JamesPadraicR

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• Commented on Server upgrade coming
  What's with the accelerando.org address? I get this: 403 Forbidden You don't have permission to access / on this server. Apache/2.4.10 (Debian) Server at www.accelerando.org Port 80 Obviously fine from the antipope address....
• Commented on Why I barely read SF these days
  I expect the supermarkets to wire their car parks for vehicle charging while you shop. Yeah, I can easily picture US shopping malls with parking lot aisles dedicated to charging stations—like with handicap sections. I can also easily see that...
• Commented on Why I barely read SF these days
  Something for the Laundry's faculty break room (if they have one*): FAQ: Your New Cursed Instant Pot *if so, I really don't want to know what's in the fridge....
• Commented on Why I barely read SF these days
  Probably not news—on that pink/blue gendering nonsense: When Did Girls Start Wearing Pink?...
• Commented on Why I barely read SF these days
  I assume Charlie's seen this: "Halting State" China style Nothing at the moment to add to the current discussion. Much sympathy to Hugh's family and friends. Been there, grateful for the Falcon Heavy distraction....
• Commented on PSA: Please don't nominate the Laundry Files for a Best Series Hugo Award (this year)
  Same with my mother, though she doesn't spin, plenty of projects for the future. So long as it keeps her going. The grammar of that last line of mine above is teeth grinding. Hit submit too soon....
• Commented on PSA: Please don't nominate the Laundry Files for a Best Series Hugo Award (this year)
  if it turns out he was one of your or Charlie's relatives I apologize in advance Speaking for myself; No worries. As far as I know my Great-Great Grandparents were farmers in Lithuania. But that's just my maternal grandmother's family,...
• Commented on PSA: Please don't nominate the Laundry Files for a Best Series Hugo Award (this year)
  And, oh yeah, geneaology is another thing I ought to get back to. One of theses days......
• Commented on PSA: Please don't nominate the Laundry Files for a Best Series Hugo Award (this year)
  Any idea how he deals with the author's gender for his early works? No idea, other than what's been mentioned, and what Wikipedia says. I did listen to an interview with him about writing, I don't remember gender being talked...
• Commented on PSA: Please don't nominate the Laundry Files for a Best Series Hugo Award (this year)
  Well, the first time I read a Yoon Ha Lee story was on Tor.com a few years ago, their bio said she at the time....
• Commented on PSA: Please don't nominate the Laundry Files for a Best Series Hugo Award (this year)
  Quick note; Yoon Ha Lee identifies as Male. Another writer whose books I have waiting patiently in the TBR pile....
• Commented on PSA: Please don't nominate the Laundry Files for a Best Series Hugo Award (this year)
  Won't "Invisible Sun" be book 9(6) of that series? Anyhow, another year in which I haven't read nearly enough to have much opinion for noms. Only four that would be eligible: "Empire Games" & "The Delirium Brief", "The Stars Are...
• Commented on What can possibly go wrong?
  Even worse: nearly all of Emily Dickinson's poems can be sung to "The Yellow Rose of Texas"....
• Commented on What can possibly go wrong?
  James #390 - as far as I have read, and also I just checked with a Jacobite friend, no tartans have been recovered from Culloden, that would mean disturbing war graves in which eberything had decomposed a lot. I must've...
• Commented on What can possibly go wrong?
  From what I've read, tartans that you can buy with so-called Ancient coloring are based on samples found by archaeologists at Culloden, so obviously pre-Victorian, though no one seems to agree whether tartan patterns were associated with clan, region, individual...
• Commented on What can possibly go wrong?
  The whole 8 yards. Obviously....
• Commented on What can possibly go wrong?
  Reading the comments out of order. And regarding the obvious and inevitable question, no. Nothing. It's all in perfect working order. :) Read this article: It's not cute, and kind of decided, particularly with the recent harassment news, that it's...
• Commented on What can possibly go wrong?
  I was perhaps under the misapprehension that the traditional kilt was 7 yards The whole 8 yard kilt thing is about having more than enough fabric to make the kilt. The size of the tartan sett in part determines the...
• Commented on What can possibly go wrong?
  Yep, to all that*, though not sure that the tartan business is complete guff—the modern ones certainly are. This past Saturday night I wore one of two 'self-coloured' kilts that I recently made to a "Latkes & Vodkas" party at...
• Commented on We get reviews (contd.)
  Looking forward to it. As I think was previously suggested on Twitter; I assume that last line in the review will show up on future dustjackets? (And thanks for the answer in the last post.)...
• Commented on Empire Games Black Friday promo (UK only)
  I have to ask: What do you mean by Rewriting? A literal rewrite from beginning to end? Or going through a draft and making additions and corrections. Personally, I can't imagine doing the former, and go the editing route. Sure,...
• Commented on Crib Notes: Empire Games
  Missing, presumed dead. (This happens to quite a few minor name-check characters, and some less minor ones.) I assume this applies to the Wu worldwalking family as well. Or will they reappear?...
• Commented on Excuses
  People in prison in the US find Jesus all the time. It rarely makes a difference in their prison situation Depends on the prison and where it is? I knew someone who spent three years in a minimum security federal...
• Commented on Excuses
  Also depending on how long since their last booster....
• Commented on Excuses
  I would think so, but may depend on where they're being posted. AFAIK Military personnel get vaccinated before going over seas....
• Commented on Excuses
  Here's one of the articles I've read discounting the Sonic Weapon argument, from NYT by Carl Zimmer: A ‘Sonic Attack’ on Diplomats in Cuba? These Scientists Doubt It Another thought I had was some sort of sympathetic resonance in the...
• Commented on Excuses
  Our Polynymous Friend went on about this a few weeks ago. Everything I've seen about it says the idea of a sonic weapon is nonsense. My guess is major Sick Building Syndrome due to quickly fixed up old embassy structures....
• Commented on Excuses
  Speaking of automating cars and dumb drivers. In the US there's a commercial for a car (don't remember the make,—yes, I watch too much TV) that demonstrates the auto braking by showing the car stopping before hitting a man chasing...
• Commented on Excuses
  (Romance isn't merely a big genre, it's about 50% of all commercial fiction; there's an SF/F subgenre within it that is larger than the SF genre you find on your bookstore shelves, only it's gender segregated behind often-pink covers.) Yep....
• Commented on Excuses
  Shoot, I had a question about "The Delirium Brief" after I finished it a few weeks ago, but don't remember what it was. Anyhow... I've also been wondering about the average word length of books in general. I was about...