jenk

https://thedevilspanties.com/archives/16703

Posted by Jennie Breeden

Mother of Exiles

https://thedevilspanties.com/archives/16703

siderea

I think this is important, and really insightful. Video and slightly excerpted transcript below.

Of note, Parkrose Permaculture is a crunchy secular leftist who is, herself, an ex-evangelical, and speaks with some personal authority about the world-view and culture.

2025 July 17: ParkrosePermaculture on YT: "MAGA mom apologizes for supporting Trump. Regrets her vote. How do we respond?" [9 min 43 sec]:

https://seattletransitblog.com/2025/07/22/beyond-the-freeway-edge-center-running-brt-for-seattles-suburbs/

[0:00] Can we talk about that viral video of that young woman who got on here and was like, "Y'all, I'm really sorry that I voted for Trump. I'm really sorry that I was MAGA. I realize now that I was wrong"? This this video:

[0:12] [stitched video, white woman speaking to camera, with title "Official apology: I voted for Trump"]
I voted for Trump and I'm sorry. I am uneducated. I grew up in, um, public school system. I believed anything a teacher and a principal told me, and I didn't question it. And I walked in a straight line and I didn't use critical thinking skills, okay? I didn't read Project 2025, I have a disabled child, I'm a single mom of three. I believed what he said in his campaigns and I fucked up. And I'm sorry, okay?
I find the responses to that video on social media quite interesting, because on one hand you have folks who are like, I don't forgive you. And I understand that. People are angry. Trumpers did incredible damage to this country. Getting Trump and Elon Musk put in positions of power in the United States is killing millions of people, right? We know that just the cancellations to USAID are going to kill 14 million people according to a new piece out in the Lancet. Trump and Steven Miller are now freely enacting an ethnic cleansing in the United States. People have a right to be really, really angry about those things.

[1:21] I've also seen a lot of other creators who have my complexion [i.e. white -- S.] and most of them are women, who have said, "It's okay, girlfriend. We all make mistakes. We all have been hoodwinkedked in the past. Yeah, people in America are very much indoctrinated. And we forgive you. We forgive you."

[1:38] And I guess I, I disagree fundamentally with both of those takes. And here's why.

We need to give Trumpers a place to land as they are deconstructing. Maybe the Epstein files [...] [2:14] And so everybody's going to have– everybody who ends up walking away from MAGA is going to have the beginning of that journey. [...] Not everybody starts from the same baseline. I guarantee you for folks watching that woman, if you wanted to judge her, then you probably didn't start with the same level of intense indoctrination, you're probably not from the same kind of subculture that she's from. And you didn't start from the same place that she's starting at. Every journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. And you've got to give her space to take that step.

[3:02] So, I, I do want to give her all of the praise for getting online with her real face and doing something that's very hard to do. She was willing to swallow her pride in a culture where we very much center the self and we're not good at taking responsibility. We are not good at eating crow. We're not good at facing the music, right? She did that. [...] She deserves all the praise for that. I don't want to in any way minimize the work, the risk that she undertook in being willing to own it and being willing to say, "I was deeply wrong." Again, especially because we live in a culture where people taking accountability is not something that we are particularly good at or used to.

[4:04] And so I very much appreciate the other creators who are saying, "Come over here with us," – Right? – "I'll be a safe landing spot for you. It is never too late to admit that you were wrong."

But I also think when we're looking at MAGA, who has caused tremendous, tremendous harm in this country, right? They have contributed to the rise of fascism. They have supported the takeover of this nation by a fascist dictator. I understand a lot of them were ignorant. They chose to be willfully ignorant. I understand a lot of them come from a background where they are taught to deny their own intuition, to subvert their own will, to listen to and unconditionally obey what an authority figure is telling them. I know that so many of these folks go to churches that are telling them that Donald Trump is God's anointed, that he has God's favor, that he is doing the Lord's work. I understand the heaviness, the intense pressure, the hard sell of the subcultures that these folks belong to, and I understand the strength of character that it takes in that context to admit that you were wrong and say, "I shouldn't have done this, and I'm sorry."

[5:11] But I would encourage all of those mostly white women creators who are telling this young woman, "It's okay, girl. We forgive you. Everybody makes mistakes": this was not a mistake. And it doesn't really matter that there were extenduating circumstances and indoctrination. Doesn't matter that somebody caused great harm without understanding the full depth and breadth of the trauma and the suffering they would inflict by supporting this regime.

I know I have brought it up many times since the election and it continues to be one of the most relevant books when we are discussing people leaving MAGA, when we are discussing people deconstructing from Trumperism, when we are discussing how it is that we fold these folks back into society, and that book is called The Sunflower by Simon Visenthal. It is an incredibly important and relevant book in these times.

The subtitle of the book is "On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness." It is a book about a young Nazi soldier who is dying and he wants to be forgiven the sins that he committed in the Holocaust. But he is asking forgiveness of somebody who is not his victim. And the question that is being posed to all kinds of faith leaders and philosophers in this book is who has the right to extend forgiveness, and what does it mean to extend forgiveness and what does it mean to ask for forgiveness?

[6:35] And I know I've said this in other videos and I just I think it's so important to continue to reiterate it when we're looking at ex-Maga. I appreciate their apology. I appreciate their contrition. I appreciate that they have realized how much harm they've caused and that they want people to know they no longer support the things that they once voted for. Really important.

But at the same time, if we are not the injured party, do we have a right to forgive? And also, there's so much more to earning forgiveness, working to be forgiven, than just saying, "I'm sorry."

[7:12] I know in evangelical Christian culture it's like if somebody says "I'm sorry", it's like, "oh, we forgive you! That's what Jesus would do!" Other religions don't view it that way. But also I personally think if somebody is truly truly sorry for what they've done, they need to work to repair the harm that they've inflicted.

If somebody voted for Donald Trump and they now realize that they were wrong, [if] they now are asking you to forgive them, they need to demonstrate changed behavior. They need to now go volunteer for a Democratic campaign in the midterms. They need to commit to evangelizing on behalf of democracy and against the fascist regime of Donald Trump to all of the people in their subculture, in their community, all of the MAGA that they know. They need to go actively work for immigrants rights. They need to contribute financially to organizations like the ACLU, to progressive Democrats in the midterms, to organizations that are engaged in mutual aid for all of the people who are suffering because of what MAGA has done.

[8:27] It takes a measure of risk to get on the internet and say, "I'm so sorry. I regret my vote for Donald Trump." Yeah. And we want to acknowledge that they have taken that risk. We want to acknowledge the work that is done. We want to acknowledge how hard it is to take that first step on that journey. Absolutely true. But at the same time, they need to put their money where their mouth is.

They need to work to repair the harm that they have done. They need to work now. They need to sacrifice now. They need to demonstrate changed behavior because at the end of the day, words are cheap. People are suffering and dying. Now, if you truly understand the ramifications of what you have supported and what you have done, you must work to fix it.

[9:10] So, to that young woman and any other person who has left MAGA, who has taken that first step on your deconstruction journey: I applaud you. That's wonderful, that's wonderful. If your conscience is eating you up? If you have loads of regrets? The best way you can work to find peace in your heart, to find peace with the people you have harmed, is to get to work – fixing it. Because there's so much work for everybody to do. Join the resistance. Yep, come join the party. Yeah, we'll take you. We are a safe landing spot. We have lots of work for you to do here.

seattletransitblog_feed

Posted by Wesley Lin

https://seattletransitblog.com/?p=131543

The Puget Sound metro area has made significant effort in expanding transit with both its light rail network and side-running BRTs like RapidRide and Swift. These have established a better transit baseline than many American regions have, enabling people to get around easier. Recent Link extensions like Lynnwood Link and the starter East Link, and future projects like Downtown Redmond, full East Link across Lake Washington, and Federal Way Link, are set to enhance regional connectivity. However, while these extensions are excellent for improving commuter routes and replacing express freeway buses, their freeway-adjacent alignment often bypasses significant job, retail, and residential hubs along existing avenues. This leaves many high-density corridors such as Aurora Avenue, Evergreen Way, Pacific Highway South and Rainier Avenue South underserved.

Enter — Center-running BRTs. Operating in dedicated lanes separated from general traffic, they offer a combination of moderate-high reliability, faster travel times, and relatively low cost compared to light rail. This makes them particularly well-suited for connecting dense urban corridors that are underserved by existing transit.

SF’s Van Ness BRT (picture from wikipedia)

Cities across the US have successfully have successfully implemented center-running BRT systems. San Francisco build the Van Ness BRT. Richmond, VA, built the Pulse BRT. Madison, WI implemented the North South BRT. These examples highlight the potential for center-running BRTs to complement existing transit networks and address gaps in service. They have quite long continuous sections with center-running bus lanes. They can still allow for two lanes of cars in each direction.

For more constrained corridors, compact center-running BRT systems can fit into narrower 4~5 lane corridors. These still allow for one general lane in each direction with dedicated left/right turns. For example, AC Transit built the 9.5 mile Tempo BRT connecting Oakland, Fruitvale and San Leandro, CA. Denver, CO plan a 5.5 mile Colfax BRT connecting to Aurora.

Seattle itself also recently constructed Madison BRT on Madison Street with some portions of center-running bus lanes. But it does not quite reach the scope of the previous examples because it stays within the city borders and only travels 2.5 miles.

Corridors to Improve based on Ridership

Route	Weekday Boardings 2024 Oct	Route	Weekday Boardings 2024 Oct
RapidRide E	13,568	Route 40	8,539
Route 7	11,314	RapidRide C	7,488
RapidRide A	9,618	Route 62	7,126
RapidRide D	9,309	Route 36	7,059
RapidRide H	8,636	Route 44	6,663

The top 10 King County Metro bus routes by ridership are listed above. RapidRide E, Route 7 and RapidRide A as the top 3 ridership routes are the best candidates to implement center-running BRT. Additionally Community Transit’s highest used bus route Swift Blue with ~4,000 daily riders is also a good candidate to improve.

Swift Blue, RapidRide E, and RapidRide A are all on wide stroads that are easiest to convert to a center-running BRT. We’ll start with upgrading Swift Blue from a right-side BAT lane BRT to a center-running BRT in this article. Other corridors will be discussed in future articles.

Swift Blue (in blue) and RapidRide E (in red)

Some of these top-ten routes and other bus routes have other long-term plans. RapidRide D parallels future Ballard Link. RapidRide H and RapidRide C will likely be replaced or truncated by West Seattle Link. Route 40 as a center-running tram (same alignment with center-running BRT) was already described in the Ballard Light Rail At-Grade article. Other high-ridership Sound Transit express bus routes are already being converted to the Stride (freeway) BRT.

Bus routes on medium-width avenues such as Route 7, Route 44, Route 36, and Route 150 were discussed in RapidRide prioritization plans. These will require a more compact center-running BRT alternative. Routes with a local+express pattern that are partly on a freeway such as Route 101/101 to Renton or Route 150 to Kent will require direct connectors between their centermost freeway lane and the arerial avenue they switch to.

Evergreen Way Center-running BRT (Swift Blue)

The Everett Link extension runs along I-5 north to Mariner, then northwest along Airport Road, then east along Casino Road, before finally heading north along I-5. Community Transit’s Swift Blue line runs from Everett on Evergreen Way via Lynnwood and Shoreline to Shoreline North station. Notably, the bus route skips Lynnwood City Center station in favor of remaining on Aurora Avenue.

A center-running BRT would provide fast frequent service on the areas skipped by Everett Link, and help complement the light rail line with connections both at the ends of the bus line with Everett Station and Shoreline North as well as in the middle with Airport Road and Evergreen stations.

Starting from Everett Station, the BRT would follow the existing path of Swift Blue heading west on Pacific Avenue and then heading south on Evergreen Way. The roadway of Evergreen Way north-east of SR-525 is 85~90 feet wide (~100 ft including sidewalks), wide enough for 3 general lanes and 1 bus/HOV lane in the center.

Evergreen Way 100 ft with 3. general lanes and bus lane in each direction

Evergreen Way at intersection widened to 120 ft with 3 general lanes, bus lanes, bus station and left turning lane.

The intersections would need to be widened by roughly 20 feet to maintain 3 general lanes, left turn and center BRT stations. Given that most of the corridor is lined with parking lots, while difficult it wouldn’t actually be too cost-prohibitive to widen.

Evergreen Way 100 ft with 2 general lanes and bus lane in each direction

Evergreen Way 100 ft at intersections with 2 general lanes, bus lanes, bus station and left turning lane

Alternatively, if only 2 general lanes in each direction are required, construction would be much simpler. The existing center turning lane could be maintained while the centermost traffic lane could simply be repainted red. At intersections, there is just enough space for 2 general lanes in each direction along with a left-turning lane.

Lynnwood to Everett HCT study

Lynnwood to Everett HCT BRT on SR 99 alternative map

The Lynnwood to Everett HCT study partially investigated such a center-running BRT on Evergreen Way. The study proposed 3 general lanes in each direction along with the center BRT lanes, somewhat validating that it is possible. However the alternative also proposed routing the line down a direct connector flyover from Evergreen Way to SR 525, then continuing south to Lynnwood City Center station (thus not serving Highway 99 south of Edmonds College). The line had wider station spacing than the existing Swift Blue line, 2~3 miles instead of 1~2 miles.

If the Everett Link extension is built, sticking with the existing Swift Blue alignment and closer stop spacing makes more sense. Riders heading to Everett or Lynnwood could instead transfer to the light rail, while shorter trips or those starting/ending on SR-99 could use the center-running BRT.

Evergreen Way BRT Travel time and Costs

From Everett Station	to Airport Road	to Aurora Village Transit Center	to Shoreline North station
BRT without traffic	18 minutes	39 minutes	48 minutes
BRT with traffic (noon not morning)	24 minutes	53 minutes	66 minutes

	to Airport Road	to Lynnwood City Center	to Shoreline North station
Everett Link	(estimated) 18~20 minutes	34 minutes	41 minutes

A BRT would be usually be moderately slower than a grade-separated elevated light rail line, but the BRT in this case has the advantage of running straight down Evergreen Way, while the Everett Link detours to reach Paine Field. The current off-peak bus times for Swift Blue from Everett to Airport Road are about 18 minutes — the same as the light rail line. Reaching the Aurora Village Transit Center on the BRT would take 39 minutes without traffic (currently 53 minutes with traffic). Reaching Shoreline North station on the BRT would take 48 minutes without traffic (currently 66 minutes with traffic), while the light rail can reach Shoreline North in 41 minutes.

Evergreen Way BRT Density and Stop spacing

Evergreen Way is kinda auto-centric but it still has garden-style apartments along certain portions. The street is also relatively easy to infill in the future for further density. In comparison, the Lynnwood Link Extension and upcoming Federal Way Link Extension both stick close to the freeway with low density

The existing Swift Blue line runs for 16.7 miles with 18 stops, creating on average a 1 mile stop spacing in between stations. Unfortunately while an average 1 mile stop spacing is right on the verge of being unbearable, other sections have stop spacings of 1.5 or up to almost 2 miles around North Lynnwood.

Currently Community Transit minimizes the number of Swift Blue stations to decrease travel time and subsequently allow more buses to run the route at the same time. This allows for 10 minute frequency even with it’s long length but heavily decreased access. Assuming the Everett Link Extensions exists for longer transit trips, the Evergreen BRT could stop more often near apartments and retail stores sacrificing a bit of travel time for access to destinations.

Evergreen Way BRT Costs and Benefits

The cost of the center-running BRT with 3 general lanes might be relatively high, given the large intersection reconstruction at each station stop. There would be some property takings but generally only parking lots. The Option E from the HCT Corridor was studied at around ~$500 million dollars in 2015. The estimate can be used as a ballpark figure, given that we’re adding an extension to Shoreline North station but subtracting the costly flyover to SR-525. Adding some inflation and post-COVID cost inflation construction would land an estimate around $700 million dollars.

For only maintaining 2 general lanes, the BRT would be much cheaper $300~400 million. The long length of the BRT line (17 miles) would typically involve massive utility relocation along the entire length. Given the relatively long stop-spacing distance, I suggest instead not adding physical barriers to the BRT line, and just painting the center lanes red. This would allow buses to detour around utility repairs in the center bus lanes by merging to the lane to the right and skip digging up the entire road. The BRT stations at intersections would require some utility relocation but not require any road expansion.

Citations

Other Cities’ BRT
HCT Corridor Studies (2015)
Urbanist: Redesigning Aurora Avenue for Pedestrians, Bikes, and Rapid Buses
SDOT Ideas for Aurora

https://seattletransitblog.com/2025/07/22/beyond-the-freeway-edge-center-running-brt-for-seattles-suburbs/

https://seattletransitblog.com/?p=131543

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/07/22/ozzy-osbourne-rip/

Posted by John Scalzi

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=56538

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/07/22/ozzy-osbourne-rip/

Passing on just after a triumphant farewell concert is Bowie-level leave-taking. Well played, and what a wild life.

— JS

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=56538

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/07/22/the-big-idea-kate-heartfield-3/

Posted by John Scalzi

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=56524

For her novel The Tapestry of Time, author Kate Heartfield took a real moment in time, involving a real object, and gave it just a little twist, threading a needle between fantasy and reality. What time? What object? Read on!

KATE HEARTFIELD:

On July 14, 1944, the New Yorker ran a brilliant cover to celebrate the Allied invasion of Normandy almost six weeks before. The design, by Rea S. Irvin, was an homage to the 11th century Bayeux Tapestry, which chronicled Duke William of Normandy’s conquest of England.

It seemed fitting. Bayeux was the first town liberated, and where the exiled leader of the Free French Forces, Charles de Gaulle, chose to make his first speech after the invasion, on June 14.

But when he made that speech in Bayeux, the tapestry wasn’t there. In fact, even a month later when the New Yorker ran that cover, very few people on Earth knew where the tapestry was.

The tapestry (actually a kind of embroidery, but everyone calls it a tapestry) is massive: about 70 metres long. It was made sometime around 1070 C.E. and is basically a long comic strip, missing its final panels. When the Second World War began, it was put into a storage cellar in Bayeux.

Like many fascists, the Nazis were obsessed with trying to fit historical facts into their twisted narrative. Heinrich Himmler and many of his gang of archaeologists, historians and occultists saw the Bayeux Tapestry as a Germanic artifact showing the glorious past and future of their master race (because Duke William had Norse ancestry). Groups of Nazi officers and scholars started “inspecting” the tapestry (and at least one cut a piece off). Himmler was renovating a castle in Germany (using the forced labour of prisoners from two concentration camps) and stuffing it with looted medieval artifacts, to serve as the centre of the SS cult. In another timeline, that could have been the fate of the Bayeux Tapestry.

We often talk these days about the importance of putting grit in the gears of fascism, about the weaponization of paperwork. That’s what kept the Bayeux Tapestry in France, although some of the people putting grit in the gears were from other branches of the fascist project who just didn’t share Himmler’s particular brand of weird. In 1941, one of those branches managed to get the tapestry moved (in a truck running on an engine converted to charcoal because of the lack of gasoline) to a more remote storage facility, the Château de Sourches, where it stayed until 1944.

There, it would be safer against bombing – and also, not coincidentally, less subject to gangs of Nazi historians, amateur and otherwise, wielding scissors.

With the tide turning against Germany in 1944, Himmler decided he’d been stymied by bureaucracy long enough. He hatched a secret operation to take the tapestry first to Paris, and then to Berlin. They did manage to move the tapestry (in extremely hazardous conditions) to the Louvre, a few weeks after D-Day. But by the time Himmler managed to send two SS men to retrieve it in August, the people of Paris had risen up and liberated the city before the Allies got there. The Nazi commander of the city had to tell Himmler’s goons that the Resistance had just taken the Louvre, where the tapestry was being stored; they were welcome to try to get it.

(My main source for this part of the story is The Bayeux Tapestry: The Life Story of a Masterpiece by Carola Hicks, which is great.)

The story of the tapestry’s movements in the summer of 1944 is the inspiration and framework for my novel The Tapestry of Time, which is about four clairvoyant sisters racing against the Nazis to prevent them from using it for their nefarious ends. Think Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark, except the tapestry instead of the ark, and instead of an American professor, the protagonist is an English lesbian who works at the Louvre.

I wove clairvoyance into the story because I was interested in exploring how we learn things about our past and dream about our future – and how fascism would like us to believe that we know things about our past, and can dream about our future. I often use fantastical elements to literalize metaphors and help us see the past in new ways, and this one helped me raise questions about how we can trust information, and the manipulation of gut feelings. Also, it was fun.

It was fascinating doing the research into the training given to the saboteurs and spies who helped the Resistance (which informed the Nazi-punching, and Nazi-shooting and Nazi-stabbing, in this novel). I will admit that when it came to learning what I needed to know about Nazi institutions and individuals, I sometimes found it draining to do the research about an evil that is still so fresh, and unfortunately so familiar. But these are stories we have to keep telling, because fascism will never stop trying to abuse history for its own ends.

This summer, I’m travelling to Dunkirk, to stand on the beach where my grandfather survived the strafing and bombing from German planes overhead. I’ll go to the beaches where the Allied forces landed four years later. I’ll go to Bayeux, where the tapestry survives, and is about to go out of public view for a couple of years of renovations (and a loan to the British Museum). If there’s a lesson I take from the many near-misses in the long history of the Bayeux Tapestry, it’s that small acts of courage or even just stubbornness, with a little luck, can change the future. My novel is my small offering of thanks to those who went before us and one way, I hope, to keep their stories alive.

The Tapestry of Time: Amazon|Barnes & Noble|Powell’s|Bookshop

Kate Heartfield: Website|Bluesky|Instagram

Read an excerpt here.

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/07/22/the-big-idea-kate-heartfield-3/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=56524

https://thedevilspanties.com/archives/16702

Posted by Jennie Breeden

Leather and Logic

https://thedevilspanties.com/archives/16702

xkcd_feed

https://xkcd.com/3118/

Washington, DC: Eastern gray squirrel, Amur honeysuckle. Puerto Rico: Crested anole, sea grape. US as a whole: Mallard, eastern poison ivy.

https://xkcd.com/3118/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/07/21/the-friend-who-isnt/

Posted by John Scalzi

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=56516

First, watch this video, for the song “Brutus” by Em Beihold, which is a clever and enjoyable song about envy:

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/07/21/the-friend-who-isnt/

The thing I want to talk about here is not the song or its lyrics, both of which I like (and boy, who among us has not that had that same feeling at one point or another), but the final few seconds of the video, in which Beihold, at lunch with the girls, including the one who is the focus of her envy (and not coincidentally, all the attention). After watching everyone else lavish their attention on this woman, Beihold, or more accurately the character she’s playing in the video, finally gets up, goes to the woman (played by Katya Abayss), whispers to her about her envy, and leaves. And during these couple of seconds and directly afterward, we get to see the play of emotions across the enviable woman’s face.

And what are the emotions? As I see it: First, distracted as her friend comes over to say something private, pulling her away from her conversation already in progress, then confusion at the message, and then, right at the end, being upset and sad. Because the woman knows that, in this moment, she’s just lost a friend. She has no idea how, even if the now-immediately-former friend has given her the reason why. The reasons are all internal to Beihold’s character and how she feels about the other woman’s successes, personally and (apparently) professionally. This other woman is the cause of Beihold’s envy, but it’s possible and even likely that the woman had no idea that Beihold had all that going on in her head. Envy is often quiet, until it’s not.

(The other thing about envy (in the real world, at least) is that it’s often predicated on a fantasy version of someone else’s life, the part with where the fruits of their talent and/or money are evident but not the part where the human in the life still has to be a human and still has human concerns. In a world where some of the richest people in the world are very clearly desperately unhappy because (among other things) they simply don’t know how to people — and that’s in public! Imagine what it’s like in private! — there is indeed the constant reminder that money/fame/talent may solve some problems, but not all of them, and opens up a whole new set of problems that one has to deal with. High class problems! Which maybe other people think they would rather have than their own! But still problems.)

In the song and in the video, which she co-directed, Beihold the actual creative person does a fun and lively job of getting into the head of someone who has let envy finally get the best of them and stops seeing a friend as a friend and now sees them simply as a (possibly unworthy) possessor of a life they covet. But I think it’s important — and smart! — that after watching an entire video of humorous scenarios of the envying smoldering unhappiness at the envied, there are those few seconds at the end where we get to see that envy isn’t actually funny, and that it actually can hurt, not just the subject of the envy, but the object of it. Two people lose a friend in the video. Only one of them saw it coming.

— JS

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=56516

https://thedevilspanties.com/archives/16701

Posted by Jennie Breeden

Info Chores

https://thedevilspanties.com/archives/16701

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/07/20/jim-boggia-at-the-old-church/

Posted by John Scalzi

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=56508

After we purchased the Methodist Church building here in town, one of the things we said that we wanted was to keep it part of the community, and not just our own office building. One way we were thinking of doing that was to occasionally have events there that would be open to the folks here in town. Last night, we started doing that: Our good friend and almost incomprehensibly talented musician Jim Boggia came the Old Church (as we are calling the building now) to give a concert, and we gave an open invite to Bradford to come out and see him. The event — like all the events we’d be planning — was free to attend, sponsored by the Scalzi Family Foundation. Because, honestly, what’s the even the point of having a foundation if you can’t occasionally give a concert for your fellow townsfolk?

And how was the concert? Honestly, terrific. Jim is an immensely engaging performer and played a mix of his own (really great) tunes and rock standards from the 70s, which was perfectly in tune with this audience, who gave Jim a standing ovation at the end of his set. An excellent time was had by all, and for us — for whom this first event was a test case to see if there was local interest in such events and what we need to do to make them viable — it was proof that this sort of thing was something that would be enjoyed and appreciated in our home town. We’ll be doing more of this. Hopefully soon!

(PS: Get some of Jim’s music, it’s fab)

— JS

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/07/20/jim-boggia-at-the-old-church/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=56508

umadoshi

Reading: Mostly non-fiction last week, oddly. Still slowly reading through An Everlasting Meal, as well as flipping through a couple of new cookbooks in hard copy*. I also started reading Maureen Ryan's Burn It Down: Power, Complicity, and a Call for Change in Hollywood.

As for fiction, I started--brace yourself--listening to an audiobook. I don't really do audio formats at all! But

scruloose has never read Murderbot, and the audiobooks seem to be WIDELY beloved, so I thought maybe we could follow Kas and Ginny's example and listen to one or more of those together. So I borrowed All Systems Red from Hoopla (another first for me), and yesterday we listened to the first three chapters or so. (I highly doubt I'm going to take up non-music audio media in any meaningful way, but who knows? Three chapters was definitely not enough to make it stop feeling weird, though.)

*A small order from Book Outlet contained What Goes with What: 100 Recipes, 20 Charts, Endless Possibilities (Julia Turshen); Half the Sugar, All the Love: 100 Easy, Low-Sugar Recipes for Every Meal of the Day (Jennifer Tyler Lee and Anisha Patel), which crossed my radar early on in the "must keep an eye on blood sugar" process and stuck because it doesn't use any artificial sweeteners (since I've never met one I didn't hate); Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End; and the first and third installments of the Murderbot Diaries consolidated editions, which means I now own books 1, 2, 6, and 7 in hard copy.

Not sure if I'll just keep an eye out for the second volume to turn up there too or if I'll cave and just buy it. I'm glad there's a release that combines novellas! But I'm also eyeing the hard copy option for Network Effect and wondering if there's going to be a release of it that matches this set. I like all the original covers, but I also like my physical books to match. (Does anyone know if there's any plan for a matching rerelease?)

(Am I still grumpy that--unless something's changed?--it seems like the first three of Wells' Raksura books got released in mass market paperbacks, which I pounced on because that's my preferred format, but the fourth and fifth didn't? YES.)

Cooking/Baking: Mid-week,

scruloose picked up some strawberries that tasted and looked fine but had a slightly odd texture (kind of...mushy? But nothing was visibly wrong?), so we turned most of them into this Buttermilk ~~Blueberry~~ Strawberry Breakfast Cake. It was tasty enough, but not so tasty that I immediately understood why it's one of the two most popular recipes on the site; that said, in addition to swapping the berries, we didn't have fresh lemon zest on hand and used the granulated peel from Silk Road (and also, my impression is that while blueberry and lemon are an iconic flavor pairing, that's not true of strawberry and lemon) and did the vinegar-in-milk substitution for buttermilk. So who knows.

Yesterday

scruloose had to go downtown to one of the large markets because that's the only place our usual meat guy vends and we'd placed a fairly large order (sadly, to replace one from a few weeks ago that met a tragic end by not getting put into the freezer soon enough). But en route, they stopped at the little corner market and got two containers each of raspberries, strawberries, and blueberries, plus some new potatoes. So now we are SWIMMING in berries, which is a wonderful state of affairs. I imagine there's no way we'll make it through all of them by just eating them straight, so we'll see what we wind up doing.

Current Mood: sleepy

mdlbear

A couple of notable good things happened this week. The first, on Thursday, was that we decided to go to Majorca next year to see the total solar eclipse, and I noticed at the time that it made me happy. That's rare. The other was that my Framework Laptop 12 arrived. So that's three days (including Saturday, because a new computer always uses up a couple of days) that I didn't get much, if any, work done. But still...

I was doing pretty well for a while. *sigh* Maybe I'll be able to get some practicimg in today. Have to remember to write up my work log, which is similar to my "Done Since" log (see under cut), only different. Speaking which I probably need to revisit that.

It didn't help that my cat, Curio, crossed the Rainbow Bridge ten years ago Tuesday. He was the first cat I'd had since I was very young. There will be three more such anniversaries -- Desti, Colleen, and Amethyst -- in the next three weeks.

Some good news -- Linux Reaches 5% On Desktop - Slashdot. More links on Tuesday. And here we have a The Balfolk Boombox, A Synth Gurdy.

And finally, Finishing up the Bendix G-15! from Usagi Electric.

( Notes & links, as usual )

Current Mood: mixed
Current Location: Schildhaven in Den Haag
Current Music: some practicing

seattletransitblog_feed

Posted by Mike Orr

https://seattletransitblog.com/2025/07/20/sunday-movie-evanston-express-empty-northwest-coast/

https://seattletransitblog.com/?p=135473

Why the Chicago L’s Evanston Express line isn’t really an express. (Car Free Keith)

https://seattletransitblog.com/2025/07/20/sunday-movie-evanston-express-empty-northwest-coast/

Why the Washington and Oregon coast has no large cities. (Geography by Geoff)

This is an open thread.

https://seattletransitblog.com/?p=135473

https://thedevilspanties.com/archives/16700

Posted by Jennie Breeden

https://thedevilspanties.com/archives/16699

Posted by Jennie Breeden

xkcd_feed

https://xkcd.com/3117/

Maybe encouraging the publication of null results isn't enough--maybe we need a journal devoted to publishing results the study authors find personally annoying.

https://xkcd.com/3117/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/07/18/publishers-weekly-on-the-shattering-peace-a-treat/

Posted by John Scalzi

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=56500

And, well, yes! It is! The full review (here, warning, mild spoilers) also says that it is “tightly plotted” and otherwise praises the writing for catching up reader on the events of the series while still keeping things moving in the book’s here and now. And, again: Yes! I will take all that. Also, and I say this with just about every novel, it’s nice when the first trade review is a positive one. It means I can relax a little.

More news on The Shattering Peace soon. We are two months out from the release! Things are beginning to pick up momentum.

— JS

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/07/18/publishers-weekly-on-the-shattering-peace-a-treat/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=56500

umadoshi

On Bluesky, Wenella reports that "Dongjj Rescue, starring Zhu Yilong, Ni Ni, and Leo Wu, will be released in the US on Aug 22, 2025. The film will be released in mainland China on Aug 8." Time to start haunting the Cineplex site in hopes of Canadian showtimes!

I took today off in hopes of getting a bit more sleep (done, although not an impressive amount) and actually starting in on my next manga rewrite. I have just over a couple of hours before I need to venture out, so...we'll see how the latter goes in practice.

I can't remember if I've mentioned here that almost two months ago, I concluded that I'm going to sell my poor basically-unused etrike. ( In case I haven't, here's the gist )

Anyway, this comes to mind because for once I have a little venture that would, in fact, be perfect for taking the trike if I were at all in the habit of/comfortable with using it. Ah, well.

In related news, at least we're not under a heat warning anymore, unlike the last few days. (It's still currently 22°C and humid as hell, resulting in a 30°C humidex, and it's supposed to be a couple degrees warmer later this afternoon. But it's still an improvement.)

Current Mood: melancholy