Reading

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writing: published

New story in anthology -- out now!

I have various longer posts to make (job transition news, a write-up of a truly hilarious theater experience, etc), but in the meantime, a quick post to let you know that the Murderfish anthology, which I have a story in, is now officially out and available for purchase!

Murderfish is, as it says on the tin, an anthology of stories about murderous fish. (Its predecessors were Murderbirds and Murderbugs, which cracks me up every time I think about it.) Each story features a different kind of sea life, as well as very cool art of them all! I haven't read all the rest yet, but I'm excited to, and it looks like there are a whole lot of genres involved. My story, "In Sheets of Seaweed," is about a woman in the simultaneously privileged and precarious position of being a prince's mistress, who dreams increasingly of sharks calling to her; I called it my "shark selkie" story for a long time before I thought of a title, and in fact after. I'm very fond of this story, and I'm delighted it's found a home at last.

The ebook is available here and the paperback here. The audiobook is coming soon, but hasn't been unveiled quite yet.

Those are both Amazon links, though not affiliate ones. If you're like me and prefer to avoid buying things through Amazon, full support, but for the moment that's all I have. I've asked if it'll be available on other sites as well, and I'll update when I get an answer.

Gosh! names it's best graphic novels of 2025

Posted by Paul Slade

https://www.metafilter.com/211338/Gosh-names-its-best-graphic-novels-of-2025

You know, for kids. Gosh! is the best comics shop in London - and possibly in the whole UK. They also have a best of 2025 list for adults. There's no ranking here to fight about, just alphabetical lists.

The only book I've read on either list is Craig Thompson's Ginseng Roots, which I heartily recommend.

https://www.metafilter.com/211338/Gosh-names-its-best-graphic-novels-of-2025

Producing alternative proteins for vegans is not as easy as you think

Posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries

https://www.metafilter.com/211337/Producing-alternative-proteins-for-vegans-is-not-as-easy-as-you-think

Producing alternative proteins for vegans is not as easy as you think. The world is facing a crisis in food production and alternative sources of protein can be part of the solution, but the fledgling Australian sector is struggling.

https://www.metafilter.com/211337/Producing-alternative-proteins-for-vegans-is-not-as-easy-as-you-think

A specialized use of Claude code tool.

Posted by aleph

https://www.metafilter.com/211336/A-specialized-use-of-Claude-code-tool

It seems to be very useful for de-compiling other code. HN talking about: "The unexpected effectiveness of one-shot decompilation with Claude (blog.chrislewis.au)"

The author's previous post on de-compiling an N64 game. https://blog.chrislewis.au/using-coding-agents-to-decompile-nintendo-64-games/ But it's not a magic button for people who don't know what they're doing. As a couple of HN comments describe: [snip] saagarjha 3 hours ago | prev | next [–] It's worth noting here that the author came up with a handful of good heuristics to guide Claude and a very specific goal, and the LLM did a good job given those constraints. Most seasoned reverse engineers I know have found similar wins with those in place. What LLMs are (still?) not good at is one-shot reverse engineering for understanding by a non-expert. If that's your goal, don't blindly use an LLM. People already know that you getting an LLM to write prose or code is bad, but it's worth remembering that doing this for decompilation is even harder :) zdware 1 hour ago | parent | next [–] Agree with this. I'm a software engineer that has mostly not had to manage memory for most of my career. I asked Opus how hard it would be to port the script extender for Baldurs Gate 3 from Windows to the native Linux Build. It outlined that it would be very difficult for someone without reverse engineering experience, and correctly pointed out they are using different compilers, so it's not a simple mapping exercise. It's recommendation was not to try unless I was a Ghrida master and had lots of time in my hands.

https://www.metafilter.com/211336/A-specialized-use-of-Claude-code-tool

Cards!

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A Story About Some Expensive Shit

Posted by NoxAeternum

https://www.metafilter.com/211335/A-Story-About-Some-Expensive-Shit

Police in New Zealand recover a James Bond inspired Fabergé egg pendant six days after the would be thief tried to smuggle the $19K pendant out of the store by swallowing it.

The pendant was retrieved naturally, with no medical intervention, according to NZ police.

https://www.metafilter.com/211335/A-Story-About-Some-Expensive-Shit

Current Mood: angry

a political interlude

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Entry tags:

2561 / Fic - The Pitt

Zoology and Other Specialities
The Pitt | Jack/Robby | ~6600 words | Thanks to

sheafrotherdon for betaing.

(Also on AO3)

( 'I can't believe I'm saying this,' Robby said, 'but humans don't turn into dogs.' )

Who tf is Doug Wilson?

Posted by phunniemee

https://www.metafilter.com/211334/Who-tf-is-Doug-Wilson

Back in August a video of church leaders who want the 19th Amendment repealed went viral after being retweeted by US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth. They were from the Congregation of Reformed Evangelical Churches [what?] led by Doug Wilson [who?]. What is Doug Wilson on about and why should we care? Fundie Fridays will tell you all about him [youtube | 2h27m]

https://www.metafilter.com/211334/Who-tf-is-Doug-Wilson

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Speak Up Saturday

Assortment of black and white speech bubbles

Welcome to the weekly roundup post! What are you watching this week? What are you excited about?

can't sleep, prestige TV will eat me

I have watched the first two episodes of Heated Rivalry, and omg it is so much fun (and I find it better than the book tbh; the book sometimes felt awkwardly written and the show just smooths out and amplifies so many great moments). I haven't watched the third episode yet and am desperate to, but I also kind of want to reread Game Changer first, just slam through it this morning, so I can better recognize the ways it's been adapted. (And of course I want to reread the book of Heated Rivalry as well, just to see if my memory is betraying me!) And I just learned twenty minutes ago that a sequel series to Spartacus just dropped and I'm dying to check it out. And how did I miss that there was a third series of Leverage: Redemption? (And on top of all those things that are sitting on my hard drive absolutely alluring me, I'm watching The Pitt with a friend -- her first time through it; my second -- and watching the current series of Shetland both with Geoff and with another friend, and already counting the days until the Call the Midwife Christmas special drops -- and omg it's specials, plural, we get one on the 25th and a second one on the 26th and then the new series presumably sometime in the spring.)

I have to prep to help lead service at church tomorrow morning, and all I want to do today is read Rachel Reid and watch TV. Can't I just stay home and worship at the Church of Bubble Butts?

You just know there's going to be food puns

Posted by Wordshore

https://www.metafilter.com/211333/You-just-know-theres-going-to-be-food-puns

[BBC] Four people have been arrested after custard and apple crumble were flung at a display case containing part of the Crown Jewels at the Tower of London ... Take Back Power, which describes itself as a new non-violent civil-resistance group, claimed it was behind the act. [Guardian] The demonstrators then opened their coats to show their T-shirt slogans reading "Take Back Power", before one shouted "democracy has crumbled". [Metro} They have been taken into custody. [Apple crumble recipe]

https://www.metafilter.com/211333/You-just-know-theres-going-to-be-food-puns

A ceasefire in name only

Posted by toastyk

https://www.metafilter.com/211332/A-ceasefire-in-name-only

Scotland's The National laid out a timeline of Israel's ceasefire violations on their front page this week. ungated Watched, tracked, and targeted - Life under surveillance in Gaza. ungated CNN investigation points to the Israeli military bulldozing the dead bodies of Palestinians seeking aid. Israeli forces kill two Palestinian men in West Bank after they appear to surrender.

(Previously.) Current state of US legislation: - HR 3565 Block the Bombs Act - 57 cosponsors - HRes.876 - Recognizing the genocide of the Palestinian people in Gaza - 21 cosponsors Commentary: Mondoweiss - Stop calling right-wing criticism of Israel "anti-Zionism" - One danger of this misidentification is that it reproduces, in reverse, the spurious logic that conflates anti-Zionism and antisemitism. The resistance by pundits and politicians like Fuentes, Owens, Marjorie Taylor Green and others to U.S. support for Israel is transparently rooted in antisemitism first and foremost. Foreign Affairs - The End of the Israeli Exception ungated - by Andrew Miller, former Biden staffer. NYT - How the Democrats Blew It On Gaza ungated - by Ben Rhodes, former Obama staffer

https://www.metafilter.com/211332/A-ceasefire-in-name-only

Entry tags:

fanfic.py

Site update! (Sort of.)

I ate'nt dead and all that...

We upgraded Ubuntu on our webserver, which upgraded PHP, which broke the CMS I was using for random.fangirling.net. The CMS (PicoCMS) is no longer supported or under active development, as is the way of such things, and it makes sense to me because the niche it filled - flat file CMSes - was quickly squeezed out by static site generators.

So I figured I should rebuild it using a static site generator (SSG), and spent some time playing around with Astro and Eleventy before I got too frustrated by how hard it was to build a site with the file structure I wanted. And then I thought, why did I spend all that time writing a static site generator if I wasn't going to use it?

And thus, here we are. random.fangirling.net is now mostly functional again. Please let me know if anything seems amiss!

The biggest thing that's missing is the breadcrumb navigation, which was the only kind of navigation I had on the site but which is difficult to generate with my script. So that's on the TODO list.

I thought I might make the code I use to generate the site public too, as a demo for how to use my makesite.py fork. Something to ponder!

A disturbing kind of satisfaction

Posted by chavenet

https://www.metafilter.com/211331/A-disturbing-kind-of-satisfaction

The crude, even violent collision of forms seemed to capture the political and generational rifts that had been straining American society, and the American family in particular, since the 1960s, and it established Mr. Gehry as a force in architecture. from Frank O. Gehry, Titan of Architecture, Is Dead at 96 [NYT; ungated]

Legendary architect Frank Gehry dies aged 96 [BBC] Frank Gehry, whose designs defied gravity and convention, dies at 96 [NPR] Remembering Frank Gehry: Ten Landmark L.A. Buildings That Defined The Boundary-Shattering Architect's Genius [Secret LA]

https://www.metafilter.com/211331/A-disturbing-kind-of-satisfaction

Entry tags:

tv:stranger things

Stranger Things 5x01-04

We finally got around to watching the first Stranger Things new episode drop! Somehow I had remained completely and utterly unspoiled for it, to the extent of having even forgotten that there was a new season until suddenly a post with "stranger things spoilers" arrived on my Tumblr dash and I immediately blocked the tag. So I knew literally nothing.

( Random spoilers in no particular order )

Dreaming about finishing my To do List

Posted by growabrain

https://www.metafilter.com/211330/Dreaming-about-finishing-my-To-do-List

Retirement Plan is a new, animated Irish short about a middle aged man's plans for the rest of his life. It is narrated by Domhnall Gleeson. It's the kind of cute fare that will probably be nominated, and possibly even wins at the Oscars.

https://www.metafilter.com/211330/Dreaming-about-finishing-my-To-do-List

Current Mood: excited
Current Location: somewhere
Current Music: White Ward - Black Silent Piers

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The Pretty Cure & Tokusatsu Prompt Meme 2025!

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movie: pirates of the caribbean (series)

New Vid: Philip Swift/Syrena Fan Video - Sirens

Title: Sirens
Characters/Pairing: Philip Swift/Syrena
Movie: Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
Music: Sirens by Fleurie
Length: 3:08
Streaming/download at: DW | Tumblr