Kelson Reviews Stuff - Page 14

Now I understand why these three Hainish novels are collected in a single book. Not just because they were earlier and not as famous as, The Dispossessed and The Left Hand of Darkness, but because they’re linked by more than just the setting. In a way, City of Illusions is the flip side to Planet of Exile: Instead of a single city of people from Earth just trying to stay alive on a primitive world, this time Earth is the (mostly) primitive world, with a single city run by the alien conquerors – at least, that’s what the scattered humans believe, and even then they know their records are fragmented and probably falsified.

This is a post-apocalyptic world, but one that’s had thousands of years for nature to recover. The story begins not in a forbidding desert, but a small village in a clearing within the vast forest that has regrown over eastern North America. People still have some technology, but it’s all used on a small scale.

At first, it seems like a travelogue showing different ways humans have adapted to living in a world where they simply can’t build large settlements. The small friendly villages in the forest, the fortresses that attack outsiders, the lone man living in the wilderness where his high-level empathic powers won’t overwhelm him, the violent nomads of the plains, the wanderers, the slightly larger village with a self-proclaimed “prince,” the enigmatic beekeepers, and of course the hangers-on surrounding the City.

But once Falk reaches the City, it starts to become clear it’s not just about different types of societies. It’s about isolation, adaptation, kindness, cruelty, trust and hope, and above all, how to piece together the truth – or at least how to pick out the lies. Illusions can highlight truths or disguise them. Falk is overwhelmed by the layers of deception and betrayal, knows he’s being manipulated, and knows he’s outclassed. All he can do is look for the flaws and find a few threads to expose bits of truth, and hope he can use them.

Are the Shing really aliens? Why are they really here? Who wiped Falk’s memory, and why? And why would the Shing be willing to unlock his past?

And how can you be yourself when you don’t know who you really are?

Definitely worth reading, whether you’ve read Planet of Exile or not, though I think the later chapters in particular benefit from having read both.

Background

I used Thunderbird way back in the day when it and Firefox split off of Mozilla/Seamonkey, later switching to KMail on my Linux desktop (since it ran a lot faster) and then just using Gmail through the web. Recently I’ve been trying to reduce my dependence on Google, and since Thunderbird was familiar, cross-platform, and had just updated its UI (codename: “Supernova”), I figured I’d give it another shot.

Running It

It’s worked out great! More stable and capable than Microsoft Mail and News on Windows, fewer system complications than KMail on Linux (especially when running it on a non-KDE desktop), more capable than Geary on Linux, and more respectful of my privacy than the new Outlook. (That said, Geary is great for low-resource systems.)

The new UI is a lot cleaner than it used to be, and most setup can be done without digging into the advanced settings. But the advanced settings are still there in case you need them.

Easy to set up multiple email accounts including Gmail and Outlook.com, can fully manage an IMAP account, and can even move messages between accounts (which is really helpful when migrating).

Also works well with Nextcloud calendar and contacts. Old directions will say you need an extension, but CalDAV and CardDAV support are built in now. The hardest part was looking up the right URL on my Nextcloud server! Note: Syncing will be faster with an app-specific password for Thunderbird.

I haven’t used it much on macOS, since the lighter-weight Apple Mail is good enough for most purposes, but it’s my preferred mail application on Windows and Linux these days.

Tech Notes

For email troubleshooting purposes: Thunderbird does not alter the raw source of messages when it saves them. This turned out to be crucial when debugging a 7bit vs quoted-printable issue because I could see what was actually being sent!

Also: For some reason, Fedora’s packaged Thunderbird launcher doesn’t auto-detect whether you’re running on Wayland or Xorg like Firefox does, so it runs in XWayland. You can install the thunderbird-wayland RPM package to get a launcher that runs it directly on Wayland.

Finally: Thunderbird, like Firefox and other Mozilla projects, is free/libre open-source sofware. You can audit the code, modify your own version, suggest bugfixes, or use another project that’s based on it. (Note to self: Try out Betterbird. Hat tip to Susan Calvin for the suggestion.)

Nice views of the ocean, Point Vicente Lighthouse and (on clear days) Catalina island. Short loop within Alta Vicente Reserve but with some steep sections. Keep your balance! This actually goes through a thick grove of prickly pear cactus at one point – downhill if you go clockwise! Today it was well-maintained, but I read that it can get badly overgrown at times. Not much shade except where it goes through was appears to be an abandoned farm.

You have to take the Alta Vicente and/or Nike trails to get to it. Park up at the city hall, go to the grassy park area, and look for the brick cube with the plaque. Rock-marked dirt trails lead off to the nature reserve.

The Alta Vicente trail, at least, allows bicycles and horses, though parts are a bit steep for cycling in my opinion. And I wouldn’t recommend biking downhill through the prickly pear grove, or riding a horse through it in either direction!

A fun, fast read, parodying the James Bond Villain archetype. The main character is dropped into the deep end of supervillain society, complete with double-crosses, triple-crosses, assassination attempts, blackmail, framing…and of course the secret volcanic lair, superlasers, talking dolphins (who are really unpleasant and cranky) and a management layer of typing spy cats (who are much less so, depending on how well you feed and pet them).

Everyone knows he’s way out of his depth and wants to take advantage of him. But he knows it too – and between a background in business journalism and a willingness to listen to people with expertise (always considering that they have an agenda that might not be his own), he’s able to manage better than anyone expects.

Of course, the skills that get you to the top of the backstabbing, chaotic world of villainy…aren’t necessarily the best for financial stability. Or stability of any kind.

It makes coffee. Without any kind of bells and whistles. The plastic lid and tank feel flimsier than they actually are. They’ve held up just fine for almost two years now.

The fill gauge on the side of the reservoir can be hard to read depending on lighting. I recommend going over the lines with a permanent marker. And checking how the numbers line up between the gauge and the coffee pot. I usually fill it to at least one past the number I want to make.

Gurgling sounds are normal, but steaming sounds are not. If you hear it making steaming sounds from the other room, check the position of the coffee pot immediately. If it’s off-center, it holds the stopper open, but the coffee flows over the lid, down the side, onto the hot plate and onto the counter.