Slay the Princess!

Feb. 26th, 2026 11:00 pm
dhampyresa: (SCIENCE SMASH)
[personal profile] dhampyresa
I've finished a play through of Slay the Princess. I really enjoyed it! I will now try to go after all the achievements héhéhé

I had to turn off the parallax and the ambient sound so I wouldn't get nauseous. Something to keep in mind if you're sensitive to motion sickness and/or vertigo.

Birdfeeding

Feb. 26th, 2026 12:50 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Today is mostly cloudy and cool. Looks like it rained a bit last night; there are small puddles in a few places.

I fed the birds. I've seen a few sparrows.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 2/26/26 -- I put out a fresh cake of peanut suet.

EDIT 2/26/26 -- I cut and labeled 4 more water jugs. These will hold native grasses: little bluestem, side-oats grama, northern sea oats, and switchgrass. It will be interesting to see how they do. Potted grasses tend to survive well but are more expensive. Broadcast seeding on the ground has variable results. So if I can find more and better ways to pot my own from seed, that's an improvement. Native grasses attract wildlife with food, shelter, and other resources. Many birds devour the seeds. Some butterflies, especially skippers, and other insects use native grasses as host plants. My prairie garden swarms with skippers and other butterflies in summer and into fall.

EDIT 2/26/26 -- I filled, sowed, and taped the milk jugs. This potting soil was wet enough that it didn't need watering. I thought I had some topsoil left, but I'm out of that; I'll need to restock in March. I put the four new jugs in the parking lot and tied them together.

While I was out there, a honeybee buzzed around, wishing to pollinate me, perhaps attracted to my bright coat. I had to explain that I was not a flower.

I've seen more sparrows and two male cardinals.

EDIT 2/26/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 2/26/26 -- I set up a simple worm bin in the log garden's leaf enclosure. I used an old 5-gallon bucket with a cracked bottom and a hole in one side. This will allow worms to go in and out as they please. I put some leaves inside to start, and packed more leaves around the bucket. Now I have somewhere that I can drop food scraps for the worms to eat, and cover with a handful of leaves. This gives me a place that will likely have plenty of worms when I want them -- such as for dropping into large planters -- and also where I can take a handful of very bioactive material to jump-start pots filled with potting mix with little or no bioactivity. When the bucket gets full, I can dump out the worm castings to use for fertilizing plants, sort out some worms, restart the bucket with more leaf litter, and drop in the worms.

There are, of course, commercially made worm bins that are much fancier and allow access to more outputs. However, these are expensive. Also they trap the worms inside, which is not great for an outdoor setup. This is free and better suited to its situation.

EDIT 2/26/26 -- I picked up the empty trough from last year's mini-water garden and moved it to the log garden, where I surrounded it with extra logs. I have taken pictures of the worm bin and the water garden.

EDIT 2/26/26 -- I did more work around the patio.


.

Willow Cuttings

Feb. 26th, 2026 03:56 am
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Yesterday we ordered two different kinds of willow cuttings. I couldn't find a new contorta willow at a reasonable price, so I'm trying these instead. It will take time for them to grow roots, but willows are the easiest plant to root -- they make their own rooting hormone, which can be used to stimulate other plant cuttings to root.

Read more... )

Community Thursdays

Feb. 26th, 2026 12:41 am
ysabetwordsmith: A blue sheep holding a quill dreams of Dreamwidth (Dreamsheep)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
This year I'm doing Community Thursdays. Some of my activity will involve maintaining communities I run, and my favorites. Some will involve checking my list of subscriptions and posting in lower-traffic ones. Today I have interacted with the following communities...

* Posted "Garden Tips" in [community profile] everykindofcraft.

* Commented in [community profile] fanfics.

* Commented in [community profile] fanifesto.

snoooowwww

Feb. 26th, 2026 12:34 am
tsuki_no_bara: a group of emperor penguins with "the big chill" in all caps (pengies)
[personal profile] tsuki_no_bara
i'm dug out from the storm, by which i mean my car is dug out from the storm. :D i did it yesterday because i worked from home because the u was closed for the second day in a row. also it was sunny and perfect weather for shoveling. and it wasn't as awful as expected! and work was extremely slow because did i mention the u was closed? monday morning i woke up and couldn't see out of any of my windows because they were so covered with snow. so i opened said windows and knocked the snow off the screens so i could see and didn't feel like i was living in a cave. and then there was nothing TO see because the snow started sunday night and kept going until early monday night and holy cow was it windy.

it was so bad that for the first time since it was founded 153 years ago the boston globe didn't actually print the paper. at least one dunkin donuts was closed which is kind of like a waffle house being closed. one of the admins f got 30" where she lives and two admins lost power (one just for monday and one monday morning through tuesday morning) and fall river - lizzie borden's home town and down near rhode island - got 41". holy yikes. (boston proper got 17" but i think out by me we got closer to 12". providence broke a record with like three feet.)

have some pics of the snow, mostly new york with a couple connecticut and one east boston. sharing mostly for the person in the red jacket filming themselves lying in the snow. also i just really like photos of snowy places. they look so cold.

have some more. the ones from cambridge, ma, are all harvard square.

and more that aren't all nyc.

enjoy some quick videos from nyc especially slide 8. nail techs are a different breed.

and then it snowed this morning on the way to work. :DDD

questions from the olympics. oh, you thought we were done with the olympics around here? surprise.

i hate you, jack hughes - a canadian hockey fan put an autographed jack hughes rookie card on ebay for $1m cad. someone was very, very upset by the outcome of the men's hockey, weren't they. (if that link is borked the listing is here. the seller has since taken it down.)

and finally because i finally finished a book! the wednesday reading meme! which i apparently haven't done in almost a year. >.<

What I just finished reading:
a master of djinn by p djèlí clark which i originally bought to read on the cruise back in july. (i have sadly become a very slow reader.) the worldbuilding is fantastic and i liked a lot of the secondary characters altho it took half the book before i really connected with the main character. clark really likes short choppy sentences and sentence fragments, and he's likewise a big fan of speaking verbs that aren't "said". like, there's a scene with the main character and her partner at a meeting and in six different lines of dialogue from six different characters there are six different speaking verbs. (and some of them are the kinds of verbs that generally have like a target - "hi, how are you," character a greeted. "everything's fine, don't worry," character b reassured. that kind of thing. it's a stylistic choice but it makes me nuts.) i was invested in the story and i liked the various twists and turns - it starts with a mass murder which the main character has to investigate - but some of the actual writing i didn't love. but it's set in a steampunky alternate history cairo and there are djinn and all of that was fabulous.

What I am reading now:
blood, sweat & chrome: the wild and true story of mad max: fury road by kyle buchanan which i have been reading a lot longer than a master of djinn. it's an oral history of the making of the movie and i like a good look behind the scenes so i'm enjoying it.

What I'm going to read next:
probably yarrow by charles de lint. i found it at a very small library.

Went to Yoga

Feb. 25th, 2026 11:16 pm
cornerofmadness: (Default)
[personal profile] cornerofmadness
Did have to give up on doing a lot of the ones with me on my knees and I have made good on my committment to not talk bad about myself during it. I just sat down and did other things or simply waited. Not great but I can only do what I can do.

Also I am not good at this but I try

I met with the football coaches who promised to make the new football team take our classes seriously or else. After the last (which was the first) semester these brand new coaches have their work cut out for them because it was brutal and in 20 years here I've never seen so much entitlement (and see one team make an entire college hate them so fast)



What I Just Finished Reading:

Dark Life - YA book set under the ocean. the world building needed beefed up but over all enjoyable


Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier - Not what I was expecting. I don't think it deserves the hype but I didn't think it was awful

This Is How You Lose the Time War - All of SF authors wrote glowing reviews. I thought it was weird for the sake of being weird but I did get into it a little


What I am Currently Reading:

Zombie Day Care - getting painful but at least it's short


The Final Problem - mystery set in the 60s (no progress because I couldn't get the netgalley app to download. FINALLY did and so far it's not freezing up_


Between the Shades of Grey - not sure I'll make it thru this. NOT the right time mentally to read about a government hauling off families for talking bad about the government and slamming them in prison.

Check Please sticks and scones - had to find one for my favorite winter olympic sport. Okay that is NOT hockey but that's what the library had and the first book was cute.

Y the Last man omnibus - not as good as I remember it

What I Plan to Read Next: La Grand Familia, and Luna Park history

to my fellow writers:

Feb. 25th, 2026 01:02 pm
suzume: B/W image of myself (w/ dot eyes) drawing at a short table, while my prior cat, Ana, a long-haired black cat sits beside me (I'm working - Ana's watching)
[personal profile] suzume


by Roz Chast for an Oct. 2020 issue of The New Yorker

Vocabulary: Bossage

Feb. 25th, 2026 02:55 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Bossage - noun.

From the "there must be a word for that" department comes bossage. This architectural term refers to uncut and unfinished stones that act as placeholders for decorative and practical elements that will be carved later. Did you ever think about how carved decorations were placed on a building? Did they just get stuck on? No, a bossage was used.


I am reminded of how some writers will put "Maincharacter" or "Towndescription" so they can search-and-replace later.

Linguistics

Feb. 25th, 2026 12:55 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
How far back in time can you understand English?

It’s a thousand years of the English language, compressed into a single blog post.

Read it and notice where you start to struggle. Notice where you give up entirely. Then meet me on the other side and I’ll tell you what happened to the language (and the blogger).


Read more... )

Birdfeeding

Feb. 25th, 2026 12:47 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Today is sunny, chilly, and calm -- much nicer than yesterday! :D

I fed the birds. I haven't seen any yet though.

I put out water for the birds.

The snow crocuses are open again.

EDIT 2/25/26 -- I trimmed the north edge of the wildflower garden. Previously I did the west edge.

The male catkins on the hazelnut bush are beginning to open up, but the tiny red female flowers aren't open yet.

EDIT 2/25/26 -- I trimmed the east edge of the wildflower garden.

EDIT 2/25/26 -- I trimmed the south edge of the wildflower garden. I'll still need to clear the middle and rake off the loose leaves, but that's less urgent since the spring flowers will emerge near the edges. In the process, I uncovered the dark purple leaves of a penstemon that I planted last year. :D It won't bloom for quite a while yet, as these are usually late spring to early summer flowers, but already it makes a lovely accent in the bed. The leaves are only about half the size of my hand, but the whole plant is easily a foot across.

In the savanna, the first of the snowdrops have flower buds, but none have opened yet.

EDIT 2/25/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

I've seen a large flock of sparrows, a mourning dove, and a fox squirrel.

EDIT 2/25/26 -- I have many dozens of fruit tree seeds just starting to sprout in their bags of damp sand in the fridge. I decided to try putting some outdoors in water jug pots. I have the jugs cut, labeled, filled, and sown with seeds. I still need to tape the seams closed and move the jugs out to the parking lot. I put 5 seeds in each jug. The varieties are Pink Apple, Johnathan Apple, Ginger Gold Apple, and Yellow Pear.

EDIT 2/25/26 -- I taped the seams, then moved the jugs to the parking lot. There I set them in a square with the handles facing inwards, then looped some salvaged string through the handles to secure them. This way, they're less likely to get knocked over. Finally I watered them a little bit.

Daffodils and snowdrops are sprouting in the parking lot. I need to try moving these so they don't get killed by later parking lot work.

EDIT 2/25/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

I've seen a male cardinal.

I am done for the night.

Cuddle Party

Feb. 25th, 2026 12:04 am
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
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!

Safety

Feb. 25th, 2026 12:00 am
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Negative Social Ties as Emerging Risk Factors for Accelerated Aging, Inflammation, and Multimorbidity

Negative social ties, or "hasslers," are pervasive yet understudied components of social networks that may accelerate biological aging and morbidity. Using ego-centric network data and DNA methylationbased biological aging clocks from a representative Indiana sample, we demonstrate that negative social ties are surprisingly common: on average, one in four network members is described as a hassler, and nearly 60% of individuals report having at least one. Results show that having more hasslers is associated with accelerated biological aging, with the most pronounced associations observed among individuals whose networks comprise more than 50% hasslers. Crucially, not all negative ties show the same influence: ambivalent ties providing both support and stress show stronger aging acceleration than exclusively negative relationships. Beyond epigenetic aging, hassling exposure is associated with poorer self-rated health, higher levels of depression and anxiety, elevated inflammation, greater multimorbidity, and adverse anthropometric indicators. These findings together highlight the critical role of negative social ties in biological aging as chronic stressors and the need for interventions that reduce the impact of negative social stressors embedded within close social networks to promote healthier aging trajectories.


Loneliness may have high risks, but it is often better than being harassed or outright abused. It's nice to have positive social ties, but they only help if they really are positive.

Thank you for your input

Feb. 24th, 2026 11:21 pm
cornerofmadness: a young blond elf boy in gloves giving the thumbs up (Hunter thumbs up)
[personal profile] cornerofmadness
Thumbs Up to everyone who stopped by to let me know what you thought of my story (and if you want to read it, go back to yesterday). It's helpful. It helps the story form. It's a big week for me writing wise. I have two major open calls that open Saturday and I am set. I'm also trying to make a better record of all my unplaced stories along with word count/genre so I don't forget something.

It's also a very big week in terms of emotions. Friday is 5 years since I nearly lost my leg. That seems amazing.

Cancer is coming for another family member (which luckily is usually curable with surgery but still, fuck you cancer). Speaking of which I'm in the last days of my American Cancer Society read-a-thon charity drive. You can see more about it here.


As for Fannish 50 Tuesday it's THIS bullshit AGAIN. Creators being attacked, threatened, bullied. This past week, in a nutshell, Gooseworx, creator of The Amazing Digital Circus was in one of the livestream/video game plays this cast/creator loves to do and she mentions that Jax and Pomni are the main characters and people lost their fucking shit. They dragged her so hard over this, for daring to say who is the main character in this thing that they created but it didn't match their headcanons. She deleted the reddit account she used to interact with fans. A couple days later she apologized for not being professional in doing that.

I'm like maybe but I wouldn't say that. Why should you give fans access if they're going to be like this? And it's not just her. Vivzie who does Hazbin gets it like this all the time, Dana Terrace (the Owl House, Knights of Guinevere) does as well. Even Matt Braly (Amphibia) got slapped hard this past week. It culminated in Goose saying she doesn't want to touch her creation again once the last two episodes drop (something Dana Terrace did until this year, almost 4 years later with hers) and Glitch, the production company stepping in try to calm these people down.

If you're curious you can see Matt's thread here on twitter. What Glitch had to say is here.

and here are a few YT commentors who tend to have decent insights into things




and two from Ayy






Who would have thought I'd miss the toxicity of the Buffy days. At least it wasn't batshit crazy like this. And I truly miss the Prodigal Son fandom which was mostly (but of course not always) civil.

Climate Change

Feb. 24th, 2026 02:31 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Space lasers reveal oceans rising faster than ever

A new 30-year analysis reveals that melting land ice is now the main force behind rising global sea levels. Researchers discovered that oceans rose about 90 millimeters since 1993, with most of the increase coming from added water mass rather than just warming expansion. Ice loss from Greenland and mountain glaciers accounts for the vast majority of this gain. Even more concerning, the rate of sea-level rise is accelerating.

Poetry Fishbowl on Tuesday, March 3

Feb. 24th, 2026 02:27 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
This is an advance announcement for the Tuesday, March 3, 2026. Poetry Fishbowl. This time the theme will be "World Cuisine." I'll be soliciting ideas for cooks, fusion chefs, immigrant cooks, eaters, farmers, foragers, food scientists, inventors, recipe writers, famous figures in food history, cooks of disadvantaged groups who should have become famous, superheroes, supervillains, failure analysts, ethicists, activists, rebels, other people active in the food world, cooking, gardening, harvesting, foraging, preserving, writing recipes, discovering things, decolonizing diets, building or using kitchen equipment, conducting experiments, observation changing experiments, troubleshooting, improvising, adapting, cooperating, bartering, taking over in an emergency, discovering yourself, studying others, testing boundaries, coming of age, learning what you can (and can't) do, sharing, fixing what's broke, upsetting the status quo, changing the world, accomplishing the impossible, recovering from setbacks, kitchens, restaurants, food trucks or carts, campfires, barbecue sites, laboratories, makerspaces, nonhuman accommodations and adaptations, picnics, grocery stores, farmer's markets, roadside fruit stands, U-pick farms, gardens, food forests, other places where people make food, world cuisine, ethnic cuisines, cookbooks, online recipe archives, permaculture, heritage diets, climatarian diet, traditional foodways, culinary archaeology, food sovereignty, drought-resistant crops, trial and error, ethnic spice sets, weird food, fusion food, secret ingredients, supplements that turn out to be metagenic, new ideas in cuisine, alternate agriculture, lab conditions are not field conditions, ethics of food, 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:

An Army of One has to figure out how to feed a diverse, far-flung group of people who sometimes have special dietary needs.

The Bear Tunnels introduces modern principles to people in the past, including some aspects of food science.

A Conflagration of Dragons has the Six Races (plus the dragons) who all have different diets.  This often poses challenges for the refugees.

Daughters of the Apocalypse has people trying to find and prepare enough food to survive, when city libraries are out of reach.

Fiorenza the Wisewoman uses herbs and healing foods to care for her village.

Frankenstein's Family features two scientists running a valley in historic Romania.  Igor enjoys cooking and has gotten at least one of the werewolves curious about cooking the human way.

Hart's Farm is a community with food used as one of the popular bonding methods.

Peculiar Obligations combines Quakers and pirates in the Caribbean, among other groups and places, leading to a wide variety of foods.

Polychrome Heroics has ordinary humans, supernaries, blue-plate specials, superheroes, supervillains, primal and animal soups all of whom need to eat.  Primal soups and high-burn soups often have special dietary needs.  Comfort food and healing food are also very popular here.  The Rutledge thread includes Kardal and his food truck Syrian Foods, along with references to Vermont, French, and hippie cuisines.  Pain's Gray, Shiv, and the Finns are all fond of cooking too.

Or you can ask for something new.

Linkbacks reveal a verse of 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! )

Birdfeeding

Feb. 24th, 2026 01:16 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Today is cloudy and cold with howling wind. A beautiful day to stay indoors and write!

I fed the birds. Unsurprisingly I haven't seen any.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 2/24/24 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

A flock of sparrows is braving the wind to visit the feeders.  :D

EDIT 2/24/24 -- I did more work around the patio.

I am done for the night.

It's (Not) A Gundam!

Feb. 24th, 2026 07:36 am
kalloway: (Lucifer 13 - KoG pimp)
[personal profile] kalloway
Help me pick my next* build! (*Well, I have the Destiny Astray to finish, whatever I'm making for 30ML Day, the other contest, and possibly some other small decompression builds. Which is fine, it means I can leave this poll open for a bit.)

These kits are all not Gundams, nor are they made by Bandai. There's a frustrating habit in the hobby, both by the folks who build the kits and the folks selling them, to lump all these kits under "Third Party", "Indie Plamo", or just "ChinaPla" even though not all of the makers are Chinese. I haven't decided on a preferred term, but I'm leaning towards just listing the maker or if I need to refer to a larger whole, "Other Kits" or "Non-Bandai".

Poll #34288 It's (Not) A Gundam!
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 8


Which Non-Bandai Kit Should I Build Next?

View Answers

Blue Estailev (Orange Cat/Wave)
3 (37.5%)

Oberon (Mecha Core Industry)
4 (50.0%)

Baphomet Demon Phantom (Cang Toys)
2 (25.0%)

Fire Lord (SNAA)
0 (0.0%)

Apocalypse (Vientiane Fusion)
0 (0.0%)

Mandala (CaesarWorks)
0 (0.0%)

Yunsheng Y-20 (Xiwanshe)
0 (0.0%)

Genesis (Infinite Dimension)
1 (12.5%)

Gus (ZZZA)
0 (0.0%)

Valkyrie (Eddas)
1 (12.5%)

Edelstein II (Moderoid/Good Smile)
1 (12.5%)

Cannon Shadow (Soul Vogue)
0 (0.0%)

Oracle (Zao Workshop)
3 (37.5%)

Star Eternal (Iron Toys)
0 (0.0%)

Frame Arms W2 Spectre:RE (Kotobukiya)
0 (0.0%)



More info on each kit + links to listings/pictures )

Anyway, there's lots more conversation about non-Bandai and non-Gundam kits to be had, but here's a start. ^_^

Affordable Housing

Feb. 23rd, 2026 11:00 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
The Paperwork Problem Behind the Housing Shortage

In more and more places, the rules technically allow incremental housing. Backyard cottages, accessory dwelling units, and small infill homes are legal on paper; beautiful, glossy images of these homes are shared on city websites and included in planning documents. Yet these homes rarely get built—not because of public opposition or failed rezonings, but because routine procedures treat small homes like major developments.

What we have is not a failure of vision, but one of process.


Read more... )

I do feel sorry for the east coast

Feb. 23rd, 2026 11:37 pm
cornerofmadness: (Default)
[personal profile] cornerofmadness
That storm is a monster. I hope all my friends there are okay.

I could use some help from everyone. I'm working on something new. God know where it is going. I am curious as how it hits as an opener (not really looking for a critique per se but if you see anything stupid, confusing etc let me know. On the other hand if something is really working, I'd love to know that too) Anyhow here it is. I'd love to hear a few opinions thanks.

content warning, murder mystery, dead bodies, mutilated ones, cults and sex workers )

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