From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom
THE MT VOID
08/22/25 -- Vol. 44, No. 8, Whole Number 2394
Editor: Evelyn Leeper,
evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com
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Topics:
Nothing Is Easy (comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
Jury Duty (comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
A Television in Your Head (letter of comment
by Tom Russell)
Hugo Awards
This Week's Reading (WOMEN IN PURPLE, WHAT I ATE IN
ONE YEAR) (book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
===================================================================
TOPIC: Nothing Is Easy (comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
In March I changed the bank account Optimum withdraws from.
In April they withdrew from *both* accounts. Okay, I figured it
was just an overlap problem.
In May they withdrew from neither because I had a credit.
In June they withdrew from both again. I called and apparently
there are two steps to changing your account, and the second isn't
obvious. They issued me a credit for the extra withdrawal.
In July they withdrew from neither, and then told me after a
couple of weeks that I was past due.
It turns out that it takes a full cycle to add a different
account. Apparently I was supposed to pay manually for one month,
but of course this wasn't obvious either.
I think they have the billing correct for August.
As part of all this they offered me a free upgrade on my speed,
which sounded good, so I took it.
After a couple of weeks, a box from Optimum appeared. In it was a
modem. Apparently, I needed to get a new modem to get the new
speed.
It appeared that I also needed Internet access to install the new
modem.
But since I had no data plan on my phone, only whatever WiFi there
was, this was a Catch-22. Okay, I wanted to change to a real phone
plan with data, so this was incentive.
So I *finally* got to T-Mobile to change over to a real plan,
including data, and also change the name on the account from
Mark's to mine. I got the latter accomplished, but it turns out
that the credit freezes I have (because of all the recent
breaches) block T-Mobile from changing me to a standard plan. So I
had to come home and unblock the two freezes I had (the third had
already been turned off for some reason).
Then I went back a few days later and finished getting the account transitioned.
So when I finally had some time to swap modems, I did that.
I could just disconnect the old coax and Cat-5 cables from the old
modem and connect them to the new. But the power cord had a
different jack, so I needed to use the new one.
The new plug is wider than the old one and wouldn't fit in the
multiplug adapter I had in the wall outlet, so I needed to run it
to a power strep. (I still want to run it to a different,
harder-to-get-at power strip. Eventually.)
The old modem was horizontal. The new modem is vertical. Luckily,
this isn't a problem (unless it falls over too easily).
As I suspected, I needed access to the Internet to update the
router. In this, I was wise to do the phone before the modem.
However, the URL given on the instructions was wrong.
So I gave it a try using the QR code and thank goodness that
worked. (The URL they gave was missing the next level.)
Then everything was fairly straightforward for a while.
However, I had to name my WiFi and I wasn't sure if I could re-use
the previous name, so I gave it a new name, which of course meant
that all my devices had to log into the new Wifi. The Mac and the
phone were straightforward, but I still have to figure out how to
get my Wifi extender connected to the new network. (It's a
Linksys; any tips are welcome. I've tried unplugging it and
pushing the reset button on it; that did not seem to do anything.)
As I said, nothing is easy. My solution is to just buy a new
extender; they're cheap enough.
And when I tried to cast/mirror something on Kanopy from my phone
to the TV, it took me only a f**king hour and a half to make it
work! Almost all the pages I found assumed I had a much newer TV
that had a network settings menu, or that I could change the input
to the HDMI when nothing was flowing through it. The ones that
didn't do either of those assumed a Google Home app that didn't
look like mine. I ended up doing a factory reset, and then
eventually found a menu item in the Home app that did what some
non-existent icon supposedly did.
Now everything ends in "2". My user name got changed in the
process of bringing up the new Mac (it's now "markleeper2" and I'm
not even going to try to change it, because God knows what that
would do to the Time Machine backups), the WiFi name is
"VOIDnet2", and the television name is "Den TV 2". (The Time
Machine is "G-Drive ArmorATD", because I didn't want to risk a
name clash or a problem if I changed it after it started up.)
I put off watching my Kanopy movie until the next day (a 1952
Finnish folk horror film based on pre-Christian Finnish mythology
and Sami shamanism). Suitably enough, the year ends in a "2" also.
:-)
The printer turned out to be fairly easy, other than having to
enter the password using arrow keys rather than just typing it.
But it's amazing how many things I had forgotten were using the
WiFi.
The new extender arrived Monday. It came with no instructions.
Luckily I had found a web page for Linksys on manually setting up
their range extenders when I was trying to use the old one. The
first instruction was to plug the extender in and wait for the
light to blink orange.
The second instruction was to connect the computer to the
extender's default WiFi: Linksys Extender Setup rCo xxx. The "xxx"
was the last three characters of the MAC address--which was on the
*back* of the extender that I just plugged into the wall.
Well, it does turn out that the correct name will magically appear
in the list of networks, but I didn't know this until I walked
back to where I had plugged the extender in, unplugged it, and
wrote down everything off the back, just in case.
Then I connected the computer. This took two tries. Then I opened
the web page it told me and went through the steps. It told me
the extender was too close to get maximum range.
So I moved it (another walk to the other end of the house). Now it
told me it was too far away. At no point were any specific
distances mentioned. I moved it back to where it had been and
where the old one had been (yet another walk to the other end of
the house), and finished the set-up.
But, wait, there's more! No, not a Ginsu knife, but yesterday
(Thursday) my printer finally decided to go four paws to the moon
after printing two of the ten pages I needed to have to ship my
eBay orders. It had been acting up in multiple ways--the paper
sensor kept saying there was no paper when there was, and I'd have
to re-seat the paper every few pages, and a couple of times it had
said the print head was bad and needed repair. Before, I was able to
try a couple of things suggested on the Internet, but this time
none of those, nor even removing the cartridges and print head,
cleaning the print head, and replacing everything, worked. So I
just ordered another printer, which is supposed to arrive Saturday.
I also went to the library, two doors down from the Post Office and
printed my pages, although I had problems logging in, because it
didn't accept my library card number from the numeric keyboard, and
the print station didn't like my PIN at all. Then I took them and
my orders over to the Post Office, packaged them up, and shipped
them out. One must always have a backup plan ... or two ... or
five. [-ecl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: Jury Duty (comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
Mark just got a call to jury duty.
I think I answered it in the manner he would. I said he wasn't a
resident of Middlesex County and gave his address as Mount Sinai
Cemetery in Marlboro (Monmouth County). I said he wasn't a
citizen, could not read or understand English, and could not
mentally and physically perform the functions of a juror. Oh, and
he was also more than 75 years old (which I guess is right), and
that would have been excuse enough.
I think he'd be proud of me.
P.S. He got excused.
P.P.S. Oh, and apparently to fill in the questionnaire on-line
(though there was a phone number), the person had to have a
cellphone and an email address.
[-ecl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: A Television in Your Head (letter of comment by Tom Russell)
In response to the quotes at the end of the MT VOID, Tom Russell
writes:
Does anyone know the source of this exchange?:
"Does anyone have an idea of how human vision works?"
Woman (?) raises her hand; "Maybe it's like you have a little
television in your head"
"Good! But who is watching the little television?"
[-tlr]
[More can be found at <
https://askaphilosopher.org/2012/09/24/ there-is-no-tv-in-your-head-true-or-false/> -ecl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: Hugo Awards
BEST NOVEL: THE TAINTED CUP by Robert Jackson Bennett
BEST NOVELLA: THE TUSKS OF EXTINCTION by Ray Nayler
BEST NOVELETTE: "The Four Sisters Overlooking the Sea"
by Naomi Kritzer
BEST SHORT STORY: "Stitched to Skin Like Family Is" by Nghi Vo
BEST SERIES: "Between Earth and Sky" by Rebecca Roanhorse
BEST GRAPHIC STORY OR COMIC: "Star Trek: Lower Decks:
Warp Your Own Way"
BEST RELATED WORK: "Speculative Whiteness: Science Fiction
and the Alt-Right" by Jordan S. Carroll
BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION, LONG FORM: DUNE: PART TWO
BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION, SHORT FORM: STAR TREK: LOWER DECKS:
"The New Next Generation"
BEST GAME OR INTERACTIVE WORK: "Caves of Qud"
BEST EDITOR SHORT FORM: Neil Clarke
BEST EDITOR LONG FORM: Diana M. Pho
BEST PROFESSIONAL ARTIST: Alyssa Winans
BEST SEMIPROZINE: UNCANNY MAGAZINE
BEST FANZINE: BLACK NERD PROBLEMS
BEST FANCAST: "Eight Days of Diana Wynne Jones"
BEST FAN WRITER: Abigail Nussbaum
BEST FAN ARTIST: Sara Felix
BEST POEM: "A War of Words" by Marie Brennan
LODESTAR AWARD FOR BEST YOUNG ADULT BOOK: SHEINE LENDE
by Darcie Little Badger
ASTOUNDING AWARD FOR BEST NEW WRITER (sponsored by Dell Magazines)
Moniquill Blackgoose
===================================================================
TOPIC: This Week's Reading (book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
WOMEN IN PURPLE: RULERS OF MEDIEVAL BYZANTIUM by Judith Herrin
(Princeton University Press, ISBN 978-0-691-09500-4) is about
three Byzantine empresses during the period of iconoclasm: Irene,
Euphrosyne, and Theodora. Herrin makes a lot of assumptions and
guesses, in large part because there is not much (reliable)
written about these women, or indeed about most women in the Roman
and Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Empires. Perhaps this is why one
sees the first person singular pronoun at times; traditionally
historians have eschewed it for a more distant stance. (I might as
well add that the proofreading isn't perfect either, but that is
becoming far too common these days.)
The "purple" referred to was a color so expensive to produce that
it was reserved for emperors and empresses. And there is even a
word, "porphyrogennetos" ("born in/to the purple") indicating
those children born to an emperor or empress after the parent had
achieved that title.
Which brings up my biggest complaint about the book: Herrin's
constant use of Greek (or less frequently, Latin) terms to
describe things. Even if, for example, she has defined "strategos"
the first time she uses it, the reader may not recall the
definition a hundred pages later. I realiza that not everything
has a precise English word that defines it and can be used, but a
page peppered with Greek is not easy for a non-academic reader to
follow.
Listening to the history of Rome and the history of Byzantium, I
found myself wanting to know more about the various women who
managed to wield power in a society that didn't normally give
women any sort of power, even over their own lives. Overall, I
found this too light on facts and heavy on theories and guesses.
WHAT I ATE IN ONE YEAR: (AND RELATED THOUGHTS) by Stanley Tucci
(Gallery, ISBN 978-1-668-05568-7) doesn't actually list everything
Tucci ate in one year. Early on, for example, he describes the
food he ate in Italy while on location there, but doesn't cover
what he ate when he flew back to England for a weekend there.
It also seems to be aimed at experts in Italian cuisine, because
he very often gives the Italian name of what he ate, and gives no
translation of it, or even an indication what its main ingredients
are.
Not a terrible book, but not one I can recommend to a wide
audience. [-ecl]
===================================================================
Evelyn C. Leeper
evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com
"I am so small I can barely be seen. How can this great
love be inside me?" "Look at your eyes. They are small
but they see enormous things."
--Rumi
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