"When I was twenty-six, my first novel, The Temple of Gold, was published by Alfred A. Knopf. (Which is now part of Random House which is now part of R.C.A. which is just part of what’s wrong with publishing in America today which is not part of this story.)'
William Goldman, Preface to The Princess Bride. @bookstodon
@SimonRoyHughes@bookstodon
Better than the Godfather for quotes.
"Some day everyone will be wearing masks"
Wm Goldman was a versatile writer. Some of his books on the TBR pile. Though I'm not convinced he ever really meant to write a sequel to "The Princess Bride"
@aidasb@gytis@ajsadauskas@fediverse https://ploum.net/2023-06-23-how-to-kill-decentralised-networks.html
Though smart phone is since 1998, not 2005. ARM based from about 2002.
See also SMS vs Google vs Apple iMessage.
Also Mail on Android isn't. It's using Google servers with your settings. You can install real email clients on Android. Also Google has "taken over" SMS & MMS on Android phones.
Don't adopt AT or negotiate with any platform. Let them adopt AP and don't give them a seat on development. Google is wrecking Web Browsers.
As if children's books aren't already losing visibility due to censorship now this...
This year Goodreads has removed all children's books categories from their Goodreads Choice Awards, meaning no more #MG or #PB categories. Worse, Graphic Novel & Poetry, have also been eliminated.
Here you can vote to ask them to bring those categories back:
@franciscawrites@bookstodon
Perhaps Amazon should be forced to resell it and IMDB. They've wrecked both and those just gather info for Amazon.
I've stopped using them because they are now useless.
@beecycling@franciscawrites@bookstodon
Also obsessed with DRM, which affects consumers, not pirates. Trying to out-Apple Apple on Walled Gardens (Kindle Scribe PDF Annotation).
@franciscawrites@bookstodon
reviews of unpublished books, that sometimes have not even been started.
Reviews by sockpuppets.
It's as useless as Amazon branded pages for reviews now.
Also nearly impossible to get false info taken down.
A last piece of Food Folklore for your tea break: November 1st is Calan Gaeaf, the first day of winter in Wales. The night before is Nos Galan Gaeaf, a night when spirits are abroad. Stwmp NawRhyw was often served on this night, mash made from potatoes, carrots, turnips, peas, parsnips, leeks, pepper, salt & milk. Legend has it that the 9 essential ingredients would ward off evil spirits, sometimes a lucky wedding ring would be hidden in the mash & the finder would marry within a year @folklore
@Monsterklatsch@FairytalesFood@folklore
In Ireland, "charms" in a Barm Brack, bairín (=loaf) breac (=speckled, due to currants, raisins or sultanas). In Co. Antrim we usually had apple pie with "charms" (at least thrupnies and sixpences) rather than halloween barm brack. Some in shops (sold all year) at halloween might have toy ring.
@Ellirahim@juergen_hubert@germany@folklore
I suspect not. True for Asia, and also Greek & Roman "nymphs" (Dryads) can be associated with particular trees, but I've never seen a similar association in Celtic, Norse and Germanic stories.
Celtic traditions seem to associate entities with in habiting particular mountains, ancient megalithic sites/tombs, rivers and wells. Not just Insular Celts, but mainland Europe too as far as Northern Turkey.
@herhandsmyhands@romancelandia
weird as pumpkins is European settler corruption of Halloween and little to do with real Halloween (uses swedes/turnips) and nothing to do with native people. It's cultural imperialism, as is the ghastly plastic commercialised Halloween exported by USA to Ireland & UK (though objects made in China).
@juergen_hubert@germany@folklore
Even today might be more likely than winning the lottery. Though many countries you have to hand it to police and you only get it if not claimed.
Ireland has a law: "Theft by finding".
Disney is a parasite and serial wrecker of stories. I could hardly believe what they did to Sleeping Beauty. Missed cinema animation and recently watched DVD.
Another day, another product joining the Google graveyard. On the upside, this time it's not a messaging app.
From The Verge:
"You might remember Google had a $5,000 Jamboard whiteboarding meeting room display — well, that’s also discontinued. The Jamboard hardware will no longer receive software updates on September 30th, 2024, and its license subscriptions will expire the same day.
"Then users will have until December 31st, 2024, to back up Jam their files, and on that date, Google will cut off access and begin permanently deleting files."
Pity the schools, universities, and businesses that paid Google $5000 for a "smart" whiteboard, only to now be told their files will be deleted.
@ajsadauskas@technology
Unsurprising.
Someone was unkind to cats and ADHD sufferers by suggesting Google was like a kitten with ADHD in attention span to projects & products.
Also Betas?
Moral: Don't depend on Google/Alphabet for ANYTHING. Only use Google docs to collaborate information stored outside of Google.
Spot the difference: on the left, the copperplate print is hand-coloured after the print run, and on the right no extra work is done. Colouring prints was a thing in #earlymodern Europe. Guess which version was more expensive - and sold better?
@dbellingradt@histodons
Even some early movie films were hand coloured. All those tiny frames!
Though there was RGB colour film at the end of the Victorian age an exposure was 20 minutes. It wasn't till there was CYM layered film that colour movies were possible.
I think before 1742 China was doing coloured prints using multiple wood blocks.
Nitric acid was 14th C, or maybe 10th C. But using it for silver nitrate photos was 19th C.
The Early Modern Dutch Press in an Age of Religious Persecution: The Making of Humanitarianism. by Dr David de Boer (Oxford University Press; Sept. 28, 2023)