Climate Change

Aug. 16th, 2025 01:20 am
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[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
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.

Creative Jam

Aug. 16th, 2025 01:17 am
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[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
The August [community profile] 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



Philosophical Questions: Diversity

Aug. 16th, 2025 12:16 am
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
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... )




Today's Adventures

Aug. 15th, 2025 08:37 pm
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[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Today we went out to Mattoon in search of evening farmer's markets.

Read more... )

Lake Lewisia #1291

Aug. 15th, 2025 04:47 pm
scrubjayspeaks: Town sign for (fictional) Lake Lewisia, showing icons of mountains and a lake with the letter L (Lake Lewisia)
[personal profile] scrubjayspeaks
The first few mantis shrimp had come from the mermaids, traded for rare freshwater shells coveted by the salt-dwelling, and he had undertaken a project of selective breeding and training. Having a domesticated mantis shrimp as an assistive animal had its own limitations, but there was room by the window for both his easel and an aquarium with an elaborate communication board. Though he was colorblind, his service shrimp guided him through a world of color even the finest paints struggled to render.

---

LL#1291

Early Humans

Aug. 15th, 2025 06:03 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
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
.

Birdfeeding

Aug. 15th, 2025 02:18 pm
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[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
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.

Follow Friday 8-15-25: Indie

Aug. 15th, 2025 01:01 am
ysabetwordsmith: A blue sheep holding a quill dreams of Dreamwidth (Dreamsheep)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Today's theme is Indie.


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

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

[community profile] 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.]

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

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

[community profile] 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.]

Affordable Housing

Aug. 14th, 2025 05:40 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
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... )

Celebrate Love Your Bookshop Day

Aug. 14th, 2025 05:35 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Here is a list of bookshops from [personal profile] duckprintspress over a wide area. 

Birdfeeding

Aug. 14th, 2025 02:49 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
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.

Yeek!

Aug. 14th, 2025 06:56 am
moonhare: (Eisbär)
[personal profile] moonhare
Surgery- TMI summation )

Vocabulary: Unintended Sidequences

Aug. 13th, 2025 11:51 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Clearly a portmanteau of "side effects / consequences."  I like it.

Lake Lewisia #1290

Aug. 13th, 2025 05:24 pm
scrubjayspeaks: Town sign for (fictional) Lake Lewisia, showing icons of mountains and a lake with the letter L (Lake Lewisia)
[personal profile] scrubjayspeaks
The misty distance into which the whole world receded, when viewed from the mountaintop, seemed to him like a file that had not fully loaded. So he took up running--not cross country, as one might expect in his area, but sprinting. Perhaps, he thought, if he could run fast enough into that hazy horizon, he could outrun the world he knew and plunge into whatever lay beyond it, something bigger operating in the background.

---

LL#1290

Conservation

Aug. 13th, 2025 04:11 pm
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[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Scientists confirm two new species of pika in the Himalayas after 20 years of research

Using data collected from 2003, 2023, and 2024, researchers Pan Xuan and Wang Xuming were able to delineate previously unidentified species as Ochotona galunglaensis and O. legbona.

“Our findings highlight the previously underestimated diversity within Conothoa and contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of pika diversity in the Himalayan region,” Xuan and Xuming observed in their study, which was published in Ecology and Evolution.

Pint-sized pikas, which resemble hamsters in appearance, are not rodents but lagomorphs, meaning that they are closely related to rabbits and hares
.


Good news, but hardly a surprise. Pikas are currently alpine species. That means they are easily isolated and thus prone to speciation. Think of mountaintops as islands, in the sense that creatures dwelling there find it difficult or impossible to move from one to another.

Birdfeeding

Aug. 13th, 2025 02:21 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Today is mostly sunny, humid, and hot.

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

EDIT 8/12/25 -- I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 8/12/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 8/12/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 8/12/25 -- I potted up 4 asparagus berries from the Charleston Food Forest.

EDIT 8/12/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 8/12/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 8/12/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 8/12/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

I am done for the night.

Poem: "To Allow in More Light"

Aug. 13th, 2025 01:13 pm
ysabetwordsmith: (monster house)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
This poem came out of the August 5, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired and sponsored by [personal profile] janetmiles. It also fills the "As If By Magic" square in my 8-1-25 card for the Crime Classics Bingo fest. This poem belongs to the series Monster House. It falls between "Secondhand Sight" and "Paper, Scissors, Stone" so reading in that order will make more sense.

Read more... )

Hard Things

Aug. 13th, 2025 01:11 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?

Sufficiency and Wellbeing Magazine

Aug. 12th, 2025 05:58 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
This is an online magazine that is anti-capitalist and degrowth.  It's something you can read when you get disgusted with enshittification and planned obsolescence and all that crap.

Birdfeeding

Aug. 12th, 2025 03:03 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Today is partly sunny and sweltering.

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

EDIT 8/12/25 -- I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 8/12/25 -- I potted up 12 sweet cherry seeds.

EDIT 8/12/25 -- I did some work around the patio.

EDIT 8/12/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 8/12/25 -- I watered some plants on the old and new picnic tables that were wilting, then did the telephone pole garden and a few of the savanna seedlings.  I'm annoyed that some plants are wilting so soon after copious  watering, because I can't haul that hose around every day, or even every few days. >_<

I've seen a skunk on the patio.

I am done for the night.

Recommendations

Aug. 12th, 2025 12:55 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
I came across this post on Dreamwidth discussing a rant from John Scalzi. I'd like to say a few things about reading and writing. To establish my credentials for the below remarks:

* I have a degree in Rhetoric, that is, writing.

* I'm a professional writer across multiple fields and types of writing.

* I'm a professional editor.

* I have read many tens of thousands of books over the decades. I have inhaled whole libraries. Our house is lined with books; we counted once, it was well over 10,000 then and that was many years ago.

* I am an activist.

Read more... )

Lake Lewisia #1289

Aug. 11th, 2025 04:44 pm
scrubjayspeaks: Town sign for (fictional) Lake Lewisia, showing icons of mountains and a lake with the letter L (Lake Lewisia)
[personal profile] scrubjayspeaks
There will be a memorial service for all appliances, gadgets, and personal technology items that died this past year, held outside the Shipwreck Repair Collective storefront. This is an opportunity to mourn the data lost in hard drive crashes and SIM card drownings, as well as a chance to safely recycle the remains of our departed electronic companions. The representatives of the Collective assure us that all dead equipment will be treated respectfully and any remaining personal data will be safely wiped before parts are used for mad science purposes.

---

LL#1289

Basic Income

Aug. 11th, 2025 04:47 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
In a new pilot program, this city will give homeless young adults $1,200 in cash every month for two years

According to the Stanford Basic Income Lab, universal basic income is a periodic cash payment that is given to individuals unconditionally, requiring no work requirement or sanctions to access.

And as various nonprofits and cities across the country experiment with basic income programs, most have found that the money received is largely used to pay for the basic essentials many Americans struggle to afford.

A new pilot program in Boston, Massachusetts wants to find out if the same trend applies for a specific demographic: young adults facing homelessness
.

Read more... )

Monday Update 8-11-25

Aug. 11th, 2025 03:03 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Artwork of the wordsmith typing. (typing)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
These are some posts from the later part of last week in case you missed them:
Spider Apocalypse
Activism
Fossils
Birdfeeding
Safety
Birdfeeding
Philosophical Questions: Thinking
Safety
Moment of Silence: Jim Lovell
Birdfeeding
Follow Friday 8-8-25: Icons
Today's Adventures
Inventions
Fossils
Birdfeeding
Bigotry
Birdfeeding
Good News

Food has 34 comments. "Philosophical Questions: Looks" has 48 comments. "Incompetence, Sloppy Thinking, and Laziness" has 75 comments. "Not a Destination, But a Process" has 148 comments.


[community profile] summerofthe69 is open! You can see the calendar here and the current themes are Alternate Sexy Parts 69 and Kinky 69.


There are no open epics at present.


The weather has been sweltering agan. Seen at the birdfeeders this week: a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches, a mourning dove, a house wren, a male cardinal, and a fox squirrel. Currently blooming: dandelions, pansies, violas, marigolds, petunias, red salvia, wild strawberries, verbena, lantana, sweet alyssum, zinnias, snapdragons, blue lobelia, perennial pinks, oxalis, moss rose, yarrow, anise hyssop, firecracker plant, tomatoes, tomatillos, Asiatic lilies, cucumber, yellow squash, zucchini, morning glory, purple echinacea, black-eyed Susan, yellow coneflower, chicory, Queen Anne's lace, sunflowers, cup plant, gladioli, firewheel, orange butterfly weed. Tomatillo and pepper have green fruit. Wild strawberries, mulberries, tomatoes, and cucumbers are ripe. The second crop of blackberries and the ball carrots are ripe.

Magpie Monday

Aug. 11th, 2025 02:49 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
[personal profile] dialecticdreamer is hosting Magpie Monday with a theme of "Change." Leave prompts, get ficlets!

Change is an immutable element of the universe.

Today, let’s make change our goal. Call it the theme. Big or small, quiet and subtle or dramatic and incontrovertible, what change do you want to see? In the world? In a story with an unsatisfying moment (or worse, ending)?



Birdfeeding

Aug. 11th, 2025 02:10 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Today is mostly sunny, humid, and hot. The sky is blue with fluffy white clouds.

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

EDIT 8/11/25 -- I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 8/11/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 8/11/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 8/11/25 -- We reeled up the garden hose. Yay. Yay.

I am done for the night.

Humor

Aug. 10th, 2025 11:38 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
This made me laugh.

The True Self

Spider Apocalypse

Aug. 10th, 2025 10:45 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
This article mentions seeing no grass spiders in a place that typically has them. 

Then I realized that I haven't seen any this year either.  Usually we have one every couple of feet here, so many it's hard not to step on the webs.  They're barely visible most of the time, unless covered in dust or rain or dew.  I may simply not have noticed them.  But with the ongoing insect apocalypse, it is concerning.  I have have seen other spiders spinning webs, though.

What are your spider populations like?

Activism

Aug. 10th, 2025 09:10 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
How To Make Your City Stronger With 4 Hours and a Shovel

Last month, members of Livable Lynchburg, a Strong Towns Local Conversation group, joined a walk audit alongside city staff, regional planners, and transit officials. At the corner of 12th and Polk, they noticed two stretches of sidewalk that were so overgrown they were nearly impassable.

Read more... )

Done This Week

Aug. 10th, 2025 05:56 pm
scrubjayspeaks: hand holding pen over notebook (done this week)
[personal profile] scrubjayspeaks
The weather is awful. Over 100 every day, and over 105 for most of them. Fires in the south have sent smoke our way, such that it is difficult to be outside for any length of time. I still have a half dozen plants in the house that need to be potted up and added to the collection. I haven't had the will to work out on the patio, though.

At work, they abruptly (for us) announced the closure of two other facilities. The work from one of them is going to a new facility overseas (hm...). The work from the other will be coming to us, so we are theoretically in a stronger position than before.

Try telling that, though, to a roomful of people who have just spent the morning wondering why there's an urgent, mandatory plant-wide meeting, asking their supervisors if they're about to get fired, and just got told their peers around the state and country are being let go. If the HR person stuck making the announcement hadn't been the same one to fuck up managing my benefits deductions while I was on medical leave, I might have had real pity for them.

That put something of a pall over the week, if the weather hadn't already killed the mood.

Lewisia: 3 new pieces written

Day job: 42.5 hours

Gardening: fixed via MacGyvering the drip line that keeps blowing apart

Reading: attempted to listen to Faceless Killers by Henning Mankell, bounced off it utterly, I have no appetite for stories about the demonization of immigrants/refugees right now, especially with a narrator/MC who is at best ambivalent on the subject and a cast who was shaping up to be uniformly detestable

Listening: If Arsenic Fails, Try Algebra by Pop Unknown (okay, so, storytime: in high school a girl who was much cooler than I gave me a mix CD. It is one of the soundtracks of my youth, for all that I had no idea who the artist was. I still have the physical disc, even. I sorted out, some twenty years on, that all but the first track were Pop Unknown songs, and were in fact the tracks of this album out of order. It is still exactly what it ever was to me, which is good, early aughts alt stuff.), 24 by surasshu (chiptunes, essentially, meant to be ringtones, but a pleasant little instrumental journey through the hours of the day)

Aftermarket Parts: got clearance from my surgeon’s office for getting my nips tattooed on

Clock Mouse: 1533 words--on a roll!

Other: got mum’s new phone all set up and restored to the degree possible

Pandemic Garden Club

Aug. 10th, 2025 05:55 pm
scrubjayspeaks: macro photograph of ladybug climbing a blade of grass (garden)
[personal profile] scrubjayspeaks
Welcome to the August edition of Pandemic Garden Club! Growing good things in strange times!

Anyone is welcome to comment with what they're growing right now, things they would like to try, problems they're encountering, and questions they have. Share resources, answer questions, shout encouragement.

As for myself...

Read more... )

Fossils

Aug. 10th, 2025 04:40 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Stunning “wonder reptile” discovery rewrites the origins of feathers

An international team of researchers has published a breakthrough study in the journal Nature showing that early reptiles from the Triassic period had unique structures growing from its skin that formed an alternative to feathers.

The newly described Mirasaura grauvogeli from the Middle Triassic had a striking feather-like crest, hinting that complex skin appendages arose far earlier than previously believed. Its bird-like skull, tree-climbing adaptations, and pigment structures linked to feathers deepen the mystery of reptile evolution.

Birdfeeding

Aug. 10th, 2025 03:16 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Today is partly sunny, humid, and hot.

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

EDIT 8/10/25 -- I put out water for the birds.  They had drained the small metal birdbath.

EDIT 8/10/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 8/10/25 -- I watered the old picnic table, house yard, and patio plants.

EDIT 8/10/25 -- I watered the new picnic table and septic gardens.  I didn't have energy or daylight to pick up the hose, though; I had to turn it off and just leave it out.  :/  I'll try to reel it up tomorrow.  It's exhausting to maneuver.

I am done for the night.

Safety

Aug. 10th, 2025 03:18 am
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
I stumbled across this today, while researching hormone use on livestock:

Causing trauma to the reproductive tract can induce bleeding, and since blood is toxic to sperm, this may result in reduced conception rates, permanently infertile animals, or animal death.

It makes me wonder if that's a cause undermining conception from rape, which often features internal injuries from microabrasions up to serious tears. If so, an interesting example of self-sabotage.

And then, what about the handful of species where rough sex is normal or even required? A tomcat's barbed penis, for example. Is their sperm different somehow? Or is there some other protective mechanism in play?

Food

Aug. 10th, 2025 02:56 am
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
How much damage are ultraprocessed foods really doing to your health?

New American Heart Association Science Advisory reviews current evidence about UPFs and their impact on adverse health outcomes and outlines opportunities for research, policy and regulatory reform to improve dietary intake and overall health.
Many foods we consume today are ultraprocessed, packed with unhealthy ingredients, and linked to major health risks. As consumption of these foods rises, so do chronic health issues, especially among lower-income groups. Experts are calling for clearer guidelines, better research, and systemic changes to reduce the impact of ultraprocessed foods on public health
.

Read more... )

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