kaberett (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
kaberett) wrote2025-11-13 11:16 pm
kaberett) wrote2025-11-13 11:16 pm
Entry tags:
[embodiment] still a terrible hobby
[cn time-restricted eating.]
( Read more... )
ysabetwordsmith (ysabetwordsmith) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
birdfeeding2025-11-13 05:11 pm
ysabetwordsmith) wrote in birdfeeding2025-11-13 05:11 pm
Entry tags:
Birdfeeding
Today is partly cloudy and mild.
I fed the birds. I've seen a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches.
I put out water for the birds.
EDIT 11/13/25 -- I watered the Egyptian walking onions.
I gathered seeds from the 'Shirley' landrace zinnias that I'm developing.
EDIT 11/13/25 -- I emptied the two spigot jugs of comfrey tea. The pure one had so little liquid that I just dumped it out, and it didn't have much of a smell, just kind of moldy. The one with a handful of leaves decanted 2 gallons of tea-colored liquid fertilizer, and not much noticable smell. That's the one I'm more likely to repeat. I never did get around to testing it because the weather was so sweltering most of the time. But I have it to try out in spring.
EDIT 11/13/25 -- I rinsed out the two spigot jugs and brought them in.
EDIT 11/13/25 -- We walked around the yard looking at places in the prairie garden that need to be mowed, trimmed and carried away a few branches, and now my partner Doug is out mowing.
EDIT 11/13/25 -- We walked around the yard again and got another strip mowed.
I did a lot of work around the patio.
I've seen a fox squirrel running through the trees.
As it is now dark, I am done for the night.
I fed the birds. I've seen a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches.
I put out water for the birds.
EDIT 11/13/25 -- I watered the Egyptian walking onions.
I gathered seeds from the 'Shirley' landrace zinnias that I'm developing.
EDIT 11/13/25 -- I emptied the two spigot jugs of comfrey tea. The pure one had so little liquid that I just dumped it out, and it didn't have much of a smell, just kind of moldy. The one with a handful of leaves decanted 2 gallons of tea-colored liquid fertilizer, and not much noticable smell. That's the one I'm more likely to repeat. I never did get around to testing it because the weather was so sweltering most of the time. But I have it to try out in spring.
EDIT 11/13/25 -- I rinsed out the two spigot jugs and brought them in.
EDIT 11/13/25 -- We walked around the yard looking at places in the prairie garden that need to be mowed, trimmed and carried away a few branches, and now my partner Doug is out mowing.
EDIT 11/13/25 -- We walked around the yard again and got another strip mowed.
I did a lot of work around the patio.
I've seen a fox squirrel running through the trees.
As it is now dark, I am done for the night.
Lois McMaster Bujold's Blog (![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png)
lois_mcmaster_bujold_feed) wrote2025-11-13 01:26 pm
lois_mcmaster_bujold_feed) wrote2025-11-13 01:26 pmTestimony of Mute Things licensed to Blackstone Audio
I'm very pleased to report that the most recent Penric & Desdemona novella, "Testimony of Mute Things", has just been licensed to Blackstone Audiobooks for its usual production. Narrator is again expected to be Grover Gardner.
No, I don't know when it will emerge from the other end of the production pipeline; prior experience suggests 2 to 6 months, probabilities leaning to the shorter end.
Re-using Ron Miller's art, which they've been doing for a while, should help speed things up on their vendor-page assembly. I've no idea what arcana is involved in recording, except I'm glad it's them and not me.
Subterranean Press has also offered for the novella. They'll have a much longer lead-time, probably into 2027, so breath-holding is contraindicated. I did get a look at Lauren Saint-Onge's final art for their upcoming "The Adventure of the Demonic Ox", which is particularly lovely this round. Publication sometime in the first half of 2026, I don't have a date yet. (Or the 1300 tip sheets to be signed, another necessary precursor. That will be a nice brainless task for this winter.)
Ta, L.
posted by Lois McMaster Bujold on November, 13
No, I don't know when it will emerge from the other end of the production pipeline; prior experience suggests 2 to 6 months, probabilities leaning to the shorter end.
Re-using Ron Miller's art, which they've been doing for a while, should help speed things up on their vendor-page assembly. I've no idea what arcana is involved in recording, except I'm glad it's them and not me.
Subterranean Press has also offered for the novella. They'll have a much longer lead-time, probably into 2027, so breath-holding is contraindicated. I did get a look at Lauren Saint-Onge's final art for their upcoming "The Adventure of the Demonic Ox", which is particularly lovely this round. Publication sometime in the first half of 2026, I don't have a date yet. (Or the 1300 tip sheets to be signed, another necessary precursor. That will be a nice brainless task for this winter.)
Ta, L.
posted by Lois McMaster Bujold on November, 13
Snips and Snails and Puppy Dog Tales (thistlelj_feed) wrote2025-11-13 08:30 pm
thistlelj_feed) wrote2025-11-13 08:30 pmBook #89 of 2025: Dungeon Runners: Hero Trial | #90: The Cat Who Walked a Thousand Miles | 2 DNF
Dungeon Runners: Hero Trial by Kieran Larwood (Author), Joe Todd Stanton (Illustrator).
Quick synopsis: A young boy sort of falls into a reality show-ish competition to enter the professional league of adventurers. He teams up with a mage (a sea hag to be, though all she can cast is a spell to make sand castles) and a vegan vampire healer who sometimes fails at being a vegan.
Brief opinion: A very cute story with a twist. There are many D&D-ish stories out there, but how many of them turn D&D into reality TV?
Plot: Kit is a gnorf (half gnome/half dwarf), and so he's very small. He's the target of the half orc/half troll bullies in town, and a confrontation twists Kit's arm into trying out for a position in the professional league of adventuring parties.
Problem is, he doesn't have a party.
A sea hag in training finds him, then she brings the (supposed) vegan vampire into the group, and the three can then take part in the trial.
Through the power of friendship and intelligence, their new party does quite well.
Writing/editing: Both were good. There were many sketch pictures in the story as well, which were quite nice.
What I Liked/What I Didn’t Like: The story was nice and a very quick read. I could have handled fewer pictures and more pages of text, but this was a book aimed at young readers.
Rating: 1-Hated / 2-Disliked / 3-Okay / 4-Liked / 5-Loved: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ½ - Liked a lot. I'll probably pick up book 2.
-----
The Cat Who Walked a Thousand Miles by Kij Johnson.
Quick synopsis: The story of a cat who travels from one end of ancient Japan to the other.
Brief opinion: A "talking animal" story done right. Small Cat was a completely believable cat, as were all the other animals.
I'm certain I read this novella before, but I don't have a review either in my blog or on Goodreads, so maybe it slipped through the cracks? An enjoyable reread, either way.
Plot: Cats don't get their names until they do something worthy of one. So Small Cat was just Small Cat, unlike Cat Who Killed A Hawk or Cat Who Traveled North or Earless Cat. In the cat culture, their stories ("fudoki") were what made a group into a family and a place into a home.
After an earthquake caused a fire that burned down her colony's home, Small Cat decided to travel north to try to find where Cat Who Traveled North had come from.
She spends many seasons traveling, sometimes with humans (a kind monk, a farmer who grabbed her and stole her), but often on her own.
She met other animals (wolves, dogs, bear) who would talk to her, but Small Cat never once talked back to another animal.
Eventually she reached as far north as she could go, and settled down there to make a new life for herself.
Writing/editing: Writing was good, editing was okay. Semicolons tended to be used incorrectly. Now and then an incorrect word was used ("She had just come from a big hell, the story said. This was so much more than a hill.")
What I Liked/What I Didn’t Like: I'd love to know what Small Cat's name turned out to be (The Cat Who Traveled Further North Than Anyone?).
I really liked that she would talk to no other species, only other cats. That seemed so cat-like! But really, everything about the cat was perfectly cat-like.
Rating: 1-Hated / 2-Disliked / 3-Okay / 4-Liked / 5-Loved: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️- Loved. A wonderful story! You can read it for free here: https://reactormag.com/the-cat-who-walked-a-thousand-miles/
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DNF #66: Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi. Scalzi's books are so hit and miss for me (usually misses). This one annoyed me off the bat. In his opening, he said basically "don't think too much about it". Telling me to turn off my brain is the quickest way to annoy me.
On top of that, I really, really, REALLY disliked his writing style in this. Zero characterization (I DNFed at 40% in and I still had no idea if the main character was male or female, the name was Jamie so it could go either way), and so much dialogue with no indication of who said what.
I just really, really hated this book.
DNF #67: Colony One by E. M. Peters. The writing was really rough in this self-published book. I only got about 15% in before it frustrated me too much to continue with. Not edited at all, as far as I could tell.
Ian (lovingboth) wrote2025-11-13 08:05 pm
lovingboth) wrote2025-11-13 08:05 pmVilnius, Bi+ Equal Founding Meeting conference 2 - the disagreements
The Founding Meeting for the pan-Europe organisation Bi+ Europe saw almost everyone agree about almost everything. Yay! There's some legal work to do, but it should start up in April next year.
What were the main disagreements? There were five things that more than a couple of people voted against. Not in the order they were in the draft documents, they were...
Voting System ( Read more... )
Non-bi+ members of the board ( Read more... )
Extra vote ( Read more... )
Russia / Belarus ( Read more... )
Definition of bi+ ( Read more... )
Again, thanks to some very deft work during the entire process before and during the meeting, none of these led to shouting matches, and I don't think anyone went away going 'Well, that vote went the wrong way, I'm not going to take any further part...'
Thanks once again to Governance Leader Soudah, Governance Analyst Demet, and polishing sessions chair Darienne for that work.
1. I have done STV votes by hand in Student Union elections in the early 1980s. It is doable; you just don't want to have to do it, and it was the one reason I was glad that turnouts tended to be low in the elections in question.
2. In small elections, ties are rare in STV but can happen. In that case, it can make a difference how high you put someone even without the vote being 'transferred' because there are still people in the running above them. I once won a place on the Liberal Party's Federal Executive because I'd put the person I'd tied with third on my list of preferences, and they'd put me second.
3. Following the formation of a coalition government in the UK in 2010, there was a referendum on adopting AV. It's not a good way of electing a Parliament, but it's better than simple plurality, known in the UK as 'first past the post' even though the 'post' isn't fixed... It wasn't just most of the two largest parties campaigning against it that meant I knew it would lose, it was when the Electoral Commission published the booklet on it that went to everyone and managed to make 'put your choices in order and if your current preferred choice is last, we use your next one, until someone gets over 50% of the votes' so complicated that I could barely understand WTF they were saying.
Here, there was a tiny bit more detail on how STV works than I thought was strictly necessary, but I am not crying foul...
4. Note it doesn't matter what the second preference of the people who voted for 'one or two' is, or even if they had one or not: the outcome of 'none' vs 'minority' is not going to affect its two wins.
5. Five produced a (different) single clear winner and another produced a two-way tie. As well as simple plurality, AV, and Condorcet, there's the French Presidential style (if no-one gets a majority, the top two go into a runoff), Borda (you allot more points to people's first choices than their second etc and see who has the most overall), and approval voting, the one that produced the tie (you can vote for as many as you like, highest one wins). That last one was added by the later book, I think.
At some point, I'm absolutely going to put the table of votes and the various results on a t-shirt...
6. Well this one, anyway.
7. The only possible exception I can think of is Albania, whose horrific situation was more home-grown / China's. And we didn't have anyone saying they were from there.
oursin (oursin) wrote2025-11-13 07:32 pm
oursin) wrote2025-11-13 07:32 pmEntry tags:
A certain concurrence here....
Noted as of interest a day or so ago, ‘I don’t want anyone to suffer like I did’: the intersex campaigners fighting to limit surgery on children - am a bit gloomed to think that this is Still An Issue because I look back and surely this was brought to wider attention, oh, at least twenty or years ago?
Ah. A little delving shows me that the person I remember as doing pioneering research on the subject, published around the late 90s, and also involved in intersex activism, has become A Figure of Controversy and I think we probably do not mention them.
But quite coincidentally this emerged today: who, according to work done by A Very Reputable Scientist sequencing DNA which does appear to be his, had a Disorder of Sexual Development (as intersex conditions are sometimes termed)? Did Hitler really have a ‘micropenis’? The dubious documentary analysing the dictator’s DNA.
Here is a thoughtful and nuanced piece by an actual scientist taking issue with some of the more tabloidy accounts A slightly different take on the news that Hitler’s DNA reveals some genetic anomalies. The most interesting thing to me is that history has a profound capability for irony.
That Hitler himself had a condition that was discovered and named by a Jewish man who also held some responsibility for the scientifically misguided murderous policies of the Nazis is at least a reflection that history is often imbued with a sense of complex and confusing irony.
mrissa (mrissa) wrote2025-11-13 12:51 pm
mrissa) wrote2025-11-13 12:51 pmEntry tags:
One for sorrow, two for joy, a murder for....
My crow story is out today in Beneath Ceaseless Skies! The Crow's Second Tale is what happens when you mull over crow-related song and story a bit too long, or maybe just long enough. If you need or prefer a podcast version, that's available too, narrated by the amazing Tina Connolly. Hope you enjoy either way.
(I had originally written "a murder for" a particular abstract noun, but you know what, I don't want to spoil what abstract noun it was, go read if you want to know!)
the cosmolinguist (cosmolinguist) wrote2025-11-13 06:28 pm
cosmolinguist) wrote2025-11-13 06:28 pmEntry tags:
Pickle and her human
D and I were walking home from an errand when we ran into Pickle, a little French bulldog, and her human (whose name of course I have no idea of). We were near one of our old dog-walking destinations, and she recognized D and I right away -- she called out "where's your dog?"
We stopped and chatted, shared the sad news about Gary, and she was really sweet about how you alway miss them and them and the company they provide. She said her mum's birthday is soon -- or has just been, recently? -- "and even though she's been gone six years I still miss her."
It was really nice to run in to her, and I'm impressed that she recognized us without the dog; I don't know that I'd recognize her without Pickle!
yhlee (yhlee) wrote2025-11-13 10:20 am
yhlee) wrote2025-11-13 10:20 amEntry tags:
Saori WX60
They're not kidding when they say this loom folds up easily (a few seconds) and can be wheeled WITH A PARTIALLY WOVEN WIP STILL ON THE LOOM, ditto unfolding and your project's ready again. (The wheels are extra, but worth it to me.)
Note that this loom is lightweight, my preference (~30 lbs) but that means it will "travel" if you treadle hard. Likewise, by default it's only two harnesses. I unironically love plainweave so this is fine for my use case but if you have more complex weaving in mind, maybe not so much. (You can buy a spendy attachment to convert it to four harnesses, but...)
( Read more... )
I haven't yet tested it, but the design of the "ready-made warp" tabletop system is fiendishly clever. Frankly, warping is potentially so annoying that it was worth the cost. I am considering a Frankenstein's monster modification that MIGHT make warping easier as well but I haven't yet tested it.
Note that this loom is lightweight, my preference (~30 lbs) but that means it will "travel" if you treadle hard. Likewise, by default it's only two harnesses. I unironically love plainweave so this is fine for my use case but if you have more complex weaving in mind, maybe not so much. (You can buy a spendy attachment to convert it to four harnesses, but...)
( Read more... )I haven't yet tested it, but the design of the "ready-made warp" tabletop system is fiendishly clever. Frankly, warping is potentially so annoying that it was worth the cost. I am considering a Frankenstein's monster modification that MIGHT make warping easier as well but I haven't yet tested it.
james_davis_nicoll (james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-11-13 10:36 am
james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-11-13 10:36 amEntry tags:
RPG Tourism: Five Games To Help You Travel Vicariously
Experience the trip of a lifetime — without having to deal with planes, passports, or other tourists...
RPG Tourism: Five Games To Help You Travel Vicariously
james_davis_nicoll (james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-11-13 08:53 am
james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-11-13 08:53 amEntry tags:
Testimony of Mute Things (Penric & Desdemona, volume 15) by Lois McMaster Bujold
Bold conspirators conceal a serious crime by committing a far more serious one.
Testimony of Mute Things (Penric & Desdemona, volume 15) by Lois McMaster Bujold
yhlee (yhlee) wrote2025-11-13 07:15 am
yhlee) wrote2025-11-13 07:15 amEntry tags:
emotional support spinning
Possum blend from Ixchel, two-ply!
I still love the wallaby blend best, but this is great too.
I still love the wallaby blend best, but this is great too.
fred_mouse (fred_mouse) wrote2025-11-13 07:20 pm
fred_mouse) wrote2025-11-13 07:20 pmEntry tags:
More evidence of causation
a follow up to my october 14th post, where I reported having forgotten all my morning meds. I have, in the interim, been prescribed a new medication that has to be taken half an hour before breakfast, and also worked out that if I put all but one medication on the bedside table, I can take them when I first wake. Which has the added advantage of meaning that the paracetamol has kicked in by the time I try and get out of bed, and lo! but it is easier to get out of bed.
Sadly, the one that can't be taken at that point -- because it has to be taken after eating -- is the anti-inflammatory. And today, I gave up and came home after lunch, because making it to 2pm when the next paracetamol was due was too much (I actually took said paracetamol at 1pm, which is the absolute earliest it was allowed, on the 6 hour interval, which meant it kicked in enough for the drive home to be possible). And found the anti-inflammatory still in its little bowl, waiting to be taken. Which might mean I also forgot my asthma preventer, which might also be associated with my chest being a little unhappy (also, I have some kind of reaction to being in a specific room in the library -- the last two times I've developed one of those biting coughs)
Which says that the anti-inflammatory is doing amazing things, and I'm going to keep taking it. Sadly, the new med is because it is possible that some of the other symptoms are a side effect of taking it daily, rather than the 'max 5 days in 7' I was allowed with the stronger dose (that was once daily, the lower dose is twice daily).
Mad Scientess (nanila) wrote in awesomeers2025-11-13 06:39 am
nanila) wrote in awesomeers2025-11-13 06:39 amEntry tags:
Just One Thing (13 November 2025)
It's challenge time!
Comment with Just One Thing you've accomplished in the last 24 hours or so. It doesn't have to be a hard thing, or even a thing that you think is particularly awesome. Just a thing that you did.
Feel free to share more than one thing if you're feeling particularly accomplished! Extra credit: find someone in the comments and give them props for what they achieved!
Nothing is too big, too small, too strange or too cryptic. And in case you'd rather do this in private, anonymous comments are screened. I will only unscreen if you ask me to.
Go!
Comment with Just One Thing you've accomplished in the last 24 hours or so. It doesn't have to be a hard thing, or even a thing that you think is particularly awesome. Just a thing that you did.
Feel free to share more than one thing if you're feeling particularly accomplished! Extra credit: find someone in the comments and give them props for what they achieved!
Nothing is too big, too small, too strange or too cryptic. And in case you'd rather do this in private, anonymous comments are screened. I will only unscreen if you ask me to.
Go!
yhlee (yhlee) wrote2025-11-13 12:10 am
yhlee) wrote2025-11-13 12:10 amEntry tags:
writers beware: Must Read Magazines (currently: F&SF, Analog, Asimov's)
https://www.scottedelman.com/wordpress/2025/11/12/a-dream-denied/
Short version: Must Read Magazines offers garbage contracts. I'm not in contracts or law, but I started in sf/f short stories 20+ years ago and IMO Edelman correctly refused to sign.
Based on this account and others, I would not go near Must Read Magazines (or F&SF, Asimov's, Analog under their current ownership) with a 200-foot anaconda, let alone a 20-foot pole.
On August 12, 1971, my 16-year-old self mailed the first story I ever wrote off on its first submission. The publication I hoped would buy that story, my dream market, was The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction.
[...]
...earlier this week, after what by my count were 23 back and forth emails between me and the new owners of F&SF as I attempted to transform that initial boilerplate contract into something acceptable, I had no choice other than to walk away from my dream.
Let me explain why.
But before I do, I want to preface this by making it clear I have nothing but good things to say about editor Sheree Renée Thomas. Her words of praise as she accepted this story moved me greatly, and her perceptive comments and suggested tweaks ably demonstrated her strengths as an editor. It breaks my heart to disappoint her by pulling a story which was intended to appear in the next issue of F&SF. But, alas, I must.
Short version: Must Read Magazines offers garbage contracts. I'm not in contracts or law, but I started in sf/f short stories 20+ years ago and IMO Edelman correctly refused to sign.
Based on this account and others, I would not go near Must Read Magazines (or F&SF, Asimov's, Analog under their current ownership) with a 200-foot anaconda, let alone a 20-foot pole.
Wordsmith.org: Today's Word (wordsmithdaily_feed) wrote2025-11-13 12:01 am
wordsmithdaily_feed) wrote2025-11-13 12:01 amscreed
noun: 1. A long piece of writing or speech, especially one that's tedious or denunciatory. 2. A long strip of material such as wood, plaster, metal, or paper. 3. A tool (a strip of wood or metal) used to level off freshly poured concrete.
lauradi7dw (lauradi7dw) wrote2025-11-12 08:19 pm
lauradi7dw) wrote2025-11-12 08:19 pmThings about me
I like pennies. Fortunately, I have lots.
https://www.npr.org/2025/05/22/nx-s1-5407493/no-more-pennies-one-cent-treasury-stop-minting
They'll be coming for your nickels next - they are proportionally even more expensive to mint.
I miss my mother and m-i-l
I dreamed a couple of days ago that I was working to get my mother on a flight to visit Flo's family for Christmas. Nope.
One year without Arthur's mother
https://lauradi7dw.dreamwidth.org/2024/11/13/
My twitter feed right now is a fair mix of Epstein, kpop videos, and aurora pics. OK, algorithm.
I switched my cell service to Verizon, which provides my internet. Except I don't seem to be able to link the accounts, to reach a living person at customer service, or to be connected via the link they sent via text. At least I'm getting texts. For nearly a week, I wasn't. (advice - never acquire a locked phone).
https://www.npr.org/2025/05/22/nx-s1-5407493/no-more-pennies-one-cent-treasury-stop-minting
They'll be coming for your nickels next - they are proportionally even more expensive to mint.
I miss my mother and m-i-l
I dreamed a couple of days ago that I was working to get my mother on a flight to visit Flo's family for Christmas. Nope.
One year without Arthur's mother
https://lauradi7dw.dreamwidth.org/2024/11/13/
My twitter feed right now is a fair mix of Epstein, kpop videos, and aurora pics. OK, algorithm.
I switched my cell service to Verizon, which provides my internet. Except I don't seem to be able to link the accounts, to reach a living person at customer service, or to be connected via the link they sent via text. At least I'm getting texts. For nearly a week, I wasn't. (advice - never acquire a locked phone).
fred_mouse (fred_mouse) wrote2025-11-13 07:24 am
fred_mouse) wrote2025-11-13 07:24 amNames
Twenty years ago, a teacher friend talked about how common the Aiden variations were in the contemporary high school demographic. To the point that my memory is that they said they had Aiden, Brayden, Jayden, Haiden and Cayden in one class.
And I've realised that it was a bit like that in the my high school years, but slightly less focused, with the -elle ending. We had Michelle, Eschelle, Narelle, Jenelle in the year group. Chantelle was the same era but I don't remember any. Gabrielle is, to my perceptions, younger. There might have been an Annabelle, but I think that was uni.