Poetry Fishbowl Open!

Feb. 3rd, 2026 01:01 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cats playing with goldfish (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Starting now, the Poetry Fishbowl is open! Today's theme is "Books and Literacy." I will be checking this page periodically throughout the day. When people make suggestions, I'll pick some and weave them together into a poem ... and then another ... and so on. I'm hoping to get a lot of ideas and a lot of poems.

I'll be soliciting ideas for readers, writers, storytellers, scribes, editors, publishers, students, teachers, caregivers, children, parents, bookworms, nerds, bookstore owners, librarians, an anonymous benefactor, activists, volunteers, superheroes, supervillains, other bookish people, reading, writing, delighting the reader, editing, publishing, bookbinding, shopping for books, telling stories, teaching, inviting students to a lesson, demonstrating tools, educating the whole child, learning, studying, parenting, lending a hand, cooperating, concentrating on a current task, volunteering, supporting people in hard times, respecting people, modeling manners and skills, learning to trust others, observing the environment, engaging all the senses, cultivating a full life, creating intimacy, making friends, getting to know each other, cooking together, choosing your own goals, discovering things, improvising, adapting, cooperating, bartering, sharing, making mistakes, fixing what's broke, changing the world, accomplishing the impossible, other educational activities, books, scrolls, magical tomes, printing presses, pens and pencils, bookstores, libraries, Little Free Libraries, book nooks, windowseats, Montessori schools, other alternative schools, preschools or daycares, Montessori homeschool, prepared environment, colleges and universities, beautiful places, craft centers, community centers, coffeehouses, outdoor classrooms, parks, nature centers, other spaces designed for learning, Triton Teen Centers, mentor circles, intentional communities, clubs, quiet rooms, inclusive workplaces, Thalassia, the Maldives, the Lacuna, the Aqademy of the Qrossroads, Waldorf toys, Montessori materials, intrinsic motivation, child independence, respect for the child, freedom to choose, freedom of time and uninterrupted work periods, absorbent mind, post-traumatic growth, individualized education, three-part cards, language lessons, mathematics, diverse ages and abilities, self-correcting toys and lessons, natural consequences, freedom of movement, intentional neighboring, diversity, inclusivity, emotional closeness, nonsexual intimacies, first contact, rescue, interspecies relationships, trial and error, trust issues, teamwork, found family, complementary strengths and weaknesses, personal growth, and poetic forms in particular.


Currently eligible bingo card(s) for donors wishing to sponsor a square:

Valentines Bingo Card 2-1-26

Among my more relevant series for the main theme:

An Army of One involves education and reading in the Lacuna.

Arts and Crafts America focuses on fine arts and practical crafts, sometimes education. Bookbinding would be a logical craft.

The Bear Tunnels has future books in a past culture.

Daughters of the Apocalypse have to rediscover many historic skills for survival, including earlier methods of sharing knowledge.

Frankenstein's Family has two scientists teaching villagers to be thoughtful instead of stupid, and after a few years, several more people keenly interested in books and education.

Not Quite Kansas started with mishandling a book of spells, and involves trying to learn about a whole new world.

Path of the Paladins includes the Canticle of Thorns and other books.

Peculiar Obligations has Quakers in organized crime. The Religious Society of Friends has been greatly involved in education, including abolitionist and natural science publications.

Polychrome Heroics is largely about people learning things. Threads particularly focused on this include Antimatter and Stalwart Stan, Aquariana, the Big One, Danso and Family, Dr. Infanta, Iron Horses, Officer Pink, Rutledge, and Trichromatic Attachments.

Quixotic Ideas is set in a world with plenty of magic and a positive tone, where people often help each other and solve challenges peacefully. It includes a healthy magical school.

Schrodinger's Heroes save the world from alternate dimensions, and they learn a lot along the way.

Or you can ask for something new.

Linkbacks reveal a verse of any open linkback poem.

New to the fishbowl? Read all about it! )

Wildlife

Feb. 3rd, 2026 12:06 am
ysabetwordsmith: Cats playing with goldfish (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Hundreds of new species found in a hidden world beneath the Pacific

As demand for critical metals grows, scientists have taken a rare, close look at life on the deep Pacific seabed where mining may soon begin. Over five years and 160 days at sea, researchers documented nearly 800 species, many previously unknown. Test mining reduced animal abundance and diversity significantly, though the overall impact was smaller than expected. The study offers vital clues for how future mining could reshape one of the planet’s most fragile ecosystems.


Bluntly put, mining would destroy that very delicate ecosystem, and it would not recover. Also the ocean as a whole is struggling to cope with the damage humanity has already caused, and hasn't got the fault tolerance left to cover more.

Holiday Poetry Sale

Feb. 2nd, 2026 11:06 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cats playing with goldfish (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
With today's posts, all sponsored poems from the 2025 Holiday Poetry Sale have been posted.  You can now check the sale page for title links to see if you missed any earlier.
ysabetwordsmith: Cats playing with goldfish (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
This poem came out of the January 7, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from [personal profile] helgatwb. It also fills the "Plunging Hoofs" square in my 1-1-25 card for the Public Domain Day Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by a pool with [personal profile] fuzzyred.


"To the Beat of Plunging Hooves"
-- an indriso


History is often late
To record what's done or said
By the needful, not the great.

Soleated, harnessed, led
Horses drive the wheels of fate
From behind or by the head.

History, like mountains, moves

To the beat of plunging hooves.

Activism

Feb. 2nd, 2026 06:27 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cats playing with goldfish (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Read "May we raise children who love the unloved things" by Nicolette Sowder.

Poem: "Each Diverse Human Gift"

Feb. 2nd, 2026 05:11 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Damask smiling over their shoulder (polychrome)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
This poem is spillover from the December 3, 2024 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from [personal profile] fuzzyred. It also fills the "Fresh-baked Bread / Rolls" square in my 11-1-24 card for the Sleepytime Bear Bingo fest, and the "Adaptive Equipment" square in my 9-1-24 card for the People with Disabilities Drabble Fest Bingo. This poem has been sponsored by a pool with [personal profile] fuzzyred. It belongs to the College Arc of the Shiv thread in the Polychrome Heroics series.

Read more... )

Watch

Feb. 2nd, 2026 05:35 pm
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[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
There's a new Greenland Defense Front video, "Not For Sale." :D

Wildlife

Feb. 2nd, 2026 05:06 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cats playing with goldfish (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Some polar bears are getting fatter despite a warming Arctic

Polar bears tell you a lot about what’s going on in the Arctic. When food is hard to find, their bodies show it fast. When hunting gets easier, they put weight back on. Less sea ice has meant thinner polar bears and fewer of them.

That’s what makes the situation near Svalbard – midway between the northern coast of Norway and the North Pole – so unexpected. Despite ongoing sea ice loss, adult polar bears there are not in worse shape.

Many are actually heavier than they were years ago. Extra fat is not a small detail for a polar bear. It often decides whether the animal gets through the year
.


This is super exciting because for years I've been reading about Alaskan polar bears starving. If this other population is getting fatter, then maybe there is hope for the species. :D

Read more... )

2026 February Fan Poll

Feb. 2nd, 2026 05:02 pm
lb_lee: A happy little brain with a bandage on it, enclosed within a circle with the words LB Lee. (Default)
[personal profile] lb_lee
Hey everybody, it's that time again: time to vote for which stuff gets the LiberaPay/Patreon money this month! We've got some new zines/comics on the pile this month, because I finally sold my last copy of Rumbleghost!

As always, anyone can vote (please do!), but LiberaPay and Patreon patrons get double weight for their votes.  (Due to Patreon's porn purges, I really encourage you to use LiberaPay, if you get a choice.) If you want to see the blurbs for any of these works, those are here!  (You can also leave your requests there; requesting a story or essay is always free!) If you don't have a DW and so can't do the poll, that's okay; just leave your vote in the comments below; anon comments are turned on.

Which works gets the money, and thus posted this month?  YOU CHOOSE, readers!

Poll #34175 2026 February Fan Poll
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 18


Did you toss LiberaPay/Patreon money my way last month?

View Answers

Yes (my votes count double)
5 (100.0%)

What writing gets posted this month?

View Answers

Infinity Smashed: Born Lucky
5 (29.4%)

Reverend Alpert: the Traveling Exorcist
3 (17.6%)

Henchwench for Hire (F/F supervillainy)
2 (11.8%)

Rutless (trans omegaverse porno)
4 (23.5%)

Crazy Boys Get Money (autobio heist)
10 (58.8%)

The Battle-Axe and the Blood-Eater (pseudo-Greco-Roman blood sports)
4 (23.5%)

What art/comic/zine gets posted this month?

View Answers

Cult Comix
4 (25.0%)

Death Watch
5 (31.2%)

Protection
2 (12.5%)

Thrown Away
0 (0.0%)

Sneak Attack!
5 (31.2%)

Barred from Pokemon Forever
11 (68.8%)

Possessions (Rumbleghost)
2 (12.5%)

Disclosing the current fronter?

Feb. 2nd, 2026 01:27 pm
hungryghosts: A creature composed of many masks upon one shadowy body draped in a red fabric. (Default)
[personal profile] hungryghosts posting in [community profile] pluralquestions

[Lark] This is a question for those who switch, and who don't use fronting identifiers like nametags or Simply Plural. How do you identify who is at front when interacting, in-person, with someone who is aware of your plurality? (If you do so at all, of course.)

Is it awkward to do so? How do you manage that awkwardness?

Buffalo Seed Company Order

Feb. 2nd, 2026 02:24 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cats playing with goldfish (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Today we ordered some landrace seeds from the Buffalo Seed Company. They have a lot of great options. This is also a step toward my goal of planting more landraces.

Read more... )

Birdfeeding

Feb. 2nd, 2026 02:20 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cats playing with goldfish (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Today is cloudy and cold.

I fed the birds.  I've seen a large flock of sparrows and a male cardinal.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 2/2/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

I put out more birdseed and a new peanut suet cake.

EDIT 2/2/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 2/2/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 2/2/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 2/2/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

I am done for the night.
 

Website Updates

Feb. 2nd, 2026 02:14 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cats playing with goldfish (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Thanks to [personal profile] nsfwords, the series Quixotic Ideas is now up to date. \o/  This is upbeat fantasy with magic integrated into everyday life.

Fossils

Feb. 2nd, 2026 01:32 am
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[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Over 500 Million Years Ago, Early Vertebrates Had Four Eyes That Could See 360 Degrees

Every mammal, every fish, every vertebrate (creatures that have a spine) has two eyes. It’s been that way for millions and millions of years. But maybe it wasn’t like that forever.

During the Cambrian, when evolution was experimenting all sorts of strategies, early vertebrates may have had four eyes, and they were high-res eyes, too.

ysabetwordsmith: Cats playing with goldfish (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Maple Syrup: 40 Tried & True Recipes
Paperback – Lay Flat, February 11, 2020
by Corrine Kozlak (Author), Kevin Scott Ramos (Photographer)


Today we finished reading our first cookbook of the year. \o/ We bought this just a couple weeks ago at the small farm show. Our friends at Golden Ridge Farms had their maple root beer and also these cookbooks. I had just seen a different book that was mostly history and only a few recipes, so when I spotted this one, I pounced on it. The front matter includes a table of contents, Preface, Tree to Table, Maple Syrup History, How Maple Syrup Is Made, Maple Syrup Grading, Sugar Shack Fun, Do-It-Yourself Maple Syruping or Backyard Sugaring, and Cooking and Baking with Maple Syrup. The recipe chapters are Breads and Breakfast, Entrees, Sides, Sweets and Desserts, Appetizers and Beverages. The index in the back does include both ingredients and titles, but is not greatly detailed.

Read more... )

Meta-ish: Permission to crosspost

Feb. 1st, 2026 06:17 pm
hungryghosts: A creature composed of many masks upon one shadowy body draped in a red fabric. (Default)
[personal profile] hungryghosts posting in [community profile] pluralquestions

[Phosphor] Lark and I have been crossposting our and Not Applicable's topics to the plural subreddit - we haven't been posting anyone else's since we don't have permission. Thought I'd make a post seeing if anyone else wants to give blanket permission for crossposting their threads (not replies/comments, just the main topics themselves).

The crossposts consist of an attribution (by default we'll use your individual name if you sign off, + system name if you have one and we know it, or your DW username if we don't know either), the text of the thread, and a link back to the original thread on Dreamwidth. Example here.

It's not guaranteed that we'll crosspost every thread you make, especially if we're busy. You can always withdraw permission at any time, or specify that you don't want a post crossposted; we will not crosspost members-only posts. If you want a crosspost taken down, let us know and we'll do our best, but keep in mind that Reddit's infrastructure doesn't always allow for complete deletions.

Safety

Feb. 1st, 2026 02:58 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cats playing with goldfish (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Middle age is becoming a breaking point in the U.S.

For many Americans, midlife is no longer a plateau—it’s a pressure point.

Middle age is becoming a tougher chapter for many Americans, especially those born in the 1960s and early 1970s. Compared with earlier generations, they report more loneliness and depression, along with weaker physical strength and declining memory. These troubling trends stand out internationally, as similar declines are largely absent in other wealthy nations, particularly in Nordic Europe, where midlife well-being has improved
.


The article actually said most of what I would've said regarding causes and solutions. One thing it missed: the sandwich effect. Middle-age adults, mostly but not exclusively women, often become responsible for aging parents as well as children. It's actually worse for the few male caregivers: almost all of the rare support programs serve only female caregivers.  Even if they're permitted in, being the only man in a group of women can feel more isolating than just staying home.
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