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spinning WIP

Or: if your goal is threadweight/cobweb, why silk fiber is not quite as profligate an expense as you might think:

The white is mulberry bombyx silk; the tawny stuff was my briefly foraying into eri silk. This is for personal use/enjoyment (needle lace) so it's fine that I'm wandering off like this. This is several hours of admittedly inefficient spinning, since I take frequent breaks so there's a very start-stop nature to it, but because the spin is so fine, this bobbin is...not very full.

This is what I have REMAINING in 2 oz. of mulberry silk combed top (about $25 USD). It exploded out of the package (typical) and also, it barely looks like I've even used any of it. As it stands, I suspect I'm going to be spinning this combed top for the next 30,000 years. :)

That said, silk is my absolute favorite to spin and I prefer spinning threadweight, so this is not a hardship.

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At Least One Underlying Condition [Covid, US, Patreon]

Canonical link: https://siderea.dreamwidth.org/1882720.html

0.

Hey, Americans! Look sharp, the Trump Administration is trying to play a head game on you about Covid vaccines, and it's apparently working, because I see nobody talking about this in the news or on social media.

There's a lot of complexity and chaos right now about what is available to whom and how to get it. Things are changing fast, especially on the state level. I hope to discuss it in another post, but there's one thing in particular I want to clarify for you.

As you've probably heard, week and a half ago, the FDA changed the authorization for the Covid vaccines, in a way which curtails access. The thing that people are hearing is that for people under 65 years old the Covid vaccines are not authorized with some exceptions.

That's technically correct, but badly misleading. A lot of people hear "not authorized" and stop really listening to the rest of the sentence. They hear "with some exceptions" and assume they're not likely to be one such, and won't qualify to get it, and tune right out.

To be cynical for a moment, you're meant to assume that.

But it turns out you're one of the exceptions. Probably. How can I know that?

The actual language from the FDA authorization just issued ( Read more [2,750 words] )

This post brought to you by the 218 readers who funded my writing it – thank you all so much! You can see who they are at my Patreon page. If you're not one of them, and would be willing to chip in so I can write more things like this, please do so there.

Please leave comments on the Comment Catcher comment, instead of the main body of the post – unless you are commenting to get a copy of the post sent to you in email through the notification system, then go ahead and comment on it directly. Thanks!

Current Mood: happy
Current Music: Pet Shop Boys- So Hard

Spy x Family Season 3 trailer

Seems one of my top favorites has gotten its third season. Crunchyroll unveiled the trailer a day ago and was wise not revealing much in terms of spoiling it the context. I can't wait to watch it all when I can see it.

Here's the link for said trailer

Spy X Family season 3 trailer

Current Mood: busy

see you on the flip side

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Current Mood: nostalgic

Return of the Jedi

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Ex Tenebris TTRPG on Kickstarter! (I'm writing a scenario for this)

Ex Tenebris: a gothic space opera TTRPG [Kickstarter, already funded!].

Beyond the dark emptiness of space, beyond dreaming, lies the Tenebrium. Only you can unearth its mysteries, defeat the twisted horrors that lurk there, and keep humanity from becoming prey.

In Ex Tenebris, you play a ragtag team of investigators, protecting the Republic of Stars from terrifying supernatural threats. You will face sorcerers and cults, dark technology from lost civilisations and the slobbering terrors lurking in the nightmare realm of the Tenebrium.

Ex Tenebris is a complete TTRPG containing all the rules, setting and scenarios that you need to embark on adventures amongst the stars.

[...]

Ex Tenebris takes inspiration from the grotesque imagery of the Aliens movies, the existential dread of Event Horizon, the mysticism of Dune, the dark gothic setting of Warhammer 40,000, and the weird science/magic fusion of Ninefox Gambit.

- Josh Fox, lead designer & writer
- Becky Annison, writer
- Juan Ochoa, illustrator
- Nathan D. Paoletta, layout and graphic design
- Andriy Lukin, logo design
- Jog Brogzin, cartographer
- Chirag Asnani, writer
- Sarah Doom, writer
- Eleanor Hingley, writer
- Kieron Gillen, writer
- Yoon Ha Lee, writer (howdy!)
- Tejas Oza, writer
- Galen Pejeau, writer

Current Mood: aggravated

Weird Interaction with Local Politician

So I recently had a weird interaction with a local politician, Jack Perenick. After I mentioned that the Election Commission sent me a mail-it voting packet that did not include a ballot, he told me that was because I was declared an inactive voter and would need to apply to be reinstated. He then pulled out his phone, brought up an app, and stated that, of the listed voters I live with, two were not active. I was declared inactive a couple months ago, and one of my house mates, G___, had their voting address changed in the last month to an address they have not lived at in years. He then showed me their entry on the phone app that listed the old address. He then told me to not worry, that he would take care of everything. After that, he then fiddled with his phone a bit, touched the screen a few times, and then said 'There, done, I have take care of it, I have updated the election commission records. You and G___ can now vote again.'

So, when I looked into things, none of that was true. I was not declared inactive, G___ did not have their address changed to an old one within the previous month, and candidates can not update election commission records with a phone app**. All of it was a lie.

** There is a phone app that shows them the names, addresses, etc, but it only displays information, it does not have the ability to alter any of it.

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SVSSS: The Way to a Man's Heart is His Stomach by CheckersXIV

Fandom:The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System
Pairings/Characters: Luo Binghe/Shen Yuan
Rating: T
Length: 14.5k
Creator Links: CheckersXIV
Theme: Food and cooking, (Five) Things, Complete AU

Summary: Luo Binghe has accepted his life for what it is: a dull repetition of a burned-out passion for a job. Back when he started his "Not Your Mother's" cooking channel on youtube, he had been ready to face the world. Now he just wants the world out of his face. When he hits one more bump in the road, he can't really say it's too surprising considering that the universe seems to just hate him.

And yet, the universe sends him to Shen Yuan.
_
Or 5 times Shen Yuan accidentally distracts Luo Binghe's attention from his videos, and the one time Luo Binghe gets his.

Reccer's Notes: This theme was a good excuse to go back for a reread. I love a fic where the point isn't so much falling in love as growing into the kind of person ready to love and be Loved.

5+1 is always a fun framing device. Particularly when combined with in universe comment section. And I love that this js a broad world with various people who know each other from various settings in it.

Fanwork Links: The Way to a Man's Heart is His Stomach

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daily

Daily Check-in

This is your check-in post for today. The poll will be open from midnight Universal or Zulu Time (8pm Eastern Time) on Wednesday, September 10, to midnight on Thursday, September 11. (8pm Eastern Time).

Poll #33598 Daily Check-in

Open to: Access List, detailed results viewable to: Access List, participants: 19

How are you doing?

I am OK.
8 (42.1%)

I am not OK, but don't need help right now.
11 (57.9%)

I could use some help.
0 (0.0%)

How many other humans live with you?

I am living single.
6 (31.6%)

One other person.
9 (47.4%)

More than one other person.
4 (21.1%)

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.

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alpaca adventures, cont'd

Test spin of small experimental alpaca floof batch.

For lagniappe, the completed smol woven object made from my handspun that's headed to

eller, mostly wool/silk/angelina blends (both colorways). :3

Entry tags:

pols,
tech

Interesting app for Android [tech]

I don't know who needs to know about this, but:

I just discovered the Android app "Periodically". It's described as an "event logger". It's for keeping track of when a recurring thing has happened, and figuring out what the average time is between occurrences. You just keep it updated each time the event happens, and it will do the math for you to figure out the frequency, and even give you a notification when it predicts the event is likely to happen again. If you're tracking more than one thing, it will try to suss out correlations for you.

I mention because twenty five years ago or so, I needed exactly this functionality and could not find any application that would do what I needed, so I wrote a thing for myself, and since then a lot of people I've mentioned it to have wondered where they can get one like it. Mine was Mac/Palm Pilot, so not of much use to most people, especially these days.
Lo, somebody seems to have realized the need for this functionality, and brought it to the market. So I thought I'd mention.

Now, in this day and age, a lot of people, especially in the US, are concerned with security. Especially if they're tracking something to do with their health. This app is not specific to health, so nothing about it immediately reveals that it is storing health information on casual inspection; you could use some sort of other term for whatever health condition it is you are actually tracking. So, for instance, If you were tracking how often your migraines happened, you could call that "new box of cereal".

This app defaults to local-only data storage on your Android device, and the developer claims that it only collects "app activity" for analytics, and shares nothing with third parties. It outputs CSV and has an option to back up to Google Drive.

I haven't tried it myself, but it has a rating of 4.6 stars out of five on the Play Store.

Reviewers on the Play Store note that tracker apps that are specific to the kind of event – such as health- specific loggers – often have needless complexity, and often some weird ideas about graphic design. They praise this app for its clean, elegant look and simple, effective functionality.

In addition to its obvious applicability to episodic health conditions, it strikes me as potentially extremely useful in one of the trickier parts of prepping: figuring out one's burn rate of resources. I think I might trial it to help me figure out how often I should expect to have to buy a fresh bale of toilet paper and how long the big bottle of ibuprofen will last me.

sad

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What I'm Doing Wednesday

books
The Disorderly Knights (The Lymond Chronicles #3) by Dorothy Dunnett. 1966. cw: yet more animal harm and graphic violence, child harm, violence against women, dubcon, mention of sexual assault. Swashbuckling! Explosions! Sieges! Mercenaries! ~~Car chases!~~ Malta, Tripoli, Scotland, etc. Much more accessible than the first one, which was Dunnett's first novel. Weird pacing at the end, though.

currently reading: Pawn in Frankincense (The Lymond Chronicles #4) by Dorothy Dunnett. 1969. Baden, Algiers, so far. Piracy!

( yarning )

gift rec request
Mom's having trouble finding a good birthday gift for Niece. She requested "binoculars or a telescope," which another family member is taking care of. Point being, she's not your average almost 5-year-old. She's on swim team, is in ballet, and missed the cut off for kindergarten, so she's still in preschool. I went looking for gift ideas, but they all have small parts, and her brother is still only two and might get into her toys and try to eat things he shouldn't. So no LiteBrite sets or such yet. Any gift ideas, preferably educational, would be much appreciated!

dirt
another baby monstera delicosa has come up! I am so happily surprised! I managed to water nearly everything yesterday & all the other plants are doing well, minus the few who still have a thrips situation, grrrr! :smites all thrips:

healthcrap
had a difficult day Monday, but managed to go get my monthly allergy shot. It's irritating that socializing for less than 2 hours on Sunday makes Monday obligations so challenging. Then I overdid it yesterday and barely slept last night, so today isn't great either. /disability. ( cut for discussion of intended weight loss )

media
I started watching S5 of Lower Decks, and it's so good! I'd forgotten how much I loved S4.

augh
The trunk release lever of my car stopped working. Pretty sure, based on googling, that the cable broke, though I haven't gone spelunking to check. I can still open the trunk with a key, at least, but it's one more thing I need to take care of...or to ignore indefinitely. :(

yuletide!
noms open in less than a week, on the 15th, yay! And the mods have upped the number of fandoms you can nom (5) and request (8)!

#resist
10/18/25: No Kings Day #2

I hope all of y'all are doing well!

Entry tags:

connecticut august 2025

(no subject)

I've been a sloth this morning. It's grey outside with possible showers forecast and I just didn't feel like going out. What I want to do is walk to the Bank of America which is a bit over 3 km/2 miles away to get the cash I couldn't get at the supermarket, but I didn't want to walk that far if it was going to rain. I'll probably go tomorrow as the forecast is for clear and sunny weather then. I did walk up and down the stairs a few times for a quick burst of exercise.

Yesterday I discovered that bears roam through this town sometimes; this is apparently common knowledge, and my daughter has seen bear poo near her compost bin. I remember what a big news item it was when a bear what had escaped from somewhere was seen roaming around near my neigbourhood, so it feels a bit surreal that bear sightings are so taken for granted here.

Biology Department

https://xkcd.com/3140/

Current Mood: amused

Today in Kilts

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365 Questions 2025

4. What do you do over and over again that you hate doing? Most forms of housework.

5. Would you rather your child be less attractive and extremely intelligent or extremely attractive and less intelligent? It would be nice if they could have both, but I think intelligence is more useful in the long term than extreme attractiveness.

6. What white lies do you often tell? I don't find myself telling white lies very often. If I do, it's usually to tell someone they're looking good or something similar when that might not be strictly true.

7. What is the biggest change you have made in your life in the last year? The change was made for me, not by me. I'm now living alone rather than with someone else.

8. What do you understand today about your life that you did not understand a year ago? Nothing comes to mind. I think I'm old enough to have learnt to understand most things about my life.

9. Whose life have you had the greatest impact on? I have no idea. Maybe my children?
10. What did life teach you yesterday? I already knew this, but it was reinforced: you can't depend on things to stay the same.

(no subject)

I read this in a report in an Australian news source about a guy who died after being attacked by a shark off the coast of Queensland in north eastern Australia: "the shark beelined for the back of [the guy] and severed his legs quite severely".

No hike today

The forecast for our last day of hiking was for thundershowers all day, so we said not today, Satan, and rode along with our luggage to our final stop on this part of our trip: Hay-on-Wye. We arrived a little after 10, walked around a bit (often in light rain), changed some euros we've had kicking around for six years, poked our noses into some of the many bookshops the town is famous for, and have now collapsed in our B&B; Geoff is snoring next to me, and even I, who virtually never nap, can hardly keep my eyes open. Taking the day off was a good call.

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SVSSS: Life is (not) a Hallmark Movie by Mellicindi

Fandom: The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System
Pairings/Characters: Luo Binghe/Shen Yuan
Rating: T
Length: 143,334
Creator Links:

mellicindi
Theme: Food & Cooking, (Secret) Hobbies, Asexual & Demisexual Characters, Alternate Universe - Modern, Book Fandoms, Canon LGBTQ+ Characters, Characters of Color, Disability, Families of Choice, Favorite Fanworks, No Canon Required, Novel-Length Fic, Trauma & Recovery.

Summary: Shen Yuan isn't lonely. He's just overseas in a new city, trying to muddle his way through a business degree, and dealing with the side effects of his stupid intestines trying to kill him. So, maybe he sometimes watches ASMR to cope with his too-quiet apartment. Maybe he has a little bit of a parasocial-relationship-thing going on with one particular cooking ASMR channel. It's 2016, who doesn't? The point is, he's content with his quiet life.

And then Shang Qinghua strong-arms him into watching one Hallmark Christmas movie, and it all goes to hell.

Or: Shen Yuan is a Hallmark movie protagonist, Luo Binghe is a Lifetime movie protagonist, and somehow they make it work.

Reccer's Notes: I read this fic over three days right in the middle of Battleship and it instantly became one of my favourite fanfics of all time. I could seriously gush for hours about this fic and its themes: the recurring thread of food as a love language (especially given protagonist Shen Yuan's digestive disability he's too self-conscious to talk openly about), the differing nature of familial, romantic, and friendship bonds and the varying privileges and presumptions behind each, this Luo Binghe's long-term trauma that manifests in the best goddamn depiction of Borderline Personality Disorder I've seen outside Crazy Ex Girlfriend seemingly entirely on accident - and among all of that, it's just a goddamn well-written story, incredibly easy to read and funny and heartfelt and true to its characters while being 100% readable fandom-blind and just - if any of the above appeals to you, I really can't advise anything other than to read it ASAP. <333

Fanwork Links: Life is (not) a Hallmark Movie