Three Interesting Things

1. The cold weather created pancake ice in part of the river here. 

2. The war Israel is waging is also halting conservation work. 

3.

There is a kidlit for Los Angeles auction.  I know there have been a lot of auctions lately.  But there is a lot of need. 

2024 Reading Tally

I love data.  I've been doing the reading tally for a bit.  Here's last years, which links to the prior year's and so on. 

Last year I had a really good reading year and in some way's such a crazy number made this year kind of a relief.  It would be so much work to meet last year's and honestly, I didn't even want to.  I didn't want to set a new personal record, I wanted to let that one stand and think, yeah, that one time I did that.  I also wanted to try to make more time for things like TV that had been sorely neglected.  I did a little of that. 

Anyway, the data. 

Read: 224

DNF'd: 22

211 authors, 116 of them were new to me.  

The oldest title was from 2007.  Though I did read a graphic novel of A Wrinkle in Time, and the original IP on that is older than that.  (4 of the titles were from 2024. 

Most read author was Jill Shalvis, though Sandra Brown and Charish Reid were both not too far behind. 

Highest reading month was May with 29. 

36 were audiobooks. 158 were library books, because libraries are awesome.  14 were from Kobo Plus.

It was a good year of reading.  Hoping to maybe get more audiobooks this year. 

The Refugees of the Data Empire

I forget who I first saw saying that data is the new Empire, but yes. Data about is is the most important thing to corporations these days. It's why stores have begun collecting too much data. Target's data breach was in part because they were storing PINs, which have no legal use for them, but were of course very valuable to people to steal. 

I recently had to politely refuse to share my phone number multiple times to complete an in person transaction in a brick and mortar store. I was assured they would not call me, but "needed" the info to complete my transaction. They did not need my phone number and I did complete my transaction. The phone number just helps them better cross reference me with other purchase data so they can attempt to market to me more specifically. 

I have abandoned some social media platforms. Watched some destroyed, disappeared, or pivoted in a new direction that destroys all the things that used to make it interesting. And with the brief TikTok ban going into place in the US, we have another wave of people trying to gather up their followings, and find a new place to gather and reconnect. 

TikTok still exists, of course. The US isn't even the first country to ban it. (Possibly first to unban it.) But I've been listening to Rebecca Nagle's By the Fire We Carry, and was reminded that while possibly with less active death, there is tons of precedent for this. Precedent for the US deciding it deserves things that others had. That other people were in the way of their stated goals. That people the US didn't much care for having a space to gather was a threat. That the rules the US itself had established, didn't have to apply when dealing with people in their way. That rasing the spector of scary brown people is justification for anything. 

Sure, no one's being force marched through the snow. But as an alum of multiple online communities, there are people I've never found again. Who I likely never will. 

I was only a lurker on TikTok, but I know people who were running their small businesses there. It is a loss for our freedoms to gather and speak where we wish. And it is a loss for people who's salaries were dependent on it. 

I wish I believed my government cared about safeguarding my data, but the number of data breaches I've been notified of leads me to believe it is not a top priority. 

I'll be keeping an eye out for the Lorax Musical Concept Album. Just the kind of fun weird nerdy stuff my little corner of TikTok was into. 

*Note: I know TikTok is technically back now. But I deleted the app. 

Three Interesting Things

1. New York added congestion pricing and one of the buses has been faster.  As someone who regularly takes an express bus, this intrigues me. 

2. Phil Lewis talked to some residents of Altadena who lost their homes in the fire.  There are some links to GoFundMes in there too.

3. Some teens built a library. 

The End of an Era

The pet store near me is closing. First you need to understand by near, I mean walking distance. Like I once carried home twenty pounds of cat litter and I am not a person who regular walks more than a few feet with twenty pounds of anything other than myself if I can help it. 

My recollection was that it opened near the end of my cat Sabrina's life. I was excited because Sabrina was a pretty non-picky eater, but pet stores have a larger range of food, plus toys and other accoutrements. 

The store added a display with adoptable kittens. It was very fun to go visit, because my cat, at that point in her life had no interest in friends, so it was like window shopping for cuteness. I could not be tempted. 

Well, then Sabrina passed. I was planning to enjoy the cat free life for a bit. Try going away for multiple days without having to leave out extra litter boxes. Really live it up. 

And, yeah, I intensely disliked the cat free life. I had a tab open to Petfinder on my phone. I found an adorable set of bonded kittens that I went to visit at another pet store. 

And then some more adorable kittens appeared at the pet store near me. I ended up with Kayla. Kayla who has been my co-worker through several jobs. Encouraged me to take writing breaks. Carefully inspected the floor anytime I cleaned or moved something. Always there to check the fresh sheets to make sure they are acceptable. And who growls at the grocery delivery people before hiding under the bed.

Not too long after I adopted her someone tried to break into the kitten display and they had to remove the kittens. They never had kittens back at the store. I'm not saying the universe took extra steps to place kittens in my path, but I'm not not saying it. 

Kayla is also a very picky eater. So the convenience of a pet store when I realize, oh shoot, emergency pet food needed has been very useful. 

Brick and mortar stores, even chain store, have their uses. I know rents and other such things all must be considered. But seeing the store go is tough. I like being able to buy things online, but it was nice to walk over and grab them. I'm sad that we are making that harder to do. 

Snow Plans

We had snow in DC today, which I love. It meant pretty views of falling snow, I was lucky enough to telecommute for the day. Things always seem a little quieter and a little different on snow days.  Some people got a day off work. Some still had to go in.  Some teleworked.  And of course my cat was very excited that I was home and then ultimately bored that I was home but staring at a screen and typing.  She napped nearby before deciding I was too loud and she needed to nap in the closet.  

Some people had snowball fights.  Some people worked. Did I mention some of us still had to work?  I kid.  I don't terribly mind working on work days.  But I am always amused that the folks who work at schools (of which I know quite a few) think the rest of us get the day off too. 

It's staying cold this week, so the snow will stick around.  It snowed Friday, but Saturday you could barely tell there had been snow at all.  Eventually the snow accumulates enough crud as we trudge through it.  But that's hardly the snow's fault.