tocryabout | Reading

These are some posts from the later part of last week in case you missed them:
Education
Nature
Birdfeeding
Cyberspace Theory
Creative Jam
Neurodiversity
Books
Birdfeeding
Philosophical Questions: Society
Books
Today's Adventures
Birdfeeding
Follow Friday 9-19-25: J-pop
Corncob Broth
Recipe: "Three Sisters Succotash"
Today's Cooking
Artificial Intelligence
Birdfeeding
Hobbies: Embroidery
Hopescrolling
Genocide
Space Exploration
Today's Adventures
Birdfeeding
Good News

Let's Boycott Mississippi has 60 comments. Affordable Housing has 49 comments. Robotics has 69 comments.

"An Inkling of Things to Come" belongs to Polychrome: Shiv and needs $200 to be complete. Shiv attends the first session of his Worldbuilding class.

The weather has cooled off somewhat. We got a little rain last night and drizzled today. Seen at the birdfeeders this week: a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches and a fox squirrel. Lots of butterflies are out, and honeybees are draining the small metal birdbath. Currently blooming: dandelions, marigolds, petunias, red salvia, verbena, lantana, sweet alyssum, zinnias, snapdragons, blue lobelia, perennial pinks, oxalis, moss rose, firecracker plant, tomatoes, tomatillos, yellow squash, zucchini, morning glory, purple echinacea, chicory, Queen Anne's lace, sunflowers, cup plant, firewheel, cypress vine, sunchokes, sedum. Tomatoes, ball carrots, cucumbers, and groundcherries are ripe. Fields are about a quarter harvested.

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

Today is cloudy and mild. It rained a little last night.

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

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 9/22/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 9/22/25 -- I started planting irises but only got one in the ground before it started drizzling again. However, there's a third 'Midnight Treat' purple iris in a bag meant to hold two, so that's awesome.

EDIT 9/22/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 9/22/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 9/22/25 -- I planted 2 'Midnight Treat' purple irises and 2 'Best Bet' irises which have purple falls under lilac standards.

.

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

The Learning Grove

As part of my ongoing series about reimagining education, I want to try something slightly different today. For this one, we will imagine that what I’m calling “The Living Curriculum” is already implemented, and I wil describe one aspect of it. For the sake of this exercise, we will need to suspend our disbelief for a littl while, and put aside questions of how we get from where we are now, to this mildly utopian imagining. The point is not to lay out a perfect plan of how to achieve an ideal education system, but rather, to explore a vision of what such a system might look like.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

New study finds exercising outdoors is 'superior' to the gym or city: 'Our brain loves nature'

A major finding is that exercise in nature provided far greater mental benefits than urban and indoor environments, with participants reporting much higher levels of joy, calm, satisfaction, and optimism after working out in the outdoors.

On a physiological level, researchers measured that the participants’ heart rates dropped more quickly after a walk in nature. Additionally, heart rate variability, which shows how well the body’s nervous system goes into recovery, was 20-30% higher than the indoor walk.

Participants also reported lower levels of anxiety, irritation, and boredom after exercising in nature. Boredom levels actually increased after walking indoors, the researchers shared.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

Today is partly sunny and hot.

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

EDIT 9/21/25 -- I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 9/21/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 9/21/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 9/21/25 -- I watered the old picnic table, irises, patio plants, and a few more around the house yard.

EDIT 9/21/25 -- I watered the new picnic table, septic garden, telephone pole garden, and a few of the savanna seedlings.

Cicadas and crickets are singing.

As it is now dark, I am done for the night.

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

Protect your peace: How to avoid disturbing content on social media

Social media platforms are designed to maximize engagement, not protect your peace of mind. The major platforms have also reduced their content moderation efforts over the past year or so. That means upsetting content can reach you even when you never chose to watch it.

You do not have to watch every piece of content that crosses your screen, however. Protecting your own mental state is not avoidance or denial.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

The September

crowdfunding Creative Jam is open with a theme of "Journalism." Come give us prompts, or choose some for your own inspiration.

What I Have Written

From My Prompts

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

The Science Finally Catches Up: New Research Confirms ADHD as an Evolutionary Advantage, Not a Disease

For over three decades, I’ve been saying what the medical establishment didn’t want to hear: ADHD isn’t a disease, disorder, or defect. It’s an inherited trait that served our hunter-gatherer ancestors well for hundreds of thousands of years—and continues to benefit many people today. Now, groundbreaking research is finally proving what I’ve long called the “hunters in a farmer’s world” theory.

The latest study, published in the prestigious Proceedings of the Royal Society B just a few months ago, provides compelling experimental evidence that people with ADHD traits are superior foragers. Using an ingenious online berry-picking game, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania discovered that participants who scored high for ADHD characteristics consistently outperformed their neurotypical counterparts at gathering resources—exactly what we’d expect from evolved hunters suddenly dropped into sedentary, agricultural societies.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

Author outfits old pickup truck to be traveling banned bookstore: 'A rolling rebellion in the Deep South'

The work she’s doing now? Converting a rusty 1940 Ford pickup truck into a traveling banned bookstore. She calls it “The Banned Wagon.”

“I was originally thinking of opening a regular bookstore, but after the fight over banning books in Fairhope, I was inspired to go this route instead,” Fugett shared with the Alabama Political Reporter.

Her goal with The Banned Wagon is to put banned and challenged books “back into the hands of the people who need them the most.” That includes LGBTQ+ youth, and other marginalized communities. But Fugett also knows that everyone needs access to books that challenge their worldview.

This is a replicable tactic for dealing with censorship.

Another option is to stash diverse titles in Little Free Libraries, in BookCrossing, in any swap shelf you see, and so on. Poke a bigot in the eye, share banned books! Here are some ideas.

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

Today is partly cloudy and mild. It rained a little yesterday, enough to leave small puddles in the road, but the ground is still bone-dry here. Further predictions for rain continue to fluctuate wildly, but hopefully we'll get some more eventually.

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

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 9/20/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 9/20/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 9/20/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 9/20/25 -- I watered the old picnic table, patio plants, irises, and a few others around the house yard.

EDIT 9/20/25 -- I watered the new picnic table, septic garden, telephone pole garden, and a few savanna seedlings.

EDIT 9/20/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

Cicadas and crickets are singing.

As it is now dark, I am done for the night.

Current Mood: busy

selenak

Miss Austen: is a delightful four part miniseries. Now with the exception of the excellent Miss Austen Regrets, featuring Olivia Williams as an older Jane A., biographical media on Jane Austen has suffered from the usual flaw of biopics or bio series focusing on female authors, i.e. insisting on inflicting plots of their most popular work on their life. Miss Austen also avoids this, not least by the fact the titular Miss isn’t Jane, it’s her older sister Cassandra, played in middle age by a superb as usual Keeley Hawes and in flashbacks when young by SinnØve Karlsen, who is so versatile that despite having seen her being very good as Clarice Orsini, Lorenzo de’ Medici’s wife in Medici and superb most recently as Bayta in Foundation’s third season, I didn’t recognise her until googling her. (In addition to great acting, I blame the regency outfit and hairstyle in the flashbcks. *g*) Jane Austen is played by Patsy Ferran who is also great, both when being mischievous and witty, passionate about writing and her sister, and depressed (for various reasons, not least the early lack of success). In fact, this miniseries has led me to the conclusion that Jane Austen is like Benjamin Franklin in that the best way to treat her is as a supporting character where she can shine and leave the audience asking for more, whereas when Ben or Jane get the main character treatment, the increased focus reduces their charisma and attraction.

(This is also why back in my Highlander days, I never wanted a Methos spin-off, despite being as fond of the character as any other fan. He is perhaps THE example of a character who needs to remain a recurring guest star in order to maintain what makes their charm and mystery.)

( Attend the saga of sisters and a sister-in-law… ) The script manages to avoid the obvious quotes while coming up for Austenish sounding things the characters to say, and does great both with the social comedy of manners and the emotional drama. All in all really superb. Anyone either German like me or French: I watched it on ARTE, which also offers the undubbed, original version. Enjoy!

Current Mood: bouncy
Current Location: on the train

yuletidemods posting in

yuletide_admin

Thanks for all your nominations so far! 2732 fandom choices have been submitted so far (note that if two people nominate the same fandom, that counts twice towards that total).

Nominations will close at 9pm UTC 26 September. If your fandom requires evidence, please also submit it by that time. We can't give a decision on all fandoms on the Evidence Post by close of nominations, but the sooner you make your case, the better your chances of a swift answer.

We've seen some very large fandoms among the nominations! Yuletide is an exchange for rare fandoms. We will reject all of the fandoms below, so if one of them is your nomination, please choose again:

Baldur's Gate (Video Games) - I & II will be approved, as per evidence, but this label will be rejected

Actor RPF

Andor (TV)

Baldur's Gate (Video Games)

Black Sails (TV)

僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia (Anime & Manga)

Deltarune (Video Game)

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (TV 2016)

Downton Abbey

Gravity Falls

Horizon (Video Games)

House M.D.

전지적 독자 시점 - 싱숑 | Omniscient Reader - Sing-Shong

The Pitt (TV)

プロジェクトセカイカラフルステージ！| Project SEKAI COLORFUL STAGE! (Video Game)

斉木楠雄のΨ難 | Saiki Kusuo no Sai-nan | The Disastrous Life of Saiki K

Star Trek: Enterprise

Undertale (Video Game)

Warframe

We also won't approve "All Media Types" or "& Related Fandoms". If you've nominated any of the following fandoms, please either pick a specific piece of media, or argue your case on the evidence post.

Ender's Game - All Media Types

History Boys - All Media Types

Midsomer Murders - All Media Types

We've seen nominations for relationships, original characters, or Reader characters. Please only use the Character field to nominate specific characters who appear in a canon. For exceptions, see the eligibility post.

We've also seen many well-formatted nominations and nominations we are excited about! Please keep them coming.

We are happy to answer questions about nominations.

Schedule, Rules, & Collection [still being tweaked for this year] | Contact Mods | Tag Set | Community DW | Community LJ | Discord | Pinch hits on Dreamwidth

Please either sign in to comment, or include a name with your anonymous comments, including replies to others' comments. Unsigned comments will stay screened.

ysabetwordsmith

People have expressed interest in deep topics, so this list focuses on philosophical questions.

Has social media been a net positive or a net negative for our society? Why?

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

10 Queer Pirate Books for Talk Like a Pirate Day

Ahoy, mateys! Today be International Talk Like a Pirate Day, and we be celebratin’ with a heapin’ pile of queer piratey books we fished up outta Davy Jones’ locker. Aar, I be shuttin’ up now, so as not to be subjectin’ ye’ll to more of me aaaatrocious pirate talk. The contributors to this here list be: Nina Waters, Dei Walker, Terra P. Waters, theirprofoundbond, Rascal Hartley, Linnea Peterson, Neo Scarlett, and Sebastian Marie.

Current Mood: amused

ysabetwordsmith

Today we went to the Autumn Fest in Marshall. It was an evening event, and the day had cooled off considerably, so it was quite pleasant. We were lucky to miss the rain there -- it rained a bit at home and we drove through several showers. This event continues on Saturday and Sunday if you want to catch it, and it is well worth attending if you're in Illinois this weekend looking for something to do.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

Today is partly cloudy and warm.

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

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 9/19/25 -- I did a bit of work around the yard.

I picked half a dozen groundcherries.

EDIT 9/19/25 -- I watered the irises.

EDIT 9/19/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

The sky has clouded over, air is cooling a little, and I heard thunder. I'm not sure it'll amount to anything, though.

EDIT 9/19/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

I am done for the night.

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

Today's theme is J-pop.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

I finished making the corncob broth. \o/ It tastes delicious -- delicate, slightly sweet, summery, sunny, with notes of corn and grass. This is sooo much better than regular vegetable broth! If you dislike vegetable broth, this is well worth a try. I now regret every corncob that I tossed straight onto the compost pile. Also I'm annoyed that I only discovered this at the end of the season.

I started with this recipe for inspiration. This time I used the 6 corncobs that I had, some dried onion chips, about 1/4 teaspoon white peppercorns, and three large sprigs of flat-leaf parsley.

Anyhow, I filled a tray of large ice cubes because I want to try this in stir-fry sauce to add volume. I got three cartons that are about 1 1/2 cup each, plus a big one that is probably about 4 cups and suited for crockpot use. I expect it will work anywhere I would normally use regular vegetable broth, possibly also chicken broth.

Next time I make this, and there will be a next time, I will make it in a large crockpot as usual. I'll use a quartered onion, and I might throw in something else. I suspect that lemongrass would work great, and celery or celery leaves might. Broths are flexible; you can toss in whatever you have or like. With a large crockpot I can get a great deal of broth with minimal effort.

Current Mood: accomplished

ysabetwordsmith

I made this tonight. It's a summer favorite, so I wanted to write up our version.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: accomplished

ysabetwordsmith

Today I made Three Sisters Succotash. I want to write up my version because it's a bit different than the Iroquois-inspired one that I started with.

Then it occurred to me that I had half a dozen fresh corncobs, so I am making corncob broth to see if that's any good.

Current Mood: accomplished

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F.A. MacNeil

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To Cry About

Fanfic, comics, movies, books, and words

Reading

Monday Update 9-22-25

Birdfeeding

Education

Nature

Birdfeeding

Cyberspace Theory

Creative Jam

Neurodiversity

Books

Birdfeeding

Miss Austen (Miniseries)

Mid-Nominations Notes

Philosophical Questions: Society

Books

Today's Adventures

Birdfeeding

Follow Friday 9-19-25: J-pop

Corncob Broth

Recipe: "Three Sisters Succotash"

Today's Cooking

Profile

October 2015

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