(no subject)
Feb. 21st, 2026 04:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
oursinBooks and screens: Everyone is panicking about the death of reading usefully points out that panic and woezery over reading/not-reading/what they're reading etc etc is far from a new phenomenon:
We have been here before. Not just once, but repeatedly, in a pattern so consistent it reveals something essential about how cultural elites respond to changes in how knowledge moves through society.
In the late 19th century, more than a million boys’ periodicals were sold per week in Britain. These ‘penny dreadfuls’ offered sensational stories of crime, horror and adventure that critics condemned as morally corrupting and intellectually shallow. By the 1850s, there were up to 100 publishers of this penny fiction. Victorian commentators wrung their hands over the degradation of youth, the death of serious thought, the impossibility of competing with such lurid entertainment.
But walk backwards through history, and the pattern repeats with eerie precision. In the 18th and early 19th centuries, novel-reading itself was the existential threat. The terms used were identical to today’s moral panic: ‘reading epidemic’, ‘reading mania’, ‘reading rage’, ‘reading fever’, ‘reading lust’, ‘insidious contagion’. The journal Sylph worried in 1796 that women ‘of every age, of every condition, contract and retain a taste for novels … the depravity is universal.’
....
In 1941, the American paediatrician Mary Preston claimed that more than half of the children she studied were ‘severely addicted’ to radio and movie crime dramas, consumed ‘much as a chronic alcoholic does drink’. The psychiatrist Fredric Wertham testified before US Congress that, as he put it in his book Seduction of the Innocent (1954), comics cause ‘chronic stimulation, temptation and seduction’, calling them more dangerous than Hitler. Thirteen American states passed restrictive laws. The comics historian Carol Tilley later exposed the flaws in Wertham’s research, but by then the damage was done.
I'm a bit 'huh' about the perception of a model of reading in quiet libraries as one that is changing, speaking as someone who has read in an awful lot of places with stuff going on around me while I had my nose in a book! (see also, beach-reading....) But that there are shifts and changes, and different forms of access, yes.
Moving on: on another prickly paw, I am not sure I am entirely on board with this model of reading as equivalent to going to the gym or other self-improving activity, and committing to reading X number of books per year (even if I look at the numbers given and sneer slightly): ‘Last year I read 137 books’: could setting targets help you put down your phone and pick up a book?:
As reading is increasingly tracked and performed online, there is a growing sense that a solitary pleasure is being reshaped by the logic of metrics and visibility. In a culture that counts steps, optimises sleep and gamifies meditation, the pressure to quantify reading may say less about books than about a wider urge to turn even our leisure into something measurable and, ultimately, competitive.
Groaning rather there.
Also at the sense that the books are being picked for Reasons - maybe I'm being unfair.
Also, perhaps, this is a where you are in the life-cycle thing: because in my 20s or so I was reading things I thought I ought to read/have read even if I was also reading things for enjoyment, and I am now in my sere and withered about, is this going to be pleasurable? (I suspect chomping through 1000 romances as research is not all that much fun?)
Books Received, February 14 — February 20
Feb. 21st, 2026 09:02 amjames_davis_nicoll
Seven books new to me. four fantasy, one horror, one ostensibly non-fiction, and one romance. Three are series. Yeah, there does seem to be a shortage of science fiction.
I had a bunch of stuff come in just after the cut-off time for these. Next week will look very different.
Books Received, February 14 — February 20
Which of these look interesting?
I Want You to Be Happy by Jem Calder (May 2026)
3 (7.7%)
In the Realm of the Last Man: A Memoir by Francis Fukuyama (September 2026)
5 (12.8%)
A Divided Duty: An October Daye Novel by Seanan McGuire (September 2026)
14 (35.9%)
Wickhills by Premee Mohamed (September 2026)
15 (38.5%)
Hallowed Bones: A Sons of Salem Novel by Lucy Smoke (October 2026)
2 (5.1%)
Falling for a Villainous Vampire by Charlotte Stein (October 2026)
6 (15.4%)
I Am the Monster Under the Bed: A Novel by Emily Zinnikas (September 2026)
13 (33.3%)
Some other option (see comments)
0 (0.0%)
Cats!
33 (84.6%)
'The present generation is doing mating habits all wrong!!!'
Feb. 20th, 2026 04:04 pmoursin(Okay, I have an essay-review coming out on several works which deal with moral panics around coffeebars and jazz clubs and so forth in the 1960s - 'the monkey walk was good enough for us'....)
But on the one hand wo wo the yoof of today are not even getting into leg-over situations, though the evidence for this as far as the UK goes dates to the NATSAL 2019 report based on survey undertaken 2012.
And if they do, The death of the post-shag sleepover: Why is no one staying over after sex anymore?
Okay, very likely - I dunno, is the '6 people I spoke to in a winebar last week' cliche still valid or has this migrated to some corner of social media, but amounting to pretty much the same thing as far as statistical sociological validity goes?
But while it may be all about anxieties around sleep hygiene rituals, or looks-maxxing practices, which will not sit happily alongside unrestrained PASSION and bonkery -
- there is also mention that, individuals in question are living with room-mates and one does wonder whether they actually have RULES about overnight guests who might hog the bathroom wherein they perform their wellness things (apart from any other objections such as noise....)
Yes, my dearios, I am already doing the hedjog all-more-complicated flamenco about this, and thinking about a narrative theme of the 1960s of young women rising from beds of enseamed lust in order to go home to the parental roof and sleep in their own chaste bed so that they can be plausibly awakened therein. (And is there not a current wo wo narrative about young people still living with PARENTS???)
The Friend Zone Experiment by Zen Cho
Feb. 20th, 2026 09:10 amjames_davis_nicoll
A successful businesswoman has the opportunity of a lifetime offered to her, only to have an old friend greatly complicate matters.
The Friend Zone Experiment by Zen Cho
More bits and bobs
Feb. 19th, 2026 06:04 pmoursinHampstead’s retro cafés fight back against a revamp:
“London is a muddle” as EM Forster once observed — but one whose complexity is enjoyed by inhabitants. This bitter row over cafés, with small operators objecting to a tendering process that rewards a chain, has pitted the Corporation’s efforts to modernise facilities against those who feel protective towards their homeliness.
....
But as the campaigner Jane Jacobs, who championed haphazard urban environments, pointed out, city life is inherently messy. Imposing more rigid schemes can destroy its vitality, what she called “the intricate social and economic order under the seeming disorder of cities”.
***
Shop windows tell the story of London’s revolutionary illustrated newspapers:
Printing on the Strand in the 18th century was a major hub of London’s popular print culture, characterised by vibrant publishing activity that wasn’t constrained by rules affecting printers within the City of London.
Key sites included Bear Yard, near present-day King’s College London, which hosted significant printing and publishing operations, and a King’s College exhibition, which is free to view through the shop windows, tells their story.
The printers moved away when the area was redeveloped, hence the exhibition title, the Lost Landscapes of Print, which is a mix of objects and stories from the printers’ trade.
Although Fleet Street is synonymous with the newspapers, two of the most popular newspapers of the 19th century were printed on the Strand, not Fleet Street. They were the Illustrated London News and rival The Graphic, both trading on their revolutionary ability to print pictures in their pages.
***
More and “Better” Babies: The Dark Side of the Pronatalist Movement - we feel this is the darker side of an already dark movement, really.
***
Apparently this was found to be missing recently from Le Guin's website but has now been restored: A Rant About “Technology”:
Technology is the active human interface with the material world.
But the word is consistently misused to mean only the enormously complex and specialised technologies of the past few decades, supported by massive exploitation both of natural and human resources.
***
And talking about people getting all excited about 'technology' me and a load of other archivists and people in related areas were going 'you go, girl', over the notes of cynicism sounded in this article about the latest Thrilling New Way Of Preserving The Record (it is to larf at): Stone, parchment or laser-written glass? Scientists find new way to preserve data.
Admittedly, I can vaguely recollect an sf novel - ?by John Brunner - in which an expedition to an alien planet found the inhabitants extinct but had left records in some similar form.
All Regulations Are Written in Blood
Feb. 19th, 2026 12:10 pmjames_davis_nicollPCs are field agents in charge of finding and dealing with arcane occupational safety violations. That six-sided summoning pentagram? Flagged. That storeroom where the universal solvent is next to the lemonade? Flagged.
That deadly-trap-filled dungeon abandoned by its creator when the maintenance fees got too high? Red tagged.
This isn't the same as my recent FabUlt campaign. That was about discouraging the worst excesses in a world run by oligarch mages and there weren't really regulations. This would be set in a regulatory state, and would be more an exploration of normalization of deviance.
Slow Gods by Claire North
Feb. 19th, 2026 08:52 amjames_davis_nicoll
Against the gleefully hypocritical, exploitative Shine, the very gods themselves contend in vain.
Slow Gods by Claire North
Bundle of Holding: Wolves Upon the Coast
Feb. 18th, 2026 02:57 pmjames_davis_nicoll
The Wolves Upon the Coast Grand Campaign, a bare-bones old-school tabletop roleplaying game by designer Luke Gearing.
Bundle of Holding: Wolves Upon the Coast
Wednesday has fixed the date for doing the condom talk
Feb. 18th, 2026 07:26 pmoursinWhat I read
Finished Imperial Palace, v good, by 1930 Enoch Arnold had got into the groove of being able to maintain dramatic narrative drive without having to throw in millionaires and European royalty and sinister plots, but just the business of running a hotel and the interpersonal things going on.
Then took a break with Agatha Christie, Dumb Witness (Hercule Poirot, #17) (1937) - I slightly mark it down for having dreary old Hastings as narrator, but points for the murderer not being the Greek doctor.
Finished Grand Babylon Hotel, batshit to the last.
Discovered - since they are only on Kindle and although I occasionally get emails telling me about all the things that surely I will like to read available on Kindle, did they tell me about these, any more than the latest David Wishart? did they hell - that there are been two further DB Borton Cat Caliban mysteries and one more which published yesterday. So I can read these on the tablet and so far have read Ten Clues to Murder (2025) involving a suspect hit and run death of a member of a writers' group - the plot ahem ahem thickens.... Was a bit took aback by the gloves in the archives at the local history museum, but for all I know they still pursue this benighted practice.
Have also read, prep for next meeting of the reading group, Dorothy Richardson, Backwater (Pilgrimage, #2) (1916).
On the go
Recently posted on Project Gutenberg, three of Ann Bannon's classic works of lesbian pulp, so I downloaded these, and started I Am a Woman (1957) which is rather slow with a lot of brooding and yearning - our protag Laura has hardly met any women yet on moving to New York except her work colleagues and her room-mate so she is crushing on the latter, who is still bonking her ex-husband. But has now at least acquired a gay BF, even if he is mostly drunk.
Have just started DB Borton, Eleven Hours to Murder (2025).
Have also at least dipped into book for review and intro suggests person is not terribly well-acquainted with the field in general and the existing literature, because ahem ahem I actually have a chapter in big fat book which points out exactly those two contradictory strands - control vs individual liberation.
Up next
Well, I suspect the very recent Borton that arrived this week will be quite high priority!
Books read, early February
Feb. 18th, 2026 10:47 ammrissaMoniquill Blackgoose, To Ride a Rising Storm. I'm usually a second book person, but this one took a minute to win me over. I think the bar was set so high by the first one that when the second one felt like "more of the same," I was disappointed. It is, however, going somewhere, and it finished up with a bang, and I am very excited for the third one. (But where it finished with a bang was more like a starting pistol. Do not expect closure here. This is very much a middle book.)
Lila Caimari, Cities and News. Kindle. A study of how newspapers evolved and influenced the culture in late 19th century South American cities, which was off the beaten Anglophone path and rather interesting, especially because the way that snowy places were exoticized pretty much exactly paralleled how these cities were exoticized in snowy places.
Colin Cotterill, Curse of the Pogo Stick, The Merry Misogynist, and Love Songs from a Shallow Grave. Rereads. And this, unfortunately, is where the series ends for me. I enjoyed Pogo Stick, and then the other two had mystery plots that were "serial killer because tormented intersex person" (REALLY STOP IT, these books came out in the 21st century, NOT OKAY) and "bitches be crazy, yo" (WELP). The mystery plots are not nearly as central to these mysteries as one might expect of, well, mysteries, but on the other hand they are integral to the book and not ignorable and I am done. When I read this series previously I endured these two in hopes that it would get better again, and now I know it doesn't. Well. Five books I like is more than most people manage.
Jeannine Hall Gailey, Field Guide to the End of the World. I still resonate less with prose poems than with other formats of poem, and this had several, but it was otherwise...unfortunately apropos, a worthy companion in our own ongoing ends of worlds.
Tove Jansson, Moominpappa's Memoirs. Kindle, reread. Charming and quirky as always, with some hilarious moments about memoir that went over my head when I was small.
Laurie Marks, Fire Logic, Earth Logic, Water Logic, and Air Logic. Rereads. I still really enjoy this series, but on the reread it was quite clear to me that water is very, very much the weakest element here, no contest. The water witches are not really portrayed as people, nobody with water affinity gets to be a character, they're very much the "oh yeah I guess we have more than three elements" element in this series. Water is the element I connect with the most strongly. I still like this series, I still think it's doing really good things with peace being an active rather than passive state and one that has to be made by imperfect humans--more unusual things than they should be. As with the Cotterill books above, the fact that it was a reread meant that I couldn't keep saying to myself, "Maybe there'll be more on this later," because there won't, the series is complete. But in contrast to the Cotterill it was complete in a way I still find satisfying.
Alice Evelyn Yang, A Beast Slinks Towards Beijing. This is a family history novel with strong--in fact integral--fantastical elements, but only the realistic plot resolution is satisfying, not the fantasy plot at all. The fantasy elements are required for the plot to happen as portrayed, there's no chance they're only metaphors, but they only work as metaphors. Ah well. If you're up for a Chinese family history novel that goes into detail of the horrors of both the Japanese occupation and the Cultural Revolution, this one has really good sentences and paragraphs. But go in braced.
One Way to Immunize Yourself Against Pseudoscience and Other Nonsense
Feb. 18th, 2026 10:10 amjames_davis_nicoll
Classic SF was chock-full of dubious ideas; Martin Gardner supplied the antidote.
One Way to Immunize Yourself Against Pseudoscience and Other Nonsense
Ichi the Witch, volume 1 by Osamu NIchi & Shiro Usazaki (Translated by Adrienne Beck)
Feb. 18th, 2026 09:18 amjames_davis_nicoll
Only witches hunt demons, all witches are women, and Uroro cannot be defeated by any woman. Uroro feels entirely safe, right until the world's first male witch defeats him.
Ichi the Witch, volume 1 by Osamu NIchi & Shiro Usazaki (Translated by Adrienne Beck)
![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png){kind=small}
otw_news_feedAre you a developer who has submitted pull requests to the otwarchive GitHub repository? Want to help shape the future of the OTW in a flexible, collaborative role? Are you interested in following checklists to administer personnel related tasks? Would you like to wrangle AO3 tags? Can you read and translate from Portuguese to English? Can you read and translate from Chinese to English? The Organization for Transformative Works is recruiting!
We’re excited to announce the opening of applications for:
- Communications Social Media Moderator – closing 25 February 2026 at 23:59 UTC or after 60 applications
- Organizational Culture Roadmap Volunteer – closing 25 February 2026 at 23:59 UTC or after 60 applications
- Accessibility, Design, & Technology Software Developer – closing 25 February 2026 at 23:59 UTC
- Volunteers & Recruiting Volunteer – closing 25 February 2026 at 23:59 UTC or after 30 applications
- Tag Wrangling Volunteer – closing 25 February 2026 at 23:59 UTC or after 125 applications
- Tag Wrangling Volunteer (Portuguese) – closing 25 February 2026 at 23:59 UTC or after 30 applications
- Tag Wrangling Volunteer (Chinese) – closing 25 February 2026 at 23:59 UTC or after 45 applications
We have included more information on each role below. Open roles and applications will always be available at the volunteering page. If you don’t see a role that fits with your skills and interests now, keep an eye on the listings. We plan to put up new applications every few weeks, and we will also publicize new roles as they become available.
All applications generate a confirmation page and an auto-reply to your e-mail address. We encourage you to read the confirmation page and to whitelist our email address in your e-mail client. If you do not receive the auto-reply within 24 hours, please check your spam filters and then contact us.
If you have questions regarding volunteering for the OTW, check out our Volunteering FAQ.
Communications Social Media Moderator
Are you familiar with Instagram or Facebook? Do you want to help connect the public with the OTW?
The Communications committee is recruiting for Social Media Moderators to help us manage our Facebook and Instagram. Social Media Moderators will help the OTW maintain an active presence on their platform, creating or reblogging a range of posts of relevance and interest to the OTW’s userbase, and doing outreach to fan groups and individuals on the site. Moderators are also responsible for handling user questions and managing responses to the OTW’s news content. You will be working as part of a team, and you must be able to dedicate at least 3-4 hours each week to the OTW.
For this position, we are seeking people who are familiar with the conventions of one of these platforms and who ideally have experience moderating a social media page. We are also interested in hearing from those with customer service experience, especially in an online environment. We expect you to have an interest in fandom at large and an understanding of the concerns and activities of the OTW (although we will, of course, provide you with training once you start).
You must be 18+ in order to apply for this role. If you’re a frequent Facebook or Instagram user who enjoys helping others, have wide-ranging interests across the fandom space, and are curious and willing to learn, we’d love to hear from you!
Applications will close 25 February 2026 or after 60 applications
Apply for Communications Social Media Moderator at the volunteering page! If you have further questions, please contact us.
Organizational Culture Roadmap Volunteer
Want to help shape the future of the OTW in a flexible, collaborative role? Organizational Culture Roadmap (OCR) Volunteers support the implementation of OTW Organizational Culture Roadmap goals by assisting with planning, documentation, and team coordination. Whether you prefer jumping into projects, offering behind-the-scenes support, or helping teams stay on track, there’s space to contribute in a way that works for you.
This role is great for those with clear communication skills who enjoy collaborative work. Time commitment is 1-5 hours per week. As an OCR Volunteer, you’ll play a key role in ensuring smooth operations by:
- Writing and editing OCR project plans, goal documentation, statements, surveys, replies to public questions, policies, minutes, and reports
- Assisting in the research, development, management, and delivery of internal projects
- Working as part of a team to support specific goals to reaching completion
We’re looking for volunteers who are proactive, driven, and committed to the OTW’s long-term success.
You must be 18+ in order to apply for this role. In addition to the initial application, you will be required to complete an assessment to help us understand how well you understand and can complete the committee’s tasks. This will be emailed to you after you complete the application form.
Applications will close 25 February 2026 or after 60 applications
Apply for Organizational Culture Roadmap Volunteer at the volunteering page! If you have further questions, please contact us.
Accessibility, Design, & Technology Software Developer
The Accessibility, Design, & Technology (AD&T) committee coordinates design and development of the software that powers the Archive of Our Own. It is currently seeking Ruby on Rails developers to enhance features, fix bugs, review code, and test new changes in line with the priorities established by AD&T committee chairs and senior developers.
Please note: applicants must have submitted a minimum of two pull requests – at least one for an issue with medium or higher difficulty – to the otwarchive GitHub repository that have been deployed to production prior to applying for the software developer position.
If you don’t have the time to commit to formally volunteering for the OTW, we gratefully accept bug fixes from anyone on GitHub! Please check out our contributing guidelines before submitting a pull request.
Applications are due 25 February 2026
Apply for Accessibility, Design, & Technology Software Developer at the volunteering page! If you have further questions, please contact us.
Volunteers & Recruiting Volunteer
Are you great at admin and enjoy the satisfaction of completing short tasks and ticking them off to-do lists? Or do you have experience in CRM or database software, data privacy, managing software access, or other related areas? Volunteers & Recruiting is looking for additional volunteers to help our busy team!
Volunteers & Recruiting supports the Organization for Transformative Works as a volunteer-driven organization by ensuring that volunteers are in the right roles, at the right time, with the right tools.
We recruit and manage incoming volunteers, handle exiting volunteers, and handle all committee setup as well as chair and board turnover. We help answer volunteers’ questions about the OTW or the tools we use, or direct volunteers to the right places. We set up tools for committees and subcommittees, mentor volunteers in their work, and track the service of each and every volunteer throughout their time with the organization. We ensure that every volunteer in the organization has the resources they need to complete their work efficiently and effectively.
This recruitment round we’d especially love hearing from applicants who are interested in regularly helping with our day-to-day work! This includes following checklists to answer tickets related to personnel changes, software access, recruitment setup, and general queries. Shortlisted applicants will be invited to a live text-based chat interview.
Applications will close 25 February 2026 or after 30 applications
Apply for Volunteers & Recruiting Volunteer at the volunteering page! If you have further questions, please contact us.
Tag Wrangling Volunteer
The Tag Wranglers are responsible for helping to connect and sort the tags on AO3! Wranglers follow internal guidelines to choose the tags that appear in the filters and auto-complete, which link related works together. This makes it easier to browse and search on the archive.
If you’re an experienced AO3 user who likes organizing, working in teams, or having excuses to fact-check your favorite fandoms, you might enjoy tag wrangling! To join us, click through to the job description and fill in our application form. There will also be a short questionnaire that will help us assess whether you have the skills and attributes that will lead to your success in this role.
Please note: you must be 18+ in order to apply for this role. For this role, we’re currently looking for wranglers for specific fandoms only, which will change each recruitment round. Please see the application for which fandoms are in need.
Wranglers need to be fluent in English, but we welcome applicants who are also fluent in other languages, especially Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian), Čeština (Czech), Español (Spanish), isiZulu (Zulu), Italiano (Italian), Polski (Polish), Suomi (Finnish), Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese), Türkçe (Turkish), Українська (Ukrainian), ไทย (Thai), Русский (Russian), беларуская (Belarusian) and 한국어 (Korean) — but help with other languages would be much appreciated!
Applications will close 25 February 2026 or after 125 applications
Apply for Tag Wrangling Volunteer at the volunteering page! If you have further questions, please contact us.
Tag Wrangling Volunteer (Portuguese)
The Tag Wranglers are responsible for helping to connect and sort the tags on AO3! Wranglers follow internal guidelines to choose the tags that appear in the filters and auto-complete, which link related works together. This makes it easier to browse and search on the archive.
If you’re an experienced AO3 user who likes organizing, working in teams, or having excuses to fact-check your favorite fandoms, you might enjoy Tag Wrangling! To join us, click through to the job description and fill in our application form. There will also be a short questionnaire that will help us assess whether you have the skills and attributes that will lead to your success in this role.
Please note: you must be 18+ in order to apply for this role. For this role we’re currently looking for applicants who are fluent in both English and Portuguese. We welcome all Portuguese dialects! The work will involve both regular Tag Wrangling work and translating tags from Portuguese into English.
Applications will close 25 February 2026 or after 30 applications
Apply for Tag Wrangling Volunteer (Portuguese) at the volunteering page! If you have further questions, please contact us.
Tag Wrangling Volunteer (Chinese)
The Tag Wranglers are responsible for helping to connect and sort the tags on AO3! Wranglers follow internal guidelines to choose the tags that appear in the filters and auto-complete, which link related works together. This makes it easier to browse and search on the archive.
If you’re an experienced AO3 user who likes organizing, working in teams, or having excuses to fact-check your favorite fandoms, you might enjoy Tag Wrangling! To join us, click through to the job description and fill in our application form. There will also be a short questionnaire that will help us assess whether you have the skills and attributes that will lead to your success in this role.
Please note: you must be 18+ in order to apply for this role. For this role we’re currently looking for applicants who are fluent in both English and Chinese. We welcome all Chinese dialects! The work will involve both regular Tag Wrangling work and translating tags from Chinese into English.
Applications will close 25 February 2026 or after 45 applications
Apply for Tag Wrangling Volunteer (Chinese) at the volunteering page! If you have further questions, please contact us.
as he hits the floor he sighs: 'what a morning'
Feb. 17th, 2026 09:16 pmjazzfishSince making tricky food was going so well I decided to turn the egg whites from the hollandaise into divinity. (If you're not from the South, divinity is the answer to the question "what if meringues were candy?" It is somewhat nougat-like and somewhat fluffy and usually involves pecans, though I haven't had much in the way of pecans since the death of my great-uncle who had a pecan orchard.) This involves cooking a bunch of sugar to hard-ball / 260F and then adding it into a running mixer with whipped egg whites. After an hour my sugar was stubbornly refusing to go over 245F. I turned up the heat a little more and the sugar boiled over. Thankfully I grabbed the pot so it did not boil over onto the burner, just onto the stove top, but while I was salvaging that the sugar crystallized. I swore and tried again: added more water and some additional sugar and stuck it back on the burner to re-dissolve and re-cook. This time careful additions of heat got it up to 250F and more threatened boiling over, so I called it good and poured it into the mixer. Adding injury to insult: while scraping the last quarter or so of the sugar into the mixer I managed to splash some of it onto my hand. Molten sugar is a nasty business: it glues itself to your skin and keeps burning. Thankfully my mixer is right next to the sink. No permanent damage done but I ended up with several blisters, some of which had the tops ripped off when I tried to remove the sugar.
I used to hate and avoid dealing with candy-making / molten sugar. Now I seem to have reached a point where it is my nemesis, and I will conquer it or get really annoyed and minorly scorched trying. Anyway, the divinity is in its pan and setting; should be edible sometime tomorrow.
Twenty-seven and a half boxes of books (down one and a half from last time), and what looks to be about twenty-five boxes of games (down three or so from last time). Plus one box of CDs and two-plus of DVDs. My obsession with the Arrowverse means that DVDs no longer fit neatly into two boxes. Oh well.
Now to pack up all the random miscellaneous stuff that doesn't need to be out while the place is on the market, which will take probably less than ten boxes and probably twice the time. At least I have plenty of time: my preferred movers aren't available until early-mid March.
Thanks For Participating in #IFD2026!
Feb. 17th, 2026 08:26 pmotw_news_feedFor International Fanworks Day (IFD) 2026, we once again came together from all corners of the fandom cosmos, and celebrated an Alternate Universe-themed IFD! First, we ran our annual Feedback Fest, where we asked you all to recommend to each other fanworks around your favorite AUs. Fanlore hosted their annual IFD editing event from February 14-20, and we signal boosted several community events along with our own. Some of these are still on-going, so make sure to check out the post!
We also hosted chatrooms and games on our once-a-year IFD Discord server for 30 hours. Thanks to everyone who came by! You can check out the fruits of our collective labor–several fandom-themed poems, song lyrics, and stories–by visiting our collected IFD works on AO3.
We’d like to thank everyone who participated in our IFD activities and events, and give a huge shoutout to our OTW volunteers who modded chats and games! We hope to see you all again for IFD 2027!
Have any dr rdrz come across this?
Feb. 17th, 2026 03:05 pmoursinHave only just discovered that there is a new (came out in November) biography of Decca Mitford: Carla Kaplan, Troublemaker: The Fierce, Unruly Life of Jessica Mitford.
Via a review in the latest Literary Review which is, alas, not fully online, sounds less than whelmed, and gives the impression that it may be a tad po-faced.
Yes, about Jessica Mitford, that great tease.
Can't find any other unpaywalled online reviews of any great credibility - there are some on GoodReads but they all sound to be from people who Nevererdofer previously.
So before I, that already have several of her own biographical works and essays, collections of letters etc upon my shelves, also the previous biography, spend moolah and time on this, I wonder if anyone has already read it and has opinions?
(Have just had thought that as far as I recall, Upton Sinclair's Lanny Budd did on at least one occasion encounter Unity Mitford, while undercover in Germany: but not, I think, Decca &/or Esmond, anywhere in his exploits.)
The Man Who Came Early by Poul Anderson
Feb. 17th, 2026 09:09 amjames_davis_nicoll
What hope has 10th century Icelandic culture against an armed and moderately educated 20th century American?
The Man Who Came Early by Poul Anderson
Rounding up a few things on history and heritage
Feb. 16th, 2026 07:53 pmoursinCharity secures 1000 acres for Wales’ largest rewilding project:
The charity’s approach will include introducing hardy cattle and Welsh mountain ponies to the land, with ancient breeds of pigs to follow. Their grazing and roaming will support habitat restoration.
Peatland rewetting and natural water retention across the site over the next five to ten years means the project will contribute to increased biodiversity, cleaner water, healthier soils, improved carbon storage and reduced flood risk for downstream farmland.
It is hoped these actions will create conditions to boost various species, with the potential for red squirrels, pine martens, polecats, curlews and hen harriers to return.
The charity also aims for much of the work to be carried out by local tradespeople. Community participation will also help uncover and share stories of those who lived and worked across the site’s 55 historic stone landmarks, from Bronze Age cairns to traditional upland buildings.
***
Not sure if this can at all be mapped onto Cranford (based on Knutsford): Knutsford's Booths Hall granted special building status:
The house was built in 1745 for Peter Legh after he married heiress, Anne Wade.
The building was extended in 1845 by his grandson, Peter and remodelled in 1858 into an Italianate style by Edward Habershon for John Legh, a nephew of Mr Legh.
In 1917, the Legh family auctioned the hall and estate.
....
Historic England says it was listed for ‘demonstrating fine craftsmanship in the brickwork and stone detailing’ of each phase.
Special features include the unusual and well-preserved first floor conservatory with a curved glass roof.
The good survival of interior features and decoration from all three building phases using high quality materials and a high degree of craftsmanship.
***
Another kind of heritage: Green’s Dictionary of Slang: Five hundred years of the vulgar tongue, including the invaluable Timelines of Slang.
***
Smutwalk: Mapping Nineteenth-Century Obscenity - though actually, not all of the physical places are still there. Still. I think one might manage a tribute to Pornographers of Ye Olde Tymes stroll.
***
Queer love and friendship: 1920s Fitzroy Square:
In 1927, Bobby and his queer working-class friends gathered in his Fitzroy Square flat. Though surveillance documents, we can learn about these vibrant gatherings, the people involved and the passionate, intimate letters that survive. These records offer a rare insight into queer lives of the time.
***
How Not To Do Heritage, we feel (guy has quite rightly been getting crapped on on social media): History professor finds huge Iron Age hoard: 'The collection will be auctioned at Noonans in Mayfair on 4 March as part of a coins and historical medals, external sale.'. Observe the guy's creepy smirk in the photo.
Bundle of Holding: Downcrawl-Skycrawl
Feb. 16th, 2026 02:07 pmjames_davis_nicoll
Downcrawl and Skycrawl, twin toolkits from designer Aaron A. Reed that help you create spontaneous tabletop roleplaying adventures in the Deep, Deep Down and the Azure Etern.
Bundle of Holding: Downcrawl-Skycrawl
Planning
Feb. 16th, 2026 09:32 ammmcirvinI'm realizing this kind of trip is markedly different from a family vacation where I have to care about the needs of other people. With the lodging I've arranged, I can rope-drop the park and stay until closing. I can stand in line for 2 hours for something if I see fit, and not bother anyone else. But that doesn't mean I want to.
So I've been looking at Thrill Data and Queue Times and figuring out what the situation is. My plan for my main visits is to do 2 days at Hersheypark, have a non-park break day after that, then 1 day at Knoebels and 1 at Dorney Park. It looks like Knoebels and Dorney Park basically do not have crowd issues at that time of the year if ever. The one ride at Knoebels that gets a significant line is their unique recreation of an early-20th-century wooden bobsled coaster, Flying Turns--and we're talking 30-40 minute waits there, like Yankee Cannonball at Canobie, easy peasy compared to the situation I just encountered in Singapore. At Dorney, basically there's nothing to worry about (except that the park might not have a future).
So that leaves Hersheypark. The last time I went there, over a decade ago now, I remember getting stuck for an hour waiting for Fahrenheit, their Intamin ersatz Eurofighter. That one still seems to be a bit problematic because of its low capacity, but the real standout that can have 100-minute waits or more seems to be their crowd-pleasing B&M hyper Candymonium, which has its entrance right at what is now the front of the park. I guess I could buy whatever skip-the-line pass they have, but with two days there, I'm not really pressed for time. I gather you can get shorter waits on Candymonium by just waiting until near close to ride it, so I think I'll just do that, using the classic coaster-enthusiast plan of working from the back of the park forward on each day. Same with Great Bear, the B&M invert, another ride with broad appeal that seems to be the second worst wait of the coasters.
With the other big ones I want to ride (Wildcat's Revenge, Skyrush, Storm Runner etc.), it sounds like I can expect waits in the 30-minute ballpark, which is just not a problem for me in this situation. The other long waits are in the waterpark, and, eh, waterpark stuff is a nice-to-have for me, at best. If I want to get wet I can always do their venerable flume, Coal Cracker, which was really the first significant thrill ride I ever rode as a child. It looks like Dorney has a decent waterpark too!
Hersheypark has this cool perk called "Preview Plan" included with all of their regular 1- and 2-day tickets, which lets you arrive for the last 90 minutes of operation the evening before your main visit begins and get free admission and parking. I am hoping to use that, if I'm not too beat from the road trip, and it might be the way to hit Candymonium or Great Bear as the first ride of my visit.
I might hit Quassy, one of the few New England parks I have not yet visited, as a stop on the way there and finally ride Wooden Warrior, the only existing wooden coaster in New England that I have not ridden. For the non-park day and a break on the trip home, I'm thinking museums--there are some interesting ones on or near my way. With my hotel bookings, there's enough flexibility that I could probably move one or more of these park visits one day forward or back to avoid bad weather, if it's extreme enough to worry about. But the usual coaster-enthusiast way is to brave mild rain and look forward to lighter crowds (as long as the rides stay open).
Funny how that might work...
Feb. 15th, 2026 09:57 pmrhiAnd for anyone I haven't mentioned it to, if you're AFAB and interested in fitness, you may be interested in Roar (if you're pre-menopausal) or Next Level (if you're almost done/done with periods) by Dr Stacy Sims. I'm finding the advice useful. Not all of it, obviously, seeing as I'm not an extreme athlete. I don't do triathlons, say. But do I hit the gym three or four times a week? Yup. So.
Anyway, my goals are to get up to twice the time I can currently manage on an elliptical (so, long enough to 'run' a 5 K) and to finish Deadfall, damn it. After that, the Numb3rs monstrosity. (Length, more than subject matter. It's not tree horror, okay?) And in and through, other short stuff, I guess, but probably the next things will be Deadfall chapters until I'm done.
(Someone help me remember: I have a Night in the Lonesome October piece to finish, and also the Leverage/X-men piece that's currently at 6 pages and going well.)
Panel Suggestions Still Open
Feb. 15th, 2026 07:53 pmboxofdelights posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
wisconPANEL SUGGESTIONS ARE CLOSING SOON!
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfvi7TCCIHg82rSpzrUKl8wX2SNMevlGP5HxOOnqa0pkrWu2w/viewform?usp=sharing&ouid=106072416256127446722
#WisCon #WomenInSFF #FeministConvention
Culinary
Feb. 15th, 2026 07:37 pmoursinThis week's bread: a v nice loaf of Dove's Farm Seedhouse Flour.
Saturday breakfast rolls: the ones loosely based on James Beard's mother's raisin bread, Marriage's Light Spelt flour.
Today's lunch: tempeh marinated in oil, tamari, maple syrup, pomegranate vinegar with some crushed garlic and ginger paste for a couple of hours (?overnight might have been better?), stirfried with chillies, mangetout peas and choi sum, and the marinade added at the end, served with sticky rice with limeleaves.
