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What I read

Finished I Used to Be Charming: The Rest of Eve Babitz, though will cop to only skimming the final section 'Fiorucci: the Book' (1980) about which I was a bit WTF? and 'what was she on?'

Over the weekend saw a review somewhere of the latest work by Madeleine Gray speaking well of her first novel Green Dot (2024) so thought I might see what it was like, especially as it was at a very reasonable price on Kobo - gave up about a third or so in. Did not care about the narrator or her situation.

A bit of sortes e-reader (inadvertently opening a book) started a supernatural thriller but I couldn't work out whether it was part of a series and I was supposed to know who these characters and their predicament were, or whether I was supposed to work it out over chapters jumping back and forward over time and didn't feel grabbed. May return because that might be me?

Dick Francis, Risk (1977), where I realised I have recently identified a Francis pattern such that I could finger a certain character very early on as likely to be implicated in bad stuff going down.

On the go

Have been dipping into Timothy d'Arch Smith, The Stammering Librarian (2025), some further collected essays, including one on a person of research interest, and a rather fun Anthony Powell parody.

Dick Francis, The Edge (1988), which is the one involving a lush train journey, with additional Staged Murder Mystery, across Canada (reverse direction to the way I did it).

Up next

Well, the local history society publications in which I was interested have been ordered and have arrived.

seleneheart

bookclub_dw is currently voting for our February read. Voting will run through January 31, 2026. The poll can be found here: https://bookclub-dw.dreamwidth.org/1556.html

We are reading The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst as our book for January. Please join us if you would like participate in the discussion! The discussion post will go up on January 31, 2026.

Current Mood: recumbent

seleneheart posting in

fandomcalendar

( You're about to view content that a community administrator has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

wychwood

So far since I arrived here I have watched David Attenborough's new Wild London special, the first two episodes of Wandavision (cor, that's a weird one), and forty-five minutes of The Two Towers. Gimli is really very comic-relief in this one, which I'm not loving. It's more noticeable having recently read the books!

I also woke up at 03:18 yesterday morning and didn't manage more than a few minutes of dozing thereafter, so had a fairly miserable day; beaten, however, by my swimming buddy (who lives around the corner and has been kindly giving me a lift to and from swimming while I'm staying with Mum), whose brother was just diagnosed with CJD, of all things. Apparently there's one or two people diagnosed per million each year, but talk about appalling luck.

Anyway last night I got rather more sleep, so have felt much more at peace with the world today and even accomplished some useful work tasks. I'll need all the available brain for choir tonight, though, this piece seems to be taking a lot of work somehow even though it's Haydn and not exactly difficult.

I have read zero books, but I have made some progress on booklogging, so it's not all bad.

reeby10 posting in

snowflake_challenge

Introduction Post * Meet the Mods Post * Challenge #1 * Challenge #2 * Challenge #3 * Challenge #4 * Challenge #5 * Challenge #6 * Challenge #7 * Challenge #8 * Challenge #9 * Challenge #10 *

Remember that there is no official deadline, so feel free to join in at any time, or go back and do challenges you've missed.

( Fandom Snowflake Challenge #111 )

And just as a reminder: this is a low pressure, fun challenge. If you aren't comfortable doing a particular challenge, then don't. We aren't keeping track of who does what.

soemand

A few years ago, and many nm from here.

rydra_wong

Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders. They live there. It is their country.

They are legally Danish citzens. Greenland is largely self-governing, with the possibility of becoming independent if they choose to.

Denmark can't "sell" them or their country because Denmark does not own them.

And after a number of centuries and some debate, a general consensus was arrived at that selling people is not ethically acceptable, you know?

Even if they wanted to, Denmark can't "sell" Trump Greenland any more than the UK could sell him Scotland.

Also N.B. 85-90% of the Greenlanders are Inuit.

I am very certain that this is absolutely about thinking that Native people don't really count as citizens and they don't really own their land; it is Terra Nullius, and they can be sold off in a deal between the "real" nations of Denmark and the US.

(Or their land can be sold out from under them and they can just be forced elsewhere, which I'm sure Trump would be just fine with.)

If the US wanted to try to ethically acquire Greenland, it could talk to the government of Greenland and offer them a great deal with significant benefits if they wanted to become independent and then have a free association deal with the US.

Or rather, it could have, maybe, because now the Greenlanders are fucking pissed off and scared over the threats and offers to buy them, and if they have to choose between the US and Denmark they are unambiguously choosing Denmark:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvgx8w4pgk0o
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/14/us-invasion-threat-greenland-trump-denmark

mdehners posting in

gardening

Last month I was rereading one of Alaric Albertsson's books( think it was 'To Walk a Pagan Path') and there was a chapter on creating a calendar meaningful to where you actually live...so I decided that this was going to be one of my projects for this yr.
It's pretty simple; just Journal what happens each month in the natural world around you. I live presently in E Tennessee and actually, the Solstices and Equinoxes pretty well "map" here in Loudon County but we can fine tune things.
This yr, of course, had to be anomalous;>! Normally, within a couple weeks of Winter Solstice we get temps in the high teens. This yr until last week it had actually got to 70F! Now, it's "seasonal" with today in the 40's.Due to the warmth my neighbor's early Daffs budded up and right now they don't look like they'd recover. Me? Mine are breaking ground and at least one Snowdrop has buds, though most are just breaking ground a well.
We've also got Canadian Geese, Ducks and at least one Heron here on the inlet....a BIT early.
Preliminary name for 1st month; "Frikkn Freezing Moon";>!
Cheers,
Pat

Current Mood: accomplished
Current Location: Lenoir City(Nevermore;>!)
Current Music: Skald Radio

soemand

❄️ Winter claimed its first victim: my car battery, which took one look at the cold and quit. New one going in tonight.

Current Music: London girl, the pogues

fred_mouse posting in

unclutter

How did the decluttering of the work space(s) go? Did you spend time looking for things that could go, move a thing or two, or have a wildly successful week? Or did you work on a different space instead?

For week four we are moving from decluttering spaces in order to make them more welcoming to us, to making our space more welcoming to others. What this might look like

Is it difficult to get into the house? Option: work out what of the stuff in the front hall / entrance / verandah / front step is useful to have there, and deal with (some of) the rest. If that stuff is clutter to be rehomed, maybe make the getting it out of the house a priority
Is there nowhere for visitors to put things when they visit? Option: go through the shoe rack / coat rack / other storage and getting rid of what you don't use so that there is space for visitors to leave their shoes / coats / other when they visit
Is there nowhere for a visitor to sit? Option: Clear a second chair! Or a path to a second chair!
Are there too many choices of tea, and none of them good? Option: get rid of the stale tea so nobody accidentally gets served it. Do not suffer stale tea.
Have your serving plates / company coffee mugs / tea cups seen better days? Are there good ones that never get appreciated? Consider: ditch the dodgy, have the joy of using the nice ones (and if the nice ones aren't ever going to get used, is it time to send them out into the world to bring joy to someone else?)
if you have a car and are a person who provides transport, is there clutter in there making life awkward?

Remember, this is a gentle challenge, and if you get one thing progressed, that is a big win even when you can't give yourself the credit.

james_davis_nicoll

I read the press release and have no idea what this imprint will publish.

flamingsword

Challenge #9: Favorite Tropes

Talk about your favorite tropes in media or transformative works. (Feel free to substitute in theme/motif/cliche if "trope" doesn't resonate with you.)

Curtainfics are so soothing when they're done well. I get that reading things with angst or action or people having giant realizations make for the usual sort of good reading that everyone wants to write. But when writers have the chops to make quiet domestic happiness into something meaningful and interesting - oh yeah. That's the good shit. Like, you see these characters who are used to every kind of violence and rootlessness? They get to go on the journey of being untrusting of their own happiness and slowly relaxing into coming to ground somewhere safe and someone loving and beloved. It appeals to the part of me that knows that Happily Ever After, or even Happy For Now is a lot harder than it looks to put any faith in for a certain kind of person.

And Found Family / Families of Choice are the stories that have taught me so much about how to relate to people I don't really understand. They're a happiness that reaches into my monkey instincts and says that I, too, can have a bigger tribe, that I, too, can fit into a tribe even if I don't understand the Rube Goldberg machine of moving parts in unusual shapes accomplishing amazing things together.

Challenge #10: Big Mood (Board)

CHOOSE SOMETHING YOU LOVE AND CREATE A MINI MOOD COLLECTION OF THREE (or more) ITEMS THAT EVOKE YOUR FEELINGS ABOUT IT. You don’t have to limit yourself to visual media, or collect the items into a special format like a square (though you can if you’d like).

Post your answer to today's challenge in your own space and leave a comment in this post saying you did it.

Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so. Also, feel free to entice engagement by giving us a preview of what your post covers.

I'm feeling Star Wars-y today, and I want to share some songs. Unfortunately, these are on Youtube, bc I lack other accessibility that is not equally terrible.

• Obi-Wan Kenobi - Brave - by Sara Bareilles

Nothing's gonna hurt you the way that words do
When they settle 'neath your skin
Kept on the inside and no sunlight
Sometimes a shadow wins
But I wonder what would happen if you
Say what you wanna say
And let the words fall out
Honestly I wanna see you be brave

• Anakin Skywalker - Alive - by Sia

I have made every single mistake
That you could ever possibly make
I took and I took and I took what you gave
But you never noticed that I was in pain

• Ghost Company - Start a Riot - by Duckwrth and Shaboozey

Make way (make way)
I'm comin' through with my crew to make 'em pay
I don't need no super suit, I'm feelin' brave
Don't be a hero, turn around and walk away

Current Music: Everlasting - softlyspoken

rydra_wong

A post by Naomi Kritzer:

https://naomikritzer.com/2026/01/21/how-to-help-if-you-are-outside-minnesota/

This also has advice on how to start preparing for if and when this shit comes to your home state.

(If you are in Minnesota: https://naomikritzer.com/2026/01/19/how-to-help-twin-cities-residents/ )

rydra_wong posting in

thisfinecrew

disneydream06

Jan. 21st.....

I'm Reading A Book About

Anti-Gravity.

It's Impossible To Put Down.

just_ann_now

^Same userpic as last week, because it's still cold! Clear and sunny, so not bad for walking, but, still. They are talking about a SIGNIFICANT SNOW EVENT for us this weekend. We shall see!

What I Just Finished Reading

Sing Like A Fish:How Sound Rules Life Underwater, by Amorina Kingdon.

cairistiona, it was extremely readable and enjoyable! I learned so much. There is a fish, along the Pacific Coast, with mating calls! I can't even imagine. Less enjoyable, but still very worthwhile, was Birds at Rest: The Behavior and Ecology of Avian Sleep, by Roger F. Pasquier. (Academics should not be allowed to publish approachable, engaging prefaces to their books, if the books themselves are going to be pretty dry. That's deceptive!) *grin* But again, I learned a lot about avian behavior that had never occurred to me before. @

cairistiona, an even more enjoyable book about fish is What A Fish Knows, by Jonathan Balcomb, which I remember I really liked.

On the fiction side, Malinalli, by Veronica Chapa, had inconsistent characterization and confusing plotting. For Dreamwidth Book Bingo: Author's Debut, as well as Goodreads Tale Spinners challenge (Fairy tale or mythology retelling).

An absolute impulse purchase (boy, have I been doing a lot of that lately) was What If...Loki Was Worthy?. An odd impulse because I haven't been into Marvel in ages and am several movies behind. (Sorry, Captain America Sam. Sorry, Bucky.) If this book had been fic, it would be Crack!fic, an absolutely wacky and enjoyable ride. My absolutely favorite Loki Redemption fic, though, is "Monsters", by coneycat, the opening of her "Housemates"series.

What I Am Currently Reading

Today I ~~expect~~ hope to finish A Splendid Savage:The Restless Life of Frederick Russell Burnham, by Steve Kemper. Burnham was a high adrenaline, restless explorer/adventurer who I first heard about in reading about another high-adrenaline, restless explorer/adventurer, Finding Everett Ruess: The Life and Unsolved Disappearance of a Legendary Wilderness Explorer.

What I Am Reading Next

I have a list of library holds as long as my arm, which I plan to pick up tomorrow. Which is crazy, because it isn't like I don't have another virtual stack of ebooks on my iPad. I just like walking to the library, I guess.

Question of the Day:

Snow:Yay! or Snow

(That would be me. It's not that I mind snow, per se - it's pretty on the garden, so peaceful looking, and we certainly need the moisture. It's the danger and difficulty of walking the days after.)

disneydream06

It is my GREAT pleasure to send out...

*~*~*~*~*GREAT BIG HAPPY BIRTHDAY WISHES*~*~*~*~*

To my longest, not oldest, friend,

owlstorm_9

I hope you have a fantastic day. :)

Disney 1

kingarthurflour_feed

Posted by PJ Hamel

https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/blog/2026/01/21/fix-oven-hot-spots

Slices of toast next to each other, each a different color of bake

When you preheat your oven to 350°F, you might assume its interior is a nice, even temperature throughout. Far from it! Every oven will bake more (or less) quickly in different locations, from top to bottom and front to back. In order to avoid burning your cookie bottoms or charring your cake’s top, it’s good to know where your oven’s “hot spots” are. (Here’s how to test them.)

The post Baking trials: Will a baking stone fix my oven’s hot spots?: A surprising use for this bread-baking tool. appeared first on the King Arthur Blog.

https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/blog/2026/01/21/fix-oven-hot-spots

lydamorehouse

Image: no laser eyes this time, but this is a loon in the shape of the Rebel Alliance symbol from Star Wars.

So, let's see. Yesterday started out a little rough for me in part because I was feeling EXTRA anxious because helicopters were buzzing our neighborhood. So much information getting shared is people guessing at what's going on and people who seem to maybe be reporting on what's happening? But, it's often unclear where they are getting their information? So, it's very paranoid here.

What I heard was that ICE was back at the MidwayTarget just up the block from me, specifically targeting the protestors there. Target has been a target for resistance efforts because of the video that was widely circulated of Greg Bovino, the ICE commandant/literal SS officer cosplayer, stopping to take a piss flanked by his goons. Rumors have also circulated that Target is not what we are calling a "Fourth Amendment business." (For our international friends, the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution of the US states that there must be probable/reasonable cause for search and seizure--including of our persons, our bodies--basically no one has the right to just snatch people out of homes or businesses.) So, here in the Twin Cities, if a business appears to cooperate with ICE, even to the point of not protecting their employees, people have been mad. And supposedly Target was compliant with ICE. So,the day before yesterday there was a big sit-in in Target. Yesterday, there was a group of people doing retail resistance? They would buy salt (or other metaphorically appropriate things) and then immediately return it, so that Target would have the hassle of all this merchandise to deal with and refunds to issue.

There was another rumor that ICE was at HarMar Mall in Roseville, which is literally a shopping mall? But, as someone who has taken the bus out in that direction, a lot of folks who might be targets of the gestapo do work in those retail stores.

What I should have done when the helicopters were circling was just get in my car and drive up to Target and see what I could see or head out to HarMar, but I was waiting for Mason to be up to find out what he wanted to do for lunch and whether or not he was going to his uncle Keven's to do some odd job work. Mason was justifiably cranky with me when he came down to find me in a state. As he pointed out, I can just go. He is an adult. Not only can he make himself lunch, he can figure out how to get to Keven's if need be.

But, having talked that through, Mason and I decided to drop by the folks I lovingly call the Food Communists and see if there was work to be done. Sure enough! We arrived in time to help load up one car that was delivering diapers. We packed several bags of groceries, helped load more stuff to go, and then spent the "downtime" making individual packs of various bulk food items, while chatting with neighbors--and one guy who and I am not kidding, came from the Gunflint Trail in Northern Minnesota order to help with the resistance. That is 288 miles from us, about a 5 hour drive (if you drive without stopping.) People in the UK? He basically came from another world. (And honestly? A few more miles and he would have been coming from Canada.)

Speaking of my non-Minnesotan and foreign friends, here's

naomikritzer 's write up of things to do for us if you are interested in helping the resistance: https://naomikritzer.com/2026/01/21/how-to-help-if-you-are-outside-minnesota/ Even if all you want is some links to reliable, detailed information about what is actually happening here, this is a good resource to start with!

My singing group was supposed to gather last night at 7:30 pm and I made an effort to join them, but I think I screwed up the where or the when because I wandered around in the place I thought they'd be and no one was around. To be fair to me (and them) it was supposed to be outside a church and there are a number of churches with similar names in the neighborhood and I suspect I just ended up at the wrong one. They sing every day, so I'll get other chances to join them.

I've been trying to also focus on feeding myself and my family, so yesterday I made a lovely mapo tofu for lunch and then we had bibbimap for dinner. Two rice meals, but both hearty, filling, and sustaining. I went this morning to get my blood drawn for all the various health checks, so I am remembering to take care of myself and my family. I've been joking that all of this stress has actually made me better about remembering to hydrate, so that's something.

And, with luck, I'll be running D&D this weekend. So, we can keep up our mental health!

Okay, everyone, stay strong!

metafilter_feed

Posted by postcommunism

https://www.metafilter.com/211902/Bari-Weiss-Is-The-Symptom

I worry some of my colleagues in the industry are getting the Bari Weiss phenomenon exactly wrong. She isn't a saboteur brought in to destroy one of the last remaining citadels of high journalism. She is one of high journalism's purest products, a perfect symptom of its old, unresolved contradictions. Her disingenuousness about motive is the industry's in miniature.

https://www.metafilter.com/211902/Bari-Weiss-Is-The-Symptom

metafilter_feed

Posted by clawsoon

https://www.metafilter.com/211901/No-word-on-what-the-raccoons-think

When tourists go on vacation, the area around them becomes a liminal space. Their geographic location is no longer real, but a fantasy that they are living in. If tourists have the fantasy disrupted, they can get really mean. And that is why this raccoon biologist has to conduct her research wearing a bikini.

https://www.metafilter.com/211901/No-word-on-what-the-raccoons-think

watersword posting in

thisfinecrew

Democrats Successfully Strip All Anti-Trans Riders From Final Appropriations Bills.

Now would be a great time to tell your Democratic representatives that you saw the party protecting trans people, and that you approve and want them to keep doing that. If your reps are Republicans, I guess tell them to stop putting discriminatory clauses in the budget?

rebeccmeister

Ugh, why is January so expensive??

Don't answer that. :^)

I knew a lot of these expenses were coming up. Still, it's a lot, watching all the money drain straight out of my bank account.

I'm hoping to make some time to scrutinize utility costs soon. Not that I think there's a whole lot I can change, just...I like to have a sense of the trends.

I'm going to need to do a fair bit of advance financial planning this year, just because of summer research travel plans and other travel plans and a couple of expensive academic conferences. In general that means I'm going to sink less money into coached rowing, and need to just buckle up and get exercise on my own. I can do that, I just have to make myself do it.

pensnest

Well. This post is inspired by the relevant Snowflake Challenge, but does not conform to it.

You see, the 6th Snowflake Challenge this year asks for my Top Ten somethings. And that's really hard to do. Top ten books? Impossible. If I kept lists and records of everything I've read and ranked each book, maybe, but lists and records? Me? Ditto songs. Can't do top ten musicals either. I would need a smaller pool from which to draw!

This is where inspiration struck. My socks! I have many fun pairs of socks, most of which were knitted for me by the wonderful

turlough. There are of course others: the ordinary socks, like the long plum-coloured ones that go with my dark red dress, and the plain black ones for concerts. And there are the slightly more fun socks with 'art' on them, like the yellow 'Klimt' ones or the grey ones with 'The Scream' depicted around the ankle.

But the socks of which I speak are the superior socks from my selection. And even then, I cannot readily pick a Top Ten.

So I decided not to do a Top Ten after all. Instead, I shall show you my favourite baker's dozen pairs of socks, and invite you to select your Top Three. Here are the socks.

To expand, click. Meanwhile,

Top pic, top row, left to right:

1 green, yellow, purple, teal stripes in a zig zag. Cheerful, interestingly textured, and perfectly comfortable

2 Gryffindor socks! very comfortable

3 red with leaf pattern, lovely lace design, a couple of stitches too long in the foot for perfect fit

4 the zig zag socks are more of a magenta pic than shows up in the photo, fabulously pink!

5 woodland stripes in a funky design, comfortable and fun

Bottom row, left to right

6 lovely orange socks with great cable section in the middle, pity it gets hidden in shoes. I am wearing them right now.

7 Cheerful red, blue, purple and green stripes, an older favourite

8 Fraternal socks, bought, not gifted by

turlough, comfy though a teensy bit long, and I like the one with the black toe more than the one with the red toe!

9 Llama socks, bought at Royal Norfolk Show. Knee length, useful under dresses

10 Sheep socks, ditto, but not quite as adorable as llamas!

Double picture:

11 pink and purple striped socks, lovely design, good fit, alas that I have worn through the toe and darned badly.

12 Sloth socks! The sloths are rather bigger than I had bargained for, but they actually don't get in the way as they clutch the fronts of my ankles, and they occasioned great amusement at my recent rehearsal.

Individual picture:

13 purple socks with cable design on the outside of each foot. Love these, very comfortable

So. Which ones would you pick as your Top Three?

dinosaur_comics_feed

http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=4425


archive - contact - sexy exciting merchandise - search - about

i love conflict avoidance, and if YOU think conflict avoidance is bad then yeah maybe you're right!!

← previous

January 21st, 2026

January 21st, 2026: Me and JASON LOO (!) are putting on a SPECIAL EVENT with the Hamilton Public Library where we'll be discussing COMICS and WRITING and will sign all your books too! It's on January 29th, 7pm, at the Westdale Branch - hope to see you there!

– Ryan

http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=4425

minoanmiss

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

Current Mood: pleased

james_davis_nicoll

Nanao must chose between staying with her abusive family or accepting the offer of marriage from handsome, wealthy, sincerely considerate Yako. A dilemma for the ages!

The Ayakashi Hunter’s Tainted Bride, volume 1 by Midori Yuma & Mamenosuke Fujimaru

calzephyr posting in

1word1day

Falchion - noun.

This fancy sword with French and Latin name origins (Old French: fauchon; Latin: falx, "sickle") is a one-handed, single-edged sword. Usually about 37–40" in length, surviving examples are rare. There are two kinds of falchions, which you can read more about on Wikipedia.

By This file was donated to Wikimedia Commons as part of a project by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. See the Image and Data Resources Open Access Policy, CC0, Link

osprey_archer

What I’ve Just Finished Reading

Gifts of the Crow: How Perception, Emotion, and Thought Allow Smart Birds to Behave Like Humans, John Marzluff and Tony Angell. Full of fun anecdotes about crows bringing people gifts, playing with dogs and cats, gathering silently around the corpse of a fellow crow, etc. I found the neurology stuff very boring but I know some people are into that. In general I think we should move away from describing animals who do smart things as acting “like humans.”

Also Ngaio Marsh’s Singing in the Shrouds, because of course I couldn’t resist diving in once I’d bought it. This one features a serial killer, which to be honest is not my favorite kind of murder mystery, but it takes place on shipboard (Year of Sail strikes again!) among a cast of eccentric characters, which is my favorite kind of Marsh so I still had a great time despite the serial killer of it all. Stayed up late to find out the identity of the murderer and was quite satisfied with the identity of the killer if not the neat Freudian-ness of the explanation for the crimes, but listen, if you WILL read murder mysteries written in the 1930s-1960s or so, you’re asking for overly neat Freudian explanations of crimes and you know it.

What I’m Reading Now

I’ve slogged about a third of the way through National Velvet, to the part where Velvet wins a horse in a raffle and also gets five horses from an old guy who writes her into his will and then immediately shoots himself. (!!!) Does it pick up from here, or is it more of the same?

I was briefly STYMIED in In the First Circle, because my copy is missing thirty pages!!! It looks like there was a production error, as the book looks perfectly fine (no pages torn out etc) but nonetheless jumps directly from page 476 to page 509.

However, I had the fortunate thought to check a different library, which helpfully had an ebook (of the same translation, even!). So I read through the missing pages and am now back on track, provided of course that there are no more nasty shocks of this sort.

What I Plan to Read Next

Hampton Sides’ The Wide Wide Sea: Imperial Ambition, First Contact and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook. Yes, indeed, Year of Sail continues.

troisoiseaux

In War and Peace, I've remembered a big reason why I largely skimmed over the "war" half when I originally read this a decade ago, which is that Nikolai Rostov is so so so so annoying.

In Damon Runyon updates, god, I love linguistic drift:

I wish to say I am very nervous indeed when Big Jule pops into my hotel room one afternoon, because anybody will tell you that Big Jule is the hottest guy in the whole world at the time I am speaking about.

("Hot", in the context of this 1930s gangster story, meaning "wanted by the police", but... LOL.)

metafilter_feed

Posted by Shepherd

https://www.metafilter.com/211900/Shes-not-going-out-today-because-shes-too-upset

London, Ontario band MVLL CRIMES is arguing with strangers in the Internet. They also have some career advice.

I saw them open last night for FEAR in Kingston -- which is worth an FPP on its own; lead singer Lee Ving and drummer Spit Stix are still at it in their 70s, and absolutely killing it.

https://www.metafilter.com/211900/Shes-not-going-out-today-because-shes-too-upset

metafilter_feed

Posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries

https://www.metafilter.com/211899/Predator-free-fence-project-restoring-Kangaroo-Islands-native-wildlife

Predator-free fence[1] project praised for restoring Kangaroo Island's native wildlife. Five years after feral cats were removed from inside the Western River Refuge on Kangaroo Island, populations of endangered species have boomed.

[1] Note that in Australia "predator proof fence" or "predator free fence" is used to refer to an enclosed area that has been fenced off with a cat proof/fox proof fence and then the enclosed area has been baited or trapped for feral cats and feral foxes. The area inside the fence will still have native predators which are a natural part of the ecosystem - wedgetailed eagles and other raptors; lizards and other reptiles; quolls etc. But the absence of introduced/feral predators like cats and foxes allows native animals to rebound.

https://www.metafilter.com/211899/Predator-free-fence-project-restoring-Kangaroo-Islands-native-wildlife

cimorene

Apparently I have shingles....

Going to the pharmacy for antivirals and bandages when Wax is done with work.

This raises the interesting possibility that I've had headaches and fever for the last week without really noticing because I'm already miserable, huddling in blankets with no energy as my default state in January.

sabotabby

Just finished: Mavericks: Life Stories and Lessons of History's Most Extraordinary Misfits by Jenny Draper. I don't have a lot to add since last week. If you read my blog you will like this. It is my jam. It's a rather inspiring read for—look, I haven't written about politics in a public post in awhile but you know. You know.

Currently reading: Choices: An Anthology of Reproductive Horror, edited by Dianna Gunn. This one I picked up because a lot of the authors in it are my kind of people, and it's a cool concept. There must be a particular subgenre of leftist, author-led anthologies, and like. I want to fix that subgenre. I want it to exist, but I want to push it like, a notch further or two.

Part of my problem here is absolutely personal, which is that I'm intensely phobic of pregnancy and childbirth, and so in order to ping as horror in my brain, a story has to somehow be worse than my own fairly intense reactions to the subject. A few of the pieces are but they're mostly "wow it would be awful to be pregnant in a dystopian regime that viewed women as chattel" well, here we are. I have the same critique of my own writing btw. You simply cannot write bad things fast enough to get your book out before those bad things are just an accepted part of reality. Plus a lot of the stories are earnest, which is one thing that horror can't be. There's one story about an anti-abortion protestor that goes straight for black comedy and it is excellent; so far it's my favourite.

tamaranth

2026/013: Lingo: A Language Spotter's Guide to Europe — Gaston Dorran, translated by Alison Edwards

In autonomous Greenland, Danish initially retained more official functions than in the autonomous Faroe Islands. But that has since changed as well: in 2009, Kalaallisut became the one and only official administrative language. With this move, Greenland achieved a unique position: the only country of the Americas (yes, Greenland is part of the Americas), from Canada all the way down to Chile, where the indigenous language doesn’t play second fiddle to that of its colonial master. [p. 56]

Subtitled 'Around Europe in Sixty Languages' in some editions, 'A Language-Spotter’s Guide to Europe' in others, this is an entertaining and readable discussion of linguistic diversity in Europe. ( Read more... )

Current Mood: curious

ninetydegrees posting in

onesongaday

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cosmolinguist

Oh good: the problem with my Kobo not showing up in Calibre was as easy to fix as I hoped it would be: dodgy USB cable. Phew. (I still think of this kobo as new, but it is seven or eight years old now.)

So I have a lot of new-to-it books on there now, which is exciting. Good timing, since I'm off to London for three fucking days tomorrow.

And despite D's efforts at de-DRMing the ebook he got me for my birthday, the way for me to read it turns out to be to just log in as him on the Bookshop app. Stupid DRM! I've got a bunch of vouchers to spend on bookshop.org too, and it'll probably still be more worth my while to get ebooks than paper books, but it's not as sure a thing as the calculation would be otherwise.

Still, it's been nice to read the first 10% of my birthday present.

rmc28

Today would have been my mother's 79th birthday. It's been 3.5 years, I still miss her.

Her sister, my aunt, is in hospital following a stroke last week, and not expected to recover. My cousins are on their way to Australia (possibly there by now) and hoping to arrive in time to say goodbye.

I walked to work this morning in a downpour with angsty-sad music in my headphones, and let myself cry it out while no-one was watching. In the last few minutes of my walk, the sun briefly shone through the clouds, and the music algorithm played me something more upbeat. I took in the moment of beauty, and walked on.

paradisedinermod posting in

paradisediner

What are you working on? Stuck on a plot point and want to talk it out? Have a canon question or looking for a resource? Anything and everything about your WIPs is welcome. Any kind of WIP counts, including fic, fanart, graphics, meta, icons, etc.

Optional questions are below. If there's something else you want to say about your WIP, please add it and we can update the meme.

You can contribute to the post until we put up the next WIP Wednesday! We are embracing the slower pace of Dreamwidth.

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Larry Hammer

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January 2026

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Page Summary

oursin - Wednesday attended the Fellows' monthly symposia
seleneheart - Book Club Voting and January Read
seleneheart in fandomcalendar - Dreamwidth Book Club
wychwood - life ticking along
reeby10 in snowflake_challenge - Fandom Snowflake Challenge #11
soemand - Puerto Natales January 21,2015
rydra_wong - This is about selling people
mdehners in gardening - 2026 Project: Personal Calendar...
soemand - 🚗
fred_mouse in unclutter - January Challenge (4 of 5)
james_davis_nicoll - Admission of ignorance
flamingsword - Snowflake #s 9 and 10
rydra_wong - How To Help If You Are Outside Minnesota
rydra_wong in thisfinecrew - How To Help If You Are Outside Minnesota
disneydream06 - Isn't It Punny.....
just_ann_now - What Am I Reading Wednesday, January 21, 2026
disneydream06 - (no subject)
kingarthurflour_feed - Baking trials: Will a baking stone fix my oven’s hot spots?: A surprising use for this bread-baking
lydamorehouse - The Rebel Alliance
metafilter_feed - Bari Weiss Is The Symptom
metafilter_feed - No word on what the raccoons think
watersword in thisfinecrew - (no subject)
rebeccmeister - Bills bills BILLS
pensnest - Snowflake Challenge #6, sort of
dinosaur_comics_feed - wait wait wait, these feelings don't go away? I NEVER EVEN ASKED FOR THEM AND ALL MY FAVOURITE FICT
minoanmiss - Edible Art
james_davis_nicoll - The Ayakashi Hunter’s Tainted Bride, volume 1 by Midori Yuma & Mamenosuke Fujimaru
calzephyr in 1word1day - Wednesday Word: Falchion
osprey_archer - Wednesday Reading Meme
troisoiseaux - An unserious Reading Wednesday post
metafilter_feed - She's not going out today because she's too upset
metafilter_feed - Predator-free fence project restoring Kangaroo Island's native wildlife
cimorene - Oh okay
sabotabby - Reading Wednesday
andrewducker - Interesting Links for 21-01-2026
tamaranth - 2026/013: Lingo: A Language Spotter's Guide to Europe — Gaston Dorran, translated: Alison Edwards
ninetydegrees in onesongaday - Nicolas Gueguen - Mio's Theme
cosmolinguist - Books
rmc28 - Weather, emotional and actual
paradisedinermod in paradisediner - WIP Wednesday

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