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Two without chance of parole. https://www.npr.org/2022/01/07/1070618256/ahmaud-arbery-killers-sentenceLet's be clear. In general I'm not in favor of life in prison, particularly without chance of parole, for many of the same reasons I'm not in favor of the death penalty plus the added bonus reason that the US prison system takes even worse care of geriatric prisoners than the rest of them. It's not a sentence to toss around lightly, and should be reserved for people who have committed particularly heinous crimes and have a high likelihood of reoffending. Well, these three committed a particularly heinous crime due to their deplorable beliefs, and judging from their behavior and words since then my gut feeling is that they probably would have a high likelihood of reoffending if given the chance. So I will enjoy my sense of justice unhindered by any vague sense that the sentence is generally wrong, because in their particular case it really isn't. All that's left is for me to wish I could see the look on their faces when it finally sinks in that they are really, truly, 100% going to suffer the consequences of their decision to engage in cold-blooded murder. (I don't think, based on their words, that it really has yet.)
This entry was originally posted at https://conuly.dreamwidth.org/3225753.html. If you can, please comment there using OpenID or your Dreamwidth account.
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I seem to have gotten into a bit of a situation on the NYPL app, because every book recommends me to two or three others, and if you add that to the ones I already was interested in reading it's a veritable flood of middle grade and YA fantasy. (And sometimes not fantasy.) It's really amazing how little crossover there is between the "also recommended" and the books I see people talking about in my own corner of kidlit readers. It's also amazing how incredibly different this is from my childhood. The endlessly huge library in Robin McKinley's Beauty was my dream world. I read fast, we never could keep a library card (or rather, we could never remember to return the books, so same diff), I had no friends, and so I always needed more books to read. Sure, I could happily read the same book a dozen times in a row, but sooner or later you want something new. A world in which I could find as many books as I like literally at the touch of my fingertips - unbelievable. (And yet, weirdly, there are still bizarre gaps. But that's another complaint for another day.) ( Ember and the Ice DragonsCollapse )( Long LostCollapse )( More to the StoryCollapse )( The School Between Winter and FairylandCollapse )
This entry was originally posted at https://conuly.dreamwidth.org/3224169.html. If you can, please comment there using OpenID or your Dreamwidth account.
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Their system is not really set up to accept passport cards as identification. This has not previously been a problem because most of their cashiers know the workaround, and even if I bump into one who doesn't, they can usually ask somebody else. (Apparently the workaround is to enter it like a driver's license, and now I know!) Yesterday I hit the bad luck jackpot. Several irritated minutes later, wherein we all barely refrained from snapping at each other (do not blame me, irritated pharmacists, blame your shitty computer interface!) we resolved it. But ugh, ugh, ugh. Do you think it's a CVS-in-particular interface or something general that's shipped out to everybody? I want to know where to direct my complaints for the best chance of getting results. Honestly, if the workaround "enter it as a driver's license" works then it should be trivial to have that slot say "driver's license or passport card".
This entry was originally posted at https://conuly.dreamwidth.org/3223167.html. If you can, please comment there using OpenID or your Dreamwidth account.
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https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/29/us/north-carolina-christmas-shooting-toddler-dies/index.htmlIn 2020 in the US, more than 5,100 children younger than 18 were killed or injured in gun incidents, according to the Gun Violence Archive.People say they get guns to protect themselves and their families, and therefore they MUST have a gun and CAN'T secure it because they need it ready to access, but they really are only putting themselves and their families at risk. If you want to protect yourself, don't get a gun. If you really do have a reason for it, keep it locked up, with the ammunition locked up separately. If you're sure that you need a gun to protect yourself from violence - well, firstly, you probably don't, not in the US, but if you did the best way to protect yourself from gun violence is to advocate for better gun control. This death, like all those deaths, is framed as a tragedy, but really? It's a statistic. Tragedies are rare, isolated incidents, not wholly predictable and common events. Protect your family by not getting a gun.
This entry was originally posted at https://conuly.dreamwidth.org/3222732.html. If you can, please comment there using OpenID or your Dreamwidth account.
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In Passing
By Lisel MuellerHow swiftly the strained honey of afternoon light flows into darkness and the closed bud shrugs off its special mystery in order to break into blossom as if what exists, exists so that it can be lost and become precious
This entry was originally posted at https://conuly.dreamwidth.org/3219710.html. If you can, please comment there using OpenID or your Dreamwidth account.
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So, I think I might hate the first one, Love, Ish. This isn't entirely the book's fault - ( Read more...Collapse )I also read Born Behind Bars. I've read stuff from this author before, mostly her YA. This is definitely geared at a younger group and honestly, it resolves very neatly. Almost too neatly and quickly - but do I really want these kids to suffer for the sake of gritty realism? Enough kids suffer in real life! It's better that there are happy endings all around. Now I'm in the middle of Josephine Against the Sea, and I must be getting old. Josephine is sneaking around trying to gather evidence that her father's girlfriend is a mystical spirit who may or may not be out to harm him but, either way, surely is very dangerous, and I keep thinking "Listen, have you tried just talking to her? I am certain that's a better plan than whatever you're thinking of."
This entry was originally posted at https://conuly.dreamwidth.org/3218433.html. If you can, please comment there using OpenID or your Dreamwidth account.
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I learned three things. 1. The Going-to-Bed Book apparently has an original, longer version that's recently back in print. 2. "Forest Dance" is now for sale. 3. One star reviews on picture books are still hilarious! Just yesterday I was telling somebody about the Amazon reviewer who was upset that "Sheep in a Jeep" uses the word "heap" because, after all, two year olds don't know that word. (The percentage of reviewers who are scared of their children learning new words, or actively resent having to learn/teach new words themselves is astonishing.) Today there's two, both paraphrased: A. The line and they dance and they dance and they dance and they dance is an example of telling and not showing! Me: Your kid is two. B. I wanted to like this book, but it's just too silly, especially that song at the end which might teach my child that owls say moo! Me: First of all, your child will never ever need to know what sound owls make, nor cows. It's not actually a life skill. Secondly, owls appear frequently enough in media that you have nothing to fear on that front anyway.
This entry was originally posted at https://conuly.dreamwidth.org/3217221.html. If you can, please comment there using OpenID or your Dreamwidth account.
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retreat....
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