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Just One Thing (05 March 2026)

Mar. 5th, 2026 08:02 am
nanila: me (Default)
[personal profile] nanila posting in [community profile] awesomeers
It's challenge time!

Comment with Just One Thing you've accomplished in the last 24 hours or so. It doesn't have to be a hard thing, or even a thing that you think is particularly awesome. Just a thing that you did.

Feel free to share more than one thing if you're feeling particularly accomplished! Extra credit: find someone in the comments and give them props for what they achieved!

Nothing is too big, too small, too strange or too cryptic. And in case you'd rather do this in private, anonymous comments are screened. I will only unscreen if you ask me to.

Go!

Endings in sight

Mar. 5th, 2026 07:56 am
rmc28: Rachel in hockey gear on the frozen fen at Upware, near Cambridge (Default)
[personal profile] rmc28

The university hockey season is nearly over. Huskies have played our last league game (I say 'we' but I was actually playing with Warbirds in a different city at the time), Varsity is coming up Saturday week, and then there's Nationals in April before we move into summer ice training. We had our Varsity dinner on Tuesday in Clare College and I became sharply aware during that evening that all things come to an end and some people will graduate this summer and leave. This is a university, people are always arriving and leaving, but it's nearly thirty years since I first arrived in Cambridge and I'm still not used to friends leaving.

Group photo in Clare College

I love everyone in this photograph (and a couple more teammates who didn't make it to the dinner).

Varsity: Saturday 14 March, tickets go on general sale at noon today, I didn't make the Huskies ("mixed 2nds") Varsity squad but I'm playing in the alumni game and helping out with (at least) Huskies and Women's Blues.

Community Thursdays

Mar. 5th, 2026 12:22 am
ysabetwordsmith: A blue sheep holding a quill dreams of Dreamwidth (Dreamsheep)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
This year I'm doing Community Thursdays. Some of my activity will involve maintaining communities I run, and my favorites. Some will involve checking my list of subscriptions and posting in lower-traffic ones. Today I have interacted with the following communities...


* Posted "Books" in [community profile] fantasy.

* Posted "News" in [community profile] fem_thoughts.

* Posted "March Meta Matters" in [community profile] fictional_fans.

March Meta Matters

Mar. 5th, 2026 12:38 am
ysabetwordsmith: March Meta Matters Challenge (meta)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith posting in [community profile] fictional_fans
[community profile] marchmetamatterschallenge is running this month. :D Here is my introductory post. So what is meta? Well, it can be a lot of things ...

Read more... )

News

Mar. 5th, 2026 12:32 am

Links: Small steps to resist

Mar. 4th, 2026 09:45 pm
sonia: Quilted wall-hanging (Default)
[personal profile] sonia
Birbs and Borbs Birds with queer flags. I'm eyeing the bisexual oystercatcher sticker. Pride is resistance!

Resist and Unsubscribe. Unsubscribe from services that support fascism. Every little bit helps! I didn't subscribe to any of these things in the first place, so I guess I've been resisting all along.

Taking action against AI harms by Anil Dash. Speaking can help get businesses off X and schools off ChatGPT.

Community Thursday

Mar. 5th, 2026 06:46 am
vriddy: Hawks smiling in flight (big smile)
[personal profile] vriddy
Community Thursday challenge: every Thursday, try to make an effort to engage with a community on Dreamwidth, whether that's posting, commenting, promoting, etc.

Over the last week...

Posted and commented on [community profile] bnha_fans.

Commented on [community profile] booknook.

Commented on [site community profile] dw_dev.

Commented on [community profile] getyourwordsout.

Love Dramedy (Fairbanks)

Mar. 4th, 2026 09:01 pm
cahn: (Default)
[personal profile] cahn
Hey so remember I talked about Lyssa Fairbanks' first book, Love Medley, about med school romance hijinks? Her second book is now out: Love Dramedy. Signed hard copy available here (immediately) and ebook available here (pre-orders will be delivered March 5).

Love Dramedy is about the same group of med school friends as Love Medley and is F/F and I love it a lot.

Isabelle Sutton has always been "the pretty one" and always feels like she needs to prove that she's good enough for med school, which is getting harder as she has not been doing well on her med school exams -- and she needs a project to help her show that she's a good residency candidate. Trix Winstead is a neurodiverse software CEO who is just coming off of a friends-with-benefits relationship that imploded spectacularly, leaving behind a scandal for her company -- and needs a project to help her rehabilitate her company's reputation. You'll never guess what happens next! (You have guessed. Yes. Well, you might not have guessed about the hot lesbian bar encounter/one-night stand that happens first, but there's that too, it's great!)

I love Trix's spectrum-ish self, and Isabelle is a sweetheart. And I really like about Lyssa's writing how it's not just about the romance, but also about the friends and the story.

As for Love Medley, I was one of the major betas for this book. And also as for that one, please don't talk publicly about Lyssa's real name or how I know her :)

more about the New Orleans trip

Mar. 4th, 2026 10:56 pm
redbird: closeup of me drinking tea, in a friend's kitchen (Default)
[personal profile] redbird
The trip to New Orleans was very good for [personal profile] cattitude, who had an easier tiee finding food he could eat and enjoy than Adrian and I, but the few days of warm weather did us good as well. (And then the trip home was physically difficult and painful for Adrian, unfortunately.)

I did more walking each day, including but not only the travel days, than I expected or planned, and found it less difficult than I would have predicted.

Saturday afternoon we met my brother at House of Blues, because they had outdoor music and a performer he liked. That was fun, and Adrian enjoyed dancing with an enthusiastic stranger. I think that was the day we took a streetcar downtown in search of lunch, only to find lines for the relatively small number of places with outdoor seating. But I'd wanted to ride a streetcar--streetcars are part of the New Orleans transit network, not just a tourist attraction, so we could get one a couple of blocks from our hotel.

Our hotel had a courtyard, which was part of why Cattitude chose it. The courtyard had an unexpected, charming cat. The drum circle I mentioned in the previous post was in the park across the street from our hotel, which is part of why Mark recommended it.

Also, the New Orleans airport terminal plays music, not very loudly, over the PA system, which is entirely fitting for an airport named after Louis Armstrong, and much better than what comes over the PA at most airports.

Purimgifts reveal

Mar. 4th, 2026 09:34 pm
kass: Veronica and Wallace stare at a screen (veronica and wallace)
[personal profile] kass
I wrote a trio of Stardew ficlets for PeacePangolin for [community profile] purimgifts. (And the images I shared along with them are simple re-colorings of in-game images; I am chagrined now to see the kinds of beautiful things people created, and I will need to level up before next year!) Anyway: here's what I wrote.

1. Sam (373 words) by Kass
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Stardew Valley (Video Game)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Sam/Sebastian (Stardew Valley)
Characters: Sam (Stardew Valley)
Additional Tags: Collection: Purimgifts Day 1
Summary:

He can’t remember a time before he knew Sebastian.



2. Sebastian (443 words) by Kass
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Stardew Valley (Video Game)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Sam/Sebastian (Stardew Valley)
Characters: Sebastian
Additional Tags: Purimgifts day 2
Summary:

Nevermind I’m going to delete all of this and start over.



3. Abigail (401 words) by Kass
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Stardew Valley (Video Game)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Sam/Sebastian (Stardew Valley)
Characters: Abigail (Stardew Valley)
Additional Tags: Collection: Purimgifts Day 3

Read "Find a Way Forward"

Mar. 4th, 2026 07:30 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
My poem "Find a Way Forward" has been published in [community profile] first_nations_freaks

Daily Check-In

Mar. 4th, 2026 05:56 pm
starwatcher: Western windmill, clouds in background, trees around base. (Default)
[personal profile] starwatcher posting in [community profile] fandom_checkin
 
This is your check-in post for today. The poll will be open from midnight Universal or Zulu Time (8pm Eastern Time) on Wednesday, March 04, to midnight on Thursday, March 05. (8pm Eastern Time).

Poll #34326 Daily Check-in
Open to: Access List, detailed results viewable to: Access List, participants: 21

How are you doing?

I am OK.
11 (55.0%)

I am not OK, but don't need help right now.
9 (45.0%)

I could use some help.
0 (0.0%)

How many other humans live with you?

I am living single.
7 (33.3%)

One other person.
11 (52.4%)

More than one other person.
3 (14.3%)




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.
 

Safety

Mar. 4th, 2026 03:15 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Extreme weather is exposing a dangerous flaw in modern buildings

Most of us don’t see buildings as life-support systems. But that’s exactly what they are. We sleep inside them, work inside them, shelter from storms inside them, and retreat to them when the air outside feels like an oven.

People spend 90% of their lives in buildings, and those walls, roofs, and windows act as a protective ‘third skin’ from the elements.



Shelter is a survival need. That doesn't just mean a place to stay. It is primarily about protection from threats such as sun, heat, cold, precipitation, predators, etc. If it doesn't perform those functions, it doesn't count as shelter. In America, shelter is classified as a paid privilege rather than a human right. That's a problem already, but in the future, it will lead to many preventable deaths.

Read more... )

It's Been a Weird Day

Mar. 4th, 2026 01:58 pm
yourlibrarian: Christopher Pike in command yellow (TREK-PikeYellowShirt-sexycazzy)
[personal profile] yourlibrarian
1) [community profile] marchmetamatterschallenge has begun! I'm particularly excited this year since I will finally come current with my meta archiving. I'm already finished with 2024 and should finish 2025 by tomorrow. One thing I hope is to do more writing this year.

2) The February CheckIn at [community profile] everykindofcraft has gotten a lot of responses. It's interesting to hear all the different ways that people have learned these skills.

3) In less good news, a bunch of RSS feeds seem to have stopped working. The AO3 vids feed hasn't updated in weeks (so unlikely to be AO3's recent issues), and 4 feeds from Tumblr have stopped as well, though it seems only 2 have been updating lately. It's definitely not the feed service, because at least 3 other feeds I have set up have updated within the last few days. I'm wondering if Tumblr is somehow blocking RSS feeds now?

I also feel like there are people's posts that I have missed though I am less sure about that.

3) I was waiting for a cashier and there were 3 women and 2 small girls ahead of me. The two little girls were racing around everywhere, grabbing things and then having them put back by the women. It was all taking some time, and the squealing was getting on my nerves. But then one grabbed an Easter Bunny and told her mom she wanted it.

The mom asked the cashier if it was solid or hollow, and was told it was hollow (which seemed most likely to me given its size and price!) The little girl then asked what "hollow" was, and her mom struggled to explain it, finally saying "It has a hole inside it." The little girl then said "I'll put it back and get another." We all burst out laughing as her mom then tried to explain that the bunny wasn't defective, it was just the way it was made.

4) So it looks like Paramount will fold HBO into its service. I expect that will put paid to its bundling with Disney services, though it does make it more likely we'll keep Paramount+ around post-The Late Show cancellation. At this point the U.S. looks like it's going to have 3 major streamers, a number of secondary streamers (in which I include Peacock) and a vast number of tiny streamers.

5) Never posted here that I finished the latest season of Strange New Worlds. Thought it somewhat better than earlier seasons, despite the way it started, though I find it a bit jarring to see TOS episodes essentially revised for use here. The finale seemed a cross between Rey at the end of the Skywalker saga and ST:TOS's Lazarus episode. Read more... )

Poll #34324 Kudos Footer-560
This poll is anonymous.
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 3

Want to leave a Kudos?

View Answers

Kudos!
3 (100.0%)



What I'm Doing Wednesday

Mar. 4th, 2026 01:54 pm
sage: two polar bears embracing (bear hug original)
[personal profile] sage
My heart is broken by the terrible loss of [personal profile] minoanmiss. I met her in fandom in my early DCU days, something like 23 years ago, and once in person in 2009, and always treasured her friendship. Rest in peace and power, love. Hugs to all who grieve her passing.

books by Adrian Tchaikovsky
House of Open Wounds, Lives of Bitter Rain, Days of Shattered Faith, Pretenders to the Throne of God
I don't think I LIKED any of these, but the 'verse is interesting? I get the feeling that he cares far more about gaming out his worldbuilding than he does his actual characters, which is no way to write a novel/series.

yarning
Finished the orange and blue kickbunny. Missed yarn group yet again. Started the Easter carrots. Worked a little on the kickbunny for the kitten academy momcat. The long term commission for 2 kickbunnies turned into a priority commission, so I'm rapidly working on that instead of more carrots. Sold an under the door toy. And 2 more catnip-silvervine hearts that I have to make. Oof! I'm grateful for the sales, but wtf is going on with the deluge? I mean, SEVENTEEN things to make!! Most ASAP!

augh
dad had yet another bad fall Monday night, but, knock wood, I haven't yet been asked to go up and help out. These deadlines make that problematic.

healthcrap
General malaise. Epic brain fog. Continuing vertigo. The internet tells me that a repeatedly bitten tongue can develop white keratosis (like your fingernails) to protect it. I keep biting the wound, which is why I still have an ulcer just under my tongue, way back by my molars. /whine. Also, I didn't get my healthcare coverage renewed before it expired, so I'm having to wrangle that while feeling like crap. :(

#resist
+ voted in the TX primary yesterday. Learned I was gerrymandered into a new congressional district minutes before voting, so I had to choose a new rep.
+ Look out for local anti-war protests in your area.
+ March 5: Fighting and Winning Against Trump's Concentration Camps - Mass Call
+ March 28: #50501 No Kings Protest #3

I hope you're all doing as well as can be expected. <333
starthorn: A profile picture with a lineart drawing of Blue Oak from Pokemon Special. (Default)
[personal profile] starthorn posting in [community profile] pokestop
This was actually only the second time that I've made it all the way through one of the Go Passes! I tend to play very sporadically even though I've had an account for ages, so this was super exciting.

Did y'all make it to the end of the Go-Pass too? Do you have advice for completing them more reliably?

See you in a year!!

Mar. 4th, 2026 11:21 am
susandennis: (Default)
[personal profile] susandennis
Yes. It's true. By the time I got Biggie into the carrier - he would NOT go into the smaller one and I had to chase him around the room for 5 minutes before he would go into the smaller one and he was so pissed. I knew then, that it was The Last Trip. But, the tests all came back fine! No bladder rocks. No chrystals. No nuthin!

She even gave him his vaccines early so we don't have to go back until March 2027.

On the down side, it means no more cry kibble and no more treats ever. Just prescription canned food. Chewy will be Happy. And she doubled up the size of the one medicine so now instead of 4 tablets a day, he only gets 2.

So... pretty much a Vet Victory. I did forget to have them trim his nails - I mean as long as he was pissed off anyway, but oh well.

Birdfeeding

Mar. 4th, 2026 01:13 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Today is cloudy, cool, and damp. Yesterday it rained on and off all day, then stormed in the evening. As everything is still soaked, I gather that the intermittent rain has continued, and indeed there are chances of rain for the next several days.

I fed the birds. I've seen a small flock of sparrows and several house finches. I heard a killdeer calling in the fields but didn't see it.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 3/4/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

I put out a fresh cake of peanut suet.

It's raining again. I'm hearing faint rumbles of thunder in the distance. It's supposed to storm again tonight.

EDIT 3/4/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

It's still raining on and off, with more storms predicted for tonight.

I heard a mourning dove calling but didn't see it.

I am done for the night.

EDIT 3/4/36 -- I did some indoor planting with my new seed-starting kit. I potted up sprouting seeds of Ambrosia apple, Ginger Gold apple, Pink apple, and yellow pear. I put 2 sprouts in each cell, 3 cells per variety, so 6 of each variety and 24 total. I don't expect them all to live, but that's okay; I have plenty.

The dibble that came with the seed-sprouting kit works quite well to make holes in the small space available. The tiny shovel on the other end is just the right size for the little cells; tedious to fill, but effective. If I wanted to do them all at once, I'd probably lay out all six trays and just dump seed-starting mix over the top, then brush it into the cells. I am less pleased with the Back to the Roots seed-starting mix. It's way too chunky for tiny seeds. I can still use it to pot up things like wildflowers, and the squash seeds will probably be fine too, but I want to look for a different brand.

The Big Idea: Lauren C. Teffeau

Mar. 4th, 2026 06:09 pm
[syndicated profile] scalziwhatever_feed

Posted by Athena Scalzi

Futuristic fiction doesn’t always have to be dystopian, and in fact author Lauren C. Teffau wanted to show readers a more hopeful narrative where people work together for the betterment of the planet and a goal of reaching a brighter future. Follow along in her Big Idea for Accelerated Growth Environment and see what a more optimistic future could look like.

LAUREN C. TEFFEAU:

We are living at the intersection of competing futures. Ones we thought were inevitable and others being forced down our throats by billionaires, technocrats, and foreign interests that are counter to our own. This fight over our collective future is happening while the climate crisis rages on, institutions are tested, and the informationsphere weaponized. It’s no longer a question of how to avoid the worst outcomes, but how bad those outcomes will be. 

But I firmly believe optimistic stories about the future are our way out of the doomloop. Not because they’ll accurately predict what is to come, but because they give us something to work toward, together. To that end, I wanted to explore what an international response to the climate crisis would look like in my latest book, the eco-thriller Accelerated Growth Environment, and introduce a generation of readers to one possible future full of cooperation, resilience, and competency porn. 

Such a goal is not completely out there. Once upon a time, the world came together to reduce ozone emissions in response to the discovery chlorofluorocarbons were punching a hole in the atmosphere. The effort was so successful, the ozone layer is on track to completely regenerate, according to Wikipedia, by 2045. That’s amazing, even moreso considering that level of international coordination seems impossible today. But maybe, just maybe, it’s something we can work toward in the years to come. 

So imagine things change, and the political will is finally ascendant to tackle the climate crisis. Enter the Climasphere, a groundbreaking megastructure that can support nearly every biome on Earth and grow plants essential to rewilding efforts across the world, signifying a new era of climate cooperation. It’s also the high-tech setting for Accelerated Growth Environment. Principal Scientist Dr. Jorna Beckham just wants to focus on her research while her horticulture techs are on break following the grueling inaugural harvest.

She manages the habitat with the help of her trusty robot sidekick Savvy while Commander Kaysar sees to everything else. But when an explosion rocks the Climasphere, Jorna is the commander’s number one suspect. Her family belongs to a technology-adverse religion that believes the Climasphere’s genetically-altered plants are a rejection of God’s gifts to humanity. Jorna must clear her name if she wants to keep her dream job and any possibility of a future with the commander.

I’m honored Accelerated Growth Environment is the first acquisition and release from Shiraki Press, a new publisher specializing in hopepunk stories for a brighter future. Keep an eye out for more titles from them in the months to come. 

And never forget we are capable of great things—we need to be. No matter all that has happened this year as we grapple with betrayals of the past and the predatory power grabs of the present, we must remember all the amazing things we can do in preparation of the future we will build together.


Accelerated Growth Environment: Amazon|Barnes & Noble|Bookshop|Shiraki Press 

Author Socials: Website|Instagram|Bluesky|Linktree  

Wednesday offers condolences

Mar. 4th, 2026 06:17 pm
oursin: Photograph of small impressionistic metal figurine seated reading a book (Reader)
[personal profile] oursin

What I read

Finished A Slowly Dying Cause and she does seem to be grinding these out rather. Also I didn't actually check the details but there were some descriptive passages of places that seemed very similar, or least deploying the same epithets - 'the demilune beach' I think was one - that seemed a bit cut and paste. Also maybe more Havers, but when she finally appeared did we want that plot development??? And something entirely new (or rather, old and heritage) for Lynley to angst about.

Then read the latest Slightly Foxed.

Then onto GB Stern, The Woman in the Hall (1939), which it is longer since I last read than I thought. Still v good but not sure that I will be reccing it for the book group.

Then this already discussed - further thought that it was rather like hearing somebody tell one about book they have read - at least this bore a fairly close resemblance to the original, was not like that scene in one of E Nesbit's Bastable novels in which they talk about Charlotte Yonge's The Daisy Chain and all appear to have been reading entirely different book.... But still left a lot out.

On the go

After that I actually started Nicola Barker, TonyInterrupter (2025), Kobo deal/sortes ereader, which I was quite enjoying, and then -

Arrival of Barbara Hambly, Death at the Palace (A Silver Screen Historical Mystery Book 4) so am currently immersed in that.

Next up

And after that, imagine it will be straight on to Cat Sebastian, Star Shipped, which also published yesterday. Then maybe back to TonyInterrupter.

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jeshyr: Blessed are the broken. Harry Potter. (Default)
Ricky Buchanan