Tuesday, September 30, 2025

Preorder listing for Ann Leckie's new novel

Radiant Star at Amazon:

Space opera's sharpest mind returns to the world of the Imperial Radch in this brilliant standalone from award-winning author Ann Leckie.

The Temporal Location of the Radiant Star has always been a source of both conflict and hope for the people of Ooioiaa. However, the imperial Radch see it only as an inconvenience, an antiquated religious site soon to be absorbed into their own, superior culture. But local politics is complicated, and the Radch have made one last concession: One last man will be allowed to join the mummified bodies in the temporal location to become a “living saint”.

But this one decision will ripple out to affect every part of the city. Amidst a slowly worsening food shortage, riots, and a communication blackout from the rest of the Radch Empire, a religious savant will entertain visions of his own sainthood, a socialite will discover zer comfortable life upended, and a young man sold into servitude will find unlikely escape.

I'm listening to the Ancillary Justice audiobook right now in the Libby app--it's terrific.

Fun article about the creation of the Rainbow Loom

From 2013:

Ng would work late into the night in the basement of his Detroit home coming up with new patterns in the hopes of impressing his wife. Whenever he'd come up with a new way to weave the rubber bands together, he'd wake her up to show her. "She would wake up at midnight kind of mumbling, "Wow, that's great

...

Ng interviewed five factories in China before ultimately selecting one. "I cannot make any mistakes. I knew that a lot of mistakes can be made, but I cannot afford to lose [the money]. I only have one shot, which is very scary,"

...

The first order of rubber bands arrived in June 2011 and weighed 2,000 pounds, approximately the weight of a mid-size car

Monday, September 29, 2025

Saturday, September 27, 2025

Here's the Daft Punk x Fortnite experience





This video incudes the opening and the various gameplay elements:





And this video is just the concert without interruption:





And the loading screens are posted here.

Thursday, September 25, 2025

From my wishlist, "Little Bosses Everywhere: How the Pyramid Scheme Shaped America" is $1.99 right now

at Amazon.

The travails of the American salesman grew gnarlier in the 20th century. For one, some of these salesmen are now women. Also, many are newly self-employed, thanks to the growing industry of multilevel marketing. Bridget Read’s “Little Bosses Everywhere” reads like a thriller as it investigates the birth and growth of this shadowy and sprawling industry that polished up door-to-door sales with a new veneer of all-American entrepreneurialism.
...
“Little Bosses Everywhere” lays out an almost prosecutorial case against many multilevel marketing schemes
...
When Read introduces the characters behind America’s first big multilevel marketing scheme, it almost sounds like the setup to a joke: What happens when a Gilded Age dilettante, a eugenics-curious Dale Carnegie acolyte and an overzealous marketer of burial plots come together? The answer is

Slate's "The 25 Greatest Picture Books of the Past 25 Years"

Diverse list and, thankfully, not a slide show. The Looking at Picture Books newsletter discussed some of the books in greater detail.

Wednesday, September 24, 2025

The Charles and Carlos show

@espn #CharlesLeclerc and #CarlosSainz had to rent a van to get home from #Italy 😂 (via @Charles Leclerc) #f1 #ferrari ♬ original sound - ESPN



But why are the unicorn stickers only being sold by bootleggers?

@williamsf1 A promise that Carlos was never going to break 🦄💙 #f1 #f1tiktok #azerbaijangp #carlossainz ♬ original sound - Atlassian Williams Racing

Terrifyingly huge sinkhole in Bangkok

@skynews Footage shows the moment a road in Bangkok collapsed as a huge sinkhole opened. #Bangkok #Thailand #Sinkhole #WorldNews ♬ original sound - Sky News



@cnn

In central Bangkok a large sinkhole 50-meters deep opened up near a hospital and police station. According to the Tai prime minister underground construction to a train line was the cause. No injuries were reported, according to Reuters.

♬ original sound - CNN



@michaeljanthony #sinkhole #bangkok #bangkoksinkhole #2025 ♬ original sound - Michael Jones Anthony



@orientaldailymalaysia 曼谷街头现大天坑 更多完整视频曝光 #TikTok新闻 #Thailand #Bangkok #Sinkhole ♬ original sound - 马来西亚东方日报



@nytimes A tunnel collapse opened up a hole more than 60 feet deep in a Bangkok road Wednesday morning. The cause of the collapse appeared to be a water leak from a burst pipe in an unfinished extension of Bangkok's subway system, the city's governor said. #Bangkok #Thailand ♬ original sound - The New York Times



@thaipbsworld Dr. Suchatvee Suwansawat, former President of the Council of Thai Engineers, explained what caused the sink hole in Bangkok’s Samsen Road. #ThaiPBSWorld #ThailandNews #Thailand #ถนนสามเสน #ถนนทรุด ♬ original sound - Thai PBS World

Marvel Select Spider-Ham and Miles Morales two-pack in stock

at Entertainment Earth. Don't remember seeing that Spider-Ham before. EE also has a damaged box Doom: The Dark Ages Doom Slayer Atlan for $15 off.

Glow in the dark football cleats for the Oregon Ducks




And speaking of specialty Nikes:

Tuesday, September 23, 2025

Trailers for three new Kojima projects, including a teamup with Niantic, the Pokemon Go company

Horror:





Karate:





A peaceful exploration game, until the ending hints at conflict (the ending is pretty funny after watching DS Mosquito):





And here comes the feeling:

Excellent example of how a body looks at different weights and different levels of fitness

@lorenkimfit #fyp #fitnessjourney #fitnesstips #buildingmuscle #bodyrecomposition ♬ original sound - lorenkimart


Related, Casey Johnston posted an excerpt from her book about power lifting--it focuses on when she first started:
I hated and resented the self-satisfied “you’ll understand someday” tone of these pieces. It was more than just the smugness; even if these stories challenged some of the values about the hard work of hotness, the framing still capitulated to the game. 
...
But it wasn’t just her post that grabbed me. The response to it had been overwhelming. People showered her with compliments on her strength progress and willingness to give strength training a shot in the first place. Not a few people complimented her progress photos. “I don’t lift to be hot,” she replied. “I lift to be strong.” I rolled my eyes. Liar.


Finally, speaking of exercise, I recently switchewd from a blender bottle to a Helimix 2.0--works great, no whisk ball.