austin_dern | Reading

May 2026

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Our library book group read his *Orfeo* ten years ago, about a composer getting in over his head with "composing" genetics, being declared a terrorist, and going on the run, with a sideline story about how he got there (bad teachers, problems in husbanding and parenting). https://www.richardpowers.net/orfeo/

Playground: a rich guy and a nerd work on a project to launch autonomous floating cities from a French Polynesian island. The locals aren't so sure. Non-linear, told from multiple viewpoints including islanders and a marine biologist who loved watching Jacques Cousteau as a child.

Discussion Prompts

What was one thing you'd like to share that you liked about the story?
Todd starts reading everything Rafi reads. Have you ever decided to read something because someone else was reading it (besides book group selections)? Were you glad you'd read it? Does reading ever feel like a competition to you?
What did you think of this story compared to Susan Casey's *The Underworld: Journeys to the Depths of the Ocean* many of us read for last summer?
Have you read anything else by Richard Powers (note: our group discussed Powers' Orfeo about 10 years ago)? How did this compare?
Powers is a past National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize winner. What did you think of his ideas and his prose?
Would you recommend Playground to anyone else?

Discussion questions with major spoilers: https://bookclubs.com/discussion-guides/playground-a-novel

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In the last week, the volume of incoming spam email has dropped sharply.

Person A: You know you're supposed to finish the laundry if you start it during your shift!

Me, silently: Don't think of it as my three loads of laundry that I didn't finish during my shift, think of it as your three loads of laundry that I got started for you. Though really, if Person B had done her laundry during her shift like she should have then neither of us would be having this conversation today.

(There was no reason for all four of the women to have their hampers literally overflowing with clothes. Somebody, or more like several somebodies, clearly has been falling down on the job here.)

Believing the Ship is the whole universe is just common sense. So believe the people in it, but they are not the orphans of the sky they believe themselves to be.

Non-Stop by Brian W. Aldiss

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Posted by Daily Bunny

https://dailybunny.org/posts/2026/5/17/the-best-way-to-spend-a-lazy-bunday-is-to-cuddle-up-with-your-bestie

Happy Bunday! Thanks, Sarah and bunnies Hollis and Havana! Sarah writes, “We have numerous hop 'n flop beds but Havana and Hollis love to cuddle and share one.”

https://dailybunny.org/posts/2026/5/17/the-best-way-to-spend-a-lazy-bunday-is-to-cuddle-up-with-your-bestie

The trick is that the top arm needs to be firmly clipped to the drawer - not jammed to the back wall. Time will tell if my fix lasts.

Edit: No, X*, not thank god, thank me. I'm the one who fixed it! God had nothing to do with any of it!

* Not the real initial.

Posted by Joseph Nebus

https://nebushumor.wordpress.com/2026/05/17/statistics-saturday-some-ordinary-astronomy-terms-that-sound-like-problems-on-_star-trek_/

http://nebushumor.wordpress.com/?p=21901

Synodic time Mean solar anomaly Descending node Quadratic field strength Limb darkening Gravitational lensing Sidereal time Nutation Apoapsis Orbital resonance Zone of Avoidance Solar facula Reference: The Rutgers Daily Targum for Wednesday, September 20, 1961.

https://nebushumor.wordpress.com/2026/05/17/statistics-saturday-some-ordinary-astronomy-terms-that-sound-like-problems-on-_star-trek_/

http://nebushumor.wordpress.com/?p=21901

https://www.thefarside.com/2026/05/17

The Far Side daily dose for 2026/05/17

https://www.thefarside.com/2026/05/17

Honestly have never heard of this person before, but what an apropos sentiment!

Ah. It seems he was "the real Doctor Strangelove", "the father of the hydrogen bomb". Well, there you have it!

*********************

( Read more... )

Trying not to think of you
yet your face colors
every contour
of my mind.
And every way I turn
inside of a minute
I collide
with your laughter.
I am wind,
and you
are chimes.

******

Link

Posted by Caitlyn / CPI

https://pinballnovice.blogspot.com/2026/05/scans-monthly-coin-journal-1998-07-1998.html

Hubz is still digging into the Coin Journals we bought! 2 giant new issues up today:

Coin Journal 1998-07
Coin Journal 1998-10

Coin Journal 1998-07

Coin Journal 1998-10

some pages inside:

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This blog stands in protest against the USA's horrific attempts to eliminate trans people from society. Trans people have always existed, in every society, but the administration has embraced a moral panic, declared a war against reality, and says that trans people can no longer be allowed to exist. This includes making their healthcare illegal, censoring books and school curriculum from university level down to elementary school, banning trans people from bathrooms, and declaring trans existence to be child abuse.

This blog stands in solidarity with all of the youth who are being terrorized by a fascist president that has declared them to be threats that must be eliminated.

The USA is disappearing random brown people off the streets via unidentified masked gestapo and shipping them off to concentration camps and notorious foreign prisons, all with no due process. The world witnessed ICE execute a mother and a nurse and then lie about what we saw. Solidarity for all who are in the gaze of this American Nazism terror campaign against its own people.

Please read: Slain Trans UW Student Identified as Juniper Blessing: “The Most Amazing Human Being” by Samantha Allen

https://pinballnovice.blogspot.com/2026/05/scans-monthly-coin-journal-1998-07-1998.html

Going on week two of random mid-sleep wakeups wherein I am convinced I have badly overslept and missed my entire shift.

What even is causing this? (Don't say stress, I'm sure it's stress! But what is causing the stress!? Is it lack of sleep? Because the lack of sleep sure ain't helping, gotta say.)

*****************************

( Read more... )

https://www.thefarside.com/2026/05/16

The Far Side daily dose for 2026/05/16

https://www.thefarside.com/2026/05/16

Posted by Joseph Nebus

https://nebushumor.wordpress.com/2026/05/16/but-doctor-i-am-pagliacci-spotted-in-the-wild/

http://nebushumor.wordpress.com/?p=21897

I can’t help it, I continue to look, but not too closely, at that Super Circus comic book I shared something from last week. What can I say, there’s something I find fascinating in stories about what’s supposed to be a realistic enough circus — they keep having money problems, just like every circus in … Continue reading

https://nebushumor.wordpress.com/2026/05/16/but-doctor-i-am-pagliacci-spotted-in-the-wild/

http://nebushumor.wordpress.com/?p=21897

and why is this the first time I've seen this fanvid?

(It's short. Go watch it, you don't need to know literally anything.)

***********************

( Read more... )

All that stands between Isako and the satisfactory end of her career is one last job. How hard could it possibly be to accomplish one final task?

The Last Contract of Isako by Fonda Lee

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Posted by Daily Bunny

https://dailybunny.org/posts/2026/5/15/i-guess-i-could-just-perch-here-on-the-edge-then-bunny

Thanks, Amber, Ben, and bunny Ellis! Amber writes, “We just wanted to share Ellis on the couch with you! Picture it: you walk around the corner and this is what you see! And yes, velvet is Ellis' favorite, so both the couch and blanket are velvet!”

https://dailybunny.org/posts/2026/5/15/i-guess-i-could-just-perch-here-on-the-edge-then-bunny

https://www.thefarside.com/2026/05/15

The Far Side daily dose for 2026/05/15

https://www.thefarside.com/2026/05/15

Posted by Joseph Nebus

https://nebushumor.wordpress.com/2026/05/15/misted-fx-down-to-mobius-part-17-almost-two-hours-later/

http://nebushumor.wordpress.com/?p=21890

It’s time to rejoin my Mystery Science Theater 3000 treatment of Grant T Ettinger’s FX Down To Mobius, the whole of which should be at this link. Last time you’ll recall FX and Liz, sent from war-torn planet Ferretara to Mobius and the world of Sonic the Hedgehog had met the main cast and were … Continue reading

https://nebushumor.wordpress.com/2026/05/15/misted-fx-down-to-mobius-part-17-almost-two-hours-later/

http://nebushumor.wordpress.com/?p=21890

Chosen One Jennifer Mazdan would prefer to let destiny's call go through to voice mail.

Unquenchable Fire (Unquenchable Fire, volume 1) by Rachel Pollack

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Page Summary

selki - Playground by Richard Powers
james_davis_nicoll - Odd
conuly - It really is all laundry all the time
james_davis_nicoll - Non-Stop by Brian W. Aldiss
dailybunny_feed - The Best Way to Spend a Lazy Bunday Is to Cuddle Up With Your Bestie
conuly - I may have fixed the dishwasher at work!
nebushumor_feed - Statistics Saturday: Some Ordinary Astronomy Terms That Sound Like Problems on _Star Trek_
thefarside_feed - The Far Side: daily dose for 2026/05/17
conuly - Life improves slowly and goes wrong fast, and only catastrophe is clearly visible.
conuly - Thread by Essex Hemphill
pinballnovice_feed - scans: Monthly Coin Journal 1998-07 1998-10
conuly - Blech
thefarside_feed - The Far Side: daily dose for 2026/05/16
nebushumor_feed - But Doctor, I am Pagliacci spotted in the wild
conuly - So here I am on my who knows how many-th relisten to Wolf 359
james_davis_nicoll - The Last Contract of Isako by Fonda Lee
dailybunny_feed - I Guess I Could Just Perch Here on the Edge Then, Bunny
thefarside_feed - The Far Side: daily dose for 2026/05/15
nebushumor_feed - MiSTed: FX Down To Mobius, Part 17: Almost Two Hours Later
james_davis_nicoll - Unquenchable Fire (Unquenchable Fire, volume 1) by Rachel Pollack

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