Mistakes were made
Jan. 20th, 2026 09:02 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
james_davis_nicollOne of Canada's great missteps was not mining the border. The other was not building intermediate range nuclear-armed missiles.
Homeward By Starlight & On Thud and Blunder by Poul Anderson
Jan. 20th, 2026 08:39 amjames_davis_nicoll
November 25, 2026 would have been Poul Anderson’s 100th birthday. As there is no guarantee any of us will see November 25, 2026, I’ll borrow an idea from Tom Lehrer’s That Was the Year That Was and start writing something appropriately celebratory now.
Homeward By Starlight
Improve your sword and sorcery through inspirational verisimilitude!
On Thud and Blunder by Poul Anderson
Enoshima - Monorail - Ofuna
Jan. 20th, 2026 09:34 pmmindstalkDunno if I'm over flu yet; since my supply of tests that can actually detect my levels ia apparently irreplacable, I'm conserving them. Feel good.
Got out, took train to Enoshima station, thinking of walking around. But there's a monorail I'd found on the map, and its station was right there -- on the 5th floor, not 2nd or 3rd like usual. I went up, found a terrace that should have a good view of Fuji, but it was cloudy.
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Bundle of Holding: Sleepy Hollow
Jan. 19th, 2026 02:08 pmjames_davis_nicoll
The tabletop fantasy roleplaying game of early 19th-Century folk horror.
Bundle of Holding: Sleepy Hollow
fun with thermometers
Jan. 19th, 2026 10:00 ammindstalkIn 2023 I was given a medical thermometer, Walmart's Equate brand. I rarely feel the need to take my temp, so I never used it much. But some weeks ago I thought it'd be good to measure my baseline, especially since body temperature varies between people and over time, and started using it at various times of the day. The numbers seemed kind of low. ( Read more... )
Technically I am not breaking the rule against me sitting in the dark in 161
Jan. 18th, 2026 06:37 pm
retail masking and flu update
Jan. 18th, 2026 11:02 pmmindstalkThis flu continues to be disturbingly minimal. Today I pretty much feel fine, I think. I still have a faint Flu A line on a CordRx covid/flu test from the USA, though.
I've tried several bought-in-Japan tests, and not a single one has registered anything. Flowflex (Japan), Meiji, Kobayashi (Amazon page) / Rabliss (actual box), complete no-name. If I trusted them, I would just have some minor under-the-weather-ness. Am I going to have to try to actually import tests from the US? Feh. (Well, just checked, and I can't, at least not the brands I'm familiar with.)
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Night of Camp David by Fletcher Knebel
Jan. 18th, 2026 08:58 amjames_davis_nicoll
A deranged President sets his eyes on Canada and Scandinavia, forcing one senator to consider the prospect of contemplating the preliminaries to action.
Night of Camp David by Fletcher Knebel
Books Received, January 10 to January 16
Jan. 17th, 2026 09:17 amjames_davis_nicoll
Three works new to me, all from various TTRPG Kickstarters. 2026 feels kind of light on upcoming books.
Books Received, January 10 to January 16
Poll #34090 Books Received, January 10 to January 16
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 27
Which of these look interesting?
View Answers
Invincible – Superhero Roleplaying (Alpha) by Adam Bradford & Tomas Härenstam (July 2026)
9 (33.3%)
Fabula Ultima Bestiary by Emanuele Galletto (May 2026)
4 (14.8%)
Arkand: City of Wave and Flames by Johan Sjöberg (April 2026)
4 (14.8%)
Some other option (see comments)
2 (7.4%)
Cats!
23 (85.2%)
Their Kingdom Come (Night Eaters, volume 3) by Marjorie Liu & Sana Takeda
Jan. 16th, 2026 09:15 amjames_davis_nicoll
Their last cunning scheme set apocalypse in motion. What wonders will follow Billy and Milly's next bold endeavour?
Their Kingdom Come (Night Eaters, volume 3) by Marjorie Liu & Sana Takeda
guess who has two thumbss and the flu
Jan. 16th, 2026 11:54 ammindstalk5 days ago (minus 8 hours): I decide to risk eating out. Upper story mall restaurant; half-open walls; CO2 generally under 600; not crowded. Sounds low risk, right? Drawbacks: it was after 7 PM, so a lot of people might have passed through; I was eating hot soba soup, so had to be unmasked for a while. (Vs dumplings, say, where you can just pop it under the mask and avoid breathing unfiltered air.) No one was coughing, though a couple women near by were talking a lot.
2 days later: I feel slightly oogy. Got more sleep, woke up tired (there were other plausible explanations), low energy by 4 PM, just a bit of nasal drip (as from dusting a lot, say)
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Future behavior: so literally the first time I try to "live normally" on my own, I get infected. This is not making it more likely for me to dine out indoors. Maybe I'm susceptible because my innate immune system is quiescent, I dunno. But, staying masked seems to work in avoiding actual severe illness, so I'll keep doing that.
OTOH with the tests here so cheap, I think I'll start doing regular surveillance testing, rather than only after some symptoms.
I'm also extending my stay here some more, in case things turn worse; last thing I want is to have to try to change Airbnbs while really feeling a flu. Turns out the price was dropping too, neat; still not as cheap as I could get by leaving Tokyo, but hey, health.
System Collapse (Murderbot, volume 7) by Martha Wells
Jan. 15th, 2026 09:18 amjames_davis_nicoll
Murderbot and allies struggle to establish friendly relations with a rediscovered lost colony in time to protect them from a predatory company.
System Collapse (Murderbot, volume 7) by Martha Wells
Outgunned 1
Jan. 14th, 2026 09:59 pmjames_davis_nicollMy Outgunned game is a spy thriller of sorts. I thought it would be fun to skip the usual "characters start together, get briefed, plot their mission together" and so on, I'd start with three of the five breaking into an apartment. They are 14-year-old Diane Dean (the driver), 18-year-old Concordia Butterstein (unsanctioned intrusion and asset acquisition expert) and 70-year-old Jethro Winthrop (the smooth talking fellow who hired the other two because they offered the best value for price)
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Bundle of Holding: Halls of Arden Vul (from 2022)
Jan. 14th, 2026 03:39 pmjames_davis_nicoll
A vast megadungeon from Expeditious Retreat Press for D&D, AD&D, and other tabletop fantasy roleplaying games.
Bundle of Holding: Halls of Arden Vul (from 2022)
Side-Eyeing Science Fiction’s Love of Empire
Jan. 14th, 2026 10:21 amjames_davis_nicoll
...Wait, we're supposed to believe that it's the rebels who are wrong?
Side-Eyeing Science Fiction’s Love of Empire
The Man Who Died Seven Times by Yasuhiko Nishizawa
Jan. 14th, 2026 08:54 amjames_davis_nicoll
A teen subject to intermittent time-loops sets out to prevent the murder of his unlikable grandfather. This will be much harder than he expects.
The Man Who Died Seven Times by Yasuhiko Nishizawa
Private Rites by Julia Armfield
Jan. 13th, 2026 08:52 amjames_davis_nicoll
Sisters process family tensions as the world slowly grinds to an end.
Private Rites by Julia Armfield
sigh
Jan. 12th, 2026 10:27 pmjames_davis_nicollOne character in my Outgunned game gets a laptop as part of his starting gear. Game is set in 1977 so I told the university age player he could have a programmable calculator or a slide rule.
"What's a slide rule?"
"What's a slide rule?"
Bundle of Holding: Eichhorn Mork Borg
Jan. 12th, 2026 02:02 pmjames_davis_nicoll
Diseased grimdark English-language sourcebooks by Christian Eichhorn for the artpunk tabletop fantasy roleplaying game Mörk Borg!
Bundle of Holding: Eichhorn Mork Borg
Books Received, January 3 to January 9
Jan. 12th, 2026 09:18 amjames_davis_nicoll
This is late because my site was down when I had the time to post on Saturday. Seven books new to me. Two fantasy, one non-fiction, one mainstream, one collection of poetry, and two thrillers.
Books Received, January 3 to January 9
Poll #34072 Books Received, January 3 to January 9
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 40
Which of these look interesting?
View Answers
Of Venom and Vengeance by Mikayla Bridge (July 2026)
6 (15.0%)
Bad Advice by Susan Carpenter (April 2026)
3 (7.5%)
The Innocent Canadian by John Delacourt (April 2026)
6 (15.0%)
Woodbine Grove by Ryan O’Dowd (December 2025)
3 (7.5%)
Rum Maniacs: Alcoholic Insanity in the Early American Republic by Matthew Warner Osborn (March 2020)
23 (57.5%)
Inside Passages by Heather Paul (April 2026)
4 (10.0%)
Existence in All Its Uncoverable Beauty by Calvin White (April 2026)
2 (5.0%)
Some other option (see comments)
0 (0.0%)
Cats!
33 (82.5%)
random Japan stuff
Jan. 12th, 2026 08:32 pmmindstalkLast night's sleep was short, and I tried something that supposedly will improve things after a while, but today sucked, so apart from shopping (yes, I can eat 3 fresh-baked sweet potatoes in a row) I didn't go out. So catch up on random stuff: ( Read more... )
An unexpected revelation
Jan. 11th, 2026 11:56 pmjames_davis_nicollHad a person wander into the 2nd floor corridor looking for the women's washroom. Alas, our 2nd floor women's washroom stopped being functional this week end so all I had to offer was three gender neutral washrooms... one of which is usually the men's.
Then it occurred to me the corridor she came from is from the "new" part of Hagey, the accounting section. While she was hesitating, looking unhappy at the choices offered, I asked if that was where she was from. She said yes, so I told her that section has a very nice (zero barrier) women's on the main floor. Off she went.
Once she was gone, it struck me as odd that she would wander as far as old Hum looking for a washroom.t.
I mentioned this to my supervisor and yeah, apparently because it's an expansion of Hagey, it didn't have to have all the amenities an independent building of the same size would have to have. Thus the comparative lack of washrooms, and a total lack of elevators.
Then it occurred to me the corridor she came from is from the "new" part of Hagey, the accounting section. While she was hesitating, looking unhappy at the choices offered, I asked if that was where she was from. She said yes, so I told her that section has a very nice (zero barrier) women's on the main floor. Off she went.
Once she was gone, it struck me as odd that she would wander as far as old Hum looking for a washroom.t.
I mentioned this to my supervisor and yeah, apparently because it's an expansion of Hagey, it didn't have to have all the amenities an independent building of the same size would have to have. Thus the comparative lack of washrooms, and a total lack of elevators.
The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury
Jan. 11th, 2026 08:30 amjames_davis_nicoll
Tales of America's thrilling genocide on and colonization of Mars!
The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury
Jan 11 - Nebukawa, Hiratsuka and restaurant CO2
Jan. 11th, 2026 09:05 pmmindstalkJan 10 -- apart from making off with two baked sweet potatoes, I stayed in and avoided wind.
Today -- Worked in a friend phone call back to the US in my morning, evening for her. Then decided to just ride trains out for a while and see what happened. Well, after a few stops I had to get off at Hiratsuka. But another train went further, toward Atami. I rode and looked out, and probably was looking toward Fuji at times, but there was a huge cloud formation in the way, I like to think somehow caused by Fuji. ( Read more... )
Children of the Atom (Ultimate X‑Men, volume 2) by Peach Momoko
Jan. 9th, 2026 08:58 amjames_davis_nicoll
In which Hisako Ichiki meets her stalker and the shadowy cult Children of the Atom discovers the Peter Principle.
Children of the Atom (Ultimate X‑Men, volume 2) by Peach Momoko
Serendipitous Mt Fuji
Jan. 9th, 2026 10:28 pmmindstalkLate start (not my fault I woke up at 4:30 AM), decided to go to Katase-Enoshima and explore the beach. I'm probably paying for (decent) beach access, compared to other places 90 minutes from Tokyo, might as well use it. ( Read more... )
Unknown Worlds: Tales from Beyond edited by Stanley Schmidt
Jan. 8th, 2026 08:49 amjames_davis_nicoll
Another foray into the lost worlds of Unknown.
Unknown Worlds: Tales from Beyond edited by Stanley Schmidt
Jan 8
Jan. 8th, 2026 09:18 pmmindstalkMy hot plates here aren't induction after all, but resistive -- high power (2 kW, 3 kW), able to heat a skillet of water to boiling quite quickly. When I moved a hot skillet to the unused burner, that burner started flashing a heat warning just from the transferred heat. Heh.
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Bundle of Holding: The Painted Wastelands
Jan. 7th, 2026 05:26 pmjames_davis_nicoll
This all-new Painted Wastelands Bundle tours The Painted Wastelands, a prismatic pastel realm from Agamemnon Press for use with Old-School Essentials and other tabletop fantasy roleplaying games.
Bundle of Holding: The Painted Wastelands
On the matter of new characters
Jan. 7th, 2026 09:34 amjames_davis_nicollMy other group is moving to CoC 3rd edition. That's the one the GM owns. It turns out between the group we own a vast assortment of CoC editions, generally speaking one edition per player, including an original from 1981.
My character, Daniel Soren, has some good stats (Strength, Constitution, Intelligence) and some terrible stats (Dex, Power, and Edu). Unfortunately, in 3E you get Intx5 and Edux15 skill points, so being smart doesn't make up for being a grade school dropout. He does have some decent skills, but very narrowly focused: he's a competent cabbie and a moderately successful pulp writer with ambitions to appear in Weird Tales.
Power governs sanity in CoC so I don't know how long he will last.
My character, Daniel Soren, has some good stats (Strength, Constitution, Intelligence) and some terrible stats (Dex, Power, and Edu). Unfortunately, in 3E you get Intx5 and Edux15 skill points, so being smart doesn't make up for being a grade school dropout. He does have some decent skills, but very narrowly focused: he's a competent cabbie and a moderately successful pulp writer with ambitions to appear in Weird Tales.
Power governs sanity in CoC so I don't know how long he will last.
Cool
Jan. 7th, 2026 08:59 amjames_davis_nicollastrafoxen on blusky created some visual aids showing Saturnian moon orbits.
They're all great but a detail in this one is worth mentioning.
The odd green squiggle to the right is a visual of Neptune's outer irregular moons, whose orbits around Neptune are large enough to be visible across the solar system. https://www.dreamwidth.org/comments/recent
They're all great but a detail in this one is worth mentioning.
The odd green squiggle to the right is a visual of Neptune's outer irregular moons, whose orbits around Neptune are large enough to be visible across the solar system. https://www.dreamwidth.org/comments/recent
Secrets Of The Silent Witch, volume 1 by Matsuri Isora (Translated by Alice Prowse)
Jan. 7th, 2026 08:50 amjames_davis_nicoll
A powerful but timid sorcerer is sent to guard a prince as he attends school.
Secrets Of The Silent Witch, volume 1 by Matsuri Isora (Translated by Alice Prowse)
Back to Fujisawa
Jan. 7th, 2026 07:45 pmmindstalkI have returned. Another 90 minutes journey. Fortunately, the Shonan line emptied out at Shibuya so I got a seat most of the way.
Discoveries:
- the JR train doors are labeled with a sticker, "car 15 door 2". You'd think they'd like the flexibility of mixing units, but nope, a traincar is dedicated to being Car 15 for the rest of its life. Weird.
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