(no subject)

Jul. 14th, 2025 08:09 pm
neekabe: Bucky from FatWS smiling (Default)
[personal profile] neekabe
I thought I had a piece of popcorn lodged beside my front tooth since I saw Superman. It was annoying, and not responding to floss (slipping up beside it), but I could feel it move when I poked just right with my tongue. Went at it with a toothpick today and it turned out it was a filling falling out of my tooth.

So have an appointment on Thursday morning. Not looking forward to it. I remember when this one went in and it involved terrible needle placement requirements. but maybe they won't need numbing? Hopeful, but unlikely.

(no subject)

Jul. 14th, 2025 01:55 pm
watersword: Graffiti scrawl of "ignore this text" (Stock: ignore this text)
[personal profile] watersword

It turns out that North & South (2004) is not soothing to watch whilst stitching; I am not interested in the 1850's generally, I am in no fit state to be entertained by the Industrial Revolution and labor unrest, and the cinematography is bleak. Richard Armitage's jawline does not make up for these flaws.

The Three Sisters plot has begun giving me peas! It is surprisingly difficult to distinguish between "immature snap pea" and "mature snow pea". I should probably give up this plot next year, as the fee is almost twice as much as the one near my apartment, and getting there & back is annoying, and the plot is weed central ....but the raspberry patch! I got sour and sweet cherries at the farmer's market, which of course means that I made cherry-pit whipped cream to go with the cherry galette; it is now corn and zucchini season, which is one of my favorite seasons; I miss having a grill so much. It is absolutely perfect grilling weather.

Somehow I have three community events at the same time tonight: a embroidery meetup, a constituent outreach meeting with my city councilor, and a meeting of the neighborhood association board. ::facepalm::

Albany Folk'n'Shanty festival

Jul. 14th, 2025 08:08 pm
fred_mouse: a small white animal of indeterminate species, the familiar of the Danger Mouse Evil Toad (startled)
[personal profile] fred_mouse

Artisanat and I have made a short visit to Albany, coinciding with the annual Folk'n'Shanty Festival. I gather that this year was more heavily shanty and lighter on folk than previous; I was certainly exposed to more shanty singing than I'd see in an average decade.

Friday we left relatively early, took the short route (Albany Highway), with a stop in Williams to charge the car and find a light lunch (cafe off the highway, recommended alternative to the Woolshed), stop in Mount Barker (Plantagenet Wines, acquisition of two bottles, plus more lunch), and arrival in Albany with enough time to check in to hotel, charge the car, quick shop at the IGA, and make it to a venue (Wesley church) for the first act.

ExpandLots of rambling details )

a sudden update

Jul. 12th, 2025 12:51 am
issenllo: strawberry thief print from William Morris (Default)
[personal profile] issenllo
It's been so long since I posted that I will not look for my last post. Suffice it to say that I had plans for Yuletide, then Hikago Day, then nothing. Yikes. I had not quite anticipated how much a big fandom does swallow you up. My heart Hanyu Yuzuru <3

On the other hand, I've also stumbled upon the world of tolerable to terrible Chinese language webfiction, on podcasts via (probably) an AI-generated narrator, on Youtube. Some of them are long-ish, about 1 hr, the ones I'm going for are about 30mins. I set them on the kitchen counter while I cook... this is the level of intellectual engagement they require. On the other hand it's doing a lot for my listening comprehension of Mandarin, especially the ones that (inexplicably) run at about 1.5 speed.

Most of these webfiction (flashfiction?) that come via my algorithms are of broadly three types:

1. set in unnamed/imaginary ancient Chinese dynasty, a young lady's (yes it's nearly always a noble lady) journey to marrying the right guy, finding love and happiness. Plots include some version of evil stepmother or stepsister drama, mother-in-law drama, harem plots, invasion by barbarians and a/an (in)conveniently conferred decree of marriage by the emperor. Eventually she gets rid of her rivals and villains and live happily ever after.

2. Teenager on the verge of gaokao/national examinations, becoming the top scorer in the province, finding love and happiness. Plots include some version of school bullying, evil best friend/sister/stepsister, nearly missing the exam due to plots, switched at birth drama and meeting a tall, handsome boy who is smart, rich and madly in love with her. Eventually they move to Beijing or Shanghai, build a global business empire, and live happily ever after.

3. Either of the above except with rebirth/redo/reincarnation premise, or that they have been pulled into an imaginary bookworld where 1 or 2 are happening. These variants come with the ability to predict what bad guys are doing and getting on top of that, exposing the two-timing boyfriend, backstabber best friend, etc. and getting some vindictive revenge (in the best way!) along the way

They are incredibly addictive given how generic and predictable they are. It's a bit like Mills and Boon. You know how it will end but you can't stop. A few came close to being genre-savvy but most of them have been very earnest so far. Some are pretty funny and a few genuinely made me cry.

Admittedly my algorithms have skewed me towards a certain type of fiction, so I'm drowning in Mary Sues on a wish-fulfilment journey. They have similar names. The male lead and the 2nd male lead also have similar names, and the ability to differentiate them is how you know the skill of the author. For the stories that are reincarnation premises, I'm grappling with the morality of pre-emptive revenge, i.e. you are reborn and you meet the villain who murdered you horribly in your last life, but now that it's a redo and you've just met him and yes, he's still a baddie but right now, he hasn't yet done a thing to you, should you - just go ahead and skin him alive, so as to speak?

Something to consider lol

Books with genAI?

Jul. 10th, 2025 03:53 pm
fred_mouse: line drawing of sheep coloured in queer flag colours with dream bubble reading 'dreamwidth' (Default)
[personal profile] fred_mouse

For Reasons, I'm looking for fiction books--preference for kids, but any age will do--with anything that looks a bit like generative AI. Chatbots in particular would be a win. I've been doing a fascinating dive into the librarything tag cloud*. Note that at this point it doesn't have to be a well written or readable book

adding: I'll take recommendations for artificial general intelligence as well; I'll care about the line between them later, when I've used them to generate the relevant keywords

What I've found so far

  • Do You Remember Being Born - Sean Michaels
  • Artificial: A love Story - Amy Kurzweil
  • The Future Happens Twice Trilogy - Matt Browne
  • We Solve Murders - Richard Osman (I didn't see why in the blurb, but the tag was there, and the library has it)
  • Tell the Machine Goodnight - Katie Williams

Not found, but remembered: "Better Living Through Algorithms" by Naomi Kritzer, which is questionable because it is probably meant to be artificial general intelligence rather than generative AI, but at this point I'm not being that picky because the hit rate is so low.

also! the closest I've got at this point in kids books is Wild Robot and the sequels; failing to work out where to find more. (in english. I've found a book that looks perfect in Chinese)

*so thankful that people put all sorts of tags on their books; I'm having a great time working out what maps to what tag. If I get it together I'll write a post off the clock about what I found that was truly batshit

Sunshine Revival Challenge 3

Jul. 10th, 2025 08:52 am
starfleetbrat: photo of a cool geeky girl (Default)
[personal profile] starfleetbrat
[community profile] sunshine_revival Challenge #3


Journaling prompt: What are your favorite summer-associated foods?

when I was a kid in summer we used to have BBQs in the back yard. A real BBQ, over an open fire. We had one of those homemade BBQs made out of old bricks haphazardly cemented together, with a wire rack, and you'd set a fire underneath the rack on the ground and cook your snags on the rack. they would smell like smoke and get a good black char if you weren't paying attention lol

no plates needed - each snag was served up on a slice of white bread with butter and tomato sauce (ketchup) and you just held it in your hand to eat while you were running around the yard. Kinda like the sausage sizzle sausages you get from Bunnings these days.

I miss that kind of BBQ. Where I live is a national park, and every summer these days there is automatically a total fire ban during summer, so you can't light any kind of fire, and can only have gas BBQs and that is 100% not the same. Might as well be cooking them indoors, lol

The other thing we used to eat in summer that I loved were Sunny Boys.

Sunny Boys were a type of ice block made from frozen orange juice - looked like this back in the 80s:

Sometimes they would have an offer where you checked the inside wrapper and you could win a free sunny boy. One summer we got lucky and ended up with a chain of about 5 free sunny boys! that was an epic summer lol

==


Creative prompt: Draw art of or make graphics of summer foods, or post your favorite summer recipes.

ok here is a super quick recipe for a lunch:

Pesto Chicken Roll

2 cold cooked chicken breasts
1/2 cup pesto (red or green)
1tbsp greek yoghurt (or smooth ricotta)
140g (half a small jar) of roast capsicum (peppers) or sun dried tomato
lettuce
cheese slices
bread Rolls

1. dice or shred the cold chicken breasts
2. drain, and pat dry (with paper towels) half the jar the sun dried tomato (or capsicum) - if you don't do this the oil will seperate in the fridge.
3. In a bowl mix your pesto and yoghurt together until combined
4. add the sun dried tomato/capsicum and the chicken to the mix and stir until well coated
5. make your rolls with lettuce and cheese (and anything else you want on it)
6. spoon some of the chicken mix onto the roll. The rest can keep in the fridge in a container for a couple of days.

Optional: Its also nice served up with hot chips on the side!

A bit about me

Jul. 8th, 2025 09:00 pm
a_natural_beauty: (Default)
[personal profile] a_natural_beauty
Stolen from [personal profile] https://thunderschoen.dreamwidth.org/; originally by [personal profile] sound_of_silence

1. First Name: Jessica

2. Age: 37

3. Location: North East Ohio

4. Occupation: I'm a housekeeper at an acholic and drug rehabilitation

5. Significant Other: My boyfriend Mike

6. Kids: None; never wanted any

7. Brothers/Sisters: I have a full blooded sister, 6 half brothers and 4 half sisters. I also have sort of a step brother on my mom's side. I'm the youngest.

8. Pets: A beta fish named Sapphire and dog named Wiley

9. List the 3 biggest things going on in your life:
3 - Making and keeping time up to work on my hobbies which can be difficult depending on the day
2 - Helping my parents (partially my mother who's health has gotten worse as of lately)
1 - Getting used to having someone live with me again and sharing my space/home

10. Where and for what did you go to school? I graduated from high school, also I took classes for two years in the graphic arts field. Later on I took classes and became a state tested nursing assistant.

11. Parents: My parents are still here thankfully. I am pretty close to them and am grateful to them each day.

12. Who are some of your closest friends? I have a few close friends who I talk to a few times a month, sometimes we are luckily enough to see each other. But my social life has gotten pretty quite as of the last few years.

Just some rambles.....

Jul. 8th, 2025 07:50 pm
a_natural_beauty: (Default)
[personal profile] a_natural_beauty
I can't believe we are already halfway through 2025... It's been quite the first 6 months. Some things I feel like I've been able to keep up with and work on and enjoy while other things are just sort of on the back burner. It's funny how interests can change overtime, even over the span of a few weeks.
Like last year for example I feel like I was on comic fury all the time, putting more effort into my comic and I think I was working on my stamps more. My stamps are pretty much where I want them. I have a few new ones I need to sort but other than that my collections are stable. But my interest in comic fury still sort of surprises me. I used to go on there so much and do so much reading. Now it's hard to get motivated anymore. And same goes with my comic. Maybe that passion will pick back up again someday.

I do find myself wanting to work in my adult coloring books again. How many of you guys used to or still do adult coloring books or sheets? I got a few of them back when they were all the range and have a good number colored in most pages. It would be a calm and enjoyable activity while I would have YouTube on or music. I'm going to get those out to color again soon.
Another activity I want to do again is my puzzles. Mike and I are going to clear off the kitchen table soon and get one started again. Gosh, I have sooo many. Our collection has grown over the last few months because of the library having a nice selection out with their book sales. Another peaceful thing to do while listening to music or a podcast.
As I get older I feel I am becoming more of an introvert and that's totally fine.

What have you guys been doing this first half of the year? Hopefully you all have been doing well. The world seems to be going through so much right now... the unknown, hate, fear, misinformation, worry... But trying to focus on the good we are able to in our lives and in our control helps. It may not fix anything but for some time it can help ease all of the bad out there.
chebe: (Default)
[personal profile] chebe
Vogue V1944 is, well, I'm not sure how to describe it. It's a strange woven collection of bias cut skirt, with two dropped shoulder shirt-inspired top options, one both fitted and cropped. I was interested in view b; the boxy oversized shirt.

But being a Vogue pattern, sizing is not straight forward. The measurements corresponding to the sizes are only shown on the envelope flap (not visible in the online envelope scans), and the useful finished garment measurements are typically only to be found on the pattern tissue itself. Being at the edges of the size range is quite risky. Last time I made a Vogue, I found the sizing ran large, and that a size 22 was the better starting point for me. Which is just as well, as size 22 is the maximum size available for this pattern. A size 22 is given as bust 112cm, waist 94cm. This would not fit me. But I'm looking at a boxy oversized shirt. So, I took the gamble. Turns out the finished garment measurements for view b are bust 132cm, waist 128cm. This is 20cm and 34cm of combined wearing and style ease. That should be plenty.

ExpandDetails )

Photo of a boxy shirt with shorter than full length sleeves, in a white and yellow daisy print on solid black, front view buttoned closed (except for top two buttons) with bottom-to-top buttons; purple, blue, green, yellow, orange, red, and black, showing how the print doesn't match across the closure, hanging from a grey hanger against a white wardrobe.

Finished, front
Photo by [personal profile] chebe

Sunshine Revival Challenge 2

Jul. 8th, 2025 10:54 am
starfleetbrat: photo of a cool geeky girl (Default)
[personal profile] starfleetbrat
[profile] sunshine_revivial Challenge #2

Journaling: The romance of summer! What do you love? Write about anything you feel sentimental about or that gets your heart pumping.

==

uhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I have no idea what to write for this one.

So I'm just going to write about an Australian Comedian I love. His name is Randy Feltface and he is a purple puppet (portrayed by Heath McIvor).

I was first introduced to Randy via the comedy duo, Sammy J and Randy on a tv show that aired here in Australia probably around 15 years ago now. I can't recall the name of the show but they were hilarious. They've performed together for years now, both on tv and on stage at comedy festivals.

At some point, Randy started doing his own stand up and comedy shows. Randy's style of comedy is a mix of storytelling and philosophical thought. He uses his comedy to really talk about the deeper meaning of some things, so you get a good laugh but you also end up thinking about things.

One show Randy did a number of years ago is called "Randy Writes a Novel" and its the funniest thing I have probably ever seen.

My favourite segment from it is called "Randy buys a bookshelf off Gumtree" which I will embed below. Its 100% worth a watch. Its a story about what happened when Randy wanted to buy a bookshelf off Gumtree (which is like the Australian Craigslist, you can buy and sell stuff etc.) It runs for about 20 minutes and its completely insane. I especially love the ending lol

ExpandRead more... )

Ridiculous weekend plans

Jul. 5th, 2025 02:06 pm
fred_mouse: Night sky, bright star, crescent moon (goals)
[personal profile] fred_mouse

I need some down time this weekend. I have any number of things I want to have done, but I'm restricting myself to things that can be done sitting on the bed, minimal movement. To whit:

  1. Finish reading The Dictionary of Lost Words - DONE! Highly recommended fictional account of the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary
  2. Read Attached - book on romantic relationships. in progress (started Saturday)
  3. Finish Creating a Second Brain - collected from the library yesterday, read a chapter on the bus
  4. Finish Library of the Dead - this one is due back on Monday, and being Libby, will get autoreturned.

Which, not actually outside the bounds, as long as I am actually doing those.

stretch goals, of which I'm hoping to achieve at least one

  1. close tabs (current: 526, goal: <500) in safari
  2. finish reading the fic I'm part way through (there might be more than one of these.
  3. progress Eldest's quilt (this is not an 'on the bed' activity; it is added so that if I need to get up and move around, I have a task)
  4. write up my goals for the next 6 months
  5. blog post about how the study is going.

Sunshine Revival Challenge 1

Jul. 3rd, 2025 02:28 pm
starfleetbrat: photo of a cool geeky girl (Default)
[personal profile] starfleetbrat
[community profile] sunshine_revival Challenge 1

Journaling Prompt: Light up your journal with activity this month. Talk about your goals for July or for the second half of 2025.
https://sunshine-revival.dreamwidth.org/2010.html

My goals for the rest of the year are fairly boring:

- avoid stress
I mean, who won't be trying to do this? lol

- finally start learning how to make my own sewing patterns
I've been wanting to do this for a year or so now, but haven't had the brain space. Its going to take some effort to make the blocks/slopers, and will need a lot of fitting and testing I think. I'd like to one day make my own dress making dummy too, so I can test things without having to try them on myself.

- archive all my fanfic (lol this probably won't happen)
I've been wanting to collect all my fics together and put them on my website. hardly any of them are online anymore, aside from existing in the wayback machine. but some are on various forms of media scattered around my home. Would be nice to get them all in one place even if I am the only one reading them. But formatting the pages will be a pain in the ass so I'm not holding my breath it will get done.

- finish the last image in the Coloring Pixels Variety Pack because it seems to be taking me forever
I love coloring pixels, its a "paint by numbers" thing with pixels. Its just so chill to do while I am watching a tv show or movie. But this one image in the variety pack is so annoying. Its not a huge one, but it has a lot of 1 square colour changes.

- finish tearing down the mattress thats currently in the hallway
its seriously hard to dispose of mattresses in my area, costs a small fortune to have someone pick it up and then there is a disposal fee at the local tip on top of that. so we are doing it ourselves, cutting the material off etc and then we'll give the wire frame to the local scrap man who will collect it for free.

- participate more in various places online, like [community profile] sunshine_revival, [community profile] seasons_of_fandom and [community profile] dreams_mayhem (just joined that one)
I want to get creative again I think, but we'll see how it goes.

- make a zine!
I've been wanting to make one for a long time. I've been collecting them on and off for years. It would be fun to make one of my own! I have a few ideas for one but nothing concrete so far.

typo du jour

Jul. 3rd, 2025 11:41 am
fred_mouse: screen cap of google translate with pun 'owl you need is love'. (owl)
[personal profile] fred_mouse

..look at the underlying code or moth...

  • me, describing someone else's approach to understanding large language models.

(no subject)

Jul. 2nd, 2025 04:59 pm
watersword: "the trouble with you, Ibid, is that you think you're the biggest bloody authority on everything." (Stock: citation)
[personal profile] watersword

Face of sadness & rage: the public library here has had to cut its streaming services, likely in part because of the destruction of the IMLS, which funded a lot of that. This is a fucking travesty.

It's been too hot to bake, so I picked up a loaf of bread and am basking in the season's first tomato sandwiches. Bliss.

One thing I want to do before the end of the summer is borrow the ice cream maker and dehydrator from the Thing Library; my ice cream quest continues (Dutch Chocolate is perfectly fine but not a standout); blueberrying has not been scheduled but I have agreement that it sounds like fun from the people I want to go with. I am up to H.M.S. Surprise in the Aubreyad and enjoying myself thoroughly.

I love summer so much. I feel like a person.

Sunshine Revival Post

Jul. 2nd, 2025 01:23 pm
yourlibrarian: Every Kind of Craft on green (Every Kind of Craft Green - yourlibraria)
[personal profile] yourlibrarian
1) As part of [community profile] sunshine_revival's first challenge: "Creative Prompt: Shine a light on your own creativity. Create anything you want (an image, an icon, a story, a poem, or a craft) and share it with your community."

I just shared some necklaces I made a few months back over at [community profile] everykindofcraft. I did a lot of beading in the first 13 years after I took it up, but things have been rather start and stop in the last 10. A craft store closeout + a challenge from a relative got me making some new things in the last few months. That probably also contributed to my starting [community profile] everykindofcraft here, because I saw various people posting wonderful stuff that not many people were seeing, whereas on Pillowfort some general craft communities there are always getting posts.

Hopefully we can get more crafters sharing here!

2) Have been watching a slew of Apple+ shows as our subscription cutoff nears. The miniseries Disclaimer was framed in an interesting way, one which I suspect had a lot more clarity in multimedia than in the book, but perhaps not. It uses multiple narrative voices and POV for the narration, including second person, first person, and some omniscient narrative. This was pretty relevant because of who was being framed (literally) and who actually got to have their voice(s) heard. ExpandRead more... )

3) Surface is a story told in a much more straightforward manner even though it also involves an unreliable narrator of sorts in that our central character had memory loss and is trying to piece together her past which also involves a parental mystery. ExpandRead more... )

4) Also saw the movie Wolfs, which is fine but largely a vehicle for us to watch Pitt and Clooney do fun stuff. ExpandRead more... )

5) Finished The Big Conn and Cowboy Cartel, two documentaries about big crime. I found the former much more interesting, even though I'd heard about the case before. What was probably the most striking about both was the role of the media in precipitating change. ExpandRead more... )

6) Careme was marketed as the story of the first celebrity chef, who served Napoleon, Tallyrand and others. It was certainly about far more than cooking. ExpandRead more... )

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