Interesting Links for 07-01-2026
Jan. 7th, 2026 12:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
andrewducker- 1. How LEGO made its new Smart Bricks
- (tags:lego Technology viaSwampers )
- 2. Why managing Donald Trump will be far more important than defending international law for Keir Starmer in Paris
- (tags:politics ukraine greenland usa uk europe )
- 3. Nvidia unveils self-driving car tech
- (tags:nvidia driving automation )
- 4. False Hydra (a suggested gaming monster that's delightfully creepy in a way I haven't seen in a while)
- (tags:monsters roleplaying )
(games) fallen london - evolution
Jan. 7th, 2026 03:12 ampassingbuzzardsRecently I spent about two months playing through the Evolution storyline in Fallen London, which I LOVED—easily my favorite writing I’ve seen in the game so far, genius storytelling, really compelling main character, gorgeous atmosphere, the major plot twist totally blew me away—and have been wondering ever since about the two endings that weren’t the one I chose, because that final decision was just so fraught! Anyway, the other night I finally mustered to stick my head into r/fallenlondon to ask whether someone there might be able to share those other endings, and somebody did, and we ended up having a really lovely discussion about them, during which I wrote up some of my core thoughts about the endgame in Irem.
Copying it all here so it’s saved somewhere I’ll actually be able to find it again:
2026/003: The Salt Bind — Rebecca Ferrier
Jan. 7th, 2026 08:33 amtamaranth
"Does your family know what you are? Born with too much salt, fey-blooded, siren-bound..." [loc. 2616]
Kensa lives in the Cornish fishing village of Portscatho, with her mother, her stepfather and her half-sister Elowen. Her father was hanged for smuggling, and she crept up onto the gallows to steal a hagstone from his pocket: that and her red hair (and the stubborn temper to go with it) are all the legacy he left. One night, a sea monster washes up on the shore, and Kensa and Elowen go to see. ( Read more... )
(no subject)
Jan. 6th, 2026 11:12 pmthedarlingoneteratornis1: Grab the nearest book.
2: Turn to page 126.
3: The 6th full sentence is your life in 2026.
I only have a couple of physical books in my room right now and the closest one was the knitting pattern book that serves as my mousepad support, so the sentence in question is "Alternatively, work them in a row on a simple background as on design no. 155 (Blue and White Pots) on page 65."
Honestly, if my bad shoulder will un-jank enough that I can knit more in 2026, that's a pretty good omen.
Book Review
Jan. 6th, 2026 09:36 pmkenjariby Simon Jimenez
This fantasy novel was just gorgeous. It's a very simple story at it's core. Keema and Jun, two young warriors with a lot of violence and death weighing on them, escort a dying goddess to the eastern shore in order to end the brutal rule of a tyrannical dynasty. It's how Jimenez does it that is so magical and lovely. He uses a double narrative frame to contain the story and place it in both the mythic past and the world of dreams. He briefly interjects the inner thoughts of various characters, from our protagonists down to random passers-by, creating both a set of up close and distant perspectives on the action and a kind of Greek chorus commenting on it. And yet none of this obfuscates the narrative or overly complicates it. He neatly weaves together many themes around family, redemption, liberation, and, of course, love. It's just beautiful.
(no subject)
Jan. 6th, 2026 07:59 pmaurumcalendula“When the Administration and Congress rescinded federal funding, our Board faced a profound responsibility: CPB’s final act would be to protect the integrity of the public media system and the democratic values by dissolving, rather than allowing the organization to remain defunded and vulnerable to additional attacks.”
I'm glad I have a PBS Passport membership that supports my local station and I'm thinking about upping my monthly donation amount.
Tuesday Top Five: Looking Forward (Again)
Jan. 6th, 2026 06:56 pmnevannaBut that doesn't mean that there's nothing in the fannish world to which I'm looking forward. Here are some of those things, in no particular order.
1. Finally reading and sending feedback for my
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
fandomgiftbasket gifts2. The return of
threesentenceficathon on January 173. Receiving my beta reader's feedback on a Five Things fic that I wrote months ago for The Hypnotists, which is still my small fandom of choice
4. Reading Through Gates of Garnet and Gold, the latest installment in Seanan McGuire's Wayward Children series
5. Talking about Stranger Things with anybody who has also finished the series, because I have feelings
What are some of your fannish hopes and/or goals for 2026?
Another corner of Bewdley
Jan. 6th, 2026 10:30 pmloganberrybunny
Today was a pretty unexciting one, with just a little more snow but nothing of any real consequence. I had beans on toast for lunch, which isn't unexciting in itself – I like beans on toast – but it's hardly the most thrilling of meals! Nearing the end of my 365 now. Yes, there'll still be photos in future, just not every day. These houses were built to this design before the River Severn flood barriers were installed, so that the garage would get flooded if the river broke its banks but the living areas would not.
Candlemas and Hypapante.
Jan. 6th, 2026 09:58 pm![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png){kind=small}
languagehat_feedAnother of Nick Nicholas’s Facebook reports from Greece (cf. A Melancholy Visit) points out (typos silently corrected):
Greece is a less secular country than those of the Anglosphere, so today is Epiphany and tomorrow is St John’s Day, not merely the sixth and the seventh of January. Feast days still mark the calendar here, like they used to in England. Candlemas and Michaelmas weren’t just made up to make university calendars sound like something out of Harry Potter, they correspond to της Υπαπαντής και του Άη Μιχάλη.
I had heard of Candlemas but could never remember what it was and why it was called that; per OED (entry published 1888, not fully revised) it’s “The feast of the purification of the Virgin Mary (or presentation of Christ in the Temple) celebrated with a great display of candles,” it’s celebrated on February 2nd, and the word goes back to Old English (“Her on þissum geare Swegen geendode his dagas to candel mæssan iii nonas Febr,” Anglo-Saxon Chronicle). But I especially wondered about the Greek name, Υπαπαντή; Wiktionary says:
Derived from Ancient Greek ὑπαπάντησις (hupapántēsis) “encounter”, variant of ὑπάντησις (hupántēsis), from the verb ἀπαντάω (apantáō), ἀντάω (antáō) “to meet”.
And this variant is in LSJ as ὑπαπάντ-ησις , εως, ἡ ; its only occurrence as listed there is in an inscription from ii/i B.C. But what an odd word! I understand haplo(lo)gy, but why add in a syllable? What happened to efficiency in communication?
(no subject)
Jan. 6th, 2026 01:51 pmcupcake_gothCandy Hearts 2026
Jan. 7th, 2026 08:38 amwolffylunaHello, person who is assigned to me or considering making a treat! No matter what you make, I'm probably going to really like it, but I know it's much easier to come up with an idea if you've got some guidance.
Length of prompts is not related to how much I like any character or group, and more related to how much I can ramble about them off the top of my head. Also, feel free to do whatever you want. If for example, I mention wanting fluff for a character, but you have an angsty idea you really want to do, go for it!
My ao3 account and my tumblr are both wolffyluna, if you want to have a look at them to get ideas.
Notes for Pinch Hitters
Heaven Will Be Mine is a visual novel that takes about 6 hours to play through all the routes.
Sha Po Lang is a novel, that in print takes up five volumes, to give a sense of the size of it.
Vampires SMP is a multi creator youtube series, and you would only need to see one creator’s POV to have enough information to write fic. Each series is around eight episodes of 40-120 minutes long.
Baldur’s Gate 3 is a computer rpg that takes about 80 hours to play.
Contents
Likes:
Fandoms:
( Likes and DNWS )
( Baldur’s Gate 3 )
( Original Works )
( Vampires SMP )
Books read, December
Jan. 7th, 2026 09:55 amcyphomandraLibby Lawrence is good at pretending, Jodi McAlister
Looking for Alibrandi, Melina Marchetta
Behind Frenemy Lines, Zen Cho
Compulsory, Martha Wells (short story)
All Systems Red, Martha Wells
Artificial Condition, Martha Wells
Rapport: Friendship, Solidarity, Communion, Empathy, Martha Wells (short story)
Rogue protocol, Martha Wells
Exit strategy, Martha Wells
Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory, Martha Wells (short story)
Network effect, Martha Wells
Fugitive telemetry, Martha Wells
System collapse, Martha Wells
Libby Lawrence is Good at Pretending, Jodi McAlister. Uni theatre YA/new adult romance; Libby sleeps with the overly charming director just before he disappears (but just after he embezzles the group’s money); she doesn’t want to tell her best friend, who has her own issues, or any of the other theatre kids, as although she’s always previously been on the outside with bit parts, the replacement director’s cast her as the lead in Much Ado About Nothing. Messy but fun; the best friend part feels underdeveloped but the theatre stuff is good.
Looking for Alibrandi, Melina Marchetta. I kept feeling that I should have read this before, because it’s such an Australian classic. Josephine Alibrandi, Italian-Australian, is in her final year as a scholarship student at an exclusive Catholic high school; she fights with her mother (who has raised her on her own, despite her family’s disapproval of her single motherhood), goes out with boys, explores her family history and finally meets her father; it’s vivid, believable, and excellently characterised (Josie is prickly and stubborn and appealing, and her growth throughout the novel is great). Also has lots of Sydney in it.
Behind Frenemy Lines, Zen Cho. Kriya Rajasekar associates Charles Goh with the worst moments in her legal career - flubbing an interview, losing cases etc - and is appalled to discover she’s going to have to share an office with him when her boss/mentor takes her with him to a new legal firm. Charles, meanwhile, is appalled to discover he’s been anyone’s nemesis, and is increasingly concerned at how Kriya’s mentor is treating her. I enjoy Cho’s het romcoms (this is in the same continuity as The Friend Zone Experiment) but I don’t love them. This does have some great moments and I particularly like Charles, who determinedly dresses up in cosplay for his best friend’s lesbian sports-anime themed wedding (she and her wife bonded over their love for the fictitious Duke of Badminton series, which made me snort in amusement as someone who very briefly read fanfic for Prince of Tennis) and then takes the Tube to the venue.
I read all of the extant Murderbot books and shorts in a wild binge. I like them but do not feel fannish at all about them, although I can see why other people do. I like Murderbot and the voice is fantastic, but I find the humans rather interchangeable and I don’t like ART, who becomes increasingly prominent as the books go on. I will probably re-read these again at some stage and see if that changes.