Saturday, April 11th, 2026 04:28 pm
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Bright Spots. Today's is on the right. First I covered it with clear medium and let that dry, then I used alcohol ink pens. Final coat was wet black acrylic paint. I found I had to scratch away fast before it dried or it wouldn't come off. I worked from the bottom up and by the time I got to the top it was dry and the black paint wouldn't come off properly.

I've been playing around with my new phone, trying to get it to have the appearance and apps I like.  It's the same model as my old phone, just a year newer. Most of my things seemed to just travel over to the new phone while I was at the cricket store and that was great. But then of course there were things I had to fix. There was a banner of ads and "news" across my lock screen - horrible. My lock screen is Rainy and I want to see Rainy not that. But it wasn't fixable in what I thought was the usual place on the phone. Finally I looked it up on the internet this morning and was able to get rid of it. What a relief. It's funny how much something like that bugged me. My phone (my little personal box of entertainment) was not perfectly tailored for me and I couldn't rest till it was.
Saturday, April 11th, 2026 11:55 am
From this week's [community profile] thefridayfive:

1. What was the last book you read (or are currently reading)?
Still working my way through The Urban Bestiary (Lyanda Lynn Haupt), Hidden Potential (Adam Grant), and Silent Spring (Rachel Carson).

2. What was the last movie you watched?
Project Hail Mary, which we enjoyed immensely.

3. What television series are you currently watching?
The Pitt (HBO Max), Paradise (Hulu), Hacks (HBO Max), Reservation Dogs (Hulu)

4. What are some of your favorite blogs or communities online?
Argh, I don't have a good answer for this one, my blog reading is limited to blogs of personal friends, and I do not have a lot of specific communities that I follow, but I do love my Reading Page/DW Network! I have also crafted a nifty BlueSky feed of climate scientists, renewable energy/energy efficiency experts, biologists/ecologist, historians, and astronomy/astrophysics accounts that is pretty affirming. Which reminds me, someone created a feed of cats watching the Artemis II splashdown last night that was pretty fun to scroll.

5. What social media do you belong to and check often?
Dreamwidth and BlueSky are the only places I check regularly. I have a FB account to maintain contact with some folks that I can't otherwise see elsewhere, but I largely keep it deactivated and check in only here and there. The platform is largely unusable to me these days and mostly foists AI slop, communities/personalities I don't follow or care for, or ads...not to mention the issues of maintaining an account tied to your government name while trying to exist as a person part of communities that are being actively attacked by the U.S. government. For the people in those communities that do feel comfortable enough to still post there, you are very brave, I am not. Other than that, I do occasionally read through some communities/book clubs on Fable.

Saturday, April 11th, 2026 04:03 pm

A conversation on witchcraft: history, religion, and persecution - including Ronald Hutton (fangirling).

***

And on subversive women: Archiving Bengal’s Revolutionary Women:

[M]any women participated in the revolutionary movement, taking on roles that challenged colonial authority and social norms. The militants who joined underground networks, manufactured explosives, and participated in acts of political violence, however, remain largely absent from both public memory and archival records. When they do appear in colonial documents, they are often framed through their relationships to men: as daughters, wives, or associates, rather than as political actors in their own right.

Surprised? not really.

***

More on grassroots activism: Travelling activists, Radical Hospitality, and the Intimate History of Socialist Organising in Britain, c. 1880-1914.

***

Women in perhaps unexpected occupations (though I knew a little a bit about this since an old mate of mine did some research on the topic back in the 80s): Women in the Private Asylum Business in Nineteenth-Century England.

***

This association is already fairly well-known but a nuanced set of arguments about the complexity of how it plays out: Inequality and health: Lost in the mists of time?:

Rather than behaving like a toxin that produces a sudden spike in mortality after a fixed incubation period, inequality is more like a fog that gradually seeps into bodies, relationships, and institutions over time.

***

What the information in one scroll recording an C18th Chancery suit opened up concerning George Orwell's ancestors (Jamaica connection).

Saturday, April 11th, 2026 05:58 am
This is an ~30-minute episode of a Vox podcast called “Today Explained.” There is a transcript.

”How fan fiction went mainstream: The community that underpins Heated Rivalry, explained” by Danielle Hewitt and Noel King

It’s a pretty good intro to fanfic and how it’s become something publishers and creators of TV/movies pay attention to. They interview Francesca Kappa, a co-founder of the Organization for Transformative Works, which created AO3.

Things I learned and some bits I liked:
  • AO3 was created in part to prevent commodification of fanfiction and the social connections it facilitates.
  • “one of the projects that I worked on in the early days of the OTW organization for transformative works was that we were being contacted by women in their 70s and 80s who were like having to move in with their kids or going into nursing homes and they had like 3,000 fan fiction zines.”
  • It was claimed that AO3 is “much bigger than Wikipedia.” I’m not sure what metrics they’re using to come up with that.
  • [AO3 is] “structurally unenshittifiable” because “we don’t have customers and we’re not a business.”
  • (Discussing copyright) “it would have been terrible if Shakespeare had to, like, negotiate with Netflix for the right to Hamlet and then didn't get it. Like, that's the world we live in, right? We're like, Netflix owns Hamlet, it has a five-year option, Shakespeare really has a great idea for it, but like, no, I'm really sorry because JJ. Abrams is going to do Hamlet.”
    (I need to know which circle of Hell shows JJ Abrams’s Hamlet on repeat, because I really want to avoid it.)
Friday, April 10th, 2026 08:52 pm
The dog woke me up later than usual—it was still grey outside because it was raining! More promised all weekend, and after sun alternating with clouds all day, in the evening the wind came up and it rained again. So I'll get out of watering the lawn for a week or so.
Friday, April 10th, 2026 10:34 pm
Artemis II. Amaze Amaze Amaze. 💚💙💜
Friday, April 10th, 2026 07:04 pm
You know how my induction stove-plus-oven is supposed to be on a 40A breaker, but is plugged into a 20A breaker? Well, today for the first time I used it to bake cornbread, which meant preheating my oven to 425°F while melting a frozen stick of butter on the stove.

The results? I did not trip the breaker, and the cornbread turned out amazeballs. My cast iron skillet works just fine on an induction stove. Sure, that's what you'd expect, but I needed to test it sooner or later.
Tags:
Friday, April 10th, 2026 07:39 pm
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Chloe is directing your attention to the letter I painted on. I got there very late. Around 11 I lay down for a little nap, thinking I'd be up by noon but I slept till 1:30! The gathering of people to paint on the mural was supposed to start at 1. It takes an hour for me to get to Clarion and I wanted to stop at the Cricket store first. Luckily I remembered that there is a Cricket store right in the Clarion mall where the mural is so I went there. I don't know how they could have done the job of switching me into a new phone any faster. It was great. But I still didn't get to the mural till after 3. So I only had about an hour and a half to paint before quitting time.

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I was pretty much happy with what I did so far, though I might need to overpaint on the right/shadow side of the building to make that definitely darker. I'll finish when I get back from FL in May.
Saturday, April 11th, 2026 07:45 pm
Edit: fuck, I forgot to include Smallville! Uh, vote for that as the last option I guess.

1. Results will be non-binding

2. I will not watch anything starring anybody who then went on to perform in the God's Not Dead franchise. This isn't even about their abhorrent beliefs, it's about their apparently low artistic standards. I only am barely including Xena on this list because we can just skip crossover episodes. Please do let me know if I accidentally listed a Big Mistake in that regard

Poll #34464 Old TV
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 39


What are we gonna watch together?

View Answers

Teen Wolf
4 (10.3%)

Stargate (any)
17 (43.6%)

Xena
13 (33.3%)

X-Files
12 (30.8%)

Scrubs
5 (12.8%)

Something else that you'll put in the comments
4 (10.3%)

Friday, April 10th, 2026 11:00 pm

Posted by Samuel Pepys

Up very betimes and to my office, where most hard at business alone all the morning. At noon to the Exchange, where I hear that after great expectation from Ireland, and long stop of letters, there is good news come, that all is quiett after our great noise of troubles there, though some stir hath been as was reported.

Off the Exchange with Sir J. Cutler and Mr. Grant to the Royall Oak Tavern, in Lumbard Street, where Alexander Broome the poet was, a merry and witty man, I believe, if he be not a little conceited, and here drank a sort of French wine, called Ho Bryan,1 that hath a good and most particular taste that I never met with.

Home to dinner, and then by water abroad to Whitehall, my wife to see Mrs. Ferrers, I to Whitehall and the Park, doing no business. Then to my Lord’s lodgings, met my wife, and walked to the New Exchange. There laid out 10s. upon pendents and painted leather gloves, very pretty and all the mode. So by coach home and to my office till late, and so to supper and to bed.

Footnotes

Read the annotations

Friday, April 10th, 2026 04:12 pm
 



first content i’ve watched for this cb’s promo?? (actually scratch that i watched clips of the yeonbin divorce nvm) and omgggg i loved this. moons ago daesung was actually my bias… my first bias, in fact. before i got into exo and bts i was a bigbang and bap girlie… it feels weird seeing something 14-year-old riyah loved line up with 24-year-old riyah’s interests… she’s changed so much, yet apparently not that much, since she still fcking love this community.

also i’m trying to post more fandom-centric content since that was the original purpose of this journal, and ik i need to stop being negative and just have some fun.

long ramblings ahead )
 
 
 

Friday, April 10th, 2026 01:17 pm
I'm sticking pretty close to home these days. Lots of garden work/prep for the season.  The greenhouse has been emptied out of half of its contents and new plants have taken their place.  A lot of the tomatoes are in the garden already, more are waiting to be planted.  Gave Pete D. three trays of stuff which he was glad to have as he always plants a LOT of tomatoes.  A couple years ago he had 100 tomatoes in the ground. He shares with neighbors and his farm crew members.  I was very glad to get the little tomatoes out of the greenhouse, I was watering twice a day and not keeping up.
The first Iris opened a day or two ago. Its name might be Total Recall.Read more... )
Friday, April 10th, 2026 05:09 pm
I am currently listening to R.E.M.'s first full length LP Murmur. Holy cow. I have been listening to this album steadily since 1983 and it still sounds as good as ever. Truly a masterwork of modern music.

Yo! Check this shizz out-Dr Smartass said my left foot (shout out to Daniel Day-Lewis) has healed enough that i no longer have to bandage it. Just have to slather on some industrial grade vaseline and put on a clean sock! Huzzah. The right foot...yikes. Still looking at a couple more months healing.

As always, free foot photos are available at The SomedaySeattle Gift Shop in lovely BeltBuckle, NC. (Open Tuesday and Friday 11-2, closed for lunch 12-1) If you cannot make it by, rip of an email to us or leave a comment.
Friday, April 10th, 2026 02:19 pm
Cat vet appointment yesterday! Sunny's wellness visit & vaccines. Plus booking for her bloodwork & dental next month.

She is old and weird :D she is covered in warts (okay, six of them) that cats generally do not get. (The vet repeated this like three times, cats RARELY get these, and never like this! You're one for the case studies, Sunshine!) She also has yeast on her claws and goopy ears and probably both seasonal & food allergies. These problems are all probably interconnected (they definitely all started at the same time). She also is a little chonk but we all agreed that was just her Shape because it is a consistent and unchanged weight for her. Oh yeah, edited to add: she has some age-related deterioration in her eyesight, but not cataracts, just that she might not be seeing as well when she's doing her jumps these days.

But her steroid dose is apparently not worrying (they can lead to diabetes so I am always worried about it), so that was a relief - we have been trying hard to get her down to quarter pills and it worked for a while until a flare up a couple weeks ago. The doctor thinks it might just be because it's spring. Yay, spring. She thinks she'll probably go easily back down in dose after the peak of summer. But she also wanted to try half pills every other day instead of quarter pills every day, so cat experiments on the horizon, I guess.



A few days ago, taking in them good good pollens

But she needs to have a dental exam because she's 13 and has never had one. And they're going to give her a special test to find out if she's more likely to die under anaesthetic (because she has had a heart murmur even though no one has heard it in years and years). I was like, "what if they find out it's more likely she will die under anaesthetic?" and apparently the answer is uhhhhhhhhh.... death. You gamble or you leave her in growing pain (I have not seen evidence of tooth pain - yet. But also, she is a Cat). But basically, you are gambling with slightly better info. This is awful???? So really pulling for a good test result. (They're also going to let me know how much wart removal costs so we can at least remove the one that annoys her the MOST while she is conveniently knocked out.)

In happier news, I took in a second pee sample for Nico and he had NO crystals in his urine, which we were concerned about, and now I'm wondering if it's just because we've been feeding him home cooked dog food lately and if crystals would come back if we went back to normal food. Locked into the deluxe dog life by a pee test. Nice to be spared another prescription food for now, though. (Sunny's food and treats cost a combined 145$)



Relaxing post-vet (the dark spot under her chin is where she scratched through her skin when her allergies flared - it's scabbed over now)

In other news, Kelly went to the frozen food store while we were with the vet and bought SO MANY PASTRIES. My freezer is jam-packed with frozen pastries right now. And I am still glued to the NASA livestream as usual, but especially psyched for splashdown tonight O_O! (Also watching ISS tours on Nasa en Español lolol fun crew up there, too!)
Friday, April 10th, 2026 11:17 am
and despite the fact that this is coming out to more than projected we didn't need to ask them to split it into two bills and I still have enough money for groceries!
Friday, April 10th, 2026 02:27 pm

Because when I read this, I had Further Questions.

London pub thief sold £2.2m Fabergé egg and watch set to buy drugs

I am going, hello?

Enzo Conticello, 29, took the Givenchy bag belonging to Rosie Dawson as she stood in the smoking area of the Dog and Duck pub in Soho, London, on 7 November 2024.
Inside the £1,600 bag was an emerald-encrusted Fabergé egg and watch set belonging to Dawson’s employers, the Craft Irish Whiskey Company.

So, she had these items in her HANDBAG (going full Flora Robson as Lady Bracknell) and
went to the Dog and Duck pub in Soho. She was outside the premises in the designated smoking area, she put her handbag on the ground in between her legs, and a few minutes later she noticed her handbag was no longer there.

We observe that this was a £1,600 Givenchy bag, and while I do not think London is quite the crime-ridden hellhole some social media depicts, I might hang on to this a bit more carefully in Soho even did it not contain my employer's Fabergé.
Dawson had the Fabergé items because she had taken them for display at a work event earlier that evening.

Surely there ought to have been some kind of security procedure involved, like, 'take a taxi and put them back in the safe'?

(Am trying to think of any circumstances in which, in former days, would have been taking precious unique archival and manuscript items out of the building in the first place. When we had them out on display for visiting groups, they got put away pronto.)

I probably read too much crime fiction, but this reads like 'set-up for heist/insurance scam that went pearshaped'.

Friday, April 10th, 2026 06:22 am
Dinner with the latex gang. It's my next-to-last hurrah before I turn into a temporary teetotaler on Tuesday. (Alliteration and assonance ahoy!) Sugar Hill, down the western slope of Capitol Hill on Pine St., has pretty great Thai eats & cocktails. Must... not... be jealous of how women half my age look in latex. And it occurs to me that my goodness, I know a lot of local sex workers, both cis and trans.

Shallow fashion details: the same little purple skater dress that I wore to KinkFest last weekend. My excuse was that I wanted to show how the yogurt sauce stains had mysteriously disappeared, but really, that dress is the best one I have for warm(er) weather. Accessories: butterfly-themed. Boots: silver cowboy, from Stetson.
Friday, April 10th, 2026 08:07 am
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3 Traveling Stars. A dumb picture. Sometimes I really do feel like I'm reverting and going back to being a child as an artist. All I was doing with this pic was drawing randomly with alcohol markers on translucent green paper and then blocking the star/flower shapes out with black paint. Didn't try very hard to plan much out and it shows. I hope to do a better job at painting this afternoon when I go to help out with the ARC mural in the Clarion Mall. There is one letter in the word "COMMUNITY" on the mural that has the Clarion county courthouse on it and I said I'd paint that. I can usually copy things pretty well so with looking at a photo of the courthouse I hope I do okay. Chloe has already drawn the lines. I just need to fill in appropriate colors in the shading of it.
Friday, April 10th, 2026 09:41 am
Happy birthday, [personal profile] schemingreader!
Thursday, April 9th, 2026 12:13 pm
And we can barely pay it if we don't pay for a few other things. Maybe they'll let us write two checks.

On the other hand, if the USA decides drop nukes during the installation, probably the company won't trouble themselves too much about payment. We'll be home free! Well, assuming nobody retaliates on NYC specifically....

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