Days of Atonement by Walter Jon Williams
Oct. 28th, 2025 08:55 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
james_davis_nicoll
How could a man die in front of Atocha Chief of Police Loren Hawn when that man died twenty years before?
Days of Atonement by Walter Jon Williams
james_davis_nicollHow could a man die in front of Atocha Chief of Police Loren Hawn when that man died twenty years before?
Days of Atonement by Walter Jon Williams
New Year's Resolutions and Other Goals
Oct. 28th, 2025 01:46 amysabetwordsmith posting in ![[site community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/comm_staff.png){kind=small}
dw_community_promo![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
goals_on_dw is a community for people who like goals and goal setting. A key focus is New Year's resolutions, that being among the most popular contexts for such activities. Although the most common time is January 1, "new year" can also refer to other calendars or cultures, whatever works for you. Alternatively, just pick a time that works for you and go for it. You can introduce yourself or make new friends here. We talk about different goal systems, pros and cons of resolutions, arts and crafts for tracking goals, human psychology, and more. You can share your resolutions or other goals. There are weekly check-in posts in January, and monthly ones in the rest of the year, for folks to talk about their accomplishments. December-January is the most active period, and it starts ramping up in November as lots of people begin thinking about their goals for the next year.
2025 New Year's Resolutions and Other Goals is the guide post for this years goal-setting activities.
For more details on relevant topics, see "Things You Can Talk About Here."
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Newcomers
Oct. 28th, 2025 01:41 amysabetwordsmith posting in dw_community_promoTrouble is brewing at Bluesky. As a result, there's a wave of new users coming into Dreamwidth. Find your Bluesky friends here.
newcomers is a community for people who are just getting started on Dreamwidth, in the tradition of twitter_refugees and reddit_refugees. This community supports former users of other platforms who are moving to Dreamwidth because their previous platform has become untenable or has closed. As such, it will increase activity with each wave of new users, in hopes of helping them get settled in Dreamwidth so they want to stick around. It also serves previous users returning after a long hiatus, people who want to do more with a Dreamwidth blog that was only intermittent, or anyone else who wants help connecting and figuring out how to use this venue.
( Read more... )
newcomers is a community for people who are just getting started on Dreamwidth, in the tradition of twitter_refugees and reddit_refugees. This community supports former users of other platforms who are moving to Dreamwidth because their previous platform has become untenable or has closed. As such, it will increase activity with each wave of new users, in hopes of helping them get settled in Dreamwidth so they want to stick around. It also serves previous users returning after a long hiatus, people who want to do more with a Dreamwidth blog that was only intermittent, or anyone else who wants help connecting and figuring out how to use this venue.( Read more... )
Alphabetical Story Meme
Oct. 27th, 2025 09:22 pmffuturesSeen multiple places, the idea is to go through the titles of all the fanfic you've written then link to one story for each letter of the alphabet, or as many as possible, with the usual rules about A and The not being part of the title. I'm ignoring one story where the title is a number only, and ignoring any punctuation before the first word. Depending on the site I either have 145 works written (AO3), 202 (Fan Fiction Net) or 189 (Twisting the Hellmouth) - the discrepancy is because some short story collections are e.g. separate drabbles on Fanfiction.net or were merged as a single story on the other sites, and so forth. TTH was the first site I ever posted to, so I decided to go through there first. I've decided to go for the first completed story for each letter, or unfinished stories if there's nothing else for a given letter. A LOT of these, are Buffy or Buffy crossovers, since that was the main thing I was posting in my early days. Quite a few are Drabbles, 100 words plus title. I've only included round robins if I began them.
A - Apocrypha - Buffy Drabble
B - Bring Me The Head of Harry Potter - Buffy/Angel/multiple crossovers
C - Contract Negotiation - Buffy/The Destroyer crossover
D - Double Life - Buffy/Miracleman crossover Drabble
E - Encore - Buffy
F - Favour - Buffy/Preacher crossover
G - Green - Buffy/DC Comics drabble
H - Hyperion - Buffy/The Saint crossover
I - The Intern - Veronica Mars/Lois and Clark
J - Jenny the Vampire Slayer - Buffy/Jenny Sparks fusion
K - The Key to Byzantium - Buffy/Stargate SG1 crossover
L - Legend - Buffyverse
M - Manhunters - CSI/Buffy
N - Names - Buffy/Angel/Multiple crossover Drabble
O - ...Or May I Call You Buffy - Buffy
P - Potential Problem CSI/Buffy crossover
Q - Question - Young Wizards/Surprise crossover Drabble
R - Reciprocity - Buffy/LotR crossover Drabble
S - Should Have Gone To Vegas - CSI/Angel crossover
T - They Might Be Drabbles - Pushing Daisies/crossovers drabbles round robin
U - Unexpected Outcome - Buffy/Dogma crossover Drabble
V - Vulnerable - Buffy/Harry Potter crossover Drabble
W - Wish - Buffy/Books of Magic crossover Drabble
X -
Y - Your Mission, Should You Choose to Accept - Buffy/Mission Impossible crossover Drabble
Z - The Zippo - Buffy drabble
The most recent of these was posted in 2011, with no new letters after that though I'm very tempted to write an X as a Buffyverse Halloween story to complete the set - I have a series of them in which something unfortunate happens to Xander, Sunnydale, or the world in general, but I've never used his name to begin the title...
A - Apocrypha - Buffy Drabble
B - Bring Me The Head of Harry Potter - Buffy/Angel/multiple crossovers
C - Contract Negotiation - Buffy/The Destroyer crossover
D - Double Life - Buffy/Miracleman crossover Drabble
E - Encore - Buffy
F - Favour - Buffy/Preacher crossover
G - Green - Buffy/DC Comics drabble
H - Hyperion - Buffy/The Saint crossover
I - The Intern - Veronica Mars/Lois and Clark
J - Jenny the Vampire Slayer - Buffy/Jenny Sparks fusion
K - The Key to Byzantium - Buffy/Stargate SG1 crossover
L - Legend - Buffyverse
M - Manhunters - CSI/Buffy
N - Names - Buffy/Angel/Multiple crossover Drabble
O - ...Or May I Call You Buffy - Buffy
P - Potential Problem CSI/Buffy crossover
Q - Question - Young Wizards/Surprise crossover Drabble
R - Reciprocity - Buffy/LotR crossover Drabble
S - Should Have Gone To Vegas - CSI/Angel crossover
T - They Might Be Drabbles - Pushing Daisies/crossovers drabbles round robin
U - Unexpected Outcome - Buffy/Dogma crossover Drabble
V - Vulnerable - Buffy/Harry Potter crossover Drabble
W - Wish - Buffy/Books of Magic crossover Drabble
X -
Y - Your Mission, Should You Choose to Accept - Buffy/Mission Impossible crossover Drabble
Z - The Zippo - Buffy drabble
The most recent of these was posted in 2011, with no new letters after that though I'm very tempted to write an X as a Buffyverse Halloween story to complete the set - I have a series of them in which something unfortunate happens to Xander, Sunnydale, or the world in general, but I've never used his name to begin the title...
Another Horror Bundle - Cthulhu Reborn
Oct. 27th, 2025 08:29 pmffuturesThis is a massive bundle of Cthulhu Mythos RPGs and settings from Cthulhu Reborn, a project to create a D100-based system based wholly on open rules sets and source material from Lovecraft which is definitively out of copyright - a lot of material in previous Mythos games has come from authors and works whose copyright status is unclear or definitely not available for free use. The basic offer is material set mainly in the 1920s, the extended offer includes multiple rules system and adventures in different eras from the past to the far future.
https://bundleofholding.com/presents/CthulhuReborn
I think that this is an extremely good offer, which takes the Cthulhu Mythos back to its roots and provides everything needed to run, write (and possibly publish) your own adventures without having to worry too much about inadvertently falling foul of arcane copyright law. It's relatively cheap and contains several thousand pages of useful material, if you have any interest in role-playing in this genre it's well worth a look.
https://bundleofholding.com/presents/CthulhuReborn
I think that this is an extremely good offer, which takes the Cthulhu Mythos back to its roots and provides everything needed to run, write (and possibly publish) your own adventures without having to worry too much about inadvertently falling foul of arcane copyright law. It's relatively cheap and contains several thousand pages of useful material, if you have any interest in role-playing in this genre it's well worth a look.
Bundle of Holding: Cthulhu Reborn
Oct. 27th, 2025 03:19 pmjames_davis_nicoll
Nearly two dozen Mythos investigations in many eras from the open-license Cthulhu Eternal tabletop roleplaying game line produced by Cthulhu Reborn.
Compatible with your favorite Lovecraftian percentile-based systems)
Bundle of Holding: Cthulhu Reborn
Clocks
Oct. 27th, 2025 03:12 pmlnrA short list of clocks which do not update themselves:
- Matthew's bedside alarm clock. Several experimental button pushes to remember how.
- Matthew's travel alarm clock. Fairly self explanatory
- Small clock in the dining room. Turn the time knob, not the alarm one!
- Oven. Doddle.
- Microwave. A bit of poking, but not too bad.
- Bike computer. Putting this one off as it requires a cocktail stick and remembering the right runes so you don't accidentally completely reset it. Write down the odo distance first before attempting!
The electronics (and the big living room wall clock, and the heating controller) all look after themselves, which is just as well, as there are quite a lot of them.
Clarke Award Finalists 2020
Oct. 27th, 2025 09:09 amjames_davis_nicoll2020: Boris Johnson proposes an unbuildable bridge between Scotland and Ireland, Universal Credit successfully sends stress levels soaring, and the Tories handle Covid as skilfully as they did Brexit.
Bold for have read, italic for intend to read, underline for never heard of it.
Which 2020 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?
The Old Drift by Namwali Serpell
A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine
Cage of Souls by Adrian Tchaikovsky
The City in the Middle of the Night by Charlie Jane Anders
The Last Astronaut by David Wellington
The Light Brigade by Kameron Hurley
Poll #33767 Clarke Award Finalists 2020
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 39
Which 2020 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?
View Answers
The Old Drift by Namwali Serpell
1 (2.6%)
A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine
33 (84.6%)
Cage of Souls by Adrian Tchaikovsky
4 (10.3%)
The City in the Middle of the Night by Charlie Jane Anders
12 (30.8%)
The Last Astronaut by David Wellington
1 (2.6%)
The Light Brigade by Kameron Hurley
18 (46.2%)
Bold for have read, italic for intend to read, underline for never heard of it.
Which 2020 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?
The Old Drift by Namwali Serpell
A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine
Cage of Souls by Adrian Tchaikovsky
The City in the Middle of the Night by Charlie Jane Anders
The Last Astronaut by David Wellington
The Light Brigade by Kameron Hurley
Looking a bit old...
Oct. 27th, 2025 12:43 pmffuturesFor various reasons I wanted to check what Lillly Potter was supposed to look like according to the films etc., and realised that she and James Potter (both about 21 at the time of their deaths) were played by much older cast - Geraldine Somerville (born 1967) and Adrian Rawlins (born 1958).
So by 2010, when Deathly Hallows 1 was released, she was 43 and he was 52. This isn't just a minor discrepancy - even allowing for the stress of war etc., both look way too old for the roles, and James is visibly balding.
There don't appear to be actors for them in the TV series cast, not surprising if they're starting with the first book, but I hope that they will try to get things right. Meanwhile, I've got the young Raquel Welch in that role in my current Harry Potter fanfic, and I think that's as good a mental image as any.
So by 2010, when Deathly Hallows 1 was released, she was 43 and he was 52. This isn't just a minor discrepancy - even allowing for the stress of war etc., both look way too old for the roles, and James is visibly balding.
There don't appear to be actors for them in the TV series cast, not surprising if they're starting with the first book, but I hope that they will try to get things right. Meanwhile, I've got the young Raquel Welch in that role in my current Harry Potter fanfic, and I think that's as good a mental image as any.
New blog post
Oct. 26th, 2025 09:04 pmswehThe recent DNS issue at AWS made me recall a DNS issue I had to deal with as part of the Unix authentication team, and how I'd deal with it differently today. I guess I've grown as an engineer/architect! https://www.sweharris.org/post/2025-10-26-its-dns/
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Database maintenance
Oct. 25th, 2025 08:42 am![[staff profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user_staff.png){kind=small}
mark posting in dw_maintenanceGood morning, afternoon, and evening!
We're doing some database and other light server maintenance this weekend (upgrading the version of MySQL we use in particular, but also probably doing some CDN work.)
I expect all of this to be pretty invisible except for some small "couple of minute" blips as we switch between machines, but there's a chance you will notice something untoward. I'll keep an eye on comments as per usual.
Ta for now!
Books Received, October 18 — October 24
Oct. 25th, 2025 09:20 amjames_davis_nicoll
Eight works new to me. Three fantasies, two horror, two SF, and one hard-to-classify RPG. One of the SF books is pretty horrory, so maybe that should be three fantasies, three horror, one SF, and one hard-to-classify RPG.
Books Received, October 18 — October 24
Poll #33761 Books Received, October 18 — October 24
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 48
Which of these look interesting?
View Answers
Abyss by Nicholas Binge (May 2026)
6 (12.5%)
Testimony of Mute Things by Lois McMaster Bujold (October 2025)
27 (56.2%)
Morsel by Carter Keane (April 2026)
4 (8.3%)
The Cove by Claire Rose (May 2026)
6 (12.5%)
Outgunned by Riccardo “Rico” Sirignano & Simone Formicola, with art by Daniela Giubellini (December 2024)
6 (12.5%)
And Side by Side They Wander by Molly Tanzer (May 2026)
16 (33.3%)
Lightning Runes by Harry Turtledove (March 2026)
8 (16.7%)
A Long and Speaking Silence by Nghi Vo (May 2026)
24 (50.0%)
Some other option (see comments)
0 (0.0%)
Cats!
37 (77.1%)
emotional support spinning
Oct. 25th, 2025 08:12 amyhlee(cross-post with more technical details: prototypediablerie)
Three-ply yarns where each single is a different wool variety since I was going through and spinning up some samples. Next up will be an experiment in dyeing.
Also, the next owner of this spinning wheel is going to have to live with the aftermarket addition of Warhammer 40,000 base magnets to hold the hecking orifice hook because I keep losing them (and having to DIY new ones out of paper clips - this works quite well and is easy but also, I'm running embarrassingly low on paper clips).
prototypediablerie)Three-ply yarns where each single is a different wool variety since I was going through and spinning up some samples. Next up will be an experiment in dyeing.
Also, the next owner of this spinning wheel is going to have to live with the aftermarket addition of Warhammer 40,000 base magnets to hold the hecking orifice hook because I keep losing them (and having to DIY new ones out of paper clips - this works quite well and is easy but also, I'm running embarrassingly low on paper clips).
Exit Sigil
Oct. 24th, 2025 08:51 pmjames_davis_nicollFrom WOTC: exit their VTT
We have made the difficult decision to end development on Sigil. T
how to draw a tetrapod
Oct. 24th, 2025 10:42 pmfanfhttps://dotat.at/@/2025-10-24-tetrapod.html
Concrete tetrapods are used to dissipate wave energy in coastal defences.
There's a bit of a craze for making tetrapod-shaped things: recently I've seen people making a plush tetrapod and a tetrapod lamp. So I thought it might be fun to model one.
I found a nice way to describe tetrapods that relies on very few arbitrary aesthetic choices.
Click here to play with an animated tetrapod which I made using three.js. (You can see its source code too.)
( Read more... )
Death in the Cards by Mia P. Manansala
Oct. 24th, 2025 08:57 amjames_davis_nicoll
High school student and semi-professional tarot card reader Danika Dizon assists her PI mother to look for a missing person... a teen who vanished after Danika gave her a tarot card reading.
Death in the Cards by Mia P. Manansala
Holy Monkey Bladders! It's Monkey Island™.
Oct. 23rd, 2025 11:10 amarcanetrivia posting in dw_community_promoAhoy there, adventure gamers! monkeyisland is a community for the beloved classic game series Monkey Island, featuring the comedic swashbuckling adventures of the improbably-named Guybrush Threepwood, Mighty Pirate™. Anything about Monkey Island is fair game: your own fanworks (art, fic, videos, games, music, cosplay, memes/silliness, whatever), recs of others' fanworks, livestreams/let's-plays, discussions, news and articles, tips for messing about in the game resources or scripting, requests for hints, screenshots, all that good stuff. If Monkey Island is your jam rum rum and jam (it's an old pirate favorite, everybody knows that), then come on over and have a grog.
monkeyisland is a community for the beloved classic game series Monkey Island, featuring the comedic swashbuckling adventures of the improbably-named Guybrush Threepwood, Mighty Pirate™. Anything about Monkey Island is fair game: your own fanworks (art, fic, videos, games, music, cosplay, memes/silliness, whatever), recs of others' fanworks, livestreams/let's-plays, discussions, news and articles, tips for messing about in the game resources or scripting, requests for hints, screenshots, all that good stuff. If Monkey Island is your New blog post
Oct. 23rd, 2025 01:09 pmswehNew blog post in which I discuss what happened when I broke guidance and asked an interview question about information that can be found in a manpage: https://www.sweharris.org/post/2025-10-23-options-to-ls/