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mdlbear

steve.savitzky.net

February 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 2019

Page Summary

alatefeline - I have done a lot of things today
questionable_content_feed - Making A Deposit
siderea - [domesticity] Slow Moving: Clearing Desk
archangelbeth - Trash Night
cornerofmadness - Mememememe!
chanter_greenie - very glad the snow isn't starting till midnight
siderea - [domesticity, law] Response from lawyer
cellio - winter CSA, week 7
ari_the_dodecahedron - (no subject)
annathepiper - Coding projects update
siderea - [Patreon] Fwd: Patreon CEO says business model not sustainable
kaberett - [growth] I just want to murble about my allotment some more okay
billroper - Sleep Is For The Weak and Sickly
cornerofmadness - These dreams - the Stephen King version
ng_moonmoth - Self-Knowledge Question #41: The Scope of the Possible
ysabetwordsmith - State of the Pool
fayanora - Idiot bots
amaebi - Pursuit predation
alatefeline - Things that are helping
madfilkentist - Just sign
dialecticdreamer - Fiction Breathing Room (part 1 of 2, complete)
gingicat - Piles of cats
irregular_comic_rss3_feed - Irregular Webcomic! #3932
ysabetwordsmith - Photographs
notasupervillain - Labour and anti-Semitism
ysabetwordsmith - The Importance of Choice
alexseanchai - And once again, Thomas Astruc, I must ask, regarding the timeline: What even?
ng_moonmoth - Self-Knowledge Question #40: Money, Money, Money
minoanmiss - For All My Letter Writing Friends!
alexseanchai - at least I got the hallway done?
billroper - Getting It Back Together
siderea - [domesticity] eeeeeeee
minoanmiss - Intriguing question from Tumblr
questionable_content_feed - Burning A Hole In Her Shirt
cornerofmadness - Book Cover meme day one
cornerofmadness - President's Day
archangelbeth - Patched Sofa
fuzzyred - Signal boost!
ysabetwordsmith - Half-Price Sale in Polychrome Heroics
solarbird - Widowmaker: guess who's finally finished placements?
solarbird - Widowmaker: sure I guess so why not
solarbird - Widowmaker: like ducks in a row
dialecticdreamer - Fiction: Welcome to Mercedes (part 2 of 2, complete)
ysabetwordsmith - Monday Update 2-18-19
ysabetwordsmith - The Evolution of Megaliths
notasupervillain - A diary blog
ari_the_dodecahedron - Mother is convinced
alatefeline - Thank you protestors ... in more than one sense
elf - Primitive Technology
siderea - [domesticity] Slightly Hoist

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alatefeline

And the past few days, in spite of having a cold & ear infection.
Yes, honestly. I'm not doing the itemized list now. I might come back and add it later.

I feel sad. ( Read more... )

So, that was a lot of feelings. Comments are welcome but it may take me ... awhile to be ready to reply to them.

I'm going to try to have a GOOD day at work tomorrow.

And I'm going to tend my plants before bed. And look up Meetups.

(Oh, I tried plugging in my computer charger one last time before going to the Apple Store. It worked. (wry face))

Mood: discontent

questionable_content_feed

http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3943

honk

http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3943

siderea

Today, a kind of wave of emotional exhaustion hit me. I'm not physically tired – I slept really well last night, though I've not yet burned down my sleep debt – but I just feel demoralized by the overwhelming scope of Things To Do To Move.

Probably the most demoralizing thing to do is clearing off my desk.

It has finally dawned on me, like in the last 15 minutes, that my desk is where Important Things I Don't Know What To Do With go to die.

Uncluttering my desk in a more durable fashion will entail figuring out some other way to handle things I don't know where to put. Perhaps part of that will be getting better at figuring out where they should be put in the first place.

In some cases that is challenging due to form-factor. I have two plastic accordian files here, which I can't figure out what they can fit in, to store them, e.g. In other cases it is challenging because I do, nominally at least, have a place something belongs, but there's something wrong with it. For instance, it seems my volume of business cards has recently exceeded the volume of my business-card box; inversely, I used to have a box I kept on my desk into which I put mailing supplies like stamps and envelopes, but when I reorganized my apartment in 2016, it stopped fitting on my desk and got moved somewhere else, so mailing supplies have gotten backed up on my desk. (The answer turned out to be, "Yes. Yes, as a matter of fact, I had not so long ago bought a book of forever stamps.") A few things on my desk are things with newly developed homes that hadn't yet moved in, e.g. I have ephemera which belongs in the new ephemera box I bought a few months ago.

But then there's other stuff. For instance, I found the large manila envelope which was shipped to me, containing what are basically SASEs for disposing of unwanted medications. I expect that momentarily that will be super useful, but if that envelope was sitting there since 2016, or was circulating my place for years before that, I wouldn't be surprised. I don't remember when it was I got it; I do remember receiving it, and promptly putting a few to good use, but then I had some left over and thought they were likely useful in the future. I have no idea where to store such a thing.

Hilariously, I now have a new category of difficult to handle paperwork: things that I know perfectly well how and where to file, but belong in files that.... are now in storage, thanks to the book mover. I'm starting a "File Me When We Get There" folder.

archangelbeth

I need to go sift litterboxen.

Started bed-readying at something resembling a normal hour (...which meant I got to go to my bed around 4am...), and thus we were awake in time to go to The Cool Breakfast Place, yay! We stayed a while so I tipped well. I am glad to be able to do that.

Havva Quote
As it happens, if you steal *exact words and set-ups* from multiple people, it is not research; it is still plagiarism.
--Me. https://twitter.com/emccoy_writer/status/1098057222679072769

(To explain: someone was cobbling together scenes she (maybe she, maybe not) liked from extremely popular romance books -- Nora Roberts, Courtney Milan, something like at least 20 others -- and handing it to Fiverr or other "book doctor" editor types, to stitch together into a book, which she then sold on Kindle. She lifted recipes from magazines and put them in the back of the books, too, which pads out the page-count, which helps get more of that Kindle Unlimited pie if she's gone exclusive at all on those. At least one of the books apparently has scenes and paragraphs from at least two authors. Or more. Thus... Well.

Oh, and this person apparently stiffed at least one of her ghostwriters/book doctors, too.

For more, see http://www.courtneymilan.com/ramblings/2019/02/18/cristiane-serruya-is-a-copyright-infringer-a-plagiarist-and-an-idiot/
http://www.courtneymilan.com/ramblings/2019/02/19/what-to-do-about-copypastecris/ )

( INwatch+Bookwatch )

Crossposts: https://archangelbeth.livejournal.com/2094224.html

cornerofmadness

spikesgirl58 nominated me to post covers of seven books I love - one cover a day for a week. There is to be no explanations or reviews, just covers. Each time I post I will ask someone else to take up the challenge. Obviously it goes without saying that if I tag you and you don't want to it, you don't have to do it. Please do not feel obligated to join in.

And I got an unexpected treat! I haven't been able to read and pimp a lot of the stuff that ended up on the

chocolateboxcomm BUT I got another story late last night and I wanted to share it so you all can go love on it too if you wanted. It's post series Buffy and Angel where Giles and Angel have a very tense talk ironing out some of the problems.

Q & A

ANd have a little more of the character meme

( the characters )

For

thenewbuzwuzz ( I'd want to see this )

For

shanachie_quill ( fun )

Mood: amused
Music: NCIS New Orleans

chanter_greenie

Quoth the me, after dodging a pair of signs in the middle of the sidewalk, then asking a passerby just what they were and finding out they were VOTE HERE signs: Oh my gosh, it's February 19!

Yes, I voted. Bad me, I almost forgot! I'm sure people have walked into polling places for elections, primary or otherwise, carrying stranger things than a shoulder bag full of work and other miscellanae, a white cane, and dinner. I can't think of any just now, though. :) Voter 588 at 6:15 this evening, and the worst part was navigating past the loud vacuum cleaner.

Now it can snow. :P

Mood: tired

siderea

The lawyer interestingly did not say that it's not a trick. Rather the lawyer said that legally handing over keys does not constitute surrendering the apartment, but (perhaps recognizing the possibility for he-said/she-said shenanigans) suggested that I write up a document to give with the keys stating that handing over the keys does not constitute my surrendering the apartment, which I think is a brilliant solution, if I tack on the bit where I demand that either the landlord or the agent sign the thing and keep it myself, while giving them a copy.

Assuming I want to provide them keys. Lawyer didn't answer my question about what happens if I don't provide the keys, and whether the landlord can break in.

The internet seems to be saying it would take a court order to–

Aaaaaand I literally just got a txt message from the agent asking if I would be there to let her in tomorrow at 6:30pm. Which I was planning on being, anyways, so fine. It's not 24hrs notice, but I'll take it. She didn't try to strong arm me into providing keys, so a point in her favor.

cellio

5 Rome apples
3 celeriac (one small) (late substitute for the beets we were expecting)
4 medium blue potatoes
16 small carrots, generally around 4" long
large bunch arugula (that is the one front right, isn't it? it's bigger than past arugula, but the bag back left doesn't look like arugula)
bunch tatsoi
bag mizuna (this is a new green for me)
half gallon apple cider
2 pounds pastry flour
small jar green tomato relish ("think of it as a more mature salsa")
6oz piece goat's milk Parmesaanen

The preview email, once again, included a picture not of the cheese but of the goat.

The cornbread recipe that came with the cornmeal in a past box calls for pastry flour, which I didn't have then but do now. Last time I made it with regular flour, so I'll see if I can tell the difference with pastry flour. Meanwhile, this bag of flour comes with a recipe for pancakes. Neither cornbread nor pancakes are pastry in my mind, but I'll assume that the term "pastry flour" is expansive.

(The CSA linked to a short article about the difference between pastry flour and regular flour, but the site goes overboard with annoying in-page ads, so instead of linking to it I'll summarize: pastry flour is lower in protein than normal flour, which means it's lower gluten, which means it makes biscuits, scones, pie crusts, and quick breads lighter and flakier.)

ari_the_dodecahedron

As just typed into the Concert Window chat in anticipation of the Sooj concert (9PM Eastern), a filk. Estimated ten minutes total, still needed RhymeZone.

( Empty Chat in Concert Window )

Mood: mischievous

annathepiper

As of this writing, I now have a total of five repositories on my Github account: the misc-configs repo for various config/supplementary files, and two each for Java and Python work. For each of those languages, I have a repo for the REST API portion of this project, and one for the Selenium.

All of the repos can be seen on my Github account.

What I’ve been calling the rough “phase 1” of this project is now more or less complete. I’ve got basic test cases in place in both languages for both the REST API side, and the Selenium side. As I’ve written about before, the API tests are dealing with the service endpoints that handle publicly viewable information. The Selenium tests are mostly oriented around testing parts of the homepage of my little test WordPress site.

Now I’m moving into the rough “phase 2”. In this phase, I’m adding more Selenium tests. This’ll include adding some sidebar tests for the homepage, as well as tests for additional sections of the site (a post and a page), and making sure that the elements are correct on the selected links. I’ll also be testing site search and adding a new comment to a previously existing post, since that’s something I can do without authentication.

“Phase 3” of this project will get into dealing with stuff that requires authentication. From the REST API side, this’ll mean dealing with the service endpoints that handle things at the site admin level (such as making a new post or comment, or editing a previously existing one). From the Selenium side, I’ll want to see about verifying logging in and logging out of the site, and making sure that the links displayed in the “META” area of the sidebar update themselves accordingly.

(NOTE: I am NOT going to try to test the actual WordPress admin UI. That’s a whole different kettle of fish than testing a front-facing site.)

In related news, I’ve also discovered the Githubs “Projects” functionality, and I’ve made myself a project there to cover the work I’m doing. This amuses me, as their Projects board looks a lot like JIRA, the bug tracking/project management software we used at my Former Day Job, as well as at the short contract I had after the layoff at the tail end of last year.

Interested parties can find my current active project on my Github projects page. I’ll be adding additional projects to that once this one is complete–like the WordPress plugin work I want to do!

I’ve actually had job recruiters and interviewers ask me about this work, now that I’ve got a link to my Github on my resume. This has proven beneficial in interviews I had last week, and I even got useful tips on additional libraries I can research, as well as aspects of version 8 of Java I hadn’t had experience with yet. I’ve gotten positive feedback about how I do comments on things, as well as on the various Readmes I’ve put on the repos.

So while the work hasn’t yet actually proven critical in landing me a job, it has proven useful in helping me demonstrate that I not only know how to code, but that I like it well enough to do it on my own time and to plan out larger projects.

This is, I feel, a very valuable thing for me to be able to demonstrate.

Mirrored from annathepiper.org.

siderea

Le sigh.

Sorry, I just now heard about this. From CNBC, Jan 23, 2019: Patreon CEO says the company's generous business model is not sustainable as it sees rapid growth.

Patreon CEO Jack Conte said in an interview with CNBC that the platform will soon be facing the challenge of maintaining a profitable model as the company continues its growth.

Okay, so, this is kind of disturbing, not just for the obvious reason that, hey, I use Patreon to make a living, but because, you know, the way business models are supposed to work, when you have more customers, your profits are supposed to go up.

I am alarmed to be reminded of the old joke, from back around the turn of the millennium, in the dot.com boom, we told about the most half-assed web ventures: "We're losing money on every sale, but don't worry – we'll make it up in volume."

Now, this is not a huge surprise, because the Patreon fish swallowed the venture capital fish-hook. I suspect that what is not sustainable is the sort of growth their investor-predators want to see. Because I have trouble imagining that serving as a payment processor that's getting 5% is not actually quite lucrative and sustainable. Like, Paypal only gets $0.30+2.90% of transations it handles, and they're not crying about being in mortal peril. Patreon is not obviously providing more service, tech-wise, than Paypal, to explain why basically getting 2% more than Paypal does is insufficient to its operational needs and profitability wishes. And if Patreon's operational costs are half-again as much as Paypal's, well, presumably that's because Paypal has economies of scale on Patreon, and if that's the difference, Patreon's growth (in terms of customers) should solve the problem, not worsen it.

If the problem is that the investors are bleeding the company, then, well, it's not clear how doom could be averted. This is what happened in the 80s, the whole leveraged by-out craze: investors bought companies – profitable, successful companies – to eat them.

kaberett

I didn't (unsurprisingly) get the greenhouse, but looking at it did substantially clarify my thoughts and the eBays do regularly contain less fancy greenhouses that, actually, probably will perfectly well do the job now I know what I'm after.

( In which I ramble about hardware and tell stories about secateurs. )

In terms of my upcoming jobs and planting...

Well, I need to spend some quality time pruning the Ribes bushes various; the plot came with a red dessert gooseberry, a redcurrant, and what-I-think-is-a-jostaberry, all of which are a little neglected and tangled. Tidying them up was on the list for Sunday immediately after the teasels, but a pair of secateurs that couldn't handle a teasel was... erstrecht not going to cope with actual wood. They also need top dressing with manure and then probably mulching, but that can wait until after I've tidied them up a little.

Next door, I've come to the conclusion that what I want to do with my ground-level bed (squash, pak choi, and failed calabrese last year) this season is set some broad beans and peas going down the middle around now, and then sow quinoa down the edges some time later. On the one hand, it's not known that this is a good idea; on the other, intercropping legumes and quinoa is a topic of active research and growing trials, and it looks to me like it ought to be sensible, so no doubt you will collectively get Running Commentary while I experiment.

At home, it's time for me to get the purple chillis and the orange bell peppers started (if I'm going to); that can't really happen until we're back full time, and while I'm happy to heat the house to a temperature that is safe and adequate for me to exist in when I'm actually there most of the time, that is... less the case when I'm away. (I'm attempting to resist the temptation to acquire a heated propagator.) Also the tomatoes, though there the thing I really need to do is work out where I want to put them -- whether I want to grow them on at home again, or if I'll be looking to plant them out at the plot.

Which is a general problem -- the working-out-where-to-plant-things. I'm dithering but probably about to come down on the side of putting the saffron bulbs in around the base of the cherry tree; I think I know where I'm going to put the comfrey once it's established itself a little better; and I'm tentatively leaning towards growing the poppies-for-seed in a patch of mixed wildflowers. (WHERE, though, Alex, you need to work out where you're going to put this. Probably also in the general vicinity of the cherry, if we're honest.)

But. Yes. Priorities: getting misc. seeds started; actually sourcing and constructing my proper raised beds so that I can plant out into them (which will inevitably involve More Weeding); pruning and dressing the Ribes; and working out what I want by way of asparagus, because my mother has offered to buy me some crowns.

So, you know, if you have asparagus cultivar recommendations, please by all means go ahead! I prefer the stems to the tips, and I am resigned to growing at least some purple...

billroper

I woke up around 5 AM this morning and couldn't get back to sleep. At around 5:45, I decided that if I was going to be awake, I might as well be out of bed. Thus, I headed into the bathroom, cleaned up, got dressed, and went out to collect some carryout breakfast from McDonald's. When I got home, I released Ruby the Dog from her kennel and let her out. And then I ate breakfast, donating the empty wrapper to the grateful Ruby, who happily licked it to death.

By the time it got to 9 AM, I had accomplished a great many things, which was good. But I find that I am inexplicably tired now.

Or maybe not so inexplicably. :)

Crossposts: https://billroper.livejournal.com/1712472.html

cornerofmadness

I dreamt I was somewhere where I had to disinter some of my pets (I swear it was in an old mall vs you know, a pet cemetery). Mom and

evil_little_dog were there too for some god knows why reason.

First I unearthed one of my cats (which looked nothing like any of my cats so who knows what my brain came up with here). I was surprised that it didn't smell and it looked remarkably well preserved. Then we unearthed another grave and in it were two, one that had to be ELD's because it looked like a Schnauser with an wheaton terrier color and again it looked and felt soft like it was sleeping. I could have sworn it winked at me.

And the other in that spot was Soul. Now I didn't have Soul put down but he did go live in a shelter because he needed to be the only cat in a household but this was Soul and again I'm like wow, how well preserved...OMFG it moved.

Yep zombie pets and I'm shrieking at ELD for fucking making me bury them in the Pet Cemetery. Now I know that movie has been remade and will be out soon but WTF brain? I mean you suck

Mood: cranky
Music: Celtic music

ng_moonmoth

Initial post on what I'm doing here.

41. What do you believe is possible in your life?

Trying to write all those things out would take so much time that there would be no time left for anything else. And, for me, "possible" doesn't properly account for "likely" or "beneficial".

How about I share something I think is not only possible, but likely and beneficial? I believe that it is possible to figure out a way I can pass as nonbinary: to express myself in a manner that people will not reflexively gender me as a man, or as a woman, and understand that my gender identity is its own thing which cannot be expressed or understood in terms of fraction or intensity of masculinity or femininity. This would be incredibly empowering for me.

Writing this out spurred some insight. For now, I'm reframing the thought as finding a way to make it clear that I do not pass as a man, or as a woman -- and am doing so with intent, rather than being unable to, or doing a bad job of it. This is going to be quite a challenge, especially in the face of all the one-person gender police departments there are out there.

ysabetwordsmith

So far the pool by

ng_moonmoth has enough to cover the following poems:

Iron Horses:
"As Glorious Reminders"
" Whatever You Do to the Animals"
"Reaching Out to Rescue One Another"

Shiv:
"Cut With Our Own Dust"
"How We Correct Them"
"The Courage To Admit Them"

ng_moonmoth adds:
Right now, we're $40 short of being able to sponsor two more poems, "That Ability to Comfort" and "What Seems Like Surrender". "The Reality of Cruelty" is the stretch goal if more comes in.

Mood: busy
Crossposts: https://ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com/5046502.html

fayanora

Comcast's customer service line has this super annoying bot running it. Trying to get to a human is absurdly difficult. Sure, there's a sort of shortcut whereby you say "agent" or "get me an agent," but it doesn't go straight to an agent; instead it asks what you're calling about. Now the whole reason I asked for an agent the last few times I called them is because the problem I had was too complicated for the bot to understand and I knew it. I wasn't even sure how to summarize the problem. When it asked me what the call was about (so it could inform the agent), and I answered "Just get me an agent!" that apparently wasn't good enough, so I decided to go with "technical help."

Oh, and what else is annoying about the bot is that at the beginning, it says "give me a few seconds to review your account" and then makes obviously fake typing sounds for about 10 to 15 seconds. I don't know what the fuck it's really doing in that time, but Comcast isn't fooling anybody. Obviously computer generated voice that can barely understand simple words and phrases makes obviously fake typing noises, who the fuck do they think is that stupid?

And as if that wasn't bad enough, the bot now addresses me by my legal name. I asked the agent if he could make a note in my account that my preferred name is Fay, and he did, but when I asked if that affects what the bot says, he said it didn't. Because of course it doesn't.

Honestly, I don't know why I didn't just use the chat help, which is available 24/7. SO much easier!

EDIT: Also I found out that my new Internet speed is supposed to be 60 MBPS. My PC and laptop gets like, 9 at best, but usually the 6 I was getting before. I was surprised to find out my tablet is getting 40! O_O

Crossposts: https://fayanora.livejournal.com/1947833.html

amaebi

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alatefeline

(food, material possessions, school job, health care, the privilege of having these) ( Read more... )

madfilkentist

Today I went to CVS for an immunization. There was the usual paperwork, and I was asked to sign a statement that I had received a copy of the privacy notices. However, I hadn't, and I said I needed to get a copy before I could sign that. They fussed but found a copy to give me. Apparently so many people are willing to lie and say they've received something which they haven't, that the staff thinks it's weird when someone asks for something which they want me to say I got from them.

People will just sign anything. "By opening this envelope, you have agreed..."

Music: Shrink Wrap Blues

dialecticdreamer

Breathing Room
By Dialecticdreamer/Sarah Williams
Part 1 of 2, complete
Word count (story only): 1312

:: Part of the Polychrome Heroics universe, this story begins a few hours after the end of “Welcome to Mercedes,” (link to part one) when Bennett is ready to go home and relax. Of course, it doesn’t quite happen that way… ::

On to part two

After Aida, and Jaliya, and his newest convert to the anti-religion of good massage left the shop, Bennett barely spared enough time to send a text before he unplugged all of the bits and bobs that ran on electricity, starting with his coffee machine. After that task was done, he doubled back to wash the carafe, and the drip basin. There was no trash to take out, and nothing else to do but lower the steel safety gate and lock up. Instead of going straight to his truck, however, he ducked into the liquor store at the end of the strip mall, quickly picking out their favorite junk foods for comfort snacking.

Walking back to the parking space where his truck was usually left alone, his feet slowed of their own will. There were folded papers, three or maybe four of them, all tucked beneath the windshield wiper on the driver’s side. Flyers were sometimes spread that way, but never more than one at a time.
( Read more... )

Mood: busy

gingicat

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Crossposts: https://tigerbright.livejournal.com/1685104.html

irregular_comic_rss3_feed

http://www.irregularwebcomic.net/3932.html

Also, don't walk into schmuck bait traps. Like the Tomb of Terrors.

http://www.irregularwebcomic.net/3932.html

ysabetwordsmith

Sunny road.

Mood: busy
Crossposts: https://ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com/5046022.html

notasupervillain

I sent an e-mail a few weeks ago politely informing my MP that I would not be voting for him next election because of Corbyn's stance on anti-Semitism. (Yes I know that I should call instead of emailing, but I should do a lot of things.) The lateness of the response didn't bother me. His staffers are pretty busy right now, I'm guessing.

I got an answer today. Curiously, the day after 7 MPs split from the party, with anti-Semitism as one of their reasons to leave. It was probably a form response, but it was long - probably a full page. Which I chose to take as a good sign. If someone's gone to the trouble of drafting a form letter, it means I'm not the only person emailing about this.

One can hope, anyway.

I'm sending a response saying that I hope my MP quits the party. He won't - he's way too deep with the party apparatus - but I can go down as a tick mark on a spreadsheet somewhere.

ysabetwordsmith

Free choice instills a love of reading and learning. Force instills hatred. I agree with the author that it would be difficult to come up with a more effective way to make people loathe and avoid books.

I love reading. I will read the back of cereal boxes. But I hated reading in school because it was far below my level and almost all of it was very badly written. Now imagine that for all the kids who didn't go into school knowing that reading was awesome; they would conclude that it's always torture. Quite sensibly they cease doing it as soon as the force stops. That's the problem with force; you have to keep it up or people immediately bolt. And you can only force people to read while they're imprisoned in schools against their will.

I also designed and graded coursework for adult prison classes, where almost nobody can read. The skill caps out around fourth grade level. And yet I got a bunch of those guys absolutely hooked on reading -- by assigning them things by Langston Hughes and Lorna Dee Cervantes. Up until then, most of them had no idea that people like them could write things, or that anyone wrote about things they actually cared about. At least one or two per class would just catch fire with it. The others at least did the homework and learned something and had a not-terrible time exploring new things.

If you want people to learn stuff and enjoy reading, the only thing you have to do -- and the only thing that works -- is feed their interests. Give them books about characters who are like them, and ones who are different. Books about where they came from and where they ended up. If they love cars, give them car books. If they love flowers, give them field guides. There are books on everything under the sun and everything beyond it too. Books with pictures, with text, with pop-ups, with textures, with Braille. Something for everyone.

Don't waste it.

Mood: busy
Crossposts: https://ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com/5045919.html

alexseanchai

CN Nazis, both historical and present-day

I did math from "Backwarder". ( spoilers )

ng_moonmoth

Initial post on what I'm doing here.

40. How is your relationship with money?

I have money. I don't "have a relationship" with it. How can I have a relationship with something that doesn't have any feelings for me, and has no interest in my feelings for it?

Having money is much better than not having it. It's a tool, and like most tools, it can be used for good or ill. I try not to use it for ill.

minoanmiss

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

Mood: excited

alexseanchai

I miss when I could pretend not to be disabled long enough to vacuum the whole house.

By which I mean my parents' house. Which, even excluding 3/4 of the bedrooms, is rather bigger than this one!

billroper

I had the day off today and spent some of the time down in the studio putting the studio computer back together. It's almost eight years old now and on -- I believe -- its third set of mirrored hard drives. I'd put them back in, but they seemed like they were a bit loose. After bending some of the mounting brackets a bit, they are now much tighter.

And then I noticed the big loose cable attached to a bracket that exposed a couple of ports on the rear of the machine. Oh, heck.

So I finally gave up and unplugged everything from the back of the computer so that I could pick it up, put it on a surface, and remove the video card. Behind the video card was a header that matched the cable that apparently provided two more USB 3.0 ports via the bracket. I plugged that back in. Oh, look! There's another loose cable. I bet that's why the front ports aren't working. Let's plug that back in too. Then I put the video card back in, rewired everything, and fired the computer up.

A horrible noise ensued, at least until I moved the cables so they were no longer contacting the fan on the video card. :) And then the computer booted up and slowly finished installing the Windows updates that it needed. It probably needs more, but that can wait for tomorrow.

Once things were running again, I went out and made a karaoke file for Julie to use in the talent show. She's singing a song that I wasn't previously familiar with.

And it makes me cry.

Here it is.

Crossposts: https://billroper.livejournal.com/1712187.html

siderea

The rugs have shipped!

Overstock.com is saying they're estimated to arrive on Thursday!

And that they've been shipped by FedEx!

FedEx is saying they'll be here by the end of tomorrow! (Tuesday!)

ETA: FedEx has a way to sign up to schedule delivery times for a fee, but I can't get it to authenticate me. It suggests either having them mail me a confirmation postcard, yes, physical mail, which should take 3-5 days, or just waiting – I am not making this up – 30 days to try again. Also, their website is buggy and unprofessional in general, and they are trying to reduce customer service calls by having customers talk to a bot. This is my entirely unimpressed face.

Meanwhile, the rug pads from my same order are coming by UPS, due on Friday, as two separate packages. I signed up with UPS to provide delivery instructions (it's visually ambiguous what is the "front door" to my new building, and there is definitely a right answer and a wrong one) and it turns out that UPS doesn't have a freetext field for delivery instructions. They have a pull-down menu with no choices relevant to my situation.

I suddenly have a great appreciation for what problem Amazon is trying to solve by having their own shippers, and doing things like having them photo your door when they deliver and asking for feedback when they get it wrong.

So right now I have no idea if I'm going to wind up with all three packages in limbo.

ETA2: Ah, apparently Overstock has a better idea of what's going on than FedEx does. FedEx is now saying delivery by end of day Thursday, which is what Overstock said all along.

minoanmiss

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

Mood: curious

questionable_content_feed

http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3942

cornerofmadness

And since it's her birthday I nominate

seta_suzume to do this if she wants to. Happy birthday! Hope it was a fabulous one.

Mood: blah
Music: The Passage

cornerofmadness

For some idiot reason we don't have class (frankly I'd rather not get ridiculously behind than have a day off but that's me). I decided to go to Chillicothe after calling a bookstore in Huntington WV to set up a pull list (granted it's twice as far as the other one in Waverly but there is nothing else There and the one in Portsmouth is in well Portsmouth)

Anyhow I wanted to look for EVA foam and some stuff for upcoming cosplay. So Joanne's Fabrics doesn't have it and I'll go buy dollar store pool noodles first before I give money to Hobby lobby. I needed dress flats for the cosplay but T J Maxx's barely had shoes (or anything. It was the emptiest I've ever seen it. I bought some sunglasses and a few food clearance stuff) and Shoe Carnival was not a Carnival. My feet are skinny ridiculous things. Even the mediums swam on my feet. I couldn't keep any of them on. Bah.

I also tried Nagasaki, a sushi/thai/chinese fusion place. The sushi special was good BUT I've never seen anything like this. It took forever and the weird thing about it all was that there was just one other group of customers a mom and two kids and they brought out each item to them one at a time over about 15 minutes. Strange.

So really it was sort of a waste of a day. I DID however get two stories posted up.

I finished that never ending fandom stocking story. And I made a decision. It's unlikely that both FFN and AO3 would go down at the same time (Say what you will about FFN it's been there for more than 20 years now! And AO3 is been around what? 12 years) So the really LONG stories I won't be putting in my journal.

So here's the conclusion of The Key to Destruction

And for the first time since 2003 I've updated Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know It was written for Angel Book of Days and the mod put it on AO3. I didn't even know it was there (well I knew but I forgot) It's long, one of those Home inspired stories I mentioned yesterday. It's in Angel's pov, has much of his time post season 4 and there's plenty of Faith (with some Giles and Willow in the end).

Mood: blah
Music: The Passage

archangelbeth

Need to get it re-covered, but in the meantime, I have placed a couple patches upon it so the feathers don't get out.

Was gonna go see a candidate speak, but the line was way too long. In the snow. And probably not going to get allowed in, because TOO MANY PEOPLE for the venue.

Boo.

I need to accumulate some restlessness and time to myself so I can tackle more of the comics. Bags and backing boards have arrived!

Edit: This looks cool. https://librivox.org/pages/about-recording/

Havva Quote
"The problem with authority is that if you leave it lying around, others will take it away from you."
— Yoon Ha Lee (Ninefox Gambit (The Machineries of Empire #1))
goodreads quote

( INwatch+Bookwatch )

Crossposts: https://archangelbeth.livejournal.com/2093961.html

fuzzyred

It's half-price sale time again on

ysabetwordsmith´s page. Go buy some Polychrome Heroics Poetry!

ysabetwordsmith

The half-price sale in Polychrome Heroics is now open. Donors, start your engines! :D

Mood: busy

solarbird

We lost, but I made 'em work for it.

Also, guess who finally finished placements? This spider! I finally have an SR again! 2112, which is apparently a funny number if you're into classic rock.

Mood: pleased

solarbird

I honestly have no idea how that second shot apparently got me two people. I guess an accidental domino shot and someone else finished off the third kill? But I'm so guessing, honestly.

Mood: confused

solarbird

We were down five on six for most of this game, but we did hold back their first push, and this was part of why. Like ducks, all in a row, at the amusement park.

(We did not hold back their second push. We did, again, on second point, but not as well, and then lost, despite finally getting a sixth player.)

Mood: amused

dialecticdreamer

Fiction Welcome to Mercedes (part 2 of 2, complete)

Welcome to Mercedes
By Dialecticdreamer/Sarah Williams
Part 2 of 2, complete
Word count (story only): 1508

:: Part of the Polychrome Heroics universe, this story is set in Mercedes, and takes place immediately after “Ripple Effect,” (here is the link to part one) and picking up right after Aida left the shop. Bennett gets a feel for Evard’s personality as he insists upon trying to mitigate the young man’s earlier experience with a “massage” that focused more on his body issues than his emotional needs. Fluff and comfort for miles. ::

Back to part one
:: Thanks for reading! ::

“I’m still warm from the shower. I’m not a reptile; I’m warm-blooded, but my skin is… strange,” Evard grumbled defensively.

“Yeah, I never thought that you were, but people have different ideas of what’s comfortable. One client likes the place nearly cold enough to see your breath, and another wants to imitate living inside a bubble of lava.” He laughed quietly. “I’m wanting you comfortable enough to relax, but not so warm that you get drowsy right away. Later, as you relax, it’s expected.”
( Read more... )

Mood: cold

ysabetwordsmith

These are some posts from the later part of last week in case you missed them:
Refugees Then and Now
Poem: "Experience Stinks"
Community Building Tip: Community Garden
Moment of Silence: Miguel Civil and "The Scribe of the Evening"
Heating Patches for Clothes
Declining Life Expectancy
Emotional Intimacy Question: Thanks
Why Challenger Failed
Hard Things

The

crowdfunding Creative Jam ran this weekend.

There will be a half-price sale in Polychrome Heroics this week.

Voting is still open for the 2019 Rose & Bay Awards. Please vote for your favorites. Review the nomination posts for more information about the nominees if you need it.

Art:

ysabetwordsmith Nominate art! Vote for art!
Fiction:

ysabetwordsmith Nominate fiction! Vote for fiction!
Poetry:

ysabetwordsmith Nominate poetry! Vote for poetry!
Webcomic:

ysabetwordsmith Nominate webcomics! Vote for webcomics!
Other Project:

ysabetwordsmith Nominate other projects! Vote for other projects!
Patron:

ysabetwordsmith Nominate patrons! Vote for patrons!

Poetry in Microfunding:

There are four open epics.

"Only If It Is Embraced" belongs to Polychrome Heroics: Damask and has 25 new verses. Pain's Gray has another talk with Clement about the importance of not mistreating Keane.

"A Cave Swarming with Strange Forms of Life" belongs to Polychrome Heroics: Iron Horses. Kenzie goes to Pretty Ears for counseling.

"Love Unflinching" belongs to Polychrome Heroics: Berettaflies." An ethical consultant arrives in Easy City, adopts a buggle, and meets Stylet.

"So Many Notes and Colors and Flavors" belongs to Polychrome Heroics: Shiv. Heron and Shiv are comfort-cooking, and not everything goes smooth.

Weather here has been mild. We got a little snow, but most of it has melted off quickly. Seen at the birdfeeders this week: a large flock of sparrows, a flock of dark-eyed juncos, a small flock of mourning doves, a pair of cardinals, a yellow-bellied sapsucker, a Bewick's wren, and a squirrel.

Mood: busy
Crossposts: https://ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com/5045438.html

ysabetwordsmith

... actually started in what is now Brittany, in France.

Mood: busy
Crossposts: https://ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com/5045197.html

notasupervillain

The good parts of today were listening to a podcast with a recovering neocon. He explained how he used to think feminists and black people were exaggerating, but apparently there was systemic injustice in the system the whole time and he just never noticed. My favourite line was:

Wait a second, the Iraq war was a diasater and a mistake and I regret my role in supporting it.

I firmly believe that best thing you can say to a person, the thing that brings to greatest joy to the listener, is, "You were right and I was wrong." Thank you, Max Boot, for giving me joy today.

The bad parts of today are getting R to produce the graphs I need and yes I could write a script to automate the process but honestly it would take me more time than just doing it manually in Excel and then importing each set of data into R Studio and yes my eyes are bleeding and yes my eye focal length is permenantly fixed 8 inches and yes it is a very good thing reviewers are anonymous.

Also I'm out of podcasts except the most boring of the back episodes of Lawfare and Slate Money. I've caught up on The National Security Law Podcast, that's how bad this is. Unless someone can suggest something with the correct ratio of boring (so I can focus on work) without deathly dull (so I collapse into a coma), I'm going to spend the rest of the evening listening to A Podcast Called Intrepid, which is The National Security Law Podcast but about Canadian national security law instead of American. I'm real fun at parties.

(I also listen to actually not boring podcasts, like The New Statesman, but it's harder to tell you what I'm looking for there. People who talk intelligently abut poltics and who are as good friends to each other as Helen and Stephen are. I <3 their friendship.)

ari_the_dodecahedron

that I can attend Boskone next year provided my roommate comes with me. This is funny. I'll be 21. I can drink by then. I can get a hotel room without needing anyone else by then. But I don't get to take public transportation with her knowledge unless I have a chaperone.

Whaaaat.

alatefeline

( Read more... )

Mood: grateful

elf

"Primitive Technology: Wattle and Daub Hut" (Watch on YouTube)

I find this fascinating, not only for itself (because whoa, building a whole house out of sticks and mud, wow), but also for the awareness of what pre-industrial building had to involve. The area in the video has plenty of small trees, plenty of vines and grasses, plenty of dirt and nearby water. The first house in such an area would be (relatively) easy, the second even easier (you already know where The Good Stuff is), but by the third or fourth house, plus a pen for livestock and a place to store firewood and tools, the nearby Good Stuff is running thin - you have to travel farther for the right parts or a good place to build, or both. And hey, then someone is upstream and others are downstream, and you now have waste management issues.

( Also, he has skills. )

siderea

So. On Friday old landlord's rental agent called me about showing my old apartment on Monday. Today.

There is, legally, nothing I can do about this. Landlord (or landlord's agents) can enter the property with 24 hours notice. I think (not sure) there may even be a statute that says that landlords can specifically enter an apartment in the last month of tenancy to show it.

The agent was at least nice about it. She wanted to show it at 6:30pm and asked if I would be there, or whether she should get the key from the landlord. I said that I would probably be working (I am booked to see a client at 6:30pm, but people do cancel), and she should definitely get the key from the landlord so she could let herself in, but that I'd appreciate a text 15 min before arrival in case I was home. (I also asked that she not arrange any showings before 2pm, and she said it wouldn't be a problem in the "I am so not a morning person myself" tone of voice.)

So, okay, fine. I should put away any valuables and lock the HIPAA cabinet before going to work today.

I woke to a text from the agent: the shitgibbon can't find the keys to my apartment. Do I have a spare set? Could I leave them under the mat?

I am, of course, like WTF.

And then I think about it.

And it dawns on me that the act of relinquishing a set of keys is the official act of giving an apartment back to a landlord and declaring it vacant.

Now, I don't know that this isn't what it seems. The shitgibbon may have lost the keys ot my apartment again. He has done this in the past: lose the keys, accuse me of having changed the locks, and then found them.

Or, you know, this is a legal trick.

Meanwhile, the agent is nicely pressuring me to try to come up with some spare keys, or let her come by, take my keys out to be duplicated, and when can she do this and when should she reschedule the showing for? I confronted (in text) the agent about the giving-up-keys thing. And then texted that I don't think I want to do any such thing until I have spoken to a lawyer.

So, maybe this is totes legitimate, and just an unfortunate impingement on my time. Or maybe this is, yet again, the landlord doing something evil. Because I can't tell, they're not getting any keys. Serves him right.

ETA: I have, in fact, emailed my lawyer about this, but I don't expect him to be working on a holiday. So still interested if anybody knows the answer.

Meanwhile: you are not my lawyer, however: anybody know if this could be the trick I smell? (Jurisdiction: Cambridge, Massachusetts)

ETA2: Messages also left for the relevant person in Inspectional Services, Housing Department. Not that I'm planning on telling the landlord or his agent that. I don't expect they're working on a holiday, but it will be waiting for them when they get in tomorrow.

ETA3: Oh ho ho! Maybe I can refuse them entry:

https://www.malawforum.com/content/landlord-lost-spare-keys-my-apartment
https://www.malawforum.com/content/my-landlord-wants-key-my-apartment

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