Monday Update 4-13-26
Apr. 13th, 2026 12:13 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithThese are some posts from the later part of last week in case you missed them:
Vocabulary: Quiddity
Economics
Nature
Birdfeeding
Today's Adventures
Philosophical Questions: City
Food
Birdfeeding
Space Exploration
Gaming
Birdfeeding
Follow Friday 4-10-26: Meditation
Nature
Poem: "The Grabber"
Poem: "So DONE with It All"
Poem: Their Hidden Source
Poem: "Beautiful, Tough, Shiny, Resilient"
Food
Birdfeeding
Community Thursdays
Draw a Bird Day
Birdfeeding
Cuddle Party
Early Humans has 22 comments. Philosophical Questions: Pregnancy has 65 comments. Safety has 77 comments.
Last week's Poetry Fishbowl went well. I am still writing.
The weather has been variable here. Seen at the birdfeeders this week: a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches, two turkey vultures, two blue jays, a brown-headed cowbird, a male cardinal, a male goldfinch,and a fox squirrel. Red-winged blackbirds have been singing overhead. Leafing out: maple, hackberry, mulberry, mayapple, Dutchman's breeches, trillium, yellow trout lily, Asiatic lilies. Currently blooming: daffodils, violets, grape hyacinths, tulips, anemone, leucojum, yellow violet, bluebells, Solomon's seal, pansies, violas, sweet alyssum. Flower buds: peonies, alliums.
Vocabulary: Quiddity
Economics
Nature
Birdfeeding
Today's Adventures
Philosophical Questions: City
Food
Birdfeeding
Space Exploration
Gaming
Birdfeeding
Follow Friday 4-10-26: Meditation
Nature
Poem: "The Grabber"
Poem: "So DONE with It All"
Poem: Their Hidden Source
Poem: "Beautiful, Tough, Shiny, Resilient"
Food
Birdfeeding
Community Thursdays
Draw a Bird Day
Birdfeeding
Cuddle Party
Early Humans has 22 comments. Philosophical Questions: Pregnancy has 65 comments. Safety has 77 comments.
Last week's Poetry Fishbowl went well. I am still writing.
The weather has been variable here. Seen at the birdfeeders this week: a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches, two turkey vultures, two blue jays, a brown-headed cowbird, a male cardinal, a male goldfinch,and a fox squirrel. Red-winged blackbirds have been singing overhead. Leafing out: maple, hackberry, mulberry, mayapple, Dutchman's breeches, trillium, yellow trout lily, Asiatic lilies. Currently blooming: daffodils, violets, grape hyacinths, tulips, anemone, leucojum, yellow violet, bluebells, Solomon's seal, pansies, violas, sweet alyssum. Flower buds: peonies, alliums.
From the morning past the evening to the end of the light
Apr. 12th, 2026 11:18 pmsovayI had to quit out of this afternoon's virtual memorial for minoanmiss right after the singing of "Lift Ev'ry Voice" in order to meet my mother for advance birthday baking, but I got to hear remembrances in the form of stories, poems, an illuminated manuscript of a slide show, a painfully pertinent lesson in public health, songs both folk and filk, and people just talking with love and grief and anger that she need not have died; she did not consent to the sacrifice. She had formed an incredible constellation of interests and affections that her mourners flared to life. It is just that one wants the person herself and not only the space left between her stars.
In memoriam: the braided liberation of Anthony Russell and Veretski Pass' "Lift" (2018). The queer shift of Jake Blount's "Where Did You Sleep Last Night" (2020). Kadra Ahmed-Omar in late-nineties Goth haute couture. A Graeco-Armenian papyrus from late Roman Egypt. Apparently people need reminding that Carthage was bad-ass. The election news from Hungary. The full-body college flashback I experienced on hearing Aimee Mann's "Say Anything" (1993) on WERS. Earth.
I cried when I got off the Zoom and then I made myself a bowl of angel hair pasta with lemon and pepper and sardines and thinking of food among her love languages went off to turn a recipe into a savory pie. I am glad she was remembered so well and so fully. I will always want to have seen her art for Artemis II.
minoanmiss right after the singing of "Lift Ev'ry Voice" in order to meet my mother for advance birthday baking, but I got to hear remembrances in the form of stories, poems, an illuminated manuscript of a slide show, a painfully pertinent lesson in public health, songs both folk and filk, and people just talking with love and grief and anger that she need not have died; she did not consent to the sacrifice. She had formed an incredible constellation of interests and affections that her mourners flared to life. It is just that one wants the person herself and not only the space left between her stars.In memoriam: the braided liberation of Anthony Russell and Veretski Pass' "Lift" (2018). The queer shift of Jake Blount's "Where Did You Sleep Last Night" (2020). Kadra Ahmed-Omar in late-nineties Goth haute couture. A Graeco-Armenian papyrus from late Roman Egypt. Apparently people need reminding that Carthage was bad-ass. The election news from Hungary. The full-body college flashback I experienced on hearing Aimee Mann's "Say Anything" (1993) on WERS. Earth.
I cried when I got off the Zoom and then I made myself a bowl of angel hair pasta with lemon and pepper and sardines and thinking of food among her love languages went off to turn a recipe into a savory pie. I am glad she was remembered so well and so fully. I will always want to have seen her art for Artemis II.
Just one thing: 13 April 2026
Apr. 12th, 2026 09:58 pmjazzyjj posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
awesomeersIt's challenge time!
Comment with Just One Thing you've accomplished in the last 24 hours or so. It doesn't have to be a hard thing, or even a thing that you think is particularly awesome. Just a thing that you did.
Feel free to share more than one thing if you're feeling particularly accomplished!
Extra credit: find someone in the comments and give them props for what they achieved!
Nothing is too big, too small, too strange or too cryptic. And in case you'd rather do this in private, anonymous comments are screened. I will only unscreen if you ask me to.
Go!
Comment with Just One Thing you've accomplished in the last 24 hours or so. It doesn't have to be a hard thing, or even a thing that you think is particularly awesome. Just a thing that you did.
Feel free to share more than one thing if you're feeling particularly accomplished!
Extra credit: find someone in the comments and give them props for what they achieved!
Nothing is too big, too small, too strange or too cryptic. And in case you'd rather do this in private, anonymous comments are screened. I will only unscreen if you ask me to.
Go!
![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png){kind=small}
Vocabulary: Quiddity
Apr. 12th, 2026 08:21 pmysabetwordsmithIn scholastic philosophy, "quiddity" was another term for the essence of an object, literally its "whatness" or "what it is." It's the quality that makes something what it is.
My partner Doug mentioned it tonight, and I had only seen it in Scrabble dictionaries. Try to lay that one over a triple word score. It's 8 letters but you can build it onto quid, id, dit, or it.
My partner Doug mentioned it tonight, and I had only seen it in Scrabble dictionaries. Try to lay that one over a triple word score. It's 8 letters but you can build it onto quid, id, dit, or it.
Economics
Apr. 12th, 2026 07:46 pmysabetwordsmithAnnexation Is a Promise Cities Rarely Measure
When cities expand their boundaries, they aren’t just adding land, they’re taking on decades of financial obligations that short-term metrics fail to capture.
( Read more... )
When cities expand their boundaries, they aren’t just adding land, they’re taking on decades of financial obligations that short-term metrics fail to capture.
( Read more... )
Nature
Apr. 12th, 2026 05:28 pmysabetwordsmithTropical trees favor cooperation over competition
Step into a tropical forest, and something feels different right away. The air feels rich, the ground feels alive, and every plant seems part of a bigger system.
This sense of connection is not just your imagination. Science now shows that trees in these forests actively support one another, creating a strong and balanced ecosystem.
Step into a tropical forest, and something feels different right away. The air feels rich, the ground feels alive, and every plant seems part of a bigger system.
This sense of connection is not just your imagination. Science now shows that trees in these forests actively support one another, creating a strong and balanced ecosystem.
vital functions
Apr. 12th, 2026 11:00 pmkaberettReading. Still, uh, not quite exclusively She's A Beast archives. ("Not quite" because I am reading some of the things the links letters link to...)
Writing. Over 11k words. Progress is very very slow but it IS progress. (I'd feel worse about She's A Beast eating my entire brain apart from the fact that a whole bunch of it is extremely relevant, and yet more of it is sparking decidedly useful contemplation...)
Cooking. NEW OVEN NEW OVEN NEW OVEN today used for Kaiserschmarrn (worked just fine) and a new cake recipe from Blackberry Cottage (used settings suggested in oven manual and... it took over twice as long as it ought've to cook). Cannot yet report on what I think of it because have not yet eaten any. Elsewise: ... lots of the smitten kitchen braised chickpea thing?
Other NEW THING: brand new microplane zester. my goodness that was a Life Changing Experience (even if I do think I could probably reasonably have got More zest off that just the very topmost single-pass layer...)
Eating. Of particular note: blood oranges!!! and Decadent Spanish Raspberries, acquired on our way out of the Big Supermarket post-vaccination.
Making & mending. ... ADAM NOW HAS TWO GLOVES. I just (...) need to Weave In The Damn Ends. (Does anyone have a favourite weaving-in-ends guide? Because twenty-five years into this hobby I still pretty much hate every end I have ever woven in as Lumpy and Unsightly.)
Growing. Aubergines hatching! Whole buncha weeding including sorting out the raspberry thicket! When last I made it to the allotment the cherry tree had two bundles of blossom out, and was clearly on the point of Bursting Forth en masse...
Observing. SO MANY baby waterfowl, and, also, A Goldfinch. A friend's tiny cherry tree In Flower! Holly getting Extremely enthusiastic about flowering also.
Birdfeeding
Apr. 12th, 2026 02:39 pmysabetwordsmithToday is cloudy and warm with howling wind.
I fed the birds. I've seen a few sparrows and house finches plus a brown-headed cowbird.
I put out water for the birds.
EDIT 4/12/26 -- I did some work around the patio.
EDIT 4/12/26 -- I emptied the bag of raised bed soil into the hollow by the garden shed.
I picked up the big branch in the south lot.
A third tuft of violet leaves is blooming yellow. That's three now, although this one is smaller. I'm so happy that my yellow violets are spreading. :D 3q3q3q!!!
EDIT 4/12/26 -- I picked up more big branches in the orchard and moved them to the firepit.
I've seen a fox squirrel at the hopper feeder. I heard a bluejay screaming above the south lot but didn't see it.
EDIT 4/12/26 -- I picked up more big branches in the savanna and moved them to the firepit.
EDIT 4/12/26 -- I picked up more big branches in the savanna and moved them to the firepit.
I saw two bluejays high in the trees above the house yard, bobbing up and down, screeching at each other. \o/
It's trying to spit rain.
EDIT 4/12/26 -- I picked up more big branches in the savanna and moved them to the firepit. We also dragged the biggest branch to the side where it won't block the mow path.
I am done for the night.
I fed the birds. I've seen a few sparrows and house finches plus a brown-headed cowbird.
I put out water for the birds.
EDIT 4/12/26 -- I did some work around the patio.
EDIT 4/12/26 -- I emptied the bag of raised bed soil into the hollow by the garden shed.
I picked up the big branch in the south lot.
A third tuft of violet leaves is blooming yellow. That's three now, although this one is smaller. I'm so happy that my yellow violets are spreading. :D 3q3q3q!!!
EDIT 4/12/26 -- I picked up more big branches in the orchard and moved them to the firepit.
I've seen a fox squirrel at the hopper feeder. I heard a bluejay screaming above the south lot but didn't see it.
EDIT 4/12/26 -- I picked up more big branches in the savanna and moved them to the firepit.
EDIT 4/12/26 -- I picked up more big branches in the savanna and moved them to the firepit.
I saw two bluejays high in the trees above the house yard, bobbing up and down, screeching at each other. \o/
It's trying to spit rain.
EDIT 4/12/26 -- I picked up more big branches in the savanna and moved them to the firepit. We also dragged the biggest branch to the side where it won't block the mow path.
I am done for the night.
memorials
Apr. 12th, 2026 02:19 pmredbirdI just attended part of the online memorial for minoanmiss. While I was there, a couple of people talked about Ny, and read poetry. I disconnected after listening to one song, because listening to people sing over Zoom feels thin. There were some great photos of Ny, smiling.
Also, yesterday I went to shul with Adrian to say kaddish for my mother. Most of the service, including the singing, was in Hebrew, but I felt more of a connection there, I think because I was in a room full of people, not looking at boxes in a Zoom window.
minoanmiss. While I was there, a couple of people talked about Ny, and read poetry. I disconnected after listening to one song, because listening to people sing over Zoom feels thin. There were some great photos of Ny, smiling.Also, yesterday I went to shul with Adrian to say kaddish for my mother. Most of the service, including the singing, was in Hebrew, but I felt more of a connection there, I think because I was in a room full of people, not looking at boxes in a Zoom window.
The Friday Five on a Sunday
Apr. 12th, 2026 05:26 pmnanila- What was the last book you read (or are currently reading)?
Jan Morris’ Trieste and the meaning of nowhere, for what I feel are obvious reasons. It is a very romantic, forgiving view of the city. - What was the last movie you watched?
We caught a bit of the Minions movie dubbed into Italian last night. It was (perhaps unsurprisingly?) easy to follow in another language. - What television series are you currently watching?
Nothing at the moment. We finished a few things before the Easter holiday (new series of Death in Paradise, Small Prophets). - What are some of your favorite blogs or communities online?
I really only read DW and LJ these days. That's enough for me. - What social media do you belong to and check often?
I still have accounts on the usual platforms but I haven't checked any of them since January 2025 when I removed all the apps from my phone. I vaguely miss contact with a few people but it has generally been a good move. I spend more time communicating directly through messaging or email, or more diffusely but in greater depth here on DW & LJ.
Culinary
Apr. 12th, 2026 04:28 pmoursinLast week's bread held out very well.
Friday night supper: however, I felt frittata had been featured fairly recently, so made Gujerati khichchari, with cashews.
Saturday breakfast rolls: adaptable soft roll recipe, Marriage's Golden Wholegrain Bread Flour, the last draining of maple syrup from the bottle I had, and chopped dried apricots. Not bad.
Today's lunch: lamb chops, marinated overnight in avocado oil, wild pomegranate vinegar, sumac, salt and pepper, browned with a little chopped onion, then the marinade poured on and slow-braised for two and half hours, served with 'baby' (adolescent) rainbow carrots roasted in lemon-infused olive oil, sweetstem white and purple cauliflower roasted in pumpkin seed oil with chopped Romano pepper, and baby sugar snap peas stirfried with star anise.
Musing on progress through science, or not
Apr. 12th, 2026 02:33 pmmtbc( Decades ago, many thought that science had much potential to improve our lives. )
I want to live in a world where experts truly are able to make our world better. Perhaps this ( was always a pipe dream. )
It's not as if I seek to be constrained by some soulless technocracy. Civil liberties are important to me. ( Experts should not decide everything for everybody. )
I just want institutional decision-making to be both well-informed and well-intentioned, even if it must also be open-minded. When I look at contemporary examples among social policy and technological innovation, it's hard to feel as if the future is filled with hope, in the way that some previous generation might have. Given the sea change that LLMs are causing in software development, I don't how much hope to have for even just my personal future.
Perhaps the Artemis program is an unusual exception, charging me with a little of that same hope that the 1962 Seattle World's Fair might have brought its attendees, reminding me of the perhaps naive optimism that experts would be able to guide our progress to a future worth embracing. Even if I am not part of it, I would still be glad for it to happen.
I want to live in a world where experts truly are able to make our world better. Perhaps this ( was always a pipe dream. )
It's not as if I seek to be constrained by some soulless technocracy. Civil liberties are important to me. ( Experts should not decide everything for everybody. )
I just want institutional decision-making to be both well-informed and well-intentioned, even if it must also be open-minded. When I look at contemporary examples among social policy and technological innovation, it's hard to feel as if the future is filled with hope, in the way that some previous generation might have. Given the sea change that LLMs are causing in software development, I don't how much hope to have for even just my personal future.
Perhaps the Artemis program is an unusual exception, charging me with a little of that same hope that the 1962 Seattle World's Fair might have brought its attendees, reminding me of the perhaps naive optimism that experts would be able to guide our progress to a future worth embracing. Even if I am not part of it, I would still be glad for it to happen.
More grumbling about out-of-print media
Apr. 12th, 2026 12:38 pmmtbcRecently, in discussing other-media spin-offs, I was reminded of the three trilogies of Babylon 5 novels, which were decent enough that I would be happy to reread them. However, they are long enough out of print to be enough effort and money to obtain that I shan't bother. It seems a shame that such things just fade away.
Back when I first read them, I hadn't appreciated how that kind of book, like most manga, falls out of print, never to be reprinted. I don't know what ethicists might think but I would be quite open to a rule that put into the public domain any work that was once openly and widely available then was not similarly reoffered for a long period, assuming no conflict with the public interest.
Back when I first read them, I hadn't appreciated how that kind of book, like most manga, falls out of print, never to be reprinted. I don't know what ethicists might think but I would be quite open to a rule that put into the public domain any work that was once openly and widely available then was not similarly reoffered for a long period, assuming no conflict with the public interest.
Big news!!!
Apr. 12th, 2026 01:09 pmzimenaBelieve it or not, I've bought my own flat!!!
I can't move in until June, but that's still not very far away.
In fact, I've been searching for a flat for many years. I think I started even before I moved out from my childhood home in 2020, so probably around 2018 or so. In 8 years of searching, and going to look at various places, I've never found anything that felt right. Either, I had to discard it because the bathroom was impossible for me to use, and also because of things like doors being too narrow for me to get through with the wheelchair, or once - when I thought I had found a perfect place - I had to discard that idea because the building had no lift. Or also, I've been to places where I just didn't like the area at all.
Then, about 2.5 weeks ago, just before Easter, I got a non-renewal notice for my current flat. I live in an adapted council flat, and they apparently decided that I don't need those adoptions anymore. I don't really understand their reasoning, because my disability is life-long and static, so what changed since I moved in six years ago?
Well, whatever - the important thing is that I ended up flat-searching again... and I found the dream place. It is:
* Brand new, in a building that's still being finished up as of now.
* Sold for a fixed price, because of the point above.
* Near the main bus line in my town - 5-6 buses per hour.
* A little bit outside the main town centre - about 10 minutes by bus or so.
* Near a shopping mall with basically everything, and also near a couple of streets with things like a pharmacy, a sushi place, a pizza place, and the local branch of the activity centre where my exercise group is.
* 66 square meters - a little bit bigger than where I live now.
* It has two bedrooms. I intend to make the smaller one of them a combined guest room and office/computer room.
* There's no separate kitchen - the kitchen is in a corner of the living area.
* I'm getting a dishwasher for the first time in my life - yes, it's included, and so are a number of other fancy kitchen appliances.
* On the first floor when you see the building from the front, but it feels more like a "high" ground floor when you see it from the side where my flat is.
* It has its own terrace space, which is partly roofed. It's very big - 27 square meters!
I've already signed the first papers for it, and I have a legal document saying that I've bought it. The contract itself will be signed during next week, though. But still - I'm a flat owner now!
The next few months will be wild! I need to sort through all of my stuff from here, and probably through away a bunch of things. But also, in about two months' time I'll be living in a different place and learning to feel at home there.
I'm so excited and happy! ❤️
I can't move in until June, but that's still not very far away.
In fact, I've been searching for a flat for many years. I think I started even before I moved out from my childhood home in 2020, so probably around 2018 or so. In 8 years of searching, and going to look at various places, I've never found anything that felt right. Either, I had to discard it because the bathroom was impossible for me to use, and also because of things like doors being too narrow for me to get through with the wheelchair, or once - when I thought I had found a perfect place - I had to discard that idea because the building had no lift. Or also, I've been to places where I just didn't like the area at all.
Then, about 2.5 weeks ago, just before Easter, I got a non-renewal notice for my current flat. I live in an adapted council flat, and they apparently decided that I don't need those adoptions anymore. I don't really understand their reasoning, because my disability is life-long and static, so what changed since I moved in six years ago?
Well, whatever - the important thing is that I ended up flat-searching again... and I found the dream place. It is:
* Brand new, in a building that's still being finished up as of now.
* Sold for a fixed price, because of the point above.
* Near the main bus line in my town - 5-6 buses per hour.
* A little bit outside the main town centre - about 10 minutes by bus or so.
* Near a shopping mall with basically everything, and also near a couple of streets with things like a pharmacy, a sushi place, a pizza place, and the local branch of the activity centre where my exercise group is.
* 66 square meters - a little bit bigger than where I live now.
* It has two bedrooms. I intend to make the smaller one of them a combined guest room and office/computer room.
* There's no separate kitchen - the kitchen is in a corner of the living area.
* I'm getting a dishwasher for the first time in my life - yes, it's included, and so are a number of other fancy kitchen appliances.
* On the first floor when you see the building from the front, but it feels more like a "high" ground floor when you see it from the side where my flat is.
* It has its own terrace space, which is partly roofed. It's very big - 27 square meters!
I've already signed the first papers for it, and I have a legal document saying that I've bought it. The contract itself will be signed during next week, though. But still - I'm a flat owner now!
The next few months will be wild! I need to sort through all of my stuff from here, and probably through away a bunch of things. But also, in about two months' time I'll be living in a different place and learning to feel at home there.
I'm so excited and happy! ❤️
Today's Adventures
Apr. 11th, 2026 09:12 pmysabetwordsmithToday we went to the Small Business Fest held just outside Booth Library at Eastern Illinois University. It was several times bigger than we expected, which was awesome. It wrapped around the entire square, and one side had booths down both sides of the walkway. This was nearly the size of the old Celebration fest, with very similar offerings. They do this twice a year now, spring and fall.
( Read more... )
( Read more... )
