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May. 26th, 2026 05:26 am![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png){kind=small}
apod_feed
What are these strange space globs?
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May. 25th, 2026 10:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
staraniseSmall accomplishment this week: Mom's cat Gally has problems walking, and she's been quietly freaking out about the life of a cat she loves vs. her very small amount of discretionary income. So this week I got her talked around so she let me launch a crowdfunding campaign to take him to the vet.
If anyone can pitch in or signalboost it would be much appreciated 💕
If anyone can pitch in or signalboost it would be much appreciated 💕
This exists
May. 25th, 2026 05:11 pmradiantfracture...and is relevant to my interests
Night of the Lepus (1972)
WHY does the ad keep saying "WHAT could it be?" without ANswerING?
Because it's these guys
Me I would walk joyfully into the nibbling jaws of death
[ETA] And DeForest Kelley is in it!
§rf§
Night of the Lepus (1972)
WHY does the ad keep saying "WHAT could it be?" without ANswerING?
Because it's these guys
Me I would walk joyfully into the nibbling jaws of death
[ETA] And DeForest Kelley is in it!
§rf§
The hedges and fields are clothed all around with several sorts of green
May. 25th, 2026 06:38 pmsovayFor the second time in a row, Hestia has evinced great interest not in the bruised leaves of catmint I have brought home, but the smell of it on my hands which fires up an instantaneous purr and much excited butting of the head. It took me a season to identify the purple-flowered ground cover in my parents' front yard as Nepeta × faassenii, after which I have started to see it everywhere around my neighborhood, e.g. this afternoon while out walking with a_reasonable_man and the encyclopedia of plants on his phone which also named for me the wind-shaken white frou-frou of a Chinese fringe tree. Last year when it was already on the far side of fall, I picked up May Theilgaard Watts' Tree Finder: Identifying Trees by Their Leaves in Eastern North America (1939/2025) which the season has now leafed out enough for me to experiment with. For Memorial Day the sun has come lazily out and the temperature fogged up to the point where stepping outside in even a washer-worn overshirt was a miscalculation. nineweaving has sent me a pair of folk albums that went majority-missing in the crash of Bertie Owen. I am re-reading Kay Chronister's The Bog Wife (2024) to keep in with the zeitgeist. Two sprigs of the lilac in the back yard remain.
a_reasonable_man and the encyclopedia of plants on his phone which also named for me the wind-shaken white frou-frou of a Chinese fringe tree. Last year when it was already on the far side of fall, I picked up May Theilgaard Watts' Tree Finder: Identifying Trees by Their Leaves in Eastern North America (1939/2025) which the season has now leafed out enough for me to experiment with. For Memorial Day the sun has come lazily out and the temperature fogged up to the point where stepping outside in even a washer-worn overshirt was a miscalculation. nineweaving has sent me a pair of folk albums that went majority-missing in the crash of Bertie Owen. I am re-reading Kay Chronister's The Bog Wife (2024) to keep in with the zeitgeist. Two sprigs of the lilac in the back yard remain.
some actual gaming!
May. 25th, 2026 09:55 pmwychwoodI finished working my way through Terra Nil, and replayed various areas to get more achievements; I still need to go back and finish the last few I don't have yet.
But then I got distracted by Librarian: Tidy Up the Arcane Library!, which is an extremely silly game that is extraordinarily my jam; you work in a magical library, an evil fairy has thrown all the books on the floor, and you can't leave until you've reshelved everything correctly. I found it intensely soothing, have completed five playthroughs and all the achievements, and may well go back again for more later. It also went very well with audiobooks, and I have listened to three audiobooks since I started playing it (not entirely while playing it, but mostly!).
Then I bought a Humble Bundle of puzzle games and started working my way through Proverbs and now also Mega Mosaic, which are a sort of Minesweeper / picross hybrid where you fill in a giant picture by identifying light vs dark spaces using minesweeper-style number clues for each 3x3 area. It's not as satisfying as the library, but also went well with audiobooks and is quite enjoyable.
I think I may actually be swinging back into a phase where I play some real story-heavy games, but we shall see.
But then I got distracted by Librarian: Tidy Up the Arcane Library!, which is an extremely silly game that is extraordinarily my jam; you work in a magical library, an evil fairy has thrown all the books on the floor, and you can't leave until you've reshelved everything correctly. I found it intensely soothing, have completed five playthroughs and all the achievements, and may well go back again for more later. It also went very well with audiobooks, and I have listened to three audiobooks since I started playing it (not entirely while playing it, but mostly!).
Then I bought a Humble Bundle of puzzle games and started working my way through Proverbs and now also Mega Mosaic, which are a sort of Minesweeper / picross hybrid where you fill in a giant picture by identifying light vs dark spaces using minesweeper-style number clues for each 3x3 area. It's not as satisfying as the library, but also went well with audiobooks and is quite enjoyable.
I think I may actually be swinging back into a phase where I play some real story-heavy games, but we shall see.
Connections
May. 25th, 2026 09:15 pmcosmolinguistToday D and I went over to play board games with his girlfriend, P, and her other partner, J. We played Ticket to Ride, which went better for me than it had before because I thought to take a photo of the board before we started, to make it easier to scrutinize privately when my knowledge of European geography or history (Petrograd! Constantinople! big Germany!) let me down and I needed to make sure I was building the route I wanted.
The best part, in a way, was leaning that J has been having the same kind of issues I have: having "only" one other partner, having less of a support network outside the polycule, struggling with feeling lonely when the two of them are together and then feeling bad about the struggle because of course we want our beloveds to be happy...
It's like they read my mind! I was totally fine and then I totally wasn't by their date night last Thursday.
It helped to know that it's not just me, but it also helped that even though it wouldn't really be extending their support network, I'd be happy to go swimming with them which is one of the things they said they'd like to do more.
So we're going to try that this Thursday. (This does require me to not be out of spoons once I get back from a work thing in Leeds on Thursday, but I'm hopeful about that.)
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Rewatching Doctor Who: The Girl in the Fireplace
May. 25th, 2026 09:13 pmvivdunstanJust realised that I didn't blog about rewatching this the other week, 20 years after original broadcast. I haven't got much to say, except that I think it's one of the very best episodes ever, and it totally holds up on rewatch. It was my late Dad's favourite Doctor Who story, and he'd been watching since 1978. It's a little self knowing in places, but that's very Steven Moffat. But it's so very good. And I think it would be a good introductory episode for a new watcher, to see if they might like the programme.
crafting
May. 25th, 2026 03:02 pmunicorndukeHey all, if you'd like to join the crafting hangout, it is tonight from 6-8pm ET!
Video encouraged but not required!
Topic: Crafting Hangout
Time: Mondays 6:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 973 2674 2763
(no subject)
May. 25th, 2026 08:55 pmazdakI stumbled across this and am enamoured. It's very funny and yet oddly insightful. For one thing, it's fascinating how Hu Ge interacts differently with each of the various "whoopsies" - there's so much characterisation going on, all the time.
Another Repeat Fantasy Bundle - Dyson Delves
May. 25th, 2026 07:50 pmffuturesA big bundle of ready-made maps for fantasy RPGs from cartographer Dyson Logos, last offered in 2024
https://bundleofholding.com/p
Last time I said "I don't really have any use for this sort of thing, but what I've seen looks pretty good, and they're designed to be easy to print and customize. If you use these games it's probably worth a look." I think this all still applies.
https://bundleofholding.com/p
Last time I said "I don't really have any use for this sort of thing, but what I've seen looks pretty good, and they're designed to be easy to print and customize. If you use these games it's probably worth a look." I think this all still applies.
(no subject)
May. 25th, 2026 02:18 pmmajuUgh, yesterday I received a bill for lab tests I had done last November. I checked my Medicare account for details of this bill, and found the very first item I'm being charged for is "INSERTION OF NEEDLE INTO VEIN FOR COLLECTION OF BLOOD SAMPLE ". ($36.40!!!) I wonder if they make an additional charge for every attempt if they can't find a vein on the first try.
We've had quite a lot of rain over the last 24 hours, but it wasn't raining when I got up so I went for a walk just after 5 am without getting seriously wet although my feet were wet by the time I got home. I'm not really sure why, since I didn't walk through any puddles or wet grass; maybe because there was a light mist?
Apparently this town normally has a Memorial Day parade (I've never been here on Memorial Day before); there was a lot of discussion by the town (I know this because I'm signed up for town notices and I got both tests and emails on the subject) about whether or not it should go ahead today, since the forecast was for rain and low temperatures (low 50sF), and at 7 pm yesterday they decided to cancel it. In hindsight, it could have gone ahead because it really hasn't rained all morning, but it could have gone either way.
My daughter and son in law have been having trouble finding gluten free bread in their usual shops; we're wondering whether the usual sellers have stopped importing it (from somewhere). I suddenly realised that if gluten free flour is still available I could make gluten free bread, so next time my son in law goes shopping he is going to buy the flour plus yeast. I could also start some gluten free sourdough starter, but yeast will work as it doesn't have gluten, and it will be much faster than waiting on starter to be ready.
We've had quite a lot of rain over the last 24 hours, but it wasn't raining when I got up so I went for a walk just after 5 am without getting seriously wet although my feet were wet by the time I got home. I'm not really sure why, since I didn't walk through any puddles or wet grass; maybe because there was a light mist?
Apparently this town normally has a Memorial Day parade (I've never been here on Memorial Day before); there was a lot of discussion by the town (I know this because I'm signed up for town notices and I got both tests and emails on the subject) about whether or not it should go ahead today, since the forecast was for rain and low temperatures (low 50sF), and at 7 pm yesterday they decided to cancel it. In hindsight, it could have gone ahead because it really hasn't rained all morning, but it could have gone either way.
My daughter and son in law have been having trouble finding gluten free bread in their usual shops; we're wondering whether the usual sellers have stopped importing it (from somewhere). I suddenly realised that if gluten free flour is still available I could make gluten free bread, so next time my son in law goes shopping he is going to buy the flour plus yeast. I could also start some gluten free sourdough starter, but yeast will work as it doesn't have gluten, and it will be much faster than waiting on starter to be ready.
The Glass Mermaid by Susan Clymer
May. 25th, 2026 01:44 pmrachelmanija
When you pick up an old children's book because it says it's about a tiny glass mermaid coming to life, you probably don't expect most of the story to involve the main character going to another world where she has to face an evil pirate witch who wants to nonconsensually adopt her. Admittedly this all happens while they're lugging around the now full-sized mermaid so she can be the best friend of the other world's sole mermaid, but if they miss the deadline she'll turn back to glass, while the witch pirate throws spells at them, but... Did I mention that all of this takes place inside a Christmas tree?
This is a pretty fun book but like many older children's books, recounting the plot is like describing a half-remembered dream.
Equinox, by David Towsey
May. 25th, 2026 03:21 pmfromtheheartofeurope_feedSecond paragraph of third day of journal:
That was the way of our relationship. The way of the vast majority of brotherly and sisterly relationships that crossed sunrise and sunset in the Kingdom of Reikova. We had some power to make our night- or day-brothers aware of something specific; a power often exercised through saying a thing repeatedly, perhaps with the aid of a mirror, or the written word – as I had chosen that day. But total certainty was impossible. An obstinate day-brother could do their utmost to ignore the night before, or see a note and choose not to read it. In that sense there was some degree of control – or the illusion of control – in what we remembered of each other. It was possible, for instance, to be the prying sort. I might know much of what my day-brother did with his sunlit hours. Instead, I had long ago decided his doings were tedious at best, distasteful at worst. I preferred to ignore them as best I could. I imagined he felt the same way of my nightly endeavours. But as with all Reikovan citizens who made something of their lives, who avoided the clutches of St Leonars prison and the like, we lived in a peaceful enough accord with each other. An accord that, on occasion, relied on wilful ignorance.
One of the Clarke submissions that I put aside at the time as clearly fantasy and therefore ineligible, but worth coming back to. The setting is a world (or at least a country) where everyone transforms into a different person at sunrise and sunset, meaning a whole different set of relationships, economic activities, habits etc. The protagonist and his shadow become involved in an occult murder mystery up-country (a frequently used trope, where the author explores their secondary world through the medium of a crime narrative). Quite nicely done, with very good plot pacing as we discover more about the world. Though I did find myself wondering about the personal inconveniences of the setup – the author touches on the intricacies of childbirth, but there’s a lot more to intimate personal interaction than that. You can get Equinox here.
This was the sff book that had lingered longest unread on my shelves. Next on that pile is Twenty-first Century Blues, by Steve Walker, but that will have to wait until I have finished my non-fiction acquisitions of 2022.
O, my menopausal baybeee....
May. 25th, 2026 04:13 pmoursinI may just possibly have fulminated heretofore about the assumption that a woman over 35 is But A Barren Stock and her fertility has fallen off a cliff and She Should Have Frozen Her Eggs while there was still time -
- and this may be a factor of age and reading certain novels at an impressionable age not to mention being a historian with interest in that area -
- but honestly, is the existence of The Menopausal Baby - You're Not Having The Change, Duckie, You're Preggers! - unknown to the present generation?
I will state, for information, that my sources in organisations such as BPAS indicate that a significant % of their custom comes from women who believed that their ovaries had shrivelled up and they no longer needed to employ contraception, and WHOOPS.
(Okay, maybe there's some kind of pendulum thing going on here, from No-One is Talking About The Menopause to Everything is Attributed to the Peri/Menopause once a woman is over a certain age?)
Briggs said misinformation around perimenopause is concerning.
“I look at things like Instagram to see what they are exposed to and I am horrified,” she said, citing examples of women in their 30s being told to demand HRT if they are unable to sleep or are struggling with migraines – and to switch GPs if denied. Or women being told they should seek testosterone treatment.
“I’m not anti any of these things in the right person, but females produce their own testosterone lifelong, even women without ovaries, so the idea that everybody has to demand testosterone is bonkers,” Briggs said.
Dr Channa Jayasena, an expert in reproductive endocrinology at Imperial College London, also raised concerns.
“It’s great that there’s better [public] awareness [about perimenopause]. And I think many doctors are completely unaware about how debilitating the symptoms of perimenopause can be,” he said. “But the flipside of that, I think there’s a risk that some women are being mislabelled as having perimenopause when they have other things that are wrong.”
And do we suspect that there are people out there willing to purvey HRT/testosterone if GP won't come across? Hmmmm?
I am very much inclined to think that the President of the British Menopause Society knows whereof she peaks:
[T]here is a perception that any symptom affecting women between the ages of 40 and 60 is due to perimenopause or menopause and that HRT is required.
“I think HRT is completely wonderful,” Rymer said. But, she added, “it’s not for women who don’t need it,” noting that in such situations it can cause heavy bleeding.
Basically the physiological equivalent of putting down any narkiness in woman 'd'un certain age' to her Time of Life rather than all the various causes there might actually be.
There is a funny side, but seriously?
May. 25th, 2026 10:48 amconulyFriday, I get a text from the staffing agency asking if I can work at X place on any of five or six different shifts. I take a realistic look at those shifts and the five I'm currently working and text back that I can do Monday, 4 - 12 - before my 12 - 8 shift at the same place.
Sunday I work 12 - 8. I get home around 9, I chat with my family, I hang out, and at around 3pm I head to bed. At 5:30, Manager at X place calls and says "This isn't like you, where are you?"
....
I did go in for that Sunday shift, but I also forwarded her a screenshot of what I actually agreed to. Because geez. And you can believe I did not kill myself cleaning on the overnight.
Sunday I work 12 - 8. I get home around 9, I chat with my family, I hang out, and at around 3pm I head to bed. At 5:30, Manager at X place calls and says "This isn't like you, where are you?"
....
I did go in for that Sunday shift, but I also forwarded her a screenshot of what I actually agreed to. Because geez. And you can believe I did not kill myself cleaning on the overnight.
A Cake Wrecks Correspondence
May. 25th, 2026 01:00 pmcakewrecks_feed"A Typical Day Of John Checking E-Mail"
Dear [REDACTED],
Thank you for choosing Cake Wrecks for such an important occasion! I'd be delighted to offer you a quote, but first let me show you a few of our most popular Sesame Street cakes, so you can pick out your favorite.
(Please note that for copyright reasons we can't actually call these Sesame Street characters, but I'm sure our versions will look VERY familiar. ;))
"Huge Bird"
"Oreo Monster"
"Trash Head"
aka "Mr. Can-'Do"
And "Petrified Elro"
Or for a little extra, you can get all four characters together!
[plastic faces not included]
We also have some new "Bieber-licious" character cookies your son is sure to love:
Prices vary depending on the cake's size, flavor, and age, so just let us know how many people you'd like to feed and how picky you are about "freshness." Delivery is free within a twenty mile radius, but keep in mind our delivery guy moonlights as a mobile pet groomer, so there's always a SLIGHT chance of pet hair - but really, that almost never happens. (Which reminds me: Billy gives our customers a 15% discount! Just FYI.)
Let me know which cake you'd prefer, and thanks again for choosing Cake Wrecks!
- john (the hubby of Jen)
***
Thanks to Todd T, Julie B., David & Debbie B., Jennifer G., Anony M., & Cynthia for actually making it through our contact page without thinking we make all these cakes ourselves.
*****
And from my other blog, Epbot:
it costs more to go back to 1965 so that's why he chose 1993. a perfect explanation
May. 25th, 2026 12:00 amdinosaur_comics_feed| archive - contact - sexy exciting merchandise - search - about |
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May 25th, 2026: Luckily my parents have not been scammed yet but I told them that if I ever call saying I've been arrested and need money for bail immediately, to laugh in my face and hang up. Even if it's true, I deserve a few days in the slammer to cool off!! – Ryan | ||