Philosophical Questions: Democracy

Jan. 17th, 2026 01:00 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.

Considering that the technology exists to enable a real democracy, would a true democracy (every single person can vote on every single legislation) be advantageous or detrimental?

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Greenland Defense Front

Jan. 17th, 2026 12:42 am
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
I found these videos today. Do not watch with mouth full.


Greenland Defense Front - The Hungry Giant (Official Music Video)

I love the hell out of this and wish any of that imagery would appear on a T-shirt. It is right up there with Der Fuhrer's Face.



Democratic Penguins Republic - Space Program (Official Music Video)

Here's a fantastic filk song.


Democratic Penguins Republic - Greenland (Official Music Video)

This one is also pretty good.

2025 Photos

Jan. 16th, 2026 10:04 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
These are the photos that I uploaded in 2025, mostly pictures from my yard or local nature sites.

• 1401 photos
• Created 03.01.2025
• Updated 26.12.2025

Wow, that's a lot. :D It's nowhere near all of them, even all of the ones good enough to share.

These are the ones I selected to share in Three for the Memories as my most memorable (not most aesthetic or most technically ept) from 2025.
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
These are the three pictures I selected as most memorable (not the most aesthetically beautiful or technically ept) from 2025 for [community profile] threeforthememories.

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Mending Friendship (Part 1 of 2)

Jan. 16th, 2026 09:29 pm
dialecticdreamer: My work (Default)
[personal profile] dialecticdreamer
Mending Friendship
By Dialecticdreamer/Sarah Williams
Part 1 of 2, complete
Word count (story only): 1446
[Thursday, May 3, 2016]

:: Leo is ready to meet with Doctor Finn, at last. This follows up on the segment of consequences of China’s (initial) Mistake, "Their Need for Our Disciplinary Assistance" which led to "Accidental Injuries">, among other consequences. Written for the January of 2026 Magpie Monday, this was a backchannel prompt that made my day. Hence, it’s double the usual length and posted for everyone to enjoy, with my thanks! ::


On to part two




Leo thumbed through the six new certifications, the wallet-sized cards held lightly in his left hand. He spread them on the coffee table in front of him by completion date, with the last, most precious “Senior Followship” dated just four days ago. The last card, completely in Italian, had been signed only two days before. He fit the cards one by one into the dove gray wallet that he thought of as his new “Mercedes wallet,” then put the last into his old, battered wallet that he’d been given when he had collected his third certification.

It had been a long three months. It had taken three times as long as he’d planned, just because he needed a rarer, more comprehensive class for Followship, one not meant for new adults, new hires to a particular company or for first responders in a larger network. Leo rubbed his thumb over the spine of his older wallet. His first responder certs were all in Italian, and hidden behind more typical business-oriented training.
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New Year's Resolutions Check In

Jan. 16th, 2026 07:46 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
We made it through the second week of January. This is enough to get a better grasp of progress with New Year's resolutions. It's also into the period of rapid die-off. We have reached the second Friday in January, also known as Quitter's Day because so many people give up their New Year's resolutions then. See also the parallel check in post over on [community profile] goals_on_dw.

Feel free to copy the idea of a New Year's resolution check-in to your blog or other venue, to encourage yourself and your friends. Many people find that social support helps maintain resolutions. This is one area where online activity works as well as or better than facetime activity. Apps work too, with trackers for most popular goal categories. Consider the pros and cons of getting your friends to help. Here on Dreamwidth we have [community profile] awesomeers and [community profile] do_it that may prove helpful for social support of goals. Some craft communities like [community profile] get_knitted and [community profile] justcreate also have check-in posts.

According to an email from Facebook, the survey found that those who shared their New Year's resolution on Facebook were 36 percent more likely to stick to it. Additionally, 52 percent of those surveyed agreed that sharing their resolutions with others is helpful when it comes to accomplishing them. In my experience, saying (or posting) things out loud definitely makes them feel more real. Plus, if other people know about a goal you're trying to achieve, it may motivate you to keep working at it so you can provide future updates on your progress.

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A thought I'm struck by

Jan. 16th, 2026 10:12 pm
[personal profile] cosmolinguist

I did not expect that being lucky enough to have stable housing in my 40s would mean that I would spend it helping other fortysomething neurospicy queers get out of marriages gone bad.

We have me the failed foster (successful adoption! [personal profile] angelofthenorth always insisted on correcting me when I call myself this, heh), then P, now her.

It's ridiculously heartwarming seeing them both flourish and become more comfortable and themselves. (I imagine I must have too, but I can't see that and I have the complication of transition too old photos of me now look weird for the same reason old photos of my dad do: no beard!).)

Birdfeeding

Jan. 16th, 2026 01:04 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Today is cloudy and chilly.  It snowed last night, just enough to leave a blanket of white over everything.  Most of it has already melted away.

I fed the birds.  I've seen a few sparrows.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 1/16/26 -- I saw a mourning dove.

EDIT 1/16/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

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

War Stories

Jan. 16th, 2026 12:28 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
This post has war pictures from Ukraine focused on anti-drone netting.  Back when people first started talking about building drones and how cool they would be, I pointed out how much it would suck because they would very quickly wind up spying on and shooting at people.  Nobody believed me.  And here we are. >_<

Thankful Friday (addendum)

Jan. 16th, 2026 07:24 am
mdlbear: Wild turkey hen close-up (turkey)
[personal profile] mdlbear

Today I am thankful for...

  • Finding my damned glasses, which were lurking underneath the pile of sweaters, blankets, and other stuff draped over the arm of the couch nearest my desk.
  • Discovering that nova, my fileserver, still has python2.7 on it. The reason I wasn't able to post through it was that neither python2 nor my posting program (ljcharm) was installed.
  • Assuming this can be posted, being able to upgrade (Thinkpads) Raven (which I was using for posting) and Panther (which I hadn't realized wasn't upgraded).

ysabetwordsmith: Damask smiling over their shoulder (polychrome)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
This poem is spillover from the June 4, 2024 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by prompts from [personal profile] see_also_friend, [personal profile] rix_scaedu, and [personal profile] wyld_dandelyon. It also fills the "Activism" square in my 6-1-24 card for the Pride Fest Bingo. This poem has been sponsored by [personal profile] fuzzyred. It belongs to the Rutledge thread of the Polychrome Heroics series.

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Follow Friday 1-16-26: Leverage

Jan. 16th, 2026 12:09 am
ysabetwordsmith: A blue sheep holding a quill dreams of Dreamwidth (Dreamsheep)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Today's theme is Leverage.

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guess who has two thumbes and the flu

Jan. 16th, 2026 11:54 am
mindstalk: (angry sky)
[personal profile] mindstalk

5 days ago (minus 8 hours): I decide to risk eating out. Upper story mall restaurant; half-open walls; CO2 generally under 600; not crowded. Sounds low risk, right? Drawbacks: it was after 7 PM, so a lot of people might have passed through; I was eating hot soba soup, so had to be unmasked for a while. (Vs dumplings, say, where you can just pop it under the mask and avoid breathing unfiltered air.) No one was coughing, though a couple women near by were talking a lot.

2 days later: I feel slightly oogy. Got more sleep, woke up tired (there were other plausible explanations), low energy by 4 PM, just a bit of nasal drip (as from dusting a lot, say)

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Future behavior: so literally the first time I try to "live normally" on my own, I get infected. This is not making it more likely for me to dine out indoors. Maybe I'm susceptible because my innate immune system is quiescent, I dunno. But, staying masked seems to work in avoiding actual severe illness, so I'll keep doing that.

OTOH with the tests here so cheap, I think I'll start doing regular surveillance testing, rather than only after some symptoms.

I'm also extending my stay here some more, in case things turn worse; last thing I want is to have to try to change Airbnbs while really feeling a flu. Turns out the price was dropping too, neat; still not as cheap as I could get by leaving Tokyo, but hey, health.

Poem: "There's an Art to It"

Jan. 15th, 2026 09:13 pm
ysabetwordsmith: A paint roller creates an American flag, with the text Arts and Crafts America. (Arts and Crafts America)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
This poem is the linkback perk for the July 5, 2022 Poetry Fishbowl, originally hosted by Dreamwidth user Dialecticdreamer. It is spillover from the March 1, 2022 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by prompts from Dreamwidth users Heartsinger and Zeeth_kyrah. It also fills the "Colored Pencils" square in my 3-1-22 card for the National Crafting Month Bingo fest. This poem belongs to the series Arts and Crafts America.

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dialecticdreamer: My work (Default)
[personal profile] dialecticdreamer
Gathering Options
By Dialecticdreamer/Sarah Williams
Part 1 of 1, complete
Word count (story only): 1572
[September 2016]


:: A typical day for Cas and Hali involves a gigantic grocery run. They meet a boy who might be a good fit, but who certainly needs a bit of help. Part of the Broken Angels story arc in the Polychrome Heroics universe, this story was written for the January of 2026 Magpie Monday, and sponsored with my deepest thanks. ::




Cas pushed one cart ahead of him, where Hali sat holding the largest bunch of bananas that he could find in the display bin. The cart that he pulled along behind them held boxes of canned goods in the bottom layer, then a flat of five dozen eggs and, most importantly, the next two weeks’ worth of decent chocolates.

“You ready to get in your new car seat?” Cas asked, but his eyes drifted up to the granite sky above them. “We’d better hurry or we’re going to get soaked.”

Hali hefted the bananas. They wobbled in her small hands but did not fall. “Snack now?” she asked hopefully.
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Read "Hordes of the Khan"

Jan. 15th, 2026 08:19 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
My partner Doug tipped me to "Hordes of the Khan" by Scott R. Brooks, a Johnny Quest fancomic.

Check out the "Quest for Knowledge" page. That is very typical of comics in Terramagne, which often throw in some fun facts about the setting, history, flora and fauna, etc. even if the story is wholly fictional.

dead bodies

Jan. 15th, 2026 06:00 pm
kengr: (Default)
[personal profile] kengr
Anyone have any idea how long it'd take dead body to skeltonize in temperate forest/brush? Assume some place like Spokane, or between Portland and Mt Hood.

Clothing something like military BDUs (except tougher) and in thick brush so nothing larger than a fox can get at it.

I'm looking for something like a year, several years, longer.


A semi related thought has to do with someone in Full MOPP gear. Died from some internal cause (say heatstroke) so the gear is intact. I'm pretty sure the result eventually be human soup with bones. Not something *I* would want to have to deal with... ewww.

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