A Trek rec (and unrelated trivia)

[kathleen_dailey]

I'm very uplifted by Moreta1848's "Enough," a re-imagining of the ending of the SNW ep "Terrarium" and its aftermath. As I said in my comment on AO3, this story shows the Star Trek values that the episode itself should have emphasized--courage, compassion, curiosity, the overcoming of prejudice and presumptions, and hope for a different and better future.

In the story, the Gorn pilot is injured but not killed by La'an's shot, and she is taken aboard the Enterprise to recover. The author focuses on Ortegas's and the pilot's growing understanding of and affection for each other. The author presents the pilot's POV adroitly, posits a way forward to the version of the Gorn we see in TOS, and makes an inherently implausible relationship credible. The author does an outstanding job of portraying the Gorn culture, its biological and emotional imperatives, and the attributes that make it possible to believe that the xenomorph-like monsters we saw onscreen could actually have developed an advanced spacefaring society. This is a powerful, imaginative, and well-crafted story.



Finally, after 15 years, we managed to organize ourselves to get our apartment painted. The person who did the original painting is long gone. So, following the advice of a neighbour, we emailed our real estate agent (who still keeps in touch) and asked him whether he knew a good painter. He responded immediately with a recommendation, which we followed. The painter was first-rate! She was efficient, meticulous, and congenial, and she even volunteered to move furniture and rehang artwork. She finished six large rooms in less than four days, and her final bill came to about two-thirds of what we'd expected. As my neighbour said, real estate agents apparently know EVERYTHING when it comes to recommending capable tradespeople.

A man walks into a restaurant and sits down expectantly, but instead of a charming server bearing a menu, there’s a QR code glued to the table. What's lost when a QR code supplants a printed menu.

I got into a silly discussion with a pal about what year the Pottery Barn store in the Eaton Centre closed. I thought I'd look it up on Google, as one does. Google must have objected to the way I phrased the query, because its deranged AI slapped my wrist and informed me that "No, the Pottery Barn at CF Toronto Eaton Centre is not closed; the search results refer to the closure of a Pottery Barn and Williams-Sonoma location at 100 Bloor Street West in 2014. Pottery Barn still has a presence at the Eaton Centre ..." Yeah, well, if you can point me to the actual physical location in the actual Eaton Centre--in this dimension and this timeline--where a PB is still operating, I'll take back some of the hateful things I've said about AI. Maybe.

Relatedly (and thankfully): "We are thrilled to announce that our NEW Large Language Model will be released on 11.18.25. Never hallucinates, no data center, uses no electricity."

Endless summer? The temperature in Toronto reached 27 degrees Celsius yesterday. I had a late brunch on a neighbourhood patio, and my companion and I had to move to a shady table because the sun was SO HOT. I can't help but enjoy the warm weather, but it is very unsettling to be wearing shorts and a T-shirt in October.