Tarmor's Terribly Tantalizing Tarasque Terrrifying Random Banter #234

[LaZodiac]

Hey here's a silly question; is anyone interested in hard-cover books over paper-back? Because that's apparently open to me now, and I'm curious if there are any "no paperbacks I don't buy those" folks who would be interested enough for me to expend the effort to set up a hard-cover version of my book.

I'm also just kinda curious in general, since I'm okay with either sort of book.

[Anonymouswizard]

Back when I used physical books I preferred paperbacks. They were just nice to read due to the smaller page area.

Not that I didn't read hardbacks, they just were never my first choice. I also consider a broken spine to be a good thing, the book looks less nice but you can tell that somebody had enjoyed it.

[DataNinja]

I personally prefer paperbacks if I can get them. Less space taken up and... I dunno, I just prefer the feel of paperbacks.For more sizable books, I can live with hardcover, but they just feel less good to hold to me.

[Fyraltari]

FINISHED IT WITH A DAY TO GO! Granted, there's still the edging and 3,000 lbs of rubber mulch to put down, but the main structure is complete.

Spoiler: BOOYAKASHA

Show

Awesome! Congratulations!

Oh my no. Had a friend helping a few days. Still took most of a week. Though two rain days we spent waiting for rain to end before we figured if we kept waiting we wouldn't get it done in time.

Working on the edging now. Much less strenuous on every other part of my body. Much more strenuous on my forearms. So many stakes to hammer in.....fortunately it's relatively fast work. If I'm very, very lucky, I may be able to get all the rubber mulch down today, but I doubt that'll happen.

Also, last day in Birmingham for the foreseeable future! Tomorrow is nonstop driving all day to a friend's house, then more driving to the hotel Sunday, and check in for training super early Monday morning for my new job!

Good winds carry you!

[HalfTangible]

Hey here's a silly question; is anyone interested in hard-cover books over paper-back? Because that's apparently open to me now, and I'm curious if there are any "no paperbacks I don't buy those" folks who would be interested enough for me to expend the effort to set up a hard-cover version of my book.

I'm also just kinda curious in general, since I'm okay with either sort of book.

I prefer hardbacks once the book is actually in my hand, but paperback is so much cheaper that I consider the trade-off worth it.

[Rater202]

For what it's worth, and I said this in Fury's let's read thread, the paperback of Initial Sparks has just the right amount of heft to feel good in my hand.

[Peelee]

Mostly don't care much. I prefer Star Wars books in paperback so it looks more uniform, but my favorite book - Jurassic Park - I have in a glorious leather hardback that is pebbled to resemble dinosaur skin and the front cover is all done in bas relief in the leather. It looks really good. My wife got it for my birthday one year.

Awesome! Congratulations!

Thanks! The edging is now like 4/5 done and the rubber mulch maybe 1/5. It started raining too hard for us to continue for hte moment so we've ducked inside. I've tossed my work clothes into the dryer so hopefully they won't still be sweat soaked when I'm ready to go back out.

Good winds carry you!

Appreciate it! I'll need it.

[halfeye]

On the subject of books, I usually buy paperbacks if they are available. I think of hardbacks as for libraries (I used to read quite a few books from there), and for gifts where appearance is more important than content, which is to say I usually give paperbacks, but then I'm very much a content kind of person.

[Qwertystop]

Some paperbacks I like better than hardcovers, some I like less. I'm not sure what it is that makes paperbacks (in my experience) vary in... tactile quality? so much more than hardcovers. The finish of the cover, I think? The glossy ones aren't as nice to hold. And hardcovers have variation in material too, plus presence or absence of a dust jacket, but the sort for that which I like best is only on what's probably the oldest two books I own, one from the 80s, one from I-don't-know (copy of Mary Poppins with no printing date, just the original copyright in the 30s), and so I can't be sure that the texture difference isn't just a matter of age. They're the sort of canvasy covers you get on some jacketed books, but they haven't got jackets.

[Keltest]

I generally prefer paperbacks. They sit much nicer on my shelf and are more comfortable to read at 1 AM when i finally remember to look at the clock. Hardcovers are nice for showing off and leaving in the bathroom for guests, but paperbacks are for reading.

[Beeftank]

Weirdly enough, for me it depends on the subject matter. Nonfiction books just feel right as a hardcover. Fantasy books are the same way. Everything else can be paperback.

[Tarmor]

Generally I prefer paperbacks. Cost can be part of that, but mostly because I have a lot of books and limited shelf space. I can fit a lot more paperbacks on a shelf than hardbacks. Since most of my books are paperbacks - I also like books in the same series to match, so if I end up with a hardback, I'm hoping to replace it at some time in the future. For reading I don't care - both are good.

[Bartmanhomer]

I prefer Nook books on my phone.

[Mystic Muse]

I prefer Nook books on my phone.

While I presume this is true, it's really not helpful to Zodi's question.

I'd buy a hardback book, but assume that's a given.

[Bartmanhomer]

While I presume this is true, it's really not helpful to Zodi's question.

I'd buy a hardback book, but assume that's a given.

Well, I do prefer a paperback book.

[Mystic Muse]

Well, I do prefer a paperback book.

Thanks, that's the sort of answer she was looking for.

[Bartmanhomer]

Thanks, that's the sort of answer she was looking for.

You're welcome.

[LaZodiac]

So what I'm gathering is, generally people are fine with paperbacks. Noted.

[Lord Raziere]

So what I'm gathering is, generally people are fine with paperbacks. Noted.

Yeah as an avid book reader with two shelves of books in my room, a third in my closet, I don't care whether its hardcover or paperback, I just read them and put them on the shelf when I'm done.

[Rater202]

So my aunt had to ire most of my cousin's caregivers at two in the morning because the bull**** got to be too much.

We're reasonably certain that the company is corrupt and none of these people seem to actually be qualified. They act entitled, my mom is pretty sure that some of them have undisclosed criminal records, they use my cousin's house as a place to hang out and do what they want instead of what he wants, they risk his wellbeing in multiple ways—one of them tried to cover it up when he broke his foot in an accident instead of getting him medical attention.

I didn't understand why someone would take this kind of job if they weren't willing or able to actually be caregivers for someone but... Then it occurred to me.

It's just like with teachers. For everyone who genuinely wants to help, there are two who got the job to have power over someone who can't fight back and two more who are just too burned out and jaded to give a crap anymore.

The worst part about it? My cousin is never going to be able to live on his own, between the severe autism and the severe mental disability and the severe comorbidities... But he understands what people say around him and he knows when something's wrong or when he's being mistreated. H doesn't know what's wrong but he knows that this isn't how it's supposed to be.

[DavidSh]

Doing some quick envelope math on teachers illustrates the situation: everybody in our society spends about 25% of their lives being educated, so if we want class sizes of 20 students to 1 teacher we need 1 out of every 80 people to be teachers of some sort at any given time.

It depends on what you mean by "our society", but I think it's more like 20%, at 17 years of education and life expectancy of about 85 for anyone who makes it to age 5. Your overall point still stands.

In another topic, a few days ago I found a brown slug crawling on my toilet, looking very much like something I should have flushed, except for the eyestalks. Rather un-nerving.

[Anonymouswizard]

So I didn't understand why someone would take this kind of job if they weren't willing or able to actually be caregivers for someone but... Then it occurred to me.

It's just like with teachers. For everyone who genuinely wants to help, there are two who got the job to have power over someone who can't fight back and two more who are just too burned out and jaded to give a crap anymore.

I have never met any teachers who went into the profession to have power over others, the workload is incredibly high. I'm sure I've had a teacher wm or two who was burnt out though, even if none spring to mind.

I'll fully admit that I believe at least some people get into caring because of it, and it's really easy for care to become institutionally corrupt because of a desire to make it easier (which means that the problematic elements get support from the vastly more common worn out elements). I have a list of issues I have with the care home industry that I'm not going to repeat in anything like full here, but they include things like 'every home should have a pet that residents can interact with' and 'the care receiver, not the caregiver, should have control of the radio station'. My views on in-home care are less will developed because I have less experience with it.

Like, I have no experiences like what you've described your cousin going through, but unlike with teachers I think it's not only believable, but potentially even likely.

[Tarmor]

The worst part about it? My cousin is never going to be able to live on his own, between the severe autism and the severe mental disability and the severe comorbidities... But he understands what people say around him and he knows when something's wrong or when he's being mistreated. H doesn't know what's wrong but he knows that this isn't how it's supposed to be.

Very sorry to hear this Rater. Your cousin deserves better care. It sounds like you've had a bunch of crap carers (for too long) and it really sounds like the company providing them is at fault. I hope your family finds another place that offers a proper service, at an affordable cost.
It's bad enough in "normal" times to make sure family that need support get it, and only worse currently. I know where I live there's always discussions about what places sound good and those to avoid between my mum and her social group. My family has needed support for my grandparents in the past, and now its getting to the stage that my mum (and the parents of friends) are reaching the age that they need (now or in the near future) in-home support or a nursing home.

Best wishes as you and your family work through this.

[Form]

I should get rid of 2-4 of my plushies. I got a couple of pony plushies in part to replace them and 2 of my old plushies have been falling apart for years now, but it still feels difficult to let them go. I've had those since I was a kid and with elementary school and high school being **** those 2 plushies probably helped me get through that. Or maybe I'm assigning more importance to them in hindsight, I'm not sure. I could maybe get them fixed instead, but they're really falling apart and it just seems too much effort and unnecessary to do so.

Damn, thinking about throwing them out actually gives me that choking feeling in my throat. I think I'll keep them around for a few more weeks and then toss them into a textile bin at some point. Out with the old, in with the new, moving on etc. etc.

[LaZodiac]

Form I say this with 100% certainty.

If you feel bad about throwing them out, do not do that. It is that simple. If it is too much to fix them, but hurts to much to throw them out, then you just hold onto them.

If you do, ultimately, decide to get rid of them, don't "just" throw them out. Thank them for everything they have done, Marie Kondo style. They gave you joy, and it is time for them to move on.

But seriously. You're under no obligation to get rid of them.

[Anonymouswizard]

But seriously. You're under no obligation to get rid of them.

While I don't agree with everything that Zodi said, I very much agree with this. If you have an attachment to then there's no need to their them out no matter the state they're in.


Finally got to Planet of the Spiders, a.k.a Doctor Who and the Psychic Space Bhuddists. Five years with of stories we the Third Doctor and I'm not entirely certain I'm ready to go back to the Baker years. This session feels incomplete, Delgado's death robbed it of it's Master sorry and it feels like the Doctors arc with him had stopped before it's end.

[Rater202]

Experiment: improvisational downsizing of previous attempt at lemon rice sop. Using chicken flavor base instead of chicken broth because we're out of broth.

All previous ingredients cut in half, except for the salt which is proportionately a larger ammount. I also added a few drops of honey—the bottled lemon juice we have is a bit bitter and salt and honey can mitigate that.

May have used too much lemon juice, but it's not bitter so progress.

[Form]

Form I say this with 100% certainty.

If you feel bad about throwing them out, do not do that. It is that simple. If it is too much to fix them, but hurts to much to throw them out, then you just hold onto them.

If you do, ultimately, decide to get rid of them, don't "just" throw them out. Thank them for everything they have done, Marie Kondo style. They gave you joy, and it is time for them to move on.

But seriously. You're under no obligation to get rid of them.

That's a good point. I think I do want to do away with them in time, put them into a textile recycling bin so they get remade into a plushie for someone else (I like that thought, so that's what I'll tell myself). But I can at least just put them on a shelf for awhile instead of throwing them away immediately. Maybe I can give them a proper sendoff when I'm ready, a little ritual of some sort.

[LaZodiac]

That's a good point. I think I do want to do away with them in time, put them into a textile recycling bin so they get remade into a plushie for someone else (I like that thought, so that's what I'll tell myself). But I can at least just put them on a shelf for awhile instead of throwing them away immediately. Maybe I can give them a proper sendoff when I'm ready, a little ritual of some sort.

100% this. Contextualizing it as passing them on to become someone else's new friend, and having a little, personal send off for them thanking them for the good they brought you. It's important.

[Peelee]

Settled into the hotel! Did a quick lookup on how the trip to the training facility will be tomorrow, looks like I'm barely over 3 miles away for a balmy 7 minute drive. Which is nice since I have to wake up at the crack of dawn for these people.