Thomas Lumley @tslumley@wandering.shop

Got me a fancy new e-bike. The 3-year-old one will go to a loving new home.

First thoughts: torque sensing is nice, but acceleration from stationary isn't as good as with a throttle. I like the motor in with the pedals. Having lights powered from the battery is a no-brainer. The higher top gear is a big improvement.

E-bikes: cheaper and healthier than steroids.

Auckland zoo. Yes, plants as well as animals.
https://wandering.shop/media/shleotNxTqWq_WUXAjI https://wandering.shop/media/7o6qGtsegdtxbS3f2UY https://wandering.shop/media/OSPH8vPhJA3roEtZtEA

Sydney is still pretty, in case you wondered https://wandering.shop/media/6F2rbfBHRxdEj1HVkDg https://wandering.shop/media/shzJieXKBYwKgEQ1bXI

Having a relaxing and productive Easter holiday in Sydney.

Sometimes it's easier to do something complicated if you don't have to do anything at all than if you have to do a lot of things.

You will not go to space today -- but maybe tomorrow.

Watched the (eventually postponed) Rocket Lab launch attempt while making corn chowder and olive pseudociabatta -- real ciabatta needs a blender.

Influenza-like illness is maybe even worse for productivity when it's over a holiday.

PS: Thomas Hardy, The Oxen, vv3-4

...

So fair a fancy few would weave
In these years! Yet, I feel,
If someone said on Christmas Eve,
“Come; see the oxen kneel,

“In the lonely barton by yonder coomb
Our childhood used to know,”
I should go with him in the gloom,
Hoping it might be so.

Marriage Equality law just passed the Australian parliament!!

#aboutbloodytime

And Tonga (with a population rather less than Oxford) narrowly lose to England in Rugby League.

Is it just me, or does star jasmine smell like a slightly decayed version of real jasmine?

#sumerisicomenin

@ebeth@witches.town hmm. All my recs don't quite make it.

eBear's "Stone in the Skull" has a trans woman viewpoint character, and a formerly-woman-now-agender metal/magic person.

Bull's "Bone Dance" has an agender protagonist, but is old, from the dawn of urban fantasy.

Scalzi's "Lock In" has a protagonist whose gender and sex aren't given, but there's no sign they are subjectively non-binary.

#scifi Sunday: currently rereading A Fire Upon the Deep.

Recently read: Infomocracy, by Malka Older, which is about democracy and ways of actually have a choice (or not)

The Wrong Stars, by Tim Pratt. Good old-fashioned space opera, but with women and non-traditional relationships and generally not 1930s.