dsrtao | Reading

You're viewing

dsrtao's Reading Page
Create a Dreamwidth Account Learn More

Reload page in style: light

Profile

dsrtao

Navigation

james_davis_nicoll

2025: Scientists are astonished when the largest ever dinosaur fossil trackway does not lead into the House of Lords, Tate Britain breaks with English tradition by returning looted art, and in a shocking break from centuries of Catholic precedent, the new Pope is a Cubs fan.

Poll #33961 Clarke Award Finalists 2025

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 6

View Respondents

Which 2025 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?

Annie Bot by Sierra Greer
1 (16.7%)

Extremophile by Ian Green
0 (0.0%)

Private Rites by Julia Armfield
0 (0.0%)

Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky
3 (50.0%)

The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley
4 (66.7%)

Thirteen Ways to Kill Lulabelle Rock by Maud Woolf
0 (0.0%)

Bold for have read, italic for intend to read, underline for never heard of it.

Which 2025 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?
Annie Bot by Sierra Greer
Extremophile by Ian Green
Private Rites by Julia Armfield
Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky
The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley
Thirteen Ways to Kill Lulabelle Rock by Maud Woolf

dinosaur_comics_feed

http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=4416


archive - contact - sexy exciting merchandise - search - about

T-REX I HAVE RESPONSIBILITIES LIKE THOSE I HAVE TOWARDS ALL THIS DANG LIFE I CREATED / WHEN I MENTIONED SOMEONE WITHOUT THEM I REFERRING TO DANNY J. DANITO / HE'S A DUDE I CREATED WHO PARTIES ALL THE TIME WITHOUT CONSEQUENCE AND HONESTLY / HE'S GREAT

December 15th, 2025

next

December 15th, 2025: If you're looking for Christmas gifts, might I recommend... THE DINOSAUR COMICS STORE?? We got a Christmas sweater! :0

– Ryan

http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=4416

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251214.html

What would it be like to fly over the

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251214.html

Watch on YouTube

james_davis_nicoll

Now you can have the ebook (which you're only renting if it is DRMed), hard-to-shelve trade paperback, or the expensive hardcover.

james_davis_nicoll

james_davis_nicoll

I was a bit surprised to come across this as Hartwell wasn't really the go-to editor where women's SF was concerned. An interesting snapshot of SF in a sixteen-year period. The end is the fall of the American republic. Not sure what was significant about 1984.

( Read more... )

oglaf_comic_feed

https://www.oglaf.com/staff/

https://www.oglaf.com/staff/

james_davis_nicoll

One very small step for a man, one giant leap for Her Majesty's Government.

Cold War in a Country Garden (Dilke, volume 1) by Lindsay Gutteridge

Canonical link: https://siderea.dreamwidth.org/1891517.html

This is part of Understanding Health Insurance

Introduction
A Health Plan is a Contract
The Three-Stage Model ⇐ You are here

The Three-Stage Model

When you have health insurance, you have a contract (health plan) with the insurance company that says that for the duration (the plan year) of the contract, you will pay them the agreed upon monthly fee every month (the premium), in exchange for them paying for your health care... some.

How much is "some"? Well, that depends.

To understand what it depends on, you have to understand the three-stage model that health plans are organized around.

This three-stage model is never described as such. It is implicit in the standard terms (jargon) of the health insurance industry, and it is never made explicit. There is no industry term (jargon) for the model itself. There are no terms (jargon) for the three stages. But health insurance becomes vastly easier to understand if you think about it in terms of the three-stage model that is hiding in just about every health plan's terms (agreements).

( Read more: 12,170 (sic!) riveting words about health insurance in the US] )

This post brought to you by the 221 readers who funded my writing it – thank you all so much! You can see who they are at my Patreon page. If you're not one of them, and would be willing to chip in so I can write more things like this, please do so there.

Please leave comments on the Comment Catcher comment, instead of the main body of the post – unless you are commenting to get a copy of the post sent to you in email through the notification system, then go ahead and comment on it directly. Thanks!

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251213.html

On December 5, 2022,

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251213.html

james_davis_nicoll

I am not aware of any big name authors who got their start with a work published by Baen Books after 2006. If there are recent analogs of Bujold or Weber, I do not know of them.

james_davis_nicoll

So, I asked on Bluesky:

Aside from Larry Correia, are there any big name Baen authors who debuted at Baen, after Jim Baen's death?

(So, Tim Powers wouldn't count because he debuted not at Baen and also long before JB died)

I got three names: Chuck Gannon, Jason Cordova and Mike Kupari. Gannon actually debuted at Baen in 1994 but only two (I think) short pieces, after which there was a long delay until his novels began appearing. I don't know the other two but SF is huge and it's perfectly possible for me to overlook BNAs. Still, granting all three, with LC that makes four... and in 2028, Toni Weisskopf will have been running Baen for as long as Jim Baen did.

This could, of course, be the natural consequence of the Del Monte approach.

[added later]

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251212.html

Northern Fox Fires

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251212.html

If you are in the US, don't have employer-provided health insurance (hello layoffs, among others), and are thus buying your insurance on healthcare.gov or the state marketplaces, you might want to read siderea's series of posts on the subject soon: introduction, A health plan is a contract, and HSAs and bronze/catastrophic plans (so far). Technically you have until January 15 to sign up for 2026 insurance, but if you want insurance coverage in January, your deadline is Real Soon Now -- December 15 in most places, but earlier in some states. (I'm in PA where it's December 15; I haven't been tracking other places but Siderea mentions some in the introduction.)

Something I had missed is that for 2026, the government has admitted that bronze plans (with the lowest-but-still-high premiums) are inadequate, and you can now set up a Health Savings Account (HSA) with those plans. It's extra paperwork but can lead to savings on the money you were going to have to spend out of pocket anyway.

james_davis_nicoll

I got much better at spelling his name once I realized it contains "lie".

Embattled CPC leader's Christmas card list gets one name shorter.

james_davis_nicoll

Where to start reading — or rereading — Varley's many series and stories.

Looking Back at the Work of John Varley, 1947-2025

dinosaur_comics_feed

http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=4415


archive - contact - sexy exciting merchandise - search - about

i made this kid SWEAR he wouldn't paint deer in caves anymore and then i caught him the next day, DEEP into a cave, painting IBEX instead! i am at my wit's end

December 12th, 2025

next

December 12th, 2025: If you're looking for Christmas gifts, might I recommend... THE DINOSAUR COMICS STORE?? We got a Christmas sweater! :0

– Ryan

http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=4415

james_davis_nicoll

The visitors might be Bird Island's salvation or simply the next step in its doom.

The Wayfinder by Adam Johnson

So, I, uh, got my RSI/ergonomics debugged!* I then promptly lost two days to bad sleep due to another new mechanical failure of the balky meat mecha and also a medical appointment in re two previous malfunctions. But I seem back in business now. The new keyboard is great.

Patrons, I've got three Siderea Posts out so far this month and it's only the 12th. I have two more Posts I am hoping to get out in the next three days. Also about health insurance. We'll see if it actually happens, but it's not impossible. I have written a lot of words. (I really like my new keyboard.)

Anyways, if you weren't planning on sponsoring five posts (or – who knows? – even more) this month, adjust your pledge limits accordingly.

* It was my bra strap. It was doing something funky to how my shoulder blade moved or something. It is both surprising to me that so little pressure made so much ergonomic difference, and not surprising because previously an even lighter pressure on my kneecap from wearing long underwear made my knee malfunction spectacularly. Apparently this is how my body mechanics just are.

Canonical link: https://siderea.dreamwidth.org/1890494.html

0.

Hey Americans (and other people stuck in the American healthcare system)! Shopping for a health plan on your state marketplace? Boy, do I have some information for you that you should have and probably don't. There's been an important legal change affecting your choices that has gotten almost no press.

Effective with plan year 2026 all bronze level and catastrophic plans are statutorily now HDHPs and thus HSA compatible. You may get and self-fund an HSA if you have any bronze or catastrophic plan, as well as any plan of any level designated a HDHP.

2025 Dec 9: IRS.gov: "Treasury, IRS provide guidance on new tax benefits for health savings account participants under the One, Big, Beautiful Bill"

Bronze and Catastrophic Plans Treated as HDHPs: As of Jan. 1, 2026, bronze and catastrophic plans available through an Exchange are considered HSA-compatible, regardless of whether the plans satisfy the general definition of an HDHP. This expands the ability of people enrolled in these plans to contribute to HSAs, which they generally have not been able to do in the past. Notice 2026-05 clarifies that bronze and catastrophic plans do not have to be purchased through an Exchange to qualify for the new relief.

If you are shopping plans right now (or thought you were done), you should probably be aware of this. Especially if you are planning on getting a bronze plan, a catastrophic plan, or any plan with the acronym "HSA" in the name or otherwise designated "HSA compatible".

The Trump administration doing this is tacit admission that all bronze plans have become such bad deals that they're the economic equivalent of what used to be considered a HDHP back when that concept was invented, and so should come with legal permission to protect yourself from them with an HSA.

Effective immediately, you should consider a bronze plan half an insurance plan.

( Read more [3,340 words] )

This post brought to you by the 221 readers who funded my writing it – thank you all so much! You can see who they are at my Patreon page. If you're not one of them, and would be willing to chip in so I can write more things like this, please do so there.

Please leave comments on the Comment Catcher comment, instead of the main body of the post – unless you are commenting to get a copy of the post sent to you in email through the notification system, then go ahead and comment on it directly. Thanks!

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

Where are all of these meteors coming from?

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251211.html

Large galaxies grow by eating small ones.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251211.html

james_davis_nicoll

Multiple sources report the death of SF author John Varley.

... I don't think I've ever been working on FIVE books at the same time ever before. Currently in-process are:

Light of Reason: The next Jason Wood novel/collection, this one starts with "Bait and Switch" and so far includes "Burnout" and, in process, "Feet on the Ground", with one bridge section. Not sure if there'll be one or two more pieces in this one or if those will be for the third and probably last purely Jason collection.

Adventurer's Academy: The story of a group of would-be Adventurers at the often-mentioned Academy during the same time period as my other fantasy series on Zarathan, featuring Lalira Revyne and Spinesnarl Mudswimmer from my short story "The Adventurer and the Toad".

The Impractical Quest: The tale of Enochlis Book-Bound, a bilarel (ogre) who wants to be a wizard despite the limitations of his people. Enochlis is seen also in the second book of the Spirit Warriors trilogy.

Articles of Faith: Fifth book in the Arenaverse series, picking up shortly after Shadows of Hyperion left off.

Unity of Vengeance: Xavier Ross actually gets to go after the people who killed his brother.

james_davis_nicoll

One of (Blish's) best novels, in my view, is The Star Dwellers, first published in 1961 and now nominated for the Prometheus Hall of Fame Award for Best Classic Fiction.

vs my

How does a novel this terrible not only get published but remain in print for twenty years (more than sixty in the UK)?

james_davis_nicoll

A 2567 blueblood travels back to the Summer of Love to save one very special 16-year-old.

Summer of Love (Zhu Wong, volume 1) by Lisa Mason

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251210.html

Sculpted by stellar winds and radiation, this dusty interstellar

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251210.html

james_davis_nicoll

Bernadette Bosky reported Arthur's death on Facebook

From Truly Victorian on FB, today/yesterday:

FRAUD ALLERT UPDATE - We have identified the fraudster as Dorothy Ohare of thefarthingale.com and Farthingale Enterprise here on FB.

NOT Farthingales in Canada
farthingalescorsetmakingsupplies com <- this company is not related to the pirate in any way.

She has now removed her sales listings from her website of Truly Victorian, Laughing Moon Mercantile, and Margo Anderson patterns. I suspect those other patterns were fraudulent as well.

It looks like she has been doing this for some time, since 2023 possibly. I am sad to say that I know this person, and many years ago was a legitimate reseller of our patterns. We are such a small community of Historical Costumers, and it is hard to believe that one of our own would do this.

FRAUD ALLERT - I was just contacted by a visitor to the San Fransisco Dicken's Fair that she was sold a pirated copy of a Truly Victorian pattern. It was a printed version of our AO digital pattern. Not only was the pattern unauthorized, is was also incomplete. I have not yet ferreted out who sold the pattern, so if anyone has any leads, I will be thankful.

The unfortunate buyer was unaware that the pattern was fraudulent, and only contacted me to get the missing pages.
The buyer provided this photo of the pattern she bought.

If you ever see a Truly Victorian pattern being sold in a manila envelope, it is a pirated copy! If you see a pattern that has A1 in a circle (or other letter/number combo) on it, IT IS A PIRATED COPY!

This seller also created their own cover page, with illustration (without scrollwork frame), and self typed size chart and description.

If you see these patterns for sale, do not buy these patterns, and please contact me with any information you may have about the seller.

james_davis_nicoll

Magical Kitties Save the Day, the all-ages introductory storytelling game from Atlas Games.

Bundle of Holding: Magical Kitties

james_davis_nicoll

Could safety from the global pandemic be found in desperate flight towards a land of banditry and violence?

To The Warm Horizon by Choi Jin-Young (Translated by Soje)

dinosaur_comics_feed

http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=4414


archive - contact - sexy exciting merchandise - search - about

Blood: if you see it then you've either had - or are about to have, or may already be having - a Problem™

December 10th, 2025

next

December 10th, 2025: If you're looking for Christmas gifts, might I recommend... THE DINOSAUR COMICS STORE?? We got a Christmas sweater! :0

– Ryan

http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=4414

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251209.html

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251209.html

james_davis_nicoll

A depowered witch discovers she is just one zany scheme away from regaining her power... provided her estranged mentor does not intervene. Which of course he will.

A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251208.html

Many wonders are visible when flying over the Earth at night.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251208.html

james_davis_nicoll

The third array of recent standalone tabletop roleplaying games using the Forged in the Dark rules system based on John Harper's Blades in the Dark from One Seven Design Studio.

Bundle of Holding: Forged 3

james_davis_nicoll

Did you miss these books the first time around? Good news!

Five Freshly Reprinted SFF Books and Series

james_davis_nicoll

Six works new to me: four fantasy, one horror, and one SF (also ttrpg). Four are arguably series.

Books Received, November 29 — December 5

Poll #33929 Books Received, November 29 — December 5

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 26

View Respondents

Which of these look interesting?

New Edge Sword & Sorcery Magazine: Volume I, Number 5 edited by Oliver Brackenbury (December 2025)
3 (11.5%)

New Edge Sword & Sorcery Magazine: Volume I, Number 6 edited by Oliver Brackenbury (December 2025)
3 (11.5%)

New Edge Sword & Sorcery Magazine: Volume I, Number 7 edited by Oliver Brackenbury (December 2025)
2 (7.7%)

Black River Ruby by Jean Cottle (January 2026)
7 (26.9%)

The Flowers of Algorab by Nils Karlén, Kosta Kostulas, and Martin Grip (January 2026)
8 (30.8%)

Headlights by C J Leede (June 2026)
4 (15.4%)

Some other option (see comments)
0 (0.0%)

Cats!
21 (80.8%)

dinosaur_comics_feed

http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=4413


archive - contact - sexy exciting merchandise - search - about

petition to make brains that forget the bad things first and leave the best things for last. would love to fade into a nice warm bliss instead of confusion. great, cool cool, thanks in advance

December 8th, 2025

next

December 8th, 2025: If you're looking for Christmas gifts, might I recommend... THE DINOSAUR COMICS STORE?? We got a Christmas sweater! :0

– Ryan

http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=4413

Page generated Dec. 15th, 2025 04:06 pm

Powered by Dreamwidth Studios