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• Post #3811462

  Happy Bastille Day. Not only the French national day, but also a very fine Rush song.

• Post #2828309

  "You can think what you like of your friends, provided you don't tell them." — Maurice Druon, The She-Wolf of France (La Louve de France as translated by Humphrey Hare, 1961) #quotes

• Post #2828308

  As a list of great books, that Guardian list is very good, but of course I disagree with it. Powell's Dance to the Music of Time should be on it (Rankin voted for it), and a Trollope, perhaps The Way We Live Now or Barchester Towers. Terry Pratchett's oeuvre is outstanding, and maybe it's hard to pick one, but Small Gods could be on the list, or The Night Watch. One should be. I'll think of that tomorrow as I eat a hard-boiled egg. #GNUTerryPratchett #TheGloriou...

• Post #2677656

  The Canadian Centre for Cyber Security released a guidance document about securing mobile devices. There's a lot of sensible advice here, but I think little that will surprise anyone with an eye on this, except perhaps where it's not detailed enough or includes some old advice (e.g. hiding SSIDs). The CCCS's RSS feed is a good follow. https://www.cyber.gc.ca/en/guidance/security-configurations-best-practices-protect-your-mobile-device-itsm80002 #cybersecurity

• Post #2677655

  Watched Midnight Run (1988, dir. Martin Brest) and it was as good as I'd remembered and hoped. Charles Grodin is great, Yaphet Kotto has magnificent glares, and de Niro shows his comedy chops before he became mannered. Cross-country chase, with mobsters and car crashes, and genuinely touching moments, all beautifully set up. (And, being the eighties, lots of pay phones and smoking.)

• Post #2677654

  Read a New Scientist piece by @richardelwes based on his new book Huge Numbers. There's a sidebar on subcubic graphs (as in, dots joined by lines) and a fairly simple to define sequence involving them. SCG(0) = 6. Reasonable. SCG(1) is so big you need multiple levels of special terminology to describe how staggeringly huge it is. Article also covers Goodstein's sequence. Both new to me. I ordered the book for the library where I work. This will be good reading!

• Post #2677653

  Here's a gem from Mark Carney's new Powering Canada Strong energy plan, which involves improving Canada's energy grid (much needed) and burning methane (dreadful): "The federal government is engaging with Indigenous partners, provinces, territories and the public on: [...] Setting Canada up as an attractive, trusted and stable investment destination for private capital." https://natural-resources.canada.ca/energy-sources/electricity-infrastructure/powe...

• Post #671295

  Li-Sci-Fi: IFLA100 Library Science Fiction Short Story Competition: "What does the future hold for libraries? This is the theme for the Li-Sci-Fi (Library Science Fiction) short story competition hosted by the International Federation of Library Associations as it approaches its 100th anniversary in 2027 (IFLA100)!" Short story or flash. Judged by Mary Robinette Kowal. https://www.ifla.org/news/li-sci-fi-ifla100-library-science-fiction-short-story-competition/ #IFLA #Scienc...

• Post #558196

  Issue 99 of Keeler News, about Harry Stephen Keeler, is out. Another trove of rich detail about this astounding mystery writer and his work. https://site.xavier.edu/polt/keelernews/99kn.pdf Richard Polt, the editor, is also an expert on Heidegger and manual typewriters. #HarryStephenKeeler