Snowflake Challenge
Jan. 11th, 2026 16:34![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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.
ysabetwordsmith
The Friday Five on a Sunday
Jan. 11th, 2026 22:18nanila- 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).
1/11/2026 Valle Vista Staging Area Riche Loop
Jan. 11th, 2026 13:11mrkinchI parked about 9 and was pleasantly surprised that it was not horribly cold. No wind helped, and I went in my jacket over four thin layers (silk, wool, poly, but still). I hadn't been there in well over a year, yikes! It was a lovely morning, but semi solitude even up on Riche Loop didn't last long on a Sunday. I chose Sunday for lack of school traffic and the Loop because I would get a look at the reservoir without going all the way out, but neither worked as well as I'd hoped. But there were Western Bluebirds in the parking lot and California Thrashers were singing, and I was quite happy. ( The list: )
A pair of coyotes were hunting at the bottom of the trail where it most closely approaches the reservoir, but I waited and moved slowly, and they each wandered away from the trail enough for me to pass. I'd thought that after I walked the Loop I'd take the other trail at least to the bridge, but there were so many people by then I went home. I'll try to go again soon, school traffic be damned.
A pair of coyotes were hunting at the bottom of the trail where it most closely approaches the reservoir, but I waited and moved slowly, and they each wandered away from the trail enough for me to pass. I'd thought that after I walked the Loop I'd take the other trail at least to the bridge, but there were so many people by then I went home. I'll try to go again soon, school traffic be damned.
New Year's Resolution
Jan. 11th, 2026 21:37hunninghamNew 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.
Smart people saying smart things (01.11.2026)
Jan. 11th, 2026 20:52![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png){kind=small}
slacktivist_feedTake time to listen to Heather Cox Richardson, Thomas Paine, Rebecca Solnit, David M. Perry, Roald Dahl, Sarah Jeong, and Elizabeth N. Saunders.
*claps hands together* Alright Then!
Jan. 11th, 2026 16:00the_wanlornI 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.
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.
watched: the residence
Jan. 11th, 2026 20:56tozka🎬 The Residence: Created by Paul William Davies. With Uzo Aduba, Giancarlo Esposito, Molly Griggs, Ken Marino. Inside the White House's staff residence and the lives which workers share with the First Family. 🔗
Binge rewatched The Residence today and I liked it much more this time around (tho I still think it's a bit too long).
In my first watch, I was too anxious to get to the solution and it became frustrating when they went on tangents. Knowing the solution and watching it again was much more fun. I enjoyed the humor more and caught some things about the murder motive that I missed the first time around.
I wish they'd do another season, or even a movie! I love the Cordelia Cupp character.
Binge rewatched The Residence today and I liked it much more this time around (tho I still think it's a bit too long).
In my first watch, I was too anxious to get to the solution and it became frustrating when they went on tangents. Knowing the solution and watching it again was much more fun. I enjoyed the humor more and caught some things about the murder motive that I missed the first time around.
I wish they'd do another season, or even a movie! I love the Cordelia Cupp character.
Recommendation: Too Late, Too Late - Hornblower amalgam
Jan. 11th, 2026 16:00petraI recommended the first story in this series when I read it in Yuletide, suspecting but not being sure at the time that it was by sanguinity.
I love William Bush's POV too:
Too Late, Too Late (2008 words) by sanguinity
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Hornblower (TV)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Characters: William Bush, Horatio Hornblower
Additional Tags: POV William Bush, Episode: e07 Loyalty (Hornblower), Hurt/Comfort, First Kiss
Series: Part 2 of The Worst Part of Waking Up
Summary:
sanguinity.I love William Bush's POV too:
Too Late, Too Late (2008 words) by sanguinity
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Hornblower (TV)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Characters: William Bush, Horatio Hornblower
Additional Tags: POV William Bush, Episode: e07 Loyalty (Hornblower), Hurt/Comfort, First Kiss
Series: Part 2 of The Worst Part of Waking Up
Summary:
Bush is too late to the beach to stop the firing squad.
Bonus Bush point-of-view on the beach scene.
B5 color theorizing
Jan. 11th, 2026 11:46sholioI FOUND IT AGAIN. I read a post on Tumblr a while back on a particularly nicely done instance of color symbolism with Londo on B5, and I finally found it. (More beneath the cut.)
( Spoilers for the whole show )
( Spoilers for the whole show )
tree trunk library
Jan. 11th, 2026 13:13boxofdelightsWe were walking the dogs yesterday and I took a photo that got 405 favorites and 226 boosts on Mastodon:
( A little free library in a tree trunk, and the book I took from it )
Neighborhoods always feel better with Little Free Libraries.
( A little free library in a tree trunk, and the book I took from it )
Neighborhoods always feel better with Little Free Libraries.
In completely different news
Jan. 11th, 2026 22:41roga...........see I made that previous post and now now I finally feel like I can make a post about normal! life! stuff! and fandom!!! this is exciting.
I will just say that I am, as one would expect, WELL on the Heated Rivalry train. After finishing the show and the main youtube-reaction-podcasts/videos, I needed more so I went ahead and read the books the show was based on, and then immediately read the other books in the series, and my MAIN loves are Ilya and Shane, my close second favorites are EVERY SINGLE OTHER SHIP IN THAT SERIES, I am so far gone my god. I'm now debating whether I need a break from hockey novels (to be clear, a break means moving on to fics), or whether I should continue to Rachel Reid's standalone hockey novels, despite the fact that her books make me, well, very distracted when I should be working, which is not ideal. I think maybe it would be smarter to hold off for the weekend.
For now, I have written zero words of HR fics but have many ideas, so if anyone has any idea of how to get writing without a yuletide deadline forcing me to, please let me know! Also: if there are any HR fic exchanges I am happy to hear about them. I'm not in any HR-dedicated discords and do not think I will stumble upon such an exchange independently.
Other than that, more fandom yays:
-The Pitt season 2 \o/
-Stranger Things final season! That one is less of a \o/ lol, but I still enjoyed watching it, criticisms and all. I love those kids.
-A Thousand Blows is back for the second half of its season! I haven't watched it yet but I loved the first half and can't wait for more.
-New Josh Charles show aka Best Medicine! Okay, it's not great yet, but I'm giving it a chance.
-Avengers Doomsday trailers! I have them but I love them ugh Marvel are truly assholes for doing this to me.
-Over on AO3, spqr has been posting Masters of the Air fics which have been so great they have sucked me right into that fandom.
-(Interspersed, of course, by HR fics, naturally)
And on the local theater front: I went to the new production of The Caucasian Chalk Circle yesterday, at Habima theater. Other than being one of my favorite plays, and absolutely timeless in message, it was such a gorgeous production. Beautiful set design, including a constantly shifting backdrop of sand art that was sculpted live by the actors on stage; beautiful compositions and singing; great acting, and a great translation. It was maybe a little more immersive than Brecht would have liked, but sorry dude, if you don't want me getting emotionally invested in your characters you should have stopped writing emotionally investing stories!)
I couldn't find a trailer for the production, but if you have any interest in what it looked like, there are snippets of the stage and cast here.
I will just say that I am, as one would expect, WELL on the Heated Rivalry train. After finishing the show and the main youtube-reaction-podcasts/videos, I needed more so I went ahead and read the books the show was based on, and then immediately read the other books in the series, and my MAIN loves are Ilya and Shane, my close second favorites are EVERY SINGLE OTHER SHIP IN THAT SERIES, I am so far gone my god. I'm now debating whether I need a break from hockey novels (to be clear, a break means moving on to fics), or whether I should continue to Rachel Reid's standalone hockey novels, despite the fact that her books make me, well, very distracted when I should be working, which is not ideal. I think maybe it would be smarter to hold off for the weekend.
For now, I have written zero words of HR fics but have many ideas, so if anyone has any idea of how to get writing without a yuletide deadline forcing me to, please let me know! Also: if there are any HR fic exchanges I am happy to hear about them. I'm not in any HR-dedicated discords and do not think I will stumble upon such an exchange independently.
Other than that, more fandom yays:
-The Pitt season 2 \o/
-Stranger Things final season! That one is less of a \o/ lol, but I still enjoyed watching it, criticisms and all. I love those kids.
-A Thousand Blows is back for the second half of its season! I haven't watched it yet but I loved the first half and can't wait for more.
-New Josh Charles show aka Best Medicine! Okay, it's not great yet, but I'm giving it a chance.
-Avengers Doomsday trailers! I have them but I love them ugh Marvel are truly assholes for doing this to me.
-Over on AO3, spqr has been posting Masters of the Air fics which have been so great they have sucked me right into that fandom.
-(Interspersed, of course, by HR fics, naturally)
And on the local theater front: I went to the new production of The Caucasian Chalk Circle yesterday, at Habima theater. Other than being one of my favorite plays, and absolutely timeless in message, it was such a gorgeous production. Beautiful set design, including a constantly shifting backdrop of sand art that was sculpted live by the actors on stage; beautiful compositions and singing; great acting, and a great translation. It was maybe a little more immersive than Brecht would have liked, but sorry dude, if you don't want me getting emotionally invested in your characters you should have stopped writing emotionally investing stories!)
I couldn't find a trailer for the production, but if you have any interest in what it looked like, there are snippets of the stage and cast here.
Meadowville
Jan. 11th, 2026 14:49moon_custaferI’m trying to get back to my ongoing writing, but I’ve also finally decided to start posting Meadowville in weekly installments on Ao3, as it’s more-or-less complete and I’ve long since given up on the idea of trying to publish professionally. First couple of chapters are up:
Welcome to Meadowville (6791 words) by moon_custafer
Chapters: 2/?
Fandom: Original Work
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Additional Tags: Original Fiction, 1950s, Fantasy, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Amnesia, Domestic Fluff, Period Typical Attitudes, though not always
Summary: Long Island, 1950. The Healys—Walt, Hanna, and their daughter Livia—aren’t quite the stereotypical American nuclear family they might appear to be at first glance, but they’re happy.
Then a mysterious mushroom ring appears around the neighborhood, and Walt begins to question his identity and childhood amnesia.
Welcome to Meadowville (6791 words) by moon_custafer
Chapters: 2/?
Fandom: Original Work
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Additional Tags: Original Fiction, 1950s, Fantasy, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Amnesia, Domestic Fluff, Period Typical Attitudes, though not always
Summary: Long Island, 1950. The Healys—Walt, Hanna, and their daughter Livia—aren’t quite the stereotypical American nuclear family they might appear to be at first glance, but they’re happy.
Then a mysterious mushroom ring appears around the neighborhood, and Walt begins to question his identity and childhood amnesia.
Six o'clock after the war
Jan. 11th, 2026 21:08rogaI wrote this on the week of October 13th – maybe one or two days later – and never finished the post, so never posted the post, and here I am stuck in this limbo of how do you post about anything when I still haven’t addressed That. So I will just was that now and take it from there.
( flashback to October musings )
( flashback to October musings )
final Yuletide canons tally
Jan. 11th, 2026 11:45snickficOne of my favorite aspects of Yuletide has become making a list of stuff from the tagset that I'm interested in checking out and then orienting my fall reading/watching around it. I'm generally bad at reading on a theme, but it turns out "maybe I can write this for Yuletide" is a theme that does work.
I thought this year I'd record for posterity what all I tried:
The hits:
Moby Dick reread
Red Rooms (2023)
The Shadow of the Leviathan
The Secret of Chimneys
Short films My Sister and the Prince, Corvidae, Serpentine, Possibly in Michigan, and The Vampire Gastelbrau
The misses:
Strangers on a Train - did not enjoy this! DNFed with 60 pages to go!
Pern reread - wooof the misogyny
Crooked House (2017) - a deeply mediocre Christie adaptation
Battle Royale (2000) - idk man, it was fine?
The Starving Saints
The Incandescent
Rotherweird
The Ascent of Rum Doodle - this was Too Silly
The... other?
Crash (1996) - I can't tell if I liked it, but I wrote a fic for it, so!
I thought this year I'd record for posterity what all I tried:
The hits:
Moby Dick reread
Red Rooms (2023)
The Shadow of the Leviathan
The Secret of Chimneys
Short films My Sister and the Prince, Corvidae, Serpentine, Possibly in Michigan, and The Vampire Gastelbrau
The misses:
Strangers on a Train - did not enjoy this! DNFed with 60 pages to go!
Pern reread - wooof the misogyny
Crooked House (2017) - a deeply mediocre Christie adaptation
Battle Royale (2000) - idk man, it was fine?
The Starving Saints
The Incandescent
Rotherweird
The Ascent of Rum Doodle - this was Too Silly
The... other?
Crash (1996) - I can't tell if I liked it, but I wrote a fic for it, so!
A Prayer for the Crown Shy, by Becky Chambers
Jan. 11th, 2026 11:13rachelmanija
Mosscap and Dex's adventures continue from where they left off. They visit human places, including Dex's large and confusing family. Mosscap has a brush with mortality. Dex does not return to being a tea monk, their vocation still up in the air.
I enjoyed this novella for much the same reasons I enjoyed the first one, though I missed the tea service, which was my favorite part of the first book. Mosscap does turn out to be fallible and learns from Dex as much as Dex learns from it, which was nice. My favorite part of this book was the glimpses of the world, which still seems like an extremely nice place to live in.
Culinary
Jan. 11th, 2026 19:09oursinLast week's bread held out for most of the week.
Friday night supper: ven pongal (South Indian khichchari).
Saturday breakfast rolls: Tassajarra method, 50:50% wholemeal/strong white flour, maple syprup, dried cranberries, turned out nicely.
Today's lunch: game crumble - the game mix (partridge, pheasant and venison) casseroled in red wine with onion, garlic, bay leaf, juniper berries, coriander seed, 5-pepper blend and salt, before putting the crumble topping (mixture of approx 2:1:1 wholemeal flour/strong white flour/pinhead oatmeal) on for the final half-hour; served with tenderstem broccoli tips which I cooked thusly - sizzled some chopped ginger and cumin seeds in oilve oil, turned the broccoli in this, added some water and steamed for half an hour, turned out rather well although I think the original recipe said fennel seeds....; and stirfried tat soi.
2026 Three Sentence Ficathon
Jan. 11th, 2026 14:14rthstewartit's [almost] heeeeeeeeerrrre
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
threesentenceficathon begins 17 January.
Schedule is here.
Dust off those prompts!
threesentenceficathon begins 17 January.Schedule is here.
Dust off those prompts!
Science
Jan. 11th, 2026 13:05ysabetwordsmithThis new imaging technology breaks the rules of optics
Scientists have unveiled a new way to capture ultra-sharp optical images without lenses or painstaking alignment. The approach uses multiple sensors to collect raw light patterns independently, then synchronizes them later using computation. This sidesteps long-standing physical limits that have held optical imaging back for decades. The result is wide-field, sub-micron resolution from distances that were previously impossible.
I immediately thought of how many species have multiple eyes. Vertebrates favor two, but invertebrates often have more. Spiders run to 8. Scallops can have hundreds. Since eyes are delicate and expensive tissue, there must be a compelling advantage, specially for more than 1-2 of them. I would suspect that greater detail is among the advantages.
Scientists have unveiled a new way to capture ultra-sharp optical images without lenses or painstaking alignment. The approach uses multiple sensors to collect raw light patterns independently, then synchronizes them later using computation. This sidesteps long-standing physical limits that have held optical imaging back for decades. The result is wide-field, sub-micron resolution from distances that were previously impossible.
I immediately thought of how many species have multiple eyes. Vertebrates favor two, but invertebrates often have more. Spiders run to 8. Scallops can have hundreds. Since eyes are delicate and expensive tissue, there must be a compelling advantage, specially for more than 1-2 of them. I would suspect that greater detail is among the advantages.