Bryan Wright

I'm the IT manager for the UVa Physics Department. I have a PhD in physics, and used to do research in nuclear physics. I teach introductory programming to undergrads. Also, flies are underrated.

Web: https://discovery.phys.virginia.edu/~bkw1a/
Book: https://tinyurl.com/practical-c
INaturalist: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=any&subview=grid&user_id=bryanwright&verifiable=any
Course: https://discovery.phys.virginia.edu/classes/1660/2022/

Public Key

npub1r023632durmwq7rw7h8ts5n579k06vau9ja7tdctz9rtjjc3vrtqaff6ma

NIP-05 Address

catselbow_at_fosstodon.org@momostr.pink

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsph4gag4x7pahq0ph0tn4c2f60zm8axw7zewl9ku93z34efvgkp4spz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0dsfzxk50

Publishing to

relay.damus.io

nos.lol

Author Public Key

npub1r023632durmwq7rw7h8ts5n579k06vau9ja7tdctz9rtjjc3vrtqaff6ma

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Last Notes

2026-10-09 20:17:32 UTC

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For me, that's perl

2026-08-09 15:37:27 UTC

_Permanence_ by Karl Schroeder is a fun book. I'm glad I picked it up at random. The story is about a young woman who flees an abusive environment in a comet-mining colony and discovers a derelict alien spacecraft. The setting is an eclectic mix of worlds around brown dwarfs, which in this story are abundant in the space between stars. There's politics and intrigue as factions fight over the discovery. The writing reminds me a little of James H. Schmitz.
#books
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permanence_(novel)

2026-07-17 15:49:09 UTC

I guess I won't be going for my afternoon walk today! UVa's COO has issued a warning about air quality and high heat (around 100F), asking people to limit outdoor activity and keep doors and windows closed, among other things.
[Use your imagination to insert a "this is fine" gif]
#cville #uva
https://cdn.fosstodon.org/media_attachments/files/116/936/074/459/606/914/original/ccd04819d34a957e.png

2026-07-11 10:42:41 UTC

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Earlier this week my son and I were walking across grounds at UVa and a half-dozen juvenile squirrels came swarming down an oak tree and streamed past our feet, chasing each other. One let out a polite (or rude?) chirp at us as it went by.

2026-06-28 15:52:12 UTC

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A Mother Box?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_Box?wprov=sfla1

2026-06-24 00:37:33 UTC

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Focks

2026-06-01 00:19:30 UTC

For a while now I've been trying to track down an obscure late-1970s TV show that I vaguely remember. I don't recall the title, but I think the show was syndicated and shown by local stations in empty weekend afternoon slots.
The story was Tolkienesque (or D&Desque), about an ever-growing fellowship of odd characters who come together during the course of a Quest. Costumes and SFX were cheap and cheesy. Aerial shots of the group marching across the landscape. Does that ring a bell with anybody?

2026-05-27 17:29:55 UTC

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If you have a dehydrator, dried lambsquarters are good all year round in soups and sauces. You can use all the leaves from the mature plants.

2026-05-27 10:31:54 UTC

A handsome weevil with a snooty snout an knob-ended antennae.
#Weevils #WeevilWednesday #coleoptera #beetles #insects #arthropods #Photography
https://cdn.fosstodon.org/media_attachments/files/116/646/042/127/576/072/original/871bf6df45e4f5fc.jpg

2026-05-07 11:14:31 UTC

A handsome greenbottle fly (Lucilia), dressed in his best, shiniest, exoskeleton, out on the town, looking for a mate.
#fly #flies #calliphoridae #diptera #insects #arthropods #photography
https://cdn.fosstodon.org/media_attachments/files/116/532/956/753/391/291/original/9b9fe05769f9a1bf.jpg

2026-04-28 11:06:53 UTC

I love the fact that these sweet little bundles of fuzz are called "pussytoes" (Antennaria).
#plants #flowers #Photography
https://cdn.fosstodon.org/media_attachments/files/116/481/960/573/607/059/original/bda41fcb3a01d65f.jpg

2026-04-11 23:56:45 UTC

I've been re-reading _Love and Rockets_ and I'm surprised at what a sympathetic character Vivian Solis is when she's first introduced. Vivian is a beautiful, loud, self-centered, annoying, impatient person. She has no idea why people do the things they do. Their reactions are a mystery to her, and this frustrates and bewilders her, but she's become numb to it much of the time. Sometimes it's too much, and she seems to want to grab people, shake them, and shout "Explain it to me!"
#comics

2026-04-02 12:06:40 UTC

Some interesting earthbound historical context around manned missions to the moon.
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/moon-landing-minneapolis-ice

2026-03-31 11:11:33 UTC

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Yes, but do you have a porridge drawer?
https://beige.party/@a/111482677763655343

2026-03-31 10:53:18 UTC

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No "enter" key. Just boop to enter.

2026-03-30 01:15:49 UTC

So. Daredevil: Born Again S2.
The first episode was OK. It's less rushed and they're giving the characters a little room to breathe. I like the attention they're giving to Heather Glenn, with consequences carried over from season 1.
OTOH, the writers seem to forget that Matt is a ninja. He can be silent when he wants to, and he applies only the appropriate amount of force.
A dash of humor would be nice, but I'm hoping Jessica Jones will provide that later.
Grade: "Pass" on a pass/fail basis

2026-03-30 00:53:42 UTC

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Decides that killing deer is wrong, dedicates life to making restitution

2026-03-29 17:11:09 UTC

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That's a beautiful photo!

2026-03-29 00:40:30 UTC

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First of all, it helps to be a southerner. Some of the protesters are deeply religious people who would wholeheartedly agree with those words. But in their case, that's why they're there protesting!

2026-03-28 23:23:05 UTC

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One person drove by and shouted "The only king is Jesus!" I'm not sure whether to count this driver as a supporter or not.
A few seemingly hostile folks drove by and shouted unintelligible things, prompting my son to opine that if you're going to be obnoxious you should at least enunciate clearly.
Most drivers waved or honked in a friendly way.

2026-03-28 23:13:08 UTC

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Ha! I wasn't aware of that part of its reputation. My wife grew up near there. I'll have to ask her about this.

2026-03-28 22:47:47 UTC

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I'm glad she's OK!

2026-03-28 22:39:15 UTC

We went to a #NoKings rally today in the small town of Orange, in rural Virginia. My guess is that there were a couple of hundred people there. This is a red town in a red county, but the vast majority of the cars passing by were supportive.
These public displays are important in places like that. They show the protesters and the sympathetic people driving by that we're not alone.
When a driver showed disapproval I thought "There's only one of you. Look at all of us."

2026-03-23 22:44:05 UTC

I've been rearranging our audio files, putting them all onto a Jellyfin server, and I came across a recording of this, captured from a scratchy LP. Back during the 80s I loved this album and played it constantly. Sometime in the 90s I heard them live here at UVa. Apparently, this album still gives me goosebumps.
Darol Anger, Barbara Higby, Mike Marshall, Todf Phillips, and Andy Narell
Live at Montreux
https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1XqDzrUg1kR9iDHY-ZDXBYmc968VhnIg
#music

2026-03-22 13:00:57 UTC

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I read it through Hoopla too! I hope you enjoy it.

2026-03-22 12:09:33 UTC

Another comic:
_All the Living_ is a beautiful comic drawn and written by Roman Muradov. Each panel could be framed and hung on a gallery wall.
The story opens with the soul of a woman drifting down, like a fallen leaf, into the underworld. "Is this Hell?" she asks. "It's nice." Her attempt at suicide fails, though, and she returns to life, but now she's haunted by her own ghost.
A witty, ambivalent book about life, death, and coping.
https://www.publishersweekly.com/9798875002427
#comics #books

2026-03-22 00:45:55 UTC

Another recently-read comic:
_Prodigy_ by Mark Millar is about Edison Crane, the smartest man in the world. There's an obvious comparison to DC's Mr. Terrific, but these stories remind me more of Doc Savage (without the gang of sidekicks). They're pure Adventure with a capital A. I lost track of how many lost civilizations he encounters.
One variant cover shows him riding a flaming motorcycle over a chasm while typing on a laptop. That sums him up well.
https://www.mrmarkmillar.com/comics/prodigy
#comics #books

2026-03-22 00:23:54 UTC

The 1st of a few posts about comics:
_The Tin Can Society_ by Peter Warren and Francesco Mobili is a "Big Chill" type of story. A group of childhood friends grow up and drift apart, then come together again when one of them dies. In this case, the dead man was a superhero, and he was murdered.
As the mystery unravels we see the past of each character. The plot is fun, fast-paced, and highly implausible, but this is a book for your heart, not your brain.
https://imagecomics.com/comics/releases/tin-can-society-tp-vol-1
#comics #books

2026-03-21 11:15:37 UTC

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The floor is clearly lava

2026-03-21 10:29:41 UTC

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A gubernatorial election made Schwarzenegger the Gubernator

2026-03-19 13:23:57 UTC

Arrgh. I use Canvas for teaching, and it's broken. My students upload the programs they write (.cpp files) to Canvas. Normally, they can then preview the file to confirm that it uploaded successfully. This week, instead of a preview they get the cryptic message "JWT rejected: JTI has already been used". Instructure (the company that makes Canvas) agrees there's a problem but doesn't seem to be in a hurry to fix it. Any Instructure people out there?

2026-03-16 23:31:00 UTC

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Happy Birthday!

2026-03-16 12:05:57 UTC

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Congratulations! I read it just last weekend and enjoyed it very much. Thanks for writing it.

2026-03-15 13:07:19 UTC

I made a couple of apple pies yesterday in honor of Pi Day. The apples were ones we sliced, dehydrated, and sealed in a quart jar in 2011 -- fifteen years ago! They looked and tasted like they'd been dried yesterday.
So much has happened during the last fifteen years that eating these pies feels like eating apples from a lost Golden Age.
Are they Idunna's apples? Discordia's? The fruit of Eden's tree?

2026-03-15 11:03:34 UTC

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"i have had my ups and downs
but wotthehell wotthehell
yesterday sceptres and crowns
fried oysters and velvet gowns
and today i herd with bums
but wotthehell wotthehell
i wake the world from sleep
as i caper and sing and leap
when i sing my wild free tune
wotthehell wotthehell
under the blear eyed moon
i am pelted with cast off shoon
but wotthehell wotthehell"

2026-03-13 01:54:44 UTC

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That's where Wildberger is coming from, too. One of the underlying themes in all of his videos is viewing mathematical structures as data structures.

2026-03-13 00:55:33 UTC

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Are you familiar with Norman Wildberger's "box arithmetic"? This would fit right in with his illustrations.
https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIljB45xT85B0aMG-G9oqj-NPIuBMnq8z

2026-03-08 23:34:58 UTC

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I'm glad to hear it.

2026-03-08 20:14:25 UTC

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Ouch! Does the knee still work?

2026-03-08 20:06:47 UTC

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Gojira!

2026-03-07 22:14:41 UTC

From _Run_ by Ann Patchett:
"God could have been the masses in which he told people how best to prepare for the glorious life everlasting, the one they couldn't see as opposed to the one they were living at that exact moment in the pews of the church hall, washed over in the stained glass light. How wrongheaded it seemed now to think that the thrill of heartbeat and breath were just a stepping stone to something greater. What could be greater than the armchair, the window, the snow?"
#books

2026-03-07 18:09:35 UTC

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We might just be saying the same thing in different ways, but maybe not. That's OK though. People are different and complicated, and understanding is hard. We all try to make sense of the world as well as we can.

2026-03-07 17:44:45 UTC

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I guess I would draw the analogy a different way. Love is the taste. Our knowledge of the chemistry and physiology behind it might be incomplete, but nonetheless the strawberry tastes sweet.

2026-03-07 17:19:22 UTC

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I read this as though it were spoken by Worf, from Star Trek: The Next Generation.

2026-03-07 17:11:54 UTC

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I was thinking more about not knowing all of the facts about someone's life, which comes up again and again in this book, but loving them anyway, even though that love might be hung on a complete misunderstanding. We make up reasons to justify love, but often the love comes first and the reasons come later, and aren't really necessary.
"Understanding" is a whole other level, and I don't know if many people achieve that.

2026-03-07 12:47:53 UTC

I finished reading _Run_ by Ann Patchett. This is the kind of novel that's so good I had to step away from it a few times, letting what I'd read so far soak in before going on.
It's about the nature and nurture of familes, and and about how little we know about the people we love and how little that matters.
It covers 2 snowy days in the life of a former Boston mayor and his 3 sons, when their lives intersect with the mother and daughter of another family.
#books
https://cdn.fosstodon.org/media_attachments/files/116/187/907/193/174/230/original/a9899b3b8b169c72.jpg

2026-03-07 12:17:42 UTC

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I dreamed about this again last night. There was a person who could memorize stories. The stories were elongated tussocks of grass that glided along the brick walkways like caterpillars. As a story went by, the memorizer would commit each blade of grass to memory, until she knew the story perfectly.

2026-03-06 19:01:08 UTC

This is a little gothic chapel on UVa's otherwise neoclassical red brick / white columns grounds. A few nights ago I dreamed that the area around this building was covered with shoulder-high cattails. Brick-paved paths wound through them, for the benefit of people allergic to cattails (dream logic!)
https://cdn.fosstodon.org/media_attachments/files/116/183/625/020/376/983/original/d3848c3f0f12f7a8.jpg

2026-03-06 15:12:22 UTC

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Doling out largesse to the peasants, er, pheasants

2026-03-06 14:56:51 UTC

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That's the SUPER bass-o-matic. Accept no substitutes.

2026-03-06 14:54:52 UTC

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Moose in a bag

2026-03-06 14:01:31 UTC

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Hesitant to test whether my cats are lickable, but how else can I know if they qualify for these treats?
https://cdn.fosstodon.org/media_attachments/files/116/182/580/787/946/291/original/0b64a5ebeb467274.jpg

2026-03-05 17:36:28 UTC

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(empty) Da boids ate da woims

2026-03-04 17:45:11 UTC

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https://youtu.be/UhCoAltn12A

2026-03-02 19:49:24 UTC

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And he wrote his works at the desk that had belonged to his great-uncle Richard Brinsley Sheridan.

2026-03-01 13:51:59 UTC

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You are a menace.

2026-03-01 11:23:10 UTC

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Looking in the opposite direction, you might be interested in _After Man: A Zoology of the Future_ by Dougal Dixon.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/After_Man

2026-03-01 02:28:46 UTC

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Some guy walks out of his hut one morning and says "What the heck is this?", and that becomes the name for it.

2026-03-01 02:26:39 UTC

As a kid, I read a lot of Gold Key comics, including Magnus, Robot Fighter. Lately I've been enjoying Dynamite's 2017 re-imagining of Magnus as a woman who's a psychologist for troubled artificial intelligences.
It's a fun twist to turn the Crash! Pow! of the original Magnus into the examination of robots' troubled minds by a sympathetic human.
#comics

2026-03-01 02:15:11 UTC

Earlier, my son unexpectedly tossed me a snack bar, prompting a whole discussion about "manna from heaven" and leading to this fascinating Wikipedia article.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manna
Among other tidbits, people have interpreted the word "manna" as meaning "What is it?", and suggested it was hemp seeds, or honeydew from aphids!
My vote for most poetic passage says that manna was "ensured to be clean, before it arrives, by the sweeping of the ground by a northern wind and subsequent rains"

2026-02-25 17:27:13 UTC

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The picture is missing the yellowed piece of paper with boot instructions, taped to the rack.

2026-02-23 17:27:35 UTC

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I should get one of those!

2026-02-22 12:09:43 UTC

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"Ask your Lord of Chaos if Stormbringer is right for you.
Side effects may include ennui and loss of loved ones."

2026-02-21 12:33:25 UTC

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I love hydrangeas. Sadly, after many beautiful years, ours died a mysterious death.

2026-02-21 12:31:09 UTC

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I read this as "pickled apples and pelicans"!

2026-02-19 23:12:14 UTC

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"I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable,
I sound my barbaric AWP over the roofs of the world."

2026-02-19 03:06:30 UTC

Birthday books!
_Automatic Noodle_ by Annalee Newitz (I asked for this one and I'm looking forward to reading it!)
_The Black Angels_ by Maria Smilios, a history of the black nurses who worked in tuberculosis hospitals
Three books by Abraham Verghese, two novels and a history. I hadn't heard of this author before, but my wife thinks I'll like him. He's one of those inconceivably accomplished people: a physician, an academic, and a best-selling author of fiction.
#books
https://cdn.fosstodon.org/media_attachments/files/116/095/006/536/072/769/original/058dfd9edfc49c87.jpg

2026-02-19 02:09:37 UTC

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R.I.P.
(Recently Insulted Possum)

2026-02-19 01:38:34 UTC

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Poor possum!

2026-02-19 01:14:41 UTC

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Always scribble, scribble, scribble, eh Mr. Gibbon?

2026-02-19 01:08:59 UTC

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Just pidgin'

2026-02-19 00:09:54 UTC

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That's what I was afraid of.

2026-02-19 00:00:43 UTC

Humble Bundle is offering a bundle of 35 Terry Pratchett books, which sounds great, but they require a kobo.com account. Does anybody know if these particular books can be downloaded DRM-free from kobo?
https://www.humblebundle.com/books/terry-pratchetts-discworld-harpercollins-encore-2026-books

2026-02-18 23:45:52 UTC

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I cast a write-in vote for Krazy Kat.

2026-02-17 17:28:32 UTC

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Hence the term "bird dog"

2026-02-17 00:15:03 UTC

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I'm glad you're enjoying them!

2026-02-16 01:47:05 UTC

You might not be aware, but The Internet Archive has a huge collection of "pulp"* magazines. I've been reading some old issues of Fantasy & Science Fiction.
https://archive.org/details/pulpmagazinearchive
* I'm not sure all of these fit everybody's definition of a "pulp", but it's a fun collection no matter what you call them.
#books

2026-02-14 23:42:28 UTC

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That's a great name for it!

2026-02-14 23:39:34 UTC

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Looks like a little springtail:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Springtail

2026-02-13 15:50:46 UTC

I've been re-reading _Something is Killing the Children_. The story is full of tragedy and the protagonist, Erica, just tries to keep things from getting worse.
In volume 2 a well-meaning deputy, to protect a child, interferes with Erica's plans. Erica tells him "You're being an idiot, but you're being an idiot for a good reason", leaving the child in his care.
I'm not a hero. I'm an idiot. But maybe I can try to be an idiot for a good reason?
https://www.boom-studios.com/series/something-is-killing-the-children/
#comics

2026-02-11 23:38:06 UTC

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How many of the replies are "reply-all"?

2026-02-10 11:19:13 UTC

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A list can tell a story.

2026-02-09 23:51:45 UTC

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A department at Unseen University? Or maybe Miskatonic U?

2026-02-09 14:21:54 UTC

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Me too! I see that Image is publishing a compendium of volumes 1-8 called "book 1", which implies to me that the series might end up with as many as 16 volumes, assuming there's someday a "book 2"!

2026-02-09 14:20:09 UTC

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I feel like the books that I most treasure are the ones that slotted perfectly into voids within me. They didn't change my shape so much as they gave me substance.

2026-02-09 14:15:59 UTC

The problem with the word "phenomena" is that my mind immediately follows it with "bot-beee bee-bee-bee", which makes it difficult to take the rest of the research paper seriously.

2026-02-09 02:33:37 UTC

Today I've been re-reading _The Jargoon Pard_ by Andre Norton, a book I loved when I first read it many years ago. That was in the Ancient Times, decades before Wikipedia, and until now I had thought that "jargoon" was a made-up, fantasy gemstone.
It turns out that a jargoons are real, and they're a color variety of zircons!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jargoon
#books

2026-02-09 01:10:32 UTC

I recently finished reading volume 10 of _Monstress_ by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda. I've been saving it as a treat, and it was.
Monstress mixes influences from epic fantasy, manga, and the Chthulhu mythos, and has beautiful artwork. It's set in a world where mortals once fought a war with the elder gods and won. The gods aren't dead, though, and one of them lives uneasily inside a young woman.
If that sounds appealing, you should read it.
https://imagecomics.com/comics/series/monstress
#comics

2026-02-06 21:53:58 UTC

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I love this!

2026-02-05 17:26:09 UTC

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Cryovolcano

2026-02-04 03:13:02 UTC

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I accept the description, in light of the overwhelming evidence.

2026-02-04 02:15:01 UTC

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I just think it's fun that somebody looked at these obviously edible things (some them we NEED in our food) that are the building blocks of life, and thought "Hmm. I wonder what they taste like?"

2026-02-04 02:12:25 UTC

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That's Alex Dainis. She does videos about chemistry and other science stuff on the Reactions youtube channel and her own channel. She's great. I've been following her videos for a long time. I think she's a geneticist by training.

2026-02-02 18:09:27 UTC

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A cross between two 70s-era fads: mood rings and pet rocks. You're a marketing genius!

2026-02-01 15:07:22 UTC

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At the Mountains of Madness
https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/h-p-lovecraft/at-the-mountains-of-madness/text/chapter-1

2026-02-01 11:21:54 UTC

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Ink runs out, but printers have an unlimited supply of spite.

2026-01-31 16:05:51 UTC

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Or something the Log Lady would do.
https://media.gettyimages.com/id/139107707/photo/twin-peaks-log-lady-gallery-shoot-date-july-26-1990-catherine-e-coulson.jpg?s=612x612&w=gi&k=20&c=5KHTW7u0bPquCK1n9FclN0PNvPn2SrAMgM4xKJt-NWo=

2026-01-28 13:47:14 UTC

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Eh. I pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.

2026-01-27 22:34:04 UTC

The first trailer for season 2 of "Daredevil: Born Again" is out today, and seeing Jessica Jones in it just made my day. I was disappointed by season 1, and I'm prepared to be disappointed by season 2, but at least it will have Jessica.
#marvel

2026-01-27 17:16:59 UTC

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Voted for Tank Girl to protect you from having to watch Zardoz.