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Databases have been updated.

Working on modifying the Zend framework's mysql.php file to change the connection strings so that it utilizes the new character set

The DB has been updated.

Nothing should have changed from an end user standpoint, but let me know if there's any issues.

This change is prep work for some additional code changes I am doing. I'll make future announcements accordingly.

I didn't see a book forum so I'll just dump this stream of consciousness here. I've been on a horror binge for a few years with occasional breaks/overlaps with sci-fi after an extended fantasy bender, but I took a sharp right into historical fiction and read Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle, just wrapped it up last week.
Neal's been one of my favorite authors since I fell ass-first into Anathem last year when I was searching for hard sci-fi that I'd never heard of; of course the first recommendations that a Neal-newb like me got were Snow Crash and Seveneves, but when I saw that Anathem was the book for logophiles I was intrigued and snatched it up. It actually took me a good 3 or 4 false starts before I made it more than 30ish pages in, I went in almost completely blind so I had no idea wtf I was reading, but once it got me I was fuckin' got. It's still a strong contender for my favorite sci-fi novel, possibly sharing the #1 spot with The Dark Forest by Liu Cixin (which may also be in my top 10 for horror whether it belongs there or not, it sure scared the shit out of me).

Anyway, the Baroque Cycle was so good and absorbed me so thoroughly that none of the 30ish items on my reading list appealed, so I picked one at random and got King Sorrow. It's not bad, I'm not in love, but I think it's one of those situations where no reading journey was going to be as exciting with L'Emmerdeur himself shrinking in the rear-view.

I'll wrap this up with some of my other favorites from the last few years and see if anything strikes a chord with anybody and compels them to do the same.

For favorite horror I'd have to go with Last Days by Adam Nevill. This one seems kind of divisive because his exposition-heavy style really seems to piss people off, but I read this after something like a 8 book Stephen King binge so the massive info dumps were like...well, like reading anything else after a Stephen King binge I guess. But I'm a sucker for content about cults and I love his style, having also read The Reddening and All the Fiends of Hell and liking them but loving Last Days. Honorable mention to Pet Sematary for simultaneously being an excellent folk-horror novel (one of my favorite sub-genres), and one of the rare times that King paired a great ending with a great book. You almost always get one or the other. I finally read it a year or so ago after ruining my night watching that ass-awful remake from 2019 and it really sucked me in from start to finish.

For top sci-fi I already mentioned Anathem, but I did say "other" favorites so I'm taking my own loophole so I can mention The Gone World by Tom Sweterlitsch. This sumbitch checked every box for me, I liked it so much that when I hit the end I spent the next week just jumping around parts of it. It was scary, the protagonist was perfectly flawed but also sufficiently likable, and I don't think I correctly predicted any of the major story beats.

I guess the last fantasy I read and really enjoyed was still Joe Abercrombie's First Law/Age of Madness trilogies, it's been like 5 years and I think they actually kind of spoiled the whole damn genre for me because everything else I've tried to read feels like YA fiction. I did make it through The Library at Mt. Char and it was pretty damn good, so I'll give that an honorable mention.

/rant

https://opensource.microsoft.com/blog/20...velopment/

This is pretty cool from a historical standpoint.

https://noisypixel.net/kagurabachi-anime...orld-tour/