cyphomandra | Network

evilinsanemonkey

Happy Friday!

What fanworks have you enjoyed this week?

I Really enjoyed Sheepsquatch Stole my Rodney by

friendof_dorothy - Eerie, Indiana: the Other Dimension - Mitchell gets out of dodge, and goes looking for Rodney.

Current Music: Orville Peck & Bu Cuaron - Mienteme

smallhobbit

Given that we've had only a couple of days when it hasn't rained at some point, my photos this month all include grey skies:

( views February )

elisheva_m posting in

little_details

What would be involved in setting up a fake VPN service to gather intelligence on a criminal organisation?

Would this essentially be a VPN where the relay saves a copy of the traffic? Everything I've found to read on the internet assumes more knowledge of tech and jargon than I have. Could a choice of servers in different countries be faked? A UI seems easy enough, but what about the ISP it connects to? If it was simply a gateway to a real VPN, would the real VPN notice? Could it at some point send a second copy elsewhere without being noticed?

This could be a scheme the character is pondering near the end, so it doesn't have to work - it could simply be trying to find solutions to some of the concerns. He has a habit of staring out the window late at night mulling over such things. He really wants to be able to build a phone case with a rechargeable listening device but we've gotten lost on the physics of discretely charging it from the phone.

There's the social infrastructure to make it appear legit, website & fake reviews and social engineering to get them to bite. I've already written this for a different operation, not in great detail but enough for my purposes. If faking a VPN is feasible, I'd probably replace the existing scheme in those scenes with this one. But the marketing email may be more along the lines of "Police and governments can't subpoena a service they don't know exists" with a link to the dark web.

Please be careful with how much detail and tech-speak you throw at me, my health is poor and I am easily overwhelmed. If this is a rubbish idea, please be kind in putting it down.

Thank you for any help.

oursin

(Okay, I have an essay-review coming out on several works which deal with moral panics around coffeebars and jazz clubs and so forth in the 1960s - 'the monkey walk was good enough for us'....)

But on the one hand wo wo the yoof of today are not even getting into leg-over situations, though the evidence for this as far as the UK goes dates to the NATSAL 2019 report based on survey undertaken 2012.

And if they do, The death of the post-shag sleepover: Why is no one staying over after sex anymore?

Okay, very likely - I dunno, is the '6 people I spoke to in a winebar last week' cliche still valid or has this migrated to some corner of social media, but amounting to pretty much the same thing as far as statistical sociological validity goes?

But while it may be all about anxieties around sleep hygiene rituals, or looks-maxxing practices, which will not sit happily alongside unrestrained PASSION and bonkery -

- there is also mention that, individuals in question are living with room-mates and one does wonder whether they actually have RULES about overnight guests who might hog the bathroom wherein they perform their wellness things (apart from any other objections such as noise....)

Yes, my dearios, I am already doing the hedjog all-more-complicated flamenco about this, and thinking about a narrative theme of the 1960s of young women rising from beds of enseamed lust in order to go home to the parental roof and sleep in their own chaste bed so that they can be plausibly awakened therein. (And is there not a current wo wo narrative about young people still living with PARENTS???)

profiterole_reads

This is only locked in case the details I share are identifying.
I've added a tag so that you can find the posts easily.

I am still teaching the "French as a foreign language" beginners. My poor students will have an evaluation after the holidays, but I think 2 of them will be promoted to the intermediate class afterwards.

The search for new volunteers also continues. There have been several false hopes. I have only found one volunteer for sure. Another one is in the process of joining us and has taught elsewhere before, so I think there's a good chance she won't disappear on us. What seems to be working the best are specialised websites (like JeVeuxAider.gouv.fr here in France), not social media. I expected the opposite. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ The ad at the library hasn't provided any results either.

lsanderson

ICE

Minnesota attorney general’s evidence portal draws nearly 1,500 submissions in first month
The portal launched Jan. 15 to gather evidence that could be used to hold federal immigration agents accountable for constitutional violations during Operation Metro Surge.
by Cleo Krejci
https://www.minnpost.com/state-government/2026/02/minnesota-attorney-generals-evidence-portal-draws-nearly-1500-submissions-in-first-month/

What’s it like to be trapped inside, hiding from ICE? “MPR News collected stories from several people under those circumstances across the state. They recorded voice memos or spoke to a reporter over three days between Jan. 24 and Feb. 4, sharing what their day was like.” As one person put it, “The most difficult part of this whole situation; it’s feeling like we’re nothing. It’s feeling like we’re unwanted.” Via MinnPost
https://www.minnpost.com/glean/2026/02/minnesota-prosecutors-worry-they-could-lack-the-staff-to-charge-serious-offenders/

Two polls conducted by NBC News Decision Desk are showing how immigration operations in Minnesota have led to a more polarized population. “After federal officers killed two U.S. citizens last month, self-identified Republicans in the state expressed stronger support for Trump’s immigration agenda than Republicans nationwide, while Minnesota Democrats and independents pulled more strongly the other way than their national counterparts.” Via MinnPost
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-administration/poll-immigration-operations-minnesota-leave-polarized-populace-rcna258341 ( Read more... )

princessofgeeks

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has marked as possibly inappropriate for anyone under the age of 18. )

Current Mood: content

omens

I saw this friday five and thought, I can do that, and also I can tie it to my other post for one mega post, why not???

When did you last:

Scrounge for change (couch, ashtray, etc.) to make a purchase?

Been a while. If we are counting for quarters for laundry machines, maybe when we lived in Ottawa. Before that, probably college for vending machine lunch money. Every couple months I dig thru the junk drawer for a new cart quarter bc they seem to like wandering off!

Visit a dentist?

Earlier this month! I have to get a crown for an old root canal and a tiny filling but they're waiting for word from my insurance to do them at the same time.

Make a needed change to your life?

I feel like I have one of these coming soon. I hate change, lol. Maybe quitting instagram last year??? Though I've replaced with bluesky and now youtube shorts which are harder to avoid, so. Now I have to quit those too :P

Decide on a complete menu well in advance of the evening meal?

I do this often. Not every day or anything, but I'm the food guy here. There's some amount of winging it but not too much or it would be chicken fingies and your vegetable is ketchup every night. Also, my war with the grocery stores. When they try to claim the regular price is higher so the sale looks better?? I know your scams!! Anyway the point is that I have to plan meals around (actually good) sales, so the forward thinking is necessary.

Spend part of the day (other than daily hygiene) totally/mostly naked?

My soft soft clothing protects my skin from the TEXTURES of the world 🤢

Anyway, my in progress post was about how I was doing tier lists the other day because it's better than doomscrolling, and having a lot of fun. A lot of the food ones are turbo American though, so I went for straight fruits and veg.

( FRUIT AND VEG TIER LISTS, also Batman )

princessofgeeks

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has marked as possibly inappropriate for anyone under the age of 18. )

Current Mood: amused

sturgeonslawyer

I have been meaning to read this book for years, since it was recommended to me by one of my oldest friends. It was well worth the recommendation and the wait. Indeed, though, as I grow older, I reread fewer and fewer books, this one may get a reread or two in the future. It is, quite simply, a masterpiece of the science fiction fix-up (a series of stories repackaged to look like a novel).

In a future distant enough that humans generally do not have names that we would recognize, though recently-colonized planets do, our hero is Haviland Tuf, who begins as a small interstellar trader and ends as ... but that would be telling.

Tuf is an extremely tall, rather fat, man with no hair anywhere on his body, given to a kind of laconic and verbose way of speaking which amuses the reader and tends to drive other characters slightly mad. He keeps cats.

There is a brief Prolog, in which Tuf does not appear for the good and sufficient reason that he has not yet been born.

In the first story . . . H'mmm. I am going to commit a sort of sidewise spoiler here: I will tell you the end of the story, without telling you anything about how it gets there, because if I don't tell you this, I can't really say anything about the rest of the book at all.

So, at the end of the first story Tuf finds himself in possession of a huge, ancient ship capable of engineering ecologies, for good or for ill.

There.

In the remaining stories, he ... well, that's what he does. He engineers planets' ecologies, at the request of their governments or other leaders, and generally in ways that those leaders do not expect but must admit fulfill the letter of their request.

Martin's imagination here is at wilder play more than in any other book of his than I have read; this is the Martin who wrote the short pieces "Sandkings" and "A Song for Lya," working at full strength.

(And if you don't know those short pieces, shame on you. They are both to be found in his collection of short stories, Dreamsongs, which no home should be without, and which is easily available at the Usual Suspects. Go forth and do likewise. Or something.)

There is a sort of through plot, involving a planet to which he must return at certain intervals for reasons of integrity, honor, and economics.

And that's really all I'm going to say about the book except, really, you should read it. Honest.

Ten out of ten exploding tyranosaurs

sturgeonslawyer

A short story, if it's even a story, because not much really happens in the way of "plot," published as an independent whateveritis, set in the Old Man's War 'verse.

The conceit is that Captain John Perry of the Colonial Defense Forces has been sent / invited to the village of New Goa on the Huckleberry Colony, on a goodwill tour. After dinner, rather than give a canned speech, he goes straight to Q&A.

What makes it work as well as it does is that Perry willingly engages with a questioner who could be perceived as a heckler, takes her questions seriously, and answers them honestly, admitting to his own doubts as to the validity of what he does to protect colonies like Huckleberry from alien races, and giving only weak defense to the CDF's policy of recruiting only from Earth, not accepting recruits from colony worlds.

It is, however, a story (or whatever) that will most be appreciated by those who enjoy the rather bluff sort of humor that tends to crop up in military science fiction.

Six out of ten giant scary worms.

sturgeonslawyer

Of course, I don't have to tell you about the book. I have to tell you about the translation: but my French isn't really up to telling you how good a translation it is. Indeed, improving my French is the main reason I picked this up.

Still, I can judge a few things about a translation even without expertise in the language. For example: how does the translator handle the names of characters and places?

I'm happy to say that M. Lauzon mostly maintains the names as Tolkien had them in the English original. Bilbo's last name is changed to Bessac, and his home to Cul de Sac. I suppose the former is to keep the "bag" (sac) in, so that the later boasts to Smaug will make sense; and then "Cul de Sac" makes perfect sense. The other characters' names are, by and large, kept as is, as are those of places: the biggest changes are to Mirkwood, which becomes Forêt de Grand Peur (forest of great fear); the Misty Mountains become les Montaignes de Brûme (mountains of haze); and Wilderland la Sauvagerie, which I can't imagine needs explaining.

Oh, one other detail. The names of the various races. Lauzon does not follow Tolkien's standard of capitalizing the names of the various races, so it's:
Hobbits ==> hobbits
Wizard ==> magicien
Dwarves == nains
Elves ==> elfes
Trolls ==> trolls
Goblins ==> gobelins
Wargs (wolves) ==> wargs (loups)
Eagles ==> aigles
Orcs ==> orcs
Spiders ==> araignées

The other place a non-skilled French-speaker might make a few judgements is on the translation of poetry. I'll keep myself to one sample, Bilbo's song on sighting the Hill near the end of his journey ("The Road goes ever on and on"). In M Lauzon's rendition, the first verse comes out as follows:
La route se poursuit toujours,
Sous l'arbre vert et sur la pierre,
Dans l'antre où jamais ne fait jour,
Par les cours d'eau cherchant la mer;
Sur la neige à l'hiver semée,
Parmi les jolies fleurs de juin,
Sur l'herbe et les chemins pavés,
Et sous les montagnes d'airain.

In terms of prosody, the verse rhymes passably well in an ABABCDCD pattern. The rhythm is not strict, but -- as near as I can tell: my French pronunciation is fairly good, but I don't trust it here -- it keeps to three stressed syllables per line. So at that level, it sounds reasonably like an improvised song.

But it's notoriously hard to keep both sound and sense when translating poetry.

Mechanically translated, this comes out:
The road goes on forever,/Under the green tree and on the stone/In the den where it never comes light,/By the streams seeking the sea;/On the snow in winter sown,/Among the pretty flowers of June,/On the grass and the paved paths,/And under the mountains of brass.

I think it's pretty clear that this is not in any sense a literal translation of JRRT's words. But ... would it be better if the words had been translated literally, and there were no song?

I have no answer to that.

Ten out of thirteen dwarves.

troisoiseaux

Since this is, I think, relevant to the interests of more than a few DW friends: National Theatre will be streaming the Ncuti Gatwa Importance of Being Earnest on YouTube (free!) from March 12-18, before adding it to the National Theatre at Home streaming service!!!

sturgeonslawyer

A rather peculiar historical novel. Our heroine's name is variable: her first name is either Dawn or Aurora. In the Prolog, she informs an engineer (in San Francisco) that "Dawn is dead;" it is not until very late in the book that we find out how and why Dawn has died.

Aurora, as I suppose we should call her then, spends her childhood shuffled back and forth between the United States and the newborn Soviet Union. The first proper chapter sees her arrive from the US, in 1933, at Magnitogorsk, on the Eastern side of the Ural Mountains, a city being built at the command of Stalin to house the largest blast furnaces in the world.

The next chapter flashes back to her childhood in Petrograd (formerly St Petersburg; soon to be Leningrad) in 1920, with her mother and father. They stay in a kommunalka, a sort of commune, with a large number of other men and women; young Aurora seems to be the only child there. She is befriended by Veronika, a veteran of the Red Women's Death Battalion, and has sundry adventures illustrating the changes happening in Mother Russia, including an encounter with the Cheka.

The chapters go on alternating like that, illustrating the years before her arrival in Magnitogorsk, and what happens after she arrives. Both threads are tense, fascinating, historically fraught, and sometimes funny.

Beginning in 1920, she experiences the USSR's new, informal method of divorce -- her father simply takes off his wedding ring, and her mother returns to her family ranch in Montana. After a few years, Papa is sent to the United States as a recruiting agent. He takes Aurora (now to be called Dawn again) with him, and dumps him at Mama's ranch, until he needs her as cover when he joins the Bonus Army and its March on Washington, and ... well, no spoilers here.

Again, starting in 1933, Aurora acts as a translator for an American engineer helping to build Magnitogorsk. Then she is summoned to a hospital for "routine" examinations, which lead her to questioning by an agent of the NKVD, and ... no spoilers.

Along the way she meets a number of historical figures, from a young George Patton to a chilling Lavrentiy Beria, and learns from each of them.

Seven out of ten polo ponies.

dolorosa_12

I wasn't sure how to title this week's open thread, but hopefully it will become clear what I'm asking.

Today's prompt is inspired by an article I read in my hometown's local newspaper, looking into the history behind Australia's adoption of decimal currency, which happened 60 years ago. They interviewed a woman who works at Australia's national mint (Canberra being Canberra, I — like virtually every Canberran school child — went on a school trip to the mint at some point, and it's also located on the same street as a) the pool where I learnt to swim, b) the location of my gymnastics club (although this moved to another venue two years after I started gymnastics classes), and c) the place where I did first aid training when I was working in child care), and the whole thing is a great snapshot of a moment of fundamental change in the way Australians lived their day-to-day lives.

Similar changes I can think of include Sweden shifting to driving on the right-hand side of the road, Samoa shifting into a different time zone in 2011, various countries changing to the Gregorian calendar, or massive political shifts such as a country gaining independence or having its borders redrawn (e.g. German reunification, the breakup of Yugoslavia or the Soviet Union, etc), or becoming part of the EU or similar international groupings.

So my question is: are there any similar fundamental changes that took place in your country? Were they within your own lifetime?

bluedreaming posting in

fan_flashworks

Fandom: Duang with You
Mods please use the f: tv (category) tag
Rating: T
Length: 100 words
Content notes: none
Author notes: The title is from I FELT THE SUNLIGHT by Wang Xiaoni, translated by an unknown Chinese translator with Simon Patton. (Note re canon: I did previously read the novel, but I’m calling this the tv series that’s fresh in my mind.)
Summary: Duang, as always, is besotted.

( Read more... )

cimorene

When we lived on the outskirts of Turku, going into downtown to run errands was already a bit of an Expedition, because it entailed a pleasant or idyllic walk to and from the bus stop of about 6-8 minutes, plus about 20-25 minutes on the bus, and then walking around the city center - possibly overcrowded, but full of beautiful buildings and trees.

Now that we live in the country, I'm still closer to the Turku city center than many people are who live in a North American metro area. I can walk to the bus stop (5 minutes, unpleasant scenery) and take a bus that puts me down near the center in about 50 minutes. But that trip feels excessive for a shopping expedition.

There's a big shopping center called Skanssi between us and Turku that is more convenient, about 35 minutes by bus, but the bus doesn't actually stop that close to it so you have to walk like ten minutes (it is very much designed to be visited by car, unlike the city center). And the mall itself just has RANCID VIBES. I hate being there! It's something about the interior architecture and the lighting maybe? The actual finishes are nice, the decor is fine, the lighting isn't UGLY. It is pretty dim inside, which has to be on purpose, but it's more like they were trying for a cozy or intimate or restful light instead of glaring? But instead it's oppressive in there. I always just want to get out. The K-Citymarket hypermarket attached to it is our closest Citymarket*, and it's much more brightly lit but still feels looming, oppressive, suffocating, sullen, and unwell. And I honestly do not know why! Maybe it's not actually the light, maybe it's sounds outside the regular hearing range or something?

So I've been thinking for a week whether it's preferable to go to this rancid-vibed mall, 35m by bus + 10-15m walk, or all the way to Turku, 50m by bus + 5-10m walk. The former SHOULD make me feel better because of the walking and fresh air, and I usually prefer less time on the bus because it's less chance to get trapped near someone's perfume; but would the rancid vibes counteract that?

*The other stores vary in vibes, but none of the ones near us are even close to this bad. Citymarkets Kupittaa and Länsikeskus are both reasonably Ok, and Prisma (Citymarket's competitor, the other Finnish grocery chain) Tampereentie is a little worse, while our closest Prisma at Itäharju is mostly nice, with some bad vibes in one end of the supermarket side. The nicest hypermarket near us is Citymarket Ravattula, Littoinen. I like this one so much more that I ALMOST would go to it instead (it's nearly 40 minutes by car, instead of 15 or so to Itäharju).

chickenfeet

https://operaramblings.blog/2026/02/20/the-spectres-bride/

halfcactus

https://thefridayfive.dreamwidth.org/149050.html

When did you last . . .

1. Scrounge for change (couch, ashtray, etc.) to make a purchase?
Two(?) weeks ago in Bangkok. I didn't get a train card so I was paying for single-journey tickets/tokens in coins. I really should write about my trip before I forget about everything...

2. Visit a dentist?
Last week!!! I have weak/problematic teeth so I have to go at least once a year. Ideally I try to go in January so I can get it out of the way, but I always fail. Mid-February's not too bad, though!

3. Make a needed change to your life?
The past two months, mostly to keep up the social momentum after a year of being fully reclusive. I've added people on Instagram and attempted to maintain relationships/acquaintanceships through casual online interactions, and tried to post more often. I really struggle with posting on real-life social media platforms and keeping up with message threads where people directly send reels or photos of their daily activities since I usually have nothing to say, but it seems necessary.

I'm also trying this thing where I'm a bit more open about my life and interests because I've realized how little my friends know me, but it's a work in progress. You'd think finally having a socially acceptable interest (paper journaling) would give me something to talk/post about, but I'm still so terribly self-conscious of it, I guess because it's intensely personal... which is the point of journaling, but still it's like "oh no they're going to see what kind of person I am" HAHA.

4. Decide on a complete menu well in advance of the evening meal?
Any day I have to feed myself. I am, after all, an overthinker who agonizes over every minor decision (I learned the Chinese slang term for this yesterday, 內耗).

5. Spend part of the day (other than daily hygiene) totally/mostly naked?
Again, Bangkok, though mostly hygiene-related. I had a hotel room to myself and enjoyed not having to get dressed immediately.

Current Music: Neko Case - Neon Grey Midnight Green (album)

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cyphomandra

February 2026

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Page Summary

evilinsanemonkey - Fanwork Friday
smallhobbit - View from the Window - February
elisheva_m in little_details - Faking a VPN
oursin - 'The present generation is doing mating habits all wrong!!!'
profiterole_reads - [Locked post] Looking for new volunteers
lsanderson - 2026.02.20
princessofgeeks - First draft: Dancing (Shane/Ilya)
omens - friday five, fruits and veg, batman
princessofgeeks - Heated Rivalry rec
sakanawords - WED Day 20
sturgeonslawyer - George R.R. Martin: Tuf Voyaging (2026-13)
sturgeonslawyer - John Scalzi: Questions for a Soldier (2026-12)
sturgeonslawyer - JRR Tolkien, translated by Daniel Lauzon: Le Hobbit (2026-11)
troisoiseaux - (no subject)
sturgeonslawyer - Neal Stephenson: Polostan (2026-10)
dolorosa_12 - Friday open thread: fundamental changes
bluedreaming in fan_flashworks - Duang with You: Fanfic: the whole universe converges here
cimorene - Stores with rancid vibes
chickenfeet - Gothic horror from Dvořák
halfcactus - thefridayfive 2026.02.20

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