Food

Sep. 4th, 2025 03:12 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
How Parking Day Brought This Louisiana City Back to Life

To break the impasse, the city of Lafayette partnered with a local nonprofit to host a Park(ing) Day event. Together, they installed 16 temporary parklets throughout the downtown, several of which simulated outdoor dining areas. “People enjoyed the experience, and it allowed downtown business owners and stakeholders to experience the change in a temporary way,” explained Carlee Alm-LaBar, then Lafayette’s planning director and now Strong Towns’ chief of staff. “They started to see the vision of how Lafayette could use its public space differently and how it might bring more energy to the downtown neighborhood.”

That experience mattered. Less than a year later, the city passed an ordinance allowing for parklets and outdoor dining to be built in former parking spots
.


Other things you can playtest with this method:

* food truck parks

* busk stops

* pop-up shops (e.g. selling local art, fresh produce, seasonal decor)

* skateable / climbable sculptures

* new types of public seating

Affordable Housing

Sep. 4th, 2025 03:08 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Church to demolish existing worship space, creating 110 units of affordable housing

“St. John’s has always been a place focused on refuge, serving the poor, and meeting people where they are,” the church’s pastor, Rev. Peter Beeson, said in a fundraising video.

“Today, we're looking at adapting our building in the most audacious way yet: by tearing it down to build 110 units of affordable housing, plus worship and community space.”



What would Jesus do? This. \o/

Birdfeeding

Sep. 4th, 2025 02:52 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Today is partly sunny and mild.  It dribbled a bit last night, just enough to rinse some of the dust off the leaves, not enough to do any real good.

I fed the birds.  I've seen a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 9/4/25 -- We got the cover fully back over the septic tank. \o/

I saw a gray squirrel.  This one looked adult or nearly so.  Last fall we had a young one arrive, but it was only here for a month or two before disappearing, presumably eaten.  I hope this one sticks around.  We have grays occasionally, and they make a nice contrast to the established fox squirrels, but they've never managed a breeding population.

EDIT 9/4/25 -- I gathered a large amount of Shithouse Marigold seeds.  :D

I've seen a gray catbird and a male rose-breasted grosbeak.  It looks like the fall migration is starting.

EDIT 9/4/25 -- I gathered a large amount of small yellow and orange marigold seeds.  

EDIT 9/4/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.







.
 

Bad Advice

Sep. 4th, 2025 01:51 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
"Of all forms of caution, caution in love is perhaps the most fatal to true happiness."
Bertrand Russell, The Conquest of Happiness

This is wrong to the point of dangerous. Caution in love is what makes you check life path compatibility before getting too deeply involved, thus preventing heartbreak between countryfolk and cityfolk who would be miserable in each other's habitats, or childfree and someone who wants a big family. Caution also observes a new love interest to see if they're raising red flags of abusive or otherwise alarming behavior. For extra credit, look for their annoying habits to determine whether those are things you could tolerate long-term.

In the interest of finding a good match, I recommend practicing Intellectual Foreplay. Also useful, well suited to dating context, with a convenient 3-stage process, are the 36 Questions to Fall in Love (or like).

carenejeans: (Default)
[personal profile] carenejeans
Quote of the Day:

"For a long time now I have tried simply to write the best I can. Sometimes I have good luck and write better than I can."

--Ernest Hemingway, interview in Writers At Work, Second Series, edited by George Plimpton (1963)


Today's Writing:

Reminded of a tip by [personal profile] goddess47 (thanks!), I skipped to writing the middle of my essay. This worked! Not enough new words to count, but a goodly amount of rewriting and rearranging and etc. ;-)

Tally

Days 1-2 )

Day 3: [personal profile] badly_knitted, [personal profile] brithistorian, [personal profile] carenejeans, [personal profile] chanter1944, [personal profile] china_shop, [personal profile] cornerofmadness, [personal profile] goddess47, [personal profile] luzula, [personal profile] the_siobhan, [personal profile] sanguinity, [personal profile] sylvanwitch, [personal profile] trobadora, [personal profile] ysilme

Day 4: [personal profile] china_shop

Let me know if I missed you, or if you wrote but didn't check in yet. And remember, you can join in at any time!

Bohemian Rhapsody (Zulu version)

Sep. 4th, 2025 03:09 pm
trobadora: (Default)
[personal profile] trobadora
Via [personal profile] brithistorian: the South African Ndlovu Youth Choir has translated Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody into Zulu. It's gorgeous - and after I saw the video, I just had to share it. It's completely stunning:

(no subject)

Sep. 4th, 2025 01:25 pm
watery: (Default)
[personal profile] watery
There's always love tomorrow.

Hobbies: Sewing

Sep. 4th, 2025 01:17 am
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Folks have mentioned an interest in questions and conversations that make them think. So I've decided to offer more of those. This batch features hobbies.

Sewing is a hobby of making things from fabric, mostly clothes but also toys and other stuff. It includes both hand sewing and sewing machines. Note that most modern sewing machines are computers that sew, and lack certain features of older machines. If you feel frustrated by planned obsolescence, artificial intelligence, and other current issues then consider hand sewing as a form of protest. Nothing says "Fuck off, fast fashion!" like hand-rolling seams to make a 100% natural-fiber garment last for years and years.

On Dreamwidth, consider communities like [community profile] crafty, [community profile] everykindofcraft, [community profile] get_knitted, [community profile] justcreate, [community profile] quilting, [community profile] sewing, and [community profile] sewing101.

Read more... )

Wildlife

Sep. 3rd, 2025 08:44 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
ANT QUEEN LAYS EGGS THAT HATCH INTO TWO SPECIES

Reproduction is strange in many social insects, but the Iberian harvester ant (Messor ibericus) takes the weirdness to the next level. Queens mate with males of another species and then clone them, researchers report today in Nature, which means this ant is the only known organism that propagates two species by itself. Evolutionary biologist Jonathan Romiguier of the University of Montpellier, who led the team, calls M. ibericus “in a sense, the most complex, colonial life form we know of so far.”


Odd to see this on Earth, which is quite hospitable to life. However, I'm familiar with the concept of interspecies reproduction from other planets. It often appears as a safety catch allowing a species to capitalize on any available mate in environments where life is scarce and survival very difficult. It greatly maximizes the ability to mix up genetics and find the best combinations.

Education

Sep. 3rd, 2025 03:32 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
The university at the end of economic growth

Decoupling labour market training from economic growth will be one of the biggest implications, because it frees higher education from preparing students for “the labour market” (to which university operations are tightly coordinated) to address the pressing existential concerns that surpass narrow concerns over reproducing labour for capitalism in the short-term. Universities should be free to pursue learning about the world to figure out alternative ways of organizing social systems, mitigate planetary breakdown, and cultivate engaged students with the critical consciousness necessary to navigate this unprecedented era of human history. Universal basic services would see free tuition, allowing everybody to choose what they want to learn about. The release of learning from obtaining high grades (which, again, are meant to translate into success in employment to the detriment of consciousness raising) frees up student time and energy to explore what they’re learning, experiment and truly collaborate with diverse actors.


This article explores not just what is wrong with universities today, but how a better system of higher education could look.

Hard Things

Sep. 3rd, 2025 03:28 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Life is full of things which are hard or tedious or otherwise unpleasant that need doing anyhow. They help make the world go 'round, they improve skills, and they boost your sense of self-respect. But doing them still kinda sucks. It's all the more difficult to do those things when nobody appreciates it. Happily, blogging allows us to share our accomplishments and pat each other on the back.

What are some of the hard things you've done recently? What are some hard things you haven't gotten to yet, but need to do? Is there anything your online friends could do to make your hard things a little easier?

Birdfeeding

Sep. 3rd, 2025 02:56 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Today is partly cloudy and warm.

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

I put out water for the birds. The honeybees had drained the metal birdbath again.

EDIT 9-3-25 -- My partner Doug re-mowed the ritual meadow, prairie garden path, and south lot.

EDIT 9-3-25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 9-3-25 -- I did more work around the patio.

I picked 2 yellow pear tomatoes, 2 red cherry tomatoes, and a whole handful of groundcherries. :D

EDIT 9-3-25 -- I watered the telephone pole garden, savanna seedlings, patio plants, irises, and new picnic table.

Then I noticed that the cap of the septic tank was ajar, so we had to wrestle that mostly back in place.

I also saw a bunch of moths busily pollinating the sunflowers! :D That never occurred to me. I guess it makes sense, because sunflowers don't close at night, but "sunflower + moth" is really not an obvious connection. I would say, if you wish to plant sunflowers in your moth garden, choose light yellow to white ones. Those will be easier to see than the orange to red range.

Cicadas and crickets are singing.

As it is now dark, I am done for the night.

YULETIDE!!!!

Sep. 3rd, 2025 09:56 pm
trobadora: (Discworld: Hogfather)
[personal profile] trobadora
It's that time of year again!

Yuletide is still my favourite multifannish exchange, and this year's schedule is out - nominations start on the 15th. And they're running an experiment with giving us more nominations and requests this year! Very cool, and I hope it works out well!

What's new this year:
  • The deadline is 12 hours earlier than it was the last few years. (First time in a while that the deadline will be when I'm actually awake, but I'll try not to cut it too close. *g*)

  • Reveals are also 12 hours earlier than they've been the last few years. (First time in a while that I'll be awake when the collection opens!)

  • We get 5 fandom nominations instead of 4. (Woohoo!)

  • We get 8 requests instead of 6! (And again, woohoo! It's so hard to choose between rare fandoms.)

Who else is doing Yuletide? Have you thought about what you're going to nominate/request/offer this year?

Poem: "Simple and to the Point"

Sep. 3rd, 2025 01:53 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
This poem came out of the September 2, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by prompts from [personal profile] janetmiles and [personal profile] siliconshaman. It also fills the "lookout" square in my 9-1-25 card for the Piracy Bingo Fest. This poem has been sponsored by [personal profile] fuzzyred. It belongs to An Army of One series. It follows "The Thistledown Drive," "Triangulate, Observe, Record, Tabulate, Communicate," and "Light and Shadow, Soil and Water" so read those first or this won't make any sense.

Read more... )

Poem: "For Those Who Work at It"

Sep. 3rd, 2025 01:25 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Damask smiling over their shoulder (polychrome)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
This poem came out of the September 3, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired and sponsored by [personal profile] fuzzyred. It also fills the "parrot" square in my 9-1-25 card for the Piracy Bingo Fest. This poem belongs to the Dr. Infanta thread of the Polychrome Heroics series. It happens after "The Outside of a Horse" and "Inside of Him a Piece of Good News," so it will make more sense if you read those first.

Read more... )
carenejeans: (Default)
[personal profile] carenejeans
Quote of the Day:

"It is a mysterious business, creating worlds out of words. I hope I can say without irreverence that anyone who has done it knows why Jehovah took Sunday off."

--Ursula K. LeGuin, The Language of the Night: Essays on Writing, Science Fiction, and Fantasy (from the introduction to Rocannon’s World, 1977).


Today's Writing:

351 sort of mostly okay kind of meh words. 8-/


Tally

Day 1 )

Day 2: [personal profile] badly_knitted, [personal profile] brithistorian, [personal profile] carenejeans, [personal profile] china_shop, [personal profile] cornerofmadness, [personal profile] goddess47, [personal profile] luzula, [personal profile] the_siobhan, [personal profile] sanguinity, [personal profile] sylvanwitch, [personal profile] trobadora, [personal profile] yasaman, [personal profile] ysilme


Let me know if I missed you, or if you wrote but didn't check in yet. And remember, you can join in at any time!

Today's Smoothie

Sep. 2nd, 2025 10:28 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Today we made a smoothie with:
1/3 cup pineapple juice
2/3 cup guava nectar
1 cup Brown Cow vanilla yogurt
1/3 cup pineapple chunks
1 banana
1/3 cup mixed frozen fruit (peaches, strawberries, pineapple, mango)
1/2 cup ice

We had the pineapple left over from the green smoothie recently and wanted to use it up.  The result is pale pink, on the thin side, with a delicious tropical flavor.  :D  Remember you can always use up extra fruit in a smoothie! 

10 random facts about me meme

Sep. 3rd, 2025 02:39 pm
mific: (Gold mandala)
[personal profile] mific
Snaffled from various friends. Some of the following eccentric behaviour is only possible as I live alone. :)


1) I briefly got my hair done peroxide blond in my twenties. Proof. But mostly I dyed it auburn using henna. Chemists (pharmacies) in NZ used to stock packages of powdered henna back then - it was the seventies!

2) By chance, I have a lot of Nepali restaurants nearby - 3 or 4 within takeaway range. I love the chicken momos best (steamed Tibetan dumplings served with a romesco-chilli sauce). Yum.

3) I have a side table by my main armchair that's like a restaurant table set-up. It has a titanium spork (my main cutlery item), tissues, a kids' jewellery organiser full of tea bags, a long-stemmed sundae spoon, a small serrated kitchen knife, a cruet set with balsamic vinegar and garlic-infused olive oil, a pink-salt shaker, and jars/bottles of mango chutney, peanut butter, maple syrup, store-bought lemon juice, promite, and apricot compote. It cuts down on traipsing to and fro to the kitchen for stuff.

4) Since moving into my flat 2-3 years ago, I sussed out the ceramic cooktop but haven't been able to figure out the main oven controls. The landlord couldn't either. Haven't been able to intuit the electronic controls or find info online, so I use a toaster-oven instead, which works fine.

5) I have mild sleep apnoea that doesn't bother me as long as I sleep on my side. That's what my tricky right hip and left knee prefer, anyway.

6) I got fed up with bed-making, stuffing duvet covers, and getting tangled in layers of bedding many years ago. I just use one thinnish faux fur blanket (leopardskin pattern of course) with a faux-flannel backing. It's lightweight but surprisingly warm and I only need to add one extra light blanket a few times in mid-winter. So my bedding is a flannel sheet on the mattress and then the blanket. It's like being a Neolithic person using just a fur spread for bedding, but with more microfibres. I make the bed once a week before Fionna comes to clean my flat, and my elderly washing machine can just manage the blanket as a single load.

7) I haven't worn any shoes except crocs for over 20 years. Auckland's warm enough for that to be comfortable, and all "normal" shoes pinch my feet. I go barefoot inside, only rarely resorting to slippers on especially cold nights.

8) I've lived with one or more cats all my life until several years ago. I miss having a cat friend, but when someone recently offered me a nice adult boy they were trying to find a home for, I had to say no. There's a busy road only a stone's throw away and the neighbours drive up and down the driveway a few feet from my front door every day, so it wouldn't be safe. The flat's not set up for an indoors cat - the back door to the garage has no screen and it'd be way too hot in summer to keep it closed. But mainly, I no longer feel able to cope with the regular round of vet visits, emergencies etc. that come with caring for a cat. I'll make do with feeding the sparrows, and my duck visitors.

9) My first boyfriend when I was 17 was Dave, from a smallish town in Illinois. He was in my English class - an exchange student at my high school. We taught each other to play chess (badly) and sometimes actually did play it before Mum got home from work, but "playing chess" was mostly a euphemism for making out.

10) In my twenties to thirties I had a series of Morris Minor cars as they were cheap and I liked their quirkiness. Kiwis are good at repairing cars with NZ being harder to import to and local DIY culture, so you could get fixed-up Morris Minors fairly easily. I drove my last one from Christchurch up to Auckland when I returned from working overseas. I'd painted it with red, maroon, and gold swirls in the seventies, then in Auckland I sanded it off and repainted it bright yellow, with the chrome all done in black. Here's a cartoon I did of it back in the day.

yellow morris minor from front, black trim, woman driving it.

Vocabulary: Penabling

Sep. 2nd, 2025 03:29 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
This post discusses the benefits of penabling -- getting your friends interested in fancy pens. 
ysabetwordsmith: Damask smiling over their shoulder (polychrome)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
This is today's freebie, inspired by a prompt from [personal profile] dialecticdreamer. It also fills the "request" square in my 9-1-25 card for the Piracy Bingo Fest. It belongs to the series Polychrome Heroics.

Read more... )

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