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ysabetwordsmith

These are some posts from the later part of last week in case you missed them:
Space Exploration
Moment of Silence: Country Joe McDonald
Poem: "Confident Guesswork and Improvisation"
Poem: "Nuff Respect"
Esbat
Science
Safety
Humor
Birdfeeding
Today's Adventures
Birdfeeding
Philosophical Questions: Civilization
Photos: Savanna
Photos: House Yard
Wildlife
Birdfeeding
Follow Friday 3-6-36: Meta
Wildlife
Poem: "The Express Bus to Crazy-ass Death Land"
Read "ICE Out" by Charles de Lint
Nature
Birdfeeding
Community Thursdays
Read "Find a Way Forward"
Safety
Birdfeeding
Good News

Linguistics has 32 comments. Philosophical Questions: Pregnancy has 40 comments. Safety has 53 comments. Wildlife has 40 comments. Food has 67 comments.

Last week's Poetry Fishbowl went well. I still have at least one more poem to write.

March Meta Matters Challenge banner

March Meta Matters Challenge banner

marchmetamatterschallenge is running this month. See my tracking post and the first check-in post.

"The Struggle Against Overwhelming Odds" is now complete. Gideon and Raymond get some unexpected help in the fight.

The weather has been warmish here, though it rained much of the week. Seen at the birdfeeders this week: a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches, a female cardinal, and a fox squirrel. A skein of geese flew overhead, honking quite loudly. Red-winged blackbirds have been singing overhead. I've heard a killdeer and a mourning dove calling, but didn't see them. Honeybees are out and swarming the flowers. Currently blooming: crocuses, snowdrops, winter aconite, miniature irises.

Current Mood: busy

Tags:

blogging,
personal

ysabetwordsmith

NASA shares photos of an extraordinary event witnessed by astronauts on the space station

While most people witness only the familiar crack of thunder and flash of lightning from storms on Earth, brilliantly-colorful electric fireworks detonate much higher, in the thin air up to 55 miles overhead, easily seen from the ISS.

These brief spectacles – blue jets, red sprites, violet halos, ultraviolet rings – are collectively known as transient luminous events, or TLEs.

For decades, they eluded systematic study, appearing only in pilots’ anecdotes and the occasional lucky photograph.

The International Space Station (ISS) has changed that by offering an unobstructed seat above the storms, where specialized cameras and sensors capture every fleeting spark.

Current Mood: busy

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ysabetwordsmith

Singer and songwriter Country Joe McDonald has passed away. Among other accomplishments, he is famous for the "I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-to-Die-Rag" at Woodstock, on record, and elsewhere.

Carry on the Work:

Guitar -- how to articles from wikiHow

Hippie Culture

How to Be a Singer Songwriter: 15 Steps (with Pictures)

Music Occupations -- how to articles from wikiHow

Musical Instruments -- how to articles from wikiHow

Singing -- how to articles from wikiHow

Social Activism -- how to articles from wikiHow

Songwriting -- how to articles from wikiHow

Current Mood: pensive

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ysabetwordsmith

This poem is spillover from the March 3, 2026 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by prompts from

siliconshaman and

janetmiles. It also fills the "Smudges" square in my 3-1-26 card for the National Crafting Month Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by

janetmiles. It belongs to the series Frankenstein's Family.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

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chanter1944

This one took absolute ages to finish, but here it finally is. :D

Difficulties Keeping To Myself (2884 words) by Chanter
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Miraculous Ladybug
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Sabrina Raincomprix & original kwami character, Sabrina Raincomprix & Roger Raincomprix, Sabrina Raincomprix & Chloe Bourgeois
Characters: Sabrina Raincomprix, Original Kwami Character - Character, Roger Raincomprix (mentioned), Chloé Bourgeois (mentioned)
Additional Tags: Friendship, Boundary Issues, Developing Friendship, agency, Family, relationship discussion, discussion of polyamory, platonic relationship discussion, Chloé Bourgeois's A+ interpersonal skills, Sabrina Raincomprix's iffy interpersonal skills, Character Growth, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Nonbinary Character(s), Monkey!Sabrina Raincomprix, Season 4 Spoilers, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence
Series: Part 5 of Alterna-wielder and -kwami Vignettes
Summary:

"Sabrina? Ree? Do you know that--I mean, not that it's a requirement, ick, but that it is possible--not definite, but possible--for human hearts to be shared?"

Not everyone accepts a Miraculous immediately.

Current Mood: pleased

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ysabetwordsmith

These are the notes for "Nuff Respect." Enjoy some recipes for Jamaican and Minoan foods in memory of

minoanmiss.

( Read more... )

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ysabetwordsmith

This poem came out of the March 3, 2026 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by prompts from

librarygeek,

alatefeline, and

mama_kestrel. It also fills the "Artisan" square in my 3-1-26 card for the National Crafting Month Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by

librarygeek in memory of

minoanmiss, who passed away recently and loved both Jamaican and Minoan cultures. It belongs to the Trichromatic Attachments thread of the Polychrome Heroics series.

Warning: This poem contains graphic descriptions of delicious food that you may not be able to find or afford.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

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ysabetwordsmith

This evening we held our esbat with an owl theme, inspired by the Festival of Owls this weekend. We charged a set of owl beads for people to keep.

... I am disappointed that I did not think ahead to obtain a gummy rat for the cakes and ale.

Current Mood: busy

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ysabetwordsmith

Thanks to a donation from

janetmiles, you can now read the rest of "The Struggle Against Overwhelming Odds." Gideon and Raymond get some unexpected help in the fight.

Current Mood: busy

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ysabetwordsmith

librarygeek has sponsored "Nuff Respect." I'll get that posted as soon as I can, but at the moment I'm gardening while the sun shines.

If anyone else is still shopping for poetry, now's the time to make your final selections.

EDIT 3/8/26 --

janetmiles will be sponsoring "Confident Guesswork and Improvisation."

At the moment, "Walnut Park" and "Foraging Forever" are still available.

Current Mood: busy

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ysabetwordsmith

Scientists warn fake research is spreading faster than real science

A major investigation found organized networks producing fake scientific papers, selling authorships, and manipulating journals to mass-publish fraudulent research.

A sweeping new study from Northwestern University reveals that scientific fraud is no longer just the work of a few rogue researchers—it has evolved into a global, organized enterprise. By analyzing massive datasets of publications, retractions, and editorial records, researchers uncovered networks involving “paper mills,” brokers, and compromised journals that systematically produce and sell fake research, authorship slots, and citations.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

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ysabetwordsmith

Satellites are exposing weak bridges in America and around the world

Satellites may soon help spot the world’s weakest bridges before they collapse.

Satellites are giving scientists a powerful new way to watch over the world’s bridges. Using radar imaging, researchers can detect millimeter-scale movements that may signal early structural problems long before inspectors notice them. The study found many bridges—especially in North America—are aging and increasingly vulnerable, but satellite monitoring could sharply reduce the number classified as high-risk. The approach could be especially valuable in regions where traditional monitoring barely exists.

The problem is, this won't fix the bridges. America already knows that many of its bridges need repair or replacement. There just isn't enough money for all that work. A big issue is that most government funding focuses on building new infrastructure, not maintaining old infrastructure. Satellite data can't change that.

Current Mood: busy

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ysabetwordsmith

I found this amusing.

It's messing with our system.

It's messing with our system.

Current Mood: amused

Tags:

humor,
politics

ysabetwordsmith

Today is sunny and cool, a beautiful spring day.

I fed the birds. I've seen a few sparrows and house finches at the hopper feeder, and a male cardinal flying around.

I put out water for the birds.

Several of the gardens are now bursting with flowers. Honeybees are swarming over the flowers. :D

More of the fruit tree seedlings have sprouted in their jugs. The ones in the house are sprouting more too. The willow cuttings in water have rootlets over half an inch now!

EDIT 3/8/26 -- I filled 18 pots in a flat with potting soil.

EDIT 3/8/26 -- I planted fruit sprouts in most of the pots: Ginger Gold apple, Pink apple, and yellow pear. I'm pretty sure that I ran out of Ginger Gold and Pear sprouts. There are some Pink sprouts left, so I'll probably finish the pear row with those.

A fox squirrel was scolding from a tree overhead. I've also seen a dark-eyed junco flying around.

EDIT 3/8/26 -- I finished the last three pots with Pink Apple sprouts, and put labels in all but those. I still need to make the last few labels.

EDIT 3/8/26 -- I labeled the last 3 Pink Apple pots. I put a tub over the flat to serve as a greenhouse.

I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 3/8/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

I am done for the night.

EDIT 3/8/26 -- I set up another 12-cell tray indoors with Green Striped Cushaw Winter Squash, seeds I saved from a tiny butternut, Landrace Zucchini, and Lofthouse Landrace Muskmelon. I gave each variety 3 cells, and I put 2 seeds in each cell.

Current Mood: busy

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ysabetwordsmith

We went out shopping today.

( Read more... )

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jesse_the_k

A dozen days ago we brought home Shadow from Underdog Pet Rescue (where we found Bella ten years ago).

Shadow’s had a hard life: not only was he abandoned by his family to live in the street, he got heartworm. Underdog has been treating him, and we have to continue to enforce rest for another 5 weeks. We must walk him on leash even for quick potty trips in the back yard.

He's a skinny minnie — around 40 pounds. He's got super-sleek short shiny black fur — unlike our previous dogs, he's single-coated. He's got maybe 47 white hairs at various spots around his body. There’s a clumpy stripe of white on his chest, but he hasn’t felt comfortable enough to show us his belly yet. Between his ears he’s got the wide head of a pitty, but his nose is long and thin.

We're looking forward to buoying Shadow with the love he needs, and grateful that retirement offers the time. For the first few days his muscles were always tense, and when we moved a hand anywhere within ten feet he'd flinch. He's beginning to unclench, and we've even seen his tail wag a couple times. While we're all bored without romping and long walks, it's a good time to shower him with stinky treats for learning his name and beginning to trust us. He walks pretty well on lead and already knows leave it, ignoring a treat sitting in the middle of my flat palm 6 inches from his nose.

His triangular ears have floppy tips — the left one is always down. His back has two shaved bare squares where the vets injected the second and third doses of arsenic to kill the heartworm parasites. His soulful eyes were so tight in the first week we saw nothing but deep brown iris. Today when Shadow and I were hiding from The Evil Vacuum Cleaner in my bedroom, I finally saw some white in his gaze.

( click for pics )

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boxofdelights posting in

Registration for WisCon Online 2026 is Open.

Welcome to the oldest feminist inclusive convention held Memorial Day Weekend, May 21-25, 2026.

https://reg.wiscon.net/

Sign up for the newsletter here, if you haven't already!
https://wiscon.net/news/e-newsletter/

ysabetwordsmith

Today is cloudy and cooler, but still comfortable. It stormed again last night.

I fed the birds. I've seen a few sparrows.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 3/7/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

I've seen a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches. A skein of geese flew overhead, honking quite loudly.

The almost-black miniature irises are blooming. :D The first of the bluebell shoots has appeared.

I am done for the night.

Current Mood: busy

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ysabetwordsmith

People have expressed interest in deep topics, so this list focuses on philosophical questions.

Was the agricultural revolution and the explosion of civilizations that came from it an overall good thing for humans or a negative? In other words, would it have been better or worse for people to stay in small tribes?

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

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recurring posts

ysabetwordsmith

I took some pictures around the yard today. These are from the savanna. (See the house yard.)

( Walk with me ... )

Current Mood: accomplished

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