Food banks and food pantries - Donate & prompt me to write for you
Nov. 21st, 2025 03:32 pmThis applies to recurring donations too!
Mm, seasonal affective disorder and assorted political depression are fun
Nov. 21st, 2025 03:26 pmIt is definitely time for a seasonally-appropriate vacation and a hug or twelve.
"Yes, but so many of them were limericks!"
Fuck off into the sun, inner critic. Just because I would've liked to have written novels and haven't does not make the things I have made entirely negligible.
Reverse Proteolysis, Will You Look At That
Nov. 21st, 2025 01:10 pmHere’s a phenomenon - yet another one - that never crossed my mind before. It’s long been known that enzymes that catalyze proteolysis (cleavage of peptide bonds) can, under certain circumstances, catalyze the reverse reaction of peptide bond formation. Folks who have had to think about chemical kinetics will immediately realize that those conditions would include high concentrations of the two cleavage products and low concentrations of the longer protein substrate, an example of Le Chatlier’s principle in action. It’s also an example of the principle of Microscopic Reversibility in action, too: the chemical steps are the same whether you run things forwards or backwards. That doesn’t mean those steps are always thermodynamically feasible, of course - the energies involved (with both enthalpic and entropic contributions) might be too great a barrier to run backwards very easily, as in unburning a piece of wood back from a cloud of soot and hot gases. Fire is not a good example of an equilibrium process, but peptide bond breakage and formation is a lot closer to balancing on a knife edge than combustion is.
This recent preprint suggests, though, that this “reverse proteolysis” is happening under physiological conditions, particularly with cysteine-based cathepsin enzymes. And it’s not just re-formation of the proteins that have just been cleaved (although that must be happening, too). No, you get mix-and-match combinations of various proteins to generate species that were certainly never coded for in the genome. And on top of that, you can even spot chimeras between human proteins and bacterial or viral ones (!)
Now, some species of this sort have been reported before (in reports going back to at least 2004) but this new work suggests that it’s a much more common process than anyone realized, one with implications for immunity and perhaps other cellular processes as well. Recall that antigen proteins are displayed to the immune system via the major histocompatibility complex, and that these antigens are cleaved from larger proteins via degradation. Displaying weirdo newly assembled protein sequences from this chemical splicing route could cause some real effects downstream. This could, for example, be one of the links between prior infections and later autoimmune disease, through those human/pathogen hybrid proteins.
The authors here shore up that connection by showing that auto-antigenic peptides implicated in Type I diabetes can be produced by cathepsins running in reverse, and that proteins that have been modified by citrullination (on arginine residues) seem to undergo the process more readily. That sort of Arg modification is already known to be over-represented in autoimmune antigens. In addition, the cathepsin enzyme subtypes that are most dominant in immune tissues (such as inside macrophages) seem to be the best at producing such splicing hybrids. These reverse reactions are also more prevalent at closer to neutral pH, which suggests that lysosomal dysfunction (where cathepsins and other enzymes normally work in an acidic environment) might be a source of increased neo-peptides.
Overall, it seems that we’re going to have to learn to deal with these species, and to study them in the context of both normal conditions and in infectious disease. Acute viral infections might well be producing waves of human/viral protein hybrid species, and we can’t expect them all to be silent!
(no subject)
Nov. 21st, 2025 11:27 amWhen I came out of the lab and approached my car, I saw that there was an identical car parked a couple of spaces further along (with no cars in between), so I was checking the other car to see if it really was identical. Then when I went to get into "my" car I saw an unfamiliar drink bottle in the holder and realised that the "other" car was the one which was mine. I don't often see cars exactly the same as mine; there are plenty of the same model Honda Accord but not many in burgundy like mine.
A bit later, just after I'd finished my breakfast, I had a call from the lab to say I'd dropped a copy of my driver's licence so I went back to get it, and once again, overshot the necessary driveway and had to find a place to turn around.
I think the rest of the day should be uneventful.
The Door on the Sea (The Raven and the Eagle, volume 1) by Caskey Russell
Nov. 21st, 2025 09:10 am
A young scholar and his diverse companions are dispatched on an intelligence-gathering mission deep into enemy territory.
The Door on the Sea (The Raven and the Eagle, volume 1) by Caskey Russell
365 Questions 2025
Nov. 21st, 2025 08:23 am15. What do you love to do? Spend time online. Walk, run, read, knit, crochet, spend time with my granddaughters.
16. What specific character trait do you want to be known for? Integrity.
17. Are you more like your mom or your dad? In what way? I'm a lot like my mother in ways I don't particularly like, such as being very nit picky. I'm like my father in having a good sense of direction and being good with my hands.
18. What is the number one quality that makes someone a good leader? Knowing how to motivate people.
19. What bad habits do you want to break? I can't think of any.
20. What is your favorite place on Earth? I have more than one place where I love to be, and I can't narrow it down to just one.
21. What do you love to practice? Learning new things.
(no subject)
Nov. 21st, 2025 08:08 amEpic Trollface: WONDER WOMAN #26, JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL #23 (JLI 27)
Nov. 21st, 2025 07:50 am
Invasion #2 wrapped up the actual alien invasion, leaving the crossover issues to deal with the aftermath and then get a surprise ending, leading into Invasion #3.
Wonder Woman begins WW #26 feeling a much greater sense of camaraderie with the Justice League International than she would ever show again, including years later when she was leading the team. It’s hilarious, but relatable, that even though the JLI would sign her on in a heartbeat, she’s like, I know it’s arrogant to think myself worthy, but what if they might maybe someday possibly consider me? If I keep my numbers up?
( It’s a damn shame this era’s Max Lord never got to meet this era’s Myndi Mayer. )
podcast friday
Nov. 21st, 2025 06:54 amBroken public health appointment system part 3
Nov. 21st, 2025 10:13 amSo that was Monday, and I called at 8:05 (5 minutes after opening) and put my message in their automatic callback queue. I didn't get called until after 11:00 and I could hear the receptionist's voice trembling with stress as she tried to gently and politely apologize because "It was so good that you called at eight, but unfortunately all the doctor slots were already full again!"
She asked again how soon I will run out of meds, and since I will not run out in the next two weeks, she told me to try calling back at eight am again on December first.
!!!!!!!
"Really really sorry, it's so unfortunate."
"Well, it's not your fault, I know," I said.
"Even so... yeah."
So. Two weeks. If I call at 8 on the dot, maybe I'll be early enough in the queue... or maybe I can't get an appointment until I'm about to run out and they therefore have to promote me to the 'urgent' (or semi-urgent) queue.
Wow... I'm so mad about this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Remember that this was actually my third call because the first time I didn't call on the Appointment Day at all and had to be redirected (but unfortunately, even though she said they might fill up, I didn't realize it was like, CALL WITHIN FIVE MINUTES).
Vote - Week 15 Write Off
Nov. 20th, 2025 10:33 pm
In a world filled with unspeakable horrors manifesting every day right before our eyes, it's nice to have one place where unspeakable horrors can be unleashed onto you personally by an impersonal Wheel that exists only to bring Chaos!
In this case, it has isolated the 3 contestants who lost their head to head matches and is forcing them into a cage match where one of them is not walking back out!
So make sure to Read, Comment and Vote for your favorite(s) to emerge on the other side of this Write Off!
The poll closes Saturday, November 22nd at 8pm ET. Good luck to everyone!
Vote For Your Favorites!
Short fiction
Nov. 21st, 2025 11:19 amThis covers August through beginning of November
At least one of the links was from
coth; most I have no idea - some of them have been in my 'read later' for a very long time. There were also stories from All of Tor.com’s Original Short Fiction Published in 2022, which I'm guessing I've started working through before, but didn't remember what I'd read previously (18 short stories, 13 novelettes, 1 translation) (and didn't finish this time either)
Loved it!
- Smoke and Sweetness by Zhui Ning Chang, from Jan 2025 - gentle, sweet, slice of life with touches of whimsy and sadness, set in a floristry
- Fruiting Bodies - Kemi Ashing-Giwa, from Jan 2022 - very much body horror, in a far future on a different planet. Not quite zombies.
- The Chronologist by Ian R MacLeod, from Feb 2022 - atmosphere and character and kind of an apocalypse
- The Last Truth by Anamaria Curtis, from Feb 2022 - bittersweet, about how how losing oneself a memory at a time leaves nothing behind.
Not bad
- Bone by Karl Gallagher, from May 2025 - heavy on the science, clunky on the rest.
- If a Digitized Tree Falls by Ken Liu and Caroline M. Yoachim, from Sept 2025 (novelette) - snatches through time, as the ways in which the world is modelled by digital tech changes, and AI assistants evolved. I found myself distracted and unmotivated to finish, although it is beautifully written
- Model Collapse by Matthew Kressel, from Oct 2025 - very clever body horror about the AI takeover.
Not for me
- Saving the Gleeful Horse - K J Bishop, from March 2010. - creepy. But I managed to get distracted part way through, and then had to come back to finish it.
- Synthetic Perennial by Vivianni Glass, from Feb 2022 - normally I like myself some surreal / magic realism details, but I just found this one disorienting. Not for those with medical trauma.
- Hush by Mary Anne Mohanraj, from March 2022 - I get what this one is saying, but it is just a tad too real w.r.t fascism and racist supremacy. Unreliable narrator who thinks they are one of the good guys didn't help.
- The Long View by Susan Palwick, from April 2022 - this went too close to farce for me. Seemed to be both attempting to be Meaningful and Funny.
DNF
- Victory Citrus Is Sweet by Thoriay Dyer, from Sept 2022 - couldn't deal with the narrative voice
- Quandary Aminu vs The Butterfly Man by Rich Larson - sometimes I'm in the mood for gritty noir cyberpunk, and today is not it.
- The Sisters of Saint Nicola of The Almost Perpetual Motion vs the Lurch by Garth Nix, from July 2022 - DNF - While I like Nix's novels, I often bounce from their short fiction, and this was no exception
Daily Check-In
Nov. 20th, 2025 08:15 pmHow are you doing?
I am OK
12 (60.0%)
I am not OK, but don't need help right now
8 (40.0%)
I could use some help
0 (0.0%)
How many other humans live with you?
I am living single
8 (40.0%)
One other person
8 (40.0%)
More than one other person
4 (20.0%)
Please, talk about how things are going for you in the comments, ask for advice or help if you need it, or just discuss whatever you feel like.
Fandom Trees!
Nov. 20th, 2025 09:19 pmHere's my tree, and this is what I'm requesting this year:
- Grimm
- 镇魂 | Guardian (TV)
- Grimm/Guardian crossover
- 镇魂 | Guardian RPF
- Legend of the Seeker
- Sherlock (BBC)
- 绅探 | Detective L
- 山河令 | Word of Honor, 天涯客 | Faraway Wanderers
- Once Upon a Time in Wonderland
- Chinese fic recs
- food or cooking icons
ETA: Sign-ups here!


