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wednesday reads and things on saturday?!?!
Nov. 22nd, 2025 11:34 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
isisThis past trip was to visit my brother and his family, and also to do crosswords and cryptics with his group, who I meet every Saturday morning on a Zoom-equivalent for puzzling; I was there in person two years ago and wanted to do it again. But since I was going to be in the area I coordinated with an OTW meet-up group for dim sum on Sunday and met several of my fellow tag wranglers and other volunteers, and then got together with
hamsterwoman for a lovely afternoon of chatting and walking and sightseeing along the Embarcadero.So, part of traveling is being on planes! And being on planes means lots of time for reading! I had been intrigued by a Yuletide promo post about a book duology, and though I didn't manage to get to it before Yuletide, I did find it at my library in time for this trip:
The Philosopher's Flight and The Philosopher's War by Tom Miller - this is an alt-history set in World War I with an odd kind of magic, "empirical philosophy", which involves drawing arcane sigils with different materials to do things like make plants grow faster, heal the sick, fly, and summon the wind. It's dominated by women, who are generally more talented at it, but the protagonist of the series is a young man who dreams of following in his mother's footsteps as a rescue and evacuation flier (literally, flying) for the military. Alt history and unusual magic systems are catnip for me, but I was a little worried that it being about the rare talented man in a woman's field would detract.
Actually, it was fun and funny, and inverted some sexist tropes and history in an entertaining way. Robert is not better than all the women, he's just pretty good, and better than most men. And seeing how the system is rigged against him in ways both overt and inherent holds up a mirror to real-world sexism: he has to work twice as hard to be considered half as good as a woman, he needs a special dispensation to study sigilry at Radcliffe, and a (female) general's recommendation to join the rescue corps, where he's called Sigilwoman 3rd Class, and addressed as "ma'am" - but eventually is regarded by the women around him as their "little brother", and distinguishes himself in his work as equal to his "sisters". A thoughtful treatment of politics and the military, too, and loads of unintended consequences wherever you turn. I enjoyed it!
What I've recently finished watching:
S3 of The Diplomat, but woohoo, that was a fun one. A little more relationship drama than I personally would have liked, but it was interesting to watch Kate basically being Hal while being oblivious to that fact, and also, people being shitty to each other while also acting in what they honestly perceived as being in the best interest of their country (or the world), and also, how actions have (often unintended, see above) consequences, and you just have to grit your teeth and deal. Also, can I just say how great it was to see a competent president? Especially a competent female president, who gives no fucks as to what she looks like to people who at the end of the day don't matter, for the important things. (Not that she's not flawed, but still. Better than the actual venial disaster we have.)
While I was at my brother's, we watched the French stop-motion animated comedy A Town Called Panic, which was an absurd fantasy-adventure delight. I laughed a lot! It was very weird! One of my nieces insisted I watch a couple of episodes of Bee and Puppycat with her, and - that was also very weird. I am not really sure what it is about! It is a cartoon about a girl and her possibly alien pet, who brings her to ... an interspacial temp agency? I may actually try to watch it more seriously this winter while riding the stationary bike, it's very pretty, and part of my ??? is that I couldn't hear the audio very well, but if I watch it at home at least I can use subtitles (and headphones).
We are now watching S4 of The Witcher.
What I'm playing now:
I finished Monument Valley, and have started poking at Monument Valley 2 (put it on my laptop and played a little while I was in California). I also have started playing Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered, though I'm not sure I'm going to stick (heh) with it. It's really designed for a controller, so that's what I'm using (and the haptic feedback is nifty) but I also suck at using a controller, so my web-swinging movement is far from smooth and combat is mostly random button-mashing. I also feel like it's very distracting, with all of the CRIMES! I'm supposed to go stop while I'm just trying to get to my next quest!
So as I mentioned last time, B started playing Horizon Forbidden West and I've been looking over his shoulder every so often because I loved that game. Finally I decided...to start a NG+! Which I've never done. I never replay games! I tried to replay Dragon Age II and it annoyed me so much I didn't even get to Kirkwall. But I went right through the tutorial (fun!) and into Chainscrape, and..I might keep playing? We shall see! I've turned up the difficulty since I'm so buff and have so much gear. I think I need to look up how these things go...
Canada Post and union reach deal in principle to end strike
Nov. 22nd, 2025 04:33 pm![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png){kind=small}
bbc_news_americas_feedOhio officer acquitted of murdering pregnant woman suspected of shoplifting
Nov. 21st, 2025 06:07 pmbbc_news_americas_feedSaturday Morning Breakfast Cereal - Santa
Nov. 22nd, 2025 11:20 amsmbc_comics_feed
Click here to go see the bonus panel!
Hovertext:
Apparently this used to actually happen, according to the book The Lore and Language of Schoolchildren, which Tomer Ullman recommended to me.
Today's News:
Yes, All Those Author Services and Book Club Emails Are Fake, and No, Don’t Send Them Any Money
Nov. 22nd, 2025 04:58 pmscalziwhatever_feed
If you’re an author, or honestly if you just happen to be standing near an author these days, then you have probably seen a flood of emails in the past couple of months promising you that whoever is sending you the email can promote [Insert name of one of your works here, even if it is over a decade old] to Amazon/Goodreads/their book club/a nebulous agglomeration of readers/etc. Either up front, or after an email exchange, will come the ask of some amount of money, usually a couple hundred dollars but sometimes more, as “administrative fees” or some such.
Just to be clear, so there is no doubt about these things: Every single one of these emails is absolutely a scam, none of these promoters and/or book clubs are real*, and if you send money to any of these accounts, either directly or through a third-party service, you will get nothing for your money and you will never see that money or those scammers again. Never send money to these people. Ever.
(The asterisk above for “none of these book clubs is real” is there because sometimes the scammers will pretend to be representing an actual online book club and might point to their site or page to give the illusion of legitimacy. They are not legit.)
These sort of scam emails have been around for years, of course, but it seems like there’s a real upswing in both the number and variety of emails. I myself get a couple dozen of them a day recently. Here are the headers of some that have arrived in the last few hours, and yes, emojis are part of headers now, we truly live in a benighted age:
- “Can I Borrow Your Book? …To Show 55k People
”: This one promises me access to book-promo networks across TikTok and Linkedin, which is a cursed combination if there ever was one; - “Growing Constituent Service’s Visibility on Goodreads During Peak Q4 Discovery”: This one promises exposure in Goodreads’ “Listopia” section, which is asserted to be very important here in the holiday season;
- “Did Amazon lock your book in the basement, or did Jeff Bezos just ghost you?
”: This spammer is trying to neg me into using its “service” by suggesting Amazon is not doing enough to promote The Shattering Peace, an odd statement to make inasmuch as Amazon is one of the book’s publishers (via Audible, who, incidentally, sent me a very handsome marketing document, which they executed upon perfectly) and the book itself was a New York Times best seller; - “Cinematic AI Visuals for your book”: Because what could be a better way to spend money promoting your work than to pay some dude to type a prompt into Sora;
- “Before the book-buying madness starts…”: This one is using the tactic of asking me if I would like to know more about how they can help me, the idea being that if you actually respond to this sort of soft-pedal approach, they know they have a sucker;
- “Quick Goodreads Visibility Boost for ‘Wildfire'”: Another Goodreads Listopia booster, promising eyeballs for my audiobook “Wildfire,” which is fun, since I don’t have an audiobook named “Wildfire.”
That’s just from this morning, mind you; I cleared out my spam last night before I went to sleep. These were waiting for me when I woke up. Soon I will have many, many more.
“But the email said nice things about my book and it seems like whoever is sending the email read it!” Sure, because “AI” is a thing now and it will spit out highly complimentary lines instantly. Here, look, this is Gemini telling me how awesome When the Moon Hits Your Eye is:
Dear Mr. Scalzi,
I simply had to write and express my profound, uncontainable joy after finishing When the Moon Hits Your Eye. I’ve been a fan of your work for years, but this novel has instantly vaulted to the top of my all-time favorites list. It’s not just a science fiction story; it’s a perfect, shimmering symphony of everything I love about your writing.
But beyond the genius plot mechanics, what truly elevates When the Moon Hits Your Eye is the heart and the humor. Even amidst planetary catastrophe, your characters remain so beautifully, painfully human. The witty dialogue provided necessary relief, making the high-concept ideas feel grounded and accessible.
Wow, Gemini truly loved my book! And it took it mere milliseconds to write that note!
I do suspect that the advent of “AI” is one of the reasons that these sort of scam emails have taken off recently; it allows scammers, at very little cost to themselves (but at significant cost to the environment, energy bills and the local water table of wherever the “AI” data sites are) to personalize their scam pitches and make them seem more legitimate, especially to writers, who generally want nothing more than to know their work has been read and appreciated by someone.
I assure you, these scammers have not read your book. Hell, as you can see above, sometimes they can’t even get right the books you’ve written. These emails are being churned out by the thousands to see who is desperate enough to bite. If they get one nibble out of a thousand emails, that’s going to be a decent return for their trouble. And whoever nibbles is going to get scammed.
Here’s a good rule of thumb, not just for writers but for humans in general: Random unsolicited email wants you to send money? Don’t send the money. Toss the email in the spam folder and block that email address forever.
There are actual independent publicists and marketing folks who can help you promote your work; as an example, here’s one such PR company, who I work with regularly because they query me for Big Idea slots here on the site. These folks have verifiable career track records — for example, one of the principals of this company was head of PR for Tor, which is where I met her, an actual human who exists in the real world. Their contact emails have the same domain as the web site, and are not, say, a Gmail account whose user name includes a long string of numbers. Their client lists include names who are independently contactable and can confirm their legitimacy. And so on.
Do these firms cost money? Oh, my, yes, they do. Do these firms randomly spam thousands of accounts offering their services? No, they absolutely do not.
Likewise there are actual book clubs who would love for authors to come chat with them about their work. They are not going to ask for “administrative” fees or whatever. I do feel sorry for the actual book clubs out there right about now; this absolute flood of spam email means their more modest entreaties for authors to pop into their Zoom session are far more likely to get ported into the trash. Sorry, folks. It’s just how it is at the moment.
So to recap and re-emphasize: Authors, you’re being spammed; yes, it’s a lot and no, it’s not just you; don’t send them any money ever; if you do want actual independent marketing and publicity, it exists and you will have to go out to find it, it’s almost certainly not going to come to you, and in any event will never fucking use emoji in the header of a business email.
Be wary, be suspicious and be safe, and again: don’t send money to random email spammers, ever.
— JS
Thank you?
Nov. 22nd, 2025 10:59 amsenmutIf not, Amazon burped and repeated an order for me.
Drown them in a pail of caudle
Nov. 22nd, 2025 04:36 pmoursinThese people are AWFUL: Influencers made millions pushing ‘wild’ births – now the Free Birth Society is linked to baby deaths around the world
(And I can't believe that there aren't women who didn't survive, particularly given the whole 'germs aren't a thing' ideology that's mixed up with it. Or at least pretty badly damaged.)
I've always been somewhat side-eyeing Grantly Dick Read and his gospel of 'natural childbirth' without fear and pain, because it was a bit vibes based on anecdotal stuff of his, but at least he was a trained medical professional, and he advocated antenatal classes teaching women what to expect when they went into labour, and giving them breathing exercises so that they could breathe through the contractions and so on and he did not suggest women giving birth alone without support.
This is also - like being anti-vaccine - coming from a very short period of historical time: in this case one in which maternal and infant mortality had plummeted and was no longer something people were more or less used to, or had at least heard cases of within their general circles.
These people are delusional.
Okay, there can be a lot wrong with modern obstetric practice - ?particularly in the USA, for reasons - but nature is so not your friend in this matter.
Reverse engineering the Miele diagnostic interface.
Nov. 21st, 2025 11:15 pmdotaturls_feed- 2025‑11‑21 - Reverse engineering the Miele diagnostic interface.
- https://medusalix.github.io/posts/miele-interface/
- redirect https://dotat.at/:/BZ08Z
- blurb https://dotat.at/:/BZ08Z.html
- atom entry https://dotat.at/:/BZ08Z.atom
- web.archive.org archive.today
(no subject)
Nov. 22nd, 2025 03:11 pmbeccaelizabethI just watched the one with Nate in Japan and I can see why the character has reasons to be kind of juvenile and talking like he learned from movies but also, he is a historian, his blorbos should be history.
I remember the Theme being grief this season, and I can see bits of that, but it is starting with a lot of other stuff, like Nate trying to act like an independent grown up (by totally ignoring his health stuff), or Ray being told he's nothing without the suit. I mean, the suit being a one off irreplaceable Thing is daft sci fi tech in the first place, but also, he's the guy that built it. I just feel like Tony Stark dealt with this in a lot fewer minutes than this arc is going to get.
I keep noticing how few women there are. Where are the rest of my Legends, hurry up, two out of eight is Ridiculous.
Having Amaya confront Mick is an interesting way to foreground how he's still The Felon (Sara being never convicted) but it's kind of like she's treating him according to his reputation when she's the only one who could never have heard it.
He's chatty with a knife to his throat. Bit of a concern how worried he isn't.
I still like these stories.
30 in 30: Crystal Series (McCaffrey)
Nov. 22nd, 2025 11:08 amsenmutChapters: 1/1
Fandom: Crystal Singer Trilogy - Anne McCaffrey
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Killashandra Ree [Crystal Singer Trilogy]
Additional Tags: Drabble, Slice of Life
Summary:
Killashandra needs to beat the storm
Killashandra touched the cocooned crystal set briefly, reassuring herself that it really was free, it was hers, it was safe…
…and a discordant howl of wind reminded her of why she had hastened to pack it.
Her cutter was almost forgotten in the cargo bay, but she stumbled as she stood from the case with her new triad of blues. She hastened to get it clamped into its place; she vaguely remembered replacing it all too recently.
Another shriek of the incoming storm, and she threw herself into the pilot seat. In moments, she was racing Ballybran's fury to safety.
Trump ally Marjorie Taylor Greene to quit Congress after Epstein files feud
Nov. 22nd, 2025 12:06 pmbbc_news_americas_feed'I'll be cheering for him': Takeaways from Trump and Mamdani's surprisingly cordial meeting
Nov. 22nd, 2025 04:04 ambbc_news_americas_feedChristian converts are among the Iranians being sent home from US
Nov. 22nd, 2025 03:32 ambbc_news_americas_feedWatch: 'I'll be cheering for him' - Trump praises Mamdani after first meeting
Nov. 21st, 2025 10:29 pmbbc_news_americas_feedWatch: Pope Leo to US students: Don't let AI do your homework
Nov. 21st, 2025 08:17 pmbbc_news_americas_feedComparative Common Shē and Common Neo-Hakka
Nov. 22nd, 2025 01:51 pmlanguagelog_feedI have observed the author working on this 749 page volume for many years, so it is with great rejoicing that it is available in time to send to friends, colleagues, and students as a Yuletide gift:
South Coblin, Common Shē and Common Hakka-Shē: A Comparative Study
Language and Linguistics Monograph Series 68
Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica (Taipei: November, 2025)
Introduction
The present work is divided into two parts. Part I is devoted to the reconstruction of the phonology of Common Shē, the ancestral form of the closely related Sinitic dialects spoken by the Shē ethnic minority of China. The approach applied is the classical comparative method, in which modern data from seventeen modern dialects are subjected to comparative reconstructive analysis. Data from additional Shē varieties are also adduced as needed. The end product of these procedures is a hypothetical phonological system, which for the sake of brevity we call Common Shē, though this term should more precisely encompass not only phonology but also syntax and lexicon.
As outlined elsewhere (Coblin 2018; 2019), we hold that Common Shē and Common Neo-Hakka, the proto-language from which the modern Neo-Hakka dialects derive, are closely related sister languages descended from a common speech form which in the present work we call Common Hakka-Shē. Part II below is accordingly devoted to the comparison of Common Shē and Common Neo-Hakka, so as to arrive at a higher order Common Hakka-Shē reconstructed system. This comparative exercise takes as its basis the Common Shē forms reconstructed in Part I and the Common Neo-Hakka ones presented in our earlier study of comparative Hakka (Coblin 2019). The final chapter of Part II summarizes and assesses our findings regarding Common Hakka-Shē and concludes with suggestions for the future study of even earlier stages in the history of early south central spoken Chinese.
At the end of the work, Appendix I gives the entire corpus of 647 Shē and Neo-Hakka comparative syllable sets used in the basic reconstruction of Common Hakka-Shē. Following this, in Appendix II, is a corpus of 658 comparative Shē lexical sets. Lexical material of this sort, which comprises both monosyllabic and polysyllabic words, is collected in a number of published Shē dialect surveys and sometimes studied in more or less detail there, but to our knowledge these data have not so far been treated from the standpoint of comparative reconstruction. We take this step here, first because the Shē dialects are relatively less well-known among students of Sinitic languages and, secondly, in order to present an experimental model for how a full comparative Shē etymological dictionary might someday be constructed. The data are arranged topically, and the entire Appendix is followed by an English index. Some data from this appendix are also adduced in the Hakka-Shē reconstructive work in Part II. Finally, a brief general index to pertinent topics in the work as a whole concludes the monograph.
References
Coblin, W. South. 2018. “Neo-Hakka, Paleo-Hakka, and Early Southern Highlands Chinese”, Yǔyán yánjiù jíkān 語言研究集刊 [Bulletin of Linguistic Studies], vol. 21 (2018). Shanghai: Shanghai cishu chubanshe. (Special number in honor of Jerry Norman.) pp. 175-238.
Coblin, W. South. 2019. Common Neo-Hakka: a Comparative Reconstruction. Language and Linguistics Monograph Series Number 63, Taipei: Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica.
[VHM: If someone would like to have either / both of these two items, I think that I can supply them. The copy of 2018 I can send restores all of the maps, which the publisher deleted without consulting the author.
As to 2019, the electronic version of that is downloadable from the same Academia Sinica, Institute of Language and Linguistics website where the Hakka-She thing is found. The hard copy version has to be purchased, of course. Since about 2018 the electronic versions of all new monographs from there are available for free download. So you can get for free anything there that interests you from now on.]
The thirteen-page Table of Contents includes a two-page summary, a four-page preface, a two-page list of maps, and a two-page list of abbreviations and signs. After that comes a detailed list of chapters and sub-chapters. The book concludes with two appendices:
Hakka-Shē comparative data (262 pages)
Lexical sets (120 pages), which I find to be of extraordinary value and interest, so I will list them here:
1. Natural Phenomena 607
2. Earth, Fire, and Water 611
3. Man and Nature 616
4. Animals 616
5. Fowl 617
6. Domestic Animals 619
7. Insects 621
8. Fish 623
9. Man and Animals 624
10. Plants 625
11. Flowers and Grasses 627
12. Grains 627
13. Vegetables 629
14. Fruits 631
15. Man and Plants 632
16. Food and Drink 635
17. Cooking 638
18.Drugs 644
19. Clothing and Adornment 644
20. Dwelling 651
21. Furniture 655
22. Tools 657
23. Town and Country 660
24. Commerce 661
25. Measures 662
26. Communication and Travel 663
27. Culture and Education 664
28. Games and Entertainment 666
29. Religion 666
30. Social Customs 667
31. Human Body 669
32. Body Movements 675
33. Grooming 681
34. Life and Death 682
35. Sickness 683
36. Weapons 684
37. Human Relationships 685
38. Categories of People 691
39. Occupations 694
40. Activities 696
41. Mental Activities and Emotions 698
42. Sensations 701
43. Taste and Smell 702
44. Shape, Dimension, and Color 703
45. Sound 707
46. Quality 707
47. Time 712
48. Place 714
49. Motion 717
50. Existence, Location, and Possession 718
51. Quantity 719
52. Pro-words 722
53. Grammatical Functors 724
English Index to Appendix II 727
The She Ethnic Minority: Preface
- Location: They primarily live in the mountainous border regions of the coastal provinces of Fujian and Zhejiang, with smaller populations in Jiangxi, Guangdong, and Anhui.
- Language: Most She people today speak a Chinese variety known as She Chinese (畲话, Shēhuà), which is generally considered an unclassified Sinitic language and has been heavily influenced by Hakka Chinese.
She people and languages: Introduction
The She people (Chinese: 畲; She Chinese: [sa˦]; Cantonese: [sɛː˩], Fuzhou: [sia˥]) are an ethnic group in China. They form one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China.
According to the 2021 China Statistical Yearbook, the total population of the She was 746,385, including 403,516 males and 342,869 females. The She are the largest ethnic minority in Fujian, Zhejiang, and Jiangxi Provinces. They are also present in the provinces of Anhui and Guangdong. Some descendants of the She also exist amongst the Hakka minority in Taiwan.
Today, over 400,000 She people of Fujian, Zhejiang, and Jiangxi provinces speak She Chinese, an unclassified Chinese variety that has been heavily influenced by Hakka Chinese.
There are approximately 1,200 She people in Guangdong province who speak a Hmong–Mien language called She, also called Ho Ne meaning "mountain people" (Chinese: 活聂; pinyin: huóniè). Some say they are descendants of the Dongyi, Nanman, or Yue peoples.[2][3]
She Chinese (畲话) should not be confused with Shēyǔ (畲语), also known as Ho Ne, which is a Hmong-Mien language spoken in east-central Guangdong. She and Sheyu speakers have separate histories and identities, although both are officially classified by the Chinese government as She people. The Dongjia of Majiang County, Guizhou are also officially classified as She people, but speak a Western Hmongic language closely related to Chong'anjiang Miao (重安江苗语).
She language
The She language (Mandarin: 畲語, Shēyǔ), autonym Ho Le or Ho Ne, /hɔ22 ne53/ or Ho Nte, is a critically endangered Hmong–Mien language spoken by the She people. Most of the over 709,000 She people today speak She Chinese (possibly a variety of Hakka Chinese). Those who speak Sheyu—approximately 1,200 individuals in Guangdong Province—call themselves Ho Ne, "mountain people" (活聶; huóniè).
She Chinese
She or Shehua (畲话, Shēhuà, meaning 'She speech') is an unclassified Sinitic language spoken by the She people of Southeastern China. It is also called Shanha, San-hak (山哈) or Shanhahua (山哈话). She speakers are located mainly in Fujian and Zhejiang provinces of Southeastern China, with smaller numbers of speakers in a few locations of Jiangxi (in Guixi and Yanshan County), Guangdong (in Chaozhou and Fengshun County) and Anhui (in Ningguo) provinces.
She (畲话) is not to be confused with Shēyǔ (畲语, also known as Ho Ne), which is a Hmong–Mien language spoken in East-Central Guangdong. She and Sheyu speakers have separate histories and identities, although both are officially classified by the Chinese government as She people. The Dongjia of Majiang County, Guizhou are also officially classified as She people, but speak a Western Hmongic language closely related to Chong'anjiang Miao (重安江苗语).
Hakka language and people
Hakka (Chinese: 客家话; pinyin: Kèjiāhuà; Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: Hak-kâ-va / Hak-kâ-fa, Chinese: 客家语; pinyin: Kèjiāyǔ; Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: Hak-kâ-ngî) forms a language group of varieties of Chinese, spoken natively by the Hakka people in parts of Southern China, Taiwan, some diaspora areas of Southeast Asia and in overseas Chinese communities around the world.
(Wikipedia — language)
The Hakka (Chinese: 客家), also referred to as Hakka Chinese or Hakka-speaking Chinese, are an ethnic group and subgroup of Han Chinese whose principal settlements and ancestral homes are dispersed widely across the provinces of southern China and who speak a language that is closely related to Gan, a Chinese language spoken in Jiangxi province. They are differentiated from other southern Han Chinese by their dispersed nature and tendency to occupy marginal lands and remote hilly areas. The Chinese characters for Hakka (客家) literally mean "guest families".
(Wikipedia — people)
Selected readings
- "Speak Hakka, our Mother Tongue" (1/11/19)
- "Hakka now an official language of Taiwan" (1/3/18)
- "Hakka: 'Guest families'" (10/12/15) — with essential bibliographical references
- "'Thanks' in Hakka and other Sinitic topolects (2/15/25)
- Hiroki NAKANISHI, "Shē 畲 Language", in Encyclopedia of Chinese Language and Linguistics Online
