Reading

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my parents left for their holiday this morning so now the full weight of the dog's mental health is on my shoulders.

i only took a week off (from the 30th) instead of taking the full two to align with them because all i do is stay with the dog while she starves herself in protest and now i home work it's not worth it, but i'm regretting that today - up at 4.30 to see them off and then just lay in bed waiting for a proper time to get up. ~~i'm babysitting william tonight until 10, and then i have to get up again in the morning tomorrow?? awful.~~ reprieved. thought i might be - my sister's the one who took them to the airport at 4.

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Gen Alpha Dialect of English

... is totally legit.

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recurring posts

Cuddle Party

Everyone needs contact comfort sometimes. Not everyone has ample opportunities for this in facetime. So here is a chance for a cuddle party in cyberspace. Virtual cuddling can help people feel better.

We have a cuddle room that comes with fort cushions, fort frames, sheets for draping, and a weighted blanket. A nest full of colorful egg pillows sits in one corner. There is a basket of grooming brushes, hairbrushes, and styling combs. A bin holds textured pillows. There is a big basket of craft supplies along with art markers, coloring pages, and blank paper. The kitchen has a popcorn machine. Labels are available to mark dietary needs, recipe ingredients, and level of spiciness. Here is the bathroom, open to everyone. There is a lawn tent and an outdoor hot tub. Bathers should post a sign for nude or clothed activity. Come snuggle up!

For the upcoming 4th of July, enjoy some of my previous posts about fireworks. Watch a video of fireworks going off and fireworks fail.

( Read more... )

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food,
recipe

Today's Smoothie

Today we made a smoothie with:

1 cup Brown Cow vanilla yogurt
about 1 to 1 1/2 cups fresh seedless watermelon chunks
1 frozen banana
about 2/3 cup frozen strawberries
1 teaspoon lime juice

The result is bright pink and a little thicker with the frozen banana, with a notable watermelon flavor. This is a definite improvement over the previous version and I quite like it. \o/

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Space Exploration

Asteroid could hit the Moon.

Aaaand now I'm remembering this.

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Where do migratory birds have their home?

Where do migratory birds have their home?

Below are just three screenshots from a series of 16 photos on the Instagram account of somadifusa (Laura Ortiz), of murals she and the tattoo artist Azul Luna (Instagram account azulunailustra) painted in Bogota, Colombia.

I'm captivated by these images both of traveling swallows, some bearing backpacks and baskets, some with shells on their back like hermit crabs, and of hearts that are also nests, or that morph into shells, or sprout flowers and eyes. "Home is where the heart is," or the heart makes the home.

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Birdfeeding

Today is partly sunny, steamy, and hot.

I fed the birds. Sparrows and house finches have been all over the feeders today.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 6/17/25 -- I checked the grass patch by the garden shed. Something had eaten about half the seedling clover. :/ So I sowed more Bee Lawn Mix, watered that, and watered the recently planted wild indigo.

EDIT 6/17/25 -- I took some pictures around the yard.

My wildflower garden is swarming with baby praying mantises, at least two hatches. I've seen a tiny brown one and a slightly larger green one. :D

I've seen a mourning dove in the forest garden.

EDIT 6/17/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 6/17/25 -- I picked a bag of mulberries along the street and in the savanna.

Fireflies are coming out.

EDIT 6/17/25 -- I trimmed low-hanging branches in the house yard.

I hauled a large branch to the ritual meadow and broke it up for the firepit.

My partner Doug has mowed the ritual meadow.

As it is getting dark, I am done for the night.

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TV Tuesday: Deja Vu

Laptop-TV combo with DVDs on top and smartphone on the desk

In the past, shows used to create “clip episodes” which were made up of segments of other episodes with a brief wraparound story. This was usually done to save money, extend writing time, or cover for the absence of a lead character.

Is this something you miss? Is there one you've particularly liked? Given currently shorter seasons, are these still being used in any shows you’ve seen?

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Photos: Thrifted Paintings

I found these three paintings at the Thrift'n'Sip Indoor Rummage Sale. There is a seascape, a forest, and a flower garden with a birdbath.

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The Great Farting Oxygen Event

This is the earliest mass extinction we know of on Earth, and it may well have been the worst. However, it usually doesn't appear on the standard lists of major mass extinctions.

Currently we are in the Anthropocene, whether people want to admit it or not. We are also in the midst of the Anthropocene Extinction, whether people want to admit it or not. See the insect apocalypse, amphibian apocalypse, and bird apocalypse.

Despite these grim statistics, humanity is not the most destructive species the Earth has ever known. That honor goes to whatever organism first discovered fire, harnessed the power of the Sun, and farted so much oxygen that almost everything else died.

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Activism

There's no "quit" in "hero."

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"Even though I Knew the End" by C.L. Polk

On Monday's outbound commute I finished the audiobook for Even Though I Knew the End. This is a supernatural/fantasy noir romance and it does pack a lot of all three of those things into its brief 4-hour runtime.

This book relies heavily on stock film noir tropes—the veteran down-and-out private (paranormal) investigator (here a lesbian, Helen, our protagonist) who drinks too much and is haunted by past mistakes, a mysterious and sexy female client with a unique case, and "just one last" job before the PI plans to quit and retire with a beloved romantic partner. I didn't find them overused—and seeing them reworked to queer and female characters was fun—but other readers may find them too worn out even here.

Because the book is so short, it moves along at a very rapid pace. The whole thing takes place over the course of two days—the final two days before Helen's soul debt is called due and she finally has to pay the price of her warlock bargain. In this way, any rush felt appropriate, since it fit both the size of the novel and the context of Helen's urgency to get this last job done before she has to pay up.

The characters weren't super developed, but again—4-hour runtime. They're a little stock character-y, but not total cardboard cut-outs. It was disappointing for me to see Helen make the same mistake at the end of the book that she did prior to the start, as if she hadn't really learned anything, but since the novel ends promptly after that, the story never has to reckon much with it.

Edith, Helen's girlfriend, was probably the most developed of the characters despite how little page time she got, and I was relieved she wasn't just the damsel in distress/goal object for Helen, which I was a bit worried about in the beginning. Edith has secrets and goals of her own.

Overall, the book was fine, and it entertained me well enough for a few days. Nothing extraordinary here, but nothing objectionable either. I will say I think keeping it short worked best for this book—I think drawing it out might have only weakened it. A fun little twist on a typical noir novel.

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In Sylvan Shadows - Chapter Five

So last time, we saw why it sucks to be a goblin, I guess. Also, the elf leader seems to be deliberately incompetent so that we like Elbereth better.

I feel like it'd be easier just to make Elbereth slightly less of a dick. But there you go.

( I am fully capable of disliking both men. I have layers )

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"The Traitor Baru Cormorant" by Seth Dickinson

On Saturday afternoon, on the bus ride home, I finished The Traitor Baru Cormorant, because I couldn't wait until I got home to reach the end, despite a long history of reading-induced car sickness. It was totally worth it.

The Traitor Baru Cormorant is all fantasy politics. There's no magic or fairies or prophecies, just Seth Dickinson's invented world and the titanic machinations of Empire. And it is electric. Tentatively, I'd make a comparison to The Goblin Emperor, except that where TGE is about how Maia, completely unprepared for his role, is thrust into a viper's nest of politics, Baru Cormorant is about how Baru has painstakingly taught herself the ways of the empire and enters into the game fully prepared to rewrite the rules to her liking.

( Read more... )

I was hanging on every page by the end, and first thing Sunday morning I was off to the library to pick up the sequel, which I started the same day. I cannot wait to see how Baru's story progresses! Hats off for Baru Cormorant!

Crossposted from my main.

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2025,
reading

book update once more

well, the other day i finished reading a pretty problematic (?) trilogy, which i did really enjoy but will also be saving face on by not mentioning the name. it did have really excellent writing and development, and i think the characters in it were written with so much authenticity (if that's the right word...?) and i really just enjoyed reading it. aside from that, i started the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy today, and i also found myself really enjoying it. the prose is lovely and i already found myself enamoured with characters a couple of pages in. i've still yet to get to some of the books i want to read, and i haven't even come close to finishing pale fire, but i think i'll finish the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy first and then contend with the rest.

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Conservation

This 5-star island paradise doubles as a sea turtle rescue

In Malaysia, five islands form Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park, a glittery turquoise oasis filled with coral reefs, parrotfish, seahorses, and green sea turtles.

Gaya, the largest of the five islands, is also home to the Gaya Island Resort: a luxury 5-star retreat nestled in an ancient rainforest that boasts stunning sea views, swim-up pools, and a spa village hidden amongst the mangroves.

But when guests have free time — between relaxing on massage tables and eating teppanyaki, shabu-shabu, and nabe — the resort challenges visitors to partake in local marine conservation efforts.

Ecotourism is a good way to get people involved, and maybe they'll want to stay involved.

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Remigration vs. Refoulement

I've seen a lot of vocabulary abuse recently.

Remigration is the voluntary return to country of origin. If it's not voluntary, it's not remigration. This term covers things like freed slaves moving from America to Africa, or Syrian refugees going back to Syria now that some of them deem it safe. We need this term for such purposes, which right now means defending it from people who use it wrongly.

Refoulement is the forcible movement of refugees from the place they fled to back to the dangerous place they fled from. This is what the American government has done many times, such as sending boats full of Jewish refugees back to Nazi-infested Europe during World War II or the current transfer of refugees back to their country of origin. Call it what it is and cite the historic comparisons, where we've got evidence of people dying because of it.

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Communities

Do you like making things? Find friends and talk about crafts here;

everykindofcraft
Created on 2025-06-12 23:43:59 (#4232910), last updated 2025-06-16 (41 minutes ago)
I know there are many crafters on Dreamwidth but it seems nothing devoted to it has been updated in eons or has no admin or both. So I decided to open

everykindofcraft for what it says in the name. A community where people can share their projects, either in process or completed, as well as ask for assistance with craft-related things.
[Found via

yourlibrarian]

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New Communities

yourlibrarian]