cookability | Member Posts

Life is full of things which are hard or tedious or otherwise unpleasant that need doing anyhow. They help make the world go 'round, they improve skills, and they boost your sense of self-respect. But doing them still kinda sucks. It's all the more difficult to do those things when nobody appreciates it. Happily, blogging allows us to share our accomplishments and pat each other on the back.

What are some of the hard things you've done recently? What are some hard things you haven't gotten to yet, but need to do? Is there anything your online friends could do to make your hard things a little easier?

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

NASA fired three rockets into the northern lights and the results are stunning

NASA has pulled off a high-flying aurora investigation, launching three rockets into the glowing northern lights over Alaska. One mission targeted mysterious dark patches called black auroras, while the twin GNEISS rockets created a 3D scan of the aurora’s electrical currents. All rockets reached their planned altitudes and returned strong data. The result: an unprecedented look at how these dazzling light shows are wired from space to sky.

That's such a cool concept for an experiment!

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

Jesse Jackson, a leading voice for civil rights, dies at 84

A former aide to Martin Luther King Jr., he launched two historic presidential campaigns while spreading a message of hope and resilience: “I am — somebody.”

( Read more... )

Current Mood: pensive

ysabetwordsmith

Thanks to a lot of work from

fuzzyred, the landing page for Not Quite Kansas is now visible! \o/ It's dark fantasy with demons and angels. You can read the introduction and the previously published poems. This series is featured in our current Half-Price Sale if you want to see more.

fuzzyred is hosting a pool in case you want to magnify your impact with the quarter-price option.

Current Mood: accomplished

redbird

I realized over the weekend that I hadn't checked on those insurance/medical specialist referrals, and when I did check, they were all sitting in MyChart, but hadn't been sent to the insurance company. The insurance chat agent was able to tell me that yes, they need to be in their system, and gave me a fax number to give my GP's office. So I called this morning (yesterday having been a holiday) and asked my doctor's office to do that, urgently, because I'm seeing Dr. Awad tomorrow.

When nothing had happened by midday, Adrian suggested I call the insurance company and ask whether it would be OK if they received the referral after the appointment, on the theory that this probably happens a lot. So I called, and they said yes it would, so I'm going to cross my fingers, and didn't call to reschedule that appointment.

I also finally managed to talk to my Fidelity advisor, and set up a three-way call with him and BNY (where the inherited IRA is). That involved a lot of waiting on hold, and the agent saying he needed to check one more thing.... He then told me that it would take more time for them to figure out where that unexpected balance came from, and they had to figure that out before they could transfer the money. No, I don't know why: the balance information is from their system. So someone is supposed to call me back, hopefully soon, and then I hope they will either transfer the money to Fidelity, or be willing to send me a check for the balance and close the account.

It took me a little while to figure out why I was feeling worn out, but at least part of it is that I made multiple phone calls, and everything is still in process, if not in limbo. A bowl of Lizzy's "chocolate orgy" ice cream helped some.

On top of everything else, my gum is bothering me again ("again" because it's a problem for a day or two, then it's fine for a while, and then recurs).

ysabetwordsmith

Today we made the Cold Stream Farm order. This is one of the few remaining nurseries with affordable prices, focusing mostly on native species of trees and bushes. Most have wildlife value. Some are good for permaculture.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: accomplished

ioplokon

An English-language version of Les Libraries has launched! Head on over to https://www.booksellers.ca/ to check it out! It is basically a collective of independent bookshops with an online store that encourages people to shop for books locally. The French version has been around for 15 years and is basically how I buy all my French books. I'm excited for the English side to take off & give people alternatives to Amazon, Indigo, and the other big-name chains.

Another cool thing is that the English and French sites share a backend. So you can actually buy books in both languages at the same time, if you want (though it looks like in-shop pickup is not fully coordinated, so you would probably have to have them shipped).

ysabetwordsmith

Humanity has “lost the fight against climate change”.

This video looks at lost opportunities to fight climate change, and the shitty circumstances that humanity has created. As bad as things are now, this is the least-worst they will ever be again within a human timescale.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

kaberett

Yesterday afternoon I'd been discussing auditor traps. Yesterday evening we walked out of the supermarket and were confronted by

three signs across a blocked-off road: DIVERSION pointing right, ROAD CLOSED, DIVERSION pointing left

[description in alt text, better to follow]

duskpeterson

The Emorian Palace

Entrance to the palace

Do not be offended if you are denied entrance to the Emorian palace. The fact that you have come far enough to be denied that entrance shows that the Emorians' trust in you is high indeed.

The strong manner in which Emor protects its ruler, the Chara, is not evidence that the Chara is weak and frightened. Rather, it is a simple fact that being Chara is the most dangerous job in the Three Lands. Fully four-fifths of the Charas have died before their time, many from assassination. Few Charas live beyond the age of thirty.

(I should explain to any mainlanders who are puzzled at this point that noble peninsulareans have been known to live as long as one hundred years. Even commoner peninsularans often live till they are fifty. If you meet a thirty-year-old, he is not an elder; by peninsularean standards, thirty years old is barely out of one's youth)

Under these circumstances, it is only natural that the Emorians should seek to protect their Chara, giving him the opportunity to live at least long enough to father an heir. By Emorian law, the Chara may not leave his palace, except in wartime. The number of visitors who are allowed past the outer wall of the palace grounds is small. The number of visitors who are allowed past the inner wall of the palace grounds is even smaller. The number of visitors who are allowed inside the palace is very small indeed. And the number of visitors who are allowed inside the East Wing of the palace, where the Chara lives, can be counted without losing your breath.

In practice, this means that the only people who see the Chara are his council, officials from the palace and army, boys who are training to be palace officials, royal messengers, the palace guards, and honored guests, such as ambassadors.

And the servants. Everyone forgets the servants. If you want to see the Chara, I suggest entering into training for high service.

[Translator's note: The perils of living as a Chara can be seen in Empty Dagger Hand.]

ysabetwordsmith

Yesterday I shared photos from the House Yard and South Lot plus Savanna and Prairie Garden. Today I did a bit of yardwork that revealed fun new things. :D

( Walk with me ... )

Current Mood: accomplished

ysabetwordsmith

Naalbinding

I maintain that this is the class that most people take multiple times. So many of my friends have tried it, thought they had it, then two days later it was gone. I was one of those, so I have collected the websites that got me past it. Am I an expert? Heck no. But my socks have all stayed intact so I'm running with it.
I know exactly one stitch. I'm fine with this.

Are you desperate for a way to say "fuck AI" nowadays? Learn a historic craft!

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

Human noise is stressing birds worldwide - but we can help

Birds don’t just “put up with” our noise. A new analysis suggests that traffic, construction, and other human-made sounds are changing how birds behave, how stressed they get, and even how well they reproduce.

Some of these shifts look small on their own, but together they paint a picture of animals constantly adjusting to a louder world.

Anthropogenic noise is bad for many kinds of wildlife. It is also terrible for humans. There are things you can do about it.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

Today is cloudy and dim, chilly and damp.

I fed the birds. I've seen a flock of sparrows and a female cardinal.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 2/17/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 2/17/26 -- I raked the leaves off the rain garden. Underneath I found not just a lot more shoots, but the first tiny lavender buds of crocus! :D

EDIT 2/17/26 -- I trimmed off the dead stems from the 'Autumn Joy' sedum in the maple garden and purple-and-white garden, plus peonies in the purple-and-white garden. I still need to trim the sedum in the septic garden.

EDIT 2/17/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

I am done for the night.

Current Mood: busy

melannen

I had a dream for the third time this week about watching the 1980s live-action Batman show with my sister so I figured it was worth a DW post :P

If you don't know the 1980s live-action Batman that I apparently watch in my dreams here's a quick overview:

It was a weekly one-hour show that ran for about three seasons. It predates the age of season-long arcs but it had more than the usual number of 2- and 3- part episodes and some character growth even.
It's clearly intentionally following up on the legacy of the 1960s show because it revels in the fundamental absurdity and plays for comedy, but it was also determined to not get pigeonholed as a kids' show - it has non-cartoon violence and solid emotional arcs.
For example instead of all the silly Bat-Gadgets, they had Wayne Enterprises (TM) machines. There's a running bit where Tim always makes sure he has access to a Wayne Enterprises (TM) Automatic Soup Dispenser (TM) and nobody can tell if he's just really into soup or if he's modding it to dispense other things.
Oh yeah, despite being called Batman, it's actually mostly about Tim and Dick. Bruce shows up in every episode for at least a few minutes but is rarely the focus. (Yes, I know the 1980s is early for comics!Tim - I assume the comics character was based on the show character? - and there's no Jay in this continuity, which lets it be a little more lighthearted about their relationships with Bruce.)
Tim became Robin after Dick "retired" and Bruce finally noticed how neglected the neighbor boy actually was. In the show he's mostly traveling around playing poor little rich boy and Robinning with a rotating guest cast of Teen Titans (nearly every episode is in a different city - they must have had a huge travel/sets budget.)
Dick is 100% a civilian these days he swears. He's technically in college but never appears to attend. He's always showing up to "hang out" with his little bro, or following Kory to a show, and then having to secretly superhero it up without a costume or name. The show is constantly teasing that this is the episode he'll finally become Nightwing and never follows up.
When Bruce shows up it's usually not as Bruce, or even Batman, but as his even more useless cousin "Kenneth Wayne", who only shows up in the tabloids when he's done something so ridiculous Bruce has to send Alfred to bail him out, and therefor has an excuse to be places Bruce can't possibly be. He has absolutely 0 natural authority over the boys, who treat him as an embarrassingly untrustworthy uncle, and enjoys the hell out of this.
Dick is dating Koriand'r, but they insist they're not girlfriend and boyfriend because "Tamaraneans don't have boys and girls, she's just my Kory and I'm her Dick". This is never explored beyond that at all. (Also Kory looks a lot less human and more like Ron Perlman's Beast* (except as a hot not-girl, of course.)
Tim spends every episode excited and/or worried about the main plot interfering with or facilitating a possible or planned date with a girl. The girls are never named or shown onscreen. Dick teases him about this.

The episode we watched last night involved Tim and Dick renting out an old mansion/party house in Philadelphia that was haunted by a very lazy demon shaped like a yellow cartoon rabbit, a very large monitor lizard who was wanted by the Mob, a bunch of people having to shelter overnight in a Victorian-themed cafe in the zoo, and every single character having to dress up as Matches Malone in the same bad wig at the same time. Also the Three Stooges guest-starred. I hope I get to watch more later, I don't think there's an official DVD release.

*did I only have this dream because I did that "name all the animals" game right before bed and was thinking about Golden Lion Tamarins??

numb3r_5ev3n

( Cut for discussion of pedophilia because Epstein, obviously. )

ysabetwordsmith

These are the rest of the pictures I took today, from the savanna and prairie garden. (See the House Yard and South Lot.)

( Walk with me ... )

Current Mood: accomplished

ysabetwordsmith

Today I took some pictures around the yard. These are from the house yard and the south lot. (See the Savanna and Prairie Garden.)

( Walk with me ... )

Current Mood: accomplished

snowgrouse

Title: Libation
Author: Snowgrouse
Fandom: The Longest Day in Chang'an (2019)
Pairing: Gan Shoucheng/Jiao (Original Male Character)
Rating: NC-17
Genre: PWP, Hurt/Comfort, Angst and Fluff and Smut, Grief/Mourning, Character Study, Genderbending
Warnings: No violent kinky stuffs here, only a bit of mild D/S and anal fetish (see Ao3 tags).
Length: ~4100 words
Summary: After Jiao dies defending Gan, Gan pays tribute to his soul in the way Jiao would've loved best. For the first time in his life, Gan masturbates and thinks of making love to a man: what it might have been like, had Gan been able to reciprocate Jiao's desire. Jiao had given him his life, for crying out loud; surely Gan can sacrifice him a little... love.

Yes, why pretend and call it by any other name? It's his love Jiao had wanted, after all.

So, he thinks of ordering Jiao to make himself as much like a woman as possible, to feminise himself utterly...

A/N: A sequel to the standalone AU, In Your Dreams, in which Jiao sacrificed himself protecting Gan (offscreen, but die he did). Rest assured that Jiao is alive and well in all my other 'verses, and slashing himself with Gan!

("What a sweet girl you are," Gan murmurs and pulls Jiao back into his arms, Jiao still fully clothed.

He lays Jiao down on the bed and runs his hands up his red silk under-drawers, kissing his way up Jiao's thighs.

And in that moment, in the warm evening sunlight, Jiao smiles at him so beautifully that for a moment, Gan is fooled: suspended in the golden haze of the sunset, the magic weaves its spell around them and it's a woman now swooning in his embrace.

Gan closes his eyes, inhales Jiao's groin and smells honey; his sensitive nostrils quiver from the thrill. "What have you got for me here?" he murmurs.

Jiao turns around to lie down on his front, then lowers his drawers to present his buttocks; he glances seductively over his shoulder and croons at Gan, even his voice honeyed.

"I've made myself sweet for you, sir," he says and lifts his hips from the bed, slowly rolling down the drawers just low enough to still hide his balls: he exposes his anus and perineum, and what Gan sees there makes his breath stop.

For Jiao has painted the seam of his perineum with a streak of bright red, glistening syrup: a mixture of honey and berry paste, the kind women use to paint their lips. The stripe is a little uneven, imitating the outline of a woman's slit; he's even shaded the sides of his perineum with it, too, creating a perfect illusion of a vulva.

All of this is crowned by a daub of the same red paste over his anus, glistening invitingly--an anus with the kind of raised rim one only sees on people who enjoy anal sex and lots of it. All in all, this living painting of a cunny is a masterpiece of erotic art, and must've taken quite a while to paint so delicately: Gan is amazed it hasn't been smeared more, but it seems Jiao has even glazed it with a cosmetic fixative of some sort, now that the light catches the glossy skin. Egg white and honey, perhaps?! The sheer detail is both hilarious and arousing as hell.

"Oh, Heavens," Gan laughs, unable to believe his eyes.

Jiao flutters his eyelashes. "Sir, do you like my pussy?"

Gan moans at that. "Vixen!" he cries and bends down to inhale it, to nuzzle it, to worship it with his mouth.)