Earthquakes

Jul. 17th, 2025 02:40 am
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[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Wait...The Worst Possible US Disaster Just Got EVEN WORSE?!? (Cascadia Megaquake)

Every once in a while, I see a more realistic extrapolation of the dangers in the Cascadia Subduction Zone, compared to the usual drastic underestimations.  This video looks at some chain-reaction problems such as wildfires and chemical spills that can cause secondary waves of casualties.

You can read my thread about the Big One, but bear in mind that Terramagne-America has much better disaster preparedness than here, and local-America's scenario would be much worse.

ysabetwordsmith: Damask smiling over their shoulder (polychrome)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
This poem came out of the July 15, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired and sponsored by [personal profile] bairnsidhe and [personal profile] siliconshaman. It also fills the "Cool Water" square in my 7-1-25 card for the Western Bingo fest. This poem belongs to the Kraken thread of the Polychrome Heroics series. It follows "But an Empty Shell" ($280) -- which, oops, hasn't been sponsored and posted yet.

Read more... )

Paleontology

Jul. 16th, 2025 09:23 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
How Dinosaur Extinction Gave Us Fruit

I found this video entertaining for its discussion of r-strategy vs. k-strategy reproduction in plants.  Interestingly, during the time of large sauropods, they broke up the forests so much that most plants preferred to make many small seeds rather than fewer large seeds.  They had to capitalize on the disturbances to find a place and sprout.  In other words, most or all of the plants in those forest behaved like weeds, which are designed to cover disturbed ground as fast as possible.

Later on, after the sauropods died out, the forest canopy became closed rather than open, the forest floor darker.  The animals were much smaller, and well suited to distributing seeds.  So plants began making larger fruit to bribe the animals to carry their seeds around.

An interesting fork appears before us now, as humans have wiped out almost all large animals.  Normally this would lead to dense dark forests, and thus, more and larger fruits.  But humans are more disruptive than even the sauropods.  We are creating conditions that favor the weed strategy again.  Except for the bit where we really love large, sweet fruits and will go farther than any other species to propagate plants that we like.  That makes it rather a toss-up how plants will respond.


dialecticdreamer: My work (Default)
[personal profile] dialecticdreamer
Smashing Ripples
By Dialecticdreamer/Sarah Williams
Part 1 of 1, complete
Word count (story only): 1363
[Friday, 4 August, 2017, 7 p.m.]




:: LaQuinta’s day gets exponentially worse, but part of the problem is uncovered with the help of an angry, frustrated reporter. Part of the Unfair Trades arc in Mercedes, within the Polychrome Heroics universe. ::


:: Author’s note: EARNED HAPPY ENDING. This looks bad. This IS difficult for LaQuinta, but it is also a huge mistake made by one of the unseen bad guys. ::




At seven o’clock in the evening, it was still bright outside, and the August heat radiated up from the sidewalk as LaQuinta stepped outside the old-fashioned laundromat to walk to the temporary accommodations at the end of the block. The mound of linens in her cheap round plastic basket poked out at the two spots where slats had snapped, but the pieces also poked out, scraping against her tee shirt on one side but the other was trying to catch every edge she sidled past.
Read more... )

Lake Lewisia #1278

Jul. 16th, 2025 05:13 pm
scrubjayspeaks: Town sign for (fictional) Lake Lewisia, showing icons of mountains and a lake with the letter L (Lake Lewisia)
[personal profile] scrubjayspeaks
However much the cars to the back of the line honked out their frustration, there was nothing to be done for the delay--not when trees were blocking the road. That message was passed from window to window, shouted back over idling engines, until someone with a truck full of landscaping tools got the idea to bring out the chainsaw. Instead of a felled tree, he found the road ahead blocked by a steady stream of saplings, ambling along on many squiggling roots, companion birds and squirrels clinging to their swaying branches, as they set out from the forests of their parents in search of sunlight and water of their own.

---

LL#1278

Smoothie King

Jul. 16th, 2025 05:16 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
While out running errands today, we stopped at Smoothie King. My partner Doug got the Island Impact as is: Pineapples, Mangoes, Papaya Juice Blend, Apple Pineapple Juice Blend, Protein Blend. I added vanilla frozen yogurt to mine. These things cost as much as we usually spend at a sit-down restaurant. But. You get what you pay for. It is indeed a meal's worth of healthy produce plus protein. It's also the best smoothie I have ever put in my mouth.

20 minutes later: Why am I suddenly wide awake and fizzing with energy? Is this what coffee feels like to normal people?

... oh right, also a big cup of life energy from all that fresh fruit.

I really do want to try their Gut Boost probiotic add-in some time, and hopefully that won't overload me on life energy.  Maybe take a closer look at some of their other options too.  There are a lot of options you can add once you find a base combination that you like, although some things (like the protein powder) that are usually add-ins are in the original combos.

UPDATE: Tempestuous Tours + news

Jul. 16th, 2025 05:33 pm
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[personal profile] duskpeterson

BLOG FICTION

Tempestuous Tours (Crossing Worlds: A Visitor's Guide to the Three Lands #2). A whirlwind tour of the sites in the Three Lands that are most steeped in history, culture, and the occasional pickpocket. ¶ Latest installments:


NEWS

About a millisecond before I was about to release my next ebook, a medical crisis occurred in my family (though not to me or my companion). It's the sort of crisis that involves dozens of members of a support team, professional and nonprofessional. I'm one of the two people coordinating all that. I'll continue posting blog fiction here whenever I can, but expect my presence here to be light for a while.

Birdfeeding

Jul. 16th, 2025 12:10 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Today is mostly cloudy, humid, and hot.

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

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 7/16/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

I'm hearing thunder and dark clouds are overhead.

Webinar: The Demise of Indian Time

Jul. 16th, 2025 12:55 pm
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[personal profile] dorkbird
<blockquote>You’re invited to “The Demise of Indian Time”, a virtual webinar event with Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) on Tuesday, July 22, about the closure of an independent Indigenous newspaper, and what it means for its community.

RSVP NOW
FPF’s Director of Advocacy Seth Stern will moderate and be joined by:

Isaac White, Mohawk journalist and former reporter for Indian Time

Marjorie Skidders, writer, photographer, editor, and former editor of Indian Time

Stephanie Sugars, senior reporter for the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker



📅 Date: Tuesday, July 22, 2025

⏰ Time: 12 p.m. EDT | 9 a.m. PDT

📍 Location: Zoom (freedom.press/end-of-indian-time)


We’ll discuss the history of Indian Time, the reasons behind its closure, and the challenges Indigenous journalists face reporting on and within their own communities, from political pressure to assaults and arrests. The panel will also explore how the absence of independent local media harms public access to information and press freedom across Indian Country.
</blockquote>

Good News

Jul. 16th, 2025 12:01 am
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Good news includes all the things which make us happy or otherwise feel good. It can be personal or public. We never know when something wonderful will happen, and when it does, most people want to share it with someone. It's disappointing when nobody is there to appreciate it. Happily, blogging allows us to share our joys and pat each other on the back.

What good news have you had recently? Are you anticipating any more? Have you found a cute picture or a video that makes you smile? Is there anything your online friends could do to make your life a little happier?

Poem: "In Effigy"

Jul. 15th, 2025 10:33 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Victor Frankenstein in his fancy clothes (Frankenstein)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
This is today's freebie. It was inspired by a prompt from [personal profile] dialecticdreamer. It also fills the "defenestration" square in my 7-1-25 card for the Western Bingo fest. This poem belongs to the series Frankenstein's Family. It follows "Incompetence, Sloppy Thinking, and Laziness" so read that first or this won't make much sense.

Read more... )
dialecticdreamer: My work (Default)
[personal profile] dialecticdreamer
Surprising Shelter
By Dialecticdreamer/Sarah Williams
Part 1 of 1, complete
Word count (story only): 1943
[Date TBD by Ysabetwordsmith, during Shiv’s first semester]




Two minutes after Shiv began walking along the carefully plotted route to the bus stop that would take him the closest to Blues Moon, the sky gave a warning rumble, then rain began pouring down like rice spilling from a burlap sack with a nasty split across the bottom. He frowned, blinking, and tried to focus on the shimmering world around him. A bright turquoise sign drew his eye despite the blurs and reflections collecting in the puddles forming on the sidewalk, tarmac, and every mostly flat horizontal surface.

Shiv checked his watch and ducked inside the shop.
Read more... )

Where LB Goes For Fun On The Internet

Jul. 15th, 2025 03:29 pm
lb_lee: a black and white animated gif of a pro wrestler flailing his arms above the words STILL THE BEST (VICTORY)
[personal profile] lb_lee
"LB, you're not on social media, and you live like some weird austere godless monk. Do you even have fun on the Internet???"

Oh, don't worry, friends. We have fun on the Internet:
  • Archive.org (for old music, old multi stuff, old website research, weird niche research... what DON'T I use Archive.org for? Seriously probably the website we spend the most time on)
  • Archive of Our Own (for prose fiction and porn--most known for fanfic, but its tag system is so good that we sometimes trawl the original fic archive for stuff)
  • the Anarchist Library (what it sounds like)
  • Bandcamp (for new music--I have YET to figure out how the fuck iTunes works)
  • LotusPrince's Let's Plays (this is the only Youtuber I really watch anymore, been watching him for over ten years, he is a softspoken, straightfaced completionist who tries to be positive about every game he plays, no matter how clunky or goofy, and he is still my favorite parasocial companion for when I am so brainblasted I really can't handle anything more complicated than "go to the right, fight boss.")
We use an RSS reader to stay on top of blogs and artist accounts scattered across the ether, but if it can't be RSSed, then we don't bother. Lotus Prince is the only exception; he's a self-limiting, Gatorade activity, something I only want when I'm badly depleted, and once I recharge, I'm off to the races again, digging around in 1998 soulbonding websites on Archive.org.

I only play one game now, hack103 (and we use our local offline copy. Our shoulder only allows it on occasion, but fortunately, Hack is from 1985 and pre-poopsocking, so it's a very easy game to put down for years at a time and pick up again.

Birdfeeding

Jul. 15th, 2025 02:29 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Today is cloudy and wet.

I was going to feed the birds, but it was raining.

EDIT 7/15/25 -- I fed the birds.  Not much activity today though.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 7/15/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

I've seen a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches, plus a fox squirrel at the hopper feeder.

EDIT 7/15/25 -- I potted up three apples fallen from the birdgift tree.

I am done for the night.

Poetry Fishbowl Open!

Jul. 15th, 2025 01:06 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
The Poetry Fishbowl is now CLOSED. Thank you for your time and attention. Please keep an eye on this page as I am still writing.

Starting now, the Poetry Fishbowl is open! Today's theme is "anything goes." I will be checking this page periodically throughout the day. When people make suggestions, I'll pick some and weave them together into a poem ... and then another ... and so on. I'm hoping to get a lot of ideas and a lot of poems.

Note that our internet connection has been bad for well over a month. Sometimes it's down completely, other times things like Dreamwidth and searches won't run. So I'm losing a lot of work time and may only have access for half a day or less. Given this limitation, there's a higher chance of actually getting things written for prompts that use characters, settings, etc. that are already established.

Two poems recently attracted attention with regards to extending their story arcs, so anyone can ask for a followup to these:
"Incompetence, Sloppy Thinking, and Laziness" -- Victor is displeased with Ghenadie shirking work assigned as fines.
"An Interest in the Affairs of Your Government" -- Frank the Crank accidentally gets elected to the City Council in Mercedes.

Stuck for ideas? You can find prompts by ...
* browsing planned poems for Aquariana and the Maldives, The Big One, Broken Angels, Calliope and Vagary, Officer Pink and Turq, Pips and Joshua, or Shiv. (Some of these I've already done, so they're not all up to date, but others I haven't done yet.)
* browsing my Serial Poetry page for favorite threads or characters.
* browsing my QUILTBAG list, Romantic Orientations in My Characters, Sexual Orientations in My Characters, Gender Identities in My Characters, or My Characters with Disabilities for favorites.
* naming a poetic form you'd like to see written.
* picking a prompt from my current bingo cards: Western Bingo Card 7-1-25
* picking some from the Bingo Generator prompt lists.
* looking up fun tropes on Fanlore.
* choosing an unusual word.
* plugging a favorite topic into your search engine and choosing a picture that looks interesting.
* anything short. I could especially use short poems today as other prompts are likely to run long.
* standalone ideas, if you're a fan of that rather than series.

What Is a Poetry Fishbowl?

Writing is usually considered a solitary pursuit. One exception to this is a fascinating exercise called a "fishbowl." This has various forms, but all of them basically involve some kind of writing in public, usually with interaction between author and audience. A famous example is Harlan Ellison's series of "stories under glass" in which he sits in a bookstore window and writes a new story based on an idea that someone gives him. Writing classes sometimes include a version where students watch each other write, often with students calling out suggestions which are chalked up on the blackboard for those writing to use as inspiration.

In this online version of a Poetry Fishbowl, I begin by setting a theme; today's theme is "anything goes." I invite people to suggest characters, settings, and other things of any type. Then I use those prompts as inspiration for writing poems.

New to the fishbowl? Read all about it! )
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[personal profile] brithistorian

Colossal Biosciences is planning to bring back the giant moa, a 3m (10 foot) tall flightless bird that went extinct around 600 years ago, shortly after humans arrived in New Zealand. Peter Jackson is one of the major investors. Considering the difficulties the Australians had when dealing with emus, which are only 2/3 the size of the great moa, they really need to consider that there was probably very good reason that the early New Zealanders wiped them out.

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