Author: 5t4n5
The Long War — Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter
The Long Earth — Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter
Little Mexican — Aldous Huxley
Uncle Spencer
Little Mexican
Hubert and Minnie
Fard
The Portrait
Young Archimedes
Aldous’ Page
#aldoushuxley
Citizen — Claudia Rankine
A rather different way of saying the things that need to be said, containing a mixed bag of poetry, prose, vignettes, etc., detailing what it’s like to be perpetually on the receiving end of racism, from micro-agressions to extremely overt racism.
Maybe, instead of forcing children to read Shakespeare and Dickens at school, we should be encouraging them to read books like this and encouraging them to engage in constructive dialogue with each other about the issues raised and the experiences of those on the receiving end of racism and other bigotry. Racist is not something people are born, it’s something people are taught, and its very clearly up to schools and educators to start stepping up and making much more effort with the young minds in their care.
In the UK “Citizenship” and “Relationship” education is not on the curriculum until after 11 years of age: this is far, far too late. How our societies are peopled — our citizens — and how we relate to those other citizens within our societies should be permanently on the curriculum from the very first day of school, not be left in the hands of young people’s peers, bad television, bad websites, and ignorant parents who read nothing but vile, tabloid drivel. A child who has been nurtured badly up to the age of 11 is highly unlikely to respond to positive nuturing by over-worked, underpaid, stressed-out teachers after the age of 11.
Claudia’s Page
#poetry #claudiarankine
Star Maker — Olaf Stapledon
I managed to get 31% into this and then just had to give up trying. I really couldn’t manage any more of it.
Imagine that William’s favourite book is Gulliver’s Travels and he decides to have a go at writing a sci-fi version of it having read Brave New World just before starting. I think that pretty much sums up the first 31%.
The problem is that while Gulliver’s Travels and Brave New World are both very good books, both are very well written and keep the reader’s attention, Star Maker is tedious, dull and plodding: at least that’s how i found it to be. I can imagine for its time it was very exciting, but sadly some books just don’t age well and i think this is one of them.
I don’t feel that it’s bad enough to warrant a place on “The Deleted” page, so it will get a reprieve and stay in my Amazon lists for now and i may give it another go at some future date when i’m feeling a lot better about life and stuff.
Olaf’s Page
#scifi #sfmasterworks #olafstapledon
Tomato Ketchup Recipe
Whatever you may use tomato ketchup for, stop using the shite you buy in bottles. It’s not healthy or good for you and tastes crap because it’s made with crap.
Try a super delicious, super healthy, tomato ketchup instead . . .
You’ll need a good strong blender, i suggest at least 1500 watts: this is not some watery smoothie, it’s a thick sauce.
Into a 750ml blender cup . . .
400g Tomatoes (for a more tomato-ey taste, swap out some — or all — of this weight with tinned tomatoes)
30g Apple Cider Vinegar
50g Currants
100g Apple (use all the skin of the apple and then make up the rest of the 100g with the flesh)
25g Celery
25g Onion
11g Fresh Ginger
11g Garlic
35g Orange
0.8g Black Peppercorns
0.8g Whole Dried Chilli
2g Coriander Seeds
1g Cumin Seeds
2g Dried Sage or Oregano
0.5g Dried Thyme
1.2g Star Anise
1.2g Fennel Seeds
2.5g Smoked Paprika
2.5g Paprika
10g Whole Flax/Chia Seeds
25g Dried Tamarind
Add some water if you think your blender needs it.
If you do use tinned tomatoes, find ones that are vine ripened and tinned in concentrated tomato juice as they’re much tastier and richer. Like these ones.
For making good home-mixed herb and spice recipes you’ll need something to weigh 0.1g increments.
Wherever possible always use whole spices as they’re living seeds, super healthy and much tastier. The blender will take care of them, if your blender doesn’t deal with the whole spices then buy a better blender.
Give it all a good blendy whizz bang.
Sooooo much nicer tasting and infinitely more healthy than bottled junk-food ketchup.
Keep in the fridge and use quickly, there’s no preservatives and other garbage in this, it will go bad in a few days. If you don’t plan using it all in a couple of days then store some in the freezer for later use.
#5t4n5 #vegan #wfpb #recipes
Crome Yellow — Aldous Huxley
I was in my 20’s when i last read this, somewhere between 25 and 30 years ago, and i still think it’s a very good book.
There is, however, a problem with this book: Aldous was very clearly a product of Victorian England and his use of words really reflect this, especially in his early writing, and there are the very occasional racial words/comments used — which i counted twice.
It’s a very awkward place to find oneself, caught between two cultures. By my standards the use of such language is completely unacceptable, yet, having read a few Victorian books and also post Victorian books, like this, written by those who were educated by Victorians, it is clear that the use of such language was, very much, the standard of the day.
Do we now throw the babies out with the bath water? Admittedly, by contemporary standards, the bathwater we are dealing with is now considered untreated sewage, but in it’s day it was considered fit for drinking. I certainly don’t feel that Aldous was, in anyway, being racist and derogatory, but simply using the words and cliches of his day.
As to the rest of the book it is very clearly a satire and critique of England in the early 1920’s and it’s very clear that Aldous was not supporting of many views expressed in this book, but laying bare the thinking and ideas of his day. If you are interested you can read much more about this on it’s Wiki page.
The interesting thing for me is that just over 5 years ago i spent 3 years living at one of England’s great houses and its huge estate, including parklands, shrubberies, woods, Italian gardens, ponds, lakes, etc., and it certainly made reading about Crome a whole different experience. Sadly, to be honest, the upper classes, and their sycophants, haven’t really changed much from the attitudes and behaviour satirised and parodied within Crome Yellow.
This book is also, very much, the forerunner to Brave New World, and i would suggest a must read for fans of that book.
