#1

Every post has a published date, and they're in that order from latest to earliest. To go to the next page, find the bottom post, and get every post that's before that post, starting from the most recent. To go to the previous page, find the top post, then get every post that's after that post, starting from the most recent.

Except the most recent post after post #3050 is not post #3000. It's post #1. So attempting to go to the previous page just puts you on the very first page.

So I have to order by oldest post (after post X), then get a page of those, then reorder that page by latest post. Unless I'm sorting in reverse order, then it's opposite.

And if you want posts before X and after Y, then uhhhhhhh let's just... assume that I never want that. (before-sort-order with Y as the upper limit, then if they go backwards halfway through, switch to after-sort-order with X as the lower limit, so there'd have to be lower_limit, upper_limit, and afterbefore)

#programming #fediverse #help

mammay's «generation ship» starts as something good. up to around 20% i was into it and enjoying, although waiting for the real sci-fi part to kick in.

turns out there's very little sci-fi here, and what's there is disappointingly naïve and disfunctional. mammay's «generation ship» is… like ksr's «aurora» but without «aurora»; like howey's «wool omnibus» but without the silo; like medina station from corey's «persepolis rising» but without the station, action or any space sci-fi! it's just politics in a jar with spiders.

yes, the five main characters are somewhat interesting, alive, believable… but they are in a complete vacuum. their actions are driven only by the social dynamics. the whole plot could have been placed in an open field on earth where nothing ever happens and it still could be the same thick volume.

i mean… this could have been such a huge sci-fi story! if only it had even a tiny bit of sci-fi :-/

one of the stupidest things about «generation ship», a red flag, an indicator of the author's sloppy neglect to the sci-fi component is «the device». not communicator, not smartphone, smartpad, pda or some such name — nope, just «the device».

nobody ever calls their devices «the device». it just doesn't happen, we, humans, always invent names for things we use daily.

if i think about why the author decided to leave this «blob» of a writing in, i begin to really understand why i couldn't enjoy the «generation ship».

next comes hacking, programming and it engineering in general… oh my forking gowd… oh my dear… the way some people see programming is just… so… naïve? good thing we don't have to rely on sci-fi writers doing programming :-D seriously though: i get it, it's difficult to write fiction about programming for computer-illiterate, and it must be especially difficult for authors who know rabbit shit about it, but come on?! this level of ignorance borders with idiocity. it takes maybe a day of reading, or an hour of conversation with someone who works in the field to at least begin to understand how the work with code is done.

the way mr. mammay depicts it is further, much further from any believable reality than young kids playing pretend doctors on plastic babies in kindergarten are from real surgery! — and i'm not even talking about the later part with virtual-reality-like fusion with an ai: a lot of good authors have gone a similar route because once we're in the fairy-land it serves no purpouse (i guess) even trying to imagine a believable way of interacting with complex systems :-/

and now to the serious part that matters. forget the missing sci-fy, the disappointingly unrealistic cyberpunk part. obviously, the author wanted to show us their understanding and solutions to two philosophycal problems specific to sci-fi:

1) how a authonomous micro-society (of ≈ 10 thousand people) could function, and

2) how humanity should ethically tackle the problem of the first contact with an alien civilization.

and oh my god, the author repeats the mistakes of so many brilliant writers (heinlein comes to mind at once) before them by proposing solutions so naïve and disfunctional they should be part of philosophy / sociology / history courses in high school.

the author's solution to #1 is democracy. i won't go into details of why it won't work in a setting with very, very limited space and resources where the survival of the the whole society depends on every individual's ability to balance the private & societal interests. humans are social animals, but with a very strong individualistic behaviours, we are not a hive mind, and some of us will always, always ignore or fail to evaluate the danger to the colony in order to pursue personal gain. it's mostly ok on a planet (a large ecology tolerance) but quickly goes boom in a smaller ecosystems. democracy just won't work.

the authors' solution to #2 is… mr. columbus turns his ships around! no colonization because the aborigins asked him nicely. while i totally understand how this can be attractive to the modern audience… this is just not the way it works in any realistic setting. we can fantacize whether christopher columbus could have turned around in search of less habitable planets, sorry, lands, but he was neither the only nor even the first to arrive in america; faced with real danger to survival, humans shed their layers of their fake «humanism» and fight for their life. ugly? yes. but inevitable unless one invents a different human species without the kind of underlaying programming we have :-(

bottom line: it's not exactly a bad book, but i could hardly enjoy it: for the most part, it"s more of a political drama than sci-fi, and whatever sci-fi there is, it is very naïve. i need to remember to avoid mr. mammay's books, i really don't enjoy leaving disappointed reviews.

personal rating 2/5 because:

• the book is long, i love long books;

•• the text is well written, easy and pleasant to read;

••• adventure is the main reason i read fiction — here it's basically missing;

•••• enough realism to create a believable, functioning setting — missing;

••••• am i so in love with the text, the world, the characters, and the meta (ideas behind it all) that i'll want to own a paper copy of the book and reread it from time to time? here, absolutely not.

Paola Stringa al Circolo dei lettori di Torino discute di Fine Vita

Paola Stringa, Giurista per le libertà ALC e attivista della Cellula Coscioni di Torino, partecipa all’incontro organizzato dal Circolo dei Lettori di Torino Le muse sapienti #1 – Pensare la fine. Insieme a lei Agnese Codignola e Alessandro Chiarini, modera Guido Saracco.

L’appuntamento, aperto a tutti, è pergiovedì 16 gennaio 2025 alle ore 18:30 presso il Circolo dei lettori di Torino, in via Bogino 9, a Torino.

Cerchiamo di rimuovere il pensiero della vecchiaia e ci spaventa l’idea di «non essere più noi»: non è meglio prepararsi e affrontare la questione con pragmatismo? Una riflessione sull’alzheimer e le malattie degenerative con lo sguardo al futuro della ricerca e alla gestione della persona, a partire dalle conoscenze scientifiche e nella prospettiva di nuove soluzioni, in armonia con il modo in cui vogliamo pensare la nostra identità, gestendola fino alla fine.
un progetto UniVerso – Università di Torino, Prometeo – Politecnico di Torino e Fondazione Circolo dei lettori

a conclusione dell’incontro è previsto l’aperitivo da Barney’s (€ 15,00 a persona) per continuare la conversazione in un contesto più ristretto come occasione per approfondire il tema e allargare la conversazione

prenotazione obbligatoria 011 8904417 – 348 0570986 / anche whatsapp | barney@circololettori.it

L'articolo Paola Stringa al Circolo dei lettori di Torino discute di Fine Vita proviene da Associazione Luca Coscioni.

Autumn Leaves, 2024 Edition (So Far)

Every fall, it happens. My yard goes from green grass to yellow, orange, and brown leaves.

This is just the leaves in my backyard. As you can see, this tree isn’tdone, either.

I spent a large portion of my day using the dreaded lead blower. I’d use a rake, instead, but…

Leaf Pile #1

Leaf Pile #2

Leaf Pile #3

That’s just over half my yard in those leaf piles.

I had hoped to try and get the rest of the yard cleared today. Unfortunately, the weather has other plans.

Here’s That Rainy Day

Guess I’ll clean the INSIDE of my house today. I definitely know what the soundtrack will be.

https://youtu.be/xXBNlApwh0c?si=cYGZXznanxOQlO03

https://youtu.be/9pw2PGY7kBU?si=8c3Ox98ko0_ruIcZ

#1 #2 #3 #AutumnLeaves #HereSThatRainyDay #Kevin

Pirate Point is a new fanzine project for BattleTech with a focus on punk style and celebrating the voices of those who too often go unheard. Here’s the announcement by Versus and a link to a document covering what it is and how to submit your work:

Greetings skalliwags of the Inner Sphere and beyond. My name is Versus, and I’m here to announce a new community initiative to create a punk zine that celebrates BattleTech and its queer fandom. This is PIRATE POINT!

Our mission is to launch a biannual digital multimedia zine that features flash fiction, fan art painted miniatures, and whatever else we come up with in order to celebrate the creativity of BattleTech fans and promote a message of diversity and inclusion. We are a fan project in no way affiliated with Topps or CGL, and we are not monetized. In other words, this is all just for fun. PIRATE POINT has been organized by myself with help from the mod team at the Star League discord channel, the community who has previously staged the 2023 and 2024 Pride Anthologies.

PIRATE POINT will be focusing on promoting queer identity creators, but Allys are welcome to submit material as well. Submissions will open up in the next couple of weeks and close in February. Until then, I hope you have some neat ideas!

GO MAKE SOMETHING!

Pirate Point Launch Announcement: Issue #1 Submissions

https://scottsgameroom.com/2024/11/05/pirate-point-open-for-submissions/

#1 #BattleTech #PiratePoint

You must read this book if you own your home before beginning HVAC work. Sadly I made the mistake of doing my HVAC work BEFORE I read this book but luckily I was not too far off the mark. Most HVAC professionals sadly do not actually know the "whys" of what they are doing and simply offer cookie cutter solutions that do not fit what your house needs – especially an existing home.

Things to remember - If you want to do anything, ensure you also insulate your home! Ensure there are no leaks in or out of the home. Otherwise, all of the other work will have to use more energy due to leaks of air. - A ductless mini split is highly recommended to condition air around your homes - A ventilated dehumidifier is highly recommended to bring in fresh air & dehumidify it - Ensure you always run the ventilator in the bathroom / kitchen when you are using them - Water moisture is the #1 villain and try to not have temperature differences in surfaces that will cause moisture to develop - A manifold is a way to send hot water through a smaller plastic pipe such that less water looses heat as it stays in the piping - Try to prevent thermal bridges to ensure home is fully insulated