Tootfinder

I was looking into the #DANDI archive, following a post of @… that mentioned it as a possibility for #Neuroscience data storage.. It looks like it could be useful i…

Just finished "Beasts Made of Night" by Tochi Onyebuchi...
Indirect CW for fantasy police state violence.
So I very much enjoyed Onyebuchi's "Riot Baby," and when I grabbed this at the library, I was certain it would be excellent. But having finished it, I'm not sure I like it that much overall?
The first maybe third is excellent, including the world-building, which is fascinating. I feel like Onyebuchi must have played "Shadow of the Colossus" at some point. Onyebuchi certainly does know how to make me care for his characters.
Some spoilers from here on out...
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I felt like it stumbles towards the middle, with Bo's reactions neither making sense in the immediate context, nor in retrospect by the end when we've learned more. Things are a bit floaty in the middle with an unclear picture of what exactly is going on politics-wise and what the motivations are. Here I think there were some nuances that didn't make it to the page, or perhaps I'm just a bit thick and not getting stuff I should be? More is of course revealed by the end, but I still wasn't satisfied with the explanations of things. For example, (spoilers) I don't feel I understand clearly what kind of power the army of aki was supposed to represent within the city? Perhaps necessary to wield the threat of offensive inisisia use? In that case, a single scene somewhere of Izu's faction deploying that tactic would have been helpful I think.
Then towards the end, for me things really started to jumble, with unclear motivations, revelations that didn't feel well-paced or -structured, and a finale where both the action & collapsing concerns felt stilted and disjointed. Particularly the mechanics/ethics of the most important death that set the finale in motion bothered me, and the unexplained mechanism by which that led to what came next? I can read a couple of possible interesting morals into the whole denouement, but didn't feel that any of them were sufficiently explored. Especially if we're supposed to see some personal failing in the protagonist's actions, I don't think it's made clear enough what that is, since I feel his reasons to reject each faction are pretty solid, and if we're meant to either pity or abjure his indecision, I don't think the message lands clearly enough.
There *is* a sequel, which honestly I wasn't sure of after the last page, and which I now very interested in. Beasts is Onyebuchi's debut, which maybe makes sense of me feeling that Riot Baby didn't have the same plotting issues. It also maybe means that Onyebuchi couldn't be sure a sequel would make it to publication in terms of setting up the ending.
Overall I really enjoyed at least 80% of this, but was expecting even better (especially politically) given Onyebuchi's other work, and I didn't feel like I found it.
#AmReading

Last night, I dreamed my bestie & I were in a 747, on our way to London. But the 747 wasn’t flying. It was being driven down USA interstates. At taxiing speed. & cars were piled up behind us as far as the eye could see.
I don’t know how they were planning to taxi us across the Atlantic. #Dreams

Moody Urbanity - Relations V 🪢
情绪化城市 - 关系 V 🪢
📷 Minolta Hi-Matic AF
🎞️ Shanghai GP3 400 Pan
#filmphotography #Photography #blackandwhite

🍆 A Hermetic, Transparent Soft Growing Vine Robot System for Pipe Inspection
#robots #machine

A Hermetic, Transparent Soft Growing Vine Robot System for Pipe Inspection
Rehabilitation of aging pipes requires accurate condition assessment and mapping far into the pipe interiors. Soft growing vine robot systems are particularly promising for navigating confined, sinuous paths such as in pipes, but are currently limited by complex subsystems and a lack of validation in real-world industrial settings. In this paper, we introduce the concept and implementation of a hermetic and transparent vine robot system for visual condition assessment and mapping within non-bra…

#Upcoming Framed around the language of filmmaking, “Achlys” finds Jon Porras (aka Barn Owl) moving further into texture, erosion, and weight. Available via #ShelterPress, October 24th.

Check out today's Metacurity for a comprehensive run-down of crucial cybersecurity developments you should know, including
--Yanluowang initial access broker faces up to 53 years in prison following guilty plea,
--CBO breach is considered 'ongoing,'
--Asahi's shipments are at 10% following attack and ahead of holiday season,
--Payments by British insurers for cyber incidents have tripled,
--Chinese national faces UK sentencing this week for money …

Yanluowang initial access broker faces up to 53 years in prison following guilty plea
CBO breach is considered 'ongoing,' Asahi's shipments are at 10% following attack and ahead of holiday season, Payments by British insurers for cyber incidents have tripled, Chinese national faces UK sentencing this week for money laundering, Firefox gets anti-fingerprinting fix, much more

Thousands fall ill as mosquito fever explodes across southern China #China

Thousands fall ill as mosquito fever explodes across southern China
China’s Guangdong Province is battling its worst-ever chikungunya outbreak, with thousands of infections spreading across major cities and nearby regions. Transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes, the disease underscores how climate change, urbanization, and global travel are fueling mosquito-borne threats.

Following public outcry,
the U.S. Department of Education has restored funding for students who have both hearing and vision loss,
about a month after cutting it.
But rather than sending the money directly to the four programs that are part of a national network helping students who are deaf and blind, a condition known as deafblindness,
the department has instead rerouted the grants to a different organization
The Trump administration targeted the programs in …

Students With Hearing and Vision Loss Get Funding Back Despite Trump’s Anti-DEI Campaign
Following public outcry, the Department of Education has reversed its decision to cut funding for students who have both hearing and vision loss, opting instead to reroute grants to an organization that will provide funding to these students.

So Guillermo del Toro's "Frankenstein" is what they would call a "visual feast". Lavish production barely does it justice. Thoroughly enjoyed it, and it is as poignant as one would hope. Well worth it!
The only thing that grated on me was the weirdly unnatural composited lighting. I've seen this in other films and it bums me out. Gives me the same vibes as AI generated Art… Makes me wonder why it was decided to go that route, rather than lighting things pra…