Insect Apocalypse

Apr. 22nd, 2025 10:29 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Insects are disappearing due to agriculture -- and many other drivers, new research reveals

New paper highlights 500+ interconnected drivers behind global insect decline.
Insects are disappearing at an alarming rate worldwide, but why? Agricultural intensification tops the list of proposed reasons, but there are many other, interconnected drivers that have an impact, according to new research
.

Read more... )
michaelkoloboff: (Default)
[personal profile] michaelkoloboff
Попробовали пользуясь случаем - гуано. Но рекламных картинках оно выглядит весьма прозрачным, в реальной жизни - муть. Не рекомендую.

Happy Earth Day!

Apr. 22nd, 2025 10:13 pm
wyld_dandelyon: (let's go!)
[personal profile] wyld_dandelyon
I've been under the weather. This time I managed to get Bronchitis just from the end of the winter heating season (unless a friend with a congestive heart condition was actually sick, and not just coughing because of the heart condition). But I think this was coming on earlier, and the med regime my former allergist suggested was keeping my lungs and sinuses a lot clearer than in the past, but not enough for my body to clear out the infection.

Well, I came to this conclusion Friday, with (among other things) singing at the Eurofilk showing me I was unusually short of breath for singing; I already had an appointment with my newish primary doc who I really like on Monday, and when I tried to call the allergist last month to set up an appointment, there was no answer or answering machine on his number, or on the alternate number I found on Google. I did find an article about him listing him as 81 years old, and I'm not sure how long ago that was written, so I'm assuming he died or retired. So, I waited out the weekend and got tireder and tireder, and shorter and shorter of breath.

Happily, she was willing to prescribe antibiotics and steroids (if I'd gotten antibiotics on Friday, that might have been enough), unhappily, when they figured out that the only way they could give me the meds the doc thought most appropriate that didn't have corn in it (kids' liquid, again), it turned out that the pharmacy couldn't fill it until today. It was too late to try to talk the doc into prescribing something different, as the clinic was closed.

So today I woke up way too early, and was NOT falling asleep again (my body does insist on waking when I really need meds, which freaked out my RN mother when I was first sick enough to always be awake when she came in to wake me up to take them). This was handy in that I was able to deal with a bank overdraft for my grown-up kid (she's still using the account I got her when she went to Denmark in 4th grade so I could easily transfer money to her if there was an unexpected need, so, being awake I saw the text notification) (Her birthday is later this month, so an early birthday gift was perfectly reasonable).

And then I had food and called the pharmacy, because I WANTED those meds before the rest of the day's errands, which included getting My Angel to her PT appointment, mailing a thing (in a post office, since there seems to be no more drop-off boxes outside our regular post office any more--WTF, government?--and going to pick up meds at a different pharmacy too.

The strip mall the post office was in had one of the closing JoAnne Fabrics, which had almost no fabric left, and not much of anything else either. I did find some things to buy, including two substantially marked down big bags designed to hold a sewing machine and sewing stuff, but which I plan to use one of for author stuff (books, display, etc.) on the assumption that I'll do signings at cons again, and the other for acrylic paints, brushes, and the like since my current bag and plastic bin plan isn't working out as well as I'd like, and because having that stuff on wheels will be very convenient.

I also got some beads, wire, a thimble and multitool, sewing machine needles, an ironing pad to put on a table, some tape, a couple of pillow forms for planned gifting, and, surprisingly, a basket of tumbled stones to put in the fishtank. Sadly, the heavy-duty dolly they had pictured in the front as available had already been sold. I looked at the jewelry making stuff, thought about the heavy duty crimper and some of those beads, but I haven't been making jewelry lately and can use the hemostats I use for holding autoharp strings to crimp things, so I left those behind. I did also get some very discounted project boards, so if we decide to go to one or more protests, we can take signs.

And I took photos of our daffodils in the middle of all that.

I am cheered by all the photos of protests I'm seeing, and by how badly Elon's car company is doing. It gives me hope. Keep contacting your elected officials, we've got to wear them down until they stand up to our very cruel and foolish leader.

Now I am going to hit post and go watch Rachel show all those pictures of the signs again, and do Duolinguo, so I don't miss a day, and fall in bed. Maybe I'll manage to post Daffodil pics tomorrow.

Decisions, Decisions

Apr. 22nd, 2025 10:38 pm
billroper: (Default)
[personal profile] billroper
I had a choice of going to tomorrow night's Cubs vs. Dodgers game or the one played tonight. I decided to go tomorrow, because I like watching our Tuesday night shows, including "Will Trent" and "The Rookie", both of which were a lot of fun.

Then I turned off the delayed replay of those shows and landed back on the Marquee Channel to discover that the Cubs had mounted a comeback win, 11-10 in 10 innings.

Maybe I should have gone to the baseball game tonight.

But the shows *were* good...
gentlyepigrams: (food)
[personal profile] gentlyepigrams
This month's Tasting Collective dinner was at Via Triozzi, which is on Lower Greenville. I liked the idea of the menu but the execution was disappointing.

The first course was a celery and fennel root salad, which would have been better if there had been more of the sweet gorgonzola with it. Second course was a fancy mussels in sauce with spicy chickpeas, which I thought was the best thing on the menu (and the only item from the regular menu). The third courts was a mushroom pasta. The pasta was fine; the mushrooms were amazing. The fourth course was a roasted chicken ravioli. We thought it was a little weird because there was chicken outside the ravioli, and little bits of crispy chicken skin. Not bad, just a little strange. Apparently it was based on a comfort meal for one of the chefs. The dessert was olive oil cake with whipped cream and macerated berries, and it was fine but the olive oil cake was dry, which ... I'm not sure how you do that.

Like the Goldie's trip we did a while ago (which I failed to write up at the time), this was mostly a tasting menu of new ideas, and not yet refined by the chef into menu quality. Based on the bar, the service, and the one dish from the regular menu, I'd try it again, but not with the enthusiasm that I tried Rye.

One of my students offered me blood

Apr. 22nd, 2025 10:50 pm
cornerofmadness: (King)
[personal profile] cornerofmadness
In learning that I'm severely anemic and might need a transfusion (we were talking about hepatitis C and transfusions in micro) he offered me a pint of his blood if we were a match (we are) Hopefully I can avoid the transfusion but that was touching and I appreciate it and I wish all of us could have empathy like that.

I forgot to say yesterday that I was very sad to see Pope Francis passing. I grew up Catholic. He was the first Pope I actually liked. I thought he was a very good man. But since I waited a day I can add how much of a shit stain Marjorie Taylor Greene is as she's been vocally celebrating an 'evil man's' passing. People like her make me hope there IS an afterlife... I just hope that the church doesn't swing back ultraconservative again. Regardless, RIP Pope Francis, we're poorer for your loss.


Rocket is home. He looks good except his face is swollen. I think they were pulling a lot of ticks off him (so much for that 30$ tick medicine) He's already insisting on going out so good wishes for him everyone.


So fannish 50 I had something else in mind, can't remember what it is and now I'm doing this because I had planned to do this last week and forgot. Every so often I like to share the newish stuff I find on YouTube in way of fan creations. look at some of this cool stuff. Fandom is really embracing the music and animation side of things. Prior to this all we had was AMVs (which are lovely too) but I haven't see this level of music since the filk music from the 80s.

I'm in love with this and jealous too but then again I'm not an artist so no one is going to dub my art but I love it.



Axel is a fan voice actor known for doing Arackniss and someone did some more music for him.



Oh geez has a lot of music



And it's a part of this, over an hour of fan music for The Owl House



I might have shared this before but this Gravity Falls/Hazbin Hotel mash up is delightful



And I'm pretty sure this was shared but it popped back up and I love it.

In-Person Meeting Day 1

Apr. 22nd, 2025 10:11 pm
days_unfolding: (Default)
[personal profile] days_unfolding

I ran my errands. The local store didn’t have Mrs. Meyers, but had Bona, which is supposed to be a gentler cleaner with less chemicals. (I hate to say “organic” because what does that mean really?)

I’m having problems falling asleep. Hell. Overslept an hour. Scrambled to get ready to go. Dropped Bella off at doggie daycare. (They didn’t have a record of the reservation, but they said that they had space.) Bella looked excited. Made it to the meeting. I was stressing because I thought that it started at 8:30 AM, but it started at 9.

Back from my meeting. We went to an escape room afterwards, which was kind of fun. Then I went to pick up Bella. The day care people loved her and said that she loves people. A few members of the staff came over to say goodbye to her. I got things squared away to board Bella and Oliver there, although I need to send some paperwork for Oliver.

The team is going out for dinner, but I don’t have the money for it, so I’m home for the night. I’m going to take a nap soon. I’m wiped out from the limited sleep and all the peopling. I feel beaten up.

[profile] billschubert mentioned an adjustable bed. I want to live here as long as possible, so I’m looking into one. But I want a Marriott mattress so I don’t know. My bed is full size, which makes it tougher. I’m glad that there are people on my friends list ahead of me in the aging game. Food for thought.

I need to get the garbage out, but I’m too wiped out. I’ll gather it when I get up from my nap, and I’m getting up early and can take it out then.

I found a leather chair and ottoman that I like for the library, but I’m worried about the cats sharpening their claws on it. (Chaos trashed a leather loveseat that I had in California, so I speak from experience.)

Crashed out and so did the dog. Started laundry. I did something to my knee, so I'll gather garbage in the morning. I need to find shorts and a t-shirt to sleep in.

Back home

Apr. 22nd, 2025 10:50 pm
silver_chipmunk: (Default)
[personal profile] silver_chipmunk
And finally our work in [personal profile] mashfanficchick's mother's house is completed!

I got up at 11:00, had coffee, showered and dressed. [personal profile] mashfanficchick's friend Liz G came at 12:00 and we met her at the house, and took two trips to the storage unit, bringing the last boxes over.

Then we had lunch at a Chinese restaurant, which was delicious.

Finally, Liz G drove a few things from the house to [personal profile] mashfanficchick's apartment, and the very last thing of all, [personal profile] mashfanficchick and I walked a folding table that wouldn't fit in the car from the house to the apartment. And that was that.

I stayed awhile longer, to hang and relax, and then I Ubered home.

I got home a little after 6:00 and fed the pets, and puttered on the computer til 7:00 when I Skyped the FWiB.

We talked til 8:00 when I had my Al-anon meeting. That was very small but good. M wasn't there. I hope she's OK.

Then I had a little to eat, and texted with the Kid about funeral arrangements. A depressing subject but now that Oldest Brother has entered hospice, pretty necessary. It looks as though we'll do a direct cremation with a service at the crematorium, followed by a two hour memorial at the funeral home. I hope that cousin Cliff will be able to do the service.

Went to the bedroom and played solitaire, then came out and fed the pets again. Time for bed pretty soon.

Gratitude List:

1. The FWiB.

2. The house is done.

3. Good lunch.

4. The Kid.

5. Cousin Cliff.

6. My copy of One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish came.
stonepicnicking_okapi: otherwords (otherwords)
[personal profile] stonepicnicking_okapi
I love an ekphrastic and this is proof that poetic forms we might think of as nothing but wordplay or for children (e.g., abecedarians or acrostics) can be very sophisticated and serious.

Leaving the Psychologist: An Abecedarian Ekphrastic by Grisel Y. Acosta

after Remedios Varo’s Mujer saliendo del psicoanalista

another face has sprouted in my chest
beastly, that’s me, a super freak
cavorting with your skull in my grasp
displaced personalities cannot be cloaked
ever, they will grow like a haunted
fever of wispy hair
gathered in a basket, along with time, a
half-filled vial of poison &
illusions of tick-tock-clocking syringe
just let me explain:
killing myself is not an option
let me try to live with my
multiple personas and their infinite masks, why
not weave them into a poncho
of chartreuse green, grow them,
pouch them, wear them like horns
question my memories, befriend
radical thoughts and nightmares
solemn my specters behind
tenuous doors with intimidating bells
understand the unexplainable, develop
venom as Tilda Swinton couture
when dreams become a snail shell planted
X, marks the spot of this treasure I shall reveal,
yell on a mountain, YES, this is mine, I will
zap my fears—I can face all the faces, darling, of course I can

--

This is the work of art which inspired the piece:

varo painting

про несдержанность

Apr. 22nd, 2025 08:00 pm
ccpro: (Default)
[personal profile] ccpro
света не сдержалась, можно сказать повела себя распущено и перекрасила восточную стенку дома
стенка выгорела, на ней появились белесые разводы. в субботу мы ездили в магазин, где купили 2 банки краски. на стену хватило одной
свежепокрашенная стены выглядит свежо. старой оставалось немного и света покрасила угол дома, чтобы сравнить старую с новой. новая имеет удва заметный красноватый оттенок. но выглядит свежо
у светы остались 3 стены и два высоких фронтона

x-posted from livejournal.com.
[syndicated profile] cbc_topnews_feed
Two people speak to each other with various flags on a stage behind them.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre pitched First Nations leaders with what he called practical solutions to create economic prosperity on Tuesday, but he reiterated concerns around the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and its potential impact on resource development.

Rejected video for Earth Day post

Apr. 22nd, 2025 10:20 pm
neonvincent: For posts about Usenet (Fluffy)
[personal profile] neonvincent
I wanted to be spooky, so I posted Storied asks 'Why Does A Ghost Whale Terrorize The Japanese Coast?' An Earth Month ghost story, then I wanted to laugh, so I posted 'The Daily Show' Celebrates Earth Day by Tackling Climate Change.

vak: (Аристипп)
[personal profile] vak
Проект на Гитхабе: tsoding/good_training_language

Классический пример Hello World:
про главная() нч
печать(«Привет, Мир!\н»);
кц
Компилируем, запускаем.
$ хуяк комп примеры/01-привет.хуя
$ ./примеры/01-привет
Привет, Мир!
ccpro: (Default)
[personal profile] ccpro
- христос воскрес!
- хорошо, сейчас исправим


x-posted from livejournal.com.

Daily Check In

Apr. 22nd, 2025 08:52 pm
senmut: cookbooks lined up in a row (Food: cookbooks)
[personal profile] senmut
*\o/* Word Count Step Count Headache?
Daily 254 8,303 no
Monthly 9,554 217,636 5 days

чистый ток

Apr. 22nd, 2025 06:09 pm
sab123: (Default)
[personal profile] sab123
Второе продолжение к https://sab123.dreamwidth.org/781180.html:

Выписал комбинацию из блока питания https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C591QLNR и инвертора https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DF57BMBR , с постоянным током 48 Вольт между ними. Она работает, производит правильную частоту, и при нагрузке имеющегося компьютера (согласно показаниям УПСа, с пиками около 300 Ватт) не проваливается по напряжению. Ну да они оба с номинальной мощностью в 1200 Вт, проваливаться на четверти нагрузки - это уже совсем наглость была бы, с другой стороны уже был пример с китайским конвертером якобы 500 Вт, который так и проваливался на 130 Вт. Интересно, что согласно показаниям встроенного вольтметра в инвертере, блок питания при повышении нагрузки повышает напряжение с 48.1 до 48.5 Вольт - то есть, там есть какой-то умный регулятор. Инвертор, согласно показаниям УПСа, старательно выдает 121 Вольт.

Интересно, что у инвертора поддерживается пиковая нагрузка до 3600 Вт, а к блоку питания инструкция из одного листка наоборот говорит, что выбирайте блок питания с запасом 20% к вашей номинальной мощности, а также перечисляет, НЕ для чего он предназначен.

Инвертор заводит вентилятор при включении, потом выкючает. Блок питания даже не заводит. То есть, теоретически, тихо. С другой стороны в отзывах к блоку питания говорят, что он слишком поздно заводит вентилятор, от чего перегревается и быстро дохнет. Советуют, типа, залезть вовнутрь и перепаять чтоб вентилятор постоянно работал. Ну, не знаю, посмотрим как оно пойдет. Может надо присобачить внешний вентилятор.

После отключения, на выходе блока питания довольно долго (минуты) остается напряжение, которое очень постепенно падает до нуля. Видимо там какой-то большой конденсатор. Думал, что если подключить инвертор, то будет убывать быстро, но оказалось не совсем, инвертор отключается когда его входное напряжение падает до примерно половины номинала.

Но, конечно, конструкция выходит индустриального вида, и еще и провода между двумя коробочками. Их бы положить вместе в какую-то коробочку в качестве корпуса.

Recent Reading: The Starless Sea

Apr. 22nd, 2025 06:39 pm
rocky41_7: (Default)
[personal profile] rocky41_7 posting in [community profile] books
The most recent commute audiobook was The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern, of The Night Circus fame (although admittedly I have not read that one yet). This is a fantasy novel about Zachary, a young man swept into the drama of a secret underground society and the mysterious figures who surround it.
 
I finished this book on Sunday morning, catching the last 7 minutes of a whopping 19-hour runtime over breakfast, and since then I've settled into a relative disappointment. On paper, this book has so many things that should make it an ace in the hole for me: Book lovers! Cats! Secret magical societies! Queer characters! Women who are something Other taking control of their destinies! And yet, overall, this book just did not land for me.
 
As is a risk, I think, with all stories that are about the power of stories, The Starless Sea comes off a little pretentious and self-important. It is a book lauding the unmatched importance of books. I felt aware at various points throughout the book of how hard it was trying to appeal to people like me, who would enjoy the idea of a dark-paneled underground room with endless books and an on-demand kitchen, and this sense of pandering did take away from it at times.
 
However, it also does some interesting things with regards to what it is like to be the person in a story (such as the fate of Eleanor and Simon, once their part in the story is done) as well as the risks of valuing preservation over change and growth. Without giving too much away, there is a secret society in decline, and a woman so determined to prevent its downfall that she ends up causing significant harm to the organization she's trying to save because she is unwilling to accept that an end comes for all things. I enjoyed this theme and I felt like it was echoed well throughout the story, and in many ways it's easy to sympathize with her ultimate goals, if not her methods.
 
 

Attempting to Borrow a Layout

Apr. 22nd, 2025 09:25 pm
elyusion: okuni chibi icon (Default)
[personal profile] elyusion posting in [community profile] style_system
Hello everyone :-] Look, I feel really sorry linking the journal of a stranger who presumably haven't used their journal in over a decade, but I never really used LJ and don't know anything about how it works besides what you see as a logged-out user. Does anyone know the name of this layout, which I see a lot, and is there a way I can repurpose it for DW? I think it's really cute, and if I just play with the CSS a little I could make it even better (according to my tastes).

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