Things happen. One thing that happened is that I got back on the slopes in December for the first time since injuring myself two years ago. It was a really good day. Another thing that happened is that I hurt my back just before New Years and missed our family ski trip that weekend. It’s been a frustrating couple weeks since then.

But the book is going well. I reworked chapter 18 to have a bit more action, added chapter 19 with a generous helping of spice and intrigue, and just last night also pushed out chapter 20, where Samuel makes amends with Violet, and another thing goes horribly wrong.

Also! I made some tweaks to the book reading view so it feels almost like using your Kindle or Nook app. It has fewer visual distractions, a nicer chapter picker, and a mobile-friendly view and navigation. You can swipe to flip the page! Kids love swiping.

Now on to the baubles.

How Hieroglyphics Turned Into Our Alphabet

Most of our alphabet comes from Egyptian hieroglyphics that were ransacked for parts by the Canaanites, simplified by the Phoenicians, then rotated or flipped by the Romans to become the letters that we know today.

A is the head of a bull.

B is a house.

M is water.

N is a snake.

The ancient spirits are hidden all around us.

See more at this NOVA clip.

Those Civic-Minded Victorians

Victorian England was full of tension. They pushed back frontiers and expanded our knowledge of the world, but also colonized and oppressed people while telling themselves it was for their own good. They created new industries that led to widespread improvements in the standard of living, but along the way ground countless people down with inhumane working conditions. They greatly expanded the role of government, but also spent their private wealth on public works for the benefit of all.

The Metropolitan Drinking Fountain and Cattle Trough Association in London was built in the 1850s and 60s in the wake of a famous cholera epidemic.

The notable thing to me is that this was not a government entity. An MP and a barrister decided it was something that needed to happen, and just did it. Did they get permits? Did anyone care? I don’t know, but I can’t help but admire that spirit of just tackling a big public problem head-on.

Supporting causes such as this was considered a duty of the upper class. The baroness Angela Burdett-Coutts (who makes an appearance in my book), funded the construction of one of the most elaborate water fountains in London.

This is a DRINKING FOUNTAIN, ya’ll.

Here’s an ad they placed in Burke’s Peerage in 1879 to raise money to support the association.

And here’s one of their granite water troughs, in use today as a planter.

That makes me happy.

The Honorable Parts

In a world full of cynics and critics, finding beauty is the real act of rebellion. The Honorable Parts is a photo essay that exemplifies that as much as it preaches it. The images are beautiful. The writing is beautiful. You need to see how pink the paint roller factory is.

This part bears repeating:

But I think that Payne himself is the one who offers a glimmer of hope. The factories he visits are complicated, complex, kludgy. Factories take knowledge away from craftspeople and turn it into bureaucracy and institutional anxiety. Factories pollute our waterways. Factories take razor-sharp lathe swarf and try to convince us it’s jewelry; factories enlist workers to help someone else fulfill their dreams. But then Christopher Payne comes in, and he crawls around for a few months, and he finds parts of the factory that we can be purely and unabashedly proud of. I don’t think that Payne’s work is asking questions at all; he’s just taking something messy, and pointing a spotlight on the honorable parts. And, to be honest, I think that’s probably what we need.

I no longer go to church. But when I think of Jesus’s saying to “love your enemies”, that’s what it means to me. Give them the grace that we all give ourselves. Flip the fundamental attribution error on its head. Find the honorable parts, even as you condemn the dishonorable ones.

Bonus Bauble: More AI Lendgo Ladies

Since my original rant on the AI Lendgo Blondes I finally saw the ad that I’d been looking for again. THIS IS THEM.

But wait, there’s more. Sometimes instead of standing in front of a flag, they put it on a bikini? But still in a fancy capitol building. This one makes less sense than the spokeswoman version.

Also there always seems to be two of them. And they look like twins.

Then this other company SavingsPro seems to be getting in on the act, but their blonde AI lady is a judge.

My question: Why? Are they A/B testing these images and just run the ones that drive the most clicks? Why would these images drive clicks? My best guess is that they’re subtly Republican coded. Pretty blonde spokeswoman with highlights and a fake tan seems to be a Republican thing (see Kayleigh McEnany, Karoline Leavitt). Perhaps evoking that same vibe in your ads gives you a subconscious credibility boost in certain people’s minds. You can trust this alternative lender because they’re one of us, as you can tell by looking at our pretty spokesblonde.