haggis | Reading

Item the first: the 1972 Harvard University Press Treatise of Man, translated by Thomas Steele Hall. This translation is quoted by two of the other books I'm working with, Pain: the science of suffering by Patrick Wall (1999), and The Painful Truth by Monty Lyman (2021). It is also an edition that, as I understand it, contains a facsimile of the first French edition (1664, itself a translation of the Latin published in 1662). My French is not up to reading actual seventeenth-century philosophy, but being able to spot-check a couple of paragraphs will be Useful For My Argument.

Item the second: Descartes: Key Philosophical Writings, translated by Elizabeth S. Haldane and G.R.T. Ross (1997). This doesn't contain Treatise on Man, but it's the translation of Meditations on First Philosophy that's quoted in The Story of Pain by Joanna Bourke (2014).

Meanwhile the Descartes essay, thus far composed primarily but not solely of quotations from other works, has somehow made it north of 4500 words. I think it might even be starting to make an argument.

( Read more... )

I am resisting the urge to try to turn this into a Proper Survey Of Popular Books On Pain, because that sounds like a lot of work that will probably involve reading a bunch of philosophers I find profoundly irritating, and also THIS IS A TOTAL DISTRACTION from the ACTUAL WORK I AM TRYING TO DO. But it's a distraction that is getting me writing, so I'll take it.

ofearthandstars

From

thefridayfive

1. What were some of the smells and tastes of your childhood?
The smell of the chlorine from the spa my mother worked at, and later, the smells of the craft store (Old America) that she managed. Tastes would be Velveeta cheese and Vienna sausages.

2. What did you have as a child that you do not think children today have?
The ability to have your own thoughts without 1,000 things vying for your attention; freedom to roam without being under a microscope.

3. What elementary grade was your favorite?
Probably 5th. I was a stinker in the early grades, often acting out and getting into trouble. We moved around a lot due to the recession and I went to 5 different elementary schools. I think by 5th we had found a stable spot to land and I was able to relax a little. That was when a teacher first began to encourage my writing.

4. What summer do you remember the best as a child?
Probably 7th grade, the summer I broke my foot at my aunt's pool and spent the rest of the summer hanging out of our own pool with one leg in a hot pink cast hanging over the side.

5. What one piece of advice would you give to your younger self, and at what age?
I'd warn my younger self at 6 or 7 that they are worth more than their young body, and worthy as they are emotionally and mentally and intellectually, without need for perfection, and that they should never accept being told they are less than, especially by those who would profess to love them.

andrewducker

Sunrise from the office
Original is here on Pixelfed.scot.

hafnia

Christ.

Things move quickly, I suppose. It's sort of ironic — I ended that entry with a note about plans changing, and this morning, they did.

Max texted me that the funeral is this weekend. Friday, specifically.

"So I guess I'm not going", because there were no flights.

I pointed out that thanks to the atmospheric river, temps are actually much warmer than they have been — "so if we want to drive..."

I texted a friend of ours that cat-sits for us, usually, asking if she was free. She said yes, as long as I was fine with them getting fed two hours early on Thursday.

"Yeah, of course."

So.

Text exchange with Maximo back and forth, re: whether or not he wanted me to go; I hate "well, it's up to you", because when it's shit like this, it's not up to me. If I'm going out with you as support, I want to know that you want that support, goddam.

Anyway he admitted at long last that yes, he would like it, so we're leaving Thursday.

Today was something of a mixed bag, shall we say.

Woke up with the alarm at 7:20, talked to Maximus about the whole funeral business, then fell back asleep because I hadn't actually fallen asleep last night until almost 3am. (Sigh.)

Almost immediately went into a nightmare about my ex, one where he found out where I'm living now and after I got home from running an errand in town (that I'd walked to; town is small enough that this is plausible), followed me home, stole my keys to keep me from getting into the house, and ended up literally chasing me through the neighborhood.

Woke up mid-panic attack, fully hyperventilating, fight-or-flight response in full gear, nearly kicked one of the cats trying to get free of the bedclothes. Cool.

Laid there for a very long time just trying to get my heart rate back down to normal. I haven't talked to him in eight and a half years. I have seen him at a few points, but it's been the sort of thing where I've had the ability to just leave, so I have, without talking to him.

(I know that if for some horrible reason I did end up in the same place as him at the same time with no way to escape, he would try to talk to me — I don't know that he'd be able to help it. I saw him do it to others. I also know that I would probably just end up giving him the cut direct, but, well, you know.)

Eventually did get up and get ready to do therapy, etc, but God, that cast a shadow over the whole fucking day.

Happier news, suppose: I made bread today. Very simple stuff. In essence:

500 g bread flour (~4ish cups but woe betide you if you're using volumetric measurements for flour)
1.5 c water
2 tsp coarse salt (kosher, or I use coarse sea salt for mine)
2 tsp instant yeast

Throw into a bowl, knead until it passes the windowpane test (about eight minutes at speed 2 in my KitchenAid). Allow to rise in a warm place (on top of the coffee maker, here) until doubled in size. Tip out onto a baking sheet, shape into a loaf, allow to rise until puffy and, well, large, another 45 minutes, then slash the top and bake at 425F until browned, about 25 minutes in my oven.

I opt for crispy crust by preheating a cast-iron pan with the oven and filling it with boiling water just before I shove the bread in, but you do you.

Anyway it's dead fucking simple and it makes a loaf of bread that the Maximus goes nuts for.

Literally — I put it out on a board, just as a, "we can have some of this with olives and cheese and some wine while we're waiting for dinner to finish baking" (I made pot pie), and he flipped and ate a third of the loaf by his lonesome. Good lord.

I did a tarot reading for myself as sort of a, "great, what next?" post-therapy.

It was...enlightening?

Midway through doing it, I had the funny little revelation that the deck I bought for myself a couple of years ago that I cannot do a proper reading with is something that a friend of mine would probably have better luck with, because it's moon-themed, and I am just...look, I know what I am, and I am not Moon Energy. So.

The upshot of the reading is that yes shit sucks right now, why am I asking my tarot deck for confirmation that it sucks? It does, you're welcome, the end. Acknowledging that it sucks and doing what needs to be done will at least maybe help with the feeling of absolute misery, so, uh.

...thanks, goblin deck, for that...?

I did laugh while doing the pulls, but — yeah.

I did tarot in part because I joked with my therapist that perhaps I should just pay an Etsy witch to uncurse me. "Do you know the name of the one that uncursed the Seattle Mariners? Do you think she does more than just baseball?"

He laughed.

The — reading was basically, like, "look if you want to reach out to weird metaphysical shit for help, then yes, find that Etsy witch and pay her", which was deeply funny to me, but yeah.

Some part of me is like, "this is ridiculous, you are a PhD scientist" — and another part of me is like, "but, you know..."

So I suppose we shall see? :P

If anyone has a preferred Etsy witch (or method of curse removal), LET ME KNOW.

Oh! Right, of course, yes.

The other weird thing is that one of my fics on AO3 has suddenly gained almost 125 hits over the last two days. No kudos, no new comments, just a fuckload more hits. Like, why?? Do I get to know?

...do I want to know?

(It's explicit, tagged clearly with what it is, and fairly unremarkable, so I can't imagine it's been linked anywhere, but — huh.)

diffrentcolours

Just replaced the BIOS battery in mother_bones' laptop. A CR2016 cell costs about 50p and we happened to have a spare one in the battery box; the laptop SKU replacement part is just one of those, with two electrodes attached to a small connector. It's shrink-wrapped so you can't easily replace the battery within. A replacement part costs about £8-20.

So I carefully disassembled the part, cutting open the shrink rap with a craft knife, removing the electrodes from the cell with a spudger, and removing the last of the shrink wrap. I replaced the cell, and reconstructed the part as best I could, sellotaping it back together.

It's a bodge, but it works - no more clock complaints on boot-up. Saved us a few quid, and I got it fixed tonight rather than having to wait for a part to arrive.

jazzyjj posting in

awesomeers

It's challenge time!

Comment with Just One Thing you've accomplished in the last 24 hours or so. It doesn't have to be a hard thing, or even a thing that you think is particularly awesome. Just a thing that you did.

Feel free to share more than one thing if you're feeling particularly accomplished!

Extra credit: find someone in the comments and give them props for what they achieved!

Nothing is too big, too small, too strange or too cryptic. And in case you'd rather do this in private, anonymous comments are screened. I will only unscreen if you ask me to.

Go!

cosmolinguist

I had a lot of them today and they were mostly exhausting, but

The train manager on the train to Euston told us what platform we'd come in to (making it clear that there might be a last-minute change!), what side the doors would open on, how to get to the Underground and even buses and taxis. Since it's a station I know well, I could verify that everything he was saying was the right amount and kind of information that would've helped me if I hadn't known that and needed to.
I'm not sure this is what was going on because it might not have been working that way but... I think that there was a new feature over the two accessible toilet doors in Euston: there were big lights over the doors, one was red and one was green, so I assumed this meant one was locked and one is open. Like I said my experience made this kinda confusing but it at least made me think it'd be a really good idea! At the moment I have to look for a teeny circle near the lock/handle of the door and determine whether it's white or red. Which, in dim locations like you get at Euston, can be surprisingly difficult! And I feel like an idiot trying my key in a locked door and I don't like to stress out the occupant -- I at least find it stressful when I'm in there and hear someone trying the door, suddenly unsure that I locked it or that it has stayed locked. If a big red or green light over the door could be relied on and rolled out, that'd be great.

ofearthandstars

From

thefridayfive, but from a few weeks ago, and doing now because the questions felt important enough to me to reflect on.

1. What's one of the nicest things a friend has ever done for you?
I have been given so much love by so many friends over my life, which occasionally contributes to my "I'm a bad friend" complex in that I feel I can't adequately return it, but notable memories: (1) A friend on here showed up with me on a court date for support when I was a demoralized shell of a person, to which I remain grateful to this day, (2) when my house was broken into many years ago (I don't exactly remember when, but it was during my single-parenting period, so between 2006-2011) and my laptop and savings jar stolen (we didn't have a lot of stuff to steal), a group of friends fundraised to help me purchase a new laptop, which was a lifeline for my work and my writing; (3) other lovely friends have sent gifts over the years, including homemade scarves, hats, trinkets, and otherwise, which are ways of letting me know I am loved. I am a sucker for handmade things because I know the labor that goes into them (and I'm really bad/unpracticed at such crafts!)

2. What's one of the nicest things a stranger has ever done for you?
Once in 1998 I was very pregnant and car-free and took the bus everywhere. One time I boarded the wrong bus and ended up in a rural backwoods area not knowing how to get back to the right route/stop for the right bus. I started walking down the two lane to try to get myself headed in the right direction for town, but was wearing a cheap pair of sandals and was moving slow. I don't remember why, but I didn't call my partner at the time, probably because he would have berated me for getting off the bus. A gentleman in a white van found me walking on the side of the road in the heat and offered me a ride. I was extremely suspect of the van, but his vibe seemed safe, and he took me back into town to the right area and dropped me off without issue. I don't remember much about our conversation, but he was a country boy with a young wife/family and could tell I was miserable in the heat, and he was honestly being kind.

3. What is a trait in another person that you instantly admire, and that draws you to them?
Someone who demonstrates thoughtfulness to the idea of diversity among circumstances and perspectives and is generous in the emotional, mental, and physical sense.

4. What is a trait in another person that instantly repels you, and prevents you from forming a close relationship with them?
Self-centeredness, close-mindedness, and especially behavoir that exhibits racist/xenophobic or homophobic/transphobic ideas.

5. Time to vent: tell us about something rotten someone has done to you.
I doubt there is much I'd feel comfortable putting in a public post. I had a falling out with a friend a few years ago that was painful, but I let it lie. I found out later that the former friend had been bad-mouthing me (and their incorrect assumptions about me) to others. I had really worked hard to not talk ill of this person, even though the breakup and loss of friendship was painful, recognizing that we grew in different directions, and coming to a place where I just wanted the best for them. I guess I'd thought they they would do the same, but I suppose I was wrong.

jazzyjj posting in

awesomeers

cosmolinguist

Mom and Dad told me tonight about two friends of my brother's, and one of them's mom who was the school nurse at the time so knows all of us as well as being the mom of his friend, who she's run into lately who told her they always remember Chris at this time of year.

Two of the three apparently said especially that it was twenty years this year, and my mom was surprised that they remembered that specifically. But I have a couple friends about my age who had schoolfriends die when they were in school or soon after, and they certainly remember the person and how long it's been. We are lucky enough to live in an age when child/young person death is rare enough to stand out.

The school nurse mom even told my mom about how her daughter's kids know about him because the daughter has a Christmas ornament with a photo of my brother on it which my parents had made and handed out to people the Christmas after (I got one too, in my terrible flat in West Didsbury, but I never really wanted it and lost it along the way). The kids know about all the ornaments on their tree so they know this one is for "Mom's friend who died a long time ago." I love that.

On a kinda rough day, before two days in London for work that I'm dreading, this was a nice moment.

Their mom and my brother had been friends since kindergarten, when she was one of the girls who called him Kissyfur after a cartoon of that time, and who he used to entertain by doing stuff like pretending not to notice when the girls put snow in his hat and he put it on anyway so they could all laugh.

She sang at his funeral, which is such a gift to be able to offer a peer, when you're only twenty-one.

kaberett

(Last week's also now exists and is no longer a placeholder!)

Reading. Pain, Abdul-Ghaaliq Lalkhen. I want to be very, very clear: unless you are specifically researching attitudes and beliefs in pain clinics in early 2020s England, or similar, do not read this book. There are bad history and no references, appalling opinions on patients (), quite possibly the worst hyphenation choice I have ever seen, stunning omissions and misrepresentations of pain science, and It's Weird That It Happened Twice soup metaphors. Fuller review (or at least annotated bibliography entry) to follow, maybe.

Some further progress on Florencia Clifford's Feeding Orchids to the Slugs ("Tales from a Zen kitchen"), which I acquired from Oxfam in a moment of weakness primarily for EYB purposes at a point when it was extremely discounted. It is primarily a somewhat disjointed memoir for which I am not the target audience, but hey, Books To Go Back In The Charity Shop Pile but that I wouldn't actually hate reading were exactly the goal, so that's a victory. Mostly. I'm a little over halfway through it, sticking book darts on pages that contain recipes for easier reference when I go back through on the actual indexing pass.

I absolutely needed something that was not going to make me furious and furthermore that was not going to be demanding, and there's a new one in the series, so I have now reread several Scalzi: Old Man's War and The Ghost Brigades completed, The Lost Colony in progress.

I've also had a very quick flick through the mentions of Descartes in Joanna Bourke's The Story of Pain, which is my next Pain Book. She does better than everyone else I've read, but I still think she's misinterpreting Treatise on Man. (Why do I have strongly-held opinions on Descartes now. CAN I NOT.)

Playing. ( Inkulinati, Monument Valley )

Cooking. SOUP.

smitten kitchen's braised chickpeas with zucchini and pesto, two batches thereof, because I had promised A burrata to go with and then (1) the supermarket was out of it and (2) the opened part-pack of feta wound up doing two days quite comfortably, so the second batch was required For Burrata Purposes.

I have also established that the pistachio croissant strata works very well in one of the loaf tins if you scale it down to 50% quantities because there were only 3 discount croissants at the supermarket (... because you had to wait and watch the person who got there JUST ahead of you taking Most Of Them...), which also conveniently used up the dregs of the cream that I had in the fridge.

Eating. Tagine out the freezer (thank you past Alex). Relatively fresh dried apple. A very plain lunch at Teras in Seydikemer, which was apparently the magic my digestive system needed to settle itself down! And I am very much enjoying my dark chocolate raspberry stars. :)

rmc28

Books on pre-order:

Platform Decay (Murderbot 8) by Martha Wells (5 May 2025)

Books acquired in November (and all read!)

Testimony of Mute Things (Penric & Desdemona) by Lois McMaster Bujold
Goalie Interference (Austin Aces) by Kim Findlay [7]
After Hours at Dooryard Books by Cat Sebastian

Books acquired previously and read in November:

Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan [May 2016]
Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan [May 2016]
Percy Jackson and the Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan [May 2016]
Percy Jackson and the Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan [May 2016]

Borrowed books read in November:

Murder at the Grand Raj Palace (Baby Ganesha 4) by Vaseem Khan [3]

Rereads in November:

Heated Rivalry (Game Changers 2) by Rachel Reid
Tough Guy (Game Changers 3) by Rachel Reid
Common Goal (Game Changers 4) by Rachel Reid
Role Model (Game Changers 5) by Rachel Reid
The Long Game (Game Changers 6) by Rachel Reid

Yes there's a TV adaptation of Heated Rivalry, no it's not available (legally) in the UK yet, also I have had no time to watch it even if it were. But watching it is very definitely in my future plans.

[1] Pre-order
[2] Audiobook
[3] Physical book
[4] Crowdfunding
[5] Goodbye read
[6] Cambridgeshire Reads/Listens
[7] FaRoFeb / FaRoCation / Bookmas / HRBC
[8] Prime Reading / Kindle Unlimited

jazzyjj posting in

awesomeers

kaberett

Breakfast in bed, accompanied by completing my first ever playthrough of the main body of Monument Valley. I think I wound up getting two prompts from A, who also spent a significant chunk of the afternoon attempting to get it working on two different large-format touchscreen devices -- I'd been struggling with the trackpad, and was gratified when A reported that they'd had a go at playing the very first level with a trackpad and it really was kind of wretched. (Made it to approximately halfway through Appendix 1 before deciding I needed to call it for the day...)
smitten kitchen's braised chickpeas with zucchini and pesto continues fantastic.
'tis The Season for my current Favourite Chocolate (I'm not sure if it's available year-round but the company we get groceries from only carries them during the winter, and I honestly probably enjoy them more because of the Seasonal Availability). I am writing this post with one of them + a mug of warm milk.
The box of meds I dropped in an airport this Monday gone has successfully been picked up! First step in a pass-the-parcel that will hopefully conclude weekend after next...
Got a substantial increase on my highest score in one of the silly clicky games in Flight Rising :)

cosmolinguist

angelofthenorth gave me my birthday presents today! I thanked her and said I was surprised because it's not my birthday yet. But V and I always have a joint party - after their birthday and before mine - and that's today.

She sensibly pointed out that they won't see me for my birthday, as I'll be off doing family xmas things by then.

So, yeah, why not, today's my birthday.

ludy

This is a screened comment postbox post for you to get in touch with me while I don’t have my mobile.

Also Happy St Nicholas Day everyone - enjoy celebrating everyone’s favourite heretic-slapping, accidentally canibalistic, patron saint of Sex Workers

ludy

I am on the train to my Dad’s and have realised I don’t have my mobile with me - argh! Going back home to pick it up would put my arrival at Stratford Upon Avon after the last bus that will drop us off anywhere “near” his retirement village (near = 15-20 minute walk away - as it’s forecast to be solid rain for the next couple of days at least we’ll have to take the 20 minute route) until Monday morning. So I’m not going to go back and will just have to re-experience pre-mobile life for the next few days

(I just forgot to switch it from pyjama/lounging-around-at-home-clothes pocket to my going-outside-in-the-wet-clothes pocket)

I do have my iPad and Kindle Fire. So writing here or email are the best ways to get in touch with me (with Teams, Zoom or Discord also being options)

I feel very stupid for forgetting - I haven’t done that in ages and of course the time I do would be for a time sensitive and very long train journey/being away from home for several days…

Mamihlapinatapai

Distracting and a danger to maximum efficiency

a confession: today I have bought two more translations of Descartes

Friday Five (Nov 28 Edition)

Interesting Links for 09-12-2025

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Coins for Coins

Just one thing: 09 December 2025

Good things about my train journey

Friday Five: Old (Nov 14) Edition

Just one thing: 08 December 2025

Interesting Links for 08-12-2025

"mom's friend a long time ago."

vital functions

To-read pile, 2025, November

Just one thing: 07 December 2025

Interesting Links for 07-12-2025

some good things (a post)

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