@drj It's a *pre* Victorian novel. And womens' dresses until the early 19th century were often cut to conceal a separate pocket, worn on a belt under the dress, with a slit to gain access to it.

(Social historical context makes a huge difference when reading historic—as opposed to historical—fiction.)

#WritersCoffeeClub 19 Dec. If you were to teach a writing course, what would be the most important lesson?

That the text on the screen or paper in front of you is no longer a part of your mind: it's dead words, and editors and readers can dissect them without hurting you. (Yes, it came out of your mind, but it's not *you* and you will never be able to improve as a writer if you can't distance your ego from your work.)

@valhalla Hmm, I like the way you think!

Winter is coming and we should *certainly* send King Charles III, currently aged 76 and on chemo for (unspecified) cancer to the Highlands with a bow and arrow and a horse. He can come back when he's taken a large stag.

... And in the meantime, we'll be releasing the de-extincted smilodons and following them with a reality TV film crew (in a light tank, for safety, filming via drone)

Smilodons.

The answer is to resurrect the smilodons.

(Failing that, maybe screwfly would help?)
https://mastodon.scot/@theferret/115525760825628044

A thought that occurred to me early in reading this take-down of NASA's Orion capsule is that NASA is now 67 years old, and we shaved apes are *terrible* at building institutions that function for more than an average human life expectancy, on the order of 70-80 years.

Even before Trump, NASA was probably likely to wither and die before 2050. Now I think it'll be lucky it make it to 2030.
https://spacey.space/@nyrath/115485574021179202

UK support for the monarchy falls below 50%: https://uk.news.yahoo.com/uk-support-monarchy-falls-below-160026996.html

(It's partly the Prince Andrew scandal and partly the King not being a patch on his mum's popularity: when Andrew is yeeted overboard there'll be a slight remission. But my money is on majority opposition to the monarchy setting in within a decade *unless* King William can turn it around.)

@iliana

*contemplates right hand with essential tremor*

You guys don't know anyone over 50, do you?

@ed1conf @mwl Has anyone written a line editor that extends ed(1) the way vim/neovim extend vi(1)?

(Apart from perl?)

This. Just, this.

@sungo @mwl @sng @ParadeGrotesque @valhalla You *do* know about the PDF that's doing that rounds and when you view it in a sufficiently compliant PDF browser it boots up a Linux kernel and gives you a terminal and userland?

GitHub - ading2210/linuxpdf: Linux running inside a PDF file via a RISC-V emulator

Linux running inside a PDF file via a RISC-V emulator - ading2210/linuxpdf

GitHub (github.com)