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notalwaysright_feedRead Okay With Frogs And Princesses, Just No Queens
Patron: "Are you going to have those drag queens here as well?"
Me: "No, not right now. We have other children's activities booked this spring. Maybe after the summer."
Patron: "You shouldn't! Strange men playing dress up like that don't belong around children! Who knows what their agenda is?"
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scans_dailyWriters: Scott Peterson and Kelley Puckett
Pencils: Damion Scott
Inks: Robert Campanella
Batgirl encounters her first metahuman criminal, who is the only thing stopping her from saving a kidnapped child.
( Read more... )
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Amazon might be developing its own augmented reality smart glasses to compete with Meta, according to Amazon insiders who worked on the project. Codenamed "Jayhawk," the smart specs will reportedly feature a camera, microphones, speakers, and a full-color display in one eye, all packed in a sleek frame. If the rumors, as reported by The Information, turn out to be true, Amazon's smart glasses will hit the market in late 2026 or early 2027.
The goal, presumably, is to not cede the entire smart glasses market to industry leader Meta and newcomers like Google (we'll pretend Google Glass never happened). Whether Amazon can compete on that field remains to be seen, but the company's last stab at tech glasses, the audio-and-Alexa-focused Echo Frames line of smart glasses, didn't exactly set the world on fire when they were released back in 2019, despite being generally regarded as adequate (though uninspiring).
Amazon is also reportedly developing smart glasses specifically for its delivery drivers. These will feature the same technology as the consumer devices in a sturdier package, and give drivers turn-by-turn navigation on a small embedded screen. According to a report from Reuters in late 2024, the delivery driver glasses are designed to provide extremely precise, location-based directions, in order to "shave valuable seconds off each delivery by providing left or right directions off elevators and around obstacles such as gates or aggressive dogs."
It's hard to avoid considering the nightmarish possibilities of an employer being able to literally look through the eyes of its workers—imagine your boss yelling at you through your eyeballs. Smart glasses could easily track eye movements, pauses, or even monitor employees' emotions through facial expressions and voice analysis. Whether Amazon, a company sued for enforcing a schedule so strict that drivers were forced to urinate in bottles, would use the technology in these, or other exploitative ways, remains to be seen.
notalwaysright_feed
Me: "Hey, these are on sale. Here’s the online ad."
Cashier: "No dice."
Me: "But you match prices. This is from your own website."
Manager: "Sorry, but the online store is different from the brick-and-mortar store. We don’t match online prices."
notalwaysright_feed
I have a customer who comes in every day (at least every day that I’m working), and every interaction is the same, or should I say non-interaction. She’s on her phone the entire transaction and says nothing. I’m all for not engaging in small talk with strangers, but she says nothing to genuine transaction-based questions. […]
oursinWhat I read
Finished Love at All Ages - think I said most of what I felt moved to say last week, but there was also a certain amount of Mrs Morland whingeing and bitching about the Burdens of Being a Popular Writer (when she wasn't being Amazingly Dotty), whoa, Ange, biting the hand or what?
Sarah Brooks, The Cautious Traveller's Guide to the Wastelands (2024), which I picked up some while ago on promotion and then I think I saw someone writing something about it. I liked the idea but somehow wasn't overwhelmingly enthused?
Read the latest Literary Review.
Since there is a forthcoming online discussion, dug out my 1974 mass market paperback edition of Joanna Russ, The Female Man - I think this was even before excursions to Dark They Were and Golden-Eyed, somehow I had learnt of Fantast, a mailorder operation with duplicated catalogues every few months that purveyed an odd selection of US books. It's quite hard to recall the original impact. Possibly I now prefer her essays?
Carol Atherton, Reading Lessons: The Books We Read at School, the Conversations They Spark, and Why They Matter (2024) - EngLit teacher meditates over books that she had taught, her own reading of them, their impact in the classroom, general issues around teaching Lit, etc - this came up in my Recommended for You in Kobo + on promotion. Quite interesting but how the teaching of EngLit has changed since My Day....
Lee Child, The Hard Way (Jack Reacher, #10) (2006) - every so often I read an interview with or something about Lee Child who sounds very much a Good Guy so I thought I might try one of these and this one was currently on promotion. It's less action and more twisty following intricate plot than I anticipated with lots of sudden reversal, and lots and lots of details. I don't think I'm going to go away and devour all the Reacher books but I can think of circumstances where they might be a preferable option given limited reading materials available.
On the go
I literally just finished that so there is nothing on the go, except one or two things I suppose I am technically still reading.
Up next
Dunno.
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Most of us are familiar with the post-workout massage gun ritual. You finish your session, grab your percussive massager, and pound away at sore muscles hoping to speed recovery. But after spending a few weeks with the Rally orbital massager (which I reviewed), I think the real magic happens before you even start sweating.
Instead of relying solely on static stretching (scary!) or basic warm-up movements, I now spend 5 to 10 minutes using the Rally on major muscle groups before every workout, and it has quickly become a permanent fixture in my pre-run routine.
I love massage guns. The traditional ones use a hammering, percussive motion that can be effective for breaking up knots and addressing specific problem areas. But for pre-workout preparation, the Rally's orbital motion offers distinct advantages.
First, there's the difference in gentle muscle activation versus sudden, aggressive impact. The orbital motion provides a smoother, more controlled stimulation that wakes up my muscles without the jarring impact of percussion. This is crucial when you're preparing muscles for work, not trying to beat them into submission after they're already fatigued.
Plus, rather than hitting the same spot repeatedly, the orbital motion covers more surface area and promotes broader circulation patterns throughout the muscle tissue. Anecdotally, I've noticed how much better my movements feel when I use the Rally before a workout compared to traditional warm-up methods.
However, the Rally does cost more than most massage guns on the market. Quality percussion massagers can cost between $100 and $300, making the Rally's $499 price tag a tough pill to swallow initially. My argument is that while the Rally can be turned on the side and used for percussion, you simply can't replicate the orbital massage motion with traditional percussion guns. This isn't just a more expensive version of the same thing—it's genuinely different technology. If the Rally prevents even one injury that would sideline me for weeks or require physical therapy, it's more than paid for itself.
Here's how I've integrated the Rally into my pre-workout routine:
Legs (3-4 minutes): As a runner, this is the main attraction for me. I start with my quads, spending about 45 seconds per leg with the Rally on its middle-intensity setting. Then I move to hamstrings and calves. The orbital motion seems to "wake up" the entire leg more effectively than foam rolling or static stretching ever did.
Upper body (2-3 minutes): For anything like bench press or shoulder days, I use the Rally on my pecs, front delts, and upper traps. The warming effect is immediate and noticeable—I can feel the muscles becoming more pliable and ready for movement.
Specific problem areas (1-2 minutes): I have a chronically tight IT band and some shoulder mobility issues. A quick 30-45 seconds with the Rally on these areas before training has reduced my warm-up time while improving my range of motion.
The Rally isn't just another massage gun—it's a tool that's genuinely improving my training quality and consistency. While most people focus on what to do after their workout for recovery, I think that the real breakthrough is what this device can do before your workout for performance. For anyone looking to optimize their muscle care routine, the Rally deserves serious consideration, so long as you can justify the price point.
twocents_feedSince Apple's iPhone 17 launch event ended, I've been thinking about which of its non-Pro phones I'd like to buy. The choice isn't very straightforward this year, because both the iPhone 17 and the iPhone Air have a few trade-offs, and even if the iPhone Air is a little more expensive, it's not necessarily better at everything. Here are the most important differences between the iPhone 17 and iPhone Air, and why I think the former is probably the better choice, at least for me.
I do care about my iPhone's looks, even if my previous, less colorful iPhones suggest otherwise. I've usually opted for subtle, dark shades, but this time around, I feel like switching things up a bit and going for a colorful option. The iPhone 17 gives me lots of great choices, with five different finishes. You can get this phone in Lavender, Sage (a green hue), and Mist Blue, apart from the usual white and black. That gives it five different colorways overall, many of which are the type of vibrant I'm looking for.
On the other hand, the iPhone Air is only available in four color variants: Sky Blue, Light Gold, Cloud White, and Space Black. Of these, I like the black and white color variants, but the others are a bit too subtle for me this year.
If you compare the displays of the iPhone Air and the iPhone 17, you'll notice that they're identical in everything except size. The iPhone Air gets a slightly larger 6.5-inch screen, as opposed to the iPhone 17's 6.3-inch display. As for overall size, the iPhone Air is 6.5 inches tall, 2.94 inches wide, and 0.22 inches thick. Yes, this means that it's the thinnest iPhone yet, but the iPhone 17 isn't withouts charms. Because of that smaller screen, it's a little more compact, at 5.89 inches tall and 2.81 inches wide. You just have to be willing to put up with it being slightly thicker, at 0.34 inches.
Then there's weight. Even though the iPhone Air is larger, it is lighter than the iPhone 17. The iPhone Air weighs 5.82 ounces (165 grams), while the iPhone 17 weighs 6.24 ounces (177 grams).
To me, the big difference in build quality is that the iPhone Air gets a Ceramic Shield on the back of the phone as well. The iPhone 17 still has glass on the back, which means that it's more likely to crack if you drop it. Both smartphones use Ceramic Shield 2 to protect the display.
The iPhone Air ships with the same A19 Pro chip that the iPhone 17 Pro models have. It has a 5-core GPU instead of the 6-core one on the 17 Pro, but otherwise, you should get similar performance benefits from the iPhone Air. The iPhone 17, meanwhile, ships with the A19 chip. If you don't use your iPhone for heavy workloads like editing videos, shooting lots of videos, or playing graphics intensive games, you probably won't notice much of a difference between the A19 Pro and the A19. But for people with heavy usage, the additional processing power will be nice to have.
It's not a pure upgrade, though. The side effect of being thinner and lighter is worse battery life, which is one big con to the iPhone Air. Apple says you'll get up to 27 hours of video playback on a single charge on the iPhone Air, but 30 hours on the iPhone 17. This means that you might want to consider buying Apple's MagSafe battery pack to boost the Air's battery life to 40 hours of video playback, but then you end up with a bulkier and heavier phone, which kind of defeats the purpose.
Plus, the iPhone 17 also charges faster than the iPhone Air. Apple says the iPhone Air supports MagSafe wireless charging up to 20W with a 30W adapter, whereas the iPhone 17 supports up to 25W with a 30W charging adapter. This means that the iPhone 17 will charge faster wirelessly. It's a similar story for wired charging, with one caveat. According the Apple's specs, an iPhone Air can charge from zero to 50% in 30 minutes with a 20W adapter or higher, while the iPhone 17 can do that in 20 minutes with a 40W adapter. That is faster, although we don't currently have charge time claims for the base iPhone 17 using a 20W charger, so this isn't an exact comparison to the Air.
For me, the iPhone Air's single camera is a dealbreaker for a phone that costs $1,000. The 48-megapixel sensor on the camera is probably good on its own (Lifehacker has yet to go hands-on with it), but in getting the Air, you miss out on the ultrawide lens available on all other iPhone 17 models. That means no 0.5x shooting mode. The iPhone 17 also supports macro photography/video recording and Spatial photos/videos, which is missing in the iPhone Air. Fortunately, the Center Stage front camera is exactly the same on the iPhone 17 and the iPhone Air, so you'll be able to take horizontal videos with it even while holding your phone vertically.
Having looked at all the specs for the two phones, I'm leaning towards the iPhone 17 over the iPhone Air. I'm not really obsessed with the thinness and lightness of my phone so much as what it can do. I'd rather have more camera options and better battery life, and the iPhone 17 is better in both aspects, according to Apple's own specs pages. The biggest positive, though, is the price of the iPhone 17, which is a full $200 cheaper than the iPhone Air.
The 256GB iPhone 17 is priced at $799, and the 512GB variant costs $999. The iPhone Air has three storage variants, with the 256GB option at $999, 512GB at $1,199, and 1TB at $1,399. If I were to pre-order an iPhone today, I'd most probably choose the iPhone 17 512GB. That keeps the price around the $1,000 mark and gives me more than enough storage to handle all my photos, videos, apps, and games for years to come. As nice as the iPhone Air looks, I think most people would be better off either spending a little more for the better cameras of the iPhone 17 Pro, or just saving money and going with the well-rounded iPhone 17 instead.
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Way back in 1942, Isaac Asimov's Foundation universe (which began as a series of short stories before being published as a trilogy) offered a simple, clever premise built around the idea of "psychohistory," which suggested the actions of individuals might be entirely random, but en masse, we're entirely predictable. And as anyone might have predicted, adapting this, er, foundational work of genre literature seemed only natural for the content-hungry streaming era.
While the Apple TV+ adaptation occasionally misses the point of its source material in throwing in bits of mysticism here and there, taken on its own terms, it's an impressively realized, centuries-spanning science-fiction epic focused on the lives of the scholars and rebels working to bring down an empire in order to save it.
It's one of the few TV shows that truly captures the feel and scope of golden age science fiction, incorporating ideas from other Asimov works outside the Foundation books. But it's not the only one. Here are 10 shows that flirt with the same scope and intelligence.
This spin-off of the lucrative film franchise could have easily been an afterthought, but instead, we got a thoughtful, juicy space-set soap opera that takes place 10,000 years before the Denis Villeneuve films. There's a lot going on, but generally, the series focuses on Valya and Tula Harkonnen (Emily Watson and Tula Williams)as they struggle to build and maintain the Sisterhood that we'll later come to know as the Bene Gesserit, by any means necessary, and in the face of an unstable Imperium—not at all unlike the Foundation's efforts in the face of Empire over on that other show. The ruling dynasty has a new weapon in Desmond Hart (Travis Fimmel), a manipulative former soldier who seems immune to the persuasive abilities of the Sisters, thus threatening their places at the Emperor's side. This one resonates with Foundation while also playing a bit like a star-spanning Game of Thrones. Stream Dune: Prophecy on HBO Max.
Just when I felt like I was done with Star Wars, along came prequel series Andor, the morally complex story of thief-turned-rebel spy Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) and his radicalization on the road to becoming the heart and soul of the Rebellion. We see the slow march of Empire, as citizens of the galaxy become slowly acclimated to rising fascism, and witness the conflict between various rebel faction: Genevieve O'Reilly's Mon Mothma fights from within the Galactic Senate, while Stellan Skarsgård's Luthen Rael, Andor's handler, favors dark deeds done under cover of darkness. Forest Whitaker's Saw Gerrera is content to burn the Galaxy down rather than allow it to become what he hates. It's not only good television, it's the first time in a long time that it feels like Star Wars has something meaningful to say. Stream Andor on Disney+.
For All Mankind starts with a tantalizing alt-history premise: What if Soviet space pioneer Sergei Korolev hadn’t died prematurely in 1966 and instead helped bring his country’s space program to full flower, extending the space race indefinitely? If America and the world been forced to continue and expand upon the space program, our past (and present) would look quite different, at least according to this show, which jumps across decades to imagine how that might go (à la Foundation's time jumps, if much less dramatic in scope), revealing an alternate past (and future). A spin-off involving a Soviet space program, Star City, is in the works. Stream For All Mankind on Apple TV+.
Set in a somewhat near-ish future, The Expanse (based on the book series by James S.A. Corey) imagines a colonized solar system into which we’ve carried all of our old familiar problems, and then some: Earth sits at the historical and cultural center of things, while Mars colonists, by virtue of having to survive in a challenging environment, have developed technological and military superiority, and folks living in "the Belt" have had to scrabble to survive. Greed, fear, and shortsightedness make conflict nearly inevitable, even if the series isn’t quite as cynical as it at first appears: James Holden and Naomi Nagata (Steven Strait and Dominique Tipper) head up the blended crew of thec cargo ship Rocinante, which winds up having an outsized impact on events by being in the right place at the right time and having a crew with reasonably good intentions. Shohreh Aghdashloo plays Chrisjen Avasarala, a deeply cynical (and infamously foul-mouthed) politician who conceals within her the show's beating heart. Stream The Expanse on Prime Video.
J. Michael Straczynski’s wildly ambitious sci-fi epic was way ahead of its time, carrying out a planned (more or less) five-season story arc set on the titular space station that recalls the more orchestrated prestige series of today. Babylon 5 is a remote outpost that becomes the last best hope for peace in the face of conflicting human and alien agendas—even more so after an ancient and very unexpected threat is awakened. The threats from without serve to expose the strains within—the extent to which we come together in the face of shared danger, and the ways we fall apart. With increasingly complex storylines blending science-fiction, politics, and outer-space mysticism, it still holds up (dated CGI effects notwithstanding). Stream Babylon 5 on Tubi.
Not science fiction, but still a stunningly well-produced series depicting the impending demise of an old order, and the rise of what follows in its wake. Set at the tail-end of Japan's Warring States period, the series finds ambitious English maritime pilot John Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis) shipwrecked in Japan, and in the power of the warlord Lord Yoshii Toranaga (Hiroyuki Sanada). Each of these men has something to offer the other. Reluctantly serving as translator between them is Toda Mariko (Anna Sawai), highly loyal to Toranaga, but with a complicated past. The political and military maneuvering feel out of time, as does the sense that this upheaval could lead to something new and better, or just as easily, an end of days. Stream Shōgun on Hulu.
Don't let the title fool you: While there's certainly some dark comedy to be found here, this is one of the smarter shows on TV, based on a Hugo-Award winning book series by Martha Wells. Alexander Skarsgård is the title's hilariously deadpan Murderbot, a private "security construct" who's managed to hack its way through its own programming and gain free will—which it mostly wants to use to watch its favorite streaming shows. It can't just run off for fear of drawing attention, but the self-titled Murderbot (known as SecUnit to everyone else) is content to do the bare minimum when it's assigned to a team of inexperienced and naive researchers who don't see the need for a killer security robot, at least until they're enmeshed in a complicated capitalist plot in which they're all just cogs. Stream Murderbot on Apple TV+.
While not nearly as serious-minded as Foundation (this is Star Trek, after all), Discovery pushes further into the dark than most of its cousin shows. Sonequa Martin-Green stars as Michael Burnham, initially a disgraced Starfleet officer who eventually becomes captain of the titular starship. Beginning as a prequel set during a conflict between the Federation and the Klingon Empire, the series winds up spanning centuries following a mid-stream time jump, with Discovery and her crew traveling nearly 1,000 years into the future, where the Federation is hanging on by a mere thread. It's after this point that Discovery and Foundation have the most in common—specifically, lead protagonists who have survived for centuries, fighting to preserve what they can of a system they believe in. Stream Star Trek: Discovery on Paramount+.
The setting here is far from intergalactic, but the scope is no less ambitious in spite of the confined setting. The characters all live in the 144-story silo of the title, a sealed environment sustaining (or imprisoning?) the last dregs of humanity on a ravaged Earth. Societal politics blend with elements of mystery (nothing in the silo is quite what it seems) in an impressively conceived dystopia. Based on Hugh Howey’s book trilogy, the show has at least one other thing going for it in addition to its killer cast (including Rebecca Ferguson, Rashida Jones, David Oyelowo, Common, and Tim Robbins): Unlike so many premature cancelled streaming series, it will reach a planned conclusion after having been renewed for two more seasons. Stream Silo on Apple TV+.
While the original was a fun, but often awkward, blend of smart sci-fi and 1970s kitsch, the aughts reboot from Ronald D. Moore (who also co-created the aforementioned For All Mankind) and company brought science fiction fully into the prestige TV era. Created to be humanity's robot slaves, the Cylons rebel and launch a sneak attack on the human colonies, leading to an exodus into space. The only hope for humanity is to reach the mythical world of Earth. The monotheistic Cylons see their crusade as a nearly holy one, while the more rationalistic human refugees struggle to survive and find common purpose in an order that's crumbling day by day. Edward James Olmos and Mary McDonnell lead an impressive cast. Buy Battlestar Galactica from Apple TV+ and Prime Video.
sovayrushthatspeaks and I am spending it with various doctors instead of my husband and our traditional restaurant. We had a better wedding the first plague year.conuly posting in agonyauntnotalwaysright_feed
It's the first anniversary of the Grenfell fire (a tragic fire in our neighbourhood of London that claimed a lot of lives). Our store is observing the minute's silence. Signs are up, the manager announces it over the PA, and the whole shop goes quiet. Customers, staff, even kids in the aisles, everyone stands in silence.
Everyone except one woman.
badly_knittedbadly_knittedfan_flashworks, using Challenge 467: Finger.
twocents_feedDid you know you can customize Google to filter out garbage? Take these steps for better search results, including adding my work at Lifehacker as a preferred source.
It's official: Spotify finally supports lossless audio. The company made the announcement in a blog post on Wednesday, revealing that the high fidelity audio option will begin rolling out to Premium subscribers in "select markets."
That means if you live in one of those select markets and pay for Spotify, you'll be able to enjoy your music in up to 24-bit/44.1 kHz FLAC. That's quite the jump: Previously, Spotify Premium supported up to 320kbit/s on its apps, and only 256kbit/s on the web.
What the change means for you is a better listening experience, assuming you're using high quality headphones or speakers. 320kbit/s audio sounds good enough, but it's compressed, which means you're losing audio data in the name of lowering storage or streaming sizes. Lossless audio, on the other hand, keeps all the original audio data during compression, so with the right equipment, you'll be able to hear more details in your music than before.
That doesn't mean these other quality configurations are going away. 24-bit/44.1 kHz FLAC likely uses a lot of data, whether you're streaming or downloading the lossless files. Spotify hasn't shared what those file sizes are yet, so we can't know for sure what the difference will be. But if you have a limited cellular data plan, or a device with limited storage, streaming or downloading in lossless might not be feasible.
You might not actually notice a difference anyway, particularly if you typically use Bluetooth headphones or speakers. Bluetooth is convenient, but the technology is limited when it comes to audio quality: It can support high quality audio playback, but not lossless, so anything above that 320kbit/s will likely be compressed before it reaches your ears. As such, Spotify recommends you used wired audio outputs when playing back lossless tracks.
I'm not sure exactly what took Spotify so long to roll this out. The company has been teasing the option since February 2021, while other streaming services—notably, Tidal and Apple Music—jumped on the bandwagon years ago.
Spotify plans to roll out lossless audio to over 50 markets, but is starting with the following: Australia, Austria, Czechia, Denmark, Germany, Japan, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden, the U.S., and the U.K.
Spotify says you'll need to manually enable lossless on each device you listen on. When the feature rolls out to you, you will have to do the following:
Open Spotify, then tap your profile in the top left.
Head to Settings and privacy > Media Quality.
Here, choose Lossless.
You can also choose how you want to experience lossless, including over cellular, downloads, or wifi.
badly_knittedbadly_knitted cesynotalwaysright_feedRead Tip Of The Iceberg
Me: "I honestly need to say, the service tonight has been terrible."
The manager just has a tight smile, but then he sees that I've manually put zero tip on the card machine.
Manager: "…you’ll still need to tip your waiter."
Me: "Excuse me?"
Read Tip Of The Iceberg
badly_knittedbadly_knittedtorchwood100. twocents_feedDid you know you can customize Google to filter out garbage? Take these steps for better search results, including adding my work at Lifehacker as a preferred source.
Yesterday, Apple announced its newest flagship earbuds: AirPods Pro 3. The new earbuds seem like a solid improvement over the previous generation of Pros in a number of ways, including the built-in heart rate monitor and redesigned shape.
But the feature that really stole the show for me was live translation. Here's how it works: When you're talking to someone who speaks a language you don't understand, you'll hear a live translation of their words through your AirPods. Your buds will even boost noise cancellation to lower the volume of the speaker, so you can focus on the translation. When you speak, your words are translated live as well, only on your iPhone's display. That way, the other person can understand what you're saying, too. If it works the way it seemed to in Apple's demo, it feels like the future, and is sure to be a reason people buy these earbuds when they go on sale.
But here's the thing: You don't actually need AirPods Pro 3 in order to use live translation. While Apple showcased the feature during the AirPods Pro 3 segment, the company conveniently forgot to mention that customers who own AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation can also use the feature. You can see that from Apple's own AirPods comparison tool: All three models support live translation.
If you take a look at the fine print, you'll see the reason: Your AirPods themselves aren't really doing the translating. Instead, the feature is powered by iOS 26 and Apple Intelligence. You'll need an iPhone that can run both—which means an iPhone 15 Pro or newer—as well as the latest AirPods firmware. Assuming you have a compatible iPhone and AirPods, both running the right software, you can use the feature.
Live translation isn't the only new Apple feature available on older devices. When the company announced new Apple Watches yesterday, it advertised new hypertension alerts and sleep scores, and made it seem like those feature were exclusive to the new watches. As it turns out, hypertension alerts are available on Series 9 and newer, while sleep score is available on Series 6 and newer. I get that Apple wants to show its newest features running on its newest devices, but this is more than a little misleading.
lydamorehouse
naomikritzer , for instance, only HAPPENED to notice that the Diversicon programming grid had us at a reading at Webber Library on Thursday earlier that week. She checked the HCL schedule and an author appearance at Webber was nowhere to be found. Well, that turned out to be because Diversicon had privately rented a room. But, regardless, I wasn't sure if I was going to a library in NE Minneapolis or not! Or, if I did go, if anyone other than Naomi would be there. We did try to ask, but only got a confirmation the day of. 
My first panel was about something I wasn't sure I knew anything about. "Queens of the Apocalypse." When I was waiting for Mason to finish his interview before I headed to the con, I had a chance to ponder this. I think the panel title had gotten a bit lost in translation because Naomi has been known recently as the queen of the cozy apocalypse thanks, in part to stories like "So Much Cooking" and "The Year Without Sunshine." Since I was listed as the only panelist, I decided that what I'd do was introduce the audience to the subgenre of "Soft Apocalypses" which is a Thing and hopefully start a conversation about what the appeal of such things are, etc., etc. LUCKILY, Naomi didn't have a panel scheduled opposite this one and so she joined me in the discussion. Given that I planned it out in the car on the way to the con, it went surprisingly well. As you can see in the selfie above, one of the fun things about the convention hotel (there weren't a whole lot of them, it being way out in Plymouth and laid out extremely strangely) is that the panel rooms all had whiteboards, which we just decided to use. So, I was able to write out all of my recommendations. People took photos of the whiteboard after the panel!
Then, I attempted to get dinner in the hotel, which was a complete disaster.
They had a "make your own" sandwhich which listed chicken as a substitute for hamburger, but I apparently made a mistake choosing that option. I just wanted a simple chicken sandwhich--chicken, American cheese, lettuce, and mayo. That's it. But, not only did my food never arrive until everyone was finished, when it did it had no cheese, lettuce that seemed to have salad dressing on it, and a dollop of salsa? Which was not great because thanks to GERDS I really can't eat raw onions anymore and I'm not a fan of tomatoes, I never have been. But, whatever, I was so starved at that point that I ate it. The only nice thing? The waiter could tell how irritated I was and comped my meal.
But, like that's the other weird thing about this hotel? NO LUNCH service.
sraun who had to miss much of the convention due to the fact that his wife, Irene, had taken a fall on Friday night and ended up admitted to the hospital. She's home safe now, but that was NOT how anyone wanted her to have to spend the weekend!
iamrman posting in scans_dailyWriter: Gerry Conway
Pencils and inks: John Romita, Sr.
It’s another “Peter swears off being Spider-Man” issue.
( Read more... )
timeasmymeasure
![Welcome to the Linguistics Department - It has been [2] [DAYS] since someone noticed that the Biology Department sign has a one-day-long singular/plural disagreement after it resets.](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/biology_department.png "Welcome to the Linguistics Department - It has been [2] [DAYS] since someone noticed that the Biology Department sign has a one-day-long singular/plural disagreement after it resets.")
