yonder
Jul. 8th, 2026 12:01 am![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png){kind=small}
wordsmithdaily_feedadverb, adjective: Over there; at a relatively distant place.
wordsmithdaily_feed
no, "no subject" is accurate; accept
Jul. 7th, 2026 10:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
starandrea♥ mixed language
I was watching a Chinese vlogger open some mail and she was like, "If you can guess what's in this, leave a comment," and I immediately thought, "yi ben livre." Which is a combination of French and Chinese that I blame on Language Jones because youtube had just shown me a thumbnail of his video "Stop Mixing Languages." (And he speaks French, which I assume was the connection my brain made, since when I started learning Chinese it was ASL that I kept substituting with, probably because it was my most recent non-native working language.)
♥ language in dreams
The other funny thing about that is that it's a reminder of how differently we think, since I know a lot of people don't think in words and I definitely do. The other day I saw a discussion of dreaming in non-native languages, and several advanced language learners seemed convinced this phenomenon is either imaginary or "bogus" (not sure exactly what they meant by that), despite multilingual people assuring them it's real and normal. I remember my glee the first time I woke up and realized I'd been dreaming in Chinese. But I know a lot of people don't remember their dreams, either, so it must just be different brains with different experiences.
♥ AI face editing
Relatedly, I hadn't noticed any AI face editing until tonight, when I was watching my one of my favorite Taiwanese vloggers and suddenly thought, "wait, that's not a real face shape." (China has a relatively extreme "beauty filter" culture, and constant exposure to it may make people more likely to slide across the line from "very idealized" to "straight up anime" face without realizing it.) I googled AI face editing, and now I can't stop noticing people's teeth. I hope that passes quickly.
♥ AI face editing and faceblindness
Oh, but also, I found a helpful English video about a Chinese demonstration of AI face editing (the comments were definitely from non-Chinese viewers), and it included a demonstration of live AI face-swapping at the end. I'm faceblind, which I didn't think about at all until the face-swapping demonstration, because the face-editing was very clear to me. I could easily see the difference between the edited and unedited faces. But I could not see the difference between an original face and a face swap. It was amazing: the narrator would be like, "here's a Tom Cruise face swap" and I was like, "it's the same guy," and then the narrator would be like, "and here, obviously it's Scarlett Johannsen" and I was like, "what obviously; what are you talking about, it's obviously the same person."
So anyway, I don't know what that means, except that there's something different about AI face editing that's visible to me as a faceblind person in a way face-swapping isn't. (By comparison, I mean, I've never recognized editing without a comparison until tonight, and this wasn't "that face looks edited" or even "that face doesn't look real," but literally "that's not a normal human face shape." It looked perfectly real, it just wasn't biologically possible.)
♥ training with the pup
Finally, Daphne and I met with a dog trainer today, and as I told Marci, "I was impressed by him." She was like, "That's not a reaction you usually have to men." I know. So rare. (I often get along better with old men, and he says he's been training for 50 years, so maybe the pattern holds.) On the strength of our first meeting I agreed to a few "private" classes rather than a group class. No money was exchanged until the end of today's session, so I don't want to gush until we meet again, but he did everything right in the initial evaluation.
I was watching a Chinese vlogger open some mail and she was like, "If you can guess what's in this, leave a comment," and I immediately thought, "yi ben livre." Which is a combination of French and Chinese that I blame on Language Jones because youtube had just shown me a thumbnail of his video "Stop Mixing Languages." (And he speaks French, which I assume was the connection my brain made, since when I started learning Chinese it was ASL that I kept substituting with, probably because it was my most recent non-native working language.)
♥ language in dreams
The other funny thing about that is that it's a reminder of how differently we think, since I know a lot of people don't think in words and I definitely do. The other day I saw a discussion of dreaming in non-native languages, and several advanced language learners seemed convinced this phenomenon is either imaginary or "bogus" (not sure exactly what they meant by that), despite multilingual people assuring them it's real and normal. I remember my glee the first time I woke up and realized I'd been dreaming in Chinese. But I know a lot of people don't remember their dreams, either, so it must just be different brains with different experiences.
♥ AI face editing
Relatedly, I hadn't noticed any AI face editing until tonight, when I was watching my one of my favorite Taiwanese vloggers and suddenly thought, "wait, that's not a real face shape." (China has a relatively extreme "beauty filter" culture, and constant exposure to it may make people more likely to slide across the line from "very idealized" to "straight up anime" face without realizing it.) I googled AI face editing, and now I can't stop noticing people's teeth. I hope that passes quickly.
♥ AI face editing and faceblindness
Oh, but also, I found a helpful English video about a Chinese demonstration of AI face editing (the comments were definitely from non-Chinese viewers), and it included a demonstration of live AI face-swapping at the end. I'm faceblind, which I didn't think about at all until the face-swapping demonstration, because the face-editing was very clear to me. I could easily see the difference between the edited and unedited faces. But I could not see the difference between an original face and a face swap. It was amazing: the narrator would be like, "here's a Tom Cruise face swap" and I was like, "it's the same guy," and then the narrator would be like, "and here, obviously it's Scarlett Johannsen" and I was like, "what obviously; what are you talking about, it's obviously the same person."
So anyway, I don't know what that means, except that there's something different about AI face editing that's visible to me as a faceblind person in a way face-swapping isn't. (By comparison, I mean, I've never recognized editing without a comparison until tonight, and this wasn't "that face looks edited" or even "that face doesn't look real," but literally "that's not a normal human face shape." It looked perfectly real, it just wasn't biologically possible.)
♥ training with the pup
Finally, Daphne and I met with a dog trainer today, and as I told Marci, "I was impressed by him." She was like, "That's not a reaction you usually have to men." I know. So rare. (I often get along better with old men, and he says he's been training for 50 years, so maybe the pattern holds.) On the strength of our first meeting I agreed to a few "private" classes rather than a group class. No money was exchanged until the end of today's session, so I don't want to gush until we meet again, but he did everything right in the initial evaluation.
(no subject)
Jul. 7th, 2026 10:37 pmflemmingsMy nursing friend texted me this morning, did I want to meet up for coffee? But I was in one of my 'let's stay in bed all day' moods and had to decline. Eventually I did get up and found myself not quite as achy as yesterday: but once I was out of the bedroom and its air purifier, my sinuses filled and I sneezed mightily and coughed spasmodically and had all the symptoms of a really bad allergy day. Which may have been why I hadn't wanted to get out of bed. Nonetheless I intended to sweep up the carpet of seedlings out front, but my back at once had conniptions. So I heated up the beanbag wrap and took a bunch of muscle relaxants, not thinking how those might interact with the histamines in my system. Yeah, so I was a zombie the rest of the day and didn't go out at all. At least managed to swifter the kitchen floor but that was it. Stayed on the couch and read. Or doomscrolled, whichever.
DW tells me that the Kai story in vol.28 defeated me completely back in 2020, but with the help of my tablet and the Internet I've wrangled a bunch of vocabulary into comprehensibility. You'd think the wordtank might have the words for real estate (宅健) or lock (施錠) or come in handy (重宝する). I mean, they do, but not those phrases. We won't start on the slang meaning of float. It's still hack hack hack through some very ambiguous language and events. Oh, and カルト is a cult, not a cart, which explains how there could be a number of bodies found in a place: but why didn't the wordtank have that? Sheesh.
DW tells me that the Kai story in vol.28 defeated me completely back in 2020, but with the help of my tablet and the Internet I've wrangled a bunch of vocabulary into comprehensibility. You'd think the wordtank might have the words for real estate (宅健) or lock (施錠) or come in handy (重宝する). I mean, they do, but not those phrases. We won't start on the slang meaning of float. It's still hack hack hack through some very ambiguous language and events. Oh, and カルト is a cult, not a cart, which explains how there could be a number of bodies found in a place: but why didn't the wordtank have that? Sheesh.
The Columns at Crowley Lake
Jul. 7th, 2026 07:40 pmcanyonwalkerMammoth Lakes Travelog #6
Crowley Lake · Mon, 6 Jul 2026. 10:30am.
Today's our first full day in Mammoth Lakes. We got up early— or at least I did. I woke up at 5:30 when dawn light started streaming through the east-facing picture windows in our 7th floor suite at the Westin. I kind of knew that was going to happen. I mean, I'm an observant person, I can put 2 and 2 together (I can also compute the inverse of a 3x3 matrix in my head... or at least I used to be able to 😅), and the sun has been rising in the east my whole life so far. I just hoped I might be able to sleep past 5:30am.
We're aiming to hike a number of shorter treks today. Our first outing is to Crowley Lake, about 30 minutes south of Mammoth Lakes. In one specific cove on this lake there are amazing nature-made stone columns. They look like something from Greek antiquity!
Crazy story about how we found this place.... Four years ago we were at the Sunnyvale Art & Wine Festival, similar to the one we attended a month ago. Except a few years ago these shows were better. They were better because they had more talented artists (as in, more artists who were talented, as to a dozen artists hawking the same 3 derivative things). Also, the artists worked their own booths, so when we saw something that caught our eye we could talk directly to the creator to learn more about it. Anyway, we were in a photography booth with huge prints of various scenes from the Sierra Nevada. As we're familiar with so many of the parks Hawk and I were playing "Name that scene" with the pictures. We saw amazing photos of this natural colonnade. We were stumped. The photographer told us, "Those are the columns at Crowley Lake." Well, in less than a minute we'd located Crowley Lake on a map... and a few weeks later, on our next 3-day weekend trip, we visited Crowley Lake.
Now that we're visiting Mammoth Lakes again, we just had to go back to Crowley Lake. Yes, the columns are that awesome!
The trek starts, for us, with a bit of 4x4 driving. People with "cute 'ute" SUVs might be able to get to the bottom of the first hill, but getting up the other side requires better hardware. A lot of people walk it— and it can be an unforgiving walk in the summer, with a dusty trail and zero shade. We drove until the last half mile or so, where a footpath leads down the side of a bluff to a sandy cove on the lake shore.
This visit was different from our first one. Oh, the columns are the same... but the lake level was higher. Four years ago we could walk right up to the columns. This year the water level was maybe 3 feet higher, enough to cover the bottom of most of the columns. And the water was disgusting with algae and other goop, so we weren't inclined to get our feet and legs wet. Probably visiting later in the season is the right way to enjoy the columns at Crowley Lake to the fullest.
Crowley Lake · Mon, 6 Jul 2026. 10:30am.
Today's our first full day in Mammoth Lakes. We got up early— or at least I did. I woke up at 5:30 when dawn light started streaming through the east-facing picture windows in our 7th floor suite at the Westin. I kind of knew that was going to happen. I mean, I'm an observant person, I can put 2 and 2 together (I can also compute the inverse of a 3x3 matrix in my head... or at least I used to be able to 😅), and the sun has been rising in the east my whole life so far. I just hoped I might be able to sleep past 5:30am.
We're aiming to hike a number of shorter treks today. Our first outing is to Crowley Lake, about 30 minutes south of Mammoth Lakes. In one specific cove on this lake there are amazing nature-made stone columns. They look like something from Greek antiquity!
Crazy story about how we found this place.... Four years ago we were at the Sunnyvale Art & Wine Festival, similar to the one we attended a month ago. Except a few years ago these shows were better. They were better because they had more talented artists (as in, more artists who were talented, as to a dozen artists hawking the same 3 derivative things). Also, the artists worked their own booths, so when we saw something that caught our eye we could talk directly to the creator to learn more about it. Anyway, we were in a photography booth with huge prints of various scenes from the Sierra Nevada. As we're familiar with so many of the parks Hawk and I were playing "Name that scene" with the pictures. We saw amazing photos of this natural colonnade. We were stumped. The photographer told us, "Those are the columns at Crowley Lake." Well, in less than a minute we'd located Crowley Lake on a map... and a few weeks later, on our next 3-day weekend trip, we visited Crowley Lake.
Now that we're visiting Mammoth Lakes again, we just had to go back to Crowley Lake. Yes, the columns are that awesome!
The trek starts, for us, with a bit of 4x4 driving. People with "cute 'ute" SUVs might be able to get to the bottom of the first hill, but getting up the other side requires better hardware. A lot of people walk it— and it can be an unforgiving walk in the summer, with a dusty trail and zero shade. We drove until the last half mile or so, where a footpath leads down the side of a bluff to a sandy cove on the lake shore.
This visit was different from our first one. Oh, the columns are the same... but the lake level was higher. Four years ago we could walk right up to the columns. This year the water level was maybe 3 feet higher, enough to cover the bottom of most of the columns. And the water was disgusting with algae and other goop, so we weren't inclined to get our feet and legs wet. Probably visiting later in the season is the right way to enjoy the columns at Crowley Lake to the fullest.
Poem: "Its Weirdness Is Evident Without Comparison"
Jul. 7th, 2026 09:33 pmysabetwordsmithThis is today's freebie. It was inspired by a prompt from gs_silva. It also fills the "Ambiguous Situation" square in my 6-1-26 card for the Hazbin Hotel Fest. This poem belongs to the series Schrodinger's Heroes.
( Read more... )
gs_silva. It also fills the "Ambiguous Situation" square in my 6-1-26 card for the Hazbin Hotel Fest. This poem belongs to the series Schrodinger's Heroes.( Read more... )
Tags:
move the coyotes
Jul. 7th, 2026 10:26 pmstarandreaI have several pictures of the "coyotes," but none at the top of my camera roll, so I searched my photos for "wolf" (since that's what these coyotes look like to me). My photos turned up an actual Irish Wolfhound, whom I don't remember meeting at all, along with several pictures of Mimi running, which I found hilarious and charming.
Then I searched for "coyote," and lo, this picture came up.
( coyote and friends )
One of our neighbors has two cardboard "coyotes" that she puts by the river to keep geese from coming up on the banking. Apparently real coyotes move, so the geese are more convinced by this ruse if the coyotes are not in the same place every time they pass by.
The same neighbor also has a hammock, hence my explanation, "She says the rent to sit in the hammock is to move the coyotes, so I moved a coyote."
(I first encountered the coyotes years ago, at night, while I was out walking with Mimi by flashlight. I genuinely though we had come upon a live animal and I quickly scooped Mimi up and backed away. Mimi was completely unworried, which I admitted after the fact should have been a clue.)
Then I searched for "coyote," and lo, this picture came up.
( coyote and friends )
One of our neighbors has two cardboard "coyotes" that she puts by the river to keep geese from coming up on the banking. Apparently real coyotes move, so the geese are more convinced by this ruse if the coyotes are not in the same place every time they pass by.
The same neighbor also has a hammock, hence my explanation, "She says the rent to sit in the hammock is to move the coyotes, so I moved a coyote."
(I first encountered the coyotes years ago, at night, while I was out walking with Mimi by flashlight. I genuinely though we had come upon a live animal and I quickly scooped Mimi up and backed away. Mimi was completely unworried, which I admitted after the fact should have been a clue.)
all about various bits
Jul. 7th, 2026 07:18 pmsistawendyLast night was Lambert House for me. There are two items worth celebrating about this:
I will, however, be making at least one more visit to the house as part of the database reimplementation project. B the volunteer manager says that the renovated house should have a much better networking setup than we do at St. Mark's, but I'd still like to find out whether I have to do anything clever like locally cached copies of the DB to make it work tolerably. Plus, it'll be the first time I've tried to set up a Javascript-Python-SQLite stack on a Windows laptop, which I'm sure will be educational.
Oh: in other software news, I've been wrestling GIMP on behalf of my )'( theme camp. I loathe GIMP.
- It's the last time I need to go to St. Mark's. Yes, good on St. Mark's for renting us the space, but the noise, lack of window treatments, and video hassles made the space less than ideal.
- Because of the aforementioned awkward video setup, I end up seeing myself in profile. I have to say, I don't hate it and indeed even like it. All credit to the sculptor.
I will, however, be making at least one more visit to the house as part of the database reimplementation project. B the volunteer manager says that the renovated house should have a much better networking setup than we do at St. Mark's, but I'd still like to find out whether I have to do anything clever like locally cached copies of the DB to make it work tolerably. Plus, it'll be the first time I've tried to set up a Javascript-Python-SQLite stack on a Windows laptop, which I'm sure will be educational.
Oh: in other software news, I've been wrestling GIMP on behalf of my )'( theme camp. I loathe GIMP.
Daily Happiness
Jul. 7th, 2026 07:00 pmtorachan1. My stomach felt almost as bad this morning when I woke up, but once I got going, I started to feel a lot better, and it wasn't like yesterday where I'd feel better for a while but then anything I ate would make me feel worse again. Not quite 100% but mostly back to normal.
2. There was another ant invasion this morning, though not nearly as bad as yesterday. I was worried that despite my precautions and clean up this morning, I might come home to more after work, since yesterday we had both been home during the day to monitor any scouts and keep things from snowballing, but with Carla out of town, there's no one to keep an eye out during the day. But the diatomaceous earth I put down this morning seems to have been enough and there were no ants in the kitchen this evening and only a couple in the dining room near where they had been coming in. So hopefully I won't wake up to ants again tomorrow.
3. When I first moved offices last year, the area I was in was the coldest in the whole building, but then they made some change and it was the warmest. It was tolerable for the winter and spring, but it's really bad now and I was just sweltering at my desk this afternoon. I put in a request to the facility maintenance department and they said they will get it looked at ASAP so fingers crossed they can get it to a more reasonable temperature.
4. Look at this sweetie girl.
2. There was another ant invasion this morning, though not nearly as bad as yesterday. I was worried that despite my precautions and clean up this morning, I might come home to more after work, since yesterday we had both been home during the day to monitor any scouts and keep things from snowballing, but with Carla out of town, there's no one to keep an eye out during the day. But the diatomaceous earth I put down this morning seems to have been enough and there were no ants in the kitchen this evening and only a couple in the dining room near where they had been coming in. So hopefully I won't wake up to ants again tomorrow.
3. When I first moved offices last year, the area I was in was the coldest in the whole building, but then they made some change and it was the warmest. It was tolerable for the winter and spring, but it's really bad now and I was just sweltering at my desk this afternoon. I put in a request to the facility maintenance department and they said they will get it looked at ASAP so fingers crossed they can get it to a more reasonable temperature.
4. Look at this sweetie girl.
fanlore_tumblr_feedThank you for the suggestion. We don't currently have a Fanlore page for the Psyblade ship, but I will bring to the attention of our editors and hopefully one can be created soon.
(no subject)
Jul. 7th, 2026 05:47 pmgreghousesgfI went to my favorite cafe today but could only get a slice of vanilla cake because they ran out of the other cake flavors and I got hassled by some old fart bible thumper on the way home, I told him to leave me alone because I'm an atheist and I saw him walk into traffic as I went inside my bldg. He probably thinks god will stop cars from hitting him. It was a short walk because the cafe is right in my neighborhood but my legs hurt so bad anyway.
Game Check-in: Dragon Age Veilguard
Jul. 7th, 2026 07:09 pmbluapapilioThese notes were all made 12-16-24 before my playing fell off. u_u
Spoilers for various things!
Heir to the Dead:
Aww that tiny whispered 'Please' and Manfred's "Hurray!". 😭 And Manfred can do magic now! Ughhh my feels.
I wish we'd gotten some commentary from the companions before he revived Manfred about missing his presence.
"I have regrets about what Lichdom could have been, but none of them would make me exchange them for this."
Both options meant losing or gaining something, regrets are natural but if what you gained overall makes you happy, it's worth it.
A Murder of Crows:
Lol I knew he would say 'Over my dead body'. If I were Caterina I would at least be a little concerned about Spite;; And I don't think it was smart to just lock Illario up. I'm curious what would've happened if Treviso hadn't been blighted, it seemed to suggest something else would've been an option.
To Act as One/When Plans Align:
Okay now I'm ready for this quest.
Sidenote, Manfred won rock-paper-scissors! I wonder why he likes to hang out on top of the balcony?
Oh, there's Rana at the Shadow Dragon's base!
Okay so this is a/the? final quest so I went and finished Regrets of the Dead Wolf and got Mythal's essence, I was going to use a guide choose the right answers but apparently I didn't save before that so I had to fight her. Not too bad. I also had 'A Hidden Hoard', the Solas mural on the wall is so interesting, why is it there??
Lmao at the fish vs coffee Harding/Neve banter. No way I'd be able to choose, I love both of those.
(Codex) On Beetles: *flashbacks to The Mummy*
I went and got all the chests and altars I was missing except one chest, which is somewhere inaccessible. There's literally people standing there blocking it and there's no way around them. 🤷
The 'Are you sure?' page says many companions have overcome personal struggles / most allies will support you from a position of strength sooo here goes.
Of course they forced an eclipse.
I went around talking to everyone in the Lighthouse and only two people are talking about it, everything else is commenting on stuff that happened in the past;; And ye gods that purple/pink cast on the area is terrible.
Since when does my Rook speak the qun language...
I wonder what equipment with a star on it means?
Grr it's so frustrating when an Ultimate is wasted because the enemy kept moving while I was casting. :/
When Davrin started getting stabbed why wasn't Assan right there? T_T And what happened to Assan/where did they go?
Lucanis died somehow... None of our allies were there to help because everything happened too fast.
I am very confused about what's happening here with Solas......
Davrin on 2nd team, took Harding and Lucanis with me, chose Bellara over Neve, Neve disapproving - understandable.
A Cage for Gods:
Rook: "Have to get back to the team." ...after I explore first.
It's hard to feel bad about choosing Bellara will all these weird statues of her around. Girl probably would have disapproved like Neve did if I hadn't chosen her. 😅
How come Davrin's statues were accepting when Bellara's weren't? Is it because I pushed back?
Varric? What the? Are you saying we were hallucinating him this whole time? Or was it all a dream? This is dumb as fuck. No one talked about Varric being dead this whole time?? Why did Solas tell us to apologize to him???
So Minthrathous gets blighted anyway in the end??
Didn't feel like there was enough development for Lucanis.
Spoilers for various things!
Heir to the Dead:
Aww that tiny whispered 'Please' and Manfred's "Hurray!". 😭 And Manfred can do magic now! Ughhh my feels.
I wish we'd gotten some commentary from the companions before he revived Manfred about missing his presence.
"I have regrets about what Lichdom could have been, but none of them would make me exchange them for this."
Both options meant losing or gaining something, regrets are natural but if what you gained overall makes you happy, it's worth it.
A Murder of Crows:
Lol I knew he would say 'Over my dead body'. If I were Caterina I would at least be a little concerned about Spite;; And I don't think it was smart to just lock Illario up. I'm curious what would've happened if Treviso hadn't been blighted, it seemed to suggest something else would've been an option.
To Act as One/When Plans Align:
Okay now I'm ready for this quest.
Sidenote, Manfred won rock-paper-scissors! I wonder why he likes to hang out on top of the balcony?
Oh, there's Rana at the Shadow Dragon's base!
Okay so this is a/the? final quest so I went and finished Regrets of the Dead Wolf and got Mythal's essence, I was going to use a guide choose the right answers but apparently I didn't save before that so I had to fight her. Not too bad. I also had 'A Hidden Hoard', the Solas mural on the wall is so interesting, why is it there??
Lmao at the fish vs coffee Harding/Neve banter. No way I'd be able to choose, I love both of those.
(Codex) On Beetles: *flashbacks to The Mummy*
I went and got all the chests and altars I was missing except one chest, which is somewhere inaccessible. There's literally people standing there blocking it and there's no way around them. 🤷
The 'Are you sure?' page says many companions have overcome personal struggles / most allies will support you from a position of strength sooo here goes.
Of course they forced an eclipse.
I went around talking to everyone in the Lighthouse and only two people are talking about it, everything else is commenting on stuff that happened in the past;; And ye gods that purple/pink cast on the area is terrible.
Since when does my Rook speak the qun language...
I wonder what equipment with a star on it means?
Grr it's so frustrating when an Ultimate is wasted because the enemy kept moving while I was casting. :/
When Davrin started getting stabbed why wasn't Assan right there? T_T And what happened to Assan/where did they go?
Lucanis died somehow... None of our allies were there to help because everything happened too fast.
I am very confused about what's happening here with Solas......
Davrin on 2nd team, took Harding and Lucanis with me, chose Bellara over Neve, Neve disapproving - understandable.
A Cage for Gods:
Rook: "Have to get back to the team." ...after I explore first.
It's hard to feel bad about choosing Bellara will all these weird statues of her around. Girl probably would have disapproved like Neve did if I hadn't chosen her. 😅
How come Davrin's statues were accepting when Bellara's weren't? Is it because I pushed back?
Varric? What the? Are you saying we were hallucinating him this whole time? Or was it all a dream? This is dumb as fuck. No one talked about Varric being dead this whole time?? Why did Solas tell us to apologize to him???
So Minthrathous gets blighted anyway in the end??
Didn't feel like there was enough development for Lucanis.
Daily Check-In
Jul. 7th, 2026 06:00 pmstarwatcher posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
fandom_checkinThis is your check-in post for today. The poll will be open from midnight Universal or Zulu Time (8pm Eastern Time) on Tuesday, July 07, to midnight on Wednesday, July 08. (8pm Eastern Time).
Poll #34811 Daily Check-in
Open to: Access List, detailed results viewable to: Access List, participants: 9
How are you doing?
I am OK.
6 (66.7%)
I am not OK, but don't need help right now.
3 (33.3%)
I could use some help.
0 (0.0%)
How many other humans live with you?
I am living single.
4 (44.4%)
One other person.
3 (33.3%)
More than one other person.
2 (22.2%)
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.
It's been a hot minute
Jul. 7th, 2026 07:41 pmprimeidealHad some health issues (not super dangerous, but needed urgent attention), then took some time off to recuperate. Hinges on this physical laptop are dying so I'll probably want to get it replaced soon (and maybe a different OS, depending on how prevalent the spread of LLM garbage is). Going out of town for a long weekend soon and will not be bringing the janky laptop. Everything's fine, just a little behind on keyboard-requiring things, so there might be a slight backlog of reviews/etc. to catch up on in a week or so, maybe.
Watching the Biggest Fireworks Show of All Time (TM) interspersed with natural lightning definitely brought that line from Quatrevingt-Treize about "Nature says to humankind, 'Behold my work, and yours'" to mind.
Watching the Biggest Fireworks Show of All Time (TM) interspersed with natural lightning definitely brought that line from Quatrevingt-Treize about "Nature says to humankind, 'Behold my work, and yours'" to mind.
thirty pillows pilfered
Jul. 7th, 2026 07:18 pmmusesfoolI meant to post last night but I could barely keep my eyes open so I went to bed early (and missed a super rare Mets comeback in Atlanta!) and slept for 10 glorious hours! I felt great at work today, and got some stuff done, and made some suggestions about the September board meeting agenda that I am sure the CEO and the Chair will not like, but they wanted to get radical and also not overrun the meeting time by 45 minutes again, and I offered a good way to do it to my boss. We'll see if anyone bites.
I am off tomorrow for the dentist - it should just be a cleaning (though I am braced to hear I need yet another crown) but I am always so tired when it's over. And my team meeting on Tuesday got cancelled so I am tempted to take next Tuesday off since I'm already off Wednesday (my birthday), Thursday, and Friday of next week. My boss was like, sure! but I'm still thinking about it.
I thought I had something else to post about but I can't remember... oh right, I finally watched Project Hail Mary the other night. I enjoyed it but it was too long. And there was not enough Eva Stratt, who was the best thing in the movie.
*
I am off tomorrow for the dentist - it should just be a cleaning (though I am braced to hear I need yet another crown) but I am always so tired when it's over. And my team meeting on Tuesday got cancelled so I am tempted to take next Tuesday off since I'm already off Wednesday (my birthday), Thursday, and Friday of next week. My boss was like, sure! but I'm still thinking about it.
I thought I had something else to post about but I can't remember... oh right, I finally watched Project Hail Mary the other night. I enjoyed it but it was too long. And there was not enough Eva Stratt, who was the best thing in the movie.
*
Great Deku Tree: part 10
Jul. 7th, 2026 11:33 pmtorkellBag 9 for a change is not more tree but all the plants, including more Breath of the Wild plants and mushrooms.
And now I have a decision to make...
So far I'm resisting the temptation to buy a second kit and just build both...
And now I have a decision to make...
So far I'm resisting the temptation to buy a second kit and just build both...
fic: Start clean-slated, Jumanji (1995), G
Jul. 7th, 2026 06:15 pmlotesseStart clean-slated (659 words) by lotesse
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Jumanji (1995)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Alan Parrish/Sarah Whittle
Characters: Sarah Whittle (Jumanji), Alan Parrish
Additional Tags: Post-Canon, Growing Up Together, Childhood Sweethearts, Childhood Trauma, Time Travel
Summary:
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Jumanji (1995)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Alan Parrish/Sarah Whittle
Characters: Sarah Whittle (Jumanji), Alan Parrish
Additional Tags: Post-Canon, Growing Up Together, Childhood Sweethearts, Childhood Trauma, Time Travel
Summary:
All she has to do is wait for their future to unfold, and unfold herself into the person she was always meant to be.
History
Jul. 7th, 2026 05:58 pmysabetwordsmith... is repeating itself. This post compares Washington, D.C. with occupied Berlin from the perspective of someone who's seen both.
Never forget.
Never forget.
US launches strikes on Iran after tankers hit in Strait of Hormuz
Jul. 8th, 2026 02:19 ambbcnewsworld_feedThe US says the strikes are intended to impose "heavy costs", while Iran warns it will "take decisive measures" in response.
Hungary's public news broadcasts halted in bid to scrap Orban-era propaganda
Jul. 7th, 2026 06:34 pmbbcnewsworld_feedThe country's main state TV channel displayed a message saying it was "sorry" for lying on Tuesday.
Book Review Backlog: Part I (January to March)
Jul. 7th, 2026 03:36 pmmuccamukk(I was fucking around on my phone for the last few hours, while Kaylee slept on her blanket. The second I got my laptop out, Kaylee came over and started to purr aggressively next to me. You can't be on my lap right now, baby.)
These are probably going to be brief, as my memory isn't that strong six months later.
Searching for Serafim: The Life and Legacy of Serafim "Joe" Fortes by Ruby Smith Díaz
(Local author, read before she gave a talk for Black History Month.)
Short biography and a poem about a Caribbean Black man working as a lifeguard in Vancouver, BC, in the early 20th century. The records of Serafim Fortes are pretty slight, and almost all from the perspective of white people—who treated him as a sort of mascot, and talked about how great he was despite his race—so Smith Díaz is mostly reading against the grain of the historical record, and speculating lot. I normally do not like history books that include this much speculation, however, Smith Díaz is very clear about when and why she's filling in ideas, and I think it works in this context. It introduced me to Marie-Claire Graham's concept of "speculative archiving" as a way of dealing with gaps in the record created by historical violence, which this book is more or less an example of. I appreciated that Smith Díaz did not shy away from or excuse records of Fortes behaving poorly. Very much worth a read as a local history, and as an example of navigating a fragmented and racist archive.
Everything Is Fine Here by Iryn Tushabe, narrated by Nneka Okoye
(Canada Reads Longlist, which I wish had been on the shortlist.)
A coming of age novel about a young woman in western Uganda, who discovers that her beloved older sister is a lesbian. One's reaction to that premise might be, "Oh no!" but this novel was not a tragedy about queer bashing, though the setting and my knowledge of Ugandan politics made it a tense read.
(I also felt that my ((at this point rather hazy)) knowledge of Ugandan geography, culture and food helped me a lot, including having been in the same places described in the book. There's a lot of cultural detail and non-English terms dropped in without explanation, so remembering what most things were saved me a lot of looking stuff up.)
But most of the novel is about a teenager trying to figure out both the world and herself, in a family with a lot of internal conflict and pressures. There's a few cases of sixteen-year-olds making poor choices, but for the most part the novel offers its characters a lot of grace. It's about discovering the world can be a lot bigger than you're told it is, and offering and receiving second chances. Really loved this one.
Witch King by Martha Wells, narrated by Eric Mok
(Reread before getting into the new one.)
I'm really glad I reread this, as I initially rushed through it to find out what happened, and as a result didn't remember several key plot points, which turned out to be essential to the second novel. There are a lot of moving parts!
Basically still love everyone in this band, and appreciate getting a novel about decentralising power, rather than building empires.
Queen Demon by Martha Wells, narrated by Eric Mok
Really enjoyed this one, also, though it ends in a more obvious cliffhanger than the first one, which stands more or less on its own.
Mostly just like the characters and enjoy spending time with them. It's again nice to see people struggling with the work of consensus building, interspersed with battle scenes, lol. I like Kai slowly coming out of his shell in the first timeline, and how much the characters have changed over the centuries between the flashbacks and present day. It really nicely both shows the long-range consequences, and builds up tension as the plots weave towards each other. Bit bummed out by some of the casualties along the way.
I hope we get the next one soon!
These are probably going to be brief, as my memory isn't that strong six months later.
Searching for Serafim: The Life and Legacy of Serafim "Joe" Fortes by Ruby Smith Díaz
(Local author, read before she gave a talk for Black History Month.)
Short biography and a poem about a Caribbean Black man working as a lifeguard in Vancouver, BC, in the early 20th century. The records of Serafim Fortes are pretty slight, and almost all from the perspective of white people—who treated him as a sort of mascot, and talked about how great he was despite his race—so Smith Díaz is mostly reading against the grain of the historical record, and speculating lot. I normally do not like history books that include this much speculation, however, Smith Díaz is very clear about when and why she's filling in ideas, and I think it works in this context. It introduced me to Marie-Claire Graham's concept of "speculative archiving" as a way of dealing with gaps in the record created by historical violence, which this book is more or less an example of. I appreciated that Smith Díaz did not shy away from or excuse records of Fortes behaving poorly. Very much worth a read as a local history, and as an example of navigating a fragmented and racist archive.
Everything Is Fine Here by Iryn Tushabe, narrated by Nneka Okoye(Canada Reads Longlist, which I wish had been on the shortlist.)
A coming of age novel about a young woman in western Uganda, who discovers that her beloved older sister is a lesbian. One's reaction to that premise might be, "Oh no!" but this novel was not a tragedy about queer bashing, though the setting and my knowledge of Ugandan politics made it a tense read.
(I also felt that my ((at this point rather hazy)) knowledge of Ugandan geography, culture and food helped me a lot, including having been in the same places described in the book. There's a lot of cultural detail and non-English terms dropped in without explanation, so remembering what most things were saved me a lot of looking stuff up.)
But most of the novel is about a teenager trying to figure out both the world and herself, in a family with a lot of internal conflict and pressures. There's a few cases of sixteen-year-olds making poor choices, but for the most part the novel offers its characters a lot of grace. It's about discovering the world can be a lot bigger than you're told it is, and offering and receiving second chances. Really loved this one.
Witch King by Martha Wells, narrated by Eric Mok(Reread before getting into the new one.)
I'm really glad I reread this, as I initially rushed through it to find out what happened, and as a result didn't remember several key plot points, which turned out to be essential to the second novel. There are a lot of moving parts!
Basically still love everyone in this band, and appreciate getting a novel about decentralising power, rather than building empires.
Queen Demon by Martha Wells, narrated by Eric MokReally enjoyed this one, also, though it ends in a more obvious cliffhanger than the first one, which stands more or less on its own.
Mostly just like the characters and enjoy spending time with them. It's again nice to see people struggling with the work of consensus building, interspersed with battle scenes, lol. I like Kai slowly coming out of his shell in the first timeline, and how much the characters have changed over the centuries between the flashbacks and present day. It really nicely both shows the long-range consequences, and builds up tension as the plots weave towards each other. Bit bummed out by some of the casualties along the way.
I hope we get the next one soon!
Flyover videos
Jul. 7th, 2026 11:19 pmnanilaWhile my colleague and I were speaking about Srs Bsnss with our industrial partners last week, we heard a roaring noise outside the window. The 250th anniversary flyover displays by the fighter jets had begun.
We grabbed our hats and sunglasses and went onto the roof to have a closer look.
It ended up being a very close look indeed. (I would like to point out that none of us were the ones clapping.)
This was a more comfortable view of the formation flying.
Here they are coming from t’other direction.
This continued for around 10 minutes before they all zoomed off, presumably to base for a little rest from the heat.
We grabbed our hats and sunglasses and went onto the roof to have a closer look.
It ended up being a very close look indeed. (I would like to point out that none of us were the ones clapping.)
This was a more comfortable view of the formation flying.
Here they are coming from t’other direction.
This continued for around 10 minutes before they all zoomed off, presumably to base for a little rest from the heat.
Busy day doin' nothin'
Jul. 7th, 2026 05:52 pmrolanniSo, that was a full day. I am encouraged by Lorie at Glendarragh Farm, who very carefully explained that lavender likes full sun, sandy soil, and a little lime for flavor. Also, on my walk around the farm, I was able to observe for myself that bumblebees love them some lavender. I'm back to thinking planting lavender in the place where the pool used to be, which is still stoopidly sandy. However! I did not buy a lavender plant today. Today I bought: a couple lavender sachets (one of which has found its forever home in the car, a t-shirt (I know, but! purple), a dark chocolate lavender bar, lavender-peppermint soap, a bunch of dried lavender destined to be placed in a vase and put in Steve's office, lavender lip balm, and lavender hand balm.
. . . I think I was quite conservative, really.
I walked in the gardens, and visited the lavender drying shed, which I would like to live in for the rest of my life. I had several in-depth chats with ZuZu, who is one of those little white dogs that everyone adopts immediately they retire and decide to travel. We talked about cats, ZuZu and I -- that cats, yes, do sleep a lot, and that she was just about as big as Rookie -- and also the fact that I had been raised by dogs, and that, yes, it was very very interesting and exciting to meet new people. I spoke for myself and ZuZu's owner translated for her, because -- you know this, right? -- I am one of those people who will talk to a dog for twenty minutes and never directly speak to the dog's owner.
Onward!
From Appleton, then, to Lincolnville Beach, where the tide was out and people were doing beach things, and thence to Belfast, where two full-color posters of kittens greet the traveler coming into town from Route One from the South, announcing the availability of Maine! Coon! Kittens! No, I didn't stop, and because I am an uncharitable person, I take leave to doubt that anyone with Maine! Coon! Kittens! needs to advertise their availability via street-corner posters.
Stopped at Nautilus for lunch on the covered patio, as reported elsewhere. The haddock Reuben was very tasty, though I admit I had some doubts.
After lunch, I went up the hill to the co-op and did some shopping -- fresh onions, cherries, three kinds of salads (curried chicken, potato, and pasta pea), local cheese, a bottle of alcohol-free wine, which -- I will, as it happens, quite happily drink alcohol-free wine, but it costs the earth, comparatively -- a loaf of Borealis rye bread for the freezer, bar shampoo and moisturizer.
After shopping -- ice cream! Homemade strawberry from Wild Cow, which I carried back to the public landing and ate while sitting on a bench overlooking the bay.
Then, it was time to come home, which is where I am now, and where I will be staying, rather than drag my weary self to the library.
Things that were missing from my day.
1 Crowds of tourists. It is now after July 4th and I was on Route One. Frequently the only car on Route One. Belfast was a little thin of people for even a off-season Tuesday, never mind a fine July afternoon, and there were ... less boats than I had anticipated in the harbor. There was no line at the restaurant during the Prime Hour for lunch. More! There were parking spaces available at the public landing.
2 Seagulls. There were no seagulls at Belfast. None. I'm trying to remember if there were any at Ducktrap -- sorry, Lincolnville -- and that probably tells the tale right there.
Well. Maybe the Seagull Militia is forming up elsewhere. Maybe that's where the missing tourists are, too.
Rookie was waiting for me when I came in, and! There was a drinker at the front-garden hummingbird bar. Score!
And there we have my news.
What's yours?
Lavender!
...with bonus poppies
Wherever you go, still, there you are [status]
Jul. 7th, 2026 05:19 pmrebeccmeister(with a nod to Yogi Berra because that one's a favorite)
It's always a little funny to travel to a different place and thereby be confronted by one's self. Arriving here in Tucson, I had something of a flurry of little to-do list items, like visiting every possible different food source location to stock up on miscellaneous groceries.
Some of the items couldn't get tackled until today, in the heat of the day. First, I took my bike over to a local bike shop to see if they can fix the bad wheel truing job I did on my rear wheel (it has an annoying hop). I really should have told them to go ahead and do a proper headset adjustment for me, but my brain might have been a little baked.
Bikeless, I walked over to a credit union to do a shared branching check deposit. Then I walked home.
Kind of hot out there.
The advantage of walking is it's easier to look at stuff, as compared to biking around. Behold, an old church:
The disadvantage of walking, of course, is that it's stupidly hot out there. Every little patch of shade matters.
This sign was reminiscent of a sculpture in that Arvada sculpture garden, except it just had one message:
(The Arvada one:)
Interesting train underpass along Stone Ave. Lots of signs to indicate this underpass floods regularly. Not right now, of course. It's quite dry currently. That's making it harder to find leafcutter ant colonies, but we'll keep at it.
Tucson has some phenomenal murals, like this one, which was tricky to photograph:
Yes, that's a javelina, tortoise, and hare riding bikes in the back.
When we're not out hunting for ants, I'm gradually managing to convince myself to work on the various projects I've brought along. I did not try to bring along the bike parts chandelier; instead, I have a knitting project to work on, and some books to read, and some manuscript-writing projects that I definitely need to tackle.
It is really nice to have a kitchen right here, so I can easily get a drink from the fridge and make myself a fresh lunch on the spot. We have to do a lot of driving to and from the field sites, though.
It's always a little funny to travel to a different place and thereby be confronted by one's self. Arriving here in Tucson, I had something of a flurry of little to-do list items, like visiting every possible different food source location to stock up on miscellaneous groceries.
Some of the items couldn't get tackled until today, in the heat of the day. First, I took my bike over to a local bike shop to see if they can fix the bad wheel truing job I did on my rear wheel (it has an annoying hop). I really should have told them to go ahead and do a proper headset adjustment for me, but my brain might have been a little baked.
Bikeless, I walked over to a credit union to do a shared branching check deposit. Then I walked home.
Kind of hot out there.
The advantage of walking is it's easier to look at stuff, as compared to biking around. Behold, an old church:
The disadvantage of walking, of course, is that it's stupidly hot out there. Every little patch of shade matters.
This sign was reminiscent of a sculpture in that Arvada sculpture garden, except it just had one message:
(The Arvada one:)
Interesting train underpass along Stone Ave. Lots of signs to indicate this underpass floods regularly. Not right now, of course. It's quite dry currently. That's making it harder to find leafcutter ant colonies, but we'll keep at it.
Tucson has some phenomenal murals, like this one, which was tricky to photograph:
Yes, that's a javelina, tortoise, and hare riding bikes in the back.
When we're not out hunting for ants, I'm gradually managing to convince myself to work on the various projects I've brought along. I did not try to bring along the bike parts chandelier; instead, I have a knitting project to work on, and some books to read, and some manuscript-writing projects that I definitely need to tackle.
It is really nice to have a kitchen right here, so I can easily get a drink from the fridge and make myself a fresh lunch on the spot. We have to do a lot of driving to and from the field sites, though.
New video shows man believed to be Tyler Robinson before Charlie Kirk shooting
Jul. 7th, 2026 08:20 pmbbcnewsworld_feedThe footage shown during the second day of a preliminary hearing appears to show Robinson walking through a parking garage and running across a roof.
I cannot give a laurel for beauty to my girl
Jul. 7th, 2026 05:12 pmsovayI had no idea until last night that the runaway success of Lock Up Your Daughters at the Mermaid Theatre in 1959 had produced a small boom in Restoration musicals upon the London stage, or at least for two months in 1963 it produced Paul Dehn and James Bernard's Virtue in Danger, a musical translation of John Vanbrugh's 1696 The Relapse which despite a comedically impressive cast including Barrie Ingham, Patricia Routledge, John Moffatt, Patsy Byrne, and Alan Howard fizzled out as a curiosity with an original cast LP. As a musical, it does feel thin on the ground in that most of its songs are glosses on the Vanbrugh, but it does boast a couple of more dramatically substantial, melodically involved items such as the ironically frank "I'm in Love with My Husband," the cynically torchy "Let's Fall Together," and the sweetly bemused "Why Do I Feel What I Feel?" which last is stuck disastrously in my head. It's the catchiest tune in the show and the likeliest to have escaped containment—nothing else in the score rang any bell with me, whereas this one may have made it as far as Standing Room Only—and I don't mind the debt to Rodgers and Hart, but I couldn't stop thinking of Tom Lehrer.