Hard Things

2/18/26 12:04 am
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Life is full of things which are hard or tedious or otherwise unpleasant that need doing anyhow. They help make the world go 'round, they improve skills, and they boost your sense of self-respect. But doing them still kinda sucks. It's all the more difficult to do those things when nobody appreciates it. Happily, blogging allows us to share our accomplishments and pat each other on the back.

What are some of the hard things you've done recently? What are some hard things you haven't gotten to yet, but need to do? Is there anything your online friends could do to make your hard things a little easier?

Science

2/17/26 11:50 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
NASA fired three rockets into the northern lights and the results are stunning

NASA has pulled off a high-flying aurora investigation, launching three rockets into the glowing northern lights over Alaska. One mission targeted mysterious dark patches called black auroras, while the twin GNEISS rockets created a 3D scan of the aurora’s electrical currents. All rockets reached their planned altitudes and returned strong data. The result: an unprecedented look at how these dazzling light shows are wired from space to sky.


That's such a cool concept for an experiment!
ysabetwordsmith: (moment of silence)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Jesse Jackson, a leading voice for civil rights, dies at 84

A former aide to Martin Luther King Jr., he launched two historic presidential campaigns while spreading a message of hope and resilience: “I am — somebody.”

Read more... )

Website Updates

2/17/26 08:35 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Thanks to a lot of work from [personal profile] fuzzyred, the landing page for Not Quite Kansas is now visible!  \o/  It's dark fantasy with demons and angels.  You can read the introduction and the previously published poems.  This series is featured in our current Half-Price Sale if you want to see more.  [personal profile] fuzzyred is hosting a pool in case you want to magnify your impact with the quarter-price option.

Cold Stream Farm Order

2/17/26 07:18 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Today we made the Cold Stream Farm order. This is one of the few remaining nurseries with affordable prices, focusing mostly on native species of trees and bushes. Most have wildlife value. Some are good for permaculture.

Read more... )

Climate Change

2/17/26 05:49 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Humanity has “lost the fight against climate change”.

This video looks at lost opportunities to fight climate change, and the shitty circumstances that humanity has created. As bad as things are now, this is the least-worst they will ever be again within a human timescale.

Read more... )

Photos: Flowerbeds

2/17/26 04:59 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Yesterday I shared photos from the House Yard and South Lot plus Savanna and Prairie Garden. Today I did a bit of yardwork that revealed fun new things. :D

Walk with me ... )

Crafts

2/17/26 04:22 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Naalbinding

I maintain that this is the class that most people take multiple times. So many of my friends have tried it, thought they had it, then two days later it was gone. I was one of those, so I have collected the websites that got me past it. Am I an expert? Heck no. But my socks have all stayed intact so I'm running with it.
I know exactly one stitch. I'm fine with this
.


Are you desperate for a way to say "fuck AI" nowadays? Learn a historic craft!

Wildlife

2/17/26 03:15 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Human noise is stressing birds worldwide - but we can help

Birds don’t just “put up with” our noise. A new analysis suggests that traffic, construction, and other human-made sounds are changing how birds behave, how stressed they get, and even how well they reproduce.

Some of these shifts look small on their own, but together they paint a picture of animals constantly adjusting to a louder world.



Anthropogenic noise is bad for many kinds of wildlife. It is also terrible for humans. There are things you can do about it.

Read more... )

Birdfeeding

2/17/26 02:53 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Today is cloudy and dim, chilly and damp.

I fed the birds.  I've seen a flock of sparrows and a female cardinal.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 2/17/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 2/17/26 -- I raked the leaves off the rain garden.  Underneath I found not just a lot more shoots, but the first tiny lavender buds of crocus!  :D

EDIT 2/17/26 -- I trimmed off the dead stems from the 'Autumn Joy' sedum in the maple garden and purple-and-white garden, plus peonies in the purple-and-white garden.  I still need to trim the sedum in the septic garden.

EDIT 2/17/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

I am done for the night.

ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
These are the rest of the pictures I took today, from the savanna and prairie garden.  (See the House Yard and South Lot.)

Walk with me ... )
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Today I took some pictures around the yard. These are from the house yard and the south lot.  (See the Savanna and Prairie Garden.)

Walk with me ... )
ysabetwordsmith: Damask smiling over their shoulder (polychrome)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
This was previously published on LiveJournal December 19, 2020.


This poem is spillover from the July 2, 2019 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by prompts from Dreamwidth users Dialecticdreamer and Siliconshaman. It also fills the "Just Friends" square in my 7-1-19 card for the Winterfest in July Bingo. This poem belongs to the Shiv thread of the Polychrome Heroics series.

Warning: This poem features detailed discussion of kink, so please consider your tastes and headspace before reading onward.

This microfunded poem is being posted one verse at a time, as donations come in to cover them. The rate is $0.25/line, so $5 will reveal 20 new lines, and so forth. There is a permanent donation button on my profile page, or you can contact me for other arrangements. You can also ask me about the number of lines per verse, if you want to fund a certain number of verses.
So far sponsors include: [personal profile] ng_moonmoth, [personal profile] technoshaman, [personal profile] fuzzyred, [personal profile] bairnsidhe, general fund

FULLY FUNDED
1132 lines, Buy It Now = $141.50
Amount donated = $110
Verses posted = 118 of 325

Amount remaining to fund fully = $31.50
Amount needed to fund next verse = $0.25
Amount needed to fund the verse after that = $0.50


Read more... )

Food

2/16/26 05:54 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
This planet friendly diet could cut your risk of early death by 23%

A planet-friendly Nordic diet may slash your risk of early death by nearly 25%.

A major new study suggests that eating the Nordic way could help you live significantly longer—while also helping the planet. Researchers from Aarhus University found that people who closely followed the 2023 Nordic dietary guidelines had a 23% lower risk of death compared to those who didn’t
.

Compare with other healthy and/or eco-friendly diets.  Notice the confluence of eating less red meat and more whole plant foods.

Climatarian

Flexitarian

Mediterranean

Vegetarian

ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
This week, the poetry of Not Quite Kansas is on sale for half price from Monday, February 16 through Sunday, February 22. This series is dark fantasy with angels and demons. It features themes of spirituality, cosmology, coming of age, identity, family of choice, friendship, and magic. Sale prices range from $89 to $146.50, so hopefully there will be something for everyone.

Prices on open epics are locked at the time of opening; however, if anyone wants to donate to open epics and buy poetry, spending $100 will get you the quarter-price rate on the new poems, regardless of the rate on the open epic(s) you support. There are no open epics at present, so you may open one if you wish.

We are repeating the special discount for purchases of $100 or more, in which you get poetry at 25% of its original price instead of 50%. (Note that this increases the amount of poetry you get, rather than reducing the amount of money spent; the point is to get this stuff off of my desk. Yes, I can afford it.) That size of donation also makes you a k-fan which comes with some other perks, like a year-end collection of a poetic series. If several folks want to bundle their orders to make the $100 threshold and have one person send it all, that's okay; you'll get the discount and I'll list all your names as donors, but you'll have to decide amongst you who gets the k-fan credit. If you host a pool, please close it the day before the sale closes, so you have time to collect funds and turn them in on time.

Some of the poems are in sequence of related action, so in places there are prerequisites before a poem can be published. They can be sponsored at any time, just might have to wait for publication until something else gets posted first. Those are marked accordingly. I have also made lists of poems which unlock sequels, and poems which have prerequisites.

Linkback perk: The following poems have verses left to reveal. Boost the signal for this half-price sale and tell me which poem you want to extend.
"Delight in Another,"
"A Sense of Weather Changes,"
"Ouroboros Insects,"
"The Loving Embrace of Night,"
"Generations of Cooks Past,"
"Homefree and Clear, "
"One Bite at a Time,"
"Stars and Diamonds,"
"
Mishpocha,"
"Changing Your Nature,"
"Besa."




Read more... )

Birdfeeding

2/16/26 01:54 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Today is partly sunny and cool.

I fed the birds.  I've seen a flock of sparrows, a starling, a male cardinal, a male house finch, and a fox squirrel.  There are probably other house finches mixed in with the sparrows.  The fox squirrel was eating from the hopper feeder at first, then went up the tree to forage among the branches -- I think it was eating the buds off the twigs.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 2/16/26 -- I took some pictures around the yard.

EDIT 2/16/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 2/16/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

I put out a fresh cake of peanut suet and a corncob.

EDIT 2/16/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

I am done for the night.

Monday Update 2-16-26

2/16/26 12:11 am
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:
Safety
Artificial Intelligence
Science
Birdfeeding
Activism
Books
Poem: "If You Don't Fall Down"
Birdfeeding
Moment of Silence: Spikedluv
Space Exploration
Creative Jam
Philosophical Questions: Emotions
Pinetree Garden Seeds Order
Poetry Fishbowl Report for February 3, 2026
Unsold Poems for the February 3, 2026 Poetry Fishbowl
Vocabulary: Dinkus
Poem: "An Inkling of Things to Come"
Climate Change
Birdfeeding
Follow Friday 2-13-26: Lord of the Rings
Read "Forelsket"
Poem: "Stones and Woods"
Extinction
Birdfeeding
Community Thursdays
Website Updates
Poem: "The Tranquility and Beauty of the Winter Landscape"
Birdfeeding
Good News

Safety has 44 comments. Food has 45 comments. Wildlife has 37 comments. Food has 65 comments. Robotics has 136 comments.


There will be a half-price sale in Not Quite Kansas from February 16-22.


The 2026 Rose and Bay Awards are now open for excellence in crowdfunding. It's time to vote for your favorite projects!

The award period for eligible activities spans January 1-December 31, 2025.
The nomination period spans January 1-January 31, 2026.
The voting period spans February 1-February 28, 2026.

These are the handlers for the 2026 award season:
Art: [personal profile] gs_silva Nominate art! Vote for art!
Fiction: [personal profile] fuzzyred Nominate fiction! Vote for fiction!
Poetry: [personal profile] gs_silva Nominate poetry! Vote for poetry!
Webcomic: [personal profile] curiosity Nominate webcomics! Vote for webcomics!
Other Project: [personal profile] curiosity Nominate other projects! Vote for other projects!
Patron: [personal profile] fuzzyred Nominate patrons! Vote for patrons!

The weather has been cool here, and it rained a little on Saturday. Seen at the birdfeeders this week: a large flock of sparrows, several starlings, a mourning dove, and a male cardinal. I saw a honeybee in the forest garden, and when I went out to the bee tree, I saw a bee flying into it. This is way too early for them to be out; there is liquid water but absolutely no food.

Safety

2/15/26 09:53 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Say it again: Abortion bans don't stop abortion. They only cause women and infants to die.

The Society of Family Planning, a reproductive-rights nonprofit, compiles a report called #WeCount that tracks the number of abortions in the United States. The report goes back to 2022, and the most recent data covers the first half of 2025.

Its data shows that the abortion rate hasn't gone down at all since the end of Roe. It's gone up.


Read more... )

November 2012

S M T W T F S
    123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
25262728 2930 

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated 2/18/26 11:59 am
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios