The Reading Corner.

[Geo]

Well, he's in heaven anyway...

[Buster's Uncle]

Castle Roogna, by Piers Anthony.

-Dunno; if you're not in the mood for puns and puzzles, the Xanth books ain't all that good...

[Buster's Uncle]

Novelets of Science Fiction, edited by Ivan Howard.

[Lord Avalon]

The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold. I recently reread Tai-Pan and Noble House by James Clavell. Reread Shogun last year when the new miniseries came out.

[Buster's Uncle]

A Spell For Chameleon, by Piers Anthony.

[Bertilak]

James Evans' Daily Life in the Hellenistic Age: From Alexander to Cleopatra commented on daily activities for average humans around 320 BCE through approximately 50 BCE.

Evans' discussion of symposiums and other different, to the modern reader, social practices piqued my interest. Hellenistic symposiums often combined education, drinking, food, and companionship between men of similar social status. Enslaved and freed women might have provided music, educated commentary, and other services in symposiums, but the predominant social contact occurred between men.

Somatophylakes, generally translated as high level bodyguards, potential companions, and potential martial leaders, in the entourage of Phillip II of Macedon and Alexander III of Macedon piqued my interest for various reasons. No exact equivalent social constructions exist in modern social contexts. Similar behaviors from somatophylakes appeared in contemporary enlisted martial contexts except contemporary currently enlisted martial forces rarely provide personal bodyguards for governmental officials.

[Ordnael]

Finished The Butlerian Jihad, the first part of the Legend of Dune Trilogy by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson.

Interesting read made more interesting by the times we are living with LLM/AI models evolving into something we might loose control of.

I find it curious almost prophetic, on the nature of what's written regarding what gave origin and control to thinking machines, that this book is anchored on a 1965 novel's notes and side stories left behind by Frank. Even when Brian and Kevin released The Butlerian Jihad in 2002 our understanding of what form AI might take was still very foggy.

[Lord Avalon]

Software by Rudy Rucker. Won the first Philip K. Dick Award. I read it so long ago, didn't really remember it. I found The Ware Tetralogy omnibus book unread, in a box, and I decided to read it. The fourth book I'm sure I haven't read, but it's been so long since I read the others, it's all new again.

[Buster's Uncle]

Crewel Lye A Caustic Yarn by Piers Anthony.

[Buster's Uncle]

Centaur Isle by Piers Anthony.

[Bertilak]

Janet Poppendieck's Breadlines Knee-deep in Wheat: Food Assistance in the Great Depression provides relevant insights on potential adverse outcomes from food shortages and potential strategies for certain contemporary Americans’ survival of food shortages.

Lapses in funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, abbreviated as SNAP, will probably affect vulnerable Americans across multiple demographic groups. My sympathy and concern exist for many Americans in SNAP because select vulnerable Americans from diverse social situations rely on funds through SNAP for a significant portion of daily nutritional intake.

My list of numbered points contains an accessible simplified collection of certain historical Americans' experiences and actions around food shortages in the Great Depression according to Poppendieck's Breadlines Knee-deep in Wheat.

1. American private charities and individual contributors often received excessive demand and inadequate supplies for meeting the demand (Poppendieck 25).
2. Americans experienced an increased incidence of tuberculosis, other diseases, and malnutrition (Poppendieck 32).
3. Select Americans scavenged in dumps for food (Poppendieck 26-27).
4. Some Americans sought employment in restaurants, food vendors, and domestic settings for acquisition of surplus food for private consumption (Poppendieck 27).
5. Desperate parents occasionally employed their children in door knocking for requests of donations and food (Poppendieck 27-28).
6. Certain Americans protested for expanded food relief (Poppendieck 28).
7. Certain Americans participated in mutual aid organizations for acquisition of food through negotiations on farmers’ overproduced crops (Poppendieck 28).
8. Select Americans stole food from affluent stores and money and groceries from affluent customers (Poppendieck 28).
9. Rural American households occasionally foraged wild food from forests and adjacent land (Poppendieck 31).
10. Select rural Americans travelled into urban areas for participation in food riots and demanded greater food relief (Poppendieck 31).

[Buster's Uncle]

Ogre, Ogre by Piers Anthony.