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| Folks have mentioned an interest in questions and conversations that make them think. So I've decided to offer more of those. This batch features hobbies. Ceramics is a hobby of making things from clay. It can include practical things like dishes or ornamental things like sculptures. On Dreamwidth, consider creative communities like ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png) crafty, get_knitted, justcreate, or nacramamo. ( Read more... ) | |
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| I enjoy growing dark-colored plants. I have black flowers, bronze leaves, black fruits, all kinds of interesting things. ( Walk with me ... ) | |
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| Today is sunny and warm. I fed the birds. I've seen a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches. They've been draining the hopper feeder daily and putting a dent in the thistle feeder. I put out water for the birds. My partner Doug is out mowing the house yard. EDIT 6/11/25 -- I refilled the thistle feeder. I started trimming grass around the edge of the strip garden, now that I have the big weeds pulled out. EDIT 6/11/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio. EDIT 6/11/25 -- I took some pictures around the yard. EDIT 6/11/25 -- I picked half a bag of mulberries in the south lot. I've seen a skunk on the patio. I've seen a catbird and a phoebe. I heard a red-bellied woodpecker but didn't see it. EDIT 6/11/25 -- I set up firestarters for the firepit. I picked half a bag of mulberries along the west fence. EDIT 6/11/25 -- We lit the bonfire for the esbat tonight. It took a little while to get going but then it burned pretty well. I'll try to check on it later. Fireflies are out and I've seen a bat. EDIT 6/11/25 -- I checked the bonfire. It's mostly burned down. I threw most of the stray ends into the middle, but it was still too warm for me to get all the way around. I'll need to go back out later. . | |
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| ‘Half the tree of life’: ecologists’ horror as nature reserves are emptied of insectsA new point in history has been reached, entomologists say, as climate-led species’ collapse moves up the food chain even in supposedly protected regions free of pesticides. They include in Germany, where flying insects across 63 insect reserves dropped 75% in less than 30 years; the US, where beetle numbers dropped 83% in 45 years; and Puerto Rico, where insect biomass dropped up to 60-fold since the 1970s. These declines are occurring in ecosystems that are otherwise protected from direct human influence.
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At one research centre – falling within a 22,000-hectare (85 sq mile) stretch of intact forest in Panama – scientists comparing current bird numbers with the 1970s found 70% of species had declined, and 88% of these had lost more than half of their population. As the insects die off, everything that eats them -- birds, amphibians, reptiles, etc. -- suffers a decline also. | |
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| A Spoonful of Murder by J. M. Hall - A delightful cozy mystery about a group of retired school teachers in England who meet for coffee once a week and solve murders. In this one they are told that their also retired former principal died from an unfortunate dementia-related medication mistake, but they have their doubts! This is the first one in the series and I look forward to more. The Quest for Annie Moore by Megan Smolenyak - Smolenyak is a celebrity in genealogy-world. Her latest is a deep dive into the story of the first immigrant to land at Ellis Island. Smolenyak looked into the records supporting the life story of Annie Moore and discovered gaps and misidentifications. This book is the story of her years of extensive research to correctly identify this impoverished Irish immigrant and trace her life. (Spoiler: Moore spent the rest of her life on the Lower East Side in NYC.) I read it for the Virtual Genealogy Society online book club and I really enjoyed it. I think anyone interested in immigrant genealogy would enjoy it. But it really is about the adventure and thrill of tracking down elusive records, especially since much of the research was done before so much was digitized. So maybe not for the general reader. But the book club discussion was very lively and threatened to run over the time! Dead Man's Grave by Neil Lancaster - First volume in a police procedural series set in Scotland. It started out really great with a blood-feud-based murder but sort of trailed off into gangster-related corruption in the police force. I don't know that I will continue with the series because I found the Scots accent very hard to follow in the audiobook. This is a personal failing -- I always find Scots accents hard to follow. I suppose I could read with my eyes but I don't care that much about police and their supposed nobility. Lies Bleeding by Ben Aaronovitch - This is the 6th Rivers of London book. I do really love these but might take a little break because ( spoiler ) Currently reading: Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. I want to like it but it's uphill. Maybe it will pick up. I wish I had not started reading her autiobiography and learned what a rightwing eugenicist she was because now I am biased against her. (Reading it as part of my Feminist Science Fiction open source anthology project.) | |
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| 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? | |
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| The following poems from the June 3, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl are currently available. Poems may be sponsored via PayPal -- there's a permanent donation button on my Dreamwidth profile page -- or you can write to me and discuss other methods. There are still verses left in the linkback poems "Delight in Another," "A Sense of Weather Changes," "Ouroboros Insects," "The Loving Embrace of Night," "Generations of Cooks Past," "Homefree and Clear, " "One Bite at a Time," "Stars and Diamonds," "Mishpocha," "Changing Your Nature," and "Besa." ( Read more... ) | |
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| CEO invites the world to invest in refugees: 'Humanity flourishes when people have the tools to succeed'“One in 10 of us will be displaced in 25 years. One in 10. Each of us is more likely to be displaced than ever before,” Oyler said in her TED Talk, which will be published at a later date.
“The time for incremental change is over. We must do things differently.”
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“When Uganda allowed refugees to work, the country's GDP increased by nearly a billion dollars,” Oyler said. “Ethiopia reformed its policies, and now thousands of refugees contribute in key sectors like agriculture and manufacturing.”
“When Rwanda, the country where I live, included refugees in its national ID program, they gained access to health care, financial services, and are growing an economy.” It's all about knitting people into society as fast as possible. Make sure they have access to survival needs such as food, shelter, clothing, and health care. Then compare what they can do with what needs doing. To accommodate untrained workers, list your top 10 or so fields with a desperate shortage of workers, then offer free training for anyone who wishes to enter those fields. | |
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| Today is partly sunny and mild.
I fed the birds. I haven't seen much activity yet.
I put out water for the birds.
EDIT 6/10/25 -- I've seen a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches, a male cardinal, and at least one mourning dove.
EDIT 6/10/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.
I heard a blue jay screaming but didn't see it.
EDIT 6/10/25 -- I've been outside a couple of times to walk around the yard. Fireflies are starting to come out, but it's still so light that they're hard to see. I may try again later. I've seen a bat over the south lot, and a skunk on the patio.
EDIT 6/10/25 -- We went out a little later to see the fireflies. This is the most I've seen so far, earlier it was just ones and twos. There aren't as many as there will be later in the season, but it's the first big flush so we're pleased to see them.
I am done for the night.
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| ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png) dialecticdreamer is hosting Magpie Monday with a theme of " recovering from nightmares." For each person who sends at least one prompt, I’ll write a story, send it via private message or (for too long fills) an email, then write a brief thumbnail summary and post that in reply to the comment, and move on.
The prompt call will be open until around midnight local time on late Tuesday/early Wednesday, which gives everyone time to join in. | |
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| In a recent New Yorker (paywalled link to article), Hua Hsu wrote a favorable review of the fanworky film Pavements, which is about the band Pavement. He liked it. But he also considered the big picture: Just as a generation of young people now picture Timothee Chalamet's wispy mustache when they think of Dylan, it's likely that many fans understand N.W.A., Queen, Bob Marley, and Elvis Presley almost solely through their recent, varnished bio-pics. There are Bruce Springsteen and Michael Jackson movies due for release this year, as well as four separate Beatles ones slated for 2028. Perhaps pop-music history will soon exist only in the form of authorized, brand-managed hagiographies. Netflix recently announced that a nine-hour documentary about the complicated genius of Prince, directed by the Oscar-winner Ezra Edelman, would not be released, because of concerns raised by the artist's estate. Even in the lower-stakes world of publishing, a celebrity can mobilize her fan base against anything deemed unofficial. Adoring books about hip-hop musicians such as Mac Miller and De La Soul have been criticized by the artists or their estates -- basically for being journalistic endeavors.
When careers are seen as intellectual property -- and when, with the decline of album sales, one's back catalogue becomes an even more valuable resource -- legacies will be guarded with a lawyerly vigilance. Messiness gets edited out in the name of a few key narrative turning points. The possibility that an artist today would ever offer the kind of access that Metallica gave for "Some Kind of Monster," a 2004 documentary that famously featured the band in therapy, seems as likely as the prospect of American politicians welcoming the scrutiny of reporters.
In the absence of friction, contemporary bio-pics are just a series of boring victory laps. Intention and accidents, theft and boorish behavior: it all gets folded into the myth-serving lore. And it makes fools of us fans. The magic of pop music isn't just the star on the stage; it's how the crowd sways, and what fans do afterward with the feelings inspired by the show. All this made "Pavements" feel more exceptional. It seemed to exist adjacent to the band. A true fanatic's take, it aspires to be as heady and as weird as the band itself. Perry's aggressively clever story about Pavement is different from what mine would be, yet I recognized a fellow-traveler. In making something so intensely loving, he points out the banality of modern-day fandom, in which we're all expected to be brand ambassadors, reciting someone else's gospel.
I think he's right about the branding and the IP monetization. I believe musicians should be paid for their work, and paid well. But I also remember making mixtapes, impossible now because of DRM, so we are reduced to sharing playlists and hoping the recipients have a compatible streaming service. Sometimes I feel sad about my long gone vinyl collection which included a significant number of one-off bootleg pressings of various artists. As our individual access to creative technology increases (entire films made on smartphones now), our fannish field of operation becomes more heavily policed and gatekept. Official merch is never as interesting as the fan productions. I wonder how many of our fandomI forget debates are influenced by an internalized version of this policing and gatekeeping? Not to mention the external problem of legal liability. I forget where I read an article about the cancelled Prince documentary but it sounded like it would have been amazing. I don't really have the heart to look for it. source: Hsu, Hua. "You're Killing Me: Pavement Inspires a Strange, Ironic, Loving Bio-pic." New Yorker, 26 May 2025, 66-67. | |
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| Today I started making liquid fertilizer from Russian comfrey. This plant fills a lot of guild roles in permaculture including fertilizer, miner, mulcher, protector, attractor. I have been using it primarily as a bee plant that I can also slash-and-drop several times a season. I grow it under many of my trees and there's some in the prairie garden too. There are various ways to make liquid fertilizer from comfrey. I will be testing two: 1) a small amount of comfrey leaves in a large amount of water, and 2) only comfrey leaves crammed tightly in a jug. (See Part 2: Leaves.) ( Walk with me ... ) | |
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| Krakencoder predicts brain function 20x better than past methodsScientists at Weill Cornell Medicine have developed a new algorithm, the Krakencoder, that merges multiple types of brain imaging data to better understand how the brain s wiring underpins behavior, thought, and recovery after injury. This cutting-edge tool can predict brain function from structure with unprecedented accuracy 20 times better than past models and even estimate traits like age, sex, and cognitive ability. That ... sounds pretty exactly like something over in Terramagne. It's part of Thalassia's health care system, although they've had theirs for a while. *ponder* I think the ~20 year gap between here and there is holding steady. | |
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| We've reached the end of scheduled themes for the Poetry Fishbowl project. It's time to brainstorm some new themes! These are a few that I've jotted down earlier, ones that I've thought up or people have suggested, to give you an idea what kind of stuff might be suitable: * Angels and Demons * Apocalyptic Visions * Emotional Regulation * Faeries and Fey * Fixit * Pirates, Rascals, and Rogues * Time Travel * Westerns What other themes would you like to see me write about? What would you like to buy? Suggest them in a comment below this post. ( Read more... ) | |
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| New evidence reveals advanced maritime technology in the philippines 35,000 years agoIn a bold reimagining of Southeast Asia s prehistory, scientists reveal that the Philippine island of Mindoro was a hub of human innovation and migration as far back as 35,000 years ago. Advanced tools, deep-sea fishing capabilities, and early burial customs show that early humans here weren t isolated they were maritime pioneers shaping a wide-reaching network across the region. | |
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| These are some posts from the later part of last week in case you missed them:Pride MonthBirdfeedingEarly HumansToday's AdventuresBirdfeedingPhilosophical Questions: LooksToday's AdventuresPoem: "The Result of Your Own Bad Behavior"Poem: "When Warmth and Gentleness Are Needed"Poem: "Emodox"BirdfeedingSkate ParkFollow Friday 6-6-25: Active Communities on Dreamwidth Spring 2025 J-ZRecipesNew Crowdfunding Project: "Aces and Aros"Poem: "All It Takes to Be Invulnerable"Poem: "The Bond with a Dog"BirdfeedingRead "Do you ever dream of land?"BooksWildlifeBirdfeedingGood News" Not a Destination, But a Process" has 138 comments. " The Democratic Armada of the Caribbean" has 89 comments. Last week's Poetry Fishbowl went well. I actually finished a draft of the last obligatory poem yesterday, just need to get that tallied, proofread, and thumnailed. \o/ summerofthe69 is now open! You can see the calendar here and the initial theme is " First Time 69: Everyone has to start somewhere." " In the Heart of the Hidden Garden" belongs to the Antimatter and Stalwart Stan thread of the Polychrome Heroics series. It needs $86 to be fully funded. Lawrence shows Stan around the campus at the University of Nebraska-Omaha. The weather has been warm and wet here. It rained again last night. Seen at the birdfeeders this week: a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches, two mourning doves, a male cardinal, a catbird, and a fox squirrel. Astilbe, snowball bush, and daylilies have flower buds. Peonies are done blooming. Privet and mock orange are winding down. Currently blooming: dandelions, honeysuckle, pansies, violas, marigolds, petunias, red salvia, wild strawberries, verbena, lantana, sweet alyssum, zinnias, snapdragons, blue lobelia, perennial pinks, impatiens, oxalis, moss rose, yarrow, red coreopsis, anise hyssop, firecracker plant, tomatoes, tomatillos, dogwood, Asiatic lilies, cucumber. Raspberries, blackberries, and tomatoes have green fruit. Wild strawberries and mulberries are ripe. | |
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| Whales blow bubble rings--And they might be talking to usNewly documented behavior in a recently published paper by SETI Institute and UC Davis team members may offer insights into nonhuman intelligence--and help shape the search for life beyond Earth.
Humpback whales have been observed blowing bubble rings during friendly interactions with humans a behavior never before documented. This surprising display may be more than play; it could represent a sophisticated form of non-verbal communication. Scientists from the SETI Institute and UC Davis believe these interactions offer valuable insights into non-human intelligence, potentially helping refine our methods for detecting extraterrestrial life. Their findings underscore the intelligence, curiosity, and social complexity of whales, making them ideal analogues for developing communication models beyond Earth. | |
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