Art

Nov. 1st, 2025 04:24 pm[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
New study: Viewing art in galleries 'immediately' reduces cortisol levels, boosts health

“Our unique and original study provides compelling evidence that viewing art in a gallery is ‘good for you’ and helps to further our understanding of its fundamental benefits,” Dr. Tony Woods, the study’s senior author, said.

“In essence, art doesn’t just move us emotionally — it calms the body too.”

More specifically, cortisol levels — a key stress hormone in the human body — fell by an average of 22% in the gallery group, compared to just 8% in the control group
.

Read more... )

Birdfeeding

Nov. 1st, 2025 02:09 pm[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
Today is cloudy and cool.

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

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 11/1/25 -- I trimmed weeds from the daffodil bed.

EDIT 11/1/25 -- I spread the first bag of composted manure on the daffodil bed.  It covered the far side and half the center.

EDIT 11/1/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 11/1/25 -- I spread the second bag of composted manure on the daffodil bed.  So that's done, aside from raking up a pile of leaves to create the mulch cover for it.  This concludes today's yardwork target. \o/

EDIT 11/1/25 -- I started trimming weeds from the tulip bed.




.


ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
Here is my card for the Fairy Tales and Fantasy Stories Bingo over in [community profile] allbingo. The fest runs from November 1-30. (See all my 2025 bingo cards.)

If you'd like to sponsor a particular square, especially if you have an idea for what character, series, or situation it would fit -- talk to me and we'll work something out. I've had a few requests for this and the results have been awesome so far. This is a good opportunity for those of you with favorites that don't always mesh well with the themes of my monthly projects. I may still post some of the fills for free, because I'm using this to attract new readers; but if it brings in money, that means I can do more of it. That's part of why I'm crossing some of the bingo prompts with other projects, such as the Poetry Fishbowl.

Underlined prompts have been filled.


FAIRY TALES BINGO CARD

PixieThe NightingaleThe deeds of ordinary folks keep the darkness at bay. Small acts of kindness and love.VisionCastle
GloryHeroElvesJourneyEnchanted
MusicVery little worth knowing is taught by fear.WILD CARDGolden HairFairies
Fairy RingSolitudeShadowThe Dark TowerTwilight
GolemTricksterOnce Upon a TimeI didn't want power. All I wanted was control. Over my life.Magical Power
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
People have expressed interest in deep topics, so this list focuses on philosophical questions.

How would the world change if there was an accurate measure of aptitude?

Little if any. Some types of aptitude can be tested pretty well. People often choose not to act on them. In fact, people often prefer the less accurate ones.





azurelunatic: A glittery black pin badge with a blue holographic star in the middle. (blue star)
23 trick-or-treaters this year, likely due to rain and construction. The last four were after we had started picking up and bringing things inside, and in fact after we'd sorted the candy into Keep and Share. (The Share candy stays outside overnight for the late crew, then goes with Belovedest to work. We don't have particularly much trouble with raccoons.) In the last party, the one with the umbrella hat and some sort of Studio Ghibli makeup (white face, red eye triangles) was enchanted with the glow sticks and picked one of the very few blue ones.

This year's innovation was doing the Wizard of Oz + Dark Side of the Moon thing with (much less cleverly timed) Chaos Emergency Doof Broadcast (Which is 4 hours of very silly DJ work), some of the Halloween episodes, with Addams Family Values on mute (several times through). We got the inflammable tango to "The Devil Went Down to Georgia", and a few other silly confluences. I think this is one of the ones where precise timing doesn't help all that much, but it's great when it happens. By the time the show had run out of explicitly spooky songs, it got a little less entertaining.

Belovedest was Jigglypuff. I was a very tired Dulcie (wearing my own nightgown and some exhaustion makeup). I ordered the wrong crust on 2 out of 3 pizzas, and the 3rd one was gluten free.
silveradept: Domo-kun, wearing glass and a blue suit with a white shirt and red tie, sitting at a table. (Domokun Anchor)
Let's begin with the understanding that many more people are using computing and the Internet than those who have able bodies. (And they're also trying to use public infrastructure as well.) So let's talk about what people think screen readers do, and what they actually do, and re-commit yourselves to building things that are accessible from the ground up, so that everyone can use a website, a document, or enjoy a picture that you have taken or created, even if they are not a sighted user.

Furthermore, Consumer Reports offers the easiest way to turn off LLM and other supposed "intelligence" features on your computers and devices, which we offer with the additional understanding that every time you update your device, you may have to repeat these steps, as many of the companies that have poured all this money into supposed intelligence are very put out when people turn them off, and will silently turn them back on every time you update.

As the population ages, the lack of information for people going through menopause means there's people to be exploited, according to plenty of companies that intend to do the exploiting. Because, after all, there's still a prevalent assumption that a woman loses all her value once she stops being able to breed the next generation. And an equally prevalent idea that you can just slap a purple color or the word menopause on anything, including a personal massager, and roll in the dough.

A plot of land purchased by the Cards Against Humanity game owners to stymie construction of a border wall was also used to obtain a settlement against SpaceX for trespassing and using the land without permission for their operations. For their troubles, those who contributed to the land purchase will receive a pack of CAH specifically about Elon Musk, owner of SpaceX and general blight upon humanity.

Thieves made off with several pieces of jewelry held by the Louvre museum, having used a truck-mounted ladder to climb the outside and then break into both windows and high-security cases to take the jewels.

A bunch of techbros put together a SlutCon, with the nominal idea of making sure that these bros would have practice at flirting and behaving acceptably toward women in potentially sexual or romantic situations. There were women there as "flirt girls" for the attendees to practice on. There were, of course, several tiers of VIP membership to get as well, which suggests, along with the article, that this may not have been so much about learning how to flirt and to treat women as people, but instead about treating romance and sex as a min-maxing experience and giving them more tools on how to do this. Which would make it more an enabling experience instead of an enlightening one.

Proving their willingness to commit to the bit, no matter how many obvious mistakes are being made nor how much harm it causes, A cisgender boy with a mistake on his birth certificate declaring him female is being barred from participating in boys' sports, boys' gym classes, and using the boys restroom, because the way the statute and policy have been written, they only count the original birth certificate as valid, even if the certificate has been amended since, or was issued in error, and the school says that genetic testing might help make the boy eligible for boys' sports, but it wouldn't be a guarantee. (And it would also be an expensive prospect for such things.) From the way the article is written, it sounds like the school is treating the boy like he's a trans boy and that they want him to be comfortable being the girl that his birth certificate says he is. So, in Arizona, the TERFs' greatest nightmare is coming to pass - there's a biological male allowed to play sports with females, share locker room facilities, and the school is actively facilitating it. Remarkable commitment to the bit over using any kind of common-sense measure, because they're so worried that someone else might use those same common-sense measures to make sure a child is playing in the correct sport for their gender.

The concept of the border as a religious object, because of the way that borders can exist in multiple spaces and frames at once, their liminality, and their way to delineate spaces.

And now a lot of politics bits. At least you can be assured you'r3e a terrorist now. )

Last out for tonight, Gary Larsen, of The Far Side, has apparently taken up making some new things, with digital drawing tools. Including one for the recently departed Dr. Goodall, showing her as having a reserved seat at a chimpanzee club.

The argument for allowing children to go play in the streets and on the sidewalks in addition to the parks and playgrounds, because the streets are often closer to home, and because the presence of play in those places is a pushback against the idea that streets and sidewalks are only meant for those going from one place to another.

(Materials via [personal profile] adrian_turtle, [personal profile] azurelunatic, [personal profile] boxofdelights, [personal profile] cmcmck, [personal profile] conuly, [personal profile] cosmolinguist, [personal profile] elf, [personal profile] finch, [personal profile] firecat, [personal profile] jadelennox, [personal profile] jenett, [personal profile] jjhunter, [personal profile] kaberett, [personal profile] lilysea, [personal profile] oursin, [personal profile] rydra_wong, [personal profile] snowynight, [personal profile] sonia, [personal profile] the_future_modernes, [personal profile] thewayne, [personal profile] umadoshi, [personal profile] vass, the [community profile] meta_warehouse community, [community profile] little_details, and anyone else I've neglected to mention or who I suspect would rather not be on the list. If you want to know where I get the neat stuff, my reading list has most of it.)

Samhain

Oct. 31st, 2025 10:46 pm[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
ysabetwordsmith: (muse)
Tonight we held our Samhain ritual, with a theme of Hekate.  It rained a few days ago so we were able to light the bonfire.  \o/  We had a really good time. 
dialecticdreamer: My work (Default)
Bonding Time
By Dialecticdreamer/Sarah Williams
Part 1 of 1, complete
Word count (story only): 1447
[Sunday, May 10, 2020, late morning]


:: A moment of relaxation as the Teagues bond together over an unusual hobby. Part of the Edison’s Mirror arc, this story was prompted by [personal profile] readera for the October of 2025 Feathering the Nest prompt call, and is posted for everyone to enjoy with my thanks. ::


Back to Dropping In
To the Edison's Mirror Index
On to



“But I’m not good with knives, so I can’t help carve the stones for the goban,” Ed protested quietly. He sat with his legs folded, his feet nearly touching his buttocks on the opposite side, and his knees pressing into the mounds of bedding on the unmade bed.

Aidan reached out to scruff the tiny strands of strawberry blond hair. “A goban can be made with a permanent marker, a ruler, and a piece of cardboard. It’s not mystical or inherently elegant. So, what if I taught you to carve simple lens shapes from rectangles of soap? A bar of white soap is inexpensive and soft, and you can carve it with a literal butter knife.”

“But that’s not a special part of the game pieces. You were going to make a wooden board, and Vic suggested using tree branch pieces dyed nearly black for the dark pieces,” Ed protested.
Read more... )
ysabetwordsmith: (moment of silence)
Famous witch Patricia Crowther has crossed over.

And there is much rejoicing in the Summerland!

Read more... )

Birdfeeding

Oct. 31st, 2025 03:23 pm[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
Today is mostly sunny and mild.

I fed the birds.  I've seen a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches.  They drained the hopper feeder.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 10/31/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 10/31/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 10/31/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 10/31/25 -- We set up for our Samhain ritual.

A great horned owl is hoo-hooing outside.  :D

I am done for the night.
 

Holiday

Oct. 31st, 2025 02:25 pm[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
I saw this line elsenet and thought it would be fun to share here:

What day does the Christmas season begin?

Read more... )

Books

Oct. 31st, 2025 01:53 pm[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
libraries as resistance

In a system that wants to dismantle education and undermine critical thought, libraries become sanctuaries of truth, radical hope, and quiet rebellion.


Generously stocked, freely accessible, public libraries are ideal.

However, if the government destroys them, we have another option: private libraries run by actual bookworms. A library can be stocked quite cheaply with used books, hence the Little Free Library movement and swap shelves. But if you have or can afford to rent or buy space in a building, then you can provide a bigger collection. A private library is not at the mercy of the government, and you are free to do things like ban censorship.

Wildlife

Oct. 31st, 2025 04:44 am[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
Scientists discover a stunning new golden-tongued lizard in China

A new species of mountain lizard, Diploderma bifluviale, has been discovered in the upper Dadu River Valley of China. Its distinct traits and isolated habitat highlight the hidden biodiversity of the Hengduan Mountains.

Garden of Repose

Oct. 31st, 2025 04:28 am[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
ysabetwordsmith: (repose)
Revisit those who have passed during the year. These entries from my "Moment of Silence" tag highlight those who have died recently. Some of my posts have a "Carry on the Work" section regarding the person's accomplishments in case anyone else wants to explore those.

Browse ways to celebrate Dia de los Muertos.

Here are some things to do for Samhain. See the Greenhaven Coven page for Samhain and its recipes.

Does anyone else have names to remember?
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
We made it to the end of October! \o/ If you have completed some of your medium-term goals or subgoals, and/or you're still chugging away at your ongoing goals, then pat yourself on the back. You worked hard for that. We are now well into autumn. If you're doing seasonal goals, share what you're working on for this fall.

This year I'm trying something new, continuing to track goals at the end of each month. So far it seems to be helping, so that's encouraging. I'm looking at my goal list more often and trying to keep ticking off more of them. The main drawback is that this update becomes more of a chore each month.

These are the previous check in posts:
New Year's Resolutions Check In January 4
New Year's Resolutions Check In January 10
New Year's Resolutions Check In January 17
New Year's Resolutions Check In January 24
New Year's Resolutions Check In January 31
New Year's Resolutions Check In February 28
New Year's Resolutions Check In March 31
New Year's Resolutions Check In April 30
New Year's Resolutions Check In May 31
New Year's Resolutions Check In June 30
New Year's Resolutions Check In July 31
New Year's Resolutions Check In August 31
New Year's Resolutions Check In September 30

Read more... )
ysabetwordsmith: A blue sheep holding a quill dreams of Dreamwidth (Dreamsheep)
Today's theme is Kpop, Korean popular music.

Read more... )

Bingo

Oct. 30th, 2025 11:52 pm[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
I have made bingo down the B column of my 10-1-25 card for the Fall Festival Bingo. I also have 8 extra fills.


B1 (wizards) -- "What Wizardry Is All About" (standalone)
B2 (black / orange) -- "The Two Cottages" (Quixotic Ideas)
B3 (magic) -- "Maybe She's Just Singing" (Practical Magic)
B4 (witches) -- "The Unretired Witch" (The Adventures of Aldornia and Zenobia)
B5 (unstable) -- "A Fountain of Energy" (Polychrome Heroics: Rutledge)

I2 (herbs) -- "No Worthless Herbs" (One God's Story of Mid-Life Crisis)
I3 (dark side) -- "Set on Continuous Improvement" (Polychrome Heroics: City Engines)
I5 (broken) -- "The Clearest Signal" (Polychrome Heroics: City Engines)

G1 (Alone in the Woods) -- "The Songwitch" (Practical Magic)
G2 (transformation) -- "The Road to Transformation" (Sleeping Beauty)

O2 (talking dog) -- "The Disappointing Daughter" (The Adventures of Aldornia and Zenobia)
O4 ("That felt weird.") -- "To Understand Water" (Polychrome Heroics)
O5 ("Do you trust me?") -- "Trying to Be Better" (Polychrome Heroics: City Engines)
dialecticdreamer: My work (Default)
A Good Impression
By Dialecticdreamer/Sarah Williams
Part 2 of 2, complete
Word count (story only): 1214
[Thursday, December 15, 2016, barely past seven in the morning]


Back to part one
To the City Engines Index
:: Thanks for reading! ::


:: This story was written for the October of 2025 Magpie Monday, from a prompt by [personal profile] readera. Rather than wait for sponsorship, I am posting it in two parts (on two days), to keep from making the timeline any more tangled. Thank you to the wonderful Readera for the idea, and I hope readers enjoy the story as much as I did while writing it! Part of the City Engines stories in Mercedes, in the Polychrome Heroics universe::




Frank the Crank pursed his lips. “Why are you underselling yourself again?”

Lautaro laughed, his voice rolling in warm rumbles. “Did you ever see the movie ‘The Wizard of Oz’? Remember the line ‘Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain?” He set his mug on the counter and crossed his arms, but that only made him seem larger and more solid with no trace of threat. “As I understand it, my job is to be your curtain.”

Tension pulled Frank’s eyebrows down into a knotted snarl. “I don’t like all of this misdirection.”
Read more... )

Climate Change

Oct. 30th, 2025 03:32 pm[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
Yale study: Most Americans support climate justice — once they know what it is

Climate change is an omnipresent threat for us all, but its impact disproportionately affects non-white populations.

Inequalities stem from generations of racial injustice and colonization of Indigenous lands, contributing to ongoing marginalization and risk in BIPOC populations.

Climate justice is a movement that seeks to rectify those inequities, with the goals of reducing unequal harms of climate change, producing equitable benefits from climate solutions, and including affected communities in the decision-making process
.


Among examples of climate justice are taking steps to stop exploitative actions that worsen climate and environment, and ensuring that people have humane ways to escape environmental foreclosure.  The latter is crucial because right  now, victims of climate-driven eviction have no rights; they are classified as migrants without even the flimsy protections that refugees of war or discrimination have.  And if you look at the Dustbowl, you can see how very badly America has handled that issue in the past.

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