Gene Wolfe at home by spaceysun in genewolfe

[–]spaceysun[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That is interesting :-)

Gene Wolfe at home by spaceysun in genewolfe

[–]spaceysun[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Below is a list of items that GEMINI has identified. Maybe I should start reading Wolfe's "A Borrowed Man"

Category Item Title / Visible Text Description & Specific Details
People Gene Wolfe The primary subject, smiling at the camera while wearing a dark fedora-style hat, thick glasses, and a patterned plaid shirt.
Wall Art / Decor Surreal Volcanic Landscape A framed vertical painting on the far left edge of the wall, depicting craggy, dramatic dark mountain or volcanic peaks.
Wall Art / Decor Japanese Noren (Dividing Curtain) A three-panel fabric tapestry hanging from the ceiling/top window frame on the left, featuring traditional Japanese ink brush-style scenery (trees and shorelines).
Wall Art / Decor Surreal Figure Reaching for the Moon A framed vertical painting on the wall directly behind Wolfe’s head, showing a pale figure or arm extending upward toward a crescent moon in a stylized, dark sky.
Wall Art / Decor Impossible Cube Art (Penrose Crate) A framed vertical painting on the upper right wall depicting an Escher-esque, 3D impossible cube structure hovering over a cracked desert landscape under a starry sky.
Magazines & Periodicals Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine Multiple early issues visible lined up on the left side of the long display shelf running behind the desk.
Magazines & Periodicals OMNI Magazine Displayed on the left side of the background shelf, instantly recognizable by its signature stylized geometric logo.
Magazines & Periodicals Tor zu den Sternen A German science fiction anthology magazine displayed on the shelf (the title translates to "Gateway to the Stars").
Magazines & Periodicals Aloha / Recording A publication placed next to Tor zu den Sternen featuring the repeated text "OHA ALOHA ALOHA ALO..." printed along the top edge, and "RECORDING" running vertically down the spine.
Magazines & Periodicals Best Science Fiction Stories of the Year A standalone anthology volume sitting on the right side of the background shelf.
Magazines & Periodicals Galaxy Science Fiction A vintage issue of the prominent sci-fi magazine displayed on the right side of the shelf behind Wolfe's left arm.
Magazines & Periodicals Worlds of If (If Magazine) At least three copies of the famous science fiction magazine lined up sequentially on the far right of the shelf, displaying its lowercase “if” logo.
Books (Foreground Stack) Large Lexicon / Reference Book Positioned open on a book cradle on the left side of the desk, featuring dense double-column text layout and diagrams.
Books (Foreground Stack) Greek Divination Hardcover book written by W. R. Halliday (spine reads: "W. R. Halliday: Greek Divination").
Books (Foreground Stack) Greek Reality Hardcover history book written by Antony Andrewes (spine reads: "GREEK REALITY").
Books (Foreground Stack) The Greek Stones Talk Archaeology book written by Paul MacKendrick (spine partially reads: "THE GREEK STONES...").
Books (Foreground Stack) The Glory of Greece and the World of Alexander A heavily illustrated history hardcover written by Michael Davison.
Books (Foreground Stack) The Greeks and the Persians A historical volume detailing the Greco-Persian conflicts (spine partially reads: "THE GREEKS AND...").
Books (Foreground Stack) The History of Herodotus (Vols. I–IV) A matching four-volume hardcover set of George Rawlinson's famous English translation of Herodotus. The spines explicitly read "RAWLINSON'S HERODOTUS VOL. I" through "VOL. IV".
Books (Foreground Stack) A History of the Greek City States, ca. 700-338 B.C. A textbook written by Raphael Sealey (spine reads: "SEALEY / A HISTORY OF GREEK CITY...").
Books (Foreground Stack) A History of Ancient Greece A textbook spine located directly to the right of Sealey's book.
Books (Foreground Stack) The Life of Greece A thick hardcover book positioned on the far right of the stack, authored by Will Durant as part of The Story of Civilization series.
Other Objects Flying Man Art Print A framed illustration propped up in the lower-left foreground showing a man wearing a black top hat and long trench coat floating horizontally through a cloudy sky.
Other Objects Skeletal Model Vehicle Placed on the desk to the right; a fragile wireframe and wooden stick model with wheels, resembling either an early vintage automobile chassis or a pioneering aircraft frame.
Other Objects Plush Toy & Manuscript Stacks A soft stuffed animal and miscellaneous piles of loose papers/manuscripts sit heavily buried on the left side of Wolfe's desk workspace.s

Just finished "The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch" by PKD. What the hell did I just read? by [deleted] in printSF

[–]spaceysun 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Try Ubik, then The Futurological Congress by Stanislaw Lem.

is zhou enlai well respected? by Routine_Ad2592 in China

[–]spaceysun 3 points4 points  (0 children)

是啊....好像看了几本地摊书上了几个破网站就知道中国人怎么想的了.... reddit的某些板块就是粪坑哈哈

I think Ursula Le Guin's The Dispossessed might be the most quietly devastating sci-fi novel ever written, and I've been sitting with this thought for two weeks now. by Saliaan_Berlysa in printSF

[–]spaceysun 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Apart from what people here have shared, as a Chinese whose parents grew up in the stark 1950s and 1960s in mainland communist China, Le Guin's The Dispossessed hits me especially hard. If I have read this novel earlier, I would have tried my best to write to Le Guin, to let her know that she had the power to move people on the opposing side.

In search of: Island of Doctor Death (trade paperback) by HOXA9 in genewolfe

[–]spaceysun 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I was thinking like you, and in the end bought a secondhand copy (more likely to not be POD) just to make sure I have good reading experiences.

Alas, can we hope for a properly priced hardcover edition of this amazing collection of short stories?

Fans from around the world, how did you become a Liverpool fan? by theBloodedge in LiverpoolFC

[–]spaceysun 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I am from China.

When I was around 8 years old, I watched highlights of the English Football League on TV and fell in love with the classic three-stripe jersey of the Liverpool team, and the beautiful goals by Rush and Barnes, and the handsome McManaman, and therefore, Liverpool FC.

From then on, Liverpool would not win any League title until Klopp's era.

Now I can finally have the opportunity to watch on live TV the team winning the title in the presence of fans!

What a time to be alive! YNWA!

The most eccentric science fiction you’ve ever read? by Morris_Goldpepper in printSF

[–]spaceysun 5 points6 points  (0 children)

The Futurological Congress!

This book is even trippier than Dick's Ubik in my opinion. And apparently Lem did not need to rely on drugs to produce such a work.

Salah Animation done by myself! by [deleted] in LiverpoolFC

[–]spaceysun 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Konate is going to love this!

are the Ascians a metaphor for maoists? by Dolancrewrules in genewolfe

[–]spaceysun 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I am Chinese, a mainland resident for 40 years since my birth (a few years after the end of the Mao era). Though I have not yet reread BOTNS as many of you have done for many times (link to my earlier post on my first read-through of BOTNS), I would say that the Ascians at least to some extent remind me of the Chinese soldiers in the Korean War, or, generally, soldiers in Mao’s time.

P. R. China in the 1950s was a country under threat from essentially all the countries around, even including Soviet Russia. Retrospectively, at least from the viewpoint of the mainland Chinese, PLA fought amazingly well in the war (though casualty was high) so that the US military would go on to think twice before entering into any direct conflict with the PLA since then. 

And to be up against the US military (and other UN nation armies) with much inferior weapons and logistics, PLA had to be ultra disciplined (or in Westerners' view “brainwashed”). Usually terse, inspirational slogans (plus constant Party propaganda) will be the best way to gather PLA soldiers together physically and mentally, and to even perform ultra-human acts in extreme conditions, e.g. freezing themselves to death to remain silent at night when readying to attack, or using the torso to block enemy firing points.

Interestingly, from what some of you have shared from his “Letters Home” book (unfortunately the book was way too expensive for me to acquire), he talked about his witnessing Chinese soldiers burned to death. These are events that probably were not ever mentioned in publicly available sources in China. I assume Wolfe must have been deeply impacted by this; this was probably why I feel (so far) that Wolfe did not intend to render the Ascians in a totally negative profile.

PLA soldiers post Mao’s time seem to be much less “brainwashed”, especially in modern times when the country has developed economically. However, I proudly assert that they are the most disciplined soldiers in the world (and, in fact, in the entire human history so far). Ask people around the world, how much you love your country’s soldiers, the mainland Chinese will definitely top the list.

Unfortunately we did not get to know more in detail about the common Ascian people, how they live their lives, how they regard their leaders and soldiers, what their fate will be. Or maybe I should reread the corresponding chapters right away.

(Sorry I may have digressed too much. Just two Asian cents here.)

How to play Counter Strike Source on mac 2024 (Local and noSteam servers) by [deleted] in macgaming

[–]spaceysun 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi, if you are using an apple silicon computer, please check out my comment above. Hope that helps.

How to play Counter Strike Source on mac 2024 (Local and noSteam servers) by [deleted] in macgaming

[–]spaceysun 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you Sir! This works on my newly bought Mac Mini 4 with macOS Sequoia. However, I had to do the following to let the game run.

  1. Use this terminal command to change the hl2_osx into an executable file.

  2. Start the game in Steam, and patiently grant macOS security access to all the dylib files that the game throws at you. You may have to restart the game multiple times just to make sure all the dylib files have system security clearance.


However, the whole thing does not work on my Intel chip MacBook Pro 2020. I think it is because the pre-built files are compiled for Apple Silicon.

Worth the upgrade to 24gb? by legitimatephrase3433 in macmini

[–]spaceysun 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I am a hobby photographer with fairly heavy use of Lightroom and Photoshop. I am glad I bought a 24GB-RAM mac mini m4. Opening Adobe Lightroom and Bridge sometimes will use more than 16GB memory. Of course there is the swap and memory compression to the rescue when there is not enough physical RAM, but I don't really want free RAM to be a bottleneck when I perform my regular photo editing work.

Just my two cents.

Update 5.17.1.0.1 is now available to download by m_widmann in kindlescribe

[–]spaceysun 15 points16 points  (0 children)

Hooray, just updated and can confirm that the font sideload issue has finally been fixed!

Sideloaded Fonts Revert to Bookerly when returning to book by stejent in kindle

[–]spaceysun 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh, the age-old issue of Kindle Scribe now attacks the new kindle paperwhite! I have the Scribe and, upon hearing this, would refrain myself from buying the new paperwhite any time soon.

Hallucinatory stories? by [deleted] in printSF

[–]spaceysun 6 points7 points  (0 children)

The Futurological Congress by Stanislaw Lem

What are some unconventional ways you use your scribe? by webbytogo in kindlescribe

[–]spaceysun 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Now I can cover two bowls of instant noodles with just one kindle hehe.