ursamajor | Network

1. We went to the Indian market today and got lunch there as well, as they also have a small restaurant (cafeteria style). Everything was so tasty!

2. I contacted someone about making an appointment for a tattoo! I figured now that I know what I want, I want to get it done sooner rather than later, so it's fully healed by the time we take our trip in April.

3. Carla got a new suitcase backpack. It's about the size of a backpack, but opens like a suitcase. I think all the cats tried it out yesterday, except maybe Molly.

moon_custafer

Finally posted a new (short) chapter! https://archiveofourown.org/works/55953232/chapters/202134506

celli

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celli

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ysabetwordsmith

thewayne posted this hilarious but astute quote:

"No one wants to go in there when a random f***ing tweet can change the entire foreign policy of the country."
-- oil industry investor, about Venezuela

Current Mood: amused

ludy

Today I attempted to make (bake? I’m not sure if that’s the right verb) a cake in the pressure cooker. I’m intrigued by the concept but unsure what to expect the results to be like. How much will the texture be different to oven baking? Will it be more like a steamed sponge pudding? Will I like it?

I’m still really not sure because the cake failed for non-pressure-cooker reasons. I used a new-to-me-brand of almond extract and it is obviously considerably stronger than the brand the recipe-book writer uses. A teaspoon was way too much and I now have pretty much the cake-shaped version of those room scenting wax-chips rather than something you’d want to eat…

(It was at least a sweet almond extract rather than anything too cyanide-y)

Current Mood: d’oh!

loganberrybunny

Public

345/365: Holiday chalet lorry
Click for a larger, sharper image
"Sore" mood setting as I've grazed my leg on something; I'm not even sure what. Nothing serious, just irritating. In the late afternoon I had to trudge down into town to get a couple of things. The weather was damp and gloomy, with a few bits of ice left in the darker corners. The only thing of any interest at all was this lorry delivering a chalet (okay, "holiday home") to a place along Dowles Road, which is a couple of miles away to the left of the Forest Dog Rescue charity shop. Always fun when there's some idiot in a souped-up Range Rover coming the other way, but nothing like that happened this time.

Current Mood: sore

minoanmiss

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Current Mood: accomplished

ysabetwordsmith

For his birthday, my partner Doug requested Mom-Mom Bessie's Coconut Molasses Pie from Taste of Home More Easy Everyday Cooking 2024 page 254. So that's in the oven now. :D

EDIT 1/11/26 -- The pie is done and quite tasty. My partner is please. \o/ It resembles a shoofly pie, so if you like that, then this is worth a try.

Current Mood: accomplished

ysabetwordsmith

New form of 'artificial metabolism' converts CO2 into biological building blocks

Researchers built the Reductive Formate Pathway, called the ReForm pathway, to convert CO2 into acetyl-CoA outside living cells. Acetyl-CoA is a small but essential molecule your cells use to turn food into energy. When your body breaks down carbohydrates, fats, and proteins, it often funnels the results into acetyl-CoA. From there, acetyl-CoA carries a tiny chemical package called an acetyl group into the citric acid cycle, where your cells “burn” it. That process releases energy, and your body captures it to help make ATP, the main energy currency that powers cellular work.

This study shows how engineered enzymes, electricity-derived carbon feedstocks, and cell-free systems can be combined to recycle CO2 into useful chemical building blocks, while avoiding the limits of living cells and pointing toward new ways to make materials with lower carbon footprints.

That's good news for climate change.

However, it's also a step in most food replicator technologies, for those of you keeping an eye on that track.

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

... is running a bit late today, but the mods are on top of it. If they can't reach the planned day host, someone else will step in to post the challenge.

Snowflake Challenge: A pair of ice skates hanging on a wood paneled wall. Pine boughs with a few ornaments are stuffed into the skates.

Current Mood: busy

nanila

Do you have a favourite cause that you support?
I support multiple causes through charitable donations, but one of the most important to me is the Abortion Support Network, which does exactly what it says on the tin: It helps people in the UK and Europe to get abortions, particularly those who live in areas with restrictive laws.
If so, how do you support it?
I give them as much money per month as I can. When they have fundraising drives, I donate more. When they ask for comments they can use in their promotional materials, I provide as much detail as I can.
Have you been an active member of an organization (attending meetings, volunteering, etc)?
Yes. I was a school governor for a while, and I’ve also volunteered for Parkrun, as well as other charitable organisations.
Have you ever led any group?
No, I’ve never had the capacity with either full-time work or academic study to lead a volunteer group.
If so, how was your experience with it?
See above. I’m sure I’d find it very fulfilling, but it’ll have to wait until I retire (or go part-time).

cosmicjellyfish

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Current Mood: quixotic
Current Music: some ambient drone

cupcake_goth

Remember how I mentioned the horrible bout of acid reflux I had? It led to coughing up disgusting mucus, and then breathing came with crackling, so yesterday I went to a walk-in clinic. And lo, I came out with an unsurprising diagnosis of bronchitis. Apparently every time my esophagus gets really irritated, my body responds with bronchitis. I do not approve.

—-

Before my no-buy for clothing kicked off I bought a capelet (made with vintage materials, so there was no way the Madwoman could duplicate it), and two of the barely-cover-your-ass petticoats by Leg Avenue in order to make my own slightly different version of this petticoat from Selkie. Not that I’ll be doing any projects until walking to the bathroom doesn’t leave me overwhelmed with fatigue.

hunningham

New Year's Resolution - Read for fun!

I want to read for fun, for pleasure, to reread old favourites, to read fan-fiction and not to be waylaid by 'should read..' or 'best of...' I'm planning to visit brick-and-mortar bookshops and take my own sweet time browsing and selecting a book to read. I'm going to pick a book which I want to read right now this minute, not one which looks interesting and will just be added to the TBR pile.

Inspired by this Tom Gauld cartoon which I have printed out and stuck on to the fridge.

buttonsbeadslace

Now that 2025 is over, all the things I knitted this past year:
- Armwarmers. I don't think I posted pictures of these anywhere?
- Ziprelaxagon socks
- Citrus slice #2
- Citrus slice #3
- Yarn swap purse
( Read more... )

princessofgeeks

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trobadora

How is tomorrow Monday again already?! Someone stole my weekend!

According to yesterday's poll, approximately 75% of respondents think about structure in some fashion while writing. POV sections, parallels and repetitions got the most votes.

As for me, I used to always pay attention to structure especially in terms of parallels and mirroring sections and such, even for very short pieces, but I lost that a little bit in recent years. I need to focus more on that again - I always felt it made things better! But for longer pieces, structure is still a basic part of how I conceive of a story.

One of the most obvious structuring elements is with multiple POVs, and I always try to have them alternate in a clear pattern. For example, my Yuletide fic this year has four chapters, structured by location, and the POV pattern was AAB-BBA:

Chapter 1 - POV A
Chapter 2 - POV A, POV B
Chapter 3 - POV B
Chapter 4 - POV B, POV A

The story is mostly written in close limited 3rd person, but I also started each chapter with a more distant/mythic omniscient POV and then zoomed in on the character.

60% of respondents agree that no poll is complete without tickyboxes. My people! *g*

I haven't been keeping up with Star Trek for ages, but I was curious about the upcoming Starfleet Academy show and looked into things a little. And video reviews aren't usually my thing, but I just watched most of this video, and it makes it sound very promising! Here's hoping.

Today's writing

Instead of working to finish anything, I've started something new. Why, brain, why?

WED Question of the Day

Poll #34070

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 22

View Respondents

What POV do you like to write in?

View Answers

first person
6 (27.3%)

second person
3 (13.6%)

third person omniscient
7 (31.8%)

third person limited
20 (90.9%)

other (see comments)
0 (0.0%)

What POV do you like to read in?

View Answers

first person
11 (50.0%)

second person
3 (13.6%)

third person omniscient
15 (68.2%)

third person limited
18 (81.8%)

other (see comments)
3 (13.6%)

My writing preferences for fanfic and original fic are ...

View Answers

the same
12 (54.5%)

different (see comments)
6 (27.3%)

I only write one of these
4 (18.2%)

My reading preferences for fanfic and original fic are ...

View Answers

the same
14 (63.6%)

different (see comments)
8 (36.4%)

I only read one of these
0 (0.0%)

I want a story from the POV of a tickybox

View Answers

yes! ticky that box!
18 (85.7%)

????
5 (23.8%)

NO
2 (9.5%)

Tally

( Days 1-5 )

Day 6:

alightbuthappypen,

badly_knitted,

brithistorian,

carenejeans,

china_shop,

cornerofmadness,

goddess47,

luzula,

ofmonstrouswords,

sanguinity,

shadaras,

sylvanwitch,

the_siobhan,

trobadora,

ysilme

Day 7:

badly_knitted,

brithistorian,

carenejeans,

china_shop,

cornerofmadness,

goddess47,

ofmonstrouswords,

shadaras,

sanguinity,

sylvanwitch,

trobadora

Day 8:

badly_knitted,

brithistorian,

carenejeans,

china_shop,

cornerofmadness,

goddess47,

ofmonstrouswords,

sanguinity,

shadaras,

sylvanwitch,

trobadora

Day 9:

badly_knitted,

brithistorian,

carenejeans,

china_shop,

cornerofmadness,

goddess47,

sanguinity,

shadaras,

sylvanwitch,

trobadora

Day 10:

badly_knitted,

brithistorian,

carenejeans,

china_shop,

cornerofmadness,

goddess47,

luzula,

sanguinity,

shadaras,

sylvanwitch,

trobadora

Day 11:

china_shop,

trobadora

Let me know if I missed anyone! And remember you can drop in or out at any time. :)

the_wanlorn

I refuse to start forgetting to post here in January. I absolutely refuse. I'm going to make it to February if it kills me.

Writing is going well! On writing days, I'm averaging almost 2k. It's great and I'm above where I need to be to hit my wordcount goal (40k on a specific project) for the month. The goal used to be 30k on a specific project, finishing it, but uh. It's gonna take more than that to hit the end. So, hopefully it'll be done at 40k. I'm 60% of the way through the wordcount, and I think????? I'm 60% through the story?

idk

Is anyone else extremely stressed about what we're going to replace discord with if it goes AI? Is anyone else extremely stressed that some friends are going to refuse to move and you won't be able to talk to them anymore? :\ I vote we all go back to using IRC. For the record. Stop complicating things with icons and voice chat and etc. I just want to do typeytypey with my friends.

(I'm the_wanlorn over there, also ftr)

Anyway. Back to writing probably. Later my gators.

Current Mood: blank
Current Location: the recliner in my living room
Current Music: Arrival (2016)

snickfic

Incredible work by Noel's socmed person. The combo of text and image is *chef's kiss*. Original is here on his official insta. (No I am still not over Liam appearing on Noel's socials in case you were wondering!!)

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Network

Daily Happiness

Gentleman of the Shade

2 new BTS fics and the podfic I made for them

BTS podfic: More Hesitation

Politics

CakeFail

Wide load

Success!

Today's Cooking

Science

Snowflake Challenge

The Friday Five on a Sunday

sticky: media eaten in 2026

Jesus fucking Christ, really body?

New Year's Resolution

New Year's Resolution - Read for fun!

New Year Knitting Update

NFL playoffs

Write Every day 2026: January, Day 11

claps hands together Alright Then!

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January 2026

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