HSU IT Department

Free books!

delphipsmith — Sun, 09 Jan 2022 00:42:38 GMT

Yes, it's time again for the Great January Book Giveaway! These are all books I've weeded from my shelves that need a new home with loving ~~parents~~ readers. Claim the one(s) you want in the comments, first person to claim gets it. Feel free to ask for as many as you like :)

Updated 1/9

Title	Author	Genre
House Lessons	Erica Bauermeister	memoir
Staying On	Paul Scott	fiction
~~The Echoing Green: The Garden in Myth and Memory~~	~~Jennifer Heath~~	~~non-fiction~~
Rage	Bob Woodward	politics (Trump)
~~The Sum of Us~~	~~Heather McGee~~	~~politics, economics, race relations~~
~~Little House in the Suburbs~~	~~Deanna Caswell~~	~~non-fiction~~
Clear and Present Danger	Tom Clancy	fiction
~~Dracula: The Undead~~	~~Dacre Stoker~~	~~fiction (**audiobook, on 12 CDs)~~
~~Complete Book of Furniture Repair and Refinishing~~	~~Ralph Kinney~~	~~non-fiction~~
A History of Wild Places	Shea Earnshaw	fiction
Natural Cleaning for Your Home	Casey Kellar	non-fiction
Brain Droppings	George Carlin	humor
Darkfall, Phantoms, Servants of Twilight	Dean Koontz	horror (3 in 1 volume)
Treasury of Fantasy	Carey Wilkens (editor)	fantasy
6 pb romance novels (all basically the same lol)	Barbara Cartland	cheesy romance
Red Death	P N Elrod	vampires
~~Wolf Hall~~	~~Hilary Mantel~~	~~historical fiction~~
~~Bring Up the Bodies~~	~~Hilary Mantel~~	~~historical fiction~~
The Good Life	Helen and Scott Nearing	nature/memoir
The Forstye Saga vol. 1, In Chancery	John Galsworthy	fiction
The Family	Mario Puzo	fiction
The Martian	Andy Weir	sci-fi
The White Hotel	D M Thomas	fiction (seriously weird)
The Fabulous Riverboat	Philip Jose Farmer	sci-fi
Moreta, Dragonlady of Pern	Anne McCaffrey	sci-fi
Educational Games for Fun	Margaret Mulac	non-fiction
Tom Brown's School Days	Thomas Hughes	fiction (v. old hc, early 1900s)
~~Complete Book of Composting~~	~~Rodale Books~~	~~non-fiction~~
Organic Plant Protection	Rodale Books	non-fiction

A briliant light hidden in all the forms you see

delphipsmith — Sun, 04 Jul 2021 18:55:28 GMT

"Some people will use a symbolism of the relationship of God to the universe, wherein God is a brilliant light, only somehow veiled, hiding underneath all these forms that you see as you look around you. But the truth is funnier than that. It is that you are looking right at the brilliant light now, that the experience you are having which you call ordinary everyday consciousness - pretending you're not it - that experience is exactly the same thing as ‘IT’. There's no difference at all. And when you find that out, you laugh yourself silly. That's the great discovery.

"In other words, when you really start to see things, and you look at an old paper cup, and you go into the nature of what it is to see, what vision is, or what smell is, or what touch is, you realize that that vision of the paper cup is the brilliant light of the cosmos. Nothing could be brighter. Ten thousand suns couldn't be brighter. Only they're hidden in the sense that all points of the infinite light are so tiny when you see them in the cup they don't blow your eyes out. See, the source of all light is in the eye. If there were no eyes in this world, the sun would not be light. So if I hit as hard as I can on a drum which has no skin, it makes no noise. So if a sun shines on a world with no eyes, it's like a hand beating a skinless drum, no light. YOU evoke light out of the universe, in the same way you, by nature of having soft skin, evoke hardness out of wood. Wood is only hard in relation to a soft skin. It's your eardrum that evokes noise out of the air. You, by being this organism, call into being this whole universe of light and color and hardness and heaviness and everything."

-- Alan Watts

delphipsmith — Sat, 09 Jan 2021 14:22:25 GMT

+---+---+---+---+---+---+-
Moderation isn't an end point, or even a center point,
necessarily. Rather than a template, it is an approach,
a tone, a cock of the head, an open mind, a willing ear,
an unjaundiced eye. A moderate wonders what other facts
might be brought to bear. A moderate figures we're in
this together and believes that a meeting of the minds
is not tantamount to surrender.
-- Kathleen Parker, "American Id-eology"
+---+---+---+---+---+---+-

Have yourself a Hoggy Warty Christmas

delphipsmith — Sat, 26 Dec 2020 18:49:36 GMT

I hope everyone is having a safe, relaxing winter holiday, despite its being not at all what we would have expected a year ago. If you're looking for an excellent way to pass some time, hoggywartyxmas is now posting and once again the stories are a true delight -- original, creative, well-written, and jolly good fun. Madam Malkin has a starring role in several of the offerings posted thus far, including a lovely exchange of letters with Madam Pince in which both young witches are finding their professional feet, as it were. The description of the National Library of Magic is bewitching :) If you haven't yet visited, now is the time!

Fly, (and help us) be free!!!

delphipsmith — Sat, 17 Oct 2020 17:36:04 GMT

Today I mailed my letters for Vote Forward!! Mine were 110 out of more than 16 million letters sent, encouraging folks to participate in the election and vote, vote, vote -- check out all the photos :)

Walpurgisnacht* entertainment

delphipsmith — Thu, 30 Apr 2020 21:10:21 GMT

If you're looking for something to do this evening, a panel of eight horror authors will be doing live readings from their books! It's at 6pm EST tonight, go here to find out more:

https://www.crowdcast.io/e/indie-horrorthon-1--/register

* Saint Walpurga, whose nacht this is, was hailed by the Christians of Germany for battling "pest, rabies and whooping cough" which seems rather appropriate at this moment. Her thoughts on injecting disinfectant are, alas, unknown.

Security breach / email threat PSA

delphipsmith — Wed, 22 Apr 2020 16:53:18 GMT

In case anyone reading this was not already aware, in March there was a security breach at DreamWidth and a number of user names and passwords were compromised (DW announcement here). Per their instructions, I immediately changed my DW password and also my LJ and AO3 passwords. Recently I got an email that correctly stated my (former) DW password, and then threatened various actions unless they got money (bitcoin) from me. Since that password is no longer valid, and I'm not concerned about the nonsense threats, I've deleted the email and don't intend to do anything.

BUT it's proof that the stolen data has been shared, and that my account was one of the ones compromised. So, if you have not yet changed your DW password, you should do so immediately, and if you use that same password on any other social media or other accounts, you should change those also, to something different.

But what if I can't?

delphipsmith — Wed, 08 Apr 2020 13:40:18 GMT

This quote from Bridget Jones' Diary has been running through my head:

It seems wrong and unfair that Christmas [or, in this case, Corona-mas] with its stressful and unmanageable financial and emotional challenges, should first be forced upon one wholly against one's will, then rudely snatched away just when one is starting to get into it. Was really beginning to enjoy the feeling that normal service was suspended and it was OK to lie in bed as long as you want, put anything you fancy into your mouth, and drink alcohol whenever it should chance to pass your way, even in the mornings. Now suddenly we are all supposed to snap into self-discipline like lean teenage greyhounds.

It may be due to the fact that this was my breakfast:

(click to embiggen cake)

I hope, when we all go back to work, I remember how...

More inappropriate entertainment!!

delphipsmith — Sat, 28 Mar 2020 15:02:42 GMT

Arthur Greenleaf Holmes, the English Libertine Poet, delivers his scandalous verse and takes your live requests from the rectory at the Church of St. Thomas The Polygamist. Live on YouTube, tonight at 7pm EST.

Watch here.

Warning: With poem titles like "I built my love a menstrual hut" this show is not for the faint of heart or ear. (When he says "wildly inappropriate" he really means it.) But it is also clever, funny, elegant, highly literate, and shows off a delightfully quirky way with language. One of our absolute favorite performers at our local Ren Fest.

Edit: Here's his channel, if you want to see more/subscribe.

Festivus!

delphipsmith — Sun, 05 Jan 2020 15:55:25 GMT

sshg_giftfest, hoggywartyxmas, and snapecase are all posting right now, and I am as happy as a very happy thing that is happy! Everyone has outdone themselves this year -- hoggywarty has some fabulous stories about Garrick Ollivander in particular, while over on the giftfest someone actually wrote original music to go with their story -- ye gods!!

My gifts were so wonderful, too: Someone wrote me a very funny, distinctly clever, and rather sweet Discworld crossover featuring the Librarian from Unseen University along with Nanny Ogg and the rest as visiting lecturers at Hogwarts (Ook), while some amazing artist created these rather snarky and entirely adorable christmas cards exchanged between Snape and Minerva.

Go, read, enjoy, and leave all these amazing gifted creators some love :)

Holiday relaxation 101

delphipsmith — Sun, 22 Dec 2019 15:24:59 GMT

As of Friday I'm off work until Jan 2, and today I feel well-rested for the first time in about two weeks. And what am I doing with all this leisure, you ask? Good stuff, let me tell you!

For one thing, I'm reading stories about some of my favorite people, written by some of my favorite people, in the company of some of my favorite people. sshg_giftfest and hoggywartyxmas are both currently posting, and both are crammed with amazing creations, whether you like sexy or silly, funny or fantastical, heart-breaking or heart-warming. There is even a set of dress-your-own Albus, Minerva, and Severus paper dolls!

I've also given in to the forces of pop culture and am watching The Mandalorian (friends had warned me that resistance was useless, and so it proved...). With Baby Yoda we have indeed reached Peak Cuteness. Behold my favorite meme:

Even more than that, though, I love how the series so perfectly evokes the feel of the original 1977 movie, from the music to the alien races that get background cameos, from the color palette to the look and feel of the tech, right down to the goofy "wipes" used in scene changes. I'm sure I'm not the only one who noticed that the encounter in the Mos Eisley cantina maps almost gesture for gesture with the original, where Luke and Ben meet Han for the first time.

And today I get to go out to lunch with Mr Psmith for the first time in ages, and I think we're going to shoot a little pool! I got him this cool thing for Christmas so he can play again.

Best of all, I'm paying no attention whatever to politics.

Ah, life is good :)

How are my fest fics coming along, you ask?

delphipsmith — Wed, 18 Dec 2019 16:39:12 GMT

The Great Book Meme

delphipsmith — Tue, 10 Dec 2019 05:01:35 GMT

Read! Share! Post! Let's have a little book talk :)

1. Favorite childhood book, and why? - A tie between (1) Little Women (Louisa May Alcott), with its rich complex characters, warm and loving family life, and fully-realized range of affections and passion that it illustrates, both personal (art, talent, personal best) and interpersonal (sisters, parents and children, husbands and wives, new and old lovers), and (2) The Phantom Tollbooth (Norton Juster), because it's so original, weird, sharp, and creative. I mean, who comes up with the idea of a symphony that plays the colors of the world, or Subtraction Stew, or literally eating one's words? And of course Azaz the Unabridged totally reminds me of Dumbledore ("Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!")

2. First book you clearly remember reading? - Bambi. My stepdad gave it to me for my seventh birthday and I adore it to this day.

3. Favorite reading snack? Cheese and crackers. Salty, crispy, yummy, and doesn't leave grease stains on the pages.

4. Favorite reading location as a child? As an adult? - As a child I would take a bag of apples and a book and climb a tree. Now I'm more about the sofa and a glass of wine.

5. Most intimidating book you've tackled and why (and what happened?!) - Gravity's Rainbow. Still haven't made it past about page 50.

6. The longest you've gone without reading? - Um...six hours?

7. Genre you rarely read but wish you did? - Biography. I'm sure there are a ton of amazing bios out there, but mostly I just get bored when I read someone's life story. Which is odd since I've kept a journal myself since I was eleven lol

8. If you were taking a ten-day trip, how many books would you pack? 12-15. I have to have options, since I don't know what I'll be in the mood for.

9. What books are on your nightstand right now? - Red Rising, This Census Taker, Gods of the Blood, and Talking God.

Write some snape!!

delphipsmith — Fri, 22 Nov 2019 03:22:14 GMT

snapecase is looking for authors! Go on, go on, go on, go on, go on. You know you want to.

If you're a Dracula fan, you WILL want to know about this

delphipsmith — Thu, 10 Oct 2019 20:32:39 GMT

Interactive new version of Dracula is up on Kickstarter, and it's SUPER cool:

"In our edition, you are not merely a reader – you are an explorer making your way through this archive of first-hand evidence, retracing this nightmarish story through the remnants it left behind: correspondence, charts and diagrams, memoranda, artifacts, photographs and much more..."

Read more (and back the project!) on the Kickstarter page ==>

I literally just said yesterday...

delphipsmith — Tue, 01 Oct 2019 22:00:09 GMT

..."Gosh, I hope snapecase runs again."

And what do I see today? It's a go!
::does happy dance::

squeee AO3 wins Hugo for Best Related Work squeee

delphipsmith — Thu, 22 Aug 2019 00:06:28 GMT

"4.7 million fanfics are now Hugo winners, thanks to AO3 and the transformative culture that built it..."

You guys, THIS IS SO AMAZING!!!!! Best part: Every fanfic writer in the audience was asked to stand and jointly accept the award :)

More here and here, and there is also an NPR piece. I am as happy as a very happy thing, also I may have cried just a tiny bit :D

what What WHAT??!

delphipsmith — Thu, 11 Apr 2019 06:24:22 GMT

In case you hadn't heard, Archive of Our Own (or AO3 to those of us who know and love her) has been nominated for a HUGO AWARD. Oh nothing, only the most prestigious SF award out there, I mean HOLY COW REALLY?!

This is so cool, y'all.

Slate has a great piece on why the nomination is a big deal, not just for AO3 and for fan culture but specifically for women in fandom/tech. I am gobsmacked with delight.

Many thanks to squibstress for posting about this and totally making my night :)

It's a cheesemas miracle

delphipsmith — Sat, 06 Apr 2019 06:08:19 GMT

Go to about the 10:05 mark and LOOK, LOOK, LOOK AT THIS WOT THEY ARE DOING!!!

It's pasta with cheese... MADE IN THE CHEESE.

Could there be anything more utterly scrumptious???

Pardon me while I go watch this again. And again. And again....

Edit: There's another excellent cheesy bit at about 4:01, too. Sooooo hungry now!!

A little rational inspiration for your day

delphipsmith — Thu, 04 Apr 2019 05:28:00 GMT

The Arizona Senate yesterday opted to open their session not with a prayer, but with an invocation from a member of a local secular humanist group. It's short -- only 2 minutes -- but it brought tears to my eyes. Compassion and reason have both been so scarce lately.

"...before dogmatism sequestered our minds to be automatons in a free world, we are human...Know that we are all part of the universality of existence. Our DNA consists of stardust, ten billion years old. Science discloses that we are the microcosm of the macrocosm..."

Watch or read in full here.

Snapey goodness

delphipsmith — Sun, 02 Dec 2018 05:40:55 GMT

sshg_giftfest has begun posting, and WOW what a kickoff! A beautiful vignette, told in lush, sensual artwork. Go ye and marvel.

This. All of this.

delphipsmith — Tue, 30 Oct 2018 04:29:10 GMT

From xkcd.com:

John McCain

delphipsmith — Tue, 28 Aug 2018 03:17:10 GMT

I didn't by any means agree with many of John McCain's policies, but he always did his best to be a good man. When he made mistakes, he owned up to them. He was courteous to his opponents, civil to those he disagreed with, and always put his country above his party. He left a final statement, which was read by a spokesman for the family and also published online. It's worth a read. Here's an excerpt:

"...I lived and died a proud American. We are citizens of the world's greatest republic. A nation of ideals, not blood and soil. We are blessed and a blessing to humanity when we uphold and advance those ideals at home and in the world. We have helped liberate more people from tyranny and poverty than ever before in history. We have acquired great wealth and power in the progress. We weaken our greatness when we confuse our patriotism with rivalries that have sown resentment and hatred and violence in all the corners of the globe. We weaken it when we hide behind walls rather than tear them down, when we doubt the power of our ideals rather than trust them to be the great force for change they have always been..."

Full statement here.

Interesting things I discovered today

delphipsmith — Sun, 29 Apr 2018 20:36:02 GMT

Buttbart.com - A spoofy version of Breitbart, featuring Domald Tromp, the star of a series of books by mysterious author Chuck Tingle (other Tingle titles include Space Raptor Butt Invasion and My Ass Is Haunted By The Gay Unicorn Colonel). I wish the site had more content, but just the article titles alone are a hoot.

How Would Dracula Deal With Isis? - I think the title says it all, here.

Evolutionary biology meets Adam and Eve in the archives - Artist Jenifer Wightman has designed and hand-printed a leaf to match the Gutenberg Bible, correcting some of its misinformation ;) I love the idea, her approach to it, and the way so many archives are open to her proposal.

Two articles (here) and (here) in which a YouTube engineer explains how YouTube's goal of maximizing engagement unintentionally promotes videos that discredit the media and favor conspiracy theories, divisive content, and general nuttiness.

Once you've read those you'll be depressed and discouraged, so here's a very funny one to end with:
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Deficiency, in which The Medical Journal of Australia explains The Hobbit in terms of Vitamin D deficiencies XD Hugely funny, especially for the completely poker-faced approach it takes.

So there you go: the fruits of falling down teh interwebz rabbit hole today.

Oh, and it's still snowing here. ::curses quietly but viciously::

Willow

delphipsmith — Sun, 15 Apr 2018 18:17:36 GMT

As some of you may recall, last spring we lost Demi, our sweetheart English mastiff. We waited the traditional year and a day, and yesterday we added a new member of the family. This is Willow:

(click to embiggen the puppeh)

She's a blue heeler, also known as an Australian cattle dog, and is the smartest, most inquisitive, and most energetic thing you could ever hope to meet. (I am half convinced she's actually a squirrel or a fox in a dog suit.) As you can imagine, this little bouncy thing is a big change after our "gentle giant," whose most strenuous exercise was moving (slowly) from the living room to the bedroom and from the bedroom to the living room! But it's good for us, and especially for Mr Psmith whose heart is half dog :)