Birdfeeding

Mar. 11th, 2026 11:44 am
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Today is cloudy, cold, and wet.

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

I put out water for the birds.

Science

Mar. 11th, 2026 11:14 am
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
A massive asteroid hit the North Sea and triggered a 330-foot tsunami

A long-running debate about the Silverpit Crater beneath the North Sea has finally been resolved. Scientists now confirm it formed when a roughly 160-meter asteroid struck the seabed about 43–46 million years ago. New seismic imaging and rare shocked minerals in rock samples provided the crucial proof. The impact would have sent a massive plume skyward and unleashed a tsunami over 100 meters (330 feet) high.


One thing I love about science is that occasionally it can really prove things.

(no subject)

Mar. 11th, 2026 09:51 am
oursin: Brush the Wandering Hedgehog by the fire (Default)
[personal profile] oursin
Happy birthday, [personal profile] parthenia!

Prairie Moon Order

Mar. 11th, 2026 12:14 am
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
On Monday, I picked out what I wanted for the Prairie Moon order. This is meant to be the last catalog order of the spring.


Spicebush (plant)

American Plum (plant)

Early Figwort (seed)

Late Figwort (seed)

Common Ironweed (seed)

Purple Love Grass (seed)

Lead Plant (seed)

Select Seeds Order

Mar. 11th, 2026 12:04 am
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
On Monday, I picked out what I wanted for the Select Seeds order.


Old-Fashioned Climbing Petunia (plant)

Lantana 'PassionFruit' (plant)

Penstemon 'Dakota Burgundy' (plant)

Painted Tongue 'Select Superbissima Mix' (seeds)

Yarrow 'Flowerburst Red Shades' (seeds)

Coreopsis 'Corusco Cream-Red' (seeds)

Hard Things

Mar. 11th, 2026 12:03 am
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Life is full of things which are hard or tedious or otherwise unpleasant that need doing anyhow. They help make the world go 'round, they improve skills, and they boost your sense of self-respect. But doing them still kinda sucks. It's all the more difficult to do those things when nobody appreciates it. Happily, blogging allows us to share our accomplishments and pat each other on the back.

What are some of the hard things you've done recently? What are some hard things you haven't gotten to yet, but need to do? Is there anything your online friends could do to make your hard things a little easier?

[127] RESIDENT EVIL (various)

Mar. 10th, 2026 09:27 pm
zombieproof: rebecca chambers - resident evil (flamethrowing)
[personal profile] zombieproof posting in [community profile] fandom_icons
---RESIDENT EVIL 4 (REMAKE)
[x]55 leon scott kennedy
[x]3o luis serra
[x]o2 leon & luis
[x]o2 ingrid hunnigan

---RESIDENT EVIL: INFINITE DARKNESS
[x]23 leon scott kennedy

---RESIDENT EVIL 6
[x]o6 leon scott kennedy
[x]o9 helena harper


( i have no good cut text for this )

[118] RESIDENT EVIL 9

Mar. 10th, 2026 08:56 pm
zombieproof: clayton carmine - gears of war (shades of gray)
[personal profile] zombieproof posting in [community profile] fandom_icons
---RESIDENT EVIL 9 Spoilers for early game
[x]118 grace ashcroft


(Warmth of a new dawn on my face)
melroseee: (the pitt - ER cowboys)
[personal profile] melroseee posting in [community profile] fandom_icons
[12] The Pitt Robby/Abbot icons
[3] Noah Wyle & Shawn Hatosy icons

pitt icon 004 06 100 pitt icon 004 014 100 pitt icon 004 07 100

See the rest here.

Space Exploration

Mar. 10th, 2026 07:01 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Remember when DART struck an asteroid? New surprises!

Don’t miss this astounding 40-second video. It shows the DART spacecraft’s strike of the asteroid moon Dimorphos, in the year 2022, from the vantagepoint of a camera on the spacecraft. It was a test of our capabilities in planetary defense from asteroids that might strike us. Afterwards, we knew the strike had slightly changed the orbit of Dimorphos. Now a new study shows how the DART spacecraft also affected the orbit of the primary asteroid in this system.
oursin: Drawing of hedgehog in a cave, writing in a book with a quill pen (Writing hedgehog)
[personal profile] oursin

So really, there isn't a lot of point in going diving into the rabbit-hole that's just opened up.

I.e. I am revising my old piece of work for the Fellows' presentations session, and I thought, why not just see if name of author of obscure feminist work cited appears in British Newspaper Archive, which at time I was writing was less in habit of habitually consulting on odd points (did not, I think, have a subscription, for one thing). As otherwise I had no info on her at all.

And, blow me down, she may only have written one book but seems to have committed the odd journalistic opinion piece, and furthermore, is listed as being one of the founders of an organisation set up by Old Suffragettes (or possibly -ists).

Which I find someone has Has Writ A Book About, as one of those women's orgs that have been condescended to by posterity as about the little dears getting together to chat, bless the ladies, and turns out to have been rather more activist in its sphere than one reckoned.

Library to which I have access has copy, but will not let me have online access to ebook for some reason, sigh.

And really, I do have other things to do (thesis to read, book to review, have been solicited to do a podcast, must try and put together a powerpoint for my talk) than dash off down to LSE to look at the archives of the org, right?

Because given the limitations on what it's for, at the moment - however the work in question will develop - it will be a sentence at best, because of time constraints.

Frustration.

Birdfeeding

Mar. 10th, 2026 02:01 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Today is partly sunny, breezy, and quite warm. It's 76℉ already.

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

I put out water for the birds.

The first hostas have sprouted, and more bluebells are putting up leaves.  More things are sprouting in the water jugs too.  The first daffodils are blooming under the maple tree.

EDIT 3/10/26 -- I put out my indoor flat of fruit tree sprouts to get some sun and air.

I took pictures around the yard.

EDIT 3/10/26 -- It's 79℉ now.  Earlier was overly warm; now it's just plain hot  even with a brisk breeze.  We had to turn on the air conditioning.  In early March.  Fuck climate change. >_<

We hauled the two bags of topsoil from the car to the old picnic table bench.  We put the solid-top pallet in the garden shed.

EDIT 3/10/26 -- I trimmed the woody stems from the wildflower garden.  Lots of miniature irises are blooming there.  :D

EDIT 3/10/26 -- I started trimming woody stems from the septic garden.

EDIT 3/10/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

I brought in the fruit tree sprouts.  I've seen a fox squirrel bounding across the ground.

EDIT 3/10/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 3/10/26 -- I finished trimming woody stems from the septic garden.

I am done for the night.


dorchadas: (Limbo Matter of Time)
[personal profile] dorchadas
I recently learned about "Stalin sorting" through my work on Cataclysm. What is Stalin sort, you ask?

Go through an array, iterating over the elements. Any element not in order is deleted.

Emoji Eyes bulging stare

(no subject)

Mar. 10th, 2026 09:47 am
oursin: Brush the Wandering Hedgehog by the fire (Default)
[personal profile] oursin
Happy birthday, [personal profile] dichroic and [personal profile] fairestcat!

Resident Evil Requiem [2026]

Mar. 9th, 2026 09:47 pm
myrmidon: ([film;] burn through the witches.)
[personal profile] myrmidon posting in [community profile] fandom_icons
Resident Evil Requiem (2026)
[ leon s. kennedy ]


[ here @ [community profile] axisandallies ]

Birdfeeding

Mar. 9th, 2026 01:48 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Today is cloudy and chilly with gusts of wind.

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

I put out water for the birds.

In the water jug greenhouses, a few shady wildflowers are sprouting.  :D

EDIT 3/9/26 -- My gold curly willow cuttings have arrived!  \o/  I have put two in water and one in a pot.

EDIT 3/9/26 -- I took cuttings from the older serviceberry tree and a shellbark hickory sapling to put in the willow cups.

EDIT 3/9/26 -- I cracked open some peach pits.  It was a lot easier than I expected.  I found a natural hollow in the concrete step, where I balanced a peach pit on its edge.  A seam goes along the sides.  I put a flathead screwdriver point into the seam and tapped the handle with a hammer.  Most of the peach pits popped apart neatly, releasing the seed.  A couple chipped in fragments.  I think I got several viable seeds, which I put in a baggie of damp sand.  I also bagged up some leftover persimmon seeds.  Then I put the baggies in the refrigerator for cold stratification to see if they'll sprout.

EDIT 3/9/26 -- I tried using an ax to hack away at one of the saplings in the driveway.  I certainly made more progress than I did with the saw.  It's slow going, but I might be able to beaver it down eventually.  The question is whether I'll have the time and energy for that, with all the other spring yardening to do.

EDIT 3/9/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 3/9/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 3/9/26 -- I transplanted a few more snowdrops from the parking lot to the apricot tree.

I am done for the night.

Magpie Monday

Mar. 9th, 2026 12:49 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
[personal profile] dialecticdreamer is hosting Magpie Monday with a theme of "Apologies."  Leave prompts, get ficlets! 
oursin: George Beresford photograph of the young Rebecca West in a large hat, overwritten 'Neither a doormat nor a prostitute' (Neither a doormat nor a prostitute)
[personal profile] oursin

I am given to understand that there is a campaign afoot to get a Blue Plaque for Dame Rebecca, as, quite shamefully, there is not one already.

***

Dorset Archives Trust seeks donations for archive catalogue: we feel they might foreground rather more than they do that this is for the papers of Sylvia Townsend Warner???

***

The Woman Who Invented the Penny Bank - I do not think I had heard of Priscilla Wakefield before.

***

Ladies of the Lights: Female Lighthouse Keepers in the UK and the US (Of course I knew about Grace Darling, even before Jessica Mitford wrote about her.)

***

Sadder stories of women: Hidden lives of female prisoners past and present:

The lives of female prisoners in the 19th Century and those experiencing the criminal justice system today are not dissimilar, a charity worker has said.
An exhibition at Newcastle Cathedral is documenting the untold stories from female prisoners at the former Newcastle Prison, which stood in the city's Carliol Square between 1828-1925.

Volunteers from a family history group have begun transcribing the records of at least 6,000 women, imprisoned by Cambridge University in the 19th Century. I have read the book by Biggs (The Spinning House) but was underwhelmed as a result of her stylistic narrative choices. I am all for this sort of project.

***

Hmmmm. While I would certainly agree that female desire is not taken seriously enough: A very paternalistic attitude’: why is female desire still not taken seriously?, I am massively, massively, massively cynical about the potential of the 'pink pill' or female viagra as I had several posts here some years back about the very unprepossessing results produced*. In particular I adduce this link to the ever sensible Dr Petra Boynton's thoughts. Is this just being bigged up by pharma entrepreneurs???
*And, of course, the notion that you can fix women's libidos with a magic bullet pill.

(no subject)

Mar. 9th, 2026 09:38 am
oursin: Brush the Wandering Hedgehog by the fire (Default)
[personal profile] oursin
Happy birthday, [personal profile] oracne and [personal profile] shadowkat!
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