The Brow @lowbrow@writing.exchange

Guess my spine is collapsing? Having a pretty good time over here. Thanks, bones.

Left both my hat and my pen on my desk at work, damn.

Cracked into my journal for the first time in too many months last night. I say this every time, but man it felt good. I encourage everyone to keep a journal, especially if you're an aspiring writer. But even if you're not, give it a whirl.

Find a pen that you like. Get yourself a blank book that feels right. Lined or gridded or unlined, hardbound or softbound, glued, spiral, or properly bound, whatever suits you, and just... talk to yourself for a while.

It's good. Very good.

Welcome new folks. Be kind and don't break things, please.

I'm not playing WoW classic, you're playing WoW classic. Shut up!

I haven't actually browsed the federated timeline in a while, only local. Heaven help me, here we go.

Google Pixelbooks are made of disappointment and garbage. Practicaly gold-plated garbage for the price, but garbage nonetheless. ChromeOS belongs in the bin.

Playing with new Raspberry Pi 4! Woo. I'll be attaching the case to the back of my desk eventually, and I have a USB switch for kb+mouse, and a dual-input monitor. Nice to have an alternate low-key Linux desktop to switch over to that only sips electricity. Added a small cooling fan to the case and it's doing quite well.

OK, I'm in the mood for some more science fiction (or hell, even some non-fiction, why not) with a definite lean towards technological transhumanism. Any suggestions?

It's well after sundown and still 80F out. 🔥 Tomorrow is going to suuuuuuuuuuuuuck even worse than today's 103F high, because it's just not going to cool off.

Beans, beans are happening

Baked beans

Right now

Mmm.

Next scifi re-read: Consider Phlebas, Iain Banks.

Finished re-reading China Mieville's "The City In The City." It was even better the second time around. Highly recommend.

Cool story. Power company can't/won't maintain its own carrier lines, so they're just turning off electricity to some nearby places this weekend when there's a fire weather warning, rather than doing their jobs and fixing the lines.

I just finished re-reading Snow Crash. Fun story. Anyone have any book/ebook recommendations?

Well, I laid down a little too much money on a semi-fancy e-ink ereader tablet. It's a bit daffy and I'm not sure I'll keep it yet. I wanted a not-Kindle so that I can actually read ePubs, not just Amazon's DRM crud. I have a fairly substantial library of ebooks that I actually own, not just "licensed" by some service that can yank them away when the mood strikes.

I'm debating on if I should return this (Onyx Nova Pro) for a Kobo model, though... Hm.

Today I tried the "impossible burger" to contrast it with the "beyond burger" I had last week.

It wasn't bad, and with regular burger toppings you'll be hard-pressed to notice a difference between it and a food-service-grade hamburger patty.

It doesn't taste like top-shelf beef and isn't worth paying extra for just in terms of taste, disregarding ethical choices. It tastes like a pretty ok quality cafeteria burger, with that whiff of textured vegetable protein flavor that seems unavoidable.

I'm generally an omnivore, but today I had some uncomfortable beef guilt over a tri-tip sandwich.

I ate a "beyond burger" plant protein burger the other day after my computer job, before going to a computer-based art installation.

I sat there in the shiny artificial fast food environment thinking about population pressure and dwindling resources and plant-protein-substitutes for The Masses and where we are as a society, and... well...

Shadowrun, anyone?

oh, es tanzt das z.n.s.
zum nervensystem!

I did the pool+hot tub thing again today, and my bones hurt less afterwards. I am pleased that my skeleton does not, for the moment, feel like it is angrily trying to achieve escape velocity from the meat wrapper.