Tootfinder

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

"the section reverses safety changes put in place following the crash between an American Airlines flight and an Army helicopter near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Jan. 29. According to investigators, it was difficult for the helicopter pilots to hear dispatches from National Airport’s traffic control."
National Transportation Safety Board ‘vehemently opposes’ NDAA provision
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5643440-ndaa-opposed-by-ntsboard/

So this is percolating and the results so far are not surprising.
I'd vote NO, for the following reasons:
- oil demand continues to decline and risk is high we'll end up with an expensive underutilized pipeline. Therefore high risk we'll end up subsidizing any private entity that builds this thing.
- why would we invest public dollars to support infrastructure for a product where 75% of the profit leaves Canada? There has to be a net benefit, beyond steel sales and jobs, for this project to be considered.
- Indigenous land rights must be respected. They will be left with the rusting pipeline decades in the future, and it's impact on the land.
- the B.C. government must also have a final vote as they have to give up land and provide support.
- we don't need additional oil tankers on our west coast.
- and most importantly, with this MOU, Canada pretty much declared we aren't serious about protecting the environment or fighting climate change. We're oil whores. Harsh but....
#CanPoli #ClimateAction

i feel like my general feelings re: Rigol and people swearing by their Tek are best summarized with the old "rifle is fine" copypasta. as in: if you are skilled in the art you will get things done just as well with the rigol as you will with a tek in the same cateogry that's 10 times* the price. and if you aren't, goddess bless you either way also
* referring me to US secondary markets is classist and i will not be elaborating on this observation

U.S. scales back troops on NATO’s eastern flank
The United States has informed its NATO allies that it will scale back its troop presence along Europe’s eastern border with Ukraine as it focuses on security priorities elsewhere in the world, Romania’s defense ministry said on Wednesday.
The U.S. Army later confirmed the move but denied it was a sign of lessened commitment to NATO.
Depending on operations and exercises, around 80,000-100,000 U.S. troops are usually present…

Myanmar shut down a major online scam center on October 21 as part of operations starting in September to curb cross-border online scams and illegal gambling (Associated Press)
https://apnews.com/article/myanmar-scam-centers-cybercr…

Stragglers from Myanmar scam center raided by army cross into Thailand as buildings are blown up
A Thai regional army commander say that the number of people fleeing from Myanmar to Thailand after Myanmar’s military shut down a major online scam center has slowed to a trickle. The news on Tuesday came after more than 1,500 people had left in the past week. The KK Park site was identified by Thai officials and independent experts as housing a major cybercrime operation. It was raided by Myanmar’s army in mid-October as part of operations starting in early September to suppress cross-bor…

We've reached the point in the evolution of cyber scamming where military units are blowing up buildings to stop the digital crimes.
Stragglers from Myanmar scam center raided by army cross into Thailand as buildings are blown up
https://apnews.com/artic…

Stragglers from Myanmar scam center raided by army cross into Thailand as buildings are blown up
A Thai regional army commander say that the number of people fleeing from Myanmar to Thailand after Myanmar’s military shut down a major online scam center has slowed to a trickle. The news on Tuesday came after more than 1,500 people had left in the past week. The KK Park site was identified by Thai officials and independent experts as housing a major cybercrime operation. It was raided by Myanmar’s army in mid-October as part of operations starting in early September to suppress cross-bor…

I'm reading PhD applications today - a moment that's always a mix of hope and a feeling of futility. Some applications aren't great but many are seriously fantastic. Of course, this means that more than one strong candidate with an excellent file and an exciting project won't get in.

Aaron Rodgers has 'full confidence' Steelers will recover to win AFC North following loss to Browns https://www.nfl.com/news/aaron-rodgers-has-full-confidence-steelers-will-recover-to-win-afc-north-following-loss-to…