dorchadas | Reading

The trick is that the top arm needs to be firmly clipped to the drawer - not jammed to the back wall. Time will tell if my fix lasts.

Edit: No, X*, not thank god, thank me. I'm the one who fixed it! God had nothing to do with any of it!

* Not the real initial.

ysabetwordsmith

I Feel: busy

“Are We Trying To Do Nothing?”

Marblehead is like many Massachusetts towns struggling to balance state-level housing mandates with local implementation. That balancing act has resulted in the town finding a way to technically comply with the MBTA Communities Act while functionally avoiding the construction of any new housing. The town’s creative response meets the requirements of the state mandate by placing most of the zoning capacity on a golf course, where housing is unlikely to ever be built.

Standing at the microphone, hoodie sleeves pushed up, David Modica saw through all the technical “creativity,” recognized what was really happening, and posed this question:

“Are we trying to do nothing?”

( Read more... )

conuly

Honestly have never heard of this person before, but what an apropos sentiment!

Ah. It seems he was "the real Doctor Strangelove", "the father of the hydrogen bomb". Well, there you have it!

*********************

( Read more... )

conuly

Trying not to think of you
yet your face colors
every contour
of my mind.
And every way I turn
inside of a minute
I collide
with your laughter.
I am wind,
and you
are chimes.

******

Link

ysabetwordsmith

I Feel: busy

Today is cloudy, mild, and damp. It seems to have drizzled earlier.

I fed the birds. I haven't seen much activity yet.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 5/16/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 5/16/26 -- I sowed sunflower seeds gathered 10-8-25 along the south edge of the east-west strip in the prairie garden. That's the end of that envelope of seeds, and also all the sunflower planting in the prairie garden. \o/

The sun has come out somewhat, but the air is warm and humid. :P

I've seen more sparrows and house finches at the hopper feeder, along with a grackle.

EDIT 5/16/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 5/16/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 5/16/26 -- I planted the water jug of partial shade flowers in the forest garden. I planted the water jug of 20th Anniversary wildflowers in the middle north-south strip of the prairie garden. Of the various jug experiments (fruit trees, native grasses, native wildflowers, and mixes) the mixes were by far the most successful as something out of the batch always grew. I do have two surviving tree seedlings and a couple of milkweed seedlings.

EDIT 5/16/26 -- I trimmed grass around the support wire for the telephone pole, added fresh topsoil around it, then sowed cypress vine seeds.

It's been drizzling off and on today, so I haven't gotten a lot done, but I managed some things.

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

prixmium

I Feel: silly

When I was off for Golden Week, I was pretty bored and lonely. I have been trying to keep up with or catch up with my various interests that I share with my best friend(s), but it seems like every time I have significant time off that my friends are often really busy. Best friend was out of town for work and occupied during daytime hours without any phone breaks, so I had most of both my days and nights in sort of lonely peace and quiet. Other closest friend has also been really busy, because he recently moved within the same apartment building but to a two-bedroom unit in order to live with his friend and now-roommate who required a disability-accessible apartment. I think just the chaos of reorganizing his apartment and life plus adjusting to living with a roommate has made it so he doesn't have as much freedom or energy to talk as much. Time he would've spent socializing remotely with us is now spent socializing with his friend who's there in person.

I keep thinking about how society is built for in-person partnerships or families and how it just presumes heterosexual marriage for anyone to function in a way that isn't completely isolated. I have done what I can to combat this, but I also wish I could at least live with a friend someday. Don't know if that will ever happen, though, as I'm mostly at the mercy of various immigration laws.

Anyway, while I was off I made this post on a whim about how I am pretty new to being interested in Resident Evil after stepping so far out onto the thin ice of Leon Kennedy thirst memes that I got interested in at least consuming the media he was a part of...

I met someone through the shot in the dark RP ad, and for once, it seems to be going well. I haven't met an RP partner that lasted since my best friend, which was sixteenish years ago...

I also spent like $11 to buy this weird little miniseries that should've been a movie called "Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness". It's campy and done in an animation style very similar to the remake games with the new VAs for Leon and Claire in their roles.

When I started being invested just for Leon's sake, I really didn't know who to ship Leon with. I still feel like I can multiship, but I have accidentally fallen down the rabbit hole of shipping Claire and Leon.

Wow, a wild m/f pairing appears!

I am not entirely sure why I am so into it, but it has something to do with the fact that they are so connected on this very baseline human level that is primal but not (at the moment or inherently) sexual.

I feel like Leon keeps hitting on random people he meets because he's lonely and lost after getting black-bagged by the government, but then each and every time Leon and Claire see each other, they have this reaction like "Oh, it's you!" and it's so sweet.

The miniseries gave me a fan-service moment of Leon helping rescue Claire from acid and breaking metal and what-not where they grabbed hands, he pulled her back, and she fell on top of him. They make eye contact, he asks if she's okay, and then immediately gets distracted by the stuff going on in the room. And it's satisfying but in a way that actually frustrates my heart.

I took some quick and dirty screengrabs that I can do better than later:

My babies. Why am I like this?

But yeah, I dunno. Just something about the fact that they see each other as just people and that that in itself is a good thing because during the events of Resident Evil 2 that mattered so much.

And just passing ships in the night until it finally works.

At the end of the little series, Claire was angry with Leon because he refused to help her whiste-blow about some stuff for #reasons. And it stings, but I am also entranced.

The writing of this silly RE show was at least as good as, like, network attempts at prestige TV. Which is fucking weird. Like why?

I love it.

ysabetwordsmith

I Feel: busy

People have expressed interest in deep topics, so this list focuses on philosophical questions.

Can people with vastly different cultural backgrounds live together peacefully? How?

( Read more... )

ysabetwordsmith

I Feel: busy

THE RISE OF EMOTIONAL SURVEILLANCE

Companies are monitoring workers not just for productivity but for agreeability.

The bad news is that software now purports to glean insights into the depths and vagaries of human emotion using AI, and it is coming to watch you. If it isn’t already: Morphcast, for example, has licensed its technology to a mental-health app, a program that monitors schoolchildren’s attention, and McDonald’s, which launched a promotional campaign in Portugal that scanned app users’ faces and offered them personalized coupons based on their (supposed) mood. It is one of many, many such companies doing similar work—the industry term is emotion AI or sometimes affective computing.

Back in 1984, the roleplaying came Paranoia came out. The primary antagonist was The Computer. It was always spying on people, and if they didn't look happy enough, The Computer became suspicious and sent Troubleshooters (the player characters) after them. Or each other. "Your job as a Troubleshooter is to hunt down mutants and members of secret societies. You are a mutant. You are also a member of a secret society. Won't this be fun?" It was amusing at the time, but it's far too much like modern life to be fun anymore. :( That memory of people faking happiness to minimize the risk of further abuse in a dystopia stuck with me. And now here we are.

( Read more... )

ysabetwordsmith

I Feel: busy

This poem came out of the February 2026

crowdfunding Creative Jam. It was inspired by a prompt from

curiosity. It also fills the "Nonsexual Touch" square in my 2-1-26 card for the Valentines Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by a pool with

fuzzyred. This poem belong to the college arc of the Shiv thread in the Polychrome Heroics series.

Warning: This poem deals with a minor fall from a tree, superpower overstrain, and worried friends. If these are touchy topics for you, please consider your tastes and headspace before reading onward.

( Read more... )

conuly

Going on week two of random mid-sleep wakeups wherein I am convinced I have badly overslept and missed my entire shift.

What even is causing this? (Don't say stress, I'm sure it's stress! But what is causing the stress!? Is it lack of sleep? Because the lack of sleep sure ain't helping, gotta say.)

*****************************

( Read more... )

lovelyangel

Last year I retired my iMac Pro because the end of Intel Macs is near. Tahoe (macOS 26) is the last macOS that supports Intel Macs. This fall’s macOS 27 will be Apple Silicon only. And the world moves on.

I get a lot of warnings from Tahoe saying that certain apps I run will stop working in future macOS versions – and that I need to upgrade them. Yesterday I decided it was time to do some serious app pruning.

( Legacy App Purge, Below This Cut )

lovelyangel

Finally, it’s time to close the book on the Library Remodel Project. It’s finished!

( Project Chronology, Below This Cut )

lovelyangel

Entry Hall, Finished

Phase 3 of the remodel project consisted of new lighting in the family room and Katie’s room (Completed in April) – and also a new carpet runner for the entry hall. The carpet runner was actually delivered in March, but I didn’t get around to installing it until April.

( Finishing the Entry Hall )

ysabetwordsmith

I Feel: busy

SOULMATE, YOKEMATE, HOUSEMATE, HELPMATE

In OED2, soul-mate was listed under soul, n., along with other compounds, such as soul carrier, -curer, -thief, and -twister. The new OED3 Online gives it its own headword, soulmate, n. and updates the Coleridge quotation to what you see above (whereas OED2 had the slightly different “You must have a Soulmate as well as a House or Yoke-mate.”).

Coleridge’s neology is pretty good, but the analogy is a bit fuzzy. A house mate shares your house; And two things that are yoked are indeed paired – a yokemate is just the other term in a pairing, even if the idea of the yoke also carries a connotation of a shared burden
[---8<---]
Helpmate appears about fifty years later, perhaps as a reanalysis of helpmeet, OED2 saying that applies “chiefly to a wife or husband”,

A relationship can be built on many things, so think about what you want. Someone who touches your spirit? Someone to share the burdens of life, thereby making it easier overall? Someone to live with? Someone to help you do things? If it's just based on romance or sex, it's less likely to have the staying power of a relationship built on common life goals.

theradicalchild

I Feel: okay

From

thefridayfive:

1. How often do you hear live music?
Never, except maybe a few times at the open mic in town.

2. What was your favorite live musical performance ever?
Never been to one.

3. Do you play an instrument, or sing?
I sing in church, but that's it.

4. Have you ever performed music onstage?
No, I suck at playing instruments.

5. Who is your favorite musician?
Hard to say, playing favorites is narcissism--which I was a huge victim of.

ysabetwordsmith

I Feel: busy

Points Donation Challenge Wrap-Up by

yourlibrarian

In the end we had 16 donors and 20 giftees. Donors have been notified and will be making their point gifts directly to assigned giftees. If you offered to donate and have not received a direct message from me, please let me know.

Giftees should be seeing messages from Dreamwidth when the gifts go through. If you have not received anything by May 31, please let me know as something may have gone awry.

Once all gifts have been sent we will have added $402 to Dreamwidth's intake this year.

ysabetwordsmith

I Feel: busy

Extreme weather events, especially heatwaves, cause enormous harm to bird populations worldwide

Outdoor thermometers tell you the temperature. They don’t capture how the air actually feels – and on muggy summer days, the combination of heat and humidity is what pushes animals past their limits.

Birds face the same physics, but with far fewer escape routes. A new review from Sweden argues that the full picture of how heatwaves kill or weaken birds has been hiding in the humidity data all along.

While individuals cannot influence weather directly, we can do many things to protect birds from heat and drought.

( Read more... )

conuly

and why is this the first time I've seen this fanvid?

(It's short. Go watch it, you don't need to know literally anything.)

***********************

( Read more... )

ysabetwordsmith

I Feel: busy

Today is cloudy, breezy, and damp. It rained earlier, but I can't tell how much.

I fed the birds. I've seen several sparrows and house finches plus a mourning dove.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 5/15/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 5/15/26 -- I sowed The Sunflower Mini Meadow seeds from John Scheeper's Kitchen Garden Seeds along the west edge of the westmost north-south strips in the prairie garden. This is a big bag of annual and perennial sunflower seeds. Method: I dug a small hole with a trowel, dropped in a pinch of seeds, covered that up, then moved down a foot and repeated the process. This should have a better success rate than broadcast sowing like usual, because doing that with sunflower seeds means that most or all would get eaten. At least it's easier to dig with the soil moistened by rain.

EDIT 5/15/26 -- I sowed the east edge of the westmost strip with the same sunflower mix. This time I remembered to take my seed-sowing trowel with its long thin blade. Method: I poked a hole with the tip, stuck the trowel in the hole, and dropped a pinch of seeds to slide down the blade into the hole. Then I covered the hole. It's more accurate with a little less bending down. This trowel is no good for prying and needs softer soil because it's so thin, but in this context it's very helpful.

EDIT 5/15/26 -- I sowed 'Evening Sun' sunflowers from Buffalo Seed Co. along the west edge of the middle north-south strip. That used the whole packet; it wasn't very big. These should be large mahogany to burgundy sunflowers.

EDIT 5/15/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 5/15/26 -- I sowed The Sunflower Mini Meadow seeds from John Scheeper's Kitchen Garden Seeds along the east edge of the middle north-south strip.

EDIT 5/15/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 5/15/26 -- I sowed sunflower seeds gathered 9-23-25 from last year's sunflowers in the north notch of the prairie garden.

EDIT 5/15/26 -- I sowed sunflower seeds gathered 10-8-25 from last year's sunflowers along the north edge of the east-west strip.

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

ysabetwordsmith

I Feel: busy

Today's the last day for the 2026 Theme Poll at

summerofthe69. If you haven't already voted, now's the time to choose what smut you want to enjoy later.

brightknightie

Last week, I saw The Sheep Detectives (2026) on the big screen. It's a very unexpected movie! I would recommend it as the old-fashioned kind of PG film that really is good for almost all ages and audiences, working on different levels of theme. I found it thoughtful and charming.

It's based on the mystery novel Three Bags Full (2005) by Leonie Swann. The movie elevator pitch could have been: "What if an Agatha Christie whodunnit, but with funnier English villagers, where the murder victim is a shepherd who used to read mystery novels to his sheep, who therefore decide to help solve the murder of their beloved shepherd?" The on-screen actors include Hugh Jackman and Emma Thompson. The voice actors (sheep) include Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Bryan Cranston, and Patrick Stewart.

(It's not animated, to be clear. That is, the sheep CGI looks like live-action photography, and the sheep speak only to each other, not to humans.)

ysabetwordsmith

I Feel: busy

These are active communities in Dreamwidth from Spring 2026. They include things I've posted, but only the active ones; the thematic posts also list dormant communities of interest. This list includes some communities that I've found and saved but haven't made it into thematic posts yet. This post covers A-I.

See my Follow Friday Master Post for more topics.

Highly active with multiple posts per day, daily posts, or too many to count easily
Active with (one, multiple, many) posts in (current or recent month)
Somewhat active (latest post within current year, not in last month or few)
Low traffic (latest post in previous year)
Dormant (latest post before previous year, but could be revived because membership is open and posting is open to all members or anyone)
Dead (not listed because there are no recent posts, plus membership and/or posting are moderated)
Note that some communities are only active during a limited time, or only have gather posts on a certain schedule.

( Read more... )

ysabetwordsmith

I Feel: busy

This year during Three Weeks for Dreamwidth, I'm writing about reading as a way of becoming an expert in a given subject. Read Part 1: Introduction to Becoming an Expert, Part 2: Architecture, Part 3: Dance, Part 4: Music, Part 5: Painting, Part 6: Poetry, Part 7: Sculpture, Part 8: Conflict Resolution, Part 9: Cooking, Part 10: Coping Skills, Part 11: Gardening, Part 12: Relationship Skills, Part 13: Repairing, Part 14: Survival Skills, Part 15: Archaeology, Part 16: Biology, Part 17: Chemistry, Part 18: Linguistics, Part 19: Meteorology, Part 20: Physics.

Three Weeks for Dreamwidth Part 21: Psychology

Psychology is the science of studying the mind, thoughts and feelings, and behavior. Thus it branches into cognitive science (thoughts) and behavioral science (actions). It underlies counseling, which aims to treat mental problems and promote mental health. Psychology is closely related to neuroscience, studying the brain and nervous system; and to other parts of biology and anatomy such as the endocrine system. Here on Dreamwidth, check out

bullying_begone,

cherishchanges,

ethical_society_of_satan,

gimpy,

journalsandplanners, and

openhearts_openminds. You may also like the communities with gather or check-in posts; see that section in Most Useful Communities.

Three Weeks for Dreamwidth April 25-May 15

Three Weeks for Dreamwidth April 25-May 15

( Read more... )

theradicalchild

I Feel: okay

On Nextdoor a woman in Killeen who I think moved to the area had an ad about a party at her apartment complex on Sunday and I DM'd her for the address and I'll be going there then unless other stuff transpires.

Review of Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance (image is link as always).

ysabetwordsmith

I Feel: busy

Paleontology rocked by discovery of organic molecules in 66-million-year-old dinosaur bones

A stunning discovery inside dinosaur bones suggests traces of original proteins may have survived since the age of the dinosaurs.

Scientists have uncovered compelling evidence that dinosaur fossils may still contain traces of their original proteins, overturning a long-standing belief that fossilization destroys all organic material. In a remarkably well-preserved Edmontosaurus fossil from South Dakota, researchers detected remnants of collagen — the main protein found in bone — using advanced techniques including mass spectrometry and protein sequencing.

I suggest checking subfossils for useful information, particularly giant ground sloths and mammoths.

Profile

dorchadas

May 2026

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Page Summary

conuly - I may have fixed the dishwasher at work!
ysabetwordsmith - Affordable Housing
conuly - Life improves slowly and goes wrong fast, and only catastrophe is clearly visible.
conuly - Thread by Essex Hemphill
ysabetwordsmith - Birdfeeding
prixmium - Resident Evil Posting
ysabetwordsmith - Philosophical Questions: Peace
ysabetwordsmith - Artificial Intelligence
ysabetwordsmith - Poem: "Never Turn Your Back"
conuly - Blech
lovelyangel - Intel Gets the Boot
lovelyangel - Library Update #29: Final
lovelyangel - Library Update #28: Entry Hall
ysabetwordsmith - Family Skills
theradicalchild - The Friday Five, 5/15/2026
ysabetwordsmith - Dreamwidth Points
ysabetwordsmith - Climate Change
conuly - So here I am on my who knows how many-th relisten to Wolf 359
ysabetwordsmith - Birdfeeding
ysabetwordsmith - Summer of the 69
brightknightie - The Sheep Detectives (2026)
ysabetwordsmith - Follow Friday 5-15-26: Active Communities on Dreamwidth Spring 2026 A-I
ysabetwordsmith - Three Weeks for Dreamwidth: Psychology
theradicalchild - Party Invite
ysabetwordsmith - Fossils

Another rainy day

Reading

Page Summary