2025 week 34

26 Aug 2025 10:32 am
larissa: (FFXVI ☄ ⌈Clive ; color and crackle⌋)
[personal profile] larissa

this post is late! i only realized i hadn't done it at about 10:45pm last night, and i had raid at 11pm, so there was no time to write a post. oops.

i managed to make a little progress on fic this past week, although it's been touch and go. that said, the first 2-3 chapters have been looked over by betas and i think i can start posting soon. i think i'm going to go with a monday posting schedule since i'm usually pretty free that day... i just need to take a cover photo for posting. usually i would wait until the fic is entirely done to start posting, but this fic is SO LATE that i feel like i need to start getting it out there already...

[community profile] smallweb is hosting small web september next month, and i'm hoping to actually make a dent on some site plans. i wrote a ton of goals in july, and then i was beset by all sorts of maladies that meant i couldn't do any of them. still mulling over what exactly i'd like to accomplish, but i'm hoping to launch my ff14 fic archive for sure since it's halfway done in both content and coding.

i've still been doing maps in ff14; once again i reminded that they're only fun when you're not trying to grind out 20 clears. (i'm at 12/20... so close, and yet so far.) other than that my weekend extreme farm is going well; i really like hanging out and running the extremes with them. it's a little unusual to have a static for extremes (they're generally pick-up-group content) but i have a much easier time doing such things with a fixed group. (plus there's a certain level of — well, i know these folks, i know they can do it! so that helps.)

i think that's about it for now... hoping to do more site stuff this week, we'll see.

bogus

26 Aug 2025 07:25 am
prettygoodword: text: words are sexy (Default)
[personal profile] prettygoodword
bogus (BOH-guhs) - adj., counterfeit, fake, sham; undesirable, harmful; (computing) incorrect or broken.


Another colorful 19th century Americanism ... or is it? I understood it as originating (from entirely uncertain origin) in the 1820s in frontier journalism, meaning specifically counterfeit money, but apparently it was first used for the machines for counterfeiting coins -- and traces of that meaning in underworld slang can be found thirty years earlier. In any case, transferring bogus from the machine to its product happened soon after it appeared in an Ohio newspaper, after which it stayed in general if not common use in America. The computing sense evolved in the 1960s, and it spread worldwide as teen slang thanks to Bill and Ted's excellent usage.

---L.

Parental Payback

26 Aug 2025 01:00 pm
[syndicated profile] cakewrecks_feed

Posted by Jen

Parents, when it comes to planning your child's birthday party, prepare for a lot of whining, temper tantrums, and willful brattiness.

Plus your kids might be a pain, too.

Well, here's one way to exact a little revenge: your kids' birthday cake.

Can't sleep. Barney will eat me.

Yep, there's something about seeing their favorite lovable character transformed into a homicidal psychopath that could slightly unhinge more impressionable minds.

"To infinity! and killkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkill."

Hey, whatever doesn't make your children soil themselves in panic-stricken terror only makes them stronger, right?

"Now, don't worry, kids; Elmo's more afraid of you than you are of him!

"Billy, would you like to do the honors? Let's start with a good clean stab through Elmo's eye. Go on.

"Oh, quit crying. Birthday boys *like* eating Muppet eyes! And just look at that face! Elmo wants you to eat him!"

Ok, granted, you'll be the one paying for their therapy sessions later, but in the meantime...

Spongebob No Pants is here to say hello, kids!

Besides, sometimes there are added benefits:

I'm pretty sure your daughter will never ask for a pony again.

Thanks to wreckporters Laurie H., Stephanie L., Kevin H., Fraulein M., & Jennifer S., who think I should totally write parenting books. (Working title: Odds Are, They'll Live.)

*****

Silly Jokes For Kids: The Best Jokes, Riddles, Tongue Twisters, Knock-Knock jokes, and One liners for kids

*****

And from my other blog, Epbot:

letzan: (Default)
[personal profile] letzan

High-level stats for week of 2025-08-12 - 2025-08-18


  • Total works categorized F/F on AO3: 10562 (-271 from last week)

  • Works I classified F/F: 5909 (-330 from last week) (2634 new, 3275 continued)

  • 0.64% of all 923305 AO3 works I've classified F/F were updated this week






A few callouts this week:


  • KPop Demon Hunters levels out at 500 F/F works per week. That's quite a lot!
  • Criminal Minds returns to the chart, replacing Murder Drones
  • The Tokusatsu Femslash Prompt Meme runs from August 20th to October 31st.
  • A KPop Demon Hunter Big Bang challenge is starting up. It's for big fanworks (20k+ words) and the deadline is in early 2026. The exchange isn't F/F-specific, but as discussed there's a lot of F/F in this fandom.
  • The hAPPy birthday flash exchange revealed this week with 13 F/F works in various fandoms. The Pining For You Flash Exchange revealed with 10 F/F works.



Full top-20 table and description of methodology after the jump )
highlyeccentric: Sign: KFC, Holy Grail >>> (KFC and Holy Grail)
[personal profile] highlyeccentric
I have not had the werewithal to make link-roundups relating to either my local jurisdiction or the Global State Of Things.

If I had been regularly LinkPosting, I would nevertheless have said that if one read almost exclusively Aus content, OR one has not been keeping up with any of the global developments in this field: one could do worse than the dw_news post re Mississipi. It is, in a way which I appreciate, quite heavily tilted to the "we cannot FUNCTIONALLY do the thing you have asked" side of things.

Behold, A Link.

moar spinning

26 Aug 2025 07:59 am
yhlee: Alto clef and whole note (middle C). (Default)
[personal profile] yhlee
This one's going to an astronomer friend. I think catten is trying to figure out where the SHEEP are. :p



Earlier:



proud feet

26 Aug 2025 05:45 am
sistawendy: a butterfly in the style of a street sign (butterfly)
[personal profile] sistawendy
During the summer I wear my lightest socks under my cycling shoes when riding, naturally. These include a pair in Trans Pride colors: broad horizontal strips of light blue, then pink, white, pink, and light blue.

Twice now I've gotten positive comments on them while riding or shopping for groceries from people who didn't look trans. Speaking of grocery shopping, I've got a button that says, "Trans people are everywhere" with a Trans Pride background pinned to my messenger bag, which is what I use to carry groceries. At least at close range, everyone in my neighborhood knows I'm trans.

You could say I'm... transsoxual.


Nyuk nyuk nyuk!
quillpunk: screenshot of Isagi Yoichi from the anime Blue Lock; he is grinning. (isagi happy)
[personal profile] quillpunk posting in [community profile] booknook

Aug 26 is queer bookblast day! https://yearofqueerlit.wordpress.com/

books are .99c or free! (though of course double check before you buy)

pauraque: Guybrush writing in his journal adrift on the sea in a bumper car (monkey island adrift)
[personal profile] pauraque
Today is my birthday! Already, somehow!

On my last birthday I treated myself to talking about The Secret of Monkey Island, which is my favorite game of all time. It wasn't my intention to wait an entire year to talk about the sequel, which is also a game I have been passionate about since childhood, but here we are.

stopped by a tough guy at a bridge, the player highlights guybrush's dialogue option: I don't pay for nothin'. I'm a pirate

Guybrush's epic defeat of the Ghost Pirate LeChuck in the first game brought him fame and fortune, but what daring feats of swashbuckling has he done lately? To prove that he's not a one-hit wonder, he sets out to find the legendary lost treasure of Big Whoop, which surely must be impressive even though nobody quite knows what it is. But his quest gets more complicated when he realizes that while he may have defeated the ghost of LeChuck, the villain's body is still somewhere out there...

cut for length )

Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge (Special Edition) is on Steam and GOG for $9.99 USD.

Will it take me another year to review the third game? Do I even realize that at this rate I won't be replaying Return until 2029? Will there be yet another surprise new entry in the series by then? Stay tuned to find out!

=^-^=

26 Aug 2025 07:52 am
marcicat: (badger roses)
[personal profile] marcicat
I dreamed about kittens last night, and it was genuinely delightful. In the way of dreams, there wasn't much consistent context -- at first there was one kitten, and then three, and then maybe five? Some were orange kittens, and one was definitely some variety of tuxedo cat, and they were all SO CUTE. In an unusual twist for me, I wasn't even stressed out about the health and safety of the kittens! They were pretty clearly doing their own thing and totally fine. The point is, I got to snuggle a kitten in a dream last night and it was great.

Woke dancing?

26 Aug 2025 07:46 am
malada: Canadian flag text I stand with Canada (Default)
[personal profile] malada
Via NY Times:

"The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts named Stephen Nakagawa, a former dancer with the Washington Ballet, as its director of dance programming on Monday, shortly after firing the department’s previous leader and declaring that its programming would be moving in a new direction."

"Mr. Nakagawa had written a letter.... in which he noted his support for the Trump administration and complained about “radical leftist ideologies in ballet,”" "

Hubba what?

"Mr. Grenell had urged them to come up with programming that was more “broadly appealing,” providing as an example the TV show “So You Think You Can Dance.”"

Hmmm, so it won't be all goose stepping, polkas and waltzes? In tRump's next move, the symphony orchestra will be replaced by Kid Rock and an Oompa band.

Family resemblance

26 Aug 2025 07:19 am
malada: Canadian flag text I stand with Canada (Default)
[personal profile] malada
I got a call that my younger brother was in the hospital so I left work early and trotted down to see him. When I walked into his room I got a shock at the stranger in the bed. I haven't seen my brother in almost a year and he's been treated for cancer - now in remission - and was presently in to have two more stents put in him. He was heavier, paler and completely bald. It took me a moment to realize he was the splitting image of my Uncle Frank who was always bald.

I never saw any family resemblance in my younger brother until that point. It was remarkable. I look like my mom, my older brother is like my dad but my younger brother? I puzzled for years where in the family tree he came from.

He's recovering and going home today. My older brother showed up after a time and we all yucked it up for about an hour and a half. So, I guess all is well for the moemnt.

Plymouth

26 Aug 2025 12:26 pm
cmcmck: (Default)
[personal profile] cmcmck
We've travelled through Plymouth many a time and changed trains at the station but we've never actually spent time taking a look at the city.

It was well worth the time to do so.

We explored the old seaport area, the Barbican and also the Hoe.

There is one heck of a lot of history to the place.

The Dolphin hotel is a pub with a very fine frontage:


More pics: )
mific: (RWRB)
[personal profile] mific posting in [community profile] fanart_recs
Fandom: Red White and Royal Blue (RWRB)
Characters/Pairing/Other Subject: Henry/Alex & David the dog
Content Notes/Warnings: none
Medium: digital art
Artist on DW/LJ: n/a
Artist Website/Gallery: artbyflor on tumblr
Why this piece is awesome: A charming view of the boys on the sofa having an afternoon nap. I love the details and the warm colour palette.
Link: Domestic first prince
spikedluv: (summer: sunflowers by candi)
[personal profile] spikedluv
I hit Walmart while I was downtown and got in a walk around the park. I hit Stewart’s (for milk, finally) on the way home.

I did two loads of laundry (both washed, dried AND folded), hand-washed dishes and emptied the dishwasher, went on a couple of walks with Pip and the dogs, cut up chicken for the dogs' meals, placed a couple of online orders, scooped kitty litter, and shaved.

Pip finished up the bbq chicken quarters for supper (I haven’t cooked a new meal all weekend! I love it!). And there are still enough leftovers for him to take to the garage tomorrow.

Pip had to release the dogs to save Smokey from a buck! Smokey was out hunting at the edge of our lawn/where the high grass in the field begins. Two deer were heading up to the bird feeder through the high grass. The buck realized there was ~something there and turned to check it out/stomp it to death. I called out the window to Smokey, but he just turned to look at me PUTTING HIS BACK TO THE DANGER. What a hunter. *shakes head* So the dogs chased the deer away and Smokey was saved, but he probably had no idea what the deal was.

I finally finished Hatshepsut and watched some HGTV programs. And I handwrote ~800 words on a new fic! I’m hoping that it will be my entry for [community profile] smallfandombang. If you guessed, based on the fact that I recently re-watched the movie (to take notes) that it’s in the Olympus Has Fallen fandom, you’d be right!

Temps started out at 60.4(F) and reached 81.3. It was only supposed to be 70 today! Needless to say, I changed my morning capris for shorts when I got home from downtown. We got a teeny bit of rain later on, but not much.

ETA: I forgot to say, Thank You to [personal profile] kat_lair for my birthday fic! It's Primeval (Nick/Stephen) and you can read it here: Celebrate Tonight by MistressKat


Mom Update:

Mom was doing about the same today. more back here )
badly_knitted: (Dee & Ryo black & white)
[personal profile] badly_knitted posting in [community profile] fan_flashworks

Title: The Interview
Fandom: FAKE
Author: [personal profile] badly_knitted
Characters: Ryo, OC, Bikky.
Rating: PG
Setting: After Like Like Love.
Summary: A reporter interviews Ryo about his son.
Word Count: 250
Content Notes: None needed.
Written For: Challenge 489: Amnesty 81, using Challenge 457: Credit.
Disclaimer: I don’t own FAKE, or the characters. They belong to the wonderful Sanami Matoh.
A/N: Double drabble and a half, 250 words.




Retail Mocking

26 Aug 2025 05:59 am
cvirtue: CV in front of museum (Default)
[personal profile] cvirtue

When I take Grup-P to the stores, we often indulge in what we call Retail Mocking: ridiculous things for sale. This time some of the things we saw were merely interesting.

[image: image.png]

new garment from old saree

26 Aug 2025 05:58 am
cvirtue: CV in front of museum (Default)
[personal profile] cvirtue

This has large, smartphone-capable internal patch pockets.

[image: image.png]

cvirtue: (Swive!)
[personal profile] cvirtue
"As of September 1, we will temporarily be forced to block access to Dreamwidth from all IP addresses that geolocate to Mississippi for legal reasons. This block will need to continue until we either win the legal case entirely, or the district court issues another injunction preventing Mississippi from enforcing their social media age verification and parental consent law against us."

26 Aug 2025 07:36 am
[syndicated profile] farsidecomics_feed

Through patience and training, Professor Carmichael believed he was one of the few scientists who could freely visit the dangerous Wakendas.
yui_miyamoto: (Default)
[personal profile] yui_miyamoto posting in [community profile] anime_manga
Fandom : Yowamushi Pedal / 弱虫ペダル
Author : Yui_Miyamoto
Story Title : my Sleeping Beauty.
Rating : PG -13
Genre(s) : Romance, Humor
Main Character(s) : Makishima Yuusuke, Toudou Jinpachi
Summary : Before he going abroad, Makishima visits Toujou.
Warning(s) : M/M.
Disclaimer : This title is owned by Watanabe Wataru-sensei. I’m just here because of all the cuteness. And the fact that Yamashita Daiki’s rendition of Love Hime lives rent free in my head.

Livejournal / Fanfiction.net / AO3

Spy X Family: Code White

26 Aug 2025 01:59 am
fennectik: Anime (Anime)
[personal profile] fennectik posting in [community profile] anime_manga
Been watching the Anime movie Spy X Family: Code White and its quite fun. I really wish that I could watch new episodes of it. Characters are highly entertaining. Well, most. There's this character called Agent Nightfall who like Becky Blackbell, has an unhealthy crush on Loyd Forger. However she's a bit more annoying about it than little Becky bothered to be. Still, there's plenty of laughs and action with a dash of feel good moments and I can't quit it.

I just hope next time Anya sees a suspicious piece of candy in a box she refrains from eating it.

ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
This is an advance announcement for the Tuesday, September 2, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl. This time the theme will be "communication styles." I'll be soliciting ideas for journalists, writers, radio hosts, counselors, linguists, leaders, public speakers, explorers, traders, diplomats, negotiators and mediators, partners, housemates, siblings, parents, teachers, clergy, superheroes, supervillains, teammates, alien or fantasy species, failure analysts, ethicists, activists, rebels, other people who deal in communication, writing, speaking, translating, parenting, teaching, adventuring, negotiating, mediating, leaving your comfort zone, discovering things, giving instructions, troubleshooting, improvising, adapting, cleaning up messes, cooperating, bartering, taking over in an emergency, saving the day, discovering yourself, studying others, testing boundaries, coming of age, learning what you can (and can't) do, sharing, preparing for the worst, expecting the unexpected, fixing what's broke, upsetting the status quo, changing the world, accomplishing the impossible, recovering from setbacks, returning home, newspaper offices, writer nooks, radio stations, counseling centers, trading posts, classrooms, schools, churches, sharehouses, campfires, coffeehouses, bookstores, supervillain lairs, makerspaces, nonhuman accommodations and adaptations, farmer's markets, starships, alien planets, magical lands, foreign dimensions, other places where communication happens, momentious conversations, mysterious manuscripts, confusing transmissions, negotiations, lectures, romantic complications, sudden surprises, travel mishaps, the buck stops here, trial and error, intercultural entanglements, asking for help and getting it, enemies to friends/lovers, interdimensional travel, Get a Life Program, 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:

An Army of One is developing its own neurovariant culture with unique communication quirks.

The Bear Tunnels introduces modern principles to people in the past, including literacy.

The Blueshift Troupers travel to different planets solving problems.

A Conflagration of Dragons has the Six Races (plus the dragons) who all have different cultures, making it challenging for refugees to communicate with each other.

The Daughters of the Apocalypse has people trying to find enough resources to survive, with a distinct split between Before and After dialects.

Eloquent Souls presents a setting where soulmarks are common, leading to many odd expressions as people try to make their Words distinctive.

Frankenstein's Family features two scientists running a valley in historic Romania, along with a pack of werewolves, a couple of vampires, and a mummy.

Hart's Farm is a free love community with lots of interesting relationships and ways to communicate.

Monster House is suburban fantasy with a diverse household.

Not Quite Kansas includes an awkard trio of a college student, a former cop, and their demon who often encounter challenges with communication.

One God's Story of Mid-Life Crisis follows Shaeth as he works on becoming the God of Drunks, with a surprising amount of heartfelt conversations.

Path of the Paladins involves a lot of communication between humans but also deities.

Peculiar Obligations features Quakers and pirates trying to get along.

Polychrome Heroics has ordinary humans, supernaries, blue-plate specials, superheroes, supervillains, primal and animal soups all trying to get along and figure out how to make a functional society.

Quixotic Ideas has a more positive world with integrated magic, where people usually manage to solve problems with communication rather than violence.

Schrodinger's Heroes is about saving the world from alternate dimensions. The group is very diverse in background and communication styles.

Or you can ask for something new.

Linkbacks will 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! )

Daily Happiness

25 Aug 2025 10:58 pm
torachan: (Default)
[personal profile] torachan
1. Got my hair cut this morning.

2. I just remembered next Monday is Labor Day, so I've got a three day weekend coming up! And Carla has a very early doctor's appointment that Tuesday at a location that's not super far but also not really close, so I offered to drive her, and was at first thinking I'd just go to work after that, but then decided to put in a sick day request for that day and just take the day off, so I've now got a four day weekend. :D

3. Molly has been really into my chair lately.

Return of the Solar Saga

25 Aug 2025 10:37 pm
hrj: (Default)
[personal profile] hrj
This morning's inspection was by the solar company's QA guy, checking on whether the installation folks had done the job properly. He was my favorite type of engineer: someone who loves explaining what he's doing and why. He found a couple things that needed improvement (mostly tightening connections) and one item they overlooked that needs installing (a more obviously robust grounding set-up -- he said it's quite possible that I already have a sufficiently robust set-up somewhere under the foundation, but it's required to be somewhere that an inspector can actually see and confirm it, so they'll install one).

Still no word from my electrician about retrospectively pulling a permit for the panel work, so I need to ping him. But nothing else is going to move forward until I get back from New Zealand in any case.

Despite all the chaos around the various inspections, I'm being favorably impressed by the attention to detail and layers of checks that are part of the installation process. Also impressed that the solar company's attitude is "Since we touched the system last, it's our responsibility to make sure everything will pass code."
sovay: (Morell: quizzical)
[personal profile] sovay
The swallows have returned to Capistrano: last night there were three student parties on our street alone and a fourth around the corner. We are waiting to see if this weekend will bring a new installment of upstairs neighbors.

I opened the refrigerator door and the Brita pitcher fell off its shelf and disintegrated itself in several gallons across the hardwood, so the first thing I did within two minutes of getting up was essentially wash the kitchen floor. I spent the afternoon drying a load of towels and drinking cans of seltzer.

It jarred out of my head too much of the dream I had just woken up from, the slippage of a kitchen sink drama written by a less commonly revived playwright than Shelagh Delaney: a teenage girl and her father who was just about the same age when she was born and still has such a fecklessly fox-boned, adolescent look himself, the two of them as they knock about town, him getting into more fights than holding down jobs, always telling the secret histories of their city which sound half like industrial legend and half like he just made them up, are more often mistaken for a couple than his actual girlfriend with whom he seems to interact most in the form of sincerely less successful apologies. They are clearly each other's half of a double star, a nearly closed system without jealousy, only the exhilaratingly irresponsible habit of dodging the adult world as if it were the two of them against it. It is unsensationally apparent to the audience long before it would cross any other character's mind that in addition to his total improvisation of parenting, he is doing his damnedest not to pass on the next generation of his own implicitly incestuous abuse, which does him credit and gives him little help in figuring out how to support his daughter through a transition he never quite managed himself. Toward the end, it started to flicker between stage sets and the plain world, between rehearsals and history. "I won't meet you," I had to tell the actor, standing in between scenes outside the year of the original production, the same fragile shoulders and thistle-blond hair of his photographs in the role: he would be dead decades before I heard of the play, much less managed to track a copy down. I could tell him that his children had gone into the arts. Onstage she was outgrowing his frozen boyishness and if he could catch up to her, he would still have to let her go.

[personal profile] asakiyume linked Residente's "This is Not America (feat. Ibeyi)" (2022) and it made me think of Elizma's "Modern Life" (2025), both of which should come with content warnings for current events.

I have discovered that BBC Sounds became region-locked about a month ago, which means that one of my major sources for randomly discoverable audio drama seems to have spiraled down the drain. I am completely indifferent to podcasts. I am a simple person and just wanted to listen again to Lieutenant Commander Thomas Woodrooffe being just as lit up as the fleet.
twistedchick: watercolor painting of coffee cup on wood table (Default)
[personal profile] twistedchick
No, nobody died.

My elderly aunt -- who is the youngest and only remaining member of my father's generation, his little sister -- said something in an email that indicated that she, treasured and pampered last child, did not know the full story about her father's travels around the world. I grew up hearing stories of Grampa's travels from Dad and from his brother; I know all the details about what it was like to sail in a four-masted barque from Bremen to Cape Town to Sydney through the Straits of Magellan (in winter!) to Rio de Janiero to Genoa, a two-year voyage.

She took my offer as an insult; of course she'd been told everything (her version was "Nobody can know what happened."). And called me a liar, and worse. She said I was making it all up, or Dad had invented it, because nobody who wasn't there could know. (This is the woman who had a free ride to Purdue but dropped out after 1 semester because she couldn't be that far away from her mother. She has no idea about studying anything, let alone history, or about research. I'm amazed she got out of high school.)

I let out some of the head of steam this built in me (that has always been the worst insult for me, as a writer and journalist). Then I told her I was not a liar, nor did I invent family history. All that I knew had been verified not only by my father but by one of his brothers, and was truth. It was known, just not to her. All the family stories were softened when they were told to the baby of the family.

And just as I wasn't around in the 30s, she wasn't around at the turn of the century when Grandpa was on that trip.

She had also called me by my birth name, which is now an insult in the world; who wants to be a Karen these days? I told her my name has been Kit for more than 50 years, and signed the note that way.

I have never been one of her cherished nieces; they got all the attention long before I was born, and by the time I came around she had no room for anyone else.

So, if I am lucky, she will no longer leave snarky notes in my FB comment if I mention family history on that side of the family. She cannot put me 'in my place' as she sees it; I am far and away out of her range.

It is more of a relief than anything else, the thought that I probably will not have to deal with her. And, as I said in the header, I still have a cousin on that side of the family whom I get along with well, and several on the other side. None of them within 400 miles or so, but that's how it goes.

I do miss the departed members of that generation, that family, ones who accepted me as I am, who listened and to whom I listened, and who I know loved me. They're gone, but never forgotten.

Insomnia

25 Aug 2025 09:33 pm
[personal profile] cosmolinguist

Hardly slept again last night.

Went for a bike ride and a couple of pints with D this evening so I am actually feeling tired now for the first time in many days.

Really hoping this means I'll sleep. Gotta actually go to work tomorrow, and I have obligations after work too so it'll be a long day if I'm as brainfoggy and exhausted as I was today or especially Saturday.

It was a lovely day: perfect weather. Really glad I got to be outside: we went to the garden center this afternoon too; spring bulbs are in and V wasn't able to get any last year so I'm glad they did this year. We also got tea and really tasty cake as they were having a pop-up cafe fundraiser.

BISQC, day 1

25 Aug 2025 09:11 pm
calimac: (Haydn)
[personal profile] calimac
It's time for the triennial Banff International String Quartet Competition, and I am not there in the Canadian Rockies, I'm at home watching/listening to the concerts on livestream.

For today's concerts, four of the competing quartets played one Joseph Haydn quartet and one work from the 21st century - it's a quarter-over now, there's enough music to choose from. Each work was of the group's choice. Tomorrow, the other five groups will have their chance.

What's great about listening to Haydn at Banff is that all the groups are good, but for different definitions of what's good. They all had distinctive styles. I was particularly impressed by the Quatuor Elmire in Op. 76/5. It was an old-fashioned performance, but sumptuously beautiful, especially the slow movement. Those tend to be the dull spots in Haydn performances, but here it was the highlight for elegance. The minuet also, courtly and graceful, and the rest of the same caliber.

But the best was probably the Nerida Quartet in Op. 54/2. They were the ones who found the wit and joy in Haydn, bouncing it along in a lively manner. Their slow movement was of organ-like sonorities behind first violin Jeffrey Armstrong presenting some spectacular displays. The Neridas looked like they were enjoying themselves, too, which is not an insignificant contribution to the whole, especially those lively facial expressions on second violinist Saskia Niehl.

The Viatores Quartet had a light and airy approach, particularly unusual since their work, Op. 33/1, is in a minor key. Except for the fast part of the finale, where they alternated between that style and a darker and grittier one. The Quartett HANA played Op. 74/1 in a more modern, rougher style, but they came first and I missed that part of the livestream, only watching it later on repeat, and by that time I was getting tired, so I didn't really absorb it.

The Elmire, who are French, chose a French composition for their 21C piece, the Fifth Quartet of Pascal Dusapin. I don't know his work, but it seemed to me that they brought the same sweet and gentle approach, rather against the grain of the music. This microtonal and rather querulous work was worth hearing once, but not twice. The HANA, on the same concert, also played it, but I skipped out on their rendition.

Nerida won my favor by playing Caroline Shaw's Entr'acte. I've heard this before, and Shaw is one of my favorite living composers. This performance seemed to me to emphasize the minimalist roots, with violist Grace Leehan sawing away in a Philip Glass style while the rest played holding chord sequences.

But the Viatores dismayed me with Jörg Widmann's Hunting Quartet. I'd heard this at BISQC once before, nine years ago when I was there in person. I thought this parody of 18C music consisting of making the instruments play very badly was a worthless piece of merde the first time, and my opinion hasn't gone up much. Widmann is not always a bad composer: it's just that he likes to follow entirely different compositional procedures on successive pieces, and this one didn't work.

I'm excited with what's in store for tomorrow.
sonia: Quilted wall-hanging (Default)
[personal profile] sonia posting in [community profile] gluten_free
I decided to make the Coconut and Peach Mochi recipe that I posted 4 (!) years ago. It was kind of a disaster, so I thought I'd give you folks an update. Still tasty though, so I recommend the recipe.

First mistake: The filling uses a packet of gelatin. What I have in the house is collagen, which is what gelatin is made from. I did a little internet research and it says collagen won't make things gel (but "AI" confabulations are everywhere). I decided to try it, since I clearly remember using a different brand of collagen as a successful substitute in the past. I cooked up the filling the night before. The next morning, it *looked* like it gelled, but no, in this case the internet was right.

Second mistake: I decided to make the mochi anyway, with ungelled filling. Like sweet dumplings maybe? The nectarines + apricot jam were still yummy, gelled or not.

I made the dough, and it was immensely sticky. I think this might be how it's supposed to be, but I commented last time that it wasn't so sticky. This time I put in the full amount of sugar, maybe last time I cut back, as I often do. Or, this time I used brown sugar (because that's what I have in the house) so maybe that made the difference.

I did my best to stir it for five minutes as instructed, but the bowl was hot from the microwave, the potholder I was using to hold it was getting sticky dough on it, and it was more of mushing it around with a wooden spurtle than actually stirring it. I did follow instructions to powder the surface, with tapioca starch in my case, so I successfully made a log from the dough

It was so sticky that when I used a sharp knife to cut it into slices, they immediately glommed back together as if they'd never been cut if they were still touching.

I could take a slice and flatten it out, but of course I couldn't put much liquidy filling in there before it squished out again. They ended up more like kolachky, open at the top. They were sticky enough to coat with coconut flakes this time!

The cleanup was epic, with sticky dough everywhere. It took a lot of scrubbing to get it out of that bowl, especially since I used one with curved-in sides.

Overall, still yummy, but I highly recommend using actual gelatin. And maybe a different kind of sugar? But I think the super-stickiness is by design.

If you try it, let me know if you're more successful!

More spoons!

25 Aug 2025 08:43 pm
sonia: Quilted wall-hanging (Default)
[personal profile] sonia
Long ago and just up the hill, I went to an estate sale for someone I wish I had known while she was alive. Her shoes fit me. Her pants fit me. I got a great silverware set I'm still using to supplement the set of 8 each that weren't quite enough.

Her set had 16 each of knives, forks, and tea spoons. I didn't need that many, so I stashed away 8 of each, wrapped up in a piece of fabric, deep in the back of a cabinet. Recently, I was drinking enough tea with honey that I was running out of spoons between dishwasher runs.

Yes, I could and did hand-wash spoons, but where were the backup spoons? I could clearly visualize them in the back of a cabinet - in Portland. Had I gotten rid of them? I looked through all the kitchen cabinets I have now, and didn't see them. I must have passed them along when I got rid of so much stuff before moving.

I did some internet research to see if I could buy some matching spoons, but didn't see anything I wanted to order. Back to hand-washing.

Yesterday, I was looking deep in a kitchen cabinet for a container - and there was the fabric-wrapped bundle of backup silverware. Behold the extra spoons! Now that it's summer I'm not drinking as much tea, but it's good to know the whole set made the move with me. And maybe it will give me more spoons (in the spoonie sense).

A while ago I was looking everywhere for the small black folding umbrella that I use about once every 3 years. (I'm a hooded jacket kinda gal. Umbrellas don't work with bikes.) I dug through various drawers full of outdoor stuff and backpacks, looked everywhere it should and shouldn't be, and didn't turn it up. I guess I got rid of it? I liked it, though. A rarely used umbrella should be tiny and unobtrusive. I finally bought another small-ish black folding umbrella and put it where the first one should have been, in the bin of hats and scarves.

Today I got out a backpack I hadn't used in a while. It felt oddly heavy, so I felt around in its depths. Oh! The umbrella! Completely hidden down there. I put it with the other one in the hat bin. Maybe I'll have a guest who needs to borrow an umbrella someday.

At least I hadn't replaced the spoons. So far, past me didn't get rid of anything I really regret. I've always been good at remembering where things are, but I did lose track of some things in the big move.

Deuteronomy: Parashath Devarim.

25 Aug 2025 08:44 pm
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[personal profile] asher553
05 - Deuteronomy - 01 - Devarim

PARASHAH: Deuteronomy 1:1–3:22

Moses, nearing the end of his life and knowing he will never enter the Promised Land, addresses the Israelite nation.

ALIYAH 1 [1:1-11]

The lengthy opening passage of Deuteronomy seems to locate Moses' final address precisely in space and time. But, like the four rivers of Eden, the identity and location of many of the geographic markers are unknown to us today. And (as with the rivers of Eden) some commentators believe the names are to be interpreted allegorically.

In 1:9 - 11, Moses declares that "I cannot bear you alone [because] God has made you great. Behold, you are today as numerous as the stars of heaven. May God, God of your forefathers, add to you a thousand times as many as you are!" The great number of the Israelites is both a blessing and a burden, because, being numerous, they are difficult to govern. A large nation requires structures of government.

ALIYAH 2 [1:12-21]

Moses recalls the appointment of judges to administer the laws of the Torah. He then recalls the approach to the Holy Land, and the decision to send out spies to reconnoiter the land.

ALIYAH 3 [1:22-38]

The tale of the spies as told here differs somewhat from the version in Numbers. "There [in Numbers ch. 13 - 14], the sending out of the scouts was an order from God. Here, it is strictly the people's idea."

Also, this version makes no mention of the negative aspects of the spies' report as recounted in Numbers. Rather, in Moses' telling, "you did not want to go up, and you rebelled against the word of the Lord your God." [1:26]

ALIYAH 4 [1:39 - 2:1]

Upon learning of their punishment - that their generation would be banned from entering the Land of Israel - some people decided that they really wanted to go after all, and, in fact, were determined to enter the Holy Land now that it was off limits. They did, and were promptly routed by the Amorites.

The thing that gets me about this episode is that it's just so human. "We don't want to go into the Land of Israel!" "Okay fine, you can wander around the desert for 40 years then." "Wait wait wait! We're sorry! We really want to go!" "Too late." "No really, we're going and You can't stop us!" WHOMP.

ALIYAH 5

Now 38 years have elapsed, and the Israelites are ready to enter the Holy Land. They are warned to avoid confrontation with Seir (Edom), Moab, and Ammon.

ALIYAH 6

South of the Jabbok River, Sichon, which had refused safe passage to the Israelites, is conquered. Gilead and Bashan (kingdom of the defeated giant Og), around the Yarmuk River, are given to Menasseh.

ALIYAH 7

Reuben, Gad, and Menasseh are to cross the Jordan to do battle together with their brethren, before returning to their own lands east of the Jordan. Moses reminds Joshua of the victories against Sichon and Og, and to be courageous in the battles to come. [513]

They're Gonna Need 'Em

25 Aug 2025 01:00 pm
[syndicated profile] cakewrecks_feed

Posted by Jen

Ask where the second "e" went all you want; *I* want to know what's in that icing.

[shudder]

Sorry, Ash, you only get one.

Aw, this is my fav "favewell" cake ever. It's the bes!

I'm a little unclear on the message here. Is it:

"Best wishes! Here's a pile of crap! With plastic! And curly ribbon!"

Yes? No? Am I close?

Ok, so in the Ghostbusters video game (oh, c'mon, you knew I was a nerd) there's this cursed clock that claims to show the exact time of death for anyone who looks at it. Creepy, right?

Well, guess what came to mind when I saw this cake?

You think this Wreckerator knows something about Beck Y's future - say, around 10 PM - that we don't? I mean, she filled in everything else from "play with gran kids" to "gardaning," so that lone blank spot is looking pretty dang ominous, if you ask me.

In fact, maybe the baker should just get right to the point:


Or:

Buuuuuh...

Buhbye.


Thanks to W.C., Ashley B., April C., Ginny B., Heather J., Betsy U., & Jennifer H. for all the fell wishes.

*****

And from my other blog, Epbot:

bay_alexison: (Will turn back time until I get it right)
[personal profile] bay_alexison posting in [community profile] videogamefanworks
Title: Everlasting, My Darling
Fandom: Unicorn Overlord
Wordcount: 12K
Characters/Relationships: Alcina/Gerard, Ilenia, Yahna, Alain
Rating/Warnings: Mature, some sexual content, major character death
Summary: King Gerard and Court Sorceress Alcina go on a tour of the kingdom of Cornia together. As friends at first, but soon fall in love with each other. Their fairytale romance doomed from the start.

Notes: Hello, there! A friend of mine recommended this community, and thought I would check it out! I recently revised a Unicorn Overlord fic, and thought I might promote it here! I'm also considering promoting more of my videogame fanworks here, both new and old!

The fic is completed with three chapters, if you're into Unicorn Overlord, forbidden and tragic romances with a hopeful ending, give this a try!

On AO3
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[personal profile] cornerofmadness
My knee did not. We'll have a celebration of life for it over the labor day weekend. requiescat in pace right knee.

The students seemed to not be too bored with the utterly boring reading of the syllabus (I need the math prof's t-shirt. It's IN the syllabus!) I have athletes from everywhere including Samoa (not gonna be able to pronounce his name unless he writes it out for me phonetically. It's something I've not seen before).

One of our new hires is...confusing to me. She's taking on stuff we could get a masters or H.S. teacher to do (and only don't because of the time of the classes), coming here from the east coast to teach non major chem and human a and P (which she's not had) I like her. I'm helping her. I wish I could ask WHY do this? Her degree is in marine bio. She came to us with almost 40 turtles/tortoises. It's cool. I like watching them. The tortoises are piggish about their lettuce. But it's such a low paying job...(though given how academia is going it might be her first or second teaching job as she tries to find someplace with her actual field of study

At some point in the middle of the night it occurs to me I don't know where my check book is. I didn't remember seeing it as I unpacked. Well all I have left to unpack is my story stuff but it could be mixed in there. If not there, maybe it fell behind my dresser at home. I know I brought it here in June because it was the last week and I needed to write checks for storage and rent. It wasn't in the story stuff and I was ready to call mom to have her look behind the dresser when I see it.

It's under my computer monitor where I left it in June. THIS is the shit that has me worried about my brain. It's not that I forgot the check book here. Anyone could do that. It's that I DID NOT even realize it. That I did NOT pay my rent in fucking August. That is worrisome.

Also worrisome is why did my landlord NOT text to tell me. They did last time (when they accidentally put it in with their other business) I couldn't see my contact for my landlord in my phone. I knock on a neighbor's door. By the time she answers I find it and text him (no response) and my neighbor says they take the checks in at the end of the month (Huh?!?) Anyhow I texted him to say it 'must have gotten lost in the mail, want me to send you it all in one check for this month and September' (not going to say my dumb ass FORGOT I didn't send it in OMFG)




it's music Monday. Feel free to share with us. We're doing the alphabet and we're up to W. I'm only sharing the last 5 years but you can share whatever W songs you'd like.

Whee for W )
lb_lee: A clay sculpture of a heart, with a black interior containing little red, brown, white, green, and blue figures. (plural)
[personal profile] lb_lee
[personal profile] sobqjmv_sphinx expanded on my research and proved it was used by multiples before DesperateFans! Check it out! https://sobqjmv-sphinx.dreamwidth.org/5620.html

We’ve updated our own post adding this note.

Book review: The West Passage

25 Aug 2025 05:44 pm
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[personal profile] rocky41_7 posting in [community profile] booknook

Title: The West Passage
Author: Jared Pachacek
Genre: Fantasy

Today I finished The West Passage by Jared Pachacek. This is a fantasy novel about a massive palace that encompasses the entirety of the state where the protagonists live and is ruled over by the godlike and somewhat tyrannical Ladies. The ancient Beast, the enemy of the Ladies, is threatening to rise again, as it has done in the past, which leaves our protagonists, Pell and Kew, youths of the Grey Tower, to try to raise the alarm.

I’m usually a fan of stories that throw you right into things, but The West Passage did leave me turned around for a while. I struggled to conceptualize what was being explained, and it’s definitely a book that asks a lot of your powers of visual imagination regarding the palace.

However, I loved the general creativity of this book. I don’t think I’ve ever read a fantasy novel so firmly and intentionally grounded in the medieval. A lot of Western fantasy is generically medieval/pseudo-medieval (a la the Ren Faire), but The West Passage clearly took time to more securely set itself in this era. The technology is not always strictly medieval, as this is a fantasy world with all manner of fantastical beasts and tools, but the medieval setting is far more than window dressing here. To cap off the mood, the book is peppered with charming medieval-style illustrations at the start of each chapter and separating each “book” within the novel, showing our protagonists on their adventure.
 

Read more... )

 

drabblewriter: (Epic - Troy Saga)
[personal profile] drabblewriter posting in [community profile] 100words
Title: Strange Mirror
Fandom: Song of Achilles/The Iliad
Characters/Ship: Patroclus/Achilles
Rating: PG

Read more... )

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