部首 手 parts 28-33 捕, to catch; 损, to damage; 捡, to pick up; 换, to exchange; 捣, to disturb; 捧, to hold with both hands; 据, according to; 授, to teach; 掉, to fall; 掌, palm of the hand; 掏, to take out of a pocket; 掐, to pinch; 排, row/line; 掘, to dig; 探, to explore; 接, to receive; 控, to control; 推, to push ( pinyin ) https://www.mdbg.net/chinese/dictionary?cdqrad=64
I'm very pleased to announce that the fourth Ariel Moravec occult detective novel, The House of the Crows, is now available for preorder.
It's winter in Adocentyn, the strange old East Coast town where 18-year-old Ariel Moravec is studying magic with her adept grandfather, and a new investigation has come her way. One of the old mansions south of Coopers Bay is haunted by the ghost of an old woman with a cane, who is only seen by moonlight. Behind that shadowy figure is a mystery professional ghost hunters have failed to solve -- a tangled web of grief and passion that began with a 1931 gangland massacre, and set cascading consequences in motion down to the present. The further Ariel investigates, the outline of a forgotten tragedy begins to surface, centered in the old mansion and the uncanny numbers of crows that haunt it day and night...
The House of the Crows will be released on April 7. If you're interested, you can preorder a copy now and get a 20% discount off the cover price. The ordering link is here:
Use the discount code JMG2026 when placing the preorder.
BTW, for those who like their novels in matched sets, the new publisher is bringing out all three of the previous volumes with cover art by the same artist who did this one. Details will be out this coming May.
US president says ‘an Iranian regime armed with long range missiles would be a dire threat to every American’ in video released on Truth Social Sunday evening
Loud explosions were heard early on Sunday near Erbil airport, which hosts US-led coalition troops in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region, AFP reported. Thick black smoke was rising from the airport area.
On Saturday, US-led coalition forces downed several missiles and explosive-laden drones over Erbil.
Trials to form part of three-month consultation on Keir Starmer’s plans to tackle negative effects of smartphone use
Hundreds of teenagers will be enlisted to trial social media bans in the coming months with overnight digital curfews and daily screen time limits also tested as part of Keir Starmer’s plan to crack down on the negative effects of smartphone use.
The trials will be part of a three-month consultation launched this week that could lead to an outright ban on social media for under-16s similar to that introduced in Australia. Ministers have said they are ready to toughen laws just six months after the introduction of child protection measures in the Online Safety Act.
Keir Starmer says decision is due to Iran’s approach becoming more reckless and putting British lives at risk
The UK has agreed to let the US use British military bases to attack Iranian missile sites, Keir Starmer has said.
The UK has so far not been involved in the US-Israeli strikes on Iran, but in a recorded statement on Sunday evening, the prime minister said that Iran’s approach was becoming more reckless and putting British lives at risk, leading to the decision to allow the US to use two of its military bases.
My February Ballet Experience was watching the Dance Theater of Harlem when they came to Paris earlier this week. (For the first time in 40 years!) The black girls turned out in force, and thus I was slightly less overdressed than usual. Also the Parisians did actually dress up for the Saturday evening, though uh very elevated basics, heavy on teh basic.
General notes: The dancers looked to have a bit more muscle definition than usual; I think this is because the American ballet style (Balanchine) is aggressively BOING BOING, meaning that the ideal dancer has more fast-twitch muscle fibers, and is thus more inclined to put on visible muscle definition.
Both shows were ~2:30 long. Neither was one ballet through, but more of a idk variety show, with three half-times, all of which contained a different set of choreographies. More "look what we can do" than telling a story, y'know? (Except for their Firebird; thoughts on which below.)
This was mostly less pure ballet and more of an old and new together thing, with there being some pure ballet stuff, but also a straight-up jazz dance number, and an extended modern-ballet blend set to Motown/Stevie Wonder afrobeats. This one was cool, with the blend including incredibly specific ballet #moments, like Giselle's transformation sequence, seamlessly blended in. There was also a pure ballet section, where the lead danseur performed the Bluebird variation.
The current artistic director and lead choreographer is I think incredibly talented in this blend of classical ballet and other styles, as well as choreographing for things done in canon (in the round). The formations (lines of overlapping dancers etc) were well executed, too.
The star of their show/grand finale was the Balanchine choreography of the Firebird. Which. Um. The dancing was great! The costumes were pretty! The problem was George Balanchine going "The Americans cannot sit still for 45 min; I will make this 20 min". And the Firebird is a ballet that has zero fluff!
So, what were the changes?
Firebird variation #1: heavily abridged, in a way that takes away from her birdlike nature imo
Firebird & prince pas de deux: heavily abridged and rearranged in a way that makes the narrative progression make zero sense
Prince & princess: this one was mostly preserved, I think? The golden apples dance of princess and the other women (handmaidens, in this production) was very much shortened, tho
Koschei confrontation: heavily altered so that instead of the prince struggling against this powerful evil sorcerer whom he has no hope of defeating, they wrestle a bit, I don't think he was even losing, and then he summoned the Firebird for idk shits and giggles
Infernal Dance: COMPLETELY DELETED
like seriously, the Firebird just poofs up and everyone falls over? no making people dance until they drop? no THE ENTIRE POINT OF THE BALLET?
Firebird variation #2 (keeping Koschei's minions asleep): here she just waved her hands at them and made them roll away (so that the dancers could do a quick costume change), KOSCHEI INCLUDED, then she just danced in place a bit as FILLER
Koschei's death: did not happen. He simply exited stage left, not even pursued by a bear. prince was AWOL and did not retrieve any glowy soul eggs
Wedding tableau: This one was cool! The floaty afrofuturist Caribbean fish costumes of the women made the walking around of this bit look nice, and the Firebird appeared and was suspended in the air
So uh. The company is great, and you should definitely see them if you can, but the American Firebird sucks ass, regardless of performance. Really wish they'd do the original 45-min Firebird with those costumes tho.
God, 2026 simultaneously seems to be going by very fast and to have lasted at least a decade so far. By the calendar, though, we have now finished February, so here's the usual monthly book round-up.
These homemade vegan hot dogs taste way better than anything you can buy at the store, which is totally WILD considering how easy they are to make. The flavor is deep and smoky from the paprika, with a little garlic warmth and just enough sweetness to round everything out. The texture is firm without being rubbery and the skin gets a real satisfying snap when you bite into it. They pick up grill marks beautifully and take on a little char, which makes them taste like summer even if you are eating them in the middle of February.
They are also simple. You blend the ingredients, knead the dough for a minute, roll them into dogs, steam them, and cook them however you want. That is the whole thing. Once they are steamed and cooled, they are ready to pan fry, grill, or slice into baked beans. They work on the stovetop, they work on the grill, and they hold up under a mountain of toppings.
Vegan hot dogs are good for so many occasions. Wrap them in puff pastry for pigs in a blanket at a party, grill them outside, or just have a regular old hot dog night. I hope you already have a hot dog night in your life. If not, now is the time. Serve them with mustard and sauerkraut for the classic combo, or load them up however you like. My sister puts ketchup on hers, which is wrong, but she is my sister so what am I going to do.
A FEW TIPS FOR SEITAN HOT DOG MAKING
Measure your wheat gluten over a garbage can. Seriously. If it gets onto anything wet, or god forbid into your sink, it becomes the destroyer of sponges. You can also measure it over a paper towel or some such, just something to make it so that no water touches it. You’ve seen Gremlins.
Weigh the dough for even dogs. I give you instructions to divide the dough into 8 pieces, which works fine. But if you have a kitchen scale, weigh the whole ball and divide by 8. That way you get uniform hot dogs that cook at the same rate instead of one giant dog and one sad little runt.
Don’t use “environmentally friendly” parchment paper. This sounds mean, but the eco-friendly stuff can make the hot dogs stick and tear the skin. Regular old parchment gets you that smooth hot doggy skin you desire.
VEGAN HOT DOG FAQ:
What is vital wheat gluten? It’s the protein from wheat flour, and it’s what gives these hot dogs their meaty, chewy texture. You can find it in the baking aisle or the bulk section of most natural food stores. Bob’s Red Mill makes a widely available version.
Can I make these gluten-free? No, stop it. There are lots of gluten-free recipes on the site but this isn’t one. If you are nice and not mean to me, I may come up with a gluten-free hot dog that isn’t a carrot someday!
Can I make these ahead of time? Yes and you totally should. Steam them, let them cool, and store them in the fridge for up to 5 days. When you’re ready to eat, just grill or pan-fry them. They actually get better after a day in the fridge because the texture firms up.
Can I freeze them? For sure. Freeze the steamed and cooled dogs in a sealed bag for up to a month. Thaw in the fridge overnight and grill when you’re ready.
Can I skip the steaming and just bake them? Steaming is what gives them that smooth skin and snappy texture. Baking will work in a pinch but the result is drier and more sausage-like than hot-dog-like.
My dogs came out too soft. What happened? They probably need more steaming time, or they weren’t cooled completely before you unwrapped them. Make sure they’re very firm before you take them out, and let them cool all the way down. They continue to set as they cool.
What should I put on them? It’s your life! Mustard and sauerkraut is classic. Relish, diced onions, a little hot sauce. Go full Chicago style if you want.
Smoky homemade vegan hot dogs with a satisfying snap. Easy to make, great on the grill or stovetop, and way better than store-bought.
Course Lunch, Main Course
Cuisine American
Keyword Hot Dogs, Seitan, Super Bowl
Prep Time 20 minutesminutes
Cook Time 45 minutesminutes
1 hourhour
Servings 8hot dogs
Author Isa Chandra
Ingredients
6ouncesextra-firm silken tofusuch as vacuum-packed Mori-Nu brand
1/4cupketchup
1cupvegetable broth
1tablespoonolive oil
2tablespoonssoy sauce
1 1/2cupsplus 2 tablespoons vital wheat gluten
1/4cupnutritional yeast flakes
1tablespoonsmoked paprika
1tablespoononion powder
1teaspoongarlic powder
3/4teaspoonsalt
1/4teaspoonground white pepper
For serving
8hot dog buns
All the condimentsmustard, sauerkraut, relish, ketchup if you must
Instructions
Make the hot dog mix:
In a food processor fitted with a metal blade, puree the tofu, ketchup, broth, olive oil, and soy sauce until completely smooth, scraping down the sides with a rubber spatula to make sure you get everything.
In a large bowl, mix together the vital wheat gluten, nutritional yeast, smoked paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, and white pepper. Make a well in the center and add the tofu mixture. Use the rubber spatula to mix until well combined, and then use your hands to further knead the mixture until it’s a well-formed dough with a little spring to it.
Form and steam the dogs:
Prepare your steaming apparatus. Have ready eight 10-inch squares of parchment and eight 10-inch sheets of aluminum foil.
Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a hot dog shape. Place a dog at the bottom of a square of parchment and roll it up. Then place it in a piece of foil and roll it up, this time, tightly sealing the ends like a Tootsie Roll. Repeat with the remaining dogs.
Steam the hot dogs for about 40 minutes, until very firm. Let them cool completely before unwrapping.
Cook the dogs:
Preheat a cast iron pan or skillet over medium heat with a little oil. Cook the dogs for about 3 minutes, turning them a few times, until browned on all sides.
While you’re cooking them, toast the buns. You can do that in the oven, in the toaster or in another pan. Or don’t toast them if you prefer! Some people like that.
Serve!
Serve in toasted hot dog buns with mustard and sauerkraut, or however you like them.
Note: These are also great on the grill. Preheat your grill or grill pan over medium high and cook for about 3 minutes, turning once, until you get nice grill marks.
Keir Starmer says decision is due to Iran’s approach becoming more reckless and putting British lives at risk
The UK has agreed to let the US use British military bases to attack Iranian missile sites, Keir Starmer has said.
The UK has so far not been involved in the US-Israeli strikes on Iran, but in a recorded statement on Sunday evening, the prime minister said that Iran’s approach was becoming more reckless and putting British lives at risk, leading to the decision to allow the US to use UK military bases.
US president says ‘an Iranian regime armed with long range missiles would be a dire threat to every American’ in video released on Truth Social Sunday evening
Loud explosions were heard early on Sunday near Erbil airport, which hosts US-led coalition troops in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region, AFP reported. Thick black smoke was rising from the airport area.
On Saturday, US-led coalition forces downed several missiles and explosive-laden drones over Erbil.
Shabana Mahmood has ripped up the government’s asylum rules so that from Monday every refugee will be told that their status is temporary and will last just 30 months.
In a move that has concerned a refugee charity, the home secretary said that claimants whose countries are deemed to be safe by the UK government will from now on be expected to return.
The UK home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, and Danish immigration officials strode through the bleak and chilly Sjælsmark returns centre, a former military barracks used to house men and women who have no right to remain in the country. Followed by photographers, reporters and civil servants, Mahmood was told of the strict conditions in which hundreds of people live after asylum and right to remain appeals are rejected and before many are sent to other countries.
Sjælsmark, about 20 miles north of Copenhagen, is at the sharp end of an asylum system set up by Denmark’s left-leaning Social Democrat government to deter claimants. As well as those facing swift deportations, refugees are given temporary permission to stay and will later be told to leave if their countries of origin are deemed safe.
Millions of banned books were smuggled into the Soviet Union in the 20th century — often in small batches, hidden in deliberately mislabeled containers, packed in food tins or tampon boxes and, in at least one case, tucked into a child’s diaper. […] Published in Russian and other languages and known as “tamizdat,” the books were part of an audacious American venture, part literature, part propaganda and part spycraft, to destabilize the authoritarian Soviet regime from within.
Over the past several years, Hunter College in Manhattan has become home to a library of these remarkable books, thousands of which were once banned in the Soviet Union and elsewhere in Eastern Europe, and hundreds more that are censored in Russia today. The library is run by the nonprofit Tamizdat Project, which now possesses one of the largest special collections of contraband Russian literature in the world. The library is open to visitors upon request, and this month White Rabbit Books on the Upper West Side will open a new section of its store devoted to selling old and new contraband Russian literature curated by the project.
The Tamizdat Project is the brainchild of Yakov Klots, a soft-spoken, unassuming literary scholar who teaches at Hunter. He chose the name from a Russian word meaning “published abroad,” which, along with samizdat (“to self-publish”), was one of the two main methods of evading Soviet book censorship. The Iron Curtain, he noted, “wasn’t so iron after all,” and the books seeped through. Mr. Klots has assembled the library bit by bit, recruiting his students to build the metal IKEA bookshelves and soliciting book donations from friends and strangers, including the former U.S. ambassador to Russia, John Beyrle. […]
Mr. Klots grew up with contraband Russian literature in the Soviet city of Perm, near the Ural Mountains. His mother, he said, “would take a train to Moscow just to stop by an apartment of one dissident who would give her Solzhenitsyn.” Then she would stay up late into the night duplicating the borrowed book, page by page. “One of my childhood memories is my mother typing something at night and me falling asleep to the sound of the typewriter,” he said. […]
New York City is a fitting locale for the work of the Tamizdat Project. For most of the 20th century it was home to the publishers, academics, activists and philanthropists who saw the potential of contraband books during and even before the Cold War.
The first novel officially banned in the Soviet Union, “We” — a dystopian vision of totalitarianism by Yevgeny Zamyatin — was published twice in New York before it could be released at home. Mr. Zamyatin managed to send his manuscript abroad, and E.P. Dutton released it, in English, in 1924. More than 60 years later, when Soviet authorities lifted the ban, some of the country’s citizens had already read it. Mr. Zamyatin’s Russian-language original had already been printed in 1952 by Chekhov Publishing House in New York. “It was just a pure detective story, how every single book got published as tamizdat,” Mr. Klots said. […]
As the scope of Russian censorship has widened in recent years, the history of New York’s Soviet-era banned-book publishers has gained new relevance. “Even if these people are no longer around,” Mr. Klots said, they “laid the foundation for a project like the Tamizdat Project to exist and to build on their legacy.”
One of the Tamizdat Project’s most significant donations came from the family of Edward Kline, a philanthropist who led a double life in New York. Most knew him as the millionaire chief executive of the Kline Brothers department store chain, but the Soviet human rights movement knew him as a chief advocate and underwriter of its publishing work. The Tamizdat Project has started to reveal the extent of Mr. Kline’s activities. Among his many endeavors, he acquired and revived Chekhov Publishing House, releasing what became canonical 20th-century Russian literature: original works by Nadezhda Mandelstam, Lydia Chukovskaya and Joseph Brodsky.
I recommend reading the rest of it, with accounts of Kline’s activities and his modern successors; also, there are good photos.
First off, SquidgeWorld didn't fully come up this morning, but that's because we've been working on Squidge Images. Our new anti-bot software didn't start as it was supposed to, but that has been found and corrected. So SquidgeWorld is up and running now.
Squidge Image Hosting went through an upgrade this morning and everything is working - with a limitation. Image hosting is there, and works like normal under the new code. Video hosting works as well, but for this we are relying on external storage (a cloud storage option) and THAT external storage isn't working yet. So, for right now we are still just hosting images. As soon as our hosting provider can figure out what's going on with our online hosting bucket, we will enable video uploads as well.
But for now - YOU CANNOT UPLOAD VIDEOS. Only regular images like normal.
EDIT: We NOW support the uploading and hosting of videos! But please be aware of a few things:
Videos are currently supported only if they are .MOV or .MP4 types. Other types such as .mkv are NOT SUPPORTED.
Videos must be 100 megabytes or smaller to upload.
Video upload can take up to 5 minutes to complete! Upload one at a time, and wait for your browser to respond.
US president says ‘an Iranian regime armed with long range missiles would be a dire threat to every American’ in video released on Truth Social Sunday evening
Loud explosions were heard early on Sunday near Erbil airport, which hosts US-led coalition troops in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region, AFP reported. Thick black smoke was rising from the airport area.
On Saturday, US-led coalition forces downed several missiles and explosive-laden drones over Erbil.
Shorter asylum period can be renewed under hardline policy aimed at stopping rise of Reform UK
Shabana Mahmood has ripped up the government’s asylum rules so that from Monday every refugee will be told that their status is temporary and will last just 30 months.
In a move that has concerned a refugee charity, the home secretary said that claimants whose countries are deemed to be safe by the UK government will from now on be expected to return.
On tour of returns centre, home secretary says ‘legitimate grievances’ have to be acknowledged as part of ‘responsible’ politics
The UK home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, and Danish immigration officials strode through the bleak and chilly Sjælsmark returns centre, a former military barracks used to house men and women who have no right to remain in the country. Followed by photographers, reporters and civil servants, Mahmood was told of the strict conditions in which hundreds of people live after asylum and right to remain appeals are rejected and before many are sent to other countries.
Sjælsmark, about 20 miles north of Copenhagen, is at the sharp end of an asylum system set up by Denmark’s left-leaning Social Democrat government to deter claimants. As well as those facing swift deportations, refugees are given temporary permission to stay and will later be told to leave if their countries of origin are deemed safe.
The Foreign Office is drawing up plans to evacuate tens of thousands of British citizens if war in the Middle East escalates, with many travellers currently stranded in Dubai.
Keir Starmer said on Sunday that about 200,000 British people are in the region, on holiday or otherwise travelling across the Gulf. He urged everyone in areas targeted by Iranian strikes to register with the Foreign Office to receive advice, with about 94,000 doing that so far.
Lindo speaks out after man with Tourette syndrome shouted slur while actor was on stage with Michael B Jordan
British-American actor Delroy Lindo expressed gratitude for “the support and love” he and Michael B Jordan have received after a man with Tourette syndrome (TS) shouted the N-word as the two men presented a Bafta award.
“We appreciate all the support and love that we have been shown,” Lindo – who, like Jordan, is Black – said on stage at the annual NAACP Image awards in Los Angeles. He called it “a classic case of something that could be very negative becoming very positive”.
Fifa president wants more intervention in battle against racism
Mouth covering in focus after Vinícius Júnior’s allegation of abuse
The Fifa president, Gianni Infantino, has suggested players who cover their mouths while addressing opponents could be sent off as part of the governing body’s battle against racism.
The practice, which has long been deployed to prevent cameras picking up conversations between teammates and opposition, has been put in focus after Vinícius Júnior’s allegations of discriminatory abuse by Gianluca Prestianni. The Benfica player denies doing so but was suspended for his side’s Champions League playoff second leg against Vinícius’s Real Madrid pending the outcome of a formal investigation.
Fandom: One Piece Author/Artist: Mekachu04 Title: Feburary - Punk Aibou Sketches Pairing: Eustass Kidd & Killer Rating: teen? it varies from gen/all audience to teen. adult images have been removed from this collection Word Count: art Warnings: some implied death/violence but nothing graphic. all are unfinished sketches so clothes might not all be there. Disclaimer: Kidd and Killer (and Wire) belong to the world of One Piece by Eiichiro Oda. I'm just playing in the sandbox AN: I'm on year two of trying to draw something everyday. So most of these are drawn at about 3-5am in about an hour or two at work during the down time.
Please comment on this post if you are nominating:
A crossover fandom, in which case please point us to the episode, installment, or other canon piece of media where the franchises are shown to share a universe
A recursive fandom, in which case please link to a public statement by the author permitting transformative works
A worldbuilding tag that might seem to overlap closely with the real world, in which case please explain why the fandom context makes it distinct
Missing evidence will be queried, but posting evidence in advance is much appreciated and will streamline nominations!
US president says ‘it’s always been about a four-week process so - as strong as it is, it’s a big country, it’ll take four weeks - or less’ and that he’s agreed to talk with Iran
Loud explosions were heard early on Sunday near Erbil airport, which hosts US-led coalition troops in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region, AFP reported. Thick black smoke was rising from the airport area.
On Saturday, US-led coalition forces downed several missiles and explosive-laden drones over Erbil.
Mikel Arteta said his heart almost stopped before David Raya kept Arsenal’s title challenge on track with a stunning late save to deny 10‑man Chelsea a late equaliser at the Emirates Stadium.
Raya was in exceptional form during a crucial 2-1 win, making a series of excellent stops during a tense encounter, and the Spaniard was alert when a cross from Alejandro Garnacho threatened to drift inside his near post as full time approached. The goalkeeper pushed the ball wide, ensuring that goals from William Saliba and Jurriën Timber enabled Arsenal to restore their five-point lead over Manchester City at the top of the Premier League.
Donald Trump said on Sunday he was prepared to talk to what was left of the Iranian leadership in the wake of the killing of the country’s supreme leader by US-Israeli air strikes aimed at overthrowing the regime.
Trump was speaking as a second day of intense bombing of Iranian cities and Tehran’s missile counter-attacks sent tremors across the region and through the global economy.
In June, Benjamin Netanyahu declared “a historic victory, which will stand for generations” after the 12-day war on Iran.
His decision to attack Iran again, less than a year later, was greeted with broad and enthusiastic support from Israeli politicians, including the prime minister’s bitter rivals, and a public willing to endure death and massive disruption to their lives.
In the grim calculus of war, Iran now has to hope it gets lucky. The first hours of the joint US-Israeli assault were catastrophic for the regime: the supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, killed alongside, it is believed, the minister of defence, the head of the armed forces and the head of the powerful Revolutionary Guards.
Iran knew its security apparatus had been compromised during the 12-day war of June 2025 when Israel killed a string of senior military commanders. During January’s street protests, Khamenei was moved away to a secure location for his own safety, yet on Saturday he felt safe enough to hold a security meeting in his compound in Tehran.
An operation decades in the making took just 60 seconds to carry out, but some question its wisdom
The assassination of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was the culmination of decades of painstaking intelligence gathering by Israeli secret services, with crucial technological resources and manpower provided over the last six months by the CIA and other US intelligence services, which culminated in a single concentrated burst of lethal violence to decapitate the Iranian regime, according to experts, veteran spies and officials in Israel and the US.
Khamenei was killed along with seven “members of the top Iranian security leadership who had gathered at several locations in Tehran” and about a dozen members of his family and close entourage in near-simultaneous strikes within 60 seconds, military officials in Israel said. Forty other senior Iranian leaders also died in the attack.
There were 63 minutes on the clock and the Arsenal crowd were in a state of extreme agitation. William Saliba had the ball at the back and he was taking his time – largely because there was nothing on for him. The fans screamed at him to hurry up. To do something. Anything. Chelsea were not just level at 1-1, they had dominated the second half up to this point.
Out on the right flank, Jurriën Timber gestured for everyone to calm down. There was still time. Arsenal would be fine if they could keep their focus. It took Timber three minutes to practise what he preached. When Declan Rice arched over a corner, Timber wriggled free to head home what proved to be a priceless winning goal.
2-1 defeat at Fulham was Spurs’ fourth league loss in a row
‘We are always late on everything. That’s the problem’
Igor Tudor described the situation Tottenham find themselves in as “amazing” and suggested they have just three major problems as they fight relegation: the attack, the midfield and the defence. Spurs’ 2-1 defeat at Fulham was their fourth in a row in the league and leaves them four points above the relegation zone.
“I cannot tell you anything new,” said a downbeat Tudor. “We need to find the forces inside each of us. I said to the players: ‘It’s always what you’re going to do, what you want to do with yourself,’ you know? More personality, more wish to do before reacting, plenty of things … We are lacking when we attack, we lack the quality to score the goal. We are lacking in the middle to run and we are lacking behind to stay there to suffer and not concede the goal. So, an amazing situation. Amazing.”
May I speak in the name of the living God who is Source of All Being, Eternal Word and Holy Spirit. I wonder what your reaction to the phrase “born again”?
Maybe you’ve been asked “have you been born again?” by Christians – possibly in the street but also at church.
In the last 50 or so years it has become a phrase associated with a particular type of experience of the Holy Spirit, often involving speaking in tongues, and sometimes it seems to be used to imply people who have not had that exact experience are lesser Christians, or maybe not Christians at all.
Tonight we are heard the passage from which this phrase comes. The NRSV (the translation we use for our readings) opts for “born from above” but other translations go for “born again” – the Greek allows both interpretations. And it is “born again” that has entered our discussions of faith.
Here we have a Pharisee, Nicodemus, seeking out Jesus, who may have been a fellow Pharisee although one who was perhaps going further or in a different direction from his fellows. Nicodemus recognises Jesus as a teacher who has come from God, because of the signs that he has been doing.
Looking back at the first two chapters of John’s Gospel, we have so far seen Jesus being recognised by John the Baptist when he was baptised; calling disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter, Philip, Nathanael; then turning water to wine at the wedding at Cana; and at the Passover turning over the tables in the Temple, and maybe other signs – for John says “When he was in Jerusalem during the Passover festival many believed in his name because they saw the signs that he was doing.” Were there healings perhaps? Signs seems a bit broader than two actions.
Certainly enough to get Nicodemus’ attention. Who seeks him out, “at night”, when it was quieter and maybe less open to being observed by others. Some commentators read a spiritual significance into the “dark” but these make me uncomfortable both for anti-semitic implications (of the Jews being in spiritual darkness) and the way tropes of light and dark have fed white supremacy and the lie that people with darker skins are inferior to those who are fairer, a point made by the South Asian Bible commentary on this passage.
A friend of mine who is autistic has pondered whether Nicodemus might be autistic. In that reading, maybe seeking out Jesus by night was about being in a less sensory overwhelming environment – not in a large crowd and only the light of the moon – which was presumably still fairly full as we are at or just after Passover. Nicodemus’ response to Jesus’ statement about being born again is a literal one – ‘How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?’ which is not what Jesus was talking about. He is talking about spiritual birth. “no-one can enter the kingdom of heaven without being born of water and Spirit” – does the reference to water here point to baptism? Jesus was himself baptised by John at the start of his ministry and it is the way that we are incorporated into the church. There are strands within Christianity which would say no this isn’t about baptism, that is an empty ritual which doesn’t guarantee spiritual birth. But that’s not been my experience of baptism. I was baptised as a baby at 2 months old and have grown up within the family of faith and come to claim that faith for myself. Others I know have been baptised after a conversion experience. Our journeys are different – the wind/spirit blows where she wills – but we encounter the spirit and something happens. For some that may involve signs such as speaking in tongues, but they are not compulsory. Paul writes about this in his first letter to the church at Corinth. He values tongues, but points to a more excellent way, the way of love. And Jesus here shows the cost of love as he points to his being raised up like the serpent in the wilderness so that that the world, the cosmos, is not condemned but saved. Something I talked more about when I preached on this passage on Holy Cross Day in September.
The passage we heard from Paul’s letter to the church in Rome has a similar theme. It’s not what Abraham did that was important but his belief/trust in God.
I struggle at times with Paul’s theology, or maybe with Calvinist readings of Paul which have dominated a lot how we read Paul. As with the language around being born again, there are those who use Paul’s words about faith and works to condemn other expressions of Christianity. To say claim that we’ve got it right and those people over there have got it wrong. But Christianity shouldn’t be about oneupmanship! We aren’t born again to smugness. The spirit blows where she will.
It’s hard to talk about this without ending up implying I’ve got it right and those people over their claiming their right are the ones who are wrong. But I think it’s about humility. It’s not about us, but about what God has done. We can tell others about the way in which Jesus’ death and resurrection has taken the pain and wrongness that we inflicted on the world and broken that cycle of violence.
And yet, we still see the cycle of violence continuing in our world. War is still happening. Christians support Trump who yesterday caused the bombing of a girls school in Iran. And Christians have been involved in horrors such as slavery and boarding schools for indigenous people and mother and baby homes. So this Lent, what do these passages say to us, in 2026, in uncertain times? How do we build community that includes? That lives in the light of cross and the breaking of the cycle of violence? That says to those who would divide us that God came to save the world, not just Christian? That seeks to understand rather than hate?
The very definition of fannish woe: noticing a typo in one of your fics on AO3 and going it to fix it, only to have the archive go down just as you're hitting the "update" button and refuse to accept it. Woe!
Well, at least in this case it was the very minor typo I noticed and not the embarrassing brain fart mistake I'd just fixed a little while before. Still. SIGH.
[I wrote this with about 0 brain something like 2 months ago. But I was feeling like posting one of my drafts and I just realised belatedly that Chris Bidmead had died in August. Or possibly just found out and was shocked for a second time, who knows, it's terrible how much I forget. But I do love his DW era very much and while he lived to a good age, I am still sorry to hear it - he brought so much to the show & was a rare DW script editor who was genuinely interested in SFF* as a genre, which showed in a whole bunch of scripts commissioned by him, which are like any of the other eras - even if a whole set of them then had the misfortunate to be made by the next script editor who Did Not Get Them at all. This serial is actually one he wrote later for his successor's rather more action/dark orientated era (and said successor, Eric Saward, Did Not Get this one either), but - I had prepared it earlier! And also: I love Frontios!]
I haven't much brain so I thought for this edition of the Unofficial Fandom 50 I would once again burble about a favourite classic Who serial, this time...
It is a four part Fifth Doctor serial (4x 25 mins; c. 1hr 25 minutes in total) from Season 21 (1984). Yes, it has Giant Woodlice.
The Fifth Doctor (Peter Davison), Tegan (Janet Fielding) and Turlough (Mark Strickson) accidentally stray into the far future - so far that the Time Lords are forbidden to go there. They arrive at a tiny, struggling colony of survivors from Earth, who are under bombardment from an unknown enemy from space - except there's also something beneath them: the earth on Frontios is hungry...
Sometimes, as a DW fan, you love the unloved serial; sometimes you adore the fan favourite - and sometimes you just love a decent one more than you can properly justify or exactly explain, but we've all been there. I have a few of these, and Frontios is one, although honestly I think it's belongs in the circle just outside of the all time greats personally, which is why I'm going to babble about it. (I mean, I realise, like everything, it does depend on a) taste and b) how people feel about lumbering giant woodlice).
(It's also the only DW serial where a member of the main guest cast had to be replaced at the last minute because the original actor, Peter Arne, had been murdered. This has no bearing on anything, other than the replacement being the excellent William Lucas, but I felt the need to mention it anyway). (All my DW classic faves do not involve someone dying or nearly dying irl, I promise).
It's about confronting buried/unspoken terrors & what you can do with gravity in SFF if you have some giant woodlice to hand, plus it's one of those forsaken, almost Shakespearean colonies classic Who loves to do (the youthful leader with his fragile hold on it is even called Plantagenet) and I am a sucker for such things. The guest cast is great - William Lucas, Lesley Dunlop, Peter Gilmore & Jeff Rawle, pre-Drop the Dead Donkey.
Penned by Five's original script editor, Chris Bidmead, Peter Davison shines here, and gets to pull out his brainy specs for the first time since Bidmead left; Tegan and Turlough are both really well used, with Turlough's buried race trauma demonstrating that having alien companions as well as earthlings on the TARDIS can lead to interesting options for storytelling.
It's dark and weird, fascinating and quotable, with excellent team!TARDIS banter. The hatstand gets a moment of glory. The TARDIS is disintegrated. The Doctor saves Tegan's life by being really insulting to her. "Frontios buries its own dead."
Basically, I love weird colonies, I love strange ideas, I love this TARDIS team, I love the hatstand, I'm not at all put off by giant woodlice and: "Just tell them I came and went like a summer cloud." (Oh, Five. <3)
* Classic Who script editors (and producers) were assigned to the show by the BBC and did not always have a huge amount of choice about being offered the post and then being removed from it - it was just how the BBC worked at the time.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nnozomi posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
guardian_learning
I'm very pleased to announce that the fourth Ariel Moravec occult detective novel, The House of the Crows, is now available for preorder.
![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png){kind=small}
