diffrentcolours

For a tech person, I’m pretty old school when it comes to certain things. For example, I don’t subscribe to any of the streaming music services (although I do have YouTube Music as part of my YouTube Premium subscription). Apple Music is especially problematic as Apple actually removes your own copies of music from the Apple Music app and replaces those songs with its own master copies – whether you like it or not. It’s possible to lose unique or special versions of songs in your library.

So I’ll never subscribe to Apple Music – and I manage my music library the way I always have since the days of ripping CDs and filling my iPod. I have too much music to download it all to my iPhone, so I sync only selected playlists and albums.

Years ago my playlists started getting corrupted. The songs were correct and played properly – but some (maybe half?) of the song/album cover artwork got randomly replaced by cover art from a different song in my library. It was super annoying – it’s been super annoying for years. But the music played fine, and I largely ignored it.

I had made a couple attempts to research a fix, the what I was told to do seemed like a horrid and dangerous pain – so I didn’t even make the attempt.

Today, though, I decided to research the situation again. I was a little more confident now that I’m armed with Kagi. I did a search for iphone music showing wrong album cover, and the top three results were immediately informative and useful.

So on my iPhone I went into Settings > General > iPhone Storage > Music > Edit > All Songs and deleted all the songs. Then I connected the iPhone to my Mac and resync’d all of my playlists – twice. (I’ve learned that I need to activate the SYNC action two times, and it’s the second time the app Syncs that the music gets transferred.) The Music app informed me that it was downloading 2000 songs to my iPhone.

When that was done, I checked my phone – and all album covers are correct! I’m very happy about this!

A Playlist on My iPhone 13 mini

I’m pretty happy with Kagi, too.

conuly

This is some wag the dog garbage, but with worse naming, isn’t it.

loganberrybunny

Public

Just as with the by-election, I can't give you any one-line "hot takes" on the war in the Middle East, either. I'd be suspicious of anyone who did, to be honest. I don't intend to weep for Khamenei if he really is dead. One of the world's genuinely evil men. The children at the school, of course. Khamenei, no. It's also far too simplistic to say "Everything is the West's fault", however much you (and I) may detest Trump and Netanyahu. Constantly putting all the blame on "the West" is a lazy way of looking at it. The BBC stories of celebrations in Iranian towns tonight at the reports of Khamenei's death do seem to be genuine, not events set up for the reporter.

However, what comes next will be crucial, even if – if – the current regime falls. Remember Russia, where getting rid of the openly corrupt Yeltsin brought the country Putin. I don't know enough about Iran to be able to say what realistic outcome would be best for its people. Ideally they should be the ones to choose, but it's also unrealistic to expect the world to be in neat little frontiered boxes. It never has been. All I can be sure of is that no sensible person likes war. It is better to have peace, in the senses of non-violence, amity, concord and harmony. Can that happen? In theory, yes. Will it happen? Ay, there's the rub.

For context, I was opposed to the 2003 Iraq War from the start, at a time when the near-unanimous opposition that we all remember had not yet fully coalesced. Even as late as mid-March about a quarter of Britons supported military action even if no WMDs were found and no UN resolution were passed. "Regime change" wars often go very badly wrong. There are a few exceptions: the American invasion of Panama really did bring democracy to that country. Arguably also Tanzania's invasion of Uganda to depose Idi Amin, though there the result was simply "not as bad as Amin" instead of actively good. But we notice them because they are rare. I am highly sceptical this one will be different. But we shall see.

Current Mood: uncomfortable

apiphile posting in

derekpoetrydump

always remember that you are less.

there's two kinds of people in this business baby. the ones who glide and the ones who strive.
you're neither. you're just not enough of a person to be a glider--
who the fuck are your parents even?
--but you're not real enough to strive, you know, like--
--what's your story, even?

pseudonymous peggy's wealthy family aren't relevant to her success,
that's just the wind beneath her talented wings; you're just jealous.
you've got to know the right people and you've got to know the right things to say
the right names to drop into the right group chats you've no right to be in.
but the truth is you're just no good, baby. you have nothing to say
that we want to hear.

fakename kate is super authentic, okay? her daddy was a preacherman,
worked in a factory, environmental poisoning, misery porn for days;
she's willing to do what you're not: prostitute the pain she's had
so we can lap it up and stroke ourselves silly at this Real Life Suffering.
and what the fuck have you got? precariat self-loathing and tedious
transgender complaints? you're not even talking about
your sad vagina, your alienated parents, your grandmother's strong hands
making ethnically-alien bread products
in a literary zooo.

always remember that you're just not enough
unique enough, original enough,
real enough.
what's real about a life you shrank
to fit into the narrow shelf
that was a high as you could climb?
sure t. s. eliot wrote masterpieces
as a bank clerk,
but you're an uneducated
lower-middle-class
failure
and your poetry
doesn't
work.

orangeblossomteas posting in

bookclub_dw

March's book is The Hollow Places by T. Kingfisher.

The discussion post will go up on March 31st, 2026. If you think of any questions while you're reading, leave a comment on this post and I'll include it in the discussion post.

mtbc

I routinely use generative AI in my workplace, my employer encourages it and pays for it. It works well, it's a definite help. At least for the meantime, it requires my expert supervision, close monitoring, to do good work but it's actually rather clever at times even if often rather dumb too. Where my work strays beyond my expertise, it fills in for me.

I have probably mentioned that I like the description of computer programming as mathematical engineering, it captures what I enjoy most about it. It's rewarding to devise and express good solutions. I love to create systems that do well at behaving in desired ways.

So, sometimes, for those parts of my work tasks to which I was looking forward, I've typically been working with the AI enough that it has the context to say, hey, you still have this bit unfinished, shall I do it? and I'm like, no, let me!

For the moment, I can still capture some crumbs of what I love to do. However, I wonder how obsolete that's becoming, the future's arriving faster than I expected. You could drop me back into the 1980's and I could be very happy writing software but these days nobody wants programmers who could hit the ground running in that kind of environment. Given the speed at which coding assistance has become rather good, I can't help but wonder if the 2030's will largely have only jobs for people who can direct the constellation of artificial agents well. That's a thing I'm sure I can do competently to support my family but … how much do I want to?

I love to learn about what clients actually need, figure out how I can meet those needs by creating software, then to deliver something valuable to them. But what I love most is the part of the process that machines may soon do maybe not quite as well but far cheaper than I.

I find myself looking back to things I once did and appreciating that at least I had the chance. I loved doing simple things like driving a rusty pickup truck through the Ohio countryside in the sunshine. Or, in this case, the chance, repeatedly, to be paid to solve interesting problems by creating software by my own brain and hand. Of course, I can still do what I like as a hobby though it feels emptier if it just means that I am doing something the hard way. I also wonder how healthy it is for one's likes to be overly nostalgic. I have an elderly relative who probably feels as if the world has gone downhill since the 1950's. I don't want that to be me someday, I should find more ways to embrace the future.

ofearthandstars

From this week's

thefridayfive:

1. What made you happy this week?
I managed to knock out a fair amount of tasks at work, and also achieved some monthly goals (planning for upcoming trips/birthdays). Feeling accomplished is good.

2. What made you sad?
I can't say that I've felt particularly sad over the last week, but I've been doing a lot of continued grieving over work and personal life changes in the last year.

3. What made you angry?
The news—from Kansas, from Minnesota, from EPA, from Iran, from everywhere. I'm so tired of terrible people being terrible.

4. What are you looking forward to in the next week?
My SO has a birthday next weekend, and we'll be celebrating that as best we can.

5. What are you not looking forward to?
My daily work is a bit of a slog right now, and it's hard to stay mentally motivated and engaged.

mtbc

Having learned of exchanges of fire in the Middle East, I can't help but worry for the innocent people in the region. Further, I found myself quickly jumping to: what's the off-ramp for Iran? Whenever attacked, it responds. These exchanges typically fizzle out but if Trump welcomes distraction from Epstein then goodness knows how far this will go before he lauds himself for some paper victory.

Incidentally, it occurs to me that if Oriental is a rather Western-centric term for a region then Middle East is no less so.

thisbluespirit

Just wrote a little snippet for Small Prophets, for

100fandoms, because I felt like it and also I thought there should be something for it, so:

Live in Hope (266 words) by thisbluespirit
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Small Prophets (TV)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Kacey & Michael Sleep
Characters: Kacey (Small Prophets), Michael Sleep
Summary: Michael and Kacey have nothing to do but wait.

(I need to rewatch it - I think this must be set c. late ep4 or sometime in ep5? I mean, I need to rewatch anyway, because it hasn't stopped living in my head yet.)

tally posting in

dw_community_promo

youtuberecs is a simple, casual community for posting Youtube recommendations! It's meant to be easy peasy—you can leave reviews or commentary about your recs or just drop the embed and go!

We also now also have a nice backlog of video recs to browse, all organized within our tag system. ♥

Current Mood: working

rionaleonhart

I'm constantly delighted by how bonkers the dynamic between Chris and Robert is. Robert had a relationship with Chris's mother; Chris had a relationship with Robert's sister; are you two sure you're not just trying to sleep with each other by proxy?

Anyway, here's a fic about that.

Title: By Proxy
Fandom: The Goes Wrong Show (technically the televised version of A Christmas Carol Goes Wrong)
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Robert/Chris, past Chris/Robert's sister, past Robert/Celia
Wordcount: 2,100
Summary: “I wanted to speak to you about your dalliance with my sister.”

( By Proxy )

chestnut_pod posting in

thisfinecrew

The BLM has announced a plan to log to the "maximum" in some of the last old-growth forests on the West Coast. A period of public comment is open.

Here is a long explainer on why these lands are important, and why the proposal is ineffective in its stated aim of fire-prevention and destructive to human communities and the whole surrounding ecosystem.

This is the project number: DOI-BLM-ORWA-0000-2026-0001-RMP-EIS

Here is the notice of intent.

Public comment is open for 26 more days.

hafnia posting in

seasonalremix

Hello everyone!

Hopefully you're hard at work on what you've been remixing! As a friendly reminder, your remixed fic should be uploaded to the collection by 11:59PM GMT March 14th!

For those that missed the winter session and would like to sign up for spring, signups will be opening March 21 and will be announced here. Keep an eye out :)

If have questions about logistics, would like a beta, or need help with anything else, please let us know and we'll get back to you promptly!

Happy remixing, all! ♥

rmc28

Both finals ended up being USA-Canada. Both finals I expected USA were more likely to win, actually wanted Canada to win, felt it was possible Canada might actually win for a majority of the game, only to have USA win in 3v3 OT. I didn't manage to watch either game entirely conventionally.

The women's final was on at the same time as Women's Blues "strength and conditioning" at the university sports centre. (The team gets an hour a week in term time in the Team Training Room, supervised by a personal trainer who's developed a programme for us to follow that's tailored to the needs of ice hockey. I love it, it's such a great perk of playing for the university.) My friend C and I arrived early and asked Will the PT to get the game up on the big screen, so we could follow it while we trained, and it was very exciting. A hardcore of about six of us then watched the last five minutes or so of the second period on a laptop at the end of the room, and then scattered at speed to bike to our respective destinations before the third period started.

The men's final took place while I was driving a large vehicle full of Kodiaks to Bristol (nine people: eight players with kits, one coach). My phone was paired to the car sound system, and I had the iPlayer coverage playing through it from our last pickup point (because obviously I didn't want to be messing with my phone while on the motorway). We had about half an hour of curling commentary that we only half-listened to, and then I turned up the volume for the game itself. With excellent timing, the game-winning goal was scored when we were a few minutes away from arriving at Bristol ice rink. I would still like to watch back at least the highlights of the game and actually see the bits of skating that had the commentators get especially excited.

missizzy

This morning I tested out the new microphone. Once I'm a sufficient distance away from it (something I'm going to have to get used to), the sound quality isn't bad, but I can hear a tiny bit of flickering in the background. Not the biggest problem while podficcing; it will be an improvement there, at least. Streaming with it is another matter. Perhaps it might not even be audible much of the time, but there are times it probably will be. How to get rid of it I do not know. Maybe I should try to figure out this Razer Synapse thing that I ended up installing when I first plugged it in?
I haven't figured out how to get those two pesky final files off my old computer either. Though one thing I am hoping to go buy today is a new external hard drive. I had already started to suspect that sooner or later, I may need it, and if the old computer can register a connection to it, that would surely be a way to move those files.

poliphilo

O what wild things the internet has been telling me! For instance it says that the US aircraft carrier, Gerald R. Ford.....

Hang on right there, who in their right mind would name the pride of the US Navy after Gerald Ford?

I dunno, but that's not the point.

Seems pointed enough to me. Gerald Ford was the most forgettable US President in recent history....

So maybe they felt sorry for him. Anyway, getting back to what I was saying, the Internet was telling me that the USS Gerald R. Ford has been deployed to the Middle East with its decks running with sewage.

The symbolism is deafening!

Quite so, but there's more. This may not simply be a systems malfunction but something the crew themselves have brought on themselves by stuffing things down the toilets.

Why on earth would they do that?

Because they've been at sea for nearly a year and they're sick of it and want some shore leave.

Wouldn't that be mutiny?

Shhhh. Anyway that's not the end of it because if they reach the Middle East they may find it hard to find a port that'll take them.

Because they stink?

No. Because all the nations round there have been pissed off by Ambassador Huckabee's cheerleading for a Greater Israel. Or, in other words, taking scads of their territory and handing it over to Mr Netanyahu.

Why would he do that? Isn't it undiplomatic and isn't he supposed to be a diplomat?

Ah, but above all else he's a Bible-believing Christian. And God promised all the land between somewhere and somewhere else to the children of Abraham. I'd look it up but I can't be bothered.

So maybe it wasn't so clever to appoint him to such a sensitive post.

Exactly. But you may have noticed who's in charge....

Ah....yes....Him. But at least he's not as forgettable as Gerald Ford.....

lovelyangel

2026 Portland Winter Light Festival
World Trade Center • Portland, Oregon
February 13, 2026
Nikon D810 • AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G
f/4 @ 24mm • 1/30s • ISO 6400

I really dislike doing “coverage” photography – even moreso in poor lighting conditions. I have to overshoot – a lot. And then I have to deal the mess.

( Decisions, Below This Cut )

Previously
PDXWLF 2026, Day 1 – Friday
PDXWLF 2026, Day 2 – Saturday
PDXWLF 2026, Day 5 – Tuesday
PDXWLF 2026, Day 6 – Wednesday
PDXWLF 2026, Day 8 – Friday
PDXWLF 2026, Day 9 – Saturday

smallhobbit

Just over 10.5K words this month, which is still a good number for me, and brings my annual total so far to 25.5K, allowing breathing space later in the year since my goal for this year is 100K.

For

allbingo Valentine's month I wrote A Fortunate Meeting starring Miss Marple, who denies being responsible but was certainly involved.

small_fandoms had their annual drabblethon and this year I wrote a series (29 drabbles because I needed to include everybody) A Year at the Midnight Bell

ushobwri had their annual WiP month, and I finally finished The Last Chapter which is Spooks (MI5) with Lucas faced with more family news. Although as I was writing it, I had an idea for a follow up, so A Family Saga looks like it may still continue. I also used this for my entry to this year's

crackthewip

And, although written last month, my

candyheartsex exchange was posted To Brighten Your Life Discworld Sam Vimes/Sybil Ramkin.

lovelyangel

Risk of Change
Director Park • Portland, Oregon
February 14, 2026
Nikon Z8 • NIKKOR Z 24-70mm f/2.8 S
f/2.8 @ 70mm • 1/250s • ISO 6400

Good weather meant I could leave the D810s at home and go with my mirrorless cameras. I packed the same kit I used on Wednesday: the Nikon Z8 with NIKKOR Z 24-70mm f/2.8 S lens for close-quarters work and the little Nikon Z6 with the NIKKOR Z 85mm f/1.8S lens for portrait work.

( PDXWLF Second Saturday Below This Cut )

Previously
PDXWLF 2026, Day 1 – Friday
PDXWLF 2026, Day 2 – Saturday
PDXWLF 2026, Day 5 – Tuesday
PDXWLF 2026, Day 6 – Wednesday
PDXWLF 2026, Day 8 – Friday

Profile

diffrentcolours

March 2026

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
1	2	3	4	5	6	7
8	9	10	11	12	13	14
15	16	17	18	19	20	21
22	23	24	25	26	27	28
29	30	31

Custom Text

Wibble wobble

Style Credit

Style: Neutral Good - Custom header for Practicality by timeasmymeasure

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags

Page generated Mar. 1st, 2026 03:01 am

You Don't Live Like I Do

At the mercy of any sister with wrist scars and black eye goo

Network

Irritation Finally Quashed

Jesus fuck again with this shit?

Thoughts on things

(no subject)

March 2026 Book: The Hollow Places

Learning to live with generative AI

Friday Five Feelings Edition

News from the Middle East

Ficlet: Live in Hope (Small Prophets)

Youtuberecs

Fanfiction: By Proxy (The Goes Wrong Show, Robert/Chris)

Resist logging in Oregon's old-growth forests

Two weeks until the winter deadline!

Olympic ice hockey finals

A few bumps

Current Affairs: A Dialogue

PDXWLF 2026, Photography Wrap-Up

Writing - February 2026

PDXWLF 2026, Day 9 – Saturday

Interesting Links for 28-02-2026

Profile

March 2026

Links

Most Popular Tags

Custom Text

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags