Music Saturday
Jun. 14th, 2025 09:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
muccamukkSurprisingly sapphic for Raye (who usually sings about relationships with men, but maybe she's bi?). I guess she was at World Pride? Hmm...
muccamukkSurprisingly sapphic for Raye (who usually sings about relationships with men, but maybe she's bi?). I guess she was at World Pride? Hmm...
The Devil's Plan (& The Genius)
Jun. 15th, 2025 10:07 amscaramoucheWhile casually browsing Netflix for something that could be playable out in the open while repairmen go around the house, I saw a Korean reality/game show The Devil's Plan. I clicked it and after a while went huh, the game vibes are similar to The Genius, which I very much enjoyed a few years ago. So I looked it up and oh, there's a creative team overlap, that makes sense!
So The Devil's Plan, although it opens melodramatically, it is almost the same format as The Genius in that there's complicated board-type games to play, and there is an accumulative currency ("pieces" in TDP, garnets in The Genius) gained through games that confers survival and other benefits in the long term. But the major difference between the two is that The Genius was played one day a week over multiple weeks, while The Devil's Plan is played continuously over a week while the players live together in the set over that time Big Brother style.
I wonder if what happened is that the makers of The Genius got the idea from seeing how some of the players (primarily season 2 onwards, is my impression) organically met up for dinner after recording sessions, where they socialised without game stress, analysed the games they just played, and worked out feelings that might have accumulated on-camera. I think I remember some of the players mentioning that some production staff joined them for those dinners as well, and from there maybe someone got the idea that these off-game sessions could be part of the show itself. Plus the shorter timeline really amps up the intensity of the game relationships and does not give the players true breaks to recover regular headspace.
I think it's really interesting that TDP season 1 isn't as cutthroat intense the way I remember season 2 and 3 of The Genius being, which you'd assume it would be considering that all the players MUST have watched The Genius and other similar shows beforehand. It might be the choice of the players themselves, but the show format itself has two games a day, where one game match has the players competing against each other, and another game that they have to win collectively, and the teamwork of that second game counters negative feelings that might have come out from the regular match. I liked that, I thought it was very clever! I also wonder if the living-in format also reduces drama since players have to spend ALL their time with each other, and Korean social community rules guide them into working out peaceable solutions.
( Cut for The Devil's Plan season 1 winner spoilers. )
So The Devil's Plan, although it opens melodramatically, it is almost the same format as The Genius in that there's complicated board-type games to play, and there is an accumulative currency ("pieces" in TDP, garnets in The Genius) gained through games that confers survival and other benefits in the long term. But the major difference between the two is that The Genius was played one day a week over multiple weeks, while The Devil's Plan is played continuously over a week while the players live together in the set over that time Big Brother style.
I wonder if what happened is that the makers of The Genius got the idea from seeing how some of the players (primarily season 2 onwards, is my impression) organically met up for dinner after recording sessions, where they socialised without game stress, analysed the games they just played, and worked out feelings that might have accumulated on-camera. I think I remember some of the players mentioning that some production staff joined them for those dinners as well, and from there maybe someone got the idea that these off-game sessions could be part of the show itself. Plus the shorter timeline really amps up the intensity of the game relationships and does not give the players true breaks to recover regular headspace.
I think it's really interesting that TDP season 1 isn't as cutthroat intense the way I remember season 2 and 3 of The Genius being, which you'd assume it would be considering that all the players MUST have watched The Genius and other similar shows beforehand. It might be the choice of the players themselves, but the show format itself has two games a day, where one game match has the players competing against each other, and another game that they have to win collectively, and the teamwork of that second game counters negative feelings that might have come out from the regular match. I liked that, I thought it was very clever! I also wonder if the living-in format also reduces drama since players have to spend ALL their time with each other, and Korean social community rules guide them into working out peaceable solutions.
( Cut for The Devil's Plan season 1 winner spoilers. )
say hello to Indiana
Jun. 14th, 2025 08:28 pmlizardjay posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
common_natureAt the end of last month I visited Indiana for a week, and in that time went on FOUR hikes. There are too many pictures to put here so I'm posting a link to my ~150 picture album: My sister and I are both very into taking pictures so the hikes were very slow :D but I think it really helps in remembering that there's something interesting to see in pretty much every square inch of the outdoors. There is always a bug, or a fungal disease on a leaf, or a shiny drop of water.
The Album
We visited, in order:
The pictures feature:
For the most part the locations are broken up by a couple non-nature photos, except for Southwestway Park (which begins at the photo of the yellow spider in the web). Once you get to the art museum pictures there's no more nature, unless you count the clouds outside the plane window.
The Album
We visited, in order:
- Ritchie Woods Nature Preserve
- Summit Lake State Park
- Shades State Park/Pine Hills Nature Preserve
- Southwestway Park
The pictures feature:
- many, many insects
- a stately gentleman frog, who very kindly let me get within an inch of him
- snails
- two snakes
- cool looking plants/fungi
- general landscapes
For the most part the locations are broken up by a couple non-nature photos, except for Southwestway Park (which begins at the photo of the yellow spider in the web). Once you get to the art museum pictures there's no more nature, unless you count the clouds outside the plane window.
two some good things
Jun. 14th, 2025 11:59 pmkaberettItem the first: I have no idea what the hell made the ominous donk-slither-donk noise in the portaloo at about midnight last night, but the phone I'd convinced myself it was was in a neat little pile with my laptop, in the tent, in the morning -- after I'd spent some time being sad about inadequate backups of photos of tiny sleepy rhinos -- which was an enormous relief (though I am also very pleased with myself for how well I handled things). (Especially given that my conviction that this was what had happened was in part based on being as aware as I could be of how abruptly my cognitive function had deteriorated with Surprise Unscheduled Migraine Onset.) (Still haven't worked out what on earth the donk-slither-donk was, but it's none of the obvious Truly Upsetting things to have lost, so I'm Currently Fine With This.)
Item the second: it is hot. This field contains lots of chamomile, and also lots of people. I am really enjoying the way it smells.
Item the third: I am really enjoying the dark chocolate + salt + nuts snack bars that crew welfare is providing, which I'd not previously noticed.
Item four: THE HALBARD THAT IS A SHARK.
Climbing weekend, finally!
Jun. 14th, 2025 07:33 pmdagibbsFinally a weekend with a solid forecast of two days of climbing weather! Today, got out for a light day at Lac Sam, hitting Pink Floyd Wall and Gully Wall with Bart.
Tomorrow, aiming for Panorama/Bowman with a bit bigger crew.
Tomorrow, aiming for Panorama/Bowman with a bit bigger crew.
Team Knit 2025
Jun. 14th, 2025 08:21 pm![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png){kind=small}
yarn_harlot_feedIf you have been around here for any amount of time at all, never mind the full two decades that I have been at this blogging thing to some degree, then by now you should know that I don’t work on my birthday. I used to explain it at job interviews and other than the years that my kids were little and there’s no choice (and one year at the June Retreat in Port Ludlow- but that’s hardly the same kind of work) I don’t do it. That means that technically today should be spent in traditional fashion, which is doing as I darn well please, but I am breaking away from my regularly scheduled festivities to tell you about this year’s Team Knit for the Bike Rally, because there is nothing I would like more for my birthday than a donation to this terrific cause.
Now, I know there’s a small chance that a few of you don’t know me very well (hi instagram) and so let me take a minute to explain what the Bike Rally is, and what’s going on anyway – we’re going back to basics. The Bike Rally is a 660km (bike ride, not motorcycle) from Toronto to Montreal, in support of three great ASOs. (AIDS Service Organizations, that’s people that help people with HIV/AIDS. The one here in Toronto is called PWA, and that’s short for People With AIDS.) Every year a couple hundred people get on their bikes and ride that great long way (they’re the riders, like me) and other people move their stuff and mark the route and cook the food and keep them safe (that’s the crew, like Cam this year) and other people donate money to cheer them on, and to show gratitude that they themselves don’t have to ride bikes that far to make a change in the world. (That’s you.)
We’ve been doing this for years and years and years. Ken started it, and the rest of us have been doing it fewer years, but still a really long time. (Every person in my family has done the ride, except Joe, who I think we can all agree is sort of crew.) ALL of Team Knit (with the exception of Fenner this year but she’s practically a baby) hold this cause in such high esteem that we have held some sort of leadership role or in the case of me and Cam and I may have really maxed this out) MANY leadership roles to keep it rolling. That means that not only are we committed to riding when we can – which is a ridiculous amount of time when you think of the training and fundraising and then the week to actually ride… but decided that this needed more of our time when we’re not riding. That’s an endorsement, right?
These ASOs provide practical, meaningful help to people who have HIV or AIDS and were a response to the under-response of the AIDS crisis that began in the 80s, and over the years what they do and who they do it for has shifted. What was originally a tragedy centred on the gay community and the death sentence that was AIDS has become something really different these days, and in fact globally (and here) women make up the majority of people with HIV/AIDS, and the rate of new diagnosis is higher in women, immigrant women, and first nations women, and women of colour. Across the board HIV infection is associated with underprivilege, discrimination, fear, poverty, lack of power, lack of sexual power or decision making ability, and access to prevention/treatment meds.
Nowadays science (with certainty) that U=U, and that means that if treatment for HIV/AIDS has the amount of virus in your blood Undetectable then it is Untransmissible and you can’t give it to anybody. Not everyone knows this though, and grownups and children can face tremendous stigma and shame, not to mention that the medicine that gets you there is expensive and in many parts of the world, difficult to access, or stigmatizing to access. (If you’re not sure about that, just imagine living in Canada or the US, and having to have your whole neighbourhood and community (including the other parents at your local school or the local dating pool) see you turn up at the HIV/AIDS clinic to access meds for you or your child, and know that’s how it is a lot of places if you seek help.)
Anyway, Team Knit thinks that’s trash. Furthermore, I don’t know about you but the world is such a complicated and heartbreaking place lately, that I am relieved to come up against a problem that we’re already equipped to relieve if only we had the money.
This year Team Knit is a group of knitters that are once again going to get on their bikes and try to make things better, and we are:
Fenner (that’s Jen’s kid)
Cameron (Cam’s crewing instead of riding this year, he’s still committed to the cause, still giving up a week of his life to be with us, and though he’s not able to ride this year, you can still donate to him.)
We’re regular knitters, not pro-cyclists or anything, and each of us has so far been on ONE training ride (and they were short) so may the force be with us. (This is the first year that the Rally hasn’t just struck fear in the hearts of one or two of us, but ALL of us. Except Fenner, who has the strength and enthusiasm of youth, which is a whole other kind of amazing thing. You know many teens who would do this?) We ride August 3rd and we would love your support. For years I’ve been writing about the magic of cumulative action, the concept that while one small donation might not mean much, many small donations can make a whole sweater, I mean… an entire cultural shift, but you see how knitters are particularly good at understanding this. Absolutely anything helps, and for years and years we’ve stunned people with what Team Knit (that’s us together with you) can accomplish, especially when we remember that there are many, many ways to help.
It seems like such a good time to come back to basics doesn’t it? People helping people, making change where we can, relieving suffering where we are able. (Sounds like a birthday party to me.)
Let’s go.
(PS I am 57, for those of you who like to donate my age out of sheer moxy.)
Two New Vids (BtVS)
Jun. 14th, 2025 02:22 pmtafadhali posting in viddingperiru3 and I have posted the first two vids in our ongoing vid album Jagged Little Slayer, a mashup of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Alanis Morissette:Title: All I Really Want
Character/Pairing: Buffy-centric, minor Buffy/Angel, Buffy/Faith, Buffy/Spike
Summary: Here, can you handle this?
Notes: Premiered at VidUKon 2025.
AO3 | DW | Tumblr
Where would I even begin?
Jun. 14th, 2025 05:28 pmoursin(And didn't we have something similar, like, maybe 20 years ago on LiveJournal?)
Thing going round on bluesky recently-
'Ten authors you've read five books by'.
*Looks around just one room and its bookshelves*
Me: Maybe I could break this down into groups, I dunno, perhaps?
Thrillers? Sff? Litfic? (might break this down further into Obscure Victorian/Edwardian Novelists, Middlebrow Women Writers of the 20s/30s, the 60s Generation???) Bloke writers for whom I have a weakness? Beloved childhood faves?
And then I think, nah, this is too much effort.
I was a bit took aback by suggestions that people might be curating their 10 to look Cool or SRS or at least, not given to ingesting The Wrong Sort of Book, perish the thort.
unfortunately even though we accomplished Task we still have to do the shopping
Jun. 14th, 2025 06:11 pmcimoreneOne thing about updating the decorative arts and design history blog is that my kneejerk loathing of the term "inspo" has me struggling multiple times a week with the strong impulse to block everyone who reblogs my posts with that tag.
It's good for me somehow, probably.
I'm currently exhausted because the spring that pushes the latch bolt out of the kitchen-hall door broke last night after midnight and we spent several hours fixing it this afternoon. Wax took the equivalent spring out of the lockbox of the dining-livingroom door because unfortunately the lockbox is a pre-1940 model and the springs are not manufactured anymore, nor are the parts interchangeable with the later springs from the 40s- model that are still in production, nor can the whole lockbox be easily switched (because the spindle and hole for it are not the same circumference and the boxes themselves can be different sizes). However, the two lockboxes aren't identical. In fact, it looks like the one that broke is the oldest one in the house. She had to squish the spring a bit to get it in, and it wasn't exactly the same shape and size, so we are nervous that it may break soon. (She did all the hard bits with tools, not trusting me not to injure myself, and I cleaned the insides of the lockboxes with q-tips dipped in vinegar and then oiled them with q-tips dipped in mineral oil.) Wax hopes we can get the blacksmith to make a new spring for the spot when that happens, rather than having to replace the entire mechanism, but we don't know how plausible that is.
We can't do without this door and its latch, but the lockboxes on the other doors are all other sizes so they can't be swapped. We need it latched to keep the cats apart! They're making progress, and they've touched noses now, but Tristana still retreats any time Sipuli gets a little excited, and they are only meeting with Sipuli on the leash.
It's good for me somehow, probably.
I'm currently exhausted because the spring that pushes the latch bolt out of the kitchen-hall door broke last night after midnight and we spent several hours fixing it this afternoon. Wax took the equivalent spring out of the lockbox of the dining-livingroom door because unfortunately the lockbox is a pre-1940 model and the springs are not manufactured anymore, nor are the parts interchangeable with the later springs from the 40s- model that are still in production, nor can the whole lockbox be easily switched (because the spindle and hole for it are not the same circumference and the boxes themselves can be different sizes). However, the two lockboxes aren't identical. In fact, it looks like the one that broke is the oldest one in the house. She had to squish the spring a bit to get it in, and it wasn't exactly the same shape and size, so we are nervous that it may break soon. (She did all the hard bits with tools, not trusting me not to injure myself, and I cleaned the insides of the lockboxes with q-tips dipped in vinegar and then oiled them with q-tips dipped in mineral oil.) Wax hopes we can get the blacksmith to make a new spring for the spot when that happens, rather than having to replace the entire mechanism, but we don't know how plausible that is.
We can't do without this door and its latch, but the lockboxes on the other doors are all other sizes so they can't be swapped. We need it latched to keep the cats apart! They're making progress, and they've touched noses now, but Tristana still retreats any time Sipuli gets a little excited, and they are only meeting with Sipuli on the leash.
Books Received, June 7 to June 13
Jun. 14th, 2025 09:03 amjames_davis_nicoll
Ten books new to me: 4.5 fantasy, 1 horror, 1 mystery, 3.5 science fiction, of which only two are identified as series.
Books Received, June 7 to June 13
Poll #33251 Books Received, June 7 to June 13
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 46
Which of these look interesting?
View Answers
This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me by Ilona Andrews (March 2026)
18 (39.1%)
The Swan’s Daughter: A Possibly Doomed Love Story by Roshani Chokshi (January 2026)
12 (26.1%)
Storyteller: A Tanith Lee Tribute Anthology edited by Julie C. Day, Carina Bissett, and Craig Laurance Gidney (June 2025)
24 (52.2%)
The Storm by Rachel Hawkins (January2026)
3 (6.5%)
What Stalks the Deep by T. Kingfisher (September 2025)
25 (54.3%)
Red Empire by Jonathan Maberry (March 2026)
2 (4.3%)
The Two Lies of Faven Sythe by Megan E. O’Keefe (June 2025)
13 (28.3%)
The Young Necromancer’s Guide to Ghosts by Vanessa Ricci-Thode (April 2024)
12 (26.1%)
The Poet Empress by Shen Tao (January 2026)
6 (13.0%)
Shroud by Adrian Tchaikovsky (June 2025)
24 (52.2%)
Some other option (see comments)
0 (0.0%)
Cats!
29 (63.0%)
Conwy
Jun. 14th, 2025 10:00 amcmcmck posting in common_natureWe spent a few days in Conwy in north Wales recently and had wonderful weather for it.
A view across Afon Conwy (the River Conwy) with Conwy castle as a bonus.
( See more: )
A view across Afon Conwy (the River Conwy) with Conwy castle as a bonus.
( See more: )
Freedom, sweet freedom.
Jun. 13th, 2025 10:04 pmsettiaiOkay, the work week is finally over. I took a nap after work, because I slept like crap last night, and I'm feeling much more like a human being again even though I'm still tired. My brain's definitely not in a great place, but overall today was much better than earlier this week. So that's a big step in the right direction at least.
It's, uh, been a week. Such a week. 🙃
My plan is to not leave the hotel at all tomorrow or Sunday, and if I'm lucky I might be able to avoid all human interaction if I'm careful. I'm hoping to get up relatively early tomorrow to get a load of clothes washed and some cleaning done in the suite, and then I'm going to spend the rest of the day playing video games which I haven't done in ages despite my multiple attempts to do so.
It's, uh, been a week. Such a week. 🙃
My plan is to not leave the hotel at all tomorrow or Sunday, and if I'm lucky I might be able to avoid all human interaction if I'm careful. I'm hoping to get up relatively early tomorrow to get a load of clothes washed and some cleaning done in the suite, and then I'm going to spend the rest of the day playing video games which I haven't done in ages despite my multiple attempts to do so.
A future fossil, and a moment of strange beauty in embotherance.
Jun. 13th, 2025 09:23 pmfull_metal_ox posting in common_natureContent advisory: the following images portray animal decomposition and a messy (though not scatological) plumbing mishap, respectively.
This is the very first photo I took in the process of exploring my new surroundings in Florida. I was recovering from a lengthy illness and a lengthy road trip, and coming to terms with a discombobulating succession of life upheavals; accordingly, I began with a local animal in no condition to evade me.
This roughly crow-sized bird (species and cause of death unknown) lay in an oddly heraldic position suggesting a necromancer’s coat of arms, on the disheveled curb strip of a business that was both recovering from Hurricane Ian and changing hands—likewise in a state of transition. The red spot at heart level is a dried wild fruit of some sort.
Taken on 4 June 2023 at 19:48 U.S. Eastern Daylight Savings Time:
( Fined_be_ye_who_move_my_bones. )
Some while later, I suffered a clog of mysterious blue-gray residue in my bathroom sink (don’t worry; it’s long since been dealt with, although not conclusively explained)—and was fascinated by the delicate poinsettia-like radial pattern created when the water finally receded.
Taken on 20 July 2023 at 14:16 U.S. Eastern Daylight Savings Time:
( Mystery_plumbing_sludge. )
This is the very first photo I took in the process of exploring my new surroundings in Florida. I was recovering from a lengthy illness and a lengthy road trip, and coming to terms with a discombobulating succession of life upheavals; accordingly, I began with a local animal in no condition to evade me.
This roughly crow-sized bird (species and cause of death unknown) lay in an oddly heraldic position suggesting a necromancer’s coat of arms, on the disheveled curb strip of a business that was both recovering from Hurricane Ian and changing hands—likewise in a state of transition. The red spot at heart level is a dried wild fruit of some sort.
Taken on 4 June 2023 at 19:48 U.S. Eastern Daylight Savings Time:
( Fined_be_ye_who_move_my_bones. )
Some while later, I suffered a clog of mysterious blue-gray residue in my bathroom sink (don’t worry; it’s long since been dealt with, although not conclusively explained)—and was fascinated by the delicate poinsettia-like radial pattern created when the water finally receded.
Taken on 20 July 2023 at 14:16 U.S. Eastern Daylight Savings Time:
( Mystery_plumbing_sludge. )
LBCF: Buck, incognito
Jun. 13th, 2025 08:57 pmslacktivist_feedAbout 200 pages into Left Behind it starts to sink in that this is a book in which every parent loses every child and none of them seems upset about this. It's SO creepy and strange.
Murderbot episode 6 reaction post
Jun. 13th, 2025 09:24 pmoneiriadI see that Murderbot has its priorities straight. Media is important, Dr. Mensah.
Note to the future: consider just including a physical repair manual for things?
*pets poor leaking SecUnit*
Leebeebee, you are really not beating the secretly a ComfortUnit theory here.
Sudden Swedish SecUnit. You know, maybe the Company is Ikea.
Hah! Knew she was shady.
"All you need to do..." SecUnit, seriously? Here you go, cut me open?!
Okay, we are far from the books in this episode, and it's ridiculous. :-)
Awwww, woobie!Gurathin needs a hug and a dead Leebeebee. Probably not in that order.
Oh good, dead Leebeebee. Somebody hug Gurathin
Oh, so - that's a definite canon change: Murderbot just killed somebody in front of Ratthi.
Okay, so this is a guess, but I suspect the entire "It calls itself Murderbot" is due next week. Considering everything.
Note to the future: consider just including a physical repair manual for things?
*pets poor leaking SecUnit*
Leebeebee, you are really not beating the secretly a ComfortUnit theory here.
Sudden Swedish SecUnit. You know, maybe the Company is Ikea.
Hah! Knew she was shady.
"All you need to do..." SecUnit, seriously? Here you go, cut me open?!
Okay, we are far from the books in this episode, and it's ridiculous. :-)
Awwww, woobie!Gurathin needs a hug and a dead Leebeebee. Probably not in that order.
Oh good, dead Leebeebee. Somebody hug Gurathin
Oh, so - that's a definite canon change: Murderbot just killed somebody in front of Ratthi.
Okay, so this is a guess, but I suspect the entire "It calls itself Murderbot" is due next week. Considering everything.
Murderbot
Jun. 13th, 2025 11:11 ammarinarusalka5 episodes in, I'm still greatly enjoying the show, with my one complaint being that the episodes are too short. I'm looking forward to doing a binge rewatch of the whole thing once all the episodes are out, I suspect it will work really well.
( some spoilers thoughts on the latest episode )
I really really hope this show gets renewed long enough for us to meet ART. It'll be so awesome.
( some spoilers thoughts on the latest episode )
I really really hope this show gets renewed long enough for us to meet ART. It'll be so awesome.
2025 52 Card Project: Week 23: Capitol
Jun. 13th, 2025 12:55 pmpegkerrThis past week's Year of Adventure outing was a visit to the Minneapolis State Capitol to view the renovations that were finished in 2019.
I went with a friend of mine, and we had planned to take the tour when the legislative session was over, but as they had not been able to finish a budget, the House and Senate were in special session. We listened for an hour to the debate in the House about the GOP proposal to strip immigrants of the ability to access Minnesotacare, the state's health care. Then, we took the tour. I'm ashamed to say it, but I had never visited the Capitol before. I was rather stunned by the beauty of the place. There was a display of battlefield flags from the Civil War in the rotunda. There were also a series of huge paintings of various battles during the Civil War in the Governor's Reception Room (a beautifully ornate room, modeled after a room in Venice).
This placard particularly struck me, given the events in Los Angeles:
This collage is pulled from some of the beautiful elements of architecture we saw during the tour.
One of the representatives I was listening to on Monday was just assassinated. I am beyond pissed. I am heading out the door to join today’s protests. I wasn’t going to go because of some family stuff going on, but I am so livid.
Capitol
Click on the links to see the 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022 and 2021 52 Card Project galleries.
I went with a friend of mine, and we had planned to take the tour when the legislative session was over, but as they had not been able to finish a budget, the House and Senate were in special session. We listened for an hour to the debate in the House about the GOP proposal to strip immigrants of the ability to access Minnesotacare, the state's health care. Then, we took the tour. I'm ashamed to say it, but I had never visited the Capitol before. I was rather stunned by the beauty of the place. There was a display of battlefield flags from the Civil War in the rotunda. There were also a series of huge paintings of various battles during the Civil War in the Governor's Reception Room (a beautifully ornate room, modeled after a room in Venice).
This placard particularly struck me, given the events in Los Angeles:
EMPIRES PLACE THEIR RELIANCE UPON SWORD AND CANNON: REPUBLICS PUT THEIR TRUST IN THE CITIZENS' RESPECT FOR LAW. IF LAW BE NOT SACRED, A FREE GOVERNMENT WILL NOT ENDURE --IRELAND.
This collage is pulled from some of the beautiful elements of architecture we saw during the tour.
Click on the links to see the 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022 and 2021 52 Card Project galleries.
Dear Finn
Jun. 13th, 2025 05:38 pmyarn_harlot_feedSometimes when I talk to people about these blankets they ask me if I ever get tired of thinking them up, if it’s tricky to come up with a different blanket for each baby in this family and Finn, let me tell you this – it is never. You are so unique and special to me that your blanket ideas came as quickly as they ever do- even if your blanket didn’t. (Sorry about that, your birthday bunched up with another baby blanket that needed knitting, then you were early, and your blanket was late and then Canada Post/PostNord Denmark both have some answering to do.) When I thought about you and your parents and family, it was so easy to dream up a blanket as special as you all are.
You, sweet wee Finn, are the baby in this family I am the farthest from, have ever been the farthest from. I am here in Canada and you are in Denmark, and the stitch pattern I chose for the centre of your blanket is my attempt to reconcile that. Some people see a flower, others a bee, and I bet a few years from now you’ll have your own ideas – but I see (and knit) Polaris, the great North Star, a symbol of what the places we live in have in common. I was just going to type “did you know Finn…” and then I remembered you are new here and certainly do not know, so I’ll just tell you.
The North Star sits over the celestial North Pole (and Santa’s house, we’ll get to that later this year) and because of this, the way it sits at the top of the world, it appears mostly stationary in the sky – all other stars appear to rotate around it and it makes it easy to navigate by if you live in the Northern Hemisphere. Find that star, and straight down from it is true north.
This made me think of you because that’s the way it goes in families, for a time now while you are little, you are the star around which we all rotate, and then for the rest of their lives, you will be the most important point your parents navigate by. From the day you were born everything changed for your mum and dad, and from that moment forward they need only look at you to know the way. Further to that my sweet guy, though you are far away you are a child of the North like the rest of us and somehow that makes you feel closer.
Around that is the ring stitch – and this little Finn, is the only stitch that has appeared on every blanket that I have ever knit. It is a circle of tiny perfect rings that goes around the whole blanket, meant to be a symbol of your family and their love around you. If you need help any day of your whole life, look no farther than your amazing grandparents, great aunties and great uncles, your aunties and uncles and your cousins and everyone else in this family by birth, or because they belong and we chose them. They are a team that is always here for you. (Btw I’m great at unusual solutions to problems, and your great uncle Joe is absolutely who you want to call if you’re in jail. Don’t worry about the Denmark thing, he’ll figure it out.)
Around those little rings is a border you share with your cousin Maeve – the last baby in this family who felt far, far away to me. (By the time Sasha came along, I was a bit more used to them being all the way across Canada.) It’s suns and moons, a little nod to the idea that no matter how great the distance is between you and the rest of us, it’s still the same moon we look up at, still the same sun we play under. That you share a border with Maeve also turns out to be a bit of kismet, since it looks as though she may love you more than almost anybody, something I hope is a hint of a fabulous bond down the line.
Past that (your blanket is as big as any of them ever have been, despite my attempts to restrain myself) a border that means something to me, though I have as much trouble articulating it now as I did when I sketched it. There are large motifs with nupp centres and larger circles, giving way with each generation to something less complex, until the last round has just an encircling of little nupps. My idea here was to stretch and try to represent the unique moment your larger families are in… so many generations. Your maternal Great-grandmother counted her progeny for me one day before I knit this, noting that you would be the 28th person in her family because she and Old Joe got married and I tried to visualize all those people, and I know that your dads family brings so much more complexity to this – all these people who you come after because of dates and dreams and accidents and effort. You are the icing on an almost 60 year old cake, and you and your cousins are that newest cute little generation of nupps at the last. It’s a snapshot of who your family is right now and how remarkable that is.
After that (I told you it was big, we’re almost done.) A little chain of daisies – because like your dad Adam you are Danish, and that’s Denmark’s national flower. Also partly for the synergy between your mum and your aunt Savannah and all their Canadian summers trying to make daisy chains. One way or another the two of them will have you in a field with these flowers in your hair sooner or later, and when they do you and your dad can beam with nationalistic pride.
Finally darling Finn, the last border. Like so many of these blankets… it is a wave. First for the wave of love that welcomes you, for the waves of strength that encircle you, for the wave of luck that brought your parents together, but mostly for the wave of strength in your mum, my niece Kamilah, and the wave of water she brought you forth on, sweet and strong and rather obviously no longer the little girl that skips in my heart when I think of her. Your border is knit in garter stitch, and not to geek out in the knitting department too much, but the symbolism in that is safety, strength, comfort, resilience, endurance and shelter. You’ll find a lot of garter stitch in your blanket if you look for it Finn – and it’s there for a reason. I hope the magic of knitting acres of it brings all those charms to your life and more.
Although we haven’t met, my little darling… I hope that every time you are wrapped in your blanket or it is laid over you on a cool day, every time it is spread beneath you so you can watch the leaves flutter or see the birds swoop by – I hope you can feel so much love in all the stitches.
Welcome wee Finn. You are a most wanted, hoped for and dreamed of child. You are perfect.
Love always,
Great-Auntie Stephie
(PS. Please thank your talented grandmother Kelly for taking the beautiful pictures of you enjoying your blanket. You lucked out in the grammy department.)
Various & misc
Jun. 13th, 2025 04:54 pmoursinDon't think I've previously either come across this or posted it, but who knows: Out on the Town: Magnus Hirschfeld and Berlin’s Third Sex: 'Years before the Weimar Republic’s well-chronicled freedoms, the 1904 non-fiction study Berlin’s Third Sex depicted an astonishingly diverse subculture of sexual outlaws in the German capital'.
***
Something else suitable for Pride Month: Rachel Carson and the Power of Queer Love (review):
provides an original and stirring account of a non-commodifying queer love between two women and nonhuman nature—a love that was the defining relationship of Carson’s life and yet has been downplayed in heteronormative tellings of her story. So, too, is Maxwell’s work a convincing argument for this queer love’s formative role in the writing of Silent Spring, as well as an empowering message about how embracing queer feelings might function as a catalyst for “political and personal power” in contemporary environmental politics.
***
I think I have some copies of The Pioneer journal associated with this club, but they are somewhere in the maelstrom (I am gearing up to Doing Something About this, having acquired intelligence of a body that will collect books for charity): The Pioneer Club (1892-1939): A ladies' club at the forefront of late Victorian social reform, which suffered a long, slow decline in the early 20th century.
***
Peter McLagan (1823-1900): Scotland’s first Black MP:
[S]ources suggest that McLagan’s mother was probably of Black Caribbean or Black African descent.... McLagan’s father, Peter McLagan (1774-1860)... enslaved over 400 people on his plantations and personal estate in Demerara.
In fact there is strong evidence as mentioned in that article that he was by no means the first Black MP. Issues of class and family connections clearly played a significant role up to the mid-C19th.
***
An ancient writing system confounding myths about Africa:
'How come a country that did not have a colonial past in Zambia had so many artefacts from Zambia in its collection?'"
In the 19th and early 20th Centuries Swedish explorers, ethnographers and botanists would pay to travel on British ships to Cape Town and then make their way inland by rail and foot.
....
The Swedish museum had not done any research on the cloaks - and the National Museums Board of Zambia was not even aware they existed.
***
Artist's work to restore damaged shell grotto (I put this in a short story once.) (My own theory is that it was originally A Folly. Doing things with shells was as I recall quite A Thing in the C18th and Mrs Delany and her mate the Duchess of Portland had a rather less concealed shell grotto?)
Komarr audio on sale today
Jun. 13th, 2025 08:09 amlois_mcmaster_bujold_feedAt Downpour.com -- Blackstone's web sale site --
https://www.downpour.com/komarr?sp=12495
I believe the sale is today only...
Ta, L.
posted by Lois McMaster Bujold on June, 13
https://www.downpour.com/komarr?sp=12495
I believe the sale is today only...
Ta, L.
posted by Lois McMaster Bujold on June, 13
In which there is a priceless collection of embarrassing splurging
Jun. 13th, 2025 04:10 pmspiralsheep1. What item would you be embarrassed for people to know you own?
Why would I own anything I'd be embarrassed about? I mean, I have some things on display in my house that other people might find disconcerting but if fossil horse teeth or whatever bother you then don't come to my house. XD
2. What is something you splurged on just for you?
Everything I own, lol, but I'm willing to share my preciousess with people provided they play well with Others. I do own one rock sample that I bought rather than collected myself, but it only cost about £10 including cutting and polishing and delivery from India. To be honest my taste in material objects, apart from art, is practical and based on performance. I suppose the splurgiest things I own are original paintings but the most "valuable" are all by artists I know so I bought them at mates rates.
Re Q1. I do have an expressionist nude on the living / sitting / drawing room wall, and I did have it up when both the subject and the artist were my neighbours but to be fair a lot of us had naked paintings of those neighbours on display and mine is much less realist than most (ETA: another of my neighbours has some extremely detailed drawings by / of a different artist / model pair whom we know but the owner has them tucked away somewhere, which is probably for the best as we also know the model's mum socially).
3. What is something that you own with no real world value that is priceless to you?
My own time technically has a real world value but is worth infinitely more to me than its market price. I think this would be true for most people? A lot of my rocks / fossils / archaeological artifacts have happy memories attached, and most of those would have minimal resale value (although various museums or educational collections might think they're priceless acquisitions?). My Lego too, obviously, although that probably does have resale value. Mostly memories, especially of showing children (and occasionally adults) a wonder for the first time: wildlife, plants, weather, fossils, rocks, art, whatevs.
4. Do you collect anything?
Dust? Micro-meteorites set in dust? "Weeds" in my garden. Snobby bee: "I'm not visiting those flowers for essential nectar because they're weeds and only tasteless / scentless over-bred flowers count... x-x ". I don't intentionally "collect" anything but I will admit my rocks are carefully curated and labelled (for when I die).
( And y'all? )
Why would I own anything I'd be embarrassed about? I mean, I have some things on display in my house that other people might find disconcerting but if fossil horse teeth or whatever bother you then don't come to my house. XD
2. What is something you splurged on just for you?
Everything I own, lol, but I'm willing to share my preciousess with people provided they play well with Others. I do own one rock sample that I bought rather than collected myself, but it only cost about £10 including cutting and polishing and delivery from India. To be honest my taste in material objects, apart from art, is practical and based on performance. I suppose the splurgiest things I own are original paintings but the most "valuable" are all by artists I know so I bought them at mates rates.
Re Q1. I do have an expressionist nude on the living / sitting / drawing room wall, and I did have it up when both the subject and the artist were my neighbours but to be fair a lot of us had naked paintings of those neighbours on display and mine is much less realist than most (ETA: another of my neighbours has some extremely detailed drawings by / of a different artist / model pair whom we know but the owner has them tucked away somewhere, which is probably for the best as we also know the model's mum socially).
3. What is something that you own with no real world value that is priceless to you?
My own time technically has a real world value but is worth infinitely more to me than its market price. I think this would be true for most people? A lot of my rocks / fossils / archaeological artifacts have happy memories attached, and most of those would have minimal resale value (although various museums or educational collections might think they're priceless acquisitions?). My Lego too, obviously, although that probably does have resale value. Mostly memories, especially of showing children (and occasionally adults) a wonder for the first time: wildlife, plants, weather, fossils, rocks, art, whatevs.
4. Do you collect anything?
Dust? Micro-meteorites set in dust? "Weeds" in my garden. Snobby bee: "I'm not visiting those flowers for essential nectar because they're weeds and only tasteless / scentless over-bred flowers count... x-x ". I don't intentionally "collect" anything but I will admit my rocks are carefully curated and labelled (for when I die).
( And y'all? )
A Rebel’s History of Mars by Nadia Afifi
Jun. 13th, 2025 09:04 amjames_davis_nicoll
The embittered Martian aerialist and the nonconformist live a thousand-plus years apart, in different solar systems. What, then, connects them?
A Rebel’s History of Mars by Nadia Afifi
Dunks on Dunks on Dunks
Jun. 13th, 2025 12:05 pmdaily_otter_feedVia Oregon Zoo, which writes, “Positive-reinforcement training like the sea otters' basketball routine plays a critical role in animal well-being. And while the shoot-around is mostly an enrichment exercise now, veterinarians say it could have additional health benefits as the young otters get older, staving off stiffness and arthritis in their senior years. Ottermatic all stars!”
![[desperately] Maybe this is from some country where they use commas as decimal points, and also as digit separators after the decimal, and also use random other characters for decoration???](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/reading_a_big_number.png "[desperately] Maybe this is from some country where they use commas as decimal points, and also as digit separators after the decimal, and also use random other characters for decoration???")
"This is the REAL ADHD tax!"
Jun. 13th, 2025 02:25 pmcimoreneThe other day I saw a post about American politics on Tumblr that was just a screenshot of someone's tweet that said something like, "Fascism won't make America great. Universal healthcare, universal preschool, housing the homeless, and free higher education would make America great." By this standard, I'm living in utopia! (Or, well, living in Greatness-ia.) Finland has all that.
AND YET...
My efforts to get a driver's licence continue. Basically,
And even worse, the list of conditions that now require EVERY SINGLE PERSON who has ever been diagnosed with them to get a certificate from a private doctor - which means in most cases also a NEW doctor, not their own GP who has treated them before - is not just ADHD. Everybody with any of these conditions (this is not the entire list either) is now taxed, at minimum, an extra hundred bucks for the privilege of getting a driver's licence in Finland, as of two months ago:
Insane. It's not just the financial burden for all these people, either; a brand-new doctor, a stranger, is at a disadvantage for determining if most of the conditions meant here are a danger or not.
So I'm waiting for a call back and Sipuli really doesn't understand why I won't take her outside in the sunshine.
AND YET...
My efforts to get a driver's licence continue. Basically,
- Signed up for driving school for lessons in how to drive stick. My US license expired more than ten years ago and I've never driven in Finland.
- Online information indicates I should have to apply in person, but the customer service rep told me that I can disregard that and just apply for a first licence the normal way.
- The normal way: a brief online form that will instantly issue a printable and downloadable permit that allows you to take the theory test and to drive with an instructor in a car.
- But you can't do that if you have any of a list of health conditions which require a doctor's certificate. And the list includes ADHD.
- There's a new law which seems to say you can't get these certificates from the health center anymore, but I called to check. The booking nurse at the health center thought they didn't do them anymore, but she also agreed that it seemed unfair. But she checked with two people and no, the public health service really aren't issuing certificates for driving for ANYBODY anymore.
- I called the one private doctor center in town. According to their website, the minimum cost of one of these certificates is over 100€, just like waxjism predicted. Their receptionist didn't even know who to book me with (does ADHD require a specialist)? She'll call me back.
- If it does, it will be like at least 150€ instead, because that's the base price for specialists.
And even worse, the list of conditions that now require EVERY SINGLE PERSON who has ever been diagnosed with them to get a certificate from a private doctor - which means in most cases also a NEW doctor, not their own GP who has treated them before - is not just ADHD. Everybody with any of these conditions (this is not the entire list either) is now taxed, at minimum, an extra hundred bucks for the privilege of getting a driver's licence in Finland, as of two months ago:
- diabetes
- any cardio issues including hypertension or a heart murmur
- sleep apnea or insomnia or any other sleep disorders
- any past severe depressions or recurrent panic disorders, or personality disorders
- dyslexia
- autism spectrum
- any neurological conditions or injuries including migraines or any past brain or spinal injury
Insane. It's not just the financial burden for all these people, either; a brand-new doctor, a stranger, is at a disadvantage for determining if most of the conditions meant here are a danger or not.
So I'm waiting for a call back and Sipuli really doesn't understand why I won't take her outside in the sunshine.
podcast friday
Jun. 13th, 2025 07:11 amsabotabbyI dunno, why not make yourself more anxious this week. It Could Happen Here has the ability to send James Stout, an experienced war journalist, to LA to cover the uprising against ICE kidnappings. There's a lot of coverage in today's episode, which I'm currently listening to, but for detailed reporting, listen to "On the Ground in LA."
The scale of the so-called riots will surprise you—they surprised me, and I've been to LA. It's a very big city and unlike during the wildfires, very little of it is actually on fire. The uprisings, which are direct responses to people's families, neighbours, and colleagues being kidnapped by an out-of-control paramilitary organization, are actually only a few thousand people. Which is not to denigrate the bravery of those people—quite the opposite!—but to poke holes in the regime's propaganda.
P.S. If you are going to a protest this weekend, please ignore that "non-violent wave" thing and other similar memes going around. It is an op. If violence erupts and you do not want to be involved, don't sit down. Get out of there. I do not want to see a generation of young protestors with traumatic brain injuries, please. Also avoid bridges (don't let yourself get kettled or arrested en masse), and if you get teargassed, use water, not milk or anything else. Stay safe, I love you.
The scale of the so-called riots will surprise you—they surprised me, and I've been to LA. It's a very big city and unlike during the wildfires, very little of it is actually on fire. The uprisings, which are direct responses to people's families, neighbours, and colleagues being kidnapped by an out-of-control paramilitary organization, are actually only a few thousand people. Which is not to denigrate the bravery of those people—quite the opposite!—but to poke holes in the regime's propaganda.
P.S. If you are going to a protest this weekend, please ignore that "non-violent wave" thing and other similar memes going around. It is an op. If violence erupts and you do not want to be involved, don't sit down. Get out of there. I do not want to see a generation of young protestors with traumatic brain injuries, please. Also avoid bridges (don't let yourself get kettled or arrested en masse), and if you get teargassed, use water, not milk or anything else. Stay safe, I love you.
Biggles retrouve von Stalhein
Jun. 13th, 2025 12:11 pmphilomythaSo last year I got a couple of the French Biggles comics for my amusement, but I haven't written any of them up properly. This one is probably of most interest to at least some of you, being a proper Biggles vs von Stalhein adventure with a fairly lively plot (the other one, promisingly titled Biggles contre von Stalhein, actually only has a little bit of EvS, admittedly commanding the palace guard in a South American revolution where Biggles is on the side of the revolutionaries, but with only a few appearances in the story). Anyway, I gave my French a workout to read them. This one, incidentally, is the one where the drawing of EvS with that colourful cravat comes from: the artist has clearly heard that he's a snappy dresser and is having fun with it. It's also the one where Biggles and EvS very nearly get shipwrecked together. In general the plot only makes sense if you don't think about anything at all, but it is very well equipped with explosions, vehicular adventures, dramatic escapes, chases and secret bases, so who cares :-D
( Biggles retrouve von Stalhein in detail )
( Biggles retrouve von Stalhein in detail )
You Can’t Escape Values.
Jun. 13th, 2025 09:33 ampervocracy_feed“Values” is often a codeword in politics for a specific kind of values – “family values,” “American values,” – which in turn pretty much just means “whatever conservatives believe.” So the word has some stink on it. I’ve run into that when I’ve tried to explain this before.
But I think it’s important for people to understand: it’s impossible to participate in politics without having some kind of values, because fundamentally, values are the only reason to want anything.
Science can tell us “measles causes suffering and death” and “the MMR vaccine prevents measles,” and logic can synthesize those into “the MMR vaccine reduces suffering and death,” but, strictly speaking, neither of them can say “you should get an MMR vaccine.” At some point, once all facts have been presented, you have to step forward as a human being and say “I think death and suffering are bad and should be minimized” for no reason except that it seems self-evident. That’s a value.
Values are the things you ultimately want, the goal of your goals. If “the government shouldn’t spy on people” is your goal, privacy is your value. If “everyone should have enough to eat” is your goal, it might be based in a value of public welfare or equity. The value is the part of a “should” argument that can’t be reduced any further. If someone asks you “why shouldn’t we torture people?”, you can say “because it causes suffering without benefit”; but if they ask “and why is that bad”, then you’re down to a values discussion.
Everyone who has opinions has values. Even if their opinion is “whatever’s best for me personally, fuck everyone else,” their value is personal benefit. There is no way to say one state of the world is better than another without referring to values.
And I think it’s important to understand this because it really underlines the limitations of Facts And Logic when it comes to political decision-making. Facts and logic can inform you about what your result will be, but the only way to decide whether you want that result is through your irrational animal emotions. That isn’t you failing as a debater. This is where you have to end up. Why do I think joy is better than misery? I just do.
Values aren’t innate or static; people can change what they value. But it will always be an emotional process because it can’t be a rational one. There’s no way to decide if you should care more about your country or your family based on logic alone; logic can help you explore the consequences but only emotion can answer a “should.”
So this is my Irrationalist Manifesto. This is my call to admit, and be proud of, the fact that you want things because you feel they are good. This is my reminder that there is no such thing as a politics purely guided by science and reason. This is why I want my politics to always grow upward from “people should be happy and safe” to ideology instead of downward from ideology to justifications. Because there’s always a part of your beliefs you can’t defend on any basis other than “because this is what I care about,” and that is the most important part.
And now about the spiders
Jun. 13th, 2025 01:19 pmpilottttt posting in common_natureThis big and scarysmall and not scary at all spider was discovered on our ceiling. It was my macro lens that made it big and scary ;)
Indivisible #WhatsThePlan meeting of May 12 2025
Jun. 12th, 2025 10:21 pmmecurtinIndivisible #WhatsThePlan meeting of May 12 2025
This is pretty much just C&P from my bluesky liveblog, plus links.
( cut for length, US politics )
I really admire people who can write *most* of what happens in a meeting while they liveblog, Ezra & Leah both talk *really* fast & I just pull out highlights, really. whoosh.
Please reblog, signal boost. We are, as Leah says, in a time of autocratic breakthrough, and one way we fight back is to have as many people as possible, in as many places as possible, out peacefully on Saturday. We need to be *everywhere*, with *everyone*. Take American flags, they belong to *US*, not him.
This is pretty much just C&P from my bluesky liveblog, plus links.
( cut for length, US politics )
I really admire people who can write *most* of what happens in a meeting while they liveblog, Ezra & Leah both talk *really* fast & I just pull out highlights, really. whoosh.
Please reblog, signal boost. We are, as Leah says, in a time of autocratic breakthrough, and one way we fight back is to have as many people as possible, in as many places as possible, out peacefully on Saturday. We need to be *everywhere*, with *everyone*. Take American flags, they belong to *US*, not him.
Zlata Is Recharging
Jun. 12th, 2025 10:00 pmquestionable_content_feed
inconvenient port placement? must be a Mac lmao
US Politics: Transcending parody
Jun. 12th, 2025 08:35 pmpetraAfter illegally ordering the National Guard and the Marines to violently end protests in California, 47 went to the theatre to see Les Misérables.
Can we please fire the people scripting this season of the United States of America? Some of these choices are so asinine I think they're consulting genAI for their scripts, and no one is editing them.
Oh, wait, that's what the politicians are doing to make fucking laws.
I'm going to go read amnesia fic now and think, "I wish that were me."
Can we please fire the people scripting this season of the United States of America? Some of these choices are so asinine I think they're consulting genAI for their scripts, and no one is editing them.
Oh, wait, that's what the politicians are doing to make fucking laws.
I'm going to go read amnesia fic now and think, "I wish that were me."
[fieldposting] day 0 complete
Jun. 12th, 2025 11:53 pmkaberettI am already very very tired.
But.
In a magnificent example of Prosocial Mammals: yesterday, when we were like 3/4 of the way to site, I realised that I no longer had "migraine stabs" on my packing list because I had carefully arranged things so that stabs would be due on a Tuesday so I would never need to faff with stabs in a field again.
... which I completely forgot. Until. 3/4.
... so I put out a Wail addressed to Londoners who would be Heading To The Field, and one of them ACTUALLY WENT on the terrible multi-borough fetch quest to get me my stabs so I HAVE BEEN STABBED and was only one day late, not a week! which is probably going to make the next month much more pleasant! and I just. continue delighted about this.
There you go that's your anecdote of the day.
Today just keeps on giving...
Jun. 12th, 2025 06:32 pmsettiaiWelp. This is certainly a day. The fire alarm went off again this afternoon. And this time? It was an actual fire. 🙃
They managed to get it put out fairly quickly at least, and from the time the fire alarm went off to the fire trucks arriving was, like, less than two minutes. So good on them for a great response time.
Long story short, the laundry room that the hotel staff uses to wash sheets, towels, etc. caught on fire. I'm guessing it was one of the industrial dryers in there based on what I saw. There's currently a hole in the wall leading into the laundry room, firemen still running around, and a shit ton of smoke in the hallways, but they've let everyone back inside. And my suite is about as far as you can get from where the fire was, so there's at least no smoke in here as long as I keep the door shut.
Garrus is already back to normal, but Keyleth has hidden herself under the bed and probably won't be coming back out for at least a few hours. Minimum.
June is, uh, certainly shaping up to be a month. That's for sure.
They managed to get it put out fairly quickly at least, and from the time the fire alarm went off to the fire trucks arriving was, like, less than two minutes. So good on them for a great response time.
Long story short, the laundry room that the hotel staff uses to wash sheets, towels, etc. caught on fire. I'm guessing it was one of the industrial dryers in there based on what I saw. There's currently a hole in the wall leading into the laundry room, firemen still running around, and a shit ton of smoke in the hallways, but they've let everyone back inside. And my suite is about as far as you can get from where the fire was, so there's at least no smoke in here as long as I keep the door shut.
Garrus is already back to normal, but Keyleth has hidden herself under the bed and probably won't be coming back out for at least a few hours. Minimum.
June is, uh, certainly shaping up to be a month. That's for sure.
Using my medical/dental while I’m still covered
Jun. 12th, 2025 01:53 pmmoon_custaferWe’re at the mall getting eye exams (I already ordered new glasses from Zenni last month when I mislaid my regular pair, but I plan to get new prescription sunnies (also from Zenni) and Andrew should get new glasses too.
The optometry place is decorated with whimsical paintings of animals and celebrities wearing glasses, including portraits of Bea Arthur and Rue McLanahan. The manager must be a fan of The Golden Girls—there’s also a Pop!(?) figure of Estelle.
A large glass nazar hangs up in front of one of the cupboards, which seems appropriate.
The optometry place is decorated with whimsical paintings of animals and celebrities wearing glasses, including portraits of Bea Arthur and Rue McLanahan. The manager must be a fan of The Golden Girls—there’s also a Pop!(?) figure of Estelle.
A large glass nazar hangs up in front of one of the cupboards, which seems appropriate.
Think the rot set in with spell-check, honestly
Jun. 12th, 2025 06:04 pmoursinOkay, am v depressed by all the ongoing hoohah around AI and the people using it rather than their own brains, quite aside from Evil Exploitation aspect -
- but on intellectual pollution, having been moaning inwardly, banging the floor with my ebony cane and beating my head on my antimacassar for a considerable while over the awful errors that appear in prose because the word is correctly spelt but it is THE WRONG BLOODY WORD.
That the person who created that text has not picked up on, sigh, groan.
Insert here a lament for the decline in copy-editing and proof-reading, which might have spotted this sort of thing and corrected it.
I am a little worried that we are now have generations who do not know what words actually mean, because spell-check has not said anything .
This is brought to you by having encountered the term 'itinerary' deployed for something that is not, as far as I can see, a journey, but the programme/timetable for a meeting. Perhaps there is some sense of a progression to be made???
(The mermaids signing, each to each: that is why I cannot hear them.)
Bundle of Holding: Coriolis Mercy of the Icons T
Jun. 12th, 2025 10:41 amjames_davis_nicoll
The corebook + the ICONS adventure trilogy from Free League.
Bundle of Holding: Coriolis Mercy of the Icons
