Trek vs. Star Wars. Unfortunately, I had some technical issues that made the first 20-30 minutes really dodgy, with a lot of starting and stopping and apologizing as I tried to figure out why my headphones weren’t working, making it impossible for me to pre-cue and mix upcoming tracks. Everyone there understood that these things happen, and once I figured out a solution (though I still need to go back and experiment to really nail down what was going on so it doesn’t happen again), I got a good three-hour set in, going until 12:30 a.m., which is pretty good for Thursday night. I was a little frazzled from the clumsy start, so many of my ideas for what I was going to do disappeared from my brain and I know I didn’t play a lot of the tracks I had planned, but people danced and had fun, which was the important part. I recorded the set, and will have it processed and uploaded to my MixCloud page as soon as I can get around to it.
Friday: Friday morning I had free to wander and socialize, but the afternoon and evening of day two of the con was all about the Philip K. Dick Award.
4 p.m.: The Philip K. Dick Award social is a private event for the nominees to spend some time meeting and chatting with each other. I got them set up in the room, hung around and chatted for about half an hour, and then left them on their own as I headed down to my room to change.
5 p.m.: The Lifetime Member dinner is another private event for Norwescon’s lifetime members (a group I was inaugurated into two years ago) along with our guests of honor, PKD nominees, and charitable partner representatives. I had a table with all of the PKD nominees and their plus-ones, so we were able to continue the conversations from the prior couple hours as we ate. I left about 6:15 to head to the next room over to do some final setup, and then it was time for…
7 p.m.: The Philip K. Dick Award Ceremony! This was my third year as ceremony coordinator, and after first-year jitters and second-year “we’re switching the room the ceremony is held in three hours before the ceremony” scrambling, this year went off smoothly and without a hitch. Our three attending nominees read selections from their nominated works, readers read for those nominees who were unable to attend, and it all went well. This year’s winners were Brenda Peynado for Time’s Agent and Adrian Tchaikovsky getting the special citation for Alien Clay, and though neither winner was in attendance, a good time was had by all.
At that point, I was done for the day, and spent the rest of the evening bouncing back and forth among the dance, room parties, and general socializing as I came across people.
Saturday: Day three of the con is normally a free day for me that I can spend doing whatever seems right in the moment. However, this year I was giving a presentation panel in the evening, and though I’d had “finish the presentation materials” on my to-do list for months…well, yeah. Sometimes procrastination bites us in the butt, and I ended up spending nearly my entire Saturday holed up in my room getting everything finished and ready to go. And so, finally, I emerged, got some socializing in, and then it was time for…
After the panel, it was another evening of floating among the dance, parties, and chatting with whomever I came across as the evening rolled on.
Sunday: And finally, it was Sunday, day four and the final day, with nothing on my schedule except packing up and loading out. I took the day slow, got packed up, and headed home just after the closing ceremonies. With that, another con was done!
A few more photos are available in this Flickr album.
Radek Sienkiewicz: Why do AI company logos look like buttholes?: “The fluidity and warmth of human-centered thinking through the use of circles is perhaps the most elegant way anyone has ever described making a logo that resembles an anus.”
Jeremy Reimer at Ars Technica: An Ars Technica history of the Internet, part 1: “In our new 3-part series, we remember the people and ideas that made the Internet.” I actually haven’t read this one yet, but want to remember to do so and continue on through the series.