Member Posts

Current Mood: hot

Entry tags:

34 °C today

Public

Hottest day of the year, Bewdley, 11th July 2025

161/365: Hottest day of the year, outskirts of Bewdley
Click for a larger, sharper image
As the subject line says, it was indeed 34 °C here today, and Astwood Bank elsewhere in Worcestershire seems to have taken the daily record at 34.7 °C. Looking quickly back, I think the temperature I recorded makes it the third hottest day where I am since I started keeping notice over 20 years ago. Only 18th and 19th July 2022 beat it, and then only by one degree. Certainly it felt unpleasantly hot when I briefly ventured outdoors. Tomorrow looks like being very similar, perhaps only a degree or two cooler at best. That said, it's probably the lack of rain that's bothering people more, especially farmers. You can see pretty well why that is in the photo. That grass is not often this yellow even at the height of summer. It certainly wasn't with all the rain last year!

Entry tags:

Friday

I took yesterday off to just dick around and enjoy some time out of the office.

I started by finishing up a puzzle. This one was called "Iceland Sunset." I was worried all the color gradients would make it difficult but it was actually pretty intuitive.

I also hit up 3 thrift stores but got skunked at 2 of them. At the one successful visit I got a wishlist Beanie Baby - Swirly the Snail - and three bracelets. Everything was a dollar apiece!

My short story, “To Defeat Water,” at The Lorelei Signal

The Lorelei Signal Magazine has just published my short story, “To Defeat Water.” If you curse Poseidon, he might curse you back, time and time again. And life after life, you can fight back. You can read it here. (Art by Marcia Borell.)

The Lorelei Signal is a web-based magazine featuring three dimensional and complex female characters in fantasy stories. Check out the other stories in this issue.

Entry tags:

punk 101, star trek web clique, business borg

Hi, happy Friday! Here’s some interesting links that have been lurking in my tab collection (some of them since MAY):

Here’s a bookmarklet for copying IMDB info for quick updates or review posts or what have you. It ends up looking like this:

🎬 Cold Comfort Farm: Directed by John Schlesinger. With Eileen Atkins, Kate Beckinsale, Sheila Burrell, Stephen Fry. A recently orphaned young woman goes to live with eccentric relatives in Sussex, where she sets about improving their gloomy lives. 🔗

Cute!

National Parks Travelers Club is for people who love visiting US nat’l parks! They have meet-ups and stuff too, super fun!

Punk 101 Masterlist which links to various things that may interest punks (or those who admire punk ethics), including zines!

I’ve never eaten acorns and haven’t particularly thought of doing so before, but if you’re in the right part of the world you can apparently do just that. Here’s a guide for collecting and processing edible acorns from Edgewood Nursery.

Wikimedia Commons has a photo competition ongoing through July 31st. Basically they’re looking for photos of natural protected areas from various countries (full list on the site) and you can win a bit of money if your photo is chosen as the best.

I really enjoy Sacha Judd’s newsletter, “what you love matters,” which focuses on online culture– but the fun stuff! Basically it’s just a collection of interesting links and fun personal updates. It’s hosted on Buttondown, so if you don’t want another email coming to your inbox you can sub via RSS (which is what I did).

Here’s a Star Trek-themed web clique to join if you have a personal website! It doesn’t have to be a Star Trek website.

An excellent article about AI’s impact on culture: Generative AI and the Business Borg aesthetic by Tracy Durnell:

‘Why am I naming this after the Borg? Like Star Trek’s Borg, this is an aesthetic rooted in extractive consumption, assimilationist dominance, neo-colonial expansionism, self-righteous conviction, reductionist thinking, and proclamations of inevitability. It idolizes technology, often inspired by older science-fiction, and draws on cyberpunk aesthetics. The Silicon Valley Collective values groupthink and believes themselves superior to “the other.”’

This short documentary from Maximilien Van Aertryck and Axel Danielson via the New York Times has been making the rounds lately: Did the Camera Ever Tell the Truth? | Death of a Fantastic Machine which sounds like it’s a history of the camera but is really about how we interact with media (including AI images).

Watch on YouTube

Need more stuff to read? I’ve compiled all previous linkspam posts here on my website, or you can explore the linkspam tag to find more.

Crossposted from Pixietails Club Blog.

Entry tags:

collage journaling

Collage Journal: A Gorey Summer

I am much happier with this one. Imagine an author (typewriter) penning the scene of a Gorey Summer.

Entry tags:

real life

starting over

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

Entry tags:

Gen Prompt Bingo fill: Reunion

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has marked as possibly inappropriate for anyone under the age of 18. )

Current Mood: hot

Entry tags:

Duck season!

Public

Ducks in Dog Lane, Bewdley, 10th July 2025

160/365: Toy ducks, Bewdley
Click for a larger, sharper image
An even warmer day today (Thursday). My highest reading was 31 °C, which is the equal hottest day of the year for me. There's a strong chance that Friday will beat this mark. I needed to go down to Sainsbury's in town for a couple of things, so I made sure to do that well before nine. On the way I found these amusing toy ducks in Dog Lane, not far from Sainsbury's. The road name's etymology is not certain, but it may be a corruption of "Duck Lane", since the road runs down to the river and the town's ducking stool may have been situated there centuries ago. The residents of this house have given that possible earlier name a much cuter interpretation in their tiny front yard!

Entry tags:

personal

(no subject)

I felt awful last night, but i feel a lot better today. I wish my motivation and energy didnt fluctuate so much tho, its a bit exhausting.

Entry tags:

Poet's Corner: At Noon by Reginal Gibbons

At Noon by Reginald Gibbons

The thick-walled room’s cave-darkness,
cool in summer, soothes
by saying, This is the truth, not the taut
cicada-strummed daylight.
Rest here, out of the flame—the thick air’s
stirred by the fan’s four
slow-moving spoons; under the house the stone
has its feet in deep water.
Outside, even the sun god, dressed in this life
as a lizard, abruptly rises
on stiff legs and descends blasé toward the shadows.

Entry tags:

June 2025 Books

Another eight books read in June.

Previous books posts:
Books 1-9 (January)
Books 10-15 (February)
Books 16-24 (March)
Books 25-33 (April)
Books 34-41 (May)

Cut for length, not for spoilers. Any spoilers will be marked.

( 42. E is for Evidence by Sue Grafton - 4 stars )

( 43. Rose Madder by Stephen King - 3.5 stars )

( 44. The City of Stardust by Georgia Summers - 3 stars )

( 45. Tell Me What I Am by Una Mannion - 3 stars )

( 46. Gory Details: Adventures from the Dark Side of Science by Erika Engelhaupt - 4 stars )

( 47. Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins-Valdez - 3.5 stars )

( 48. Medicine's 10 Greatest Discoveries by Meyer Friedman and Gerald W. Friedland - 4 stars )

( 49. Free Space by Sean Danker - 4 stars )

Sorry this is so late. Have you read any of these books? What did you think?

Entry tags:

sunshine revival challenge #3

Challenge #3

Journaling prompt: What are your favorite summer-associated foods?
I have to go with ice cream. I have a total sweet tooth, and I love when the weather warms up. My favorite flavor is coffee but I'm also a sucker for a chocolate/vanilla soft serve swirl. As a kid, I used to love all the popsicles and the ice pops and the orange cream bars. Also loved ice cream sandwiches and certain Sara Lee products that they don't make anymore.

Pomegranates are another favorite food that I think of when summer hits. When we moved into our house as a kid, there was a bush in the backyard and over the years, it has grown into a bigger tree. I loved when the pomegranates and ripened, which did happen in summer. Some years, they were good and others not so much. A couple of years ago, we got a lot of amazing, sweet fruit. Last year was a little hit or miss, but my cousins' kids had fun picking them and enjoying what they picked, even if one or two weren't totally ripe yet. I think of watermelon too. I have a ton of memories of enjoying it as the weather warmed up. I'm not a fan of mangoes myself but it is also a very summer fruit. My mom especially loves mangoes and is happy when the season hits and always is ready to make the most of it.

I'm sure there are more, but that is really the ones I can think of off the top of my head. :D

Creative prompt: Draw art of or make graphics of summer foods, or post your favorite summer recipes.

I got a little too into this and made 32 icons of ice cream and various fruits (cherries, strawberries, pomegranates, mangoes, and watermelon). Anyone is welcome to save/use them! :)

( icons )

Current Mood: bouncy
Current Music: Paleo Pines stormy weather theme

Entry tags:

Paleo Pines Kickstarter

Paleo Pines, possibly my favorite game ever, has commenced a Kickstarter to fund a small (or not so small) expansion! It successfully funded within the first week so it's just a matter of how many stretch goals get hit; as of writing, Stretch Goal 1 is about 4k EUR away.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/paleopines/paleo-pines-players-choice

I'll admit I'm cheeping about it because it's me and it's Paleo Pines, but I want to note my favorite part about this: the expansion will be free to all past & future players! Backing it is purely a question of whether YOU want to throw more money at the Paleo Pines devs to make more cool stuff appear, and maybe get some merchandise out of it. But if Kickstarters aren't your thing or money is bleh, all good, you'll still be getting Spinosaurus & more dreamstones! (Plus anything else if they hit stretch goals.)

Entry tags:

birds,
cartoons

Rooster Fighter

I'd watch the heck out of this!

Watch on YouTube

Current Mood: confused

Entry tags:

A little piece of Ukraine in... Kidderminster?

Public

Ukrainian APC, Kidderminster, 10th July 2025

159/365: Armoured personnel carrier on back of lorry, Kidderminster
Click for a larger, sharper image
Another very warm day. I saw this armoured personnel carrier on the back of a lorry in Kidderminster today. If you look carefully, you can see a Ukrainian flag near the front (left) of the vehicle. I'm afraid I know very little about military vehicles, so I can't tell you what model it is or anything. I have absolutely no idea what this thing was doing in Kidderminster at all, let alone this particular road; this area is a boring stretch of offices, commercial warehouses and the like with no obvious military relevance. I suppose it could be being repaired, but why here? You can't see the number plate in the photo, but I did check something: the lorry carrying it has an ordinary UK civilian number plate.

Entry tags:

personal

(no subject)

I feel so sleepy all the time for no reason. Why do i feel like im not getting any sleep.

Entry tags:

wordy wednesday

Word: Persiflage

Wednesday's word is courtesy of

kitarella_imagines and is...

...persiflage

[pur-suh-flahzh, pair-]

noun

1. light, bantering talk or writing.
2. a frivolous or flippant style of treating a subject.

origin

First recorded in 1750–60; from French, derivative of persifler “to banter,” equivalent to per- prefix meaning “through, thoroughly, very” + siffler “to whistle, hiss.”

example

Maybe that shows that they’ve finally gotten wise to the PR persiflage of Big Pharma. Los Angeles Times 10/11/23

Entry tags:

sunshine revival challenge

sunshine revival challenge #2

Tunnel of Love

Journaling: The romance of summer! What do you love? Write about anything you feel sentimental about or that gets your heart pumping.

Since this is what I did most of last Sunday, I'll talk about how much I love baking. I love to bake. It's something I've done since I was a child. My mom was the one who taught me, with box mixes and canned frosting to begin with, before I moved on to making cakes from scratch. I remember taking a whole tray of cupcakes for a surprise party our class planned for our teacher in elementary school (okay, it was the girls. I vaguely remember us thinking the boys couldn't be trusted to keep their mouth shut so we left them out. I think we were, like, 10 or 11?). I also remember making birthday cakes and father's day cakes for my dad. I remember taking things for all sorts of class parties throughout the years really. When we had a project in elementary school on teaching the class "how to do something", I chose baking a cake and I remember switching from mix to wanting to do a scratch cake. My dad carefully measured out the ingredients in the morning before school so it would save me time. So much of my baking memories are tied to my family.

Baking is something that calms my mind. There's a precision to it that I appreciate. I'm someone who likes really exact instructions, which is why even though I have learned to like cooking, I do like baking more. You stick to a recipe and outside of mild variables, like the oven timing, it should come out right. And I like the results too! I have a sweet tooth, but I do like when people around me enjoy my baking. I am not great with taking compliments, but I like hearing them (who doesn't, right? lol)! I do like pretty things so it's been fun learning and practicing decorating as well.

People have made jokes about me starting a bakery in the past, and while there are many reasons I wouldn't, I do just like some thing just being an enjoyable hobby. And I will keep doing it. It's a nice way to spend an evening or a weekend. Doing what I love and sometimes, for the people I love. Because they're the reason I learned to do this in the first place. :)

( cupcakes )

Entry tags:

clothing,
sewing

The Big 4

I don't know how I missed this but apparently the Big 4 sewing pattern companies (Simplicity, Butterick, McCalls, and Vogue Patterns) have been sold to Hilco Capital, who liquidated Joann. It's been a while since I've used a Big 4 pattern but damn, what a history they have. They're how I learned to sew garments.

If you're interested in learning more of their history, I really recommend browsing around the Commercial Pattern Archive. They also have a companion book, The History of the Paper Pattern Industry.

I've been trying to remember all the patterns I've sewed from Big 4 patterns. When I was smaller in 2018-2020 my daily uniform was a vintage me-made skirt, a knit shirt/turtleneck, some kind of funky vintage jewelry, and combat boots. I would potentially still dress this way except at my current size I have a B-belly and skirts just...don't sit the way I'd like them to. This loss of my "uniform" is part of why I am having such trouble deciding how to dress myself right now. :( I am DEFINITELY forgetting some but to the best of my recollection (and Etsy purchase history) I've made:

( Cutting so the images of patterns don't clog your feeds :) )

I also remember making myself shift dresses, kimono sleeve tops, and a skirt with a ruffled hem in the late 2000s/early 2010s but I can't figure out which patterns they were...

Entry tags:

fandom: bts

Happy ARMY Day!

Today (9 Jul) is the day that is celebrated as the day of the BTS fan (ARMY). 13 Jun is their debut day but this is the fandom's founding day. So happy day to

bethctg and

celli and all the other ARMYs of the world

bts