halfcactus (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
halfcactus) wrote2025-04-23 09:52 pm
halfcactus) wrote2025-04-23 09:52 pmEntry tags:
[video edit] Justice in the Dark: Your Untouchable Face
CW: quick cuts, a lot of moving text
Spot the mistakes:
In other news, I've broken out of the manhwa brainrot and fallen back into my awful habit of serially starting books:
vivdunstan (vivdunstan) wrote2025-04-23 01:11 pm
vivdunstan) wrote2025-04-23 01:11 pmDream
Had a very long dream just now, where Martin and I went into a secondhand bookshop in St Andrews - this made up secondhand bookshop in South Street (not the real one as was!) is a recurrent thing in my dreams, at least until now. And this time they were closing down and had a "Pay £15" at the door, then get as many books as you want for no extra cost deal. So I got dozens of books. History books, computing history ones, gamebooks, children's fiction, an amazing bound Dickens, so many Gaelic books, and so much more. It was a very good dream 😜
it only hurts when i breathe (spikedluv) wrote2025-04-23 07:26 am
spikedluv) wrote2025-04-23 07:26 amWednesday Reading Meme & Books 15, 16 & 17 of 2025
What I Just Finished Reading: Since last Wednesday I have read/finished reading: Mourn Not Your Dead (A Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James Mystery) by Deborah Crombie, Gin and Daggers (A Murder, She Wrote Mystery) by Donald Bain, and Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea (Tomes and Tea Series) by Rebecca Thorne.
What I am Currently Reading: Dreaming of the Bones (A Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James Mystery) by Deborah Crombie (with The Nightmare Before Kissmas (A Royals and Romance Novel) by Sara Raasch on the back burner).
What I Plan to Read Next: I have another book out from the library.
Book 15 of 2025: Mourn Not Your Dead (A Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James Mystery) (Deborah Crombie)
I enjoyed this book. The case was interesting. ( spoilers )
I have the next book in the series out from the library already, so I'm going to continue reading it for now; I liked this book enough to give it five hearts.
♥♥♥♥♥
Book 16 of 2025: Gin and Daggers (A Murder, She Wrote Mystery) (Donald Bain)
Wow, was this bad. I recall reading a later book in the series for a book bingo square and I didn't remember it being this bad, so hopefully he improves quickly. There were a lot of inconsistencies with the tv series and he really doesn't have a feel for the characters. Yet. (I talked specifics at this week's Monday [Fandom] Madness post, if you're interested in reading more.)
If I weren't reading this series for the sole purpose of seeing what details he adds to Jessica's life, I'd probably quit now. (I read a blog post that mentioned Jessica and Frank living someplace else before they moved to Cabot Cove, which made me curious if it came from the books and what else might be in them.) I'm only giving this book two hearts.
♥♥
Book 17 of 2025: Can't Spell Treason Without Tea (Tomes and Tea Series) (Rebecca Thorne)
I really enjoyed this book!( spoilers )
I'm looking forward to reading the next book (when the two libraries that have it take it off the ‘new and popular' list); I'm giving this book five hearts.
♥♥♥♥♥
What I am Currently Reading: Dreaming of the Bones (A Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James Mystery) by Deborah Crombie (with The Nightmare Before Kissmas (A Royals and Romance Novel) by Sara Raasch on the back burner).
What I Plan to Read Next: I have another book out from the library.
Book 15 of 2025: Mourn Not Your Dead (A Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James Mystery) (Deborah Crombie)
I enjoyed this book. The case was interesting. ( spoilers )
I have the next book in the series out from the library already, so I'm going to continue reading it for now; I liked this book enough to give it five hearts.
♥♥♥♥♥
Book 16 of 2025: Gin and Daggers (A Murder, She Wrote Mystery) (Donald Bain)
Wow, was this bad. I recall reading a later book in the series for a book bingo square and I didn't remember it being this bad, so hopefully he improves quickly. There were a lot of inconsistencies with the tv series and he really doesn't have a feel for the characters. Yet. (I talked specifics at this week's Monday [Fandom] Madness post, if you're interested in reading more.)
If I weren't reading this series for the sole purpose of seeing what details he adds to Jessica's life, I'd probably quit now. (I read a blog post that mentioned Jessica and Frank living someplace else before they moved to Cabot Cove, which made me curious if it came from the books and what else might be in them.) I'm only giving this book two hearts.
♥♥
Book 17 of 2025: Can't Spell Treason Without Tea (Tomes and Tea Series) (Rebecca Thorne)
I really enjoyed this book!( spoilers )
I'm looking forward to reading the next book (when the two libraries that have it take it off the ‘new and popular' list); I'm giving this book five hearts.
♥♥♥♥♥
ysabetwordsmith (ysabetwordsmith) wrote2025-04-23 12:10 am
ysabetwordsmith) wrote2025-04-23 12:10 am
Entry tags:
World Book Day
The official theme for World Book Day 2025 is:
"Read Your Way: Diverse Books for Every Mind"
This theme emphasizes the importance of inclusion and diversity in reading. It encourages readers to explore different voices, perspectives, and cultures through literature, promoting empathy and global understanding.
( Read more... )
"Read Your Way: Diverse Books for Every Mind"
This theme emphasizes the importance of inclusion and diversity in reading. It encourages readers to explore different voices, perspectives, and cultures through literature, promoting empathy and global understanding.
( Read more... )
ysabetwordsmith (ysabetwordsmith) wrote2025-04-23 12:09 am
ysabetwordsmith) wrote2025-04-23 12:09 amEntry tags:
Good News
Good news includes all the things which make us happy or otherwise feel good. It can be personal or public. We never know when something wonderful will happen, and when it does, most people want to share it with someone. It's disappointing when nobody is there to appreciate it. Happily, blogging allows us to share our joys and pat each other on the back.
What good news have you had recently? Are you anticipating any more? Have you found a cute picture or a video that makes you smile? Is there anything your online friends could do to make your life a little happier?
What good news have you had recently? Are you anticipating any more? Have you found a cute picture or a video that makes you smile? Is there anything your online friends could do to make your life a little happier?
ysabetwordsmith (ysabetwordsmith) wrote2025-04-22 10:29 pm
ysabetwordsmith) wrote2025-04-22 10:29 pmInsect Apocalypse
Insects are disappearing due to agriculture -- and many other drivers, new research reveals
New paper highlights 500+ interconnected drivers behind global insect decline.
Insects are disappearing at an alarming rate worldwide, but why? Agricultural intensification tops the list of proposed reasons, but there are many other, interconnected drivers that have an impact, according to new research.
( Read more... )
New paper highlights 500+ interconnected drivers behind global insect decline.
Insects are disappearing at an alarming rate worldwide, but why? Agricultural intensification tops the list of proposed reasons, but there are many other, interconnected drivers that have an impact, according to new research.
( Read more... )
mistressofmuses (mistressofmuses) wrote2025-04-22 09:16 pm
mistressofmuses) wrote2025-04-22 09:16 pm
Entry tags:
Car stuff sorted...
I mentioned that last night the truck very suddenly started sputtering and running extremely rough, and the check engine light came on.
We took the truck over to a local auto parts store to get a read on the code for the check engine light. They said the most likely culprit was an ignition coil, causing misfires in one of the cylinders. That was one of the potential things I'd seen on the list of possible causes for the rough idle. Pretty firmly on the lower end of the middle of "how fucked are we," so that was a relief. (So glad it wasn't "fuel pump" money.)
So we took it to the usual shop we use. They said they wouldn't be able to get to it tomorrow, and they would have to do their own diagnostic rather than relying on the code, which was fine. They'd give me a call tomorrow morning to let me know the results of their diagnostic and talk costs and recommendations and such.
Mom loaned us her second car, since Taylor doesn't typically go in to the office anymore, so we could get around until then.
-
Turned out Jaspurr was at the vet (same vet that we were at yesterday) for surgery. :( Poor boy had a lump on his abdomen, so they were removing and biopsying it.
Got the excellent news that it was just a fatty lump, and did not need to be biopsied!
-
I was just about to take a nap, when the auto place called. They were able to get it in today (initially I was told it was the main tech's day off, so couldn't get it looked at until tomorrow; apparently someone else was available today!)
They did not think it was the ignition coil, they thought it was the spark plugs. They wanted to replace the spark plugs plus do an injector system service. I misheard the initial quote and thought it was super high, like four figures; it was not, haha. It was within the general range I'd been expecting. (Which I wasn't *delighted* to pay, but when I balked at my misheard price, he offered a discount to bring it down slightly, ha.)
They got the work done by the end of the afternoon, but when he called back he said the spark plugs hadn't fixed the issue... because it turned out it was the ignition coil. *Facepalm* (They say that the coil was fine when they tested it earlier, because they swapped a good coil for the potentially bad one, and the problem persisted, which was why they'd ruled it out; maybe the coil and a spark plug both failed?)
They replaced the spark plugs and the ignition coil. He gave us the coil at-cost (which was cheaper than we could have gotten it if we'd bought it ourselves; we priced them at the auto parts place when we got the code read) and didn't charge any extra labor for it. He also completely comped the system service that they did, so the total wound up only being $14 over the original estimate. In exchange for the discount, he just asked that we leave a nice review, which I did.
The truck is now running fine! It might be even smoother than it was prior to the problem starting last night; it hadn't been having issues that made me want to take it in, but occasionally a little roughness that I wasn't noticing this evening. So perhaps that coil had been on the way out for a while.
Not the best timing in the world, and I spent a good part of last night and this morning fighting through the chest pain and horrible nausea and prickling scalp of massive fucking anxiety, but I'm glad it's sorted out, that it didn't happen at a *worse* time.
We took the truck over to a local auto parts store to get a read on the code for the check engine light. They said the most likely culprit was an ignition coil, causing misfires in one of the cylinders. That was one of the potential things I'd seen on the list of possible causes for the rough idle. Pretty firmly on the lower end of the middle of "how fucked are we," so that was a relief. (So glad it wasn't "fuel pump" money.)
So we took it to the usual shop we use. They said they wouldn't be able to get to it tomorrow, and they would have to do their own diagnostic rather than relying on the code, which was fine. They'd give me a call tomorrow morning to let me know the results of their diagnostic and talk costs and recommendations and such.
Mom loaned us her second car, since Taylor doesn't typically go in to the office anymore, so we could get around until then.
-
Turned out Jaspurr was at the vet (same vet that we were at yesterday) for surgery. :( Poor boy had a lump on his abdomen, so they were removing and biopsying it.
Got the excellent news that it was just a fatty lump, and did not need to be biopsied!
-
I was just about to take a nap, when the auto place called. They were able to get it in today (initially I was told it was the main tech's day off, so couldn't get it looked at until tomorrow; apparently someone else was available today!)
They did not think it was the ignition coil, they thought it was the spark plugs. They wanted to replace the spark plugs plus do an injector system service. I misheard the initial quote and thought it was super high, like four figures; it was not, haha. It was within the general range I'd been expecting. (Which I wasn't *delighted* to pay, but when I balked at my misheard price, he offered a discount to bring it down slightly, ha.)
They got the work done by the end of the afternoon, but when he called back he said the spark plugs hadn't fixed the issue... because it turned out it was the ignition coil. *Facepalm* (They say that the coil was fine when they tested it earlier, because they swapped a good coil for the potentially bad one, and the problem persisted, which was why they'd ruled it out; maybe the coil and a spark plug both failed?)
They replaced the spark plugs and the ignition coil. He gave us the coil at-cost (which was cheaper than we could have gotten it if we'd bought it ourselves; we priced them at the auto parts place when we got the code read) and didn't charge any extra labor for it. He also completely comped the system service that they did, so the total wound up only being $14 over the original estimate. In exchange for the discount, he just asked that we leave a nice review, which I did.
The truck is now running fine! It might be even smoother than it was prior to the problem starting last night; it hadn't been having issues that made me want to take it in, but occasionally a little roughness that I wasn't noticing this evening. So perhaps that coil had been on the way out for a while.
Not the best timing in the world, and I spent a good part of last night and this morning fighting through the chest pain and horrible nausea and prickling scalp of massive fucking anxiety, but I'm glad it's sorted out, that it didn't happen at a *worse* time.
Louis Chanina (grayestofghosts) wrote2025-04-22 10:13 pm
grayestofghosts) wrote2025-04-22 10:13 pmZines and Identity
So I was starting to make a minizine and it's about making websites and I'm realizing that I should probably have like, my own website, blog, email address on here and it's just making me think... if I put that shit in print... that will mean that I am making a commitment to these usernames, identities, etc? And that just feels... real scary! It's honestly making me wonder if I should change some stuff around. I don't know. I am no good at names, and I don't know what to call myself for this one.
Then again for a little minizine I probably shouldn't be having an existential crisis about it, and because I will have the master copies I should just be able to change the addresses if I really need to update it, right? Ugh.
I may know who I am, but what to call myself is an entirely different question. That one, I don't know. Ugh.
Then again for a little minizine I probably shouldn't be having an existential crisis about it, and because I will have the master copies I should just be able to change the addresses if I really need to update it, right? Ugh.
I may know who I am, but what to call myself is an entirely different question. That one, I don't know. Ugh.
dialecticdreamer (dialecticdreamer) wrote2025-04-22 10:18 pm
dialecticdreamer) wrote2025-04-22 10:18 pm
Entry tags:
Urgent and Unexpected (part 1 of 1, complete)
Urgent and Unexpected
By Sarah Williams
Part 1 of 1, complete
Word count (story only): 1683
[Landing #5, day 2, then Landing #6, day 1]
:: Schrodinger's Heroes and the Asher family confront the problem of accessing medical care for Anita, in the Heroes’ ineffable style. Part of the Sidestep Travelers universe. This story crosses with a version of the Schrodinger’s Heroes universe. ::
:: Author’s note: I am posting the WHOLE story in one piece, instead of trying to break it into parts. Some weird mistake ate a good chunk of the original draft, so this has moved in a different direction. ::
“We’ve got at least a partial coordinate match for your universe already,” Pat assured her, as Anita paced along longer side of the empty room once labeled for storage and currently empty of even the previous coating of dust. One solitary cobweb clung to the intersection of two walls, about a foot lower than the ceiling, but it was barely the size of the first joint of Anita’s thumb, so she ignored it.
( Read more... )
By Sarah Williams
Part 1 of 1, complete
Word count (story only): 1683
[Landing #5, day 2, then Landing #6, day 1]
:: Schrodinger's Heroes and the Asher family confront the problem of accessing medical care for Anita, in the Heroes’ ineffable style. Part of the Sidestep Travelers universe. This story crosses with a version of the Schrodinger’s Heroes universe. ::
:: Author’s note: I am posting the WHOLE story in one piece, instead of trying to break it into parts. Some weird mistake ate a good chunk of the original draft, so this has moved in a different direction. ::
“We’ve got at least a partial coordinate match for your universe already,” Pat assured her, as Anita paced along longer side of the empty room once labeled for storage and currently empty of even the previous coating of dust. One solitary cobweb clung to the intersection of two walls, about a foot lower than the ceiling, but it was barely the size of the first joint of Anita’s thumb, so she ignored it.
( Read more... )
Independence1776 (independence1776) wrote2025-04-22 08:13 pm
independence1776) wrote2025-04-22 08:13 pmEntry tags:
Not likely to be online much for the next few days
The schedule for Andor (to the tune of three episodes every Tuesday late evening for the next four weeks) means that I am in fact not staying up to midnight watching it all. This week especially I'll manage to watch an episode an evening, so I'm 100% staying off Tumblr until Thursday evening at the earliest. Dreamwidth I'm assuming will be more or less spoiler-free, possibly Discord as well. The Star Wars Discord I'm a member of is very good about spoilers and all of us are: "But we're working adults? How do they expect us to watch this?"
mx. tozka (tozka) wrote2025-04-22 03:08 pm
tozka) wrote2025-04-22 03:08 pmEntry tags:
us civics, frick museum, wiscon
Good afternoon, happy Tuesday! I finally spotted the morning doves again-- well, actually, one of the landed on the back porch and made eye contact with me through the sliding glass door, and then another dove dive-bombed the first one and they both flew off. Fun!
Got some links for y'all here! I'm experimenting with formatting this time. Is this easier to read, or worse?
siderea did an informal poll about some of the differences in educational systems in the US, with regards specifically to when civics was taught.
I did most of my schooling in Maryland and I took a civics class in 9th or 10th grade, but I'm pretty sure we went over some stuff before then in elementary school/middle school. We had mock presidential elections, for instance, so I'm sure we at least went over the stuff about voting.
I also remember seeing the Schoolhouse Rock video about how bills are passed, but I honestly can't remember where along my educational timeline it happened. I AM fairly certain a teacher showed it to us, though!
( More links under here )
Need more stuff to read? I've compiled all previous linkspam posts here on my website or of course you can explore the linkspam tag below.
Got some links for y'all here! I'm experimenting with formatting this time. Is this easier to read, or worse?
siderea did an informal poll about some of the differences in educational systems in the US, with regards specifically to when civics was taught. I did most of my schooling in Maryland and I took a civics class in 9th or 10th grade, but I'm pretty sure we went over some stuff before then in elementary school/middle school. We had mock presidential elections, for instance, so I'm sure we at least went over the stuff about voting.
I also remember seeing the Schoolhouse Rock video about how bills are passed, but I honestly can't remember where along my educational timeline it happened. I AM fairly certain a teacher showed it to us, though!
( More links under here )
Need more stuff to read? I've compiled all previous linkspam posts here on my website or of course you can explore the linkspam tag below.
ysabetwordsmith (ysabetwordsmith) wrote2025-04-22 02:17 pm
ysabetwordsmith) wrote2025-04-22 02:17 pmBirdfeeding
Today is mostly sunny and warm with a light breeze, a beautiful spring day. :D
I fed the birds. I've seen several sparrows and house finches, two brown-headed cowbirds, a mourning dove, and two fox squirrels.
I put out water for the birds.
EDIT 4/22/25 -- We went out shopping. I picked out roughly 5 flats of plants at DeBuhr's. We found a garden hose, nozzle, and reel plus a gas can at Home Depot. Also at Home Depot I spotted a modular garage storage system that looks very promising. It has mounting rails for shelves and a wide variety of hooks. That ought to combine well with a pegboard.
EDIT 4/22/25 -- I planted a 'Sugar Snack' cherry tomato and a 'Yellow Pear' tomato in the large pots by the septic garden, each with 4 marigolds around it.
As it is getting dark, I am done for the night.
I fed the birds. I've seen several sparrows and house finches, two brown-headed cowbirds, a mourning dove, and two fox squirrels.
I put out water for the birds.
EDIT 4/22/25 -- We went out shopping. I picked out roughly 5 flats of plants at DeBuhr's. We found a garden hose, nozzle, and reel plus a gas can at Home Depot. Also at Home Depot I spotted a modular garage storage system that looks very promising. It has mounting rails for shelves and a wide variety of hooks. That ought to combine well with a pegboard.
EDIT 4/22/25 -- I planted a 'Sugar Snack' cherry tomato and a 'Yellow Pear' tomato in the large pots by the septic garden, each with 4 marigolds around it.
As it is getting dark, I am done for the night.
hex (milo_r) wrote2025-04-22 07:17 pm
milo_r) wrote2025-04-22 07:17 pm
Entry tags:
I'll actually be pretty sad when tumblr dies
I know we're all joking about the curse finally lifting but it's the only "modern" social media site I get genuine enjoyment out of. And for all that I praise dreamwidth and mastodon to every fandom person I meet, there's a kind of visual fandom experience that only tumlblr is- I can't even say "optimized for," as tumblr is not optimized for anything. Mostly gif gazing. TikTok is for videos and Instagram is for carousels. Fanartists will migrate to even more inhospitable lands but I have survived that before. But where will I go to have narrative parallels highlighted via gifset juxtaposition? Where will I be graced with the sight of my blorbo covered in blood like I am graced by a freshly bloomed flower on my morning walk? Are you telling me I'll have to rewatch my shows??? Unthinkable.
(Not that I think tumblr doesn't have the addictive and enshittified social media features. I've looked up by an hour-long tumblr session with the same kind of malaise tiktok scrolling gives me, but overall the good has always outweighed the bad.)
it only hurts when i breathe (spikedluv) wrote2025-04-22 01:36 pm
spikedluv) wrote2025-04-22 01:36 pmThe Chelsea Detective 3.02, 3.03 & 3.04
I enjoy this show. I'm glad I started watching it last year (when I caught up on seasons 1 & 2) and that my source is still supplying it. I do wish it was more than 4 eps, though. ( spoilers )
