Reading

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Climate Change

Mexican cave stalagmites reveal the deadly droughts behind the Maya collapse

Summary:
Chemical evidence from a stalagmite in Mexico has revealed that the Classic Maya civilization’s decline coincided with repeated severe wet-season droughts, including one that lasted 13 years. These prolonged droughts corresponded with halted monument construction and political disruption at key Maya sites, suggesting that climate stress played a major role in the collapse. The findings demonstrate how stalagmites offer unmatched precision for linking environmental change to historical events.

Just in case you thought climate change wasn't very important, a shift in the environmental conditions is one of the leading causes of civilization collapse.

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Creative Jam

The August

crowdfunding Creative Jam is now up with a theme of "Inner vs. Outer Strength." Come give us prompts or claim some for your own inspiration.

What I Have Written

From My Prompts

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recurring posts

Philosophical Questions: Diversity

People have expressed interest in deep topics, so this list focuses on philosophical questions.

What are the benefits and drawbacks of diversity in society?

( Read more... )

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Today's Adventures

Today we went out to Mattoon in search of evening farmer's markets.

( Read more... )

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Early Humans

Science Newsfrom research organizations

Mysterious Denisovan interbreeding shaped the humans we are today.
Denisovans, a mysterious human relative, left behind far more than a handful of fossils—they left genetic fingerprints in modern humans across the globe. Multiple interbreeding events with distinct Denisovan populations helped shape traits like high-altitude survival in Tibetans, cold-weather adaptation in Inuits, and enhanced immunity. Their influence spanned from Siberia to South America, and scientists are now uncovering how these genetic gifts transformed human evolution, even with such limited physical remains.

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[books, embodiment] Hypermobility Without Tears, Jeannie Di Bon

Jeannie Di Bon is a "Movement Therapist" who "specialis[es] in Hypermobility, Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and Chronic Pain." In the introduction, she talks about her own experiences in a way I find very sympathetic:

I've lost count of the number of times a doctor has told me it's all down to IBS and instructed me to eat more fibre and try Pilates or yoga to relax. Dismissive in its nature and kind of ironic now, as I trained to become a Pilates teacher in 2008.

And, you know, the actual core (yes I did that) of her Integrated Movement Method is sound: she's giving advice about fostering body awareness, of when and where you're tense and when you're not, working through a pretty standard sequence of breathing exercises and gentle movements. All the exercises in this book are the kind of thing that show up pretty early on in any full-body physiotherapy programme, that have loads of progressions available (particularly within the Pilates model), and they're absolutely fine and probably useful to folk who've not been able to access care covering this kind of topic.

If it were just the exercise programme, it would be ... fine. More or less. I think a bunch of the ways she explains movements are unclear and counterintuitive, but hey, presumably they work for at least some people.

Unfortunately, there are all of the bits in between.

Chapter 4 is where they went from "okay, you're simplifying to the point of lies-to-children but you are also explaining why" to "... either you're deliberately misrepresenting things for personal gain or you're wildly incompetent", and I'm still not sure which of those it actually is. (I am trying not to think too hard about the possibility that the answer is "both".)

( Read more... )

tl;dr there is nothing you will get from the Integral Movement Method that you won't get from competently-taught or -explained Pilates except scaremongering and misdirection... and unlike IMM, you can get decent Pilates resources for free. Don't bother with this one.

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Birdfeeding

Today is partly sunny and sweltering. :P

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

EDIT 8/15/25 -- I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 8/15/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

I've seen a flock of sparrows and house finches.

EDIT 8/15/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 8/15/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 8/15/25 -- I watered the patio plants, old picnic garden, and new picnic garden.

I picked a red cherry tomato.

I am done for the night.

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mudlarking

The Thames Doorbell

I wired up the doorbell I found on the foreshore so that when you press it, it plays sounds of the River Thames I recorded from the foreshore.

Video on Flickr:

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mudlarking

Mudlarking 34 - Sound recording

The tide was up high at Blackfriars with not much foreshore visible. I decided instead to focus on recording the sounds of the foreshore, the waves splashing, the seagulls and crows fighting over the remains of something, the buskers playing music, and the sounds of trains going across Blackfriars railway bridge.

The sun turned a beautiful shade of pinky red and I could see it underneath Blackfriars Bridge.

I picked up very little, two pottery sherds and two pieces of glass.

I bought a UV torch as I like the idea of finding a piece of uranium glass. So far, none of my pieces of glass seem to glow enough but the red pieces look particular pretty with the light on them.

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In which there is a round-up of random goodness from my recent travels

- Art, or whatever: Still loving the GIANT mechanical bull named Ozzy (lol) taking up almost the whole concourse at Birmingham New Street railway station. When I passed he had purple eyes and was swinging his mighty head from side to side. Non sequitur: I recall the last Ozzy I saw at New St was a tram, lol.
Ozzy: https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/7555438

- Lexicophilia: I love the marketing slogan for the Wolverhampton Canalside development: "Bostin ay it".

- There's no pleasing some people: there was a baby boy about a year old on the bus and he said, "Mama!", which we were told by his excited mother was his first word. The passengers reacted by applauding and cheering and waving their arms in the air (ltjdc). The little boy stared at us in horror for a minute or two then burst out crying and yelling in protest. He'll probably never speak again after being traumatised by our loving encouragement, lol.

- There's gno place like gnHome: I noticed a corner plot garden in suburban Llandudno with the road sign feet actually inside the boundary wall and the homeowner had taken the opportunity to surround the sign with an army of unusually large but otherwise traditional garden gnomes. Fantastic.

- What goes around comes around: I found a £1 coin on the pavement and later paid a boy's 75p bus fare because his mum claimed she didn't have any money (although she did have four massive market bags of what appeared to be shopping). The bus driver probably wished I hadn't as she then tried to stay on the bus beyond the end of the route. And, yes, she kept the 25p change and neither she nor her son offered me a word of thanks (not that I require any).

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There are a million stories....

In my post about manners yesterday, conuly brought up in the comments a couple of posts to Ask A Manager from An Awful Young Man, who, on the evidence given, probably knows all the intricacies of cutlery and which way to pass the port, but is unfit for release into general society:

First post:

I was travelling home on a packed train with my bike. Suddently, I was approached by a lady who asked me, rather rudely, to give my seat to a man, her father, who was travelling with her. Since I was sitting on a regular seat (not a seat designated for disabled passangers) and had to read some materials to prepare for my interview, I ignored her. Unfortunately, when I was getting off the train, I accidentally moved my bike in a way that it caught and left dirty stains on her coat. I did not think much of this till the next day when I ran into the same woman and one of directors in the lift in my office building. It transpired that she is the CEO’s wife. She said nothing and did not acknowledge me, but it was very clear to me that she recognised me.

He did not get the job and thinks Spiteful Bitch put the kibosh on. Commentators have a lovely time handing him his head.

Second post:

I wish I had been told the receptionist/janitor/security guard story by career services at my university, which is one of those prestigious English ones. (Note from Alison: This is a reference to advice that you should be polite to receptionists/janitors/security guards when interviewing.) We get a lot of tips about how to write our resume and cover letter and how we should conduct ourselves during interviews, but not this type of real life recommendation.

'I was raised by wolves before they threw me out of the pack for antisocial behaviour and somehow I got into Oxbridge'.

But, my dearios, is this not a positively archetypal morality tale? At least one of the commenters pointed out its resemblance to Folktale Motif of Young Man on Quest who Fails to Help Old Woman, Bad Luck Eventuates/His Despised Younger Brother Does Help Her, Go Him, Wealth and Princess Are His Lot.

So there's that one.

It could also make a 'Sliding Doors' tale where the different outcomes of doing the wrong and right thing change destiny.

Or maybe he's condemned to repeat that journey and interview over and over again, Groundhog Day style, until he Learns His Lesson.

Or, maybe this is one of those novels that takes An Incident and does it from different viewpoints and that while to Mr I Am The Main Character here, this is all terribly important, there are other people who are going about their lives and barely noticing him unless they have to, and even then they have their own concerns.

(no subject)

Happy birthday,

jcalanthe and

muckefuck!

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Follow Friday 8-15-25: Indie

Today's theme is Indie.

i_love_games -- A Gaming Community
An Active Gaming Community created July 5th, 2013.
[Somewhat active with last post in December 2024.]

indie_games -- Indie Games
Indie games discussion, recs, and squee.
[Somewhat active with last post in June.]

indie_lifestyle -- Indie coolness and all that.
[Dormant with last post in November 2020, but posting is open to all members so this should be revivable.]

musicianships -- The Freaks Club: Musicianships
This Community is for everyone who is involved in music in any way.
[Active with one post in August.]

onesongaday -- One Song A Day
You love music? Come share, listen, enjoy.
[Active with multiple posts in August.]

thefreaksclub -- TFC // The Anti-Thesis Social Network
Everything related to darker alternative subcutlures. Discussion on books, the occult, music, & more.
[Active with one post in August.]

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Affordable Housing

These futuristic 3D-printed homes start at just $200K. One city is building 80 of them.

The development will include energy-efficient, high-quality homes with an average size of about 1,360 square feet.

HiveASMBLD plans to print two unique home designs, each with a two-bedroom and two and a half bathroom configuration, as well as an office or flex space, and a covered patio.

Pricing for these homes starts in the mid to high $200,000s.

( Read more... )

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Celebrate Love Your Bookshop Day

Here is a list of bookshops from

duckprintspress over a wide area.

okay, this is an anti-rec for Jeannie Di Bon

I am now well over halfway through the book, and spent most of chapter four screeching to anyone who would listen about the extent to which either she is deliberately and cynically misrepresenting approaches that aren't Her Personal Programme in the interests of selling the latter, or she's just incompetent.

The actual suggested movements -- the strength-building and the stretching -- are totally reasonable, and also totally standard. It's the surrounding framing that has my eyebrows crawling into my hairline; I... tried to summarise and rapidly discovered I was launching into the full rant, and it's past bedtime, so let's start with: while there's a References section it's a whole 15 items long, and she's blithely saying "X states" or "Y says" as though the fact that something has been published in a single peer-reviewed paper means that it's unquestionably true, and of those fifteen one is a systematic review of any kind and... Several... are under the aegis of an organisation specialising in complementary medicine.

More details tomorrow, probably. With excerpts.

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Birdfeeding

Today is sunny, humid, and hot.

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

EDIT 8/14/25 -- I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 8/14/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 8/14/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 8/14/25 -- I watered the patio plants and old picnic table garden.

I've seen a male cardinal in the forest garden.

EDIT 8/14/25 -- I watered the new picnic table garden, telephone pole garden, and some of the savanna seedlings.

Crickets and cicadas are singing. Fireflies are out; I haven't seen them in a while.

There was a skunk in the south lot.

I am done for the night.

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Manners makyth monarkz

I was madly irked yesterday to come across this in a report in The Times on classism at Oxbridge (surprise surprise NOT, surely, that is where one would expect to find it in its native haunts?):

'being offered “lessons in manners” after picking up the wrong spoon at a formal college dinner.'

a) I do not think deployment of cutlery comes under the heading of 'manners', unless, as in, was it The Lion in Winter or some forgotten Arthurian epic, somebody takes these here newfangled forks to be instruments of assassination. Or maybe starts flicking soup across the table with improvised spoon trebuchets. Providing that we're at the Norbert Elias Civilising Process stage of using cutlery rather than our fingers, anyway.

Wot do they even teach them at Oxbridge these days, eh?

b) Okay, people do weaponise manners, but essentially, manners are supposed to be about making people feel comfortable and at ease, and if you're picking on somebody for not knowing some niche culturally-specific rule relating to spoons, that is Bad Manners and RUDE.

Cite here to Cardinal Newman on The Gentleman:

The true gentleman in like manner carefully avoids whatever may cause a jar or a jolt in the minds of those with whom he is cast — all clashing of opinion, or collision of feeling, all restraint, or suspicion, or gloom, or resentment; his great concern being to make every one at his ease and at home.

And a story that I was told in childhood about Queen Victoria, which when I look it up, has also been ascribed to QEII and now to His current Maj, about seeing a guest, unacquainted with fingerbowls, drink from theirs, and doing the same, so as not to show them up.

So I am pretty sure this is Totally Apocryphal, or else it was actually done by somebody who Was Not Queen V or even royal, but it is a story about Proper Behaviour.

GB Stern - not sure whether this is in her 'rag-bag chronicles' or one of the novels or maybe even both - mentions Mittel-European landowner lady who, when dining her tenants, deliberately spills glass of wine on the tablecloth herself, right at the beginning of the meal, to set them at ease.

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Watch my brother's film!

I posted about watching my brother's first feature-length film Hungry Ghost Diner (2023) under access lock, but then found out it's available in the US/UK on Apple TV and Prime Video. I feel like my DW network has quite the concentration of people interested in c-ent, so thought I'd post publicly to draw some attention to it!

Hungry Ghost Diner is a supernatural family drama/comedy about a food truck operator, Bonnie, who has a difficult relationship with her dad, and has to balik kampung/go back to small-town Perak, where her dad runs a kopitiam/coffeehouse, when her uncle dies. Her dad is closing down the coffeehouse; it's Hungry Ghost Month and there are lots of ghosts about, and family issues that need resolution ... It's unusual among the c-ent you might have watched before in that it's Malaysian, so features multiple languages -- I think Cantonese gets the most screen-time, but Mandarin, Hakka, Hokkien, English and Malay are also spoken.

I am obviously not remotely objective, but having just finished watching it yesterday, I thought it was good and if anything I felt one might enjoy it even more if one was not related to the director lolol. It got a positive critical reception in Malaysia when it came out a couple of years ago and has won awards at film festivals, and you can see why. It's beautifully shot, quirkily scored, and very Malaysian -- the charm of the accumulated details of (Chinese) small-town Malaysia is impossible to resist if you have any connection to such places, and probably still hard to resist if you don't know Malaysia personally. I thought the cast all delivered strong performances. I was particularly taken with the lead's sweet maternal uncle (played by an actor who sadly died suddenly not too long after the film was released). The lead was impressive, too: she played the main character with directness and sincerity.

And the film's such a heartfelt homage to Malaysian Chinese culture, from the beverages ads in Bonnie's dad's kopitiam to the Potehi glove puppet performances (I found these very interesting, I'd never seen them before). I think it's a film that would interest anyone who follows me on DW, or has read my books, or is generally interested in world cinema!

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Vocabulary: Unintended Sidequences

Clearly a portmanteau of "side effects / consequences." I like it.