karmicdragonfly

I had thought it a good idea to choose glasses with fairly large lenses, figuring that I would have more of my visible field corrected. However, seeing as my distance vision is fine (though worse than it was in my youth), I find that it's not as practical for me to peer over the top of my glasses, I have to take them off or at least slide them down a bit. Well, now I know for next time I choose some. Additionally, another unanticipated effect of my choice is: having opted for rimless, if I put them down then it is harder to find them afterward.

I saw a surprising sight a while ago, commuting to work: travelling from west to east in the morning at a rather northerly latitude, at one point I noticed the sun on the left of the railway carriage. It turns out that, approaching Edinburgh, the more northerly railway line bends rather south for a spell before passing south of the airport instead of north of it.

mtbc

I'm now reading a pair of books that I am happy to continue with, though I'm still fairly early into both. Each offers me a bit of a view into a different time and culture.

I have Julia Lovell's abridgement and translation of the Chinese classic, Monkey King: Journey to the West. Excellently, it is small enough to fit into the lower-inside pocket of my coat which makes it ideal for bringing along with me, including on my commute. Just earlier today, I found myself wishing I'd brought it when I found myself facing an unexpectedly long queue in the post office. It's fun and I appreciate a touch of absurd satire.

I also picked up the previously mentioned Credo by Melvyn Bragg. It's a nice change for me to read material set in the Dark Ages and, so far, I find it interesting and engaging; it handles the religious side well. As a hardback, it's a rather weighty tome: I am happy to read it at home but it's certainly not routinely accompanying me on travels.

mtbc

Many television reality competitions have a format where they start with many contestants and eliminate one-ish each episode. Once we get to the last small handful, we hold the final.

One thing that surprised me at first but seems commonplace is the idea that the semifinal is before the final, then before that is the quarterfinal, etc. I can understand that in two-contestant-trial knockout matches, as one can find in some tournaments between sports teams. Then, the teams in the quarterfinals are in the final for a quarter of the teams, the teams in the semfinals are in the final for half (semi) of the teams, etc. However, this model doesn't fit the current reality shows at all.

Perhaps my reasoning fits the original meaning, then the typical thing happened where a precise word was broadened into becoming rather less useful. Or, I was just mistaken from the start.

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Karmic-Dragonfly

Queer, (mostly) vegetarian, Buddhist-Pagan who lives with a very old Mulberry

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Elimination competitions

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November 2025

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