tylik | Reading

I keep meaning to post a dream with. I keep not posting to dream with. There's been so much going on there's so much I feel like I should be telling people about there's so little indication anyone is reading here, and there's so much where the people I might want to talk about and experiences and the thoughts are also around people who conceivably could be reading here whether or not they actually are.

I feel like I want to mention though: on the way out to this game play test thing that on very very I drove out to I called 92-year-old uncle. What's kind of interesting is that with most people it's completely unpredictable what they may or may not see on my Facebook yeah because he's following almost nobody, he gets emails of almost everything I write. And so as it turns out he's seeing my pictures and politics and the holy s*** look what's going on now and there's a small rally save NASA at the Eisenhower tomorrow and all the stuff with 50501 and everything else and he asked what I thought my father would think and I said it's a mercy dad didn't live to see this and I was pretty passionate about all of the ways dad believed in the power of government to protect the little guy to help people. And I'm really honestly confused as to does he actually understand what's happening now or is he compartmentalizing or does he actually consider this all just as bad and terrifying as I do but it's too hard to admit?

One of the things I also mentioned to him is that a number of states have trigger language in their Medicaid laws and any change from the feds will end the expansion and I have friends who that is their health insurance and I have one friend who has several aggressive cancers and that is how he lives.

I'm sort of parked, but I need to make a call to figure out where I'm supposed to actually be going. Maybe more later.

twoeleven

despite the heat, i got some photos of my gardens. i'm not pleased with the quality; the iphone continues to show its limitations as a camera. i gotta get back into the habit of carrying one of the better cameras.

White and Red Glad

rebeccmeister

Overall I have been finding that signing myself up for 3 rowing practices per week is the right level of commitment for me. Part of this is because there are benefits to having a couple mornings a week where I have some time at home to do things like cook myself a hot breakfast and tackle small house and garden miscellanea.

While I ate breakfast this morning, S and I had a bit of conversation about meal plans for the upcoming week. At this very moment we have a fair amount of foodstuffs around the house, but didn't have any broccoli on hand in the event that it becomes time for me to mix up a batch of broccoli-chickpea burrito filling. Somehow or another, this conversation led to the idea to run up to the Farmer's India Market in the car, with side trips to the grocery co-op, sporting goods store, and hardware store, before dropping me off at work.

It was good to get these errands done, although ultimately it was a somewhat silly trip, because we weren't actually able to get any of the 3 items on our "Asian Grocery" list from the Farmer's India Market (good Japanese soy sauce, giant cans of hominy, Salsa Lizano). Not finding any Salsa Lizano was the most disappointing; we know of other places where we can get the other two items, but Salsa Lizano has historically been almost impossible to find on store shelves, and I was thrilled to find it at the Farmer's India Market last year.

Somehow or another, we still left the Farmer's India Market with an ample supply of various other enjoyable things, like mango-flavored Tang, frozen okra, pepper spread, and the good kind of sheep's milk feta. And we got broccoli and other items at the grocery co-op, so we're set on groceries for the week.

We also struck out on finding another swim buoy for S at the sporting-goods store at the mall, but did have lots of chances to marvel at how many arcades were there, plus all of the stores that somehow still exist all these decades later (Hot Topic! Newbury Comics!). Best of all, we probably won't have to go back to that mall again for a very long time.

So now the rest of today and the weekend can be devoted to other things.

alfreda89

Enjoy a link. Things are remaining weird here as I continue to live SFFH.

https://reactormag.com/rapport-martha-wells/

Current Mood: tense
Current Location: A dystopia

brithistorian

I read a couple of articles recently, one about the recent Magic: The Gathering/Final Fantasy crossover and another a review of the most recent D&D book. The common thread in both of these articles was the way that the economics of being owned/produced by Hasbro (a multi-billion-dollar corporation) was affecting the content of the games. This got me to thinking that perhaps some games would be better off as lifestyle businesses. I don't think this is practical for all games — major corporate intellectual properties are more likely to deal with a major corporate game company than a lifestyle game company, regardless of the quality of the game — and I think at this point a lot of small game companies are just small companies that haven't scaled up ("yet," in the owners' hopeful thoughts) — but I'd like to deal with a game company that's run more for the good of the designers and the game than for the benefits of a huge faceless corporation.

ETA: It occurred to the just after posting this that a lot of the "companies" I dealt with when I was active in historical miniatures gaming were lifestyle businesses, simply because there's not really much room to scale historical miniatures. While this occasionally meant delays in orders because of issues in the owner's life (e.g. "I'm having my gallbladder out, so orders for the next couple of weeks will be delayed") or because of the realities of dealing with a small business (e.g. "I don't have any of Napoleonic Spanish irregulars on hand, so there will a slight delay while I cast some more"), it was generally a pleasant experience, even given the realities of transatlantic shipping in the late 1990s. It wouldn't really be compatible with today's "Amazon overnight delivery" mindset, though.

kelkyag posting in

girlgenius_lair

"Voila!" "Ta-Da!" "Behold!"

rebeccmeister

It's important to learn about examples where people have been successful in reducing violent crime. The methods might not be all that surprising, and yet there are still many places that could stand to better implement some of what's described in this article about Baltimore.

https://popular.info/p/the-secret-to-baltimores-extraordinary

Next up, today I encountered an essay by the Tufts graduate student who was abducted by federal agents because she had helped write an op-ed in the student newspaper. In this essay, she has written much more extensively about her experiences in "detainment" in this country - as someone who was ultimately released relatively expediently because the charges against her were horribly flimsy. Accounts like hers are important to read, because many of the people who go through experiences like hers never have a chance to be heard.

https://www.tuftsdaily.com/article/2025/07/op-ed-even-god-cannot-hear-us-here-what-i-witnessed-inside-an-ice-womens-prison

Who owns these prisons, anyway?

rebeccmeister

My timing wasn't fantastic for getting a photo, so here's the best I could manage:

By the time we got out on the water, the rainbows had disappeared and turned into raindrops falling on our heads.

Altogether, though, the water was flat and we were able to get in some good rowing.

And I am continuing to chip away at boathouse projects. Today I changed out oar handles on two sets of oars where the grip material had worn out, and got a small step closer to figuring out the next set of parts I'd like to order.

spectrum_09 posting in

girlgenius_lair

Foglio's are having a bit of diffculty at the moment.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-the-foglios-through-unexpected-challenges?fbclid=IwY2xjawLmLxlleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETF6MVJVbktCcjRxeVJVaXlEAR6w8AI1eU4hoHGU-jGYA-5J515OV-LnsgABxtzUOpubBDfIMmQmJcyYju4lSQ_aem_N9Wqq7c28BFB4odu3KwcKA

elainegrey

Yesterday storm cells passed around us. I picked elderberries to the sound of much rumbling thunder, and while driving to the grocery i saw a faint double rainbow over the Fearrington farm and inn. After groceries i put the elderberries on the dehydrator and ran them over night. I dried them on the stem: i think separating the dried berries from the stems will be less messy - and has less of a time pressure.

--== ∞ ==--

The challenges continue, but at least not with me going to emergency rooms.

Dad was experiencing some intense fatigue on Tuesday, and was advised to go to the emergency room. He was there until late and was found to be in great shape other than the heart issue, which hadn't progressed to an emergency. (There's a blood test for heart failure.) He was en route to leaving before i had to go to bed -- i was planning on joining him early in the morning. So, some adrenaline and cortisol there.

And yesterday sister L-- texted my brother and i letting us know her distressing situation has progressed to stage S . That had me experiencing a rare challenge in falling asleep, but turning on a sleep meditation seemed to help (i don't recall anything after the first instruction).

Dad's health and L's situation are longer haul issues. I need to teach myself to not hold myself in ready mode for months and months. I still need to recover from everything else.

sonia

Covid-Safe Scouts Research Repository. A massive collection of links to info about Covid. Studies, graphics, links, zines, newsletters, blogs. A bit overwhelming, but also reassuring that there's so much info available if you know where to look.

For example, Threat Model is a weekly newsletter about the latest on Covid. With beautiful drawings of people in masks, and the June ones are in Pride colors.

The Menopause Wiki. "The official menopause wiki for Lemmy's c/menopause community, and its Reddit siblings, r/menopause and r/perimenopause." Lots of info and opinions about perimenopause and menopause.

Media and Democracy Project local journalism directory.

We created this directory to help you find local journalism in your area worth supporting. By donating or subscribing to the newsrooms on our list you’ll be paying towards the advancement of quality, community-focused journalism and contributing to a better informed citizenry, the bedrock of a strong democracy.

For example, StreetsBlog San Francisco with local bike and transit news.

sonia

Strategic Resistance: Mass Demonstration by Karawynn Long. "Why organized nationwide rallies are an excellent use of your time and energy right now"

To overcome that fear, to begin to embolden potential defectors and peel off some of Trump’s key support, will require huge numbers of people pushing back, in organized, strategic ways. So our goal — the one goal, to which everything else is secondary if not irrelevant right now — should be to grow a bigger organized resistance movement.

When The U.S. Government Tried To Replace Migrant Farmworkers With High Schoolers (in 1965) by Gustavo Arellano.

"These [high school students] had the words and whiteness to say what they were feeling and could act out in a way that Mexican-Americans who had been living this way for decades simply didn't have the power or space for the American public to listen to them," she says. "The students dropped out because the conditions were so atrocious, and the growers weren't able to mask that up."

Queer as in Fuck You by Aiden Grace Smith, via

cosmolinguist. Powerful essay about being trans and genderqueer.

Having that conversation reminded me of nothing more than being told, in kindergarten, that we were to line up every day by gender to go to the playground. I wanted desperately to go to the playground, and I did not know which line to join. I remember having a kicking, screaming meltdown at recess time for the first week of kindergarten because I could not in any other way articulate my rage that there were different lines, maybe any lines, at all.

sistawendy

So Good Sister asked a couple of days ago for the info that she'd need to set up a wire transfer. I got it to her, natch. It's so nice to talk to her on the phone when she's not stressing about something related to Mom, living or dead. The last time that happened was what, 2017?

And I even found something out about Evil Sister. She's moved out into the country, but she didn't change jobs, so now she's got a commute that's about 30 miles (50 km) each way. Even when I had a car I would have considered that bananas, but I'm a city girl to the bone.

And on the subject of big cities, here in the upper left corner of the coterminous US I'm preparing to visit the upper right corner: New York City. I've booked a COVID shot. I know that A-at-the-Merc told me that all the fun is in Brooklyn & Queens, but that's musical fun. The museums, queer stuff, and kinky stuff are still mainly in Manhattan, so I'm keeping my hotel reservation there. If, Goddess willing, the house closes and I suddenly end up with a fat stack of cash, I may spring for someplace nicer.

Besides, I'm not afraid to use a MetroCard should I feel a dire need to get to the outer boroughs*. But in truth, the one place far afield that I really want to go to is QXT's, a giant Goth joint in Newark, NJ. (!) A says it's the stuff, and I'm inclined to believe her. It's near a commuter train station, apparently, but more research is needed.

*That's right, kids, I'm hip to the Big Apple lingo.

Current Mood: excited
Current Location: the living room of the Devil Girl House
Current Music: everything outdoors because my windows are wide open

rebeccmeister

In this first article, there isn't much for a person to do directly, other than continue to work on providing insect habitat wherever feasible. I'm mostly just sharing this because Dan Janzen is one of the scientists I really look up to, particularly because of his long-term commitment to the places where he has been studying insects for decades. So I'm glad he has a voice in this piece, even if the overall news just echoes what we've heard before about global insect declines.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/jun/03/climate-species-collapse-ecology-insects-nature-reserves-aoe

We are once again experiencing some wildfire smoke from Canada, although the particulates haven't yet *quite* reached even the "unhealthy for sensitive groups" category. I still noticed the effects on my commute to work. So it's a good idea to understand the consequences of inhaling wildfire smoke, and to appreciate the need to try and reduce one's exposure whenever practical.

https://theconversation.com/wildfire-smoke-can-make-your-outdoor-workout-hazardous-to-your-health-an-exercise-scientist-explains-how-to-gauge-the-risk-255812

I thought the comment towards the end about exercising later in the day was interesting. In Arizona, the early evening often felt like the worst time of day to exercise, in terms of air pollution exposure. So I'd take that particular suggestion with a grain of salt.

I was pleased to encounter this third article, about research on how climate change might impact the nutritional value of food:

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/07/250709091658.htm

This summer I worked with my students to think about how to make our ant head research relatable to other people. The simplest way is to present our work in the context of thinking about the nutritional value of crops we grow, and how that might affect our own growth and health. So it's helpful to have other research to point to in this regard, although the above article references work that isn't published yet, to my knowledge.

murgatroyd_666 posting in

girlgenius_lair

https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20250716

Once again, malicious compliance ... delightful malicious compliance!

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.

rebeccmeister

It's both good and bad to reach a point in the summer with a bit more breathing room. On the one hand, ahhhhhh, finally a chance to THINK and get organized and whatnot! I can tackle more of the miscellaneous rowing projects I've been wanting to tackle!

On the other hand, those darned manuscripts and reports still don't write themselves, argh.

Focus, brain, focus!

It was beautiful out on the water this morning. The rowing club is reaching one of those stages where we're having the opposite problem compared to what we had at the start of the pandemic: too many people! I mean, not really too many, just...we aren't accustomed to having to manage this many rowers and boats at every practice. It's a lot. I'm talking, 27 people signed up for practice this morning, 9 boats planned to go out. That means getting out extra safety launches, and managing ourselves effectively when launching and landing from our dock so we get actual rowing time.

Anyway, given the numbers, I volunteered to be the second coach for the morning, and I think overall that made things better for everyone. On the other hand, sitting in my office now, I can tell you that mornings in the coaching launch are still not equivalent to mornings in a rowing shell, doing the actual rowing.

But I'll get back to the actual rowing again on Thursday.

In the meantime, back to writing an assessment report, whee.

sonia

The Back Room by Alicia Adams. A rock shop with a magic back room, and a teenager aching to find her way in.

Negative Scholarship on the Fifth State of Being by A. W. Prihandita. A doctor struggling with corporate control as she tries to treat a patient who is a member of an isolated minority.

brithistorian

I love YouTube Music — it's a great streaming system and gives me access to music that I could only have dreamed of when I was younger. But there's one thing about it — a small thing really, but still big enough that it bothers me: When you have a playlist, it should be a trivial thing for the software to add up the running times of all the songs in the playlist and give you a runtime for the playlist, and this works for shorter playlists, but once a playlist reaches 5 hours or more in length, the program gets lazy and anything over 5 hours is either "5+ hours" or "5 hours [XX] minutes," where [XX] isn't the actual number of minutes past 5 hours, instead the point after 5 hours where the software got lazy and decided to stop adding. Not a deal killer, not even that big of a deal, really, but it's annoying.