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#book

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Back cover draft for my upcoming #solarpunk #book - what do you think? would you read it?

How to Surf a Hurricane follows a daring heist set in the high-stakes world of extreme sports and cutting-edge technology, survival and environmental responsibility.

Moro, a determined engineer, is hell-bent on securing his next-generation battery prototype, which could revolutionize the energy industry. When his uncle cancels the project, Moro embarks on a risky mission to intercept the batteries during transit. His plan hinges on the help of Victoria, a fearless hurricane surfer, and a cast of colorful characters with their own agendas.

As the heist unfolds amidst a growing artificial hurricane, alliances are tested, and lives are changed forever. What starts as a calculated risk quickly turns into chaos with deadly consequences.

With its blend of action, technology, and environmentalism, How to Surf a Hurricane offers a thrilling, thought-provoking ride for fans of heist tales and speculative fiction alike.

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𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙎𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙞𝙜𝙣 𝙄𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙫𝙞𝙙𝙪𝙖𝙡: 𝙍𝙖𝙙𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙡 𝘽𝙞𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙏𝙚𝙘𝙝'𝙨 '𝘾𝙤𝙜𝙣𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙀𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙚'

How a 1997 Book Predicted Tech’s War on Democracy…

thenerdreich.com/the-sovereign

The Nerd Reich · The Sovereign Individual: Radical Bible of Tech's 'Cognitive Elite'How a 1997 Book Predicted Tech’s War on Democracy
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#Meta have just won an emergency injunction against their former director of global public policy, Sarah Wynn-Williams, to stop her distributing copies of her book, Careless People. The New York Times Book Review described it as, "an ugly, detailed portrait of one of the most powerful companies in the world".

I have just ordered a copy and also sent a recommendation to the #CERN library to buy a copy.

theguardian.com/technology/202

blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/prod

The Guardian · Meta puts stop on promotion of tell-all book by former employeeBy Guardian staff reporter
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🔴 📖 **Christian Palestinian Aramaic between Greek and Arabic**

“The corpus consists mostly of translations from Greek, highlighting significant lexical borrowings and idiosyncratic syntax, such as periphrastic verb constructions. The article traces evidence of Arabic substrate influence in pre-Islamic times, including phonological shifts and loanwords, reflecting interactions between Arabic- and Aramaic-speaking Christians.”_

Gzella, H. (2025) 'Christian Palestinian Aramaic between Greek and Arabic,' in Open Book Publishers, pp. 747–770. doi.org/10.11647/obp.0463.27.

#History #Aramaic #Greek #Arabic #Languages #OpenAccess #OA #DOI #Nonfiction #Academia #Book #Ebook #Bookstodon @bookstodon

Interconnected Traditions: Semitic Languages, Literatures, Cultures—A Festschrift for Geoffrey Khan: Volume 1: Hebrew and the Wider Semitic World - cover image
doi.orgChristian Palestinian Aramaic between Greek and ArabicThe study explores Christian Palestinian Aramaic as a linguistic tradition that developed in Byzantine Palestine alongside Greek and Arabic. It identifies its roots in a Western Aramaic vernacular spoken in the region and examines its historical context, linguistic features, and adaptations. The corpus consists mostly of translations from Greek, highlighting significant lexical borrowings and idiosyncratic syntax, such as periphrastic verb constructions. The article traces evidence of Arabic substrate influence in pre-Islamic times, including phonological shifts and loanwords, reflecting interactions between Arabic- and Aramaic-speaking Christians. The emergence of Christian Palestinian Aramaic as a written language is attributed to the need for localised religious texts for rural, Aramaic-speaking communities, distinct from Greek or Syriac traditions. The study situates the language within the socio-linguistic changes following the spread of Arabic as the dominant vernacular, emphasising its role in the region’s multilingual landscape.
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🔴 📖 **Aramaic: Lingua Franca, Koine, or Both?**

_”The study investigates the historical roles of Aramaic as both a lingua franca and a koine, examining its development and usage across various periods. It identifies three main contexts: as the administrative and diplomatic language of the Achaemenid Persian Empire, as the religious and scholarly language of Jewish communities in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, and as the liturgical and literary language of Syriac Christianity.”

Healey, J. (2025) 'Aramaic: lingua franca, koine, or both?,' in Open Book Publishers, pp. 771–796. doi.org/10.11647/obp.0463.28.

#History #Aramaic #Language #OpenAccess #OA #Nonfiction #Academia #Book #Ebook #Bookstodon @bookstodon

Interconnected Traditions: Semitic Languages, Literatures, Cultures—A Festschrift for Geoffrey Khan: Volume 1: Hebrew and the Wider Semitic World - cover image
doi.orgAramaic: Lingua Franca, Koine, or Both?The study investigates the historical roles of Aramaic as both a lingua franca and a koine, examining its development and usage across various periods. It identifies three main contexts: as the administrative and diplomatic language of the Achaemenid Persian Empire, as the religious and scholarly language of Jewish communities in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, and as the liturgical and literary language of Syriac Christianity. Aramaic’s adaptability allowed it to function as an international medium for communication, transcending local dialects and ethnic boundaries. The discussion contrasts the broader concept of a lingua franca, which includes ad hoc languages for specific purposes, with the more structured and culturally embedded nature of a koine, developed within linguistic communities for unified usage. The article highlights Aramaic’s persistence through historical shifts, its role in intercommunal exchanges, and its eventual decline with the rise of Arabic as a dominant language in the region.
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The Torrents of Spring

Just finished reading Torrents of Spring the 1872 novella by Ivan Turgenev. It is partly autobiographical, centering on a young Russian landowner who falls in love for the first time while visiting the German city of Frankfurt.

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I’ve uploaded an old booklet I bought it in the 1980s for 25 pence, ‘Paper-Folding for Schools’, published By Charles And Son Ltd, at archive.org/details/paper-fold.

Without mentioning it, the contents draw on the Froebel kindergarten tradition of paperfolding, but the folding of circular paper is an unusual addition.

You can find more information about Froebelian Paperfolding and Additional Occupations at origamiheaven.com/historyindex

The booklet has no date, no author(s) and no table of contents. This could be the second, or more likely, the fifth edition (1929) of ‘Paper Folding for Schools’ by M Hopkins, including a series of lessons on paper-folding from the circle, by Lilian Elliott.

Contents:
The aim and value of paper folding
Preliminary talk on the unfolded square
The first folds
Objects made from two squares of paper
Corner folds on square
Ground form—the large envelope or letter
Ground form—the small letter or envelope
Ground form—the houseboat
Ground form—the boat
Ground form—the boat with the sail
Ground form—the boat with the box for fish
Ground form—picture frame
Simple objects from the oblong
Paper-folding from the circle
Objects made from the fourfold plan
Segment folds between the diameter

#history #origami @origami #paperfolding #school #education #craft #froebel #book #usedbook