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On the DEWLine 2.0: Dwight Williams ([personal profile] dewline) wrote2025-08-08 11:05 pm

Checking In - 8 August 2025

No visitation today. Got some shopping done, and the map projects have slowed down a bit. One job application filed this afternoon with the feds.

I suppose that's enough for today, right?
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mellowtigger ([personal profile] mellowtigger) wrote2025-08-08 09:48 pm
Entry tags:

it has been a week

We are still short-handed on the weekend shift, so I continued working Saturday and Sunday. I took vacation time for Monday-Wednesday, though. I intended to do some yard work, but I got almost none of it done. The day that I went outside and tried to clean up the front yard a bit, I came back inside afterward and slept for about 2 hours when I sat down in the living room chair for a few minutes to cool off. I'm just so tired all of the time, it seems. Even today, I laid down in bed around 5pm, thinking I'd take a quick nap. I woke up 3 hours later. Exhausted, after a busy day of doing not much of anything.

I accomplished a few things this week, at least. On Wednesday afternoon, I did the interview for the lead position on my team at work. That night, I got almost no sleep. I went to bed at 10am, and I saw every hour on the clock until 7am except the hours of 1am, 5am, and 6am. My brain just wouldn't shut off, replaying questions and answers from the interview. I dislike interviews so very much.

I also went to another emergency dental appointment on Thursday morning. To review quickly, I busted that tooth a few years ago, then I busted the repair work, and recently I've busted 2 temporary caps on it. Ugh. I get the permanent metal cap in 2 more weeks. Apparently these days, caps are custom fit to molds they took of what remains of this tooth. I hope I can go 2 more weeks without doing any more damage to it.

After the last dental appointment, I rode the bus past my house northward to the Colonial Market to get a burrito bowl to take home for lunch. I walked past 4 police cars at the store entrance, with officers searching the nearby ground for evidence of something. Apparently it wasn't store related, though, just the neighborhood being what it is.

And, finally, this morning I woke up to another dream.

I don't remember the early part of the dream, but I had a "splinter" in my hand that was annoying me. I went to the bathroom in front of the mirror and tried opening up the wound where it was. I saw a dark line of something that was bent in a semi-circular loop. I thought that was weird, a splinter curling around that way instead of just going straight in. I used a needle to pluck at the top of the loop and pull it out of me. It came out thicker than expected. I put aside the needle and used my other hand to pull it out. It became clear that it was not wood or metal but was a worm of some kind. I got about a finger's length out of me, then it started wriggling. My hand was too slippery from the blood/fluid, and I lost my hold as it started worming its way back into my wound. I felt emotions at this experience, and emotions are bad for thinking, so I woke up.

Clearly, that dream was related to the actual splinter that has been bothering me all week. It's in my left foot, though. On the first day, when I couldn't find what was in my foot, I put some medication on it and put an unusually large band-aid on it, thinking it would help stick to that spot as I walked on it. That night, I forgot about the bandage and removed my socks before getting into bed. The next day, I thought, "What is that sensation on my back?" I felt around and removed what turned out to be that band-aid from my foot. That was a rough night's sleep, apparently?

ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
ysabetwordsmith ([personal profile] ysabetwordsmith) wrote2025-08-08 08:27 pm
Entry tags:

Safety

Helsinki just went a full year without traffic fatalities — here's their secret

In the United States, traffic incidents are a leading cause of death, with an average of 120 people dying every day due to motor vehicle collisions.

On a global scale, a person dies from a road-related accident every 24 seconds.

But Finland’s capital city of Helsinki has pulled off something astonishing — the last recorded traffic-related death was over a year ago, in July 2024
.

Read more... )
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asher553 ([personal profile] asher553) wrote2025-08-08 05:59 pm

Journal: Buses, trains, and automobiles.

I left work a little early, and thankfully got home a little early to enjoy the weather and start my weekend. Last Friday I was not so lucky: I left work early, but my homebound commute, normally an hour, took two and a half hours. A breakdown in the light rail switch meant that passengers on my line had to disembark and get on a shuttle bus, which took us to another station, where we had to disembark again and wait in the hot sun for a second shuttle bus, which finally took us to a point where we could rejoin the light rail. As you can imagine, I was not in a good mood by the time I got home.

So it was fortuitous that upon arriving home and checking my messages, I found a text from the sales side of the Nissan dealership where I usually take my blue compact for servicing. The little Versa has served me well enough, but the service bills were starting to add up and I was beginning to wonder how cost-effective it would be to keep the vehicle. Happily, the dealer wants me to come in and test-drive a new vehicle in the SUV line - a little closer to what I'm looking for, and, if factory-new, hopefully with an attractive warranty and service plan.

So I'm on for a test drive this coming Sunday. Given that my situation is more stable now than when I bought the compact (my credit then was so-so, and my options were limited), I'm cautiously optimistic that the forces of the universe will align in my favor and I'll be driving a new SUV soon.
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vivdunstan ([personal profile] vivdunstan) wrote2025-08-09 01:05 am

Butterflies in Dundee in 2025

A guest blog post from Martin on my academic musings blog.
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calimac ([personal profile] calimac) wrote2025-08-08 04:29 pm

it's B's birthday

And it's a big round number birthday, but we're not doing anything special.

I've done three things that could be counted as getting presents: I baked her a cake (sugar-free chocolate with chocolate frosting), which I do every year - did it yesterday afternoon while she was out, which meant we could have some after dinner; I took her out for breakfast at our favorite pancake house this morning (she: pecan pancakes; me: Western omelette with cheese), which I also do every year; and got tickets for a Gilbert & Sullivan gala on Sunday afternoon. After which we're going to a niece & nephew's house for a family celebratory dinner.

Tonight for dinner, despite heat which usually drives me to fix cold chicken salad, I'm insisting upon making her favorite meal in my repertoire: turkey meatloaf and steamed brussel sprouts/broccoli.

And that's how we quietly celebrate.
jwz ([syndicated profile] jwz_blog_feed) wrote2025-08-08 07:29 pm

yt-dlp

Posted by jwz

As of yesterday, yt-dlp with cookies can only download SD videos but the instructions for extracting PO tokens from Youtube Music don't work for me: it's not in the JSON body. Anyone get this working?

(If I don't use cookies at all, I always get "Sign in to confirm you're not a bot.")

ysabetwordsmith: (moment of silence)
ysabetwordsmith ([personal profile] ysabetwordsmith) wrote2025-08-08 06:17 pm

Moment of Silence: Jim Lovell

Astronaut Jim Lovell has passed away. He flew four missions, including the famous Apollo 13 in which the crew narrowly averted disaster.

Under the wide and starry sky,
Dig the grave and let me lie.
Glad did I live and gladly die,
And laid me down with a will.
This be the verse you grave for me:
Here he lies where he longed to be;
Home is the sailor, home from the sea,
And the hunter home from the hill
.
-- Robert Louis Stevenson

Read more... )
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Azure Jane Lunatic (Azz) 🌺 ([personal profile] azurelunatic) wrote2025-08-08 03:44 pm

Disbelief, suspension thereof / therein

Suspension of disbelief = I will not start verbally poking holes in the physics of this action movie until we are out of the movie theater

Suspension in disbelief = a frozen state of constant WTF
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james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-08-08 06:21 pm

Sidewise Award Announcement

The Sidewise Award for Alternate History is looking for new judges to join the award committee.

This is the first time in the 30 year history of the award that they've made an open call for awards judges.

Apply here.
Penny Arcade ([syndicated profile] pennyarcade_feed) wrote2025-08-08 07:32 pm

Long Rest

I love that every card game has to have a special word for turning a card on its side because the alternative is oblivion, especially since… well, we did a strip about it. If you want to know what I think you can go look at it!!!

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Monica ([personal profile] cellio) wrote2025-08-08 04:26 pm
Entry tags:

the tomato that conquered Pittsburgh

This year I got three (different) tomato seedlings, all container-friendly, along with some peppers and other things. Having failed to do proper research, I allocated the tomato cages pretty arbitrarily. I should not have done that.

potted plants on a patio with a gigantic tomato plant in the middle

The giant tomato plant in the center is a Sungold. It seems to be in the process of conquering my patio, the neighborhood, and perhaps the city. It makes sweet, tasty, orange cherry tomatoes. I've had quite a bounty so far and there's plenty more to come. It was originally on that ledge with the others, but a month or so ago I realized that if I kept it there, I would not be able to harvest without a ladder. (So much for using that trellis.) At least this way I can climb up on that ledge to reach the ones I can't reach from the ground (or at least I hope I'll be able to reach them all!). Wowza. Next year, bigger cage! (They're very tasty, so I do plan to get this type next year.)

The other two tomato types are Patio Choice, advertised as good for small containers, and Mountain Magic. They both produce red grape tomatoes (Patio Choice are sweeter). On the right, not as clear in the picture, are two Cornito peppers and a banana pepper, all still working toward a first harvest. I've moved these around a few times over the course of the summer to try to optimize sunlight.

John Scalzi – Whatever ([syndicated profile] whateverscalzi_feed) wrote2025-08-08 07:39 pm

New Books and ARCs, 8/8/255

Posted by John Scalzi

Here we are, well into August, and here is a stack of new books and ARCs to consider for the dog days ahead. What here looks good to you? Share in the comments?

— JS

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Redbird ([personal profile] redbird) wrote2025-08-08 03:36 pm
Entry tags:

I'm in Montreal

I'm visiting [personal profile] rysmiel for a few days. The trip up was borin, which is good: anything exciting would probably be bad news, or at least make you late for dinner.

It is going to be hot over the weekend, so we went out for a relatively early brunch today, so we could sit almost-outdoors at Juliette et Chocolat and eat crepes. We then walked around Jean Talon market, where I bought plums, blackberries, and a cucumber.

I have np real plans for the next few days, which is fine.
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ysabetwordsmith ([personal profile] ysabetwordsmith) wrote2025-08-08 01:45 pm

Birdfeeding

Today is sunny, humid, and hot.

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

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 8/8/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 8/8/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 8/8/25 -- I watered the patio plants and the new picnic table garden.

I picked a red cherry tomato.

EDIT 8/8/25 -- I watered the savanna seedlings.

EDIT 8/8/25 -- I watered the telephone pole garden and the septic garden.

I found a baby preying mantis on the burn barrel and moved it to the barrel garden.

Cicadas and crickets are singing.  I've seen a few fireflies.
 
As it is now dark, I am done for the night.
Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal ([syndicated profile] smbc_comics_feed) wrote2025-08-08 11:20 am

Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal - Fellow

Posted by Zach Weinersmith



Click here to go see the bonus panel!

Hovertext:
Maybe we can crowd out evil conspiracies with benignly stupid ones?


Today's News:

Get your copy of A City on Mars signed in person in Charlottesville, VA on August 23rd!


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james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-08-08 10:22 am
Entry tags:

Five User-Friendly Rulesets for Tabletop Roleplaying Games



Not every gamer finds joy in wildly complicated, esoteric, hard-to-learn rules...

Five User-Friendly Rulesets for Tabletop Roleplaying Games