arcanetrivia: animated gif of Guybrush, dizzy with stars over his head after jumping through the window of the Bloody Lip bar (monkey island (guybrush dizzy))
[personal profile] arcanetrivia posting in [site community profile] dw_community_promo
Ahoy there, adventure gamers! [community profile] monkeyisland is a community for the beloved classic game series Monkey Island, featuring the comedic swashbuckling adventures of the improbably-named Guybrush Threepwood, Mighty Pirate™. Anything about Monkey Island is fair game: your own fanworks (art, fic, videos, games, music, cosplay, memes/silliness, whatever), recs of others' fanworks, livestreams/let's-plays, discussions, news and articles, tips for messing about in the game resources or scripting, requests for hints, screenshots, all that good stuff. If Monkey Island is your jam rum rum and jam (it's an old pirate favorite, everybody knows that), then come on over and have a grog.

Monkey Island text logo

Birdfeeding

Oct. 23rd, 2025 01:56 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Today is mostly sunny and cool.

I fed the birds.  I've seen a small flock of sparrows and house finches.  Some of the sparrows were splashing in the red birdbath.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 10/23/25 -- I potted up some of the asparagus seeds from the Charleston Food Forest.

EDIT 10/23/25 -- I planted 10 'Colour Magic' tulips around the barrel garden, and still have 10 left.  These flowers change colors as they mature, often starting white or yellow with color at the edges which then spreads.

EDIT 10/23/25 -- I planted the rest of the 'Color Magic' tulips in the tulip bed.






.
 

Today's Smoothie

Oct. 22nd, 2025 10:45 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Note to self: do not put red grapes in a green smoothie. Red + green = brown. :/ It still tastes good, but it is not the beautiful jade-green that we usually get.

We use the Alan's Going Green Smoothie. We don't use the jalapeño or cashews. Sometimes we use a kiwi instead of a lime. Today we used a handful of pea shoots instead of spinach, so there's a pea flavor alongside the lime.

Photography

Oct. 22nd, 2025 05:53 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Córdoba -- Festival of the Patios

In addition to being listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Córdoba also appears on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list for its Festival of the Patios. Held each spring, the festival celebrates the tradition of decorating the patios or courtyards of the homes in the historic center of the city with flowers and other plants. During the Festival, these patios are open to the public, to show off the beauty of these spaces.

The pictures come from later in the season, not the festival itself, but are still beautiful.

Are you looking for a theme to make your small town stand out? Or a theme for a spring event that isn't Easter? Consider a patio festival! Celebrate the beauty of small gardens on patios, balconies, front porches, etc. Get your local florists and garden shops to join the fun with special displays or sales.  Throw in a plant / seed swap for houseplants, garden plants that are customarily divided or planted in spring, local landraces of flowers or vegetables, and so on.

Birdfeeding

Oct. 22nd, 2025 02:37 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Today is mostly sunny, breezy, and cool.

I fed the birds. I've seen a few sparrows and house finches.

I put out water for the birds.

10/22/25 -- I installed the larger of the two wormstones beside the barrel garden. First I picked a spot, then I cleared the weeds. I dug into the ground a little so that the stone would lie closer to the surface. I had to move a few tulip bulbs that turned up there. Then I put the stone in place and pushed the soil back around the edges. \o/

10/22/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

10/22/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

10/22/25 -- I installed the second wormstone by the barrel garden.

10/22/25 -- I planted 10 'Flaming Beauties' tulips around the barrel garden. I still have 10 left. These are streaked tulips so they are yellow/red, purple/white, etc.

10/22/25 -- I planted the rest of the 'Flaming Beauties' in the tulip bed.

As it is almost suppertime, I am done for the night.

...p...p-p-PENIS?!!!

Oct. 21st, 2025 10:56 pm
azurelunatic: melting chocolate teapot (418)
[personal profile] azurelunatic
Today Belovedest had to bust the teenagers for playing "the penis game" in the library.

[You say the word increasingly loudly, in turns, until someone loses the game by being told to cut it out or being asked to leave.]

The weather's getting colder, but I have evolved myself an outfit to wear outdoors for lounging while the weather's in the high 50s F -- my slightly ratty plush bathrobe underneath my much more windproof corduroy floor length duster. And the ta'al fingerless mgloves Mama knitted for me, in rainbow stripes. They're just the thing for keeping my hands warm while I'm on the phone.

I've discovered I do enjoy cauliflower "wings", even though I don't enjoy chicken wings.

The scooter has arrived. I am plotting how best to bedazzle it. It does have its own USB power outlet! It also has head and tail lights. It's better for approaching counters than the wheelchair, since the tiller is so close to me.

[personal profile] norabombay points out that given all the poorly supervised international visitors who have been in and out of the White House, they're going to have to take it down to the studs when they refit it for #48 to use. So the general devastation in the East Wing is small potatoes as far as outrage fodder. And anywhere that the last major update was 1947-ish must really need some yanking out of the century of the fruitbat.

My legs are doing better. In part this is because I stuck ibuprofen in my nightly pill box, since I'd been waking up with aching legs and shouting knees pretty consistently.

Medication: the medication definitely has some activity. The main activity seems to be that my appetite has been fading in and out of "did we recently have chemo?!" mode. I'm tempted to give myself a week off every few weeks.

Makeup: currently waiting on a liquid formulation of the eyeshadow that promised to match the eyeliner, because the color is fantastic and I want it in a wide brush. I guess the powder can work for blending it out. (The powder just does not want to cooperate and layer on thick enough to get the color shift effect, even with a wet brush.) My skin continues to behave itself better than my ability to use foundation; there are only a few spots where I want to color correct if I'm doing Full Battle Makeup.

Games: keeping up with all the Gems of War events is sometimes tiring, but it does make winding down my brain at night much easier than other things I could be doing.

Perfume: went through my massive perfume spreadsheet and filled in the formulation for all the BPAL (which is the same except for that one spray). Cracked myself up at some of the descriptions I've left. One particular exceedingly long-lasting one
Read more... )

Mad Science

Oct. 22nd, 2025 12:27 am
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Scientists say dimming the sun could spark global chaos

Researchers warn that real-world solar geoengineering would be far more unpredictable and risky than models suggest.

Scientists are taking the once-radical concept of dimming the sun through stratospheric aerosol injection (SAI) seriously, but a Columbia University team warns that reality is far messier than models suggest. Their study reveals how physical, geopolitical, and economic constraints could derail even the best-intentioned attempts to cool the planet. From unpredictable monsoon disruptions to material shortages and optical inefficiencies, every step introduces new risks.


WARNING: Do not practice mad science on whole planet!

Cuddle Party

Oct. 22nd, 2025 12:08 am
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Everyone needs contact comfort sometimes. Not everyone has ample opportunities for this in facetime. So here is a chance for a cuddle party in cyberspace. Virtual cuddling can help people feel better.

We have a
cuddle room that comes with fort cushions, fort frames, sheets for draping, and a weighted blanket. A nest full of colorful egg pillows sits in one corner. There is a basket of grooming brushes, hairbrushes, and styling combs. A bin holds textured pillows. There is a big basket of craft supplies along with art markers, coloring pages, and blank paper. The kitchen has a popcorn machine. Labels are available to mark dietary needs, recipe ingredients, and level of spiciness. Here is the bathroom, open to everyone. There is a lawn tent and an outdoor hot tub. Bathers should post a sign for nude or clothed activity. Come snuggle up!


Enjoy a feast for Halloween, Samhain, All Saints Day, Dia de los Muertos, or whatever you prefer...

Read more... )

NaNoWriMo

Oct. 21st, 2025 10:50 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Here's a list of NaNoWriMo replacements.  These are good options if you're fed up with the old NaNoWriMo.  However, plenty of people are still doing that, so if you have enjoyed it, you can just keep writing a novel in November.

Looking for other activities?  [community profile] goals_on_dw has lists of Writing and Art activities that include November options.

Today's Adventures

Oct. 21st, 2025 10:20 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
We went up to Champaign today.

Read more... )

Birdfeeding

Oct. 21st, 2025 01:09 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Today is mostly sunny and cool.

I fed the birds.  I've seen some sparrows and house finches.

I put out water for the birds. 

multifandom icons.

Oct. 21st, 2025 04:13 pm
wickedgame: always & forever (Legend of the Seeker)
[personal profile] wickedgame posting in [community profile] icons
Fandoms: Bed Friend, Echo, Euphoria, Fallout, Hawkeye, I Will Turn Back This Time, Jessica Jones, Killing Eve, Legends of Tomorrow, Mako Mermaids, Moon Knight, Motorheads, Mr. Robot, Ransom Canyon, Superman & Lois, Wednesday, Yellowjackets

lot-7x02.png ransomcanyon-1x07.png superman&lois-2x01.png
rest HERE
[community profile] mundodefieras 

Color Pooling

Oct. 21st, 2025 01:03 am
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
When you craft with variegated yarn, it can cause color pooling. Some people dislike this, but planned pooling may be used to create fancy designs without switching yarn.  A friend tipped me to some websites for it.  If you'd like to play with the concept there are many online colourpooling generators/planning tools: https://magicneedles.in/blogs/guide-more/what-is-planned-pooling and https://mathgrrl.com/crochet-color-pooling/ are both great, and https://plannedpooling.com/ is the original.
ysabetwordsmith: (Schrodinger's Heroes)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
This poem is spillover from the June 4, 2024 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from [personal profile] dialecticdreamer. It also fills the "Public Places" square in my 6-1-24 card for the Pride Fest Bingo. This poem has been sponsored by a pool with [personal profile] fuzzyred and [personal profile] mama_kestrel. It is an alternate universe crossover of Polychrome Heroics and Schrodinger's Heroes.

Read more... )

Poem: "And Everything Collapses"

Oct. 20th, 2025 11:30 pm
ysabetwordsmith: (Schrodinger's Heroes)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
This poem is spillover from the September 5, 2023 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by prompts from [personal profile] dialecticdreamer and [personal profile] see_also_friend. It also fills the "Adversary" square in my 9-1-23 card for the Story Sparks Bingo Fest. This poem has been sponsored by a pool with [personal profile] fuzzyred and [personal profile] mama_kestrel. It is an alternate universe crossover of Polychrome Heroics and Schrodinger's Heroes, based on the Edison's Mirror dimension created by [personal profile] dialecticdreamer -- she's currently running a story arc in that, so check it out.

Read more... )

Today's Cooking

Oct. 20th, 2025 11:20 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Tonight I made the blueberry muffins again.  This time I added a teaspoon of freeze-dried lemon powder.  The lemon flavor is there, if subtle.  I may try this again with honey instead of maple syrup.

Straight out of the bag the lemon powder is intense, sour, and surprisingly floral.  It lacks the bitter notes I was expecting, as it comes from complete lemons peel and all, so if you want that you'll need to use fresh zest.  Advantages of the powder are that it's not overwhelming, it's dry rather than wet, it's not so acidic that it's liable to curdle things as fresh lemon juice can do, it can't spill, it should have good shelf life, and unlike lemon extract it contains no alcohol.  I'd like to explore more uses for this.  One suggestion was making lemonade or stirring it into tea, and yeah, it does smell like lemonade powder.  If you like sour flavors, you could certainly use this as a dusting ingredient for candies or cookies.

Poem: "Cause a Riot of Color"

Oct. 20th, 2025 10:45 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Damask smiling over their shoulder (polychrome)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
This poem is spillover from the May 6, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by prompts from [personal profile] fuzzyred , [personal profile] see_also_friend, [personal profile] labelleizzy, and [personal profile] wyld_dandelyon. It also fills the "Riot of Color" square in my 5-1-25 card for the Colors Fest Bingo. This poem has been sponsored by a pool with [personal profile] fuzzyred and [personal profile] mama_kestrel. It belongs to the Shiv and Big One threads of the Polychrome Heroics series. It follows "Babes in the Pineywoods," so read that first or this won't make any sense.

Read more... )
ysabetwordsmith: Damask smiling over their shoulder (polychrome)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
This poem came out of the October 1, 2024 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from [personal profile] siliconshaman. It also fills the "Energy" square in my 10-1-24 card for the Fall Fest Bingo. This poem has been sponsored by a pool with [personal profile] fuzzyred and [personal profile] mama_kestrel. It belongs to the Shiv thread of the Polychrome Heroics series.

Read more... )

Monday Update 10-20-25

Oct. 20th, 2025 02:56 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Artwork of the wordsmith typing. (typing)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
These are some posts from the later part of last week in case you missed them:
Poem: "The First Swath Cut by the Scythe"
Linguistics
Poem: "Finding the Gold of the Spirit"
Poem: "Thresh Through the Complexity of Life"
Today's Cooking
Birdfeeding
Romance
Poem: "Knitting Is a Therapeutic Activity"
Today's Adventures
Vocabulary: Vellichor
Birdfeeding
Science
Creative Jam
Philosophical Questions: Tribalism
Today's Adventures
Today's Cooking
Follow Friday 10-17-25: Joss Whedon
Wildlife
Birdfeeding
Books
Birdfeeding
Food
Gaming
Birdfeeding
Activism
Hard Things

Poem: "New and Innovative Approaches" is featured in today's Magpie Monday by [personal profile] dialecticdreamer. If you like Frank the Crank, drop her some prompts or join the discussion under the poem, which already has 19 comments.

Trauma has 30 comments. Food has 52 comments. Affordable Housing has 55 comments. Robotics has 89 comments.


"An Inkling of Things to Come" belongs to Polychrome: Shiv and needs $191 to be complete. Maiara and Arthur discuss taking notes.


The weather is much cooler and fall-like now. It rained most of Saturday and was around 75°F that day, then dropped 20 degrees overnight so Sunday was around 55°F. Seen at the birdfeeders this week: a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches, a male cardinal, and a fox squirrel. While we were out Saturday, I saw a bald eagle! :D 3q3q3q!!! Currently blooming: dandelions, marigolds, petunias, red salvia, verbena, lantana, sweet alyssum, zinnias, snapdragons, blue lobelia, perennial pinks, oxalis, moss rose, firecracker plant, tomatoes, tomatillos, morning glory, chicory, Queen Anne's lace, sunflowers, cup plant, cypress vine, sunchokes, sedum, violas. Tomatoes, ball carrots, and groundcherries are ripe. Fields are about 2/3 harvested.

Birdfeeding

Oct. 20th, 2025 02:46 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Today is mostly sunny, breezy, and cool.

I fed the birds. I've seen a few sparrows and house finches.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 10/20/25 -- We rolled up the hose.

EDIT 10/20/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 10/20/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 10/20/25 -- I planted 10 'Spectrum Sweet Aroma' daffodils in the daffodil bed. I have at least 15 more to spread around.

EDIT 10/20/25 -- I finished planting the rest of the daffodils under trees in the house yard.

EDIT 10/20/25 -- I planted 10 Pink Snow Crocus in the goddess garden.

As it is almost suppertime, I am done for the night.

Asexual Pride Week

Oct. 20th, 2025 02:27 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
This year's Asexual Pride Week runs October 19-25.

My QUILTBAG characters include many aroace ones.

Asexual Book Lists

Magpie Monday

Oct. 20th, 2025 12:56 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
[personal profile] dialecticdreamer is hosting Magpie Monday with a theme of "hidden expectations or accidental entanglements."

Over on [personal profile] ysabetwordsmith’s blog here on Dreamwidth, a comment on her poem “New and Innovative Approaches,” led to the theme for this month’s Magpie Monday.

Because there’s such a strong tie to Frank the Crank’s write-in election to the Mercedes city council, I’d like to specify that all the prompts remain in or around Mercedes, in the Polychrome Heroics universe. It’s still possible to write a near-infinite range of prompts which connect to one or both of the broad ideas of this month’s theme. Modern society has an enormous number of hidden expectations, based on one’s age, gender, skin tone, ability or disability, and even one’s mental health. How do those expectations affect life as the town is rebuilding after a tremendous, world-changing earthquake? Is it easier to stay, where there are familiar faces and resources (stretched to the breaking point), or to leave, to possibly escape a hidden expectation?

AWS outage

Oct. 20th, 2025 10:11 am
alierak: (Default)
[personal profile] alierak posting in [site community profile] dw_maintenance
DW is seeing some issues due to today's Amazon outage. For right now it looks like the site is loading, but it may be slow. Some of our processes like notifications and journal search don't appear to be running and can't be started due to rate limiting or capacity issues. DW could go down later if Amazon isn't able to improve things soon, but our services should return to normal when Amazon has cleared up the outage.

Edit: all services are running as of 16:12 CDT, but there is definitely still a backlog of notifications to get through.

Edit 2: and at 18:20 CDT everything's been running normally for about the last hour.
ysabetwordsmith: Damask smiling over their shoulder (polychrome)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
This poem was written outside the regular prompt calls. It fills the "scythe" square in my 8-1-25 card for the Discworld Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by a pool with [personal profile] fuzzyred and [personal profile] mama_kestrel. It belongs to the Shiv thread of the Polychrome Heroics series.

Read more... )

Linguistics

Oct. 19th, 2025 09:14 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
New in-browser language app, lang.guru

It's in open beta right now and free to join. It has the usual suspects of Spanish, German, French, some Asian languages, Hebrew and Arabic, a bunch of Slavic languages (I know her from Balkan choir), and more.

If you're tired of the gamification of Duolingo, give it a try!
https://lang.guru .
ysabetwordsmith: Damask smiling over their shoulder (polychrome)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
This poem is spillover from the July 15, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from [personal profile] fuzzyred. It also fills the "Gambling" square in my 7-1-25 card for the Western Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by a pool with [personal profile] fuzzyred and [personal profile] mama_kestrel. It belongs to the Shiv thread of the Polychrome Heroics series. This is a sequel to "Renewing a Sense of Community," so read that first or this won't make much sense.

Read more... )
ysabetwordsmith: Damask smiling over their shoulder (polychrome)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
This poem is spillover from the June 3, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by prompts from [personal profile] fuzzyred and [personal profile] see_also_friend. It has been sponsored by a pool with [personal profile] fuzzyred and [personal profile] mama_kestrel. This poem belongs to the Shiv thread of the Polychrome Heroics series.

Read more... )

Today's Cooking

Oct. 19th, 2025 04:06 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Today I am making butternut squash soup inspired by the recipe from Stock the Crock.  I'm modifying it because we have a tiny butternut and there are only 2 of us.  I'm using the corncob broth for the first time, so that's exciting.  I also used pumpkin pie spice instead of the rather stingy amounts of cinnamon and nutmeg; we use this regularly in baked acorn squash.

My partner Doug pointed out that there is no protein-heavy ingredient.  It's a pureed vegetable soup once finished.  So if we like this, one future option would be to add a flavorless white bean, such as navy beans, that will blend in smoothly and add protein without really affecting the flavor or texture much.  Alternatively, we could dice up some bacon to stir in or sprinkle on after seasoning.  A later thought would be adding chicken puree, as squash soups often use chicken broth to good effect, but I haven't ever tried to puree chicken.

EDIT 10/19/25 -- The soup turned out quite well.  It didn't make a lot, just enough for the two of us and one leftover, so I'm saving that in the freezer.

Birdfeeding

Oct. 19th, 2025 02:08 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Today is mostly sunny, chilly, and breezy. It rained copiously yesterday, which should help restore water and make fall planting easier. Also while we were out at events, I saw a bald eagle. :D 3q3q3q!!! I hadn't seen any since spring, so that was exciting.

I fed the birds. I haven't seen any activity today.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 10/19/25 -- I planted 7 'White Emperor" tulips in the purple-and-white garden.

EDIT 10/19/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 10/19/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 10/19/25 -- I cleaned seeds from the butternut squash and set them to dry. I got a lot of seed from that one tiny squash, probably 2-3 packets worth.

EDIT 10/19/25 -- I planted 6 'Decoy' daffodils in the daffodil bed. These are supposed to be white with red cups, and there was an extra in the bag.

EDIT 10/19/25 -- I planted 5 'Kiwi Sunset' daffodils in the daffodil bed. These are double daffodils with yellow petals and double orange-and-yellow pompom cups.

As it is almost suppertime, I am done for the night.

Romance

Oct. 19th, 2025 01:14 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Is the Book Always Better? - Reasons Why TV Romances Do Nothing

Most people have heard of the five different love languages: Physical Touch, Giving Gifts, Words of Affirmation, Quality Time and Acts of Service.

But what I am noticing more and more is that in my experience, the way love is portrayed in entertainment varies depending on the medium. This is why I believe that certain women love TV and other women do better with a book.


Read more... )

Music

Oct. 18th, 2025 10:49 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Impromptu "Hallelujah" in a park

If you have a gift, share it.  If someone starts something you're good at, join in.  Make connections.  Make something beautiful.
ysabetwordsmith: Damask smiling over their shoulder (polychrome)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
This poem is spillover from the April 1, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by prompts from [personal profile] fuzzyred and [personal profile] mama_kestrel. It also fills the "Arts and Crafts Movement" square in my 4-1-25 card for the Aesthetics Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by [personal profile] janetmiles. It belongs to the Shiv thread of the Polychrome Heroics series.

Read more... )

Today's Adventures

Oct. 18th, 2025 05:34 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Today we went to two events: the Otto Center's craft show and the ODD Market in Tuscola. It rained off and on today, which we desperately needed, but we didn't let that stop us.

Read more... )

Vocabulary: Vellichor

Oct. 18th, 2025 05:16 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Vellichor: capturing the scent memories of old books

Specifically, the word ‘vellichor’ sketches the overwhelming wistfulness that can engulf us when we enter an antiquarian bookshop or library, and are plunged into an olfactory sensation far beyond smelling the paper, leather and dust. Just as the olfactory word it was inspired by – petrichor – is larger than the sum of its parts; so vellichor conjures a fragrant universe far beyond the smell of a room lined with leather-bound tomes, ‘which are somehow infused with the passage of time.’ We feel nostalgia for our own past, for the memories instantaneously triggered when we pick up a particular book, for that comfort the very act of reading and escaping to another world can bring.

I'm sure that everyone in my audience needs this word.

Birdfeeding

Oct. 18th, 2025 12:56 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Today is cloudy, mild, and damp.  We got a cocktease drizzle of rain for about 2 minutes.  :/ 

I fed the birds.  I haven't seen any today though.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 10/18/25 -- It rained!  :D  It's been raining off and on for much of the day, so I won't need to water and will have an easier time planting the box of bulbs that arrived yesterday.










.

Pool Update

Oct. 18th, 2025 12:06 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
[personal profile] fuzzyred will close the pool for the half-price sale in Polychrome Heroics some time this evening, since the sale closes Sunday night, to allow time for collecting donations.  So if you still want to get in on that, now's the time.

Science

Oct. 18th, 2025 01:31 am
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Quantum crystals could spark the next tech revolution

Auburn scientists unlock the secrets of free electrons to power the next revolution in computing and chemistry.

Auburn scientists have designed new materials that manipulate free electrons to unlock groundbreaking applications. These “Surface Immobilized Electrides” could power future quantum computers or transform chemical manufacturing. Stable, tunable, and scalable, they represent a leap beyond traditional electrides. The work bridges theory and potential real-world use
.


Well, the toddlers have found a blowtorch...

Creative Jam

Oct. 18th, 2025 01:27 am
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
The October [community profile] crowdfunding Creative Jam is now open with a theme of "Knowledge vs. Ignorance."  Come give us prompts, or claim some for your own inspiration.


What I Have Written


From My Prompts


Creative Jam

Oct. 18th, 2025 01:07 am
ysabetwordsmith: (Crowdfunding butterfly ship)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith posting in [community profile] crowdfunding
Welcome to the 148th Crowdfunding Creative Jam! This session will run Saturday, October 18-Sunday, October 19. The theme is "Knowledge vs. Ignorance."

Crowdfunding Creative Jam

Everyone is eligible to post prompts, which may be words or phrases, titles, images, etc. Prompters may request a specific creator, but everyone else may still use that prompt if they wish. Prompts may specify a particular character/world/etc. but creators may use the prompt for something else anyway and post the results. Prompters are still encouraged to post mostly prompts that anyone could use anywhere, as this maximizes the chance of having creators make something based on your prompt. Please title your comment "Prompt" or "Prompts" when providing inspiration so these are easy to find.

Prompt responses may also be treated as prompts and used for further inspiration. For example, a prompt may lead to a sketch which leads to a story, and so on. This kind of cascading inspiration is one of the most fun things about a collective jam session.

Everyone is eligible to use prompts, and everyone who wants to use a given prompt may do so, for maximum flexibility of creator choice in inspiration. You do not have to post a "Claim" reply when you decide to use a prompt, but this does help indicate what is going on so that other prompters can spread out their choice of prompts if they wish.

Creators are encouraged, but not required, to post at least one item free. Likewise, sharing a private copy of material with the prompter is encouraged but not required. Creative material resulting from prompts should be indicated in a reply to the prompt, with a link to the full content elsewhere on the creator's site (if desired); a brief excerpt and/or description of the material may be included in the reply (if desired). It helps to title your comment "Prompt Filled" or something like that so these are easy to identify. There is no time limit on responding to prompts. However, creators are encouraged to post replies sooner rather than later, as the attention of prompters will be highest during and shortly after the session.

Some items created from prompts may become available for sponsorship. Some creators may offer perks for donations, linkbacks, or other activity relating to this project. Check creator comments and links for their respective offerings.

Prompters, creators, and bystanders are expected to behave in a responsible and civil manner. If the moderators have to drag someone out of the sandbox for improper behavior, we will not be amused. Please respect other people's territory and intellectual property rights, and only play with someone else's characters/setting/etc. if you have permission. (Fanfic/fanart freebies are okay.) If you want to invite folks to play with something of yours, title the comment something like "Open Playground" so it's easy to spot. This can be a good way to attract new people to a shared world or open-source project, or just have some good non-canon fun.

Boost the signal! The more people who participate, the more fun this will be. Hopefully we'll see activity from a lot of folks who regularly mention their projects in this community, but new people are always welcome. You can link to this session post or to individual items created from prompts, whatever you think is awesome enough to recommend to your friends.

Philosophical Questions: Tribalism

Oct. 18th, 2025 12:38 am
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
People have expressed interest in deep topics, so this list focuses on philosophical questions.

Will humanity ever be able to escape tribalism and the creation of in and out groups? Should it?

Read more... )

Today's Adventures

Oct. 17th, 2025 11:00 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Today we ran errands in Charleston.

Read more... )
oh_what_can_it_mean: quote: "if I don't write to empty my mind, I'll go mad" (Default)
[personal profile] oh_what_can_it_mean
I've had this on the Google Doc for well over a year.

Ara: "It's like playing Never Have I Ever with my old creche group. I always lose-slash-win, and Kenobi always wins-slash-loses."

Players: Arala "Ara" Melnau, Jitendra "Jitters" Norwal, Quinlan "Quin" Vos, and Kressa Carlin

Never Have I Ever...
...activated my lightsaber during a sexual roleplay.
(Ara might or might not have done the as-yet-unposted roleplay with Cin at this point.)
...had sex with the same person on more than three planets.
(Quin and Kressa.)
...had an orgasm while in hyperspace.
(Not sure who'd be saying this one, because it's likely to apply to all of them.)
...had a wet dream while in hyperspace.
(Ibid.)
...masturbated to the thought of someone in this room.
(Ara: "Once for at all, or once for each person?")
...had sex with someone in this room. (Ara: "Once for at all, or once for each person?" Though in both cases, she's not the only person who drinks.)  (10/22/25: Obi-Wan says this one; all four of the others make rude gestures as they drink.)
...attempted to perform oral sex on myself.
...succeeded at performing oral sex on myself.
...performed oral sex on more than three people in a calendar day.
(Ara's the only one to drink--the reward thingy from this--and she gives Carlin the finger as she does so)
...licked my own elbow.
...bought someone a life day [birthday] or Light Nights gift while they were present, without them knowing what the purchase was for.
...been arrested.
(Quin, Kressa, Obi-Wan. Typical field knight stuff.)
...jumped from a roof. (Quin, Kressa, Obi-Wan.)
...done accidental telekinesis while climaxing after my S-training. (Obi-Wan, if it takes place after ATLL.)
...had a bad allergic reaction.
(Maybe this is where Ara learns that Jitters tried the meds that let standard grav humans walk around on Sphinx and it went badly.)
...worked in food service.
...been on the HoloNet/news. (Unposted-as-yet short bit where Padawans Ara and Jitters use Dooku's season pass balcony seats at the Coruscant Philharmonic and a droid cam catches Jitters staring besottedly at Ara while she's enraptured with the orchestra.)
...had sex with my master. (Ara uses this to make the whole group drink, and then Obi-Wan doesn't drink... o.O)
...thrown something at the holotank. (Definitely Ara. Maybe Kressa.)
...spent a night in the woods with no shelter.
(Quin, Kressa, Obi-Wan, and--surprisingly--Jitters.)
...injured myself trying to impress someone I was interested in.
...gone skinny dipping (in Temple/on Coruscant/on a mission). 
...played strip sabacc.
(Quin, Kressa.)
...lied to someone in this room.
...had a friend with benefits.
(Obi-Wan says this one and everyone else drinks.)
...fallen in love at first sight. (Only Jitters drinks.)
...helped a friend lie by being their alibi.
...enjoyed a smell I'm supposed to find gross (for my species).
...gotten a tattoo.
(Quin, obviously. Not sure about the others.)
...gotten injured during sex.
("How injured is injured?" Ara asks. meaning needing professional medical attention).
...broken someone's heart. (Obi-Wan drinks at Ara's prompt, Ara drinks at Jitters's prompt. Possible Ara "well, actually..." not sure about the rest of the Obi-Wan Kenobi Sexual Frustration Club: Quinlan, Kressa, Jitters)
...fallen in love. (Everyone, unless it takes place before Obi-Wan's bond with Yoda snaps into place.)
...fallen out of love.
(Maybe Quin before meeting Kressa, definitely Obi-Wan falling out of love with Qui-Gon.)
...had sex with a stranger.
(Quin, Kressa, maybe Jitters.)
...had an epiphany. 
...said "I love you" without meaning it.
...pretended to agree with someone in order to avoid an argument.
...said the wrong name during sex.
(Not sure if anybody; maybe all but Obi-Wan got the same S-training advice that if they're planning on having multiple partners, to get in the habit of not using proper nouns during sex.)
...learned a new hobby just to impress someone.
(Ara: sort-of, taking Manuscript Illumination to spend time with Obi-Wan, but she also wanted to try illuminating sheet music of soul songs.)
...called someone "Daddy." (not one's actual father) (Maybe Ara with Cin, but only jokingly--she's really not into age-play.)

===

Today's Cooking

Oct. 17th, 2025 10:01 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Today I am making the recipe for blueberry muffins off the package of Quaker oat flour that we got today. The sweetener is maple syrup -- already the batter tastes good.

EDIT 10/17/25 -- Well, that was a rousing success.  :D  They taste very much like blueberry pancakes, but in a more convenient and portable form.  They're sweet but not too sweet, more a foodmuffin than a dessert muffin.  The flavor and texture is a bit different from wheat flour, but it doesn't have a strong "oatmeal" flavor.  Definitely worth making again.

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