Tutorials
Mar. 19th, 2026 12:15 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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getting_startedsoc_puppet has posted "Finding Friends and Things to Do on Dreamwidth" and "Uploading Images to Dreamwidth" on newcomers.
Daily Happiness
Mar. 18th, 2026 09:43 pmtorachan1. I've been making the rounds to all the SoCal stores to discuss our upcoming system transition and get a better feel for some of the stores' current processes, particularly for their accounting department, and today I went down to San Diego. Long day of driving, which sucks, but it was nice to see the store again after a long while, and I did make a lot of progress on my current audiobook!
2. Tomorrow I have a lot of meetings, but the first one isn't until 11, so I'm going to take my time in the morning to make up for how long today felt (I didn't even get home until after seven, and I left around 8:30 this morning).
3. Carla and I are not fans of the warm weather, but the cats sure love having the front windows open.
2. Tomorrow I have a lot of meetings, but the first one isn't until 11, so I'm going to take my time in the morning to make up for how long today felt (I didn't even get home until after seven, and I left around 8:30 this morning).
3. Carla and I are not fans of the warm weather, but the cats sure love having the front windows open.
Journal flip-through: Jan-Feb (Hobonichi Cousin A5)
Mar. 19th, 2026 12:18 pmhalfcactus posting in journalsandplannersMade a little flip-through video to celebrate me surviving two months of Hobonichi Cousin a.k.a. my first daily journal:
How is everyone doing with theirs?
How is everyone doing with theirs?
(no subject)
Mar. 18th, 2026 10:50 pmskygiantsBecause Becky Mahoney and I know each other, I boosted a Bluesky giveaway for her upcoming vampire novel Thrall (coming out next month!) in the spirit of friendship and then was somewhat surprised to discover that I had in fact won the giveaway -- surprised but delighted, obviously, since I've loved all of her previous books even when they weren't LUCY CENTRIC DRACULA RIFFS!! focused around a COLLEGE PIRATE RADIO STATION!!!
The central character of Thrall is Lucy Easting, who has just transferred into beautiful, isolated, mountainside Rollins University from community college, in a bid to get away from her stressed and depressed mother and live a life she's excited about for a change.
Alas! her first college party results in a couple of neck puncture marks, a marked tendency to experience severe migraines in sunlight, and a tragic susceptibility to the ominous vampire voice in her head that occasionally takes over her consciousness and directs her towards uncharacteristic action.
Fortunately! the college is full of prospective allies who are willing to take a chance on Lucy despite her regrettable thrall situation, including but not limited to the host of the local college late-night radio show, who has been a target of the vampire since her sophomore year and has been using the airwaves to try and fight back; Lucy's RA, a determined young woman with very nice arms, who came to the school to investigate after a terrible fate befell her high school ex-boyfriend Jonathan; and the very nice, normal party host who has no previous vampire experience but feels just terrible about the whole situation and is not about to relinquish responsibility for sorting the situation out! it was her party!!
It's a really charming book on a number of levels, but my favorite thing about it as a Dracula riff specifically is how much it's thematically invested in Lucy as a side character -- the narrative is consistently very clear that the vampire is not particularly interested in Lucy; he's obsessed with Athena the radio show host and everything else he's doing is part of his elaborate cat-and-mouse game with her, including incidentally overturning Lucy's life as a by-the-by -- and how Lucy makes the book her own story anyway by sheer force of determination not to be cut out of it. Lucy's energy really drives the book: she wants to live, and she wants to live a life on her own terms, and she's not about to let one horrible encounter take that away from her.
Also, I think it's not a huge spoiler ( but I guess is technically a mild one: lesbians! )
The central character of Thrall is Lucy Easting, who has just transferred into beautiful, isolated, mountainside Rollins University from community college, in a bid to get away from her stressed and depressed mother and live a life she's excited about for a change.
Alas! her first college party results in a couple of neck puncture marks, a marked tendency to experience severe migraines in sunlight, and a tragic susceptibility to the ominous vampire voice in her head that occasionally takes over her consciousness and directs her towards uncharacteristic action.
Fortunately! the college is full of prospective allies who are willing to take a chance on Lucy despite her regrettable thrall situation, including but not limited to the host of the local college late-night radio show, who has been a target of the vampire since her sophomore year and has been using the airwaves to try and fight back; Lucy's RA, a determined young woman with very nice arms, who came to the school to investigate after a terrible fate befell her high school ex-boyfriend Jonathan; and the very nice, normal party host who has no previous vampire experience but feels just terrible about the whole situation and is not about to relinquish responsibility for sorting the situation out! it was her party!!
It's a really charming book on a number of levels, but my favorite thing about it as a Dracula riff specifically is how much it's thematically invested in Lucy as a side character -- the narrative is consistently very clear that the vampire is not particularly interested in Lucy; he's obsessed with Athena the radio show host and everything else he's doing is part of his elaborate cat-and-mouse game with her, including incidentally overturning Lucy's life as a by-the-by -- and how Lucy makes the book her own story anyway by sheer force of determination not to be cut out of it. Lucy's energy really drives the book: she wants to live, and she wants to live a life on her own terms, and she's not about to let one horrible encounter take that away from her.
Also, I think it's not a huge spoiler ( but I guess is technically a mild one: lesbians! )
Water the Roses - Flavor Foley: Fanart: stuck within my head
Mar. 18th, 2026 09:12 pmx95 posting in fan_flashworksTitle: stuck within my head
Fandom: Water the Roses by Flavor Foley
Rating: G
Content notes: Embedded images. Bright colors were utilized, which may cause eyestrain.
Artist notes: Drawn with Krita, page/canvas templates via Electric Zine Maker. Drawn in around an hour, mainly to practice using the convert (linework) to alpha color filter. Title is derived from the song lyrics.
Summary: Fanart of the GUMI design from Flavor Foley's song, Water the Roses.
Challenge: 509 - Plant
( stuck within my head )
Fandom: Water the Roses by Flavor Foley
Rating: G
Content notes: Embedded images. Bright colors were utilized, which may cause eyestrain.
Artist notes: Drawn with Krita, page/canvas templates via Electric Zine Maker. Drawn in around an hour, mainly to practice using the convert (linework) to alpha color filter. Title is derived from the song lyrics.
Summary: Fanart of the GUMI design from Flavor Foley's song, Water the Roses.
Challenge: 509 - Plant
( stuck within my head )
Weekly reading meme for March 18 2026
Mar. 18th, 2026 08:06 pmkitewithfishI am keyboardless, forgive my brevity.
What I've Read
After the Storm by perennial - This beautiful fic is Don John and Hero from Much Ado About Nothing, in an alternate universe where John revenges himself on Claudio by marrying Hero. Long and slow, this fic look at who John might be if given enough rope, and who Hero might be if she didn't have to marry that credulous shithead.
https://archiveofourown.org/works/31038242
Swordheart by T. Kingfisher A sweet romance, a little too long. Doing some lifting to set up the following books in the series.
The Grief of Stones by Katherine Addison - A reread for me for xing bookclub!
What I'm Reading Now
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova - This is fine? Not sure if I am reaching for the orientalism or if the book is just doing that, but the key problems are repetition and repetition. 700 pages of, Dracula is around still and he's a dick.
What I'll Read Next
My Real Children Jo walton
What I've Read
After the Storm by perennial - This beautiful fic is Don John and Hero from Much Ado About Nothing, in an alternate universe where John revenges himself on Claudio by marrying Hero. Long and slow, this fic look at who John might be if given enough rope, and who Hero might be if she didn't have to marry that credulous shithead.
https://archiveofourown.org/works/31038242
Swordheart by T. Kingfisher A sweet romance, a little too long. Doing some lifting to set up the following books in the series.
The Grief of Stones by Katherine Addison - A reread for me for xing bookclub!
What I'm Reading Now
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova - This is fine? Not sure if I am reaching for the orientalism or if the book is just doing that, but the key problems are repetition and repetition. 700 pages of, Dracula is around still and he's a dick.
What I'll Read Next
My Real Children Jo walton
Fire is under control, celebratory linkspam? :D
Mar. 19th, 2026 01:08 amgoodbyebird+ London, San Francisco and Beijing achieve ‘remarkable reductions’ in air pollution.
“This report shows that cities can achieve what was once thought impossible: cutting toxic air pollution by 20-45% in a little over a decade,” said Cecilia Vaca Jones, executive director of Breathe Cities, one of the organisations behind the report. “This isn’t just happening in one corner of the world; from Warsaw to Bangkok, cities are proving that we have the tools to solve this crisis right now.”
+ Fifty years after New Zealand stopped whaling, humpback population showing signs of recovery.
+ Two pairs of beavers released in Cornwall.
Beavers became extinct from the wild in England more than 400 years ago due to hunting for their pelts, meat and glands.
The charity said beavers were increasingly recognised as one of nature's most important keystone species - animals whose presence shapes entire ecosystems.
+ The river otter’s remarkable comeback.
+ European Parliament Votes Overwhelmingly For "The Full Recognition Of Trans Women As Women".
Significantly, the vote gathered support not only from left-leaning groups but also from the majority of the European People's Party, the largest and most powerful center-right bloc in the European Parliament. The center-right support drew sharp criticism from the far right: the Patriots for Europe group, which includes Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's Fidesz and French far-right leader Marine Le Pen's National Rally, voted against the resolution and denounced its exclusion from negotiations over the text. The European Conservatives and Reformists, the group of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's Fratelli d'Italia, also voted against. But their combined opposition was not enough to block the resolution, which passed with support from a broad cross-ideological majority.
+ Ireland’s basic income for the arts scheme becomes permanent.
+ Why comics needs its own Criterion Closet, an inside look at THE STACKS.
+ stop counting. what you love matters..
Cardiff University's Dr Lucy Bennett put it well in that same piece: "Once taste is turned into a scoreboard with ratings, competition then inevitably follows." Which, yes — but I'd push that further. Competition doesn't just follow. It replaces something. In the war to protect a number, the actual shows get swallowed whole. Nobody in these review threads is talking about what made "Ozymandias" so devastating, or what any of these subsequent shows did differently. They’re just defending territory. The number had stopped being a representation of the thing and had become the thing itself.
+ Marvel Comics has the optimisation sickness.
The current status quo at Marvel seems to be that if a storyline is successful they'll publish too many comics about it and it will get derailed. If a storyline isn't successful enough they'll publish too many comics about it and it will get derailed.
+ The Secretive Company Filling Video Game Sites With Gambling And AI.
Chris Button, an Australian tech journalist and former contributor, wasn't pleased to see his old profile alongside the AI authors. All of his former articles were edited to include closing sections pointing to casino and betting guides. He attempted to have his author profile removed by emailing the new management of GamesHub, but he never received a response. However, he no longer appears on the Meet the Team page. Button is disappointed with what the site has become. "Seeing GamesHub transformed into a site promoting gambling is devastating, not just for those who wrote for the site, but for the industry the publication championed", he said.
+ Friendly reminder that The Importance of Being Earnest is available to watch for free a little while longer. Chaotic fun, highly recommend.
“This report shows that cities can achieve what was once thought impossible: cutting toxic air pollution by 20-45% in a little over a decade,” said Cecilia Vaca Jones, executive director of Breathe Cities, one of the organisations behind the report. “This isn’t just happening in one corner of the world; from Warsaw to Bangkok, cities are proving that we have the tools to solve this crisis right now.”
+ Fifty years after New Zealand stopped whaling, humpback population showing signs of recovery.
+ Two pairs of beavers released in Cornwall.
Beavers became extinct from the wild in England more than 400 years ago due to hunting for their pelts, meat and glands.
The charity said beavers were increasingly recognised as one of nature's most important keystone species - animals whose presence shapes entire ecosystems.
+ The river otter’s remarkable comeback.
+ European Parliament Votes Overwhelmingly For "The Full Recognition Of Trans Women As Women".
Significantly, the vote gathered support not only from left-leaning groups but also from the majority of the European People's Party, the largest and most powerful center-right bloc in the European Parliament. The center-right support drew sharp criticism from the far right: the Patriots for Europe group, which includes Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's Fidesz and French far-right leader Marine Le Pen's National Rally, voted against the resolution and denounced its exclusion from negotiations over the text. The European Conservatives and Reformists, the group of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's Fratelli d'Italia, also voted against. But their combined opposition was not enough to block the resolution, which passed with support from a broad cross-ideological majority.
+ Ireland’s basic income for the arts scheme becomes permanent.
+ Why comics needs its own Criterion Closet, an inside look at THE STACKS.
+ stop counting. what you love matters..
Cardiff University's Dr Lucy Bennett put it well in that same piece: "Once taste is turned into a scoreboard with ratings, competition then inevitably follows." Which, yes — but I'd push that further. Competition doesn't just follow. It replaces something. In the war to protect a number, the actual shows get swallowed whole. Nobody in these review threads is talking about what made "Ozymandias" so devastating, or what any of these subsequent shows did differently. They’re just defending territory. The number had stopped being a representation of the thing and had become the thing itself.
+ Marvel Comics has the optimisation sickness.
The current status quo at Marvel seems to be that if a storyline is successful they'll publish too many comics about it and it will get derailed. If a storyline isn't successful enough they'll publish too many comics about it and it will get derailed.
+ The Secretive Company Filling Video Game Sites With Gambling And AI.
Chris Button, an Australian tech journalist and former contributor, wasn't pleased to see his old profile alongside the AI authors. All of his former articles were edited to include closing sections pointing to casino and betting guides. He attempted to have his author profile removed by emailing the new management of GamesHub, but he never received a response. However, he no longer appears on the Meet the Team page. Button is disappointed with what the site has become. "Seeing GamesHub transformed into a site promoting gambling is devastating, not just for those who wrote for the site, but for the industry the publication championed", he said.
+ Friendly reminder that The Importance of Being Earnest is available to watch for free a little while longer. Chaotic fun, highly recommend.
The Boiling
Mar. 18th, 2026 12:44 pmunicorndukeHere's the thing about maple sap: it is much much sweeter than all other tree saps (I think), but it is still 1-2% sugar. There's some information out there that maple trees in the middle of fields without any competition can get up to 4% sugar.
Maple syrup is 66% sugar minimum.
So typically, the ratio is around 50 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup. Depending on the sugar content, this may be higher or lower. On a small scale, someone sets up a pan of sap over a fire, sits around and drinks alcohol while adding sap every so often and at the end, you might get a gallon or so of syrup. As soon as you move up in scale, then you move to continuous flow syrup production, where the sap is flowing in all the time and syrup is drawn off every so often.
We have the syrup production set up in the milkhouse of our barn. I found out recently that not everyone know what a milkhouse is, my experiences are not universal! This farm used to be a dairy, so the barn was set up for milking cows and the milkhouse is an attached room or building with cinderblock/stone whitewashed walls, concrete floor and a drain. In the milking days, this is where the milk would be stored in tanks for easy chilling until the milk truck comes to pick it up. It is easy to clean, away from the bacteria of the cows and easy to keep birds and other pests out of. (sidenote: do not ever drink raw milk unless you are the farmer or really really really trust the sanitation practices of the farmer (don't do this, raw milk farmers are fucking wackos) because cows have so much bacteria and poop pretty much on their udders. Pasteurization is a miraculous process to prevent illnesses)
To start, we have the sap run into 250 gallon food safe, cleaned totes with a filter. Once they are full, they get brought from the mountain and placed for gravity feeding into the milkhouse. The setup is beautiful, professional and normal. haha
Daily Check-In
Mar. 18th, 2026 06:00 pmstarwatcher posting in fandom_checkinThis is your check-in post for today. The poll will be open from midnight Universal or Zulu Time (8pm Eastern Time) on Wednesday, March 18, to midnight on Thursday, March 19. (8pm Eastern Time).
Poll #34382 Daily Check-in
Open to: Access List, detailed results viewable to: Access List, participants: 19
How are you doing?
I am OK.
11 (61.1%)
I am not OK, but don't need help right now.
7 (38.9%)
I could use some help.
0 (0.0%)
How many other humans live with you?
I am living single.
6 (31.6%)
One other person.
9 (47.4%)
More than one other person.
4 (21.1%)
Please, talk about how things are going for you in the comments, ask for advice or help if you need it, or just discuss whatever you feel like.
wednesday reads
Mar. 18th, 2026 05:13 pmisisWhat I've recently finished reading:
Blood over Bright Haven by M. L. Wang. I'm a sucker for technology-infused magic, and I really liked the sort of computer-programming-magic here; in general the worldbuilding reminded me a bit of the TV show Arcane, which of course has its "magitech", but the main similarity is the elite vs the underclass (who they exploit), and the dark truths behind the marvels of the city. However, the characters are one-dimensional, with stereotypical views that either clearly cast them as the villains or that make it obvious the narrative will be about their realizations that change their views. I will say, though, that I was (pleasantly) surprised by the ending, as I applaud the writer for choosing the more realistic and interesting path over what you might expect from YA.
Lawless: How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad Vibes by Leah Litman, who is a law professor and co-host of the podcast Strict Scrutiny, which I've never listened to, but I have heard her on NPR and other people's podcasts. I agree with her main thesis, that the Court has gone off the rails by picking and choosing their "legal principles" by whether or not they agree (ideologically) with the outcome that will result, which frankly stinks. It's well-researched, with lots of cites and notes. However, each of the five chapters is presented using the conceit of a particular show or movie, and as I was only familiar with most of them through osmosis, this didn't really work for me and sometimes seemed overly pop-culture-cutesy. (Like, Barbie - the movie, not the toy - is used as the lens to examine overturning Roe vs. Wade; Game of Thrones tells us that Winter Is Coming For Voting Rights; Mean Girls don't want to sit with LGBTQ people.) For an old Gen-X-er like me it seems like unnecessary metaphor, but maybe it will land better with people who want more glitz and meme in their nonfiction...but in that case, maybe a relatively dense book about law is not what they will be reading? I also will gripe about the editing, which seems particularly poor in the last chapter where Litman misspelled Ronald Reagan's surname and gave the same Neil Gorsuch quote twice within a few paragraphs.
Blood over Bright Haven by M. L. Wang. I'm a sucker for technology-infused magic, and I really liked the sort of computer-programming-magic here; in general the worldbuilding reminded me a bit of the TV show Arcane, which of course has its "magitech", but the main similarity is the elite vs the underclass (who they exploit), and the dark truths behind the marvels of the city. However, the characters are one-dimensional, with stereotypical views that either clearly cast them as the villains or that make it obvious the narrative will be about their realizations that change their views. I will say, though, that I was (pleasantly) surprised by the ending, as I applaud the writer for choosing the more realistic and interesting path over what you might expect from YA.
Lawless: How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad Vibes by Leah Litman, who is a law professor and co-host of the podcast Strict Scrutiny, which I've never listened to, but I have heard her on NPR and other people's podcasts. I agree with her main thesis, that the Court has gone off the rails by picking and choosing their "legal principles" by whether or not they agree (ideologically) with the outcome that will result, which frankly stinks. It's well-researched, with lots of cites and notes. However, each of the five chapters is presented using the conceit of a particular show or movie, and as I was only familiar with most of them through osmosis, this didn't really work for me and sometimes seemed overly pop-culture-cutesy. (Like, Barbie - the movie, not the toy - is used as the lens to examine overturning Roe vs. Wade; Game of Thrones tells us that Winter Is Coming For Voting Rights; Mean Girls don't want to sit with LGBTQ people.) For an old Gen-X-er like me it seems like unnecessary metaphor, but maybe it will land better with people who want more glitz and meme in their nonfiction...but in that case, maybe a relatively dense book about law is not what they will be reading? I also will gripe about the editing, which seems particularly poor in the last chapter where Litman misspelled Ronald Reagan's surname and gave the same Neil Gorsuch quote twice within a few paragraphs.
第五年第六十七天
Mar. 19th, 2026 06:33 amnnozomi posting in guardian_learning部首
水 part 2
求, to request; 氽, to float/to deep-fry; 汆, to parboil [neither of these may be all that common but a) they're very instinctive and b) they're very hard to distinguish] ( pinyin )
https://www.mdbg.net/chinese/dictionary?cdqrad=85
语法
3.14 Passive voice with 被
https://www.digmandarin.com/hsk-3-grammar
词汇
独立, independent; 独特, unique; 独自, by oneself; 单独, alone ( pinyin )
https://mandarinbean.com/new-hsk-4-word-list/
Guardian:
我求求你了, please
他是被谁杀的我现在一点线索都没有, I don't have a single clue right now about whom he was killed by
长生晷有独立意识, does the Longevity Dial have independent awareness?
Me:
先把孢子甘蓝汆一下再煎。
他是被独自的氛围认识。
水 part 2
求, to request; 氽, to float/to deep-fry; 汆, to parboil [neither of these may be all that common but a) they're very instinctive and b) they're very hard to distinguish] ( pinyin )
https://www.mdbg.net/chinese/dictionary?cdqrad=85
语法
3.14 Passive voice with 被
https://www.digmandarin.com/hsk-3-grammar
词汇
独立, independent; 独特, unique; 独自, by oneself; 单独, alone ( pinyin )
https://mandarinbean.com/new-hsk-4-word-list/
Guardian:
我求求你了, please
他是被谁杀的我现在一点线索都没有, I don't have a single clue right now about whom he was killed by
长生晷有独立意识, does the Longevity Dial have independent awareness?
Me:
先把孢子甘蓝汆一下再煎。
他是被独自的氛围认识。
[ SECRET POST #7012 ]
Mar. 18th, 2026 05:40 pmcase posting in fandomsecrets⌈ Secret Post #7012 ⌋
Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.
01.
( More! )
Notes:
Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 15 secrets from Secret Submission Post #1001.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.