Back from the wars
Mar. 23rd, 2026 07:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hudebnikAnd I do mean "wars" plural: we spent the weekend at the Military Through the Ages timeline event, which had military units ranging from classical Greek and Roman through the Middle Ages, Renaissance, through recent wars like Desert Storm, and current National Guard. Our group, La Belle Compagnie, presents an English knight's household in the Hundred Years' War.
The show takes place every spring at Jamestowne Settlement, in Williamsburg, VA. Which is some distance from our home in New York City. When we were younger and foolisher, we would drive it straight through (particularly if I had classes to teach on Monday), but this year I took Friday and Monday as vacation days, packed the car on Thursday, hit the road Thursday about 8 PM, and spent Thursday night at a motel in Maryland. (We would have hit the road earlier, but when we closed the garage door we realized that the newly-poured concrete floor was a fraction of an inch higher than the old floor, so the door didn't go quite as far down, so the latch no longer latched. So with the car completely packed andshalmestere sitting in the front seat, I went back into the house, grabbed some tools, and moved the latches up half an inch so I could lock the garage.) Anyway, we got to the site around 3 PM Friday, set up our pavilion and trestle-tables, and drove to the hotel a few miles away where La Belle Compagnie had reserved a couple of adjacent suites.
shalmestere and I portray household servants in the knight's household, hired for (among other things) our musical talent (our boss is rich, but not rich enough to hire servants just to play music), and we normally spend most of a show demonstrating c1400 musical instruments and repertoire for the public.
A month or two ago we were wondering what "new" we could bring to this year's show. We didn't have any new instruments suitable for a 1415 camp. There were a couple of two-part musical pieces we'd been learning recently, but they weren't off-book so we hadn't been performing them at living history shows (modern sheet music and music stands would Not Look Right). So we've been practicing them after dinner to memorize them. We'll look at the last few measures, then close our eyes and play them. Once we've got that pretty solid, we'll add the previous musical phrase, and play from that through the end with our eyes closed until it's pretty solid. And so on until we've reached the beginning of the piece. We got one of them (entitled either "Petrone" or "Retrove", depending on how you read the paleography, from the Robertsbridge keyboard ms) to the point that we played it a couple of times during the weekend. There were a few memory slip-ups, but no crash-and-burn-and-start-over episodes. Another piece from the Robertsbridge codex has no title so we call it "Robertsbridge Thingie", and we haven't quite got it good enough to try to perform off-book.
And we did the usual spiels and demonstrations involving recorder, pipe-and-tabor, shawm, citole, fyddel, and harp. I think two visitors asked me about medieval musical notation, and I restrained myself to about twenty minutes on that topic. And one asked me about the difference between twelve-tone and pentatonic scales, which led into a discussion of tuning and temperaments and difference tones, and then another member of the group who's a voice-technique professor chimed in with some comments about reinforcing overtones, and then we got into solfegge syllables (the visitor had grown up with shape-note music, so he knew some of the syllables, but had no idea that they came from a Latin chant).
Anyway, the whole weekend had pretty good weather, and a decent flow of visitors asking questions. It was warm-ish on Saturday, and warmer on Sunday, but I can put up with that as long as we don't have to pack out wet, and we didn't. The event closed to the public at 5 PM Sunday, our group was off-site by 7:00, and we all went to a Chinese buffet (where we swapped stories of "the weirdest question anybody asked you") before hitting the road to our respective homes. We had the longest drive (the voice professor had driven from Iowa, but I don't think he planned to drive back there immediately), so we got home around 3:30 PM Monday. Unpacked the car, cleaned a few things, put a few things away, went through the mail, etc. I think we'll sleep well tonight.
The show takes place every spring at Jamestowne Settlement, in Williamsburg, VA. Which is some distance from our home in New York City. When we were younger and foolisher, we would drive it straight through (particularly if I had classes to teach on Monday), but this year I took Friday and Monday as vacation days, packed the car on Thursday, hit the road Thursday about 8 PM, and spent Thursday night at a motel in Maryland. (We would have hit the road earlier, but when we closed the garage door we realized that the newly-poured concrete floor was a fraction of an inch higher than the old floor, so the door didn't go quite as far down, so the latch no longer latched. So with the car completely packed and
shalmestere sitting in the front seat, I went back into the house, grabbed some tools, and moved the latches up half an inch so I could lock the garage.) Anyway, we got to the site around 3 PM Friday, set up our pavilion and trestle-tables, and drove to the hotel a few miles away where La Belle Compagnie had reserved a couple of adjacent suites.shalmestere and I portray household servants in the knight's household, hired for (among other things) our musical talent (our boss is rich, but not rich enough to hire servants just to play music), and we normally spend most of a show demonstrating c1400 musical instruments and repertoire for the public.A month or two ago we were wondering what "new" we could bring to this year's show. We didn't have any new instruments suitable for a 1415 camp. There were a couple of two-part musical pieces we'd been learning recently, but they weren't off-book so we hadn't been performing them at living history shows (modern sheet music and music stands would Not Look Right). So we've been practicing them after dinner to memorize them. We'll look at the last few measures, then close our eyes and play them. Once we've got that pretty solid, we'll add the previous musical phrase, and play from that through the end with our eyes closed until it's pretty solid. And so on until we've reached the beginning of the piece. We got one of them (entitled either "Petrone" or "Retrove", depending on how you read the paleography, from the Robertsbridge keyboard ms) to the point that we played it a couple of times during the weekend. There were a few memory slip-ups, but no crash-and-burn-and-start-over episodes. Another piece from the Robertsbridge codex has no title so we call it "Robertsbridge Thingie", and we haven't quite got it good enough to try to perform off-book.
And we did the usual spiels and demonstrations involving recorder, pipe-and-tabor, shawm, citole, fyddel, and harp. I think two visitors asked me about medieval musical notation, and I restrained myself to about twenty minutes on that topic. And one asked me about the difference between twelve-tone and pentatonic scales, which led into a discussion of tuning and temperaments and difference tones, and then another member of the group who's a voice-technique professor chimed in with some comments about reinforcing overtones, and then we got into solfegge syllables (the visitor had grown up with shape-note music, so he knew some of the syllables, but had no idea that they came from a Latin chant).
Anyway, the whole weekend had pretty good weather, and a decent flow of visitors asking questions. It was warm-ish on Saturday, and warmer on Sunday, but I can put up with that as long as we don't have to pack out wet, and we didn't. The event closed to the public at 5 PM Sunday, our group was off-site by 7:00, and we all went to a Chinese buffet (where we swapped stories of "the weirdest question anybody asked you") before hitting the road to our respective homes. We had the longest drive (the voice professor had driven from Iowa, but I don't think he planned to drive back there immediately), so we got home around 3:30 PM Monday. Unpacked the car, cleaned a few things, put a few things away, went through the mail, etc. I think we'll sleep well tonight.
Communities
Mar. 23rd, 2026 06:50 pmysabetwordsmithThe Myth of Mobility: Why Faster Cities Often Leave People Behind
When cities measure mobility by speed, they often make everyday life harder to reach.
In many large urban areas, particularly those built during the late twentieth century, everyday necessities have been separated from residential life. Homes are clustered in residential zones while shops, restaurants, libraries, and workplaces are placed far away along commercial corridors or in large retail centers. The result is a city where nearly every basic activity requires driving. On paper, this appears to increase mobility. In reality, it often reduces it.
For people who cannot drive easily, such as older adults, children, individuals with disabilities, or those who cannot afford a car, the distance between daily needs becomes a barrier. Even for those who can drive, environments designed for cars are not always designed for people. Vast parking lots, wide arterial roads, and enormous retail spaces can be physically exhausting and psychologically overwhelming to navigate. True mobility should not be measured only by how fast people can travel, but by how easily they can reach the things they need.
When cities measure mobility by speed, they often make everyday life harder to reach.
In many large urban areas, particularly those built during the late twentieth century, everyday necessities have been separated from residential life. Homes are clustered in residential zones while shops, restaurants, libraries, and workplaces are placed far away along commercial corridors or in large retail centers. The result is a city where nearly every basic activity requires driving. On paper, this appears to increase mobility. In reality, it often reduces it.
For people who cannot drive easily, such as older adults, children, individuals with disabilities, or those who cannot afford a car, the distance between daily needs becomes a barrier. Even for those who can drive, environments designed for cars are not always designed for people. Vast parking lots, wide arterial roads, and enormous retail spaces can be physically exhausting and psychologically overwhelming to navigate. True mobility should not be measured only by how fast people can travel, but by how easily they can reach the things they need.
this and -- that
Mar. 23rd, 2026 06:49 pmchazzbannerWeather:
Remember we got a foot of snow a week ago? A few days ago it was 74F/23.3C, and I went for walk wearing no jacket. Yesterday it was so breezy that the windchill was below freezing. In other words, March is March in Minnesota. :-)
Here are two 'best of' lists I gleaned from Word in Your Tear, no particular random order:
Bridges:
Hey Julie, Fountains of Wayne
We Can Work It Out, The Beatles
Mayor of Simpleton, XTC
Feed the Birds - soundtrack to Mary Poppins
Nothing Matters, Last Dinner Party
Saxophone solos:
Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue, Duke Ellington
Money, Pink Floyd
Young Americans, David Bowie
Jungleland, Bruce Springsteen
Baker Street, Gerry Rafferty
Careless Whisper, George Michael
Notes from the blokes: they felt Feed the Birds had the most glorious bridvge, and the Duke Ellington Orchestra solo was the greatest.
The story of that solo is pretty amazing, it comes from a live album. Ah! - I see a quote on the web: "Probably the most important fifteen minutes in the entire history of jazz." The recording as made at the 1956 Newport Jazz Festival. Ellington and his orchestra were thought rather passé at the time, and this performance/recording (with this solo) changed all that. The Duke said to his tenor sax player (Paul Gonsalves) "go out there and play as long as you like." :-)
So, go listen, already
PS, Feed the Birds makes me tear up, and according to YT comments I'm not the only one :-). And the bridge is beautiful.
ETA Here's an interesting page about the famous 'woman who danced' at this concert - quite the story
-
Remember we got a foot of snow a week ago? A few days ago it was 74F/23.3C, and I went for walk wearing no jacket. Yesterday it was so breezy that the windchill was below freezing. In other words, March is March in Minnesota. :-)
Here are two 'best of' lists I gleaned from Word in Your Tear, no particular random order:
Bridges:
Hey Julie, Fountains of Wayne
We Can Work It Out, The Beatles
Mayor of Simpleton, XTC
Feed the Birds - soundtrack to Mary Poppins
Nothing Matters, Last Dinner Party
Saxophone solos:
Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue, Duke Ellington
Money, Pink Floyd
Young Americans, David Bowie
Jungleland, Bruce Springsteen
Baker Street, Gerry Rafferty
Careless Whisper, George Michael
Notes from the blokes: they felt Feed the Birds had the most glorious bridvge, and the Duke Ellington Orchestra solo was the greatest.
The story of that solo is pretty amazing, it comes from a live album. Ah! - I see a quote on the web: "Probably the most important fifteen minutes in the entire history of jazz." The recording as made at the 1956 Newport Jazz Festival. Ellington and his orchestra were thought rather passé at the time, and this performance/recording (with this solo) changed all that. The Duke said to his tenor sax player (Paul Gonsalves) "go out there and play as long as you like." :-)
So, go listen, already
PS, Feed the Birds makes me tear up, and according to YT comments I'm not the only one :-). And the bridge is beautiful.
ETA Here's an interesting page about the famous 'woman who danced' at this concert - quite the story
-
Gas Prices Are So High That DoorDash Is Providing ‘Emergency Relief’
Mar. 23rd, 2026 10:52 pm![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png){kind=small}
io9_feedThe platform will give cash back on gas for its drivers.
Not One of Us #86 / obsessions
Mar. 23rd, 2026 04:10 pmgwynnegaThe mail brought my contributor's copy of Not One of Us #86, the emptiness issue. It features my anti-fascist incantation "spell," along with poetry by Sonya Taaffe and Jennifer Crow, fiction by Devan Barlow, and much more. I'm delighted, as always, to have my work in this venerable magazine, and, especially, that my poem shares a page with Sonya's. (I'm less delighted that anti-fascist poetry is so damn relevant in 2026.)
The mail also brought a CD of Jane Birkin's final album, the gorgeous and haunting Oh! Pardon tu dormais... (2020) which I heard for the first time a couple of weeks ago and have been obsessed with ever since.
I wish I could buy a DVD of the horror romcom musical Your Monster (2024); I have lost track of how many times I've watched it (six times, maybe?). It's not often that a recent film captures my imagination the way this one has. I'm hoping Criterion will eventually give it the treatment it deserves, and I can't wait to see what director/writer Caroline Lindy does next.
The mail also brought a CD of Jane Birkin's final album, the gorgeous and haunting Oh! Pardon tu dormais... (2020) which I heard for the first time a couple of weeks ago and have been obsessed with ever since.
I wish I could buy a DVD of the horror romcom musical Your Monster (2024); I have lost track of how many times I've watched it (six times, maybe?). It's not often that a recent film captures my imagination the way this one has. I'm hoping Criterion will eventually give it the treatment it deserves, and I can't wait to see what director/writer Caroline Lindy does next.
FCC Bans All New Routers Not Made in America
Mar. 23rd, 2026 10:39 pmio9_feedRouters the FCC has already approved can still be sold, but further approvals of foreign-made routers will not be issued.
Science
Mar. 23rd, 2026 05:23 pmysabetwordsmithThis floating time crystal breaks Newton’s third law of motion
A simple setup of sound-levitated beads has revealed a bizarre new time crystal that breaks physics rules—and could reshape future technology.
Scientists have created a new kind of time crystal using sound waves to levitate tiny beads in mid-air. These particles interact in a one-sided, unbalanced way, breaking the usual rules of motion and creating a steady, repeating rhythm. The system is surprisingly simple yet reveals complex physics with big implications. It could help advance quantum computing and deepen our understanding of biological timing systems.
Aaaaaand all of us from the Torn World shared world are going O_O >_< O_O
A simple setup of sound-levitated beads has revealed a bizarre new time crystal that breaks physics rules—and could reshape future technology.
Scientists have created a new kind of time crystal using sound waves to levitate tiny beads in mid-air. These particles interact in a one-sided, unbalanced way, breaking the usual rules of motion and creating a steady, repeating rhythm. The system is surprisingly simple yet reveals complex physics with big implications. It could help advance quantum computing and deepen our understanding of biological timing systems.
Aaaaaand all of us from the Torn World shared world are going O_O >_< O_O
Mark Zuckerberg Is Building an AI CEO. Will He Lay Himself Off?
Mar. 23rd, 2026 10:00 pmio9_feedAfter the metaverse fiasco, maybe it would be for the best.
The ‘PS6’ May Rely on AI More Than Any Console Before It
Mar. 23rd, 2026 09:45 pmio9_feedGet ready for "fake frames" on the PlayStation 6, or whatever Sony is cooking up next.
The Ending of ‘Project Hail Mary’ Teased a Surprising Offscreen Subplot
Mar. 23rd, 2026 09:30 pmio9_feedRyan Gosling stars in Phil Lord and Chris Miller's adaptation of Andy Weir's novel, in theaters now.
I got nothing but poetry
Mar. 23rd, 2026 05:36 pmkiyaI think this is a sign that my ADHD meds are also antidepressants?
none of us are built
to be this brave
the epics told the truth:
the inhuman weight
of necessary courage
makes monsters
of its warriors
(of its victims)
because
only monsters
can survive
valor
and not
lie beneath
Earth
none of us are built
to be this brave
the epics told the truth:
the inhuman weight
of necessary courage
makes monsters
of its warriors
(of its victims)
because
only monsters
can survive
valor
and not
lie beneath
"yeah... it's weird."
Mar. 23rd, 2026 02:04 pmjazzfishUgh, I don't know. Feeling restless and mildly discontented. At least there's sun today.
A week and a half ago I located my spare viola strings (leftover from the last time I changed strings, whenever that was), picked up a 1/8-size cello G, and restrung my viola to a tenor. I'm liking it an awful lot. It's certainly harder to play. I've switched to my cello bow, which is heavier than the viola bow, and it still requires significant deliberate pressure to get a halfway decent sound. Left-hand work feels slower too. Might be a result of the higher tension on the strings making them harder to press down, I guess?
But: I like it. I like the way it sounds, I like the way it feels to play. I find myself in the position of actively wanting to practice. I'm doing something that I enjoy and calls to me, and that I'm happy about afterwards. It's been a really long time since I had something like that. I suspect the social aspect helps. I took it out to the session last Wednesday and it blended in well: not drowning anyone out, not getting drowned out. I need a great deal of practice but that's no surprise. And fixable.
When I have money (cue bitter laughter) I may look into getting a proper tenor viola, instead of hoping the higher tension on the strings doesn't cause damage. There's this guy in Georgia who makes them, and he's put a decent amount of effort into the design. His tenor/octave violas have thicker bodies, and are fatter at the bottom ('a wide lower bout') but not at the top, so you get a bigger resonance chamber and can still get your left arm around to reach the neck.
Two weeks ago the movers cleared out half my stuff. Unsurprisingly the place looks much bigger and brighter. It's nice to have more light, granted... but it's just so empty. Hm. Likely affecting my mood.
I'd like to have my books back, too. I don't require them to be visible at all times, I'd be happy with a separate library room, but I do want them accessible. Good information to have. I probably could cut ruthlessly but there's no need, not immediately anyway.
Rhonda the realtor came by last week and took some reference photos. She emailed me today to say that the real photographer can come on Friday and we can list on Monday. Works for me. Gives me a few more days to finish moving extraneous stuff to the storage unit, now that I know I've got a little more room in there than I was afraid of. Still no idea what the market will be like; guess we'll find out in a couple of weeks.
Still in a holding pattern, but I can see the beginnings of what might be movement.
A week and a half ago I located my spare viola strings (leftover from the last time I changed strings, whenever that was), picked up a 1/8-size cello G, and restrung my viola to a tenor. I'm liking it an awful lot. It's certainly harder to play. I've switched to my cello bow, which is heavier than the viola bow, and it still requires significant deliberate pressure to get a halfway decent sound. Left-hand work feels slower too. Might be a result of the higher tension on the strings making them harder to press down, I guess?
But: I like it. I like the way it sounds, I like the way it feels to play. I find myself in the position of actively wanting to practice. I'm doing something that I enjoy and calls to me, and that I'm happy about afterwards. It's been a really long time since I had something like that. I suspect the social aspect helps. I took it out to the session last Wednesday and it blended in well: not drowning anyone out, not getting drowned out. I need a great deal of practice but that's no surprise. And fixable.
When I have money (cue bitter laughter) I may look into getting a proper tenor viola, instead of hoping the higher tension on the strings doesn't cause damage. There's this guy in Georgia who makes them, and he's put a decent amount of effort into the design. His tenor/octave violas have thicker bodies, and are fatter at the bottom ('a wide lower bout') but not at the top, so you get a bigger resonance chamber and can still get your left arm around to reach the neck.
Two weeks ago the movers cleared out half my stuff. Unsurprisingly the place looks much bigger and brighter. It's nice to have more light, granted... but it's just so empty. Hm. Likely affecting my mood.
I'd like to have my books back, too. I don't require them to be visible at all times, I'd be happy with a separate library room, but I do want them accessible. Good information to have. I probably could cut ruthlessly but there's no need, not immediately anyway.
Rhonda the realtor came by last week and took some reference photos. She emailed me today to say that the real photographer can come on Friday and we can list on Monday. Works for me. Gives me a few more days to finish moving extraneous stuff to the storage unit, now that I know I've got a little more room in there than I was afraid of. Still no idea what the market will be like; guess we'll find out in a couple of weeks.
Still in a holding pattern, but I can see the beginnings of what might be movement.
The Pattern Recognition TV series? I have no idea. Awhile ago I called my Hollywood agent -- who was Harlan Ellison's Hollywood agent, to give you an idea how long he's been in the business -- and asked him about it. He said, "Well, it's starting to look almost exactly like something does right before it goes into production." And I got excited and said, "Really?" and he said, "Yeah... it's weird."
--William Gibson, c.2013
yet/still vs not-yet/not-still vs still-not/yet-not.
Mar. 23rd, 2026 09:42 pmpseudomonasStill (ha!) being confused by that thing where yet and still are roughly synonyms (massive difference in register notwithstanding) and "not yet" and "not still" are verging on antonyms. ("not begun" vs "already ended").
I always have a lot of trouble thinking through yet/still esp when trying to translate stuff.
I *think* it *might* be
still X = yet X → "X began at some point in the past and continued to happen until [now]" (where [now] is either deictic or anaphoric "on wednesday it was still raining")
and then:
not still X → "!(still X)" [*] "she is not still learning the guitar"
not yet X → "still !(X)" [**] "she is not yet learning the guitar"
still not X → "still !(X)" "she is still not learning the guitar"
yet not X → "still !(X)" [***] "she is yet not learning the guitar"
but my head hurts a bit now. Obv I'm not including non-temporal uses such as "yet" meaning "nevertheless".
I think this is probably same thing as that weird English quirk where "must not" ≈ "may not" but "must" != "may"; the "not" scopes oddly with "must (not X)" vs "(may not) X". But there it's kinda easy to bracket them as above. The "verb not" → !(verb) thing is archaic, but I see how it got there.
But with not-yet the "not" feels like it scopes to an argument it's not adjacent to. I know, idioms gonna idiom non-compositionally, but still. (ha again)
[*] with implication that X definitely has happened in the past but has now stopped, even if a very literal pedant could pretend that it could include the situation where X has never happened (and hence is continuing not to happen.)
[**] nuance difference ofc; "not yet X" implies very heavily that X is expected to happen at some point; "still not X" doesn't imply it nearly as strongly. But the directionality in time is the same — hasn't happened in the past, might happen in the future.
[***] and sounds dated verging on archaic. "yet not" I think is basically reserved for non-temporal uses ("it was damp yet not raining").
Meta Unfairly Targeted Older Workers During Layoffs Last Year, Lawsuit Claims
Mar. 23rd, 2026 08:45 pmio9_feedA laid-off senior director is suing the tech company for wrongful termination and age discrimination.