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lastrobot

@[email protected]

Rides ampersands downhill, sled-style, without the brakes. #Poet. Tech worker. Occasional #gamer. #sailor. Crafty in that #knit #crochet #tat way. I'm sometimes in Calgary; sometimes in St. John's. She/her.

My posts evaporate. C'est la vie!

I don't follow back accounts with no posts nor profile info.

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. View on remote instance

@lastrobot@writing.exchange avatar lastrobot , to random

Afghan of Green Gables

@Gargron@mastodon.social avatar Gargron , to random

Today I am stepping down from my role as the CEO of . Though this has been in the works for a while, I can't say I've fully processed how I feel about it. There is a bittersweet part to it, and I think I will miss it, but it also felt necessary. It feels like a goodbye, but it isn't—I intend to stay on and continue to advise the new leadership and contribute, because Mastodon—and the fediverse—is one of the very few beacons of hope for a better web.

https://blog.joinmastodon.org/2025/11/my-next-chapter-with-mastodon/

lastrobot ,
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@Gargron Thanks for building something for us, and not for our corporate overlords.

@arstechnica@mastodon.social avatar arstechnica , to random

Judge smacks down Texas AG’s request to immediately block Tylenol ads
The Texas lawsuit hinges on the unproven claim that Tylenol causes autism.
https://arstechnica.com/health/2025/11/judge-smacks-down-texas-ags-request-to-immediately-block-tylenol-ads/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social

lastrobot ,
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@arstechnica What did Tylenol do to piss off Trump?

@TheBreadmonkey@beige.party avatar TheBreadmonkey , to random

I feel sure it's normal to assign personalities to your cutlery, and seriously there is one fork that can just fuck all the way off

lastrobot ,
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@TheBreadmonkey Ah, yes. The fork with the wayward tine. The spoon with the oh-so-subtle nick that catches the lip. The knife that is attempting a trial separation from its handle. The Ikea cutlery that is total Goldilocks--too big or toooo small.
Why I don't jettison them, I don't know.

@w7voa@journa.host avatar w7voa , to random

CNN editor-in-chief Mark Thompson, following a While House meeting, sought to soften the news network’s coverage of President Trump’s demolition of the East Wing, claiming viewers aren’t that interested in the story, according to the Status newsletter.

lastrobot ,
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@w7voa The only people willing to tell Americans the truth is a few Reagan-focused ad producers from Canada.

@AnarchoNinaWrites@jorts.horse avatar AnarchoNinaWrites , to random

Brey, they don't come back. They simply do not come back. Nazis do not later on decide that they were wrong about all that Nazi shit. What they do is go very quiet around about the time people start unaliving nazis because "hello? It's fascism and they're fucking FASCISTS" and burn with seething resentment for the rest of their lives, plotting a return of their mythic past and Nazi bullshit - always, every time.

You can't even get rid of them, you can simply make them afraid. That's the SCORE.

lastrobot ,
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@AnarchoNinaWrites This year, I read Frauen: German Women Recall the Third Reich by Alison Owings. She interviewed so many women who were in Germany 1930s & 40s. My take away was: the ones who liked fascism when they were young, were still all-in when they were old ladies.

https://www.ubcpress.ca/frauen

@arstechnica@mastodon.social avatar arstechnica , to random

ChatGPT will soon allow erotic chats for verified adults only
Sam Altman claims new tools can detect mental distress while relaxing limits for adults.
https://arstechnica.com/ai/2025/10/chatgpt-will-soon-allow-erotic-chats-for-verified-adults-only/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social

lastrobot ,
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@arstechnica Verified adults.

@alice@lgbtqia.space avatar alice , to random

This seagull has no neck.

It's a grumpy looking seagull with no visible neck. I bet its name is Nugget. It looks like a Nugget.
ALT
lastrobot ,
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@alice Tis a cold wind blowing on that birb. Gulls hunch in the face of bitter cold.

@arstechnica@mastodon.social avatar arstechnica , to random

Hands-on with Fallout 76’s next expansion: Yep, it has Walton Goggins
TV tie-ins aside, it's the combat tweaks over the past year that really matter.
https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2025/10/hands-on-with-fallout-76s-next-expansion-yep-it-has-walton-goggins/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social

lastrobot ,
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@arstechnica Haven't watched the show. is like a an old friend at this point. My trusty tire iron in hand. Wandering the wasteland. Steering clear of all the NPCs and cities.

@fedora@fosstodon.org avatar fedora , to random

One of the best things to witness is seeing someone forget about their Windows partition. :)

Every success story shows that Fedora, and Linux in general, is continuing to push the desktop in the right direction - not only as an alternative to the mainstream options, but to what the desktop should have been all along.

https://www.xda-developers.com/dual-booted-fedora-kde-forgot-windows-installed/

lastrobot ,
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@fedora I have not booted Windows since January when the crap soup called Win-10-upgrade boiled over. Running Linux Mint on a USB. No issues. Super fast. 🤷

@lastrobot@writing.exchange avatar lastrobot , to bookstodon group

Picked up these at the bookstore. Don't know which to start first! Clearly I'm not in a cozy-read mood 😸
bookstodon@a.gup.pe icon bookstodon group

Two books lying face up. "Cursed Bread" by Sophie Macintosh, shows a young woman lying face down. Flower bouquet obscuring her face. And "Hurricane Season" by Fernanda Melchor, all black cover with white lightning zigzag through cover.
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lastrobot OP ,
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@lunalein bookstodon@a.gup.pe icon bookstodon group I suspected as much. 😸

@clacksee@wandering.shop avatar clacksee , to random

New month, new book thread…

My first read for August was I'll Never Tell by Philippa East.

Flawed but fundamentally decent characters just trying to do their best. A messed-up situation. Secrets and lies aplenty.

And the dog lives.

Review: https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/ee6f5bd5-6c9b-407e-852a-c14d398884b7?redirect=true

I'll Never Tell by Philippa East.
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lastrobot ,
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@clacksee bookstodon@a.gup.pe icon bookstodon group

Sidebar on the Boots Theory
I walk about 800 kms a year. Footwear just gets trashed with that kind of daily walking. It's true that the cheaper the quicker. But even more-expensive boots just get worn down.

If the boot is traditionally made & can have a cobbler resole it, then you get more wear. But many expensive hiking boots are molded synthetic soles that cannot be re-soled.

I hate getting rid of walking shoes after a year. But I also cannot keep walking in them 🤷

@lastrobot@writing.exchange avatar lastrobot , to bookstodon group

I have a couple of these Picador Modern Classics. These use a smaller format with a stiff cardboard cover. The book fits nicely in my smaller hand. Here the image shows The Great Fire by Shirley Hazzard. Contrast that with the much larger trade paperback In Memory of Memory by Maria Stepanova.
It's been a long long time since the size of a novel felt right. I realize I've been labouring under these trade paperback bricks. So heavy. So burdensome.

bookstodon@a.gup.pe icon bookstodon group

Photo of two books on a grey back ground. Smaller book: The Great Fire by Shirley Hazzard. Larger book: In Memory of Memory by Maria Stepanova.
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@lastrobot@writing.exchange avatar lastrobot , to bookstodon group
@lastrobot@writing.exchange avatar lastrobot , to bookstodon group

I'm reading Beautyland by Marie-Helene Bertino. It's like someone smashed a regular-joanne life story novel with an alien's anthropological reporting. Insightful. Tender. Always approaching, never landing.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beautyland

bookstodon@a.gup.pe icon bookstodon group

@lastrobot@writing.exchange avatar lastrobot , to bookstodon group

Re-started The Great Fire by Shirley Hazzard. Tried to read it last summer. Got 5 pages in and it disappeared into a warm weather bookhole.
This restart looks more robust. I'm on page 12 😂

bookstodon@a.gup.pe icon bookstodon group

https://lithub.com/the-great-fire/

@molly0xfff@hachyderm.io avatar molly0xfff , to random

as someone who likes to collect cool or new words, you would not believe my delight just now when i discovered my e-reader saves a list of all the words i look up while i’m reading

Vocabulary builder: iconoclast patrician denouement gantry encomiastic scrofulous sepulchre vicissitudes samovar eyrie verisimilitude cockaded fulminate euphony physiognomy labile moraine scrivener Diadem privation perdition epigram encomium torpor synecdoche taciturn balalaikas
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lastrobot ,
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@molly0xfff @Karen5Lund I made friends with a stranger at a work meeting when I muttered 'harbinger' to describe the enthusiasm Management was showing to to a bad idea.
Bonding over underused words 🌞

@lastrobot@writing.exchange avatar lastrobot , to bookstodon group

I'm reading "You Dreamed of Empires" by
Álvaro Enrigue. It's quite something. Would recommend.

bookstodon@a.gup.pe icon bookstodon group

@vmaderna@mastodon.art avatar vmaderna , to random

Another quick Rebelle test, coloring a pen & ink drawing. This is really my main interest for this stuff and it works really well so I'm happy.

Painting directly over ink requires a very clean drawing and my essential tremors and I just gotta have tons of white-out 😅

Ink drawing with digital color of a pig with a fishing pole and a bucket walking nest to a stream. By Victoria Maderna.

Ink drawing with digital color of a pig with a fishing pole and a bucket walking nest to a stream. By Victoria Maderna.
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lastrobot ,
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@vmaderna That was very peaceful to watch. Thanks!

@lunalein@federatedfandom.net avatar lunalein , to bookstodon group

What are the best books you've read in the first half of 2025 ?

I read over 100 books so far this year (because I'm out of control) and here are my top 5!

Gliff -- Ali Smith
Woodworking - Emily St James
The Hymn to Dionysus -- Natasha Pulley
One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This -- Omar El Akkad
The Buffalo Hunter Hunter -- Stephen Graham Jones

bookstodon@a.gup.pe icon bookstodon group

lastrobot ,
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@lunalein bookstodon@a.gup.pe icon bookstodon group

Hair for Men
Michelle Winters
202 pages • paperback • 2024

Loved and Missed
Susie Boyt
198 pages • paperback • 2022

Hotel Splendid
Marie Redonnet
117 pages • paperback • 1986

Frauen: German Women Recall the Third Reich
Alison Owings
536 pages • paperback • 1993

The Book of Goose
Yiyun Li
2022

Feed Them Silence
Lee Mandelo
105 pages • hardcover • 2023

@lastrobot@writing.exchange avatar lastrobot , to bookstodon group

Just restarted Marrow and Bone by Walter Kempowski
Had begun this last summer but never got beyond the first couple pages. This year I am in!!
bookstodon@a.gup.pe icon bookstodon group

@lastrobot@writing.exchange avatar lastrobot , to bookstodon group

I'm reading 'Hair for Men' by Michelle Winters. Really fits my mood.
I'd read her 'I'm a Truck' few years back. It was also quite good.
bookstodon@a.gup.pe icon bookstodon group

@wilander@mastodon.social avatar wilander , to bookstodon group

Do people really read 99k words in 7-8 hours? There are fast readers for sure, but this kind of metadata always puts me off. It kind of tells me I'm not a good (enough) reader. bookstodon@a.gup.pe icon bookstodon group

Screenshot of data about an ebook, saying 99k words / 336 pages takes 7-8 hours to read.
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lastrobot ,
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@wilander bookstodon@a.gup.pe icon bookstodon group If there's an audiobook, I check the runtime. That's how long it takes to read it aloud at human speeds 😸

lastrobot ,
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@wilander bookstodon@a.gup.pe icon bookstodon group
Also the read rate for me depends on the complexity of the writing.

Any fluffy beach read? Sure 6-7 hr for 99K words

José Saramago's "The History of the Siege of Lisbon"? Easily 14hr for 122K words - and big gaps in hours to ruminate in what the story means 😸

lastrobot ,
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@rpaulo @wilander bookstodon@a.gup.pe icon bookstodon group 😂 It's the book which sprang to mind when I mused about slower reads!!

@lastrobot@writing.exchange avatar lastrobot , to bookstodon group

I'm reading Rachel Kushner's "Creation Lake"
It's quite interesting but also cold AF.
Like someone sliced up modern life and formed letters.

bookstodon@a.gup.pe icon bookstodon group

@lastrobot@writing.exchange avatar lastrobot , to random

Matchbox yellow car
At intersection, revving
Hand of god, ready

yellow

@lastrobot@writing.exchange avatar lastrobot , to random

I've used @thestorygraph for a few years now. Mostly pretty happy. In the last month or so I am confronted by this "verifying if you are human.." page in my browser. I am logged in to TSG. The verification takes a while to run and makes me not want to open 😔

Why do I need to be verified EVERY TIME I access TSG?

Web browser screen capture. Shows TheStoryGraph url. Page has printed: Verifying you are human. This may take a few seconds. App.thestorygraph.com Needs to review the security of your connection before proceeding
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lastrobot OP ,
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@Funktious @thestorygraph bookstodon@a.gup.pe icon bookstodon group You may be right. Thanks!
They probably should let users know the why. 🌞

@ferngirl@det.social avatar ferngirl , to bookstodon group

Dear , I'm looking for - what's a book of short stories or a short(ish) novel you've enjoyed recently, in the genres of sci-fi / speculative or literary fiction? No big names please. Women / queer / neurodiverse writers interest me especially.

bookstodon@a.gup.pe icon bookstodon group

lastrobot ,
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@w7voa@journa.host avatar w7voa , to random

Our MSNBC segment about VOA has been bigfooted by the US-UK trade announcement.

lastrobot ,
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@w7voa

The forecast promised
A shell game of dirty clouds
There might yet be rain

@lastrobot@writing.exchange avatar lastrobot , to bookstodon group

I'm reading the novella "Hôtel Splendid" by Marie Redonnet. Perseverance in the face of decay and collapse. It is just the right mood.

https://www.themodernnovel.org/europe/w-europe/france/redonnet/hotel/

bookstodon@a.gup.pe icon bookstodon group

@lastrobot@writing.exchange avatar lastrobot , to random

Ive been reading a bunch of Tana French novels over the last few months:

The Searcher
The Hunter
The Trespasser
The Secret Place

I like the level of character development and sense of place she creates in these detective stories. Its a step above.

@molly0xfff@hachyderm.io avatar molly0xfff , to random

nothing like the panic when your hold on an audiobook with a two week waitlist becomes available when you’re 12% into another one

lastrobot ,
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@molly0xfff

This!! Waaaay too often. What do you do?

Me: Assess the desire for the book.
50% of books I place holds on are maybes. So I might let one slip and pick it up later.
But for highly desired books, I start mainlining the OL, and start tandem reading the NL.
😂

lastrobot ,
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@molly0xfff
Agreed. It's all about preference. I find most narrators too slow speaking so I love the ability to change the speed. I listen at 1.3 rate. Raised in a fast talking environment has conditioned me in ways I still am surprised to realize 🌞

@kenSwinson@indieweb.social avatar kenSwinson , to random

[Thread, post or comment was deleted by the author]

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    lastrobot ,
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    @kenSwinson Oh. I like it.

    @kenSwinson@indieweb.social avatar kenSwinson , to random

    [Thread, post or comment was deleted by the author]

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    lastrobot ,
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    @kenSwinson oh. I love it!!

    @lastrobot@writing.exchange avatar lastrobot , to bookstodon group

    I'm reading "In Memory of Memory" by
    Maria Stepanova (with Sasha Dugdale as translator).
    It's like a winding path in a quiet woods.

    bookstodon@a.gup.pe icon bookstodon group

    @arstechnica@mastodon.social avatar arstechnica , to random
    lastrobot ,
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    @arstechnica I want this novel, stat!!

    @lastrobot@writing.exchange avatar lastrobot , to random

    Year to date
    Finished Reading: 63 books
    That's about 2 books a week. With more in winter, fewer in summer.

    DNF: 26 (after at least 20%)
    DNF is higher if I include books where I ditched them after 20pages, usually due to poor writing quality.
    My days of reading till the end are long gone when a book is badly written or bores me.

    lastrobot OP ,
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    @ferngirl bookstodon@a.gup.pe icon bookstodon group Yup. 100%. I do really dislike DNFing a book I have paid for though 😔 Library DNFs sting less 😸

    @lastrobot@writing.exchange avatar lastrobot , to bookstodon group

    Hey, what's the writer or reader thoughts on allauthor.com?
    Anyone using it? What's good/bad?
    I'd love to hear about your experience. Thanks in advance!
    bookstodon@a.gup.pe icon bookstodon group