artsyhonker | Reading

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<p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/TJgReQxdfw5pCLuTyYMU60FW8UNEQjUn">https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/TJgReQxdfw5pCLuTyYMU60FW8UNEQjUn</a></p><img src="https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-loaded/v1/aQi7k8mDFOutaq4hE79WoJVjH6qdYdAk" border=0 width="1" height="1" alt="108 Days of Fortification & Fortifications" title="108 Days of Fortification & Fortifications"> <p><img src= "https://fluentself.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/IMG_1443-scaled.jpeg" alt= "bountiful green agaves hanging out in their spiky little clumping-clusters along the hiking path”/></p> <div class="mouse"><em><strong>Reflecting on</strong> bountiful green agaves hanging out in their spiky little clumping-clusters along the hiking path, and the relationship between sanctuary and spikiness…</em></div> <p></br> </p> <h2>A breath for these tough times</h2> <p>Sending out extra wishes of Safety & Sanctuary for everyone in the path of the hard things, what a scary time we are in, inhaling and exhaling, for compassion, strength, courage, swift and steady miracles.</p> <p>Also apologies that the comments were closed on last week’s post, thanks to everyone who alerted me and it’s all fixed now!</p> <h2>Announcement on Emergency Calming Down Techniques </h2> <p>I’ve been reeling hard lately in some cursed combination of heartache, numbness, political anxiety, winter stuff and some wild panic episodes.</p> <p>Have been holding on (for dear life) to my Emergency Calm The Hell Down Techniques from <em>a long time ago</em>, and it’s been helping.</p> <p>I am giving away a copy of these (ebook + audio recordings) to anyone who gives any sum of money <a href="https://www.fluentself.com/barringtons-discretionary/" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><strong>to the appreciation funds / discretionary fund</strong></a> in the hopes that we can all keep practicing together, for each other and for the collective, and also for ourselves in these scary times. ❤️</p> <div class="separator"></div> <h1>108 Days of Fortification & Fortifications</h1> <h2>A breath and a pause for acknowledgment of the scary scary times</h2> <p>Goodness. The scary, scary times keep getting scarier.</p> <p>I am going to <a href="https://buttondown.com/thecrimelady/archive/the-crime-lady-beth-or-betty/" target="_blank">quote the always-excellent Sarah Weinman</a>, because I was agonizing over not knowing what to say or how to start, and she just said everything on my mind that didn’t have words yet:</p> <blockquote><p>”We’re in the midst of it, upheaval and resistance and murders of ordinary citizens by the federal government and the demolishing of whatever was “normal” before, because there’s no going back. Hope, community, and the belief in the profundity of art? That’s all still there, more than ever.”</p></blockquote> <p>Yes to all of that. And, as always, acknowledging and breathing is the starting point; a starting point.</p> <h2>The power of the collective…</h2> <p>The power of the collective is such a big deal, and focusing on that gets me to stop spiraling over how nothing is ever enough.</p> <p>Thanks to Amanda for sending me a good piece about exactly that called <a href="https://jackiesummers1.substack.com/p/not-in-the-streets-still-in-the-fight?" target="_blank">not in the streets still in the fight</a>.</p> <p>The way it landed in my brain is basically: someone has money to donate and someone can be in the streets and someone is the person they come home to who hugs them and makes them a hot beverage and someone listens and someone cooks and someone hexes, and we are all doing something even if that something feels inadequate.</p> <p>It’s very easy for me to panic-spiral over all the ways I am not helping, and yet, life is life-ing and we are doing our small somethings and holding hope and listening and caring, and everyone doing a something adds up to a great whole.</p> <h2>Sourcing inspiration</h2> <p>I was glad to hear about <a href="https://gneissspice.com/" target="_blank">a favorite spice company in Maine</a> striking in solidarity.</p> <p>And I was reassured when my old Portland (Oregon) yoga studio offered free classes, asked for food and clothing donations to local families impacted by ICE, and sent out an announcement that said WE KEEP US SAFE WE KEEP US STRONG:</p> <blockquote><p>”Come. Breathe, move, practice noticing and being together.<br /> Let the medicine of movement and breath help you notice where you are so you can make clear choices about how to participate, what to do next.”</p></blockquote> <p>Another beautiful place to start.</p> <h2>An abundance of beautiful places to start</h2> <p>Here is a piece <a href="https://lithub.com/everything-we-do-matters-minneapoliss-moon-palace-books-is-a-hub-for-anti-ice-resistance/" target="_blank">about Moon Palace Books in Minneapolis</a> that gave me some oomph of something hope-adjacent. </p> <p>And I also cried from both sadness and hope while reading <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2025/aug/06/grandmothers-argentina-disappeared-legacy-reunited" target="_blank">this piece about the grandmothers in Argentina</a> who tirelessly fought to find the missing children taken by the military there. </p> <p>In times of horrific wrongs and tragedy, there are brave tough people helping and <a href="https://www.standwithminnesota.com/?" target="_blank">organizing</a>, and it matters.</p> <p>And speaking of the many places, options, paths and doors, opportunities to start and restart, to RESET RESTART and begin again…</p> <p>If you have been reading and hanging out here for any period of time, you know that the 2nd of February is one of my favorite holidays.</p> <h2>A beautiful sparkling True New Years to anyone who celebrates</h2> <p>I love Groundhog Day for being a holiday of <a href="https://fluentself.com/blog/personal/holiest-feast-day/">do-overs forever</a>, which is really about POSSIBILITY and SHIFT and WHAT IS AVAILABLE TO US IN THIS NEW MOMENT, with a new breath..</p> <p>And so I view the first six weeks of the new year as a sort of trial run or reconnaissance period for True New Years on February 2nd. A scouting expedition about my goals, wishes and intentions.</p> <p>And just this week I learned that February 2nd is <em>also</em> the French holiday La Chandeleur where the return of brighter days is celebrated with crepes representing the sun. I am into any holiday that involves crepes.</p> <p>And I am <em>really</em> into celebrating sunshine and golden light and a return of hope sparks, or if not hope sparks if they are not available, then maybe some grounded and glowing determination to bring some good into this world. Together.</p> <h2>Fortification</h2> <p>I was texting with my friend Kathryn about how, due to the last six weeks being eaten by a trauma I went through, I have not been doing my usual <a href="https://fluentself.com/blog/personal/three-months-later/">And Three Months Later experiment</a> that usually begins at Solstice.</p> <p>What about a 108 day adventure, I suggested. But it needs a theme.</p> <p>And the theme that came up in this discussion was FORTIFICATION, which I love because it contains so many things at once.</p> <p>Let’s fortify. Let’s layer on protections. Let’s gain in powers. Let’s regain our strength, our confidence, our motivation and sense of self. Let’s take good care.</p> <h2>The many-layered meanings of Fortification</h2> <p>Fortification like a fortress, like a buffer zone, like good boundaries and self-preservation, and coming back into your powers.</p> <p>Fortification like nutrients and well-nourished.</p> <p>Fortification like a blanket fort: calming, stabilizing, a place to hide out and be in a state of cozy comfort.</p> <p>Fortification like extra layers of protection.</p> <h2>It’s all connected of course</h2> <p>Fortification is connected to my desire for all of us to stay warm, to keep vigilant, to help out in community and be part of the force of good warding off the horrors, together.</p> <p>Fortification is related to my own personal recovery process after a trauma.</p> <p>Fortification is connected to my wishes to spend more time in analog life, more time volunteering locally with the organizations I am a part of, more time in nature, more time focused on getting shit done.</p> <p>Fortification is connected to my desire to return to being well-rested, motivated, clear, grounded and focused to the best of my ability.</p> <p>Well-boundaried, well-fortified, well-cared for and able to care well and do my part.</p> <h2>Reset restart</h2> <p>I have not yet made crepes though I did bookmark some gluten-free dairy-free recipes.</p> <p>In honor of my own personal New Years, I closed all the open tabs on my phone and tablet, baked a triple ginger apple cake, went to bed ridiculously early and slept for nearly ten hours.</p> <p>I cleaned the bathroom in a symbolic gesture of Everything Counts and this does too.</p> <p>Mainly I have been thinking about themes related to both the healing process and to learning about fortification, to having higher self-regard, to being active in community, and how these all interrelate.</p> <p>And I initiated a glorious return to daily pasture walking, <em>aka my “silly little walk for my silly little mental health”</em>, after three weeks of neglecting to do the thing that helps most, getting outside.</p> <h2>What is next?</h2> <p>I am recommitting to the rituals and also to watch and see what is unfolding and how. I am on the lookout for the next indicated steps.</p> <p>And I am doing what helps.</p> <p>I wish I could invite you over for crepes. I wish I could walk a labyrinth closer to home. Wishing wishes is also a starting point. There is much to learn from the intimate and vulnerable process of naming a wish.</p> <p>Vegetables into the oven to roast. Circles in the pasture. Helping out at the food pantry. Early to bed.</p> <p>One step and then another one. May this new year reveal its magic while we keep fortifying and learning about fortifications. Vigilant, spark-filled, focused, alive. Let’s keep going.</p> <h2>How is your heart</h2> <p>How is your beautiful heart? How is the sanctuary space of your heart?</p> <p>What fortifies you? What additional fortifications do you need to make sanctuary space within? </p> <p>These are the questions I am absorbed in right now....<p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/TJgReQxdfw5pCLuTyYMU60FW8UNEQjUn">https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/TJgReQxdfw5pCLuTyYMU60FW8UNEQjUn</a></p>

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redbird

The Scintillation Discord does an annual Groundhog Day gift exchange, a somewhat arbitrary date that has nothing to do with either weather/climate predictions or time loops (xkcd: https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/groundhog_day_meaning_2x.png). I received two small books, a blank notebook, and some dark chocolate stars, along with a note explaining that the giver wasn't sure what to get me.

The bag of chocolate says "contains: milk, soy" with no further information, so I sent the shop an email asking for more information, and explaining why. The store is in Minneapolis, so I added that I hope they aren't doing too badly under ICE occupation. I have already heard back, with a note saying that the items are made for them, so he can't be sure how much milk or soy they contain, and that they are doing OK during these very troubling times.

pepysdiary_feed

Posted by Samuel Pepys

https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1663/02/02/

Up, and after paying Jane her wages, I went away, because I could hardly forbear weeping, and she cried, saying it was not her fault that she went away, and indeed it is hard to say what it is, but only her not desiring to stay that she do now go.

By coach with Sir J. Minnes and Sir W. Batten to the Duke; and after discourse as usual with him in his closett, I went to my Lord’s: the King and Duke being gone to chappell, it being collar-day, it being Candlemas-day; where I staid with him a while until towards noon, there being Jonas Moore talking about some mathematical businesses, and thence I walked at noon to Mr. Povey’s, where Mr. Gawden met me, and after a neat and plenteous dinner as is usual, we fell to our victualling business, till Mr. Gawden and I did almost fall out, he defending himself in the readiness of his provision, when I know that the ships everywhere stay for them.

Thence Mr. Povey and I walked to White Hall, it being a great frost still, and after a turn in the Park seeing them slide, we met at the Committee for Tangier, a good full Committee, and agreed how to proceed in the dispatching of my Lord Rutherford, and treating about this business of Mr. Cholmely and Sir J. Lawson’s proposal for the Mole.

Thence with Mr. Coventry down to his chamber, where among other discourse he did tell me how he did make it not only his desire, but as his greatest pleasure, to make himself an interest by doing business truly and justly, though he thwarts others greater than himself, not striving to make himself friends by addresses; and by this he thinks and observes he do live as contentedly (now he finds himself secured from fear of want), and, take one time with another, as void of fear or cares, or more, than they that (as his own termes were) have quicker pleasures and sharper agonies than he.

Thence walking with Mr. Creed homewards we turned into a house and drank a cup of Cock ale and so parted, and I to the Temple, where at my cozen Roger’s chamber I met Madam Turner, and after a little stay led her home and there left her, she and her daughter having been at the play to-day at the Temple, it being a revelling time with them.¹

Thence called at my brother’s, who is at church, at the buriall of young Cumberland, a lusty young man.

So home and there found Jane gone, for which my wife and I are very much troubled, and myself could hardly forbear shedding tears for fear the poor wench should come to any ill condition after her being so long with me.

So to my office and setting papers to rights, and then home to supper and to bed. This day at my Lord’s I sent for Mr. Ashwell, and his wife came to me, and by discourse I perceive their daughter is very fit for my turn if my family may be as much for hers, but I doubt it will be to her loss to come to me for so small wages, but that will be considered of.

Footnotes

Read the annotations

https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1663/02/02/

ancalime8301

Boy howdy did we get some snow, and with sleet on top that has frozen solid. We didn't really get freezing rain, fortunately, and there were no power outages by me. So the girls and I were snug all last week--campus was closed through Thursday and I worked remotely, then took off on Friday.

I began the process of unearthing my car last Monday, when the snow wasn't quite as solid as it is now. I made decent progress, but my shovel didn't survive the endeavor--the cold temperatures apparently made the plastic brittle and the frozen sleet absolutely cracked the plastic. Mine wasn't the only shovel victim, someone else's shovel pieces are still laying in the snow in the parking lot, haha. My back was quite unhappy with me after all that, but happily that didn't last long.

Thursday I had to do more work to free my front wheels from the snow before the car would move, but I got there eventually and my back didn't hurt quite as much after that as it did Monday. So I was able to get some groceries, and also take Hana for her vet checkup. The vet was pleased with how she looks and her bloodwork was "beautiful", so all is well in Hana world. :)

Orchestra rehearsal was cancelled again today. The local public schools were closed all last week and through today on account of how difficult it has been to clear the snow from sidewalks in particular. And since orchestra is offered through the school district, we have no rehearsal when the schools are closed. The schools are due to be open tomorrow, with a two-hour delay.

The temperature got above freezing today, which doesn't immediately make a difference but will eventually. The trick is that it'll get colder again later this week, so the snow will be with us for a while yet. I love how bright it is when the sun is out, but it'll be nice when the parking lot and sidewalks aren't so difficult to navigate!

rydra_wong

Artorias is a DLC boss.

Beating the final boss of Dark Souls puts you straight into New Game Plus, so you need to do the DLC first if you want to do it, but yeah. I have in fact completed the base game up until you enter the last area. And there is a general consensus that the final boss is not the hardest in the game.

The DLC bosses are all substantially harder than the base game ones, and I have two more left, so it remains to be seen whether I can beat them, but at this point the odds look decent that I will at least be able to finish the base game.

I would like to remind you all that my initial goal was to see if I could beat the tutorial.

jazzyjj posting in

awesomeers

It's challenge time!

Comment with Just One Thing you've accomplished in the last 24 hours or so. It doesn't have to be a hard thing, or even a thing that you think is particularly awesome. Just a thing that you did.

Feel free to share more than one thing if you're feeling particularly accomplished!

Extra credit: find someone in the comments and give them props for what they achieved!

Nothing is too big, too small, too strange or too cryptic. And in case you'd rather do this in private, anonymous comments are screened. I will only unscreen if you ask me to.

Go!

dark_kana posting in

3_good_things_a_day

1) watching Downtown Abbey again during lunch break

2) delicious chocolate with orange flavor

3) a very very very early night in

studyhacks_feed

Posted by Study Hacks

https://calnewport.com/the-dangers-of-vibe-reporting-about-ai/

https://calnewport.com/?p=16780

Last week, news broke that Amazon would be laying off 16,000 workers. Here was the headline from an article about this news published in Quartz:

The implication of this framing is clear: AI is taking jobs.

Nothing in the body of this article contradicts this idea. It describes the number of people laid off and the benefits they’ll receive. It quotes executives who won’t deny the possibility of future job losses. It mentions how Amazon is known for its “cutthroat” corporate culture.

You walk away feeling that the impact of AI on our economy is already getting out of hand.

The only problem is that this reporting omits almost all relevant details.

For a more realistic take, let’s turn toward the financial press. CNBC published an article about these same layoffs featuring a more informative headline:

The article goes on to correctly attribute the layoffs to Amazon’s desire to trim layers of management bureaucracy that built up during the pandemic-era tech hiring boom: “CEO Andy Jassy has looked to slim down Amazon’s workforce after the company went on a hiring spree during the Covid-19 pandemic.”

What role does AI play in all of this? Like many leading companies in the technology sector, Amazon is investing heavily in building its own AI products. Presumably, money is being saved by firing managers, which frees up more revenue to invest in this area. But that’s really it. As the CNBC article elaborates:

“In a blog post, the company wrote that the layoffs were part of an ongoing effort to ‘strengthen our organization by reducing layers, increasing ownership, and removing bureaucracy.’ That coincides with a push to invest heavily in artificial intelligence.” [emphasis mine]

The CNBC article then reports that these massive layoffs actually began for Amazon in 2022 and 2023, following the pandemic, but before ChatGPT was released and the subsequent generative AI revolution began.

Both of these articles cover the same announcement, but they produce two very different impressions. The Quartz article strongly implies that Amazon is firing people because it can now offload their work to AI. (I mean: look at the Andy Jassey quote they included in the sub-head, they clearly wanted readers to believe AI caused these job losses.)

The CNBC article, by contrast, makes it clear that the connection between AI and these layoffs is more coincident than causal.

In recent years, I’ve seen more articles follow the general approach demonstrated by the Quartz example. They identify an alarming,attention-catching fear about AI that seems prevalent in the cultural zeitgeist, and then shape a story to feed the narrative. The key to this vibe reporting strategy is that the articles never make explicit claims. They instead combine cunning omissions and loosely related quotes to make strong implications.

The Quartz article, for example, never concretely states that the 16,000 workers are being replaced with AI; rather, it conveniently avoids mentioning any of the publicly available details about the layoffs that would contradict that idea, and then interleaves quotes about AI’s disruptive potential into the reporting in a highly suggestive manner.

The goal of this type of article is to create a pre-ordained vibe, not to get to the bottom of what’s really happening.

I’m not pointing out this phenomenon to dismiss concerns about AI, but instead because I think this strategy is an obstacle to real action. This type of disingenuous reporting is not going to help us identify the actual problems that require actual solutions. It instead creates a nihilistic sense of inevitable disruption that might drive social media shares, but also numbs people and prevents meaningful responses.

Remember: Nothing about these tools is inevitable, and their impact is far from preordained. We don’t need vibes right now. Reality is too important.

The post The Dangers of “Vibe Reporting” About AI appeared first on Cal Newport.

https://calnewport.com/the-dangers-of-vibe-reporting-about-ai/

https://calnewport.com/?p=16780

bruces_poems_feed

Posted by Bruce-the-Sheep

https://brucespoems.blogspot.com/2026/02/africans-joao-melo.html

Our paths are as old
as the ones worn by mankind.
We carved paths since the beginning, since we departed
our forests of origin and crossed the still-fertile Sahara,

https://brucespoems.blogspot.com/2026/02/africans-joao-melo.html

daily_otter_feed

Posted by Daily Otter

https://dailyotter.org/posts/2026/2/2/haul-in-little-otter-theres-more-fish-in-there

Via Alaska SeaLife Center, which writes:

Un’a is proving to be one tough (and smart!) little otter. Despite her rare arm injury that she had when admitted, she shows minimal signs of discomfort and is staying active and curious.

Our veterinary and animal care teams continue to monitor her closely and support her healing with gentle physical therapy (more on this soon!). Luckily for Un’a, floating is a natural part of her day, which helps keep weight off her arm.

An injury like this would have been a serious challenge in the wild, but with a little extra care, she is not letting anything slow her down.

https://dailyotter.org/posts/2026/2/2/haul-in-little-otter-theres-more-fish-in-there

curiosity posting in

crowdfunding

Voting is now OPEN for the Other Projects category of the Rose and Bay Awards. These awards honor excellence in creative crowdfunding, and this category recognizes amazing projects that don't fit into any other area. Everyone is encouraged to vote. Please read the complete details below, and then make your vote in the following poll. For more information about these awards, visit the 2026 Rose & Bay Landing Page.

In the Other Projects category, the 2025 winner was "The Mending Circle" by Martin Nerurkarwon.

( Read more... )

Poll #34169 Other Project

This poll is anonymous.
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 2

Select your favorite Other Project of 2025.

View Answers

"May I Enter" by Josh Heath
1 (50.0%)

"The Far Roofs" by Jenna Katerin Moran
0 (0.0%)

"Take Us North" by Anima Interactive
0 (0.0%)

"Min-Maxed" by Clark, David, and Megan (Sellsword Arts), Jack (Jacques Ze Whipper), David (blumineck), Bensei (instructor_bensei), Tater the Bard
1 (50.0%)

Current Mood: accomplished
Current Location: Land of Rose & Bay
Current Music: Enchanted - Joseph William Morgan

curiosity posting in

crowdfunding

Voting is now OPEN for the Webcomic category of the Rose and Bay Awards. These awards honor excellence in creative crowdfunding, and this category recognizes outstanding webcomics. Everyone is encouraged to vote. Please read the complete details below, and then make your vote in the following poll. For more information about these awards, visit the 2026 Rose & Bay Landing Page.

In the Webcomic category, the 2025 winner was "Bronwyn: Short Story Collection" by Isaac George.

( Read more... )

Poll #34168 Webcomic

This poll is anonymous.
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 1

Choose your favorite Webcomic project.

View Answers

"Alien Romance" by gs_silva
0 (0.0%)

"Cat's Cafe" by Matt Tarpley
0 (0.0%)

"ADHD Alien" by ADHD Alien
1 (100.0%)

"Quantum Vibe" by Scott Bieser w/Zeke Bieser
0 (0.0%)

"False Knees" by Joshua Barkman
0 (0.0%)

Current Mood: accomplished
Current Location: Land of Rose & Bay
Current Music: Skyline - Kalaido

starandrea

So library bingo involves a few different types of squares, including kinds of books to read (a book with pictures, a book with an animal on the cover), ways to read a book (under a blanket, while drinking a hot beverage), and library services to enjoy.

One of the library services is a "library of things," which seems to be an increasingly popular concept I just learned about, wherein the library has a catalogue of items that may be too expensive to buy on a whim, too seldom used for individuals to justify the storage, or just more sustainably shared by a community rather than everyone having their own.

Our library has, among other things, a telescope, so for the "check out something from the library of things" square, I checked it out.

Since the point of my post is how much this experience reminded me of renting a kayak for the first time, I should explain that I have never used a telescope before and did no research ahead of time. This is not a question I was asked during the check out process, nor were any lectures involved, even on important subjects like "which end to aim at the sky" or "how to carry this expensive instrument so you don't break it."

The telescope comes with a very brief instruction manual, which includes a diagram labeling many parts of the telescope, and then refers to them by different names when telling you what to do with them. (Luckily in the diagram one end of the telescope is higher than the other, so I correctly guessed that this is the end that points at the sky.) The manual also includes pointers on how to transport the telescope in your car, including how to arrange the seatbelt, but not how to carry it to and from the car.

After reading the manual several times and carefully experimenting, I successfully viewed the moon. Then I replaced the batteries in the star-finder thingy. Makes finding stuff a lot easier, it turns out, so next I am hoping to view Jupiter. If I spot anything else in the slice of sky visible through our back window I will happily record it.

Also, did I mention that the first time I rented a kayak I was surprised that no one asked, "Do you know how to kayak?" They just said, "Paddles and PFDs are over there, take whatever you like." Then they looked at my small stature and added, "Do you want some help getting it down?"

Yes, I said confidently, that would be great. Someone helped me carry a kayak all the way to the water, then fortunately walked off before they could see me figuring out which end was the front, and how to get both me and the paddle into the kayak at the same time.

So what I get out of this is twofold, after the great experiences and fun stories. One, have confidence. Other people don't go around randomly doubting you for no reason. You said you were gonna do the thing; you must know how to do it, and other people either believe you or don't care or both. Two, have confidence! It turns out most things aren't that hard as long as you're not worried about looking smart or capable.

And when they are hard, we have the internet. Thank goodness.

pepysdiary_feed

Posted by Samuel Pepys

https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1663/02/01/

(Lord’s day). Up and to church, where Mr. Mills, a good sermon, and so home and had a good dinner with my wife, with which I was pleased to see it neatly done, and this troubled me to think of parting with Jane, that is come to be a very good cook. After dinner walked to my Lord Sandwich, and staid with him in the chamber talking almost all the afternoon, he being not yet got abroad since his sickness. Many discourses we had; but, among others, how Sir R. Bernard is turned out of his Recordership of Huntingdon by the Commissioners for Regulation, &c., at which I am troubled, because he, thinking it is done by my Lord Sandwich, will act some of his revenge, it is likely, upon me in my business, so that I must cast about me to get some other counsel to rely upon.

In the evening came Mr. Povey and others to see my Lord, and they gone, my Lord and I and Povey fell to the business of Tangier, as to the victualling, and so broke up, and I, it being a fine frost, my boy lighting me I walked home, and after supper up to prayers, and then alone with my wife and Jane did fall to tell her what I did expect would become of her since, after so long being my servant, she had carried herself so as to make us be willing to put her away, and desired God to bless [her], but bid her never to let me hear what became of her, for that I could never pardon ingratitude. So I to bed, my mind much troubled for the poor girl that she leaves us, and yet she not submitting herself, for some words she spoke boldly and yet I believe innocently and out of familiarity to her mistress about us weeks ago, I could not recall my words that she should stay with me. This day Creed and I walking in White Hall garden did see the King coming privately from my Lady Castlemaine’s; which is a poor thing for a Prince to do; and I expressed my sense of it to Creed in terms which I should not have done, but that I believe he is trusty in that point.

Read the annotations

https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1663/02/01/

fuzzyred posting in

crowdfunding

Voting is now open for the Poetry category of the Rose and Bay Awards. These awards honor excellence in cyberfunded creativity (aka crowdfunding), and this category recognizes exceptional poetry. Everyone is encouraged to vote. Please read the complete details below, and then make your vote in the following poll. For more information about these awards, visit the 2025 Rose & Bay Landing Page.

In the Poetry category, the 2025 winners were a TIE between The Neurodiversiverse: Alien Encounters - A Sci-Fi Anthology by Thinking Ink Press and The Haiku Foundation by The Haiku Foundation.

( Read more... )

fuzzyred posting in

crowdfunding

Voting is now open for the Art category of the Rose and Bay Awards. These awards honor excellence in cyberfunded creativity (aka crowdfunding), and this category recognizes exceptional poetry. Everyone is encouraged to vote. Please read the complete details below, and then make your vote in the following poll. For more information about these awards, visit the 2025 Rose & Bay Landing Page.

In the Art category, the 2025 winner was "Anubis & Bastet ☆ Pharaoh's Guardians ☆ Plush" by Kayla AKA.

( Read more... )

kaberett

Reading. Successfully completed the rereads of The Human Division and The End of All Things, and moved on to The Shattering Peace, John Scalzi. ( Read more... )

I did appreciate the way that the time elapsed in series-internal chronology and between publications matched nicely; that all felt very Correct on a hindbrain level.

And some unpublished poetry I'm not able to share but really want to, because it's very good.

Writing. The put-some-words-in take-some-words-out dance continues.

Watching. Bits of Iron Man and His Awesome Friends, and also Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, because the Child is having a special interests and his special interests include Howard Stark playing dad rock and also not being a terrible father.

Playing. We finished ridiculous puzzle #1! We spent a bunch of the afternoon working out how all the disparate rooms we'd managed to build fit together. It was bullshit, and extremely satisfying.

The Inkulinati run with the Exploders set-up continues astonishingly easy except, weirdly, against Hildegard.

Cooking. Extremely pleased with the results of the experiment of boiling swede + parsnip + carrot up with a tea strainer containing rosemary, slightly crushed black pepper, and a crushed clove of garlic (and indeed cooking it all the way to Basically All The Liquid's Gone in order to keep the flavours in). Will attempt to remember the fundamental principle of bouquet garni for next time I need to do this, if there is a next time.

Exploring. A bit of time in the City of London, during which I discovered that at least some of the lions on the Bank of England are sticking their tongues out.

Observing. Great tits at my mother's! Roe deer (I think) and a hare at The New Site. A Very Dramatic Moon.

Growing. Sciarid nematodes arrived and applied. Both orchids Definitely Thinking About Flowering. Jalapeño plants both conclusively dead but jalapeños themselves all harvested (whether I get around to smoking them is a different question).

fuzzyred posting in

crowdfunding

Voting is now open for the Patron category of the Rose and Bay Awards. These awards honor excellence in cyberfunded creativity (aka crowdfunding), and this category recognizes exceptional artists. Everyone is encouraged to vote. Please read the complete details below, and then make your vote in the following poll. For more information about these awards, visit the 2026 Landing Page.

( Read more... )

**Edit: If you voted for the patron category on Feb 1, or early Feb 2, please vote again. I had to change the poll because I accidentally forgot a nominee. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Poll #34174 Voting for 2026 Rose & Bay Awards: Patron

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 0

View Respondents

Choose your favourite Parton.

View Answers

Fuzzyred patron of "Poetry Fishbowl" by Elizabeth Barrette aka Ysabetwordsmith
0 (0.0%)

Anthony Barrette patron of "Poetry Fishbowl" by Elizabeth Barrette aka Ysabetwordsmith
0 (0.0%)

Siliconshaman patron of "Poetry Fishbowl" by Elizabeth Barrette aka Ysabetwordsmith
0 (0.0%)

Sarah Williams aka Dialecticdreamer patron of "Poetry Fishbowl" by Elizabeth Barrette aka Ysabetwordsmith
0 (0.0%)

Stacey R Van Keuren aka Librarygeek patron of "Poetry Fishbowl" by Elizabeth Barrette aka Ysabetwordsmith
0 (0.0%)

Elizabeth Barrette aka Ysabetwordsmith patron of Feathering the Nest by Sarah Williams aka Dialecticdreamer
0 (0.0%)

fuzzyred posting in

crowdfunding

Voting is now open for the Fiction category of the Rose and Bay Awards. These awards honor excellence in cyberfunded creativity (aka crowdfunding), and this category recognizes exceptional artists. Everyone is encouraged to vote. Please read the complete details below, and then make your vote in the following poll. For more information about these awards, visit the 2026 Landing Page.

( Read more... )

Poll #34161 Voting for 2026 Rose & Bay Awards: Fiction

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 5

View Respondents

Voting for your favourite Fiction project.

View Answers

Magpie Monday by Dialecticdreamer
4 (80.0%)

Common Bonds 2: An Anthology of Aromantic SFF by Claudie Arseneault
1 (20.0%)

Scholarly Pursuits: A Queer Cozy Academia Anthology by duckprintspress
3 (60.0%)

bruces_poems_feed

Posted by Bruce-the-Sheep

https://brucespoems.blogspot.com/2026/02/thee-o-christ-fathers-splendor-rabanus.html

Thee, O Christ, the Father’s splendor,
Life and virtue of the heart,
In the presence of the angels
Sing we now with tuneful art,
Meetly in alternate chorus,
Bearing our responsive part.

https://brucespoems.blogspot.com/2026/02/thee-o-christ-fathers-splendor-rabanus.html

malcolm_guite_feed

Posted by malcolmguite

https://malcolmguite.wordpress.com/2026/02/01/a-sonnet-for-candlemas-15/

http://malcolmguite.wordpress.com/2026/02/01/a-sonnet-for-candlemas-15/

Against the dark our Saviour’s face is bright

Though the 12 days of Christmas ended with Twelfth Night and Epiphany, there is another sense in which this season, in which we reflect on the great mystery of God in Christ as an infant, continues until February 2nd, the Feast of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple. This feast, which many churches will be keeping this coming Sunday, came to be called by the shorter and more beautiful name of Candlemas because the day it celebrates, recorded in Luke 2:22-40, is the day the old man Simeon took the baby in his arms and recognised him as ‘A Light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of thy people Israel.’ It became the custom of the church to light a central candle and bring it to the altar to represent the Christ-light, and also on the occasion of this feast to bless all the ‘lights’ or candles in the church, praying that all who saw that outward and visible light would remember also and be blessed by the inner light of Christ ‘who lightens everyong who comes into the world.’

It had always been prophesied that God would one day come into the Temple that human beings had built for him, though Solomon, who built the first temple had said ‘even the Heavens are too small to hold you much less this temple I have built’. Candlemas is the day we realise that eternity can come into time and touch us in the form of a tiny child, that God appears at last in His Temple, not as a transcendent overlord, but as a vulnerable pilgrim, coming in His Love to walk the road of life along side us.

I am grateful to Margot Krebs Neale for the beautiful image above. She writes:

“This picture is of my first born on his first outing to walk to the station
with his grand-mother who was returning to France. he was four days old. On
the way back I stopped at the local bakers, whom I knew well and we were
both properly feasted. Was I proud and pleased! I choose it because
something of these lines was my feeling

Though they were poor and had to keep things simple,

They moved in grace, in quietness, in awe,

For God was coming with them to His temple.

He was a new little Temple of the Lord. There was definitely a sense of awe
for me. We chose his name for the Olive branch brought by the dove. I did
not like that shirt very much (it had been passed on) but for the dove…”

This and my other sonnets for the Christian year are published together by Canterbury Press as Sounding the Seasons; seventy sonnets for the Christian Year.’ You can get this book in the UK by ordering it from your local bookshop, or via Amazon

As always you can hear the poem by clicking on the ‘play’ button if it appears or on the title of the poem

Candlemas

They came, as called, according to the Law.

Though they were poor and had to keep things simple,

They moved in grace, in quietness, in awe,

For God was coming with them to His temple.

Amidst the outer court’s commercial bustle

They’d waited hours, enduring shouts and shoves,

Buyers and sellers, sensing one more hustle,

Had made a killing on the two young doves.

They come at last with us to Candlemas

And keep the day the prophecies came true

We glimpse with them, amidst our busyness,

The peace that Simeon and Anna knew.

For Candlemas still keeps His kindled light,

Against the dark our Saviour’s face is bright.

If you would like to encourage and support this blog, you might like, on occasion, (not every time of course!) to pop in and buy me a cup of coffee. Clicking on this banner will take you to a page where you can do so, if you wish. But please do not feel any obligation!

https://malcolmguite.wordpress.com/2026/02/01/a-sonnet-for-candlemas-15/

http://malcolmguite.wordpress.com/2026/02/01/a-sonnet-for-candlemas-15/

fred_mouse posting in

unclutter

How goes the decluttering? Have you shifted anything out of the house? Found something to sort through? Had thoughts on things you can let go of?

Comments open to locals, lurkers, drive by sticky beaks, and anyone I've forgotten to mention.

Congratulations to everyone who has found and/or disposed on any clutter in the last week!

Optional extra, for those who did the low key January challenge: was there anything you want to comment on? Shall we look to do it again next year? I very much appreciated that there were people willing to get involved, and it helped me with focusing my uncluttering. I have a whole area in the main room that is now clear of junk!

In case you need to hear it: if you have a challenge you want to run, or you need a buddy for something, this is an open community. It is absolutely fine for you to decide to run something! No permissions are needed. I only checked in for this one because I needed the motivation of knowing other people were going to be involved.

jazzyjj posting in

awesomeers

daily_otter_feed

Posted by Daily Otter

https://dailyotter.org/posts/2026/2/1/sea-otter-goes-with-the-flow

Via J. Maughn

https://dailyotter.org/posts/2026/2/1/sea-otter-goes-with-the-flow

lhune posting in

3_good_things_a_day

1) Got a new haircut yesterday ^_^

2) Dinner at my parents’s place: shepherd’s pie and a place at their wood burner

3) Clean bedlinen for tonight

ysabetwordsmith posting in

crowdfunding

What are your planned crowdfunding projects for February? What did you accomplish during January?

The January

crowdfunding Creative Jam will run Saturday 14-Sunday 15 with a theme of "Not Giving Up."

Current Mood: busy

starandrea

Some years ago, I spent New Year's Eve with a couple of friends whose exchange at the time I've quoted ever since. One of them remarked that he didn't do everything he'd planned to do that year. The other one looked at his watch and said, "Hurry."

( a to-do list, I suppose )

Here's to a fun February, and in continuity, my 2026 New Year's collage:

( keep looking up )

Actually, for balance, there's a bunch of stuff I didn't do! Why am I not including that?

( still a to-do list? )

( unrelated addendum on recent topics )

sequenza21_feed

Posted by Tyran Grillo

https://www.sequenza21.com/2026/01/thanos-chrysakis-vita-morgana/

https://www.sequenza21.com/?p=17541

Vita Morgana is the latest album devoted to the work of Greek composer and producer Thanos Chrysakis, released on his own Aural Terrains imprint, a label name that already gestures toward topography, strata, and the slow intelligence of landscapes. The program gathers three earlier works alongside more recent compositions, most of them written for solo flutes in varied incarnations. Performed with unwavering focus and artistic integrity by Wilfrido Terrazas, this recording offers an experience that invites one to wander rather than to map. For listeners attuned to contemporary practices in which sound behaves as an ecology, Vita Morgana is essential.

The album opens with the paired works Eirmos I and Eirmos II, both composed in 2011, forming a diptych that functions as a root system from which the rest of the album quietly spreads. Eirmos I, for standard flute, is rich in extended techniques, yet nothing here announces itself as an effect in search of justification. Each sound feels embedded in a larger logic, arriving with the inevitability of growth rather than the arbitrariness of display. Melody persists throughout, not always as pitch but as latent direction. Even in moments when discernible notes dissolve, music remains present in the breath itself, carrying unrealized possibilities like seeds suspended in air. Whispering and humming introduce a fragile corporeality that softens the flute’s metallic spine, while harmonics and multiphonics open inward corridors, inviting the listener into layers beneath the audible surface.

Eirmos II, written for bass flute, deepens this descent. Its sonorous weight evokes a lineage that seems to pass through multiple instrumental ancestries at once, drawing on a wealth of overtones that feel ancient and uncategorized. Circular breathing sustains the sound, producing a sense of simultaneous tension and awe, as though time itself has been bent into a continuous loop. What distinguishes this piece most vividly is its capacity to summon vegetal forms. Tendrils of branches, vines, and leaves appear to proliferate in the mind, intertwining into dense networks that resist both repetition and resolution. These structures feel inevitable yet irreproducible, growing according to internal rules that no single hearing can fully grasp. There is a profound unease at work here, one that remains inseparable from beauty. Chrysakis offers a contradiction that does not seek reconciliation, a sonic koan that remains open, fertile, and unresolved.

The bass flute returns in doubled form in the 2012 title work, Vita Morgana, where the music acquires a hallucinatory density. Layers of sound hover and refract, creating an auditory phenomenon that envelops the listener rather than receding from approach. One is drawn inward, wandering through sonic chambers that feel both luminous and hostile, spaces that seduce even as they threaten erasure. Heat, distortion, and shimmer coexist, producing a dreamlike atmosphere that never becomes comforting. This is music that peers into the darker provinces of imagination, where desire and danger are no longer distinct territories but overlapping states of being.

The latter half of the album turns toward the present, beginning with Carved Continuum for alto flute, one of three works composed in 2024. The act of carving suggested by the title does not imply force or incision but accumulation and erosion. The music attends closely to infinitesimal changes, to grains of time and sound that gradually contour the whole. Listening becomes an exercise in microscopic awareness, as if the ear were tracing the slow rounding of form shaped by countless small pressures. There is a quiet luminosity here, a sense of something polished through patience rather than intention, awaiting recognition even as it drifts toward disappearance.

Night Ray, for flute, shifts the terrain once more. Its gestures suggest a song without words, emerging from a culture steeped in motion. The music communicates through posture and contour rather than syntax, offering a kind of prelinguistic intimacy. The program closes with Krama for bass flute, a work that seems to invert fractal logic and invite the listener inside it. Here, the recursive patterns that once unfolded at a distance become inhabitable. Sound wraps around the body, felt as much as heard. The music allows itself to be worn, unraveled, and finally released, its fragments carried away by an unseen current. What remains is a heightened awareness of continuity, of processes that persist beyond any single articulation.

Taken as a whole, Vita Morgana unfolds like a forest without a central clearing, its paths branching endlessly beneath the surface. Each piece functions as a node in a rhizomatic network, connected not by hierarchy but by shared subterranean impulses. The listener is not asked to follow but to inhabit, to become momentarily lost in the world’s own restless complexity. In this way, Chrysakis gestures toward a philosophy of listening that accepts uncertainty as generative, where meaning arises from ongoing transformation. The music disperses, continuing invisibly, like roots extending into dark soil, patterns repeating at scales too small or too vast to name.

The post Thanos Chrysakis: Vita Morgana appeared first on Sequenza21.

https://www.sequenza21.com/2026/01/thanos-chrysakis-vita-morgana/

https://www.sequenza21.com/?p=17541

pepysdiary_feed

Posted by Samuel Pepys

https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1663/01/31/

Up and to my office, and there we sat till noon. I home to dinner, and there found my plate of the Soverayne with the table to it come from Mr. Christopher Pett, of which I am very glad. So to dinner late, and not very good, only a rabbit not half roasted, which made me angry with my wife. So to the office, and there till late, busy all the while. In the evening examining my wife’s letter intended to my Lady, and another to Mademoiselle; they were so false spelt that I was ashamed of them, and took occasion to fall out about them with my wife, and so she wrote none, at which, however, I was, sorry, because it was in answer to a letter of Madam about business. Late home to supper and to bed.

Read the annotations

https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1663/01/31/

bruces_poems_feed

Posted by Bruce-the-Sheep

https://brucespoems.blogspot.com/2026/01/who-will-listen-to-me-toyo-mori.html

"Mama. where are you?
Papa. are you around?"

They are mine.
But am I theirs?
I'm confused.

When I cried. I cried alone,
No father listening to my pain,
No mother wiping my tears.
No brother's hand comforting me.

https://brucespoems.blogspot.com/2026/01/who-will-listen-to-me-toyo-mori.html

nanila posting in

awesomeers

It's challenge time!

Comment with Just One Thing you've accomplished in the last 24 hours or so. It doesn't have to be a hard thing, or even a thing that you think is particularly awesome. Just a thing that you did.

Feel free to share more than one thing if you're feeling particularly accomplished! Extra credit: find someone in the comments and give them props for what they achieved!

Nothing is too big, too small, too strange or too cryptic. And in case you'd rather do this in private, anonymous comments are screened. I will only unscreen if you ask me to.

Go!

daily_otter_feed

Posted by Daily Otter

https://dailyotter.org/posts/2026/1/31/okay-ive-got-it-now-what-do-i-do-with-it

Via Mark Dumont

https://dailyotter.org/posts/2026/1/31/okay-ive-got-it-now-what-do-i-do-with-it

lhune posting in

3_good_things_a_day

1) My landlord dropped by and fixed my faulty shower head (I forgot to ask a couple of things ^^’ but at least that’s fixed

2) Lunch on my sunny balcony

3) Had a lovely chat with my late neighbour’s family

rmc28

Ice hockey:

I'm trying to practice more regularly with Womens Blues on a Friday, this means I have 4 practices a week over 3 days (Friday nights are double-practice, with just over an hour between Womens Blues and Warbirds). I played for a joint Huskies-WBs game against UCL two weeks ago, and for Warbirds against Chelmsford Chargers last Saturday, immediately followed by watching Huskies play Oxford Vikings B. I had begun to fear that Huskies could only win when I wasn't physically in the building, so was very glad to be proved emphatically wrong by a 7-4 scoreline. Both Saturdays I went out with the students after the game, and ended up staying up way too late (worth it though, I love my teammates very much).

I have yet to play a winning game this season, across any of my four teams (Kodiaks, Warbirds, Huskies, Womens Blues). I'm still having fun every time I step onto the ice to play, and that's what matters. But I would really like a win any time now. This weekend for a change I have no games to play, but will be doing game ops for Tri-Base Lightning vs Peterborough Dynamo, followed by the same for Mens Blues vs Imperial Devils. Huskies are having a social watching the MBs and then going out (of course!). Next week I am driving to Sheffield with Womens Blues for a late night game Monday and taking Tuesday off work to recover.

Theatre:

I love living in the same city as the ADC Theatre, and especially getting a staff discount on the already reasonably-priced tickets. Two weeks ago I took Charles to see Hadestown: Teen Edition (that means they changed the register of some of the parts to make it easier for youth theatre to stage), along with Mick and Joye and a couple of my friends, and he loved it. This week we saw Noises Off together, which is as funny as I remembered. We've been through the rest of the current schedule and while I can't get to anything in February, we're hoping my schedule will let us get to a whole swathe of productions from March to May.

Languages:

Modern Irish classes have resumed for this term and I am still so very happy to be studying again, and also happy to have no compulsory homework or exams. Highlight of this week's classes: we were discussing plans for the weekend, and the professor gave us the Irish for "watching a hockey game", saying "as a Canadian, it's 'hockey' not 'ice hockey'".

I have both Pimsleur and Babbel apps to work on other languages (primarily French and Czech at the moment), but I'm struggling to make much time to use either of them at the moment, the university ice hockey season is so intense.

Reading: I'm continuing to make my way through the Rick Riordan backlist and enjoying the journey very much.

pepysdiary_feed

Posted by Samuel Pepys

https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1663/01/30/

A solemn fast for the King’s murther, and we were forced to keep it more than we would have done, having forgot to take any victuals into the house.

I to church in the forenoon, and Mr. Mills made a good sermon upon David’s heart smiting him for cutting off the garment of Saul.¹

Home, and whiled away some of the afternoon at home talking with my wife. So to my office, and all alone making up my month’s accounts, which to my great trouble I find that I am got no further than 640l. But I have had great expenses this month. I pray God the next may be a little better, as I hope it will. In the evening my manuscript is brought home handsomely bound, to my full content; and now I think I have a better collection in reference to the Navy, and shall have by the time I have filled it, than any of my predecessors. So home and eat something such as we have, bread and butter and milk, and so to bed.

Footnotes

Read the annotations

https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1663/01/30/

sine_nomine

Wow there is a literal dumpster fire in Downtown LA directly adjacent to a building in which their may be federal law enforcement (it's a protest site). So far no one is putting it out.

ysabetwordsmith posting in

crowdfunding

The 2026 Rose and Bay Awards are still open for excellence in crowdfunding. Today and tomorrow are the last days to nominate your favorite projects and patrons. If you have not yet done so, please do that now.

The award period for eligible activities spans January 1-December 31, 2025.
The nomination period spans January 1-January 31, 2026.
The voting period spans February 1-February 28, 2026.

These are the handlers for the 2026 award season:

Art: gs_silva Nominate art! Vote for art! (4)
Fiction: fuzzyred Nominate fiction! Vote for fiction! (3)
Poetry: gs_silva Nominate poetry! Vote for poetry! (3)
Webcomic: curiosity Nominate webcomics! Vote for webcomics! (3)
Other Project: curiosity Nominate other projects! Vote for other projects! (3)
Patron: fuzzyred Nominate patrons! Vote for patrons! (3)

Current Mood: busy

wychwood

I was on campus yesterday for an in-person meeting, so worked from home today, and am now entirely discombobulated and have no idea what day it even is. Although the nice thing is that when I check, it turns out to be Friday, which is the best possible option!

Our bin collection day has moved from Wednesday to Thursday so I had to put the bag out on Wednesday night when I got back from choir (I mean, obviously I should have put it out before choir, but I forgot because I'm not used to it yet!). For once I'd actually had to put a bag in my outside bin - having been away at Mum's put me all out of sync, and I had to admit last weekend that I couldn't keep piling things up and needed to start a new bag. So I went out to fetch it to add to the gigantic rubbish pile outside the other block, only to find that it had vanished??!?

I have to assume that one of my neighbours put it out for me, which is obviously very kind of them but also extremely weird, because are they just checking my bin every week or something?? I haven't put anything in there for several months, not since we switched to piling the bags up for collection.

Still, this is much nicer than the disgusting bin neighbours.

This week has been terribly unproductive, although I have listened to an entire audiobook and one and a half radio dramas. Hopefully next week will be better, but I still haven't worked out what to do for my birthday - Mum isn't feeling up to even a short expedition, but I could still go over and/or have lunch with Dad... I'm having dinner with my choir buddy S (also to mark our 22nd anniversary of joining the chorus and making friends!) and then choir, with the second new conductor candidate, so that'll be interesting.

Also have various other social things suggested or partly arranged to follow up on; I need to pull myself together and get them sorted, ideally spaced out so I don't end up with everything happening all at once as usual. I did have lunch with two friends yesterday, so that was good! Socialising with nice people: fun actually, who knew.

bruces_poems_feed

Posted by Bruce-the-Sheep

https://brucespoems.blogspot.com/2026/01/lots-wife-iryna-tsilyk.html

“There’s nothing in this country,” Lot’s wife says
impetuously and with disdain. “But it’s true. What can you get here?”
The soup’s boiling, someone else’s child is sleeping (for twenty zloty an hour),
while Lot drives back cars from Holland to sell.Read more »

https://brucespoems.blogspot.com/2026/01/lots-wife-iryna-tsilyk.html

dark_kana posting in

3_good_things_a_day

1) our daughter is finally feeling better

2) went for a drink with her

3) reading a good book from the library

daily_otter_feed

Posted by Daily Otter

https://dailyotter.org/posts/2026/1/30/crack-thwack-smack-sea-ottersve-got-the-knack

Via Oregon Zoo, which writes:

It's a clam clamboree!

Sea otters like Juno and Sushi use rocks as tools to crack open shellfish and eat the meat inside. Otterly clever!

https://dailyotter.org/posts/2026/1/30/crack-thwack-smack-sea-ottersve-got-the-knack

nanila posting in

awesomeers

It's challenge time!

Comment with Just One Thing you've accomplished in the last 24 hours or so. It doesn't have to be a hard thing, or even a thing that you think is particularly awesome. Just a thing that you did.

Feel free to share more than one thing if you're feeling particularly accomplished! Extra credit: find someone in the comments and give them props for what they achieved!

Nothing is too big, too small, too strange or too cryptic. And in case you'd rather do this in private, anonymous comments are screened. I will only unscreen if you ask me to.

Go!

rmc28

I managed to be awake to watch the livestream, and I'm very glad I did. My uncle and cousins spoke movingly, there was the most wonderful collection of photographs (some of which I recognised, many of which I did not), and a gratifyingly large number of people in attendance. Apparently they had to print extra service sheets and still ran out.

Helen was a creator: of quilts and crafts, of food, of community. I am sorry not to be there and see her needlecraft on the walls and hear the stories in the community centre where she ran playgroup, but I am so glad to have had this glimpse from afar of how she was valued in the place where she lived.

pepysdiary_feed

Posted by Samuel Pepys

https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1663/01/29/

Lay chiding, and then pleased with my wife in bed, and did consent to her having a new waistcoate made her for that which she lost yesterday. So to the office, and sat all the morning. At noon dined with Mr. Coventry at Sir J. Minnes his lodgings, the first time that ever I did yet, and am sorry for doing it now, because of obliging me to do the like to him again. Here dined old Captn. Marsh of the Tower with us. So to visit Sir W. Pen, and then to the office, and there late upon business by myself, my wife being sick to-day. So home and to supper and to bed.

Read the annotations

https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1663/01/29/

kaberett

Or at least I assume that's what the call I missed because [reasons this margin is too small to contain] was about, based on (i) the voicemail that said They'll Call Back Tomorrow, and (ii) the continued absence of the relevant test results in the NHS app.

I... think I am going to suggest that they ask my GP to issue a bloods request form, for me to pick up from the surgery and take up the hill to phlebotomy. Because! this is ridiculous! blood loss remains my job!!!

Other things today has contained include: TOKEN RIDICULOUS PUZZLE; Very Picturesque Bread; the Child assigning us all Pronouns and Genders and Sexualities more-or-less at random (from an LGBTQIA+ sticker book); PAKIDGES many and various Including another book on pain and box sets for the last two seasons of Elementary; lots of ridiculous windows in the general vicinity of Bank. I am very tired.

anais_pf posting in

thefridayfive

These questions were suggested by

twirlandswirl.

How many times a day do you . . .

1. Brush your teeth?

2. Shower?

3. Check your E-mail?

4. Check LJ? (or DW?)

5. Eat?

Copy and paste to your own journal, then reply to this post with a link to your answers. If your journal is private or friends-only, you can post your full answers in the comments below.

If you'd like to suggest questions for a future Friday Five, then do so on DreamWidth or LiveJournal. Old sets that were used have been deleted, so we encourage you to suggest some more!

bruces_poems_feed

Posted by Bruce-the-Sheep

https://brucespoems.blogspot.com/2026/01/words-of-woe-poltu.html

I found you a word in my dictionary:
Enchanting, like you, a dancing fairy
You found me another in your book of words:
Revolting, 'cause I’m strictly for the birds

https://brucespoems.blogspot.com/2026/01/words-of-woe-poltu.html

daily_otter_feed

Posted by Daily Otter

https://dailyotter.org/posts/2026/1/29/ha-ha-i-have-a-pile-of-leaves-and-you-do-ont

Via uso_otter

https://dailyotter.org/posts/2026/1/29/ha-ha-i-have-a-pile-of-leaves-and-you-do-ont

farnam_street_feed

Posted by Vicky

https://fs.blog/knowledge-project-podcast/michael-ovitz/

https://fs.blog/?post_type=podcast&p=79200

Michael Ovitz co-founded CAA and helped reshape Hollywood, then took the same playbook into tech investing and advising founders.

Public Release: February 3.
Members have access now.
Join us.

Coming Soon: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Transcript

In this conversation, he breaks down the operating rules that kept CAA from losing clients, and the personal disciplines that kept him grounded when the stakes got massive.

You’ll learn how to build momentum, tell the truth without hesitation, read for context instead of noise, hire people who raise the standard, and package ideas into outcomes.

The post Michael Ovitz: The Business of Relationships appeared first on Farnam Street.

https://fs.blog/knowledge-project-podcast/michael-ovitz/

https://fs.blog/?post_type=podcast&p=79200

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fluentself_feed - 108 Days of Fortification & Fortifications
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daily_otter_feed - Ha Ha, I Have a Pile of Leaves and You Do-on't!
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