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The UK has unveiled a new, improved, this-time-for-real Brexit commemorative coin (after having to melt down a million of them last fall after minting them with the wrong date). But there are many other monetary ways for people to observe the occasion.

For instance, The Register has a look at a package of goodies being offered by the Conservative Party, or rather at the official description of them, because:

Sadly, you cannot do the drying up with delight on the big day itself. Deliveries of the collection (which also includes a lapel pin, a mug and a magnet that presumably repels an entire political and economic union) won't start until the week commencing 10 February.


If you can't wait that long, there's also a competition which has somehow formed between Remainers and Leavers to get their favorite music to the top of the Apple and Amazon UK download charts by the 31st.
petrea_mitchell: (Default)
I think I'm finally adjusted to the new work schedule. Just in time for it to be disrupted by visiting relatives and a time change!

Cat


Marlene shows off her paw pads
Marlene, showing off her variegated toes. Both hind feet have black center pads and pink toes. The front center pads are mostly black, with a mixture of pink and black toes. I'm not sure how you get a black pad surrounded by white fur, but she's managed it.

Fandom


It's almost time for Orycon. I don't feel ready!

Gaming


The friendly local gaming store had its store championship, everyone playing with a single just-unsealed deck. I got a very strange deck which, across four rounds, won big twice and lost big twice.

I keep meaning to start taking a look at the DS games I got at PRGE, then going, "Wait! I should finish my replay of Fire Emblem: Awakening first!" So I've done a few more chapters of that and am about to see if I manage to get Chrom paired up with Olivia or not.

Books and media


Started reading Portable Australian Authors: Australian Scienc Fiction, edited by Vann Ikin, a collection showcasing the history of Australian sf from the 1800s up to the modern day of 1982, when it was published. Main impression of the early stuff: boy did it love its race wars. Then again, I've just read a piece from 1915 where the survivor of a super-technological society advocates aggressive eugenics and the hero disagrees. In fact he goes so far to suggest that the treatment of aboriginal peoples around the world in his own time may have been a tad unjustified...
Politics )
petrea_mitchell: (Default)
The rain has started. I've finally remembered to order new rain gear. Apparently it will take three weeks to reach me.

Cat


Cat on catio tour
A cat demonstrates its catio on the 2019 Portland Catio Tour yesterday.

Fandom


One of the volunteers helping with the catio tour thought I looked familiar and then we worked out that we see each other every year at Orycon.

Gaming


The delayed Play-by-Post Gameday VIII has just kicked off. The Pathfinder Second Edition game I signed up for decided not to wait and started last Monday.

I killed another captain in Sunless Skies yesterday, by making it to the last realm and not being nearly prepared enough for everything there wanting to kill me. The next captain will take it slow and steady and try to get more engine upgrades before going back there.

Books and media


Finished reading Grease Junkie, which turns out in the endnotes to have actually been assembled without a ghostwriter. Many more mechanical adventures were chronicled, from the practical (rethinking how ice cream machines work) to the less so (there are inherent difficulties in trying to drive a desk across France). Lots of fun.

Next in the stack is a book on the Basque language. One of my regular stops on Powell's trips is the languages section, where I try to find something I don't have a book on yet. Then I go through the first few chapters, learn a few of the interesting features of the language, put it on a shelf, and never get back to it.
Politics )
petrea_mitchell: (Default)
I got to go to OSCON 2019 this week. Saw interesting and not-so-interesting presentations, learned things, might have a new favorite programming language. (Full disclosure: I get excited about new programming languages very easily.)

I'm seeing a lot of posts all around the net the last couple days on the topics of Boy It's Hot Today and What The Moon Landing Means To Me. It's only just topped 80F here, and as a child of the 1980s, the moon landing is primarily associated in my mind with reading bitter commentary about how Kennedy blew up the chance to do space right.

Cat


Barbecue Cat on the patio

Barbecue Cat, one of Phosphor's feral relatives, considers whether it's worth getting up from the nice warm patio and scurrying away, or whether the human might keep its distance.

Fandom


Here a are the rest of the summer premieres. I seem to be on a country music quote kick.

Somebody on the Amazing Stories editorial staff is tinkering with the look and feel of the blog. It looks like maybe I can stop worrying about finding at least one screencap that looks decent when trimmed to a square image.

Books and media


Nothing watched beyond anime. I am definitely going to keep watching BEM even though it looks like it won't be bloggable due to limited distribution.

I finished reading Lost Cities of Africa and will say something more about it at some point.

Gaming


The impending release of Fire Emblem: Three Houses is getting me excited about Fire Emblem all over again, except I don't have a Switch and won't be getting one any time soon, so instead I've gone back to Fire Emblem: Awakening for a playthrough on Hard mode.

Have also been checking in on Fallen London. I'm not really sure what I'm doing but I seem to be making progress.

Politics )
petrea_mitchell: (Default)
Woke up this morning to the news of a horrifying arson at Kyoto Animation. Casualties currently stand at 33 dead, 35 injured.

Knowing the high-pressure working conditions of the anime industry, one immediately wonders if the arsonist was an employee, but the BBC says it's not so. (The BBC also notes that this studio has distinguished itself by trying to pay animators in a more reasonable manner.) Signs instead point to a deranged fan.

Several GoFundMe campaigns have been started already, with more probably on the way; I'd advise holding off until one of them gets specific about who exactly they're sending the money to and for what specific needs. (Japan, being a fully developed country, has a social safety net that will take care of medical expenses etc.)

Because studios frequently take on subcontract work, it's not just shows where KyoAni is the lead studio that will be affected. This will have ripple effects all across the anime industry. We may see a number of suspended and cancelled shows. Our job in this as fans is to be supportive of the animators and trust that they're doing what they can.

Profile

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