Yolande 🇨🇦

I’ve got 1 fiction, 3 romance, 1 romantasy, 1 fantasy (+2 I own), 2 sf, 3 (?!?) horror, and a non-fiction. But I read 3 times more romance than the rest combined.

Rakuten Kobo

Kobo is doing a 30 day free trial promotion for their Kindle Unlimited competitor service Kobo Plus for new subscribers (not sure if this is US only), if you like queer indie books, small press SFF, and backlist SFF from large publishers there's a lot to choose from on this service that's not on KU!

The new thing needs to do what the old thing does but on a new controller. Also combine it with this other thing. And it should be faster. And we changed the hydraulics and the mechanical connections. And we have no measurements to define what the current thing does. Those are the real vibes.

This really highlights what I don’t see working with AI in code over the long term - where does the new training data come from?

I also mainly work in the embedded space. I rarely find writing the code to be the hard part. Figuring out what the code needs to do is the hard part.

Just seeing this image has given me an earworm!

Agnes and the Hitman ebook by Jennifer Crusie - Rakuten Kobo Read "Agnes and the Hitman A Novel" by Jennifer Crusie available from Rakuten Kobo. Take one food writer named Cranky Agnes, add a hitman named Shane, mix them together with a Southern mob wedding, a ...

Jennifer Crusie’s Agnes and the Hitman is on sale at Kobo today! I live this book so much. You should read it. www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/...

What really happened between Franklin, Watson and Crick in the discovery of the DNA double helix? — Genetics Unzipped Kat Arney chats with Professor Matthew Cobb about what really happened between James Watson, Francis Crick and Rosalind Franklin during the discovery of the double helix structure of DNA.

What did Watson and Crick discover in 1953?”
“Rosalind Franklin’s notes!”
Now would be a good time to listen to my interview with the brilliant @matthewcobb.bsky.social about Franklin, Watson, Crick and the discovery of the double helix. geneticsunzipped.com/blog/2023/8/...

Meme showing six logical operators illustrated with jack-o'-lantern images. trick OR treat trick AND treat trick XOR treat trick NOR treat trick NAND treat trick XNOR treat

A large and very bright colourful painting by Norval Morrisseau titled SHAMAN AND DISCIPLES 1979 acrylic on canvas Depicting three Indigenous people, a shaman in the centre with “disciples” on either side. There are birds and snakes interwoven in the scene too. Behind them is a mustard yellow backdrop, below them are large areas of teal, green and purple, and the rest of the colours are a range of bright colours in the full spectrum of the rainbow outlined in black making this a very powerful and vibrant piece, like most of his work is.

A smaller painting titled MIDE CEREMONY by Cree artist TOSHIM KAKEGAMIC C. 1975 acrylic on board Caramel brown background with three stylized animals and many colourful black outlined shapes with black dots or lines or other designs in them. The colour palette is mostly rustic and includes red, orange, yellow, brown, green and blue. Caption reads: The Mide (pronounced mi-DAY) is an ongoing Anishinaabe tradition that engages with metaphysical and social concerns. The objective is to direct the spiritual development of individuals throughout life so that they can become attuned to the spiritual activity unfolding around them—in the physical world but also in human society and the world of non-human beings. In the Elizabethan world view humankind was percerved to be the pinnacle of creation. In the Anishinaabe world view, this is not the way we see things. We try to understand how not to do harm and to always be in good relations with the non-human beings and spiritual entities that are located both above and below us in the order of creation.

A modern piece by art collective NATIVE ART DEPARTMENT INTERNATIONAL AANZINAAGO (CAUGHT IN A TRANSFORMATION) 01 2024 acrylic on canvas Using very bright colours, the shapes are familiar and inspired by artists like Morrisseau with black outlines but stretched and warped. The colour palette is mostly deep yellow, orange, red, blue, white and green. Founded in 2016, Native Art Department International (NADI) is a long-term collaborative project created by Maria Hupfield (b. 1975, Wasauksing First Nation, Martin clan, Anishinaabe) and Jason Lujan (b. 1971, Chiricahua Apache, Mexican). Through their use of bright colour and bold graphic shapes with thick black outlines, their work references the style of Norval Morrisseau and the Woodland School. However, here the forms are not legible, but instead appear distorted and warped. NADI often wryly comments on the expectations many Indigenous artists feel to make work that appeals to the often-narrow settler understanding of what Indigenous art is. This work offers a taste of familiarity but also subverts expectations.

A huge wall piece of a busy, detailed scene filled with many Indigenous, White and Black people, two horses and a green field with dark stormy clouds in the background by Cree artist KENT MONKMAN WEDDING AT SODOM 2017 acrylic on canvas From the earliest days of his career, Kent Monkman has been a master of pastiche in many media, borrowing from the tropes of art history, including the landscape paintings of the Hudson River School, early cinema, and the nineteenth-century daguerreotypes of Indigenous touring performers in the popular Wild West shows. This painting is part of Monkman's ongoing reimagining of the history of North America. The artist's alter ego, Miss Chief Eagle Testickle, rides in on horseback to deliver the arrow of desire to a hunky cowboy, while a gay marriage unfolds in the foreground Monkman's Wedding at Sodom commemorates the early nineteenth-century "rendezvous" that took place in the American West in which settler and Indigenous merchants, ministers, traders, and fur trappers would meet to trade and mingle, sometimes for rowdy weeks on end. Monkman gives the rendezvous a two-spirited spin, suggesting that these gatherings offered many settler men liberation from the repressive confines of European gender and social roles. A subtle note of tragedy is struck in the figure of the young Indigenous woman being carried off at right, an early victim of the smallpox epidemics that swept through Indigenous communities following contact with settlers.

The McMichael Canadian Art gallery in Kleinburg has a gorgeous Indigenous art exhibit on right now until March 2026. A few pieces by Monkman, more than a few by Morrisseau, and many, many others including Inuit & Haida artists too. Plus, a beautiful short hike around the grounds await after the art.

I Went to Watch the Tiny Operation That’s Making ICE Lose Its Mind. A Lot Can Happen in 24 Hours. At the headquarters for Donald Trump’s darkest work, a few people are getting under the administration’s skin.

This is really well done. slate.com/business/202...

Also one of my favourites this year. Highly recommended. Read now.

Maybe 2027?

Why I Got the HPV Vaccine at Age 52 Even though the upper limit for the vaccine is 45

@drjengunter.bsky.social wrote about getting it a couple of years ago at 52. vajenda.substack.com/p/why-i-got-... so it is available. And my gynecologist here in Canada is willing to write me a prescription for it and I'm also over 45.

I remember really liking these as a teenager. Like VC Andrews with space travel. The 80s were weird.

RIP Jane Goodall. I was fortunate to have heard her speak on two occasions. She was an inspiring force for optimism.

Frederica and Venetia I reread the most. Also Devil’s Cub, The Toll-Booth and The Corinthian. Not sure how I’d feel about them if I were reading them for the first time.

Tonight is missing focaccia content.

One white mouse with cheese and a copy of When the Moon Hits Your Eye

Two white mice with cheese and a copy of When the Moon Hits Your Eye

Two white mice with cheese and a copy of When the Moon Hits Your Eye

In honor of @scalzi.com's visit to our warehouse today, our fabulous production editor did a little photo shoot with two of her pet mice, Ivy and Nettle. We feel it's only right to give away a signed copy of WHEN THE MOON HITS YOUR EYE. Follow and reshares to enter! Int'l, ends 9-14 at noon ET!

After a tough competition flipping the vote back and forth all day, it’s a #PEROVSKITE WIN over #Calcite by just 203 votes.

Amazing hustle everyone!

I reread this earlier this year! I’ve always really liked Restoree. This and The Ship Who Sang are probably the earliest sci-fi romances I read.

We do lots of kids birthday parties at our escape room. The proportion organized by dads is tiny.

I’ve added it my nope hero jobs list. Cops and billionaires already there.

I think The Handmaid’s Tale was assigned reading in one of my English classes. I definitely first read it in high school.

'Vicious compliance': Alberta premier decries Edmonton Public Schools' banned book list | CBC News Alberta Premier Danielle Smith slammed the Edmonton Public School Board Friday morning for its banned book list, which features more than 200 titles.

This is a really disingenuous take from Smith. I’ve read both the order and the list. Every book I’ve read in the list - about a third - falls afoul of the order.

www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

It’s a ridiculous order and I’m glad that’s being highlighted.

The Leaf. A glass building sort like an upside down flower swirl. In spring before there are leaves on the trees.

The dome of the planetarium in front of the six story Manitoba Museum. There are a few bikes in a bike rack and a motorcycle in front of the planetarium.

A church that is a spiral.

The Canadian Museum for Human Rights. Three glass tiers with a glass spire. The back looks like limestone.

Here are a few I took for an event a couple years ago.

This is my problem with a lot of the books we read in my book club. I mean, I’m doing it to myself. So 🤷🏼‍♀️

The Trudeau dig seems out of place.

I use a localization plugin. Without checking, I’m pretty sure I use polylang.

Haha! Yes, I guess a picture of my cat isn’t the most obvious. I’m glad he wants to keep his Lego. It’s fun to revisit the sets of your childhood.

I had a short visit to Haida Gwaii last month and they just call them poles. Which makes sense given totem is an Ojibwe term (according to the article).