kyrielle | Network

Masonic Lodge last night

Thursday, February 5th, 2026 07:13 am

As the subtitle of the blog says, a touch of Freemasonry.

My lodge meets the first Wednesday of the month, so last night was it. We initiated a new Brother, and observing or participating in any of the three degrees is always a nice night.

I am frequently asked by non-Masons: "What do Masons do in their meetings?"

I guess the answer is: "Pretty much what any group does, Rotary, Elks, etc." And that is true. We are a club and as such we have formal meetings to keep the thing moving forward. We pay bills, respond to correspondence, almost always have some kind of educational presentation, and go through the process to admit new members. Probably one of the very different things about Freemasonry is that once we admit a new member, that is just the start for that Brother. There are three degrees to go through, the first initiation degree is simply the start. And, much like actual school, he cannot proceed to the next degree without putting considerable work into proving he has learned the lessons of the current degree.

Freemasons are also big on "fellowship" which is our ancient word for "hanging out." Almost every lodge has some kind of meal, either before or after, the meeting. It seems to me that most lodges have the meal after but as it is usually 9-10pm at that time, it's questionable how healthy that is! But it is not about the food, per se. That is just the vehicle that causes us to sit down with each other and talk.

( history... )

Current Mood: grateful

Tags:

freemasonry,
pics

Revisiting my 2018 Reading List

osprey_archer

Thursday, February 5th, 2026 08:38 am

Last time I posted one of these reading lists,

asakiyume noted that I’d already read, like, half the books, and I decided that it might be the path of wisdom in the future to try to post these lists BEFORE I started reading the books on them. So! Behold! The authors I intend to revisit from my 2018 reading list!

Juliana Horatia Ewing - the university library has Mrs. Overtheway’s Remembrances (memories of early nineteenth-century England), The Story of a Short Life (unclear, but I think a child soldier dies valiantly?), and Lob Lie-by-the-fire ; Jackanapes ; Daddy Darwin's dovecot (three short stories, possibly fantasy). Any preferences?

Ngaio Marsh

Jerry Pinkney

Rosemary Sutcliff - We Lived at Drumfyvie, on the basis of

regshoe’s review

Frances Hodgson Burnett - The Head of the House of Coombe

Roald Dahl - I’ve read the most famous ones (Matilda, James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory), plus his memoirs Boy and Going Solo. But I’ve barely skimmed the surface otherwise. Recs?

Caroline Dale Snedeker

M. T. Anderson - Nicked. Recced by multiple people!

D. E. Stevenson - Mrs. Tim Flies Home. The last of the Mrs. Tim quartet.

E. M. Delafield - technically The Provincial Lady in America is next, but I’d have to get it through ILL, whereas the library has The Provincial Lady in Wartime. Will probably get Wartime unless someone feels strongly the books must be read in order and/or the America is wonderful and I simply mustn’t risk missing it.

Elizabeth Enright - Spiderweb for Two. Wrapping up the Melendys!

Rick Bragg - I really liked his food memoir The Best Cook in the World: Tales from My Momma’s Table, so I meant to try some of his other books, but… I have not. Any suggestions?

Daphne Du Maurier

Edward Eager - Playing Possum (the last of his little-known picture books)

Deborah Ellis - One More Mountain, the newest Breadwinner novel, published in 2022

Fyodor Dosteovsky - The Brothers Karamazov. Thoughts which translation I should get?

Jacqueline Woodson

Eliza Orne White - I, the Autobiography of a Cat. I am including White on this list solely because the archive has this book, and how am I supposed to resist a title like that?

Zilpha Keatley Snyder

C. S. Lewis

Elizabeth Gaskell - Mary Barton or Ruth, probably.

Dorothy Gilman

E. Nesbit - The Wouldbegoods

Thanhha Lai - When Clouds Touch Us, the sequel to Inside Out and Back Again. Always nervous about sequels but going to give this a try.

Vera Brittain - Testament of Youth. Another book I’ve meant to read for AGES.

Tags:

book log challenge

Goal Update (Belated)

smallhobbit

Thursday, February 5th, 2026 01:05 pm

Snowflake normally includes a post to share goals, which is when I was planning to do this, but it didn't, so I haven't. However, with three months left of my year, it's about time I look at how things have been going.

Goal No 1: Do a Themed Monthly Post

Definitely a good goal and I've enjoyed posting a monthly selection of the view from our bedroom window, together with various bonus windows.

Goal No 2: Accept the Unexpected

Definitely a few of those, but they haven't thrown me badly, even if they have required a change of plans. Our October holiday plans to north Wales were completely remade two days before departure, so we went to south-west Wales instead. The weather when we were due to go to London to see The Red Shoes meant travel was dubious (trains freak at the first sign of a snowflake) meant we cancelled in time to get a credit note and have rebooked for a performance in Cardiff in March. Not to mention the disruption of a quiet evening by The Daughter phoning to say 'how about going to Paddington the Musical' and getting it all sorted within two hours. And managing to crack a rib in the middle of December, which didn't stop me doing most things, but did require certain adjustments.

Goal No 3: To Embrace My Personal Interests

Definitely going with it. Less courses because there's nothing much which appeals, but that's within the personal interests. I currently have 9 books on the go. 7 stitching projects and a jumper to knit.

25 Things in 2025

All finished - hooray!

26 Photos in 2026
The first two are posted, and the next will be posted on Saturday.

And now I need to start thinking about my next set of goals. I definitely like doing a monthly themed photo post, so will continue with that, although I haven't decided on a theme. And I'd like to have something nature based, but am not sure what as yet. All goal suggestions will be considered, if not adopted.

Tags:

goals

Multifandom: Domaystic 2026

writtenwordsaloud

fandomcalendar

Thursday, February 5th, 2026 04:48 am

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Reading Wednesday 2026, #5

shipperslist

Thursday, February 5th, 2026 10:52 am

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Tags:

book log: reading wednesday

Multifandom: Goreswap Exchange 2026

slashmarks

fandomcalendar

Thursday, February 5th, 2026 03:07 am

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Community Thursdays

ysabetwordsmith

Thursday, February 5th, 2026 12:24 am

This year I'm doing Community Thursdays. Some of my activity will involve maintaining communities I run, and my favorites. Some will involve checking my list of subscriptions and posting in lower-traffic ones. Today I have interacted with the following communities...

* Posted "What Are Couple Goals And How Do We Achieve Them?" in

goals_on_dw.

* Posted "Sighting a Siberian Superstar: Local birder secures rare red-flanked bluetail for life list" in

birdfeeding.

* Commented in

awesomeers.

Current Mood: busy

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Talking Meme Month - day 4

hafnia

Wednesday, February 4th, 2026 10:09 pm

(You know the drill: if you want to submit a question, you can do so here ♥ )

Day 4: Give us all the cat updates!

This isn't really a question, but I'll let it slide :P

STATE OF THE CATS

The Little Cat:

She is officially, after Gid's growth spurt, back to being the littlest cat in the house (thank God), so it doesn't have to be an ironic nickname. Huzzah!

She has decided over the last couple of months that she wishes to remain an upstairs goblin. We respect this and keep her and Hilda apart. They're both incredibly territorial and attempts to reconcile them to each other have not gone well; the long and short of it is that in the interest of keeping both cats happy and healthy, one gets the upstairs and one gets the downstairs. Our house is 2700 sf, so this is not a bad proposition. Everyone has food/toys/litter pans on their floor, and they are very good about sticking to the upstairs/downstairs. Both cats are unstressed and happy, so. You know.

(Genuinely I think they each forget that the other exists when they can't directly SEE each other, but whatever — we keep one of the downstairs doors closed, the one that's closest to the stairs, and the peace is maintained.)

Hilda:

Still a horrible gremlin. She's on a perpetual diet because she is Too Chonk. We finally figured out what was going on re: that (she figured out how to open the container we kept dry food in...), and put a stop to it, so she is slowly losing weight again.

She's still very much Max's cat and not mine, as in, she will neglect me if he is home, because he is HER person and I'm just the sidepiece.

Gideon:

Oh, God, Gid.

He is almost fully grown now (he's gonna be 2 in a month!), he is long and lanky and there is still not a brain in that beautiful head. His tabby markings have come in way more strongly now that he's an adult, so he no longer looks like a mottled Siamese — you can clearly see that The Tabby Is Strong In This One.

Over the last few months, he's become almost ridiculously cuddly. It's kind of cute, actually — he has a bedtime routine and waits for both Max and I to go upstairs before he hops on the bed, headbutts both of us (rubs his face on our faces), then curls up between us and goes to sleep. When Max gets up in the mornings, Gid follows him downstairs to hang out, then comes back up to curl up at my feet once Max is at work. When I start the day in earnest is when he decides he can go do Cat Stuff and doesn't need to hang out with me.

Something we have realized is that he does not like to get petted unless he is basically at eye level with you, so sometimes he will climb onto the piano and howl mournfully until someone pays attention to him. It's weirdly endearing? Like, he is very careful about how he does it, he doesn't knock stuff over or touch anything he's not supposed to, he just hops up there and cries until someone pets him. Heh.

On the whole, cats are still 10/10, pretty glad to have 'em even when they do weird stuff.

For pictures, ofc, I post them regularly to my Mastodon account. :)

Binary Star

xkcd_feed

Wednesday, February 4th, 2026 05:00 am

https://xkcd.com/3203/

Wildlife

ysabetwordsmith

Wednesday, February 4th, 2026 10:02 pm

What is the American red wolf?

The American red wolf is the world’s most endangered. This species is found only in the United States, and fewer than 20 remain in the wild. It is one of the most endangered mammals on Earth.

Now, an unprecedented partnership between universities, government agencies, and biotechnology companies is using the latest genetic tools to save this iconic predator from extinction. The effort represents a new model for how technology may reshape wildlife conservation in the decades ahead.

Current Mood: busy

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Birdfeeding

ysabetwordsmith

Wednesday, February 4th, 2026 09:58 pm

Today is cloudy and cold.

I fed the birds. I've seen a large flock of sparrows, several cardinals, and a starling.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 2/426 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 2/426 -- I did more work around the patio.

I am done for the night.

Current Mood: busy

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Cuddle Party

ysabetwordsmith

Wednesday, February 4th, 2026 09:52 pm

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!

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

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Circling the Problem

billroper

Wednesday, February 4th, 2026 09:42 pm

After a whole lot of work on my VM, I finally just deleted the directory that holds all of the configuration information for my JDeveloper and now it is working properly again. I suppose I should have tried that first.

We had a walkthrough of the new Windycon hotel today and are discussing various items of space allocation that we will settle eventually. Figuring out how to carve up a new set of rooms is always interesting. :)

Gretchen and I had new passport photos taken today, because we are just within the deadline for being able to renew our passports online. Those applications are now filed. This is more immediately useful for me than it is for Gretchen, as I have now paid for my FilkONtario membership and just need to book a hotel room. Sadly, the website wasn't working earlier tonight, so I'll just try again tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Capricon starts tomorrow. Because a full day of work is a good choice for me, I'll be showing up Friday with my dealer table. At an annoyingly early hour, but I have a panel at 1 PM and want to take a run at having the table set up when the dealer room is actually ready to open.

Wish me luck!

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#73 Midmorning Meeting and Musings (part 1 of 2)

dialecticdreamer

Wednesday, February 4th, 2026 09:45 pm

Midmorning Meeting and Musings
By Dialecticdreamer/Sarah Williams
Part 1 of 2
Word count (story only): 1344
[Wednesday, May 13, 2020, 11 am]

:: The meeting with Win isn’t anything that the older Teagues could have anticipated. Part of the Edison’s Mirror (Teague Family) story arc. ::

On to part two

The library opened at ten in the morning. Edison, holding Mac’s hand securely, tugged the door open as soon as the librarian unlocked it. “Hello, Mister Addamson,” the boy greeted. “Aidan and Vic have an errand to run later, so it’ll be just the two of us for a bit. Is that okay?”

The man’s beetle brows drew down, obscuring his equally dark eyes in their shade. “Are you two planning to take permanent markers into the bathroom to color in the hexagonal tiles on the wall?”

He waited a beat. Another. Beneath the thick eyebrows, his nearly black eyes glimmered with amusement.
( Read more... )

Current Mood: creative

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Mental Hardship

days_unfolding

Wednesday, February 4th, 2026 07:48 pm

Kept on hitting snooze and got up at 7:20 AM. Gracie does not want to come inside. Sigh. I'm tired, and I won't get a nap at lunchtime. I'm tempted to blow off piano, but I shouldn't nap because I want to get up early on Thursday and finally get the car jump-started.

Oh man, I'm yawning my way though a meeting. I might need to take a nap after work.

Going back to the Appalachian Trail book, the part that I find interesting is that it’s as much a mental challenge as a physical one. That got me wondering about my mental challenges. I tend to cave in. Maybe getting the house together is my Appalachian Trail. Maybe I should get an Appalachian Trail map and assign (big) house tasks to portions of it and color them in. I kind of like that idea. I ordered a laminated map. I can use dry-erase markers on it. I finished the book, which I liked better when she dug into the mental hardship of the trail. She also wrote a book about hiking the Pacific Crest Trail, so I bought it. I found it interesting that she said the AT is harder than the PCT.

At this point, it’s too late to take a nap, so I’ll just go to bed early. I need to get into my pajamas so that I can hand-wash jeans.

I think that I’ll gather my laundry this weekend and go to a laundromat to start with clean clothes, although I really want to fix the washer this weekend. Note to self: The Courtesy Cleaning Center in Urbana is open until 10:30 PM every night.

My clothes are soaking. After I post, I'll issue sell orders for the money market (ETFs?) for some of the money in my investment account to prepare to buy actual stocks.

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Summing up Conflict of Honors

rolanni

Wednesday, February 4th, 2026 08:24 pm

Those who are interested in the Liaden Read-Along, the summing up of Conflict of Honors may be read here

Tags:

liaden read-along

(no subject)

lycomingst

Wednesday, February 4th, 2026 05:20 pm

So since I moved here my living room tv, not a big one, and all the cable paraphernalia have been on the floor. I don't watch much in there and I didn't want to spend anything to get a table. It was far down on the list of things to buy. But I was eyeing a coffee table at the Fred Meyer's (grocery and department store in one) and there was a floor model very marked down.

The other day I said, if it's still there I'll get it. Original price about $150, bought for $42. That said, it's a wee bit too big for the space but the room has a less 'first apartment' vibe.

But the story (fascinating as it is) is even more interesting, because the same day I bought it I got a check in the mail for $53. A result of signing up for a class lawsuit suing somebody for something. A day of profit and a new table.

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Infant dies of listeria after mother consumes raw milk during pregnancy

thewayne

Wednesday, February 4th, 2026 04:25 pm

Sigh. And it happened in my state of New Mexico.

Raw milk is something that Robert FUCKING Kennedy Junior Mint advocates for, claiming it's healthy. It is decidedly not. It's swarming with pathogens that can be quite deadly which is why the death rate went down after pasteurization became a dairy industry standard practice.

So all together now: Hey, Hey, RFK: how many kids have you killed today!

The medical examiner can't directly tie the infant's death to the raw milk consumption of the mother except noting there's not many other places the child could have contracted listeria from.

What's worse, I just read today that women are now training for pregnancy like they train for doing a triathlon. Including the consumption of raw milk. Thus I expect this is just the first such report that we'll be seeing like this.

https://arstechnica.com/health/2026/02/newborns-death-spurs-raw-milk-warning-in-new-mexico/

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Elyot with a Y is such a transmasc name, I'm just saying

cosmolinguist

Wednesday, February 4th, 2026 10:37 pm

diffrentcolours has been on a mission to find more fun/novel things to do: it's kinda been the upshot of both our therapy lately that we should do this.

So tonight we went to see a Noel Coward play, Private Lives, at Hope Mill Theatre which was new to me. It was a great venue, though I'm glad I didn't have to try to find it on my own because that never would've worked.

And the play was great too: very cleverly staged, with occasional video projection and really good use of (mostly diagetic) music, well-acted, and the darkest the-straights-are-not-okay underbelly beneath that Noel Coward wit: it was sweet and even sexy but also made me think about what we do or don't learn from relationships that have ended. The seats weren't wide enough for our hench shoulders, but that just meant we had to snuggle up and that was such a nice way to watch it.

The theater's independent, gets no external funding, so definitely worth supporting if you get the chance. I was glad to see it pretty busy on this random weekday evening.

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[food, healthwork] VEMGETABLES and NUTS and--

kaberett

Wednesday, February 4th, 2026 10:25 pm

( Read more... )

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food

Manners and Monsters by Tilly Wallace

shipperslist

Wednesday, February 4th, 2026 11:44 pm

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Reading: January 16-31

mothereader

Wednesday, February 4th, 2026 06:56 pm

Friends, I've worked hard and now the hard part is over. Things mostly went better than I expected. I'm very pleased. I'm also pleased that I can now make my biceps jump out, so that the family can no longer say that they don't see them.

Well, I haven't seem them in approximately three weeks, but as soon as I get home (from a place that is also home ^^), they'll all be required to look at my biceps.

I've got a bit of a list to wrap up the month because my primary avoidance and destressing technique is to read. My number is also a bit inflated because I read a manga series plus one more, and two and a half novel series that had been originally serialised. Both categories are very easy to read.

Let's start with manga for this month. I read the first volume of Dysfunctional Family Theory. I was admittedly initially to the colour combination on the cover (not even the image, just the colours), but I had a lot of fun with it. I'm impatiently waiting for the sequel coming in March.

The other manga that I read were all part of a series, Delinquent Daddy and Tender Teacher. This was a predominantly cozy read. Nothing much happened in any one volume, but I liked that at the end of a volume, you could still say, "ah, this character changed their behaviour around this one specific thing throughout this volume." If there were, I'd read more.

Now for the Chinese novels. I started that series of reads with The Missing Piece. That book went from middling to slightly better by the end. The flashbacks really brought this book back to life even though they were at times too long. Riverbay Road Men's Dormitory, on the other hand, went from really good to okay. I liked the first volume a lot, but then the second volume spoiled that. It felt really messy, which did give it a dose of realism, but I also personally didn't like the ending, so there's that.

The last on that list was The Disabled Tyrant's Beloved Pet Fish series. The first two volumes were my jam—there were annoying tasks that the fish had to complete, there was palace politics, the tyrant is an intense weirdo, not in the least for the way he gets with his pet fish before he knows that the fish can turn into a person. The rest of the volumes still had some of all that but those things that I liked felt more like a sidebar to the kid plot (magical kids, friends). It just wasn't as enjoyable, although those volumes had their moments as well.

There were a few more books, but I'll cover them in the next edition of the reading log.

I got Spell Bound purely on the aesthetic principles. I saw a preview somewhere of how some of the inner pages were laid out and I had to have it. There's something in the content as well, but the design of this book is where it's at for me.

This next book was such a weird read for me. The Comfort Crisis is partially a memoir of Easter's time in Alaska hunting caribou and partially reporting on different aspects of wellness. He goes, "As we were sitting here talking about X, I was brought back to the time when I went to interview Y on this topic," and then he'll go off on this for a while. He also brings back topics to deepen them at times. Overall, I enjoyed reading this book so much more than I thought I would when I read,

I'm standing on a windy tarmac in Kotzebue, Alaska, a 3,000-person village 20 miles above the Arctic Circle on the Chukchi Sea. In front of me are two airplanes. One will soon dump me deep into the Alaskan Arctic, a place that's generally agreed to be one of the loneliest, most remote, and most hostile on earth. I'm on edge.

on the first page. There are lots of things to consider on your own in this book. I recommend it.

I went back to serialised fiction with another entry in Zagorka's canon. It's not a well-known book and it has only been published as novel for the first time in 2015 (this is based on the entries in the National University Catalogue for that book... so, to the best of my knowledge). Unlike all of the Zagorka's novels that I had read before, this one is a contemporary mystery—with the unavoidable presence of romance—and it's set in the post-WWI Yugoslavia.^* Now that I'm thinking about it, this book might also be thought as reimagining what Sherlock Holmes would be like if he were living in the northwest Balkans. Anyway, wish I could recommend this book, but there are no translations.

And then the last book on my list today was one of the references in Zinsser's Writing to Learn: Writing to Learn Mathematics. I found this booklet informative and inspiring. It's full of examples and strategies to use when teaching maths to kids and how to use expressive writing in a mathematics class.⁺ I think that the strategies are broadly enough expressed that this book might be a guide on how you might use writing to learn something on your own.

Mayo Tsurukame, Dysfunctional Family Theory vol. 1
Tama Mizuki, Delinquent Daddy and Tender Teacher vol. 1–6
Kun Yi Wei Lou, The Missing Piece
Fei Tian Ye Xiang, Riverbay Road Men's Dormitory vol. 1–2
Xue Shan Fei Hu, The Disabled Tyrant's Beloved Pet Fish vol. 1–5
Chaweon Koo , Spell Bound: A new witch's guide to crafting the future
Michael Easter, The Comfort Crisis: Embrace Discomfort to Reclaim Your Wild, Happy, Healthy Self
Marija Jurić Zagorka, Tozuki
Joan Countryman, Writing to Learn Mathematics: Strategies That Work, K-12

_{^* Also known as the first Yugoslavia. This was a kingdom, not the communist republic that was founded after WWII.}

_{⁺ Learning mathematics in higher education makes it so funny that primary and secondary math so little technical writing. Nowadays, I do so much writing during which mathematical symbols are only incidental. ^^'}

Current Music: "Turn on Me" by The Shins

Tags:

reading update

Adobe announces it's killing off the Animate software program Monday

thewayne

Wednesday, February 4th, 2026 12:05 pm

On Tuesday, after suffering a day of blowback, Adobe rescinds its kill order and announces the program is going into maintenance mode. The original email sent to registered and paying users apparently said "We're contacting you to let you know that Adobe will be discontinuing Adobe Animate on March 1, 2026. As an existing Animate user, you may continue to use Animate, but please note that technical support will no longer be available after March 1, 2027."

Animate was, more or less, the successor to the Flash development package which was killed ages ago in favor of HTML 5. And apparently much more used than Adobe thought.

Reactions to the Monday announcement: ... were swift and angry on social media. "Adobe discontinuing Animate out of the blue is nuts," writes artist and animator Julia Glassman on BlueSky. "Many television productions, games, and all sorts of animated media still rely (on) Animate/Flash pipelines. They're all supposed to just...pivot to entirely new software and pipelines?!"

Animator Christopher Linoleum brought up how many big-name shows utilize the program: "Adobe Animate remains an industry standard for TV animation. Star Trek: Lower Decks was made in Animate. Haunted Hotel was made in Animate. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic was made in Animate. And because you can't buy a permanent license anymore, it'll just be gone."

YIKES! So a pretty important program to the entertainment industry! The original kill date was announced as March 1, 2027. But a bigger problem was that apparently either cloud storage is required or a major component of the program, and that would be shut down at the same time, so users would lose all their assets and data! Remember, folks - all the cloud means is that it's somebody else's server. The "Cloud" isn't anything mystical, it's just someone's server.

After getting bombarded with hate and flamed to cinders, Adobe "... now says that Animate will now be in maintenance mode going forward and that it has “no plans to discontinue or remove access” to the app. Animate will still receive “ongoing security and bug fixes” and will still be available for “both new and existing users,” but it won’t get new features."

There's one unmentioned problem. With no updates and it being in maintenance mode, it will eventually be bypassed by operating system changes. It may take 5-10 years or more, but it will happen. And it may become glitchy before it dies. Smart production houses are going to start looking for better alternatives now and start planning migrations and new work flows soon. Sadly, apparently Reddit threads say there's no real alternative for professional production. I'm not familiar with that field so I have no idea.

The article that I saw yesterday announcing the original kill order:
https://www.gamespot.com/articles/adobe-is-killing-a-popular-animation-and-game-development-program/1100-6537851/

Adobe backing away:
https://www.theverge.com/tech/873621/adobe-animate-maintenance-mode-reverse-course

Slashdot mocking the back-off:
https://it.slashdot.org/story/26/02/04/0730222/adobe-actually-wont-discontinue-animate

EDIT: I should have checked Ars Technica. Their article on all this was quite informative, telling me that Animate is actually the original Flash, but renamed! I was unaware of this, I've never been involved in creating things with Flash.

Some comments in the Ars article had a very cogent observation: there's no AI assistant in Animate, and it's probably based on a very old code base, so it would be hard to retrofit it. Which means Adobe can't realistically increase its current price of $23/month. If they can't make more money from the product, kill it. Occam's Razor that's a pretty good guess.

And yes, people are already thinking Adobe cannot be trusted and are rethinking their production pipelines.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/02/adobe-reverses-decision-to-discontinue-animate-after-a-lot-of-confusion-and-angst/

Tags:

adobe,
facepalm

The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow

lightreads

Wednesday, February 4th, 2026 02:19 pm

The Everlasting

3/5. Fantasy about the soldier turned scholar who ends up going back in time (and back . . . and back . . . and back) to meet the lady knight who is pivotal to the founding myth of his nation. Arthurian time travel about nation-building and myth creation and racism.

Man, I don’t know what it is, but I just do not like Alix Harrow books the way I should. Even this one, where the overwrought quality of her writing finally has a story to match its tone. The writing in some sections is notably strong, I should say. But there is something in every single one of her books that I cannot put my finger on, and it just annoys the crap out of me.

I will admit this is structurally clever. The narrative gets rewritten multiple times to create new founding national myths, and she manages that while not being too terribly repetitive, and also establishing a few important touchpoints that orient the reader to how the angle of history has changed in just a few sentences. That is well done.

I still don’t know. The one objection I can concretely point to here is that I don’t like the way this book centers nation-building around the ego and trauma and psychopathy of one single person. The metaphor of it all collapses there, because that’s not how this works. Systems of racial oppression and societal violence don’t form on the whim of a single person, and there is something trite in the way Harrow has her villain reconstructing this nation over and over again based on, like, ten minutes of history that get played out a thousand years before the modern day events. Which is a real objection – I think that is a weakness of the book. But it’s not the thing I found annoying and off-putting, and I still don’t know what that is.

I’d bet on this to go on a bunch of award lists, though, just you wait.

Content notes: Racialized oppression, violence in war and otherwise, discussion of the killing of civilians, mention of stillbirth and sexual assault, something that is not the death of children but awfully close.

Tags:

A theme emerges: check first

christopher575

Wednesday, February 4th, 2026 10:42 am

One recent cleanup task I didn't mention was deleting some work stuff from my personal laptop. It was several months into my current contract before anyone decided I needed corporate network credentials, so I couldn't use the company laptop and had to work on mine. When a reason to get those credentials arose and I got them, I copied everything over to the work laptop and resumed a 2-laptop lifestyle.

Since I was cleaning stuff up anyway, the outdated copies of everything I'd worked on were low-hanging fruit, so I deleted that folder. It was backed up to OneDrive and I got a message about whether I wanted to delete the documents for everyone and thought, yeah whatever. But then a scenario flashed in my mind wherein I somehow accidentally created links to those on my work laptop rather than copies. My blood ran cold even though that situation, if true, would likely be fixed easily by grabbing something from the trash. But I confirmed that the ones on my work laptop were still there and backed up on a work instance of OneDrive. Phew!

The update I promised about YouTube provided another lesson in checking first. After deleting all those old videos and my channel for my original YouTube account, that account did indeed disappear from the opening screen on the YouTube TV app. I checked my second-oldest YouTube account found it didn't have a channel, just likes and Watch Later. No videos meant nothing to delete, so I thought I'd check the TV to see if there was an option to simply remove it from the screen. I didn't start there with the first account because the last time I thought to try to clean up that screen, it didn't have that option. But it does now, so I removed the second account.

All of that reminded me that I used to use the "like" feature on YouTube more, and there was probably some interesting stuff in the like list on the oldest account. But that's gone now and I won't worry about it. I'll check on the second account sometime. I already reviewed its Watch Later list and didn't find anything that mattered much. I'm still happy with my decision to nuke that first account, but it's funny to learn after the fact that I could have just removed it from the TV.

It's nice to know Google will actually add features to their apps that they don't just delete because they got bored with them. I should see if I can get them to introduce a sound leveling feature to YouTube Music. I know Spotify offers that but I refuse to give Spotify any money. I haven't deleted that account yet, but I found its replacement for the only thing I used it for, podcasts. Now I'm using PocketCast for the two shows I still listen to, Text Me Back and Melrose Place Cast. Eventually I'll probably start listening to more of them again, but for now the time that I used to devote to podcasts goes mostly to TV and movies. I generally only listen to podcasts when I walk, and thanks to water fitness, I walk way less than I used to.

I've strayed quite far from the original theme of checking first before deleting files and accounts, but a new one is suddenly on the chopping block. I use TimeHop every day to look at old tumblr and Facebook posts, and today's journey started off interesting because three years ago was when I tested positive for COVID. But the app froze and crashed, and kept freezing and crashing over and over. I'll try one more time this afternoon and if it doesn't work, I'm done trying for the day.

I just checked the app to see if it can tell me how long my streak is, and I've been using it since 2016. And in that process I just noticed I can connect Flickr, which I either didn't know, or forgot. The idea's intriguing for sure, since Flickr's the most comprehensive nostalgia source I have. There's also really no good way to review it all except for TimeHop, because breaking up the archive by day lets you see the whole thing over the course of a year.

Ok I just answered my own question. I'll connect it and cross my fingers that the app stops crashing.

Sekka Zusetsu: A Book of Snowflakes (1832)

publicdomainreview_feed

Wednesday, February 4th, 2026 04:12 pm

https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/japanese-snowflake-book

Observations of “snow flowers” made by microscope in Edo-era Japan.

https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/japanese-snowflake-book

Typing for Love or Money: The Hidden Women’s Labor behind Modern Literary Masterpieces

publicdomainreview_feed

Wednesday, February 4th, 2026 04:12 pm

https://publicdomainreview.org/essay/typing-for-love-or-money

Taking dictation, revising manuscripts, typing copies, literary amanuenses often labour for little compensation and even less recognition. Christine Jacobson explores the neglected efforts of women like Theodora Bosanquet, Véra Nabokov, and Valerie Eliot, who — through their work as typists, editors, and champions — had a profound impact on modern literature.

https://publicdomainreview.org/essay/typing-for-love-or-money

(no subject)

maju

Wednesday, February 4th, 2026 12:46 pm

It's a beautiful day today - almost up to freezing point, clear and sunny. And it's supposed to get just above freezing this afternoon. I went for a shortish walk this morning (after using the rebounder for 45 minutes) and the sun felt really good on my face, which was the only part of my body that wasn't covered. When I got back I shoveled some of the snow that's in front of my car, and I plan to do a bit more tomorrow and then a bit more on Friday, and that should take me up to the front of the car. I estimate I did a strip about 3 feet by ten feet today.

I didn't have the best night last night, although it was slightly better than the night before. It took me longer than usual to fall asleep last night, then I woke up about 4:15 am and took a while to fall back to sleep. I'd barely fallen asleep when the cat started to do what sounded like tap dancing right above my head (on the ground floor) just after 4:30 am, and I didn't get back to sleep before the alarm went off. I would prefer it if she would play in the basement, because I don't hear her then and I know she won't get on the bed with me and disturb me that way. She is definitely not a lap- or bed-cat. Last night I heard a repeated mysterious soft bumping noise somewhere above me around 8:30 pm, and this morning my daughter told me it was the cat playing with/killing a mouse.

Yesterday afternoon Aria asked me to crochet a tiny blanket for one of her stuffed toys, so I started on that last night. Then Violet asked me to make her a crocheted square; she chose one from a few pictures of granny squares I've saved on my computer, and I started work on that this morning. These should both be quick projects.

Some writing links, both other people's things and my own

ashelterofpages

Wednesday, February 4th, 2026 12:35 pm

Get something nice for doing things for various flavors of good causes.

Listen, the world sucks right now. It sucks a lot! But there's also a lot of good and people doing good. If you are out there doing good, I would like to do something for you. It's apparently been like six years since I've managed to put one of these together but here we go:

If you have made a financial contribution to a good cause* between the beginning of 2026 and now, the moment you are reading this, or any point during 2026 thereafter**, I'd like to do something for you.

However, I am fully aware that not everyone can do financial contributions. So if you have volunteered, signed petitions, contacted your representatives***, protested, trained, networked, etc., I would also like to do something for you.

I might do something like this as well, though I'll probably only do it for original fic right now. I'm still trying to sort through fandom stuff. But it would be nice to give people things to give them a smile, and I already do this kind of thing on Bluesky most months, so why not here too?

~~

I mentioned a couple of posts ago that I got a couple of things published last year. I thought I'd link them here on the off chance you're curious.

Linger Just A Little - 100-Foot Crow
Thisis a drabble I wrote in October for the theme of haunt'. It felt really good to have this one be in the world because I had a bit of a hard go this last quarter of the year, and this was a little boost when I needed it.

This is also free to read.

Ripped At The Seams - meat4meat
This was a story I wrote in January and had initially gotten rejected, but when the anthology went better than expected, they reached out to me and bought the story. This is an angry little story about being forced to be in a body that shouldn't be lived in, and the things we do to fight against those who make us exist that way.

The overall theme of the anthology was body horror written by trans and disabled authors, so you can kinda get the idea of what you'll find here. You can't read this one for free, but the anthology is linked, and if you're really curious, I'll send you a file of just my story.

Laser Loons of my own Design

lydamorehouse

Wednesday, February 4th, 2026 10:25 am

Image of a loon with a baby on its back with the words: We keep us safe (by Lyda Morehouse)

I think we can all safely agree that no AI was used in the creation of this image (or the one to follow.) This is 100% my own crappy art and sloppy lettering!

So, you all probably knew it was only a matter of time before I started making my own posters, right? I have no immediate use for these, but they will likely be on display at the mosque protection gathering on Friday. I just really wanted to make one that says the following:

Image: loon running on water in preparaton for take off, lasers shooting from its eyes, and the words: This Bird Fights Fascism (by Lyda Morehouse).

Having spent some time looking at photographs of loons in order to draw these, I have to say? Loons are really pretty, actually. Not only do their wings have these lovely black spots on the exterior part of the wing, but the underbelly of the wing really does have an almost bluish tinge to it. Like, the state flag colors kind of make more sense to me. I mean, I know that, officially, the blue is meant to represent all of our 10,000+ lakes, but like even the loon sort of reflects that color. It's neat.

Anyway, I had been intending to give you all a break from my monotonous chatter about the reisistance, but then I was seized by a desire to draw and here we are. I promise that tomorrow there will be cat pictures.

Tags:

Fancake Theme for February: Inept in Love

runpunkrun

fandomcalendar

Wednesday, February 4th, 2026 08:16 am

fancake is a thematic recommendation community where all members are welcome to post recs, and fanworks of all shapes and sizes are accepted. Check out the community guidelines for the full set of rules.

This theme runs for the entire month. If you have any questions, just ask!

Tags:

1/31/26 - 2/4/26 Yet More Action Items Below

gwydion

Wednesday, February 4th, 2026 07:52 am

* "Israeli strikes kill 26 in Gaza, health officials say:" https://archive.ph/uLhtp

* This is from a different attack. "Israeli strikes kill 18 in Gaza, patient crossings at Rafah halted, Palestinian officials say:" https://archive.ph/670vH

How to Help:
Revive Gaza's farmland: https://apnature.org/en/gaza
PCRF: https://www.pcrf.net/
HEAL Palestine: https://www.healpalestine.org/
The Sameer Project: https://linktr.ee/thesameerproject
Gaza Soup Kitchen: https://gazasoupkitchen.org/

******

* "US shoots down Iranian drone that 'aggressively' approached an aircraft carrier, military says:" https://www.politico.com/news/2026/02/03/iran-drone-shot-down-00762438

******

* "Russia Hits Maternity Hospital In Ukraine's Zaporizhzhya, Kills 16 Miners In Dnipropetrovsk:" https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-ukraine-drone-attack-peace-talks/33666126.html

******

* "Disappeared bodies, mass burials and ‘30,000 dead’: what is the truth of Iran’s death toll?:" https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2026/jan/27/iran-protests-death-toll-disappeared-bodies-mass-burials-30000-dead

* "Calls grow in Iran for independent inquiry into protest death toll:" https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/feb/01/calls-grow-in-iran-for-independent-inquiry-into-protest-death-toll

* "Iranian protesters share their stories of determination and dissent:" https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/iranian-protesters-share-their-stories-of-determination-and-dissent

* "Nearly 400 millionaires and billionaires call for higher taxes on super-rich:" https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/jan/21/millionaires-billionaires-taxes-super-rich-mark-ruffalo-wef-davos

* "EU to Offer US Critical Minerals Partnership to Counter China:" https://archive.ph/XUInF

* There is nothing on paper, of course. "Trump says U.S. and India reached trade deal, will lower tariffs immediately:" https://www.cnbc.com/2026/02/02/trump-india-trade-deal-tariffs.html

*** Immigration/I.C.E/Autocracy/Slow Motion Civil War/Violent Illegal Occupation of Blue Cities News (Sort likely a little rough)***

* "US judge halts Trump plan to end protections for 350,000 Haitians:" https://archive.ph/cft7f

* "Noem’s coarse tweet comes back to bite her in blistering ruling on protections for Haitians:" https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow/watch/noem-s-coarse-tweet-comes-back-to-bite-her-in-blistering-ruling-on-protections-for-haitians-2484987459821

* "US judge again blocks Trump ban on lawmakers' surprise visits to detention centers:" https://archive.ph/TEYMl

* "Shooting deaths climb in Trump's mass deportation effort:" https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/a-look-at-shootings-by-federal-immigration-officers

* "Federal immigration agents keep shooting at drivers. We tracked 15 cases since July.:" https://www.ms.now/news/federal-agents-shoot-drivers-weaponized-vehicle

* "Maine’s Chief U.S. District Court judge orders ICE to release asylum seeker who was arrested without warrant :" https://www.pressherald.com/2026/01/30/live-updates-advanced-ice-operations-could-be-over-in-maine-whats-next/

* "Five-year-old deported to Honduras despite being US citizen is latest child victim of Trump crackdown:" https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/27/five-year-old-girl-us-citizen-and-mother-deported-honduras

* "Prosecutors stunned as ICE lets suspect in $100m jewelry heist leave US:" https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/22/ice-jewelry-heist-suspect-self-deport

* "It’s Small. It’s Loud. It’s Taking Over the Country.:" https://slate.com/technology/2026/01/ice-chicago-minneapolis-whistles-watch-zine.html

* "After a death at an El Paso ICE facility was ruled a homicide, will prosecutors pursue a criminal case?:" https://www.texastribune.org/2026/01/29/texas-el-paso-migrant-death-ice-custody-autopsy-prosecution/

* "2 measles infections confirmed at Texas facility where 5-year-old detained in Minnesota was held:" https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/2-measles-infections-confirmed-texas-facility-5-year-old-detained-minn-rcna256993

Remember they deny medical care, clean water, etc. to detainees as a matter of policy, and that this is the prison where they send legal immigrants and people with open asylum cases that have been following the rules and have done nothing wrong, particularly children.

* "Canadian company says Virginia warehouse sale to ICE won't proceed:" https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/canadian-company-virginia-warehouse-sale-ice-proceed-129721245

* "ICE purchase of massive Surprise warehouse sparks concern, support among residents and lawmakers:" https://www.12news.com/article/news/local/valley/ice-warehouse-in-surprise-arizona/75-642846db-d7bc-4de4-9fd7-1337ac53b283

* "Protesters push back on potential ICE detention warehouse in Hagerstown:" https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/protesters-push-back-against-plan-to-open-ice-warehouse-in-hagerstown/4045639/

* "Howard County Executive revokes permit for potential ICE detention center in Maryland:" https://www.cbsnews.com/baltimore/news/building-permit-revoked-for-ice-detention-center-in-elkridge/

* "Tacoma ICE facility would see steep fines for blocking inspections under WA bill://www.theolympian.com/news/politics-government/article314477992.html

* "Oklahoma City ICE detention center proposal halted after community opposition:" https://www.koco.com/article/oklahoma-city-ice-detention-center-halted-community-opposition/70194624

* "Chicago mayor orders police to investigate alleged illegal ICE activity in city:" https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/31/chicago-ice-brandon-johnson

* "Police Report Backs Activist’s Account in Clash With ICE Agent Near Chicago:" https://archive.ph/8oYim

* "How ICE raids changed a once bustling Chicago neighbourhood:" https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cql4e439g4no

* "Hundreds of CPS students walk out of school to protest Trump’s deportation campaign:" https://chicago.suntimes.com/2026/02/02/hundreds-of-cps-students-walk-out-of-school-to-protest-trumps-deportation-campaign

* "Hundreds rally against ICE in New Braunfels, a Trump stronghold:" https://www.expressnews.com/news/article/ice-protest-new-braunfels-trump-21326116.php

* "Four arrested after anti-ICE protest in Salt Lake City:" https://kutv.com/news/local/four-arrested-after-anti-ice-protest-in-salt-lake-city

* "LAPD says more than 50 people detained during protests against ICE tactics:" https://archive.ph/Nu6MC

* "More than 1,000 rally in Portland against Trump, ICE:" https://www.pressherald.com/2026/01/30/more-than-1000-rally-in-portland-against-trump-ice/

* "‘People are sick of it’: Thousands protest ICE in Concord as part of national movement:" https://www.concordmonitor.com/2026/01/31/ice-out-protests-concord-nh/

* I assume they can't see the irony. "House Freedom Caucus endorses Insurrection Act for Minnesota despite deaths:" https://www.courthousenews.com/house-freedom-caucus-endorses-insurrection-act-for-minnesota-despite-deaths/

* "Judge says Immigration and Customs Enforcement has violated 96 court orders this month in Minn.:" https://www.npr.org/2026/01/31/nx-s1-5693175/judge-says-immigration-and-customs-enforcement-has-violated-96-court-orders-this-month-in-minn

* "How Misogyny and White Nationalism Converge in ICE Enforcement:" https://msmagazine.com/2026/01/27/ice-recruitment-women-violence-lesbian-masculinity/

* "Return of the Silver Shirts: In ICE's invasion of Minneapolis, an echo of a dark past.:" https://www.liberalcurrents.com/return-of-the-silver-shirts/

* "Lawyers allege Dept. of Homeland Security is denying legal counsel to Minnesota detainees:" https://abcnews.go.com/US/lawyers-allege-dept-homeland-security-denying-legal-counsel/story?id=129335914

* "Judge rejects bid to end Trump administration’s immigration-enforcement surge in Minnesota:" https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/31/judge-rejects-bid-to-end-trump-administrations-immigration-enforcement-surge-in-minnesota-00758835

* "ICE attorney to judge: ‘This job sucks’:" https://www.mprnews.org/story/2026/02/03/ice-attorney-to-judge-this-job-sucks

* "Maddow: Trump ‘wobbling’ as his agenda falls apart in the face of pressure:" https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow/watch/maddow-trump-wobbling-as-his-agenda-falls-apart-in-the-face-of-pressure-2484973635982

* "Northern Command Tells N.C., Alaska Troops to Stand Down on Possible Minnesota Deployment:" https://archive.ph/js8AQ

* "Every Homeland Security officer in Minneapolis is now being issued a body-worn camera, Noem says:" https://apnews.com/article/immigration-enforcement-minneapolis-secretary-noem-homeland-security-37af4947057e64efee5e43a8f2e018bb

* "Another wave of departures in Minnesota’s U.S. Attorney’s Office:" https://www.startribune.com/another-wave-of-departures-in-minnesotas-us-attorneys-office/601575569

* "Judge orders release of 5-year-old detained by immigration authorities in Minnesota:" https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/liam-conejo-ramos-five-year-old-boy-immigration-rcna256870

* "The Horrifying Truth Behind Liam Ramos’ Abduction:" https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2026/02/ice-news-liam-ramos-abduction-update.html

* "Two women, detained by ICE, say they helped agent having seizure:" https://www.startribune.com/detained-by-ice-two-women-became-first-responders-during-agents-seizure/601569667

* "Contracted ICE employee pleads guilty to sexual abuse of female detainee:" https://www.shreveporttimes.com/story/news/2026/01/20/ice-agent-pleads-guilty-to-sexual-assault-of-detainee-what-to-know/88257531007/

* "I’m Hiding From ICE. This Is My Story.:" https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2026/02/ice-minneapolis-trump-immigrant-hiding-abduction.html

* "‘Because I was Latino, that’s it’: ICE rams car in south Minneapolis while profiling driver:" https://sahanjournal.com/public-safety/ice-rams-latino-man-car-south-minneapolis-immigration/

* "Welcome to the American Winter:" https://archive.ph/YY4B6

* "Resistance to Trump 2.0 is getting more confrontational:" https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/feb/01/trump-resistance-protests

* "How much can a city take?:" https://www.theverge.com/policy/864195/minneapolis-ice-invasion-organizing-immigration

* "‘We’re fighting for the soul of the country’: how Minnesota residents came together to face ICE:" https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/01/minnesota-twin-cities-ice-protests

* "The Key to Minneapolis’s Successful ICE Resistance:" https://newrepublic.com/article/205404/minneapolis-mutual-aid-ice-resilience

* "This Cold Winter, Love Is a Superpower:" https://www.meditationsinanemergency.com/this-cold-winter-love-is-a-superpower/

* "‘Backing down isn’t an option’: Minnesota ICE shootings mobilize Americans to join ICE observer groups:" https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2026/jan/31/ice-observer-document-immigration-agents

* "Black Panthers are out protecting communities from ICE thugs:" https://www.thecanary.co/global/world-analysis/2026/01/19/black-panthers-ice/

* "How an errand for a 12-year-old immigrant in Minneapolis became an underground operation:" https://www.npr.org/2026/01/21/nx-s1-5682120/12-year-old-immigrant-need-minneapolis-launched-underground-operation

* "Minnesota Elementary School Sends Urgent Message as ICE Sends Flyers Offering Food Support to Families:" https://meidasnews.com/news/minnesota-elementary-school-sends-urgent-message-as-ice-sends-flyers-offering-food-support-to-families

* "Disruption at a church is not the scandal. Injustice is.:" https://www.ncronline.org/opinion/disruption-church-not-scandal-injustice

* "Los Angeles mayor blasts DOJ’s Don Lemon prosecution after judge frees journalist without bail:" https://www.advocate.com/news/crime/don-lemon-karen-bass-doj

* "‘It’s attacking the public’s right to know’: Georgia Fort on the White House going after journalists:" https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow/watch/it-s-attacking-the-public-s-right-to-know-georgia-fort-on-the-white-house-going-after-journalists-2484972611823

* "Hayes, Soboroff and Wagner on ‘glimpse of what it’s like to live in a not free society’:"

( Embed: )

* "Who are Jesus Ochoa and Raymundo Gutierrez? CBP agents identified in Alex Pretti killing:" https://www.advocate.com/news/jesus-ochoa-raymundo-gutierrez-cbp

* "Renee Good was 'beautiful American,' 'unapologetically hopeful,' brothers tell Congress:" https://www.advocate.com/politics/national/renee-good-brothers-testify-congress

* Here are some ways to help Immigrants and the anti-ICE Protesters:

"MASTER LIST OF WAYS TO HELP IN MINNEAPOLIS:" https://www.tumblr.com/gwydionmisha/807223113540599808?source=share
"Here are Minnesota groups that need your help organizing against ICE and DHS operations:" https://www.advocate.com/news/minnesota-mutual-aid-groups-ice
Links to Help organize in advance of ICE Occupation: https://www.tumblr.com/gwydionmisha/807226885129060352?source=share
"How To Help if You are Outside Minnesota:" https://naomikritzer.com/2026/01/21/how-to-help-if-you-are-outside-minnesota/
"Support minnesotans defending their communities from ICE:" https://www.standwithminnesota.com/
"When the Feds Come to Your City: Standing Up to ICE :" https://crimethinc.com/2025/12/03/when-the-feds-come-to-your-city-standing-up-to-ice-a-guide-from-chicago-organizers
Immigrant Defenders: https://give.immdef.org/give/545119/#!/donation/checkout
The Bail Project: https://bailproject.org/
National Bail Fund Network: https://www.communityjusticeexchange.org/en/nbfn-directory
Amnesty International: protect asylum-seekers: https://donate.amnestyusa.org/page/113080/donate/1
The Young Center for Immigrant Children's Rights: https://www.theyoungcenter.org/
CHIRLA: https://www.chirla.org/
AL Otro Lado: https://alotrolado.networkforgood.com/projects/63833-al-otro-lado-fund
"Know Your Rights:" https://www.aclu.org/know-your-rights/protesters-rights
"Disappeared In America:" https://www.disappearedinamerica.us/

* "Trump says he wants proposed arch to be world's "biggest":" https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-arch-dca-airport-flight-path/

* "Trump says Republicans should ‘nationalize’ elections:" https://www.politico.com/news/2026/02/02/trump-nationalize-elections-2026-midterms-00760015

This is blatantly unconstitutional.

* "Panicked by bad news, Trump makes elections power grab and leaves staff sputtering with excuses:" https://www.ms.now/the-briefing-with-jen-psaki/watch/panicked-by-bad-news-trump-makes-elections-power-grab-and-leaves-staff-sputtering-with-excuses-2485182531993

None of this is fixed. It will need to clear the courts. It is essential to stay noisy. Protest, and also:

Please contact your Congress Critters about protecting free and fair elections for Trump's planned "Nationalization."

* "Fulton County, Georgia, to sue Trump administration over seizure of 2020 election records:" https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/fulton-county-sue-trump-doj-fbi-seizure-2020-election-records-rcna257052

All the Election denial was repeatedly debunked. Trump had no evidence to present in law courts and repeated recounts proved he lost.

* This isn't her job and lurking about was very weird. "Intelligence director says Trump requested her presence at FBI search of Georgia election center:" https://apnews.com/article/fbi-georgia-gabbard-elections-2a04ffe6aa317ed5be98c1cd60388992

* "Trump spoke to some FBI agents who raided Atlanta election office, NYT reports:" https://archive.ph/iFCeF

* "Tulsi Gabbard running solo 2020 election inquiry separate from FBI investigation:" https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/03/tulsi-gabbard-2020-election-investigation-ed

* "‘Hellbent’: Trump is reassembling his 2020 coup crew amid 2026 midterm panic:" https://www.ms.now/all-in/watch/hellbent-trump-is-reassembling-his-2020-coup-crew-amid-2026-midterm-panic-2485161027851

* If she's innocent, why the illegal cover up? She could easily just follow the law. "Attorney says Gabbard is holding up a complaint about her actions, which her office denies:" https://apnews.com/article/gabbard-dni-intelligence-complaint-classified-c697b07bfe27810e086c441e5d7997e1

* "Pete Hegseth Delights in Violence:" https://archive.ph/FawQC

* "Section 504 is under attack, AGAIN!!!:" https://www.youtube.com/shorts/FVMm8C0qDqw

Hang together or hang separately!!!

* "Texas v. Kennedy (formerly Texas v. Becerra): What it is and How You Can Help Stop the Attack on Section 504:" https://dredf.org/protect-504/

***ACTION ITEM*** I beg of you, if you live in Texas, Alaska, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, South Dakota, please contact your government officials and ask them to stop the lawsuit to end Section 504.

* There is also a second prong of this attack on the ADA via Trump Executive order: "Disability groups are standing united for trans rights. That hasn’t always been the case:" https://www.advocate.com/politics/disability-protections-transgender-trump

Everyone should also take this time to contact your Congress Critters about Trump's attacks on ADA based Trans protections and the autonomy of people with Disabilities.

* "Judge Revives Orsted NY Offshore Wind Project Halted by Trump:" https://archive.ph/LJC0D

* Please no!!! "Government by AI? Trump Administration Plans to Write Regulations Using Artificial Intelligence:" https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-artificial-intelligence-google-gemini-transportation-regulations

* ""Whitewashed" new panels to replace those about Black soldiers at Margraten war cemetery:" https://nltimes.nl/2026/01/27/whitewashed-new-panels-replace-black-soldiers-margraten-war-cemetery

* "National Park Service Removes Exhibit on People Enslaved by George Washington:" https://eji.org/news/national-park-service-removes-exhibit-on-people-enslaved-by-george-washington/

* "Trump to close Kennedy Center after takeover. Here’s everything we know:" https://www.advocate.com/politics/national/all-about-kennedy-center-closure

* "Trump says he's closing the Kennedy Center for renovations. We have questions:" https://www.npr.org/2026/02/02/nx-s1-5696489/kennedy-center-renovation-trump-questions

* "Trump says he won’t tear down the Kennedy Center arts venue but it needs to be closed for repairs:" https://apnews.com/article/trump-kennedy-center-repairs-close-july-marble-cb2f82bd7d2224b67caa013892574552

* "Trump escalates Harvard feud with $1B demand:" https://www.politico.com/news/2026/02/03/trump-escalates-harvard-feud-with-1-billion-demand-00761683

* "Ed Martin out as leader of DOJ's 'weaponization' group, sources say:" https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/ed-martin-dojs-weaponization-czar-sources-say-rcna257093

**** Trump/Epstein/Maxwell, etc. CW: CSA ****

* "Government says it’s fixing redactions in Epstein-related files that may have had victim information:" https://apnews.com/article/justice-department-epstein-files-trump-036f169b672bcbe0a9b5516e109b6af0

* "Vivian Wilson seems to corroborate Epstein-Musk emails:" https://www.advocate.com/news/elon-musk-vivian-wilson-epstein

* "Facts haunt Trump as new Epstein files release shows lots to investigate:" https://www.ms.now/the-briefing-with-jen-psaki/watch/facts-haunt-trump-as-new-epstein-files-release-shows-lots-to-investigate-2485189187973

* "Clintons reach deal with House Republicans to testify, likely avoiding contempt charge:" https://www.politico.com/news/2026/02/03/bill-clinton-contempt-epstein-congress-00762396

* "Senate Democrats reach deal to avert partial government shutdown:" https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/29/senate-democrats-deal-dhs-funding-bill

Senate Democrats held firm on DHS

They have split the DHS funding from the other funding bills.

They have two weeks to negotiate

It is very important to call them and thank them for standing up against I.C.E., and to keep fighting to curb the abuses.

Here is a model email if you would like one to look at:

* "Emailing my senators:" https://amaebi.dreamwidth.org/2758996.html

* "How Mike Johnson is scrambling to keep the shutdown short:" https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2026/02/02/congress/mike-johnson-save-act-spending-00760523

* "House votes to end partial government shutdown, setting up contentious talks on ICE:" https://www.npr.org/2026/02/03/g-s1-108506/house-vote-end-government-shutdown

It is time to lobby the House Hard. We need two Republican votes to put limits on I.C.E. .

* "Op-Ed: With KOSA, Elizabeth Warren is Betraying the Trans Youth She Claims to Protect:" https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/op-ed-with-kosa-elizabeth-warren

* Our until Midterms is to survive, to build grassroots resistance, to do all in our power to slow the republican Christo-fascist agenda, and to prepare for 2026 in case there is still Democracy.

"Take action with Indivisible:" https://www.mobilize.us/indivisible/

Trump 2.0 Indivisible Guide. https://indivisible.org/resource/guide

If you can't safely contact them in person, here are some other options for contacting your Congress Critters:

Five Calls to your critters: https://5calls.org/

Here is one that will send your reps a fax: https://resist.bot/

And another: https://faxzero.com/fax_senate.php

Snail Mail Campaigns: https://conuly.dreamwidth.org/3622760.html

"Congress. gov:" https://www.congress.gov/

White house (Possibly Dangerous): https://www.whitehouse.gov/

ACLU advice for writing to your Critters: https://www.aclu.org/writing-your-elected-representatives

This tracks legislation: https://www.govtrack.us/

"The Public Comment Process (+ how to write effective public comments):" https://www.tumblr.com/gwydionmisha/781844516804149248?source=share

"Swing Left:" https://swingleft.org/

Run for Something: https://runforsomething.net/

"Vote Smart:" https://justfacts.votesmart.org/

Protests: "50501 Events:" https://www.fiftyfifty.one/events

"ICE Raids Toolkit: Defend Against ICE Raids and Community Arrests:" https://www.immigrantdefenseproject.org/raids-toolkit/

Contains a raid tip hotline amoung other things. "Know Your Rights
LEARN HOW TO PROTECT YOURSELF AND YOUR FAMILY:" https://wearecasa.org/know-your-rights/

* "Texas loss delivers stark warning to Republicans in critical election year:" https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgk85kjk8lzo

* "Luigi Mangione will not face the death penalty after judge nixes two federal counts:" https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/luigi-mangione-will-not-face-death-penalty-judge-nixes-two-federal-cou-rcna256715

* "Budapest mayor charged for supporting Pride march:" https://www.advocate.com/news/budapest-mayor-pride-indicted

* "In Putin’s Homophobic Russia, Watching Heated Rivalry Is an Act of Rebellion and Hope:" https://archive.ph/3as9s#selection-508.0-508.3

* "Half of U.S. trans teens live in a state that restricts their rights: study:" https://www.advocate.com/news/half-transgender-teens-restrictive-laws

* "Over 1,000 anti-LGBTQ+ attacks occurred in 2025: report:" https://www.advocate.com/news/anti-lgbtq-hate-crimes-2025

* "LGBTQ+ Americans are going back in the closet under Donald Trump: report:" https://www.advocate.com/news/lgbtq-safety-coming-out-trump

* "As LGBTQ+ people go back into the closet under Trump, the Human Rights Campaign reveals plan to fight back:" https://www.advocate.com/politics/lgbtq-discrimination-fear-trump-hrc

* "Virginia school board adopts anti-transgender policy and blocks LGBTQ+ club:" https://www.advocate.com/politics/states/king-george-virginia-transphobic-schools

* "Los Angeles police won't stop man from throwing dog poop at LGBTQ+ youth center :" https://www.advocate.com/news/crime/lgbtq-youth-center-dog-poop

* "U of Arkansas withdraws offer to new law school dean because she supported trans athletes:" https://www.advocate.com/news/education/arkansas-nixes-pro-transgender-academic

* "Transgender Chicago Cubs employee accuses coworkers of assaulting her in lawsuit:" https://www.advocate.com/news/chiacgo-cubs-transgender-employee-lawsuit

* "Ex-Steelers employee alleges antigay, sexist discrimination in lawsuit:" https://www.advocate.com/news/people/gay-steelers-worker-sues-discrimination

* "Unexpected shutdown of Tucson Pride leaves Arizonans distraught:" https://www.advocate.com/news/tucson-pride-surprise-shutdown

* "Latina trans women are celebrating the quinceañeras they’ve always dreamed of:" https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2026/01/latina-trans-women-are-celebrating-the-quinceaneras-theyve-always-dreamed-of/

* "The mental health system is failing queer kids of color—and we're letting it happen:" https://www.advocate.com/opinion/bipoc-mental-health

* CW: Suicide "Conversion therapy's outcomes: shame, depression, suicidality, survivors say:" https://www.advocate.com/news/conversion-therapy-shame-depression-suicide

* "Can magic mushrooms help the gay meth crisis?:" https://www.advocate.com/opinion/meth-mushrooms-and-gay-men

* "What the World Got Wrong About Autistic People:" https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/positively-different/202601/what-the-world-got-wrong-about-autistic-people

* Items below this point may be a little older.

* "The Flu Really Is That Bad:" https://www.theatlantic.com/health/2026/01/flu-season-bad/685573/?

* "Stanford scientists found a way to regrow cartilage and stop arthritis:" https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/01/260120000333.htm

* "A new milestone in the cancer fight: 7 in 10 patients now survive five-plus years:" https://www.nbcnews.com/health/cancer/cancer-survival-rate-five-years-7-in-10-patients-rcna253089?

* "Is It Dangerous to Let Kids Be Free?:" https://thewalrus.ca/is-it-dangerous-to-let-kids-be-free/

* "San Francisco sues nation's top food manufacturers over ultraprocessed foods:" https://www.npr.org/2025/12/03/g-s1-100212/san-francisco-sues-manufacturers-ultraprocessed-foods?

* "The Lies and Falsifications of Oliver Sacks:" https://kottke.org/25/12/the-lies-and-falsifications-of-oliver-sacks

* "What happens to forests when the planet warms up too fast:" https://www.earth.com/news/what-happens-to-forests-when-the-planet-warms-up-too-fast/

* "2 dead amid winter storm that brought record-setting snow and freezing temperatures to the South:" https://www.nbcnews.com/weather/winter-weather/north-carolina-winter-storm-fatalities-rcna256931

* "California LGBTQ+ communities face distinct challenges in recovery after 2025 Eaton Canyon fires: report:" https://www.advocate.com/lgbtq-community-eaton-canyon-fires

* "Deadly fire raises fears about safety elsewhere in Hong Kong’s high-rise skyline:" https://apnews.com/article/hong-wang-china-dissent-fire-construction-ff953aec2bc0201b0e3255805a241fc1?

* "Science journal retracts study on safety of Monsanto’s Roundup: ‘Serious ethical concerns’:" https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/05/monsanto-roundup-safety-study-retracted

* "Zillow Doesn’t Care If Climate Change Destroys Your New Home:" https://newrepublic.com/article/203982/zillow-climate-risk-home-house

* "Coffee-driven deforestation is making it harder to grow coffee, watchdog group says:" https://www.npr.org/2025/10/24/nx-s1-5582781/coffee-deforestation-brazil-forest

* "Running on Empty: Copper:" https://thehonestsorcerer.substack.com/p/running-on-empty-copper

* "The World Is Running Out of Sand—And Thieves Are Willing to Kill for It:" https://archive.ph/4CKLG

* "Scientists trace fertilizer microplastics from fields to beaches:" https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/01/260118233551.htm

* "A City Cast in Concrete, Trapped Under Unbearable Heat:" https://thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/a-city-cast-in-concrete-trapped-under-unbearable-heat/

* "Ground Zero: Los Angeles and the Endgame of the Growth Ponzi Scheme:" https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2025-10-27-ground-zero-los-angeles-and-the-endgame-of-the-growth-ponzi-scheme

* "Biodiversity collapse threatens UK security, intelligence chiefs warn:" https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jan/20/biodiversity-collapse-threatens-uk-security-intelligence-chiefs-warn?

* "‘The soul of the city’: can Kinshasa’s last remaining baobab tree be saved?:" https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2026/jan/07/kinshasa-drc-last-baobab-tree-saved-megacity

* "The City That Refused to Stay Dying:" https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2025-12-17-the-city-that-refused-to-stay-dying

* "New York’s Grand Central Terminal Helped Provide the Blueprint for American Cities. It Happened by Accident:" https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/new-yorks-grand-central-terminal-helped-provide-blueprint-american-cities-happened-accident-180987640/

* "His Job Is to Make the Subway Accessible. His Own Life Fuels His Work.:" https://archive.ph/gE13t

* "The gift that keeps on giving: How solar panels on farms can help increase crop yields:" https://theconversation.com/the-gift-that-keeps-on-giving-how-solar-panels-on-farms-can-help-increase-crop-yields-269264

* "Extra CO2 doesn't speed tree growth, researchers reveal why:" https://www.earth.com/news/extra-co2-doesnt-speed-tree-growth-researchers-reveal-why-pr25/

* "Scientists find hidden rainfall pattern that could reshape farming:" https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/12/251211100633.htm

* "How Uruguay’s energy supply became 98% renewable:" https://freethoughtblogs.com/singham/2025/12/10/how-uruguays-energy-supply-became-98-renewable/

* "There's an Actual Reason You Can't Recycle Plastic:"

( Embed: )

* "Elon Musk's Grok AI floods X with sexualized photos of women and minors:" https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/grok-says-safeguard-lapses-led-images-minors-minimal-clothing-x-2026-01-02/

* "Grok Is Generating Sexual Content Far More Graphic Than What's on X:" https://www.wired.com/story/grok-is-generating-sexual-content-far-more-graphic-than-whats-on-x/

* "Elon Built a Child Porn Factory:"

( Embed: )

* "NYC Wegmans is storing biometric data on shoppers' eyes, voices and faces:" https://gothamist.com/news/nyc-wegmans-is-storing-biometric-data-on-shoppers-eyes-voices-and-faces

* "No, Grok hasn’t paywalled its deepfake image feature:" https://www.theverge.com/news/859309/grok-undressing-limit-access-gaslighting

* "Tim Cook and Sundar Pichai are cowards:" https://www.theverge.com/policy/859902/apple-google-run-by-cowards

* "Grok's AI CSAM Shitshow:" https://www.404media.co/groks-ai-csam-shitshow/

* "Elon Musk says UK wants to suppress free speech as X faces possible ban:" https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/jan/10/elon-musk-uk-free-speech-x-ban-grok-ai

* "Roblox’s AI-Powered Age Verification Is a Complete Mess:" https://www.wired.com/story/robloxs-ai-powered-age-verification-is-a-complete-mess/

* "Wikipedia inks AI deals with Microsoft, Meta and Perplexity as it marks 25th birthday:" https://apnews.com/article/wikipedia-internet-jimmy-wales-50e796d70152d79a2e0708846f84f6d7

* "Microsoft is reportedly turning Edge into a Copilot-styled app, and no, you can't turn it off:" https://www.xda-developers.com/microsoft-reportedly-turning-edge-browser-copilot-app/

* "Google won’t stop replacing our news headlines with terrible AI:" https://www.theverge.com/tech/865168/google-says-ai-news-headlines-are-feature-not-experiment

* "Librarians Are Tired of Being Accused of Hiding Secret Books That Were Made Up by AI:" https://gizmodo.com/librarians-arent-hiding-secret-books-from-you-that-only-ai-knows-about-2000698176

* "A.I. Was Supposed to “Revolutionize” Work. In Many Offices, It’s Only Creating Chaos.:" https://slate.com/life/2026/01/work-artificial-intelligence-ai-office-chaos.html

* "Researchers poison stolen data to make AI systems return wrong results:" https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/06/ai_data_pollution_defense/

* "AI and the Corporate Capture of Knowledge:" https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2026/01/ai-and-the-corporate-capture-of-knowledge.html

* "HarperCollins Will Use AI to Translate Harlequin Romance Novels:" https://www.404media.co/harpercollins-will-use-ai-to-translate-harlequin-romance-novels/

* "Why does AI suck at making clocks?:" https://www.popsci.com/technology/ai-making-clocks/

* "Microsoft is closing its employee library and cutting back on subscriptions:" https://www.theverge.com/tech/862531/microsoft-library-closure-transition-changes-notepad

* "The behavioral cost of personalized pricing:" https://digitalseams.com/blog/the-behavioral-cost-of-personalized-pricing

* "Microsoft Windows Media Player stops serving up CD album info:" https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/09/microsoft_windows_media_player_forgets/

* "FCC revises Verizon phone unlocking rules after significant fraud issues:" https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/fcc-revises-verizon-phone-unlocking-rules-after-significant-fraud-issues-2026-01-12/

It's a way to stop people using older phones.

* "Github Banned a Ton of Adult Game Developers and Won’t Explain Why:" https://www.404media.co/github-ban-suspension-adult-modding-games-illusion/

* "How WhatsApp Took Over the Global Conversation:" https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2026/01/19/how-whatsapp-took-over-the-global-conversation?

* "Dating: The Past, Present, & Future:"

( Embed: )

* CW: Sexual Assault. "Dating Apps Are Worse Than You Think. Here's Why.:"

( Embed: )

* "PS5 ROM Keys Leaked: Sony’s Unpatchable Security Nightmare (2026):" https://thecybersecguru.com/news/ps5-rom-keys-leaked/

* "Can Law Enforcement Access Google Search Data Without a Warrant? Pennsylvania Says Yes:" https://natlawreview.com/article/can-law-enforcement-access-google-search-data-without-warrant-pennsylvania-says-yes

* "on NFTs and the art market:" https://totient.dreamwidth.org/199685.html

* "RAM is so expensive, Samsung won’t even sell it to Samsung:" https://www.pcworld.com/article/2998935/ram-is-so-expensive-samsung-wont-even-sell-it-to-samsung.html

* "After nearly 30 years, Crucial will stop selling RAM to consumers:" https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/12/after-nearly-30-years-crucial-will-stop-selling-ram-to-consumers/

* "The Politics Of Superintelligence:" https://www.noemamag.com/the-politics-of-superintelligence/

* "Failures of “AI” Promise: Critical Thinking, Misinformation, Prosociality, & Trust:" https://afutureworththinkingabout.com/?p=6422

* "Meta is earning a fortune on a deluge of fraudulent ads, documents show:" https://www.reuters.com/investigations/meta-is-earning-fortune-deluge-fraudulent-ads-documents-show-2025-11-06/

* "I don't trust Chrome anymore — here's what pushed me over the edge:" https://www.makeuseof.com/dont-trust-chrome-anymore-heres-what-pushed-me-over-the-edge/?

* "Barnum's Law of CEOs:" https://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2025/12/barnums-law-of-ceos.html

* "The Last Video Rental Store Is Your Public Library:" https://www.404media.co/the-last-video-rental-store-is-your-public-library/

* "How Taiwan Made Cashless Payments Cute:" https://www.wired.com/story/icash-taiwan-payments-keychains-how-it-works/

* "A New Anonymous Phone Carrier Lets You Sign Up With Nothing but a Zip Code:" https://www.wired.com/story/new-anonymous-phone-carrier-sign-up-with-nothing-but-a-zip-code/

* "China floods the world with gasoline cars it can't sell at home:" https://www.reuters.com/investigations/china-floods-world-with-gasoline-cars-it-cant-sell-home-2025-12-02/

* "Built to spill: The life of a crash test dummy:" https://www.npr.org/2025/12/16/nx-s1-5556934/crash-test-dummy-manufacturing

* "‘Lasagna Battery’: Why You Shouldn’t Bake Your Pasta Dish In a Steel Pan:" https://www.today.com/food/trends/lasagna-battery-rcna249704

* "This new imaging technology breaks the rules of optics:" https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/01/260110211214.htm

* "The magnetic secret inside steel finally explained:" https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/01/260125083427.htm

* "Marine robotics firm will resume deep-sea search for MH370 plane that vanished a decade ago:" https://apnews.com/article/malaysia-missing-plane-mh370-search-eb0e65b20bf6766dfa1394c58fc6ccbf?

* "New map reveals hidden landscape under Antarctica's ice sheet:" https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/new-map-reveals-hidden-landscape-under-antarcticas-ice-sheet-2026-01-16/

* "Scientists stunned by a massive hydrothermal field off Greece:" https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/12/251228020000.htm

* "'We can handle any kind of difficult situation': Crew-11 astronauts say 1st medical evacuation from ISS had a silver lining:" https://www.space.com/space-exploration/human-spaceflight/we-can-handle-any-kind-of-difficult-situation-crew-11-astronauts-say-1st-medical-evacuation-from-iss-had-a-silver-lining

* When feminists feared the 'lavender menace' of lesbians — and how those lesbians fought back:" https://www.advocate.com/history/when-feminists-feared-lesbians

* "Heather Ann Thompson - “Fear and Fury” & How the Bernie Goetz Story Echoes Today | The Daily Show:"

( Embed: )

* "On the lamb: 50 sheep break away from flock and storm German supermarket:" https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/08/runaway-sheep-storm-german-supermarket

* "Monkey business: Multiple primates on the loose in St. Louis park:" https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/monkeys-on-loose-st-louis-park-rcna253330

* "Over 100 human skulls found at home of Pennsylvania man accused of desecrating cemeteries:" https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/pennsylvania-man-accused-desecrating-cemeteries-found-100-human-skulls-rcna253123

* "Gatlinburg candy shop owners seek bear-proofing solutions after repeat break-ins:" https://www.wvlt.tv/2026/01/15/gatlinburg-candy-shop-owners-seek-bear-proofing-solutions-after-repeat-break-ins/

* "Japan Has a New Cat Stationmaster: Meet Yontama:" https://www.tokyoweekender.com/japan-life/news-and-opinion/new-cat-stationmaster-announced/

* I ended up involuntarily day shifted part of this past week and still am as of Sunday. I did not do a bunch of phone bureaucracy, I ought to have, but it is A Lot on top of everything else. Unexpectedly, Forage box contained low preparation protein for me Friday. They haven't done this in literally years. It was a full sized field roast wrapped in pastry, which is not ideal, as Feild Roast is very heavy and also really doesn't keep well, as the pastry, while delicious when it's soaked up gravy and has bits of the stuffing fruit on it, hardens and goes stale fast. So it's low effort food, but also you have to eat a lot of it before it starts to get nasty. More than you really want to eat generally.

This had the advantage though of leaving me enough energy after physio to do some sorting in preparation of the big job that is the next phase of putting the tall desk things back, do comprehensive litter changes on Saturday, and combined with randomly day shifted allowed me to do some shifting and weeding in the garden, because in our weird little valley micro-climate, the weeds never really stop.

Not only are the inside daffodils fairly advanced, but I food a bunch of crocuses gamely hoping for Spring outside. The taller ones I knew were happening, but I found some surprise ones in the back that I'm assuming were subsisting in drips from the spearmint planter and were growing around another small pot sitting on top of theirs. I have moved them.

I need to shift a few heavier containers, which I wasn't up to, and I need to weed the far tomato pot on a day when it isn't actively raining and I hadn't exhausted my ability to bend over and my pain resistance weeding other pots.

I had a likely very bad idea for reorganizing out there, in light of the removal of that giant bush that was blocking a lot of light, but if the idea worked it would be really clever. I need to think on it further though, as it would be a major undertaking requiring help.

* I ended up going back out before dark and moving the heavy things. The heavy things were clearly heavier than I should have been lifting and to get the last one in place I had to twist a little, inevitably injuring myself. I feel like I've been through a mangle as this was all to much for the artificial shoulder as well.

I new Monday was going to be strenuous and the pain would leave me short on sleep, so I gave myself a day off from physio. I may hjave to give myselfd Tuesday off because it feels like I've been through a mangle.

I couldn't get back to sleep for pain after about six hours, so Livia and I read almost half an ILL, before I dragged myself out to try to make food for us and do lungs.

The plan was to leave oneish for downtown taxes, with a stop at the pharmacy on the way. Library was either before or after, then pick up tomatoes, lettuce, and cheese on the way home. Doors opened at 1:45. I got there around 1:30 after pharmacy, but with no library because traffic. There was already a line. There were also massive rain slick cement steps. They used to let disabled people park in the upstairs disabled parking, but they refuse to open those doors now for taxes and I've no idea how someone in a wheelchair gets in.

A nice man gave me his seat so I didn't have to sit on the soaked stairs. They'd all watch my painful wobbly ascent with various degrees of alarm. I asked if he was sure and he was. All the standing about in the downstairs hall before they let us start signing in was incredibly painful and pretty much did me in, so I truly was grateful for the porch chair.

There is an elevator down, at least, the lady who'd been behind me when we arrived was kind enough to let me have my place in line back when we gathered in the Hall for interminable orientation.

I was fifth in line signing in, which, with my usual half hourish session would add up to one and a half to two hours under normal conditions. They had six preparers there. I had a shortish library book and my usual short story magazines for back up, because I have zero faith in normal conditions.

My lack of faith was correct. The computer had been mostly down the previous day they were open, which meant everyone on a packed day waited four hours for nothing, so they were given special slips to let them cut line. Many of them had everything but the computer bits completed, which made them faster than average, but there were A lot of them turning up in the first two hours. Also, it turned out two of the preparers were trainees. Literally one couple without slips got in on the first batch. No one else without a slip was seen until 4:30PM. The trainees went solo around 4PM They close at six. Most of the people waiting gave up and went home. A lot of them wewre furious, but I got why all this was no one's fault and I've never seen the point of getting angry at people trying to make the best of a bad situation.

I waited. I had stuff to read, I did not want to come back and do it again tomorrow from scratch. I also knew they knew how simple my paperwork was and I could do math. I figured they'd likely squeeze me in if I was patient.

I was next in line by five between people getting taken in to be worked on and people giving up. I was in a scootch before 5:15 with two people behind me. It ended up taking 40 minutes as it took extra long to get the double check as the person doing that was helping a trainee and it took ages. The other people did get squeezed in, including the nice lady who let me back in line even though the elevator was slow. The preparer took me through the labrinth to the wheelchair ramp exit once I made her understand that yes, I could take the elevator up, but then I'd have to walk down two flights of rain slick cement steps and please was there a ground floor way out?

It was pitch black out there and all in shadow, and the black macadam was uneven. There was a weird wobble in my crutch handle, but I was so busy not falling on ground I basically couldn't see in the rain on the very long hobble up and around to the lower parking lot, that I didn't stop to examine it and I was so focused on just trying to get to the library and not crying from the pain, that I forgot to examine it in the car. This was a mistake.

Two steps from my car at the library, the handle gave way. The metal piece was just gone, likely lost during the long hobble in the dark. No point in going back to look as I now didn't have a viable crutch and would be searching mostly unlighted shadowy places and if it was lost in the labrith, I'd be locked out. Sigh. I had a dangerous time dealing with the small stairs up and down to and from the library drop box. (They were kicking everyone out when I arrived). I now have to go back to pick up a book. I don't want to do it, but also I now need groceries I couldn't get because of the whole crutch came apart thing. I could theoretically search the parking lot, if I came early enough. If I hit the right window they might even let me inside, but I also have a zoom meeting thing I have to do Tuesday at five and I'm not convinced I remember how to do zoom.

I feel terrible. Really, this is what the emergancy pain meds are for, but I low key hallucinate on tramadol now and next time I need surgury it will really be hell as I likely won't even get a week of pain relief. Each pill I take now brings me one step closer to can't have anything but celebrex and tylanol after surgury.

Why must everything be this hard?

* I had trouble getting back to sleep, so ended up reading for a couple hours until I could manage it, then crashed HARD. As a result, I couldn't both do physio and get out to do the stuff I was supposed to do Tuesday before the zoom meeting thing at five. It was still a close shave as it turned out I hadn't added zoom to the laptop after the old one died, plus I kept Finding Problems around the apartment.

Still, I made it to my seat with tea in time. I defended Halloween decorations when I got my turn. Them: "Our intention isn't to ban Halloween." Me: "That's not what the wording says. Halloween is not a federal national holiday." " They are passing the new rules anyway, but they promised to amend for me and someone else with a very valid suggestion. They are probably going to allow people to to dry clothes out side for one day, but there will be more debate. Plus there was a bunch of alarming stuff about elevators and fire system and talk of bringing back the fucking gates.

I really am going to need to run next time there is an opening, aren't I. *facepalm*

On a related note, I suppose I need to learn how to do emojis in zoom as it's pretty much required.

They have decided to restart Squirrel on Physio for the mangled rotator cuffs for two months to see if they can avoid surgery. (Different physio, as they don't want to worsen the tearing). It sounds like squirrel's pay may be sorted out, but we'll know for sure if it comes by week's end.

* CW: CSA "DOJ Protects Trump From Epstein Accountability as MAGA Attacks "Sanctuary Cities" | The Daily Show:"

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* CW: CSA "Trump Is All Over The Epstein Files | DOJ Exposes Epstein Victims | Trump Admin Won't Investigate:"

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* "DNA for Dollars: Did 23andMe’s Bankruptcy Sell Your Genetics?:"

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* "ICE Meeting Cold Open - SNL:"

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* "Winter Olympics Promo - SNL:"

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* "The Viking Raid - SNL:"

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* "Trump Is All Over The Epstein Files:"

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*****
* Full list of Resistance and charity links has been migrated to my profile as it was getting out of hand.

The help links are at the bottom under the cut.

* "When the Feds Come to Your City: Standing Up to ICE :" https://crimethinc.com/2025/12/03/when-the-feds-come-to-your-city-standing-up-to-ice-a-guide-from-chicago-organizers

* "MASTER LIST OF WAYS TO HELP IN MINNEAPOLIS:" https://www.tumblr.com/gwydionmisha/807223113540599808?source=share

* "Here are Minnesota groups that need your help organizing against ICE and DHS operations:" https://www.advocate.com/news/minnesota-mutual-aid-groups-ice

* Links to Help organize in advance of ICE Occupation: https://www.tumblr.com/gwydionmisha/807226885129060352?source=share

* "Swing Left:" https://swingleft.org/

* Contains link to trans girl sales pages. "Trans Girl Scouts On Cookie List Sell 71,000 Boxes Of Cookies And Growing:" https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/trans-girl-scouts-on-cookie-list

( More )

Reading Wednesday

asakiyume

Wednesday, February 4th, 2026 10:10 am

I'll post about things other than reading one day, but [movie!Aragorn voice] today is not that day.

I finished Elizabeth Acevedo's Family Lore, which I continued to love right to the end. The characters were so complete and multifaceted, and I liked them all. The places--rural Dominican Republic, capital of Dominican Republic, New York City, felt real and three dimensional. And Acevedo's way of observing things, whether it's the way two birds leave a tree branch or a person rubbing the indentations glasses make on each side of their nose--wonderful. And there are moments like this:

"I know it's too soon, but I love you. I have for a long time." And the silence in her body that followed was the most peace she'd ever known. There was no disclaimer on his declaration. And in the years since, she might have heard a fib or two in his voice about nonsense, but the truth of his love always cut through with clarity.

And I just started Gary Paulsen's The Cookcamp, drawn by

osprey_archer's write-up. During World War II, a five-year-old boy goes to live with his grandmother, who's a cook for a workcamp of men building a road from Minnesota to Canada. Truly beautiful writing here, too:

[The men] sat roughly to the tables, all of them big as houses, the boy thought. They sat to the tables and his grandmother brought heaping platters of pancakes and motioned to the boy to bring the big bowls of biscuits, which he did. Then she brought the huge enamel pot of coffee from the stove and sure enough each man turned his cup over--his hands so big the cup looked like a baby cup--and blew in it and held it up for coffee ... They made [the boy] think of big, polite bears.

Really nice, and as Osprey Archer promised, it's going to be a very quick read.

Current Music: Silversun Pickups: The Royal We

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Wednesday Reading Meme

osprey_archer

Wednesday, February 4th, 2026 08:20 am

What I’ve Just Finished Reading

D. E. Stevenson’s The House on the Cliff. This was Stevenson’s last novel, and although it’s technically set at the time it was written (the 1960s), it feels more like an interwar period piece. But otherwise it’s classic charming Stevenson. Young Elfrida Jane inherits a house in Cornwall from her estranged grandparents (who disinherited Elfrida’s mother after she married an actor), and the book is all about her settling into the neighborhood, reveling in the possession of her own home, learning about farming and gardening, and swimming on the delightful little beach at the base of the cliffs.

E. M. Delafield’s The Provincial Lady in London. Somehow Stevensons and Delafields often end up going together in my reading, although I think Delafield at her grimmest gets much darker than Stevenson, who doesn’t have a grim mode. In any case, the Provincial Lady books feature Delafield at her most sprightly. In this book, the Provincial Lady uses the funds from her first book (Diary of a Provincial Lady) to get a flat in London, and also meets many literary people on the strength of her newfound literary fame.

Finally, I zipped through Jane Langton’s Her Majesty, Grace Jones. After a neighbor tells Grace that she looks just like the little English princesses Elizabeth and Margaret Rose, Grace Jones decides that she’s obviously a secret, third Windsor sister, growing up in secret in America to take the throne once she gets older! Mostly family hijinks. The kids put on a circus, which is always great fun.

What I’m Reading Now

Hilary McKay’s latest, Rosa by Starlight. Loving this book! Finally, a book that remembers fictional orphans are for Gothic Whump and Adventure and Magic. I believe we may be getting a literal magic cat and I’m so excited.

What I Plan to Read Next

I am going to give Project Hail Mary a try if it kills me. Baffling that I feel so resistant to it, because I really liked The Martian! But here we are.

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Chapters 1 and 2 of Surviving Peace available

tassosss

Wednesday, February 4th, 2026 07:46 am

Well, I didn't do as many snowflake challenges as I was planning. I ended up spending most of January working on edits for book 2. The exciting news is that I've put the first two chapters up to preview!

You can read them here for free (6k words): https://dl.bookfunnel.com/5i63i06kka

Title: Chapters 1-2 of Surviving Peace
Genre: Science Fiction
Rated: PG-13/Teen for violence and swearing - not more than you would see on tv.
Tags: No Archive Warnings Apply, Spoilers for my first book The Dementia (so you know what's going on), Captured/Prisoners, Interrogation, Found family, Fresh Dystopia,

Also also! If any folks out there are interested in being an early reader please let me know!

I'll give you a free advance ebook in mid-Feb, and in the endless chase for reviews, would love it if you leave a review wherever you buy books and/or Goodreads. Surviving Peace comes out March 18. (This whole marketing thing, I swear.)

Tags:

books,
writing

Shadow Boxing Day: Keeping mellow with melomel

flwyd

Tuesday, February 3rd, 2026 11:56 pm

As Boxing Day is to Christmas, so Shadow Boxing Day (February 3rd) is to Groundhog Day. Shadow Boxing Day is a day to get shit done that you've been putting off. [previously] Although I've been funemployed for five months, there's a lot of tasks that seem like a good idea, but I just don't get around to them. Like, why haven't I brewed anything yet? Shadow Boxing Day is close enough to Imbolc that making mead will count as celebration of Brigid the brewer.

We spent July 4th of last year bottling four carboys that had been sitting on the counter for years; the newest from 2021 and the oldest from 2018. Part of the problem was that home brewing is mostly "clean your kitchen" and then a little bit of "mix stuff in a pot." I would occasionally clean the kitchen on a Saturday, be too tired to brew on Sunday, and by the time there was another clear weekend the kitchen would be dirty again. Now that I've got counter space back and I can summon the energy to clean on something other than a free weekend, the zymurgy hobby is back on the table (so to speak).

Kelly and I made a honeymoon mead starting in late 2015. We were inspired by a mead shared at Dragonfest that year made from Brazilian wildflower honey, so we ordered a 60 pound bucket of the stuff. That's enough for three or four 5-gallon batches, and I've used it a few times since. But the results were coming out with a fairly harsh off-flavor, likely a result of fermenting at too high of a temperature: the yeast are stressed out, and you taste the result of them not doing their best work. I also wasn't getting inspired with new ideas for that particular honey, so it sat all lonely in a corner.

Honey is a pretty amazing substance. I can't think of many other foods that can sit half-empty in a closet for a decade and still be worth eating. But honey is anti-microbial, so the only challenge is that a lot of it had crystalized. Fortunately, our house has a nice low-tech way to get honey flowing: I left the bucket on our sun porch for a week, occasionally digging around with a spoon to shift the crystal clumps. The flavor is still nice: not too sweet and with a bit of a mysterious taste to match the dark amber color. I decided it could do well as a pomegranate mead, and found some unfiltered, unsweetened 100% pomegranate juice from Armenia at our local Middle Eastern shop. Having learned the yeast-fermentation-temperature lesson from my initial wine yeast brews, I picked up an English Ale yeast with an ideal temperature range of 64° to 79°F. Room temperature sits in the middle, and now that we've got a heat pump we might be able to keep the kitchen below 80° in the summer. My 2021 cyser with British Ale yeast turned out well, and was able to survive into the 12% alcohol range.

I normally take fairly precise measurements while home brewing, but not today. (Relax, don't worry, have a homebrew.) This melomel has "about 7 pounds" of honey, measured by lifting the honey bucket with an analog luggage scale, then lifting the empty bucket afterwards. I added "about a gallon" of warm water by filling a quart jar four times, then four liters of juice ('cause it's imported), then "about four liters" of water in those juice jars, so I could get the last bits of sediment into the brew. There's also somewhere between an extra 3 quarters to one whole cup of water from mixing the yeast and nutrient, plus rinsing the last of the must from the pot into the carboy. That gives "a little more than three gallons of liquid," plus the volume of honey. This should work perfectly; it's got plenty of surface area for primary fermentation in a 5-gallon glass carboy, and I can then rack it to a 3 gallon carboy for secondary, leaving behind what I expect to be rather a lot of trub: the pomegranate juice was quite cloudy.

The Internet has a bunch of opinions about fermentation vessels, with most commentators discouraging using a carboy for primary fermentation; the narrow neck increases the risk of blow-outs and reduces surface area for the initial aerobic phase. My theory is that "3.5 gallons in a 5 gallon carboy" solves both of those risks, and since I'm not planning to rack to secondary for two months I'd rather it sit in glass than plastic. Plus, I think this one will be fun to watch.

The pre-fermentation taste of the must is more subtle than I expected: a little sweetness at the front, followed by subtle pomegranate flavor—including a hint of the white pith—and then back to honey flavor at the finish. If you didn't know it was pomegranate, it might take a bit to place it. We'll see if this turns into a lovely dry melomel (just 12% potential alcohol), or if that fruit flavor disappears through primary. I got a couple jars of pure pomegranate syrup which I might add in secondary fermentation if necessary; that stuff is tart and tangy on pancakes.

I've got a couple other jugs of honey waiting for a round tuit now that I'm re-building my zymurgy reflexes. I got some wildflower honey from a Rocky Ford farmstand in 2024, and should probably start that fermenting now so we can add some fresh melons to secondary this summer, giving a better shot of retaining the cantaloupe flavor than starting with fruit chunks in the must. I also stopped for a hand-made "LOCAL HONEY" sign along highway 16 in the Arkansas Ozarks in 2022, not too far from Ben Hur and the Pedestal Rocks trailhead. I'm really not sure what to make with that one, so maybe I should start it as a traditional and see what the flavor suggests. I think there are also some Palisade peaches in the freezer waiting for a project…

Current Mood: quixotic
Current Location: Element Hall
Current Music: KGNU - The Heavy Set

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Tumblr grab bag

fred_mouse

meta_warehouse

Wednesday, February 4th, 2026 03:21 pm

( You're about to view content that a community administrator has marked as possibly inappropriate for anyone under the age of 18. )

Wednesday's Comic

01d55

girlgenius_lair

Tuesday, February 3rd, 2026 09:47 pm

I can believe it with no difficulty whatsoever.

Unpowered SSD drive? It may start losing data in 1-3 years.

thewayne

Tuesday, February 3rd, 2026 10:14 pm

It all depends on the quality of the chips. The problem is obvious when you think of it. Memory is stored in transistors as an electrical charge in NAND flash cells, and even though they're called non-volatile (unchanging), slowly that electrical charge will drain, and with it, your data.

From the article: "...the cheapest SSDs, say those with QLC NAND, can safely store data for about a year of being completely unpowered. More expensive TLC NAND can retain data for up to 3 years, while MLC and SLC NAND are good for 5 years and 10 years of unpowered storage, respectively.

The problem is that most consumer SSDs use only TLC or QLC NAND, so users who leave their SSDs unpowered for over a year are risking the integrity of their data. The reliability of QLC NAND has improved over the years, so you should probably consider 2–3 years of unpowered usage as the guardrails. Without power, the voltage stored in the NAND cells can be lost, either resulting in missing data or completely useless drives." (I'm not sure if there's an easy way to see what kind of NAND chips are being used by your drives short of third-party utilities)

The nefarious aspect of this problem is that it may not be apparent. You might mount up a disused drive and everything appears fine, then you try to load a document or photo or whatever, and find it's irredeemably corrupted. It rotted in the middle and there's little that can be done. Other forms of rot might hit the directory itself and will be quite obvious when you look at the disk in Explorer or the equivalent. Some types of damage can be recovered, some cannot be.

This problem doesn't just apply to solid state drives: they use the same tech as thumb drives and camera memory cards of all types. The bit about the drive becoming completely useless is interesting, but the article doesn't clarify the subject. I suspect they're talking about rot hitting the config area of the drive which could make it unusable.

The article also talks about the 3-2-1 Backup Rule. Simply put, it's 3 copies of data on at least 2 different storage media, with 1 copy stored off-site. If you have a locker or desk at work, or a safe deposit box, these can be ideal places to store a backup. A storage locker can also work if it isn't exposed to extremes of weather. If you don't have absolute control of where your backup is stored, then you might want to look into encrypting it.

Conventional hard drives are not failure-proof, but they will theoretically last longer and don't normally have rot problems like this. They can have problems with stiction, where the read/write heads don't retract properly and actually stick to the platter. That doesn't happen much anymore, they're pretty good at reserving enough energy so if they're powered off abruptly they'll still retract to their park zone.

https://www.xda-developers.com/your-unpowered-ssd-is-slowly-losing-your-data/

https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/25/11/25/1511242/unpowered-ssds-in-your-drawer-are-slowly-losing-data

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Talking Meme Month - day 3

hafnia

Tuesday, February 3rd, 2026 09:02 pm

(For all the questions, or to submit one of your own, the post is here ♥ )

Favorite song of the moment?

I do appreciate that it's "of the moment", ha. :D

There's a few — we'll go with different genres!

1). The weird: "Ants in My Room", Carter Vail.

You'll be fine, my baby
Oh, you've got to trust me
It'll all work out in the end, just maybe
You'll be fine, my baby
Oh, you've got to trust me
It'll all work out, 'cause
No onе's gonna love you like

It's weird, it's incredibly fucking catchy, it's great, I...don't know what else there is to say? Max made me listen to it on Friday and I love it.

2). What people probably expect from me: "Votive", the New Pornographers.

My hands are cupped around a match
I'm just trying to keep the lights on

That...feels familiar. To say the least.

3). Old but still good: Blood in My Mouth, Djrum

That cello opening is so good. The music layered over ambient noise — the result is this really weird, wistful soundscape. The fact that the only words we get are at the very end is also choice. I've had this album in particular on repeat a lot while writing lately. ♥

Laura's Reading

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