Like all the posts in my 2023 reads list, this comes at a lag, meaning I read this a while back—though in this case, a while back is just last week. Uninhabitable Earth is about as depressing as you would expect it to be.
See that image above? That’s a map of heavily populated places where, by 2050, it’s estimated mass flooding is very likely to occur on a yearly basis by 2050. (It’s taken from here.) The relevance to this book review will be clear, if you read on. I will start by saying that I wrote this long reflection on what is ultimately an obscure novel about a refugee crisis in Britain back in November, when illness forced me to rest for a couple of days and I finally read it after having it around for literally decades and never having gotten …
August is RPGaDay month. Yep, a month solid of RPG-related posts, answering these questions: Today’s question is this: Which RPG is the easiest for you to run? That really depends on what we mean by “easiest,” doesn’t it? If we mean “least difficult to implement the rules in play”: Early editions of D&D, or the modern variants and retroclones based on them. Long experience has hardwired a lot of stuff into my head, and the aesthetic of the game is similarly settled. These days, for me, LotFP is the system I use for that. If we mean “easiest to get …
Over at The Week, a depressing piece on the horrors up North, titled “North Korea isn’t Nazi Germany — in some ways, it’s worse”: Unless North Korea invades or bombs another country, or China gives up its patronage of the Hermit Kingdom, it’s hard to see much concrete coming out of the report. Paul Whitefield at the Los Angeles Times remembers the post-Holocaust slogan, “Never Again,” then throws up his hands in resignation: So what should the world do? What can the world do? Must we accept that in North Korea, basic freedoms — even such a simple thing as the right not …
One Good Turn: Eugie Foster is fighting lymphoma, and could use a hand, if you’re so inclined… she has some ebooks for sale, which will help her pay for her treatment. I picked up a couple, and figured I’d pass the word on while I’m at it. Literary: Ever been curious to check out Baudelaire? Don’t know which translator(s) most suit your tastes? FleursduMal.org is the site for you. You can read different translations of each of the poems from each edition, and make up your own mind! An interview with my friend Christine Lee Zilka and her coeditor at Kartika, …
Interesting details gleaned from Tania: Memories of a Lost World by Tania Alexander (daughter of the infamous Moura Budberg, about whom I have posted before, many times, all the way back to 2006, as part of a story I am once again about to begin revising, after finishing a draft in 2010): during World War I, what was Russian high society doing? There were no official parties or embassy balls for the duration of the war, but right up to the October 1917 Revolution it was possible to maintain the outward appearances of social life, and restaurants and gypsy taverns …
By the way, the fact that there are still mosquitos flying around is what it is, but I’m wondering: has anyone noticed how different the mosquitoes of October are looking? They’re paler, and they have more prominent striping on their abdomens. I’m wondering if this is just a feature of Korean mosquitoes I never noticed before, or whether they’re young mosquitoes (though they’re kinda big, really), or perhaps this is some other species that’s spread North. And, of course, should the latter be the case, I’m curious about the different pathogenic profile of this new type of mosquito. Not to …
Well, it rained like the flood was a-comin’ yesterday. Took me two hours to get somewhere not-that-far away, but along the way I saw some things that convinced me some people out there–especially those who live in basements–will not be having a very good Chuseok. (And I didn’t even think of the people traveling to their hometowns, either, which this article mentions.) In Yeokgok, I don’t think there’s a lot of that. Still, I think Yeokgok was far from the worst-hit area. I mean, look at the photo in this report! (Or even worse here on Twitpic.) We were not wading …