July 26th, 2025
oursin: The Delphic Sibyl from the Sistine Chapel (Delphic sibyl)

This is all a bit Dept Groucho Marx here - would anyone who is not of these awful people's leanings want to live within 100 miles of them anyway, and in fact are they not a creepy cult in the making? The settlement sprawls over 160 acres and it's called Return to the Land. Its founders say it is an "intentional community based around shared ancestry". (And I think we can predict what the position of women within it is before even getting to that part of the write-up, no?)

(You can get brucellosis from 'warm fresh goats' milk', you know.)

***

Dept, have none of these issues manifested before travelling together??? You be the judge: Should my partner stop obsessively cutting costs when we travel? We discover that although they've been partners for seven years they don't live together, so possibly they really haven't come up against this sort of clash of styles:

I don’t want to share Persephone’s suitcase because she doesn’t pack properly and I find that stressful. I may put all my stuff in one backpack, but it is very well organised. Persephone’s packing style is hectic and she doesn’t have a separate laundry bag for her unclean clothes, she just throws them all in together. I don’t want dirty laundry touching my stuff, thanks very much.

And one is a foodie and one is not, and there's a real clash of priorities going on there that you'd think might have come up in 7 years....

At least last week's YBTJ contestants seem to have discovered the flashpoint of difference fairly early on: should my flatmate start using the spice rack I made: and honestly, what is the point of a poncey hand-carved spice-rack with matching jars that he hasn't got round to labelling? I am team shop-bought packaging that can actually be identified without opening it up and sticking one's nose in.

***

Dept, the Fifties were actually quite anomalous: In the longer–term context, then, it is the mid-20th century which looks unusual, and it is worth considering why:

There is no doubt that the percentage of families which are headed by a lone parent has increased since the mid-20th century, and this has often been equated with the breakdown of the nuclear family system. However, it is not clear that the nuclear family is actually in decline. Most children are still living in two parent homes, and the percentage of lone parent families in the 19th century was not very different to the percentage today – although as explained below, such families were very differently formed.

***

Dept, the annual PSC deviation into sense: This may seem radical to you, but a woman does not need a penis in order to be satisfied. Okay, it's depressing that the couple come 'from a conservative background; we believe that sex before marriage is a sin and saved ourselves until we got married in our early 30s' but don't seem to have done any due diligence on how to do ye conjugalz - there have been books on how to have a happy fulfilled Christian marriage since the 1920s at least. Sigh.

oursin: Brush the Wandering Hedgehog by the fire (Default)
posted by [personal profile] oursin at 12:42pm on 26/07/2025
Happy birthday, [personal profile] shewhostaples and [personal profile] mrissa!
staranise: A star anise floating in a cup of mint tea (Default)
posted by [personal profile] staranise at 03:11am on 26/07/2025
I have an American friend who would strongly prefer to move their family to Canada. 2 adults, 4 children; both adults have degrees and professional credentials that would transfer across the border. They're currently looking for work, both abroad and in bluer states than theirs.

The question they asked me was:

Is immigrating to Canada something we can do on our own or do we need an immigration lawyer? I have been looking at requirements and it all seems straightforward enough, but I don’t want to be unpleasantly surprised


Any thoughts on the process would be welcome, like if/when a lawyer is needed, or if/when agencies that promise to help with the moving process are actually worth their fees.

Thanks! Comments are screened for people who'd rather stay private, and I'll pass the messages along.
naraht: Moonrise over Earth (Default)
posted by [personal profile] naraht at 09:44am on 26/07/2025 under
Picked this up because I kept seeing it being described as literary SF – with that classic complaint, "no plot, hated the protagonist," that often signals a novel that may interest me. It's the tale of a depressed, isolated telepath in New York City in the early 70s who's gradually losing his powers as he enters his forties.

A reviewer on Reddit dismissed the novel as a clumsy metaphor for impotence. Having read it, and read a little about Silverberg's career – he had been churning out multiple novels per year before temporarily deciding to retire from writing in 1975 – I'm now 95% convinced that it's in fact a slightly less clumsy metaphor for the retreat of literary inspiration. Which makes it somewhat more interesting. Isn't fiction really, in some ways, based on the ability to see into other people's minds?

Not a great novel, but it has its moments. Very much of its period and setting, in both the good ways and the bad ways.
July 25th, 2025
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
Mood:: 'busy' busy
oriolegirl: (moods: gah)
posted by [personal profile] oriolegirl at 05:13pm on 25/07/2025
TGIF. But I had to book an appointment to take my work laptop in to exchange it for a newer version and all of the appointments are at like 9:30am. It's horrifying but I will have to haul myself out of bed early next Wednesday to drop it off. It ususually takes them 3-4 hours to setup the new one, then I will need to trek back to campus to pick that up. Last time, I wound up calling them because something wouldn't work once I got it home. Hopefully I won't have to do that again.

~*~

I love having the bookcase 1) box no longer taking up space, 2) put together and in the office, and 3) having all the (non-library) books from the living room on it. But. I did not anticipate the way it makes the office feel closed in. Because of the peculiarities of the room, there's no other place to put it; it must stay where it is.

The bookcase is white and I very much regret not giving into the temptation to get the special edition blue-so-dark-it-was-almost-black version. It was a little more expensive and I was worried how it would look. But the color would've been really great. Alas.

The office door is very white. The over-the-door mirror frame is very off-white. It had been vaguely bothering me for a while, but with the bookcase next to the door, it was bugging the crap out of me. So I moved it to the inside of the door where it can't be seen as I keep the door open 99.99% of the time. But now there's this huge white void which really messes with my perception.

After a lot of searching online - and dear lord there is some hideous and hideously expensive decor out there - I found a small-ish wall tapestry (with hanging rod!) for under $12 including fees and shipping. Lots of blue, somewhat mountain-y and river-y, with a pop of gold sun. Minimal hanging fringe. (Why? Why so much fringe?) It will hopefully arrive on Monday. *fingers crossed* I've already got a gold-colored over-the-door hook in place for hanging purposes. The color should help with the white void.

I also pulled a couple of small pieces of framed art out of the closet and put them on the bookcase to give it some something. The books, largely being science texts from the 1930s-1960s, are rather blah to look at. Lots of brown, maroon, dark blue, and black. They help, a little.
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
posted by [personal profile] ysabetwordsmith at 04:28pm on 25/07/2025 under , , ,
Indigenous-designed mural doubles as a giant solar power generator, reducing 150 tons of CO2 emissions annually

What if public art could also power an entire residential building?

The SunRise Building, an apartment complex in Alberta, Canada, has answered that question — and is now the title holder of the Guinness World Record for the largest solar panel mural on Earth.
[---8<---]
On the northern wall of the building is the main mural, called “The Land We Share,” which stands 85 feet tall, by the Edmonton-based Indigenous artist Lance Cardinal. The photovoltaic panels are strategically placed to depict a tribute to the First Nations and Chinese cultures that are integral to the history of the area
.


More of this would be good. People often resist green energy projects because so many of those are eyesores. Make them beautiful, and they will become more popular.
Mood:: 'busy' busy
twistedchick: watercolor painting of coffee cup on wood table (Default)
posted by [personal profile] twistedchick at 04:44pm on 25/07/2025
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
Sunshine Revival Challenge 7: The Ferris Wheel

Journaling: Life in fandom goes through ups and downs. Reminisce about the "wild ride" of your time in fandom or in other online communities.

Creative: Create an image or a photo with the theme "let's go for a ride".

Post your answer to today’s challenge in your own space and leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so
.

Sunshine-Revival-Carnival-5.png

Read more... )
Mood:: 'busy' busy
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
Now open for crowdfunding!  :D 3q3q3q!!!  This is a project I want to support.  Pass the word to your queer, nerdy, and librarian friends.

EDIT 7/25/25 -- I have backed this project.


Scholarly Pursuits: A Queer Cozy Academia Anthology
A collection of 22 delightfully queer, charmingly cozy stories that put a fluffy LGBTQIA+ spin on the dark academia genre.

$5,735 pledged of $13,000 goal
90 backers
17 days to go

Pursue an education in queer speculative fiction with Scholarly Pursuits!
Transforming the core settings of “dark academia” to be cozy and snug, Scholarly Pursuits: A Queer Anthology of Cozy Academia Stories features 22 delightful, charming science fiction and fantasy stories set at colleges, universities, libraries, and other places where people pursue academic excellence – and all feature queer characters! From field research shenanigans to cooking adventures, from space station education departments to eldritch libraries, our awesome authors have brought their vivid imaginings to life in this anthology. We can’t wait to share it with you!
Mood:: 'excited' excited
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
posted by [personal profile] ysabetwordsmith at 01:52pm on 25/07/2025 under , , , , ,
Today is partly sunny and sweltering.

I fed the birds. I've seen a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches. Some of them are dustbathing in the burn barrel; they like the fresh ashes.

EDIT 7/25/25 -- I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 7/25/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 7/25/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 7/25/25 -- I picked herbs to make omelettes for supper, which also included some cherry tomatoes from yesterday.

It's drizzling a bit.

EDIT 7/25/25 -- I refilled the birdfeeders.

EDIT 7/25/25 -- I did more work around the patio.



.
Mood:: 'busy' busy
oursin: Grumpy looking hedgehog (Grumpy hedgehog)

I don't think this is just me being An Old and thus cranky - or maybe my crankiness just dates back a long way - because this was a thing that used to annoy me back in the day when listservs were a thing and I was on quite a number relating to various aspects of history.

So anyway, somebody on bluesky asked a question about how to find certain kinds of records for C19th, and was aware that this was a question usefully addressed to archivists &/or historians -

- but didn't actually state WHERE they wanted records for. Which is really of considerable relevance to whether one can respond e.g. 'Have you checked The National Archives Discovery'? (or, 'I expect you have already checked TNA Discovery, but here are some further possibilities....')

I made a bit of a cavil about this in a quote, indicating that this was a peeve of mine (dear sweet pet peeve, I stroke you) and they got a bit miffy, and said, read down thread for details.

Thing was, they had plenty of wordage left over to specify parameters in original post.

Why should I have to do that work to find out if this is a query I can usefully address out of Mi KnowinZ?

Some people on listservs used to be particularly bad, in that sometimes they didn't specify general period, either: what were we, telepaths???

This is the obverse of this thing I may have whinged about, which is that thing where I have asked for, say recommendations of readings on a very specific topic, or maybe very recent work on [topic], or similar, and somebody immediately shoots back something amazingly broad-brush and general that anyone in the field will have read and of very tangential pertinence to actual query.

(Honestly, and they expect people to be able to provide prompts that will come up with astonishingly helpful and correct answers from AI, mutter, fume, antimaccassar set to stun.)

oursin: Brush the Wandering Hedgehog by the fire (Default)
posted by [personal profile] oursin at 09:52am on 25/07/2025
Happy birthday, [personal profile] adair and [personal profile] owlfish!
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
posted by [personal profile] ysabetwordsmith at 12:21am on 25/07/2025 under ,
Today's theme is Horror.

Read more... )
Mood:: 'busy' busy
July 24th, 2025
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
posted by [personal profile] ysabetwordsmith at 10:24pm on 24/07/2025 under , , , ,
The future of antisemitism

We can't get confused about what constitutes anti-Jewish prejudice.
[---8<---]
That's why we have to face a painful paradox: when it comes to the continuing agony of Gaza, Israel's most fervent defenders are the ones muddying the water. They seek to define criticism of the actions of Israel as anti-Jewish prejudice
.

Read more... )
Mood:: 'busy' busy
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
France will recognize Palestine as a state, President Macron says

PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron announced Thursday that France will recognize Palestine as a state, in a bold diplomatic move amid snowballing global anger over people starving in Gaza. Israel denounced the decision.

Macron said in a post on X that he will formalize the decision at the United Nations General Assembly in September. “The urgent thing today is that the war in Gaza stops and the civilian population is saved,” he wrote
.


Today, France is a hero. France is taking a stance that a lot of bigger, richer, meaner countries are going to hate. That's punching up. \o/ Let's put more pressure on Israel to stop the genocide.

Read more... )
Mood:: 'busy' busy
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
Individualism is Killing The (Online) Aspec Community

But whilst I know I’ve changed in my queer journey, the communities I’ve been involved in have not. When I was a baby ace, I needed to know aspec 101, distinguish your aro from your ace from your agender, what the cake memes were for, what the split attraction model is and so on. But 5 years on, half a decade mind you, the online community that was once my intro and a place that helped me learn more about myself now feels like a burden, a constant reminder of pain and like being a teenager again in Catholic secondary school; not standing the people I’m with and wanting to just go home.
[---8<---]
Most people tolerate asexuality, but they don’t support asexuality. That's not the same. They think asexuality is valid but they don’t support it. They only support asexuality if it’s palatable to their own sexuality. In an attempt to push back on the very real infantilisation of asexuality (looking at you ‘but we can’t have kink at pride because of the aces’ discourse), but we’ve (not me!) walked back into compulsory sexuality and basing support of asexuality based on how well asexuals perform the sexual script, instead of supporting it in its own right.

Read more... )
Mood:: 'busy' busy
oursin: The stylised map of the London Underground, overwritten with Tired of London? Tired of Life! (Tired of London? Tired of Life!)

Today I went for a physio appointment.

(This one was for a whole different area, yay, and a different person, and I think went quite well.)

But anyway, I walked back a slightly different way, taking me along the parade of shops on the main drag towards the Tube station, and then the parade of shops round the corner from where I reside.

And okay, there were the boutique independent coffee shops, and assorted eateries of varied ethnicities, and a rather interesting-looking poncey delicatessen I had not checked before with some rather fascinating vinegars in the window (you were temptaaaaation), and the usual things like estate agents, dry cleaners, newsagents, pharmacy, etc.

Also:

Several yoga/Pilates studios, can there really be that much of a demand??? Maybe they offer different styles, but even so.

And there are two picture-framers within half a mile of one another, what are the odds, eh? This seems to me so very niche an enterprise I was wondering if 'picture-framing' is actually a front for something else.

I have also, slightly to my horror, discovered that the florist/fruit & veg shop where I bought the aubergines the other week, is run by a 'mumtrepreneur'. What fresh hell is this.

ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] duckprintspress will be launching a new project tomorrow. The swag release is on their Dreamwidth blog.

Scholarly Pursuits: A Queer Cozy Academia Anthology
A collection of 22 delightfully queer, charmingly cozy stories that put a fluffy LGBTQIA+ spin on the dark academia genre
.

For reference, "cozy academia" seems to lean toward "light academia" in mood, but doesn't necessarily exclude the deeper colors of "dark academia," and is basically the "comfy/cozy" aesthetic or subgenre with an academic setting.  So if you want queer romance and culture without the gaybashing and other stress of local-America, this is probably an excellent bet.  And if you are going to romanticize something, there are a lot worse things to admire than academia, which has long been a refuge for queers, nerds, and freaks of all flavors.

As a bonus, this is exactly the kind of content that lots of people want not to exist, so buy a queer book and poke a bigot in the eye!  If you know of librarians defending queer books, tip them to this campaign.
Mood:: 'busy' busy
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
posted by [personal profile] ysabetwordsmith at 02:07pm on 24/07/2025 under , , , , ,
Today is sweltering again, 86°F with a heat index of 98°F. :P So I have to break up yard tasks into smaller sections.

I fed the birds. I've seen a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches.

EDIT 7/24/25 -- I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 7/24/25 -- I refilled birdfeeders.

EDIT 7/24/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 7/24/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 7/24/25 -- I picked 4 red cherry tomatoes. :D

I watered the new picnic table garden.

EDIT 7/24/25 -- I potted up 12 sweet cherry seeds.

As it is getting dark, I am done for the night.
Mood:: 'busy' busy

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