james_davis_nicoll (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-10-01 10:59 am
james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-10-01 10:59 am
Entry tags:
disneydream06 (disneydream06) wrote2025-10-01 09:43 am
disneydream06) wrote2025-10-01 09:43 am(no subject)
Today it is my pleasure to send out...
*~*~*~*~*GREAT BIG HAPPY BIRTHDAY WISHES*~*~*~*~*
To my friend,man_of_snows.
I hope you have a spectacular day. :)
*~*~*~*~*GREAT BIG HAPPY BIRTHDAY WISHES*~*~*~*~*
To my friend,
man_of_snows.I hope you have a spectacular day. :)
Whatever (![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png)
scalziwhatever_feed) wrote2025-10-01 02:32 pm
scalziwhatever_feed) wrote2025-10-01 02:32 pm“3 Days, 9 Months, 27 Years” Part of the Amazon First Reads for October
If you have Amazon Prime and/or Kindle Unlimited, then you have access to First Reads, Amazon’s program for giving their subscribers an early look at books that will be publishing soon. And starting today and for the rest of the month, that means you have access to “3 Days, 9 Months, 27 Years,” the time-travel short story (more precisely a “novelette” as it clocks in at 10,000 words) I wrote as part of The Time Traveler’s Passport, an anthology of stories about time and/or travel, edited by John Joseph Adams, which will also stories by R.F. Kuang, Peng Shepard, Kaliane Bradley, Olivie Blake and P. Djèlí Clark, and be generally available in November. My story is a sneak preview of the sort of mind-bending stories that anthology will provide you, and I’m happy to represent my fellow authors as a sneak preview.
Here’s the link to the “3 Days” page on Amazon. If you’re eligible for the First Reads program, it’ll let you know in the sales widget. Otherwise you can pre-order the short story for $1.99 (or its equivalents wherever you might be).
Whenever you read this new story of mine, enjoy!
— JS
james_davis_nicoll (james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-10-01 09:55 am
james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-10-01 09:55 amEntry tags:
Blank Canvas: My So-Called Artist's Journey„ volume 1 by Akiko Higashimura
Akiko's plan to become Japan's foremost manga artist is manifestly reasonable, so why will reality not cooperate?
Blank Canvas: My So-Called Artist's Journey„ volume 1 by Akiko Higashimura
Siderea (siderea) wrote2025-10-01 02:55 am
siderea) wrote2025-10-01 02:55 amEntry tags:
- current events,
- guyana,
- patreon,
- us,
- war
The Essequibo (Buddy-ta-na-na, We Are Somebody, Oh): Pt 1 [cur ev, war, Patreon]
Canonical link: https://siderea.dreamwidth.org/1884180.html
0.
Let us appreciate that the only reason – the only reason – I know about what I am about to share with you is because of that whole music history thing of mine. It's not even my history. My main beat is 16th century dance music (± half a century). But dance music is working music, and as such I consider all the forms of work music to be its counsin, and so I have, of an occasion, wandered into the New England Folk Festival's sea-shanty sing. Many people go through life understanding the world around them through the perspective of a philosophical stance, a religious conviction, a grand explanatory theory, fitting the things they encounter into these frameworks; I do not know if I should be embarrased or not, but for me, so often it's just song cues.
So when I saw the word "Essequibo" go by in the web-equivalent of page six of the international news, I was all like, "Oh! I know that word!" recognizing a song cue when I see one. "It's a river. I wonder where it is?"
And I clicked the link.
That was twenty-one months ago.
Ever since, I have been on a different and ever-increasingly diverging timeline from the one just about everyone else is on.
In December of 2023, Nicolas Maduro, president of Venezuela, tried to kick off World War Three.
He hasn't stopped trying. He's had to take breaks to steal elections and deal with some climate catastrophe and things like that. But mostly ever since – arguably since September of 2023 – Maduro has been escalating.
You wouldn't know it from recent media coverage of what the US is doing off the coast of Venezuela. At no point has any news coverage of the US military deployment to that part of the world mentioned anything about the explosive geopolitical context there. A geopolitical context, that when it has been reported on is referred to in term like "a pressure cooker" and "spiraling".
The US government itself has said nothing that alludes to it in any way. The US government has its story and it's sticking to it: this is about drugs.
As you may be aware, the US government is claiming to have sunk three Venezuelan boats using the US military. The first of these sinkings was on September 1st.
To hear the media tell it, the US just up and decided to start summarily executing people on boats in the Caribbean that it feels were drug-runners on Sep 1st.
No mention is made of what happened on Aug 31st.
On August 31, the day before the first US military attack on a Venezuelan vessel, at around 14:00 local time, somebody opened fire on election officials delivering ballot and ballot boxes in the country Venezuela is threatening to invade.
And they did it from the Venezuelan side of the river that is the border between the two countries.
That country is an American ally. And extremely close American ally. An ally that is of enormous importance to the US.
And which is a thirtieth the size of Venezuela by population, and which has an army less than one twentieth as large.
You would be forgiven for not knowing that Venezuela has been threatening to and apparently also materially preparing to invade another country, because while it's a fact that gets reported in the news, it is never reported in the same news as American actions involving or mentioning Venezuela.
Venezuela, which is a close ally of Russia.
You may have heard about how twenty-one months ago, in December of 2023, there was an election in Venezuela which Maduro claimed was a landslide win for him. There was a lot of coverage in English-speaking news about that election and how it was an obvious fraud, and the candidate who won the opposition party's primary wasn't on the ballot, and so on and so forth.
You probably didn't hear that in that very same election, there was a referendum. If you did hear it reported, you might have encountered it being dismissed in the media as a kind of political stunt of Maduro's, to get people to show up to the polls or to energize his base. It couldn't possibly be (the reasoning went) that he meant it. Surely it was just political theater.
The referendum questions put, on Dec 3, 2023, to the voters of Venezuela were about whether or not they supported establishing a new Venezuelan state.
Inside the borders of the country of Guyana.
2023 Dec 4: The Guardian: "Venezuela referendum result: voters back bid to claim sovereignty over large swath of Guyana".
Why?
Eleven billion gallons of light, sweet crude: the highest quality of oil that commands the highest price.
(I can hear all of Gen X breathe, "Oh of course.")
It is under the floor of the Caribbean in an area known as the Stabroek Block.
The Stabroek Block is off the coast of an area known as the Essequibo.
It takes its name from the Essequibo River, which borders it on one side, and it constitutes approximately two-thirds of the land area of the country of Guyana.
Whoever owns the Essequibo owns the Stabroek Block and whoever owns the Stabroek owns those 11B gallons of easily-accessed, high-value oil.
As far as almost everyone outside of Venezuela has been concerned, for the last hundred years Guyana has owned the Essequibo.
Venezuela disagrees. ( Read more [5,760 words] )
This post brought to you by the 219 readers who funded my writing it – thank you all so much! You can see who they are at my Patreon page. If you're not one of them, and would be willing to chip in so I can write more things like this, please do so there.
Please leave comments on the Comment Catcher comment, instead of the main body of the post – unless you are commenting to get a copy of the post sent to you in email through the notification system, then go ahead and comment on it directly. Thanks!
0.
The Essequibo River is the queen of rivers all!
Buddy-ta-na-na, we are somebody, oh!
The Essequibo River is the queen of rivers all!
Buddy-ta-na-na, we are somebody, oh!
Somebody, oh, Johnny! Somebody, oh!
Buddy-ta-na-na, we are somebody, oh!
– Sea shanty, presumed Guyanese
Let us appreciate that the only reason – the only reason – I know about what I am about to share with you is because of that whole music history thing of mine. It's not even my history. My main beat is 16th century dance music (± half a century). But dance music is working music, and as such I consider all the forms of work music to be its counsin, and so I have, of an occasion, wandered into the New England Folk Festival's sea-shanty sing. Many people go through life understanding the world around them through the perspective of a philosophical stance, a religious conviction, a grand explanatory theory, fitting the things they encounter into these frameworks; I do not know if I should be embarrased or not, but for me, so often it's just song cues.
So when I saw the word "Essequibo" go by in the web-equivalent of page six of the international news, I was all like, "Oh! I know that word!" recognizing a song cue when I see one. "It's a river. I wonder where it is?"
And I clicked the link.
That was twenty-one months ago.
Ever since, I have been on a different and ever-increasingly diverging timeline from the one just about everyone else is on.
In December of 2023, Nicolas Maduro, president of Venezuela, tried to kick off World War Three.
He hasn't stopped trying. He's had to take breaks to steal elections and deal with some climate catastrophe and things like that. But mostly ever since – arguably since September of 2023 – Maduro has been escalating.
You wouldn't know it from recent media coverage of what the US is doing off the coast of Venezuela. At no point has any news coverage of the US military deployment to that part of the world mentioned anything about the explosive geopolitical context there. A geopolitical context, that when it has been reported on is referred to in term like "a pressure cooker" and "spiraling".
The US government itself has said nothing that alludes to it in any way. The US government has its story and it's sticking to it: this is about drugs.
As you may be aware, the US government is claiming to have sunk three Venezuelan boats using the US military. The first of these sinkings was on September 1st.
To hear the media tell it, the US just up and decided to start summarily executing people on boats in the Caribbean that it feels were drug-runners on Sep 1st.
No mention is made of what happened on Aug 31st.
On August 31, the day before the first US military attack on a Venezuelan vessel, at around 14:00 local time, somebody opened fire on election officials delivering ballot and ballot boxes in the country Venezuela is threatening to invade.
And they did it from the Venezuelan side of the river that is the border between the two countries.
That country is an American ally. And extremely close American ally. An ally that is of enormous importance to the US.
And which is a thirtieth the size of Venezuela by population, and which has an army less than one twentieth as large.
You would be forgiven for not knowing that Venezuela has been threatening to and apparently also materially preparing to invade another country, because while it's a fact that gets reported in the news, it is never reported in the same news as American actions involving or mentioning Venezuela.
Venezuela, which is a close ally of Russia.
You may have heard about how twenty-one months ago, in December of 2023, there was an election in Venezuela which Maduro claimed was a landslide win for him. There was a lot of coverage in English-speaking news about that election and how it was an obvious fraud, and the candidate who won the opposition party's primary wasn't on the ballot, and so on and so forth.
You probably didn't hear that in that very same election, there was a referendum. If you did hear it reported, you might have encountered it being dismissed in the media as a kind of political stunt of Maduro's, to get people to show up to the polls or to energize his base. It couldn't possibly be (the reasoning went) that he meant it. Surely it was just political theater.
The referendum questions put, on Dec 3, 2023, to the voters of Venezuela were about whether or not they supported establishing a new Venezuelan state.
Inside the borders of the country of Guyana.
2023 Dec 4: The Guardian: "Venezuela referendum result: voters back bid to claim sovereignty over large swath of Guyana".
Why?
Eleven billion gallons of light, sweet crude: the highest quality of oil that commands the highest price.
(I can hear all of Gen X breathe, "Oh of course.")
It is under the floor of the Caribbean in an area known as the Stabroek Block.
The Stabroek Block is off the coast of an area known as the Essequibo.
It takes its name from the Essequibo River, which borders it on one side, and it constitutes approximately two-thirds of the land area of the country of Guyana.
Whoever owns the Essequibo owns the Stabroek Block and whoever owns the Stabroek owns those 11B gallons of easily-accessed, high-value oil.
Image from BBC, originally in "Essequibo: Venezuela moves to claim Guyana-controlled region", 2023 Dec 6
As far as almost everyone outside of Venezuela has been concerned, for the last hundred years Guyana has owned the Essequibo.
Venezuela disagrees. ( Read more [5,760 words] )
This post brought to you by the 219 readers who funded my writing it – thank you all so much! You can see who they are at my Patreon page. If you're not one of them, and would be willing to chip in so I can write more things like this, please do so there.
Please leave comments on the Comment Catcher comment, instead of the main body of the post – unless you are commenting to get a copy of the post sent to you in email through the notification system, then go ahead and comment on it directly. Thanks!
ysabetwordsmith (ysabetwordsmith) wrote2025-10-01 12:26 am
ysabetwordsmith) wrote2025-10-01 12:26 am
Entry tags:
Cuddle Party
Everyone needs contact comfort sometimes. Not everyone has ample opportunities for this in facetime. So here is a chance for a cuddle party in cyberspace. Virtual cuddling can help people feel better.
We have a cuddle room that comes with fort cushions, fort frames, sheets for draping, and a weighted blanket. A nest full of colorful egg pillows sits in one corner. There is a basket of grooming brushes, hairbrushes, and styling combs. A bin holds textured pillows. There is a big basket of craft supplies along with art markers, coloring pages, and blank paper. The kitchen has a popcorn machine. Labels are available to mark dietary needs, recipe ingredients, and level of spiciness. Here is the bathroom, open to everyone. There is a lawn tent and an outdoor hot tub. Bathers should post a sign for nude or clothed activity. Come snuggle up!
We have a cuddle room that comes with fort cushions, fort frames, sheets for draping, and a weighted blanket. A nest full of colorful egg pillows sits in one corner. There is a basket of grooming brushes, hairbrushes, and styling combs. A bin holds textured pillows. There is a big basket of craft supplies along with art markers, coloring pages, and blank paper. The kitchen has a popcorn machine. Labels are available to mark dietary needs, recipe ingredients, and level of spiciness. Here is the bathroom, open to everyone. There is a lawn tent and an outdoor hot tub. Bathers should post a sign for nude or clothed activity. Come snuggle up!
Silver Adept (silveradept) wrote2025-09-30 10:21 pm
silveradept) wrote2025-09-30 10:21 pm
Another Dispatch From the Place Of Strange Things - Late September 02025
Let's begin with an academic paper exploring the way that online puppygirl culture embodies a rejection of those things used as markers of human success because of the way that the highly transfeminine nature of puppygirls are usually denied the full markers of humanity based on their transness. The author notes at the end the limitations around embracing inhumanity for persons who have been and continue to be treated as inhuman based on their skin colors and perceived origins, and that the relative homogeneity of participants in online puppygirl culture and media often gives them blinkers in places they could stand to be more inclusive. I enjoyed reading it, perhaps you will, too.
The still-apparently-novel concept that people who have systems tuned toward novelty and curiosity might be beneficial to current society (instead of only the hunter-gatherers) and that environments made for others are not helpful to them.
The Archive of Our Own reminds us that they are dealing with an influx of spam accounts that leave generic praise comments and then offer to discuss off-site things like making fanart for your story. Part of it is that such commercial solicitation is barred on the Archive, but the easiest way to spot it, other than the invitation offsite, is that the comment itself doesn't have anything specific about the story. It's usually posted to the most recent story that's available. And some of these spammers are creating AO3 accounts to spam with, so disabling guest comments won't necessarily protect you from receiving them.
Nostalgia for times where scarcity required planning and people got a certain thrill out of the act of chasing things and not knowing whether their selections would turn out to be good ones. I am more inclined not to be nostalgic for that, but to be annoyed at the way that the expertise of the record clerk, the librarian, and the bookstore buyer are being devalued in favor of machines that their promoters claim have intelligence and can do all of those things a human can do, and better.
Robert Redford, actor, director, and well-known environmental activist, has left the world at 89 years of age. He is also responsible for the body that produces the annual Sundance Film Festival.
Anonymous art creators have unveiled a statue of the current administrator and known child trafficker and pederast Jeffrey Epstein holding hands, celebrating their friendship, and using the text of the administrator's birthday note to Epstein as commentary. You know, that text that strongly suggests that the two of them share an interest in pederasty and molestation of women and young girls, buttressed by some of the public statements the administrator has made about his interest in such. (As well as having been found liable for sexual assault earlier on in his life.)
( EA acquisitions, foolishness and buffoonery, and the usual issues that come with having the unqualified promoted well beyond their incompetence inside )
Last out, the ways in which our understanding of classical Greek depends on the surviving texts that we have to work with, and therefore while sometimes a word does mean dildo, other times, it does not.
Yacht Club Games on the development of modes for Shovel Knight that allow for different-bodied designs and pronoun usage, and a good decision made by them to decouple body designs and gendered pronouns.
And a story of corvids who help break the cages around their fellows. Be gay, do crow. And, perhaps, show solidarity by demonstrating how foolish it is to require girls to declare they're "biological females" before they can play in sort. (While the article quotes someone saying it's foolish not only require girls to do this and not boys, and that girls teams are suffering because they can't field enough affirmed players, the real meat is from the teachers saying it's not fair to require this, and the athletes who are also choosing not to participate because of fairness issues.)
(Materials viaadrian_turtle, azurelunatic, boxofdelights, cmcmck, conuly, cosmolinguist, elf, finch, firecat, jadelennox, jenett, jjhunter, kaberett, lilysea, oursin, rydra_wong, snowynight, sonia, the_future_modernes, thewayne, umadoshi, vass, the ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
meta_warehouse community, little_details, and anyone else I've neglected to mention or who I suspect would rather not be on the list. If you want to know where I get the neat stuff, my reading list has most of it.)
The still-apparently-novel concept that people who have systems tuned toward novelty and curiosity might be beneficial to current society (instead of only the hunter-gatherers) and that environments made for others are not helpful to them.
The Archive of Our Own reminds us that they are dealing with an influx of spam accounts that leave generic praise comments and then offer to discuss off-site things like making fanart for your story. Part of it is that such commercial solicitation is barred on the Archive, but the easiest way to spot it, other than the invitation offsite, is that the comment itself doesn't have anything specific about the story. It's usually posted to the most recent story that's available. And some of these spammers are creating AO3 accounts to spam with, so disabling guest comments won't necessarily protect you from receiving them.
Nostalgia for times where scarcity required planning and people got a certain thrill out of the act of chasing things and not knowing whether their selections would turn out to be good ones. I am more inclined not to be nostalgic for that, but to be annoyed at the way that the expertise of the record clerk, the librarian, and the bookstore buyer are being devalued in favor of machines that their promoters claim have intelligence and can do all of those things a human can do, and better.
Robert Redford, actor, director, and well-known environmental activist, has left the world at 89 years of age. He is also responsible for the body that produces the annual Sundance Film Festival.
Anonymous art creators have unveiled a statue of the current administrator and known child trafficker and pederast Jeffrey Epstein holding hands, celebrating their friendship, and using the text of the administrator's birthday note to Epstein as commentary. You know, that text that strongly suggests that the two of them share an interest in pederasty and molestation of women and young girls, buttressed by some of the public statements the administrator has made about his interest in such. (As well as having been found liable for sexual assault earlier on in his life.)
( EA acquisitions, foolishness and buffoonery, and the usual issues that come with having the unqualified promoted well beyond their incompetence inside )
Last out, the ways in which our understanding of classical Greek depends on the surviving texts that we have to work with, and therefore while sometimes a word does mean dildo, other times, it does not.
Yacht Club Games on the development of modes for Shovel Knight that allow for different-bodied designs and pronoun usage, and a good decision made by them to decouple body designs and gendered pronouns.
And a story of corvids who help break the cages around their fellows. Be gay, do crow. And, perhaps, show solidarity by demonstrating how foolish it is to require girls to declare they're "biological females" before they can play in sort. (While the article quotes someone saying it's foolish not only require girls to do this and not boys, and that girls teams are suffering because they can't field enough affirmed players, the real meat is from the teachers saying it's not fair to require this, and the athletes who are also choosing not to participate because of fairness issues.)
(Materials via
adrian_turtle, azurelunatic, boxofdelights, cmcmck, conuly, cosmolinguist, elf, finch, firecat, jadelennox, jenett, jjhunter, kaberett, lilysea, oursin, rydra_wong, snowynight, sonia, the_future_modernes, thewayne, umadoshi, vass, the meta_warehouse community, little_details, and anyone else I've neglected to mention or who I suspect would rather not be on the list. If you want to know where I get the neat stuff, my reading list has most of it.)
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day (merriamwebster_feed) wrote2025-10-01 01:00 am
merriamwebster_feed) wrote2025-10-01 01:00 ampreternatural
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 1, 2025 is:
preternatural • \pree-ter-NATCH-uh-rul\ • adjective
Preternatural is a formal adjective used to describe things that are very unusual in a way that does not seem natural.
// He has a preternatural knack for imitating birdcalls.
// There was an eerie, preternatural quiet in the house.
Examples:
"Beyond his physical and mental attributes, [Jayden] Daniels has a preternatural calm in the most pivotal moments of a drive, a game, and a season that makes you wonder if he's somehow been in the NFL for 10 years." — Doug Farrar, The Guardian (London), 21 Jan. 2025
Did you know?
Preternatural comes from the Latin phrase praeter naturam, meaning "beyond nature." Medieval Latin scholars rendered this as praeternaturalis, and that form inspired the modern English word. Things beyond nature—i.e., very unusual things—can be alarming, and in its earliest documented uses in the late 1500s, preternatural was applied to strange, ominous, or abnormal phenomena, from works of God to signs of illness and disease. But by the 1800s things were looking up for preternatural, with the word describing remarkable abilities of exceptional humans, as it most often does today.
ysabetwordsmith (ysabetwordsmith) wrote2025-09-30 11:19 pm
ysabetwordsmith) wrote2025-09-30 11:19 pm
New Year's Resolutions Check In
We made it to the end of September! \o/ If you have completed some of your medium-term goals or subgoals, and/or you're still chugging away at your ongoing goals, then pat yourself on the back. You worked hard for that. We have also started autumn. If you're doing seasonal goals, share what you're working on for this fall.
This year I'm trying something new, continuing to track goals at the end of each month. So far it seems to be helping, so that's encouraging. I'm looking at my goal list more often and trying to keep ticking off more of them. The main drawback is that this update becomes more of a chore each month.
These are the previous check in posts:
New Year's Resolutions Check In January 4
New Year's Resolutions Check In January 10
New Year's Resolutions Check In January 17
New Year's Resolutions Check In January 24
New Year's Resolutions Check In January 31
New Year's Resolutions Check In February 28
New Year's Resolutions Check In March 31
New Year's Resolutions Check In April 30
New Year's Resolutions Check In May 31
New Year's Resolutions Check In June 30
New Year's Resolutions Check In July 31
New Year's Resolutions Check In August 31
( Read more... )
This year I'm trying something new, continuing to track goals at the end of each month. So far it seems to be helping, so that's encouraging. I'm looking at my goal list more often and trying to keep ticking off more of them. The main drawback is that this update becomes more of a chore each month.
These are the previous check in posts:
New Year's Resolutions Check In January 4
New Year's Resolutions Check In January 10
New Year's Resolutions Check In January 17
New Year's Resolutions Check In January 24
New Year's Resolutions Check In January 31
New Year's Resolutions Check In February 28
New Year's Resolutions Check In March 31
New Year's Resolutions Check In April 30
New Year's Resolutions Check In May 31
New Year's Resolutions Check In June 30
New Year's Resolutions Check In July 31
New Year's Resolutions Check In August 31
( Read more... )
Wordsmith.org: Today's Word (wordsmithdaily_feed) wrote2025-10-01 04:32 am
wordsmithdaily_feed) wrote2025-10-01 04:32 ampseudonymuncle
noun: An insignificant person writing under a pseudonym.
ysabetwordsmith (ysabetwordsmith) wrote2025-09-30 10:40 pm
ysabetwordsmith) wrote2025-09-30 10:40 pmPoetry Fishbowl on Tuesday, October 7
This is an advance announcement for the Tuesday, October 7, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl. This time the theme will be "Witches and Wizards." I'll be soliciting ideas for witches, wizards, other magic users, mentors, elders, teachers, students, adventurers, explorers, damsels/gentlemen in distress, historians, partners, leaders, dark lords, the Chosen One(s), superheroes, supervillains, teammates, fantasy species, ethicists, activists, queerfolk, other unusual fantasy folk, studying magic, doing magic, enchanting artifacts, breaking curses, breaking rules, exploring new territory, meeting new species, upsetting predictions, twisting tropes, flipping stereotypes, expecting the unexpected, researching, revising theories, parenting, teaching, adventuring, leaving your comfort zone, discovering things, conducting experiments, observation changing experiments, experiments changing paradigms, adapting, improvising, troubleshooting, cleaning up messes, cooperating, taking over in an emergency, saving the day, discovering yourself, studying others, testing boundaries, coming of age, coming out, running away from home, going off the rails, subverting fate, learning what you can (and can't) do, sharing, preparing for the worst, fixing what's broke, upsetting the status quo, changing the world, accomplishing the impossible, recovering from setbacks, returning home, other fantastic activities, witch's huts, wizard's towers, magical schools, castles, ruins, stone circles, dungeons, dragon lairs, Underhill, the forest primeval, underwater, underground, liminal zones, kitchens, campfires, libraries, laboratories, apothecary shops, supervillain lairs, makerspaces, nonhuman accommodations and adaptations, farmer's markets, magical lands, foreign dimensions, other phantasmagoric settings, unusual magical systems, pointy hats, robes, wands or staves, cauldrons, herbs, crystals, potions, magical artifacts, quests, time periods other than medieval, governments other than monarchy, dragons, unicorns, enchantments, reversals, contradictions, conundrums, puzzling discoveries, sudden surprises, inventions that change everything, time travel, travel mishaps, the buck stops here, trial and error, polarity, weird food, secret ingredients, supplements that turn out to be metagenic, intercultural entanglements, asking for help and getting it, enemies to friends/lovers, interdimensional travel, lab conditions are not field conditions, superpower manifestation, the end of where your framework actually applies, ethics, innovation, problems that can't be solved by hitting, teamwork, found family, complementary strengths and weaknesses, personal growth, and poetic forms in particular.
Among my more relevant series for the main theme:
The Adventures of Aldornia and Zenobia is about live happy lesbians in a quirky fantasy world.
Clay of Life is Jewish fantasy about a blacksmith and a golem.
A Conflagration of Dragons has unforseen disasters and cultural upheavals.
Gloryroad Crossing is the weird village where adventurers go to restock.
Kande's Quest is sword & soul with caucasian-inspired demons.
Monster House is suburban fantasy with a diverse household, where the line between truth and fantasy isn't always clear.
Not Quite Kansas has a helpful demon.
The Ocracies features all the political systems other than monarchy.
One God's Story of Mid-Life Crisis follows Shaeth as he works on becoming the God of Drunks.
Path of the Paladins is low fantasy about paladins trying to restore a world gone to ruins.
P.I.E. is urban fantasy about paranormal investigations.
Polychrome Heroics has primarily superpowers, but magic is described as "sorcery" there. Antimatter & Stalwart Stan are a cross-cape couple, and Antimatter essentially does science-based magic. Aubrey the Alabaster is another sorcerer. Eric the Elven King has interdimensional refugees.
Practical Magics is low fantasy with a prosaic focus.
Quixotic Ideas is contemporary fantasy where magic integrates with modern life in positive ways.
The Ursulan Cycle is genderbent King Arthur.
Yellow Unicorns is a quirky fantasy setting where the only yellow things people can see are the unicorns.
Or you can ask for something new.
Boost the signal to reveal a verse in any open linkback poem.
If you're interested, mark the date on your calendar, and please hold actual prompts until the "Poetry Fishbowl Open" post next week. (If you're not available that day, or you live in a time zone that makes it hard to reach me, you can leave advance prompts. I am now.) Meanwhile, if you want to help with promotion, please feel free to link back here or repost this on your blog.
( New to the fishbowl? Read all about it! )
Among my more relevant series for the main theme:
The Adventures of Aldornia and Zenobia is about live happy lesbians in a quirky fantasy world.
Clay of Life is Jewish fantasy about a blacksmith and a golem.
A Conflagration of Dragons has unforseen disasters and cultural upheavals.
Gloryroad Crossing is the weird village where adventurers go to restock.
Kande's Quest is sword & soul with caucasian-inspired demons.
Monster House is suburban fantasy with a diverse household, where the line between truth and fantasy isn't always clear.
Not Quite Kansas has a helpful demon.
The Ocracies features all the political systems other than monarchy.
One God's Story of Mid-Life Crisis follows Shaeth as he works on becoming the God of Drunks.
Path of the Paladins is low fantasy about paladins trying to restore a world gone to ruins.
P.I.E. is urban fantasy about paranormal investigations.
Polychrome Heroics has primarily superpowers, but magic is described as "sorcery" there. Antimatter & Stalwart Stan are a cross-cape couple, and Antimatter essentially does science-based magic. Aubrey the Alabaster is another sorcerer. Eric the Elven King has interdimensional refugees.
Practical Magics is low fantasy with a prosaic focus.
Quixotic Ideas is contemporary fantasy where magic integrates with modern life in positive ways.
The Ursulan Cycle is genderbent King Arthur.
Yellow Unicorns is a quirky fantasy setting where the only yellow things people can see are the unicorns.
Or you can ask for something new.
Boost the signal to reveal a verse in any open linkback poem.
If you're interested, mark the date on your calendar, and please hold actual prompts until the "Poetry Fishbowl Open" post next week. (If you're not available that day, or you live in a time zone that makes it hard to reach me, you can leave advance prompts. I am now.) Meanwhile, if you want to help with promotion, please feel free to link back here or repost this on your blog.
( New to the fishbowl? Read all about it! )
ysabetwordsmith (ysabetwordsmith) wrote2025-09-30 10:07 pm
ysabetwordsmith) wrote2025-09-30 10:07 pmEntry tags:
Bingo
I have made bingo down the O column of my 9-1-25 card for the Piracy Fest Bingo.
O1 (leak) "Mightier Than" (Princess: The Hopeful)
O2 (lookout) "Simple and to the Point" (An Army of One)
O3 (affiliate) "Bring Unique Qualities" (Daughters of the Apocalypse)
O4 (request) "The Only Thing That You Absolutely Have to Know" (Polychrome Heroics)
O5 (patch) "A Reader, an Interpreter, and a Creator) (Polychrome Heroics: Rutledge)
B4 (parrot) "For Those Who Work at It" (Polychrome Heroics: Dr. Infanta)
O1 (leak) "Mightier Than" (Princess: The Hopeful)
O2 (lookout) "Simple and to the Point" (An Army of One)
O3 (affiliate) "Bring Unique Qualities" (Daughters of the Apocalypse)
O4 (request) "The Only Thing That You Absolutely Have to Know" (Polychrome Heroics)
O5 (patch) "A Reader, an Interpreter, and a Creator) (Polychrome Heroics: Rutledge)
B4 (parrot) "For Those Who Work at It" (Polychrome Heroics: Dr. Infanta)
Aster (white_aster) wrote2025-09-30 10:52 pm
white_aster) wrote2025-09-30 10:52 pmHTML as gateway drug is pretty good, really
We should rethink how we teach people to code | deadSimpleTech
(on using HTML as a first coding experience)
Got this link from alis.me, where they cringe at HTML but also say, "...actually, yeah, huh...they have a point."
Like Alis, I learned basic HTML because I wanted to make a page on Geocities. That was it.
And it worked! HTML was easy for me, a total coding newb, to learn and use! I made my little page, with its very simple formatting and hand-coded list of links to individual pages with my individual fanfics on them, with my little webring images/links on the bottom. It was fun and I felt like I had MADE A THING! A thing that I kept until Fanfiction.net made posting fanfic (and actually having people read it) easier.
So even though that page came and went...I still use what I remember of HTML, and I've continued to use it throughout my life.
I used it on Livejournal to make my own journal templates and code in my italics and quotes and stuff before we had rich text post editors. I used it on PILLOWFORT for cripes sake, to help apply a style somewhere, I think.
I also feel that crappy HTML website honestly taught me a lot about how the web works, and how to be resilient and independent later in the age of "you don't need to know how this works, just use our slick app where you can customize only the things we want you to!" ("Yeah, fuck you", says the girl who coded her own shitty webpages back in the day and spent a lot of time figuring out how to get the colors on her LJ page JUST RIGHT.)
It also gives me...I dunno, appreciation for hand-made things. Yes, maybe that webpage was a bit janky, but it was MY JANK. I knew it was there and if I didn't fix it, it was probably because it didn't really bother me that much. It was an inoculation against perfection and against perfectionism.
And the HTML gateway drug has been actually useful in real life, too. In addition to being able to handcode a link by muscle memory if it's convenient, I have also multiple times run into instances where it was actually professionally useful. I still remember being the savior who helped my professor force his submitted abstract to properly format his gene names because though he had to paste it into a plaintext input box, I was the one who realized that it was a plaintext box that would parse html tags.
Basic web coding also leads to better computer literacy and the most useful skill of "not being afraid of poking about in settings", which has put me head and shoulders above so many others who are "afraid they'll break it" and thus never understand how their software works or half the settings it offers. Having to find my own jpegs and such directly led to knowing how to screencap something and crop it for a "good enough" web or presentation graphic (I was a minor celebrity at my last job for showing people how to do just that.) Needing to crop or resize things also led to teaching myself use of basic image editors (reinforced by needing to make my own LJ icons, of course), which helped a lot when PowerPoint and Illustrator became a thing.
Heck, being on Livejournal also taught me about RSS feeds, which the modern internet can pry from my COLD DEAD HANDS. Fuck their algorithm, roll your own! (I use Feedly, but I dunno, they might be a paid thing now? IDEK.)
And really...I'm literally thinking of brushing up on my web coding NOW (or at least my "tweak this template" version of coding) to make myself a basic professional writing portfolio page.
So yeah. Learning HTML HAS been useful. The problems I had to fix are probably somewhat not problems anymore on the modern web, but the modern web has new problems, amirite? And one of those is people hating the slick corporatism all around them. I mean...I'm charmed as hell every time I'm reminded that Neocities exists.
Go forth. Make A Thing.
On the DEWLine 2.0: Dwight Williams (dewline) wrote2025-09-30 10:07 pm
dewline) wrote2025-09-30 10:07 pm
Entry tags:
Checking In - 30 Sept. 2025
No word on the skills tests from Sunday yet. I'm expecting that tomorrow.
My visit with Mom was shorter than I'd planned, because of chores and a newish job lead I needed to look into.
One of my map projects' requirements was something different than what I expected, and the news has come as both a relief and an entertaining challenge.
My visit with Mom was shorter than I'd planned, because of chores and a newish job lead I needed to look into.
One of my map projects' requirements was something different than what I expected, and the news has come as both a relief and an entertaining challenge.
ysabetwordsmith (ysabetwordsmith) wrote2025-09-30 08:59 pm
ysabetwordsmith) wrote2025-09-30 08:59 pmRecipe: "Pigeon Peas Stew"
We made this tonight. It's quite tasty. :D We have plenty of pigeon peas left, so I can try other recipes too.
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ranunculus (ranunculus) wrote2025-09-30 04:53 pm
ranunculus) wrote2025-09-30 04:53 pmDeadwood Pasture
Down at the Red Barn we have a pasture called Deadwood. At least 3 very large, old oaks have died in that pasture over the last 10 or 12 years. Today I got a call from Lily that a tree was down on the fence. Yet another huge limb had broken off and landed upside down, this time on the fence. I cut, Lily pulled brush. We got a lot done, but didn't finish getting it on the ground. All the leafy branches are off and piled in a burn pile. The big heavy part of the limb, where it attached to the trunk, is halfway to the ground and shouldn't be to hard to finish off.
ysabetwordsmith (ysabetwordsmith) wrote2025-09-30 06:51 pm
ysabetwordsmith) wrote2025-09-30 06:51 pmEntry tags:
Affordable Housing
Long commutes and small homes are wrecking sleep
Your commute and home size could be quietly stealing your sleep.
Tokyo residents face a trade-off between home size and commute time when it comes to sleep health. A new study shows longer commutes increase both insomnia and daytime sleepiness, while smaller housing also raises insomnia risk. Even with average-sized homes, commuting more than 52 minutes pushed people into the insomnia range. Researchers say smarter housing planning could improve both sleep and quality of life.
( Read more... )
Your commute and home size could be quietly stealing your sleep.
Tokyo residents face a trade-off between home size and commute time when it comes to sleep health. A new study shows longer commutes increase both insomnia and daytime sleepiness, while smaller housing also raises insomnia risk. Even with average-sized homes, commuting more than 52 minutes pushed people into the insomnia range. Researchers say smarter housing planning could improve both sleep and quality of life.
( Read more... )
kellan (kellan_the_tabby) wrote2025-09-30 02:33 pm
kellan_the_tabby) wrote2025-09-30 02:33 pmEntry tags:
cats: Loiosh, on the job
[Loiosh, an orange tabby, is standing with his forepaws up on a pile of stuff in the back of the van. He’s shoved his head under a grey blanket.]
We took the weekend to go to Champions in al-Barran over Labor Day weekend, & we had a GRAND time. Yes, even Major Tom, though I made him stay in the booth every day instead of just letting him live in the van.
I don’t know what the heck Loiosh was after here, but he had a good time with it.
[Loiosh’s muzzle is sticking out from under the blanket, whiskers back. He’s looking intently off to the right.]
This was one of the too-early mornings on the trip. To be fair, they were all too early; there wasn’t a good shady place to park nearby. Although given how much energy Tom put into trying to get back to the van, maybe I should’ve chosen the walk, instead …
{Loiosh is laying in a cat bed that’s sitting on a blanket. Next to the bed is a bowl of cat food. Loiosh is chowing down with his head flopped over the edge of the bed. No effort necessary, or desired.]
This absolutely cracked me up. Oh, my boy.
[Loiosh still has his head in the bowl, but he’s glaring at the camera. His mouth is still slightly open; he was still chewing.]
He was NOT best pleased with the laughing. I feel like he should be used to it by now, but here we are.
[He’s laying half-curled up on one of the display tables, getting orange cat fur all over the nice white tablecloth. There’s bits of jewelry all around him. He is entirely asleep.]
The next day he decided to occupy the jewelry department. Yes, the entire thing. There’s, like, eight pronoun pins under there somewhere. Fortunately the horde of trans kids who occupied my booth all weekend were perfectly willing to fish stuff out from under him.
[Loiosh is meatloafed right down the middle of my chair. His forepaws are tucked under, his tail is wrapped round, and he looks like he’s contemplating the universe.]
It got a little chilly while I was packing up, but Loiosh didn’t want a blanket, he just wanted to be the smallest meatloaf. As long as he’s happy!
It was too dark to get any pictures of the feast, but rest assured he ate an entire fillet of tilapia, plus probably half of my chicken. Plus, of course, plenty of love. He had a GRAND time.
originally posted on Patreon; support me over there to see posts a week early!
Whatever (scalziwhatever_feed) wrote2025-09-30 07:33 pm
scalziwhatever_feed) wrote2025-09-30 07:33 pmBrunching It Up At Alcove by MadTree Brewing
Cincinnati is home to many breweries, and two of the most well-known are Rhinegeist and MadTree Brewing. I don’t drink beer, so I’ve never made it a point to visit any of these famed breweries. I always figured there was somewhere more in my wheelhouse to check out.
Two weeks ago, two of my friends from Wisconsin were coming to Cincinnati for a concert. Though it was a short trip for them, they had just enough time before they left to have brunch with me. While I definitely know a place or two for dinner and drinks in Cincy, I am much less versed in the ways of Cincy brunch locations. So, I had to ask one of my Cincy resident friends for a brunch recommendation, and she pointed me in the direction of Alcove.
I had never heard of Alcove before, and I never realized MadTree even had a restaurant at all. When I looked it up, I was immediately enticed by the well-lit, wide-open space, warm tones from all the wood furniture and flooring, and the wild amount of plants they had occupying the space. I loved the look of it, and after checking out their brunch menu, I was sold, and made us reservations.
Alcove is open every day of the week for lunch and dinner, as well as having their full brunch available from 10-3 on Saturday and Sunday. During the weekdays they still have their brunch but with a limited menu instead of the full version. Apparently this is a more recent change!
When my friends and I arrived, we were asked if we wanted to be seated in the main area, the patio, or the greenhouse. We were all intrigued by the sound of the greenhouse, so we picked that and were led to a room just off the main area that had floor-to-ceiling windows, vibrantly colored velvet furniture, even more plants, and its own bar. It was a really pretty space and we were glad we chose it.
After perusing the menu, we decided the best thing to start off with would be some of their spiked coffee options for a bit of a boozy brunch moment.
I opted the for the espresso martini, which consisted of vanilla vodka, cold brew, hazelnut liqueur, vanilla simple, cocoa bitters, and came with a brûléed top. My friend Austin got their spiked coffee which comes with vanilla, amaretto, salted maple cream, and your choice of spirit. He went with bourbon, specifically Buffalo Trace (which was an upcharge). Mattea started off with an iced coffee which is what you see in the photo, but then later tried their Double Dirty Chai which is just vanilla infused bourbon, chai, espresso, and your choice of milk. I didn’t get a photo of that one but she was kind enough to let me try it and I thought it was quite good even though I don’t care for bourbon. Austin’s hot bourbon coffee was definitely too bourbony for me, though. Mattea and I agreed my espresso martini was super yummy.
For something to share, we settled on their charcuterie board. If you aren’t feeling the meat, you can make it just a cheese board for nine dollars cheaper. Here’s what we got:
On the menu the description is basically just “artisan meats and cheeses,” and I kind of thought that when the server brought it out she would tell us what all came on the board, but that didn’t end up happening so my friends and I just placed our bets on what was what. While I did like everything on the board, I do think it was just a little sparse. I would say this is better if it’s just you and one other person, rather than trying to share between three or four people.
For our mains, Mattea and I ordered the exact same thing: the Crispy Tofu and Couscous, as well as the Potato Gnocchi as a side. Austin went for a true brunch classic: Chicken and Waffles.
When our food came, Mattea and I were presented with something definitely different than what we ordered. Before us sat the Crispy Tofu Sandwich. It was a simple mix-up, and we both debated whether or not to say something or just eat the sandwich. Finally, we mustered the courage to say something, and our server let us keep the sandwiches on the house and brought out our correct item soon after. Hooray for free sandwiches!
Here was our Crispy Tofu and Couscous with broccolini, sun dried tomatoes, and red pepper puree:
All of the red pepper puree is at the bottom, so you can just barely see it in the photo, but once I got everything all mixed together it was a lot more evenly distributed over the couscous and whatnot. I didn’t get a picture of the gnocchi, but it came with a roasted garlic cream sauce, sun-dried tomatoes, and asparagus. The gnocchi was really good, I ended up eating way more of that than my main dish, and had to get a box because I tore up my gnocchi.
And here was the chicken and waffles:
(Austin added an over-easy egg on top.)
We took this opportunity to order another round of drinks. Austin picked the mimosa flight, which came with orange juice, peach juice, cranberry juice, and pineapple juice.
Austin, Mattea, and I all agreed on a ranking of pineapple being the best, then cranberry, then orange, and finally peach.
And I got their Basil Rosé, which was gin, rosé, basil, lime, and simple:
This cocktail was so summery and light, very refreshing and perfectly sweetened.
While we were dining, a photographer came over and asked if he could take some pictures of us enjoying our meal and hanging out. We obliged, and in return he gave us each a ten dollar gift card to use towards our bill. That was so generous! He really did not have to do that, we were totally fine being a part of his photos for free, but that was really cool.
All in all, we really enjoyed our brunch at Alcove by MadTree Brewing. It’s an eclectic, beautiful space right in OTR, with tons of gluten-free and vegetarian options, good drinks, and good service. I definitely want to go back sometime, and I’m happy to now know of a good brunch place in Cincinnati.
After our experience at Alcove, I decided to look up MadTree and see what else I was missing out on. It turns out they have two other locations besides Alcove. They have a taproom over in Oakley, and a location they call “Parks & Rec” up in Blue Ash. All of their locations are open everyday of the week, and their Parks & Rec location even serves brunch all day, everyday!
Both the Oakley Taproom and Parks & Rec are dog-friendly and family-friendly, but the Parks & Rec location appears to really excel in the family-friendly aspect, with indoor and outdoor play areas for kids and recreation for all ages. Their Parks & Rec location is also designed with every type of family in mind, with their Branch Out initiative, which aims towards accessibility and inclusivity for all. You can read more about their efforts on that front here.
Aside from that, I was really interested to learn about MadTree’s commitment to the environment. I learned that they are the only certified B-Corp brewery in Ohio, and belong to a whopping 0.2% of B-Corp breweries overall. They are also a part of 1% For The Planet, 100% of their spent grain goes to feeding livestock, they plant or donate 5,000 trees a year, and even pay their employees for 16 volunteer hours a year. There’s even more to learn about their sustainability efforts and commitment to community if you want to check it out here and here.
Overall, MadTree seems like a super cool company with a lot to offer Cincinnati. I can’t believe I overlooked it before just because I don’t like beer! I would love to check out their other locations, and support them and their efforts towards making Cincinnati a healthier, happier place.
Do you like spiked coffee? Are you a brunch connoisseur? Have you tried MadTree Brewing before, or any of their locations? Let me know in the comments, be sure to check out MadTree Brewing, their Oakley Taproom, Parks & Rec, and Alcove on Instagram, and have a great day!
-AMS
conuly (conuly) wrote2025-09-29 09:52 am
conuly) wrote2025-09-29 09:52 am(no subject)
First, is my cat not the most beautiful cat you've seen in the past few minutes?
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