sovay: (Sovay: David Owen)
sovay ([personal profile] sovay) wrote2018-08-04 03:17 am

We might fall through, we might be substitutes

I feel it was unnecessary of Eversource to tell us that we were going to experience unpredictable service interruptions between midnight and six in the morning if we really weren't. People take that sort of thing seriously when the temperatures don't get below eighty at night. We took it seriously enough to spend the night in Lexington with my parents' central air conditioning instead of our window unit that can be affectionately described as "ramshackle" and got back to find no evidence of blackouts or even brownouts, only a pair of hungry cats. I answered questions for a book-release interview. We wound up the day with a late showing of Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018) at the Capitol Theatre. It is a small Marvel movie but a fun one and not weightless; it has wonderfully clever action sequences, especially once things and people start changing size at the same time as other people start phasing through things; I have more reason to watch Killjoys (2014–) if Hannah John-Kamen stars in it, but if I don't like Apatovian comedies I'm not sure where to go for Paul Rudd; we left before the mid-credits sequence because we had no need to buzzkill the ending with the obligatory Infinity War tie-in and walked back to Davis just in time to watch the last 89 of the night sail majestically past us. Hestia is responding well to her medication and attacks her pill pockets with squeaks of ravenous delight. Autolycus just seems happy that I am back to give him a lap to drape himself over for hours and hours on end. I'm having trouble believing it was just Friday. Links.

1. Courtesy of [personal profile] handful_ofdust: Elspeth Beard, the first English woman to circumnavigate the world on a motorcycle, which she did between 1982 and 1984. Tagged for me. I appreciate it.

2. A poem I like: U.A. Fanthorpe's "Father in the Railway Buffet."

3. Courtesy of [personal profile] spatch: the tetrahedral kites of Alexander Graham Bell.

4. These fourth/fifth-century amber glass pendants remind me of my oldest Christmas ornament.

5. Courtesy of [personal profile] skygiants: "Solidarity in the Face of Breaking Strain." Eat mashup, Elon Musk. (I hear Pete Seeger singing.)

6. Ty Burr on the fine art of the movie pan: "One and a half stars merely means a movie has won its battle against badness. One star means it has lost that battle. A half star means it lost the battle and was a terrible idea to start with. No stars: melt the prints into guitar picks."

7. David Schraub has learned things from the internet.
cmcmck: (Default)

[personal profile] cmcmck 2018-08-04 10:57 am (UTC)(link)
Those amber pendants are things of such beauty!

But then, I am an amber junkie. :o)
moon_custafer: neon cat mask (Brigitte)

[personal profile] moon_custafer 2018-08-04 11:23 am (UTC)(link)
Bell and his associates also worked on hydrofoils, and eventually, an aircraft, the Silver Dart. http://www.windclimbers.ca/alexander-g-bell

Those photos of him and his wife Mabel are adorable but then, so are most photos of those two.
Edited 2018-08-04 11:25 (UTC)
asakiyume: created by the ninja girl (Default)

[personal profile] asakiyume 2018-08-04 01:20 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh wow, I really like that David Schraub piece. That's very, very good.

And the tetrahedral kites are marvelous. I'm imagining [personal profile] spatch must have tweeted them? If so I'll retweet.
asakiyume: created by the ninja girl (Default)

[personal profile] asakiyume 2018-08-04 09:29 pm (UTC)(link)
That was exactly the point he made that hooked me too. I agree: it was both what he said and how he said it.

And thanks! I will tweet it then and wave ant [personal profile] spatch when I do.

ETA: I did notice he said "Without further adieu" when he meant "ado," but I think I could type the same mistake, or equivalent, without thinking. WE ALL HAVE FEET OF CLAY.
Edited 2018-08-04 21:30 (UTC)
asakiyume: (definitely definitely)

[personal profile] asakiyume 2018-08-04 11:34 pm (UTC)(link)
Me too; it was my first favorite on that album (though I ended up loving most of the songs)
lauradi7dw: (Default)

No blackout

[personal profile] lauradi7dw 2018-08-05 01:47 am (UTC)(link)
I think it might be an indication that some people are complying with the requests to use less electricity at peak times. I signed up to get peak alerts. On Friday, they requested that we restrain ourselves between 3-6 PM, so i postponed doing the laundry, etc. we don’t have air conditioing, but the dehumidifier is busy on days like these. I don’t know how to predict consumer compliance, and maybe they don’t either.