a wolf angel is not a good angel

It’s been quite the year. But it’s ending on a good note, and today, that will be enough.

On the BBC sex differences quiz:

[What angle is this line the same as?]
This task tested your ability to make spatial judgments.
You correctly matched 20 line(s) out of 20.
On average, men generally outperform women at this task, although it is important to note that many women score extremely well.

[Here are some eyes, what are people thinking?]
Out of 10 pairs of eyes, you matched 4 with the correct mood.
Women are said to outperform men in this task because they tend to be more sensitive to facial expressions. They are generally better at discerning someone’s mood just by looking at their eyes.

[Here’s a shape made of squares, which are the same shapes?]
You scored 12 out of 12.
Studies have shown that men tend to do better than women at this task because performance is influenced by testosterone levels

(I had to skip the finger thing, because I have no ruler handy, and in any case the length of my right index finger is meaningless, since it’s been shortened twice by surgery.)

Overall, I’m really a dude — I have the dead average result for guys, apparently, though of course they didn’t ask which I was, so that means very little. Thanks, Styley.

His Majesty’s Dragon, Throne of Jade, Black Powder War / by Naomi Novik (8/10)
Lots of fun. But very, very fast reads. Who doesn’t want to read about the Napoleonic Wars — with dragons! (I’m sure some people don’t, but they’re wrong.)

An Easy Mark / by Sheila Kindellan-Sheehan (6.5/10)
I find the writing very clunky, but the mystery is well enough done, and it’s set in Montreal. This is why I read Kathy Reich’s books — forensic anthropology was neat, and it was set in Montreal, but the writing stunk. (I have heard the writing has since improved.) I can’t really recommend it unless you live in Montreal, because it’s got a very weird view of the city.

Before I wake / by Robert J. Wiersema. (6.5/10)
The writing was good. The idea was fascinating. And yet — I still didn’t like it, I feel the ending didn’t really gel, and was sort of too pat. Something about the theology bothered me, though I do not really know why.

A wild sheep chase / by Haruki Murakami (8/10)
I think my expectations were too high for this book. Not that it wasn’t very good: it was very good. Something about the ending disappointed me, though perhaps this is a bit unfair, as the moment I finished it I fell asleep for a long nap, and I’d pushed myself to finish reading it before I could nap. I also feel there’s some cultural connotations to sheep I am missing to properly understand the book.

I stayed up nearly all night the other night, because I got much less packing done during the day than I had wanted. Then I barely slept in the car, though I got a fair bit of reading done. Comparatively barely — I slept overnight, but not otherwise. I am so tired I am about to fall over. I sort of want to finish my book before I go to sleep, though, so I can bring a whole new one tomorrow.

Expect light updates until Jan 6; internet access here sucks.

The other side of the bridge / by Mary Lawson. 9/10
I really liked this book. Someone asked me why, and I’m not sure I can answer. I liked the characters. I was taken with the plot. The writing style — almost, but not quite, spare — fit with the geography.

The thirteenth tale / by Diane Setterfield. 9/10
I didn’t expect to like this book at all. As it turns out, I did, very much. A book about secrets and lies, and what being alone means. Also, sort of a mystery, though I didn’t solve it. I could have, though: the story was fair.

What came before he shot her / by Elizabeth George. 5/10
I think I am less interested in her books than I used to be. I don’t care that they killed off whatshername, but I don’t read her books for a sociological study of what she imagines inner-city London to be like. I *know* that it’s going to end in that murder, and sure, the title tells you the book is all about, so I’m not being fair, but I wasn’t so enchanted. She can still write well, though.

The book of Samson / by David Maine. 5/10
This one would have been good if the philosophy hadn’t been so heavy handed — subtlety is key, here, and integrating it into the story more instead of having it speechified. We’re not reading it to find out what happened — we *know* what happens. On the up side, Samson was a very likable psychopath.

Half life : a novel / by Shelley Jackson. 2/10
I disliked this one a lot. Some environmental something makes a lot of Siamese twins, one of them debates killing her (sleeping for many years) twin. Sounds promising, no? It isn’t.

Not only is my favourite black skirt STILL missing (and my place is clean, so it isn’t in a pile of stuff, cause there are no piles of stuff for it to be in), but my two new (ish) pairs of jeans are gone now. Come back, clothing. I need to wear you.

I promise to *intend* to send them.

Also, I am happy to send the postcards to either you or your child(ren), if you want to give me their names. I really hate sending without last names, though — if you don’t want to give me yours, just make something up.

my email address is wolfangel aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat gmail dooooooooot com. Please assume that I have lost any addresses you might once have given me.

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: Milady the Right Reverend Wolfa the Cowardly of Much Madness upon Avon Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

via Terminal Degree

4.

(This includes all comments since I started blogging, but excludes any spam I got before I switched to wordpress.)

I have tried to hold back on this article. I just cannot.

December 25, the anniversary of the birth of Jesus, is a regular working day in the Jewish state and passes with little fanfare.

Well, the anniversary of the date assigned to the birth of Jesus.

While residents in Arab Christian areas such as Nazareth, Jesus’s home town, decorate trees and hang lights on homes and churches, and Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank receives many pilgrims, life in most of Israel carries on as normal.

Yeah. Just like — well, I need to think about this longer, but I’m sure it’s familiar for some reason.

That makes it hard on the many Christians among large number of migrant laborers who have come to Israel to work. As most live in Jewish towns and cities, their main religious holiday arrives with barely any sense of Christmas.

Hmm. Again, this feels really familiar. Oh, I know. It’s just like being Jewish (or, indeed, any non-Christian) in North America, where life as usual carries on during *our* religious holidays and we don’t get the days off or anything, while Christians do.

“It is a little bit sad, a little bit lonely,” said Hilda Laconsay, 35, from the Philippines who works as a carer for the elderly. “There is no Christmas feeling here.”

Surprisingly, no articles about how Christmas can be sad or lonely in North America for non-Christians.

“It means so little here that people will use Christmas decorations to decorate their Succahs,” he said referring to the festival of the Tabernacles, which falls around October, in which Jews sit in colorfully decorated booths.

Booths? Not booths.

Also, tinsel is not really specific to Christmas.

via Meryl