(no subject)
Apr. 14th, 2026 07:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
melworksAh well.
This is probably a good thing. Unless you specifically specify the type of feedback you want to receive (objective, concise, etc) it tends to gush positivity at you.
Scratch One Big Boy
Apr. 14th, 2026 04:32 pmkayla_allenGood thing that Lisa went over to Gerlach to see the train rolling into town there. It's a pity we won't get to see them as speed this time around, but it's understandable. I had sort of wondered if there were a bunch of disappointed photographers up around Donner who had been planning to record the Big Boy in the snow, which would certainly have been an impressive sight.
Spring Has Sproinged
Apr. 14th, 2026 05:56 pmnevanna1. More greenery on the trees
2. Outdoor craft markets and farmers’ markets
3. Yard sales
4. Outdoor cafe seating and picnics
5. Dog owners spending more time outside with their dogs, and giving me more time to make friends
I would probably love to enjoy any of these things with you, if we can.
Affordable Housing
Apr. 14th, 2026 04:48 pmysabetwordsmithClever design creates more housing on small sites.
You might assume that squeezing small units onto small lots might end up feeling claustrophobic, but a few simple design principles can actually lead to housing that is welcoming, comforting, and feels spacious. Best of all, a smaller house is more affordable, and land costs are spread amongst more units, creating greater affordability without subsidy.
( Read more... )
[food] Meera Sodha's udon noodles with red cabbage and cauliflower... and some protein
Apr. 14th, 2026 10:46 pmkaberettThis has become a bit of a staple of our rotation for when the veg box is made of brassica, and also brassica, and finally some brassica (I do frequently actively opt in to this, to be clear, but also... brassica). However! As you might have noticed, I have just developed a special interest in picking things up and putting things down again, and this in turn means I am going hmm about eating more protein.
When previously mentioning this recipe I have noted that As Usual my household thinks it wants about twice as much veg as written for the quantity of noodle. To this the protein variation essentially adds: some tofu that you've tossed with soy sauce and five-spice or other flavouring of your choice and then baked; and some edamame beans.
Base recipe can be found at Ocado or the Graun, and a fuller write-up will appear under a cut at Some Point in the Hopefully Near future (if only so the instructions are in the order that I want them to be in!).
Why Tho: Can we leave out the horrible kid?
Apr. 14th, 2026 02:25 pmpetrea_mitchell posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
agonyauntDear Lizzy,
My son is in third grade, and his birthday is coming up. He’s told me he wants to invite his whole class to his party (at a park) except for one kid.
This kid is a menace, if I am honest. He breaks things in class and yells and hits. He is actually quite mean to my son. I want to respect my son’s wishes here, but is it fair to invite everyone except him?
To Exclude or Not to Exclude
( Read more... )
This week on FilkCast
Apr. 14th, 2026 04:16 pmericcolemanAvailable on iTunes, Google Play and most other places you can get podcasts. We can be heard Wednesday at 6am and 9pm Central on scifi.radio.
filkcast.blogspot.com
‘Be Someone’ Bridge in Houston, Texas
Apr. 14th, 2026 04:00 pm![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png){kind=small}
atlas_obscura_places_feed
It started in 2012 on the Union Pacific bridge over I-45 when an anonymous tagger put the slogan "Be Someone" a message that seemed to resonate with many Houstonians on their daily commute. So much so that it appeared on shirts, hats, stickers and all manner of knick-knacks. The slogan has been tagged over many many times. "Be Sus", "Be Mattress Mac", "Wash Your Hands" (during the pandemic), "George Floyd", and "No War Know Peace" being some of the more notable changes.
No matter how many times, the phrase "Be Someone" reliably returns to the bridge side. There have apparently been many attempts to make it a protected landmark.
Fossils
Apr. 14th, 2026 03:28 pmysabetwordsmithA 250-million-year-old fossil egg just revealed how an ancient survivor beat Earth’s deadliest extinction.
In the aftermath of Earth’s most catastrophic extinction event, one unlikely survivor rose to dominate a shattered world: Lystrosaurus. Now, a stunning fossil discovery—an ancient egg containing a curled-up embryo—has finally answered a decades-old mystery about whether mammal ancestors laid eggs. Using advanced imaging technology, scientists confirmed that these resilient creatures did reproduce this way, likely producing large, soft-shelled eggs packed with nutrients.
In terms of world domination, Lystrosaurus was arguably the most successful lifeform on Earth.
Vegging (the garden kind)
Apr. 14th, 2026 01:06 pmhrjI experimented this year with putting in some "winter crops" with variable success. Cabbage probably needed to be planted earlier because one of the varieties is bolting and the other, though not bolting, looks unlikely to set heads. The edible pod peas are doing ok, in part I suspect because I planted them next to the fence, so they aren't getting excessive sun. I harvested a handful of pods today and suspect I can get a handful per week until they give up. The third experiment was some mixed greens (NOT KALE) recommended by the nursery salesperson. I pulled them out when they started to bolt and will do something with them this week.
Because I had to trim some overly enthusiastic grape tendrils, I picked off the leaves, parboiled them, and made dolmas. Very successful (except for not rinsing the rice sufficiently, so the filling is a bit too sticky). Since I had more filling than grape leaves, I pulled some of the bolting cabbage and did cabbage rolls. (The dolmas cooked in broth and lemon juice while the cabbage rolls cooked in broth and crushed tomatoes.)
Last spring, I spotted some asparagus starts at the nursery, having failed to find any sets, and put them in the circular bed around the persimmon tree. I'd more or less had that in mind and hadn't planted anything else in the circle except for some random gladioli. More than half the starts survived the year and then this year I did find asparagus sets so I added them into the mix. It looks like they get enough water from the lawn irrigation system, though I've been supplementing with an extra sprinkler last year, both for their benefit and to help the persimmon get a good start. It'll be a couple more years before they'll be established enough to harvest (and who knows how many years before I'll start getting persimmons).
When I watch various of my friends and acquaintances flit about from place to place, I think about how significantly my life plans are affected by my love of growing things. And how tragic it would be if this property eventually went to someone who didn't value the investment.
The tomatoes are in the ground now--the usual 18 varieties. (Well, except I doubled up on Sun Gold cherry tomatoes because they're my absolute favorite.) Some years I've carefully documented which varieties I plant and how they perform. This year I didn't even make a list. I made my usual sacrifice to hope over experience and planted summer squash and eggplant.
I still need to pick and process the second half of the Seville orange crop. (The first half went to Chaz and has been turned into marmelade.) The lemons that were sacrificed to a bout of pruning have been juiced and frozen as cubes (for summer refreshment), plus zested and packed in sugar (for baking use). There are still a few juice oranges on one of the trees. The strawberries are trickling in. And it's time to update the garden calendar with all of this for data tracking purposes.
it's a long sentence, not a run-on, dammit
Apr. 14th, 2026 04:21 pmmyveryown_nemesisToday has been about errands, and there were a lot of them! I picked up the groceries, ran to CVS for specific antiperspirant that the grocery store doesn't carry, dropped off two items for hemming at the dry cleaners, completed an Amazon return, picked up some Hills Science Diet kibble from the pet store, and picked up eggs and FreshPet from Costco. This was not a single run of errands. I did the groceries and CVS before lunch, and everything else after lunch. Oh, and I also walked all the way through Kohl's (where I did the Amazon return) and Target (literally between Kohl's and Costco) to see if either of them carried Pacifica fragrances. They did not. Your Kohl's or Target may vary.
I wish I still had a pedometer of some sort, because I feel like I got some serious steps in, but that might be an illusion. I'll probably take Ted for a walk after dinner once it cools off a bit. It's warm enough out there right now to be uncomfortable for me.
Now it is time to be lazy, and in a short bit, it will be time to set up dinner. So for now, I'm going to enjoy the beautiful air conditioner.
I hope you find something beautiful in your day, and as always, thank you for being here!
I swear only this city knows
Apr. 14th, 2026 03:32 pmsovayspatch and I ate Greek takeout on a picnic bench by Spy Pond, watching a solitary Canada goose glide across the water as our summer in accelerated miniature looked like building toward thunderstorm. It is my father's seventy-fourth birthday.
There's no knowledge but I knows it
Apr. 14th, 2026 08:09 pmoursinHave just out of the blue had an email from a meedja person about what a cause of death on early C20th certificate MEANS, a colleague of theirs contacted me - what must have been in days of yore - and I was really helpful. I think that may have been a case in which Sid was involved, this was not, but we do our best in posing as a Nexpert.
I was able to flash a bit more relevant knowledge in the question portion of online seminar this pm (even though I dozed off, did not sleep well last night, during part of the actual seminar).
Have got off my desk and conscience something that has been hanging over me, to wit, second review of article I did a previous review of some weeks ago. Was somewhat prejudiced about it (it is actually not at all bad doing what it does) because it rather glances over the amount of work that went into getting the archive used into usable condition (personal interest there noted) and role of archivists in between the creators of the records and the end-users.
Think I mentioned some while ago possibility that longtime academic friend and self may be editing for publication Important Work on Significant and Highly Relevant Subject of friend of ours who died very unexpectedly last year. We have now received the draft manuscript and it seems more of a manuscript (rather than notes and materials) than we had feared.
Still have review that has been hanging over me and keeping getting put off to do.
Have podcast to record later this week.
Also must begin to turn my thoughts to being instructive yet entertaining on the history of ye baudruche (and finding illos, fortunately I already have quite a few).
chittering all its unpronounceable names
Apr. 14th, 2026 02:58 pmmusesfoolA Dictionary Names the Wind in the Trees
by Susan Cohen
Psithurism because
what else would we call sound embedded
with leaf mold and breath
zithering just below the daily drone
of power saws and chippers,
eons of air shifting
like an old Chevy through leaves,
riffling papery corn fields
and the eucalyptus,
stuttering through windbreaks,
jittering an aspen
in a beam of breath,
lisping nothing pins me down
in the language of the Huron,
in Olmec, in Sanskrit, chittering
all its unpronounceable names,
its tunes with the shiver of pine needles
and the moves of a river?
Psithurism comes as close
to the clash of wind and trees
as orgasm comes to the friction
of muscles, nerves, bodies,
which is to say when so many words
cannot catch it,
those of us always searching
for just the right one may
as well stop speaking
and lift our heads
like mule deer, ears twitched
for the smallest sound.
*
more random cat pictures (from, like, last year)
Apr. 14th, 2026 12:40 pmkellan_the_tabby
[Loiosh, an orange tabby, is almost sitting on my worktable — his butt is a couple inches up. He’s looking up and to the left, ears, whiskers and all his attention focused that way.]
I’m just trying to actually deal with all the pictures I haven’t done anything with over the last, you know, year & some.
There’s a lot of em.
Sometimes when Marisol is being a buttinski & driving her Mumma spare, she gets a free all-expenses-paid trip to the house for the afternoon. Where she causes different problems (usually including eating my plants), but at least gives her Mumma a break.
[Marisol, a tiny longhaired calico, is sprawled at her ease on top of a bunch of stuff on the high shelf in my room. She’s gazing off to the left, majestically. Her whiskers are white, and extraordinarily long, and she’s got a patch of black fur covering most of her chin.]
She is, also, the most adorable. I forgive her everything but the plants. (The plants go on a high shelf, is what.)
[She’s in basically the same spot, but she’s facing the camera now, one eye closed, the other just barely open.]
Me & CJ & Loiosh managed to go to ANOTHER SCA event after Battlemoor, not that we’ve made it to anything since then, on account of everything is NINETY THREE THOUSAND MILES AWAY, but anyway it was fun & Loiosh got the best seat to watch the fighting.
[Loiosh is wearing his bow tie, because he’s fancy. He’s also curled on up a pair of feet, which are wearing a nice pair of medieval-style white leather boots. His leash is almost the same green as the tunic the person is wearing.]
Loiosh continues to enjoy living far enough from anything that he can go outside in reasonable safety, as long as he has a suitable escort.
… he’s not always entirely thrilled about the escort part.
[Loiosh is flopped on a big hunk of cardboard that’s resting on a layer of straw. The legs of a sturdily-built table surround him. He’s glaring at the camera.]
He also, as always, enjoys a nip toy — especially a Falcon’s Mew nip toy.
[He’s meatloafed on the floor of my room, a bright yellow catnip toy held between his forepaws. His head hovers just above it.]
& lastly, Major Tom, who really, REALLY likes the coat with the busted zipper. Which is obviously more comfortable to lay on after he’s dragged it out from under the chair so it covers the hatch that leads to the ladder.
[Major Tom is a big grey tabby. The coat is black fleece. The hatch is cheapass OSB plywood.]
Perhaps next week I’ll have a more coherent post!
originally posted on Patreon; support me over there to see posts a week early!
(no subject)
Apr. 14th, 2026 02:31 pmwatersword+ MULTIPLE asparagus spears emerging!
+ finally managed to book 2/3 of my birthday trip flights
- something in how I configure my browser means I cannot interact with the airline website and must do everything on the library computers
- I bragged to my therapist yesterday about how productive and upbeat I am now that it's properly spring and today I think my everything is made of molasses
Nobel Square in Cape Town, South Africa
Apr. 14th, 2026 02:00 pmatlas_obscura_places_feed
In the middle of the V&A Waterfront, a section of Cape Town known for its shopping and restaurants, are the statues of four men who contributed to the end of Apartheid in South Africa: Albert Luthuli, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, F. W. de Klerk, and Nelson Madela.
It's a sobering reminder of how recent Apartheid was in effect--and it makes one slow down to appreciate them, in the midst of all the activity in the area.