martin_wisse | Reading

mark posting in

Good morning, afternoon, and evening!

We're doing some database and other light server maintenance this weekend (upgrading the version of MySQL we use in particular, but also probably doing some CDN work.)

I expect all of this to be pretty invisible except for some small "couple of minute" blips as we switch between machines, but there's a chance you will notice something untoward. I'll keep an eye on comments as per usual.

Ta for now!

james_davis_nicoll

Eight works new to me. Three fantasies, two horror, two SF, and one hard-to-classify RPG. One of the SF books is pretty horrory, so maybe that should be three fantasies, three horror, one SF, and one hard-to-classify RPG.

Books Received, October 18 — October 24

Poll #33761 Books Received, October 18 — October 24

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 42

View Respondents

Which of these look interesting?

View Answers

Abyss by Nicholas Binge (May 2026)
5 (11.9%)

Testimony of Mute Things by Lois McMaster Bujold (October 2025)
23 (54.8%)

Morsel by Carter Keane (April 2026)
3 (7.1%)

The Cove by Claire Rose (May 2026)
5 (11.9%)

Outgunned by Riccardo “Rico” Sirignano & Simone Formicola, with art by Daniela Giubellini (December 2024)
4 (9.5%)

And Side by Side They Wander by Molly Tanzer (May 2026)
15 (35.7%)

Lightning Runes by Harry Turtledove (March 2026)
8 (19.0%)

A Long and Speaking Silence by Nghi Vo (May 2026)
20 (47.6%)

Some other option (see comments)
0 (0.0%)

Cats!
33 (78.6%)

james_davis_nicoll

From WOTC: exit their VTT

We have made the difficult decision to end development on Sigil. T

kaberett

Summary: nobody seems to have done the data analysis I actually want, because data collection is hard and then actually making it internationally comparable ditto, but the proportion of chronic pain cases that are primarily attributable to back pain Of Some Kind seems to be very roughly in the region of 20%-50%, depending.

( Read more... )

james_davis_nicoll

High school student and semi-professional tarot card reader Danika Dizon assists her PI mother to look for a missing person... a teen who vanished after Danika gave her a tarot card reading.

Death in the Cards by Mia P. Manansala

redbird

I went to my doctor today, for an annual physical and so she could write the next Ritalin prescription.

So: I had a fasting blood test last month, and the glucose number was high enough that she is ordering a re-test and an A1C test, which means another morning trip to Somerville on an empty stomach. My "bad" cholesterol is high, but not high enough for her to be prescribing statins right now. My "good" cholesterol is also high, but apparently that's less protective in older patients, and I'm approaching that age.

I also asked her to look at my calves, because I frequently have swelling by the end of the day, especially in the left calf. She said it sounded like a vascular issue, then measured the circumference of both my calves. The left calf is noticeably bigger, which supports the idea that there's some kind of vascular issue.

What I'm supposed to do for that is try to reduce my sodium intake, and try wearing compression socks for at least a little while each day. Reducing sodium intake means I'll be looking at ingredient labels for quantities--right now, I'm mostly checking to make sure that various things don't contain any of the various things that we know that one of the three of us needs to avoid.

Carmen also did a breast exam (no longer part of the standard physical exam, but she asked if I still wanted one, and I said yes), and looked at my back for any suspicious moles or freckles. Also, before the appointment they asked if I was OK having them check height and weight, and I said yes, then asked the assistant how tall I now am. Five feet two inches, confirming what I think is what the neurologist's office said, which is an inch or so less than when I was 30.

( grumbling about paperwork and MyChart )

james_davis_nicoll

The August 2023 Nightmares Underneath Bundle featuring The Nightmares Underneath, the old-school horror-fantasy tabletop roleplaying game from Chthonstone Games.

Bundle of Holding: Nightmares Underneath (from 2023)

james_davis_nicoll

Faraday, Oregon, seems to have a missing persons problem. Its problem is much worse.

Girl in the Creek by Wendy N. Wagner

redbird

I accompanied Adrian to her doctor's appointment this afternoon, to provide moral support, take notes, and ask any relevant questions she didn't think of. This was last minute on my end, because she only realized this morning that she wanted company. So, some rearranging of my (vague) plans, but it worked.

It seemed like a good appointment, with a doctor who explained things pretty well. We walked home, which would have been a better idea if the google maps estimate of the distance had been accurate. Instead, we spent a lot of time walking around the parking lots of the hospital complex.

This used enough energy that I decided not to go to the optician tomorrow morning, before seeing my own doctor in the afternoon. I will go to Somerville, eat lunch in Davis Square, see Carmen, and then decide whether to come straight home, or stop for ice cream and/or other shopping.

kaberett

One of the things I'm sure I've come across repeatedly in the books I've read so far is the idea that a very high proportion of Chronic Pain Cases are down to either back pain or headache. This is important because back pain genuinely is something that has a massive nociplastic component, especially in the lower back, that is unequivocally worth treating (despite myself I remain grudgingly impressed with the Boulder Back Pain Study; and, to be clear, I do myself have a grumbly section of lower back following an injury a few years ago that I am practising all my Theories on!).

This is an Important To Me framing device because my point is that treatments aimed purely at nociplastic pain/central sensitisation cannot be expected to work as well for people with ongoing or recurrent tissue damage/injury... but why it's worth using some of these approaches anyway, with the understanding of the actual scope of what effects to hope for or expect. Which means I'd like to know where they're GETTING those numbers from.

( Mindfulness for Health )

( The Way Out (... long, bonus tangential rant) )

( The Painful Truth )

... aaaaaaand it is now definitely past bedtime so I'll finish Revisiting Books tomorrow. (My notes on Explain Pain, consistent with it being generally competent, are that it doesn't go anywhere near talking about what The Most Common Forms Of Chronic Pain are; might have a quick flip through when I'm next in the same place as my copy. Also couldn't find anything in Touch. Will be revisiting the current book, Ouch!, in the morning...)

redbird

After a bunch of back and forth, it appears that the reason Chase would provide a medallion signature guarantee for my brother, and not me, is that he's an executor of my mother's estate. (Mark and I both have accounts at Chase, which is part of what confused me.)

The banker at Chase suggested talking (again) to either Vanguard or TIAA and see if they will do this. She said she looked online and it said TIAA does provide these, and I've had an account with them for at least 30 years.

Also, Attitude's and my joint account at Chase is dormant, and to wake it up, one of us needs to go to a branch, talk to someone, say we want to take the account out of dormancy, and make at least a $1 deposit or withdrawal. And no, I can't pick up a deposit slip, take it to a teller, and make the trivial transaction, we would need to actually talk to someone. To keep it active, we will need to poke at it at least every 364 days. But doing this once would at least reset the clock of "inactive account, transfer funds to the state for safekeeping."

Current Mood: annoyed

rmc28

I am very happy to say that I'll be playing for the Cambridge University Huskies this season.

Fixture list (clashes with Kodiaks 2 games in italics)

1 Nov 2025 21:00, Cambridge Ice Rink, Oxford Women's Blues
15 Nov 2025 23:15, Oxford Ice Rink, Oxford Vikings B
22 Nov 2025 20:30, Planet Ice Gosport, Southampton Spitfires B
29 Nov 2025 21:00, Cambridge Ice Rink, Birmingham Lions B
6 Dec 2025 21:00, Cambridge Ice Rink, Kent Knights
24 Jan 2026 21:00, Cambridge Ice Rink, Oxford Vikings B
7 Feb 2026 21:15, Planet Ice Solihull, Birmingham Lions B
14 Feb 2026 21:15, Oxford Ice Rink, Oxford Womens Blues
21 Feb 2026 20:15, Streatham Ice and Leisure, Kent Knights
28 Feb 2026 21:00, Cambridge Ice Rink, Southampton Spitfires B
TBD: Varsity game against Oxford Vikings B

No guarantee I'll be on the squad for any particular game, and Kodiaks 2 will have my priority when there's a clash. But yay, getting to represent my university again.

james_davis_nicoll

A robot muses contentedly on the events that led it to its rapidly approaching doom.

A Thousand Blues by Cheon Seon-Ran

rmc28

Latest in a series of silly non-ice-hockey injuries: I came off my bike yesterday evening on the cycle path through the woods between Madingley Road and Storey's Way. I braked suddenly to avoid an oncoming cyclist, the wheels went sideways on the damp leaf mulch, and I ended up on the ground. The other cyclist was able to stop safely, and made sure to check I was ok.

Nothing is broken on me or the bike, but some impressive scrapes to the elbow and knee I landed on. I went home via the co-op and a supply of comfort food, cleaned everything up, and ate the food.

It's all a bit tender this morning, and rather puts the random ice hockey bruises in the shade.

redbird

We had a roast chicken a few days ago, then

adrian_turtle used some of the leftovers to make a salad with greens, pieces of chicken, and grapes.

cattitude just turned the remaining leftover chicken into matzo ball soup.

There will be homemade chocolate cake later, because Adrian wanted to check whether the springform pan would hold cake batter. We eat well around here.

kaberett

I have, today, made my first Soup of the autumn: carrot and leek and celery and a couple of potatoes for good measure (and I then added frozen peas to my portion, because I like them cold and not at all cooked and definitely not reheated repeatedly over the course of a week). Bread and cheese, fruit to follow. I didn't manage Monday Morning Soup Ritual this week, as you can tell from the fact that it's Tuesday, but. Soup.

Some other bits and pieces: I have reached the stage of Squash Week where I have more recipes I want to make than I have squash with which to make them (... and one spaghetti squash) (for which I have at least some open EatYourBooks tabs). I hit refresh in my Oxfam tab aaaaaand the sale has cycled around to 30% off 3+ books. I have a chilli order ready to go as soon as my new debit card arrives OR I get over myself and see whether the credit card is actually behaving. There is a batch of onions caramelising in the Instant Pot. The current pain book is abruptly unexpectedly absorbing -- it's much more Sociology Of Pain than I'd quite been expecting, but it's potentially building to making at least some of the argument I want to from a refreshingly different angle to everything else I've come across in my background reading so far, and in the meantime in spite of my frustrations with it it's prompting lots of Useful Thoughts.

And I am wearing my Seasonal Leggings (courtesy of Mardy Bum, findable primarily on Facebook, or Instagram for a bit of an idea) and my Extremely Enthusiastic Slippers, like so. ( Read more... )

james_davis_nicoll

The story that began the grand tradition of picking on a teenager's work.

The Eye of Argon by Jim Theis

james_davis_nicoll

Since the authors are no longer with us, will we ever get a glimpse?

Five Anticipated Books and Stories That Remain Unpublished

james_davis_nicoll

A bundle for Daniel James Hanley's tabletop roleplaying game of Gothic and Romantic Horror in the decadent, disastrous age of Marie-Antoinette, Napoleon, and Lord Byron.

Bundle of Holding: Ghastly Affair