213552
Mark42
@markmcclure.eth #213552
Writing sci-fi stories and other things too: markmcclure.xyz Casting in the word shallows.
294 Follower 278 Following
The Measuring Box
Try a sip,” she said.
I didn’t take Rina for a sake connoisseur. Too young. I heard she liked getting smashed on cheap bubbly. But here we are, just the two of us. She picked the bottle and now I get to sample the wares. I pinched myself; this one is way out of my league.
The clear liquid filled the rectangular wooden measuring box to the brim. But how would I would sip it without making an ass of myself? Lean over and lap at it the way my cat does? Or ask for a straw? I figured my cheeks must be redder than beetroots. She’s bound to guess I’ve never done this before. I spied a ticket stub to a matinee performance of Macbeth on the table opposite.
“Here, let me help you.”
Rina lifted the measuring box to my mouth with one steady hand. She could inject me with one thousand needles of nanoepidoxine and I'd die a happy man. I took a sip of the best sake in the house. The master leaned across the counter and grinned. They sure don’t make models like Rina anymore.
Try a sip,” she said.
I didn’t take Rina for a sake connoisseur. Too young. I heard she liked getting smashed on cheap bubbly. But here we are, just the two of us. She picked the bottle and now I get to sample the wares. I pinched myself; this one is way out of my league.
The clear liquid filled the rectangular wooden measuring box to the brim. But how would I would sip it without making an ass of myself? Lean over and lap at it the way my cat does? Or ask for a straw? I figured my cheeks must be redder than beetroots. She’s bound to guess I’ve never done this before. I spied a ticket stub to a matinee performance of Macbeth on the table opposite.
“Here, let me help you.”
Rina lifted the measuring box to my mouth with one steady hand. She could inject me with one thousand needles of nanoepidoxine and I'd die a happy man. I took a sip of the best sake in the house. The master leaned across the counter and grinned. They sure don’t make models like Rina anymore.
Remember tasting this one during Belfast Whiskey week in July but forgot to post.
https://www.titanicdistillers.com/
https://www.titanicdistillers.com/
I should be writing.
Sometimes my sentences look like this.
スクールウォーズを見て、手作りカツ丼を食べています。なんてラッキーなんでしょう！
I just subscribed to In Transit by BRG on Paragraph! 🎉
I do like the channel's header image... a dab of word alchemy here and there.
"Cartes Noires" - fascinating "system" for plotting mystery novels.
I'm intrigued enough to try and adapt this to sci-fi too.
https://fosstodon.org/@abmurrow/111835286230734617
I'm intrigued enough to try and adapt this to sci-fi too.
https://fosstodon.org/@abmurrow/111835286230734617
I just minted an onchain subscription on Hypersub!
https://www.hypersub.xyz/s/recalibrating/1?referrer=0x498bb14992a417b896a25059842f5897cf47da60
https://www.hypersub.xyz/s/recalibrating/1?referrer=0x498bb14992a417b896a25059842f5897cf47da60
HP and the bricking of printers via trojan horse firmware "updates".
This ("incompatible black ink" message) happened to me this morning when I turned on the printer.
It will not print unless the offending cartridge is replaced. I tried another new cartridge from the same batch I bought months ago. Same deal
I am now looking at replacing an HP ink-jet printer which has worked for years.
Guess which company's printer I will NOT be buying.
Enshittification all the way down.
Interesting article about this mess:
https://www.eejournal.com/article/hp-inc-tries-to-brick-my-wifes-printer-ceo-approves-and-calls-people-like-me-bad-customers-on-cnbc/
This ("incompatible black ink" message) happened to me this morning when I turned on the printer.
It will not print unless the offending cartridge is replaced. I tried another new cartridge from the same batch I bought months ago. Same deal
I am now looking at replacing an HP ink-jet printer which has worked for years.
Guess which company's printer I will NOT be buying.
Enshittification all the way down.
Interesting article about this mess:
https://www.eejournal.com/article/hp-inc-tries-to-brick-my-wifes-printer-ceo-approves-and-calls-people-like-me-bad-customers-on-cnbc/
Finally, finally, the Tokyo sauna-trap has given way to a much fresher morning (23C at 6am). I duly did my slow jog an hour later than last week when I had to get up at 5 to beat the heat.
I also slow-jogged 2.5 km without cheating i.e. fast cadence, small stride, and at just above walking speed. Cheating? The runner-in-me wanted to run faster and change the pace. The body, however, had its own wisdom.
I also slow-jogged 2.5 km without cheating i.e. fast cadence, small stride, and at just above walking speed. Cheating? The runner-in-me wanted to run faster and change the pace. The body, however, had its own wisdom.
Linked the Spotify rss feed to YouTube, and that's enough content creation for one day lol
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5exc9o9_8Q
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5exc9o9_8Q
Finished "The Handmaid's Tale". I liked how Ms. Atwood interwove the past and the present with rich details but yet gave the reader space to draw their own conclusions.
Next book will be "The Three-Body Problem" - this is a morning train read and will probably take a while to finish. I have other books lined up for reading at home. I like variety.
Next book will be "The Three-Body Problem" - this is a morning train read and will probably take a while to finish. I have other books lined up for reading at home. I like variety.
According to this morning's Tokyo Shinbun newspaper, 1 in 4 Japanese are over 65.
Today is a national holiday in Japan - respect for the Aged Day. My guess is that 80% of those exercising in the park at 6 am were at least sixty.
I'm pleased I did my 3.5 km as a slow jog with some calisthenics along the way.
Today is a national holiday in Japan - respect for the Aged Day. My guess is that 80% of those exercising in the park at 6 am were at least sixty.
I'm pleased I did my 3.5 km as a slow jog with some calisthenics along the way.
Used G's notebooklm site to autogenerate this 7 mins "podcast clip" by uploading my time travel short story, Clocking Time.
They (the two podcasting voices) did an impressive job of capturing the story's essence and also uncovered some theme ideas I had not thought of while writing it!
https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/marku/episodes/Clocking-Time-e2odv6r
They (the two podcasting voices) did an impressive job of capturing the story's essence and also uncovered some theme ideas I had not thought of while writing it!
https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/marku/episodes/Clocking-Time-e2odv6r
I meant to write and post this yesterday but it wasn't finished, and I was beat from the heat.
https://markmcclure.xyz/september-mourn
https://markmcclure.xyz/september-mourn
Binary Bots
"Rubbish! There's nothing artificial about the way I walk."
Alpha and Omega stood beside a charging plate on the workshop wall. Their half hour break was about to end.
"Correct," said Omega, "but it's how you talk that does not compute."
"Rubbish! There's nothing artificial about the way I walk."
Alpha and Omega stood beside a charging plate on the workshop wall. Their half hour break was about to end.
"Correct," said Omega, "but it's how you talk that does not compute."
"... this poem -- which is actually pulled from a wonderful book called The Parent’s Tao Te Ching by William Martin --"
https://www.neil.blog/full-speech-transcript/do-not-ask-your-children-to-strive-by-william-martin
https://www.neil.blog/full-speech-transcript/do-not-ask-your-children-to-strive-by-william-martin
Ploughing through personal finance info made more bearable by listening to the Irish Celtic-folk / prog rock 70s band (pre U2), Horslips:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQ_ZVFgSbaw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQ_ZVFgSbaw
The songwriting is just... perfect. Squeeze - Up the Junction (1979.)
https://youtu.be/RQciegmLPAo?si=lQpT97Z8Gxh4t6v9
https://youtu.be/RQciegmLPAo?si=lQpT97Z8Gxh4t6v9