Butterflies in Dundee in 2025

Aug. 9th, 2025 01:05 am
vivdunstan: Part of own photo taken in local university botanic gardens. Tree trunks rise atmospherically, throwing shadows from the sun on the ground. (Default)
[personal profile] vivdunstan
A guest blog post from Martin on my academic musings blog.

it's B's birthday

Aug. 8th, 2025 04:29 pm
calimac: (Default)
[personal profile] calimac
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.

yt-dlp

Aug. 8th, 2025 07:29 pm
[syndicated profile] jwz_blog_feed

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.")

Moment of Silence: Jim Lovell

Aug. 8th, 2025 06:17 pm
ysabetwordsmith: (moment of silence)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
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... )
azurelunatic: Vivid pink Alaskan wild rose. (Default)
[personal profile] azurelunatic
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

Sidewise Award Announcement

Aug. 8th, 2025 06:21 pm
james_davis_nicoll: (Default)
[personal profile] james_davis_nicoll
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.

Long Rest

Aug. 8th, 2025 07:32 pm
[syndicated profile] pennyarcade_feed

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!!!

the tomato that conquered Pittsburgh

Aug. 8th, 2025 04:26 pm
cellio: (Default)
[personal profile] cellio

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.

New Books and ARCs, 8/8/255

Aug. 8th, 2025 07:39 pm
[syndicated profile] whateverscalzi_feed

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

J'm in Montreal

Aug. 8th, 2025 03:36 pm
redbird: closeup of me drinking tea, in a friend's kitchen (Default)
[personal profile] redbird
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.

Birdfeeding

Aug. 8th, 2025 01:45 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
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.








.
 
[syndicated profile] smbc_comics_feed

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!


james_davis_nicoll: (Default)
[personal profile] james_davis_nicoll


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

Five User-Friendly Rulesets for Tabletop Roleplaying Games
james_davis_nicoll: (Default)
[personal profile] james_davis_nicoll


Righteous characters pursue great justice in this wuxia TTRPG.


Hearts of Wulin by Joyce Ch'ng & Lowell Francis

Follow Friday 8-8-25: Icons

Aug. 8th, 2025 01:07 am
ysabetwordsmith: A blue sheep holding a quill dreams of Dreamwidth (Dreamsheep)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Today's theme is Icons, a very popular topic on Dreamwidth with several high-traffic communities.

Read more... )
tamaranth: me, in the sun (Default)
[personal profile] tamaranth
2025/124: The Martians: The True Story of an Alien Craze that Captured Turn-of-the-Century America — David Baron
It is an inspiring epic of human inventiveness. It is a cautionary tale of mass delusion. It is a drama of battling egos. Ultimately, though, it is a love story, an account of when we, the people of Earth, fell hard for another planet and projected our fantasies, desires and ambitions onto an alien world. [Introduction]

This is an account of Percival Lowell's obsession with the planet Mars, and its profound consequences for the human race. Following the observations of Schiaparelli -- who described a network of long straight lines on the planet, 'canali' (channels, but mistranslated as 'canals') -- Lowell, a wealthy businessman, published a number of books about his observations and his interpretation of them. He also founded the Lowell Observatory, and inspired a generation of scientists and science fiction authors.

Read more... )

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