Reading List | Adventures with Kake

One: bread/avocado/scramble breakfast exactly as good as I had been looking forward to, with bonus realisation that we currently have some plum jam open so I got to finish with the rye-caraway-poppy (still mostly white wheat but those were the flavours) + butter + plum jam and this, too, was magnificent. (Bonus food excellence: ASPARAGUS that is now in season; some brownie bar + strawberries.)

Two: gym!!! I made the decision that the traffic was awful enough that buses would be a bad idea so I got bonus admiration of some excellent front gardens I have been otherwise oblivious to, and also observed More Coot Eggs.

Three: Murderbot is apparently managing to occupy a sweet spot in terms of complexity and degree of emotional engagement that means I'm actually managing to read the new one. (Bookshop.org very much does NOT have the ebook in the UK store so I even don't feel bad that I forgot it existed until after I'd given Kobo money.)

Four: post-therapy treat was Completing The Speedrun Achievement for the arcane library game, thereby sorting me out with All achievements, so I am now probably ready to contentedly move on.

Five: spent a chunk of the evening removing labels from the Child's clothing, and it is very very nice to know that his life will be materially improved as a result.

ysabetwordsmith

Why are scorpion stings so painful? Metal stingers!

In the scorpion stingers, the researchers found zinc at the tip of the needle-like structure. But many of the scorpions had a sharp transition to manganese below this point.

Meanwhile, in the outer part of the pincers, called the tarsus, the researchers found zinc. In addition, some scorpion pincers also contained iron. Interestingly, the metal only reinforced the cutting edge of the pincer. That’s the side of the tarsus that endures the most stress from struggling prey.

Well no, it's the venom that makes a sting painful. The metal is there for structural support and armor-piercing capacity. Many scorpions hunt primarily chitinous prey and need a way to defeat that armor. It's also why some larger scorpions can sting through heavy cloth or even leather. O_O

Anyhow, this has terrific potential for speculative fiction and speculative evolution. So don't tease people who design species with metallic components, because there is hard science behind how some extant wildlife uses metal.

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

Today is partly sunny, breezy, and cool.

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

I put out water for the birds.

I set out a few potted plants to get some sun.

More white peonies are blooming, along with deep pink ones under the apricot tree.

EDIT 5/7/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

I've seen a male Baltimore oriole eating the orange I put out. :D 3q3q3q!!!

EDIT 5/7/26 -- I planted the tulip poplar from Douglas-Hart at the north edge of the savanna. This species hosts multiple moths as well as the tiger swallowtail butterfly.

I've seen a male rose-breasted grosbeak, a male and a female cardinal separately, and a gray catbird.

EDIT 5/7/26 -- I did some bushwhacking to clear the mow space between the flowerbeds and the Midwinter Grove.

EDIT 5/7/26 -- I did more bushwhacking and stick pickup along the path around the prairie garden. I dumped a trolley of sticks into the firepit. There is still one sapling-sized branch too big for me to handle alone. Frustrating.

EDIT 5/7/26 -- We moved the big branch from the prairie garden to the ritual meadow.

I did more work around the patio.

I can see rain to the northwest, so I am done for the night.

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

Ted Turner has passed away. He is best known for founding CNN, TBS, and TNT but he also created the famous cartoon Captain Planet and the Planeteers.

Carry on the Work

4 Ways to Become an Environmentalist

How to Become an Activist and Advocate for Worthy Causes

How to Become a Broadcast Journalist (with Pictures)

How to Start a Cartoon Show

Institute for Nonprofit News Startup Guide

Current Mood: nostalgic

oursin

A further trail of thought more or less kicked off by this comment by flemmings on yesterday's post about Ursula as an anthropologist's daughter and the way that inflected her fiction -

- and then I went, hey, wasn't he part of that whole Franz Boas group that I read that book about at the beginning of 2020 (Charles King, The Reinvention of Humanity) and would she not have been aware of Significant Lady Anthropologists and their work (not just her own ma) -

Like, Margaret Mead and Ruth Benedict?

(Maybe the forthcoming biography will shine some light there???)

Or was that going on in some entirely different compartment to the requirements of fictional narrative? (thinking of my 1920s gals and the gulf between what they were up to with their affairs and abortions and propagating birth control and what the protags in their novels were permitted to get up to.)

Or was there a whole generational thing going on there, which I sort of touched on in commenting about Mitchison on this post, though I think I could make a larger case about that generation that had had to fight for a lot of rights that were already accepted as given by UKleG's day even if there were still major constraints.

(Seem to recollect that I did not think Julie Phillips in that book on writers and motherhood quite brought out the extent to which she was writing of a very specific generation/time-period. With some exceptions.)

ysabetwordsmith

This Alberta Startup Sells No-Tech Tractors for Half Price

Ursa Ag, a small Canadian manufacturer, is assembling tractors powered by 12-valve Cummins engines — the same mechanically injected workhorses that powered combines and pickup trucks decades ago — and selling them for roughly half the price of comparable machines from established brands. The 150-horsepower model starts at $129,900 CAD, about $95,000 USD. The range-topping 260-hp version runs $199,900 CAD, around $146,000.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

oursin

Happy birthday,

marshtide!

ysabetwordsmith

This year I'm doing Community Thursdays. Some of my activity will involve maintaining communities I run, and my favorites. Some will involve checking my list of subscriptions and posting in lower-traffic ones. Today I have interacted with the following communities...

* Posted "Three Weeks for Dreamwidth: Repairing" in

renew_repair_refashion.

* Commented on "Just One Thing" in

awesomeers.

* Commented on "May Day Full Flower Moon" in

common_nature.

* Posted "Birdfeeding" in

birdfeeding.

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

This year during Three Weeks for Dreamwidth, I'm writing about reading as a way of becoming an expert in a given subject. Read Part 1: Introduction to Becoming an Expert, Part 2: Architecture, Part 3: Dance, Part 4: Music, Part 5: Painting, Part 6: Poetry, Part 7: Sculpture, Part 8: Conflict Resolution, Part 9: Cooking, Part 10: Coping Skills, Part 11: Gardening, Part 12: Relationship Skills.

Three Weeks for Dreamwidth Part 13: Repairing

Repairing comprises a huge range of skills for maintaining and fixing tools, toys, and anything else that needs care. Most folks think of this regarding big machines like cars, but it used to be the case that small things were designed for repair too, like sewing machines or mixers. Nowadays, much is meant to be disposable, which wastes resources. Repairs may be divided into large equipment, small equipment, toys, and clothes among other categories. Different cultures have different things to repair and methods they like to use. Some of these are distinctive, like Japanese kintsugi (repairing pottery with golden seams) or boro (repairing clothes, often reinforced with sashiko stitches). Here on Dreamwidth,

renew_repair_refashion is low traffic, but posting is open to all members so feel free to pitch in. Also check out related communites such as

awesomeers,

crafty,

everykindofcraft,

get_knitted,

goals_on_dw,

green_living,

sewing101,

sewing, and

softtoys.

Three Weeks for Dreamwidth April 25-May 15

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

kaberett

One: I have spent much of the day indulging the desire to Quietly Hyperfocus On Game and it has been a very relaxing autism to have.

Two: I have finished the questionable Ryvita we... somehow... came into possession of (I apparently object to things that are not salt & vinegar extruded potato twirls containing potassium chloride) and can now merrily go back to overpriced high protein crackers until such time as I get around to buying vital wheat gluten with which to make my own.

Three: two loaves of bread (because I strained a Lot of whey off the most recent batch of yoghurt), which are a slightly silly set of shapes but also extremely aesthetic. I am very much looking forward to extravagant breakfast featuring avocado and also scrambled egg. (New oven needs less time to do them than old one; new oven also would ideally get them rotated halfway through baking if I want them done evenly. I am trying to work out what the best way to freeze the second loaf is...)

Four: Adam brought me home British strawberries from the supermarket, all with their petals still attached.

Five: new Murderbot purchased. (When I will get around to reading it is another question, but the possibility exists!)

ysabetwordsmith

NASA releases 12,000 Artemis pics! See our faves here

NASA has released more than 12,000 images from the Artemis 2 mission on its website. They are a collection of views of Earth and the moon that the astronauts captured while aboard their spacecraft, Integrity. The website is here. Note that a high interest in the images has caused the website to go offline numerous times since NASA released the pictures.

Your tax dollars at work, doing something that isn't monstrous.

Current Mood: busy

oursin

What I read

Finished Tales From Earthsea, The Other Wind and the pendant short pieces in The Book of Earthsea 'The Rule of Names', 'The Word of Unbinding', 'The Daughter of Odren', and 'Earthsea Revisioned'. I don't know quite what it is, I can see how good her work is, but the feeling is more of distant admiration than what I feel for my beloved favourites? Might even cop to preferring her criticism and essays to her fiction? (not the only author to whom this pertains.)

Started a Dick Francis, Bolt (Kit Fielding, #2) (1986)

- and then, feeling all a-wamble and fretted because of the insomnia thing, fell back into Randall Jarrell, Pictures from an Institution, old favourite.

- and then returned to the horsies and the posh owners and the psycho villains.

On the go

Martha Wells, Platform Decay (The Murderbot Diaries #8) which arrived yesterday.

Up next

No idea, apart from the recently arrived latest Literary Review

ysabetwordsmith

Today is cloudy and cool. It rained again last night.

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

I put out some potted plants to get ... well, what sun there is through the clouds.

EDIT 5/6/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 5/6/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 5/6/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

I've seen a large mixed flock of sparrows and house finches, a pair of rose-breasted grosbeaks, a male cardinal, a brown thrasher, and a fox squirrel. :D

EDIT 5/6/26 -- I did some bushwhacking in the yard.

EDIT 5/6/26 -- I planted a persimmon tree in the forest yard.

EDIT 5/6/26 -- I did some bushwhacking in the yard. There are more dead branches down too, some small enough to move easily, others big enough that all I could do was drag it more-or-less out of the way.

EDIT 5/6/26 -- I planted the second persimmon tree in the forest yard.

EDIT 5/6/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 5/6/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

I am done for the night.

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

These are the content notes for "The Worst Thing in Life."

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

Here are the character notes for "The Worst Thing in Life."

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

This poem came out of the May 5, 2026 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from

gs_silva. It also fills the "loss" square in my 5-1-26 card for the Greek Myth Fest. This poem belongs to the series Polychrome Heroics. It follows "Determine Where You Start," so read that first or this won't make much sense.

Warning: This poem contains some intense and controversial topics. Highlight to read the more detailed warnings, some of which are spoilers. It includes the aftermath of acquired disability, a complete change of planned career, loss, abandonment, feeling left out, loneliness, reconnecting with an old friend, emotional upheaval, identity issues, and other challenges. If these are sensitive issues for you, please consider your tastes and headspace before moving onward.

This microfunded poem is being posted one verse at a time, as donations come in to cover them. The rate is $0.50/line, so $5 will reveal 10 new lines, and so forth. There is a permanent donation button on my profile page, or you can contact me for other arrangements. You can also ask me about the number of lines per verse, if you want to fund a certain number of verses.
So far sponsors include:

gs_silva,

janetmiles

FULLY FUNDED
170 lines, Buy It Now = $85
Amount donated = $3
Verses posted = 2 of 55
Amount remaining to fund fully = $82
Amount needed to fund next verse = $2
Amount needed to fund the verse after that = $2

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

yourlibrarian is hosting a points giveaway as part of Three Weeks for Dreamwidth. Comment on the claim post by May 14 if you want points. Recipients will be matched to donors on May 15.

"Paid features are the only way to support Dreamwidth financially, but people who want these services can't always get them for financial or logistical reasons. Thanks to donor pledges, we can now provide points to as many as 68 people, but in order for this to work, people need to step forward! Follow the link above to find out more. Donors and giftees both participate anonymously through screened comments."
[---8<---]
"Remember, paid features is the only way to support Dreamwidth financially. Having giftees means we give Dreamwidth financial resources for all they do."

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

Alberta government keeping eye on investigations into voter info breach

Last week, millions of Albertans learned personal information like their full names, addresses and contact information were made available in a searchable database posted by separatist group the Centurion Project.

The list was legally obtained from Elections Alberta by the Alberta Republican Party. However that information is not to be shared with third parties, and it remains unclear how it ended up in the hands of the Centurion Project.

If the only way it could have gotten to Centurion is by way of the Republicans, then they should be liable for damages. If the Elections office may have been breached, that's a different issue. Looks like America isn't the only post-privacy, post-boundaries society.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

jack

So apparently a hundred used to be a hundred and twenty.

According to etymonline "hundred" came from Proto-Germanic "hunda-ratha", ultimately from Proto-Indo-European "km-tom", a shortening of "dkm-tom-", a suffixed form of "dekm-" meaning ten. Latin "centum" (where roman numeral C comes from) came from the same word.

But it sounds like in Proto-Germanic, the word mostly meant *twelve* tens. And then over the whole medieval period in Germanic-language speaking areas, it was used to mean "120" for some goods and "100" for others. Wikipedia says that "thousand" was also used meaning "1200".

Some sources delved through a bunch of medievel documents looking for examples and it sounded persuasive to me. One emphasised that it always seems to be twelve tens, people didn't seem to count twelve twelves. It seems like "120" and "100" were somewhat standardised, but there were also regional variations or a tendency to use similar terminology for any round number around that size.

English eventually started distinguishing these as "long hundred" and "short hundred", and surprisingly late (1800s?) parliament ordered that "hundred" be standardised as 100. Long and short persist in measures like "long ton" and "short ton", being 2200lb or 2000lb. Apparently based on 20 long hundredweights or 20 short hundredweights. Long ton or british ton is conveniently almost exactly 1000kg, which people now use as the metric tonne. North Americans may still use "ton" as a short ton.

I can't find any confirmation where "120" started. I assume that the PIE word meant "100". Does anyone know more?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_hundred (Especially look through the citations to short academic PDFs eg https://journals.socantscot.org/index.php/psas/article/view/9477)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_ton
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hundredweight

lovingboth

Into the Woods (Bridge Theatre)

This is one of those occasions where I acknowledge that I am in a minority here. As I left, immediately after it finished,* a large chunk of the audience were starting to give a standing ovation.

The material is obviously fabulous.

The set is very good, and I am slightly annoyed that there's no opportunity to photo either the first act trees or the second act devastation - it must have been a very strong 'wind'!

The costumes and lighting** are good, even if by the end I was going "this looks like one of those over-processed HDR photos, doesn't it?" to myself.

The cast are probably fine, and there are a couple of nice touches with the direction (along with some misses).

As with the 'David Thomas and Two Pale Boys' version of Shockheaded Peter exactly 24 years ago, the issue is with the sound. It's not as painful as that was, but it's bad: particularly with the female roles, the sound balance makes them sound like they're squawking when they're singing. It doesn't ruin the show, but it doesn't do any of the actors any favours whatsoever and I have no doubt that they're all better than this makes them sound.

Oh, there is an exception: anyone not in sight of the audience - think Cinderella's mother - has the echo etc turned up to eleven, just to emphasise that they're not really there.

There is doubtless some artistic reason for having a sound mix that makes your cast sound worse than they are, but I can't think of one. Do a better one, and I'd have liked the show a lot more. As it is, it's towards the bottom of the Woods productions I've seen.

* I wasn't going to hang around in any case: it went about 12 minutes over the advertised runtime meaning getting to the station was getting tight given I needed to do some stuff once I got there.

** I'm including the video projection silhouette of the giant in this.

Kake's Reading List

some good things

Wildlife

Birdfeeding

Moment of Silence: Ted Turner

Further Le Guin thoughts

Low Tech

(no subject)

Community Thursdays

Three Weeks for Dreamwidth: Repairing

some good things

Space Exploration

Wednesday had a lot of trouble logging into Official Persona Email

Birdfeeding

Content notes for "The Worst Thing in Life"

Character notes for "The Worst Thing in Life"

Poem: "The Worst Thing in Life"

Dreamwidth Points

Safety

A Hundred

FIrst 2026 theatre 5

Links

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December 2012

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