'Football is dead': Anger and disappointment as fans priced out of World Cup
Dec. 12th, 2025 09:32 pm![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png){kind=small}
bbc_feedSupporters tell BBC Sport of their frustration at the astronomical cost of following the 2026 World Cup.
'Anger and disappointment' as fans priced out of World Cup
Dec. 12th, 2025 09:32 pmbbc_feedSupporters tell BBC Sport of their frustration at the astronomical cost of following the 2026 World Cup.
Steelers' Watt suffers partially collapsed lung after dry needle session
Dec. 12th, 2025 09:17 pmbbc_feedPittsburgh Steelers linebacker TJ Watt has surgery to repair a partially collapsed lung sustained during dry needle treatment.
"More than 10 years ago" - erm ...
Dec. 12th, 2025 09:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vivdunstanAnswering an anonymous poll on the intfiction forum. The answers in this question don't range far enough back đ I first played - and became interested in - interactive fiction back in December 1980, 45 years ago this month. Colossal Cave Adventure on an Apple II borrowed over Christmas.
Fearsome Marine Predators Prowled Ancient Rivers, Too
Dec. 12th, 2025 09:10 pmnautilus_feedA dental discovery in an ancient riverbed in North Dakota is shedding light on one of the most fearsome reptiles to ever swim the seven seasâthe mosasaur.
You may remember the massive mosasaur from the movie Jurassic World. The behemoth was kept in an expansive sea pen and forced to perform for parkgoers before taking down a genetically modified Tyrannosaurus rex (called Indominus rex) in the filmâs climactic battle.
In reality, an ocean-bound mosasaur probably wouldnât encounter a terrestrial T. rex, which is why it was so curious when paleontologists found a tooth from each prehistoric giant in the same riverbed. They published their findings today in BMC Zoology.
Read more: âConjuring Imaginary Creaturesâ
Both the mosasaur tooth and the T. rex tooth (as well as a nearby jawbone from an ancient crocodilian) were a similar age, about 66 million years old. So the scientists were able to compare the chemical compositions of the remains, measuring ratios of different isotopes of oxygen, strontium, and carbon. Their results pointed to a startling conclusion: The former owner of the mosasaur tooth lived in a freshwater habitat.
âCarbon isotopes in teeth generally reflect what the animal ate. Many mosasaurs have low š³C values because they dive deep,â study co-author Melanie During, a paleontologist at Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, said in a statement. âThe mosasaur tooth found with the T. rex tooth, on the other hand, has a higher š³C value than all known mosasaurs, dinosaurs, and crocodiles, suggesting that it did not dive deep and may sometimes have fed on drowned dinosaurs.â
Rather than these 36-foot-long marine predators suddenly deciding to swim up the river for a snack, scientists believe their environment shifted around them. During the Cretaceous Period, when mosasaurs lived, North America was split in two by a vast saltwater sea covering the prairies. As the Cretaceous drew to a close 66 million years ago, this saltwater sea was gradually diluted by an influx of freshwater that eventually settled on top of the heavier saltwater, forming a stark separation between the two. As the waters around the mosasaur changed, they adapted to their new river home.
This shift from saltwater to freshwater isnât unheard of in the animal kingdom; itâs been observed in river dolphins, saltwater crocodiles, and some shark species that transition between the two environments. Still, imagining a predator the size of a bus idly paddling up an inland river is a spine-tingling mental picture. 
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Lead image: Christopher DiPiazza
Thundering up over the horizon....
Dec. 12th, 2025 08:52 pmoursinSuddenly it seems like Christmas is more imminent than I thought - I was going, oh, it is only the beginning of December, and now we are nearly 2 weeks in and aaaaargh.
Anyway, I have managed to get off the book tokens for the great-nieces and nephews - I was waiting on my sister coming back to let me know that, yes, they are all still readers, and then looked again at her email in which she said, would let me know if not....
So I got on to that and I had clearly erased from memory how immensely tiresome Waterstones site is should you want to purchase physical gift cards for several people, you have to make a separate purchase for each one, moan groan, and quite soon reached point where credit cards went 'we are sending you OTP' as you put in details yet another time.
Am feeling a bit generally fratchy today after a night troubled with resurgence of hip issue - probably due to a certain amount of standing about at Institution of Which I Am Honoured to Be A Fellow's Party yestere'en.
Had a moderately agreeable time and pleasant conversation but am still irked that the email issue remains unresolved.
Also, having determined to ring opticians to confirm appointment for dilation test - after a very satisfactory, insofar as holding one's head in awkward positions and having lights flashed in one's eyes can be thus designated, eye-test on Wednesday, at which it was determined I did not need new glasses, hooray, hooray, person I was dealing with right at the end looked at my notes and asked how long it was since they did a dilation test, which resulted in booking me in for a week's time. However, did not get any confirmation, odd I thought since they had been inundating me with texts and emails reminding me of the eye-test. So I was going to ring them but then they rang, going ooops, we are actually closed that day for training, can we reschedule. So rescheduled.
King says he can 'share the good news' his cancer treatment will be reduced
Dec. 12th, 2025 08:05 pmbbc_feedThe 77-year-old says the milestone is a "personal blessing" and testimony to advances in cancer care.
'Football is dead': Anger and disappointment as fans priced out of World Cup
Dec. 12th, 2025 05:49 pmbbc_feedSupporters tell BBC Sport of their frustration at the astronomical cost of following the 2026 World Cup.
Will we see a white Christmas this year?
Dec. 12th, 2025 03:59 pmbbc_feedSarah Keith-Lucas explores the chances of getting snow at Christmas this year in the UK.
Been reading more fanfic and rotating blorbos
Dec. 12th, 2025 08:12 pmbeccaelizabethI am reading fic and figuring out which bits of these dynamics are personally compelling.
( Read more... )
So I keep turning these characters around in my head and the weird blank space of reading lacking canon is being filled in with a variety of configurations and I am today finding them fascinating.
But more in my head than on the page, where different elements change with every telling.
( Read more... )
So I keep turning these characters around in my head and the weird blank space of reading lacking canon is being filled in with a variety of configurations and I am today finding them fascinating.
But more in my head than on the page, where different elements change with every telling.
signal boost: US health insurance, time-sensitive
Dec. 12th, 2025 03:32 pmcellioIf you are in the US, don't have employer-provided health insurance (hello layoffs, among others), and are thus buying your insurance on healthcare.gov or the state marketplaces, you might want to read siderea's series of posts on the subject soon: introduction, A health plan is a contract, and HSAs and bronze/catastrophic plans (so far). Technically you have until January 15 to sign up for 2026 insurance, but if you want insurance coverage in January, your deadline is Real Soon Now -- December 15 in most places, but earlier in some states. (I'm in PA where it's December 15; I haven't been tracking other places but Siderea mentions some in the introduction.)
Something I had missed is that for 2026, the government has admitted that bronze plans (with the lowest-but-still-high premiums) are inadequate, and you can now set up a Health Savings Account (HSA) with those plans. It's extra paperwork but can lead to savings on the money you were going to have to spend out of pocket anyway.
Write every day: Day 12
Dec. 12th, 2025 06:12 pmluzula200 words of longfic; total wordcount now 106,200. How about you?
Tally:
( Read more... )
Day 11:china_shop, badly_knitted, trobadora, sylvanwitch, sanguinity, cornerofmadness,
Bonus farm news: We ended up leaving the boar carcass on a clearcut a mile into the forest away from any houses, cutting open the skin so the birds of prey would have an easier time. Wild boar skin is tough.
Tally:
( Read more... )
Day 11:
china_shop, badly_knitted, trobadora, sylvanwitch, sanguinity, cornerofmadness, Bonus farm news: We ended up leaving the boar carcass on a clearcut a mile into the forest away from any houses, cutting open the skin so the birds of prey would have an easier time. Wild boar skin is tough.
King says he can 'share the good news' his cancer treatment will reduce
Dec. 12th, 2025 08:05 pmbbc_feedThe 77-year-old says the milestone is a "personal blessing" and testimony to advances in cancer care.
White House sued by historic preservation group over ballroom plans
Dec. 12th, 2025 08:05 pmbbc_feedThe National Trust for Historic Preservation argues the White House failed to seek necessary reviews before demolishing the historic East Wing.
More photos from Epstein estate show Trump, Clinton and former Prince Andrew
Dec. 12th, 2025 07:36 pmbbc_feedThe photos, which do not imply wrongdoing, are part of a trove of images the House Oversight Committee received from Epstein's estate.
No plans to force drivers to report collisions with cats, government says
Dec. 12th, 2025 07:30 pmbbc_feedNearly 11,000 people have signed a Parliamentary e-petition calling for a new law to report collisions.
White Christmas
Dec. 12th, 2025 03:14 pmosprey_archerContinuing my Christmas quest with a rewatch of White Christmas! This is one of my all-time favorite movies. I wrote Yuletide fic for it (Bob/Phil ofc), Iâve seen it on the big screen with the whole theater singing along at the end, seen it in general more times than I can count. (Despite this, I still have to check Wikipedia for the character names. I know who the characters are and how they pair off! I just canât remember which name goes with which!)
So yesterday when I was taking a sick day, I figured another rewatch could only be good for my health, and of course I was right. Just such a fun movie. I love the song and dance numbers, and pine for the day when Hollywood would just straight-up stop a movie for a musical interlude. Why must everything âadvance the plotâ or âfurther character arcsâ? Is it not enough sometimes just to watch Vera-Ellen taptaptaptaptap her toe real fast?
Also pour one out for Mary Wickes, who steals the show as General Waverlyâs housekeeper Emma. I think my favorite single bit in the movie is the part where Emma overhears (because of course sheâs listening in on the extension) that Bob and Phil are bringing their show to the empty ski lodge to rehearse (thus bringing in some much-needed income). She tells Phil and Bob that thatâs just the nicest thing she ever heard and then kisses them both, and Bob is like âwowzaâ and is just about to go in for more when Phil drags him off.
I still love Bob and Philâs chemistry, and I do kind of ship it but in a way where it also doesnât bother me that the movieâs whole plot revolves around getting them together with girls. Phil and Judy have fantastic chemistry too, although possibly more shenanigans chemistry than romantic chemistry. (They might be able to work as a marriage, though.)
I donât love Bob and Betty as a couple, mostly because their big misunderstanding is so movie-contrived. This really is a case where Betty could just say whatâs bothering her and Bob could explain and they could sort it all out without Betty running off in a huff to the Carousel Club in New York! Since this is a big part of the story youâd think it would sink the movie, but everything else works so well for me that when we get to this bit I always sigh âho humâ and wait patiently for the big âWhite Christmasâ finale. Simply a perfect ending tableau.
So yesterday when I was taking a sick day, I figured another rewatch could only be good for my health, and of course I was right. Just such a fun movie. I love the song and dance numbers, and pine for the day when Hollywood would just straight-up stop a movie for a musical interlude. Why must everything âadvance the plotâ or âfurther character arcsâ? Is it not enough sometimes just to watch Vera-Ellen taptaptaptaptap her toe real fast?
Also pour one out for Mary Wickes, who steals the show as General Waverlyâs housekeeper Emma. I think my favorite single bit in the movie is the part where Emma overhears (because of course sheâs listening in on the extension) that Bob and Phil are bringing their show to the empty ski lodge to rehearse (thus bringing in some much-needed income). She tells Phil and Bob that thatâs just the nicest thing she ever heard and then kisses them both, and Bob is like âwowzaâ and is just about to go in for more when Phil drags him off.
I still love Bob and Philâs chemistry, and I do kind of ship it but in a way where it also doesnât bother me that the movieâs whole plot revolves around getting them together with girls. Phil and Judy have fantastic chemistry too, although possibly more shenanigans chemistry than romantic chemistry. (They might be able to work as a marriage, though.)
I donât love Bob and Betty as a couple, mostly because their big misunderstanding is so movie-contrived. This really is a case where Betty could just say whatâs bothering her and Bob could explain and they could sort it all out without Betty running off in a huff to the Carousel Club in New York! Since this is a big part of the story youâd think it would sink the movie, but everything else works so well for me that when we get to this bit I always sigh âho humâ and wait patiently for the big âWhite Christmasâ finale. Simply a perfect ending tableau.
St. John the Wondermaker
Dec. 12th, 2025 07:13 pmlongreadsrss_feedRebecca E. Williams crafts a small, powerful essay from her work with the Herbalista Free Clinic, which provides footcare for unhoused men at an orthodox church in Atlanta. As she clips nails and trims calluses with the edge of a scalpel, Williams’s mind roams, considering the dynamics that dislocate these men from care. “I wonder about inertia and all the forces that push back on these men as hard as they try to push into the direction of their desires,” she writesâa crystalline moment of empathy in a moving piece of lyric writing.
An archâs ability to support massive weight is one of the most fundamental concepts in physicsâand weirdest. The idea is that if you push against a wall with your hand, the wall is pushing back with the same amount of force. This is one aspect of the concept of inertia. The arch of the foot (or any arch) diffuses the forces of compression, which increases the entire structureâs load-bearing capacity by orders of magnitude.
But feet donât just provide stationary support, they move. They run and jump andâmost of allâwalk. The plantar fascia, a fan-like structure of connective tissue that is not muscle, not bone, not tendon, but a springy, stringy, sticky protein structure, tenses and releases beneath the arch with every step. Like a spring, the plantar fascia can hold tension generated by the leg and release it as that potential energy transfers forward. Who thinks about this complex orchestration of biology and physics? Our feet, most of the time, are just there, performing miracles.