(no subject)
Thursday, April 23rd, 2026 08:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
redbirdThe doctor did some low-tech neurology, including watching me walk quickly down the hall, having me walk tightrope-style to check my balance, and testing my grip strength by having me squeeze his fingers. The doctor said there was no change in those, but I think my balance was better today than at the last visit. He then sent me downstairs for blood tests: my vitamin D is where we want it (at the top of the "normal" range), and the abnormally low antibody count is what we expect from the Kesimpta.
I asked about reducing the gabapentin dose to 900 mg, since when I went from 1500 mg to 1200 the medication continued to be effective at stopping my legs from twitching at night. (For a while, it was 1500 mg, with the option of taking another 300 mg capsule if necessary. I went to 1200 after a few months of never needing the extra capsule.) The doctor said I could try it, but he would prescribe 1200 mg/day (I think the last refill was for 1500 mg/day.)
I then walked up the hill to Brigham and Women's Hospital to keep
adrian_turtle company in the epilepsy monitoring unit. We talked some, I made some phone calls on her behalf, and I sat quietly reading next to her bed for a bit. All in all, I did a lot of walking today, despite taking a Lyft to the neurologist; some of that was because I got turned around a couple of times, including inside the hospital. (I stayed home yesterday because my knee was bothering me, and wasn't sure how much walking I had in me today.)
Just wondering
Thursday, April 23rd, 2026 11:44 pm![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png){kind=small}
my_spikesgirl58_feedWhat did you want to be when you grew up when you were a kid?
If you found a diamond lying on the road and didn't know who the owner was, what would you do with this diamond?
re-doing this...
Thursday, April 23rd, 2026 04:37 pmreggiekray posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
addmeAge: 36
I mostly post about: stranger things, billy hargrove, dacre montgomery, joe keery, joseph quinn, fred hechinger, anime/manga, video games.
My hobbies are: drawing, writing, movies, spellwork/tarot/witchcraft.
My fandoms are: stranger things, gladiator ii, fantastic four, x-men, venom, anime/manga, the kray twins.
Before adding me, you should know: i am very gay and very trans, and will not tolerate any form of homophobia and transphobia. i'm also very witchy/pagan, and work with spiritual energy. if that bothers you, i understand! feel free to follow and/or unfollow at your leisure.
Darksight Dare uploaded today!
Thursday, April 23rd, 2026 12:32 pmlois_mcmaster_bujold_feedKindle: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GX2TBF7L
Nook: TBA
Kobo: TBA
Apple Books: TBA
Google Play books: TBA
To recap the description,
"Penric takes a chance…
Two intractable problems are brought to the door of sorcerer Learned Penric of Vilnoc and his Temple demon Desdemona. Cinar Camurat, a mutilated Cedonian cavalry captain, has traveled two thousand sea miles to Penric for aid. Iva of Bita, a secret hedge sorceress, lies dying in her Orban hill village, and wants no aid at all.
Penric and Desdemona know well the hazards of medicine and magic, but their greatest puzzle may lodge in the tangle of hopes and fears in human and demonic hearts."
As always, about the only push these indie e-novellas get from me are these blog posts, so any mention or reviews of my stories out and about on the Net and elsewhere by readers are much appreciated.
I just recently reposted the updated Bujold reading-order guide, to help out those welcome new readers daunted by the wall o' books: https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog... Do please pass the link along.
Onwards, L.
posted by Lois McMaster Bujold on April, 23
Dragaera reread: Hawk
Thursday, April 23rd, 2026 11:18 amsholio( Spoilers for Hawk and Tsalmoth )
Edit: originally had noted this as spoilers for Lyorn and changed it to Tsalmoth, as I had apparently forgotten which book that happened in ...
Edit2: Another spoiler for Hawk: ( Under here )
Fluorines As Reactive Handles, Eh?
Thursday, April 23rd, 2026 02:18 pmin_the_pipeline_feedYou can put this one in the “reactions I never expected to see” category, because it’s a way to selectively functionalize aryl rings with multiple fluorines on them. And no, I don’t mean “functionalize at the carbon(s) that aren’t fluorinated yet” or even “kick out the most likely SnAr leaving group fluorine”. This is stepping and and replacing fluorines with H, D, alkyls or other aryls.
The reason this looks so odd is that most of the time in organic chemistry breaking a C-F bond is going to be an uphill climb. They’re pretty strong as a rule, which is one reason why we medicinal chemists use them as blocking groups on carbons that are likely to undergo oxidative metabolism when a drug candidate hits the CYP enzymes in the liver. Fluorine has a number of other effects that can be attributed to its powerful electronegativity, and fluorination is very likely to change not only the metabolic profile of your compound, but to affect binding to proteins and to change solubility and other physical properties as well.
So there are a number of ways to add fluorines to various parts of a molecule, under reaction conditions that range from not-so-bad to dive-behind-a-wall, but taking them back off? Not so many. The one that springs to mind is that I mentioned above, nucleophilic aromatic substitution. You can displace an aryl fluoride if the ring it’s on is suitably activated, and it’s a really useful reaction. para-Fuoro nitrobenzene or para-fluorobenzaldehyde are textbook examples: this reaction goes through an anionic intermediate that then kicks the fluorine back out to restore the aromatic ring, and groups that make that anionic state less painful accelerate things. But if you want to try it on a neutral or electron-rich aryl instead, then good luck to you.
The new paper linked above is a different thing entirely, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything quite like it. The fluorinated starting material reaction with a pyridine-borane reagent that attacks at a particular C-F bond to generate a radical intermediate, and this is what loses the (solvated) fluoride to generate a borylaryl radical cation with a fluoride as the ion pair. That’s the species that then gets attacked by the coupling partner, forming a new C-C (or CH or CD) bond and kicking out a B-F side product.
If you change the nature of the borane-pyridine reagent (by substitutions on the pyridine) you can tune this to take out different fluorines in order, and the authors demonstrate some of these stepwise functionalizations, all the way out to four steps. A variety of groups can be coupled under these conditions (substituted aryls, heteroaryls, substituted alkyls including alpha-amino couplings, alkenes (to give alkyl chains), and more. It’s quite weird to see, and will give retrosynthesis planners an entirely new way to thing about potential routes. And you can of course combine this new chemistry with a step of good ol’ SnAr from a suitable starting material for even more variety. It’s going to take me a bit to start envisioning polyfluoroaryls as versatile starting materials, though!
how do I interview with the person I would be replacing?
Thursday, April 23rd, 2026 05:59 pmaskamanager_feedA reader writes:
I have recently made it to the second round of interviews for a role I’m very interested in. The conversation is with the person who is leaving the role I’m interviewing for.
I’ve never interviewed with the person who is currently in the job in question, but I take that to mean that she’s leaving the organization on good terms and for her own reasons, and that they trust her to make a recommendation on who will succeed her. Would you agree with that take on the situation, and if so what kinds of questions do you think I should ask or expect? How do I sell myself for the role without coming across as “I’m going to be better at this than you were,” which I’m sure would be a turn-off?
There are two possibilities:
1. The interview is primarily for her to evaluate you as a candidate and, while you’ll still have the opportunity to ask your own questions, it’ll be more or less like any other interview and you should approach it that way.
2.. Or, the main purpose of this meeting is for you to be able to talk to the person who’s currently doing the job and get your own questions about the role answered. In this scenario, she will likely still provide feedback to the hiring manager about you and other candidates, but it’s not the primary purpose of the conversation.
Have they said anything to indicate which it is? Sometimes an employer will say something like, “We’d like to give you some time to talk with the person who’s doing the job now so she can tell you about the work with more nuance” — and that’s a sign that it’s more likely to be #2 (or at least mostly #2). Or they might not say anything like that in advance, but when you sit down with her she’ll make it clear that that’s the bulk of the agenda.
Either way, you should prepare for both scenarios — meaning that you should come into it expecting #1, but be ready with a lot of your own questions if it turns out to be #2. (You should be ready with a lot of your own questions regardless — because in either scenario it’s an opportunity to hear firsthand from the person who’s doing the job now — but if it turns out to be #2, you don’t want the conversation to stall because you only prepared a couple of questions.)
Questions you can ask the person who’s doing the job you’re interviewing for include things like the best things about the job, the most challenging things about the job, the manager’s management style, secrets to success for doing well in the role, and whether there’s anything she was surprised by or wished she’d known before she started. You should also ask about workload, what the busiest times of the year are, and what those look like, because you might get a more accurate/honest answer than you will from others. And depending on the job, you might ask technical questions too, like what software they’re using for X, or how they’re handling a particular known challenge with that software, etc.
As for selling yourself without coming across like you think you’ll be better at the job than she was … I’d argue you should never really be coming across that way in an interview, even when you’re not talking to the person you’d be replacing, since you can’t possibly know from the outside if it’s true! Good interviews don’t feel like sales pitches; the best ones feel like a conversation between two potential colleagues trying to figure out if a collaboration between them would make sense — and that’s how you should approach this too. Listen to what they’re looking for, talk about how you might be able to help with that, pull out things from your professional history that relate to what they need, and — while they’re assessing you — ask the questions that will help you assess them back.
The post how do I interview with the person I would be replacing? appeared first on Ask a Manager.
Ask a Manager in the media … and how to report problem ads
Thursday, April 23rd, 2026 04:29 pmaskamanager_feedHere’s some coverage of Ask a Manager in the media recently:
I talked to Time about communication habits that are annoying your coworkers.
I talked to Bloomberg about how managers should discuss pay with employees.
I helped MarketWatch advise a letter-writer whose employee told her boss the writer was judgmental and belittling for giving feedback.
Huffington Post quoted me about what to say if a coworker is staring at your chest.
Also…
How to report problem ads
We’ve had a rash of ads auto-playing sound recently and are trying to get them all blocked, but if you encounter one (or any kind of problematic ad), the best way to report it is: look for the PubNation logo (“PN”) beneath the ad, click it, and a window will open with a report form to fill out, which will make it much, much easier for us to locate the and block it. Thank you!
The post Ask a Manager in the media … and how to report problem ads appeared first on Ask a Manager.
Certainly not what I expected.
Thursday, April 23rd, 2026 05:01 pmmy_spikesgirl58_feedWe found out something last night and things started to make sense. He had called us over to say goodbye, but I was sick with a cold and didn't want him to catch it. We talked, I said we’d see him next week and he said he didn’t think so. That was NYE and, four days later he was dead. I was amazed that he was that in tuned with his body but then Barb told us last night that he’d actually committed medically-assisted suicide. I guess that, like so many other things, it’s legal here.
He told Barb a few weeks before he did it and asked her not to say anything until after he was gone. That explains a lot of her behavior in the weeks immediately following.
It, of course, doesn’t change my affection for him and he directed everything in his life, so why not his death? Barb was having a hard time reconciling it, though, since suicide means no heaven. It still took me by surprise. I'm not angry, but I am stunned.
The Friday Five for 24 April 2026
Thursday, April 23rd, 2026 01:23 pmanais_pf posting in thefridayfivenondenomifan.1. What decade did you attend/are you attending high school or college?
2. What clothing fashion from that time are you glad/do you wish went out of style?
3. Do you still listen to the music from your high school/college years on a regular basis?
4. What hairstyle/hair color did/do you wear during high school/college?
5. What was/is "the cool thing to do" while in high school/college?
Copy and paste to your own journal, then reply to this post with a link to your answers. If your journal is private or friends-only, you can post your full answers in the comments below.
If you'd like to suggest questions for a future Friday Five, then do so on DreamWidth or LiveJournal. Old sets that were used have been deleted, so we encourage you to suggest some more!
ISO a unicorn backpack
Thursday, April 23rd, 2026 11:41 amthe_shoshannaI carry a backpack rather than a shoulderbag, because I like to have my hands free and I don't like the way a shoulderbag can flop down in front of me when I bend forward. Also it's easier to carry a lot in a backpack, which is important for grocery shopping, day hiking, etc. For a decade or more, up until last summer, my everyday carry was a basic Jansport school-type backpack. But while we were in Wales I realized that a) the rain cover I'd put on it was useless (almost lost my passport to water damage, YIKES) and b) it was fraying dangerously thin. Which, after so many years, it was entitled to do! But that has sent me on A Quest.
I'd made do with that basic Jansport for years, but now that I'm exploring options, I have very particular requirements! And I can't find a pack that meets them, argh.
I want a 28- to 32-liter capacity, a proper hip belt, and a flat back so that I can put an iPad or a folder of papers in it, against my own back, without risking them getting bent. (In other words, not a curved-for-ventilation back like this one.) I very much want panel loading rather than top loading, which I find awkward and inconvenient, although I might settle for top loading if everything else were amazingly good. It's hard for me to imagine a really good pack without load lifter straps. And I'd love it to have shoulder straps styled after running vests, with lots of storage, although now we're getting into "I want sparkles on it!" territory.
On the spot in Wales, I bought a pack at a local Trespass store. Its hip belt was reasonably good, but had no storage pockets. It claimed a 30L capacity, but I think it lied; it felt more like 25. And when I bought it I wasn't thinking about the fact that the curved back was going to be a dealbreaker; I didn't have the iPad or a portfolio of papers with me and since it hadn't been an issue with the old Jansport, it didn't occur to me. So when we got home I offloaded it; tried unsuccessfully to sell it and ended up giving it to Geoff, who wants to give it a try.
To replace it, I bought a North Face Surge 2 off Poshmark. It claims a capacity of 32L, but it sure doesn't feel like it; more like 25? And it's relatively heavy, which isn't great for day hiking. It does have a flat back, but its hip belt, although it exists (and can tuck away when I'm just carrying a light load around town), is fairly minimal, doesn't transfer as much weight as a proper one would, and also has no storage pockets.
So I bought an REI Venturi 30 off Goodwill. It has much better capacity while weighing less, and a good hip belt. I think the torso may be a little short for me, but it's okay. However, the photos I scrutinized online before buying it still misled me; its back is curved. I've bought a storage clipboard to put the iPad and papers in, but it's still a bit of a kludge; it's an awkward thing to pack other things around, and it's a bit flimsy.
Meanwhile I've kept on surfing alllllll the dealer and review sites, looking for my perfect pack. For a while I thought I'd found it in the Osprey Tempest Velocity 30; I love Osprey packs in general (that's what I use as luggage), and this one was where I learned that running-vest-style shoulder straps are a thing and fell in love with the idea. I almost bought it -- but the fact that it's not only top loading but has a stupid little flap over the top, rather than a proper lid, killed it for me. (At least at list price; if I can find a used one going cheap, I might give it a try.)
Then I stumbled on what may actually be my unicorn! The Arc’teryx Aerios 30 looks absolutely amazing and I wants it, precious, I wants it nowwwwwwwwww.
It's discontinued, nobody has it in stock, and I can't find anybody selling a used one. Sigh.
ETA: I swear I didn't see any yesterday, but today there are a handful of them showing on eBay! ...but they are CA$400 and up, not counting any import duties or taxes because they're all coming from the US or Asia, and I'm certainly not paying that much for something I can't return, and possibly not for something I could, since I have a hard time imagining that even this pack is that good. I mean, I paid US$33 for the REI Venturi, and it's acceptable.
Dukes, Hockey Romance, & More
Thursday, April 23rd, 2026 03:30 pmsmartbitches_feedStarter Villain
Starter Villain by John Scalzi is $4.99! I thought we ran a review of this one, but perhaps I’m just getting mixed up with Carrie mentioning she was reading it. Have you read this one?
Inheriting your uncle’s supervillain business is more complicated than you might think. Particularly when you discover who’s running the place.
Charlie’s life is going nowhere fast. A divorced substitute teacher living with his cat in a house his siblings want to sell, all he wants is to open a pub downtown, if only the bank will approve his loan.
Then his long-lost uncle Jake dies and leaves his supervillain business (complete with island volcano lair) to Charlie.
But becoming a supervillain isn’t all giant laser death rays and lava pits. Jake had enemies, and now they’re coming after Charlie. His uncle might have been a stand-up, old-fashioned kind of villain, but these are the real thing: rich, soulless predators backed by multinational corporations and venture capital.
It’s up to Charlie to win the war his uncle started against a league of supervillains. But with unionized dolphins, hyper-intelligent talking spy cats, and a terrifying henchperson at his side, going bad is starting to look pretty good.
In a dog-eat-dog world…be a cat.
Making a Play
Making a Play by Victoria Denault is $1.99! This is a hockey romance set in a small, isolated town. Some readers mentioned that the last quarter of the book seems rather abrupt, while many loved the “former crush” trope of the plot. This is book two in the Hometown Players series.
He’ll do whatever it takes to win—on and off the ice.
Luc Richard is the hottest player in the NHL—and it has nothing to do with hockey. His racy relationship with his supermodel ex set the tabloids on fire but nearly put his career on ice. To avoid being traded, Luc agrees to take a break from the spotlight—and from women—and spend the off-season at home in Silver Bay, Maine. It’s the perfect plan… until he reconnects with Rose.
Rose Caplan is tired of being shy, sweet, and safe. She’s ready for passion, romance—and Luc. Having loved him longer than she can remember, she’s finally ready to prove she’s not the same innocent little girl he once knew. Off the ice Luc doesn’t do games, but this new Rose makes him feel like playing a little dirty. If he’s really got a shot at her heart then he’s not just playing to win. He’s playing for keeps.
Dukes Are Forever
Dukes Are Forever by Anna Harrington is $1.99! This is a historical romance with what seems to be an enemies to lovers plot. It’s the first book in the Secret Life of Scoundrels series. Some readers found the heroine a bit TSTL, but others really loved the hero and his quest for revenge.
ALL’S FAIR IN LOVE
Battlefields and barrooms hold much more interest for Edward Westover, Duke of Strathmore, than a little girl’s fondness for dolls and lace. When he takes possession of his enemy’s estate, everything that villain held dear-including his daughter-belongs to Edward. Hire a governess, arrange a dowry, give a few reassurances, and be off on his way-that’s Edward’s plan. But he’s in for the shock of his life. For his new ward is a beautiful, impetuous, and utterly irresistible woman . . .
. . . AND WAR
Kate Benton is stunned. Who is this arrogant, infuriating man who’s invited himself into her home and taken over her life? Her vow: to do everything in her power to convince him to leave her-and Brambly House-alone. Yet as chilly days melt into sultry nights, Kate sees glimpses of kindness underneath Edward’s cool façade . . . and a passionate nature that takes her breath away. There’s so much she doesn’t know about this man. But does she dare trust this devilish duke with her heart?
Useless Etymology
Useless Etymology by Jess Zaffaris is $1.99! Calling all my word nerds! This non-fiction title may be of interest to you, especially if you like word facts or adding more to your random knowledge bank.
Did you know that an “astronaut” is literally a “star sailor,” that a thesaurus is, in fact, a “treasure trove” of words, and that someone who is “sinister” is actually just “left-handed”?
Have you ever wondered why English isn’t considered a Romance language if 60% of our
words are Latin-derived?
Did Shakespeare really invent 1,700 words, and if not, why the heck do we say that he did?
Why is the English language stuffed with so many synonyms?
Let’s be real: English can seem pretty bonkers. And, well, sometimes it is. But through thorough thought and a pinch of curiosity, method can be found within the madness of our modern tongue-even within the disparate pronunciation of the words “through,” “thorough,” and “thought.”
Derived from Germanic, Romance, Hellenic, Semitic, African and Native American languages, English contains multitudes. It has been (and continues to be) transformed by war and conquest, art and literature, science and technology, love and hate, wit and whim.
Useless Etymology takes readers on a time-traveling adventure to unlock the beauty, wonder, and absurdity within our everyday words, how they came to be, and the unexpected ways their origins weave a global, cross-cultural labyrinth of meaning.
Filled with fun facts and delightful discoveries, this is an enlightening read for anyone who wants to know more about why the English language works the way that it does.
what does good networking actually look like?
Thursday, April 23rd, 2026 02:59 pmaskamanager_feedIt’s the Thursday “ask the readers” question. A reader writes:
I have a question that might be suitable for “ask the readers.” When has someone reached out to you with a request to network that was compelling and made you actually want to respond?
I’ve seen a lot of stories of bad networking on here — people asking vague questions, not seeming to know what they want, or reaching out with a request to “network” that’s obviously a veiled inquiry about a job. What does genuinely good networking look like?
I’d love to hear from readers about requests they were happy to respond to or people who actually impressed them in a networking conversation. It’s especially helpful to hear examples of good networkers who were entry-level in their fields.
Readers?
The post what does good networking actually look like? appeared first on Ask a Manager.
2026.04.23
Thursday, April 23rd, 2026 10:49 amlsandersonA House debate over a fraud prevention bill this week illustrated a contrast in how each party contemplates fraud.
by Matthew Blake
https://www.minnpost.com/state-government/capitol-conversations/2026/04/minnesota-fraud-prevention-house-republicans-dflers-different-points-of-view/
Minneapolis City Council finds something to agree on: process
In a moment of cohesion, the Council has made clear to the Minneapolis Charter Commission that they’d like to approve the mayor’s appointments, thank you very much.
by Trevor Mitchell
https://www.minnpost.com/metro/2026/04/minneapolis-city-council-finds-something-to-agree-on-process/ ( Read more... )
