Jul 9, 2024

Those harboring doubts about the viability of nuclear non-proliferation ought to consider the lessons of the past 75 years. Even if it proves impossible to contain this catastrophically destructive technology completely, a world with fewer nuclear-armed states is exponentially safer than one with many of them.

Jul 16, 2024

Mohammad Tabaar's analysis posits that yet even if Khamenei gives Pezeshkian a relatively long leash, his government is unlikely to negotiate another ambitious nuclear agreement. It will, instead, look to ink a deal that could freeze or incrementally scale back Iran's nuclear advances, including by reducing the quality and quantity of the uranium Iran enriches, in exchange for sanctions relief. Such a transactional deal would have multiple advantages for Pezeshkian. Given Khamenei's support, Iran's conservatives would be less likely to sabotage that deal than they were the 2015 agreement. And it would be easy for Tehran to ramp up its program if the United States withdraws again, as occurred under President Donald Trump in 2018.

Jul 24, 2024

The defining tension in Middle Eastern politics today—and the most combustible pile of tinder—is between the State of Israel and the Islamic Republic of Iran. The antagonism between the two countries has existed for more than forty years. It has played out across the region for more than twenty years within the context of the Middle East’s wider tumult. It has not been restricted to diplomacy, either, but has played out through various means: covert, proxy, political and psychological warfare. Observers of this conflict have as a result tended to describe this state of affairs with obscure terms: “cold” war, “shadow” war, or other words that allude to the existence of an active and geopolitically consequential antagonism but imply an ambiguity that plain old “war” never could.

Jul 25, 2024

Stephen Walt argues that if Trump and Vance win in November, it will do enormous long-term damage to America's global position.

Jul 28, 2024

The Africa in Focus series is a forum for the intellectual and critical analysis of processes and policies from the continent and its engagement with the international community. Through thoughtful and dynamic programming, Africa in Focus brings greater African perspectives into broader policy conversations at HKS.

Hi there everyone.

This is such a challenging time.

Every day we're having to sit and watch in disbelief as people lie to our faces about COVID-19, how bad things are, and what to do about it. We watch in disbelief as nonviolent protesters are arrested and accused of violence — while the police use tear gas, rubber bullets, pepper spray, and batons against them. We watch in disbelief as white women pull guns on Black people after saying the actual words, "White people aren't racist… No one is racist." Our president lies so often, so willfully, childishly, self-centeredly, and so without compunction that FactCheck.org, a nonpartisan advocate for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics, has a Donald Trump archive that is 107 pages long. And now I read that we've started executing federal prisoners again — despite what we all know about how flawed our criminal justice system is.

It can be hard to keep on top of how awful everything is.

I wanted to provide a few clarifying links, and recommend a book.

First, if you're feeling overwhelmed by the number of people in denial around you — and the capacity for people to lie to themselves and others about reality — I want you to know that you're not alone. Also, you're not crazy. Also, THERE IS AN OBJECTIVE REALITY. Keep hold of it. And if you don't know what cognitive dissonance is — this might be a good time to learn! A couple links —

• Cognitive dissonance is a huge factor in people, especially white people, denying the existence of structural racism and refusing to acknowledge our own investment in it. For just one example of how this plays out, check out "The psychological phenomenon that blinds Trump supporters to his racism," from the Washington Post a year ago.

• Cognitive dissonance is also playing a huge role these days in the pandemic. Check out "The Role of Cognitive Dissonance in the Pandemic," at The Atlantic.

Cognitive dissonance, when handled badly, is a killer. It makes people inexcusably ignorant, hurtful, and destructive. I find it helpful to learn about it, so at least I know what we're up against — and also so that I can be better equipped to watch for it in myself, because after all, I was socialized into this society too. Maybe you'll also find it helpful, especially now. When you're surrounded by people who are lying to themselves… It can be incredibly disorienting! And distressing, if these are people who profess to care about you. Learn about cognitive dissonance and shine some light through the bullshit around you.

Next, on the not unrelated topic of "The Letter" ("A Letter on Justice and Open Debate," published on July 7 at Harper Magazine and signed by 153 writers, artists, academics, and journalists). I really liked Hannah Giorgis's thoughts about The Letter, over at The Atlantic: "A Deeply Provincial View of Free Speech". Giorgis skewers The Letter's vagueness. She also reminds us of what free speech actually is, and what threats to free speech actually look like. An excerpt: "Any good-faith understanding of principles such as free speech and due process requires acknowledging some basic truths: Facing widespread criticism on Twitter, undergoing an internal workplace review, or having one’s book panned does not, in fact, erode one’s constitutional rights or endanger a liberal society." Yes!

Finally, I'm listening to a really great audiobook: Until We Reckon: Violence, Mass Incarceration, and a Road to Repair, by Danielle Sered. Sered is the director of Common Justice, which is a program in Brooklyn that provides a survivor-focused alternative to incarceration for violent crime. What I love about this book is that while I've been aware that our criminal justice system is broken — and that it's a lie that prisons keep anyone safe — I hadn't realized that there are workable alternatives already in play. Sered presents an alternative to incarceration that creates not just safety, but healing. The program is very survivor-focused. Survivors are deeply involved in decisions about how the people who harmed them are held accountable. And since most people who commit violent crime have also been victims of violent crime, the program helps those who've caused harm to heal too. The book is realistic about why people harm each other, and about how to change the system. It's a good introduction to the growing movement of restorative justice, and reading it makes me hopeful.

A heads up that Sered has a crystal clear grasp of what it's like to have PTSD and is searingly articulate about how it feels to want and need a person who harmed you to accept responsibility for what they did. If you are a survivor — of any kind of harm, not just violence — parts of this book may be gutting. I recommend taking breaks now and then.

Also, if you don't have time to read a book or if you can't access it right now while the libraries are in flux, I can recommend a recent podcast episode on the same topic. It's from the The Ezra Klein Show and it's the episode called: "A former prosecutor's case for prison abolition: Paul Butler on how our criminal justice system is broken — and how to fix it". I learned a LOT about how broken our criminal justice system is from that episode. I noticed that Ezra also has an even newer episode, an interview with sujatha baliga called "The transformative power of restorative justice." I haven't listened to that one yet, but it's on the same topic, so I'm guessing that's also an interesting and informative conversation.

Okay! So those are the things I wanted to share. Hang in there, everybody. I'll be writing another craft lesson blog post soon. Also, in Winterkeep news, I expect to have a cover (or several) to share with you soon! Be well, everyone.

Before I start talking about Victor LaValle's beautiful book, a point of housekeeping: Now that an eon has passed, I've finally updated my praise and awards page for Jane, Unlimited. I have a bad habit of never getting around to this task until it's time to start clearing things out for the new book. The nice thing about it is that I get to revisit a book that's dear to me, years after I've stopped thinking about it. Jane is a book that divides readers for sure. I want to thank everyone who got that book and took it into your hearts and brains. If you don't know about Jane, Unlimited, here's a quick intro: An orphan named Jane arrives at an island mansion owned by a friend, then quickly starts to get the sense that strange things are afoot there. At a certain point, when Jane needs to make a decision, the book breaks off into five different decisions she could make — and each decision takes her into an adventure in a different genre. There's a mystery story, a spy story, a horror story, a sci-fi story, and a fantasy. They're all connected and interwoven; and yes, the multiverse exists :). It's a weird book and I'm very, very proud of it! If you're curious, I'll point you to the NYTBR review, which is concise and generous and does a good job expressing its flavor.


So. Today I want to talk about the craft of using existing, well-known stories to fortify your own story — thus building ready-made narrative magic into your story's foundations.

Reimagining a classic story is, of course, an age-old tradition. There was a time when I read all the King Arthur retellings I could find, though this list shows me that I missed a great many. Some of my all-time favorite books come from this tradition: Tam Lin by Pamela Dean, a retelling of the old Scottish ballad that takes place in a fictional college in Minnesota in the 1970s; Deerskin by Robin McKinley, which I held close to my heart while I was writing Fire and which is based on the Charles Perrault fairy tale Donkeyskin; Ash by Malinda Lo, a lesbian retelling of Cinderella. Every writer who goes down this path has their own take on whatever story they're reimagining, disrupting the familiar in their own unique way so that we can get some objective distance and consider the story again in a new light. One of the best things about stories is the way they all change and grow in meaning and significance with every new story that joins the pantheon.

Victor LaValle's The Changeling is a modern-day, New York City-based retelling of the old changeling folktale. In the classic version of that tale, fairies steal a human baby and replace it with something else, usually a (creepy) fairy child. In LaValle's retelling, the focus is the emotional journey of the baby's father, Apollo Kagwa, whose wife Emma Valentine starts acting odd after their baby is born. Horror ensues. In the wake of the horror, Apollo must figure out what the heck just happened, and how to move on.

LaValle's take on the changeling story is unique in plenty of ways. For example, the way race and gender factor into the power dynamics. The choice to center the point of view around a father. The extreme horrificness of the violence that occurs. The story's broad-ranging modern-day New York City settings, from a fancy Manhattan restaurant to Apollo's home in Washington Heights to an abandoned island in the East River to upscale suburbs and a forest in Queens. These are the sorts of alterations commonly made by writers retelling old stories: time, location, culture, tone. When we know we're reading a retelling, we expect changes in these categories.

But LaValle does something else too: he infuses this book with many, many stories that aren't the official story he's retelling. The Changeling is a book positively swimming in story. And one of this book's charms is that as a consequence, Apollo spends a lot of the book making mistakes about what story he's in. LaValle uses stories to illuminate, but also to mislead. I think it makes for a really unique approach to characterization.

It also steers Apollo through a character transformation that I find exquisitely touching, for reasons I'll try to explain without spoiling the plot too much.

Apollo Kagwa's father, who disappears before his fourth birthday, is a white man from Syracuse. His mother, Lillian Kagwa, is a Black woman, an immigrant from Uganda, who raises him and who recognizes early on that her son lives and breathes stories. Lillian can't find enough books to satisfy young Apollo. He also has a mind for business. When Lillian discovers that Apollo has been selling his books after reading them, she helps him establish a used bookselling business. In due course, he grows up to be a rare bookseller.

Unquestionably, this is the story of a man who knows all about stories. As a rare bookseller who spends his time digging through rude and racist people's basements looking for valuable treasures, Apollo deals in stories. He seeks stories out, recognizes their value, owns them, sells them. He also builds stories around himself as protection and comfort, often repeating to himself, in moments of anxiety or fear, the mantra, I am the god, Apollo. I am the god, Apollo. And he uses stories to comfort and ground himself — particularly Maurice Sendak's picture book Outside Over There, a changeling tale that Apollo believes his missing father lovingly left for him.

So. Apollo knows stories. And yet, as I said above, as this story plays out, LaValle gives us evidence that Apollo is often wrong about what story he's in. He admires the wrong people in his life as heroes (for example, his father). He misses the incredibly powerful sorcerers right in front of his eyes: his wife Emma; Emma's sister, Kim; Emma's friend, Nichelle; his mother, Lillian. As he moves through the world, he imagines he sees fairy tale traps where there are none, and he misses the huge, important fairy tale turning points, the moments that really matter. The clues are right in front of his face. Sometimes the women in his life even announce them aloud to him, and he still disregards them. Like all of us, the story Apollo tells himself about his own life is flawed and distorted by his own wishes, heartbreaks, assumptions, and biases. Among those biases, by my reading, is the tiniest edge of unconscious condescension to women. Or maybe even that's going too far; maybe it's simply that Apollo fails to see and appreciate the women around him fully. He's a good man. But he doesn't quite get it.

And yet, Apollo's story is one of transformation. Over the course of this book, through a great deal of trial and tribulation, Apollo learns to see what story he's in, who the heroes are, and who has the power to create a safe world for him and his family. And who are these heroes? Ultimately, women. What Apollo learns is that he's in a story in which he needs to see and respect the intelligence, insight, and power of women. Black women, specifically. By my reading, this is a tale of a well-meaning, vulnerable, flawed man learning feminism.

Maybe you can see why I love it?

And I also love how it's done. I love the way this book swirls with stories, and the way both the reader and Apollo are moving along on different paths through the stories, trying to understand which of the stories matter to Apollo's story, and how.

It makes me think in a fresh, new way about how to weave other stories into one's story, whether one's story is a retelling, or just a story with narrative influences. There's no end to the creative approaches to this — but if you're imbuing your own story with other stories, I do think it's a good idea to choose a deliberate approach. There's a danger in trying to use other stories in your story as a shortcut for creating mood and meaning. The author who throws lots of existing stories into a book might create the impression of depth, but you want to make sure it's not just an impression. You don't want to use other stories to obscure an empty hole or a weak foundation in your own story, or make it seem like your story has meaning it doesn't have. I say this as a writer who's familiar with that moment when, after trying to shoehorn a known story into something I'm writing, I realize I'm being lazy. I'm trying to make someone else's work do my work. Or maybe I realize that I simply don't know enough about my own story yet, and I'm using those other stories to obscure that fact from myself.

If you're alluding to another story in your story, there needs to be a reason. Ask yourself, what structural function are these references performing? What manner of tool are they? What do they accomplish? Why have I chosen the stories I've chosen?

There doesn't need to be a profound or complicated answer, but there needs to be an answer. For example, in Rebecca Stead's When You Reach Me, Miranda's favorite book is A Wrinkle in Time, for what turn out to be some pretty straightforward textual reasons. In the space of that book, it ends up being a perfect allusion. In the review of Jane, Unlimited I linked to above, the reviewer notes that it turns out there's a reason Jane wears Doctor Who pajamas. Though I wouldn't call Jane my most straightforward book, there are some pretty straightforward reasons I dressed her in those pajamas! You can have simple or complicated reasons for referring to other stories in your story. It can be a reason that's quiet, subtle, and small. It doesn't have to be groundbreaking. But you have to link those stories to yours in meaningful ways, and you also have to make sure that your own story is the biggest and most relevant story in the book. If you find yourself trying to create depth in an insubstantial story by borrowing someone else's story, then I recommend spending some time focusing on the hard work of your own story.

And if, in the process, you find yourself jettisoning some of the references to that other story, or even abandoning that other story altogether? That's fine too. One of my current works in progress started out as something of a Peter Pan retelling. It's now come so far from that point that the only remaining allusion is a couple of names — that I'm probably going to change, because the book doesn't need them anymore. That book needed to grow the way it did. J. M. Barrie's book was my path in; my story needed to start with his, then diverge. Another example: Earlier in this post, when I explained that Jane, Unlimited is about an orphan named Jane who comes to a mysterious house, maybe you thought of Jane Eyre. In early drafts of that book, I kept trying to work in versions of actual scenes from Jane Eyre. For example, I tried hard to find a place for a scene paralleling the one where Jane almost gets run over by Mr. Rochester in the dark. Eventually, I let all that go. At a certain point, the needs of my story became a lot more important than strengthening allusions to Jane Eyre (or Rebecca, or Winnie the Pooh, or any of the other texts that Jane, Unlimited references). I found a balance with all the allusions — or I hope I did, the reader is free to disagree! — and tried hard to focus on my story, my versions, my point. I think Jane still swims with those other stories, hopefully in ways that create depth, and part of getting to that point was letting some of it go. Often it doesn't take much to invoke a story that's part of our cultural consciousness.

To demonstrate that often it doesn't take much, let's return to The Changeling. I want to show an example of what I've explained about how this book uses stories to elucidate Apollo's failure to recognize his own story. I'll focus on one scene that I think encapsulates the skill with which LaValle layers story over story over story — to tell Apollo's story about misreading his own story. It's also wonderfully written, so that'll be fun to talk about too :).

The scene I'm going to look at takes place over the course of Chapters 11 and 12. The setting is a fancy New York restaurant that evokes a fairy tale aura. If you want to read along, you'll find this scene on pages 41 through 51 in the 2017 Spiegel & Grau hardcover edition. Point of view shifts in this book, but these two chapters are told from Apollo's point of view.

First, some context: in the scene after this scene, Emma Valentine gives birth to their child. (That's an incredible scene too! It happens in a stopped A train on its way to Washington Heights!) This means that the scene I'm about to talk about is Apollo's last chance to understand his own story before everything changes. As I think you know by now, he fails. He barrels into  parenthood still unable to see what's in front of his eyes, and the consequences are catastrophic.

But first, he has dinner at a restaurant! Or rather, he doesn't have dinner, because the items on the menu are terrifyingly expensive, so he just fills up on bread — but we'll get to that.

Let's start with the opening of Chapter 11. We're on Duane Street, a fancy street in lower Manhattan. Apollo has just been digging through the old, abandoned books of some rude people in Queens. Now he's meeting Emma and Emma's friend Nichelle for dinner at Bouley, which is a real New York restaurant. Or rather, it used to be; it closed in 2017, the year this book was published.

Here's how the chapter starts: "Entering Bouley Restaurant felt like stepping inside a gingerbread house. .... when he opened the door and stepped into the foyer, he found himself surrounded by apples. Shelves had been built into the wall, running as high as the ceiling; rows of fresh red apples and their scent enveloped him. The door to Duane Street shut behind him, and Apollo felt as if he'd stumbled into a small cottage off an overgrown path in a dark wood" (41).

(By the way, if this room sounds too playful, magical, or wonderful to be true — here's an article that includes a photo of Bouley's apple entrance: "What's David Bouley Going to Do With all Those Apples When He Closes His Flagship Restaurant?")

So. With these opening lines, LaValle accomplishes two things: (1) he fixes a real-life restaurant firmly in the world of fairy tale. And (2) he signals to us what story Apollo thinks he's in. Because we all know that when Hansel and Gretel step into a cottage off an overgrown path in a dark wood with walls made of gingerbread, cake, and candies, things do not go well for them.

I don't want to take any of the fairy tale references in this book too literally or drag them out too far. Though LaValle can be pretty explicit sometimes about what he's referencing, his touch remains light, and I don't want to beat it to death. But as I said before, Apollo doesn't eat anything but bread during this dinner. He tells himself it's because he's afraid of the bill, but we also know that on some unconscious level, he thinks he's inside the story of Hansel and Gretel. And if you're inside that story, you know damn well that it's not safe to eat the food! Of course, as it turns out, Apollo could eat anything he wants safely, because Nichelle is paying for the dinner. Apollo's wrong: his story isn't Hansel and Gretel.

This is a pretty straightforward example of how this skilled writer uses a conscious and deliberate reference to a widely-known story that then shows us that Apollo is a little bit lost inside all the stories of his life. Also, as settings go, this description of the foyer of Bouley is evocative and beautiful. The sentences of this book are eminently readable. It's something I noticed again and again: despite a fair amount of description, my eyes never glazed over and I never struggled to picture what was being described to me. LaValle doesn't use flowery language or waste words. He tells you what it looks like and he tells you how Apollo experiences it. And he attaches it to story spaces we already know, spaces that are part of our cultural language of stories, so it feels familiar and right. For me, at this point in the book, it was enjoyable to be a little bit lost with Apollo, because the language was so lush and the setting so fairy-tale familiar; because I myself, sitting outside the story, could go eat something if I got hungry, without worrying about evil witches; and also because I had some grounding that Apollo doesn't have. Apollo doesn't know that his own book is called The Changeling. He's just trying to survive each new story, whatever it turns out to be, as he steps into it.

LaValle does a good job creating sympathy in the reader for Apollo's mistakes and confusions. Consider Apollo's experience as he moves further into Bouley: "The dining room's vaulted ceilings had been laid with eighteen-karat gold leaf sheets, and on top of that a twelve-karat white gold varnish, so the ceiling seemed as supple as suede. The floors were Burgundy stone, overlaid by Persian rugs. If the foyer felt like a woodland cottage and the waiting area a haunted parlor, the dining room became an ancient castle's great hall.….Apollo felt as if he was trekking through realms rather than rooms. If there had been men in full armor posted as sentries, it wouldn't have surprised him. And in fact, when the maître d' reached the right table, there was a queen waiting there. Emma Valentine, too pregnant to stand" (42).

This is one of the dangers of being a story man: If your entire life is steeped in story, you're going to see those stories everywhere. Surely that makes it confusing to isolate which story is yours?

On the other hand, Apollo totally notices that Emma is a queen — but then he dismisses it. This is another danger of a life steeped in story: you make associations and assume that they're metaphors. Emma isn't like a queen. She is a queen — or if not a queen, some other category of extremely powerful and important woman. Maybe one of Apollo's problems is that he's so steeped in story that he can't get hold of what's real? Or maybe he believes in magic within the context of a story, but he doesn't believe in magic in real life? Or maybe he lives too much inside stories, and needs to wake up and live his real life?

This is what good layering does. It leaves the reader with lots of fascinating and fun questions!

By the way, Emma has her favorite stories too — and LaValle's choices for her illuminate her character to anyone who's paying attention. The most important movie from Emma's childhood, which she watched repeatedly in her hometown library in Virginia, is a Brazilian movie called Quilombo, "the only movie in the entire library that had black people on the cover. Of course I wanted to watch it!" (28). It's a movie about the slave uprisings in Brazil, and it "shows tons of Portuguese people getting killed by those slaves" (28). At dinner, Nichelle brings it up: "This girl tried to get me to watch a movie about a slave uprising when I was busy trying to figure out how to marry that boy out of New Edition" (47). While Apollo is worrying about eating the food, LaValle reminds us that Emma is engaged in matters of disruption to major power structures. Ding ding ding! Pay attention, Apollo!

But Apollo is too hungry and anxious to pay attention. The dinner progresses as dinners do. Apollo, not knowing that Nichelle is buying, becomes more and more horrified as Nichelle and Emma order delicacy after delicacy. Nichelle gets roaring drunk. Emma, who rarely sleeps anymore, is drifting, half-asleep in her seat. "Apollo, meanwhile, had ingested nothing but tapwater and the restaurant bread. While the bread tasted magnificent, it wasn't enough. By dessert, Apollo and Emma had low batteries, but Nichelle seemed wired to a generator" (46).

Near the end of the dinner, Emma leaves the table to find the bathroom. She's thirty-eight weeks pregnant and "That flan wants to come back up," she says quietly (47). When she leaves, Nichelle, like any good soothsayer in any good folktale, takes the opportunity to try to tell Apollo what matters.

First, she tells Apollo that "There's a nude photo of your wife in an art gallery in Amsterdam." Then she explains that before Emma married Apollo, Emma went to Brazil, where "she had a few adventures" (48). In particular, "Emma met this Dutch photographer down there in Brazil" (49).

Nichelle goes on to explain that one day while the photographer was taking photos in an abandoned factory, he needed to pee, so he left Emma alone with the equipment. And she decided to take a picture of herself, setting up the shot with a timer. "She makes the shot in front of a wall that's been half torn down so you can see she's standing inside a man-made building that's gone to the dogs, but over her right shoulder you can see the forest that surrounds this factory. Two worlds at once. Crumbling civilization and an explosion of the natural world. / "Emma walks into the shot, and just before the shutter clicks, she pulls off her dress and takes that photo nude!"

What's the photo like? How does Emma look? "Wiry and fierce, naked and unashamed. She's looking into that camera lens like she can see you, whoever you are, wherever you are. She looks like a fucking sorceress, Apollo. It was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen" (50).

So, here's Nichelle, telling Apollo what he's glancingly considered before in a fond, condescending sort of way: Emma is a sorceress. Nichelle is saying this to Apollo in simple, straightforward words: Emma is a sorceress, with a great capacity for adventure.

What is Apollo doing during this conversation?

He's sitting there thinking to himself, "Dutch photographer? / Dutch fucking photographer?" (49)

And when he finally speaks, what does he say?

"'And the Dutch guy?' Apollo asked. 'What was his name?'" (59)

This moment is, of course, the stuff of everyday real life and the stuff of fairy tales. Jealousy and possessiveness, leading to a character's blunder or misbehavior. In fairy tales, we see jealousy as an archetype — like the queen who decides to destroy the young woman who's usurped her position as the fairest of them all. In Apollo's life, it comes across as fairly typical and annoying sexism.

Nichelle's response to this question contains everything. Everything this book is about; everything that leads to catastrophe, and ultimately to Apollo's growth and transformation: "Nichelle watched him quietly for seconds. She narrowed her eyes when she spoke. 'I'm trying to tell you something important, and you are focused on bullshit'" (50).

For just a moment, Apollo gets it. He falls "back into his chair as if Nichelle had kicked him" (51). He tells her he's ready, he's finally listening.

And then the maître d' appears, sprinting across the restaurant, shouting for Apollo, because the baby is coming. Which means that everything is about to change, and it's too late.

Apollo's failures in this scene are familiar and understandable, even when they're annoying. He's hungry, distracted, and worried about his wife who's probably vomiting flan in the bathroom. Also, Nichelle is completely, obnoxiously drunk, so why should Apollo recognize the power or truth of her words? Maybe I should clarify that at this point in the book, I didn't appreciate that Emma was a legit sorceress either. We haven't learned the stakes yet, and we don't know how much we're going to be needing a sorceress later. But more to the point, most of this book is from Apollo's point of view, and right now Apollo is hungry, distracted, and worried. There are more important things to worry about, or so he thinks. And I care about him. Even though as the reader, I'm better positioned than he is to recognize his mistakes, I'm right there with him.

This all comes down to LaValle's skilled balancing of story and character. So much comes across in this one scene, and there are so many other equally rich scenes. If you like to sit in that place where spinning stories come together, you should read this book.

I'll close my study of The Changeling by adding this: I know enough from my own experience as a writer to suspect that while LaValle was writing this book, he wasn't always certain what story he was writing either. As we write, our story keeps surprising us, interrupting us, frustrating us and sending us off in the wrong direction. But not only did he find his own story (and Apollo's too), but he did a beautiful job weaving all the other stories in.

If you're writing something that alludes to other stories, I hope you'll find LaValle's use of classic stories exciting, rather than intimidating. When you ask yourself, Why this story?, it's an opportunity to figure out how far along you are in establishing your own story. If you don't have an answer yet, maybe you need to be focusing less on the classic story and more on your own story. If you have a few answers, but you're completely overwhelmed and not sure how many references you should make or where anything is going — take a moment to congratulate yourself, because that sounds to me like progress. When you're in the middle of writing something, there's always a sense of overwhelm and confusion about how well you're balancing things. You have a few potential answers? Great! Soldier on, and after a while, check in again. What's your story now?

And that's that. I hope you've enjoyed my post about the balance of story in Victor LaValle's The Changeling!

Reading like a writer.

A number of friends and mental health professionals helped me with this post. You know who you are. Thank you.

To the student for whom school is a safer place, but now you’re stuck at home in a toxic environment during the pandemic,

I see you. You’re not invisible. In fact, a lot of people see you and are thinking about you. I can’t tell you how many of my friends and colleagues have brought you up in the past few months, and expressed worry for what you're going through. Hang in there.

When schools started sending students home in March and April, I thought of you immediately. I waited with you to see if schools might open again in a few weeks, but of course that didn't happen. I waited with you hoping this country would get its shit together and start prioritizing realistic approaches to containing the pandemic, so that you'd be able to go back to school in the fall. And now it's clear that many of you won't be able to do that. It's also possible that those of you who can go back won't be able to stay there for long, though I continue to hope it won't play out that way. I, and a lot of people, wish you didn't have this uncertainty pressing down on you right now.

Hang in there!

Here are some tools from my own PTSD toolbox that might help. Some are more immediately helpful, some are stopgaps and temporary coping mechanisms. Some might spark ideas for you:

When possible, create distance from the toxicity. In my own experience, sometimes the smallest amount of distance can help. If you can safely go for a walk now and then, do it. If there's a physical spot where you can be alone sometimes, find it. If you can spend time online with friends, or even socially-distanced time outside, do it. Are you caring for siblings in some way? Is there some way in which you've been placed in the position of caring for your own parents? If so, that's a lot. If you ever have the opportunity to take some time to care for no one but yourself, I hope you won't begrudge yourself that. You deserve care as much as anyone else.

For some of you, maybe there's even some other home where you could live (if only temporarily), like the house of a safe relative or family friend. Have you considered whether that might be the case for you? Give it some serious thought. This is important, though: Before making any major decisions or drastic changes, talk it through with a trusted adult. If you don't have a trusted adult, talk it through with a youth crisis line (see below). Your safety is the most important thing, and setting off an internal family drama may not be worth it and may even be dangerous. Also, you don't want to move yourself into a situation that's just as harmful, or even more so. This leads me to the next step.

Reach out to people who can support you. This might be friends, other family members, teachers, therapists or counselors, anyone in your life who actually sees and cares who you are and what you need when they look at you. Reaching out to trustworthy supports might give you a place to vent some steam and get some validation, and it might also lead to some practical help. Don't be afraid to consider professional organizations and helplines too. The first two organizations below are geared to helping kids and teens in danger of physical and sexual violence, but according to my professional source, they'd likely help if the threat is emotional too. The third organization is open to helping with any kind of crisis:

Safe Place
https://www.nationalsafeplace.org/
Here's a link to find a Safe Place site near you.
Or, to use TXT 4 HELP, text the word “safe” and your current location (city/state/zip) to 4HELP (44357). Within seconds, you will receive a message with the closest Safe Place site and phone number for the local youth agency. You will also have the option to text interactively with a professional for more help.

SafeHouse Center
https://www.safehousecenter.org/friends-family/children-youth-services/ 
https://www.safehousecenter.org/
They have a National HelpLine, available 24/7, at 734-995-5444 (English and Spanish). Advocates and volunteers can answer questions, give support, and provide information and referrals.

Crisis Text Line
https://www.crisistextline.org/
Text HOME to 741741 from anywhere in the United States, anytime. Crisis Text Line is there for any crisis. A live, trained Crisis Counselor receives the text and responds, all from their secure online platform. In the UK, text HOME to 85258. In Ireland, text HOME to 50808.

Note that while these are (inter)national organizations, there are a lot of local organizations as well. Do a little poking around and see what might be available to you, or ask someone you trust to do so.

Journal. This one definitely isn't for everyone, but if it's something you can do safely and if it appeals to you, give writing a try. It can be immensely clarifying — and can help with plans and goals — to write what you're going through and how it feels. I have a journal now, and years of journals stashed somewhere or other, and I'll probably never look at them again… I don't know that I've ever once gone back to look at something I've journaled. But I 100% know it helps me feel understood while I'm doing it, which is what matters.

Do creative projects. Again, this one isn't for everyone, but my larger point is this: If you can find an outlet for your distress, and most especially, a way to express it, so that there can be some way you're telling the truth of your experience to the world rather than bottling it up — it can help. It can allow you to take back your ownership of yourself and your experience, and it can give you power against the lies to which other people are subjecting you. I would venture to say that everything I write is some version of this. (But you don't have to write a book! I also knit, sew, draw, do collage, take pictures, or even get pleasure out of arranging items symbolically in my house. You get to decide what creativity is, and what helps you feel better!)

Find an anthem. This is also in the category of self-expression and connection. Find artists who seem to get what you're going through, and spend time with them. (Of course it doesn't have to be musicians. A book, or a character in a TV show, can do the same thing!) Some of my anthems over the years: "Girl" by Tori Amos. "Oh Father" by Madonna (the link opens a YouTube video).  "No More Drama" by Mary J. Blige. "Cold As It Gets" by Patty Griffin.

Trust your sense of things — while having compassion for your self-doubt. If you live in a toxic home, there's a good chance that the toxicity around you includes other people's denial of the fact that it's a toxic home. Trust your own unhappiness, anxiety, avoidance, self-loathing, fear. Trust your sense that all is not okay. This self-trust can be challenging no matter what kind of abuse you're experiencing — but I want to give a special shout-out to people experiencing emotional abuse. It can be especially hard to believe your environment is toxic if the damage is "merely" emotional. In fact, it can be hard to metabolize a word like "abuse" when the abuse is "merely" emotional. Surely no one's abusing me? Surely this is just regular life, not abuse?

It's okay if that word doesn't feel right to you. You get to decide what words apply. But trust the panicked feeling you have, the one that's driving you to want to escape. Trust your gut. Something is wrong, whatever you want to call it. A person in your situation deserves help and relief, just like anyone else.

At the same time, this is important: Depending on your situation, you may not be able to do much with your gut realizations at the moment. And if there's not a lot you can do to fix your situation right now, there might be limits to how helpful it is to realize how bad your situation is. So, also have compassion for the ways you end up doubting yourself. It's normal and okay to doubt yourself; it's not a weakness. Your self-doubt may even be a temporary survival mechanism, working hard to keep you safe and get you through this, which is important. Your self-trust, in the meantime, will outlive this situation and be a source of healing someday.

If you can, hold onto your sense of humor. This might not be possible, depending on your situation. But if it is, it can be another release. Example: I once went through a stretch of time during which I had relentlessly recurring dreams that I was moving to a new home that wasn’t emotionally safe for me. When I say relentlessly recurring, I mean that I had some version of this dream every single night for three months. Every single night for three months. Except for one night! One night during this stretch, I had a dream that I was moving to a new home and it was perfect. It had an elegant dining room, fancy staircases, a lounge — it was noticeably bigger and fancier than any of the other homes in any of the other dreams I'd had — and I belonged there, I could be myself there, I was emotionally safe there. I was so, so happy. So were all the other people who apparently lived in this home, because it seem to be sort of like… a gigantic, perfect hotel? It wasn’t until I woke up from this dream that I recognized this “hotel.” We were on the Titanic.

I'm sorry, but that's hilarious. Thank you, unconscious, for cracking me up. If there's anything right now that cracks you up… Hold onto it.

Hang on. Someday you'll be able to build your own life. You will. For now, whenever you can, do get whatever help you can. You deserve it.

I hope something on this list is helpful. If nothing else, remember that I, and so many other people, are thinking about you and pulling for you. There are even people who've dedicated their lives to looking out for you; reach out to them. We know there's light at the end of your tunnel, so hang in there. You're not invisible. We see you!

Love,
Kristin

Today in my craft post, I'm going to talk about a straightforward skill… while referencing a book that's wonderfully un-straightforward.

H Is for Hawk is a memoir by Helen Macdonald that weaves together several threads, the three biggest of which are: her experience of training a northern goshawk; her analysis of T. H. White's memoir about training a northern goshawk; and her grief following the death of her father. In terms of balance and weaving, it's beautifully done. In terms of psychological insight, it feels searingly true. And in terms of the expression of emotion, it's stunning.

It's also an uncomfortable book at times, in ways that recommend it. And it's a fascinating memoir for a fiction writer to read while thinking about how to write character. H Is for Hawk left me with a lot of questions, for the book and for myself.

If you just want the straightforward writing lesson, which is on the topic of writing emotion, jump ahead to the *** below. If you're interested in a fiction writer's thoughts about memoir, read on.

I sat down to read H is for Hawk because a friend had described its structure and I was intrigued. I'm not a memoir writer; it's far too personal a style of writing for me. But I like to read books that differ greatly from my own writing, and I especially like to learn to write from them. After all, the more a book diverges from your own writing, the more it can stretch you into a broader perspective of what's possible. I was curious about what a memoir that weaves separate but related threads could teach me about writing a work of fiction that weaves separate but related threads; but I was also curious about what it could teach me that I didn't know about yet.

Here are some of the unexpected questions that arose for me while reading this book:

In terms of writing character (if one can use that word with a memoir, and I believe one can; more on that later), what are the differences between memoir and fiction?

For example, what advantages does the memoir writer have? Does a reader come to a memoir with a greater willingness to believe in a character than they bring to the reading of fiction? A fiction writer often has to go through a lot of contortions to keep a character believable while also fulfilling the necessities of the plot. Push the character's behavior too far outside the characterization you've so carefully established, and the behavior becomes unbelievable. The reader is left thinking, "I don't believe they would actually do that."

In contrast, in a memoir, a character is an actual person. They did what they did. The memoir writer reports what they did and we believe it, because it's a memoir. Any "unbelievable" behavior consequently brings power with it: amusement, surprise, shock value. (This is not to minimize the work it requires to make any character in any kind of book engaging. I don't mean to suggest that a memoir writer has an easy job creating character, only that they may have a believability advantage.)

Okay then, what advantages does the fiction writer have when writing character? Well, the fiction writer can make shit up; that's a pretty huge advantage. The fiction writer also generally doesn't have to worry about getting sued for defamation of character :o).

Another huge advantage: Though it's true that as a fiction writer I sometimes encounter readers who mistakenly assume I'm like my characters, for the most part, fiction readers remember that fiction is made up. This means that the fiction writer is unlikely to be accused of having done the things their characters did, or judged for that behavior. In contrast, a memoir writer writing about her own actions is opening herself to all kinds of very personal judgment. All writing requires courage and involves exposure… But this takes things to a whole other level! Fiction writers have some built-in emotional protections that I tend to take for granted, until I read a memoir and remember.

This leads me to another question that arose while reading this book: What is the place of the memoir reader when it comes to judging the people inside the memoir? For example, Helen Macdonald writes a compassionate but blistering exposé of T. H. White in this book. It's an exposé that T. H. White wrote first; anyone can learn from White's own memoir that he was heartbreakingly, sometimes sadistically abusive to the goshawk he trained. But Macdonald presents it anew, and she presents it with an analysis of White's psychology that shows us more about White than he ever meant us to know. She shows us the abuse, familial and societal, that brought White to this place. She shows us his heartbreak, failures, and shame. White feels like an integrated, complete person in this book.

But also, she shows us what she wants to show us — she shows us the parts of White that fit into her own book, about her own experiences. She's the writer, and this is her memoir. To be clear, I don't mean this as a condemnation — I'm not accusing her of leaving things out or misrepresenting White! This is a part of all book-writing. You include what matters to the rest of your book. Everything else ends up on the cutting room floor. As far as I know, Macdonald did a respectful and responsible job of incorporating T. H. White into her book, and I expect she worked very hard to do so. I believe in the T. H. White she showed us. But I think it's important to remember this part of the process when reading any memoir. Even when a writer is writing about themselves, their book has plot and themes, it has content requirements. There'll always be something specific the writer is trying to convey, about themselves or anyone else, and there'll always be stuff they leave out. No book can contain a whole person.

Personally, when I read memoir (and biography and autobiography), I consciously consider the people inside it to function as characters. It's hard to read H Is for Hawk and not come away with some pretty strong opinions about T. H. White. But I keep a permanent asterisk next to my opinions, because White was a real, living person, but I only know him as a character in this book. No matter how many books I read about him (or by him), I'll always be conscious of not knowing the whole person.

As a fiction writer, I find all of this fascinating. I think it's because I see connections between how hard it is to present a compelling character study of a real person and how hard it is to create a believable character in fiction. What are the differences between a memoir writer who's figuring out which part of the truth matters, and a fiction writer who's creating a fiction that's supposed to invoke truth? Also, I'm fascinated by how much all of this lines up with how hard it is to understand anyone in real life. How well can we ever know anyone? How much can we ever separate our own baggage from our judgments of other people? There's a third person getting in the way of my perfect understanding of T. H. White: me.

Next question: How does a writer (of memoir or fiction) make a character ring true to the reader? How does the writer make the character compelling and real?

A writer as skilled as Macdonald knows how to bring her characters, human or hawk, alive for the reader. One way she does this is by keeping her characterizations always in motion. White is many, many things — kind and cruel, sensitive and sadistic, abused and despotic. Macdonald's hawk, Mabel, is also constantly growing and changing. Mabel is a point of personal connection for Macdonald, but she's also always just out of reach. And of course, Macdonald herself is a character in the book. Macdonald lays bare her own successes, failures, oddities, cruelties, kindnesses, insights, ambivalences, and delights, and lets us decide. Personally, as I read, I felt that I was meeting a human of sensitivity and compassion; an anxious person whose need for both solitude and connection was starkly familiar to me; someone consciously composed of contradictions; a person of deep feeling who cares about what matters; a grieving daughter; a person I can relate to. Or should I say, a character I can relate to? Having read this book, I don't presume I know Helen Macdonald.

Here's something I do know about Helen Macdonald though: She's a damn good writer. In particular, as I read, I kept noticing one specific thing she does so well that it needs to be called out and shown to other writers.





All page references are to the 2014 paperback published by Grove Press.

Okay, writers. When it comes to writing a character's emotion, there's a certain skill at which Helen Macdonald excels. Namely, she conveys emotion via action.

Put differently: rather than describing an emotion in words, Macdonald shows us a behavior, one so meaningful that we readers feel the associated emotion immediately.

Here's an example. For context, Helen Macdonald's father died suddenly one March, throwing her into a deep and unexpected grief. Listen to this description of one of the things that happened next:

"In June I fell in love, predictably and devastatingly, with a man who ran a mile when he worked out how broken I was. His disappearance rendered me practically insensible. Though I can't even bring his face to mind now, and though I know not only why he ran, but know that in principle he could have been anyone, I still have a red dress that I will never wear again. That's how it goes." (17)

While there is some effective emotional description here — like when she's rendered practically insensible — the real punch in this passage is the red dress. Macdonald tells us that there's a red dress she'll never wear again, and immediately I get it. I get that the identity of the man is irrelevant; what's relevant is the passion she had for another person and how it connected to her grief, and I feel that passion and grief because there's a red dress she'll never wear again. I can see the dress, hidden away in the back of her closet. I don't have a dress like that, but I could. I get it.

Here's another moment. This one takes place at a much later point, when Macdonald has been grieving for a long time and is finally noticing that she's capable of happiness again:

"But watching television from the sofa later that evening I noticed tears running from my eyes and dropping into my mug of tea. Odd, I think. I put it down to tiredness. Perhaps I am getting a cold. Perhaps I am allergic to something. I wipe the tears away and go to make more tea in the kitchen" (125).

It's hard to write about tears in a way that doesn't feel like a cliché shorthand for sadness, grief, catharsis, whatever you're trying to get across in that moment. Macdonald succeeds here. This dispassionate report of tears conveys what Macdonald needs to convey: that grief is layered; that a person can have many feelings at once; that sometimes your body knows what's going on before the rest of you does; that when you're grieving, sometimes happiness brings with it a tidal wave of sadness. But imagine if Macdonald had listed all those things I just listed, instead of telling us about her tears dropping into her tea. Her way is so much better, and it conveys the same information!

Let me be clear, it's not bad to describe emotion. In fact, it's necessary in places. You need to give your reader an emotional baseline so that they'll know how to contextualize how plot points feel for the character. But if you can find a balance between emotional description and the thing Macdonald is doing here — using action to convey emotion — it will gives the emotion in your writing a freshness, an impact, a punch that you can't get from description alone. It will also give the reader more opportunities to engage their own feelings — to feel things all by themselves, rather than merely understanding what's being felt by the character.

It's hard to write emotion. It's especially hard to figure out non-cliché ways to explain how a character feels. Sometimes it's fine to use a known shorthand or a cliché. Sometimes it's fine to use emotional description. You want a mix of things. But Macdonald's book reminds me that whenever I can, I want to look for ways to use plot to convey feeling. Show what my character does in response to a stimulus. Let the reader glean the emotions from behavior. Your character is happy? Show us what they do with their body. How do they stand, how do they walk? Does it make them generous? Does it make them self-centered and oblivious? Remember that an "action" doesn't have to be something physically, boisterously active. If you're writing a non-demonstrative character, it's not going to ring true if they start flinging their arms around or singing while they walk down the street. But maybe instead of "feeling ecstatic," they sit still for a moment, reveling in what just happened. Maybe instead of "feeling jubilant," they listen to a song playing inside their own head. Internally or externally, show us what they do.

Here's Macdonald describing her childhood obsession with birds:

"When I was six I tried to sleep every night with my arms folded behind my back like wings. This didn't last long, because it is very hard to sleep with your arms folded behind your back like wings." (27)

I can feel the devotion to birds. She doesn't just love birds; she wants to be a bird.

Macdonald goes on to report that as a child, she learned everything she possibly could about falconry, then shared every word of it, no matter how boring, with anyone who would listen. Macdonald's mother was a writer for the local paper. Here's a description of her mother during the delivery of one of Macdonald's lectures:

"Lining up another yellow piece of copy paper, fiddling with the carbons so they didn't slip, she'd nod and agree, drag on her cigarette, and tell me how interesting it all was in tones that avoided dismissiveness with extraordinary facility." (29)

What an endearing depiction of a mother's love for her tedious child :o).

And here's a scene that takes place at a country fair, where Macdonald has agreed to display her goshawk, Mabel, to the public. Macdonald is sitting on a chair under a marquee roof. Mabel is positioned on a perch ten feet behind her. There are so many people at the fair, too many people for the likes of both Macdonald and Mabel:

"After twenty minutes Mabel raises one foot. It looks ridiculous. She is not relaxed enough to fluff out her feathers; she still resembles a wet and particoloured seal. But she makes this small concession to calmness, and she stands there like a man driving with one hand resting on the gear stick." (206)

Oh, Mabel. I get the sense that when it comes to the writer's need to convey emotion, Mabel is a challenging character. Macdonald does such a wonderful job creating a sense of the gulf between a human's reality and a hawk's reality, the differences in perception and priority. But she also gives us moments of connection with Mabel. Since Mabel is a bird, these moments of connection are almost always described through Mabel's behavior.

I wonder if Macdonald's intense connection with the non-human world, and with hawks in particular, is partly what makes her so good at noticing behaviors and gleaning their emotional significance? And then sharing it with us, the lucky readers.

That's it. That's my lesson: When you're trying to convey feelings, find places where an action or behavior will do the job.

And read H Is for Hawk if you want an admirable example of writing emotion! Also, Helen Macdonald has a new book, just released: Vesper Flights. I'm in.

Reading like a writer.

Good morning everyone. I'm so pleased to direct you to BookPage, which has my cover revealed today for Winterkeep! Also for the new covers of Graceling, Fire, and Bitterblue. Not to mention a Q&A about Winterkeep, and an excerpt. Thank you, BookPage, for helping me share all this. Enjoy, everyone!

Click through for the Winterkeep cover reveal.

Hello, lovely people.

I have another craft post planned for sometime soon… I'm hoping to write about The Housekeeper and the Professor, by Yoko Ogawa, if I can just figure out how to articulate what I want to say. It's such a beautiful book! One of those rare books I got out of the library, read, then decided I needed to own.

Until then, I wanted to share a little bit of blather about Winterkeep (January 19, 2021), plus display all eight new covers — the new USA and UK covers for Graceling, Fire, Bitterblue, and Winterkeep — altogether in one place. If you don't care about the blather and just want to see pretty pictures, scroll down.

So. The first few drafts of Winterkeep were written in many, many points of view. It was early days, and I was trying to figure out how to tell the story I wanted to tell. I pretty much allowed anyone a point of view, sort of as an experiment, to see how each character felt, and figure out whose feelings were most important. Then gradually, across revisions, I whittled those POVs down. In its final form, Winterkeep is told from five points of view — and only three of them are human! 

One is Queen Bitterblue, whose POV will be familiar to those who've read my book Bitterblue. Bitterblue is a little bit older now, twenty-three. She's always working, always doing the best with the problems facing a young queen, and at the moment, she's worried about two of her advisers who died mysteriously in a shipwreck in Winterkeep. She's also worried about a friend, a Keepish man she's sort-of-maybe romantically involved with, named Katu Cavenda. Everyone says Katu is traveling… so why does it seem like he's actually disappeared? These questions, among others, bring Bitterblue to Winterkeep, to figure things out for herself.

Another point of view is Giddon, a character who'll be familiar to readers of Graceling and Bitterblue. Remember what a jerk Giddon was in Graceling? He actually told Katsa once that he was confident she'd want babies someday, because after all, she wasn't "an unnatural woman." YUCK! 

Then, when I started to write Bitterblue, I discovered that Giddon had evolved. I was touched by the friendship he began to develop with Bitterblue, which surprised me while I was writing. I realized that over the course of the last few years of his life, he'd taken responsibility for his behavior and grown up a bit. After all, he was only eighteen years old in Graceling, and he hadn't encountered much pushback against his viewpoints yet. I like to think that Giddon paid attention to the good influences around him and rethought a few things. Anyway, now he's back, and he's had a few more years to grow up even more.

Another point of view is a Keepish girl named Lovisa Cavenda, age 16, who's depicted on the USA cover (below). Lovisa's a sneak and a secret keeper; she's a manipulator and a survivor. Katu Cavenda's niece and a student of politics and government at the Winterkeep Academy, she lives in the dorms but sneaks home frequently, spying on her own parents, who are important political figures in Winterkeep. If I had to choose one character at the very heart of this book, it would be Lovisa Cavenda. Through no fault of her own, she finds herself in an impossible situation… Will she find a way out?

Another point of view is a telepathic blue fox, who has a special, exclusive mental bond with Lovisa Cavenda's mother, Ferla Cavenda. And trust me, though Ferla has a warm hearth and a warm coat with a fuzzy hood it's cozy to ride inside, Ferla's mind is not always a comfortable place! The rules of foxkind are fairly strict. What happens to a fox who can't decide whether to follow the rules?

Finally, my last point of view is a gigantic sea creature with thirteen legs and twenty-three eyes who lives at the bottom of the ocean, protecting her treasures (sunken anchors, sunken human corpses, sunken ships). All she wants is to be left alone… but the machinations of humans and the interests of her undersea world keep interrupting her peace.

Those are my five points of view! Together, they tell the story of Winterkeep, which is, above all, a story of relationships. I hope you'll enjoy watching these five characters come together.

And now for my shiny new covers. 

First up are the USA covers. In the USA and Canada, Graceling is published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and Fire, Bitterblue, and Winterkeep are published by Penguin Books. These covers were illustrated by Kuri Huang (@kuri_huang) and designed by Theresa Evangelista and Jessica Jenkins. Shown below in series order.

 

One of my absolute favorite things about this reboot is that both my USA and my UK publishers are updating the series, and both went with a beautiful, rich, textured look — but they're so different from each other. Below are my new UK covers. In the UK, Australia, and New Zealand, my books are published by Gollancz. The covers were illustrated by Micaela Alcaino (@micaelaalcaino) and designed by Tomás Almeida.

 

And that's my update for today. Hope you're all hanging in there. More soon. ????

Hi, all. Waiting is hard. So here are some pretty pics to distract you. 

Friday was the day I'd scheduled to take some time off, go for nice walk, and get some pictures of the fall foliage.

In typical 2020 fashion, it didn't go quite as planned… 

So I went with it.

Everything is great.

Here are some scenes...

...of October...

... in Massachusetts...

...just for you.

Now for some pictures of inside things. I don't know about you, but this is a pretty stressful time for me, and I'm using every tool in my toolbox to stay healthy and well. One of those is — always — writing, and hardly anything gives me greater comfort than having fun with my writing tools.

I've explained before that I write by hand. Then, when I've written a sufficient amount that I start to worry about the house burning down, I transcribe my writing into a Word document, using voice recognition software. If you're curious about the kind of notebooks I've written in previously and what my writing used to look like — and if you're a writer who wants a reminder of how normal it is for writing to be hard — go check out my old post, Pictures of a Book Being Made. 

In recent years, I have some new tools.

Writing by hand has always been my way, even before I developed a disability that makes typing prohibitively painful. I'm left-handed, but not too long ago, after doing some realistic thinking about how much pain I work through on a daily basis, I began to teach myself to write right-handed, so that I can increase the likelihood I'll be able to write forever. 

Now, after much practice, I alternate between hands pretty regularly as I work. The right-handed writing is slower and messier, and my hand gets tired faster. But it's fine.

I've also started using smaller, lighter notebooks. This is partly to save my hands, and partly because the most recent books I've been writing feel different, and have been asking me for new supplies.

In particular, they're asking me for smaller, lighter, less intimidating notebooks — and stickers. :o)

I've been hunting for stickers that feel like my books. Stickers that match my characters, my plot, the feelings that imbue my story. Then, as I write, I plop the stickers onto the page… And it helps. It gives me ideas; it slows me down, so that my writing is more thoughtful; it gives me joy. 

The two stickers on the left are the work of Katie at BearandFoxCo. The sticker on the right is the work of Audrey Miller at CloudCatArts.

I'll share some pictures of my stickers… And include, with some of them, samples of my right-handed writing, so you can see what I mean about that. Anytime you see handwriting, that's my right-handed work. And anytime you see a sticker created by an individual/independent artist, I have gotten permission to share it.

Here goes.

Made by Katie Harmon at PinkPolish Design.

Made by Katie Harmon at PinkPolish Design.

Made by Katie Harmon at PinkPolish Design.

Made by Katie Harmon at PinkPolish Design.

This is an image from a cityscape washi tape, superimposed over some pale-blue sky washi stickers I can no longer find a link to.

Made by Katie Harmon at PinkPolish Design. (I colored her right eye red!)

I got a whole series of ship pictures on Etsy, but alas, they no longer seem to be available.

I found these butterfly/moth washi stickers on Etsy.

There's one more artist whose work I wanted to share, but I didn't get permission from her in time. Her Etsy shop is on a short break at the moment, but keep the shop of Helen Ahpornsiri in mind; she creates animals using pressed flowers and plants, and the results are beautiful.

And that's my distraction for today.

Everyone, give yourself a break over the next few days and then however long this takes. Try not to check the news compulsively; wear masks to protect the vulnerable; forgive yourself for being stressed out. And hang in there.

♥♥♥

A couple time-sensitive pieces of book news for those of you not on Twitter, where, among other things, I've been posting my sister's careful scrawled calculations of the vote count in Pennsylvania :o).

One, Flatiron Books invite me to chat with Melissa Albert, author of the gorgeous and chilling Tales from the Hinterland, tonight (Friday) at 8:30pm ET as part of  #yallwrite. 

 Info at @YALLFest and https://www.yallwrite.org/schedule#specialevents. 

Come join us! I for one will be exhausted yet (I suspect) calm, and Mimi and I will have plenty of bookish stuff to talk about!

Two, Penguin Teen has organized an exclusive map giveaway for anyone who preorders Winterkeep. Here's the entry form: http://bit.ly/WinterkeepPreOrder

Tag @PenguinTeen with any questions. And enjoy! :o)

U.S. District Judge Matthew W. Brann speaking to the only lawyer still willing to argue Trump's case in Pennsylvania, Rudolph Giuliani, on Tuesday:

“You’re alleging that the two individual plaintiffs were denied the right to vote. But at bottom, you’re asking this court to invalidate more than 6.8 million votes, thereby disenfranchising every single voter in the commonwealth. Can you tell me how this result can possibly be justified?”

Hello everyone. You might expect that while we are having to endure this comical yet terrifying attempted coup, my subconscious mind would be having a field day, giving me creative dreams as usual. But here's the dream I had Tuesday night, after that disgraceful show in Michigan: A Republican demagogue, anticipating his loss in the next election and wanting to prime public opinion, begins shouting as loud as he can about how the Democrats are going to steal the election. He loses the election. Then he tries to steal the election, again by accusing the Democratic victors of stealing the election. Rank-and-file Republicans fall in around him, supporting his baseless claims. A depressingly shocking number of voters believe him.

Not a lot of creativity there, subconscious.

For me, the most stressful part of all of this is how terrifying the GOP has become. A massive web of baseless lies that are believed by a gigantic number of people is terrifying. It's what my books are about. Of course, as a fantasy writer, I've always known I'm writing about real life.

 I found a recent episode of the Ezra Klein Show helpful in contextualizing the crisis that's been created by the Republican Party. In it, Ezra talks with Anne Applebaum, who studies authoritarianism. As a writer, I appreciated that the episode included a close study in character. The character of real people, of course, like Lindsey Graham and Laura Ingraham, but writers are naturally interested in the characters of real people. It's how we write believable imaginary people! Anyway, check it out if a grim perspective will help you get your feet on the ground. Don't check it out if what you need right now is comfort or reassurance, however. Those are valid needs too. And I have a couple of TV recommendations for that as well!

About a month ago, I finished watching Jane the Virgin, which now has a permanent place in the upper echelon of my favorite TV shows of all time. It is so funny, so sweet and full of heart. It has political relevance, in a way that will make you feel hopeful. It's about families, writing, relationships between women, parenthood, magic, and it has characters you'll love so much that when you finally finish the last episode, you'll wander around feeling bereft for a while, or at least that's what happened to me. The plot is so absurd that you don't have to worry too much about bad things happening. The voiceover narrator is an absolute delight. I love this show so much, and if you've never seen it before, now might be the time!

Also, last week I started watching Crash Landing on You, a South Korean TV drama in which a South Korean heiress has a hang-gliding mishap that drops her into the North Korean section of the DMZ. A very serious (and brooding) captain in the North Korean Special Police Force finds her and reluctantly decides to help her hide. It's very, very funny and keeps surprising me with its sweet moments — one of my favorite combinations in a TV show — and like with Jane, I'm falling for all the characters. Each episode seems to be incrementally longer than the last episode, to the point that my addiction to the show is interfering with the rest of my life, but I'm enjoying it too much to care. :o)

By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=62530475

These are my recommendations for today… Hang in there, everyone. ????

I took a break from my craft series for a couple months. And then I handed in the first draft of a new book this week! Which means that this weekend I can finally turn my attention to writing about craft in The Housekeeper and the Professor, by Yoko Ogawa.

Yoko Ogawa's slender, stunning book, translated from the Japanese by Stephen Snyder, is a challenging one to use as a writing lesson, because while I can describe a hundred smart and wonderful things about it, that doesn’t mean I know how to translate its beauty into advice to other writers. It’s not helpful for me to say, “See how perfect this is? Now go do that." 

And it is that kind of book, the kind that pulls you into a narrative dream and holds you there so gently, with such soft hands, that it's hard to figure out how you got where you are. When did it happen, and how?

For me, it had already happened by the time I'd gotten to the end of page 3. And I think that the "how" has something to do with a sense of spaciousness.

What do I mean by a sense of spaciousness? Well, it's pretty hard to nail it down exactly, but I've been considering this a lot, and I think it has to do with a combination of things. One is unflowery, unfussy prose. Another is revelation of character through brief, searing lines of plot or observation. (You know those beautiful moments in books when a single sentence seems to capture the essence of a character, and just like that, you feel like you can see into their soul?) Another is a gentle, no-rush kind of pacing. Another has to do with themes that lend themselves to spaciousness. And another is the way Ogawa hooks this story into two real-world entities that have power, meaning, and spaciousness outside any book: mathematics and baseball.  

You didn't think this was going to be simple, did you? :o) The Housekeeper and the Professor is a book that seems spare and uncomplicated as you read it, but I think it's deceptively so. There's a lot packed into its 180 pages. The reader who feels suspended in a narrative dream is actually perched on top of a lot of strong, invisible foundations. Today I'll try to look at those foundations a little closer.

I'm not going to harp on the unflowery, unfussy prose, because I think you'll see that for yourself when I share examples from the text. Instead I'll talk first about the revelation of character, then get into pacing and themes, then say a little about the allusions to mathematics and baseball.

All page references are to the 2009 English-language paperback edition published by Picador.

First, a brief overview, with no spoilers: A housekeeper is assigned to work in the house of a professor of mathematics who lives in a small city on the Inland Sea. The professor, who's sixty-four, sustained a brain injury in an automobile accident seventeen years ago and lost his ability to form new memories. "He can remember a theorem he developed thirty years ago, but he has no idea what he ate for dinner last night" (5). He can only remember new things for eighty minutes. 

As a consequence, every morning, when the housekeeper arrives at the home of the professor, she's a stranger to him, as is her son who often accompanies her. And every day is predictable in some ways, yet thoroughly unpredictable in others. 

Told from the perspective of the housekeeper, the book is about the inner lives and growing relationships of four people, all of whose real names are not used: the housekeeper; her son; the Professor; and the professor's sister-in-law, who lives in the main house across from the professor's cottage. The book contains small, quiet, satisfying revelations. You learn more information about all of the characters over time. But the journey is as satisfying as the destination. This is one of those books where I wasn't reading to find out what happens; I was reading for the pleasure of spending time with the book.

Now, let's talk about character.

In the hands of a clunky writer, a character's inability to form new memories would be a gimmick. There are no gimmicks here. Almost from the first line, these are people you believe in, with thoughts and dilemmas that suspend you in a state of wanting, along with these characters, to understand what it means to be human. 

Here's how the book opens:

We called him the Professor. And he called my son Root, because, he said, the flat top of his head reminded him of the square root sign.

"There's a fine brain in there," the Professor said, mussing my son's hair. Root, who wore a cap to avoid being teased by his friends, gave a wary shrug. "With this one little sign we can come to know an infinite range of numbers, even those we can't see." He traced the symbol in the thick layer of dust on his desk.

This opening is the first of many times when the Professor embarks on an explanation of a mathematical concept. You, the reader, might immediately groan, thinking, Oh no, he's going to lecture, he's going to mansplain math… But only two pages later, on page 3, our narrator, the housekeeper, addresses that concern with this description:

But the professor didn't always insist on being the teacher. He had enormous respect for matters about which he had no knowledge, and he was as humble in such cases as the square root of negative one itself. Whenever he needed my help, he would interrupt me in the most polite way. Even the simplest request—that I help him set the timer on the toaster, for example—always began with "I'm terribly sorry to bother you, but…" Once I'd set the dial, he would sit peering in as the toast browned. He was as fascinated by the toast as he was by the mathematical proofs we did together, as if the truth of the toaster were no different from that of the Pythagorean theorem.

It's this description of the Professor peering in as the toast browns, caring about it as much as he cares about everything else, that captured my heart on page 3. With that tiny act, Ogawa shows us something essential about the Professor's character. And Ogawa repeats this method of revealing character over and over again, sharing small, isolated moments of searing revelation.

Here's another example of a small moment, one where we learn the Professor's particular, yet socially clueless, sympathy toward children:

Just then, there was a cry from the sandbox. A little girl stood sobbing, a toy shovel clutched in her hand. Instantly, the Professor was at her side, bending over to comfort her. He tenderly brushed the sand from her dress.

Suddenly, the child's mother appeared and pushed the Professor away, picking the girl up and practically running off with her. The Professor was left standing in the sandbox. I watched him from behind, unsure how to help. The cherry blossoms fluttered down, mingling with the numbers in the dirt. (46-47)

I'm not sure the professor understands what's just happened in that moment, but we do. And we can see him and feel for him (at the same time as we might feel frustrated with him).

Here's one more, shorter example: "I wondered how many times I had said those words since I'd come to work at the Professor's house. 'Don't worry. It's fine.' At the barber, outside the X-ray room at the clinic, on the bus home from the ballgame. Sometimes as I was rubbing his back, at other times stroking his hand. But I wondered whether I had ever been able to comfort him. His real pain was somewhere else, and I sensed that I was always missing the spot" (169-170).

Maybe when I use the word "spacious" to describe this kind of characterization, what I mean is that nothing is crowded, every detail is illuminated and clear, and allowed to be the star of the scene it's in. Every description is given the space it's needed. As a result, the characterizations seem clean and spare, but not because the characters are simple people with simple lives. They are complex people with difficult, tragic, sometimes frightening lives. But we can see them clearly, because Ogawa draws them with precise lines on a spacious page. 

I almost want to say that it's like each character is standing alone, visible to us in a bright, uncrowded room, but that makes the characters and the book sound sterile, which is completely wrong. In fact, they live in rooms full of things, especially books, papers, baseball cards, and food. And their lives, thoughts, and feelings are deeply entangled. But reading this book, the reader does not feel entangled. The reader has room.

This is partly because Ogawa gives every moment in this story the same weight as any other part of the story. The moment with the browning toast, for example, is just as important as other longer, more emotionally fraught scenes in the book. And this gets us into pacing. 

This book is composed of a lot of different kinds of passages. Tiny plot moments, like the Professor watching the toast brown. Longer scenes, like one where Root gets injured and the Professor and the housekeeper rush him to the hospital; one where they all go to a baseball game together; one where they have a party. Passages where the housekeeper is musing about the life of the Professor; passages where she's doing a little snooping in the Professor's house, hoping to learn about his past. Occasional passages where the housekeeper is telling us something about her own past. Also, lots and lots of passages about math.

Pacing isn't something I can demonstrate using short examples, because it depends upon how all the parts of the text sit in relation to each other. But I can try to explain what Ogawa does, and what it's like to read: She simply and straightforwardly lets every passage take as much time and space as it needs. It's okay if a math explanation fills up several pages. It's okay if some of the most beautiful and revealing character moments for the Professor — like his ability, every afternoon, to see the evening star before anyone else can (page 79) — take less than a page. There's a way in which the weight of any one part of this book has nothing to do with its length. All the different needs of the text are balanced in their significance. 

How does a short description manage to carry as much weight as a many-paged scene? I think it's partly because of what this book is telling us — its themes. Browning toast is, in fact, as important as the Pythagorean theorem. The housekeeper tells us so. A child is as important as a mathematician. A moment when a man with a brain injury is sad and confused is as important as the most fundamental mathematical discovery. Everything is connected, everything matters, and everything gets to take up space.

One thing I took away from the pacing of this book is that I want to try to worry less about the moments when my text feels uneven. I'll always listen to feedback from my readers when it comes to my pacing — but ultimately, there are other aspects of a text, particularly its style, mood, and themes, that can bind seemingly disparate parts of a book together. Maybe that's something I can talk about more sometime using one of my own books. It comes down to a book being a web, and that's a really complicated thing to try to talk about!

Here's another interesting thing Ogawa does with pacing: While it becomes pretty easy, pretty quickly, for the reader to know who the Professor is, this makes a fascinating contrast with the other characters in the book, who come into focus much more slowly. Especially the housekeeper herself, who's the narrator, but who's always talking about everyone else, hiding herself in the background (much like a housekeeper). Honestly, it took me a while to even notice the housekeeper as a character. And then I began to care about her experience deeply.

A lot of our revelations about the housekeeper's character relate to math. With a quiet, patient kind of wonder, the housekeeper absorbs every math lesson the Professor gives, and we see what that's like for her. We watch it touch her daily life—and reshape her entire outlook. 

"There was something profound in his love for math," the housekeeper says. "And it helped that he forgot what he'd taught me before, so I was free to repeat the same question until I understood. Things that most people would get the first time around might take me five, or even ten times, but I could go on asking the Professor to explain until I finally got it" (23).

Just as the Professor explains math to the housekeeper, Ogawa explains it to the reader, and explains it well; we understand it because we're sharing the housekeeper's growing understanding of it. Consequently, we can understand the way it's changing the housekeeper. One day, while cleaning the kitchen, she finds a serial number engraved on the back of the refrigerator door: 2311. Unable to help herself, she pulls out a notepad and gets to work trying to figure out whether this is a prime number. "Once I'd proved that 2,311 was prime, I put the notepad back in my pocket and went back to my cleaning, though now with a new affection for this refrigerator, which had a prime serial number. It suddenly seemed so noble, divisible by only one and itself" (113).

Later, she reflects on the relationship between math and meaning: "In my imagination, I saw the creator of the universe sitting in some distant corner of the sky, weaving a pattern of delicate lace so fine that even the faintest light would shine through it. The lace stretches out infinitely in every direction, billowing gently in the cosmic breeze. You want desperately to touch it, hold it up to the light, rub it against your cheek. And all we ask is to be able to re-create the pattern, weave it again with numbers, somehow, in our own language; to make even the tiniest fragment our own, to bring it back to earth" (124).

(It's worth mentioning that this book's sense of spaciousness is also aided by descriptions of actually spacious things. It's hard to imagine something more spacious than infinite lace!)

Slowly, we watch the housekeeper's relationship with the Professor—and with math—change her entire concept of herself. Here, the Professor has just watched her cook dinner with utter fascination and respect: "I looked at the food I had just finished preparing and then at my hands. Sautéed pork garnished with lemon, a salad, and a soft, yellow omelet. I studied the dishes, one by one. They were all perfectly ordinary, but they looked delicious—satisfying food at the end of a long day. I looked at my palms again, filled suddenly with an absurd sense of satisfaction, as though I had just solved Fermat's Last Theorem" (135).

Honestly, the mathematics in The Housekeeper and the Professor is one reason it's tricky to use this book as a craft lesson. It's clear Ogawa has enormous mathematical expertise, which breathes life and meaning into this story — but not many writers are going to have that expertise at their disposal, and not all stories can be about math. I also wonder what it's like to read this book if you're indifferent to math, or even hate it? Baseball, which is extremely math-based, plays another huge part in this book — I wonder how the book reads to people untouched by both math and baseball? I happen to adore both; I lap up baseball movies and math plays like Arcadia or Proof with the purest joy; so it's impossible for me to imagine reading this book from the perspective of a baseball-hater or a math-hater. It's hard to imagine that reader having the same experience I'm having.

Nonetheless, the point remains that Ogawa is harnessing the essence of other disciplines, math and baseball, and using them to expand her story — and it works for a lot of readers. It creates a kind of magic similar to Victor LaValle's use of fairytales in The Changeling. Things that we understand in a different context, like math or fairytales, can expand the meaning of realities that otherwise don't make sense, or hurt too much. Like a person who's lost a part of their brain that they need in order to make new, sustained relationships. Or a housekeeper who's been alone, unsupported, and unappreciated for most of her life.

And here again, Ogawa makes spacious choices. Is anything more spacious than math? Math defines space, and the infinity of space. And one of the complaints most often brandished at baseball is that there's way too much empty space in the game :o). Math and baseball serve as themes helping to create the book's spaciousness.

So. I'm not convinced that this post is the most useful entry in my craft series, especially for any of you looking for nitty-gritty writing advice. But I do hope you'll read Ogawa's The Housekeeper and the Professor, and maybe my thoughts will combine with your own to help you come to some conclusions. I'll end this post with a spacious image:

"As we reached the top of the stairs that led to the seats above third base, all three of us let out a cry. The diamond in all its grandeur was laid out before us — the soft, dark earth of the infield, the spotless bases, the straight white lines, and the manicured grass. The evening sky seemed so close you could touch it, and at that moment, as if they had been awaiting our arrival, the lights came on. The stadium looked like a spaceship descended from the heavens" (88).

Happy writing!

 

Reading like a writer.

 Hi, everyone. In the midst of all this difficult news, Winterkeep is about to be released. So it's time to share the dates and details of my virtual tour events. If you're looking for a happy escape from all that's going on — and let's face it, probably some conversation about how books help us absorb/understand/frame current events — please join us! I'm going to be talking to a lot of super interesting people: Author and podcaster Sarah Enni. Authors Malinda Lo and Tui Sutherland. Agent Faye Bender and editor Andrew Karre.

Here's a link to my tour page: http://www.penguinteen.com/event/kristin-cashore-on-tour/

 

And I'll also spell everything out here:

First up, on Tuesday, January 19 at 7PM ET, I’ll be in conversation with Sarah Enni, hosted by the Brookline Booksmith. Sarah’s an author and journalist who’s the host of the wonderful First Draft podcast. More details and registration here: https://www.brooklinebooksmith.com/event/kristin-cashore-sarah-enni.

Next, on Sunday, January 24 at 2PM PST (5PM EST), Malinda Lo & I will talk about Winterkeep and Malinda’s beautiful new release, Last Night at the Telegraph Club. Our conversation will be moderated by Wings of Fire author Tui Sutherland. You can probably expect some craft talk! This event is hosted by Mysterious Galaxy. Details and registration here: https://www.mystgalaxy.com/cashorelo124 

Finally, on Monday, January 25 at 6PM EST, I’ll be in conversation with agent Faye Bender, hosted by editor Andrew Karre. Certainly some publishing talk! This event is hosted by Books & Books. Details and registration here:  https://booksandbooks.com/event/winterkeep-an-evening-with-kristin-cashore/ 

All events can be attended virtually for free. If you're purchasing a book as part of your registration, limited signatures and personalizations are available in some cases, so please do check the details.

And thanks.

Winterkeep is now out in the world, and can be purchased at your favorite book retailer. I am happy for you to buy the book wherever you prefer, but do keep indie retailers bookshop.org, Libro.fm, and Kobo in mind!

This week, I'm on the podcast First Draft with Sarah Enni... Sarah is so skilled at insightful conversation, and so warm, too. We had a lovely chat. Check it out!

I have two more virtual events to round off book release week, and you're invited. The first is Sunday at 5PM ET (2PM PT), with Malinda Lo, moderated by Tui Sutherland, and presented by Mysterious Galaxy Books in San Diego. The nice thing about this event is that Malinda, Tui, and I are all in the same book group. So we're used to getting together to talk about books. Just not usually our own books! Of course, our last eleven meetings have been virtual, but normally, the group meets in one of the homes of our lovely members. If I were hosting book group in January, I would have a fire roaring in the fireplace… So I'm going to light a fire for Sunday's event.

It's free to join us, but you do need to register ahead of time. Also, note that though I'm not personalizing books via my local indie during the pandemic, you can purchase books through this event and get signed or personalized bookplates. But you need to do so pretty soon, so if you're interested, follow the links! Instructions for ordering are here.

My final event, on Monday at 6PM ET, will be a conversation with my agent Faye Bender, moderated by editor Andrew Karre, who is my new editor! So this conversation will certainly involve some publishing talk. This event is hosted by Books & Books and the Miami Book Fair. This event is free, but you do need to register ahead of time.

Finally, for those of you not on Twitter, I'll share some pictures of my Winterkeep-writing process. Here's a drawing I made on November 10, 2013, while I was planning this book while on a writing trip in Akureyri, Iceland. At the time, I'm pretty sure I imagined that this picture encapsulated the entire plot of the book. (Don't worry, there are no spoilers! Especially since most of the stuff didn't make it into the final draft…)

Next up, here's a picture from the first page of my first draft, started on April 21, 2014. I wanted to share this because at the top, I've written, "I am writing a book and today I will write 2 pages." That's something I learned from Linda Sue Park, who gave a speech about writing once years ago in which she talked about the emotional weight of trying to make progress through such a long and gigantic project. You don't sit down thinking to yourself, "I need to write this entire book." You sit down thinking to yourself, "today I will write two pages." When Linda Sue said those words, it changed my writing life. So much pressure disappeared! (By the way, if you enjoy seeing pictures of my notebook, you might like the detailed post I wrote about writing Bitterblue.) (Oh! And if you read that post, then read the writing carefully below, you will notice that ONCE AGAIN, I tried to write an earthquake into a book. Like the earthquake in Bitterblue, this Winterkeep earthquake did not make it through to the final draft. Why am I obsessed with earthquakes?)

Finally, years later — almost 3 years ago, in February of 2018 — I was far along in the writing process, but I still hadn't figured out what this place was called, what this book was called, what the undersea beast was called…. At a writing retreat with friends, I kidnapped this gigantic easel notepad thingamajig and started writing down possibilities. Everyone voted. You'll note that "Winterkeep" isn't even on this list (though some pretty silly things are; I wrote down every possibility, no matter how bad), but you'll also see that I was getting pretty close to "Winterkeep!" I don't remember exactly, but I must have come up with "Winterkeep" while we were at dinner one night, and everyone agreed it was the winner. (For a while after that, I was calling the book Winter Keeper, but when it came time to decide for sure, my team at Penguin decided to go with Winterkeep, so that the title would line up nicely with the other single-word Graceling Realm titles.)

And that's my Winterkeep update for today! I hope we'll get to see you at one of my upcoming events!

There's still time to register for my virtual book events happening today and tomorrow. For those of you who receive my blog post as emails, your email got weirdly cut off yesterday right before all the event information. You also missed some photos of my notebooks while I was writing Winterkeep. Sorry about that. For event details and to catch up on what you missed, please visit yesterday's post on my Blog Actual! http://kristincashore.blogspot.com/2021/01/winterkeep-ish-stuff-for-release-week.html

 Hi all,

Today I finished a draft of a brand-new writing project. I started it on December 14, which means that I wrote it faster than I've ever written anything. And though I already know a lot of its revision needs, and though the draft isn't really done (because I still have to transcribe an entire notebook of handwritten scribbles), and though I'm feeling that unsettled sense of not being sure yet where I'm going with it… And though I expect it to be a while before I can focus on it again… I feel hopeful about its potential. 

I've recently (maybe in the past year or so) entered a writing pocket that I call Less Angst. I don't think my writing is any better or worse than it ever was, but I'm enjoying the work more, and worrying about it less. I can probably list a lot of reasons for this, but I suspect the biggest factor is experience. The feelings of doubt and worry, anxiety because the book isn't right yet, uncertainty about how many attempts it will take to get it right… Those feelings have become so deeply familiar to me over the years. I think their familiarity is finally making them easier companions. They don't rock me the way they once did. It's really nice. And maybe this is temporary; maybe I'm in a sweet spot; but I'll take it while it lasts. ????

In other news, the release of Winterkeep went so very well, and now it's possible to watch videos of all my virtual book events online. Here are the links:

My conversation with Sarah Enni, hosted by Brookline Booksmith.

My conversation with Malinda Lo, moderated by Tui Sutherland, hosted by Mysterious Galaxy.

My conversation with agent Faye Bender, moderated by editor Andrew Karre, hosted by Books and Books.

I have a couple of podcast links to share as well:

My conversation with Sarah Enni on First Draft.

My conversation with Felicity on the Penguin Teen podcast, We Are YA.

I'm also delighted to announce that with the release of Winterkeep, the Graceling Realm hit both the Indie series bestseller list and the NYT series bestseller list, for which I am very grateful. ????

Finally, these days, most of my announcements and musings take place over on Twitter, which means that readers of the blog may be missing things… And I feel it's imperative that none of you miss being introduced to my writing companion, February Spiffington. I made him myself, using this sewing kit. Of course I substituted blue felt for his body, because naturally, like all Keepish foxes, he is not red, but blue.

Happy reading and writing, everyone!

Connie Willis's Doomsday Book is one of my favorite books, and also one of the best books ever written. It is a masterpiece.

It's also extremely sad, and happens to be about deadly epidemics. So I'll start by saying that depending on what you've experienced in the past year, this may not be the book for you right now. Alternately, it might be exactly the book for you right now. I think it depends on whether and how much you're grieving, whether you've been traumatized, and whether it helps you, as you process, to share those feelings with people inside a book. For me, this can be a touch-and-go sort of question… When is a book comforting, and when is it exacerbating my difficult feelings? I've read this book before, so I knew what I was getting into last week when I sat down to reread it. For me, it helped me access, and settle, my own overwhelmed, confused feelings from the last year. But I say that as a person who is not a COVID nurse or doctor and has not lost a loved one to COVID-19. I am, however, a person with PTSD. As such, I'd advise that if you've been spending anxious time at someone's sickbed — or not been allowed to spend time at their sickbed, only allowed to imagine it — or if you're one of the overworked caregivers — this might be a book to save for another time. Among other things, it contains a lot of graphic descriptions of human sickness and suffering. It also puts you inside the head of a character who's gradually being traumatized by the sadness and death around her. Please spare yourself, if that's not a good headspace for you right now. (This post, on the other hand, will contain no graphic descriptions, and I don't linger on the trauma.)

I'll also say that, maybe moreso than the other posts in my craft series, this post will contain some plot spoilers. Not all the plot spoilers! Willis does some excellent weaving that creates surprises for the reader I won't reveal. But it's impossible to talk about this book without revealing some important plot points. If you don't want to know, stop reading now. (If you're undecided, I can say that it's thrilling reading even if you know what's going to happen.)

First, a little background: The conceit of Connie Willis's time travel books (each of which is wonderful) is that in the mid-twenty-first century, historians in Oxford, England conduct fieldwork by traveling back in time to observe other eras. This is not the kind of time travel story we're all used to in which the plot hinges on the time traveler changing the course of history, or the story getting wound up in complicated paradoxes. The "net," which is the machine that makes time travel possible in this book, doesn't allow time travel that will alter the course of history. And though some of Willis's other time travel books do deal with the paradox issue (sometimes hilariously), that's not the point of Doomsday Book. This is a different kind of time travel book.

In Doomsday Book, Kivrin, a young Oxford historian in December 2054, is set to travel back to the Oxfordshire of December 1320, to observe the lives of the locals at Christmas in the Middle Ages. Unfortunately, on the very day of Kivrin's travel, a new influenza virus arises in 2054 Oxford, and the tech responsible for running Kivrin's travel coordinates (or, "getting the fix"), Badri Chaudhuri, falls ill. He doesn't know he's ill — no one knows Badri is ill — until it's too late. In the disorientation of his illness, Badri gets the coordinates jumbled, and Kivrin is accidentally sent to December 1348 — which is when the bubonic plague reached Oxfordshire. The circumstances of Kivrin's passage ensure that it's going to be difficult, if not impossible, to get her back to 2054. Kivrin is trapped.

The novel then alternates between 2054/55, where a frightening new influenza epidemic is arising, and 1348, where Kivrin is gradually coming to realize what's about to befall the people around her. Connecting the two timelines is an Oxford historian named Mr. Dunworthy, a deeply caring and pessimistic man who is desperately trying to figure out how to rescue Kivrin from her accidental fate, and bring her back to 2054/55. (For the sake of simplicity, I'm going to keep referring to the future timeline as 2054 from this point on, even though the year turns to 2055 partway through the novel.)

Incidentally, that plot twist I just casually revealed — the one where it turns out Kivrin is in the year 1348 instead of 1320 — isn't revealed to the reader until page 384. Willis's slow and brilliant pacing, her careful, drawn out reveal of the horror that has happened and the horror that's coming, is one of the magnificent accomplishments of this book. It's not what I'm planning to talk about today, though. In truth, I could write a long series of craft posts about "Things a Writer Could Learn from Doomsday Book." But today I'm going to single out one of the things I took from my latest reading: namely, her construction of parallel characters in separate timelines.

All page references are to the 1992 Bantam Books mass-market edition, though I've also listened to the 2008 Recorded Books audiobook narrated by Jenny Sterling, which is excellent (and deliciously long!).

Before I dive deep into Willis's construction of parallel characters, I want to speak more generally about the potential for parallels — echoes — inside a book, when that book takes place in multiple timelines. Many books do take place in more than one timeline, of course, whether or not they involve time travel! And there's so much you can do with that kind of structure. As you can imagine, life in Oxfordshire in 1348 is dramatically different from life in Oxford in 2054. But Willis weaves so many parallels into these two stories, big and small things, connecting them deftly, and showing us that some things never really change. I suppose the most obvious parallel in this particular book is the rise of disease. The less obvious is some of the fallout that follows the rise of disease, no matter the era: denial; fanaticism; racism and other prejudices; isolationism; depression and despair; depletion of supplies (yes, they are running out of toilet paper in 2054). She also sets these timelines in the same physical location, the Oxfords and Oxfordshires of 1348 and 2054 — the same towns, the same churches. Some of the physical objects from 1348 still exist in 2054. She sets both stories at Christmas, and we see that some of the traditions are the same. She also weaves the most beautiful web between timelines using bells, bellringers, and the significance of the sound of bells tolling. 

Simply by creating two timelines, then establishing that some objects, structures, and activities are the same and that some human behaviors are the same across the timelines, she can go on and tell two divergent plots, yet create echoes between them. These echoes give the book an internal resonance. (Are you starting to appreciate why it was so thematically smart for her to bring bells to the forefront of her story?) They also give the book a sense of timelessness. It becomes one of those masterworks that presents the best and worst of humanity in all times, for the reader to see and recognize. Epidemics lay us bare. In all times, people are bound by the limitations of their scientific knowledge. In all times, people (the good ones and the bad ones) struggle to find a bearable framework, a way to conceive of the horrors without succumbing to despair. And in all times, some people respond with kindness and generosity, working themselves to the bone in order to help others; and some people allow their fear to turn them into selfish, craven, unfeeling hypocrites, striking out at others in defense of themselves. By letting these echoes ring across the timelines of her book, Connie Willis captures her themes magnificently.

And now I'm going to focus on the echoes in her character-building: on the way she creates characters who are unique individuals, yet who strike the reader with extra force because of the ways they parallel each other across time. I'll offer a range of examples. Some are small, isolated moments in which characters from 1348 and 2054 perform similar activities. Some are people who have similar attitudes or spirits, even as they perform different roles. Most of them are loose parallels, drawn with a light touch. One of the parallels is quite clear and deep, two people who are characteristically similar, to the point where you feel like one could practically be the 2054 version of the other. This is one of Connie Willis's special skills: she draws her parallels lightly in some places, heavily in others, never hamfisted, none of them tied too tightly, all of them open to interpretation, and all of them reaching for her larger, more timeless themes about what it means to be human. 

 

Smaller Parallel Moments

I'll start with a few moments that are brief, but also plainly deliberate.

Here's one: There's a moment when Agnes, a five-year-old girl from 1348, tries to feed hay to the cow, but is clearly afraid of the cow. First she holds the hay out "a good meter from the cow's mouth" (304), then she throws the hay at the cow and runs to safety behind Kivrin's back. 

Skip ahead to page 551, where Colin Templer, a twelve-year-old boy from 2054, is trying to feed a horse. He offers "the horse a piece of grass from a distance of several feet. The starving animal lunged at it and Colin jumped back, dropping it" (551).

Moments like this are brief and might seem insignificant, but they do a lot of heavy lifting in the text. This particular parallel is funny, but also sad, because while Colin Templer is one of this book's bright gifts to the reader — he's incorrigible, he's funny, he lives — by the time we see him feeding that horse, Agnes has died of the plague.

Here's another detail that resonates within the book, and will also resonate with present-day readers: Both in 1348 and 2054, people with medical knowledge implore laypeople to please, please, put on their masks. (This happens here and there, but see pages 345 and 440 for a couple examples across timelines.)

And here's one last small behavioral parallel: In 2054 Oxford, Mr. Dunworthy's assistant, Mr. Finch, is stuck caring for a team of American bellringers trapped in the Oxford quarantine. The bellringers, who start out as pretty annoying characters, gradually begin to endear themselves to Finch (and to the reader), and Finch begins to practice bellringing with them. He gains a true appreciation for how heavy the bells are and how challenging the art of bellringing is. Then we see the bellringers begin to come down with the influenza, and cease to be able to ring their bells (Chapters 21 and 24). 

At the very end of the book, this is echoed when Kivrin, still in 1348, is trying to toll the church bell to send the souls of the dead to heaven, and Mr. Dunworthy, who's traveled back in time to find her, is trying to help her. She's injured. He's having an influenza relapse. Between them, they can barely manage it (pages 566-567). The physical challenges of bellringing connect across time.

Broader Character Parallels

There are also some broader parallels drawn between characters, especially between characters' roles in their respective pandemics. For example: In Oxford 2054, Dr. Mary Ahrens is at the head of the effort to locate the source of the influenza, sequence it, and find a vaccine. She cares for her patients tirelessly. Her 1348 parallel is Father Roche, who of course has none of her scientific knowledge, but has a similar fervent devotion to helping other people. Roche hardly sleeps in his efforts to care for his parishioners as they fall sick with the plague. 

The reader cares deeply for both of these characters, probably because of their tireless competence and their selfless dedication to other people. When first, Dr. Ahrens dies of the influenza, and then, Father Roche dies of the plague, it is, at least for this reader, the book's most heartbreaking echo.

I'll note that one of the things that makes this parallel so effective is that it doesn't map perfectly. Dr. Ahrens and Father Roche are drastically different in their approaches — one is pure science and one pure religious faith — and also, they aren't each other's only character parallels. Kivrin, too, tirelessly cares for the plague victims in 1348, with a lot more scientific knowledge than Father Roche has. In 2054, many different kinds of doctors and nurses are caring for lots of patients, in lots of different ways. Twelve-year-old Colin is also caring for people, in his cheerful and forthright way. Mr. Dunworthy's overburdened and tireless assistant, Mr. Finch, is constantly in the background of the 2054 timeline, moving mountains to turn college halls into infirmaries, find food and supplies for everyone stuck in quarantine, and care for the American bellringers. A lot of varying people step up to become caretakers, differing from each other and paralleling each other in all kinds of fluid and inexact ways.

Also, the book is chock-full of characters who don't necessarily map onto parallels with anyone, but have other important functions in the book. In 2054, a young Oxford student named William is having liaisons with practically every female nurse and student in the quarantine perimeter. Also in 2054, archaeologist Lupe Montoya is excavating a historic site nearby. A secret love story is unfolding between a married woman named Eliwys and her husband's servant, Gawyn, in 1348. Also in 1348, Rosemund, Agnes's twelve-year-old sister, is struggling with her obligation to marry a leering older man. All of this character development matters, but often for purposes other than creating echoes and resonance. 

When done well, this kind of layered, complicated character development — some characters paralleling others, some not, and each character having more than one function in the text — goes a long way toward making a fictional world feel real. It also allows the author to touch on themes without beating them to death. And yet, sometimes this kind of light touch is one of the hardest things for a writer to achieve. In my experience as a writer who often writes complicated plots, it isn't until later drafts of a book, when my structure is more solidly in place, that I finally have the space to sit back, breathe, and look for places where I can create little connections, or spots where I'm pushing a theme too hard.

Deeper Parallels: Mr. Gilchrist and Lady Imeyne

There's one character parallel in this book that I find to be drawn with a heavier pen, and appropriately so.

In 2054, Mr. Gilchrist is the acting head of the History Faculty. Self-important, self-righteous, ignorant about how time travel works, and focused on his own glory, he supervises Kivrin's travel to the Middle Ages with little care for Kivrin's safety. Ultimately, it's largely Mr. Gilchrist's fault that Kivrin ends up in such a dangerous and traumatizing place, and gets stuck there. 

When Gilchrist's culpability becomes clear, he blames and threatens everyone else. For example, when the tech, Badri, collapses onto the net consul, clearly ill, Gilchrist decides, out of nowhere, that Badri must be a drug user. Here's the way he talks (to Mr. Dunworthy): "You can't wait to inform [actual head of the History Faculty] Basingame of what you perceive to be Mediaeval's failure, can you?… In spite of the fact that it was your tech who has jeopardized this drop by using drugs, a fact of which you may be sure I will inform Mr. Basingame on his return…. I'm certain Mr. Basingame will also be interested in hearing that it was your failure to have your tech screened that's resulted in this drop being jeopardized…. It seems distinctly odd that after being so concerned about the precautions Mediaeval was taking that you wouldn't take the obvious precaution of screening your tech for drugs..." (64-65). Agh. Every time he opens his mouth, he says something pompous, repetitive, obnoxious, and untrue.

In 1348, Lady Imeyne is part of the household where Kivrin ends up living. Self-important, self-righteous, sanctimonious, selfish, and ignorant, she ignores the imprecations of wiser people, and, for the sake of her own status, invites visitors to the household — who turn out to be carrying the plague. It is essentially Lady Imeyne's doing that the plague comes to her town. 

When this becomes clear, Lady Imeyne blames everyone else. While others in the household are working themselves to exhaustion trying to care for the sick, she kneels in the corner, ignoring the need for help, and praying. "Your sins have brought this," she tells her daughter-in-law Eliwys, the one who's in love with her own husband's servant (432). Later, she turns on kind, patient Father Roche. "You have brought this sickness," she says. "It is your sins have brought the sickness here." Then she begins to list his sins: "He said the litany for Martinmas on St. Eusebius's Day. His alb is dirty…. He put the candles out by pinching them and broke the wicks" (444).

"She's trying to justify her own guilt," Kivrin thinks. "She can't bear the knowledge that she helped bring the plague here"… But Kivrin can't summon up any pity. "You have no right to blame Roche, she thought, he has done everything he can. And you've knelt in a corner and prayed." (444-445). Similarly, Mr. Dunworthy sees right through Mr. Gilchrist, even at one point considering him Kivrin's murderer (484).

Mr. Gilchrist and Lady Imeyne are UNBEARABLE. They're the characters in this book that you most hate, or at least that I do — maybe especially in 2020/21, when we're plagued in real life by dangerous people like them. Later, in possibly the book's most satisfying moment, we learn that Gilchrist has died of the influenza. The book doesn't revel in his death; none of the characters revel. But I sure do. Good riddance, you harmful, self-important, lying hypocrite. This is one of fiction's safe spaces: the intense, guilt-free satisfaction of an asshole being punished.

Similarly, Lady Imeyne dies of the plague. It's a relief. But it's also a bit harder to revel, because with the exception of Kivrin, who's immune, every character in the 1348 timeline dies of the plague. Every single character. It is so desperately sad, not least because it's exactly what happened in 1348. As the book reminds us repeatedly, entire towns were wiped out. There was no one left to toll the bells, or bury the dead. No one is left but Kivrin. Our hearts break for her.

I'm glad that Connie Willis teases out the parallel between Mr. Gilchrist and Lady Imeyne more than she does with a lot of the other character parallels. I think it's important; I think that these two characters embody a clear and recognizable type of human who will always exist in eras of human suffering. I'm relieved she kills them; and I'm relieved she doesn't kill everyone we love. In particular, she doesn't kill Mr. Dunworthy and she doesn't kill Kivrin… Which leads me to one last powerful character parallel in this book.

 

Mr. Dunworthy and Kivrin, God and Jesus

This character parallel is in a different category from the others. It doesn't stretch across the 1348 and 2054 timelines, or not exactly, anyway. It exists on a different plane: It's a parallel between the story of Mr. Dunworthy and Kivrin, and the story of God sending his son, Jesus, down to earth to live among humans.

The people of 1348 believe the story of God sending his son down to earth. They believe it literally; it's one of their guiding principles. Kivrin, Mr. Dunworthy, and many of the people of 2054 do not believe that story in the literal sense. Kivrin and Mr. Dunworthy don't believe in God. 

And yet, there are times when the vocal recordings Kivrin is making for historical purposes begin to sound like pleas to God: "Over fifty percent of the village has it. Please don't let Eliwys get it. Or Roche" (467). "You bastard! I will not let you take her. She's only a child. But that's your specialty, isn't it? Slaughtering the innocents? You've already killed the steward's baby and Agnes's puppy and the boy who went for help when I was in the hut, and that's enough. I won't let you kill her, too, you son of a bitch! I won't let you!" (493). 

And Father Roche, who finally reveals to Kivrin that on the day she arrived, he saw the net open and Kivrin appear, believes with all his heart that Kivrin is a saint, sent by God to help his parishioners in their time of need. "I feared that God would forsake us utterly," he says, as he's dying. "But in His great mercy He did not… But sent His saint unto us." He says, "Yet have you saved me… From fear.… And unbelief" (542-543). He means what he says. Kivrin's ministrations to the sick and to Roche do save him from despair.

And back in the Oxford of 2054, Dunworthy lies sick in his hospital bed, considering Kivrin, whom he's sent to a terrible place. As a rather unbearable character named Mrs. Gaddson stands at his bedside "helpfully" reading him Bible verses, Dunworthy thinks to himself, "God didn't know where His Son was.... He had sent His only begotten Son into the world, and something had gone wrong with the fix, someone had turned off the net, so that He couldn't get to him, and they had arrested him and put a crown of thorns on his head and nailed him to a cross…. Kivrin would have no idea what had happened. She would think she had the wrong place or the wrong time, that she had lost count of the days somehow during the plague, that something had gone wrong with the drop. She would think they had forsaken her" (475).

I love the questions these moments raise for the reader. Who represents what here? What is God, really? Why, when Badri became ill, did the net send Kivrin to that particular time? Who, or what, are we talking to, when we shout our fury to the universe? Maybe Mr. Dunworthy, sending historians into the past from his lab in Oxford, is a kind of god. And maybe Kivrin is a kind of Jesus, or a kind of saint. Maybe Father Roche has the right idea when he believes what he believes, even if he has some of the particulars wrong.

Near the very end, Kivrin speaks into her recorder addressing Mr. Dunworthy: "It's strange. When I couldn't find the drop and the plague came, you seemed so far away I would not ever be able to find you again. But I know now that you were here all along, and that nothing, not the Black Death nor seven hundred years, nor death nor things to come nor any other creature could ever separate me from your caring and concern. It was with me every minute" (544).

And then, with great difficulty, Mr. Dunworthy comes for Kivrin. He finds her in 1348, heartbroken and surrounded by the dead, and he brings her back home. "I knew you'd come," Kivrin says (578). There's a way in which the justified faith of these characters — Father Roche's faith in God's saint Kivrin, and Kivrin's faith in Mr. Dunworthy's care — show the reader that even in the darkest, most death-ridden times, love doesn't forsake us.

That's a pretty timeless theme. 

***

If you've made it to the end of my post about character parallels in Connie Willis's magnificent Doomsday Book, I hope I've given you a sense of what a powerful tool this can be. It's pretty closely related to some of my other writing lessons here on the blog. Creating webs like Tiffany D. Jackson did in Monday's Not Coming; creating connections like Victor LaValle did in The Changeling. Writing is often about finding the internal connections that'll best support the themes of the story you're trying to tell. I think that especially if your book takes place in multiple timelines, character parallels can go a long way!

Usually I end my craft posts with a photo showing the book filled with post-it flags from my careful rereading, but this time around, I reread by listening to the audiobook. My paper copy is flag-free — but I took eight pages of notes while I was listening! So here's a different photo of my process.

 

Listening like a writer.

 

 

 

Hi everybody.

The question I get most is: "Where do you get your ideas?"

Generally, when I'm asked this question, it's at a book event where it's difficult to answer, because… Well, the answer is long, and complicated, and hard to pin down, and most of the time, I don't really remember how it happened. When an idea starts to arrive, I get to work. I'm not paying attention to how it's happening, or how it would look to an outsider. 

But — a few weeks ago, a new book idea started knocking on the door of my mind. And this time, I decided to pay attention!

What follows is probably the most detailed explanation I'll ever give of where my ideas come from. More specifically, where this particular idea came from, because it's not always the same. But my experience of the past few weeks has been fairly typical for me, and I'll add that there are a few activities I need to engage in every single time, if I want an idea to take root. Namely: PATIENCE. LISTENING. And, LABOR. Book ideas require a certain honed receptiveness, and they require a LOT OF WORK. 

I'm yelling because I'm trying to push back against the idea that ideas simply come to writers. Yes, some parts of ideas come to writers. But when I first get a book idea, what "comes to me" probably comprises about 0.1% of what could properly be called a book idea. Often, it's little more than an inchoate feeling. With patience, listening, and labor, I transform the idea into something I can grasp, and work with.

I'll add that yes, we do hear sometimes of writers whose ideas "simply came to them," fully formed. I'm going to take a guess that (1) this doesn't happen very often, if ever, with books that have complicated structures or plots, and (2) writers who are blessed by ideas in this way probably have a long-honed practice of receptiveness.

Anyway. Warning upfront that this may be a little unstructured, because the process is a little unstructured. It's challenging to describe, and I'm still in the middle of it. But here's what my last few weeks have been like.

A few weeks ago, while watching a TV show that had a certain mood/aura that'd really sucked me in, I found myself drawn to the idea of a story involving three characters. I'm not going to tell you what TV show I was watching, and I'm not going to tell you anything about my three characters, because story ideas are intensely, intensely private. The first time I say anything publicly about it will probably be years from now, if and when this book is ever scheduled for release. But let me try to explain a bit about that moment when the first glimmering of the idea appeared. 

Like I said, I'd been watching a TV show when it happened. But my three characters weren't characters in that TV show. Nor did anyone in that TV show relate to each other the way my three characters seemed to want to relate. Nor did my three characters seem to live in a world like the world of the TV show. The TV show helped to launch the idea at me because of the show's mood and its feeling, and how much I cared about the people in it. But my idea? As is often the case, my idea came from something I saw missing in the TV show. Not missing because there was a flaw in the TV writers' story; I loved their story! But missing (for me and possibly only me) because their story was not the story I would have told.

I think that a lot of my idea seeds come from my adoration of other people's stories, but also from my noticing what's missing in those stories, for me. What story I would've like to have seen told; what characters the story lacked.

Anyway. So this idea of these three characters came to me. But when I say "idea of these three characters," already that sounds more substantial than it was. I knew they were three humans (or humanoids; I didn't know what genre the story was, so they could've been aliens on another planet, for all I knew. In fact, I actively considered whether they might have different biology than ours). I knew they cared about each other, but I didn't know in what way. I knew they were facing a challenge that would strain all of their relationships. I thought they might be grown-ups, but I wasn't sure. I thought I knew at least two of their genders, but I wasn't sure. I knew they lived in a world with magic, but I didn't know what "magic" meant in the context of their world. I didn't know where they lived, or when they lived (past? future? futuristic past? postindustrial future? any of about a hundred other possibilities). I knew a whole lot of things that the characters weren't, and that the world wasn't — which is another way of saying that my sense of what this story was was actually more defined by all the things I knew it wasn't. (Apologies if this is vague. I'm not being intentionally vague! I'll try for some concrete examples: I knew I didn't want to write a story where partway through, someone suddenly discovers they have an inborn power they didn't know they had. I knew I didn't want to write a love triangle. There's a certain kind of high-handed fantasy tone that I knew wasn't right for this story. But I didn't know what I did want yet at this point.)

Really, all I knew was that I seemed to be having an idea.

So, like a writer, I did what I needed to do: 

• I made space in my mind for receptiveness. (I scheduled uninterruptable alone time. I stopped listening to podcasts while I was out walking, and instead, just walked, so my mind could wander. I put aside non-urgent tasks for a while so that I didn't have the feeling of a to-do list hanging over my head. I gave myself permission to wool-gather, to become vague and absent-minded. I set three timers any time I cooked anything so I could feel free to forget I was cooking, but also not burn the house down. I remembered to thank my husband frequently for being willing to live with a space cadet.)
• I thought about what fertilizer might help the idea to grow, especially fertilizer in the form of books, TV, and movies. I put all other books, TV, and movies aside. (I kept watching that same TV show, and I also began reading almost exclusively one writer who had a narrative tone — and also subject matter — that helped me sustain a mood that felt concurrent with the mood of my own idea. Why does this kind of intake help? It keeps my mind in a story space, while also giving me something to bounce my own ideas off of. It's a kind of reading, or watching, that involves a state of constant interactivity and reactivity. Everything I'm consuming becomes about something else that I'm looking for. It's difficult to explain, maybe because it gets back to that inexplicable moment when new ideas form.)
• I made sure that every single time I had any new thoughts relating to my idea, I wrote them down. (This meant making reminders on my phone; sending strings of emails to myself; choosing a notebook where I began to jot things down; sending texts to myself on my husband's phone, if his phone was closer to hand than mine.)
• I looked at my schedule to give myself a sense of if and when I might have a few days soon to put my current writing project aside and give some true, devoted time to this new idea. (I was, and still am, in the middle of revisions of the next Graceling Realm book when this happened, and that was, and still is, my absolute first priority. As exciting and intense as a new idea can be, it can't unseat me from my current object of devotion.)

By chance, last week, I did in fact have some time away from my revision while it was briefly with my editor. I was able to devote an entire week to the new book idea. So, next, I'll try to describe what a week of intense idea-gathering looks like for me! (Though I should say that this will differ from book to book. It's been pretty clear to me from the beginning that this new idea is going to be slow to grow — planning this book will take way more than a week. In contrast, last fall, I found myself with a new and sudden book idea that coincided with the end of another project, so I had some free time and was able to sit down and hammer out the entire book plan, which took only a few days. I think this is because that book was shorter and less emotionally complicated than this new book will be, and was set in a less complex world. Also, at the time, I was absolutely thrumming with the adrenaline and momentum of having just finished a writing project, so book-planning became a way to channel that energy. Often these processes are subject to whatever else is going on in my life.)

So. My week of intense idea-gathering looked a lot like what I've already described — reading, watching TV, but now also with long hours of sitting staring at a blank page and/or lying on my back staring at the ceiling — but with a more specific goal. Namely, I was trying to figure out what my main questions were. For me, every book starts (and continues, as I write) with an extremely long list of questions that I'm trying to find the answers to, but it takes work to figure out what the questions are. The questions can be very different from book to book. And it's essential, at the beginning, to identify what the main questions are.

When I'm first idea-gathering, I use very short notebooks in which I scribble down all my random thoughts as they come (I like using these twenty-page notebooks from Laughing Elephant, because they're short enough not to feel intimidatingly important). Then I have one longer, thicker notebook which is for my more coherent thoughts — my more serious book planning. During my week of active idea-gathering, I came up with the following list of major questions, worthy of being written down in my thick, "serious" planning notebook:

MAJOR QUESTIONS.

• What is magic?
• How does bad human behavior manifest in this world? (for real *)
• Where/what culture does each of them come from? What family?
• How is society governed?
• Who is each of them — as a person and as a power manifestation?
• How is the narrative positioned?
• What is the plot?
• How do humans relate to the rest of the natural world?
• What is gender? (for real *)

* and by societal definition

So. I'm not sure how closely you looked at those questions — but they are pretty gigantic questions! It took me a week to identify all of them. It's going to take me much, much longer to answer them. Which goes back to my point that ideas don't just "come to me." The merest seed of an idea might come to me, and after that, I make the space, and do the work.

As I began to hammer out my questions, I continued to read, watch things, and wool-gather, but with more intense focus. Because now I was also trying to answer these questions as they came. It was interesting to observe the order in which I began to find the answers. Not surprisingly, probably since my novels tend to be character-based, it was the character-based questions that drew me in first. “What is gender" in particular, because I have a sense that in this story, my characters' relationships to gender are absolutely integral to who they are, and I can’t get very far with a book plan if I don’t know who my characters are. I also started to gather some clues about their personalities and their strengths. Enough that after a couple of days, I got to the point where I suddenly knew I needed their names. Names ground everything, and they can also change some things; at a certain point, I can't make any further progress without names. I spent one entire day last week mostly just trying to figure out three people's names. Once I had the names, I was able to return to my questions.

Then, not too long after that, a moment arose where I knew, again quite suddenly, that what I needed next was at least the broad strokes of a plot. If I’m a little scornful about the concept of inspiration — because it’s a concept that dismisses how hard I work! — I do believe in intuition, and also in experience. Intuition and experience told me that I'd reached the point in my planning where the needs of my plot would hold the answer to a lot of my other questions. Like, how this place is governed; what constitutes bad behavior; and even some character things, like what culture each of my characters is from. Sometimes, once you know what needs to happen in a story, it becomes easier to picture the structure of your world. Because a plot comes with needs; once a plot exists, it limits some of your other options. For example, let's say your plot involves a particular kind of government-based corruption. Well, thinking about that corruption will probably start to show you some of your options for the structure of the government. Once you know the structure of the government, you might begin to understand who holds governmental power — which can lead to answers about how families are structured. Which can lead to answers about culture, which can lead to answers about the societal definition of bad behavior, etc.

So. I reached the point where I needed at least a sense of my plot. But: plotting is a HUGE job. I knew it wasn't something I could do in just a few days, and at this point I also knew that I was going to need to return to my revision soon. So, intuition told me that it was time to stop. Not stop being receptive; not necessarily stop reading or watching the helpful things; not stop sending myself emails, texts, and reminders; but stop trying to make any real, meaty, major progress on this book idea. I needed to save the job of plotting for when I next had a stretch of uninterrupted worktime. Maybe another free week or two somewhere, between other projects.

So, I did some final organizing of my notebook. I transferred things into it from other notebooks and I designating a huge number of empty pages in it for future plot thoughts and future character thoughts. I did this even though in this book, as in most of my books, I sense that character and plot will ultimately end up being the same thing, so it's not going to matter much which thoughts I file where. (In other words, most of my plot is going to spring from who my characters are, and many of my characters will spring from the needs of the plot.) But at this messy stage in planning, it's important to me to feel organized. The illusion of organization stops me from feeling as overwhelmed as I probably should be feeling. So I label things, and delude myself that I can contain this messy process inside a nice neat notebook ????. 

I organized my notebook, and then I put it aside. Today I'm still open to thoughts about my new book idea, but it's not my entire worklife anymore... it's more of a promise for the future. It'll probably be good to have it simmering on the back burner for a while. I'll be able to approach it with a new freshness when I sit down with it again one day.

So. I'm not sure how satisfyingly I've answered the question "Where do you get your ideas?" After all, this idea is still very much in progress. I figured out a lot of stuff last week, but mostly what I figured out is a long list of all the things I don't know yet. There will be many, many more workweeks to go before I'll be able to claim that I truly have an idea for a book. 

But this is my best shot at an answer to the question of where my ideas come from! I guess the point I want to convey is this: I don’t necessarily believe in inspiration. But I believe that sometimes a writer will start to get the merest sense of a story that's missing from the world, and find herself wanting to write that story. At that point, if circumstance allows her the time and space to enter a state that is extremely internally-focused and possibly involves a lot of intake (reading, watching other stories), or if not that, at least an extreme level of sensitivity and receptiveness, of seeing, of listening... And if she puts in the work… her idea-seed will start to take root, and grow into a real, workable idea that might one day be the beginnings of a book! 

And of course, every writer does this differently. Many writers don't plan or plot ahead of time. They figure out the idea as they write. So there's no right or wrong way to do it. 

But this is my best explanation of how I do it.

Godspeed to all writers.

Just a note to those readers who receive my blog post via email: The service that provides this, Feedburner, is shutting down in a couple of weeks, so I'm going to be migrating my subscribers to a new service. If you get an email from me in the next couple of weeks, please pay attention, because you may need to reconfirm your subscription with the new service! 

Thanks, and stay tuned!

Hi again everyone,

Just an announcement that I think I've successfully migrated all email subscribers to a new working email service (MailChimp). I tried my best to transfer all verified subscribers to the new list -- and not to transfer any unverified subscribers. Time will tell whether this blog post goes out successfully as an email. (There's a box in the dropdown menu on the left of my homepage for anyone who wants to subscribe to my blog posts via email.) 

If there are problems with the new service, I expect I'll realize it pretty soon, and I promise I'll do my utmost to rectify them quickly. Apologies in advance if anything goes amiss! 

In the meantime, I have another craft post planned, and a few other thinky posts too. So, more soon. Thanks for your patience with all of this, everyone!

Here are a few organizations that need our support right now: 

Fund Texas Choice. A nonprofit organization funding abortion travel for people in Texas. 

Frontera Fund. Making abortion accessible for people in the Rio Grande Valley. 

Clinic Access Support Network. Providing transportation, lodging, emotional support, and more to those seeking abortion care in Houston, TX. 

Bridge Collective. A full spectrum doula collective, nonprofit organization based in Austin, TX. 

The Afiya Center. An advocacy organization based in Dallas, TX, dedicated to transforming the lives of Black womxn and girls through reproductive justice. 

Texas Equal Access Fund. Providing financial and emotional support to people seeking abortion care in the north, east, and panhandle regions of Texas. 

Lilith Fund. Financial assistance, emotional support, and building community spaces for people who need abortions in Texas — unapologetically, with compassion and conviction. 

West Fund. Working to make abortions accessible and affordable to people in West Texas. 

Thank you to the folks at @FundTexasChoice who helped me compile this list.

 

 

Hi everyone,

I’m deep into revising the next Graceling Realm book (starring Hava), which is why I haven’t been here on the blog. It’s also why over on Twitter, mostly I’ve just been tweeting pictures of candles. I am Very Absorbed. Also, we moved to a new apartment last month. Also life. Also the pandemic and self-care. I hope you’re doing well.

Gareth Hinds’s adaptation of the Graceling graphic novel comes out in November! He's been tweeting some lovely stuff on Twitter, and Graceling: the Graphic Novel is now available for pre-order wherever books are sold. Including at your local indie.

I’ll be back when there’s more news and/or when I have a minute for blogging, whichever comes first.  Until then, leaving you with a few of my recent candles…

 

Hi everyone! Just checking in with a nice announcement: I am once again signing/personalizing books via my local indie, Harvard Book Store. 

I no longer live around the corner from the store, so I expect to go in for signing and personalizing only about once a month or so — so please order ahead if you anticipate wanting something! Once I have more info about holiday deadlines, I'll come back and blog about that. In the meantime, feel free to go ahead and start ordering. Here is the link: https://shop.harvard.com/kristin-cashore-signed-copies. 

Notice the instructions at the top: When checking out, indicate in the comments field that you would like a signed copy. Include any personalization you'd like as well. I'm happy to honor requests to wish someone a happy birthday, good luck with their writing, etc., but please do note that if you ask me to write something I'm not comfortable signing my name to (!), I won't honor those requests. (Yes, I've occasionally been asked to write some head-scratchers...) ????

Hope everybody is doing well. I'll be back very soon with info about upcoming online events for Gareth Hinds' graphic novel adaptation of Graceling, which releases on November 16! And now I'll send you off with a picture from today, in Mount Auburn Cemetery.

Hi again folks. Just announcing some upcoming events for the release of Gareth Hinds' graphic novel adaptation of Graceling:

Today, Gareth Hinds's beautiful graphic novel adaptation of Graceling hits stores. Join us for an event! Here's a link to all your options.

Just after the New Year, I spent some time in Vermont.

I go to Vermont to write, but ever since the start of the pandemic, I also go there for some clarity of thought. Sometimes it's easier to figure out how you're doing if you can get some distance from everything. Where I go, I have no cell service, internet, or email. I keep my fingers crossed that when I arrive, I won't discover frozen pipes. I haul a lot of wood (so much wood! Wood is heavy!). I start a fire in the stove and hole up for a while, blessed with the great good fortune to be allowed to turn briefly into a hermit.

Occasionally I'm able to talk to Kevin on the phone, and our conversations go something like this: Hi! How have you been? Could you please tell me the names of Henry VIII's wives in order and also which ones were executed? 

Because, again, I have no internet. So I keep a running list of all the things I've been wondering. And when you're listening to the audiobook of Wolf Hall while staring out the window,

sometimes you realize you want some spoilers. (The answer, if you're interested: (1) Catherine of Aragon. (2) Anne Boleyn, beheaded. (3) Jane Seymour. (4) Anne of Cleves. (5) Catherine Howard, beheaded. (6) Catherine Parr.) 

So anyway, I went to Vermont at the New Year. In previous years, I've loved the New Year. It's been a time of reflection and planning for me, a time to find balance and reconsider my intentions. Since the start of the pandemic, I've lost that New Year ritual to a certain extent, because time and its passage have gotten quite confusing. It doesn't seem possible, for example, that Winterkeep was released in 2021. Wasn't that eons ago? But also, I finalized a new book in 2021 (more on that, as soon as I'm allowed to say more) and am more than halfway through writing a new one, plus I have three other ideas begging to be written. How is that possible? Hasn't it been only a year? Didn't time used to be less springy than this? How old am I anyway? Did winter always used to make me this emotional? Why did I used to dislike my gray hair and now I love it? Why did I ever, EVER, put up with itchy tags in my clothes before now? Have my hands always been this cold? When will I see my friends' faces again?

It's really hard to sum up my last year and make plans for the next. I'm thinking in mushy blobs of time, rather than weeks, months, or years. But I am still hoping and planning. 

Here are three plans I have for the nearish future:

1. I will finish a draft of a new, contemporary book that I'm currently loving writing. (I actually think this will happen this spring!)

2. I will unveil a website. Finally, after more than a decade, I've hired someone to build me a website! I'm having so, so much fun making my own art for it. I think this will get sorted this summer.

3. I will make some strides in a project currently occupying me and some other family members: dual USA-Italian citizenship.

These are my plans. Of course, every new piece of news and frankly the world in general can gum up the works pretty easily these days. So, we'll see how everything goes. I'm trying to learn flexibility.

I hope you're able to find some flexibility too, and also some clarity of thought, as we move through the New Year.

I'm so very happy to announce that my next Graceling Realm book, Seasparrow, will release on November 1, 2022. Scroll down for my beautiful covers in the US and the UK! I'll also include links for pre-ordering at the bottom of this post.

Seasparrow is told from the point of view of Hava, Queen Bitterblue's secret sister and spy, who has the Grace of changing what you think you see when you look at her. In other words, the Grace of hiding in plain sight. In Seasparrow, Hava sails across the sea toward Monsea with her sister, the royal entourage, and the world's only copies of the formulas for the zilfium weapon Hava saved at the end of Winterkeep. As in all of my books, adventure ensues — the kind of adventure that will cause Hava to do some soul-searching. While Bitterblue grapples with how to carry the responsibility of a weapon that will change the world, Hava has a few mysteries to solve — and a decision to make about who she wants to be in the new world Bitterblue will build. Seasparrow was edited by Andrew Karre. Thank you, Andrew, for helping me help Hava find her wings!

Prior to today, I've only been talking about this book on Twitter, where I don't have a lot of space to say meaningful things. I have space on this blog, so here are a few non-spoilery bits of info about Seasparrow.

* Unlike my other Graceling Realm books, this one is told from the first-person point of view. Why? Because it was right for this book. Hava is a character who's so internal that often other people don't even know she's there. I suppose I can't entirely explain why, when I started writing, I knew I needed to write in first person, but maybe it's because in order to write about Hava, I needed to get deep inside, where she was. I don't think I've ever written a book from the perspective of someone so hidden before. And yet, from the start, Hava let me in. It felt like she was the one making the decision about what point of view we needed.

* Though the page count is higher (624!), the word count is not higher than any of my other Graceling Realm books. That's because Hava's story is told in a lot of pretty short chapters. That felt right for Hava and the way she processes things; again, it felt like she was the one making this decision. Short chapters have a way of creating a sense of empty space inside a printed book, which is an effect I've always liked, so I went with it.

* The interior art that Ian Schoenherr created for Seasparrow is spectacular. Maybe more than any of my books prior to this, I'm excited for the day when I'll have the finished product in my hands.

* Four years ago, I spent some time in the Arctic on a tall ship. I planned this book while I was on that trip. I started writing it the moment I got back. I could not have written this book were it not for my experience doing an artist residency with the organization The Arctic Circle. Here's a link to the blog posts I wrote about my Arctic experience, which are mostly compilations of pictures. Click on "More Posts" at the bottom to see them all.

 

And now for the covers! Here's the US/Canada cover for Seasparrow, which will be published by Dutton/Penguin Random House. Kuri Huang is the cover artist. Jessica Jenkins is the cover designer. And as I've already said, the interior will include beautiful art by Ian Schoenherr.

 

And here is the UK/Australia/New Zealand cover for Seasparrow. My editor at Gollancz is Gillian Redfearn. Micaela Alcaino is the cover artist and Tomás Almeida is the in-house designer.

Finally, here are some direct pre-ordering links! Seasparrow can be ordered in the US at:

Bookshop.org

barnesandnoble.com

Target

Amazon

 

And in the UK at:

UK.Bookshop.org

Waterstones

Blackwells

 

...and wherever books are sold.

 

Happy holiday weekend for those celebrating. And happy reading!

 
Pessimists Archive (@PessimistsArc) 2022-12-06 02:10:29 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/PessimistsArc/status/1599949368857350146

GPT-3 on the history of panic about automation taking jobs





Pessimists Archive (@PessimistsArc) 2022-12-06 02:19:52 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/PessimistsArc/status/1599951729696514049





Vladislav (@zd_vladislav) 2022-12-06 17:22:18 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/zd_vladislav/status/1600178835437150222

Либертарианцы уже несколько лет говорят, что значительная часть западной номенклатуры - друзья российской власти, а не общества.
За это нас поливали говном все - от журналистов, которые всё понимают, до одураченных ими болванчиков.
Теперь все делают вид, что всегда это знали.



Vladislav (@zd_vladislav) 2022-12-06 17:27:02 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/zd_vladislav/status/1600180026472730624

И так каждый раз. С локдаунами и вакцинами, с твиттером и демпартией.
Если кто-то говорит что-то, во что не хочет верить болванчик - значит, у тебя с головой не в порядке.
Как только это что-то становится для болванчика очевидным, его мозг делает вид что всегда это понимал.



Vladislav (@zd_vladislav) 2022-12-06 17:31:58 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/zd_vladislav/status/1600181266397032448

Но самое смешное - это то, что болванчик, потребляющий контент журналистов и спикеров, которые транслируют выгодные для себя и приятные для болванчика вещи из альтернативной реальности - уверен, что отказался от пропаганды ????



Al Dragon (@aldragon_net) 2022-12-06 17:33:46 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/aldragon_net/status/1600181717465468929

Происходящее вокруг нейросетей очень напоминает финал Portal, в котором Челл по одному отбивает от GLaDOS отвечающие за разные функции модули и слушает их болтовню, пока тащит их в огонь Экстренного Уничтожителя. Только модули отбиваются от определения человеческого интеллекта.



Al Dragon (@aldragon_net) 2022-12-06 17:33:46 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/aldragon_net/status/1600181719973343233

Я такой старый, что помню, как на полном серьезе писались фразы «со способным обыграть человека в шахматы компьютером, безусловно, будет о чем поговорить». Угу, примерно как с ножом, способным открыть банку консервов.

СОЖЖЕНО.



Al Dragon (@aldragon_net) 2022-12-06 17:33:47 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/aldragon_net/status/1600181722393427968

Помню, как долго в качестве принципиально недосягаемой для компьютера вершины выступала Го.

Помню, как автоматические переводчики превращались из неиссякаемого источника анекдотов в очень далекий от идеала, но вполне рабочий инструмент.

ГОРИ-ГОРИ ЯСНО.



Al Dragon (@aldragon_net) 2022-12-06 17:33:47 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/aldragon_net/status/1600181725195280385

«Робот превратит кусок холста в шедевр искусства?». Да по всему выходит, что даже лучше справится. По крайней мере, я никогда не сталкивался с тем, чтобы внезапно вся лента оказывалась в прерафаэлитах, Дали или Гигере.

ГОРИ ОГНЁМ.



Al Dragon (@aldragon_net) 2022-12-06 17:33:48 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/aldragon_net/status/1600181727431122944

Теперь вот мы к жерлу Экстренного Уничтожителя Человеческой Уникальности несём способность к созданию длинных связных текстов.

…как вообще это можно было считать признаком интеллекта; ну ладно Юдковский, он автодидакт и курсовых не писал, но остальные-то?



Al Dragon (@aldragon_net) 2022-12-06 17:33:48 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/aldragon_net/status/1600181729674768385

(Приходите, когда нейросеть заебашит забойный ничего не пародирующий твит. Причем олдскульный, на 140 символов).

(Да я понимаю, что через полгода придёте).



Al Dragon (@aldragon_net) 2022-12-06 17:33:49 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/aldragon_net/status/1600181732048715776

Ядро GLaDOS без всех остальных модулей умещалось на картофелине. Человек, уверен ли ты, что нейросети оставят от тебя хотя бы это?



Al Dragon (@aldragon_net) 2022-12-06 17:33:50 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/aldragon_net/status/1600181734347137024

Ты думаешь о том, что ты будешь делать, если ИИ научится всему, что умеешь ты, и станет всемогущим; подумай и о том, что ты будешь делать (и чувствовать), если ИИ научится всему, что умеешь ты, и останется при этом чрезвычайно универсальным консервным ножом.



Al Dragon (@aldragon_net) 2022-12-06 18:45:00 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/aldragon_net/status/1600199645245845504

В высокоточной радиометрии ценилась сталь, выплавленная до 1945 года — весь более молодой металл заражён следовыми количествами радиоактивных изотопов от атмосферных ядерных испытаний. Так будут цениться и тексты, написанные до крупномасштабных ноосферных испытаний нейросети GPT.



нежный интернет (@landselur2020) 2022-12-06 19:51:56 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/landselur2020/status/1600216488933150720

@aldragon_net Металл такой иногда добывают из затонувших кораблей. А тексты видимо будут добывать из сдохших сайтов. Мб будут скупать истории переписки из аськи - там еще и богатейшие залежи попутного кринжа.



depths of wikipedia (@depthsofwiki) 2022-12-06 17:47:36 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/depthsofwiki/status/1600185198884270082

feeling like this x





Region of Peel Archives (@PeelArchives) 2022-12-06 17:53:28 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/PeelArchives/status/1600186676910833665

@depthsofwiki If anyone doubts the veracity, this exact disc exploded in one of our computers. Someone put a label on the disc, donated to us, it was off balance, and then wham-o.



Mike Solana (@micsolana) 2022-11-14 23:48:19 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/micsolana/status/1592303446723633152

excuse me but who the fuck asked for stories on signal



jack (@jack) 2022-11-15 19:11:05 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/jack/status/1592596064905089026

@micsolana all I want is to finally move off phone numbers as ID...



Elon Musk (@elonmusk) 2022-11-15 19:31:39 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1592601242509135873

@jack @micsolana ????



George Lobushkin (@lobushkin) 2022-11-15 19:39:28 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/lobushkin/status/1592603207087292416

@elonmusk @jack @micsolana Guys, welcome to @telegram



jack (@jack) 2022-11-15 20:21:32 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/jack/status/1592613793376645121

@lobushkin @elonmusk @micsolana @telegram First thing telegram requires is a phone number



Pavel Durov (@durov) 2022-12-06 22:21:49 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/durov/status/1600254209726681088

@jack @lobushkin @elonmusk @micsolana @telegram Thank you for the feedback ????
You can now have a Telegram account without a SIM card and log in using blockchain-powered anonymous numbers – https://telegram.org/blog/ultimate-privacy-topics-2-0



DAC (@DoraCrisan) 2022-12-06 17:23:07 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/DoraCrisan/status/1600179040064659462

Would anyone have some adoption figures (either regional or global) for the #AVIF format?

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/AVIF



Mithgol the Webmaster (@FidonetRunes) 2022-12-06 23:24:32 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/FidonetRunes/status/1600269994733948928

@DoraCrisan Sure.

It's at 0.22%, see https://almanac.httparchive.org/en/2022/media#format-adoption for details.





Mithgol the Webmaster (@FidonetRunes) 2022-12-07 01:48:30 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/FidonetRunes/status/1600306222338408449

#Геленджик, #небо, #облака, #вчера.





Mithgol the Webmaster (@FidonetRunes) 2022-12-07 04:54:59 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/FidonetRunes/status/1600353152024268800

Команда «magick identify -format "%[profile:icc]" имяФайла» выдаёт осмысленное имя профиля ICC (напримѣръ, «Adobe RGB (1998)»), но только если файл снабжён профилем ICC.

В противном случае она сообщает об ошибке «unknown image property» в property.c/InterpretImageProperties/4236



Mithgol the Webmaster (@FidonetRunes) 2022-12-07 04:59:11 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/FidonetRunes/status/1600354211987787777

Разумѣется, поведение https://twitter.com/FidonetRunes/status/1600353152024268800 до крайности для меня досадно: как это возможно, что создатели ImageMagick не предусмотрѣли такой простой случай, каким бывает отсутствие профиля ICC в файле — и НАСТОЛЬКО не предусмотрѣли, что #ImageMagick падает с ошибкою от этого?!



РосКомСвобода (@RuBlackListNET) 2022-12-07 07:40:41 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/RuBlackListNET/status/1600394853321347072

Кабмину предложили создать институт для исследования влияния компьютерных игр на детей. Данный НИИ может проводить экспертизу игр, работать над минимизацией их влияния; также предложено создать реестр запрещённых игр https://roskomsvoboda.org/post/nii-izucheniya-igr/



Жіночка в шортах (@heart_headed) 2022-12-08 12:24:06 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/heart_headed/status/1600828566886809602

Я





Роман Горохов ???????? (@RomanGorokhov) 2022-12-08 15:15:54 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/RomanGorokhov/status/1600871799150891008

@StepankoBandera @heart_headed Коты любят сидеть на спутниковых тарелках, потому что они тёплые.





Al Dragon (@aldragon_net) 2022-12-08 16:13:13 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/aldragon_net/status/1600886223614115840

«...аборигены полагают, что изменяющая свой вид Луна помещена на небо в качестве анимированного индикатора загрузки иного, совершенного мира; во время затмений сигнализирующий о проблеме красный цвет Луны вызывает у них глубокую тревогу».



Gudim (@like_gudim) 2022-12-08 17:07:58 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/like_gudim/status/1600900003051950080

?!





Mithgol the Webmaster (@FidonetRunes) 2022-12-09 00:51:50 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/FidonetRunes/status/1601016740296921090

@andresivtsov @like_gudim По-видимому, выручки не хватило на труднобьющиеся оконные стёкла, ну или на них рѣшили сэкономить.



web3 is going just great (@web3isgreat) 2022-12-08 04:32:43 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/web3isgreat/status/1600709939529400320

FTX-hosted NFTs break after website is redirected to a restructuring page

December 7, 2022
https://t.co/pjmi2Smsdr





Michal Strehovský (@MStrehovsky) 2022-12-08 04:51:27 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/MStrehovsky/status/1600714650978779136

@web3isgreat No no no, if you make a NFT and the server hosting the jpeg burns down you still own the NFT. The token still exists and is in limited supply just as before! Nothing has changed! What NFT is doing to the concept of asset, few understand!





Arthur B. ???? (@ArthurB) 2022-12-08 12:49:01 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/ArthurB/status/1600834835760566272

NFTs on Tezos unaffected because they generally point to IPFS, as they should. Culture matters: lie with dogs, get fleas. https://twitter.com/web3isgreat/status/1600709939529400320



Juan Benet (@juanbenet) 2022-12-08 17:38:04 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/juanbenet/status/1600907577059340288

Not on @IPFS, not your NFT. https://twitter.com/web3isgreat/status/1600709939529400320



Yesterday's Print (@yesterdaysprint) 2022-12-08 19:00:01 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/yesterdaysprint/status/1600928200711819265

Popular Science, March 1920





Леонид Андрухов (@thedeardeer) 2022-12-07 20:47:14 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/thedeardeer/status/1600592796330692612

Внимание, в сеть слили билеты экзамена на хорошего русского





Mithgol the Webmaster (@FidonetRunes) 2022-12-09 02:10:06 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/FidonetRunes/status/1601036433992536065

@hthlndmade Officially Adobe Photoshop is able to open WebP files. It just needs either a plugin for WebP or a newer version of Photoshop that supports WebP natively (without plugins).

This tweet has to be short (#280characters) → see the answer https://twitter.com/AdobeCare/status/1471089461513621512 for further details.



Paradox Red Wolf (@ctcwired) 2022-11-10 14:54:26 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/ctcwired/status/1590719537195802624

Chromium dev team just published the code to handle HDR tonemapping for stills images correctly, including a pull request to libavif to support reading of MaxCLL and MaxPALL metadata. Exciting times :D

https://chromium-review.googlesource.com/c/chromium/src/+/4020332



Paradox Red Wolf (@ctcwired) 2022-12-08 15:59:47 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/ctcwired/status/1600882845437681665

Update: This goes public in Chrome 110. Finally, HDR10 still images will be usable on the web.



Elon Musk (@elonmusk) 2022-12-09 02:32:43 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1601042125130371072

Twitter is working on a software update that will show your true account status, so you know clearly if you’ve been shadowbanned, the reason why and how to appeal



Andrey Mir (@Andrey4Mir) 2022-12-08 16:32:57 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/Andrey4Mir/status/1600891189665972229

Harry Potter's characters, if written by Dostoevsky





Andrey Mir (@Andrey4Mir) 2022-12-09 01:58:20 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/Andrey4Mir/status/1601033475372773377

More Harry Potter's characters, if written by Dostoevsky.
(Created by Midjourney AI. It's certainly a new level of... pattern recognition)





Любимый❤️Сочи (@sochi_love) 2022-12-09 05:47:02 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/sochi_love/status/1601091026680414208

Чисто сочинская проблема новостроек

Сталкивались с подобным?





ивыиветлы (@ovsyankino) 2022-06-21 13:56:37 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/ovsyankino/status/1539245909040582658

????





Mithgol the Webmaster (@FidonetRunes) 2022-12-09 23:27:53 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/FidonetRunes/status/1601357999632953348

Тот не пессимист, кто при виде https://twitter.com/ovsyankino/status/1539245909040582658 не думает прежде всего то, что Барсик ОТМУЧИЛСЯ и что перед нами типичныя надгробныя причитанія.



Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) 2022-12-09 23:04:23 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/mtaibbi/status/1601352083617505281

1.     THREAD: The Twitter Files
THE REMOVAL OF DONALD TRUMP
Part One: October 2020-January 6th



Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) 2022-12-09 23:06:18 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/mtaibbi/status/1601352565836640257

2. The world knows much of the story of what happened between riots at the Capitol on January 6th, and the removal of President Donald Trump from Twitter on January 8th...



Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) 2022-12-09 23:07:48 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/mtaibbi/status/1601352946163544065

3.     We’ll show you what hasn’t been revealed: the erosion of standards within the company in months before J6, decisions by high-ranking executives to violate their own policies, and more, against the backdrop of ongoing, documented interaction with federal agencies.



Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) 2022-12-09 23:10:11 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/mtaibbi/status/1601353543390486528

4.     This first installment covers the period before the election through January 6th. Tomorrow, @Shellenbergermd will detail the chaos inside Twitter on January 7th. On Sunday, @BariWeiss will reveal the secret internal communications from the key date of January 8th.



Vladislav (@zd_vladislav) 2022-12-10 01:00:08 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/zd_vladislav/status/1601381216824872961

Апофеозом происходящего пиздеца просто обязана была стать кротовуха. По задумке богов, именно на ней люди должны осознать, что что-то идёт не так и мир движется не туда.
Если не поможет кротовуха, то этому миру не поможет уже ничего.



Dmitrtal (@dmitrtal) 2022-12-10 02:21:42 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/dmitrtal/status/1601401740062265345

@zd_vladislav С утра прочитал про эксперимент Кентлера, вечерком про кротовуху
Хороший, насыщенный знаниями, день



The Insider (@the_ins_ru) 2022-12-01 08:54:06 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/the_ins_ru/status/1598239002284400640

Курганский губернатор заявил, что рост числа детских суицидов в России связан с прослушиванием западной музыки. Современные дети, по его мнению, «напевают песни афроамериканских рабов» и «наполняются квазикультурной пошлятиной».
https://theins.ru/news/257448



Шикина (@e_shikina_) 2022-12-05 19:51:28 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/e_shikina_/status/1599853985078575104

Это ж каковО живётся инвалидам - колясочникам, если для меня с детской коляской выйти из дома - целый квест? 22 кг на 3 этаж на своём горбу. (брежневка) Я молчу про то, что заранее продумываю свой маршрут, надеясь, что там почистили снег, нет льда и есть пандус.



Kawa, catboy arc (46%) (@Kawa_oneechan) 2022-10-18 00:36:09 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/Kawa_oneechan/status/1582168621630910464

Still cracks me up how they tackled Japanese in text mode.





Kawa, catboy arc (46%) (@Kawa_oneechan) 2022-10-18 00:42:19 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/Kawa_oneechan/status/1582170174853349379

Turns out if you compare it to this innocuous English MS-DOS screenshot, there's a distinctive hint.





Kawa, catboy arc (46%) (@Kawa_oneechan) 2022-10-18 00:43:26 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/Kawa_oneechan/status/1582170455611351042

They're both, notionally, textmode. They both follow the same rules and limitations of textmode, except that the Japanese one has WAY more than 256 different character graphics on screen at once.



Kawa, catboy arc (46%) (@Kawa_oneechan) 2022-10-18 00:44:11 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/Kawa_oneechan/status/1582170645974384640

And the distinctive hint is the size of these screenshots. Because the Japanese DOS...

...isn't actually textmode at all.



Kawa, catboy arc (46%) (@Kawa_oneechan) 2022-10-18 00:46:22 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/Kawa_oneechan/status/1582171195088461824

It sneakily changed to a graphical mode, still 16 colors, and replaced a bunch of INT 21h functions that're meant to write characters to the screen and such.

So instead of setting a textmode cell in VRAM to some character, it draws a bitmap in the right spot, manually.



Kawa, catboy arc (46%) (@Kawa_oneechan) 2022-10-18 00:48:19 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/Kawa_oneechan/status/1582171682311409664

Implying, of course, that any program running on a Japanese DOS that *doesn't* use INT 21h and such for its I/O may cause Weird Shit, but that's what you get in exchange for such functionality.



Kawa, catboy arc (46%) (@Kawa_oneechan) 2022-10-18 00:51:08 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/Kawa_oneechan/status/1582172391458820098

It's not entirely unlike what Word 5.0 did. In textmode, you may sacrifice color range for extra fonts, sure, that's what WordPerfect did too.

But this Word has all 16 colors in all combinations, *and* can show all sorts of font styles all at once.

Cos this isn't textmode.





Kawa, catboy arc (46%) (@Kawa_oneechan) 2022-10-18 00:55:26 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/Kawa_oneechan/status/1582173475435073536

Now I said "sacrificing color range" but honestly this shit goes WAY back. Back in the black and white era, the attribute bits in textmode didn't indicate color at all. They indicated things like underline, bright, blink, and reverse.

In color, only blink commonly remained.



Kawa, catboy arc (46%) (@Kawa_oneechan) 2022-10-18 00:56:49 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/Kawa_oneechan/status/1582173824715350017

So you'd have four bits for the foreground color (0-15) and only three bits for the background (0-7). Setting that last one would make that character blink instead of drawing it on a brighter background.

This could be disabled, of course.



Kawa, catboy arc (46%) (@Kawa_oneechan) 2022-10-18 00:58:06 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/Kawa_oneechan/status/1582174147492605952

And then later on, as alluded to when I mentioned WordPerfect, you could set things up to, for example, use the foreground intensity bit to switch to another 256 glyph set. WP did that for italics, at the cost of not being able to use bright white for bold and such.



Kawa, catboy arc (46%) (@Kawa_oneechan) 2022-10-18 00:59:41 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/Kawa_oneechan/status/1582174544810627073

I've seen a demo that showed up to 1024 different characters on screen at once. That's four times 256.

Reducing the amount of colors to increase the amount of characters, in otherwise bog standard textmode.

But that is not what Word 5 and Japanese DOS did.



Kawa, catboy arc (46%) (@Kawa_oneechan) 2022-10-18 01:00:51 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/Kawa_oneechan/status/1582174838474833921

Because obviously 1024 different glyphs isn't enough, and Japanese DOS still allowed all sixteen colors to be used.

Because it's a graphical mode *pretending real hard* to be textmode, just like Word 5.



Kilian Hekhuis ???????????????????? (@kilianhekhuis) 2022-10-18 18:25:48 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/kilianhekhuis/status/1582437809465745408

@Kawa_oneechan Not sure what that demo showed, but standard VGA hardware had, in text mode, only provisions for max. 512 characters by sacrificing the high bit of the foreground colour. Also, WP could use bright white just fine, as each of the 16/8 colours can be assigned a different colour.



Kawa, catboy arc (46%) (@Kawa_oneechan) 2022-10-18 18:29:01 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/Kawa_oneechan/status/1582438619620732928

@kilianhekhuis I'd have to find that demo again to check, which is unlikely to ever happen if I'm honest. But I do have particularly vivid memories of WP not being able to use bright *anything* anymore if I enabled italics, and I *know* where to get a copy.



zaratustra (parody account) (@zarawesome) 2022-10-18 13:50:31 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/zarawesome/status/1582368531080830979

@Kawa_oneechan the writeup for that 1024-color demo is pretty good: https://int10h.org/blog/2015/04/cga-in-1024-colors-new-mode-illustrated/



Kilian Hekhuis ???????????????????? (@kilianhekhuis) 2022-10-18 18:31:32 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/kilianhekhuis/status/1582439250603040768

@Kawa_oneechan Yeah, I recall WP not doing it, but they could've done it if they'd wanted.



Kawa, catboy arc (46%) (@Kawa_oneechan) 2022-10-18 18:32:58 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/Kawa_oneechan/status/1582439614081814528

@kilianhekhuis Maybe. But to be honest, what that demo and WP did doesn't matter, the meat of the thread was what Word and Japanese DOS did.



Kilian Hekhuis ???????????????????? (@kilianhekhuis) 2022-10-18 18:37:38 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/kilianhekhuis/status/1582440787719036928

@Kawa_oneechan Indeed, and very interesting.



Kawa, catboy arc (46%) (@Kawa_oneechan) 2022-10-18 12:35:07 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/Kawa_oneechan/status/1582349555164622848

Things got about 20% cooler in the Word 5 fandom.





Kawa, catboy arc (46%) (@Kawa_oneechan) 2022-10-18 17:57:38 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/Kawa_oneechan/status/1582430718759931904

Now, one thing strikes me: the specific resolutions.

Plain VGA textmode: 720×400 px screen, 9×16 px cells, 80×25 cells.
Word 5: 640×480, 8×16, 80×30 (!!!)

Japanese DOS: 640×475, 8×19, 80×25.

That sounds like a tweakmode. Tweakmodes are FUN.



Kawa, catboy arc (46%) (@Kawa_oneechan) 2022-10-18 18:12:34 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/Kawa_oneechan/status/1582434477107982336

This is obviously done to get more height for the kanji. It's just an interesting extra detail.



コンコン日和???????? (@qonqon_biyori) 2021-11-14 11:43:20 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/qonqon_biyori/status/1459849427934269440

キツネ村の日常





Edward Snowden (@Snowden) 2022-12-10 13:32:05 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/Snowden/status/1601570449208774656

This is absolutely tyrannical. The EU is trying to outlaw any cash transaction over €10,000—which at the current rate of inflation will probably buy you half a shawarma in a decade.

They're claiming this is to protect you. To protect you!

https://t.co/EXndwqs4ab



Edward Snowden (@Snowden) 2022-12-10 14:06:22 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/Snowden/status/1601579076476899328

"...the Council demands crypto-asset service providers (CASPs) to apply customer due diligence measures when carrying out transactions amounting to €1000 or more, AND ADDS MEASURES TO MITIGATE "RISKS" IN RELATION TO SELF-HOSTED WALLETS." https://twitter.com/Snowden/status/1601570449208774656



DOOM (@DOOM) 2022-12-10 15:00:01 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/DOOM/status/1601592580109701122

remember when games came on physical save icons
happy birthday DOOM (1993)





Eize Basa (@PonchoRebound) 2021-12-14 01:45:35 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/PonchoRebound/status/1470570632157048832

It's only one minute long, but this CCTV footage has a better narrative and more compelling character arcs than most of the arthouse films I've seen:





Eize Basa (@PonchoRebound) 2021-12-14 07:03:19 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/PonchoRebound/status/1470650592167186433

Since this is taking off, time for a little due diligence.

If the original tweet brought you joy and you don’t feel the need to learn anything more about the origins of the video, that’s cool. Totally understandable. Just go ahead and back out of this thread.

Otherwise:



Eize Basa (@PonchoRebound) 2021-12-14 07:03:32 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/PonchoRebound/status/1470650649062821893

About an hour after I posted the video, I was linked to the full version of the video, which is apparently a Dhar Mann-style inspirational video by Cris Elmasry.

So, credit to the artist: https://m.facebook.com/cris.elmasry/videos/4539681932784019/



Eize Basa (@PonchoRebound) 2021-12-14 07:09:54 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/PonchoRebound/status/1470652251874152449

It’s a bummer for sure, BUT it’s also an interesting lesson in how important editing and framing is to the craft of filmmaking: the grainy, low res, cropped, and silent version I posted FEELS authentic in a way the real video just doesn’t, with its HD quality and sappy music.



Игорь (@ludmela58) 2022-12-09 18:03:29 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/ludmela58/status/1601276363440545793

Проснулся ночью и увидел ,что кот сидит вот так.





Watcher.Guru (@WatcherGuru) 2022-12-11 14:18:55 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/WatcherGuru/status/1601944622288310274

Elon Musk says Twitter will increase its character limit on tweets from 280 to 4000.



Allan Obare (@AllanObare4) 2022-12-11 08:49:42 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/AllanObare4/status/1601861774470512642

@elonmusk Elon is it true that Twitter is set to increase the characters from 280 to 4000?

Kindly @elonmusk



Elon Musk (@elonmusk) 2022-12-11 08:54:26 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1601862965384269825

@AllanObare4 Yes



Al Dragon (@aldragon_net) 2022-12-11 12:30:04 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/aldragon_net/status/1601917231247630338

Когда они пришли с лимитом в 280 символов, я не молчал, ведь мне было что сказать на 280 символов. https://twitter.com/AllanObare4/status/1601861774470512642



???????????????????????????????????????????????? (@shagbark_hick) 2022-12-12 02:07:54 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/shagbark_hick/status/1602123043119284224

I can't begin to describe the bizarre desolation of life on an icebreaker. You're in a rarely-transited, ever-changing, completely inhospitable place more barren than the desert.
You are reminded every day that you have no business being where you are. It's a very weird feeling.





Мир фантастики (@Mir_Fantastiki) 2022-12-12 21:01:32 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/Mir_Fantastiki/status/1602408331431317521

Печальные новости. В возрасте 85 лет умер композитор Анджело Бадаламенти.

Больше всего Бадаламенти известен как композитор саундтреков, эмбиента и джазового направления. Он написал музыку к легендарному «Твин Пиксу» (за что был удостоен премии «Грэмми»)





Ультравасилий и кот (@g_o_n_z_o) 2022-12-13 08:40:16 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/g_o_n_z_o/status/1602584175332233218

Оттепель!





Andy V (@steppentiger) 2022-12-13 10:51:08 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/steppentiger/status/1602617107275026432

У Лотмана в «Культуре и взрыве» (глава «Дурак и сумасшедший») имеется небезынтересное воспоминание на тему «деды воевали».





Холодный Доктор (@colDoc_colDoc) 2022-12-13 10:54:52 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/colDoc_colDoc/status/1602618046102765568

@steppentiger Абсолютно голые, но в сапогах.





Mithgol the Webmaster (@FidonetRunes) 2022-12-13 12:12:10 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/FidonetRunes/status/1602637500463415296

@colDoc_colDoc @steppentiger Поддерживаю мнѣніе о высокой вѣроятности того, что этакая причудливая степень опьянения могла наступить у автоматчиков не от алкоголя.

Если это мнѣніе справедливо, то тогда и мемуарист, и его однополчане впервые могли увидать не одних только автоматчиков, но также и обдолбанных.



Любимый❤️Сочи (@sochi_love) 2022-12-11 18:34:11 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/sochi_love/status/1602008864886505475

???? Пешеходный подвесной мост чайкам зашёл

У них там целая туалетная коммуна, судя по фото.

???? yarkho y




 

 
femb✦t (@__femb0t) 2022-08-22 19:42:47 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/__femb0t/status/1561801074964680705

,,,,the sky above the television tuned to a dead channel was the color of a different, much older television tuned to a dead channel :(





РИА Новости (@rianru) 2022-12-13 10:24:38 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/rianru/status/1602610439891959811

Росстандарт принял ограничивающий скорость электросамокатов до 25 км/ч ГОСТ
https://ria.ru/20221213/skorost-1838302599.html





Mithgol the Webmaster (@FidonetRunes) 2022-12-14 05:58:01 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/FidonetRunes/status/1602905729089904640

[53:1] Начну новый #твитшторм и соберу свѣдѣнія и мои разсужденія про цвѣта и цвѣтовыя пространства, про цвѣтовые профили, про нюансы отображения цвѣтовъ различными экранами и девайсами, различными браузерами и другими приложениями, как быть пользователям, как быть разработчикам.



Mithgol the Webmaster (@FidonetRunes) 2022-12-14 05:58:03 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/FidonetRunes/status/1602905737872789505

[53:2] Для начала напомню, что сорок дней назад (4 ноября) в сообщениях https://twitter.com/FidonetRunes/status/1588511088089661441 и https://twitter.com/FidonetRunes/status/1588526911915196416 собирал нѣкоторыя свѣдѣнія о цвѣтовомъ пространстве Adobe RGB (1998) и пришёл к выводу, что уходить в него из sRGB мнѣ неохота (точности 24 бит недостаточно).





Mithgol the Webmaster (@FidonetRunes) 2022-12-14 05:58:05 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/FidonetRunes/status/1602905746802352129

[53:3] Дюжиною дней позже (16 ноября) я досадовал по адресу https://twitter.com/FidonetRunes/status/1592657131630493696 о том, что Firefox не поддерживал профили ICCv4 и оттого не мог вѣрно показать итог изощрённого сжатия JPEG в пространстве XYB.

Вчера (13 декабря) вышел Firefox 108, наконец поддерживающий ICCv4.







Mithgol the Webmaster (@FidonetRunes) 2022-12-14 05:58:07 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/FidonetRunes/status/1602905756587753472

[53:4] Новость https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/108.0/releasenotes/ про появление ICCv4 во браузере Firefox можно провѣрить собственноручно, зайдя в Firefox 108 на страницу https://www.color.org/version4html.xalter и видя его показывающим провѣрочное изображение (составленное из 4 кусков с разными профилями цвѣта) безупречно.







Mithgol the Webmaster (@FidonetRunes) 2022-12-14 07:25:33 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/FidonetRunes/status/1602927760091254785

[53:5] Ну а 29 ноября я пощупал цвѣтоподборщикъ https://oklch.evilmartians.io/ (который @andrey_sitnik и @romanshamin сдѣлали) и говорил о моих цвѣтовыхъ впечатлениях без мáлого 2⅕ часа кряду (предисловие https://t.me/ReadMithgol/547 и таймкоды видеозаписи https://t.me/ReadMithgol/548 прилагаю).







Mithgol the Webmaster (@FidonetRunes) 2022-12-14 09:59:28 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/FidonetRunes/status/1602966493834215425

Насчёт https://twitter.com/FidonetRunes/status/1587046309424517128 по адресу https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33936614 вижу интересное истолкование мрачной судьбы JPEG XL: раз даже ИЗНУТРИ GOOGLE не достичь поддержки нового формата файлов, то гибель в 2014 году идеи о браузеронезависимой (плагинной) поддержке форматов погубит и WWW.





Brodie Robertson (@BrodieOnLinux) 2022-12-13 20:05:00 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/BrodieOnLinux/status/1602756493069238272

Chromium Ends JPEG XL Before It Even Lived #Linux #YouTube https://youtu.be/Jyk87VVfh9s





Jon Sneyers (@jonsneyers) 2022-12-14 14:06:33 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/jonsneyers/status/1603028676278423554

Contemplating Codec Comparisons

Here are my thoughts on the recent codec comparison by Google's AVIF team, that led to Chrome's decision to remove JPEG XL.

https://cloudinary.com/blog/contemplating-codec-comparisons



Jon Sneyers (@jonsneyers) 2022-12-14 15:15:38 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/jonsneyers/status/1603046060842258433

Main points:
- Decoding time of avif and jxl is now about the same
- UX for jxl is better (thanks to streaming decode and progressive rendering)
- Measuring speed correctly, avif is slower to encode



Jon Sneyers (@jonsneyers) 2022-12-14 15:18:14 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/jonsneyers/status/1603046713287131137

- Measuring quality in the relevant fidelity region ('web quality'), jxl is ~15% better than avif according to the data from the avif team
- For lossless, jxl advantages are more substantial than what the avif team comparison suggests
- Format features have to be considered too



Jon Sneyers (@jonsneyers) 2022-12-14 15:21:12 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/jonsneyers/status/1603047459218931712

Basically the blog post explains how the AVIF team's comparison data ended up getting misinterpreted, while it does actually show the value of JPEG XL.



Jon Sneyers (@jonsneyers) 2022-12-14 16:01:16 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/jonsneyers/status/1603057543277846528

For example, this plot (provided by the AVIF team) shows that JXL is 17% better than AVIF at 1 bpp, which is the median AVIF bitrate used on the web. But the BD-rate shows only a 'meh' 3% overall improvement for JXL, since it was computed including qualities too low to be useful.





Björn Andersson (@bjondersson) 2022-12-14 16:59:45 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/bjondersson/status/1603072260780478464

We are figuratively once again getting VHS instead of Betamax because of Google. Don’t let history repeat itself. #JPEGXL #AVIF https://twitter.com/jonsneyers/status/1603028676278423554



Jon Sneyers (@jonsneyers) 2022-12-14 17:11:51 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/jonsneyers/status/1603075307141054465

@bjondersson Especially since we now have digital media, not physical! We can easily just have both and let everyone use what they like best. There is no reason to support only one format — Chrome is not a VCR that has to be physically designed for one specific videocasette type.



Andreas Kling (@awesomekling) 2022-12-14 12:55:38 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/awesomekling/status/1603010828202123264

You may not like it, but Safari is the main thing standing in the way of Chromium becoming the de facto web platform.



efebic (@efebic) 2022-12-14 12:58:31 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/efebic/status/1603011554995277827

@awesomekling As long as it's open-source, why would that be a bad thing?



Deploriot (@Deploriot) 2022-12-14 14:30:14 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/Deploriot/status/1603034634643816450

@efebic @awesomekling Look at the case of JPEG XL and you can see how one entity can railroad progress to their own goals.



Jon Sneyers (@jonsneyers) 2022-12-14 19:07:17 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/jonsneyers/status/1603104355468681218

@efebic @awesomekling Open source is not the same thing as community controlled. It's a necessary but not sufficient condition to prevent Google from effectively dictating the direction of the web platform.



joe (@bowsamic) 2022-12-14 13:23:59 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/bowsamic/status/1603017961983336448

@efebic @awesomekling Because even if it's open source, it's still developed in a closed fashion by a single company. Then they can basically add whatever they want to the browser and people will use it, even if it's totally non standard



joe (@bowsamic) 2022-12-14 13:24:55 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/bowsamic/status/1603018196642037760

@efebic @awesomekling You end up destroying the web as an open ecosystem supported by various browsers. Instead the web would instead become totally closed except to one piece of software



Mithgol the Webmaster (@FidonetRunes) 2022-12-15 04:11:22 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/FidonetRunes/status/1603241278929571840

[50:74] По адресу https://te.legra.ph/Tejina-senpai-12-10 и https://te.legra.ph/Sounan-desu-ka-12-10 на сайте Telegraph выложил альбомы, по адресу https://t.me/ReadMithgol/553 в Telegram выложил архивы (7-Zip) сшивок кадров, взятых из первой серии #аниме «Tejina-senpai» и из первой серии аниме «Sounan desu ka».







93.RU (@93ru_novosti) 2022-12-14 05:10:42 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/93ru_novosti/status/1602893823595745280

«Оба вируса агрессивно уничтожают дыхательную систему»: что будет с организмом, если одновременно заболеть гриппом и ковидом.

Врачи рассказали, насколько высока вероятность подхватить оба вируса.

https://t.co/2dkBCw088I



РосКомСвобода (@RuBlackListNET) 2022-12-15 08:11:31 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/RuBlackListNET/status/1603301716857946112

Суд впервые оштрафовал блогера за недостаточно большие буквы иноагентской маркировки. Для набора текста маркировки он использовал клавишу Caps Lock, однако экспертиза показала, что во «ВКонтакте» эта клавиша не дает нужного размера https://roskomsvoboda.org/post/inoagenta-shtrafanuli-za-shrift/



depths of wikipedia (@depthsofwiki) 2022-12-15 19:59:32 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/depthsofwiki/status/1603479894909935636

thinking about the egyptian hieroglyphic "pot with legs"





в депо до таллинской (@art_efr) 2022-12-15 11:17:28 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/art_efr/status/1603348510530846723

23 декабря закрывается самая уникальная трамвайная линия России. Усть-Илимский скоростной трамвай, где-то в недрах Иркутской области красные вагончики бегали из города до местного завода. но увы, мир пазиков победил. очень повезло, что смог проехать на такой уникальной системе!











в депо до таллинской (@art_efr) 2022-12-15 20:57:36 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/art_efr/status/1603494505717587969

и ещё несколько фоток этой шикарной системы











Pessimists Archive (@PessimistsArc) 2022-12-16 13:34:32 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/PessimistsArc/status/1603745394072190979

NYtimes 2008: Kids are threatened by dumb phones!

NYtimes 2022: These enlightened kids are finding refuge in dumb phones!







CMYK Student (@CmykStudent) 2022-12-15 20:02:22 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/CmykStudent/status/1603480604833714176

GIMP now supports loading and exporting 8/16 bit CMYK JPEG XL files! Thanks to @novomesk for the thorough review and feedback on the merge request. I think @GIMP_Official is the first image editor to support CMYK JPEG XL - hopefully others will follow soon!



John Carmack (@ID_AA_Carmack) 2022-12-17 01:55:39 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/ID_AA_Carmack/status/1603931899810004994

I resigned from Meta, and my internal post got leaked to the press, resulting in some fragmented quotes.  Here is the full thing: https://t.co/iUcr8TYMLD



John Carmack (@ID_AA_Carmack) 2022-12-17 01:55:39 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/ID_AA_Carmack/status/1603931901491908610

As anyone who listens to my unscripted Connect talks knows, I have always been pretty frustrated with how things get done at FB/Meta.  Everything necessary for spectacular success is right there, but it doesn't get put together effectively.



John Carmack (@ID_AA_Carmack) 2022-12-17 01:55:40 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/ID_AA_Carmack/status/1603931904075395072

I thought that the "derivative of delivered value" was positive in 2021, but that it turned negative in 2022.  There are good reasons to believe that it just edged back into positive territory again, but there is a notable gap between Mark Zuckerberg and I on various strategic



John Carmack (@ID_AA_Carmack) 2022-12-17 01:55:40 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/ID_AA_Carmack/status/1603931905539325955

issues, so I knew it would be extra frustrating to keep pushing my viewpoint internally.  I am all in on building AGI at Keen Technologies now.



Jean-Simon (@JeanSimB623) 2022-12-17 02:08:25 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/JeanSimB623/status/1603935115784101890

@ID_AA_Carmack screenshot of fb text.





Andy V (@steppentiger) 2022-12-17 17:57:42 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/steppentiger/status/1604174009616289794

Дело раскрыто.





Егор (@Graypfruit) 2022-12-17 17:05:26 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/Graypfruit/status/1604160855234453505





Pubity (@PubityIG) 2022-12-17 19:43:25 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/PubityIG/status/1604200614711287808

Twitter has removed the ability to see which device a tweet comes from. (Twitter for iPhone, Twitter for Android)







Артём Дерягин (@DerArto) 2022-12-16 12:08:59 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/DerArto/status/1603723864105799680

Наложить диснеевский фильтр на кошку было хорошей идеей






Alec Stapp (@AlecStapp) 2022-09-25 14:08:37 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/AlecStapp/status/1574038167304474625

When a tech company does it, it’s a dangerous social experiment

When the NYT does it, it’s an A/B test







Technophobia.org (@TechnophobiaOrg) 2022-09-26 09:30:03 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/TechnophobiaOrg/status/1574330448930430977

https://twitter.com/AlecStapp/status/1574038167304474625











Technophobia.org (@TechnophobiaOrg) 2022-09-26 11:32:24 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/TechnophobiaOrg/status/1574361239135846401

(Until recently NYtimes made you call a human to cancel subscription)



vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) 2022-09-26 12:29:58 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/VitalikButerin/status/1574375725297188865

@TechnophobiaOrg Credit cards imo are one of the few techs that we need *more* phobia of (and push to build better alternatives!)

Canceling subscriptions should be done by opening your wallet app and clicking cancel, so it's up to the company to cancel service when the next payment doesn't come.



Technophobia.org (@TechnophobiaOrg) 2022-12-15 17:22:05 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/TechnophobiaOrg/status/1603440271668264965

The Unabomber manifesto argued transsexuals were the result of modern technology.

Heritage making the same argument here:  https://www.heritage.org/gender/commentary/how-big-tech-turns-kids-trans



Mithgol the Webmaster (@FidonetRunes) 2022-12-18 15:15:03 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/FidonetRunes/status/1604495465785229320

@TeHn0n4Me @steppemaxxxing Точно ли жутко? — цитату, пожалуйста.



Pangur Bán ???? (@PangurBn10) 2022-12-15 02:06:43 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/PangurBn10/status/1603209909193121794

what is going on with tv





Nanabuyo (@nanabuyo) 2022-12-16 01:02:54 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/nanabuyo/status/1603556237198917632

@pierrothamiha >blackpilled

”victory is ours”

 
They’re so stupid



Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) 2022-12-12 22:17:14 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/TwitterSupport/status/1602427384166334465

If you start seeing a checkmark that's not blue, you're doing it right. We’re adding more account distinctions.
 
Gold checkmarks will appear on verified, official businesses on Twitter.
 
And coming soon, grey checkmarks will appear on government and multilateral accounts.



Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) 2022-12-12 22:17:15 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/TwitterSupport/status/1602427386636767232

We’ll begin replacing that "official" profile label with a grey or gold checkmark, but you will still see labels for some types of accounts.

Learn more: https://help.twitter.com/rules-and-policies/profile-labels



Whole Mars Catalog (@WholeMarsBlog) 2022-12-18 23:34:51 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/WholeMarsBlog/status/1604621241742082049

I’ve been telling @elonmusk to hire someone as Twitter CEO from the beginning

That way when things go wrong you can blame that person, but you still retain ultimate control as the owner.

And yes I am available to do the job https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1604621241742082049



Elon Musk (@elonmusk) 2022-12-18 23:34:17 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1604621101245419520

@WholeMarsBlog The question is not finding a CEO, the question is finding a CEO who can keep Twitter alive



Edward Snowden (@Snowden) 2022-12-19 00:04:19 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/Snowden/status/1604628658852970496

I take payment in Bitcoin. https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1604621101245419520



Pasha the Cossack????⚡ (@GhostOfPashka) 2022-12-19 00:06:43 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/GhostOfPashka/status/1604629262476140545

@Snowden Russian CEO of Twitter.
Let that sink in.



Elon Musk (@elonmusk) 2022-12-19 01:29:14 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1604650028999405568

Those who want power are the ones who least deserve it



Lea Verou (@LeaVerou) 2022-12-19 15:07:21 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/LeaVerou/status/1604855914326007809

1. Infinite scroll
2. Footer

Pick one, you can’t have both.

(You’d think this is common sense by now, but you’d be wrong)



It's about time... (@Midori_marmotte) 2022-12-20 12:37:55 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/Midori_marmotte/status/1605180694812041217

@LeaVerou @oscherler My pet peeve: brands who put language change in the footer yet have infinite scroll. Being in a multilingual country turns into a headache, especially if you’re the one doing helpdesk for the whole family.



depths of wikipedia (@depthsofwiki) 2022-12-19 05:17:44 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/depthsofwiki/status/1604707534455332864

that sea lion must have been absolutely tripping





guava (@team_chao) 2022-12-19 05:27:17 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/team_chao/status/1604709936671625216

@depthsofwiki the New Carissa page calls it a harbor seal. seems more likely though I am not an expert







Ramesh Shah, from Upstairs ???? (@shah_upstairs) 2022-12-19 06:59:34 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/shah_upstairs/status/1604733160394088448

@depthsofwiki





gibby from icarly (@monolilium) 2022-12-19 05:42:39 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/monolilium/status/1604713802448089088

@depthsofwiki same energy





Steve Marsden (@DrSteveMarsden) 2022-12-19 05:30:10 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/DrSteveMarsden/status/1604710662168510465

@depthsofwiki "I've watched C-beams glitter in the dark by the Tannhäuser Gate."



Mithgol the Webmaster (@FidonetRunes) 2022-12-21 12:22:58 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/FidonetRunes/status/1605539320349147136

Попробовал из файла https://t.co/LCAiVBPOM4 поставить #oxipng, однако с досадою увидал, что в этой версии (v7.0.0 под x86_64) разработчик либо вообще отломил Zopfli, либо команду «oxipng --verbose --threads 6 --alpha --interlace 1 -f 0-9 --zopfli --strip safe --preserve» поломал.



velonation (@Romasheda) 2022-12-20 12:36:06 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/Romasheda/status/1605180237310222337

Шведский аналог «Мосгортранса» раздал велосипедистам шины с шипами и вообще всячески пропагандирует велосипедизм
https://wp.me/p5Rq7e-6Gy



Mithgol the Webmaster (@FidonetRunes) 2022-12-22 08:06:50 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/FidonetRunes/status/1605837251295969280

По наводке https://t.me/typodar/26349 по адресу https://t.me/rbc_krasnodar/8181 и затѣмъ ещё https://kuban.rbc.ru/krasnodar/freenews/63a0711f9a79473adb6ab460 прочёл: #КраснодарскийКрай может обзавестись новым городом размѣромъ с #Геленджик, однако миллионником (плотность его жителей будет болѣе чѣмъ НА ПОРЯДОК выше геленджикской).









John Hudson (@John_Hudson) 2022-12-21 12:04:15 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/John_Hudson/status/1605534612750405634

New: Following months of investigation, there is no conclusive evidence that Russia is behind the Nord Stream sabotage, according to 24 diplomatic and intelligence officials in nine different countries interviewed in recent weeks https://t.co/THCSarABfm



Al Dragon (@aldragon_net) 2022-12-21 22:04:44 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/aldragon_net/status/1605685726854582273

Тред рождественской истории Цессны-188, безнадежно потерявшейся над Тихим океаном 22 декабря 1978 года, но чудесным образом нашедшейся.



Elon Musk (@elonmusk) 2022-12-22 16:05:54 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1605957811162054656

Twitter is rolling out View Count, so you can see how many times a tweet has been seen! This is normal for video.

Shows how much more alive Twitter is than it may seem, as over 90% of Twitter users read, but don’t tweet, reply or like, as those are public actions.



Jon Sneyers (@jonsneyers) 2022-12-21 13:53:09 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/jonsneyers/status/1605562018882211840

Darktable, the FOSS counterpart of Adobe Lightroom/Camera Raw, releases version 4.2 with read/write support for JPEG XL!

https://www.phoronix.com/news/Darktable-4.2-Released



анатолий ноготочки???? (@A_Kapustin) 2022-12-21 07:46:47 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/A_Kapustin/status/1605469817191821312

ожидаемо





Medtech (@Medtech161) 2022-12-22 04:50:24 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/Medtech161/status/1605787816037912576

@A_Kapustin Всё было нормально до зацепа за авто, потом адреналина стало слишком много и результат не заставил себя ждать.



The Associated Press (@AP) 2022-12-23 20:10:05 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/AP/status/1606381652216893440

An @AP investigation has found that COVID-19 accelerated and normalized state surveillance and tracking tools that are now being used to investigate crime and harass marginalized communities. http://bit.ly/3FMndPY





Edward Snowden (@Snowden) 2022-12-23 22:27:10 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/Snowden/status/1606416151097282570

“Do you truly believe that when the first wave, this second wave, the 16th wave of the coronavirus is a long-forgotten memory, that these capabilities will not be kept? That these datasets will not be kept?”

Got a lot of flak for that on April 9th, 2020.

https://t.co/pFTjQSgB54 https://twitter.com/AP/status/1606381652216893440



Defiant L’s (@DefiantLs) 2022-12-23 17:44:06 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/DefiantLs/status/1606344914459131905





[эстетика ебеней] (@yebenya) 2022-12-24 11:21:01 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/yebenya/status/1606610896398307329

Игорь Юферев | Ладога





Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) 2022-12-24 17:21:01 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/mtaibbi/status/1606701493947887616

45.  Many people wonder if Internet platforms receive direction from intelligence agencies about moderation of foreign policy news stories. It appears Twitter did, in some cases by way of the FITF/FBI.



Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) 2022-12-24 17:21:02 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/mtaibbi/status/1606701495604629504

46.  These reports are far more factually controversial than domestic counterparts.



Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) 2022-12-24 17:21:02 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/mtaibbi/status/1606701497081024512

47. One intel report lists accounts tied to “Ukraine ‘neo-Nazi’ Propaganda.’” This includes assertions that Joe Biden helped orchestrate a coup in 2014 and “put his son on the board of Burisma.”







Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) 2022-12-24 17:21:03 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/mtaibbi/status/1606701501677961217

48. Another report asserts a list of accounts accusing the “Biden administration” of “corruption” in vaccine distribution are part of a Russian influence campaign:





Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) 2022-12-24 17:21:04 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/mtaibbi/status/1606701503850643456

49.  Often intelligence came in the form of brief reports, followed by long lists of accounts simply deemed to be pro-Maduro, pro-Cuba, pro-Russia, etc. This one batch had over 1000 accounts marked for digital execution:





Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) 2022-12-24 17:21:05 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/mtaibbi/status/1606701508862828545

51. Intel about the shady origin of these accounts might be true. But so might at least some of the information in them – about neo-Nazis,  rights abuses in Donbas, even about our own government. Should we block such material?



Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) 2022-12-24 17:21:05 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/mtaibbi/status/1606701510427316226

52. This is a difficult speech dilemma. Should the government be allowed to try to prevent Americans (and others) from seeing pro-Maduro or anti-Ukrainian accounts?



Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) 2022-12-24 17:21:06 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/mtaibbi/status/1606701512050487297

53. Often intel reports are just long lists of newspapers, tweets or YouTube videos guilty of “anti-Ukraine narratives”:









Vince M. (@und_moss) 2022-12-24 15:48:11 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/und_moss/status/1606678131011731457

Мудрец сказал: когда показывают пальцем в некоем возвышенном направлении, умный смотрит куда показывают, а дурак смотрит на палец. Мы-то с вами не дураки: зачем этот палец разглядывать?



Vince M. (@und_moss) 2022-12-24 15:48:12 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/und_moss/status/1606678133347844096

Ну и что, что он заскорузлый и зеленоватый, и вместо ногтя на нём коготь, с которого что-то капает? Отвернись и гляди в рекламируемую высь!



соня пономаренко) (@TAPIR_V_KOSMOSE) 2022-12-23 02:28:36 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/TAPIR_V_KOSMOSE/status/1606114518622384128

ща вспомнила как мы с подругой опаздывали на урок и посреди улицы увидели электросамокат сопоставили эти два факта оплатили встали она рулит я сзади  проехали 10 метров и я в это время начала так АРАТЬ что она просто молча сфотала его и завершила поездку



Sofia (@omruruch) 2022-12-25 18:43:34 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/omruruch/status/1607084652803817474

Infrastructure as a crime: велодорожка пересекает две встречные полосы машин под тупым углом, ограничение скорости 50км/ч (30mph)





Sofia (@omruruch) 2022-12-25 18:44:48 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/omruruch/status/1607084965921185792

Крайне популярный маршрут, но этот выезд каждый раз как последние секунды жизни





Wall Street Silver (@WallStreetSilv) 2022-12-26 03:25:31 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/WallStreetSilv/status/1607216009152237571

She was so excited about the convenience of face-scan payment in China...no card or phone needed ... ???? ????

Wait until the govt decides your social credit score is too low for not doing what they tell you. No water for you until you receive your 4th booster. ????

????sound ...????





Wall Street Silver (@WallStreetSilv) 2022-12-26 03:45:19 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/WallStreetSilv/status/1607220990307713025

Combine that with a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) and your freedom is gone.

They track your every movement and location at all times, your spending decisions and turn off your money if you disobey.



Cryptocoinage (@CryptoCoinLead) 2022-12-26 03:54:53 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/CryptoCoinLead/status/1607223397812998146

@WallStreetSilv





failcoin (@failcoin) 2022-12-26 04:29:24 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/failcoin/status/1607232084720095233

@WallStreetSilv By "it's coming" she isn't referencing the bottle of water. CBDCs with complete surveillance is coming.



Useless Eater (@GermOfWisdom) 2022-12-26 08:08:11 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/GermOfWisdom/status/1607287141528211457

@WallStreetSilv what happens when one's biometrics get compromised? i mean, it's face and fingers only on the frontend, on the backend it's still a string of characters like a regular password. except that one cannot change his face or fingertips so easily as a password



Righteous⚡️Crusader (@Craftmastah) 2022-12-26 06:49:07 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/Craftmastah/status/1607267246560219137

@WallStreetSilv A great man once said, anyone willing to trade freedom for safety deserve neither. What do you call people who would trade their freedom for minor conveniences?



Al Dragon (@aldragon_net) 2022-12-24 16:36:57 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/aldragon_net/status/1606690402865750017

Показывать количество просмотров твита — отличная идея, давно пора вернуться к истокам.





Natalie F Danelishen (@Chesschick01) 2022-12-24 18:53:47 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/Chesschick01/status/1606724838395199488

People would know this if they had read @Snowden book and it would come as a shock to no one. ???? https://twitter.com/mtaibbi/status/1606701405443874816





Yesterday's Print (@yesterdaysprint) 2022-12-24 20:00:01 (UTC)

 
Любимый❤️Сочи (@sochi_love) 2022-12-25 15:03:16 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/sochi_love/status/1607029215945232384

Закат с дельфином, огромная удача фотографа

Разве может быть что-то красивее?





ККЛЧРТ (@the_shimponavt) 2022-12-28 08:34:06 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/the_shimponavt/status/1608018440798851074

Случай в Мосрентгене





Получеловек-полунечеловек (@tra_ta_ta) 2022-12-28 09:33:39 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/tra_ta_ta/status/1608033425243381763

@the_shimponavt Все, что происходит в Мосрентгене, остается на рентгеновских снимках



cats being weird little guys (@weirdlilguys) 2022-12-27 14:32:30 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/weirdlilguys/status/1607746246407503873

liquid mode activate





ferdalangurinn (@ferdalangurinn) 2022-12-28 14:22:26 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/ferdalangurinn/status/1608106102025256960

японские друзья не увидели ничего странного в кротовухе, когда я им про неё рассказала, так как в этот момент мы пили ФУГОВУХУ (горячее сакэ с плавником рыбы фугу, по-японски называется фугу-хирэ-сю), идеально подходящую к холодному зимнему вечеру.
(моё — на 3 и 4 фото).











Dmitry Medvedev (@MedvedevRussiaE) 2022-12-26 21:23:41 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/MedvedevRussiaE/status/1607487338401206273

On the New Year’s Eve, everybody’s into making predictions

Many come up with futuristic hypotheses, as if competing to single out the wildest, and even the most absurd ones.

Here’s our humble contribution.

What can happen in 2023:



Dmitry Medvedev (@MedvedevRussiaE) 2022-12-26 21:23:42 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/MedvedevRussiaE/status/1607487342549286914

1.  Oil price will rise to $150 a barrel, and gas price will top $5.000 per 1.000 cubic meters

2. The UK will rejoin the EU

3. The EU will collapse after the UK’s return; Euro will drop out of use as the former EU currency



Dmitry Medvedev (@MedvedevRussiaE) 2022-12-26 21:23:43 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/MedvedevRussiaE/status/1607487345493934080

4. Poland and Hungary will occupy western regions of the formerly existing Ukraine

5. The Fourth Reich will be created, encompassing the territory of Germany and its satellites, i.e., Poland, the Baltic states, Czechia, Slovakia, the Kiev Republic, and other outcasts



Dmitry Medvedev (@MedvedevRussiaE) 2022-12-26 21:23:44 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/MedvedevRussiaE/status/1607487348442284034

6. War will break out between France and the Fourth Reich. Europe will be divided, Poland repartitioned in the process

7. Northern Ireland will separate from the UK and join the Republic of Ireland



Dmitry Medvedev (@MedvedevRussiaE) 2022-12-26 21:23:44 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/MedvedevRussiaE/status/1607487351219003398

8. Civil war will break out in the US, California. and Texas becoming independent states as a result. Texas and Mexico will form an allied state. Elon Musk’ll win the presidential election in a number of states which, after the new Civil War’s end, will have been given to the GOP



Dmitry Medvedev (@MedvedevRussiaE) 2022-12-26 21:25:29 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/MedvedevRussiaE/status/1607487790367006722

9. All the largest stock markets and financial activity will leave the US and Europe and move to Asia



Dmitry Medvedev (@MedvedevRussiaE) 2022-12-26 21:25:30 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/MedvedevRussiaE/status/1607487794133471232

10. The Bretton Woods system of monetary management will collapse, leading to the IMF and World Bank crash. Euro and Dollar will stop circulating as the global reserve currencies. Digital fiat currencies will be actively used instead



Elon Musk (@elonmusk) 2022-12-26 21:51:58 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1607494455720022018

@MedvedevRussiaE Epic thread!!



GiGadgets (@gigadgets_) 2022-12-27 15:02:17 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/gigadgets_/status/1607753740982837248

This robotic arm can free your hands from boring paperwork. ✍️
The company said they would not sell it to students.
#gigadgets #handwriting #robotics #machinelearning #innovation





Doc Multiplexplatte Li-on Beuster (@AslanYorgun5) 2022-12-28 08:18:55 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/AslanYorgun5/status/1608014619284754433

@gigadgets_ It's called a plotter.. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plotter



Hazzy (@PatntHazzy) 2022-12-28 06:35:18 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/PatntHazzy/status/1607988543695245313

@gigadgets_ we're back to people being impressed by 1970s pen plotters that were replaced by scanners and printers



лиля́ кебáб (@lilydavay) 2022-04-09 17:54:37 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/lilydavay/status/1512851489114501121

Решила познакомиться с кассиршей магазина у работы, в который всегда хожу за стиками. Женщина говорит:
– Меня Майя зовут.
Годы в общепите научили меня, что все узбечки берут себе имя Майя.
– А по-узбекски как? – спрашиваю.
– Максуда.
Оказалось, я была первая, кто спросила так



птенец буллшит (@KarinaMilenina) 2022-12-26 19:55:40 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/KarinaMilenina/status/1607465186130264064

Вчера вызывали клининг, к нам приехала женщина с именем МАША (которое явно не её настоящее). Спросила её реальное имя. Махира. Говорю, красивое имя, буду вас так называть.

Оказалось, что я первый человек за её 10 лет жизни в РФ, который поинтересовался настоящим именем. ????



Artёm Milošević (@milosev1c) 2022-12-28 21:22:35 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/milosev1c/status/1608211836146417664

Вчера вызывали клининг, к нам приехал блоггер с именем ТОДАР БАКТЕМИР (которое явно не её настоящее). Спросил его реальное имя. Федор Алексеев. Говорю, красивое имя, буду вас так называть.

Оказалось, что его уже заебали с этим ????



Al Dragon (@aldragon_net) 2022-12-28 07:35:20 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/aldragon_net/status/1608003651620175873

…вчера вызывали клининг почистить комнату от соломы, к нам приехал рыжеволосый парень с именем ГАНС (которое явно не его настоящее). Спросила его реальное имя. РУМПЕЛЬШТИЛЬЦХЕН. Говорю, красивое имя, буду вас так называть.



Al Dragon (@aldragon_net) 2022-12-28 07:49:55 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/aldragon_net/status/1608007323385212929

(«По классификации Аарне-Томпсона, — сообщает Википедия, — этот сюжет имеет номер 500: "Имя помощника"»; в принципе, чем твиттер не фольклорная сказка)



Alec Muffett (@AlecMuffett) 2022-12-28 21:03:11 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/AlecMuffett/status/1608206953548742660

THIS, THIS TERRIBLE @NYTIMES THING, THIS EXCRESCENCE FROM THE SCHOOL WHICH SAYS "PEOPLE SHOULD NOT HAVE PRIVACY JUST IN CASE THEY USE IT IN WAYS WHICH THE STATES WOULD NOT APPROVE OF"

https://archive.ph/RrGHF



Alec Muffett (@AlecMuffett) 2022-12-28 21:09:23 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/AlecMuffett/status/1608208512076681216

Someone who who has spent so long tilting at the big windmills of corporations, that they cannot understand the empowerment of individual communities of users from platforms enabling communication whilst blinding themselves to content.

They mistake the medium for the message.







Alec Muffett (@AlecMuffett) 2022-12-28 21:11:13 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/AlecMuffett/status/1608208974209228802

As before: if you want to understand end-to-end encryption, here's a primer regarding what it achieves, and how to identify it.
https://alecmuffett.com/alecm/e2e-primer/



Alec Muffett (@AlecMuffett) 2022-12-28 21:16:21 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/AlecMuffett/status/1608210265962602500

If you would like to view the original copy from the horses mouth, here is a gift link:

Cc: @kurtopsahl

https://t.co/6KSH1SZ1u7



Paul Pearce (@paul_pearce) 2022-12-29 01:14:48 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/paul_pearce/status/1608270274277027840

@AlecMuffett @kurtopsahl You can also pull any NYT article out of the way back machine. Eg https://t.co/vgZ5puKrSg



Eva (@evacide) 2022-12-28 20:29:05 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/evacide/status/1608198371646541824

NYT's opinion page gets in under the wire in the competition for Worst Take of 2022: Signal is bad because the people who build it are morally committed to preserving the privacy of its users.

https://t.co/NJgjhKRbb9



WA People's Privacy (@wapeopleprivacy) 2022-12-28 22:28:12 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/wapeopleprivacy/status/1608228349901697024

@evacide Plenty of great debunking happening in the comments on this NYT guest (trash) opinion piece, tho! ???? So, that's fun.











Technophobia.org (@TechnophobiaOrg) 2022-12-29 00:38:13 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/TechnophobiaOrg/status/1608261067573952519

Locks and keys are anarco capitalist propaganda, promoting an ideology of private property and state free crime prevention. https://twitter.com/evacide/status/1608198371646541824



It's My City (@itsmycityekb) 2022-12-28 12:32:06 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/itsmycityekb/status/1608078337523466240

Власти Екатеринбурга в перспективе хотят ликвидировать трамвайную ветку на Большой Конный полуостров. При этом трамвай — это единственный общественный транспорт, связывающий район с городом. Да и, пожалуй, самый живописный трамвайный маршрут в городе. https://t.co/j8spLuwE8M





Никто ничего (@L7878L266443L) 2022-12-28 12:54:31 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/L7878L266443L/status/1608083977138479107

@itsmycityekb Но при этом хотят строить там жилой район
Гении планирования



天より降りしコハク (@Y39267620) 2022-12-30 09:56:15 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/Y39267620/status/1608763890804084736

今年はHEVCからAV1に移行するかどうか悩んでますけど、来年の今頃はVVCが加わってさらに悩んでそうですね。



david "5 GHz" bepo (no to war) (@davidbepo) 2022-12-29 23:32:54 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/davidbepo/status/1608607018201538563

btw, from now on every image i produce will be a webp
graphs? webp
memes? webp
this is because it is a superior image format and recently i have seen all of my use cases support it: image editor, viewer, libreoffice and twitter
long overdue but nice anyways



9to5Mac (@9to5mac) 2022-12-29 23:25:05 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/9to5mac/status/1608605050783338502

Video converter HandBrake updated with support for AV1 and VP9 10-bit video encoding, more https://9to5mac.com/2022/12/29/handbrake-support-av1-and-vp9-10-bit/ by @filipeesposito



Andy V (@steppentiger) 2022-12-29 15:57:38 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/steppentiger/status/1608492449235890178

Коротко об итогах года.





Al Dragon (@aldragon_net) 2022-12-29 20:06:05 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/aldragon_net/status/1608554971200458754

Обожаю слог научпопа восьмидесятых. «Каждый школьник без труда ответит на вопрос: "Что общего между качелями, часами, сердцем, электрическим звонком, люстрой, телевизором, саксофоном и океанским лайнером?"»



Al Dragon (@aldragon_net) 2022-12-29 20:16:55 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/aldragon_net/status/1608557696801964033

(это, уточню, не моя жалкая пародия, а неповторимый оригинал, второе предложение введения сорок восьмого выпуска «Библиотечки "Квант"»)



переводчик неправильно перевел (@stummekabine) 2022-12-29 20:34:28 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/stummekabine/status/1608562116423999489

@aldragon_net Они отбрасывают тень? Их можно покрасить в золотой цвет? В эпицентре ядерного взрыва они будут уничтожены? (Хреновый из меня школьник)



lil brød (@remaining_ram) 2022-12-30 02:21:19 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/remaining_ram/status/1608649401937068033

@aldragon_net в психологии есть такие тесты на выявление отклонений



Kłasterny Babaj (@ivanovpetja) 2022-12-29 20:45:23 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/ivanovpetja/status/1608564861012963328

@aldragon_net принадлежат императору, видимо



Republic Forever (@4everRepublic) 2022-12-30 16:27:35 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/4everRepublic/status/1608862374085398530

@aldragon_net Ну типа все перечисленное из барионной материи состоит, что непонятного-то?



Ronald Reagan (@Vitalij21050081) 2022-12-30 11:49:21 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/Vitalij21050081/status/1608792352243744769

@aldragon_net Это из физики 6 класса.
Они все материальные объекты.
А любовь, спорт и понедельник - нет.



Я не Галя (@dayobvashumat) 2022-12-30 05:59:07 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/dayobvashumat/status/1608704212824895488

@aldragon_net Советский шестиклассник доминирует интеллектуально





а вы тоже Лена Полено (@gtimoshaz) 2022-12-30 14:07:41 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/gtimoshaz/status/1608827165281513474

@dayobvashumat @aldragon_net и умеет дышать под водой!



Allisa999 (@Allisa999) 2022-12-30 13:40:46 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/Allisa999/status/1608820391291805697

@aldragon_net "конечно, то, что во всех этих системах существуют или могут возбуждаться колебания." Александр Филиппов "Многоликий солитон"



Деня Камушкин (@GusakovDenis) 2022-12-30 19:04:06 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/GusakovDenis/status/1608901759933767681

@aldragon_net Меня радует, что подросшие школьники 80-х не ограничились банальным ответом про колебания, а предложили много других, остроумных и нестандартных.



алескей булыгин (@bulygin499) 2022-12-29 09:54:30 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/bulygin499/status/1608401063807156227

Теплые, ламповые новости из Питера





βολκ (@BOJIK) 2022-12-29 09:59:05 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/BOJIK/status/1608402215471046657

@bulygin499 Есть что-то постоянное в наше непостоянное время. ????????‍♂️



depths of wikipedia (@depthsofwiki) 2022-12-30 04:04:51 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/depthsofwiki/status/1608675458438299648





Repe (@Rpetey317) 2022-12-30 04:10:22 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/Rpetey317/status/1608676847021346822

@depthsofwiki Oh thank God I was about to remove the commies from my water instead of the salt



FANtastic.algo (@Algofan1) 2022-12-30 05:31:30 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/Algofan1/status/1608697263362310144

@depthsofwiki Common mistake



CynicalKiwi ????????/???????? (@kiwi_cynical) 2022-12-30 04:44:40 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/kiwi_cynical/status/1608685478198546432

@depthsofwiki I make that mistake all the time.



Sol (@sol_0_4) 2022-12-30 05:22:57 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/sol_0_4/status/1608695113148137473

@depthsofwiki Well..





Sol (@sol_0_4) 2022-12-30 05:24:15 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/sol_0_4/status/1608695441096572928

@depthsofwiki





Edward Snowden (@Snowden) 2023-01-02 13:40:49 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/Snowden/status/1609907569144766464

"Almost all the projects of social reformers in these days are really ????????????????????????????????????????????."

— John Stuart Mill, discussing the need for a book "on liberty." January 15th, ????????????????.





Edward Snowden (@Snowden) 2023-01-02 13:21:54 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/Snowden/status/1609902808165191682

Free Julian Assange.



Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) 2023-01-03 04:09:15 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/BreitbartNews/status/1610126116223590400

According to a recent report, a bug in Google Home smart speakers allowed for the installation of a backdoor account that could be used to control the device and access its microphone feed. https://trib.al/D7iYdnE



JoJo79 (@JoJoGirl79) 2023-01-04 00:25:43 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/JoJoGirl79/status/1610432251371847681

@BreitbartNews "Bug" my ass
Those things are listening all the time
They are spying on people
They send all the information back to Google
It ain't a "bug"
It is designed like that
It is on purpose



KWard1 (@KathleenJWard1) 2023-01-03 10:32:59 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/KathleenJWard1/status/1610222688030818304

@BreitbartNews The Smartwatch & the Fitbit are designed to get you used to & dependent on wearable technology. Even credit cards are just a touch device now. The future looks like implanted devices that monitor your health and wealth. The govt will know your location, habits, & social credit.



Eli Krebs (@TheRantEli) 2023-01-03 13:40:05 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/TheRantEli/status/1610269772914036737

@BreitbartNews





Tony Bianco (@tony_bianco) 2023-01-03 08:17:35 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/tony_bianco/status/1610188612985053185

@BreitbartNews No surprises here. @Snowden warned us all.



Edward Snowden (@Snowden) 2023-01-03 10:17:29 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/Snowden/status/1610218784496680961

"Bug," or "undocumented feature?" https://twitter.com/BreitbartNews/status/1610126116223590400



Stilicho (@StilichoReads) 2023-01-03 16:23:37 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/StilichoReads/status/1610310925768331269

I didn't appreciate the extent to which the Glorious Revolution was simply a Dutch invasion of Britain (with a fleet four times the size of the Spanish Armada!) It "was arguably one of the most impressive feats of organization any early modern regime ever achieved."







Stilicho (@StilichoReads) 2023-01-03 17:47:49 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/StilichoReads/status/1610332115748683776

English support for the invasion was "sparse" until after it was clear it would succeed. William "was master of England. . . long before Parliament met and hesitantly agreed to make him King." He deliberately made sure that only Dutch soldiers were present in London.







SVTV NEWS (@svtv_news) 2023-01-03 20:46:14 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/svtv_news/status/1610377016452288513

???? День рождения Биткоина!

Ровно 14 лет назад загадочный Сатоши Накамото сгенерировал первый блок в блокчейне и добыл первые 50 биткоинов.

Не все герои носят плащи, некоторых мы даже не знаем по имени. Лучший подарок, который Сатоши сделал миру, — его собственное исчезновение.





SVTV NEWS (@svtv_news) 2023-01-03 20:46:15 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/svtv_news/status/1610377020411707393

Благодаря исчезновению Сатоши биткоин сегодня остается независимым от политического и корпоративного давления.

В отличие от многих криптовалют, биткоин продолжает нести свою миссию децентрализации денежного обмена.



Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) 2023-01-03 21:54:50 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/mtaibbi/status/1610394278617878529

25.Twitter was taking requests from every conceivable government body, beginning with the Senate Intel Committee (SSCI), which seemed to need reassurance Twitter was taking FBI direction. Execs rushed to tell “Team SSCI” they zapped five accounts on an FBI tip:











Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) 2023-01-03 21:54:51 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/mtaibbi/status/1610394281683959811

26.Requests arrived and were escalated from all over: from Treasury, the NSA, virtually every state,  the HHS, from the FBI and DHS, and more:











Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) 2023-01-03 21:54:51 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/mtaibbi/status/1610394284867436547

27.They also received an astonishing variety of requests from officials asking for individuals they didn’t like to be banned. Here, the office for Democrat and House Intel Committee chief Adam Schiff asks Twitter to ban journalist Paul Sperry:





Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) 2023-01-03 21:54:53 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/mtaibbi/status/1610394291352014848

29.Twitter honored almost everyone else’s requests, even those from GEC – including a decision to ban accounts like @RebelProtests and @BricsMedia because GEC identified them as “GRU-controlled” and linked “to the Russian government,” respectively:







Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) 2023-01-03 21:54:54 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/mtaibbi/status/1610394294850064385

30.The GEC requests were what a former CIA staffer working at Twitter was referring to, when he said, “Our window on that is closing,” meaning they days when Twitter could say no to serious requests were over.





Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) 2023-01-03 21:54:54 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/mtaibbi/status/1610394297727082499

31.Remember the 2017 “internal guidance” in which Twitter decided to remove any user “identified by the U.S. intelligence community” as a state-sponsored entity committing cyber operations? By 2020 such identifications came in bulk.





Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) 2023-01-03 21:54:55 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/mtaibbi/status/1610394300277219329

32.“USIC" requests often simply began “We assess” and then provided lists (sometimes, in separate excel docs) they believed were connected to Russia’s Internet Research Agency and committing cyber ops, from Africa to South America to the U.S.:









Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) 2023-01-03 21:54:56 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/mtaibbi/status/1610394303313973248

http://33.One brief report, sent right after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine early last year, flagged major Russian outlets like Vedomosti and http://Gazeta.ru. Note the language about “state actors” fits Twitter’s internal guidance.





Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) 2023-01-03 21:54:56 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/mtaibbi/status/1610394306308702213

34.Some reports were just a paragraph long and said things like: “The attached email accounts… were possibly used for “influence operations, social media collection, or social engineering.” Without further explanation, Twitter would be forwarded an excel doc:







Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) 2023-01-03 21:54:57 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/mtaibbi/status/1610394309424996353

35.They were even warned about publicity surrounding a book by former Ukraine prosecutor Viktor Shokhin, who alleged “corruption by the U.S. government” – specifically by Joe Biden.





Edward Snowden (@Snowden) 2023-01-04 14:38:31 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/Snowden/status/1610646864260468746

The US gov, through the FBI, had the censorship units at major internet platforms on speed dial.

Public figures that claimed such a year ago were cast out of polite society as lunatics. When it is now established to be true, the same polite people now shrug: "Trust the ruler." https://twitter.com/mtaibbi/status/1610394270199939075



Yesterday's Print (@yesterdaysprint) 2023-01-04 17:04:26 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/yesterdaysprint/status/1610683583500529664

The Morning Call, Allentown, Pennsylvania, April 2, 1922





Stannie Holt (@stannieholt) 2023-01-05 10:16:06 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/stannieholt/status/1610943212662968324

@yesterdaysprint @DigiVictorian It predicted the Walkman and iPhone!



Marc Andreessen (@pmarca) 2023-01-05 03:47:18 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/pmarca/status/1610845367268167684

The war on children intensifies.





iFirebrand .eth | .lens ???????????????????? (@iFirebrand) 2023-01-05 03:56:22 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/iFirebrand/status/1610847650856972290

@pmarca Look. If you don’t let people create fresh creative data for GPT-3 what will you train your AI on? Seems like a reasonable thing to me.

Oh, while the ban is nonsensical, sure, the intent is right. You got to teach kids to THINK. And AI is not gonna help you with that.



regret maximizer (@regretmaximizer) 2023-01-05 07:32:08 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/regretmaximizer/status/1610901950786150400

@iFirebrand @pmarca





Marc Andreessen (@pmarca) 2023-01-05 09:10:53 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/pmarca/status/1610926801337069569

This was a whole thing when pocket calculators first came out! https://twitter.com/regretmaximizer/status/1610901950786150400



Technophobia.org (@TechnophobiaOrg) 2023-01-05 13:04:06 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/TechnophobiaOrg/status/1610985492060983296

Kids will future proof themselves for the jobs market... if we let them! https://t.co/7cLcxaB1Ob



Free Speech Absolutist (@mozdca) 2023-01-05 07:09:31 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/mozdca/status/1610896258356645889

@pmarca 90s teachers: You aren’t always going to have a calculator in your pocket.

Current days: You aren’t always going to have an AI do the thinking for you.

The future:





Jason Kennedy | Stop Teaching & Design Learning! (@letsquitteachin) 2023-01-05 16:28:33 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/letsquitteachin/status/1611036943319707648

@pmarca Sad.
I imagine the same happened when calculators came into classrooms.
We should embrace new technologies and incorporate them into the learning we design for students.
After all, that is the job we are paid to do.





Michael Thomas (@curious_founder) 2023-01-04 17:45:40 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/curious_founder/status/1610693961294962689

I see a lot of people say things like "Our grid can't handle more EVs or heat pumps."

Imagine if 100 years ago, people were like "Light bulbs, dishwashers, etc. are all great, but we don't have enough electric capacity."

We can electrify everything *and* build more capacity.



Pessimists Archive (@PessimistsArc) 2023-01-05 14:54:26 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/PessimistsArc/status/1611013256323411969

Studying false fears about old tech can inform how we treat new technologies.

Allowing us to filter out the hysterical moral entrepreneurs, ill intentioned incumbents, sensationalist headlines & the opportunistic legislators

Only way to safeguard against real problems/threats! https://twitter.com/dgardner/status/1610988704666886146



WritingAxis (@WritingAxis) 2023-01-05 15:38:59 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/WritingAxis/status/1611024469824503808

@PessimistsArc But you have to recognize that there are and will be technologies that are harmful. For example, AI is already capable of giving anyone specific instructions on how to make every kind of poison and bomb. Step by step. You can’t take a one-size-fits all view to the issue.



Nina ???? Byzantina (@NinaByzantina) 2023-01-05 15:14:32 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/NinaByzantina/status/1611018317485211648

-62C. ???? Oymyakon, Sakha, Russia, where else?





Andrey Valenkov (@andrey_valenkov) 2023-01-06 09:10:42 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/andrey_valenkov/status/1611289143006617600

А вы тоже уже перестали обращать внимание на количество просмотров, потому что это бесполезный визуальный мусор?



Al Dragon (@aldragon_net) 2023-01-06 09:42:37 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/aldragon_net/status/1611297172435382272

...потом ты начинаешь обращать внимание на количество просмотров, но игнорировать количество лайков.

И, наконец, начинаешь считать визуальным мусором сам твиттер. Это, собственно, главная техника, а первые две — подготовительные. https://twitter.com/andrey_valenkov/status/1611289143006617600



Technophobia.org (@TechnophobiaOrg) 2023-01-07 03:57:17 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/TechnophobiaOrg/status/1611572655030771713

Artists are being burnt at the stake in AI art witch hunts  https://www.vice.com/amp/en/article/y3p9yg/artist-banned-from-art-reddit



Technophobia.org (@TechnophobiaOrg) 2023-01-07 03:58:40 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/TechnophobiaOrg/status/1611573005758373889

????





Technophobia.org (@TechnophobiaOrg) 2023-01-07 04:01:59 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/TechnophobiaOrg/status/1611573840110305282

????‍???? https://t.co/DQMMbfqK3Z





Andy V (@steppentiger) 2023-01-07 22:02:50 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/steppentiger/status/1611845844738899968

Доброй ночи.





Mithgol the Webmaster (@FidonetRunes) 2023-01-10 01:05:56 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/FidonetRunes/status/1612616698569400322

Как зрителю #аниме «Gosick» мнѣ трудно не увидать сходство между первою аркою его сюжета и теми еврейскими расовыми (иудейскими вероисповедными) принципами гадания, которые названы цитатою https://t.me/holmogortalks/26920 про Теодахада у Холмогорова. Впрочем, в «Gosick» хотя бы не свиньи.





NETINT Technologies (@NETINT_Tech) 2023-01-09 19:00:00 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/NETINT_Tech/status/1612524607352758290

This year’s Bitmovin Video Report edition has some surprises, like the fact that more respondents are currently working with H.266/VVC than AV1.

READ Jan Ozer's take on Bitmovin Report: https://netint.biz/3vByX38



depths of wikipedia (@depthsofwiki) 2023-01-07 23:28:41 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/depthsofwiki/status/1611867450592854016





Steven Pinker (@sapinker) 2023-01-08 17:48:42 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/sapinker/status/1612144278729547776

Ergophilia: Energy is what lets us carve out beneficial zones of order amid the ubiquitous and relentless rot of entropy. It's the ultimate enabler of prosperity, longevity, accomplishment, beauty, flourishing. I agree with Ezra Klein here... https://t.co/5T0Oa2sDUu



Steven Pinker (@sapinker) 2023-01-08 17:48:43 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/sapinker/status/1612144281837502469

From Enlightenment Now: "The team that brings clean and abundant energy to the world will benefit humanity more than all of history’s saints, heroes, prophets, martyrs, and laureates combined."



Edward Snowden (@Snowden) 2023-01-09 00:37:53 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/Snowden/status/1612247249484120064

After the last couple years, hard to ignore the feeling that the CIA's Color Revolutions are coming home.

We may come to regret spending decades normalizing the practice of disregarding elections, the precedent for ousting presidents.

&

 
Andy V (@steppentiger) 2023-01-03 18:29:19 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/steppentiger/status/1610342559007604738

Больше Руси Богу Руси.











один в поле не номер (@freedomcry) 2023-01-09 05:18:00 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/freedomcry/status/1612317743860137985

кажется, мне с винды легендарка какая-то дропнулась





Emojipedia (@Emojipedia) 2023-01-09 21:56:55 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/Emojipedia/status/1612569131819192342

Google's latest beta release for @Android 13 (QPR 2 Beta 2) was released earlier today, debuting support for Emoji 15.0 on select Pixel devices registered for the beta program.

https://emojipedia.org/emoji-15.0/





Emojipedia (@Emojipedia) 2023-01-09 21:56:56 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/Emojipedia/status/1612569134415634433

These designs were first made available via downloadable font files in September of last year, and have been available within @gmail since the tail end of 2022.

https://blog.emojipedia.org/first-look-googles-new-emoji-bonanza/



Yes, But (@_yesbut_) 2023-01-10 18:37:59 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/_yesbut_/status/1612881456849633280





SVTV NEWS (@svtv_news) 2023-01-11 01:22:17 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/svtv_news/status/1612983201051381760

???????? Илон Маск уволил 99,5% сотрудников Twitter в Бразилии за вмешательство в выборы

Внутреннее расследование Twitter показало, что сотрудники подыгрывали левым на прошедших выборах. Сейчас в бразильском офисе остался только отдел продаж — 0,5% от численности сотрудников.





Al Dragon (@aldragon_net) 2023-01-11 23:53:32 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/aldragon_net/status/1613323255389237248

12 января 1992 г. во вполне определенной параллельной реальности в лаборатории Иллинойсского университета был запущен HAL 9000.





Shitty Future (@Shitty_Future) 2023-01-12 14:36:43 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/Shitty_Future/status/1613545513000779776

"Mutalk is a Bluetooth microphone built for the metaverse to prevent sound leaks"









Mithgol the Webmaster (@FidonetRunes) 2023-01-14 16:53:38 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/FidonetRunes/status/1614304744738103299

Впервые болѣе чѣмъ за ¼ гóда поглядѣлъ комментарии к каналу https://t.me/anthro_fun и понял, что там сформировалася изрядно заукраинская эхо-камера, в которой не просто неприятно, а и невозможно общаться (скажем, работает бот, стирающий сообщения с пруфлинками и вообще ссылками).



Mithgol the Webmaster (@FidonetRunes) 2023-01-14 17:10:24 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/FidonetRunes/status/1614308966669979651

Пониманием https://twitter.com/FidonetRunes/status/1614304744738103299 руководясь, подписку на комментарии к каналу https://t.me/anthro_fun ѿмѣнилъ.



SVTV NEWS (@svtv_news) 2022-02-15 00:19:36 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/svtv_news/status/1493379432156995586

???????? Министр экономики Канады Христя Фриланд объявила, что отныне Государство будет блокировать счета канадцев без судебного решения. Это ждёт протестующих и тех, кто пожертвовал им хотя бы $25.

Путь, на который Россия потратила 10 лет Канада проскочила за две недели.





SVTV NEWS (@svtv_news) 2022-02-18 00:17:46 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/svtv_news/status/1494466134363492354

???????? Большая перезагрузка канадской демократии

Министр финансов Канады Христя Фриланд упивается новыми диктаторскими полномочиями: имена граждан и компаний, которые жертвовали Конвою свободы, собраны. Часть счетов уже заморожены без суда.





Лени ???? (@gusar_davydov) 2023-01-12 13:19:26 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/gusar_davydov/status/1613526066009620480

Коммерцбанк решил без причины заблокировать мой рабочий счет с нормальным балансом. Здравствуй, миллиард уведомлений, что не прошли никакие платежи, и они не просто не прошли, а мой счет УДАЛЕН ОТОВСЮДУ (!) как метод оплаты.



Лени ???? (@gusar_davydov) 2023-01-12 13:20:59 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/gusar_davydov/status/1613526456088264709

Включая Амазон и Пейпал, которым я оплачиваю ВСЕ сервисы свои и семьи, включая впн в России. Пейпал заблокировал мой банк, Эппл заблокировал мой Пейпал, ожидайте ответа сотрудника, ваш счет красный. Теперь вы должны произвести несколько транзакций, чтобы дебит снова был разрешен!



Vladislav (@zd_vladislav) 2023-01-13 00:11:33 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/zd_vladislav/status/1613690175590207490

Номенклатура "цивилизованных стран" закручивает нал. Во многих странах уже нельзя оплатить кешем машину в автосалоне, например.
Всех принудительно загонят в безнал.

Это нужно, чтобы в любой момент "цивилизованно" репрессировать любого неугодного без тюрьмы и физического насилия. https://twitter.com/gusar_davydov/status/1613526066009620480



Vladislav (@zd_vladislav) 2023-01-13 00:17:41 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/zd_vladislav/status/1613691721476358148

Они уже опробовали это на примере Конвоя Свободы.

Мой прогноз по наблюдаемым темпам этого процесса: в течение 5-7 лет наличку де-факто криминализуют в части "цивилизованных стран", её не будут принимать почти нигде.

Спасаться можно будет только в странах со слабым гос-вами. https://twitter.com/svtv_news/status/1493379432156995586



Vladislav (@zd_vladislav) 2023-01-13 00:22:49 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/zd_vladislav/status/1613693013062201347

Цитируемый в начале твит - просто повод сказать об этом и наглядная демонстрация, как это уже выглядит.
Тебя просто выключают из жизни и оставляют без средств к существованию.
Большинство русских в эмиграции уже столкнулись с этим, но пока есть кеш.
Представьте что его нет.



Сэндвич-ролл с иностранным агентом ???????????? (@anmoris) 2023-01-13 08:41:52 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/anmoris/status/1613818603345973248

Из выключенного рабочего принтера доносятся скрежещущие звуки. Ага, я знал, что он одержим бесами!



Сэндвич-ролл с иностранным агентом ???????????? (@anmoris) 2023-01-13 08:42:46 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/anmoris/status/1613818828776947718

Гарантийные человечки перешли на сторону зла. Замена пока не требуется.



Сэндвич-ролл с иностранным агентом ???????????? (@anmoris) 2023-01-13 08:45:04 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/anmoris/status/1613819408614363137

(О эта его легендарная бесячая привычка показать сообщение "Жёлтый картридж подходит к концу. Замена пока не требуется", и так показывать его случайным образом от пары дней до десяти месяцев!)



Al Dragon (@aldragon_net) 2023-01-13 11:49:51 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/aldragon_net/status/1613865910011564033

@anmoris Мир, каким мы его знали, подходит к концу. Замена пока не требуется.



Al Dragon (@aldragon_net) 2023-01-13 19:52:32 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/aldragon_net/status/1613987379148165135

В личный топ-10 завораживающих интерфейсов уверенно входит ограничение предельной тяги самолётного двигателя через воображаемую температуру воздуха.



Al Dragon (@aldragon_net) 2023-01-13 19:52:32 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/aldragon_net/status/1613987381404925952

Разбегаться и взлетать самолёту надо побыстрее, потому что полоса не бесконечная, а для этого надо как можно больше тяги двигателя. Современный турбовентиляторный двигатель — сильный, но нежный и сложный, сдуру можно и сломать, поэтому управляет им не пилот напрямую, а компьютер.



Al Dragon (@aldragon_net) 2023-01-13 19:52:33 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/aldragon_net/status/1613987383426355214

У двигателя есть предел тяги по давлению, определяющийся прочностью его конструкции, и предел по температуре — если температура в камере сгорания и на турбине слишком высока, то что-нибудь испортится. Эта температура зависит от температуры воздуха, поступающего в двигатель.



Al Dragon (@aldragon_net) 2023-01-13 19:52:33 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/aldragon_net/status/1613987385439666176

Температуру воздуха получает из метеосводки и вводит в компьютер пилот. На аэродроме прохладно — двигатель выдает полную тягу. На аэродроме жарко (точнее, ОЧЕНЬ жарко) — компьютер ограничивает предельные обороты двигателя, чтобы его не поплавило. Пока что всё очень логично.



Al Dragon (@aldragon_net) 2023-01-13 19:52:34 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/aldragon_net/status/1613987387431915542

Но если полоса длинная, а загружен самолёт не полностью — можно сильно сэкономить ресурс двигателя, не гоняя его лишний раз в предельном режиме. Надо сказать об этом компьютеру. Ввести длину полосы в метрах? Загрузку в тоннах? Ветер в метрах в секунду? Не, это сложно и ненадежно.



Al Dragon (@aldragon_net) 2023-01-13 19:52:34 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/aldragon_net/status/1613987389357101067

Пилот берёт специальную таблицу для данного лайнера на данной полосе данного аэропорта в данной кофигурации закрылков при данном встречном или попутном ветре.

Находит там свою загрузку в тоннах. Определяет температуру T_flex…



Al Dragon (@aldragon_net) 2023-01-13 19:52:35 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/aldragon_net/status/1613987391278092293

…и вводит в компьютер стоящего на холодном осеннем ветру на полосе Шереметьево Airbus A320: «температура окружающего воздуха — 56 °С»

И компьютер послушно ограничивает тягу двигателя, чтобы не перегреть его в этих адских условиях.

[место для банальной психологической метафоры]



бессильный бог деталей (@razmolot1) 2023-01-14 06:02:43 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/razmolot1/status/1614140936812113920

@aldragon_net Таблица здесь смущает. Конфигурация закрылков, ветер, полоса — это же всё есть. Остаётся загрузка, чтобы получить T-flex?



Al Dragon (@aldragon_net) 2023-01-14 06:24:00 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/aldragon_net/status/1614146293886029825

@razmolot1 Выглядит это вот так. Данные о лайнере и полосе в шапке таблицы, ниже конфигурация крыла и ветер, в ячейках слева вверху — загрузка. В левом столбце температура, после 53 градусов начинается зона заведомо фиктивных значений.





Тлеубенберри (@c08a) 2023-01-13 20:56:51 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/c08a/status/1614003567303745536

@aldragon_net





Nina ???? Byzantina (@NinaByzantina) 2023-01-14 16:48:08 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/NinaByzantina/status/1614303361259692034

Alexander II was considered a reformist tsar (not reformist enough by his assassins’ standards, though). First, he emancipated the serfs in 1861. Then in 1871, he allowed women to work in public and state institutions (education, medicine, telegraph, clerical work, etc).





Nina ???? Byzantina (@NinaByzantina) 2023-01-14 17:10:24 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/NinaByzantina/status/1614308963838984193

Europe’s first public educational institution for women was founded by Catherine the Great in the 18th century.





ждите (@zhdite) 2023-01-04 14:42:09 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/zhdite/status/1610647776739590146

я кажется на весь город единственный пользуюсь этой вело дорожкой
но до чего же приятно!





ждите (@zhdite) 2023-01-10 14:17:08 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/zhdite/status/1612815811109945345

ещё вам мармасианских технологий





grouchy Lida (@grouchyLida) 2023-01-05 08:11:39 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/grouchyLida/status/1610911892523851779

@zhdite это Турций?



ждите (@zhdite) 2023-01-05 08:14:55 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/zhdite/status/1610912716872368130

@grouchyLida угу, Мармарис



Ottantottiſt (@TeHn0n4Me) 2023-01-15 05:14:24 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/TeHn0n4Me/status/1614491166354849792





Ottantottiſt (@TeHn0n4Me) 2023-01-15 08:45:37 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/TeHn0n4Me/status/1614544320136183810





† lucia scarlet ???? (@shadowbIood) 2023-01-16 07:53:19 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/shadowbIood/status/1614893548662317058

quitting music and graphics to become a full-time JPEG XL activist



Yes, But (@_yesbut_) 2023-01-16 17:51:43 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/_yesbut_/status/1615044137342074880





Pessimists Archive (@PessimistsArc) 2023-01-16 18:52:46 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/PessimistsArc/status/1615059502490914835

In 1999 http://iPhone.com was protest against online phone calls:

"Only those who have the luxury of owning a computer will be able to use the Internet to make a telephone call. Why should the rich be allowed to make telephone calls at lower rates?" https://web.archive.org/web/19991012035305/http://iphone.com:80 https://twitter.com/philiprosedale/status/1615029965078286336





Weird Ai Generations (@weirddalle) 2022-06-25 20:09:38 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/weirddalle/status/1540789336165076993





Алё, нна... (@valdaikiss) 2022-06-27 20:44:03 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/valdaikiss/status/1541522770298814465

Глядючи на очередные шедевры искусственного интеллекта, решила поделиться с вами одной странной историей.
У меня есть воспоминание: лето, деревня, мне три года, я бодро шагаю по дороге, держа за руки маму и папу. Солнце высоко в небе, полный штиль, но жары нет, поют птицы> https://twitter.com/weirddalle/status/1540789336165076993



Алё, нна... (@valdaikiss) 2022-06-27 20:44:03 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/valdaikiss/status/1541522773247463426

Мы сворачиваем с дороги в небольшой пролесок, за которым виднеется железнодорожная насыпь. Рельсы уходят далеко вдаль в обе стороны. Мы останавливаемся, родители о чем-то весело переговариваются между собой, я любопытно верчу головой. Вдруг атмосфера неуловимо меняется. >



Алё, нна... (@valdaikiss) 2022-06-27 20:44:04 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/valdaikiss/status/1541522776284094464

Мы дружно смотрим вправо и видим, как на горизонте, там, где рельсы почти исчезают из виду, медленно расцветает ядерный гриб. Я понимаю, что родители привели меня сюда, чтобы показать это, и улыбаюсь: "красиво".



Алё, нна... (@valdaikiss) 2022-06-27 20:45:28 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/valdaikiss/status/1541523130107273217

Я хз, что это такое и откуда это в моей голове. Оно там с детства. О ядерных грибах я узнала только в школе и то не сразу соотнесла с этим воспоминанием.



Al Dragon (@aldragon_net) 2023-01-17 06:26:25 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/aldragon_net/status/1615234067217121286

Довольно давно обнаружил, что какое-то умопомрачительное количество людей самых разных возрастов твердо уверены, что «когда-то в детстве» лично видели полное солнечное затмение.



Al Dragon (@aldragon_net) 2023-01-17 06:26:26 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/aldragon_net/status/1615234069838860288

Именно лично. Именно полное. Помнят черный диск, помнят солнечную корону, помнят темноту. Что характерно, чаще всего не помнят заревое кольцо, опоясывающее горизонт — хотя обычно при наблюдении оно производит эффект как минимум сравнимый с короной.



Al Dragon (@aldragon_net) 2023-01-17 06:26:27 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/aldragon_net/status/1615234072317497344

Между тем, за последние лет пятьдесят случаи прохождения лунной тени по территории [бывшего] СССР можно пересчитать по пальцам:



Al Dragon (@aldragon_net) 2023-01-17 06:26:27 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/aldragon_net/status/1615234074456489984

15.02.1961 — Крым, Ростов-на-Дону, Урал 22.09.1968 — Урал, Казахстан
10.07.1972 — Камчатка, Чукотка
31.07.1981 — Кавказ, Казахстан, южная Сибирь, Дальний Восток
23.09.1987 — Крайний Север
9.09.1997 — Дальний Восток

Ну и уже относительно «свежие» затмения 2006 и 2008 года.









Al Dragon (@aldragon_net) 2023-01-17 06:26:28 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/aldragon_net/status/1615234077505855488

Во всех случаях речь о длинной, но узкой (50-250 км) полосе, в которой затмение действительно наблюдалось как полное. Люди, однако же, уверенно вспоминают, как видели полную фазу в городах, отстоящих от этой полосы на тысячи километров (а иногда и называют совершенно другой год).



Al Dragon (@aldragon_net) 2023-01-17 06:26:28 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/aldragon_net/status/1615234079791714305

При попытке указать на несоответствие кто-то задумывается, кто-то упрямо настаивает на своем, кто-то всерьез обижается на науку ебучую и готов чуть ли не в драку лезть.



Al Dragon (@aldragon_net) 2023-01-17 06:26:29 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/aldragon_net/status/1615234082077556736

Спонтанность, беспричинность и надежность склеивания в памяти личного опыта наблюдения солнечного серпика через тёмное стекло и чего-то еще — картинки в телевизоре? фотографии в газете? — сначала откровенно пугала.



Al Dragon (@aldragon_net) 2023-01-17 06:26:29 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/aldragon_net/status/1615234084409688065

Пугала до судорожного желания начать перебирать собственные важные воспоминания в попытках понять, какие из них, собственно, и не воспоминания вовсе. Ведь, похоже, такие наверняка есть.



Al Dragon (@aldragon_net) 2023-01-17 06:26:30 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/aldragon_net/status/1615234086796234756

Казалось сначала, что раскопал какой-то глубокий человеческий дефект, с которым непонятно, как жить дальше. Но потом пришло успокоение.

Ok, человек не может поднять тонну груза. Ok, человек не может задержать дыхание на час.
Ok, человек имеет ложные воспоминания. Учтём.



Al Dragon (@aldragon_net) 2023-01-17 06:26:31 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/aldragon_net/status/1615234089002442752

…это было довольно давно.

А сейчас интересно — что мы будем помнить про эту долгую тьму.



Simson Garfinkel @xchatty@newsie.social (@xchatty) 2023-01-16 14:33:21 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/xchatty/status/1614994219063562240

Apple's tech support chat service won't let me upload an HEIC photo that I took with my iPhone.





Dorrine Mendoza (@dorrine) 2023-01-16 23:48:20 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/dorrine/status/1615133883967619072

@xchatty @_jacksmith You can switch your settings to stop saving photos as HEIC



Jack Smith (@_jacksmith) 2023-01-17 08:26:15 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/_jacksmith/status/1615264223474647041

@dorrine @xchatty i don’t think that’s the point. it’s that apple isn’t supporting it’s own standard



Simson Garfinkel @xchatty@newsie.social (@xchatty) 2023-01-17 11:05:43 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/xchatty/status/1615304353484521475

@_jacksmith @dorrine Precisely!



Ian Yates (@IanYates82) 2023-01-17 11:27:54 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/IanYates82/status/1615309934798966784

@xchatty They even accept RAR??! And TIFF?
I mean, I see files like that almost every day, but I wouldn't expect them to be supported / expected before the default format of the device for which you're requesting support



@selfisekai@hackerspace.pl ???? (@liberdalau) 2023-01-16 20:20:55 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/liberdalau/status/1615081687532142613

@xchatty Apple's own browser doesn't support it. thankfully. https://caniuse.com/heif





Mithgol the Webmaster (@FidonetRunes) 2023-01-18 13:24:08 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/FidonetRunes/status/1615701576936755201

Иногда я подозрѣваю, что оборот «in my humble opinion» не послужил настоящею основою для сокращения «IMHO» (иногда записываемого «ИМХО» в русской письменной рѣчи), а всего лишь был удачно подобран как бэкроним для тетраграмматона Имхотепа.

#криптоконспирология



РИА Новости (@rianru) 2023-01-18 16:52:11 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/rianru/status/1615753932394856454

В США разрешили применять семаглутид — первое в мире безопасное и эффективное лекарство от ожирения для взрослых и подростков. К этому препарату ученые шли 30 лет. Клинические исследования проводили в восьми странах, в том числе в России
https://ria.ru/20230118/preparat-1845537306.html





Mithgol the Webmaster (@FidonetRunes) 2023-01-18 22:19:23 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/FidonetRunes/status/1615836277105954816

[33:108] Замѣтивъ приход новых читателей на мой канал, 12 декабря по адресу https://t.me/ReadMithgol/551 я просил голосовать за мои предложения о дальнѣйшемъ развитии Телеграма.

По адресу https://t.me/ReadMithgol/560 ужé 3 января сообщал объ успѣхѣ: доступный размѣръ иллюстраций УДВОИЛСЯ.







Mithgol the Webmaster (@FidonetRunes) 2023-01-18 23:11:35 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/FidonetRunes/status/1615849411837313025

[33:109] По адресу https://t.me/ReadMithgol/561 и https://t.me/ReadMithgol/562 и https://t.me/ReadMithgol/563 я рассказал и ещё об одной новинке (о появлении поддержки видеоформата AV1 в Telegram Desktop), которую я также предлагал, но голосовать за которую своих читателей 12 декабря не просил.









Al Dragon (@aldragon_net) 2023-01-17 16:48:18 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/aldragon_net/status/1615390569521643521

...вернувшись, он увидел, что бедуины всё еще стоят и смотрят на ленту твиттера.

— Чего вы ждёте?
— Мы ждём, когда ненависть там, наверху, иссякнет.



Merryweather Media (@Merryweatherey) 2023-01-13 17:29:29 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/Merryweatherey/status/1613951381421060096

Console Girls: Stadia & Switch [1/5]











Merryweather Media (@Merryweatherey) 2023-01-14 21:45:46 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/Merryweatherey/status/1614378262385381376

Console Girls: Stadia & Switch [2/5]











Merryweather Media (@Merryweatherey) 2023-01-15 18:12:29 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/Merryweatherey/status/1614686979370655745

Console Girls: Stadia & Switch [3/5]











Merryweather Media (@Merryweatherey) 2023-01-17 18:59:31 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/Merryweatherey/status/1615423591356502016

Console Girls: Stadia & Switch [4/5]











Merryweather Media (@Merryweatherey) 2023-01-18 18:27:41 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/Merryweatherey/status/1615777964947570689

Console Girls: Stadia & Switch [5/5]











jenniferdaniel@typo.social ???? (@jenniferdaniel) 2023-01-17 17:48:31 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/jenniferdaniel/status/1615405722908430357

Emoji News ???????? Emoji 15.0 have yet to land on most phones in 2023 (Shout out, ????????????????!); Meanwhile, Unicode is back in the emoji mines, excavating emoji for 2024

Some of recs include re-interrogating the "family" emoji, flipping emoji (!) and a phoenix

https://jenniferdaniel.substack.com/p/breaking-the-cycle





jenniferdaniel@typo.social ???? (@jenniferdaniel) 2023-01-18 15:10:26 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/jenniferdaniel/status/1615728325086814213

TL;DR

Unicode recently announced the delay of Unicode 16.0. As a result, the Emoji Subcommittee is recommending a set of emoji that don't require new codepoints but instead leverage existing characters (aka ZWJs).

(This is how we got ❤️‍????????‍????️❤️‍????????‍????????‍???? in 2020)

https://jenniferdaniel.substack.com/p/the-emoji-that-nearly-werent



Emojipedia (@Emojipedia) 2023-01-17 19:02:10 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/Emojipedia/status/1615424255155441692

As revealed by @jenniferdaniel, there are currently 578 provisional emojis candidates for this year's Emoji 15.1 recommendations.

These include 6 new concepts (such as Lime, Nodding Head, and Phoenix) and 572 direction variations of existing emojis.

https://t.co/xmXOKSlO2O



Emojipedia (@Emojipedia) 2023-01-17 19:02:10 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/Emojipedia/status/1615424257445724167

You can read @jenniferdaniel's original newsletter here: https://twitter.com/jenniferdaniel/status/1615405722908430357



Ottantottiſt (@TeHn0n4Me) 2023-01-17 20:00:34 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/TeHn0n4Me/status/1615438953435258892

айти





Edward Snowden (@Snowden) 2023-01-17 21:16:48 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/Snowden/status/1615458136395063300

Today, an "anti-fake news" outlet (@InsiderEng) falsely claimed that I lived in a KGB safehouse. They even know which floor I'm on! What a scoop!

The problem? It's a lie. I don't cooperate with spies or live in a safe house, much less ???????????????? ???????? ???????????? ???????? ????????????????????????????! ????





Edward Snowden (@Snowden) 2023-01-17 21:21:05 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/Snowden/status/1615459217519054848

@InsiderEng Bonus points for those who notice the absolutely massive train station and shopping complex full of cameras *directly behind* these knuckleheads' "safe house," which definitely sounds like a plausible place for a hunted whistleblower to live.

Deeply embarrassed for these people.



Jon Sneyers (@jonsneyers) 2023-01-15 19:07:00 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/jonsneyers/status/1614700697819439105

Now is a good time to disable auto-update in your Chrome. Version 109 is the last one that supports JPEG XL (behind a flag), starting from version 110 it's gone. Chrome is the only browser (and one of the few applications in general) that can display HDR jxl files correctly atm.



dragosr (@dragosr) 2023-01-16 03:03:03 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/dragosr/status/1614820499795869696

@jonsneyers Just as they fix a credential stealing bug. Tough choice, secure or jpegxl ? Surely there are other image viewers?



Jon Sneyers (@jonsneyers) 2023-01-16 03:37:58 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/jonsneyers/status/1614829285142822915

@dragosr There are other browsers that support jxl, and many viewers, but atm no other browser can show HDR jxl images correctly, and afaik most image viewers will also not properly render HDR.



Jeff ???? (@nekohayo) 2023-01-16 21:52:03 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/nekohayo/status/1615104622468780032

@jonsneyers My solution would rather be to push for adoption in Firefox (and make it into a selling point for that browser), but given how MoCo is mostly Google's pet, I don't know how this is going to be achieved ????



Jon Sneyers (@jonsneyers) 2023-01-20 07:43:16 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/jonsneyers/status/1616340568782819328

Conclusions from the 98th JPEG meeting regarding JPEG XL:
- Committee Drafts of 18181-1 Ed.2 (core coding stream) and 18181-2 Ed.2 (file format) will be submitted for ballot to ISO
- Updated JPEG XL White Paper will be published on the JPEG website

It was a productive week!



Erik André ???????? (@ErikAndreDev) 2023-01-20 08:41:27 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/ErikAndreDev/status/1616355212511399941

@jonsneyers From my point of view, the biggest challenge for JXL right now is adoption. Is this something thats also discussed or is JPEG mainly concerned with the technical aspects of the format?



Jon Sneyers (@jonsneyers) 2023-01-20 10:01:06 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/jonsneyers/status/1616375257715322885

@ErikAndreDev I agree. This is not something that is really discussed in the official meetings — we're only supposed to discuss the technical aspects. But of course during coffee breaks etc it's a topic we talk about :). There's not a whole lot we can actually do to promote adoption though...



Jon Sneyers (@jonsneyers)

 
Shashank Joshi (@shashj) 2023-01-18 14:21:47 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/shashj/status/1615716082588815363

These aren’t the marines you’re looking for.





Al Dragon (@aldragon_net) 2023-01-19 04:51:51 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/aldragon_net/status/1615935043628662786

...когда песок в верхней стеклянной колбе кончается, часы переходят во второй режим и отмеряют ещё один интервал времени — он заканчивается, когда вниз стекает сама колба.



Nick Touran (@whatisnuclear) 2023-01-19 05:52:59 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/whatisnuclear/status/1615950428004552705

France has zero-carbon nuclear-powered trains.





Al Dragon (@aldragon_net) 2023-01-19 21:56:25 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/aldragon_net/status/1616192883899641856

Чем дольше смотришь на выражение «и на солнце есть пятна», тем больший зуд вызывает его странная естественнонаучность. Может, у нас тогда будут и присказки «дало поле кварк, даст и антикварк», «непротиворечива формальная система, да неполна» и «кит о нуле ног, а копытное»?



Al Dragon (@aldragon_net) 2023-01-19 22:01:41 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/aldragon_net/status/1616194208229953537

(Восходит, говорят, к «и в солнце, и в луне есть тёмные места» из поэмы «Россияда» М.М. Хераскова (1779 г.) — но как-то, мгм, остаются вопросы).



Оладий Лукич (@tataka_pseq) 2023-01-20 14:11:33 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/tataka_pseq/status/1616438282535194625

@aldragon_net Не всё то квазипериодическая переменная, что блестит



The Old Shrike (@the_old_shrike) 2023-01-20 07:22:51 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/the_old_shrike/status/1616335432161132544

@aldragon_net Любишь дышать, люби и углеродный след снижать



Left Arm ⭕f The (@LeftArmOfThe) 2023-01-19 22:08:50 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/LeftArmOfThe/status/1616196006873366529

@aldragon_net мал фотон, да летуч



Den Goncharuk (@dengoncharuk) 2023-01-20 06:53:40 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/dengoncharuk/status/1616328085497946112

@aldragon_net Мне еще нравится вариант "Всяк электрон свою дырку хвалит" )



Clown World ™ ???? (@ClownWorld_) 2023-01-19 19:25:48 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/ClownWorld_/status/1616154980649701377

"If a billion people stop eating meat, I tell you, it has a big impact. Not only does it have a big impact on the current food system, but it will also inspire innovation of food systems..."

- Jim Hagemann Snabe, Chairman of Siemens AG





Kinky (@iwant2tellu) 2023-01-20 00:37:46 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/iwant2tellu/status/1616233487312326657

@ClownWorld_





SVTV NEWS (@svtv_news) 2023-01-19 22:19:30 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/svtv_news/status/1616198692821733395

Тони Блэр анонсирует паспорта вакцинирования. Ваши права теперь всегда будут зависеть от того, сделали ли вам все уколы. Для борьбы с болезнями, расизмом и глобальным потеплением паспорта превратятся в аналог соц. рейтинга.

Это будущее. А вы чего ждали, летающий скейтборд?





Al Dragon (@aldragon_net) 2023-01-20 08:29:37 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/aldragon_net/status/1616352233368719360

Подумалось, что обсерватория Кека со своими двумя телескопами неплохо косплеит собаку из сказки «Огниво», у которой глаза были ни дать ни взять две круглые башни и вертелись, точно колёса.





Ronnie the Witchguy (@Stoic_Squid) 2020-10-06 10:38:13 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/Stoic_Squid/status/1313428340322246657

@TheGrishch Каждый раз, когда где-то упоминается "Огниво", испытываю необходимость делиться этими иллюстрациями (by Heinrich Strub).











Telegram Messenger (@telegram) 2023-01-20 14:00:00 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/telegram/status/1616435378025644032

My New Year's resolution is 4K, uncompressed. What's yours?



World Economic Forum (@wef) 2017-01-16 20:00:55 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/wef/status/821084841512996865

Welcome to 2030. I own nothing, have no privacy, and life has never been better @IdaAuken http://wef.ch/2jPEVXo





Phase Interrupter (@PhaseInterruptr) 2023-01-20 15:28:23 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/PhaseInterruptr/status/1616457621242023936

Скажите, пожалуйста, этим ультра-правым инцелам-куанонщикам чтобы завязывали со своими теориями заговора https://twitter.com/wef/status/821084841512996865



Andy Willson (@flier_alex) 2023-01-20 21:34:13 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/flier_alex/status/1616549684297826304

@PhaseInterruptr Влияние этого "элитного" клуба сильно переоценено. Конечно они там обсуждают свои "гениальные" идеи как "спасти" планету, но это не какие-нибудь массоный-иллюминаты. Они не вступают в тайный сговор по поводу чего-то важного.



Phase Interrupter (@PhaseInterruptr) 2023-01-20 23:34:08 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/PhaseInterruptr/status/1616579861002477569

@flier_alex Согласен, это не тайный сговор когда обо всём заявляется публично



Andy Willson (@flier_alex) 2023-01-20 23:58:40 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/flier_alex/status/1616586038385713152

@PhaseInterruptr В чем же тогда теория заговора?



Phase Interrupter (@PhaseInterruptr) 2023-01-21 00:16:47 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/PhaseInterruptr/status/1616590594008289281

@flier_alex Какая теория заговора?



Nina ???? Byzantina (@NinaByzantina) 2023-01-20 17:08:34 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/NinaByzantina/status/1616482832834260999

Fact check: TRUE.





Yesterday's Print (@yesterdaysprint) 2023-01-20 18:52:54 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/yesterdaysprint/status/1616509089919692800

The Atchison Daily Globe, Kansas, January 1, 1897





Mister J. Elliott (@MisterJelliott) 2023-01-20 23:11:06 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/MisterJelliott/status/1616574067267567616

@yesterdaysprint Mate. I'd be more impressed that he did a handstand on a hippo. Those things are dangerous.



Jelly Roll Wharton (@jellyrollwhrtn) 2023-01-20 18:57:58 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/jellyrollwhrtn/status/1616510361787863040

@yesterdaysprint "Jaw-dropping visual effects!" -- somebody on January 2, 1897



Nas (@NasLeaf) 2023-01-21 21:27:33 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/NasLeaf/status/1616910393447677954

@jellyrollwhrtn @yesterdaysprint Almost 100 years later:





Тлеубенберри (@c08a) 2023-01-20 18:47:44 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/c08a/status/1616507789672873985

У Microsoft есть несколько неплохих клавиатур. Недавно я даже продал одну, потому что несмотря на все достоинства, ей было невозможно пользоваться. Догадаетесь, глядя на неё, почему у меня постоянно прогорал стул?





Тлеубенберри (@c08a) 2023-01-20 19:33:43 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/c08a/status/1616519359740145667

Короч, самая большая проблема - отсутствие тактильно различимой границы между F-ками и цифровым рядом. Постоянно сука путал. ПОСТОЯННО.
И после очередного раза психанул и купил клаву в фикс прайсе за 300 рублей. Ахуенно, бальзам на душу.
Надо, кнчн, получше что-то взять потом. https://twitter.com/c08a/status/1616507789672873985



блок ада (@KPOTOKPblC) 2023-01-20 21:32:56 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/KPOTOKPblC/status/1616549363270193152

комментарий придумайте сами





Blake Scholl ???? (@bscholl) 2023-01-20 21:29:54 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/bscholl/status/1616548599252361216

In the long arc of history, 1970-2019 may be seen as a technological dark age —all we got was computers—while the 2020s marked the birth of a broad renaissance, when we finally get flying cars, supersonic jets, space colonization, and nuclear power.
https://t.co/0eNS2WTWYe https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1616548599252361216



David Ridley (@RidleyDM) 2023-01-21 11:24:55 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/RidleyDM/status/1616758735124283392

@bscholl That undersells the internet, the smartphone, and the biotech revolution (we learned how to recombinantly express proteins of choice in that time).

But I hope (and suspect) you're still right that the 2020s have good things in store.



Chris McStill (@SeasideChris) 2023-01-20 21:06:04 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/SeasideChris/status/1616542602081320960

@bscholl I think we had supersonic jets in the 1970s. Real ones that were built and flew.





Blake Scholl ???? (@bscholl) 2023-01-20 21:29:30 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/bscholl/status/1616548496890384389

Yup, we had supersonic jets, lunar landers, and nuclear reactors in the 1970s. But we lost our way—and for half a century we didn't build much of them.

We need fast airplanes, vacations on the Moon, and clean atomic power—in big, sustainable ways that improve our lives. https://twitter.com/SeasideChris/status/1616542602081320960



Occupatus Mens (@OccupatusMens) 2023-01-22 09:08:36 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/OccupatusMens/status/1617086818184306690

@bscholl people 'need' a vacation on the moon like they need a hole in the head



Vladislav (@zd_vladislav) 2023-01-21 17:56:48 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/zd_vladislav/status/1616857355748085762

В России с интернетом всё становится хуже и печальнее на глазах.
Наблюдаем, как перестают быть доступными крупные зарубежные сегменты на несколько часов, а потом снова становятся.
Причём по одним протоколам доступны, по другим - нет.
На ТСПУ крутят что-то зачем-то.



Al Dragon (@aldragon_net) 2023-01-21 22:13:12 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/aldragon_net/status/1616921882250330113

По плану марсианской экспедиции фон Брауна (Mars Project, 1952) на Марс должны были садиться ракетопланы на колесном шасси.

А ровную посадочную полосу построил бы экипаж первого ракетоплана, который садился на полярную шапку. На лыжах.

Как люди жили, как тонко чувствовали.



Mithgol the Webmaster (@FidonetRunes) 2023-01-24 02:38:08 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/FidonetRunes/status/1617713329509928960

[50:75] По адресу https://te.legra.ph/Dumbbell-Nan-Kilo-Moteru-01-05 на сайте Telegraph выложил альбом, по адресу https://t.me/ReadMithgol/566 в Telegram выложил архив (7-Zip) сшивок кадров, взятых из первой серии #аниме «Dumbbell Nan Kilo Moteru?».





Mithgol the Webmaster (@FidonetRunes) 2023-01-24 03:30:43 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/FidonetRunes/status/1617726565806374912

Возможности утилиты oxipng (по адресу https://twitter.com/FidonetRunes/status/1286828688634515456 и https://twitter.com/FidonetRunes/status/1287676217269911552 и https://twitter.com/FidonetRunes/status/1293076215448903680 разсмотрѣнныя в 2020 г.) были улучшены её разработчиком.

По адресу https://t.me/ReadMithgol/556 и https://t.me/ReadMithgol/557 и https://t.me/ReadMithgol/558 подробности и примѣры.









depths of wikipedia (@depthsofwiki) 2023-01-10 20:48:19 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/depthsofwiki/status/1612914254784372758

this is it! this is the most disturbing list i have ever read!





depths of wikipedia (@depthsofwiki) 2023-01-14 22:04:21 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/depthsofwiki/status/1614382941840228352





@netspooky@haunted.computer (@netspooky) 2023-01-14 23:24:48 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/netspooky/status/1614403184528613379

@depthsofwiki "Ladies, the gays are too strong, there's only one way to defeat them" - Some 16th century Venetian lantern salesman who lives next to a bridge





Insider Paper (@TheInsiderPaper) 2023-01-23 13:45:44 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/TheInsiderPaper/status/1617518950799085569

JUST IN ???? Japan's prime minister says his country is on the brink of not being able to function as a society because of its falling birth rate. - BBC



Hagai Palevsky (he/him) (@DialHForHagai) 2022-04-21 21:35:40 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/DialHForHagai/status/1517255776217321472

thinking about biblically-accurate clippy





Evangeline Gallagher (@egallagher_art) 2022-04-24 16:27:38 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/egallagher_art/status/1518265417244069889

@DialHForHagai ask and ye shall receive





Hagai Palevsky (he/him) (@DialHForHagai) 2022-04-24 16:28:07 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/DialHForHagai/status/1518265542204964865

@egallagher_art PERFECT



Andy V (@steppentiger) 2023-01-14 20:57:23 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/steppentiger/status/1614366089420632064

Не ждем, а готовимся.





Александр Усольцев (@usolt) 2023-01-20 21:15:50 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/usolt/status/1616545057443663889

Так вот вы какие, казаки черноморские





Andy V (@steppentiger) 2023-01-21 12:42:03 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/steppentiger/status/1616778147072192512

С нашим Бафометом не приходится тужить. https://twitter.com/usolt/status/1616545057443663889



РосКомСвобода (@RuBlackListNET) 2023-01-24 11:57:09 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/RuBlackListNET/status/1617854013898358785

С Github Pages удалили код сайта The Proxy Bay

В ответ на запрос полиции Лондона Github принял решение об удалении списка сайтов-прокси торрент-портала The Pirate Bay

Наш перевод материала TorrentFreak https://roskomsvoboda.org/post/github-the-pirate-bay/



???????????????? ???????????????????????????? ???????? ???????????????????? ???? (@azazelowa) 2023-01-21 21:15:06 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/azazelowa/status/1616907263486361600

Na niebie w Bursie (Turcja) chmura przybrała nietypowy kształt. "Nieziemska chmura soczewkowata" była widoczna przez około godzinę.







Defiant L’s (@DefiantLs) 2023-01-24 17:38:59 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/DefiantLs/status/1617940038578483203





Yesterday's Print (@yesterdaysprint) 2023-01-24 19:00:02 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/yesterdaysprint/status/1617960433377312781

The Coffeyville Daily Journal, Kansas, August 11, 1897





Elon Musk (@elonmusk) 2023-01-15 23:09:59 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1614761844010528770

Instagram makes people depressed & Twitter makes people angry. Which is better?



Elon Musk (@elonmusk) 2023-01-21 00:31:38 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1616594332907372544

Next Twitter update will remember whether you were on For You (ie recommended), Following or list you made & stop switching you back to recommended tweets



Elon Musk (@elonmusk) 2023-01-21 00:18:21 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1616590989145313283

In coming months, Twitter will translate & recommend amazing tweets from people in other countries & cultures



Elon Musk (@elonmusk) 2023-01-21 00:35:56 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1616595415675330563

There are epic tweets in other countries every day (Japan especially)



Elon Musk (@elonmusk) 2023-01-21 00:40:35 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1616596584174882816

(Tweets will be translated before being recommended)



Elon Musk (@elonmusk) 2023-01-21 17:41:22 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1616853475220156417

Ads are too frequent on Twitter and too big. Taking steps to address both in coming weeks.



Elon Musk (@elonmusk) 2023-01-21 17:49:22 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1616855485294215168

Also, there will be a higher priced subscription that allows zero ads



Anatoly Karlin (@powerfultakes) 2023-01-06 08:14:59 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/powerfultakes/status/1611275121804840961

Krasnodar will probably become Russia's #5 city by 2030, set to overtake an array of low millioniks in 2020s.

Sevastopol rose from 342k in 2010 to 547k in 2021, will either become a near-millionik or a 200k ghost town depending on how this war ends. https://twitter.com/powerfultakes/status/1396275851839348736





Anatoly Karlin (@powerfultakes) 2023-01-06 11:40:50 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/powerfultakes/status/1611326926274330632

One largely Soviet-inflicted problem of economic geography is that Russia has Moscow and SPB, and a ton of 1M cities and less, but none of the 2-5M conurbations that underpin US prosperity since 2M+ enables economies of scale in a way impossible with 1M or less.





Anatoly Karlin (@powerfultakes) 2023-01-06 11:53:07 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/powerfultakes/status/1611330016922505216

Main story of Russian internal migration will likely just continue to be one of people leaving small, prospectless cities for major regional centers, with Krasnodar ultimately becoming #3 city by a significant margin (Minsk #4 if Belarus joins; Ekaterinburg & Kazan #5 and #6).



Denims (@DenimsTV) 2023-01-08 20:40:02 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/DenimsTV/status/1612187393653886976

"can I copy your homework?"

"yeah just change it up a bit so it doesn't look obvious you copied"







Anatoly Karlin (@powerfultakes) 2023-01-09 01:27:56 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/powerfultakes/status/1612259848531415040
 

our sphere of integration
your sphere of influence https://twitter.com/bctallis/status/1612105946012033026

 




Anatoly Karlin (@powerfultakes) 2023-01-09 13:21:34 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/powerfultakes/status/1612439437320880130

Original Tweet (since Block).





Anatoly Karlin (@powerfultakes) 2023-01-09 13:21:34 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/powerfultakes/status/1612439439346655233

Even leaving things like Monroe Doctrine and US claims to universal jurisdiction (e.g. Assange) aside, NATO integration was de facto coupled to EU expansion from 1990s on (despite public opinion in many countries like Czechia being opposed).





супер-пупер киса (@_m_a_h_a___) 2023-01-24 23:11:19 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/_m_a_h_a___/status/1618023670944874497

вот такой житель ваке, не очень поняла то ли устроил акцию против велодорожек, то ли очень хотел свой велосипед и лежал визуализировал
спросить не смогла, уснул





Mark Dawes (@mdawese11) 2023-01-23 21:27:18 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/mdawese11/status/1617635107380293632

Degrowth is not the answer to climate change.
 https://t.co/E3ukiNXcfS



Ottantottiſt (@TeHn0n4Me) 2023-01-25 07:43:08 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/TeHn0n4Me/status/1618152476561268741

Нужно определить минимальный набор референций





Ottantottiſt (@TeHn0n4Me) 2023-01-25 07:45:57 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/TeHn0n4Me/status/1618153183553150979

Самыф минимум — Комедии Гайдая. Они объединяют всех людей за 50



Ottantottiſt (@TeHn0n4Me) 2023-01-25 07:48:34 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/TeHn0n4Me/status/1618153841282928640

Второй минимум — знание персонажей Touhou Project. Он оно объединяет всех русских.



Шелупонь (@sslmsslm) 2023-01-25 07:51:26 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/sslmsslm/status/1618154565429506055

@TeHn0n4Me Наконец-то нормальный критерий русскости



Mithgol the Webmaster (@FidonetRunes) 2023-01-25 16:02:29 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/FidonetRunes/status/1618278141860147200

@sslmsslm @TeHn0n4Me Надѣюсь, что всѣмъ видно, что это такой рофл и что на сáмомъ дѣлѣ русские люди знакомы с персонажицами Touhou Project мало и недостаточно, особенно если подразумевать ZUNовскія произведенія послѣднихъ лѣтъ, а не что-то вроде Phantasmagoria of Flower View （東方花映塚） 2005 года.



РосКомСвобода (@RuBlackListNET) 2023-01-25 11:29:53 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/RuBlackListNET/status/1618209537219260416

⚖️«В иске я требую убрать свои биометрические данные из системы распознавания»

Новая московская история о распознавании. Читайте её от первого лица.

https://roskomsvoboda.org/post/raspoznavanie-objalovanie/



Al Dragon (@aldragon_net) 2023-01-25 14:15:10 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/aldragon_net/status/1618251133650366465

«...из кипятка воображаемая лягушка поучительно выпрыгивает. Но можно бросать её в кипяток с очень большой скоростью (т.н. пушечная схема) или же быстро и равномерно залить кипятком со всех сторон (имплозивная)».



Larnir (@e_zhiletz) 2023-01-25 15:33:12 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/e_zhiletz/status/1618270772216365066

@aldragon_net в реальных биологических исследованиях по обратимой заморозке живых организмов было и то, и то.
но с жидким азотом.
и не работает.



Хабр Научпоп (@habr_popsci) 2023-01-25 12:00:29 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/habr_popsci/status/1618217240725168129

Вы даже представить себе не можете, как трудно споить хомяка

Хомяки не просто устойчивы к алкоголю, они предпочитают его воде — и это, вероятно, происходит потому, что они пьют алкоголь ради калорий: https://bit.ly/3HsPAFa





Android Authority (@AndroidAuth) 2023-01-25 11:30:21 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/AndroidAuth/status/1618209654584008704

Qualcomm has its eye on the VVC codec instead of AV1    https://www.androidauthority.com/qualcomm-av1-encoding-3271556



Will Rinehart (@WillRinehart) 2023-01-25 20:14:00 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/WillRinehart/status/1618341435278762001

Sen. Hawley is working on legislation that will ban TikTok nationwide: https://buff.ly/3wsTMOL. That's going to be a tough lift because such a bill would seemingly violate the 1st Amendment.





Tatsuya Ishida (@TatsuyaIshida9) 2023-01-26 04:05:53 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/TatsuyaIshida9/status/1618460188713025541

Red Pills





Randy ???? (@CocoaDrinker29) 2023-01-26 08:49:47 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/CocoaDrinker29/status/1618531637251440640

@TatsuyaIshida9 The QR code says "slavery," for anyone wondering



SwiftOnSecurity (@SwiftOnSecurity) 2023-01-26 01:12:07 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/SwiftOnSecurity/status/1618416461764243456

This is an amazing 12min presentation about how the internals of the most obscure but critical technologies are unfortunately being lost as the generation who built it and know the dark magic retire. (via @tiffsequence)

https://youtube.com/watch?v=3zaq56QsX28



SwiftOnSecurity (@SwiftOnSecurity) 2023-01-26 01:28:54 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/SwiftOnSecurity/status/1618420682744016897

Presenter @daemon404 also goes on to recognize how few in (younger) generation can develop the breadth of experience due to how detailed and honed every sector of technology has gotten over time. Really, something worth listening to and abstracting to the larger state of humanity





FFmpeg (@FFmpeg) 2023-01-26 14:34:15 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/FFmpeg/status/1618618324648173568

FFmpeg developer @daemon404 talking about how the fundamentals of video and audio are being lost due to exponential complexity of the field https://twitter.com/SwiftOnSecurity/status/1618416461764243456



Gerardo Delgado (@gerdelgado) 2023-01-25 16:32:54 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/gerdelgado/status/1618285796532051969

Discord is currently rolling out an update that enables AV1 streaming with GeForce RTX 40 Series GPUs!

The upate is rolling out starting this week and will slowly populate to all users. With AV1 you'll be able to stream up to 4K60 with nitro, at 8 Mbps!



Gerardo Delgado (@gerdelgado) 2023-01-25 16:33:34 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/gerdelgado/status/1618285964308402180

Discord uses p2p streaming so they will check if the people in your channel can view AV1, and if so use AV1. If someone joins that can't decode it, it will switch automatically to H.264 so everyoen can see.



Gerardo Delgado (@gerdelgado) 2023-01-25 16:33:46 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/gerdelgado/status/1618286013520187402

Welcome to the AV1 revolution!



Jeremiah (@rhexos_) 2023-01-25 16:43:04 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/rhexos_/status/1618288352444416000

@gerdelgado "only 4000 series enjoyers in this discord" incoming



Gerardo Delgado (@gerdelgado) 2023-01-25 18:34:35 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/gerdelgado/status/1618316418159894529

@rhexos_ Oh sorry, let me clarify. RTX 30 and 40 series, AMD 6000 and 7000 GPUs, as well as any CPU from 2020 or more recent have AV1 decoders.



Mithgol the Webmaster (@FidonetRunes) 2023-01-26 16:51:44 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/FidonetRunes/status/1618652921654288384

Замысел https://twitter.com/gerdelgado/status/1618285964308402180 выглядит довольно странно: напрашивается вопрос о том, чего это они не могли dav1d использовать для декодирования.

Правда, сам я никогда не устанавливал и не использовал Discord и оттого ничего не знаю о специфике тамошних технических ограничений.



Kloop (@kloopnews) 2023-01-21 10:25:13 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/kloopnews/status/1616743712729583619

Малоимущие семьи из жилмассивов получат беспроцентные кредиты для проведения газового отопления — мэр Бишкека
http://bit.ly/3D32VBr





Акт Риса ???? (@AmSabinne) 2023-01-22 04:58:30 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/AmSabinne/status/1617023880656293888

Люди с ограниченными возможностями получат кредиты на установку пандусов в общественных местах.
Дети получат кредиты на строительство детских площадок в микрорайонах.
Пешеходы получат кредиты на строительство тротуаров.
Горожане получат кредиты для установки освещения на улицах. https://twitter.com/kloopnews/status/1616743712729583619



The Verge (@verge) 2023-01-26 17:42:30 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/verge/status/1618665696942084096

Yes, Twitter changed its font https://t.co/ypUZNIdN0m





Mithgol the Webmaster (@FidonetRunes) 2023-01-28 13:13:27 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/FidonetRunes/status/1619322766259523585

Если словом «сомелье» называется работник ресторана или винзавода, помогающий подобрать вино (или другой алкогольный напиток), а словом «шоколатье» зовут кондитера, готовящего шоколад, то тогда блоггер, раз за разом рассказывающий про #эффектМанделы, может быть назван «манделье».



Fascinating (@fasc1nate) 2023-01-28 17:41:26 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/fasc1nate/status/1619390206519517185

The evolution of Coca-Cola bottle design over almost a century.





стася! (@stasia_apk) 2023-01-27 06:26:49 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/stasia_apk/status/1618858043055431681

Самое большое дорожно-транспортное недоразумение в мире - велосипедисты на дороге!

КАК МОЖЕТ БЫТЬ КОМФОРТНО ЕЗДИТЬ ВОКРУГ МОНСТРОВ В ПОЛТОРЫ ТОННЫ КОГДА ТЫ - ПРОСТО КОЖАНЫЙ ЧЕЛОВЕК 80 КГ ВЕСОМ, ГДЕ ИНСТИНКТ САМОСОХРАНЕНИЯ!?!?!



Моби (@Kozzlovv) 2023-01-29 10:12:28 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/Kozzlovv/status/1619639605619458048

@stasia_apk Самое большое дорожно-транспортное недоразумение в мире - легковушки на дороге!

КАК МОЖЕТ БЫТЬ КОМФОРТНО ЕЗДИТЬ ВОКРУГ грузовикоВ В 20 ТОНН КОГДА ТЫ - ПРОСТО консервная банка в 1000 КГ ВЕСОМ, ГДЕ ИНСТИНКТ САМОСОХРАНЕНИЯ!?!?!



Александр Кюннап (@fonKyunnap) 2023-01-27 15:22:38 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/fonKyunnap/status/1618992888742051840

Велодорожка из Махинджаури в Батуми очень похожа на велодорожку из Пирита в Таллинн.





Александр Кюннап (@fonKyunnap) 2023-01-27 15:50:39 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/fonKyunnap/status/1618999936779186178

@Lala_Rikka не сама велодорожка, а вид, Таллинн тоже стоит на таком изгибе и также высотки видно



Andy V (@steppentiger) 2023-01-29 21:49:18 (UTC)

https://twitter.com/steppentiger/status/1619814970698629120

Доброй ночи.