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Snowflake Challenge promotional banner featuring an image of a wrapped giftbox with a snowflake on the gift tag. Text: Snowflake Challenge January 1-31.

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).

OK, I’d never made a Moodboard before, but had been sort of wanting to try it, so this was the perfect opportunity. I thought briefly about whether I should do a Taskmaster one, but I do feel like my colorbars from last year fill a similar niche, so I felt like I’d done it. Well, besides Taskmaster, I think it’s fair to say I have only one truly active fandom at the moment, so… Elis James & John Robins it was. And I might have gotten a little carried away XD

(Let me know if this looks giant on your page and I'll add a cut -- mine seems to automatically resize it to something reasonable, but not sure how universal that is.)

( Blathering )

*

Challenge #11: In your own space, grant someone's wish from Challenge #5.

I really like the idea of this challenge, but don’t terribly like the idea of linking to “granted wishes”, so I won’t do that part. I’ve already granted a couple of wishes when originally browsing Challenge #5, but this was my reminder to go finish commenting on another one I’d done in my head but not actually commented on. But then I went ahead and browsed the day 5 comments some more until I granted a wish I hadn’t even looked at before. I plan to continue doing that, but with that I feel like I can call the challenge “done” for the purposes of posting about it :)

Oh, right, and I should probably link to my wishlist, shouldn’t I.

hannah

Reading Jean Baudrillard these days remains rewarding and thought-provoking, except for the occasional moment where he starts talking about nuclear proliferation and I realize he's taken several hundred words to say what Tom Lehrer could manage with just a fraction of that.

Watch on YouTube

Current Mood: amused
Current Music: Who's Next - Tom Lehrer

pushkin666

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Current Mood: awake
Current Location: on my Chandler/Joey chair
Current Music: Watching Evil

kaberett

Back in November I made a ridiculously overengineered parsnip risotto, as a way of dipping a toe into my next cookbook project. I said at the time that it was very tasty, and also I was unlikely to ever make it again.

( Temporary dietary restrictions. )

twistedchick

I think FOTUS is trying to get Greenland in order to impress his dead father. Where's a shrink when the country needs one?

lb_lee posting in

pluralstories

Submitted by

acorn_squash! Thank you,

acorn_squash!

[Titus] is anywhere I am. He is inside me, and my brain closes around him like hands around a warm drink. [...] And oh, I am so glad of him.

Even though no one else in the world can reach me now, he is never out of reach. Even though Time is a one-way street and it's not taking me anywhere I want to go, with Titus I can travel to and fro through Time—to the Boer War, the Indian raj, the Curragh Races, Gestingthrope in high summer, Hut Point....There was an Otes at the Battle of Hastings in 1066, you know? (I wonder if he was scared too.) From the windows of Glasstown I can see into the future as well—as far forward as my fifteenth birthday, when Titus has promised to take me to the top of the Eiffel Tower! I can't express how glad I am of him.

American Library Association blurb: Fourteen-year-old Symone's exciting vacation to Antarctica turns into a desperate struggle for survival when her uncle's obsessive quest leads them across the frozen wilderness into danger.

Why is it worth your time?: Symone, who goes by Sym, is accompanied by Titus Oates, an explorer who died in the Antarctic and now lives in her head. He and Sym are in love and he plays a critical role in her survival. Despite several close calls, he is still with Sym at the end of the story.

Plural/1+ Tags: abuse: high-focus (there's no connection between the plurality and the abuse), people: imaginary friends, people: the dead, otherworld (Glasstown), relationships: romantic, type: nonswitching

Content Warnings: Life-threatening danger. Kidnapping by manipulative adults. Murder. Emotional, financial, and occasionally physical abuse. Deeply creepy matchmaking of Sym and another teenager, Siguard. Pseudoscience. Bullying (emotional, not physical). Sym's father, now deceased, was addicted to alcohol and was violent towards Sym and her mother while not in his right mind; this is discussed occasionally. One of Sym's teenage classmates says she is dating an adult man she met on the Internet, which is also discussed occasionally. Graphic description of animal death. Illness and vomit. Drugging of side characters. Imperialist attitudes. Suicidal self-sacrifice, with some associated ableism. Misogynist character. Transmisogyny, p. 254 (American first edition).

More specific content warnings that include spoilers can be found in the comments.

Accessibility Notes: Can be found at libraries. Available in hardcover, in paperback, as an ebook, and as an audiobook on CD and cassette. Translated into Chinese, Spanish, German, French, Swedish, Catalan, and Persian.

ysabetwordsmith

The hidden microbes that decide how sourdough tastes

The microbes living in sourdough starters don’t just appear by chance—they’re shaped by what bakers feed them. New research shows that while the same hardy yeast tends to dominate sourdough starters regardless of flour type, the bacteria tell a more complex story. Different flours—like whole wheat or bread flour—encourage different bacterial communities, which can subtly influence flavor, texture, and fermentation.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

lb_lee posting in

pluralstories

Submitted by

acorn_squash! Thank you,

acorn_squash!

My parents always told me to never talk to strangers. But I have been living with one for most of my life.

Blurb: A transmasc cartoonist reflects on the way his relationship with the sometimes-cruel stranger in the mirror has changed over time.

Why is it worth your time? It’s a four-page comic with interesting panel composition, compelling use of colour, and a sweet, hopeful ending.

Plural/1+ Tags: abuse: intermediate focus (second page only), creator speaks from experience, relationships: enmity

Content Warnings: transphobia (second page only), dysphoria

Accessibility Notes: Included in the anthology The Out Side, which can be found in libraries, including as an ebook (through Hoopla). Not screenreadable, unfortunately.

lb_lee posting in

pluralstories

“I am not dead,” said the voice that wasn’t his own. “You did not kill me. Even like this, you cannot tame me. Raise me, and I will live again.”

Blurb: The younger son of a family that has long captured and taken power from a demon, Liam discovers that maybe he and the demon want the same thing: OUT.

Why is it worth your time?: A short haunting story about getting possessed by a very nonhuman entity who isn't malicious, just very Other.

Plural Tags: abuse not mentioned, nonhumans (forest demon), plural on purpose, switching, voices

Content Warnings: gore (non-graphic descriptions), self-harm.

Access Notes: Available as a $2 ebook from the publisher, Duck Prints Press! (There are also paper zine copies, which is what I got, but you can only get those by being at a con Duck Prints Press is at.)

Misc Notes:

cosmolinguist

A Minnesotan friend read out to me a social media post that went something like "If you know any Minnesotans, you'll know that we take every opportunity to bring up Minnesota and Minnesotan things." The next sentence started something like, "If we manage to expel this ICE invasion..." but I don't remember properly because by the time I heard that much of this sentence I was already sitting up from where I'd been lounging on the couch, so when the sentence ended with "...you'll be hearing about it for the next twenty years."

"Twenty?!" I said. "We're still talking about the Halloween storm of 1991 and that's more than twenty years ago! I think people will be hearing about this for, more like two hundred years."

He scrolled down and chuckled, read out a comment that might not have been understandable because he was still laughing, but I knew what he was saying "This comment says, 'I remember the Halloween blizzard of 1991.' "

Speaking of October 1991, I was just thinking the other day we'll be hearing about the World Series of 1991, and 1987, at the very least every time it's another 5 or 10 years after those dates, for the very least as long as any of those players are still alive.

I said that I remembered hearing about, like, the 5-year-anniversary of that time there was a raccoon on the MPR building.

We are never gonna let you forget, you'll be hearing about this for ever. I guarantee it.

I can't wait (to be talking about this in the past tense).

jadelennox

Gandalf was a chickenshit with no self-control who could have prevented the massive death toll at Pelennor Fields. Take the ring, kill the baddie, jump into Mount Doom before it has a chance to corrupt you. But nooooo, it's way more fun to have a grey-Maia/fire-Maia punch-up in a bottomless pit in order to emerge in a gleam of backlighting and inspirational music riding a glowing horsey like a tween girl's puberty dreams, than it is to take the ring, zap in, punch the eyeball Maia in his dumb eyeball, and then jump into the lava.

lb_lee

This is a very brief selection from a much larger 1988 book I found in a free box, Brazilian Women Speak: Contemporary Life Stories. It is a life story from a woman involved with Brazilian spiritualism (more specifically, umbanda). The book is still miraculously in print, and there is a screen-readable version for the print-disabled on archive.org.

Citation: Patai, Daphne. “ÂNGELA: ‘In Spiritualism There’s Real Equality.’” In Brazilian Women Speak: Contemporary Life Stories, 109-110, 120-125, 364-365. New Brunswick: Rutgers,1988.

( Book selection about the orix�s possessing and incorporating into people involved in the umbanda religion. �ngela herself hasn't been possessed, but it's nevertheless and everyday part of her religious life. )

the_shoshanna

Well, there's flu in my mother's residence and she's recovering from a cold (though says she tested negative for flu and COVID), so the weekend visit with friends is canceled because they can't risk me bringing anything into their space, and the weekdays visit with other friends was already severely cut down because of recent stresses in their lives but now is further reduced to just meeting up for a short walk because they can't risk it either. I do not like this timeline.

(To be clear, I absolutely understand all my friends' reasons and I'm glad they made the calls that are right for them! And we've all planned to see each other when I hope to come down again in April. I'm just sad not to see them 1. at all 2. much now. also I was hoping 1 would want to watch HR with me)

On the other hand, this means I'll be going home before a big storm hits this weekend, which if I'd kept my original schedule might otherwise have ended up delaying me for an extra day, which would then make things tight at home because we're planning to go to Montreal right after I get back. Everything happens for the tolerable in this not yet the shittiest of all possible worlds.

shipperslist

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js_thrill

Today's song is Chinese Rifle Song

Watch on YouTube

Nice song, fine annotation (about how Yam, The King of Crops was a pivotal album release for him), but I don't have a lot to say about them. Listened to the song a couple times and enjoyed it, though.

Current Music: Chinese Rifle Song — The Mountain Goats

cyberghostface posting in

scans_daily

( Scans under the cut... )

trobadora

61% of respondents find shorter fic easier to write than longer! And the majority of respondents mostly write stories between 1 and 10k words. Interestingly, the 10-50k range seems to be the rarest!

For me, I find longer fic easier because I can much more easily come up with ideas for longer stories than shorter. Self-contained small things? I wish I could write them more often! But most story ideas I have want to be longer, alas.

I used to write more shorter fic, but I've mostly lost the knack, possibly because my current fandoms lend themselves to that less? Or it may be me that's changed. *g*

Today's writing

So far I'm failing at gaining any kind of writing momentum this month, but I'm still working on things. A little progress.

Tally

( Days 1-15 )

Day 16:

badly_knitted,

brithistorian,

carenejeans,

chanter1944,

china_shop,

cornerofmadness,

goddess47,

luzula,

sanguinity,

shadaras,

sylvanwitch,

trobadora,

ysilme

Day 17:

alightbuthappypen,

badly_knitted,

brithistorian,

carenejeans,

chanter1944,

china_shop,

cornerofmadness,

goddess47,

luzula,

sanguinity,

shadaras,

sylvanwitch,

the_siobhan,

trobadora,

ysilme

Day 18:

badly_knitted,

brithistorian,

carenejeans,

chanter1944,

cornerofmadness,

luzula,

goddess47,

sanguinity,

shadaras,

sylvanwitch,

the_siobhan,

trobadora,

ysilme

Day 19:

alightbuthappypen,

badly_knitted,

brithistorian,

carenejeans,

china_shop,

cornerofmadness,

goddess47,

sanguinity,

shadaras,

sylvanwitch,

the_siobhan,

trobadora,

ysilme

Day 20:

badly_knitted,

brithistorian,

carenejeans,

china_shop,

cornerofmadness,

goddess47,

luzula,

sanguinity,

shadaras,

sylvanwitch,

the_siobhan,

trobadora,

ysilme

Day 21:

alightbuthappypen,

trobadora,

ysilme

Let me know if I missed anyone! And remember you can drop in or out at any time. :)

lebateleur

I managed to finish two books this week despite the competing pressures of work, gaming, and other socializing, and aim to have a few more honkers wrapped up within the next few days.

What I Finished Reading This Week

Internet Security Fundamentals - Nick Ioannou
This self-published freemium book covers exactly what the title suggests it will. Because it's free and frequently updated, the editing is atrocious: typos, omitted words, garbled sentences, and occasionally mistakes that utterly change the meaning of what Ioannou surely meant to say (e.g., the equivalent of accidentally omitting the word "never" from the following sentence: "The absolute most important thing you can do is to never leave your doors unlocked when you go out.") That said, this book is free, it's frequently updated, and the information is solid and presented in a fashion that won't overwhelm readers who need an introductory explanation of these concepts and practices; if you're looking for a book that does just that, you could do far worse than this one.

After the Forest – Kell Woods
This book was excellent and I will eagerly read anything else Woods writes. Set in 16th century Germany against a backdrop of interstate conflict, witch trials, and religious intolerance, it tells the story of the folktale Hansel and Gretel's titular characters (Greta and Hans here) after the woods; that is, as adults, post-witch and -oven, and -gingerbread house. The setting is fantastic, the descriptive language is fantastic. The blend of historical fact and fairy tale elements is fantastic. The pacing is fantastic. The characterizations are wonderful and strike the difficult balance of depicting characters with believable strengths and weaknesses without slipping into caricature or melodrama, and desires and agency without relying on anachronism or unrealistic motivations or capabilities. This is a definite winner, and I will read it again.

What I Am Currently Reading

Mannaz – Malene Sølvsten
I've got just about 100 pages to go and can't wait to see how the trilogy concludes.

Freya the Deer – Meg Richman
There I was, calmly reading the prologue, when Richman casually dropped a sentence that came out of nowhere like a blow to the face. "Gripped me from the very first page" is a cliche in book reviews, but the first page of this volume delivers a mean jolt, and so far Richman has the chops to keep the momentum going.

The Disabled Tyrant's Beloved Pet Fish vol. 1 – Xue Shan Fei Hu
Mannaz, After the Woods, and Freya the Deer were all affecting my nightmares, so this has become my bedtime reading, a job to which its unapologetically, gleefully over-the-top premise is perfectly suited.

What I’m Reading Next

I acquired no new books this week.

これで以上です。

sabotabby

I remain awed by, proud of, and scared shitless for my incredible friends in Minnesota, who are fighting on the front line against literal jackbooted thugs. Even if you don't have a personal connection, I'm sure you're also gripped by the news.

Here is how you can help:

A post by

naomikritzer

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.

I am also stealing some graphics that

lydamorehouse posted that you can spread around, as long as you credit the artist. Credit where it is known:

By Rin Mix.

By Cas Fern.

Artist unknown but if you find out, let me know and I'll edit it.

Let Minnesota be the graveyard of fascism!

sage

( books: more Pratchett )

yarning
Went to yarn group Sunday despite an earlier migraine and had a pretty good time. Worked on a donation hat. I've been all hats all the time, working down my yarn stash, as I haven't had any kickbunny sales. I did sell 3 catnip-silvervine stuffed hearts. It's supposed to get down into the teens this weekend, with possible snow. I hope things will be clear for yarn group.

healthcrap
Friday: allergy shot. Tuesday: medical transportation assessment, which went fairly well. I'll hear whether I qualify in 2-3 weeks. Today: pharmacy & first shingles shot. I need to get labs done, but I should wait until the shingles side effects pass.

#resist
https://www.standwithminnesota.com/

I hope all of you are doing well and staying safe if you're in winter storm territory. <333

elisem

After some trouble getting ahold of me, my sister has let me know that our mother died this morning.

(So maybe don't assume I remember anything I'm supposed to remember this week?)
My sister and her husband continue to be awesome in these matters. As does Juan.

OK. Gonna go have food and meds now.

green

I was already having a baaad day and now I just found out that Meg's neurologist isn't going to see her anymore. She's been going to him for 20 years. I keep crying ugh

mistressofmuses

Still in the hospital.

Rough night.

Basically, the issue is trying to get my guts to function again. They pretty much quit after the trauma of the infection and the surgery. So I have to be able to digest and pass things through the system without throwing up before I can leave.

There's been some progress, so I'm hopeful.

This is a disgusting process, lol. I still recommend avoiding this altogether!

stonepicnicking_okapi

Wednesday's word is...

...quiddity.

1. whatever makes something the type that it is: essence
2. a: trifling point, quibble
2. b: crotchet, eccentricity

---

I remember this word from Whose Body? by Dorothy L. Sayers. This is such an excellent speech by Lord Peter. The audiobook version of this resides in my head.

“Well, I’m glad the little man has so much of an alibi,” said Lord Peter, “though if you’re only glueing your faith to cadaveric lividity, rigidity, and all the other quiddities, you must be prepared to have some sceptical beast of a prosecuting counsel walk slap-bang through the medical evidence. Remember Impey Biggs defending in that Chelsea tea-shop affair? Six bloomin’ medicos contradictin’ each other in the box, an’ old Impey elocutin’ abnormal cases from Glaister and Dixon Mann till the eyes of the jury reeled in their heads! ‘Are you prepared to swear, Dr. Thingumtight, that the onset of rigor mortis indicates the hour of death without the possibility of error?’ ‘So far as my experience goes, in the majority of cases,’ says the doctor, all stiff. ‘Ah!’ says Biggs, ‘but this is a Court of Justice, Doctor, not a Parliamentary election. We can’t get on without a minority report. The law, Dr. Thingumtight, respects the rights of the minority, alive or dead.’ Some ass laughs, and old Biggs sticks his chest out and gets impressive. ‘Gentlemen, this is no laughing matter. My client—an upright and honourable gentleman—is being tried for his life—for his life, gentlemen—and it is the business of the prosecution to show his guilt—if they can—without a shadow of doubt. Now, Dr. Thingumtight, I ask you again, can you solemnly swear, without the least shadow of doubt,—probable, possible shadow of doubt—that this unhappy woman met her death neither sooner nor later than Thursday evening? A probable opinion? Gentlemen, we are not Jesuits, we are straightforward Englishmen. You cannot ask a British-born jury to convict any man on the authority of a probable opinion.’ Hum of applause.”

“Biggs’s man was guilty all the same,” said Parker.

“Of course he was. But he was acquitted all the same, an’ what you’ve just said is libel.”

[of course what Parker has just said is slander not libel]

highlander_ii

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Crossposts: http://highlander-ii.deadjournal.com/296042.html https://highlander-ii.insanejournal.com/470475.html

rolanni

This is the official call for Beta Readers.

Things you need to know upfront:

This is a Beta Read; which is not as nitpicky as a line-by-line hunting of tyops, but requires attention to story, character motivation, setting, narrative flow -- you know: the easy things.

This is a volunteer gig. Nobody's getting paid, except in Auctorial Gratitude, which means that I will with great joy list you on the Acknowledgements Page of the finished book (unless you don't want me to, ref 2(3) below).

At this point in the proceedings these are the things I need to know in order to preserve the last rags of my sanity and turn the book in on time:

1 Does the story make sense/keep your interest?

2 Are there deadends/extraneous/unresolved story lines? Tell me what they are

3 Does the story and/or a particular section lag? are you confused? Tell me where.

4 Have any of the characters changed their name? If so, tell me where and who.

5 Anything else that bothered you as a reader.

5a If you find a particularly ugly or confusing sentence and feel compelled to mention it, you must give me a search string so that I can find it. Again, typos/grammatical errors are NOT the reason for the season.

6 A Vow of Secrecy is required: You may not reveal the plot (or, in fact, the title), or any details of the novel in question.

7 There's a fast turnaround: I'll need comments no later than February 11.

If this sounds like something you'd like to do, and can commit to, here's what you need to do:

1 Email me at liadenuniverse AT gmail.com (where AT=@)

2 Tell me: (1) your preferred format (.doc, .odt, .rtf. I can probably cobble up an epub, but it will be ugly); (2) where I should email the file (even if it's the address you're writing from); (3) how you would like your name to appear on the Acknowledgements Page of the finished novel (if you don't want your name to appear, explicitly state that, please).

Because we're scattered throughout a zillion time zones and countries, I will be taking volunteers until Friday, January 23, 9am US Eastern Time.

In the interests of preserving the above-referenced rags of my sanity, only those people who have been accepted will receive an email. If you have not received an acceptance by Saturday, January 24, noon US Eastern Time, know that I love you, and honor you for standing up, but that all positions are filled.

NOTE: You do not have to be USian to be accepted as a Beta Reader, but you do need to realize that I am USian, and be certain you can accommodate our crazy spelling and sentence structure.

. . . I really do think that's it.

Let the volunteering begin.

vriddy

Got that idea in mind when we saw Momijikawa cooking in chapter 194 a few weeks ago; better get it out before canon manages some kind of version of it XD

open invitation | Wind Breaker | Sakura & Momijikawa | 615 words

Summary: Momijikawa cooks for Sakura.

Read it on Dreamwidth or AO3.

james_davis_nicoll

This all-new Dead Air Bundle presents English-language ebooks for Dead Air: Seasons, the post-apocalyptic tabletop roleplaying game from Italian publisher The World Anvil Publishing about a Blighted world forever changed.

Bundle of Holding: Dead Air: Seasons

vriddy

The delightful

sisterdivinium made FANART of Oboro and Ren from K-9 and IT IS GLORIOUS!!! :D :D BEHOLD! It's so cool. It makes me grin every time I look at it. I am so happy. There's very few fanworks for the series out there, I think the fanart we found can still be counted on one hand. (There was cosplay too :D) Including this lovely piece!! THIS FANDOM IS GROWING EVERY DAY CLEARLY \o/

Please admire too :D -> HERE <-

(Also there are three K-9 prompts on the

threesentenceficathon that I'm aware of 👀 In case it's of interest to the SWARMS of K-9 fans out there!!!! Bookmarking for..... reasons.............)

princessofgeeks

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minoanmiss

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Current Mood: excited

elisem

...EXTREME COLD WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 9 PM THURSDAY TO 11 AM CST

FRIDAY...

...EXTREME COLD WATCH NOW IN EFFECT FROM FRIDAY MORNING THROUGH

SATURDAY MORNING...

* WHAT...For the Extreme Cold Warning, dangerously cold wind chills

of 35 to 45 below expected. For the Extreme Cold Watch, dangerously

cold wind chills as low as 35 below possible.

* WHERE...Portions of central, east central, south central,

southeast, southwest, and west central Minnesota and northwest and

west central Wisconsin.

* WHEN...For the Extreme Cold Warning, from 9 PM Thursday to 11 AM

CST Friday. For the Extreme Cold Watch, from Friday morning through

Saturday morning.

* IMPACTS...The dangerously cold wind chills as low as 45 below zero

could cause frostbite on exposed skin in as little as 10 minutes.

And where is this for?

URGENT - WEATHER MESSAGE

National Weather Service Twin Cities/Chanhassen MN

1202 PM CST Wed Jan 21 2026

MNZ051>070-073>078-082>085-091>093-WIZ014>016-023>028-220615-

/O.NEW.KMPX.EC.W.0001.260123T0300Z-260123T1700Z/

/O.EXT.KMPX.EC.A.0001.260123T1700Z-260124T1800Z/

Sherburne-Isanti-Chisago-Lac Qui Parle-Swift-Chippewa-Kandiyohi-

Meeker-Wright-Hennepin-Anoka-Ramsey-Washington-Yellow Medicine-

Renville-McLeod-Sibley-Carver-Scott-Dakota-Redwood-Brown-Nicollet-

Le Sueur-Rice-Goodhue-Watonwan-Blue Earth-Waseca-Steele-Martin-

Faribault-Freeborn-Polk-Barron-Rusk-St. Croix-Pierce-Dunn-Pepin-

Chippewa-Eau Claire-

Including the cities of Chippewa Falls, St Peter, Mankato,

Stillwater, Victoria, Hudson, Fairmont, Blue Earth, Hutchinson,

Olivia, Faribault, Gaylord, Waseca, Owatonna, Benson, Madison, Elk

River, Redwood Falls, New Ulm, Cambridge, River Falls, St Paul,

Minneapolis, Menomonie, Shakopee, Red Wing, Durand, Blaine,

Chanhassen, St James, Center City, Litchfield, Monticello, Osceola,

Montevideo, Granite Falls, Albert Lea, Willmar, Hastings, Rice Lake,

Eau Claire, Ladysmith, Le Sueur, and Chaska

And what do we do?

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

Dress in layers including a hat, face mask, and gloves if you must go

outside.

Keep pets indoors as much as possible.

Which mostly means "Keep yer ass indoors! You, and your little dog too!"
And also means "Look after each other. We keep us safe." OK? OK then.
Now if you'll excuse me, I need to finish the bag for the supply depot and start on one for Pow Wow Grounds.

What's the weather going to be doing where you are? And how are the people in your neighborhood?

wearing_tearing

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queen_ypolita

Finished since the last reading post
Finished Life after Life and now agree with the colleague who said at the book group last week that she thought it was good. All the lives Ursula might have lived was a question that remained fascinating right to the end. And the book just kept surprising me. It also made me think about Making History by Stephen Fry, which I read years and years ago, where trying to alter the past to stop Hitler is a key plot point.

Currently reading
Still reading Challenger. No progress on anything else I'm still in the middle of, but I started reading Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik. It's been on my to-read list for a couple of years now, but it only occurred to me to check if it was available in the library a couple of weeks ago. For some reason I expected it wouldn't be, but it was actually easily available in the central library sci-fi/fantasy section.

Reading next
Not sure

musesfool

I did indeed get in bed by 9:30 last night and slept pretty hard. I probably could have slept even more, but 11 hours is a pretty good night!

For some reason, I woke up with Barely Breathing by Duncan Sheik in my head, and when I wondered to

angelgazing whatever happened to him, she said he co-wrote Spring Awakening, which I did not know, so good for him! From one-hit wonder to Tony winner!

On the Mets front, they finally got a centerfielder in Luis Robert Jr. I guess if he can stay healthy, he'll be an upgrade over last year, offensively at least, though I am still a Tyrone Taylor fan for his A+ defense. #better call tyrone

In other sports news, my attempt to get interested in basketball seems to have done serious damage to the Knicks. They have been losing a lot lately. Plus, everyone I mentioned it to was like, don't do that. I didn't realize people in my wider circle felt that way about basketball. I guess there's always the Liberty! I should figure out when that season starts. Or the Sirens for hockey, but I don't think they've been very good either. Just a bad time all round for NY sports, I guess. And it's not like I'm a fair weather fan, though this certainly sounds like it - it's just I'd like to root for a team that isn't completely terrible, you know? As a treat!

On the books front, there is finally cover art and a real blurb for Dungeon Crawler Carl 8: Parade of Horribles, but still no Kindle* or e-book edition, so I broke down and pre-ordered the hardcover. (I can't do audiobooks. I've tried.) I also decided to do a reread of the series, because I've been trying to map out all the various stuff that needs resolving - and it is A LOT - so I wanted it to be fresh in my mind. So at some point there will be a post that is basically me as that Charlie Day-at-the-murder-board meme trying to figure it all out. *hands*

*I realize that I probably need to do a "free trial" of Kindle Unlimited to get the Kindle edition but I do not want to do that at this time. As the release date gets closer, we'll see if a Kindle edition shows up and I end up cancelling the hardcover, as I would prefer not to buy a hardcover tbh. I have all the rest on kindle, which is where I do 99.5% of my book-reading these days.

So anyway, I guess for the Wednesday reading meme, I just finished a reread of book 1 of Dungeon Crawler Carl and started rereading book 2: Carl's Doomsday Scenario. And I will probably read book 3: The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook after that and so on and so forth. *wry*

***

Current Mood: okay
Current Music: Barely Breathing - Duncan Sheik

ysabetwordsmith

Today is mostly sunny, breezy, and cool.

I fed the birds. I've seen a flock of sparrows and at least one starling.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 1/21/26 -- We installed the first of the new latches.

EDIT 1/21/26 -- We installed the second of the new latches.

EDIT 1/21/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 1/21/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 1/21/26 -- I put out a peanut suet cake.

EDIT 1/21/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

I am done for the night.

Current Mood: busy

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lauradi7dw

Mike Nelson on twitter

>>Erik the Red is smiling down from Heaven as Trump keeps mixing up Greenland and Iceland, happy to see his ruse finally worked<<

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Larry Hammer

my pretty good home page

January 2026

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Page Summary

hamsterwoman - Snowflake (days 10-11)
hannah - Serene and calm.
pushkin666 - First Lines Meme - Part 5 - October 2025 (Spooktober)
kaberett - [food] parsnip risotto, redux
twistedchick - (no subject)
lb_lee in pluralstories - The White Darkness, by Geraldine McCaughrean (YA thriller, 2007)
ysabetwordsmith - Food
lb_lee in pluralstories - Familiar, by Cyrus (autobio comic, 2023)
lb_lee in pluralstories - Dead Man's Bells, by Nicola Kapron (horror short story, 2023)
cosmolinguist - I'm gonna need a tag for this aren't I, goddammit
jadelennox - In this essay I will
lb_lee - ÂNGELA: "In Spiritualism There’s Real Equality"
the_shoshanna - sigh
shipperslist - How to Get a Girlfriend (When You’re a Terrifying Monster) by Marie Cardno
js_thrill - This Year 365 songs: January 21st
cyberghostface in scans_daily - Black Panther: Intergalactic #2
trobadora - Write Every day 2026: January, Day 21
lebateleur - What Am I Reading Wednesday - January 21
sabotabby - Signal-boosting
sage - What I'm Doing Wednesday
elisem - in the midst: another passage
green - (no subject)
mistressofmuses - (no subject)
stonepicnicking_okapi - Word: Quiddity
highlander_ii - Snowflake Challenge #11
rolanni - Official call for Beta Readers
vriddy - New Wind Breaker fic: open invitation (Sakura & Momijikawa)
james_davis_nicoll - Bundle of Holding: Dead Air: Seasons
vriddy - K-9 fanart \o/ For me!!!
princessofgeeks - The Night Manager S2
minoanmiss - Actual good news!
elisem - National Weather Service sez
wearing_tearing - media #28 ★ the mysteries aren't mysterious
queen_ypolita - Wednesday reading
musesfool - a fool for another day
ysabetwordsmith - Birdfeeding
heartsways in scans_daily - Beavis and Butthead #24
hyperanthropos in scans_daily - An ode to the ninth art
lauradi7dw - History humor
baggyeyes in onesongaday - James Taylor, Fire and Rain

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