I think his growth came from him being too cowardly to go on the mission at all because he didn’t want to die, to willingly giving up his life (so he thought) to save Rocky. That’s cool I guess, but it would have been pretty awesome for the Eridians to build him a one-way ship as soon as he got there so he could go back to Earth and meet up with everyone he’d once known. His coworkers would all be old or maybe even passed away. The kids he was so invested in that he couldn’t even cuss would be adults now (the ones who lived anyway). Let’s have him meet that smart asshole student and see what became of her! But nope. Instead we’ll just fuck off to Erid forever. Good luck Earth, nice knowing you!

I don’t hate that he ended up on Erid. I absolutely hate that apparently the Eridians took him in and then made zero plans to visit or even contact Earth. Such an intelligent, curious species who had the ability through astrophage to travel to entirely different solar systems and interact with other species, to share information and learn things that each cannot learn on their own due to biological limitations. They even have an ambassador to serve as a link between Eridians and humans! And they just…don’t. I don’t get it.

I agree with you really, but I’m always disappointed in Jane for agreeing to go to India with St. John with the condition that they not marry and go as cousins. Missionary work isn’t something she’s ever personally aspired to. She wants to hang out at home and read and work on languages and draw. Even if she loves him as family, she doesn’t particularly like St. John on a personal level - she thinks he’s cold and unfeeling. She’s never expressed any interest in travel beyond England. I rather hate that she’s willing to throw her entire life in a whole new (uncomfortable and frankly dangerous) direction just because he asked her to.

Maybe they’d why I never hated Rochester - because St. John really does make him seem almost noble and gentle in comparison.

I’m always reading 2-3 books at a time. Some people say this is confusing, but for me it makes the most sense. Have a non-fiction, a sci-fi, and a classic. When you settle in to read, now you have a choice so you can match your mood. Maybe the non-fiction was what you wanted yesterday, but you want something different today. No problem! Two other choices ready to go.

God creates dinosaurs, god destroys dinosaurs, god creates man, man destroys god, man creates dinosaurs, dinosaurs eat man, woman inherits the earth

Cloud Atlas was amazing for me. He writes in multiple voices, and each one is way different than all the rest. Just phenomenal.

If it makes a difference, I tried to watch the movie afterward and didn’t last ten minutes before I stopped.

When I read Beloved, the chapter in Beloved’s own voice nearly broke me. It took a Google and several re-reads to understand the basics of what Morrison was trying to convey there.

I would also say the entirety of Cloud Atlas was like this for me (and the middle chapter is probably closest to what you describe here). There is just so, so much in those books that you could probably read them a dozen times and still find things missed on previous reads.

When I think of all the unnecessary chapters that Hugo was begged to cut out and refused, I think of how I will never read these superfluous chapters again - except for the bit about the under-city sewers. Fascinating chapters and something most of us don’t ever think about, and Hugo came in hot, so passionate about the topic. I love it.

Yes. I would add too that many diabetics have neuropathy, so something small will lodge itself into their skin and they literally cannot feel it the way “normal” people can.

Wound care nurse here. People who routinely go barefoot, especially outside, put themselves at a much higher risk of developing a limb-threatening infection. This especially applies if they’re diabetic or a smoker, but you don’t have to be either of those to pick up a nasty bug that creates an abscess. If the infection reaches bone, the simple fact that your foot is the furthest place from your heart (affecting circulation) means you may not even heal it after a prolonged course of IV antibiotics. If that happens, the next step is generally amputation.

Keep your feet clean, wear shoes, moisturize. And for the love of Pete, ALWAYS wear shoes if you’re diabetic, even house shoes indoors, and inspect your skin daily. Try not to listen to “well I’ve never had anything happen to me personally, so it’s fine” advice you read from randoms on the internet.

(P.S. If your shoes are causing problems, then they very likely don’t fit properly or have a poor design.)

The one trial I ever sat on a jury for, the crime was obvious and the defendant definitely did it. There was video footage in addition to the usual evidence. There was no reasonable doubt from a juror’s perspective. We had a fantastic foreman so we did our due diligence in talking over the evidence, but there were no holdouts. It took a lot longer to discuss the sentence than it did whether or not he was guilty.

When I worked at B&N they actually piloted those. I guess they weren’t happy with the results because it (clearly) didn’t last. Anecdotal, but it also didn’t seem to help all that much. The kiosks would benefit some people, but you’d still get a ton of people coming to an employee because they still couldn’t find the book where it was supposed to be, or they couldn’t find the actual section itself, especially if it was a smaller one. The kiosks didn’t help at all for the “what’s the book with the dog who becomes an astronaut?” type questions, or the “I’m looking for something for my niece who is thirteen and having a birthday next week, what do you recommend?” ones.

I just read the synopsis of the ending - what a ballsy move to muck it up that much. Whoa.

I’ll third the recommendation. How well the ending landed is a matter of opinion, but this is a thinking person’s book. Very original. And there were at least two characters that I still think about from time to time because I would like to have known more about them. For me, that’s a sign the book did things right.

I guess we all misunderstood you then lol. “They/them” is in use because English doesn’t have a gender-neutral singular pronoun. If we did, we would use it. Since we don’t, we use the plural gender-neutral term (and we have always done this when the gender of the singular subject is unknown, too, not just for non-binary people).

This, as others have tried to tell you, has nothing to do with a language having a formal versus non-formal word for “you” (which typically comes in both singular and plural forms).

Even if getting nec fasc in the mouth is very rare, you can definitely get other, very serious infections. Tooth abscesses and poor dental hygiene in general can lead to infections that are life-threatening. So everyone: brush your teeth, go to the dentist, and wash your naughty bits!

For what it’s worth, I think your question was excellent and made logical sense to ask. :)

I’m a wound nurse in a hospital. My explanation won’t be as technical as the excellent one above, but we see nec fasc fairly often (1-2 times a month, give or take), so here’s what I can add.

Nec fasc could occur anywhere, but by far we see it most often in the groin/perineum. It even has its own name in that area - Fournier’s Gangrene.

Now, the trunk is generally well perfused. So is the head, as opposed to the periphery (and especially feet/toes). So why do we see it more there as opposed to in appendages? Because that area has folds that, especially in overweight people, stay moist and warm. Friction between the skin in the folds can create openings for letting in bacteria. Some people are already prone to boils here, which contributes to risk. And some people don’t have the best hygiene. All of this together, and usually with an accompanying complication like diabetes, alcohol dependence, truck drivers (long periods of vibration increasing friction between folds), etc. makes this area of the body ripe for this particular infection.

I have seen nec fasc in arms that had to be amputated. I’ve seen it threaten someone’s life because they dry-shaved right before swimming in a lake (razors cause microabrasions in the skin, lakes are nasty). I’ve seen it in scrotums, around rectums, in labia, abdominal folds, even in breast folds. But I have never seen it in a mouth or throat. Considering how quickly these infections spread, that would be disastrous from the perspective of needing to continue to use those structures for the rest of your life (treatment of nec fasc is generally immediate surgery of a wide area of tissues to contain the infection).