superfangirl1 (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
superfangirl1) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
scans_daily2025-08-15 08:30 pm
superfangirl1) wrote in scans_daily2025-08-15 08:30 pm
conuly (conuly) wrote2025-08-19 07:42 pm
conuly) wrote2025-08-19 07:42 pmThis past week I listened to Verity Weaver
Which I guess I can sum up as "trenchant criticism of capitalism, maybe a little preachy, not subtle at all". This might not sound like a big endorsement, but then again, I'm pretty sure most of you are Star Trek and even Babylon 5 fans, so actually it is!
**************
( Read more... )
( Read more... )
dialecticdreamer (dialecticdreamer) wrote2025-08-15 08:21 pm
dialecticdreamer) wrote2025-08-15 08:21 pm
Entry tags:
Questions in the Dark (part 1 of 1, complete)
Questions in the Dark
By Dialecticdreamer/Sarah Williams
Part 1 of 1, complete
Word count (story only): 1560
[End of March 179-]
:: Long after the group parts ways for the night, Laszlo and Igor have a far more difficult conversation in the fragile blanket of darkness. Part of the “Lost Son” story arc in the Frankenstein’s Family universe. ::
The fire had long since been banked, and even the embers seemed drowsy in their bed of coals. Laszlo lay on his stomach, his head propped on his folded arms. His feet swayed first left and right, then toward his head before dropping to a stop inches above the cold floor.
He couldn’t sleep, and even wandering in front of the forest of books did not help him to relax.
Footsteps brought a flickering light, then paused in front of the closed door.
( Read more... )
By Dialecticdreamer/Sarah Williams
Part 1 of 1, complete
Word count (story only): 1560
[End of March 179-]
:: Long after the group parts ways for the night, Laszlo and Igor have a far more difficult conversation in the fragile blanket of darkness. Part of the “Lost Son” story arc in the Frankenstein’s Family universe. ::
The fire had long since been banked, and even the embers seemed drowsy in their bed of coals. Laszlo lay on his stomach, his head propped on his folded arms. His feet swayed first left and right, then toward his head before dropping to a stop inches above the cold floor.
He couldn’t sleep, and even wandering in front of the forest of books did not help him to relax.
Footsteps brought a flickering light, then paused in front of the closed door.
( Read more... )
yourlibrarian (yourlibrarian) wrote2025-08-15 07:13 pm
yourlibrarian) wrote2025-08-15 07:13 pmEntry tags:
Endings of Different Importance
1) I'm in S16 of Silent Witness now but started the month finishing out the Sam Ryan years before jumping back ahead. (I started watching the show in S8 and did about 5 seasons before going back to the start.)
It was a very different show and felt more like a star vehicle, as she was not only the main character but the early seasons also spent a lot of time on her personal life and family. I was glad when Leo and Harry came along to make it seem more like a team show.
I thought the way her character exited the show was a really well done job even though I had some issues with it. ( Read more... ) In short, I think many characters would like to have had this kind of ending.
2) Speaking of Silent Witness, I was amused that in the episode with Jodie Comer claiming to be possessed by demons, Tom Ellis turns out to be her priest. Well yeah, you're possessed with Lucifer himself guiding your religious life!
3) Google is quickly taking us to a zero click environment. "In this system, the platform harvests and delivers information without sending the reader to those who actually created it, often at significant cost and always with the intention of serving their own audiences. For premium publishers, it means fewer readers, ad impressions, and subscription conversions. For the open web, it means less discovery, diversity, and accountability in the information ecosystem." ( Read more... )
4) I was curious about this How Americans Do Laundry survey. I'm sharing it here because I know a lot of people like to know stuff like this for their writing. ( Read more... )
5) Posted some more trip photos of the Devil's Punchbowl and lake views atcommon_nature.
It was a very different show and felt more like a star vehicle, as she was not only the main character but the early seasons also spent a lot of time on her personal life and family. I was glad when Leo and Harry came along to make it seem more like a team show.
I thought the way her character exited the show was a really well done job even though I had some issues with it. ( Read more... ) In short, I think many characters would like to have had this kind of ending.
2) Speaking of Silent Witness, I was amused that in the episode with Jodie Comer claiming to be possessed by demons, Tom Ellis turns out to be her priest. Well yeah, you're possessed with Lucifer himself guiding your religious life!
3) Google is quickly taking us to a zero click environment. "In this system, the platform harvests and delivers information without sending the reader to those who actually created it, often at significant cost and always with the intention of serving their own audiences. For premium publishers, it means fewer readers, ad impressions, and subscription conversions. For the open web, it means less discovery, diversity, and accountability in the information ecosystem." ( Read more... )
4) I was curious about this How Americans Do Laundry survey. I'm sharing it here because I know a lot of people like to know stuff like this for their writing. ( Read more... )
5) Posted some more trip photos of the Devil's Punchbowl and lake views at
common_nature.Poll #33493 Kudos Footer-534
This poll is anonymous.
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 1
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 1
Want to leave a Kudos?
adafrog (adafrog) wrote in fandom_checkin2025-08-15 07:10 pm
adafrog) wrote in fandom_checkin2025-08-15 07:10 pmEntry tags:
Daily Check In.
This is your check-in post for today. The poll will be open from midnight Universal or Zulu Time (8pm Eastern Time) on Friday to midnight on Saturday (8pm Eastern Time).
Please, talk about how things are going for you in the comments, ask for advice or help if you need it, or just discuss whatever you feel like.
Poll #33492 Daily poll
Open to: Access List, detailed results viewable to: Access List, participants: 9
How are you doing?
I am okay
8 (88.9%)
I am not okay, but don't need help right now
1 (11.1%)
I could use some help.
0 (0.0%)
How many other humans are you living with?
I am living single
4 (44.4%)
One other person
4 (44.4%)
More than one other person
1 (11.1%)
Please, talk about how things are going for you in the comments, ask for advice or help if you need it, or just discuss whatever you feel like.
Snopes.com (![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png)
snopes_feed) wrote2025-08-15 11:13 pm
snopes_feed) wrote2025-08-15 11:13 pmExploring claim Trump admin wants to replace PBS with PragerU
The claim spread following Trump's decision to end all federal support for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which funds PBS and NPR.
ysabetwordsmith (ysabetwordsmith) wrote2025-08-15 06:03 pm
ysabetwordsmith) wrote2025-08-15 06:03 pm
Early Humans
Science Newsfrom research organizations
Mysterious Denisovan interbreeding shaped the humans we are today.
Denisovans, a mysterious human relative, left behind far more than a handful of fossils—they left genetic fingerprints in modern humans across the globe. Multiple interbreeding events with distinct Denisovan populations helped shape traits like high-altitude survival in Tibetans, cold-weather adaptation in Inuits, and enhanced immunity. Their influence spanned from Siberia to South America, and scientists are now uncovering how these genetic gifts transformed human evolution, even with such limited physical remains.
Mysterious Denisovan interbreeding shaped the humans we are today.
Denisovans, a mysterious human relative, left behind far more than a handful of fossils—they left genetic fingerprints in modern humans across the globe. Multiple interbreeding events with distinct Denisovan populations helped shape traits like high-altitude survival in Tibetans, cold-weather adaptation in Inuits, and enhanced immunity. Their influence spanned from Siberia to South America, and scientists are now uncovering how these genetic gifts transformed human evolution, even with such limited physical remains.
loganberrybunny (loganberrybunny) wrote2025-08-15 11:35 pm
loganberrybunny) wrote2025-08-15 11:35 pmVJ Day
Public
196/365: Tributes to Ozzy Osbourne, Birmingham
I was in Birmingham today for boring reasons, but there was some interest to be had. It's VJ Day, and so there was a two-minute silence at midday. I observed it, but not many others did. To be honest, I'm not surprised: I have to say I think the sheer number of such silences is becoming excessive. We really can't mark all significant WW1/WW2 anniversaries this way, otherwise we'll be having them every day.¹ It feels a bit like the way people wear poppies now from about mid-October, which again I find excessive. Go back a few decades and they were often worn for only one day. I do go beyond that, but not the weeks and weeks that seem to be expected of people like newsreaders now.
¹ Plus, as my late grandpa (who was in the Royal Engineers and would have been posted to Burma had the war not ended) said, VJ Day is different from Remembrance Sunday. He felt it should be more of a celebration and less sombre.
There was nothing photogenic that I saw on that score, so my 365 photo for today is something completely different. This is Black Sabbath Bridge (yes, that's its official name) on Broad Street, across a canal just outside the city centre. Unsurprisingly it's become a centre for fans to leave tributes to Ozzy Osbourne, as you can see here. I had to wait a couple of minutes to get this photo because there were so many other people -- tourists from all over the world -- who wanted to get their pictures taken in front of it. The city museum had a temporary exhibition on Osbourne's solo career, too, although I didn't have the time (or, really, the inclination) to go and see that. I was in Broad Street anyway, so...
196/365: Tributes to Ozzy Osbourne, Birmingham
I was in Birmingham today for boring reasons, but there was some interest to be had. It's VJ Day, and so there was a two-minute silence at midday. I observed it, but not many others did. To be honest, I'm not surprised: I have to say I think the sheer number of such silences is becoming excessive. We really can't mark all significant WW1/WW2 anniversaries this way, otherwise we'll be having them every day.¹ It feels a bit like the way people wear poppies now from about mid-October, which again I find excessive. Go back a few decades and they were often worn for only one day. I do go beyond that, but not the weeks and weeks that seem to be expected of people like newsreaders now.
¹ Plus, as my late grandpa (who was in the Royal Engineers and would have been posted to Burma had the war not ended) said, VJ Day is different from Remembrance Sunday. He felt it should be more of a celebration and less sombre.
There was nothing photogenic that I saw on that score, so my 365 photo for today is something completely different. This is Black Sabbath Bridge (yes, that's its official name) on Broad Street, across a canal just outside the city centre. Unsurprisingly it's become a centre for fans to leave tributes to Ozzy Osbourne, as you can see here. I had to wait a couple of minutes to get this photo because there were so many other people -- tourists from all over the world -- who wanted to get their pictures taken in front of it. The city museum had a temporary exhibition on Osbourne's solo career, too, although I didn't have the time (or, really, the inclination) to go and see that. I was in Broad Street anyway, so...
lovelyangel (lovelyangel) wrote2025-08-15 02:37 pm
lovelyangel) wrote2025-08-15 02:37 pmLibrary Update #5: Cabinet Wall
In the first half of August, we transformed the photo display wall in the family room into a storage wall.
( From Photos to Storage )
( From Photos to Storage )
Snopes.com (snopes_feed) wrote2025-08-15 08:33 pm
snopes_feed) wrote2025-08-15 08:33 pmDid 'staff mutiny' force Cotswolds pub to turn away JD Vance? What we know
Staff at The Bull, a pub in Oxfordshire, England, reportedly refused to come to work if the vice president had a reservation.
Snopes.com (snopes_feed) wrote2025-08-15 08:28 pm
snopes_feed) wrote2025-08-15 08:28 pmDid Tom Cruise refuse Kennedy Center award from Trump?
Anonymous sources and conjecture formed the basis of this rumor.
blogcutter (blogcutter) wrote2025-08-15 04:14 pm
blogcutter) wrote2025-08-15 04:14 pm
Entry tags:
The most wonderful time of the year?
Today I want to talk about birthdays. I'll start with this very informal survey - weigh in if you wish:
What is the best time of year to celebrate a birthday? Summer or winter? Is it better to have a birthday close to a time when everyone around you is celebrating (like Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving or a major national holiday? Or conversely, is it better if it falls on a day when nobody feels like celebrating?
Amongst my family and friends, there is quite a flurry of August birthdays, my own among them. On balance, I think I'm glad I have a summer birthday. Growing up, it meant I didn't have to go to school on my birthday. During my 9-to-5 years, I was quite often able to arrange to take holidays that included my actual birthday.
The downside to that, of course, was that if I actually wanted to throw a party and invite my friends and classmates, chances were good that they'd be out of town. Or if they were in town, chances were that I wouldn't be.
So anyway, although I got invited to a fair number of parties in my youth and childhood, I was into the double- digit ages before I held a birthday party of my own.
By that time, we were all starting to consider ourselves far too mature and sophisticated to play silly kiddy-games like musical chairs and pin the tail on the donkey. A popular option amongst teenybopper celebrants in those days was to go out somewhere, like to a show, and then perhaps enjoy a special meal somewhere.
The very first birthday party I ever had occurred in 1965, when I and a small group of friends attended that year's blockbuster movie, The Sound of Music:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059742/fullcredits/?ref_=tt_cst_sm
60 Jahre später gehe ich nach Österreich (und zwar Graz und Salzburg).
Next month, I'll be taking a trip with Western Alumni to Austria to tour various sites where the Sound of Music was filmed. And maybe enjoy a concert or two, sample some wine and Sachertorte, see some sites associated with major Austrian literary greats like Musil, Broch and Zweig ... there's quite a bit of "at leisure" time in the schedule, and I'm really looking forward to it.
Prost and stay tuned!
What is the best time of year to celebrate a birthday? Summer or winter? Is it better to have a birthday close to a time when everyone around you is celebrating (like Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving or a major national holiday? Or conversely, is it better if it falls on a day when nobody feels like celebrating?
Amongst my family and friends, there is quite a flurry of August birthdays, my own among them. On balance, I think I'm glad I have a summer birthday. Growing up, it meant I didn't have to go to school on my birthday. During my 9-to-5 years, I was quite often able to arrange to take holidays that included my actual birthday.
The downside to that, of course, was that if I actually wanted to throw a party and invite my friends and classmates, chances were good that they'd be out of town. Or if they were in town, chances were that I wouldn't be.
So anyway, although I got invited to a fair number of parties in my youth and childhood, I was into the double- digit ages before I held a birthday party of my own.
By that time, we were all starting to consider ourselves far too mature and sophisticated to play silly kiddy-games like musical chairs and pin the tail on the donkey. A popular option amongst teenybopper celebrants in those days was to go out somewhere, like to a show, and then perhaps enjoy a special meal somewhere.
The very first birthday party I ever had occurred in 1965, when I and a small group of friends attended that year's blockbuster movie, The Sound of Music:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059742/fullcredits/?ref_=tt_cst_sm
60 Jahre später gehe ich nach Österreich (und zwar Graz und Salzburg).
Next month, I'll be taking a trip with Western Alumni to Austria to tour various sites where the Sound of Music was filmed. And maybe enjoy a concert or two, sample some wine and Sachertorte, see some sites associated with major Austrian literary greats like Musil, Broch and Zweig ... there's quite a bit of "at leisure" time in the schedule, and I'm really looking forward to it.
Prost and stay tuned!
Entry tags:
Book review: "Concerning My Daughter"
Title: Concerning My Daughter
Author: Kim Hye-Jin (translation by Jamie Chang)
Genre: Fiction, literary fiction
Today I finished book #11 on the "Women in Translation" rec list: Concerning My Daught by Kim Hye-Jin, translated from Korean by Jamie Chang. This book is about an a widow in her mid-70s who ends up sharing a home with her adult daughter and her daughter's partner. Her contentious relationship with her daughter pits her long-held beliefs and societal viewpoints against her love for her child; simultaneously, she struggles in her job caring for an elderly dementia patient in a nursing home.
The protagonist is a person who values, above all, keeping your head down and doing what's expected of you. She does not believe in standing out; she does not believe in involving yourself in other people's problems; perhaps for these reasons, she believes the only people you can ever count on are family. This is how she's lived her whole life, and she believes it was for the best. However, this mindset puts her directly in conflict with her daughter, a lesbian activist who is fighting for equal employment treatment for queer professors and teachers in the South Korean educational system.
When her daughter, Green, runs out of money to pay rent after a quarrel with the university where she was lecturing, the protagonist allows Green and her partner Lane to move in, despite their fractious relationship.
( Read more... )
signoftea (signoftea) wrote in common_nature2025-08-15 09:40 pm
signoftea) wrote in common_nature2025-08-15 09:40 pmEntry tags:
Nature diary
Yesterday I stood on the balcony at half past nine, when it was a little less hot outside then inside my apartment. I listened for bird calls, but there were none. Even the swallows and the seagulls seemed to be asleep already. Instead, there were bats!
They weren't easy to see, but as I was looking at the sky, I noticed those little dark shapes fluttering by. They looked almost like leaves in the wind, but clearly had a mind of their own, flying back and forth in front of me.
I wonder what species they were. It's impossible to tell. They could have been pipistrelles, given how small they were, but there's no way to be sure. During the day, they probably live in holes in the old trees beyond the lawn, or perhaps in little cracks in the walls of the building.
I hope they caught a lot of mosquitoes.
They weren't easy to see, but as I was looking at the sky, I noticed those little dark shapes fluttering by. They looked almost like leaves in the wind, but clearly had a mind of their own, flying back and forth in front of me.
I wonder what species they were. It's impossible to tell. They could have been pipistrelles, given how small they were, but there's no way to be sure. During the day, they probably live in holes in the old trees beyond the lawn, or perhaps in little cracks in the walls of the building.
I hope they caught a lot of mosquitoes.
Snopes.com (snopes_feed) wrote2025-08-15 07:01 pm
snopes_feed) wrote2025-08-15 07:01 pmUnpacking rumor Trump plans to offer Alaska's natural resources to Putin
According to UK newspaper The Telegraph, offering Alaskan natural resources to Russia could be part of a peace deal in Ukraine.
flemmings (flemmings) wrote2025-08-15 03:02 pm
flemmings) wrote2025-08-15 03:02 pmEntry tags:
The walls of bonny Portmore
The Christiest Baptists, in the course of constructing lord knows what (a wheelchair ramp for some of it) have removed the pollinator garden on the verge of their property, which was nowhere near the current construction. Boo hiss Christiest Baptists. Especially as I'm prepared to swear that they took down an old tree on the property, only to replace it with six saplings, which a) is a requirement of the city's when removing trees, and b) have as much chance of surviving as the perpetually dying saplings up by Loblaws.
Now if they had the wisdom of serpents, they'd have sold off the front half of their humoungous lot for housing.
Equally the Ghazale restaurant in the Hot Docs building has vanished. I thought the new owners might have turfed them out, but the new owner is an anonymous philanthropist so maybe not. I'd have thought the foot traffic on Bloor would have guaranteed its existence but it seems they moved over to Walmer north of Bloor.
Started on Inventing the Renaissance. The fact that the Dark Ages weren't was common wisdom when I was an undergrad fifty-some years ago, but it bears repeating. Also good to learn the newer meaning of the term ie periods where written records didn't survive. And of course, if you read any history at all-- as letussay background to Dante-- the fact that the Renaissance happened against a constant background of war, civil and otherwise, chronic violence, plague, and famine, is just a given. It's all in Cellini, all in Cellini: bless me, what *do* they teach them at these schools? Well, not Cellini, or even Dante, for sure. I suppose even a concern with the happenings in the Renaissance is a kind of privilege these days.
Now if they had the wisdom of serpents, they'd have sold off the front half of their humoungous lot for housing.
Equally the Ghazale restaurant in the Hot Docs building has vanished. I thought the new owners might have turfed them out, but the new owner is an anonymous philanthropist so maybe not. I'd have thought the foot traffic on Bloor would have guaranteed its existence but it seems they moved over to Walmer north of Bloor.
Started on Inventing the Renaissance. The fact that the Dark Ages weren't was common wisdom when I was an undergrad fifty-some years ago, but it bears repeating. Also good to learn the newer meaning of the term ie periods where written records didn't survive. And of course, if you read any history at all-- as letussay background to Dante-- the fact that the Renaissance happened against a constant background of war, civil and otherwise, chronic violence, plague, and famine, is just a given. It's all in Cellini, all in Cellini: bless me, what *do* they teach them at these schools? Well, not Cellini, or even Dante, for sure. I suppose even a concern with the happenings in the Renaissance is a kind of privilege these days.
ysabetwordsmith (ysabetwordsmith) wrote2025-08-15 02:18 pm
ysabetwordsmith) wrote2025-08-15 02:18 pmEntry tags:
Birdfeeding
Today is partly sunny and sweltering. :P
I fed the birds. I've seen a few sparrows and house finches.
EDIT 8/15/25 -- I put out water for the birds.
EDIT 8/15/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.
I've seen a flock of sparrows and house finches.
EDIT 8/15/25 -- I did more work around the patio.
EDIT 8/15/25 -- I did more work around the patio.
I am done for the night.
I fed the birds. I've seen a few sparrows and house finches.
EDIT 8/15/25 -- I put out water for the birds.
EDIT 8/15/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.
I've seen a flock of sparrows and house finches.
EDIT 8/15/25 -- I did more work around the patio.
EDIT 8/15/25 -- I did more work around the patio.
I am done for the night.
New Scientist - Home (newscientist_feed) wrote2025-08-15 06:00 pm
newscientist_feed) wrote2025-08-15 06:00 pmIt is impossible to build a practical quantum broadcaster
A quantum broadcasting system would end up sending slightly different information to every receiver – and efforts to sidestep this problem are too inefficient for practical use