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@negative12dollarbill@techhub.social cover
@negative12dollarbill@techhub.social avatar

negative12dollarbill

@[email protected]

• Coder in Sydney, Gadigal land
• Bass/Rhythm/Lead guitar
• Bouba in the streets;Kiki in the sheets
• I run a couple of bots.
• I do #WebDev, currently working with a #perl system and learning #Golang at the same time, which is giving me mental whiplash

User image and header are both from the animated series "Gravity Falls" in which a fictional President of the USA issues a bill worth -$12.

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

Narayoni , to bookstodon
@Narayoni@mastodon.social avatar

Yup, no one messes with Granny! 🤣🤣
[Headology!]

@bookstodon

"The man raised his sword. Lightning speared down again and split a stone a few yards away, filling the air with smoke and the stink of burnt silicon. 'Missed,' he said smugly, and Granny saw his muscles tense as he prepared to bring the sword down. A look of extreme puzzlement crossed his face. He tilted his head sideways and opened his mouth, as if trying to come to terms with a new idea. His sword dropped out of his hand and landed point downwards in the peat. Then he gave a sigh and folded up, very gently, collapsing in a heap at Granny's feet. She gave him a gentle prod with her toe. 'Perhaps you weren't aware of what I was aiming at,' she whispered. 'Mother of the night, indeed!' The soldier who had tried to restrain the man stared in horror at the bloody dagger in his hand, and backed away. 'I-I-I couldn't let. He shouldn't of. It's – it's not right to,' he stuttered."--from Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett.

negative12dollarbill ,
@negative12dollarbill@techhub.social avatar

@Narayoni @bookstodon
Why are all the words underlined like that? And did Sir Terry really write "shouldn't of"?

negative12dollarbill ,
@negative12dollarbill@techhub.social avatar

@adriano @Narayoni @bookstodon
I checked and "shouldn't of" is in the original text, you're right.

That just leaves the question of why you post these things in that horrible font, annoying colour and with everything underlined.

negative12dollarbill , to bookstodon
@negative12dollarbill@techhub.social avatar

This is the most interesting book I've read in a long time, notwithstanding that I also feel punched in the gut.

Somewhere between “Flowers For Algernon”, “Of Mice And Men” and “Eleanor Oliphant”, a Japanese novel about childhood that might have you in tears.

@bookstodon

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/102214610-this-is-amiko-do-you-copy

infinitesoleil , to bookstodon
@infinitesoleil@federatedfandom.net avatar

I finally finished The Fortunes of Jaded Women by Carolyn Huynh. I meant to finish it during AANHPI month, but I got busy and distracted, so there’s that. I wanted to finish it by mid-June though, so I could start reading queer novels for Pride Month.

I’d give this book 4 stars. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

As the first person in my family to be born in the U.S., it was interesting reading the perspectives from the different generations of women (the refugees who fled to America during the Vietnam War and the first generation Americans who grew up having to toe the line between assimilating into American society and respecting familial traditions).

I learned some new Vietnamese words that I didn’t know before. For example, đặc biệt means special. In the book, someone’s mom always called her special in a demeaning way. I know đặc biệt from ordering rice and noodle dishes at Vietnamese restaurants.

@bookstodon

From: @infinitesoleil
https://federatedfandom.net/@infinitesoleil/112389349998574703

negative12dollarbill ,
@negative12dollarbill@techhub.social avatar

@infinitesoleil @bookstodon
You might be interested in this graphic novel:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42394599-the-magic-fish

stina_marie , to bookstadon
@stina_marie@horrorhub.club avatar

Day 13 challenge: Choose 20 that greatly influenced you. One per day, for 20 days. No explanations, no reviews, just covers*

(I've already been doing this over on Bluesky and am several days in, so I'm going to do my best to not get mixed up on the days I'm on 😆) @bookstadon

Day 13

negative12dollarbill ,
@negative12dollarbill@techhub.social avatar

@stina_marie @bookstadon Why bookstAdon not bookstOdon?

negative12dollarbill ,
@negative12dollarbill@techhub.social avatar

@stina_marie @bookstadon Oh wow it's a typo so common the gup.pe group has actually existed for years! I hope they have aliased the wrong one to the right one.

The NYT once spelled it "mastadon" in an article, which is just unforgivable. I wrote to complain.

dickrubin716 , to bookstodon
@dickrubin716@bookstodon.com avatar

I would love to get your thoughts and feedback on my from my latest book, The Challenges of Being Me. Do you like it? Does it capture your attention? Without knowing anything about the book, what genre would you say this cover best fits? @bookstodon

negative12dollarbill ,
@negative12dollarbill@techhub.social avatar

@dickrubin716 @bookstodon Major font problems. All upper case, expanded too much, stock windows font. The image needs more contrast. Don't be afraid to have the title overlay the image rather than floating away all by itself. Zoom in on the image. It's OK if her hand goes out of frame.

If I had to guess from the title alone it would be young adult, but the image makes me think of self-help or philosophy.

negative12dollarbill ,
@negative12dollarbill@techhub.social avatar

@diazona @dickrubin716 @bookstodon YA novels are either called one word or they're called some long pretentious phrase.

melikhovo , to bookstodon
@melikhovo@zirk.us avatar

Today would be the great writer Carol Emshwiller's 103rd birthday. She is too little known today, and so my message to the world is a simple one: Read Carol Emshwiller!

https://www.patreon.com/posts/read-carol-102216945

@bookstodon

negative12dollarbill ,
@negative12dollarbill@techhub.social avatar

@melikhovo @bookstodon Perhaos you could give a quick outline of the type of stories she wrote? Her style or subject matter? What makes her different?

ChrisMayLA6 , to bookstodon
@ChrisMayLA6@zirk.us avatar

At the risk of reigniting a debate that has been had in my timeline in the past... here's a report of a University of Valencia that looked at over 20 paper examine the differential effects of reading digitally & on paper.

The research confirms my experience (my own & in the reading of my erstwhile students) that reading digitally is less likely to lead to long-term educational (knowledge) benefits...

@bookstodon

https://www.upmpaper.com/knowledge-inspiration/blog-stories/articles/2024/makes-you-learn/?utm_source=linkedin&utm_medium=paid_social&utm_campaign=PaperBecauseItsReal2024&utm_term=&utm_content=Image

negative12dollarbill ,
@negative12dollarbill@techhub.social avatar

@adritheonly @ChrisMayLA6 @bookstodon
Promise me your terabyte of precious books is backed up?

negative12dollarbill ,
@negative12dollarbill@techhub.social avatar

@adritheonly @ChrisMayLA6 @bookstodon
Nice. For full 100% certainty the copy should be in another location but you know your stuff.

hosford42 , to actuallyautistic
@hosford42@techhub.social avatar

Requirements to put in a job description to discourage or filter out autistic people:

  • Comfortable with ambiguity
  • Strong people skills
  • Good culture fit
  • Multitasking
  • A fast-paced dynamic environment
  • Bachelor's degree or better

I see these things and think you don't want my >30 years of programming and machine learning experience, or my problem-solving skills and comprehensive knowledge that had people mistaking me for one of the team's PhDs, or my solutions that have proven patent-worthy. Your loss.


@actuallyautistic
@neurodivergence

negative12dollarbill ,
@negative12dollarbill@techhub.social avatar

@blogdiva @eric @hosford42 @actuallyautistic @neurodivergence

If your work culture is sexist, racist "edgy" humour, implicitly yes.

willaful , to bookstodon
@willaful@romancelandia.club avatar

Finished my 2nd book, Stars in Their Eyes by Jessica Walton, illustrated by Aska.

A charming graphic novel, queer, and super geeky. Maisie, (14, disabled, bi, writes fanfic) meets Ollie (15, nonbinary, draws fanart) at her first SF con and they have a wonderful day-long romance.

I really enjoyed the vicarious con experience, Maisie's relationship with her mum, and the sweetness of that instant connection. Hope we get a happy sequel someday.

@bookstodon

negative12dollarbill ,
@negative12dollarbill@techhub.social avatar

@willaful @bookstodon https://fremantlepress.com.au/books/stars-in-their-eyes/

stephenwhq , to bookstodon
@stephenwhq@mastodon.social avatar

254 — How do you use social media as an author?

Frequent "buy my book" - is annoying and I am good at not spending time looking at that

Ridiculous hype, unhelpful quotes "eighth book in the VoidLords series", bad covers don't help.

I offer some advice and support free. Response to questions is what I do for interest, not 'advice' by and large.

https://linktr.ee/stephencoxauthor

@bookstodon

negative12dollarbill ,
@negative12dollarbill@techhub.social avatar

@stephenwhq @twoowls73 @bookstodon

Just in case it's not clear what TwoOwls was saying:

• your linktree has "Buy The Books! " which takes us to
• https://stephencox.co.uk/?page_id=84 where we find a link "Buy from my* independent shop All Good Bookshop" which takes us to
• https://allgoodbookshop.co.uk/order-books-1/ols/products/our-child-of-two-worlds

which gives us a 404 error.

amberage , to histodons
@amberage@eldritch.cafe avatar

and fediverse, help me out here, please.

A while ago, I saw a comment somewhere (not necessarily fedi) that boiled down roughly to this:

"The British aristocracy made their (edit: male) servants recognisable as such by dressing them in formal clothes, but in mismatched combinations (i.e. tailcoat with a black bowtie, long tie with a wing collar)."

This was (roughly speaking and to the best of my knowledge) about the Victorian through Edwardian and early Modern periods, i.e. when formalwear as we know it (morning coat, tailcoat, etc.) already existed in roughly the form we know it.

I can't find that comment anymore, and I don't expect I ever will, but it would be fascinating to read more about this subject, very specific and niche as it is. I've tried googling around for it (i.e. "historical british servant dress codes"), but found very little.

If anyone has some reading material on that (preferably online or books buyable online, if not I'll have to see if my library can get foreign (english) literature), I would be super grateful for any links or the likes.

@histodons

negative12dollarbill ,
@negative12dollarbill@techhub.social avatar

@amberage @histodons

Guesses for accounts which might know:

• @hilarydoda
• @BHO
• @natania

negative12dollarbill , to bookstodon
@negative12dollarbill@techhub.social avatar

See if you can spot the teeny tiny mistake in Google's result for "Robert Jordan" …

--

@bookstodon

Schnuckster , to bookstodon
@Schnuckster@beige.party avatar

Bit tired and bored, so I'll probably just carry on with Islands in the Stream, then have an early night. I can see why Hemingway ditched this one, but at least the first part must've been good practice for The Old Man and the Sea. @bookstodon 📖

negative12dollarbill ,
@negative12dollarbill@techhub.social avatar

@Schnuckster @bookstodon Did he "ditch" it?

Da_Gut , to bookstodon
@Da_Gut@dice.camp avatar

Dracula Daily?
While browsing my local library's online items, I stumbled on this. I had never heard of Dracula daily - did anyone participate? What did you think? I expect it will take place this year..

@bookstodon

Let's read Dracula together! We'll start on May 3rd and each day, read only what happens to the characters on that day. Sound good? Let’s go. Bram Stoker’s Dracula is an epistolary novel—it’s made up of letters, diaries, telegrams, newspaper clippings—and every part of it has a date. The whole story happens between May 3rd and November 6th. Dracula Daily, however, is a lightly remixed adaptation. I've rearranged Dracula to be strictly chronological, divided into days, so we can get all the characters experiences as the story happens. It was originally started in 2021 as an email newsletter. You sign up at draculadaily.com and get an email each day that something happens to the characters in the same timeline that it happens to them. Some days theres a lot of activity, some days just a few sentences, and many days nothing at all. You only get an email when there’s action taking place in Dracula. But this book is a handy way to get the same experience on paper. You can read along with Jonathan and Mina and Jack and the crew in ‘real time; using the innovative technology of a ribbon bookmark. Start on May 3rd. Stop when you get to the end of that day. Place your bookmark there, and pick up the book again on May 4th. Voila! The stretched-out reading cadence of Dracula Daily—some days with only a few paragraphs, some days a whole <...> You'll feel the distances and durations the characters traverse. Fair warning: you'll need to set aside a lot of time for October 3rd.

negative12dollarbill ,
@negative12dollarbill@techhub.social avatar

@Da_Gut @bookstodon
I signed up for the emails, but to be honest after a while I stopped reading them. I think the community/commentary thing will be interesting.

But in the end, what does it matter that the dates in the original novel get matched to dates in 2024? It's a nice gimmick, that's all.

negative12dollarbill ,
@negative12dollarbill@techhub.social avatar

@Da_Gut @bookstodon
There will be gaps in the reading because there are gaps in the book, then tons of stuff to read in one day?

Also I'm in Australia so it's not like the weather will match up, like the characters will be huddled over a fire in the cold in January but I'll be on the beach.

KitMuse , to bookstodon
@KitMuse@eponaauthor.social avatar

I need your help . One of the classes I'm taking at the graduate level this semester is Religion & Science Fiction. I read more fantasy, and would like to do my research paper on something that's not obvious (like ST/BS5/Matrix/etc.) & I'd love to use more modern sf rather than the golden age classics.

Anyone have any interesting ideas for my research paper on regarding the intersection of religion and science fiction?

@bookstodon

negative12dollarbill ,
@negative12dollarbill@techhub.social avatar

@KitMuse @bookstodon Bit late but this book set in India has some interesting religious themes:

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

TheCozyCat , to bookstodon
@TheCozyCat@bookstodon.com avatar

Halfway through by and I am pleasantly surprised how much I enjoy it! Haven't even gotten to the romance yet and the story alone has completely pulled me in and the characters are so endearing 🥰. I think I'm slowly starting to expand on the genres I enjoy. I'm excited to have found another author I think I'll easily return to again and again.

Has anyone else read Legends & Lattes? 🥰

@bookstodon

negative12dollarbill ,
@negative12dollarbill@techhub.social avatar

@TheCozyCat @bookstodon
I really enjoyed it too.

I'd stayed away because I thought it would be a) too cute and b) a Pratchett pastiche but it was neither. I really liked the … I want to say "competence porn" of it all. A story about good people who were good at their jobs.

negative12dollarbill , to bookstodon
@negative12dollarbill@techhub.social avatar

I'm sorry, but this still makes me laugh every damn time:

--

@bookstodon

negative12dollarbill , to bookstodon
@negative12dollarbill@techhub.social avatar

I want everyone to be very, very quiet and not make any sudden movements.

My teenage son is VOLUNTARILY reading a book not assigned to him by school.

<tiptoes out of the room>

@bookstodon

herhandsmyhands , to romancelandia
@herhandsmyhands@romancelandia.club avatar

@romancelandia
Brit friends, help? Would someone from a good family--not aristocracy, but perhaps landed gentry--refer to themselves as "a posh" when talking to someone else. As in, "I may be a posh from (place), but..."

(please share for reach)

negative12dollarbill ,
@negative12dollarbill@techhub.social avatar

@herhandsmyhands @romancelandia @bookstodon

No, not a British expression. Source, British, lived next county to Devon for many years. It's literary, I guess.

negative12dollarbill , to bookstodon
@negative12dollarbill@techhub.social avatar

This came to me last night in a dream.

Not a good dream.

@bookstodon

ronsboy67 , to bookstodon
@ronsboy67@mas.to avatar

A question prompted by "Crime Wave at Blandings", the first story in "Lord Emsworth and Others, which I currently . PGW has Lord Emsworth saying "dooce" a lot. In my quasi-literate ignorance, that seems like an Americanism, the sort of thing PGW might have picked from living there. Would a very English Earl of the era have said "deuce" as "dooce" , or would he have been more like to say /djuːs/ ? @bookstodon

negative12dollarbill ,
@negative12dollarbill@techhub.social avatar

@ronsboy67 @bookstodon
Are you reading an American edition perhaps? Maybe someone has a U.K. edition and can compare?

ChrisMayLA6 , to bookstodon
@ChrisMayLA6@zirk.us avatar

Meanwhile in ..... having been subjected to a infestation & a problem in the , now the organisers are picking a fight with Paris' riverside stalls that they want to absent themselves from the banks while the opening ceremony as their stock boxes are apparently a security risk...

How this will play out for the Paris mayor & Olympics management remains to be seen

@bookstodon

negative12dollarbill ,
@negative12dollarbill@techhub.social avatar

@riggbeck @ChrisMayLA6 @bookstodon
Last I checked, Montreal still had a tax on the books which they added in 1976 for their Olympics.

Bibliothecarmen , to bookstodon German
@Bibliothecarmen@openbiblio.social avatar

Somehow I missed this trend: When did trivial medical romance become trivial romance?

Dieser Trend ist irgendwie an mir vorbeigegangen: Wann wurde aus dem trivialen Arztroman der triviale :in-Roman?

@bookstodon

negative12dollarbill ,
@negative12dollarbill@techhub.social avatar

@SemAntiKast @Bibliothecarmen @bookstodon
https://www.pulpinternational.com/pulp/entry/Vintage-cover-of-Nympho-Librarian-painted-by-Paul-Rader.html

evanpeterjones , to bookstodon
@evanpeterjones@mstdn.social avatar

Dan Brown only sucks if you're more pretentious about his books than his books are, lol. They're just corny and fun little adventures and I'm convinced it's just jealous authors who drive the Dan Brown hate.

Not every book has to drive you into an existential crisis to be enjoyable.

@bookstodon

negative12dollarbill ,
@negative12dollarbill@techhub.social avatar

@CommonMugwort @evanpeterjones @bookstodon

If you haven't read this, check it out—Brown's writing is bad at the sentence level … and the subclause level and the word level.

http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/000844.html

ramblingreaders , to bookstodon
@ramblingreaders@toot.community avatar

Do you know there's a alternative to Amazon-owned ? is a social network for tracking your reading, writing reviews, and discovering what to read next. You can follow and interact with users on different instances and on . You can import from a Goodreads CSV export. You can create private shelves and curated lists. Join us at https://ramblingreaders.org or choose one of the other instances available @bookstodon

negative12dollarbill ,
@negative12dollarbill@techhub.social avatar

@ramblingreaders @danialbehzadi @bookstodon
This is correct.

There aren't only two kinds of software, fully open source vs. proprietary.

So to say “it's not open-source therefore it's proprietary” is like saying a crocodile is an insect because it's not a mammal. It's a category error.

negative12dollarbill ,
@negative12dollarbill@techhub.social avatar

@danialbehzadi @ramblingreaders @bookstodon
Blocked

DocCarms , (edited ) to bookstodon
@DocCarms@mstdn.social avatar

There was a poll that stated—Rowling’s opening line in the HP series is one of best in the world. Someone posted about how there are a bunch of other opening statements that are better.

Here’s one of my personal favorites, from Gabriel Garcia Marquez (in English):
“It is inevitable — the scent of bitter almonds always reminded him of the fate of unrequited love.”

What are some of your favorite opening lines in literature? 😊
@bookstodon

negative12dollarbill ,
@negative12dollarbill@techhub.social avatar

@DocCarms @bookstodon

I'm fascinated by this one:

“The sky above the port was the colour of television, tuned to a dead channel”

because changes in technology have changed its meaning dramatically since 1982. What colour are you imagining?

negative12dollarbill ,
@negative12dollarbill@techhub.social avatar

@Montaagge @bookstodon
I read an article once which said research showed that Harry Potter books had kids reading LESS. They would read one, then wait a year for the next one.

negative12dollarbill ,
@negative12dollarbill@techhub.social avatar

@DocCarms @bookstodon
This article is great. It's neither a first line nor a novel, but it argues for one single comma being the author's "favorite comma in all of literature".

https://medium.com/@penguinrandomus/shirley-jacksons-sublime-first-paragraph-in-hill-house-annotated-14834632fc61

negative12dollarbill ,
@negative12dollarbill@techhub.social avatar

@Kay @Montaagge @bookstodon

Surely if they read all the books in a row then all the books had been published already?

negative12dollarbill ,
@negative12dollarbill@techhub.social avatar

@shaedrich @Montaagge @bookstodon I think you're missing the point a little? If you want kids to eat fruit and they love only one type — they will only eat mangoes when they're in season — your kids eat less fruit overall.

thevglibrary , to bookstodon
@thevglibrary@mstdn.social avatar

No matter what language you speak, you'll find something to enjoy in !

🇬🇧 🇫🇷 🇪🇸 🇫🇮 🇩🇪 🇮🇹 🇳🇱 🇹🇷

👉 https://www.thevideogamelibrary.org/book/guinness-world-records-2018-gamer-s-edition

@bookstodon

negative12dollarbill ,
@negative12dollarbill@techhub.social avatar

@EclecticLee @thevglibrary @bookstodon
He’s huge on gaming YouTube. Or he was.

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