My SF-horror story “In the Sharing Place” is now available in Farsi at Metaphorspace, thanks to the work of editor Amir Sepahram:
I’ve gotta say, I especially love the treatment they (and presumably some A.I.) gave my author photo, making me look at least 60% more dashing and restoring both my hair color and widow’s peak (which latter I don’t think I’ve seen in the mirror since the early 2000s):
I look like the colleague that turns out to be the villain in a mid-1980s Indiana Jones comic!
Great news, everyone! It’s finally here!
Tetragrammaton with Rick Rubin: Tom Hanks
As I’ve mentioned before, I don’t always agree with Rubin’s choice of guests. But when this show is good, it’s really, really good. This episode with Tom Hanks is a really good one. I always love listening to accomplished craftsmen discuss craft (as I’ve said before, if there was a documentary interviewing accomplished old plumbers called “Talking Toilets,” I’d be there). In part, I just enjoy hearing the intricacies of any craft. But I also like the consistency that I hear across crafts and craftspeople, and it boils down to something like this:
In order to be good at a craft, we need to accept and embrace the fact that we are an intelligent conduit for that craft. We are nothing more, and certainly nothing less.
Hanks says basically that in a gajillion little different ways here, and each is worth hearing.
Rough chuckles from our friends at The Onion, but they ain’t wrong:
Remember this project from last November?
Well, for those who like closure:
Y’all did it!
Just before Xmas we closed out the project, having raised a bit more than $10,000 with your help. The end result was the abolition of $1,114,133.50 in shitty medical debt, freeing 2,006 Michiganders across 17 counties from one more dumb late-stage capitalism headache:
Bummed that you missed out on this project? Then I have excellent news:
You and your pals can start your own! The folks at RIP Medical Debt are super sweet and helpful, and it’s a blast.
I want that to be the takeaway here: there are plenty of religious and moral and political and ethical reasons to work on a project like this, but I still believe the best reason to do it is that it is fun. Every day, multiple times each day, it would occur to me: We’re going to nuke a million dollars of medical debt. And just that thought, that a bunch of us regular folk going about our regular lives could do just a little something more and move such a big goddamn rock—it’d make me laugh. It literally tickled me, that notion. And it worked! And that cracks me up, every time it comes to mind.
Good job, all! When you start your project and need a little dough to nuke a little bad medical debt, hit me up.
These lil fellas were created by English engineer John Ambrose Fleming in 1904, and used for the first transatlantic radio transmissions. My son characterizes them as “Bacteriophages, but with the personality of the Pixar lamp.” Agreed. 🦠🤖💕
(props to Project Gutenberg for the tip)
![“Three vintage vacuum tubes with various internal structures, mounted on stands with visible wiring and components.” [AI-generated description, which I love!]](https://www.davideriknelson.com/sbsb/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/URS-OURS-OND-1024x630.jpg)
The Gramma bit always cracks me up.
