vivdunstan

Okay, vid-source-assisting enablers, your reward is here. ♥

With every broken bone, I swear I lived. Team/family vid. (Contains some sci-fi violence as per the show, and canon pairings in the background, but it's mostly focused on team + Murderbot.)

Song: I Lived
Artist: OneRepublic
Length: 03:57
AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/67565471
Tumblr: here

Having made this in a fit of exploding feelings today, I plan to get subtitles/downloads up soon (as soon as I remember how to do all of that; it's been ages since I made a vid!).

Temp download: Download from Dropbox (286 Mb, it's huge)

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lemire_feed

Posted by Daniel Lemire

https://lemire.me/blog/2025/07/14/dot-product-on-misaligned-data/

https://lemire.me/blog/?p=22124

One of my most popular blog posts of all times is Data alignment for speed: myth or reality? According to my dashboard, hundreds of people a week still load the old blog post. A few times a year, I get an email from someone who disagrees.

The blog post makes a simple point. Programmers are often told to worry about ‘unaligned loads’ for performance. The point of my blog post is that you should generally no worry about alignment when optimizing your code.

An unaligned load occurs when a processor attempts to read data from memory at an address that is not properly aligned. Most computer architectures require data to be accessed at addresses that are multiples of the data’s size (e.g., 4-byte data should be accessed at addresses divisible by 4). For example, a 4-byte integer of float should be loaded from an address like 0x1000 or 0x1004 (aligned), but if the load is attempted from 0x1001 (not divisible by 4), it is unaligned. In some conditions, an unaligned load can crash your system and it general leads to ‘undefined behaviors’ in C++ or C.

Related to this alignment issue is that data is typically organized in cache lines (64 bytes or 128 bytes or most systems) that are loaded together. If you load data randomly from memory, you might touch two cache lines which could cause an additional cache miss. If you need to load data spanning two cache lines, there might be a penalty (say one cycle) as the processor needs to access the two cache lines and reassemble the data. Further, there is also the concept of a page of memory (4 kB or more). Accessing an additional page could be costly, and you typically want to avoid accessing more pages than you need to. However, you have to be somewhat unlucky to frequently cross two pages with one load operation.

How can you end up with unaligned loads? It often happens when you access low-level data structures, assigning data to some bytes. For example, you might load a binary file from disk, and it might say that all the bytes after the first one are 32-bit integers. Without copying the data, it could be difficult to align the data. You might also be packing data: imagine that you have a pair of values, one that first in byte and the other that requires 4 bytes. You could pack these values using 5 bytes, instead of 8 bytes.

There are cases were you should worry about alignment. If you are crafting your own memory copy function, you want to be standard compliant (in C/C++) or you need atomic operations (for multithreaded operations).

However, my general point is that it is unlikely to be a performance concern.

I decided to run a new test given that I haven’t revisited this problem since 2012. Back then I used a hash function. I use SIMD-based dot products with either ARM NEON intrinsics or AVX2 intrinsics. I build two large arrays of 32-bit floats and I compute the scalar product. That is, I multiply the elements and sum the products. The arrays fit in a megabyte so that we are not RAM limited.

I run benchmarks on an Apple M4 processor as well as on an Intel Ice Lake processor.

On the Apple M4… we cannot see the alignment.

Byte Offset	ns/float	ins/float	instruction/cycle
0	0.18	2.00	2.40
1	0.18	2.00	2.40
2	0.18	2.00	2.40
3	0.18	2.00	2.40
4	0.18	2.00	2.40
5	0.18	2.00	2.40
6	0.18	2.00	2.40
7	0.18	2.00	2.40

And neither can we on the Intel Ice Lake processor.

Byte Offset	ns/float	ins/float	instruction/cycle
0	0.16	0.75	1.50
1	0.16	0.75	1.48
2	0.16	0.75	1.49
3	0.16	0.75	1.49
4	0.16	0.75	1.50
5	0.16	0.75	1.50
6	0.16	0.75	1.47
7	0.16	0.75	1.49

My point is not that you cannot somehow detect the performance difference due to alignment in some tests. My point is that it is simply not something that you should generally worry about as far as performance goes.

My source code is available.

https://lemire.me/blog/2025/07/14/dot-product-on-misaligned-data/

https://lemire.me/blog/?p=22124

scalziwhatever_feed

Posted by Athena Scalzi

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/07/14/im-posting-some-recent-charcuterie-spreads-i-did-for-no-other-reason-than-i-feeling-like-showing-yall/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=56408

I’ve been making more charcuterie boards than usual lately, and I’d like to think practice makes fairly decent, so I’d like to show y’all some of my recent spreads I’ve done for gatherings and parties and whatnot. I usually post them on Instagram and Bluesky, but just in case you missed them, you can get your fix right here and now!

For the 4th of July I was in Texas, and my friend hosted a party, for which I volunteered to supply some snackage for. Here’s the charcuterie board:

For this board, I used prosciutto, salami, Munster, Kerrygold aged cheddar, Brie, chimichurri gouda, fig and honey goat cheese, candied pecans, Castelvetrano olives, Mike’s Hot Honey, Honeycomb, and cherries. Everything on there except the pecans I picked up at H.E.B.

This was the rest of what I served:

While the salsa and guac I bought pre-made from H.E.B., I did assemble the watermelon, feta, and mint salad and drizzled it with honey, and put together the caprese skewers with balsamic glaze. I honestly think this turned out really well! I was very happy with my summery salad and light bites.

Just a few days ago I got my AppyHour Box (which I have regrettably not been doing posts over lately!) and decided to make a little board for my dad and his friend that was visiting from out of town.

A long and narrow stone serving board filled to the brim with meats and cheeses. There's crumbled Togarashi cheese, a river of coppa, crumbled aged gouda, sliced smoked goat cheese, and a mound of prosciutto. There's handfuls of dried cherries around, as well as two mini jam jars that I forgot to take the lids off of for the shot.

This board consisted of a Togarashi cheese, an aged gouda, a smoked goat cheese, dried cherries, coppa, and prosciutto (I think it was a Calabrian Chili prosciutto?). The two jams I forgot to take the lids off of are a caramelized pear and honey spread, and a raspberry hibiscus jam. I thought this was a cute little lunch for my dad and his guest, and I’m glad the enjoyed it.

Finally, this past weekend, I hosted a friend’s baby shower at the church. She said she expected around fifty people to attend, and I can say with confidence I’ve never tried to make a spread for that many people before. I was definitely intimidated, but I was determined to make an approachable spread that would appeal to the masses and not spend hundreds of dollars doing it.

I didn’t capture everything, but here’s the gist of how it turned out:

A long white counter covered in parchment paper with a ton of food on top of it. There's a vegetable assortment consisting of carrots, celery, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, and bell peppers, all surrounding a dish of dill dip. There's a bowl of salsa visible, plus some crackers in the shot, too. At the far end there is a charcuterie section that I will go into detail of in the next photo.

And of course, a close up:

A giant salami rose is the main focus of the charcuterie spread, the middle of which is filled with some prosciutto. It's surrounded by crumbled Asiago, rosemary almonds, cubed jalapeno havarti, grapes, a log fig goat cheese, more prosciutto, cherries, crumbled cranberry cheddar, and pimento stuffed olives. There's also a fig and orange spread, and whole grain mustard.

The spread contained Asiago, jalapeno Havarti, fig goat cheese, cranberry cheddar, smoked cheddar, cherries, grapes, rosemary almonds, chocolate covered almonds, hard salami, prosciutto, pimento stuffed olives, fig spread, and whole grain mustard.

There was also cucumbers, bell peppers, baby carrots, celery, cherry tomatoes, dill dip, salsa, tortilla chips, garden vegetable entertainment crackers, fig and sesame crisps, honey mustard mini pretzels, rosemary flatbread crackers, coconut macaroons, chocolate covered pretzels, chocolate covered shortbread cookies, and chocolate covered Belgian waffle cookies.

Other than the tortilla chips, whole grain mustard, fig spread, rosemary almonds, and chocolate covered pretzels, I bought everything at Aldi, and despite buying doubles if not three of absolutely everything I listed, my total came out to $220. I was able to make this huge spread and refill it when it got low and feed 50 guests for just over $200. Who knew Aldi was so cool?! I spent about fifty bucks more than that on my spread for the Texas party, and that was only to feed about ten people.

The best thing on the spread from Aldi was the honey mustard mini pretzels, or the chocolate covered waffle cookies. I am definitely going to be stopping at Aldi more often for some surprisingly cheap and yummy treats.

What item looks the best to you? What’s your go-to cheese to serve for entertaining guests? Am I the only one who didn’t realize how neat Aldi was? Let me know in the comments, and have a great day!

-AMS

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/07/14/im-posting-some-recent-charcuterie-spreads-i-did-for-no-other-reason-than-i-feeling-like-showing-yall/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=56408

conuly

Nonstandard and informal are not synonyms. Dialectal and informal are not synonyms. Regional and informal are not synonyms. You can speak formally even if you're speaking a nonstandard regional dialect.

Everybody needs to stop saying that dialect words are, ipso facto, informal.

Edit: On a different note, omfg this dude.

*************************

( Read more... )

lirazel

Has anyone else started getting those spam-y grift-y "I like your writing, let me make art for you" messages here on DW??? I've gotten them on plenty of other sites (including FF.N, where my account is still apparently linked to my email address!) but I never thought to see them here!

petra

If the new Superman movie had included Súperman es Ilegal (lyrics in English and Spanish in video), even just a little bit, I might've felt all the whiners were justified in saying how woke it is. It's a charming movie with compelling performances, but "woke" is a serious overstatement by people who can't handle characters who aren't white dudes doing things.

This Ma and Pa Kent were my favorite iterations of themselves outside of comics, and I fully believed that this Clark would say, "Dang."

If you like your superheroes a little too clean-cut and a lot too earnest, you, too, may enjoy this flick.

Current Mood: the future liberals want
Current Music: ¿Es periodista? ¡También yo soy!

smbc_comics_feed

Posted by Zach Weinersmith

https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/waa

Click here to go see the bonus panel!

Hovertext:
It's not the talking that's so creepy, but the baritone.

Today's News:

https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/waa

lirazel

Anybody got any book recs for either nonfiction or fiction set in Central Asia and/or Afghanistan prior to the 19th century? (Going back as far as you like.)

I just find this area of the world really interesting but find little information on it. I'm super interested in Samarkand, the Silk Roads, etc.

There are a number of travelogues that people have written, like, tracing the Silk Roads and things. And those are interesting! But I'm really looking for something that isn't filtered through a contemporary perspective.

scalziwhatever_feed

Posted by Athena Scalzi

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/07/14/the-big-idea-marie-vibbert-2/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=56403

Author Marie Vibbert is back on the blog today with a fresh new novel that’s bigger and badder than ever. Dive into her Hellcats universe once more and see the world from an all new perspective in Andrei and the Hellcats.

MARIE VIBBERT:

Why are all sex robots depicted as miserable? Wouldn’t they just program them to be really horny? Thus, I created the character of Andrei: a sex-positive sex robot who loves his job, and humans. All the humans. When Galactic Hellcats was released in 2021, people responded warmly to this minor character, and when I asked, “What do you want in a sequel?” one of the top responses was, “More Andrei! And let him have sex! Why do you have two sex bots in this book and no one gets past second base?”

Why? Because my dad might read this book! I didn’t say that. I blushed and affirmed I would try harder in the sequel to be as uninhibited as Andrei.

And sequel time has come! My first goal was a book that wouldn’t require reading the previous one, and so Andrei and the Hellcats is from Andrei’s perspective, as a relative outsider. As I drafted, I realized that my little idea about sex robot preferences led into a bigger idea: how do we form our moral preferences? Can robots (or AI) have a conscious choice in their morality? What does that say about morality itself?

I know, that sounds heavy for a book about a sex robot enlisting a space biker gang to rescue his sister from an evil queen, but come drop down this mental rabbit hole with me.

As I fleshed out Andrei’s character to take center stage, I had to confront aspects of his life, personality, and preferences. He likes sex, a lot. Check. So why does he work as a hospitality manager at a space station instead of enjoying an all he can shag buffet at a brothel? Did he have a choice, or was he built for this role? Was he hired or purchased?

All of these questions funnel down into the intersection of consent and capitalism. Andrei cares a lot about consent in sex; he has whole libraries of code for it. He recognizes hesitation, the body language of distress and coercion. “I don’t enjoy inflicting harm,” he laments at one point, “I’m really only comfortable when there are safe words.” Yet he has never examined his own consent to play the role assigned to him, until the evil queen comes along and kidnaps him and his sister. He thinks Queen Jasmine of Ratana is simply roleplaying “Evil Queen and the mindless sexbot” until after their tryst, when she waves her hand and says “deactivate yourself.” Through her words and actions she makes it clear she doesn’t think Andrei is self-aware, and he realizes she felt that way the entire time they were fooling around. This prompts a moral crisis: have other clients of his mistaken play for reality? Does he need to update his most sacred algorithms?

Poor Andrei! What is sapience? What is consent? I wanted to have him follow this rabbit hole to money as a motivation, anti-capitalist gal that I am. To that end, I had this fun idea to have him in conflict with the Hellcats. They are, to put it mildly, uninterested in property rights, especially kleptomaniac Ki. Wouldn’t it be a hoot if, having finally enlisted the gang, he’d interrupt the ensuing caper with, “Excuse me, does that belong to you? Put it back.”

To quote Ki, “Ugh, it’s like taking my social worker on a heist!”

Nothing makes a plot outline happier than juicy, theme-relevant complications! But I found the right opening for my little gag difficult to find, and part of that was, well, I was already forcing Andrei to confront his programming through every step of the plot. First the evil queen, then I put him on his own on a strange planet with nothing but his keen fashion sense and gift of gab. How can he find where they’ve taken her? How can he begin to save her? He has no local currency and has to contemplate breaking his programmed reverence for property rights to even get to a point where he can start searching in earnest. He wonders why he can’t bring himself to steal what he needs, why he was programmed to be a good little capitalist. “Were we designed to desire things to keep us working? Could we learn to do without designer clothes and porn subscriptions?”

By the time he gets to the Hellcats, he’s ready to hear Ki out when she takes it upon herself to turn him to the lawless side of the force. He has already seen that laws can be unjust; the queen’s law declares him and his sister property! When Ki compares hoarding money to hoarding kisses, Andrei accepts that ownership is not as important as good snogs… or the safety of sapient beings.

As I was writing, I found myself a little envious of Andrei. He can consciously edit his moral programming when he discovers a bias in it, while I make the same gaffs nine or ten thousand times before I learn. Well, so do the Hellcats. They have those relationship arcs to get through, all that learning what and who to prioritize. So while he learns from them, Andrei gets to drop some truth bombs in return. “Darling, I get it. When you and your brother left the factory… I mean, when you were born, your settings were the same…. Then you were sent out into the world, and your programs updated.”

Ninety percent of writing a novel is making decisions. Where could I fit in my little anti-theft Andrei gaff? Well, I couldn’t. Then I realized he still cared about the rule of law. Ah ha! The confrontation now comes not from stealing, but from breaking and entering, and I got to use all the snarky lines I had daydreamed.

Andrei sighs, “Humans take so long to make decisions! How did they ever get around to inventing us?”

(… she wrote, thinking about her own plot outlining.)

That accomplished, I was free to make everything worse! Bwah ha ha. Have to push all those moral lessons harder with some external examples, right? So they all get captured in a forced labor camp. It’s dark. I found myself pausing on a scene where an explosive implant takes out a guy’s arm because sometimes they just go off and thinking, “Um, self? Is this still a lighthearted space romp?” And lo, the moral quandary has come home: the choices I make as an author can reflect my own morality (or lack thereof.)

I couldn’t just have them blow up their way out of there, leaving the other slaves behind. Crap. I had to go back and change the entire ending heist to reflect my values of collective action. Andrei, I hope, would be proud.

Andrei gets through the plot, the Hellcats get through the plot, and the author gets through the plot: each a little wiser for it.

The book should be available wherever books are sold. Have your local independent bookstore order it, or your library!

And we all snarked happily ever after.

Andrei and the Hellcats: Amazon|Barnes & Noble|Powell’s

Marie Vibbert: Website|Facebook|Instagram

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/07/14/the-big-idea-marie-vibbert-2/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=56403

oracne

I’ll be at Readercon 34 this weekend after spending most of the last couple of weeks doing massive re-reads.

If you’ll be there, please feel free to stop and say hello! My schedule is below.

The Works of P. Djèlí Clark
Salon I/J Friday, July 18, 2025, 1:00 PM EDT
Andrea Hairston [moderator]; Leon Perniciaro; Rob Cameron; Tom Doyle; Victoria Janssen
Our Guest of Honor P. Djèlí Clark rounded out his first decade as a published author with a Nebula and a Locus for his fantasy police procedural novel, The Master of Djinn, and both those awards plus a British Fantasy Award for his monster-hunting novella Ring Shout. His short story “How to Raise a Kraken in Your Bathtub” is short-listed for the Hugo this year. As a History professor at University of Connecticut, he investigates the pathways leading from West African storyteller/poets (griots, a.k.a. djèlí) to the American abolitionist movement. Help us celebrate the works of our honored guest!

The Purposes of Memorable Insults in Sci-Fi and Fantasy
Salon I/J Friday, July 18, 2025, 5:00 PM EDT
Storm Humbert [moderator]; Anne E.G. Nydam; Charles Allison; Ellen Kushner; Victoria Janssen
Some of the most quotable lines in science fiction and fantasy are zingers. Wit can do a lot to build a character, a world, and a universe, and has the ability to either support or undermine reader expectations. This panel aims to explore and elaborate on the use of wit—and especially takedowns—in literature, exposing how a verbal jab can serve as more than just a punchline.

Moving from Traditional Publishing to Self-Publishing
Salon G/H Friday, July 18, 2025, 7:00 PM EDT
Victoria Janssen [moderator]; Cecilia Tan; Jedediah Berry; Sarah Smith; Steven Popkes
It’s becoming increasingly common to hear of authors whose self-published work was so successful that they were picked up by a traditional publisher. But what of the authors who have gone the other way, by turning their backs on traditional publishing and going into self-publishing? Panelists will survey the varying reasons for making this transition, how authors have navigated it, and what this might say about the state of publishing overall.

Kaffeeklatsch: Victoria Janssen
Suite 830 Friday, July 18, 2025, 8:00 PM EDT

The Works of Cecilia Tan
Salon I/J Saturday, July 19, 2025, 12:00 PM EDT
Victoria Janssen [moderator]; Charlie Jane Anders; Laura Antoniou; Cecilia Tan (i)
Our Guest of Honor, Cecilia Tan, has a publication history that spans Asimov’s, Absolute Magnitude, Ms. Magazine, Penthouse, and Best American Erotica, among others. Writer and editor of science fiction and fantasy, especially as they intersect with erotica and romance, she is also the founder of Circlet Press, an independent publisher that specializes in speculative erotica. Her own writing earned a Lifetime Achievement for Erotica in 2014 from Romantic Times magazine. She also contributes to America’s other pastime, baseball, in her role as Publications Director for the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR). Come hear our panel discuss Cecilia’s many talents and accomplishments.

Un-Kafkaesque Bureaucracies
Salon I/J Saturday, July 19, 2025, 7:00 PM EDT
Victoria Janssen [moderator]; Alexander Jablokov; J.M. Sidorova; Laurence Raphael Brothers; Steven Popkes
In fiction, bureaucracies are generally depicted as evil in its most banal form, yet many of the actual bureaucracies that shape our lives exist to protect us from corporate greed. How can—and should—we tell other stories about bureaucrats and bureaucracies, particularly as the U.S. stands on the precipice of disastrous deregulation? And might fantasies of bureaucracy (such Addison’s The Goblin Emperor and Goddard’s The Hands of the Emperor) be the next cozy subgenre?

The Endless Appetite for Fanfiction
Create / Collaborate Saturday, July 19, 2025, 8:00 PM EDT
Kate Nepveu [moderator]; Claire Houck/Nina Waters; Laura Antoniou; Victoria Janssen
In an article of the same name (https://www.fansplaining.com/articles/endless-appetite-fanfiction), Elizabeth Minkel discussed how “2024 was the year [fanfic] truly broke containment—everyone seemed to want a piece of the fanfiction pie, leaving fic authors themselves besieged on all sides.” Attempts to steal and monetize fanfic proliferated, as did reviews treating living authors as distant and unreachable. What do these trends say about larger changes in attitudes toward stories and creators? How can fans of all kinds nurture supportive connections to authors?

thornsilver

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thornsilver

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settiai

In tonight's game, ( the rest under a cut for those who don't care. )

And that's where we left off.

Current Mood: accomplished

conuly

but it turned out to be a big bag of dog food.

This is... not so great, really.

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( Read more... )

redfiona99

The group stage diagrams and predictions based on them can be found here - https://fulltimesportsfan.wordpress.com/2025/06/29/euro-2025-group-stage-network-diagrams/

How did the group stage predictions go?

From group A, I predicted Norway and Switzerland would qualify for the quarterfinals, and I was right, even if it involved extra time goals in the decider.

Group B, I predicted Spain and AN other, which I am aware is a bit of a "the sky is blue" sort of prediction.

Group C, I predicted Germany and Sweden

Group D, I predicted Netherlands and one of England and France, which was oh so wrong.

So out of 8, I am willing to call that about equivalent to 5/8.

With that in mind, here are the quarterfinal network diagrams

( Four figures under the cut )

Sweden are the national team closest to the centre (just, vs. Norway). Either Lyon or Bayern Munich are the club team closest to the centre.

Barcelona are the team with the most representatives left in with 14, then comes Bayern Munich and Juventus with 13 then Chelsea with 12.

Predictions for the quarterfinals:

These are quite difficult because Italy and Spain are pulled out by how many of their players play for Juventus and Barcelona respectively, while Bayern Munich, and the players that play for them, are pulling together Sweden and Germany, and Arsenal and Chelsea are holding together England, Sweden and Norway.

Sweden vs England - Diagram says Sweden

Norway vs Italy - Diagram says Norway, plus every single women's football pundit keeps bewailing how often Italy somehow manage to screw up. On the other hand, Norway trip over their own feet also.

France vs Germany - Diagram says Germany just. Football fan says "ooooh".

Spain vs Switzerland - Remember how I said Barcelona pulled Spain out of the diagram. This really reflects that. Switzerland are far closer to the centre. On the other hand, there is no way I can see Switzerland beating this Spanish team.

kaberett

Reading. This week I have mostly but not entirely been reading more murdery bot: Network Effect, Fugitive Telemetry, System Collapse, Rapport, aaaand I've also immediately launched myself into yet another quick reread of All Systems Red because we finished watching the TV series and therefore I want The Murderbot Of My Heart Thank You.

However! I have also continued reading about nerves! I have now read the entire first chapter of Nerve and Muscle, supplemented by a bunch more Wikipedia, and I think I am starting to have a better mental picture of how all of this works? I am going into way more depth than required by The Project, really, I think, but I will be happier if I know what's going on at least to the extent that I understand a little more about what it means, physically, when it is explained that some migraine preventives target Type A nerve fibre and others target Type C (which in turn is why if you get partial relief from something that targets Type C it's worth at least experimenting with adding in something targeting Type A).

And I have also made a tiny bit more progress with The Age of Seeds, but... yeah, mostly Murderbot.

Watching. Murderbot! I will concede that "I need to check the perimeter" did indeed get me Right In The Feels. I still prefer my book-Murderbot but I am beginning to acquire a better understanding of why folk love this Murderbot too.

The fanvid Bohemian Like You, by kuwdora, via sholio, via recessional.

Cooking. Several new things! Aubergine larb with sticky rice and shallot salad, lavender & honey Welsh cakes out of the Welsh cakes tourist tat mini-book, coconut pancakes. Now officially over two thirds of the way through East (with another Several planned for this week coming).

Eating. TODAY WE WENT ON AN ADVENTURE TO SEE ONE OF MY UNIVERSITY FRIENDS. I don't understand how it has been somewhere in the vicinity of ten years since I last got my act together to see this friend in particular given the part where, you know, we live in the same city, BUT we sorted ourselves out to meet up at King's Cross today and in addition to talking solidly for the entire duration we had FOOD including:

Ruby Violet (maxi moo moo with hazelnut crunch & raspberry, rosewater and prosecco on the grass by the canal; hazelnut & hazelnut brittle, salted caramel & almond brittle, hot cross bun, raspberry ripple, and coffee mocha ripple brought home, those last two primarily for A)
for lunch I had a funghi ma po tofu from rice guys, and A had a veg biriyani from somewhere I'm not immediately managing to spot on the Canopy Market trader list
from Bread Ahead we brought home two doughnuts -- pistachio crème brûlée for me, and something involving honeycomb for A; I think this is quite possibly the first custard doughnut I have ever eaten and actually liked (though were I to buy from them again I'd skip the pistachios)

... and upon meeting up with said friend, they reached into their bag with an "oh before I forget--" and pulled out a jar of jam, which conveniently gave me an excuse to reach into my bag and pull out the jar of jam I'd brought to give them, so I have swapped one blood orange + cardamom for one cherry plum + vanilla, and I've not eaten it yet but I am very excited about doing so.

... also raspberries, gooseberries, redcurrants, jostaberries...

Exploring. We poked around Granary Square a bit to go with Meeting Friends; we came home with lots of stickers (I also got some washi tape from that first one...), a gorgeous bowl (which she was not charging that much for at the market, goodness), and a business card for Creature Crafts by Nat so I could send their details on to Interested Parties.

Growing. ... I spent a whole day at the plot mostly reading Murderbot? (And did also do some weeding, and some harvesting, and some watering, and some general pootling.)

neotoma

NY strip steak, sweet Italian sausage, soft goat cheese, goat's milk caramel (cajeta), bell peppers, anaheim peppers, 4lb of yellow peaches, apricots, sesame apricot cupcake, fingerling potatoes, yellow plums, dragon's breath cheese, tavern blue cheese, black beans, whipple beans, jacob's cattle beans, and black rice.

I'm going to sear the strip steak and top it with slices of the blue cheese for dinner.

The peaches need a few days to finish ripening and then I will make them into salsa.

marthawells

A really thoughtful essay on Murderbot: ‘Even If They Are My Favourite Human’: Murderbot Just Explained Boundaries

https://countercurrents.org/2025/07/even-if-they-are-my-favourite-human-murderbot-just-explained-boundaries/

“I Don’t Know What I Want”: The Line That Changed Everything

In the final moments of the season, Murderbot says: “I don’t know what I want. But I know I don’t want anyone to tell me what I want or to make decisions for me. Even if they are my favourite human.”

This is not a dramatic declaration. It is confusion wrapped in clarity. A sentence that holds discomfort and self-awareness in equal measure. It reflects a truth often ignored in stories about intelligence and emotion: that it is okay to not know, as long as that unknowing belongs to the self. In a world that constantly demands certainty, this line opens up space for uncertainty without shame.

* And a great interview with Alexander Skarsgård!

https://collider.com/murderbot-finale-alexander-skarsgard/

So, it just wants to start fresh and get away, and figure out who it is and what it wants. It doesn't really know that. I quite enjoyed that Murderbot didn't end up having answers to all the questions or knowing exactly what it wants. It's more messy and complicated than that. But it definitely knows that it needs to find its own path and make its own decisions, to make its own mistakes, and not have the Corporation or anyone tell it who it is or what it wants.

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sholio - Murderbot fanvid: I Lived
30or40yearsold in fandomcalendar - Trick or Treat MJV Week [Oct 3rd - Oct 9th 2025]
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settiai - Titansfall D&D: Summary for 7/13 Game
conuly - Hm. I thought we got a big bag of cat food
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Page generated Jul. 15th, 2025 06:59 am

Network

Murderbot fanvid: I Lived

Trick or Treat MJV Week [Oct 3rd - Oct 9th 2025]

#Lysiclaude2025Bingo starts this week! (7/17~24)

Dot product on misaligned data

I’m Posting Some Recent Charcuterie Spreads I Did, For No Other Reason Than I Feel Like Showing Y’al

Today's five second mini-rant:

omg y'all

Superman 2025 thoughts, no spoilers

Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal - Waa

(no subject)

The Big Idea: Marie Vibbert

Readercon 2025

Please let me sleep

I just watched "Alien" (1979)

Titansfall D&D: Summary for 7/13 Game

Hm. I thought we got a big bag of cat food

Euro 2025 - Quarterfinal network diagrams

vital functions

Farmer's Market -- 13 July 2025 (Guineafowl Day, 25th of Harvest, Year 2

More Murderbot Articles

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