muninnhuginn | Network

Alan Bennett has been an old man for ever so long- and now, at ninety, he has released the latest installment of his diaries. In spite of cataract and a failing memory for words (especially names) he still writes beautifully. And still has interesting things to write about- and meets as many celebrities in a day as I have briefly encountered in a lifetime. Writers, actors, politicians- he knows and has known them all. He sits outside his London home and they saunter by, exchange an observation or two and provoke memories. The tone is ruminative, humorous, melancholy- mildly but never deeply philosophical- and if he has demons he keeps them well tucked in under his skirts. When his birthday comes round they ring the church bells in the Yorkshire village where he has his other home. Few writers get to be so well loved.....

If you want the book in hardback it'll cost you £25.00. That's too much. I shall wait and source my copy from a charity shop.....

poliphilo

Paul said we should listen to the speech Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney gave to the Australian Parliament. It had given him hope he said.

It was a very smooth speech of course, unruffled, a statesman's speech- but under the glistening, icy surface you could sense the land masses shifting. He was saying that "middle powers" like Australia and Canada should build their strength through co-operation- and move out of the shadow of "the hegemons"- by which he mainly meant the United States. The old order was collapsing and the smarter smaller nations should set about building the new. He didn't mention the sick old man in the White House but the message to him was clear. "We don't trust you any more. We don't need you any more...."

theguardian_longread_feed

Posted by Eve Fairbanks

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2026/mar/10/how-the-us-far-right-bought-into-the-myth-of-white-south-africas-persecution

When Trump granted white South Africans refugee status, he was echoing a falsehood about Black people taking revenge for years of brutality. But no one flourishes in a repressive police state

There’s a little town in the scrub in South Africa – a full day’s drive from the country’s big cities – that has become perhaps the most scrutinised place on earth, given its size. It is 9 sq km (3.5 sq miles) of suburban-style houses harbouring about 3,000 people, with a main drag, a municipal swimming pool, one gas station and some pecan farms. Nothing of consequence ever really happens there, a fact the townspeople take as a point of pride. And yet over the past three decades, dozens of English-language news outlets have made a pilgrimage to it, often more than once. The New York Times alone has run four dedicated profiles. The essays have kept pace year after year, quoting the same people over and over, even as nothing of note occurred. There’s been no war, no disaster.

That changelessness is the point. No people of colour are allowed to live in the town, called Orania. The name is a nod to the river that runs nearby – and to the Orange Free State, the apartheid-era designation for the province in which it lies. Orania’s founders established it in 1991, the year after South Africa’s best-known Black liberation leader (and future president), Nelson Mandela, was freed following 27 years in prison.

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2026/mar/10/how-the-us-far-right-bought-into-the-myth-of-white-south-africas-persecution

ranunculus

One little fact can change a lot of family history.
( Read more... )

ranunculus

After 3 years of prep and struggle to get a permit, today was the first day of construction at Henry St. That is to say the crews came in, hauled away a bunch of junk that we couldn't get rid of fast enough (detritus from 27 years of living there plus the junk left by former tenants. YAY!

( Read more... )

jazzfish

*mindblown.gif*

Okay, so, clefs. If you've seen piano music you know how it's got two staffs, one for the right hand / high notes and one for the left / low notes. The staffs have a squiggle on the left end of them: the high one has a sort of loopy thing and the low one has a sort of 7 or 2 with a couple of dots. These are clefs, specifically treble clef and bass clef. They tell you what pitch the notes on the staff represent.

Technically the symbols are a G clef and an F clef: the spiral at the centre of the treble squiggle is always on a note that's a G, and the two dots on the bass are always on a note that's an F. Technically if you put the symbols on other lines you'd indicate different pitches. In practice, these days nobody does that, and 'G clef' and 'treble clef' are synonymous, as are 'F clef' and 'bass clef.'

Violin music is written in treble clef. Cello music is (mostly) written in bass clef. The range of notes you can easily play on those instruments more or less coincides with what you can easily write in those clefs without egregious use of extra ledger lines for notes above/below the staff.

There's also another clef symbol. The C clef symbol looks like a capital B, and the middle of the two humps is always on a note that's a C. It's used to indicate two uncommon clefs. Alto clef gets used for viola music and nothing else as far as I know, and tenor clef gets used for cello music that's off in the upper registers of the cello. Alto clef is... honestly I don't know what its relation to treble clef is, other than "lower," I think it's a sixth lower? Maybe a seventh? I don't read treble clef very well so I don't really know.

Tenor clef is a fifth higher than bass clef. This makes it really convenient for cello music. The strings on a cello (or violin or viola) are a fifth apart, so if you're used to reading bass clef for cello then tenor is the same thing just one string up.

A viola is a fifth lower than a violin, and an octave higher than a cello. If you put 'octave strings' on a viola, it plays the same notes as a cello. A tenor viola is an octave lower than a violin, and a fifth higher than a cello.

Which means it can natively play music in tenor clef. Hence the names.

Here endeth the classical music neepery for the day.

passingbuzzards

Two recent things, Vorkosigan Saga and Fallen London:

it’s like connecting the dots — 7,900 words, Vorkosigan Saga, Gregor Vorbarra/Byerly Vorrutyer, porn with a dash of plot (interrupted under-desk cock warming, ft. politics and a little romance).

By could think and suck cock at the same time; he wouldn’t have been much good at his job if he couldn’t.

In which Byerly solves political problems while in a compromising position.

Obligatory language comment about this fic: I managed to work in a translated Russian movie quotation that’s often used colloquially, in a way which is both a) accurate to how it can be used in Russian (which is why I wanted it there, I was writing the dialogue and was like, actually, you know, the most proper reply here would be «Птица Говорун отличается умом и сообразительностью»—) AND b) makes sense in the context of the English conversation, despite lacking the memetic frame of reference that makes it usable in Russian. The ultimate bilingual win, may some Russian-speaker someday run across it and have a laugh:

…
When they parted from the kiss By said, “My word,” rather breathlessly. “Was that my reward for helping to uncover potential embezzlement of Imperial funds?”

“Something like that.” They were still standing very close together, Gregor’s hands framing By’s waist. The edge of Gregor’s mouth quirked up. “You do such a fine job of playing the strutting peacock, one could almost forget you’re not just a pretty face.”

“Oh, no. The talking bird is set apart by its wit and reasoning skills, don’t you know.”

“I’d say you’re a very high-maintenance talking bird, but you do appear to be earning your keep.” By was thoroughly charmed to discover that viewed at close range the corners of Gregor’s eyes creased when he smiled, for all that his habitually stern face had no laugh lines. […]

Also, the real-world scandal my friend suggested to me when I was like “I need something to knock off for this fic because my ability to come up with an embezzlement scandal from scratch is in the negatives” was the Crédit Mobilier scandal concerning the Union Pacific Railroad in the 1860s, which I don’t think I’d ever heard about before (or else it may have been mentioned in passing in a history class and then forgotten). What a wild ride of a Wikipedia entry!

You will leave Irem. — 1,200 words, Fallen London, The Player & The Youthful Naturalist, major spoilers for all three endings of Evolution.

Three ways of departing Irem.

(Or: whatever choice you make at the crossroads, you make it out of love.)

I rarely do anything so short-form so it was an interesting challenge to do this little coda, where every sentence really must absolutely count and sound exactly right! (Not that that’s actually any different from my approach to anything else, but in this instance it did feel almost nearer to assembling a poem, or something.) The Julian of Norwich quotation that Fallen London is so fond of using—all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well—made for the perfect double-meaning at the end, most satisfying.

My no. 1 comment to Azie as I was writing this was, how I love that English allows you to say things like, “you will have done what you will do”! Russian with its three total tenses simply cannot compete, you just can’t attain this level of specificity in that language. Not that Russian (or indeed English) strictly needs it, obviously, but I do absolutely love that English allows it, and it’s highly appropriate in this fic: in Fallen London everything that takes place in Irem is written in the future tense, so the fic’s “present” is in the future, but it also looks to a further future wherein you’re looking back towards that “present” in retrospect… People can complain about English being a horrible zombie language all they like, it remains a source of unending delight TO ME, etc.

kalypso

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

james_davis_nicoll

Canada Roles Awards seeks to celebrate the games and art created by the Canadian tabletop Roleplaying Game Industry.

2026 Canada Roles Awards

mellowtigger

ICE is still in Minnesota and Minneapolis. If you had any doubt, based on the lack of coverage in national news, just see these Reddit posts showing photographs of trucks delivering loads of new vehicles to the Whipple building. March 9th (#1, I'm not sure where post #2 went, #3, #4, #5, #6, also #6, #7), March 5th (#1 and this video saying there were 3 more), March 2nd (#1 and also #1, I think). ICE is definitely not gone. I don't know if these delivered vehicles were then driven out individually or on trucks, or if they still remain there.

We know that ICE is stealing license plates from cars of observers, making it more difficult for USA citizens to use their cars for anything. It's reasonable to suspect that ICE will use those plates on their own vehicles, as a disguise to hide their true identity. It's not unreasonable, since we know they are doing illegal plate swaps on vehicles, even using duplicated plates. We know that local law enforcement doesn't care when ICE commits crimes, even when it happens right in front of them.

We know that ICE steals children then tries to bureaucratically hide them. Fuck ICE for terrorizing young people. I don't use language like that lightly. I only ever do it when it's important. Like when children keep getting killed in this shithole country where 1/3 of the population worships greed and violence, defending it and voting for it. I still join my patrols, hoping to dissuade ICE from abducting more children, or at least to record the event, so people are not forgotten amongst the lies that ICE and this Republican administration tell.

You can see maps of known ICE abductions at this webpage, below. It's 238 days until the 2026 elections in the USA. Trump will use ICE violently and massively again before that date arrives.

https://iceout.org/

Sadly, Mni Owe Sni will disband this week, due to it being located on a documented Dakota burial site, so they'll remove the prayer camp. This article (MPR News) has good reporting on the tribal discussion about the presence of the camp.

sovay

I have been made the unexpected recipient of an unbirthday scarf. It is patterned as if with fossil leaves and irresistibly striped.

Current Music: Tegan and Sara, "I'll Be Back Someday"

shadowkat

59 years...doesn't feel that long somehow. Good news - I only have three-four years until retirement now. Yippee! (Actually it may be more like three and a half, we'll see, it depends a lot on finances and crazy org, and crazy union.) Although the body feels it. What's that saying? It's not the years, it's the mileage? I always consider my birthday - my own personal New Year's Day. Since our years on this earth and for things like pension, medicare, senior discounts, and retirement are tracked by the date of our birth.

It's been a good birthday so far. The Universe gifted me with a sunny spring day, with barely a cloud marring the pristine robin's egg blue surface, plus Daylight Savings Time - so the day is ever so slightly longer, with sunset around 6:45 pm - granted no flowers or green trees as of yet, but I bought some reddish purple carnations to fill a vase in my living room window and a smaller vase in the bathroom. Also, took a long walk to Courtyelou Road in Ditmas Park, and browsed a smaller bookstore (which had comics, and mostly books by minority authors), the Brooklyn Artrery, and just meandered. Didn't buy anything.

Finished Merrily We Roll Along - which I rented for $9.99 from Apple TV (it's also available on Prime for the same amount). It's the 2024 smash hit Broadway musical revival by Stephen Sondheim, Martha Friedman, George Kaufman and Moss Hart - starring Jonathon Groff, Daniel Radcliff, and Lindsey Mendez. It's much better than expected. Daniel Radcliff blew me away during his number Franklin Shepard, Inc. Also features the classic, "Not a Day Goes By". I found it weirdly comforting - in that it shows how friendships can dissolve over time bit by bit due to various things, but mainly that the friends don't want the same things or have the same central focus. ( Read more... )

Also been binging Count of Monte Cristo on PBS. Had the last of the three slices of Birthday cake from BY THE WAY BAKERY (courtesy of Whole Foods in the Financial District). Tonight - am considering having the freshly made artichoke and spinach gluten free ravioli.

[And I've been enjoying the three birthday gifts that I received - which are: ( Read more... )]

Was considering renting another movie ("Hamnet by Chole Zhao") - but I may hold off, it could very well become available for free - soon enough.

Question a Day Meme - March Catch-Up

4. Have you ever been in a road traffic accident (either as a driver, pedestrian or on a bike)?

Not that I recall? I've witnessed quite a few.

5. How many local birds can you name?

Robin, Bluejay, Pigeon, Whitetail Hawk, Bald Eagle, Sparrow, Cardinal, Crows, Ravens...technical names? No. I have enough issues remembering the names of humans, let alone names humans give specific birds.

6. Have you ever seen a dinosaur skeleton?

Yes, at the Museum of Natural History in NYC

7. Do you embrace technology or prefer things the way they used to be (or a bit of both)?

See birthday gifts. So yes, I've embraced it. I resist for a bit, give up, and embrace. I don't go overboard. I have co-workers who update their iphones and headphones and watches every year. I don't. Also, I learned from my parents to wait a while before trying the latest gadget - like maybe a couple of years. (We learned this lesson - when we were among the first to get the 8 track player (I even owned a mini-one) - which was the newest gadget and my father was convinced it would take off. It well...didn't. So after that colossal failure - our family waits a few years before getting the gadget.)

8. It’s International Women’s Day – can you name any famous female artists, musicians, scientists or authors?

Octavia Butler, Chole Zhao, Marie Curie, Billie Holiday, Aretha Franklin,
Kate Bush, The Runaways, The Go Gos, Cyndie Lauper, Lady Gaga, Toni Morrison, Jane Austen

9. As it’s ‘Check Your Batteries Day’, when was the last time you checked your stock of batteries? Or, do you just buy them when you need them?

I have batteries that will last at least ten years in my fire/carbon dioxide alarm. So not an issue. They are too hard to replace - so I got one last year that has batteries that last close to fifteen years.

jazzfish

( violistic nattering )

galeogirl

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has marked as possibly inappropriate for anyone under the age of 18. )

Current Mood: contemplative
Current Music: To Catch a Thief - Lovage

marshallprojectemail_feed

https://mailchi.mp/themarshallproject/3o4r19f401

Did someone forward this email to you? Subscribe to get occasional emails when new story toolkits drop.

Dear colleagues,

Journalists, researchers and volunteers interested in examining book bans in prisons across the country are invited to join a hands-on virtual event on Wednesday, March 18, at 1 p.m. EST. Attendees will hear about the history of these bans from the authors of PEN America’s in-depth report on prison censorship and learn how to request and examine banned-book lists in their community.

This work is part of a collaboration between MuckRock’s Data Liberation Project and The Marshall Project, which are teaming up to uncover what books are banned in state prison systems. We’ll be updating the data that laid the groundwork for The Marshall Project’s 2023 investigative series, which included a reporting toolkit that was ultimately used by dozens of local newsrooms to examine book censorship in state prisons.

Eight cropped book covers with shadows behind them appear in a grid against a cream-colored background: “The Egyptian Book of the Dead,” “The Hellbound Heart,” “Captive Nation,” “Black on Black Violence,” “Violence: Reflections on a National Epidemic” and “Effective Java.” The center of the grid shows a pointer cursor hovering above an image of a tool displaying which books are banned in Ohio prisons.

We’ll provide data for several states, along with reporting guidance and user research insights. So far, we’ve obtained new carceral book ban records for Texas, Florida, California, Georgia, Virginia, New Jersey Iowa, Kansas, Montana, North Carolina and Illinois. We will add new states to this list as the records keep coming in.

Event speakers include:

Dillon Bergin, data reporter, MuckRock. Bergin will walk attendees through the practical side of this reporting, demonstrating how to request records on banned books from prison systems and how to clean and structure the data once it’s obtained.
Moira Marquis, founder and director, Prison Banned Books Week, an annual campaign raising awareness of prisons as the largest censors in the U.S. Marquis will share insights from the PEN America report, “Reading Between the Bars: An In-Depth Look at Prison Censorship.” Her book “Thought Threats: Carceral Censorship in America” is forthcoming from UNC Press.
Juliana Luna, researcher, Prison Banned Books Week. Luna will share findings from her research on prison censorship, which has been featured in Prison Policy Initiative, The Believer and PEN America.
Moderator Ana Graciela Méndez, product manager, The Marshall Project. Méndez has collected key user research insights from the original database, which has been used by dozens of local newsrooms.

You’re welcome to reply with any questions you have for the panelists. Please also forward this email to anyone who may be interested. Your help spreading the word is invaluable!

Thank you,

Michelle

This email was sent to <<Email Address>>
why did I get this? unsubscribe from this list update subscription preferences
The Marshall Project · 156 West 56th Street · Studio, 3rd Floor · New York, NY 10019 · USA

https://mailchi.mp/themarshallproject/3o4r19f401

maju

It's amazingly warm today at 64°F/18°C and should be even warmer tomorrow. Weirdly though, snow is forecast for Wednesday/Thursday. It felt very spring-like when I went for a run this morning, but it doesn't actually look much like spring yet. In Maryland by now there would be quite a few flowers poking their noses above the ground, but not yet here.

My real estate agent is about to put my house back on the market, but he has reduced the price. I'm a bit disappointed but in the long run it doesn't really matter as long as we can get the place sold.

badly_knitted posting in

get_knitted

Hello to all members, passers-by, curious onlookers, and shy lurkers, and welcome to our regular daily check-in post. Just leave a comment below to let us know how your current projects are progressing, or even if they're not.

Checking in is NOT compulsory, check in as often or as seldom as you want, this community isn't about pressure it's about encouragement, motivation, and support. Crafting is meant to be fun, and what's more fun than sharing achievements and seeing the wonderful things everyone else is creating?

There may also occasionally be questions, but again you don't have to answer them, they're just a way of getting to know each other a bit better.

This Week's Question: What is a craft that you tried but abandoned?

If anyone has any questions of their own about the community, or suggestions for tags, questions to be asked on the check-in posts, or if anyone is interested in playing check-in host for a week here on the community, which would entail putting up the daily check-in posts and responding to comments, go to the Questions & Suggestions post and leave a comment.

I now declare this Check-In OPEN!

Current Mood: tired
Current Location: my desk

ffutures

This is a bundle of material for Age of Ambition, an RPG about a fantasy world trying to modernize and adapt to technology and rapid social and political changes following an alien invasion:

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/Ambition

I'm not familiar with the rules system, but it looks reasonably playable and layout is good. If you get the complete bundle you're getting a lot for your money including numerous worldbooks and adventures, and the setting is novel enough that players ought to find it interesting.

helloladies posting in

ladybusiness

Sidetracks is a collaborative project featuring various essays, videos, reviews, or other Internet content that we want to share. All past and current links for the Sidetracks project can be found in our Sidetracks tag. You can also support Sidetracks and our other work on Patreon.

( Read more... )

flowing_data_rss_feed

Posted by Nathan Yau

https://flowingdata.com/2026/03/09/satellite-images-that-are-ai-fakes/

https://flowingdata.com/?p=81308

To everyone’s surprise, that people definitely did not see coming, fake satellite images are sprinkling over social media to disperse fiction. For Financial Times, Dan Clark and Chris Campbell report on the misinformation that has become trivial to generate.

One might argue that scammers have been able to do this with Photoshop for a long time, but now it’s so easy to fake believable images. When something is easy to do, more people do it. That’s the law of lazy.

Tags: fake, Financial Times, satellite imagery

https://flowingdata.com/2026/03/09/satellite-images-that-are-ai-fakes/

https://flowingdata.com/?p=81308

Profile

muninnhuginn

February 2026

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
1	2	3	4	5	6	7
8	9	10	11	12	13	14
15	16	17	18	19	20	21
22	23	24	25	26	27	28

Page Summary

poliphilo - Alan Bennett At 90
poliphilo - New World Order
theguardian_longread_feed - How the US far right bought into the myth of white South Africa’s persecution
ranunculus - Family History
ranunculus - Henry St, Obstacles, Burning
jazzfish - tenor viola followup
passingbuzzards - fic: it’s like connecting the dots; fic: you will leave irem.
kalypso - Calling in from the shapenote 'verse
james_davis_nicoll - 2026 Canada Roles Awards
mellowtigger - ICE is still here
sovay - Sit and watch my TV set
shadowkat - March 9, 2026 - my 59th year on this earth starts today...
jazzfish - various session options
galeogirl - A soft place to land
marshallprojectemail_feed - WORKSHOP on investigating prison book bans
maju - (no subject)
badly_knitted in get_knitted - Check-In Post - March 9th 2026
ffutures - Another RPG bundle - Age of Ambition
helloladies in ladybusiness - Sidetracks - March 9, 2026
flowing_data_rss_feed - Satellite images that are AI fakes

Style Credit

Base style: Crisped by timeasmymeasure
Theme: Alice Blue Blossoms by forests_of_fire
Resources: ColourLovers pattern by amethystfirefly and thirdbreakfast

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags

Page generated Mar. 10th, 2026 09:14 am

Between blotch and blok

twa corbies making a mane

Network

Alan Bennett At 90

New World Order

How the US far right bought into the myth of white South Africa’s persecution

Family History

Henry St, Obstacles, Burning

tenor viola followup

fic: it’s like connecting the dots; fic: you will leave irem.

Calling in from the shapenote 'verse

2026 Canada Roles Awards

ICE is still here

Sit and watch my TV set

March 9, 2026 - my 59th year on this earth starts today...

various session options

A soft place to land

WORKSHOP on investigating prison book bans

(no subject)

Check-In Post - March 9th 2026

Another RPG bundle - Age of Ambition

Sidetracks - March 9, 2026

Satellite images that are AI fakes

Profile

February 2026

Most Popular Tags

Page Summary

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

twa corbies making a mane

Network

Want more people to know about this? Tell your network.

Page Summary

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags