This is Why Internet

I'm learning French on Duolingo -- really just messing around, obviously. This is no way to really learn a language. Anyway, for the phrase "Comment vous appelez-vous?" I found these comments, which I had to share:

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WendlaGoodman

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Alexander Hamilton. Je m'appelle Alexander Hamilton.

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ReplyGive Lingot•1 year ago

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VinegarII

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Je m'appelle Philip Je suis un poète J'ai écrit cette poème juste pour le montrer

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ReplyGive Lingot•5 months ago

Thinking about Graduate School

"Ego-involved" was a big thing back in graduate school.

As in, "Wow, he's a little ego-involved in his work, isn't he?"

Or: "Yeah, she doesn't really take criticism of her poetry well. Too ego-involved."

I'm trying to remember where this came from. Maybe from reading the Bhagavad Gita?

Who knows. The 90s, man.

Holy Hell

If you ever want to start a Twitter storm, just tweet that food-woo (in this case, Pink Himalayan Salt) is bullshit.

I've STILL got people coming @ me

You Can't Make This Shit Up, Y'all

See, even if I had known it was a lie, I still would have posted it, because it's okay to lie about gay people and other people I don't like.

How else is a good Christian conservative supposed to save this country from the liberals?

Here is How Good People Act

You'll remember a few days ago I wrote about Rod Dreher and his silly pearl-clutching over parents discussing what they would like their children to call them. (Rod thinks civilization will be destroyed if every single parent doesn't parent in lockstep with every other parent.)

As an antidote to that toxic and fragile bullshit, I offer this wonderful story.

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

Y'all, if you haven't seen The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (available on Amazon Prime), go watch it now.

Only the first season is available so far, but the second season is filming as we speak.

(H/T Nicole and Maggie)

It's not the End, but You Can See it from Here

The end of the semester hoves near, y'all.

I'm only giving one exam, in English Grammar, which will be practically painless (at least for me). My other classes have portfolios, which will have to be read and commented on. That's more work, but it's also slower work.

Soon I will have almost a month off, in other words. I'm teaching Summer I, which starts in early June. So I've got almost all of May to write, and maybe sleep, if I got shake this pernicious insomnia.

The kid comes home on May 11. Then they're going to visit their sweetie for awhile, who lives in Pennsylvania.

Then they'll see about getting a job.

Yes, it's an exciting summer planned here at Chez delagar.

Why Are You So Angry?

Apropos of nothing in particular, my very favorite tactic of the passive-aggressive Far-Right is how they say, with such sad concern, that it really is a shame you're so angry about this issue.

You poor irrational girl-child, you.

(I hope you can hear my eyes rolling from clear over here.)

Risotta

I am trying to make mushroom risotta at home.

So far I have not been at all happy with the results.

The recipe I used is the one in in Julia Child's cookbook, and sadly it was sort of meh.

Who has a wonderful risotta recipe they will share with me?

Oh My

I used to be in such better shape. I used to run five k races in under 35 minutes, regularly.

Now just mowing the lawn and bundling up a few bundles of sticks for the lawn removal guys wears me to a frazzle.

Conservative Art

Once upon a time, conservatives could create art. I mean, look at Milton. There was also Anthony Trollope.

But today, this is what we get:

Not to mention Dennis Miller, Roseanne Barr, and Ted Nugent.

Why can't Conservatives create art these days? What's gone wrong with their culture?


ETA: LGM posts about it as well

Seriously, WTAF is Wrong with These Fragile Flowers?

Over at Rod Dreher he says that a genderqueer couple having a baby and trying to decide what they want that kid to call them -- maybe "mather"? Maybe "abba"? -- will destroy society.

His exact words: "If it should catch on, society will unravel."

I cannot fathom being this terrified of any little difference in behavior among my fellow citizens. OH NO, this person practices sex differently than I do! OH NO, this person worships a different God than I do. OH NO, this person wants their kids to call them mather instead of mother!!1! OUR WORLD IS DOOMED.

I can't imagine that a culture or a belief system which is that fragile is actually worth saving.

What I'm Reading Now

I'm having the worst insomnia, which means although I have time to read -- all those extra hours when I could be sleeping -- I am in no shape to read anything even the slightest bit challenging.

Here's what I've been reading:

Ann Leckie, Provenance 

Leckie's one of my favorite writers, and my public library is apparently never going to buy this book, so I went ahead and bought a copy. It's more or less a mystery novel set in the universe of Leckie's Ancillary universe. We meet a different society than the Radch culture, however -- one in which no one has a gender until they choose one upon reaching adulthood (that's how they reach adulthood, in fact, by choosing their gender). And there are not only two genders -- there are males, females, non-binary people, and another gender which is not entirely clear. Further, families are constructed both by bearing children and by adopting children, and the latter is far more common.

The trouble arises when a set of (more or less) religious artifacts is stolen (or not stolen) and our main character gets involved, somewhat against her will, in untangling the guilt or innocence of the person believed to have stolen them. There's also a murder mystery.

As always with Leckie, this is a complex and interesting read, not in the least because of the interesting worldbuilding.


Georgette Heyer, False Colours, Beauvallet, The Corinthian, The Nonesuch.

Of these, I enjoyed both The Corinthian and The Nonesuch very much. The other two were okay, but not the best Heyers I've read. Still very readable, however!


Gail Godwin, Grief Cottage

I liked reading this one a lot, and the writing was lovely in places. But the ending is flat. It's like Godwin just got bored and quit. However, the novel is worth reading for the voice of the main character and the details of living on this barrier island.

Sarah Elizabeth Miller, Caroline: Little House Revisited

This is a novelization of the events of Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House on the Prairie told from the point of view of Caroline Ingalls. There's some attention to historical accuracy (that is, events as they actually happened, rather than as they're told in the Wilder book), and as a lifelong fan of the Little House books, I enjoyed this a lot. If you're not a Little House junkie, this one probably isn't for you.

Publishers Weekly Likes My Book!

Here's what Publishers Weekly has to say about Fault Lines:

Jennings gives an intriguing glimpse of a much larger setting, hinting at a long-devastated Earth and humankind’s spread to the stars, but this initial offering remains tightly focused, almost claustrophobic, as it deals with high-level political and economic scheming. Fans of found family will love the portrayal of Velocity and her crew of scrappy underdogs.

More at the link! 

100 Best Books

Someone asked me over on FB recently what my favorite book was. (Theirs was Farenheit 451.) This is a question that always sends me into a mild panic, since I don't have -- can't conceive of having -- a favorite book.

Instead, I have about 100 favorite books. And now I intend to list them for you.