it's B's birthday
Aug. 8th, 2025 04:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png)
(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![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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... )
Disbelief, suspension thereof / therein
Aug. 8th, 2025 03:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Suspension in disbelief = a frozen state of constant WTF
Sidewise Award Announcement
Aug. 8th, 2025 06:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png)
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![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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.
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]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png)

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![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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.
.
Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal - Fellow
Aug. 8th, 2025 11:20 am![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png)

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!
Five User-Friendly Rulesets for Tabletop Roleplaying Games
Aug. 8th, 2025 10:22 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)

Not every gamer finds joy in wildly complicated, esoteric, hard-to-learn rules...
Five User-Friendly Rulesets for Tabletop Roleplaying Games
Aurora Award Livestream
Aug. 8th, 2025 09:48 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Hosted by Mark Leslie Lefebvre and Liz May Anderson.
Sunday August 10 at 5 PM: Livestream broadcast of the 2025 Aurora Awards, Canada’s annual English-language Science Fiction and Fantasy Awards.
Hearts of Wulin by Joyce Ch'ng & Lowell Francis
Aug. 8th, 2025 09:28 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)

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![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
( Read more... )
2025/124: The Martians -- David Baron
Aug. 8th, 2025 08:37 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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... )