blue_green_dream

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Ducks in Dog Lane, Bewdley, 10th July 2025

160/365: Toy ducks, Bewdley
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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!

Current Mood: hot

ysabetwordsmith

Today we cooked up the mixed carton of fancy mushrooms from the Champaign Farmer's Market. They included pink oysters, blue oysters, lion's mane, and some little brown things with long stems and caps the size of a thumbnail. We sauteed them in sunflower oil, seasoned them with garam masala, and added some chopped bacon.

The result tasted good, but not much better than our usual mix of mushrooms, and it was twice as expensive. The oysters were good, but don't taste notably different from the usual white to light brown ones. We did not care of the stringy texture of the lion's mane. Also, they cooked way fast and shrank way down, which left a small amount of stir-fry. They might have worked better in something like wild mushroom spaghetti sauce. So it was interesting to try, but not worth repeating.

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

This post has the funniest argument I have seen against AI: "A computer can never be spiteful or horny. Therefore a computer must never make art."

Now from an anthropological perspective, anything decorative rather than purely functional is "art" -- a contrasting color around the rim of a jug, for instance. From a cultural perspective, however, art is about emotion. It's how we express our human feelings about things we have seen or imagined as a way of communicating with other people. So by that definition, a computer cannot make art, even if it can mash around colors and images. An interesting point.

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

Today is mostly sunny and hot.

I fed the birds. I've seen a few sparrows and house finches at the feeders. Blackbirds and catbirds are mobbing the mulberry tree in the house yard.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 7/10/25 -- I did some work around the patio.

.

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

Roadside America lists a lot of quirky attractions. Here's the list for Illinois.

Current Mood: amused

loganberrybunny

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.

Current Mood: confused

ysabetwordsmith

Scientists host 'science fair of canceled grants' on Capitol Hill to fight funding cuts

The researchers gathered, alongside the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, to present posters in a good, old-fashioned science fair, titled “The Things We’ll Never Know: A Science Fair of Canceled Grants.”

It's a great tactic, and one that other fields could use too. "Here are some useful things you could have had, but these specific people took them away from you." That's guaranteed to piss off a lot of people.

It's also among the standard protest techniques in Terramagne. Not only is it sound activism for pounding the perpetrators, it also has a pretty good chance of someone else deciding to sponsor your canceled project if they like your pitch. Feel free to prompt me for that.

Current Mood: angry

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!

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

Today is mostly sunny, humid, and hot. Yesterday it rained for half the day and into the night.

I fed the birds. I've seen a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches. They've drained half the thistle feeder but I still need to refill that one.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 7/9/25 -- I filled the thistle feeder.

I've seen a male cardinal and a fox squirrel.

EDIT 7/9/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 7/9/25 -- I sprayed weedkiller on poison ivy around the yard.

EDIT 7/9/25 -- I potted up two apricot seeds.

Current Mood: busy

adore

The day was bright, as though it was making an effort to be cheerful. When Sanne stepped out, she felt an unreasonable pressure to match its mood. She stepped in the centres of the cobblestones in the sidewalk, avoiding the edges and cracks, a spell she had been doing since she was a child. Sometimes it was a spell for calmness and focus. And sometimes it was a spell for avoiding fissures in time.

Now it was a spell for putting one foot in front of the other, because she hadn’t wanted to leave the house today. She'd wanted to stay in bed all day, which wasn’t good for magical hygiene, stagnating in your own energy.

There was a flower growing out of a crack in the sidewalk. Sanne paused and went around it because it seemed to rude to step over it. She rummaged in her bag, took out a vial, uncorked it, and brushed a tiny bit of pollen into it. She stoppered the vial and continued.

She’d embarked on this walk to make herself feel better, but she had a new destination now. She walked until the Materialry. The Keeper of Materials smiled at her as she came in, which made the walk worth it.
( Read more... )

Current Mood: accomplished

ysabetwordsmith

Sunshine Revival Challenge 3: Food

Journaling prompt: What are your favorite summer-associated foods?

Creative prompt: Draw art of or make graphics of summer foods, or post your favorite summer recipes. Post your answer to today’s challenge in your own space and leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

This is actually from 7/7/25 but it wasn't up when I checked, and then the net was down.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

We went up to Champaign-Urbana today.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

loganberrybunny

Public

158/365: Eastern edge of Wyre Forest
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Well, on the outskirts of it, at least. The Wyre Forest is a pleasant place on a warm day, given the shade it provides. Here's a photo from near the eastern edge of it at Coppice Gate. As you can see, this afternoon was pretty much cloudless, and although the air itself wasn't uncomfortably hot, we're at the peak of sun strength with UV up to 8 (as high as it can get here) so I was careful to keep to the shade as much as I could. This particular location has no facilities bar a small car park and a simple map board, so it isn't usually very busy. That was the case today -- I only saw one person walking her dogs all the time I was there. The lack of rain is starting to tell, though, as you can see from the yellowing of the grass here.

Also, have a meme question I noticed somewhere:

What is an unusual form of transport you have used?

(The original says "transportation", but I ain't American! :P )

To many people, I suppose "steam train" would count, and I've been on those masses of times -- but it's not unusual to me. That being so, the obvious answer is "hovercraft". Back in 2007, I flew (you don't sail a hovercraft) from Portsmouth to Ryde on the Isle of Wight (and back) with Hovertravel. That route remains operational and is the only regularly scheduled year-round passenger hovercraft service in Europe.

Current Mood: relaxed

senmut

First Date (400 words) by Sharpest_Asp
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Marvels [2023]
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Hank McCoy/Maria Rambeau
Characters: Henry "Hank" McCoy | Beast, Maria Rambeau
Additional Tags: Drabble Sequence
Summary:

First Dates can be interesting.

First Date

Maria had spent time touching up her nails, dithering over which outfit to wear, deciding on the shoes that looked best with it.

Hank, for his part, had done all he could to tidy his appearance, currently stuck in 'blue', 'furry', and 'large', but he knew those factors didn't matter to her.

He showed up promptly — actually early but didn't approach the house right away — and rang the doorbell. She answered it, her smile lighting her eyes in a way that made Hank feel almost normal again.

"Shall we?" he invited, pointing to his car.

An explosion answered for her.

After dealing with the alien being chased by space cops — not Carol's set, thankfully — Binary and Beast sat up on a rooftop, drinks cups and to-go containers of food between them.

"For a date, it was a little rocky," she offered, smiling despite the bruise darkening her face.

"I promise you, I can do better," he replied, self-consciously smoothing singed fur on his arm.

She reached out and covered his hand. "Why don't you take me back to your place, and we'll see about the aftercare first?" Maria invited, and Hank had to suck in a deep breath of anticipation.

Treating each other's scrapes had led to their clothes being discarded, leading to a brazen challenge to see if they fit as well in a bed as they did in combat.

Hank was never going to feel anything short of awe for how easily Maria accepted his mutated appearance. He could only gasp and keep his hands on her lightly as she touched, petted, and kissed him. He laid back and let her have control… until she turned the tables, bringing his hand to her breast.

The half-slitted eyes gazing down as he touched her wrecked him, making her purr.

Maria could get used to the feel of Hank's body under her, the strength and dexterity he used in a fight leashed to their mutual desires. She might even welcome waking up with him… but she wasn't going to rush things. She knew he was struggling at times with who — what — he was.

She had experience managing that, and was still growing accustomed to her powers.

Now, resting in what was hopefully a brief respite, she ran a finger along his cheek fur, making him shift into the touch.

"Next date, fewer aliens."

He chuckled, and then saw to kissing her.

Written for uc_xmen drabble-a-thon/prompt meme on Dreamwidth, prompt: MCU - Hank McCoy/Maria Rambeau - (any), it was supposed to be date night

ysabetwordsmith

Today is mostly sunny and warm.

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

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 7/8/25 -- It rained for about half the day and into the night.

Current Mood: busy

loganberrybunny

Public

("You" here is a general term, not aimed at any specific person.)

My feeling is that it is almost certain that you have already seen and liked and/or favourably commented on an image, song or video that has been created at least partially with AI, without knowing it. Unless you're in the industry and/or a specialist, I suspect you are quite a bit less good at picking human from AI than you think you are. I know I am. It's not 2022 any more. As an imperfect analogy, think back a couple of decades to when 320k MP3s first became widespread. Lab tests at the time demonstrated that most people, including self-professed audiophiles, couldn't reliably tell the difference between 320k MP3 music and lossless under remotely normal conditions, however much they'd previously insisted they could. I suspect something similar is going on with AI imagery/sounds. Cheerful, eh?

Current Mood: uncomfortable

adore

So turns out I'll be jobless mid-September, not August 😅 I did the math wrong. When they said three months notice I calculated it as June, July and August. But the three months are actually June to July, July to August, and August to September.

So I'll finish in mid-September (since I was given notice mid-June). I'll get half a month's pay, around $250, more than I would if I finished in August.

Speaking of August, my dad is going to leave his current job by the start of it. So we're both going to be liminal around the same time. He said his workplace is planning to do 'restructuring' and he'd rather quit than be laid off. He's financially stable and wants to take this chance to do something he's interested in (Haskell). I'm happy for us both. But when he told me this, that night I had a stress dream in which I was telling a nonexistent coworker that I'm losing this job while someone was trying to break the door down, and I was terrified seeing the door strain against the latch. When I woke from it, I hallucinated my brother standing in the dark doorway. He disappeared when I yelled "Hey!" at him, but I was so freaked out that I couldn't sleep for a while.

Since I'm losing my job I'm going to have to make self-publishing earn for me sooner, which has significantly changed my self-publishing plans.
( How my self-publishing plans have changed )

I saw this YouTube short by Kris MF about how she was laid off from her corporate job the same week that she got her book deal, and how she's decided to take it as a sign. It comforted me. Maybe I can take this as a sign, too. I never would have opted to publish on KU unless I felt like I needed to and the only way that was going to happen was if I lost my job 🤷🏻‍♀️ I just need to give things spiritual significance to cope and fight off depression, so this is what we're going with ✨

I also got emotional over this threads post by Jordan Lynde:

Current Mood: contemplative

viridian5

From

dine:
Post a song from the year you turned 12

Watch on YouTube

+++

A Perfect Circle's "Delicious," a song about the schadenfreude of leopards eating the faces of those who voted them into power, came up on my Shuffle today, and it hurt to think A Perfect Circle's 2018 Eat the Elephant album is so relevant again in 2025.

Current Mood: hot

senmut

sylph_and_asp is members-locked access now. Just. I've got a lot of political posts over there from previous years, plus, as good as dreamwidth does try to protect us from crawlers, I feel better locking my writing down.

loganberrybunny

Public

157/365: The White Swan, Bewdley
Click for a larger, sharper image
It is twenty years to the day since more than 50 people were killed and nearly 800 hurt in the London bombings, caused by extreme Islamist suicide bombers. This was the first Islamist suicide attack in Britain, as well as being the deadliest terrorist attack since the Lockerbie bombing in 1988. It was a terrible shock at the time, all the more so because the targets were public transport vehicles: three London Underground trains and one double-decker bus. At first the news was simply of a "power surge" on the Tube, and it took a couple of hours before it was fully clear that it was something more sinister than a simple fault.

On a happier note, someone on my list here asked me recently whether the White Swan pub in Bewdley was still around. I said yes to them at the time, but here's some visual evidence! The White Swan was for a long time a slightly down-at-heel pub -- not dangerous or anything, just rather shabby and tired -- but it's had a substantial makeover in the last year and has gone significantly upmarket. It's recently started to sell itself more on food than beer, and the patio area at the back has been given a good polishing up as well. It's at the top of Load Street, Bewdley's main street.

Current Mood: sad

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aoi_to_midori

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