Star Trek Mapping: The Two Axolotls

Jun. 22nd, 2025 10:23 am
dewline: (amusement)
[personal profile] dewline
Entertaining accident: Decades ago, when Masao Okazaki was putting his Starfleet Museum site together, he assigned the name "Axolotl" to a planet orbiting Gliese 767A.

In 2019, the IAU and Mexico named the star HD 224693 "Axólotl" as part of that year's Name ExoWorlds event.

We have precedent in Star Trek for this sort of thing, thankfully, so I'm not worrying over it.

Fordow, Natanz and Esfahan

Jun. 21st, 2025 10:28 pm
dewline: Facepalming upon learning bad news (bad news)
[personal profile] dewline
Dammit, Donnie.

You and the rest of your gang...just cannot leave well enough alone, can you?

(no subject)

Jun. 21st, 2025 08:57 pm
shadowkat: (Default)
[personal profile] shadowkat
1. Finished watching Nonnas on Netflix. It's the true story of a man who decides to open a restaurant in Staten Island featuring the cooking of grandmothers, after his mother dies. Stars Vince Vaughn, Lorraine Braco, Talia Shire, Susan Sarandon, and Brenda Vaccaro, along with Linda Cappelina (who was in ER and Freaks & Geeks).

I looked it up? It's actually in Staten Island. Open on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, and features Nonnas of the World - basically grandmothers from around the world come and cook there. It's located on Hyatt Street in the historic district, not far from the Staten Island Ferry - which is free now.

Oh, this is tempting. You need to get reservations in advance, and have a two hour seating. Also, cash only or Vemo. (They don't appear to want to pay the credit card fees.)

Also, they have gluten-free items (clearly a real Italian establishment, you can always tell by the gluten free items on the menu).

It's called Enoteca Maria.

2. The Senate Parliamentarian Cuts Out Chunks of the Big Beautiful Ugly Bill because they violate the Byrd Rule.
Bill had chunks cut out of it due to the fact they violate the Byrd Rule of Law )

3. Apparently Pope Leo has been sending folks to help stop ICE raids.

Bishop Michael Pham - the first U.S. appointment by Pope Leo - showed up at immigration court along with other religious leaders, in solidarity with immigrants going through the legal process, but where ICE has been arresting people. No ICE arrests were made. San Diego, California.

Go HERE

Updates...

Jun. 21st, 2025 11:15 am
shadowkat: (Default)
[personal profile] shadowkat
1. Feeling much better - the sickness is gone, finally. No cough, no runny nose. Still feel a bit wiped, but for the first time in a week - I ate something other than chicken vegetable soup or chicken broth.
photo of chicken soup )
As you can see it was homemade. The store bought variety has things like yeast, corn starch, etc in it.

Although I did buy the broth - I've never the energy or time to make my own broth.

Had eggs this morning and a gluten free english muffin. It should sustain me until noon. I'm hoping to vote in the primary this mayoral primary this weekend.

2. Wales apologized. I explained my issues regarding what she said about COVID, by laying out my experience with it and how it had affected my life, and she apologized and thanked me for taking the time to explain.

I think people forget that everyone's body is different, and illnesses affect all of us differently.

3. Even though our mass media is attempting to downplay the number of people who protested during No Kings Day to roughly 5-6 million as opposed to 12-13 million as Alt National Parks (the coalition of 5051) stated, I'm going with Alt National Parks number for the following reasons:
Read more... )

4. Buffy Rewatch...S3 so far has no duds, I've not skipped or groaned through an episode.

And damn, by episode 7, I really wish someone would kill off Xander. ugh Xander )

Oh, I've been paying attention to the credits here and there, and discovered something interesting? There are about five to six producers who are not writers. Also various people involved who don't write for the show and are editors. The credits are lengthy. Sandy Gallin and Gail Berman produced, along with the Kuzuies, Gareth, and David Solomon, and then Whedon and Greenwalt as show-runners. This was in S3. David Solomon was a director - not really a writer. And did a lot of the second unit directing for the series. Gallin was with Sand Dollar - which is Dolly Parton's production outfit. Gail Berman was with Fox and the WB.

If you think Buffy was just a Whedon show? You aren't paying attention to the credits. It really wasn't just Whedon's or Mutant Enemy's. Also ME and Whedon didn't own the rights to it. Fox, the Kazuis and Dolly Parton did.
Whedon had to ask their permission to continue with it. Fox's rights are now Disney's, Disney bought all of Fox's entertainment properties.

Also, here's the writing process as of 2003, per Jane Espenson, who was in the writer's room at the time:
the Writing Process by Jane Espenson )

Note that was in 2003. In 1997-1999, the head writers were David Greenwalt and Joss Whedon, and the studio and network had more of a say and Berman was more involved. When the show jumped over to UPN, Fox still had a say (that's the studio), but the network didn't care. So, what Espenson is leaving out - is the network and studio notes, which may or may not have existed on Whedon shows. The writing team was continuously changing, with various writers jumping from one Whedon Show to another one.

Carpenter made it clear during a con - that there's no reason to feel guilty loving Buffy, because of Whedon, since the show was a collaboration and Whedon's involvement, while heavy at times was by far not the main ingredient or the main oversight. It's not a novel, and it's not a series like Andor that is written and directed by one auteur. It's also not like Doctor Who, where the vast majority of episodes are written by one person and to a large part even directed by them.

This is an American Broadcast Television Series - they have about 400 people involved, we have editors, directors, guest directors, stunt coordinators, etc. To say Whedon had limited control over the proceedings, is a gross understatement. No one was purely in control over it.

Actually in my re-watch, I can now tell when they are using stunt doubles.

i know there's nothing to say

Jun. 20th, 2025 10:15 pm
musesfool: a baseball and bat on the grass (the crack of ash on horsehide)
[personal profile] musesfool
ugh the Mets are killing me. I had to turn it off.

*

Comics Geography Trivia Question

Jun. 20th, 2025 08:30 pm
dewline: Logo: Open comic book with Cdn. Leaf Symbol (comic books)
[personal profile] dewline
Can anyone please upload a scan of the "Ask the Answer Man" section of the "Daily Planet" page from Detective Comics #470 (June 1977)?

Fiction

Jun. 20th, 2025 05:48 pm
rivkat: Rivka as Wonder Woman (Default)
[personal profile] rivkat
Sarah Langan, Pam Kowolski Is a Monster!: self-obsessed in the apocalypse )

Stephen King, Never Flinch:Holly Gibney )

Shannon Chakraborty, The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi: piracy and magic )

Olivie Blake, Gifted and Talented: for fans of Succession )

Ai Jiang, A Palace Near the Wind: Natural Engines: marriage and conquest )

John Scalzi, When the Moon Hits Your Eye: moon made of cheese )

M. L. Wang, Blood Over Bright Haven: white women's guilt )

Emily Tesh, The Incandescent: magic school administrator!  )

This is a very weird timeline

Jun. 20th, 2025 11:06 pm
slippery_fish: (angel has the phone box)
[personal profile] slippery_fish
Toews to join Jets on bonus-heavy deal worth up to $7M

Captain Serious is coming back. This is gonna be weird. Also, not sure if that's a good idea. Last I heard he was hanging with some weird chick and did Ayurvedic retreats.

Wicked

Jun. 20th, 2025 04:29 pm
ivyfic: (Default)
[personal profile] ivyfic
I am extremely late to this train, but I finally saw Wicked on Broadway, through a work event. (Which also meant it was fantastic seats.) I read the book an age ago, but hadn't watched any version of it.

Wow that is an unfocused mess of a musical, isn't it? There is so much plot happening in every scene--and then you hit "Defying Gravity" or "For Good" and tears are streaming down my face and I'm like, this is the best musical ever written.

Also, wow is that incredibly gay.
shadowkat: (Default)
[personal profile] shadowkat
I've been re-watching Buffy, which I hadn't watched since roughly 2012? And I've picked up on various things that I didn't previously. Also, I'm astonished at how well it holds up for a series that aired between 1997-2003.

I've finished S2, and am into S3, which is a lot better than I remembered.
It doesn't have as many dud episodes, or skippable ones like S1 and 2 did.
S1 - the stand-a-lones were better, and S2 - the arc episodes were better. S3 - manages to hit the perfect balance between the two or it appears to, only six episodes in, but no duds yet. It also manages to do the same thing S2 did - which is bring in entertaining and creepy villains in Trick and the Mayor. I think they finally gathered together a good writing team - that gelled. With the additions of Jane Espenson and Doug Petrie to the mix.

Takeaways?

Beauty and the Beasts weirdly echoes Beneathe Me in S7. In both episodes, we have Buffy discover that the wicked vampire she was having an affair with, has returned somewhat crazy but with a soul. (Just differently.) And in both episodes there's a side story about a couple that is similar to Buffy's relationship to that vampire, but worse.
analysis )

Xander, can you be a bigger jerk? Apparently so. I hadn't realized how committed the writers were to exploring the incel theme with Xander until this rewatch. People mentioned it over the years, but I just wasn't that focused on Xander or handwaved it? Also, I didn't like Cordelia previously, now, I kind of do. If you really dislike Cordelia - it's hard to see how abusive Xander truly is.
analysis - if you are a Xander fan, you may want to skip, although I don't think there are any reading this any longer or Buffy fans for that matter - so not an issue )

* Cordelia is actually interesting? I'm surprised. But she is. And realistic. She's self-absorbed like well most people. And very much what Buffy might have been without the slayage - which the show always kind of got across.
She doesn't really have friends, but I'm not sure anyone truly does? Which is also interesting.

* Faith - I like better than I remembered. They are smart to not overuse the character, and go with less is more. I feel for Faith - Faith seems to care more about Buffy than Buffy cares about Faith. And genuinely wants to be friends with Buffy - but Buffy is distracted by Angel. It's an interesting writer choice that Cordy and Buffy fight off the people during slayerfest, while Faith goes to the prom by herself.

I can see why Faith eventually turns against Buffy and envies Buffy, part of this is on Buffy, Giles and the others. They cut Faith out in various ways. And are far too obsessed with their own romantic entanglements to see her or anyone else for that matter.

Romantic love (which I think is highly overrated) can often isolate, and alienate others - pushing people out of one's life. Romantic love that survives and becomes something greater such as friendship and companionship - brings people into one's life, as opposed to shutting them out. I think that is the test of a good relationship - does it bring in people or shut them out?

**

Not doing much today, outside of recovering from an illness. Back to work on Monday. It's sunny and windy outside, and in the low 80s. I may work on my book a bit, and maybe a little on my painting.

Shroud, by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Jun. 20th, 2025 10:18 am
rachelmanija: (Books: old)
[personal profile] rachelmanija


While on a commercial expedition, an unexpected accident causes Mai, an engineer, and Juna, an HR person, to crash-land on a pitch-black planet called Shroud. They can't get out of their escape pod because the air is corrosive and unbreathable, and they can't call for help. Their only hope is to use the pod's walker system to trek all the way across the planet... which turns out to be absolutely teeming with extremely weird life, none of which can see, all of which communicates via electromagnetic signals, most of which constructs exoskeletons for itself with organic materials, and some of which is extremely large.

As readers, we learn very early on that at least some of the life on Shroud is intelligent. But Juna and Mai don't know that, the intelligent Shroud beings don't know that humans are intelligent, and human and Shroud life is so different that it makes perfect sense that they can't tell. As Juna and Mai make their probably-doomed expedition across Shroud, they're accompanied by curious Shroud beings, frequently attacked by other Shroud creatures, face some of the most daunting terrain imaginable, and slowly begin to learn the truth about Shroud. But even if they succeed in rescuing themselves, the predatory capitalist company that sent them on their expedition on the first place is determined to strip Shroud for materials, and doesn't care if its indigenous life is intelligent or not.

This is possibly the best first contact novel I've ever read. It's the flip side of Alien Clay, which was 70% depressing capitalist dystopia and 30% cool aliens. Shroud is 10% depressing capitalist dystopia and 90% cool aliens - or rather, 90% cool aliens and humans interacting with cool aliens. It's a marvelous alien travelogue, it has so many jaw-dropping moments, and it's very thematically unified and neatly plotted. The climax is absolutely killer.

The characterization is sketchy but sufficient. The ending is a little abrupt, but you can easily extrapolate what happens from there, and it's VERY satisfying. As far as I know this is a standalone, but I would certainly enjoy a sequel if Tchaikovsky decided to write one.

My absolute favorite moment, which was something you can only do in science fiction, is a great big spoiler. Read more... )

I like figuring out gifts.

Jun. 20th, 2025 11:54 am
aj: (TARDIS <3)
[personal profile] aj
I have a few friends w/birthdays coming up and I have a few packages that I need to send out. The one that I'm working on now (they're not here, often!) is just silly and fun. And, to qualify it for cheaper shipping (media mail) I put together a mix cd. I've not done one of those in over a decade, so this was just so much silly fun.

I forgot how fun it is to get a bunch of silly, cheerful things together as a gift. None of the things I'm sending off are more than $10, but all are useful in their ways. Plus, part of the fun of making a mix CD (and knowing they have a cd player in their car still) is forcing your friends to listen to stuff you like in the vain hope they'll like it too.
shadowkat: (Default)
[personal profile] shadowkat
I'm far behind on the June Question a Day Meme...so this is me, catching up:

7. When was the last time you thoroughly dusted and polished your furniture?

My furniture isn't really dust-able? It's cushioned. But I did dust the shelves, tv stand etc, last weekend.

8. Have you ever been fishing?

Yes. The appeal is completely lost on me. I feel sorry for the fish. I really don't like looking my food in the eye or seeing it caught. I'm more gatherer than hunter. Also, I'm not a fan of most fish, so there's that.
Did it once with my brother and father - in the lake in front of the Grand Tetons. My brother finally caught a fish, but had to throw it back, after it had been half-suffocated to death, because it wasn't the type of fish we could eat. I forget the name. And I remember thinking - that poor fish. I'd rather learn to paddle board (I don't paddle board).

9. Is there something that someone close to you does which really irritates you, but you’ve never said anything to them about it?

If it really irritates me - then I will tell them. Rarely does any good, so not entirely sure why I bother? Half the time, I just hand-wave it - because it rarely does any good. Some things folks can't help doing, they aren't aware of it and it is just them? Pointing it out doesn't help or change it, and it just hurts them to do so. Also we all have ticks and irritable behaviors that others must endure.

There are other things - that people can choose not to do and stop doing, or at the very least while others are around, which I've noticed pointing out to them - helps. Such as my mother played a very noisy video game version of Mahjon when I visited her last year, and she switched to Sudoku which was quieter, when I visited her in the Spring of this year.

10. Have you ever made mayonnaise from scratch?

Yes. I'm not really a fan of mayonnaise though. And don't use it at all on anything. But I have done it.
the rest )

Adding a question which is not part of the meme:

What is your current comfort television series or book series, which you've seen multiple times, or read multiple times, but continue to engage with?
[Note - not a new discovery, but something you've seen more than once, and go back to watch every few years? Or a book series, which you've read multiple times, listened to on audiobook or even graphic audio - more than once?]

Television Show: Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Why? It's a series about how tough life is, but you can't give up, and it's worth it to keep trying no matter what. Also about fighting your own demons. And done with metaphors. I think metaphorically - so this works for me. And it has a very strong female protagonist who is the central point of view. It shows how people's relationships evolve and change with time, friendships change and don't necessarily always last, and loved ones die or change and move away. And it's important to help each other and others no matter how scary it might be. Helps that I love all the characters, and adore urban fantasy as a genre.

Book Series: Kate Daniels Magic Series by Illona Andrews (a writing couple)

Why? It's also a series about how tough life is, but you can't give up...and features a bad ass female protagonist. It's among the few that shows how relationships evolve and change, friendships don't always last for various reasons, and how it is important to help others, no matter how scary it might be. [See above.]

Do you have anything that you return to over and over again for comfort? Be it a book series, a television series, movie, or song or album?

Free ebooks Friday, June 20

Jun. 19th, 2025 11:15 pm
starwatcher: Western windmill, clouds in background, trees around base. (Default)
[personal profile] starwatcher
 
Hooray! I saw this in time for people to get in on the deal.

"On Friday, June 20, 2025, get a curated offering of free romance books at your preferred ebook retailer, no strings attached. This is just a helpful collection of free-for-a-limited-time romance ebooks!"

https://www.romancebookworms.com/


Feel free to share this wherever.

 

"A Game of Lie" by Clare Mackintosh

Jun. 20th, 2025 02:36 am
slippery_fish: (calm)
[personal profile] slippery_fish
The second DC Morgan book brings Ffion and Leo back together as they look into the disappearance of a mentally unstable participant of a reality show.

I liked this in general. George is a cool new character, the Welsh set-up is still working for me and the case was interesting.

I wasn't a big fan of the last part of the book because once the murderer was revealed, it felt a lot like a villain doing their "this is how I did it"-monologue.

But at the end, it felt like a good episode of a procedural series.

Juneteenth: American Cowboys

Jun. 19th, 2025 11:39 am
sanguinity: woodcut by M.C. Escher, "Snakes" (Default)
[personal profile] sanguinity
Happy Juneteenth! Just a quick post:

The Black, African, and African-American employee group at work shared this documentary with us for Juneteenth, about the early days of the Pendleton Round-up (a prestigious rodeo located in Pendleton, Oregon), and two cowboys of color who competed in the 1911 bronc-riding finals: George Fletcher and Jackson Sundown.

(Note: contains discussion of genocide, namely the US govt's war against the Nez Perce. Also, predictably, discussions of racism. Also archival rodeo footage, including bronc-riding and calf-roping.)

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