Book 29 - Janina Ramirez "Femina"

Jul. 13th, 2025 10:18 am
jazzy_dave: (books n tea)
[personal profile] jazzy_dave
Janina Ramirez "Femina : A New History of the Middle Ages, Through the Women Written Out of It" (W. H Allen)




A book asserting that there are lots of interesting stories to tell about the centrality of women in the Middle Ages, which basically is preaching to the converted as far as I am concerned. It starts however in 1913: Emily Davison, who was trampled to death by the King’s horse when her suffragette protest went wrong at the Derby, was a qualified and enthusiastic medievalist who saw the political empowerment of women as fully consistent with history.

Ramirez goes on to look at the Loftus Princess; Cyneðryð and Æðelflæd of Mercia; the Viking woman from Birka; Hildegard of Bingen; the women who made the Bayeux Tapestry; the women of the Cathars; Jadwiga of Poland; and Margery Kempe. It’s a solid piece of work which simultaneously rides the two horses of “these were remarkable individuals” and “women in general were much more important in the Middle Ages than you have probably been told”.

I didn’t know much about any of these particular cases, and had never heard of some of them – and I’ve read quite a lot of medieval history in my time, since I did an arts degree course back in the eigtie, and I covered the middle ages for my final dissertation. So I felt enlightened and encouraged by the end of the book and would recommend this to any budding historian or curious reader.

Book 28 - Graham Swift "Waterland"

Jul. 13th, 2025 09:06 am
jazzy_dave: (books n tea)
[personal profile] jazzy_dave
Graham Swift "Waterland" (Picador)



Not my first book by the author, I read Last Orders wile travelling a few years ago, but I had forgotten his roundabout, yet entertaining, way of spinning a yarn.

Set in the Fens, the characters are as much tied to the land, the titular Waterland. Like the water in its springy earth, the Fens seem to move, retract and then burst their banks as the try to get back to their previous untamed state.

The book has 3 threads. The first is that of a history teacher, Crick, being given his marching orders, partly for his unorthodox teaching methods and partly because of an incident in his personal life. In his classes, he tells the students about the other two threads - the history of his family in the Fens and the death of a childhood friend, both of which have contributed to the current state of events.

Price, a clever boy in Crick's class, questions the relevance of history in a world which has a bleak, if any, future. Written in the early '80s, it is a fear that my own generation dismissed with the fall of the Iron Curtain, only for it to have reared its head again in the wake of 9/11 and the current economic crisis.

The impression you get of the Fens is that of a fierce, resistant people. Resistant to those who tried to tame the waters, independent from the world outside until it strategic position and the source of man power were discovered by the powers that be. I suppose you could argue nature versus nurture, but how can you separate the two when both seem to be governed by the Fens? Most of all, though, there is a feeling of guilt that pervades in its pages - for what has happened, whether it could have been prevented. Absent mothers and madness are two other recurring notes.

Highly recommended.
jazzy_dave: (books n tea)
[personal profile] jazzy_dave
M. R. James "The Haunted Doll's House and Other Ghost Stories" (Penguin Classics)





This finally made its slow way to the top of the to be read pile, and I thought a nice long weekend would be the perfect time to dip into the stories. I was not disappointed.

While the editor calls the stories included here "generally inferior" to those in the other volume, which includes James' earlier stories (and which I've now ordered up), I quite enjoyed those between these covers. James captures supernatural visitations and unexplained events very well, and has a way of lending very creepy powers to seemingly benign, inanimate objects (among them are binoculars, fabric, and, as might be expected from the title, even a dollhouse).

All of the stories here are well worth reading, but if I had to pick just a few, I'd highlight "The Residence at Whitminster", "The Diary of Mr. Poynter", "Two Doctors," "The Haunted Dolls' House", "A View from a Hill," and "The Uncommon Prayer-Book" (which takes as its supernatural element a bibliographically-mysterious Commonwealth-period Book of Common Prayer). One of the things I really like (and I'm sure you'll be shocked, shocked at this) about James' stories is the inclusion of books, libraries, book auctions and antiquarianism in the plots (he was a medievalist and manuscript cataloger).

Some of my favorite Conan Doyle stories are his supernatural tales, and these reminded me (in a good way) of those. Creepy, but highly enjoyable, and very much recommended.

Even the pool was 95 degrees

Jul. 12th, 2025 09:13 pm
cornerofmadness: (Default)
[personal profile] cornerofmadness
today I went to my brother's place to a) see the new appliances b) to learn to use the new appliances and the new tv system because I'll be house/cat sitting.

My brother has a little pool. I spent hours hovering just at the waterline with my head (the rest of me submerged like a manatee) But with the water that hot, it wasn't that refreshing.

I had planned to go to the whiskey rebellion festival tomorrow but it was only friday/Sat. That's weird but oh well (it was too hot for festivals) I wanted to go to the Pittsburgh Pickle festival. (points to the too hot thing)

So what are you all doing this weekend? Anything fun?
shadowkat: (Default)
[personal profile] shadowkat
Didn't sleep well last night - every time I go to bed past 11 pm, I don't sleep well. It's odd. Also, my body wants to get up at 6AM. Regardless of the time I go to bed. I think it's because I get up at 6 AM every morning and my body is used to it? Lately it's been waking up half an hour before then, and I force it to go back to sleep.

I attempted to get back into Outlander, S2, Episode 1 - and was, alas, reminded of why I stopped reading the books. Read more... )

Back to watching Murderbot (I actually prefer sci-fi to historical drama or hyper-realism). I may try Sinners - next, it's on Max. Finished Murderbot - which I keep wanting to call the Murderbot Diaries. I liked the books better - I don't remember them well enough to know how closely this followed them? Also, I'm not sure I read all of them. It was okay? I like Mensha, Gurathin, and Murderbot, everyone else was kind of annoying? It was heavy on absurdist humor, which was dependent on stupid human behavior, although the Murderbot's snarky sense of humor made up for it. I wonder if it will be renewed? It can legitimately be one season.

Also accomplished today - putting together my drug carousels for the top of my dresser - which worked a lot better than expected. Now instead of being cluttered with pill bottles and medications, the dresser is clean and neat, with all the pills neatly arranged on two clear plastic and somewhat attractive carousels. I also put together a tea and spice shelf for my kitchen, which had decluttered it in an amazing fashion. See picture below the cut:
picture )

I'd take a photo of the other - but some things must stay private. At any rate, bit by bit, I am winning my battle against clutter.

Questions/Memage:

1. What is the flavor that makes you think of summer? Or favorite summer foods?

flavors of summer days gone by )

July Question a Day Memage:

9. Have you ever been on a journey and been held up for a long time? What happened and how late were you at your destination?

Yes, multiple times. Once it was cancelled entirely. Plane travel is alas like that. I went to France by myself at the age of 16 to stay with a French family, on the way home, there was fog in Orly airport, and our plane had mechanical difficulties. long story )

10. Do you enjoy salad? What would be in a typical salad that you would serve/eat?

Yes. Power greens (pea shoots, spinach, argula and shard), green onion, cucumber, a protein (either nuts, feta cheese, seeds or chicken strips), radish, with lemon and/or apple cider vinegar and olive oil.

11. Have you ever used an old-fashioned typewriter? Can you touch type (type without looking at the keys?)

Yes. I learned how to type on one. Then graduated to electric, then to the computer. Yes, I can touch type without looking at keys, I'm doing it now. Not very fast though. I don't do anything that requires hand/eye coordination quickly. Maybe 20 minutes an hour? I'm not a fast typist. It used to matter - it no longer does - because now, we have computers.

12. Do you like sushi?

Quite a bit. My father first introduced it to me. He loved trying new foods, and had discovered sushi at work. I get it all the time. Perfect summer meal.

13. Have you ever tried Tai Chi?

Yes, I was actually taking classes from folks my junior year in college. We'd do it in the mornings in front of our residence. My boyfriend, me, another guy we were living with, and his girlfriend - who was teaching us.
Read more... )
veronyxk84: Editor icon for su_herald (_Herald Editor#1)
[personal profile] veronyxk84 posting in [community profile] su_herald
DARLA: Who is he?
MAID: Who, that one?
DARLA: Yes. - He’s magnificent.
MAID: Oh, yeah, God’s gift, alright.
DARLA: Really? I’ve never known God to be so generous.
MAID: Oh, his lies sound pretty when the stars are out. - But he forgets every promise he’s made when the sun comes up again.
DARLA: That wouldn’t really be a problem for me actually.

~~AtS 1x15 “Prodigal”~~




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Jul. 12th, 2025 07:47 pm
beccaelizabeth: my Watcher tattoo in blue, plus Be in red Buffy style font (Default)
[personal profile] beccaelizabeth
You ever dream about the apocalypse and wake up more tired than you started?
I actually dreamt about packing for the apocalypse. Great big trunk to pack, yet far too small compared to my Big Finish collection. Obviously this is a problem worth losing sleep over.

In unrelated news, it has been bugging me recently that one reviews place I see keeps guessing wrong things about genre and then rating stuff poorly based on it not being that genre? Like, Murderbot doesn't have enough gags for a comedy. Or the Sandman doesn't use his powers enough. I mean complaining Dream doesn't manipulate people's dreams is like complaining God appears to leave people free will when he could simply fix everything by not doing that. Missing the point by rather a lot. Yet they had perceived him as some kind of fantasy superhero, so, they thought he wasn't very good at that.

... so now I'm wondering what kind of genre makes my life seem awesome.
And frankly as post apocalyptic survival goes I'm doing flipping awesome.
So that's nice.

Assortment

Jul. 12th, 2025 04:12 pm
oursin: Brush the Wandering Hedgehog by the fire (Default)
[personal profile] oursin

Walkouts, feuds and broken friendships: when book clubs go bad. I don't think I've ever been in a book club of this kind. Many years ago at My Place Of Work there used to be an informal monthly reading group which would discuss some work of relevance to the academic mission of the institution, very broadly defined, and that was quite congenial, and I am currently in an online group read-through and discussion of A Dance to the Music of Time, but both these have rather more focus perhaps? certainly I do not perceive that they have people turning up without having reading the actual books....

Mind you, I am given the ick, and this is I will concede My Garbage, by those Reading Group Suggestions that some books have at the end, or that were flashed up during an online book group discussion of a book in which I was interested.

Going to book groups without Doing The Reading perhaps goes under the heading of Faking It, which has been in the news a lot lately (I assume everybody has heard about The Salt Roads thing): and here are a couple of furthe instances:

(This one is rather beautifully recursive) What if every artwork you’ve ever seen is a fake?:

Many years ago, I met a man in a pub in Bloomsbury who said he worked at the British Museum. He told me that every single item on display in the museum was a replica, and that all the original artefacts were locked away in storage for preservation.
....
Later, Googling, I discovered that none of what the man had told me was true. The artefacts in the British Museum are original, unless otherwise explicitly stated. It was the man who claimed to work there who was a fake.

This one is more complex, and about masquerade and fantasy as much as 'hoax' perhaps: The schoolteacher who spawned a Highland literary hoax

This is not so much about fakery but about areas of doubt: We still do not understand family resemblance which suggests that GENES are by no means the whole story.

Photo cross-post

Jul. 12th, 2025 11:30 am
andrewducker: (Default)
[personal profile] andrewducker


Off on an awfully big adventure
Original is here on Pixelfed.scot.

Winterfest in July 2025 Bingo Card

Jul. 12th, 2025 07:52 am
cmk418: (christmas)
[personal profile] cmk418
Silver and Gold Silver Bells Baby it's Cold Outside
Send Cards White Christmas Special Delivery
Midnight Kiss Holiday in Handcuffs Pretty Paper

Fandom Friday

Jul. 11th, 2025 09:12 pm
cornerofmadness: the saiyuki gang looking around a door (fangirls)
[personal profile] cornerofmadness
Nothing interesting today unless you think my blood sugar going from 300 at wake up to 400 an hour later and then to 70 after lunch before going back to 300 is interesting. It's pissing me off.

So have the fannish 50 fandom recs including a story by me. But before that you might find this to your tastes

Alan Tudyk Launching New Podcast with Nathan Fillion called ‘Once, We Were Spacemen’


Title: Bad Reputation

Fandom: Hazbin Hotel


Summary: Husker needs some new security after an attack on his casino and he was always on the lookout for new acts to entertain his patrons. He could handle Arackniss when dealing with the security issues. However, entertainment meant he needed to turn to hell’s newest overlord now that Valentino was gone. All Angel Dust brought to his new role was his bad reputation and his never ending boundary crossing. Husker was not looking forward to this.

Rating: teen

Author Note - written for Overlord Husk week day 6 wild card and for spikesgirl58s 6 words challenge. The words were Bikes, Fragile, Legs, Theory, Efficacious, & Imminent

Story at above link or under here )




Dead Hand

The Ace Of Hearts Teen Wolf

Taking Care Of Business Torchwood

Anywhere With You FAKE

a knife between your ribs. The Murderbot Diaries

Our bestie SecUnit! The Murderbot Diaries


you’re so pretty, it kills me Arcane: League of Legends

All About the Accessories Stargate Atlantis


Munch. The Murderbot Diaries

solemnly swear 陈情令 | The Untamed (TV)魔道祖师 - 墨香铜臭 | Módào Zǔshī - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù

Safety in Numbers The Murderbot Diaries


Taking Care Of Business Torchwood

Reborn Buffy the Vampire Slayer

A Night With Diglett Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series)

Let’s Dating Nerd The Owl

Rocky Road Deadpool (Movieverse)/X-Men

Chris Reaches Out 911

Killcode The Murderbot Diaries

Birthday Cookies The Owl House

Fevered Faint Sherlock Holmes (1984 TV)

Voxtimization Hazbin Hotel
shadowkat: (Default)
[personal profile] shadowkat
I was in a good mood when the day started, only to have it turn sour on me as it evolved. I did take a walk though, see previous entry.

I won't bore you with all the gory details. Work is boring me at the moment, but it is at least non-stressful and for the most part pleasant, unlike last year which was boring, stressful and unpleasant. So, let's be grateful for small mercies. Also having been unemployed, I'm always grateful for employment. There are worse jobs, and I'm good at this one and it utilizes my analytical and writing/communication/legal skills for the most part. I'm doing a lot more math than I'd like - but such is life. Some things are unavoidable. The boredom has to do with too many of the same edits. Parts of my job were given to incompetent people, and I'm now editing work that I used to do outright - the irony is not lost on me.

Each day, every day, of this week, actually - for reasons I don't quite understand? The local news has been reporting on hit and runs in various portions of Brooklyn. Almost as if they are tracking hit and runs across the borough? And all the hit and runs happen in the wee hours of the morning. Usually between 1 am and 4:30 am. Why people are wandering the streets in the early hours of the morning, I've no idea. It's not the safest time to be wandering about. For one thing - it's dark outside. There's no one really out there. And people tend to be more reckless at that time. Either driving drunk, speeding, or half asleep. Also people wandering about are probably drunk or not quite awake? the incidents )

I just wanted the weather and the road and rail report. I did not want to know about various hit and runs around the area. They also feel the need to tell me about various shootings around the area, in places I never venture in and never would need to. No wonder people think the city is unsafe. Frigging media.

That didn't put me in a bad mood. Other things did. But, I started out in a good mood - because there were good news items posted on Threads. I'm posting beneath the cut.

good news items )

Gave me hope. Might not give others hope. I find human beings frustrating.
Does anyone else? It can't just be me?

**

In other news? I finally finished Remarkably Bright Creatures by
Shelby Van Pelt


This is a book about a 70 year old woman who works as a janitor in an aquarium who befriends an octopus. Through a series of events, the octopus manages to solve the mystery of her missing son.
needless to say the appeal was utterly lost on me )

Reading T Kingfisher's What Moves the Dead now. We'll see if I stick with it. Kingfisher's writing style appeals to me more than Van Pelt's. (This may be why I get stuff from Amazon and on the Kindle - I like non-mainstream writers better than mainstream traditionally published and highly marketed ones? Although What Moves the Dead made it into book stores.) I also like Kingfisher's quirky characters better. They are less whiny and more real, also Kingfisher's plots feel organic to the characters and not as contrived. I think she's a better writer. But mileage may vary on that front, it always does.

Off to bed, and perchance to sleep and dream of flowers and boats and happy things. Unlikely, my subconscious is stubbornly in nightmare mode. It likes to ponder all my worries and anxieties and concerns through my dreams.

Boat Walk

Jul. 11th, 2025 08:52 pm
shadowkat: (Default)
[personal profile] shadowkat
This is for the sailors and would be sailors out there ([personal profile] threemeninaboat ).

It was a pretty day today, warm with a nice breeze, so I decided to take a long walk. Original plan was to walk to the Freedom Tower and 1 World Trade to see the "Walk of Heroes" virtual exhibit, but I decided that it will be crowded and not nearly enough time. Also it was 83F/23C, and humid. So instead, I chose to walk up the pier and check out the boats. This was after checking out the smorgasbord and open air market of vendors in Bowling Green aka Immigrants Park. They had all sorts of foods on display, only one that was clearly gluten-free, and a lot of expensive cut crystals and stones. I just grabbed a bunch of maps from the tourist information booth, high tailed it back upstairs, deposited them in my back pack, then went back downstairs for my walk up the pier. Breaking Bad (my boss) was out of the office today, as was practically everyone else - so no one noticed, not that they would anyhow. And I did manage to make it back by 1:15 pm, Chilled Matcha Latte in tote.

I managed to make it all the way up to Pier 16, where the Seaport Boat Museum was located.



This was after I wandered about on a wooden deck with plenty of grass, overlooking the harbor and the city.
Deck and tall buildings )

And took a picture of one of the tall boats from the deck:

tall clipper ship )

Then wandered a bit further up the roof top deck to take a photo of the Brooklyn Bridge, and a few smaller boats.

Brooklyn Bridge and smaller boats )

Here's a picture of another tall boat, and the mall at Pier 17 behind it:




Here's a broader picture of the big tall boat and the museum:



I told threemeninaboat a while back that the Tall Clipper Ship gave cruises, but in reality its part of the Seaport Boat Museum. NYC is basically a huge city on a bunch of islands, surrounded by bridges, tunnels, rivers, bays, ocean and boats. It's one of the things I love most about NYC. There's always the slight scent of ocean in the air or water.
And being near the sea is oddly freeing in a way. Perhaps because I've always loved the water? I find it calming.

It was a calming walk - and by the time I returned to my work place, I was sweating and more than ready for air conditioning - because it was also just a touch balmy.

Sidetracks - July 11, 2025

Jul. 11th, 2025 06:51 pm
helloladies: Gray icon with a horseshoe open side facing down with pink text underneath that says Sidetracks (sidetracks)
[personal profile] helloladies posting in [community profile] ladybusiness
Sidetracks is a collaborative project featuring various essays, videos, reviews, or other Internet content that we want to share with each other. All past and current links for the Sidetracks project can be found in our Sidetracks tag. You can also support Sidetracks and our other work on Patreon.
Read more... )
double_dutchess: (Sunnydale Herald)
[personal profile] double_dutchess posting in [community profile] su_herald
Buffy: Who am I? You attacked me! Who, the hell, are you?!
Kendra: I am Kendra! The Vampire Slayer!

~~What's My Line? Part 1~~



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Challenge #1049: gumption

Jul. 11th, 2025 12:58 pm
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[personal profile] primsong posting in [community profile] dw100
Challenge #1049 is gumption.

The rules:
  • All stories must be 100 words long.
  • Please place your story behind a cut if it contains spoilers for the current season.
  • Remember, you don't have to use the challenge word or phrase in your story; it's just there for inspiration.
  • Please include the challenge word or phrase in the subject line of your post.
  • Please use the challenge tag 1049: gumption on any story posted to this challenge.
oursin: Drawing of hedgehog in a cave, writing in a book with a quill pen (Writing hedgehog)
[personal profile] oursin

This time it was online, in Teams, and worked a bit better than some Team events I've attended, or maybe I'm just getting used to it.

A few hiccups with slides and screen sharing, but not as many as there might have been.

Possibly we would rather attend a conference not in our south-facing sitting-room on a day like today....

But even so it was on the whole a good conference, even if some of the interdisciplinarity didn't entirely resonate with me.

And That There Dr [personal profile] oursin was rather embarrassingly activating the raised hand icon after not quite every panel, but all but one. And, oddly enough, given that that was not particularly the focus of the conference, all of my questions/comments/remarks were in the general area of medical/psychiatric history, which I wouldn't particularly have anticipated.

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