#Tim Hartford

[mitchipedia]

Charles Mackay’s 1841 book “Extraordinary ­Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds” embedded tulip mania in popular consciousness for two centuries. But the story is blown out of proportion—the tulip fad was no big deal. And Mackay was a booster of the railway boom going on all around him in the 1840s, an investment mania that significantly harmed the British economy, writes Tim Hartford.

It’s really hard to tell a bubble from legit investment, Hartford writes. Railroads and the Internet are extraordinarily useful infrastructure, and investments in those have historically been extremely risky. On the other hand, Birkin handbags, and even gold are ridiculous and frivolous—and sound investments.

[krispyweiss]

Album Review: Jason Carter - Lowdown Hoedown

Twenty-five years after On the Move, Jason Carter is back with Lowdown Hoedown.

The Del McCoury Band and Travelin’ McCourys fiddler and in-demand session man called in a bunch of friends and favors to make the LP, which is not a fiddle record.

Carter does play, of course, but it’s his sonorous baritone that carries bluegrass covers of Bruce Hornsby’s “King of the Hill,” John Hartford’s “The Six O’Clock Train and a Girl with Green Eyes,” the Eagles’ “Midnight Flyer,” the Grateful Dead’s “Bird Song” and nine additional tracks.

The McCoury family all play and sing along, as do friends including Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, Billy Strings, Marty Stuart, Bronwyn Keith-Hynes, Vince Gill, Tim O’Brien, Aoife O’Donovan and Sarah Jarosz among others.

Such large collaborations often become too busy and wind up unfocused on wax. Carter is too adept to let that happen and Lowdown Hoedown makes the case for another solo record before the next 25 years slip away.

Grade card: Jason Carter - Lowdown Hoedown - B

1-5-23

[copperbadge]

For NaClYoHo you recommend putting on a 20 to 40 minute podcast episodes to clean to. Can you make any recommendations? The majority of mine run well over an hour for each episode.

I feel like podcasts have kind of gotten longer in general, is that just me? Maybe it's the pandemic, or maybe just my tastes shifting. In any case, a lot of mine run long now too, but looking at my playlist here are some shorter podcasts I recommend:

PEMcast -- put on by the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, MA, they cover a wide variety of artistic and local cultural topics (their latest is about the bats the museum is hosting!)

99% Invisible -- about "invisible" designs that shape our world. "Used To Be A Pizza Hut" is a great episode, and their partnership with Articles Of Interest about Hawaiian shirts was brilliant.

Criminal -- True crime reported on by an extremely smart woman with a beautiful voice. It's not the typical true crime podcast in that she approaches it more like longform journalism, and sometimes the crimes themselves are very whimsical. She also does "Phoebe Reads A Mystery" where she reads one chapter of a public domain mystery novel each day; I recommend Dracula and The Portrait Of Dorian Gray, although there's a variety of lengths on those.

Bridgewater -- A fiction podcast featuring Misha Collins as a skeptical specialist in mythology who delves into the mystery of his father's death many years before. I stopped listening after season one, a bit disappointed in the denoument, but most of season one is great and I am actually going to try to listen to S2 as part of NaNo.

"City Cast" Your Local City -- not every city has them, but City Cast is a locally hosted show in most major cities about what's happening. City Cast Chicago is EXCELLENT.

Mailin' It -- the official podcast of the USPS, which sure is....something. It's fascinating to listen to in an anthropological sense, but also the subject matter is occasionally quite compelling. I especially like episode 7, "Stamps, An American Obsession".

The Allusionist -- all about how words shape our lives. I got into it with 145, "Parents", about gender identity and pregnancy/birth, which informed both Infinite Jes and Royals/Ramblers.

Levar Burton Reads -- Levar Burton reads SFF short stories charmingly. (This is on the longer side but most are still under an hour.)

Cautionary Tales -- Tim Hartford looks to history and what it can teach us; I run hot and cold but I stick with it because of gems like "The Art Forger, The Nazi, and the Pope", "Wrong Tools Cost Lives" and most recently "Photographing Fairies" (about the Cottingley Fairies and how Elsie Wright was, actually, the photoshop genius of her day.)

Mob Queens -- I will forever recommend Mob Queens, a single-run series about Anna Genovese, who dunned in her mobster husband, took over some of his business, and lived a queer and fabulous life with her butch partner as a gay nightclub doyenne in midcentury America.

Also most don't include lengths but the Participation Form Results Sheet has a spot for "what media are you going to use" and people have been putting suggestions. Readers, feel free to add your own suggestions in comments or reblogs. (Remember, I don't repost asks sent in response to other asks!)

Happy listening everyone!

[greatwesternrailway]

I made Eras Tour bracelets of all the times Taylor Swift references trains in her songs. The colours are inspired by different trains and railway liveries. Excessive details under the cut:

"You know that my train could take you home" from Willow. Inspired by Great Western Railway's Intercity Express Trains. It's the train I catch most often, it's my train!

"I knew you, stepping on the last train" from Cardigan. Inspired by the subway cars in New York City, which I think of as having blue seats but it seems yellow/orange is just as (or more?) common. Idk I've never been to New York, my whole knowledge of the subway comes from Broad City and pictures of dogs in Ikea bags.

"I jump from the train, I ride off alone" from The Archer. Inspired by ye olde American locomotives like the Union Pacific No. 119. This lyric evokes Wild West imagery for me and this type of engine is what my British brain thinks of as a "cowboy train".

"Rebekah rode up on the afternoon train" from The Last Great American Dynasty. Inspired by the steam locomotives used in the 1940s by the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad, which is what Rebekah Harkness would have rode up on. Sadly I couldn't find a good colour image of one, so I leaned into it and chose a greyscale colour palette. As it happens the engines were almost certainly black anyway so it's fine.

"Silence, the train runs off its tracks" from Sad Beautiful Tragic. Inspired by my boy Thomas the Tank Engine. There are a lot of derailments on the Island of Sodor, the Fat Controller should probably have been sacked.

"Northbound I got carried away, as you boarded your train south" from I Look in People's Windows. Inspired by the London Underground map. I didn't have any brown beads so the Bakerloo line has been reassigned orange.

"We wait for trains that just aren't coming" from New Romantics. Inspired by the British Rail Class 195 trains created for Arriva Rail North, the network so incompetent that even the Tories had to re-nationalise it. Those trains just weren't coming.

"You took the night train for a reason" from Champagne Problems. Inspired by the British Rail Mark 5 coaches used on the Caledonian Sleeper Service.

"Some trains you can't catch again, you've gotta leave it as it was" from Tim McGraw - Acoustic Demo. This is a deep cut that I expect even a lot of Swifties wouldn't necessarily know, but I've always loved this lyric. It totally recontextualises the song and ironically is a much more adult sentiment than the lyrics of the final recording. Inspired by the livery of Anglia Railways, which are the trains of my childhood. Anglia Railways has been sold and rebranded several times since then, so they are quite literally the trains I can't catch again.

I imagine that Taylor Swift has not been on a train in many years, for obvious reasons. However I appreciate her continued use of train imagery in her songs and I hope she never ever stops :)

[madhare0512]

Ships I Write For:

- Marvel

FitzSimmons

The Scientists and the Spies (Leopold Fitz/Jemma Simmons/Clint Barton/Natasha Romanoff)

Lance Hunter/Leopold Fitz

Huntingbird

Clintasha

Hulkeye

StaticQuake

Daisy Johnson/Piper

Daisy Johnson/Piper/Lincoln Campbell

Melinda May/Phil Coulson

Mack Mackenzis/Elena "Yo-Yo" Rodriguez

Foggy Nelson/Matt Murdock

Wilson Fisk/James Wesley

Luke Cage/Danny Rand

Danny Rand/Spiderman (Ultimate Spiderman only)

IronHawk

Technobow

Stony

Cherik

Armando Muñoz/Alex Summer

Nightsilver

Scott/Jean

Danielle Moonstar/Rayne Sinclair/Illyana Rasputin/Sam Guthrie/Roberto de Costa

Raven/Hank

Wandavision

Peter/Ned/MJ

Carol Danvers/Maria

Symbrock

Bucky Barnes/Sam Wilson

Loki/Mobius

Kate Bishop/Yelena Belova

~

- DC

Birdflash

Malcolm West | Herald/Joey Wilson | Jericho (Teen Titans only)

Rachel Roth | Raven/Garfield Logan | Beast Boy

Coldflash

Superflarrow

Vibeflash

Atomwave

Coldatom

Flashatom

Coldwaveatomflash

Goldenvibe

Toliver

Hawkmates

Killerwave

Winnara

Scholsen

Atomblazer

Coldatomwave

Atomfrostwave

Bruce Wayne/Selina Kyle

Harley Quinn/Poison Ivy

~

- NCIS

Tony DiNozzo/Jimmy Palmer

Tony DiNozzo/Nick Torres/Jimmy Palmer

Nick Torres/Jimmy Palmer

Sam Hanna/G Callen

G Callen/Eric Beale

Kensi Blye/Marty Deeks

Poly!Agents (Callen/Sam/Kensi/Deeks/Eric/Nell)

Nell/Nate

Tim/Abby/Delilah

Bishop/Kasie

Gibbs/Jack Sloan

Sam/Michelle

Jessai (Jesse Boone/Kai Holman)

Pride/Chris/Sebastian

Lucy/Kate

~

- Criminal Minds

Hotch/Hailey

Tara/Emily

Jemily

MoReid

Micphet (Prophet/Mick Rawson)

Sam Cooper/Prophet/Mick Rawson

JJ/Will

Luke/Penelope

Rossi/Erin

~

- Harry Potter

Wolfstar

Jegulus

Jeguiliy

Jacob Kowalski/Newt Scamander

Fred Weasley/Harry Potter/George Weasley

Ron Weasley/Harry Potter

Hermione Granger/Harry Potter

Hermione/Ron/Harry

Harry/Luna

Luna/Ginny

Ginny/Harry

~

- Maze Runner

Newtmas

~

- Doctor Who

Rose/Nine

Martha/Ten

Clara/Eleven

Rose/Nine/Jack Harkness

~

- Supernatural

Destiel

Sabriel

Crowly/Bobby

Bobby/Balthazar

~

- Star Wars

Skysolo

Stormpilot

Jedistormpilot

Obi-Wan/Anakin

Obi-Wan/Anakin/Padme

~

- Star Trek

Chulu

McSpirk

Spirk

McKirk

~

- Merlin

Merther

Morgana/Gwen

~

- Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

Hollowheart

Floatingfire

~

- Lord of the Rings/Hobbit

Aralas

Frodo Baggins/Samwise Gamgee

Meriadoc Brandybuck/Peregrin Took

Frodo/Samwise/Merry/Pippin

Bagginshield

~

- Dark Matter

OneThree

~

- Power Rangers (full list in the pr blog)

Jake Holling/Noah Carver

Brody Romero/Preston Tien

Hayley Foster/Calvin Maxwell

Tyler Navarro/Riley Griffen

Jayden Shiba/Antonio Garcia

Mike/Kevin

Devon Daniels/Ravi Shaw/Zoey Reeves/Nate Silva

Devon Daniels/Nate Silva

Casey Rhodes/RJ

Vida Rocca/Xander Blye/Chip Thorn

Nick Russell/Chip Thorn

Jack Landors/Syd Drew/Sky Tate/Z Delgado/Bridge Carson

Jack Landors/Bridge Carson

Will Aston/Mackenzie Hartford

Ronny Robinson/Rose Ortiz

Scott Truman/Summer Landsdown/Dillon/Fynn McAllistair/Ziggy Grover

Dillon/Ziggy Grover

Scott Truman/Flynn McAllistair

Shane Clarke/Dustin Brooks

Zayto/Ollie Akana

Zayto/Ollie Akana/Javi Garcia

~

- Hawai'i Five-0

McDanno

Max Bergman/Jerry Ortega

~

- Shadowhunters

Jimon

Alec Lightwood/Simon Lewis

Jace Herondale/Clary Fray/Simon Lewis

Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood/Simon Lewis

Malec

Clizzy

~

- Umbrella Academy

Dave/Klaus Hargreeves

Eudora Patch/Diego Hargreeves

~

- Flashpoint

Julianna Callaghan/Sam Braddock

Lewis Young/Spike Scarlatti

Sam Braddock/Spike Scarlatti

Sam/Spike/Lew/Donna/Winnie/Jules

~

- Teen Wolf

Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski

Allison/Scott

Erica/Boyd

Danny/Ethan

Lydia/Jackson/Aiden

Lydia/Stiles

~

- Grimm

Monroe/Rosalee Calvert/Nick Burkhardt

Nickroe

Adalind/Juliette

Roddy Geiger/Carter Brimey

Renard/Wu

Wu/Hank

~

- White Collar

Peter Burke/Neal Caffrey

Peter/Elizabeth

Peter/Elizabeth/Neal

~

- CSI

Horatio Caine/Eric Delko

Caine/Eric/Speedle

Calleigh/Ryan Wolfe/Natalia

~

- 9-1-1/Lone Star

Tarlos

Russley

Owen/Michelle

Bobby/Athena

Hen/Karen

Chimney/Maddie

Marjan/Paul

Mateo/Nancy

Nancy/Marjan

~

- One Chicago

Kelly Severide/Matthew Casey

Greg "Mouse" Gerwitz/Jay Halstead

Will Halstead/Connor Rhodes

Will Halstead/Natalie Manning/Connor Rhodes

Will Halstead/Justin Lieu/Connor Rhodes

Gabby/Shay

Darren/Blake

Mouch/Trudy

Herrmann/Cindy

Boden/Donna

Cruz/Chloe

Antonio/Peter Stone

Antonio/Voight

Sarah/Noah/Joey

Crockett/Ethan

Ethan/April

April/Maggie

~

- Mission Impossible

Ethan/Will

Jane/Bengi

~

- Sherlock

Johnlock

Greg Lestrade/Mycroft Holmes

~

- House

House/Chase

House/Wilson

Wilson/Chase

House/Wilson/Chase

Foreman/Thirteen

~

- Ghost Whisperer

Melinda/Jim

Melinda/Rick

Melinda/Rick/Eli

~

- Baby Driver

Darling/Buddy/Baby

~

- Bull

Danny/Cable

Bull/Benny

~

- Julie and the Phantoms

Luke/Julie

Luke/Reggie/Alex

Luke/Alex

Julie/Flynn

Julie/Carrie

~

-TMNT

Leo/Usagi (2003 only)

Leo/Karai (2003 only)

Raph/Traximus

Raph/Casey Jones

Don/Usagi (2003 only)

Don/Leatherhead

Mikey/Mondo Gecko

Mikey/Renet

Splinter/Tang Shen (2012 only)

~

I do not write incest of any kind, I do not write abuse unless by my own ideas, I do not write manipulation unless by my own ideas

If you have a question about a ship you don't see up here and want me to write, you're welcome to DM/IM me.

Thank you!

[dailydeathinparadise]

DEATH IN PARADISE SPIN-OFF SERIES BEYOND PARADISE IS COMING TO BBC ONE AND IPLAYER ON FRIDAY 24TH FEBRUARY 2023.

CO-COMMISSIONED BY THE BBC AND BRITBOX INTERNATIONAL, BEYOND PARADISE FOLLOWS DI HUMPHREY GOODMAN (KRIS MARSHALL) AND HIS FIANCÉE MARTHA LLOYD (SALLY BRETTON) AFTER THEIR NAIL-BITING WILL-THEY-WON’T-THEY ROMANCE REACHED ITS EMOTIONAL FINALE IN SAINT MARIE IN 2017. VIEWERS WERE DELIGHTED WHEN HUMPHREY TOOK CONTROL OF HIS DESTINY AND FOLLOWED MARTHA BACK TO LONDON TO DECLARE HIS UNDYING LOVE FOR HER.

A new adventure awaits as we find them arriving in Shipton Abbott, Martha’s hometown near the beautiful Devonshire coast, having left London. As they embark on their new life whilst temporarily living with Martha’s mum Anne Lloyd (Barbara Flynn), the couple are quickly thrown in at the deep end as Martha sets out to pursue her dream of running her own restaurant and Humphrey joins the local police force. Quickly making an impression on the somewhat eclectic team; DS Esther Williams (Zahra Ahmadi), PC Kelby Hartford (Dylan Llewellyn) and Margo Martins (Felicity Montagu), Humphrey sets out to help crack a host of baffling cases, with the Shipton Abbott squad witnessing a whole new approach to police work...

Each week the team will face a new crime with a unique puzzle at its heart. The not-so-sleepy town of Shipton Abbott will be rocked by an entire family disappearing without a trace, a woman claiming she was attacked by a suspect from the seventeenth century, the robbery of a highly prized painting, a body bizarrely discovered in a crop circle and a serial arsonist with a seeming distaste for local businesses.

As Humphrey gets stuck into his new job, he and Martha must also navigate life’s ups and downs, as faces from the past, the decisions they make and challenges of setting up life in a new town put their relationship to the ultimate test.

Created by Robert Thorogood and Tony Jordan, Beyond Paradise is a co-commission between the BBC and BritBox International and is produced by Red Planet Pictures, part of the Asacha Media Group.

Founder and Executive Chairman of Red Planet Pictures, Jordan, acts as showrunner, leading a team of writers – Amy Guyler, Ian Kershaw, Chloë Mi Lin Ewart - working across the 6x60 series. Tony Jordan, Tim Key and Belinda Campbell are executive producers for Red Planet Pictures, and Diederick Santer and Tommy Bulfin are executive producers for BritBox International and BBC respectively. The series is produced by Lindsay Hughes, directed by Sandy Johnson and Matt Carter. BBC Studios brokered the co-production deal with Britbox International and handle international distribution.

(x)

[love-shall-not]

I used to use this poem when teaching cadets the basics of computer programming in the early 1990s

This podcast by Tim Hartford is an interesting counterpoint to this poem: https://timharford.com/2023/07/the-coup-the-poet/

[blogger360ncislarules]

Filming has commenced for the eagerly anticipated third series of the hit crime drama Beyond Paradise.

Co-commissioned with BritBox International and coming to BBC iPlayer and BBC One, the new series will deliver more intriguing puzzles for the Shipton Abbott team to solve. Fans will also be thrilled to reunite with Humphrey and Martha, who nearly tied the knot last series, as they continue their heartfelt fostering journey.

As winners of Best New Drama at this year’s TV Choice Awards, the series continues to be one of the UK’s most watched dramas.

The third series will see the return of Kris Marshall as DI Humphrey Goodman, Sally Bretton as Martha Lloyd, Zahra Ahmadi as DS Esther Williams, Dylan Llewellyn as PC Kelby Hartford, Barbara Flynn as Anne Lloyd, Felicity Montagu as Margo Martins, Jade Harrison as CS Charlie Woods, and Melina Sinadinou as Zoe Williams. Jamie Bamber will also reprise his role as the charming Archie Hughes who is back following his departure from Shipton Abbott at the end of series one.

Set against the idyllic backdrops of Devon and Cornwall, there are plenty of cases to keep the team on their toes, including a body found in the river on the county border, a baffling chocolate box poisoning, a historic farming feud and a spiking incident on the water.

Away from the police station, Martha and Humphrey must overcome unexpected hurdles as foster parents, while the reappearance of Martha’s old flame Archie presents an unexpected challenge. While Esther navigates a surprise encounter in her private life, a health scare for Anne stirs up painful memories, and Kelby embarks on a journey of personal growth.

Tim Key, Executive Producer, Red Planet Pictures says: “We are delighted to be back in the beautiful South West, filming what promises to be our strongest series yet, packed full of mysteries, surprises, challenges and lots of heart. We love making the show and the audience response to it is fantastic, and it’s especially exciting to welcome back Jamie Bamber to Shipton Abbott– we can’t wait for everyone to see what we’ve been up to.”

Created by Robert Thorogood and Tony Jordan, Beyond Paradise is a co-commission between the BBC and BritBox International and is produced by Red Planet Pictures, part of the Asacha Media Group company, which was recently acquired by Fremantle. Tony Jordan, Tim Key and Belinda Campbell are executive producers for Red Planet Pictures, Danielle Scott-Haughton for the BBC and Robert Schildhouse and Stephen Nye for BritBox International. Lindsay Hughes is producer.

Beyond Paradise is internationally distributed by BBC Studios, with series one and two successfully selling to 135 territories worldwide to date.

The first and second series of Beyond Paradise are available to watch now on iPlayer in the UK, and on BritBox International in North America and the Nordic markets.

[newsingit]

Why the breakdown of the 9-to-5 job is making us lonelier Tim Hartford 26/11/2023

blame the Soviet economist Yuri Larin, who in May 1929 proposed the idea of nepreryvka, the “continuous work week”.

But the problem was obvious enough. How could a sports team meet to play on a rest day morning? Or a choir get together to sing? What if one spouse was a yellow and another spouse a green?

All very pleasant, but one risk is that they end up doing all these things alone. When we all worked 9-to-5 at the office, we could bond together in the canteen, meet up for a drink after work on Friday, and feel confident that not only would we be free on Sunday but that all of our friends would be free too. Now everything is out of step: you can do what you want, but good luck finding someone who happens to be free at the same time to do it with you.

[esotericfaery]

Winter Reading Picks, 2023: Top 11 Novels (Middle-Grade, Teen & Adult)

It's colder and will only get even more cold in the Northern Hemisphere. So here are my top reads for this year. Get your tea, coffee, cat, dog, and the comfiest spot on the couch. In no particular order, here are my top shelf novels of the year.

TLDR: ★★★★★ "Cleo McCarthy Time Travel and Other Impossible Things", by Michael Poeltl ★★★★★ "Journey to Jumbalot", by Ryan Wakefield ★★★★★ Seven Sisters of Avalon, "Book 7: Jasmine of Avalon" & the finale, "Book 8: Violet of Avalon", by Katrina Rasbold. ★★★★★ "Emma’s Dragon, Book 2: London and Pemberley", by M. Verant ★★★★★ "The Between State", by Joseph A White Jr ★★★★★ "Wilde Grove: Golden Heart", by Katherine Genet ★★★★★ "The Other AJ Hartford", by Addison Michael ★★★★★ "The Byways: A Novel", by Mary Pascual ★★★★★ "A Gift of Leaf", by H.A. May

Best four-star reads of the year; for when you run out of other novels:

★★★★ "Follow the Shadows: The Tales of Moerden Book 1", by Rosemary Drisdelle ★★★★ "The Possibilities", by Yael Goldstein-Love

~~~

★★★★★ "Cleo McCarthy Time Travel and Other Impossible Things", by Michael Poeltl

"Poeltl's ability to weave romance, mystery, and pure science fiction-based subplots into one riveting adventure is what makes Cleo McCarthy: Time Travel And Other Impossible Things a one-of-a-kind reading experience." - Readers' Favorite 5-star review The first time Cleo feared for her life was when she was diagnosed with early-onset Parkinson’s at 23. The second time is when she discovered she could travel back in time at 24. While she is offered guidance from fellow time traveler Franklin, she is plagued by a fragmented message transmitted through white noise. Cleo’s best friend Bobby, a physicist, is recruited to help her and Franklin make sense of what’s happening, but despite their successes, Cleo’s constant jumping backward in time delays their progress. Once the message is received in its entirety – and more than one harsh realization is discovered - the three friends race against time to right the wrongs disclosed in the cryptic message. But one of these friends is not like the others, offering an additional obstacle to an already impossible situation. Burdened with an unlimited number of do-overs, Cleo McCarthy finds herself asking, how much time is enough?

Unlike some of the time travel novels coming out in recent years, this one goes a bit differently than expected, and that's a good thing.

The writing style lacks all pretentiousness, by drawing you immediately into the story. You keep guessing, and your attention is held. The characters have their own distinct personalities and motivations. Isn't it amazing how many novels in the past few years can't accomplish these simple things? If a time-travel junkie like me, or even if only slightly interested in the subject, definitely add this one to your reading list.

Another thing that's uncommon, is doing romance right in novels; avoiding that tired old instalove trope. And this novel nails it.

There's one part near the end that's just... Multi-dimensionaly beautiful. I won't spoil you any more than that.

Buy it at Kobo Buy it at Amazon

~~~

(I'm including some books in here which are from previous years, yet which were only put on Netgalley for Advance Reader Copy [aka: ARC] reviews this year.)

★★★★★ "Journey to Jumbalot", by Ryan Wakefield

A glowing doorway. A lost friend. Will one loyal pet turn out to be the hero of the hour? Alby the housecat has no desire for adventure. Rescued by the kindly Professor Wizoom, he’s grateful to be safe and lazy. But when his master vanishes through a magical door, the scaredy cat summons what little courage he has and races in after him. Stuck in a strange land of mixed-together animals, Alby teams up with an irritating froguar to locate his missing owner. But when he’s mistaken for a spy, the lonely cat finds himself caught in a war between wolvaraptor pirates and noble tigeroon knights! Can the timid feline conquer his worries in time to save the day? Journey to Jumbalot is an award-winning, action-packed middle grade fantasy novel. If you like talking animals, daring deeds, and enchanted worlds, then you’ll love Ryan Wakefield’s illustrated quest. Buy Journey to Jumbalot to learn to be brave today! Amazon, ★★★★★ GoodReads, ★★★★★ Kids’ BookBuzz, ★★★★★ Readers’ Favorite, ★★★★★ 2022 Readers' Favorite International Book Award: Gold Medal for Children's Preteen Fantasy 2021 Royal Palm Literary Award Competition: Gold Award for Published Fantasy Mom's Choice Awards: Gold Recipient for Excellence in Family-friendly Media, Products, and Services Global Book Awards: Silver Medal for Children's Action and Adventure Category

I enjoyed this charming middle-grade / all ages fantasy adventure which is filled with strange and interesting creatures, and has just enough whimsy. The weird characters in this new world were inventive mixes of real animals. The technology is cool too.

This book is good enough that if there's a sequel, I'll read it even if I don't get an ARC.

~~~

Seven Sisters of Avalon has been a favoured series of mine since it begun. Though it's always best to start with book one of a series, as nuance will be lost, I feel these can also be enjoyed as stand-alone novels.

This series, while not gratuitous, is for adults only.

★★★★★ Jasmine of Avalon & the finale, Violet of Avalon, by Katrina Rasbold.

The seventh book in the Seven Sisters of Avalon series follows Jasmine, the priestess who sees no distinction between magic - the world into which she was born - and her lifelong passion of science and anatomy. Sent to Dumnonia to marry the warrior king, Bledric, Jasmine’s journey takes one startling turn after another as she navigates the complicated relationships within her new family, both married and chosen. As with all the books in this series, Jasmine’s story includes elements of one of our favorite classic tales woven into the fabric of post-Arthurian historical lore, leading us solidly into book eight’s dynamic conclusion of this incredible saga. In this, the cataclysmic finale of the Seven Sisters of Avalon series, we follow the compelling story of a woman confined to a tower prison at the mercy of a king who might be serial murderer. To establish her value and attempt to delay her impending death, our heroine enchants the king with compelling and seemingly fantastical tales that he finds just might be true. With elements of the classic tales of Rapunzel, Bluebeard, & Scheherazade, Violet of Avalon takes us on a fast-paced journey that ultimately leads us back to Avalon and to the startling conclusion of this incredible series. As a bonus for fans of the Seven Sisters of Avalon series, this book contains additional information about the previous stories you read and loved to add a new layer of insight about the first seven books. This book contains spoiler information about vital plotlines of the first seven books. Although the other books in the series work well as stand-alone stories, the author and publisher recommend reading Violet of Avalon after completing the first seven books. Seven Sisters of Avalon book series (in reading order): The Daughters of Avalon Rose of Avalon Aster of Avalon Iris of Avalon Lily of Avalon Dahlia of Avalon Jasmine of Avalon Violet of Avalon This series follows the stories of the royal family of Avalon, starting with The Daughters of Avalon and continuing with each of the seven priestesses and their individual stories as, under the instruction of the Druid and Elder Priestesses of Avalon, they go into the Britain Beyond Avalon to negotiate with the leaders of seven different kingdoms to ensure the safety of Goddess worshipping people in Britain. Each book draws on post-Arthurian fictional canon as well as classic fairy tales and popular fiction, including elements of Snow White, Robin Hood, Rumpelstiltskin, Mulan, Alice in Wonderland, Cinderella, The Pied Piper, Frankenstein, Bluebeard, Rapunzel, and Beauty and the Beast. The Daughters of Avalon sets up the series, introducing Lilian, the Lady of the Lake, and Brannon, the Merlin Reborn. Their epic love story sets the stage for the adventures of their seven daughters, presented over the course of the next seven books.

It's difficult to put into words how enthralling this series was. I was hooked from book one, and deeply invested. I've read many series' incorporating Avalon, yet this is my favourite. Yes, it's better than Marion Zimmer Bradleys Avalon series, (and not just because of the controversy surrounding her.) This series kept me guessing, and like a heroin addict, wishing that other pagan novels I tried to read or re-read, could be as great. Here's an author to keep an eye out for.

~~~

★★★★★ Emma’s Dragon, Book 2: London and Pemberley, by M. Verant

This book is great as a stand-alone, or after having read the first.

Emma Woodhouse needs a dragon. Her life depends on it. But Emma’s dragon is claimed… by Elizabeth Darcy. When Emma Woodhouse meets newly wed Elizabeth, a brush of their gloved hands unmasks the Darcys’ fantastic secret. Emma has discovered Yuánchi, the deadly dragon coveted by both Emperor Napoleon and England’s Secretary of War. Luckily, secrets are nothing new for Emma. She has her own: a deathbed promise, and a clever plan to achieve it. The Darcys’ power, forbidden to her, might even help. But clever plans can go astray. As treason stalks a royal ball, an avenging queen rises to ravage England. Survival rests on a fabled alliance: Emma and her secrets, Elizabeth and her dragon, and the magical music of Mary Bennet and Georgiana Darcy. Will Emma, Elizabeth, and Mary unravel the mystery of the great wyves in time to save England and themselves? Emma’s Dragon is the second book in the award-winning Jane Austen Fantasy series. This boldly original story is filled with magical dragons, strong heroines, and a brilliantly reimagined Regency that challenges barriers of class, race, and love. Don’t miss this thrilling, romantic fantasy!

As with book 1, these retellings of "Pride and Prejudice", and "Emma" with dragons are actually improvements on the classics. It's better than the other regency or victorian romances which incorporate dragons or other fantasy elements. A few surprisingly nice moments were Elizabeth and Darcy handfasting; loving the pagan vibe, plus the hint of romance developing between two who you wouldn't expect. Filled with thrills, mystery, whimsy and, of course, romance, it makes me highly anticipate the next in the series.

~~~

★★★★★ The Between State, by Joseph A White Jr

When Jeff, a computer software professional, repeatedly awakes inside realistic dreams in which he's inside the mind of a young woman, he struggles to find a rational explanation. The woman, he discovers, is real, and he becomes an unwilling time traveler periodically thrust two years into his past, where he experiences her life through her senses. An expert logician, he battles with the limitations of logic in his efforts to uncover the explanation for why he has become immersed in this new, supranatural world. Does he have a role to play in helping this woman escape her troubled past and move towards a future of serenity and hope?

I couldn't put this book down. It ends with one question still unanswered, yet ends satisfyingly. Maybe there will be a sequel, but even if there isn't, I would consider buying other subsequent books by this author.

~~~

★★★★★ Wilde Grove: Golden Heart, by Katherine Genet

A new wind is blowing. Selena makes the decision to take Rue to Wilde Grove, to get to the heart of her dreaming, for it is certain that Rue has lived before as a priestess of Wilde Grove. But what is the lesson Rue needs to learn? With Morghan giving Rue a crash course in walking between the worlds, the story behind Rue's dreaming cannot remain a mystery for long. She will walk the same paths she did long ago, in another skin, and find out exactly what Bryn, one of the first priestesses of the Forest Grove wants from her. Back in New Zealand, a loss is suffered, and a shock, one that brings Selena straight back home, for someone is screaming out to Clover from the spirit world for help that the child is too young and frightened to give.

Here's another Pagan novel series to really get into, which can be enjoyed as a standalone novel, yet is better when reading the series in order. Here's where it begins, and here's where it continues, leading to Golden Heart.

This series starts during the first year of covid (I know, I know, annoying, yet bear with me), and is a modern tale of an English village, and the relationships between the Christians and the Pagans. The characters are realisticly multi-faceted, and the stories of spirituality, mystery, healing and love are enthralling. There is none of that nonsense in many books where all of one side, or all of the other, are unrealistically painted as evil.

Then there's a prequel series, where we can see characters who were only mentioned, some of the original characters at younger ages, and new young people are added to the mix. There are several mature themes related to various forms abuse, and though not gratuitous, I recommend this series for teens and above.

~~~

★★★★★ The Other AJ Hartford, by Addison Michael

A phantom on a train. A mysterious kidnapping long ago. Can she connect the dots before all her futures disappear forever? AJ Hartford is content. With both a teaching job and a teenage daughter she adores, the thirty-something divorcée has settled away from high drama and into wonderfully normal happiness. But her ordinary days turn upside down when she’s chased by a sinister stranger… and runs into a ghostly version of herself. Learning her doppelgänger is from another universe where she was murdered in the future, the sentimental mother panics when she discovers it triggered a lethal domino effect. And if she can’t save her uncanny visitor from being killed in yet another dimension, all the AJs who ever were and their families will be permanently erased from existence. With the lives of herself and her beloved child on the line, can she escape into a second reality and rescue the past? The Other AJ Hartford is an action-packed multidimensional science fiction thriller. If you like good-hearted heroines, ghostly phenomena, and nail-biting high stakes, then you’ll love Addison Michael’s mind-blowing adventure.

An entertaining time travel novel that held my attention. I liked how the romance actually adds to the story. Many novels these days, including both those for teens and those for adults, are falsely advertised as being thrillers or sci-fi, when really they are only romance novels with a bit more (too little) of real subtance added in.

~~~

★★★★★ The Byways: A Novel, by Mary Pascual

Neurodivergent high school student CeeCee Harper has a temper and a reputation for trouble. Angry at the rumors and afraid she’ll never fit in, she makes a wrong move—and lands in the byways, a world of alleys, magic, and forgotten people . . . some that aren’t even human. And if she doesn’t escape quickly, CeeCee learns, she’ll be trapped for good. Searching for a way out, she gets lost among monsters, drug pushers, the homeless, and political upheaval, and soon finds there are those who will stop at nothing to keep her from leaving. But the byways pull people in for a reason. CeeCee must figure out why she got stuck in the first place—before her loved ones are put in danger and she loses them forever. A dark retelling of Alice in Wonderland meets Neverwhere , this contemporary fantasy will enchant Neil Gaiman and Christina Henry fans.

A solid fantasy adventure with a bit of thriller and a bit of whimsy. If there's a sequel, I'll read it.

~~~

★★★★★ A Gift of Leaf (Chronicles of Leaf #1), by H.A. May

Jinny Morai, is a foundling, wrenched from her foster parents as a young child to slave in the darkness of the Library caves of the Holtanbore, the black labyrinth under the Royal Great Tree. Every night she has a strange mental visitor who begs incessantly. One day Jinny discovers two stones, catalysts which change her life completely. One, a broken amulet hidden in a nest of leaves is much too pretty to throw away, the other, a mailed egg, is much too strange. Incredibly, a baby dragon is hatched from the strange egg. Because of this, Jinny sees daylight for the first time accompanied by Quaryk, a young Mage, who takes her up to the Bole to meet the Triad of Mages there. While her dragon, Sprout, is growing up, they live with Quaryk’s family. A year later, summoned by the Three, she returns to the bole and is raised to Magehood. There she is visited by the Woodspirit who identifies her as the one who may find the missing half of the amulet. But Jinny is anxious - as just a foundling and ex-slave, how can she find the lost half of the stone?And how can she rid Leaf of threat of the Necromancer, Dark Mage, and monster who wiped out the race of dragons long ago? Finally meeting her long-lost foster family, she finds the courage to make a decision. But is she up to the task of finding the only hope, the missing half of the stone, which will restore the Talisman, the most powerful amulet known on Leaf? And, more importantly, who is Jinny Morai, exactly?

I really enjoyed this whimsical middle-grade / teen novel. The relationship between Jinny and Sprout is really cute, and I'm curious to see what happens next in this adventure story.

~~~

Best four-star reads of the year; for when you run out of other novels:

~~~

★★★★ Follow the Shadows: The Tales of Moerden Book 1, by Rosemary Drisdelle

When Marise Leeson gets her hands on a crystal ball, she believes her knowledge of Wicca is about to expand. The magic, however, goes horribly wrong. In short order, she’s thrown into an alternate world, attacked by a dragon, and rescued by Javeer, a young male dragon in search of a friend. Marise is desperate to get home alive. Instead of dabbling in scrying and spells, she must now use her Wicca skills to survive in Moerden―navigating rival dragon factions, riding Javeer without falling, and dodging unknown perils of an alien landscape. Through a series of adventures and mishaps, she learns that the dragons face slow extinction from a mysterious disease. Some see Marise as part of the cause. Some hope she’s a key to a cure. Marise grows up fast as her focus switches from escape from Moerden to saving the dragons. She draws upon her powers, intuition, and some help from home as she and Javeer begin a quest to solve the puzzle of the stagger. If they survive, and if their trust and courage are strong, they may succeed. If they do not, the dragons of Moerden will cease to exist.

At first, the protagonist bothered me as some of her behaviour, as a teen, seemed immature. Yet there is character growth.

The dragons seem to have more distinct characterization than Marise, yet that didn't bother me much.

One of the things I really enjoyed were the funny, endearing parts between Marise and Javeer, including after they find out...well, you'll see ;). What she does for him is great. I also enjoyed how this is a story about a human helping sick dragons, and that the way the dragons and humans communicate is unusual.

Overall, this fantasy adventure novel held my attention, so whether or not I'm able to get an ARC, I'll read the sequel.

~~~

★★★★ The Possibilities, by Yael Goldstein-Love

A new mother ventures into parallel worlds to find her missing child in this mind-bending novel that turns the joys and anxieties of parenthood into an epic quest. "A bravura, unforgettable performance."--Namwali Serpell, author of The Furrows What if the life you didn't live was as real as the one you did? Hannah is having a bad day. A bad month. A bad year? That feels terrible to admit, since her son Jack was born just eight months ago and she loves him more than anything. But ever since his harrowing birth, she can't shake the feeling that it could have gone the other way. That her baby might not have made it. Terrifying visions of the different paths her life could have taken begin to disrupt her cozy, claustrophobic days with Jack, destabilizing her marriage and making her husband concerned for her mental health. Are the strange things Hannah is seeing just new-mom anxiety, or is something truly weird and sinister afoot? What if Hannah really did unlock a dark force during childbirth? When Hannah's worst nightmare comes true and Jack disappears from his crib, she must tap into an extraordinary ability she never knew she had in order to save him: She must enter different versions of her life while holding on to what is most important to her in this one to bring her child back home. From the intimate joys of parenthood to the cosmic awe of the multiverse, The Possibilities is an ingenious and wildly suspenseful novel that stares down into the dizzying depths of maternal love, vulnerability, and strength. I couldn't put this multiple universes novel down; it kept my attention throughout.

The only thing I would have wanted different, was how it was all resolved so quickly, with little to no explanation, and with...Well, I won't spoil you.

[parkerbombshell]

Rules Free Radio Sept 11 2023

Tuesdays 2pm - 5pm  EST Rules Free Radio With Steve  Caplan bombshellradio.com On the next Rules Free Radio with Steve Caplan, we'll hear new music from a few older artists including The Rolling Stones, The Pretenders, and The Cyrkle. Other new music includes Speedfossil, Sunbirds, Little Roger, Young Hasselhoffs, Jeff Rosenstock, Darlingside, Slowdive, Turnpike Troubadours, Becca Mancari, and a couple of others. Music by The Beach Boys, NRBQ, The Smithereens, The Who, Elvis Costello, The Rave-ups, Graham Parker, The Weeklings, Bob Dylan, early Moody Blues, and a bunch more. In the last hour, we’ll do a tribute to the late Jimmy Buffett with a few of his early songs mixed in with a bunch of singer-songwriters including a few he was associated with. The Cyrkle - We Thought We Could Fly The Beach Boys - Do It Again The Rolling Stones - Angry The Rave-ups - Positively Lost Me Speedfossil - Stuckinarut The Smithereens - Time And Time Again The Beatles - Hold Me Tight NRBQ - You Can't Hide Little Roger - Cover Girl Elvis Costello - Girls Talk Sunbirds - Make Up Your Mind Young Hasselhoffs - You Belong To Me Graham Parker - Heat Treatment Jeff Rosenstock - 3 Summers Danny The K - The Skateaway The Who - The Kids Are Alright Slowdive - Chained To A Cloud Laika - Almost Sleeping Gem Club - Breakers Darlingside - Can't Help Falling Apart The Truth - I Go To Sleep The Moody Blues - I Don't Mind The Weeklings - It's For You Pretenders - I Think About You Daily Turnpike Troubadours - Lucille Bob Dylan - Sara Mick Harvey & Amanda Acevedo - The Decadence of Lust Becca Mancari - Mexican Queen Anita Lane - I Love You, I Am No More Jimmy Buffett - I Can't Be Your Hero Today Jim & Ingrid Croce - Another Day, Another Town John Hartford - A Simple Thing As Love Fred Neil - Everybody's Talkin' John Prine - Everybody Wants To Feel Like You Little Feat - Trouble Jimmy Buffett - Havaña Daydreamin' Jesse Winchester - Yankee Lady Steve Goodman - Yellow Coat Gordon Lightfoot - Softly Tim Hardin - Misty Roses Jimmy Buffett - The Captain And The Kid Mary Chapin Carpenter - The End Of My Pirate Days Jimmy Buffet - A Pirate Looks At Forty Otis Redding - (Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay Read the full article

[krispyweiss]

Album Review: Tim O’Brien - Cup of Sugar

Somewhat of a departure, yet still close to home, Cup of Sugar finds Tim O’Brien on both sides of the fence where the grass is blue and greener.

It’s also - for the first time in his decades-long career - an album of all original songs.

Primarily a bluegrass musician, O’Brien, who wrote or co-wrote the 13 tracks, strays far from his chosen genre - drums, keys and pedal steel are all part of the mix alongside banjo, fiddle, mandolin and guitar. He swings New Orleans style on the drudgery-is-better-than-death, workingman’s blues of “The Pay’s a Lot Better Too” and goes out to the country with his wife, Jan Fabricius, with whom he duets on the marriage-as-malaise ballad “She Can’t, He Won’t and They’ll Never.”

But all’s not doom and gloom around this Cup of Sugar and O’Brien turns to the animal kingdom for comical analogies as he explores ecology on the funky “Bear;” avoids the bait of heartbreak on the swaggering “Thinkin’ Like a Fish” and chronicles the passage of time on “Little Lamb, Little Lamb.”

I was young once/but I won’t be young again/you wouldn’t understand/little lamb little lamb, he sings.

Bluegrass aficionados get their fill, too, as Del McCoury lends his high lonesome to the sonic hootenanny that is “Let the Horses Run” and the ghost of John Hartford haunts the fiddle-centric “Diddleye Day.”

Grade card: Tim O’Brien - Cup of Sugar - B+

7/11/23

[goalhofer]

2022-23 Hartford Wolf Pack Playoff Stat Leaders

Games Played: Anton Blidh, Ryan Carpenter, Will Cuylle, Turner Elson, Ty Emberson, Tanner Fritz, Tim Gettinger, Zac Jones, Wyatt Kalynuk, Will Lockwood, Lauri Pajuniemi, Brandon Scanlin & Bobby Trivigno (9) Goals: Lauri Pajuniemi (4) Assists: Tanner Fritz (9) Points: Tanner Fritz (10) +/-: Anton Blidh (+11) PIM: Adam Clendening (24) Games Played (Goalie): Dylan Garand (8) Wins (Goalie): Dylan Garand (5) Fewest Losses (Goalie): Louis Boileau-Domingue (1) Fewest Goals Allowed (Goalie): Louis Boileau-Domingue (3) Saves: Dylan Garand (202) GAA: Dylan Garand (1.76) SV%: Dylan Garand (.935) Shutouts: Dylan Garand (2)

[mood2you]

(ID: Page 156 and 157 of The Data Detective by Tim Hartford: "the algorithm to disregard--for example, flu cases turned out to be correlated with searches for "high school basketball." there's no mystery about hwy both fly and high school basketball tend to get going in the middle of November. But it meant that fly Trends was part fly detector, part winter detector. That became a problem when there was an outbreak of summer fly in 2009: Google Fly Trends, eagerly scanning for signs of winter and finding nothing, missed the nonseasonal outbreak, as true cases were four times higher than fly Trends was estimating.

The "winter detector" problem is common in big-data analyses. a literal example, via computer scientist Sameer Signh, is the pattern recognition algorithm that was shown many photo of wolves in the wild, and many photos of pet husky dogs. the algorithm seemed to be really good at distinguishing the two rather similar canines; it turned out that it was simply labeling any picture with snow as containing a wolf. An example with more serious implications was described by Janelle Shane in her book "You Look Like a Thing And I Love You": an algorithm was shown pictures of healthy skin and the skin of cancer. The algorithm figured out the pattern: if there was a ruler in the photograph, it was cancer. If we don't know WHY the algorithm is doing what it's doing, we're trusting our lives to a ruler detector.

Figuring out what causes what is hard--impossible, some say. Figuring out what is correlated with that is much cheaper and easier. And some big-data enthusiasts--such as Chris Anderson, author of that provocative article in "Wired" magazine--have argued that it pointless to look beyond correlations. "View data mathematically first and establish a context of rit later," he wrote; the numbers speak for themselves. To rephrase Anderson's point unkindly, "If searches for high school basketball always pick up at the same time as fly cases, it doesn't really matter why."

But it DOES matter, because a theory-free analysis of mere correlation is inevitably fragile. If you have no idea what is behind a correlation, you have no idea what might cause that correlation to break down.

After the summer fly problem of 2009, the accuracy of Flu Trends collapse completely at the end of 2012. It's not clear why. One theory is that the news was full of scary stories about the fly in December 2012, and these stories might have provoked internet searches form people who were healthy. Another possible explanation is a change in Google's own search algorithm: it began automatically suggesting diagnoses when people entered medical symptoms, and this will have changed what they typed in to Google in a way that might have foxed the Flu Trends model. It's quite possible that Google could have figured out what the problem was and found a way to make the algorithm works about in if they'd wanted to, but they just decided it wasn't worth the trouble, expense, and risk of failure.

Or maybe not. The truth is, external researchers have been forced to guess at exactly what went wrong, because they don't have the information to know for sure. google shares some data with researchers and indeed makes some data freely available to anyone. But it isn't going to release all is data to you, or me, or anyone else.

Two good books with pride of place on my bookshelf tell the story of how our view of big data evolved over just a few short years.

One, published in 2013, is "Big Data" by Kenneth Cukier and Viktor Mayer-Schonberger. It reports many examples of how cheap sensors, huge datasets, and pattern-recognizing algorithm were, to paraphrase the book's subtitle, "Transforming How We Live, Work, and Think." The triumphant example of authors chose to begin their story? Google Fly Trends. The collapse became apparent only after the book had gone to print." End ID.)

If correlations is not causation then explain why do wolves have pelts and bichon frisés have curls? Because wolves were taken in out of the snow and created dogs

Actually a fun algorithm would be a dog breed guesser with mutt as a breed. But if you don't train the mutts to photograph like show dogs then the algorithm will use posture against them. You know how show dogs stand in profile with their back legs stretch out?

(ID: A picture of a gray and white pitbull with its chest facing forward and the rest of it in profile. With no background, with one back leg bent and one strethced out, and its back sloped perfectly. Another photo of a red pitbull in a nice yard, panting and standing in perfect profile with its back legs stretche dout subtly to get the back slope.)

That's a good trick to teach any dog "stand funny!" Could be the new "stop" freeze! As a kid I would always do a crazy pose I guess because if you got shot with an ice beam you'd probably either try to run or stop it with your hands. Really. If you think about it. Freeze! Sticks my leggies out real far.