Roman Crocodile Armor (3rd Century AD), was a form of protective gear crafted from tough hide of Nile crocodiles. Romans likely adopted this type of armor during their conquests in Egypt and other regions where crocodiles were prevalent.
Crocodile armor was not as widely used as other types of Roman armor, and scholars believe that it might have been worn during processions or ceremonies, rather than in combat.
The first book of Ann Leckie's Radch trilogy, Ancillary Justice (2013) offers an interesting plot of AI, identity & insurrection. Leckie builds an interesting (political) world/universe for her tale of revenge & becoming, which while at times a little too tricksy, overall remains a compelling bit of space-opera. If at times the plot seems a little too convoluted, the central idea(s) is/are intriguing & developed interestingly
@ChrisMayLA6@bookstodon Librarian friend loaned it to me with the warning (apparently common for this book) “OK, just trust me, get throught the first 100 pages.”
Oddly, the second was my favorite. The trilogy remains one of my top reads of the past decade.
At the risk of reigniting a debate that has been had in my timeline in the past... here's a report of a University of Valencia that looked at over 20 paper examine the differential effects of reading digitally & on paper.
The research confirms my experience (my own & in the reading of my erstwhile students) that reading digitally is less likely to lead to long-term educational (knowledge) benefits...
@bookstodon Even if it doesn't catch on, I would like to institute #WhatchaReadingWednesday a hashtag which already exists, I believe? Anywho, whatcha reading?
#IAmReading Ben H. Winter's new book BIG TIME, and it's really good so far. It is lean, so perfect for those who hate padding in their stories. I don't want to give away the premise, so I will just say that it's a bit of a thriller that involves time itself.
@kimlockhartga@bookstodon Will start Red Widow tonight, I’ve been on a spy novel tear. Finished off Black Wolf last night, overall liked it even as it unfolded slowly and was a twist on the genre. Just had one element that I felt got too much attention and kind of didn’t even matter to the overall story.
The mastodon client, @MonaApp , is out with a new update today: version 6. It includes some great quality-of-life additions as well as some new features introduced by Mastodon last year. However, the most significant updates are in the area of automation, including support for the iPhone 15 Pro Action Button.
@kimlockhartga@bookstodon Most recently, helped with a conference where “E.” appeared, got a minute over breakfast to tell her how much I appreciated how very, very New England the book is.
By the way, I deleted my Twitter account last week. Some years ago Twitter was an important component of my life. I always thought I'd go out with guns blazing. But I had basically been shadow banned into oblivion, and the whole place is just such a steaming mess. I said goodbye to a couple of friends and just quietly turned out the lights.
@mike Still hanging on to mine, though I only log in when I get an alert.
Most distressing thing for me, ‘cause I’ll usually wind up scrolling a bit, is how much the same it is. I had a tight, curated list and they all seem to be there posting their stuff like it’s 2015.
2023: The year in (good) books. My review of the best books I read this year is up on my blog. Fiction, Nonfiction, Comics, Poetry, Folklore, and a new category this year: Children's Books 😊
I think a simple change in nomenclature could help Mastodon incredibly. Servers is an inaccurate term and instance is unfamiliar and vague. Both create tension for new users.
Why not simply call Mastodon instances what they are: Communities.
Ask users which Mastodon community they'd like to join. Have community rules, community policy, and community leaders. Not server rules, instance moderators and administrators.