Nostr notes by sunflowerinrain

Flashback to English school geography lessons on Scandilands: ...

2026-08-30T09:37:57Z

In reply to nevent1q…l22g
_________________________

Flashback to English school geography lessons on Scandilands: mountains, pine forests, hydro-electric power, matchsticks, and how to pronounce Jönköping and other -köpings.

Some Heinlein I liked very much. This one, no. Friday was worse, ...

2026-08-04T20:35:59Z

In reply to nevent1q…lrdl
_________________________

Some Heinlein I liked very much. This one, no. Friday was worse, especially for a woman: he tried to write from a feminist point of view and missed.

I would prefer that they be stopped before they do that. Do we ...

2026-07-30T15:27:53Z

In reply to nevent1q…czut
_________________________

I would prefer that they be stopped before they do that.

Do we trust them to know the difference between a rare book and a chicklit paperback?

An idea for investigation by anyone living near a wildfire area.

2026-07-27T10:47:12Z

In reply to nevent1q…vprs
_________________________

An idea for investigation by anyone living near a wildfire area.

Ah, I was thinking of the village in Switzerland where I used to ...

2026-07-24T12:13:04Z

In reply to nevent1q…2wu7
_________________________

Ah, I was thinking of the village in Switzerland where I used to attend a music course during their off season - i.e. the month between ski-ing and hiking/climbing, when they did spring cleaning and repairs and cheap offers. Not keen on waste around there.

Sounds like your ski resorts would be very attractive for next summer. They don't have wildfires, do they?

Why aren't they used for other activities in summer?

2026-07-24T09:04:36Z

In reply to nevent1q…52zh
_________________________

Why aren't they used for other activities in summer?

Sounds useful. Will it cause any problem for those of us who mix ...

2026-06-18T17:51:01Z

In reply to nevent1q…gg77
_________________________

Sounds useful. Will it cause any problem for those of us who mix languages?

I often feel wistful on summer evenings, as far back as I can ...

2026-06-03T18:31:53Z

In reply to nevent1q…2phl
_________________________

I often feel wistful on summer evenings, as far back as I can remember. A kind of hiraeth for I know not what.

According to the definition, technocratic they most definitely ...

2026-05-10T21:32:42Z

In reply to nevent1q…0efe
_________________________

According to the definition, technocratic they most definitely are not.

I looked him up. Orthopædic surgeon, proper medical type, for ...

2026-05-09T17:23:33Z

In reply to nevent1q…zfgj
_________________________

I looked him up. Orthopædic surgeon, proper medical type, for health minister - oh yes! Way to go, Zsolt!

Your compositions? I love this morceau especially.

2026-04-26T08:15:10Z

In reply to nevent1q…uaqa
_________________________

Your compositions? I love this morceau especially.

I don't like to dump things that still work (or even might be ...

2026-04-23T08:02:14Z

In reply to nevent1q…r4dv
_________________________

I don't like to dump things that still work (or even might be made to work by someone competent) so I've been holding off replacing it, with a phone that isn't Google or Apple, until September. Now may have to try to install a different OS.
Banking apps, though. Sigh.

I keep refusing the update, having regretted allowing the last ...

2026-04-23T02:21:54Z

In reply to nevent1q…akw0
_________________________

I keep refusing the update, having regretted allowing the last one or four.

On coding non-Latin sounds with the Latin alphabet: it really ...

2026-04-11T08:20:39Z

In reply to nevent1q…p756
_________________________

On coding non-Latin sounds with the Latin alphabet: it really doesn't work well for English, either. Putting in an 'h' to denote something that doesn't feature in Latin is bad enough, but trying to represent the plethora of English vowels with far too few letters is a mess. Still, it provides comedy.

The consonants wouldn't stump me, but the ä would. There are ...

2026-04-11T08:13:35Z

In reply to nevent1q…6v7c
_________________________

The consonants wouldn't stump me, but the ä would. There are consonant groups in English too. However, some English people can't pronounce sequences of consonants in English (e.g. rendering umbrella as umb-uh-rella).

Swedish words are hard for an Anglo to pronounce from the spelling. I sang in a multi-lingual vocal group: Japanese ok, Czech yes, German and French a doddle, Swedish we had to take out of the concert programme. We'd have done better if we couldn't read the words.

A minor publisher. Author was a technical writer, worked on ...

2026-02-01T22:50:45Z

In reply to nevent1q…llhh
_________________________

A minor publisher. Author was a technical writer, worked on Shrek, and studies history.
And now pirates have turned up, fighting our heroes for the statues they found around Mykonos...

Currently reading a series by a writer who confuses me. Some of ...

2026-02-01T22:18:06Z

Currently reading a series by a writer who confuses me. Some of the books go into delicious detail about 19th century archeology or botany, with verifiable descriptions of Sicily and Greek islands, but they are flanked by a volume or two of drivel interspersed with tedious sex scenes. And often amusing spelling mistakes! "An imminent professor" is a favourite. Fortunately all the technical terms are correct, because I frequently need to check something on Wikipedia.

I have downloaded some from ...

2026-01-30T21:25:12Z

In reply to nevent1q…fe0n
_________________________

I have downloaded some from [@gutenberg_org](https://mastodon.social/@gutenberg_org ) :-)

I feel sad that books I loved have disappeared, though I suppose ...

2026-01-30T20:13:54Z

In reply to nevent1q…mgtf
_________________________

I feel sad that books I loved have disappeared, though I suppose it would be difficult to retain them all when so many new books come out.
Might you translate some of her other books? Not that I could read them - my only encounter with Swedish was singing a choral work, and even with a recording of the words for practice, it was hard work.

As a child I read a lot of Nesbit, but most of her books went out ...

2026-01-30T19:22:50Z

In reply to nevent1q…3kay
_________________________

As a child I read a lot of Nesbit, but most of her books went out of fashion so I was delighted to see one in the children's section of the library. Took it home for small daughter. Fortunately, as it was a title I didn't know, I read it first. I hadn't known she also wrote horror for adults. Gave me nightmares.

No problem if applied to a fictional county. Barsetshire, etc. ...

2026-01-08T09:50:30Z

In reply to nevent1q…qqng
_________________________

No problem if applied to a fictional county. Barsetshire, etc.

Some USian writers' habit of making up *town* names ending -shire garners a totally different reaction of grrgrrrrGRR.

One of an enormous slew of decisions which damaged people other ...

2025-12-31T13:31:14Z

In reply to nevent1q…hxgy
_________________________

One of an enormous slew of decisions which damaged people other than themselves and their cronies.

I was with a company whose software R&D department had no ...

2025-12-31T11:37:17Z

In reply to nevent1q…vkh0
_________________________

I was with a company whose software R&D department had no preference (manager said education was for teaching people to think: the subject didn't matter). Then Head Office HR took over and insisted on computer science degrees.
A company with such central control probably isn't good to work for, anyway. There must be better.

Of course, if archeology is your love... :(
Parts of Britain restarted digs, after decades of uninterest. I suppose you know about BAJR. UK & low pay, though.

This is quite possibly the most frightening thing I've read ...

2025-12-26T12:13:25Z

In reply to nevent1q…4njn
_________________________

This is quite possibly the most frightening thing I've read about so-called AI.

Harrrmmonics! Does the sound vary with the acoustics of the ...

2025-12-26T09:21:13Z

In reply to nevent1q…r6a2
_________________________

Harrrmmonics!
Does the sound vary with the acoustics of the environment?

Both my sons were in a dance troupe from age 7, surrounded by ...

2025-12-20T12:08:59Z

In reply to nevent1q…qday
_________________________

Both my sons were in a dance troupe from age 7, surrounded by girls who adored them. Older son, aged 12: "The other boys in my class at school are idiots. They won't talk to girls. Girls are interesting."

Both married now and still fending off women.

They were so fortunate, having a rich oral tradition. Bit further ...

2025-12-16T16:07:35Z

In reply to nevent1q…z3y2
_________________________

They were so fortunate, having a rich oral tradition. Bit further south all that had been rather trampled on by the boots of the Romans, much earlier.
I'm having flashbacks of having to translate large chunks of Julius Caesar's reports and memoirs of 1st century BC. Urgh.

Just the Latin, then? And Greek to the south.

2025-12-16T14:16:25Z

In reply to nevent1q…0qdq
_________________________

Just the Latin, then? And Greek to the south.

Has "prehistory" been re-defined? It was taught in ...

2025-12-16T12:36:38Z

In reply to nevent1q…373g
_________________________

Has "prehistory" been re-defined? It was taught in English schools (was, because dunno what Gove and his ilk have done now) as "before written accounts".

Trouble is, archeology has pushed back the dates of earliest written records in many places, so IDK. N Europe: is history Latin (Gallic wars etc) or runes?

There are sometimes good reasons for knowing gender. Very few ...

2025-10-17T19:06:14Z

In reply to nevent1q…6t5n
_________________________

There are sometimes good reasons for knowing gender. Very few times, I think.

Old habits?

I've seen "coronated", but only (so far) by USian ...

2025-08-31T12:06:44Z

In reply to nevent1q…njfv
_________________________

I've seen "coronated", but only (so far) by USian writers.
After initial puzzlement the accompanying mental images are... very wrong.

On the interwebs I've learned of many curiously unfounded ...

2025-05-18T11:30:44Z

In reply to nevent1q…jv26
_________________________

On the interwebs I've learned of many curiously unfounded beliefs, including *some* men's about menstruation (even, shockingly, some married men). When I was a smol at school, the 10-11 year old girls were given a talk on menstruation. Didn't strike me until years later that the boys needed it too.

Good! I'm fighting the temptation to keep checking the site ...

2025-05-16T16:12:06Z

In reply to nevent1q…5kjj
_________________________

Good!
I'm fighting the temptation to keep checking the site until after the deadline. Watching those numbers mount could be addictive.

As well as other horrified reactions (being a tree-hugger), I ...

2025-05-09T13:05:39Z

In reply to nevent1q…d5yy
_________________________

As well as other horrified reactions (being a tree-hugger), I think "What else might such as they do, and how could we hope to guard against such bizarre destructiveness?"

I was stumped by only being able to vote for one. It's one of ...

2025-03-10T16:08:38Z

In reply to nevent1q…p0xc
_________________________

I was stumped by only being able to vote for one. It's one of those "What's your favourite?" questions where the correct answer is "it depends"... on how I feel, what's been happening, etc. It would also require measurements and computation.

All of the above plus pet-photos, gardening stuff, meal ideas, holiday and travel photos/videos, sky at night, trees, music, art, crafts...

I always loved that there were several archives of All the Books. ...

2024-12-16T10:09:53Z

In reply to nevent1q…uhxz
_________________________

I always loved that there were several archives of All the Books.

What are the effects of ebooks and self-publishing?

Ursula K Le Guin! Also for various types of government. A ...

2024-11-15T09:01:42Z

In reply to nevent1q…728p
_________________________

Ursula K Le Guin! Also for various types of government. A visionary.

with the Proper Illustrations :)

2024-10-14T11:09:45Z

In reply to nevent1q…x072
_________________________

with the Proper Illustrations :)

I'd prefer more Repair, Re-use, Restore, Re-purpose, to ...

2024-10-07T08:14:31Z

In reply to nevent1q…d34s
_________________________

I'd prefer more Repair, Re-use, Restore, Re-purpose, to extend a slogan.

Aside: Is it true that Thatcher said people shouldn't have to live in a secondhand house? I hope it's not true because it's a weird opinion.

Reminds me of the opinion of a childless friend when someone ...

2024-09-01T11:51:53Z

In reply to nevent1q…hund
_________________________

Reminds me of the opinion of a childless friend when someone asked why he was so concerned about the state of education in England. His furious reply (expurgated) was " Of course I'm worried! One day those kids will be in charge of the country and my pension!"

Standard textbook on my music degree (a more recent edition... ...

2024-08-13T10:35:16Z

In reply to nevent1q…87zj
_________________________

Standard textbook on my music degree (a more recent edition... and electronic).

Lovely photo and superb alt-text. Thank you for both.

2024-08-11T09:43:51Z

In reply to nevent1q…jyfp
_________________________

Lovely photo and superb alt-text. Thank you for both.