jack

If I were a Catholic Christian and not a Quaker (so not necessarily a Christian at all) I would currently be observing the season of Advent.

Advent is all about waiting, anticipating, looking forward- not to Christmas but to something called The Second Coming- which you can interpret as you will.

Buddhists also wait, but for them the waiting is a thing in itself, its own consummation, whereas Christian wait for something....

Huge generalisation coming up: The spirituality of the East is passive, the spirituality of the West active. Both are appropriate to the situation we find ourselves in.

I always loved Advent. For one thing it has the best hymns.

I was in the Meeting House on Thursday and a text came into my head and kept on pestering me until I gave in, picked a Bible off the table, looked it up and then read it aloud to the Friends.

Luke is talking about John the Baptist. The text that was pestering me is "The voice of one crying in the wilderness" and passage in which it is embedded goes like this:

Now in the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar.....the word of God came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness. And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins- as it is written in the the book of the words of Esias the prophet, saying, "The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth; And all flesh shall see the salvation of God."

sholio

We finally got around to watching the first Stranger Things new episode drop! Somehow I had remained completely and utterly unspoiled for it, to the extent of having even forgotten that there was a new season until suddenly a post with "stranger things spoilers" arrived on my Tumblr dash and I immediately blocked the tag. So I knew literally nothing.

( Random spoilers in no particular order )

sovay

Realizing last night that I have for decades thought of myself as a full year older than I chronologically can have been for my first real job—I was fifteen—led into a crumble-to-dust reminiscence about the number of bookstores once to be found in Lexington Center, which gave me some serious future shock when we walked into Maxima while waiting to collect our order from Il Casale and it occupied the exact same storefront as my second job, also as a bookseller; it was perhaps the one form of retail to which I was natively suited. My third job was assistant-teaching Latin, but my fourth I accidentally talked my way into by recommending some titles to a fellow browser.

spatch's anniversary gift to me was a paperback of Satoshi Yagisawa's Days at the Morisaki Bookshop (trans. Eric Ozawa, 2010/2023). It was teeth-shockingly cold and we all but ran with our spoils back to the car.

( Twenty-four hours every day. )

We had set out in search of resplendent food and found it in polpette that reminded us of the North End, a richly smoky rigatoni with ragù of deep-braised lamb, and a basil-decorated, fanciest eggplant parmesan I have encountered in my life, capped with panna cotta in a tumble of wintrily apt pomegranate seeds. Hestia investigated delicately but dangerously. After we had recovered, Rob showed me Powwow Highway (1989) right before it expired from the unreliable buffer of TCM because he thought and was right that I would love its anger and gentleness and hereness, plus its '64 Buick which has already gone on beyond Bluesmobile by the time it is discovered in a field of clunkers and a vision of ponies. It has no budget and so much of the world. As long as we're in it, we might as well be real.

Current Music: David Byrne, "What Is the Reason for It? (feat. Hayley Williams)"

chocolatefrogs posting in

icons10in20

HERE

Current Mood: awake
Current Music: Chris Young - It Must Be Christmas

antisoppist

Jane thought her most beautiful present was the first she opened. It was a lovely little wrist watch. On the card with it was written "From Hyde Park and myself with best wishes. Your Mr. Browne." But presently she opened a parcel which made her forget there were any other presents in the world. It was a plain cardboard box with none of the grand American fixings of massed bows and flowers. Inside was something done up in brown paper. Inside that was an exact duplicate of David's reed pipe. On a piece of paper David had written, "Happy Christmas. I'll teach you to play this. David."

The evening finished with carols. Tim played and everybody stood round his piano. On the top of the piano, where he could keep his eye on it, was Brent's trick box. Rachel had her arms hugged to her and inside them were Posy's old shoes. Jane, wearing her wrist watch, held the box with her pipe. As Tim crashed out the opening chords of "O, come all ye faithful" everybody's eyes were bright, even Aunt Cora's, but nobody's eyes shone quite so shiningly as Jane's.

ysabetwordsmith

A hidden Antarctic shift unleashed the carbon that warmed the world

Ancient Antarctic water-mass upheavals unleashed stored carbon—and may hint at our climate future.

As the last Ice Age waned and the Holocene dawned, deep-ocean circulation around Antarctica underwent dramatic shifts that helped release long-stored carbon back into the atmosphere. Deep-sea sediments show that ancient Antarctic waters once trapped vast amounts of carbon, only to release it during two major warming pulses at the end of the Ice Age. Understanding these shifts helps scientists predict how modern Antarctic melt may accelerate future climate change.

Current Mood: busy

brokenframe posting in

vidding

Title: Sirens
Characters/Pairing: Philip Swift/Syrena
Movie: Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
Music: Sirens by Fleurie
Length: 3:08
Streaming/download at: DW | Tumblr

ysabetwordsmith

People have expressed interest in deep topics, so this list focuses on philosophical questions.

Is the cultural trend of individualism and the rejection of collectivism a beneficial or detrimental trend?

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

renay

My partner wanted to catch up on Stranger Things so we can watch the finale. I suspect the Duffer Brothers and I are destined for a breakup after this show is over, although I do appreciate some of the book references.

Today's Rec:

Sailing With Phoenix
Over the summer, a dude started sailing solo from Oregon to Hawai'i on a sailboat with his cat. He came across my TikTok FYP randomly, about a week into his trip. He has a whole Youtube channel documenting his decision to go, leaving his job, buying the boat, prepping the boat, and then the actual journey. He's since decided to get a new boat and sail non-stop around the world, and is documenting that journey. My autistic self was immediately charmed by him. And I learned a lot about boats and sailing (I love when people get intensely into a special interest and share it with people.) He has short form content on his TikTok but I really like the longer form videos and how he builds the narrative over time on Youtube.

apod_feed

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251205.html

Blasting outward from variable star KX Andromedae,

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251205.html

hamsterwoman

I'm giving myself a couple of Taskmaster-free weeks, even though I do have some TM NZ s6 I could catch up on, because Champion of Champions 4 is coming on Dec 22 -- so excite! The poster gives a full look at the costumes, answering the question of whether Mathew was going to wear EVEN SHORTER shorts, and the people on Reddit provided the extra context that John's Freddie's Harlequin outfit is associated with "We Are the Champions", and that Andy is wearing the cricket uniform associated with the one-day cricket as opposed to test match -- and I love the added meanings from these two nerds. (If there's a deep explanation or Maisie's nun or Sam's bellhop, that has yet to be shared. So far the hypotheses seem to be that Sam's is a reference to TM Hotel and Maisie's is going for something that will keep her knickers covered this time, or possibly another classic musical reference, Grease --> The Sound of Music.)

*

In the spirit of catching up on things, I went and got myself up to date on Rivers of London (especially as I'm requesting it in Yuletide and

fandomtrees. This is the first year I've had to catch up on it -- I've had a copy of the novel since early July, on preorder, and kind of forgot that Stray Cat Blues had been out for almost a year when I ordered it in October, and then proceeded to not touch for the next two months. But, well, I'm enjoying this patch of story less than previous ones, I guess, so there's less of an impetus to stay current even though I do still love the characters and the world.

5. Ben Aaronovitch, Stone and Sky -- This one was an odd experience... I've been keeping up with the novellas and GNs, but it's been 3.5 years since I read the last novel, and this one seems to be continuing the trend where it's taking me longer to read each book than the preceding one, in the post-Faceless Man arc of the series: False Value I didn't like that much (relative to the series preceding it), but read in 1-2 days; Amongst Our Weapons I liked more but took several days to finish; and this one I read over the course of weeks, setting it aside and going back to it, and I'm not sure how it compares to the other recent ones for me because it just didn't feel like a Peter book, it felt like something else, and that something else didn't work for me as well as the Peter books, but also it was trying for a different thing. ( More, with marked spoilers )

6. Stray Cat Blues (RoL GN #12) -- it does go well with Abigail's heavier and more independent presence in Stone and Sky. ( But it was mostly meh as a stand-alone story (spoilers). ) Abigail was also the only one whose art I liked in this outing. I mean, I don't read these for the art, but this was more meh/downright ugly than most of these.

*

More year-end meme: ( movies, television, books this year )

*

And, the year-end meme was a good impetus to dust off the fannish goals I'd put together in early January and have not checked in on since end of May, LOL.

( Fannish goals check-in )

senmut

2015 - A decade ago! Oh right, I was dirt poor by the end of the year because I remember thinking I wasn't going to get to see the new Star Wars film in theater.

Furious 7 - So my late partner and I had fallen in love with this crew in the first movie. She LOVED Brian. And... well. Paul Walker died before completing this one. And then they released it on her anniversary with me. So Yeah. Saw it twice in theater.

Jurassic World - This looked interesting, was okay, but wife and I both had Issues with it. And then, of course, Pratt lived up to his name, and I let the franchise go away. Still kinda want to see the one with the original trio.

Carol - I don't do arthouse style films, I protest mightily. AND YET. I decided to see what the fuss was about, and FELL IN LOVE. Cate and Rooney sold the story. (and having read up about the author, wow it's toned down from the inspirations / she was a helluva bitch it looked like)

Star Wars: The Force Awakens - such characters! such potential! Shame they never made more after it to explore Finn and Rey and Poe in a way that highlighted EVERYTHING THAT MADE THEM INTERESTING! (It did however set me on the SW track of writing, so I can't complain too much)

cornerofmadness

Because dear sweet baby Jesus my students are challenging me. I had two lab finals today. For both I said DO NOT ASSUME YOU KNOW WHAT I'M ASKING. READ THE QUESTIONS. I pointed out like three times pre-exam that I could ask 1. What is this muscle 2. What is this origin/insertion 3. What is the muscle's action.

Not only are they putting muscle names in for actions (because they didn't read) and then because there is cardio on my nursing version of this those words are on the wordbank too and my upper level A&P students see those words and the question is what is the action of XYZ and they tell me mitral valve. How do you a) not know that's not an action (and this was MORE than 1 person) how do you know realize I have never once mention the fucking word mitral valve?!?

The second lab final today runs from 1-2:50. At 140 I get an email alert and it's one of my students who is MIA (I assumed she finally realized she can't possibly pass and didn't come, like one of the others did). I didn't hear my alarm and I overslept (it's nearly 2 pm....) I'm coming next week to make up the practical. No, you have an hour left on the exam. Be here or get a zero. She comes and from what she handed me was likely a zero anyhow. But She did have 2 hours because so many students (who didn't tell me they were coming friday at 1. THREE told me this and I had to get the secretary to get me more answer sheets. THIS is why I tell you to communicate with me.) my lab couldn't hold them all so they needed more time. I said they could have til 320. (that's an extra half hour). At 330 a dozen were still there. No, move on now. At 340 I demanded the tests back. If you don't know it after 3 hours then you don't know it.

Here me screaming as I yank out all my hair. Btw I feel justified in giving out a 23% to my upper levels because 4 out of 8 got 100%. It was far from impossible.

Bah, have the fannish 50 recs. I have been writing but it's all for

fandomtrees and I can't share it. I am really intrigued by the Hazbin prompts there. I will say that.

A Royal Idea Teen Wolf

Just A Man Torchwood

Self-Discovery FAKE

Melty. The Murderbot Diaries

Friends Old And New Torchwood

Dancing In The Dark Hazbin Hotel

just the beginning Hudson & Rex

What Everyone Wants Torchwood

A Heavy Burden The Fantastic Journey

No Such Thing As Too Late Supernatural

oh no, he’s hot. 陈情令 | The Untamed (TV)魔道祖师 - 墨香铜臭 | Módào Zǔshī - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù

hot chocolate icons

The List due South

Offer of Protection Teen Wolf

Current Music: Tournament of Champions

ysabetwordsmith

Today I'm trying out a new recipe for Banana Banana Bread that I found in All Recipes. This one uses 5 bananas where my usual one takes 3, and butter instead of oil. I made half the flour whole wheat. Partway through I realized there was no other flavoring besides the bananas, so I added a teaspoon of cinnamon. It will be interesting to see how this turns out. :D

EDIT 12/5/25 -- This turned out pretty well. It's a bit prone to falling apart, but may set up more as it cools. It has quite a strong banana flavor. I don't think I'll replace my usual recipe, but this certainly works for using up a lot of bananas.

Current Mood: accomplished

minoanmiss

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Current Mood: annoyed

galeogirl

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Current Mood: content
Current Music: Sign Your Name - Sananda Maitreya

dewline

I just realized that I have eight or nine different star mapping projects on the go with various members of the Tranquility Press gang.

All this has been building up over the last five years, partly to cope with other stuff and partly for fun and research giggles (which have been plentiful).

More as I think it over.

Current Mood: surprised

ysabetwordsmith

Equality matters

When we say that we want equality, what do we mean? Same pay for everyone? Same caloric intake? Same size of house? Same amount of electricity consumed every day? Same amount of household waste? Same amount of political power, influence, or fame?

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

xkcd_feed

https://xkcd.com/3177/

Luckily, the range is limited by the fact that the square boundary lines follow great circles.

https://xkcd.com/3177/

unicornduke

For some reason I thought I had made a post for September but apparently not. I wouldn't hold my DNF books against them during this time, I was very tired and not feeling books that might have normally been decent, so probably most of them are perfectly good reads. I re-read a lot of books and fanfiction during this time including the entirety of the HOTE Ao3 tag, twice at least. Then I started on re-reading the Goblin Emperor Ao3 fic. Then I started going back through Murderbot fic. So you get the gist. New books had to be incredibly good for me to finish them.

Read

Bad Company by Megan Greenwell - a book about private equity. I didn't technically finish this book but I got the gist. private equity is so fucked up and shouldn't exist. library e-book
At the Feet of the Sun by Victoria Goddard - this was the first time I read this book, I re-read it about a month ago again. physical book I bought
Lakelore by Anna-Marie McLemore - decent little book, really liked it. library audiobook
Hemlock and Silver by T Kingfisher - hey what the fuck. it was good. but what the fuck. I wasn't at all bothered by the demon horse in the last fairytale retelling but the leggy guys are fucked up in this. you should read it. library ebook
Queen Demon by Martha Wells - not as tightly timelined as Witch King but definitely got me in the feels more. physical book I pre-ordered
Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz - cute little scifi book, just chill. library ebook
Portrait of the Wide Seas Islander by Victoria Goddard - little novella in the HOTE series, very good, enjoyed it. physical book I bought. also re-read
Petty Treasons by Victoria Goddard - little novella in HOTE series, very good, deeply in the feels about it. physical book I bought. also re-read
The Return of Fitzroy Angursell by Victoria Goddard - little novella in the HOTE series, fun and funny and in the feels about it again. physical book I bought. also re-read
Those Who Hold the Fire by Victoria Goddard - little novella in the HOTE series, very good. physical book I bought.

Re-read

Network Effect by Martha Wells - library audiobook. the narrator is excellent for this series and I love murderbot so much
Witch King by Martha Wells - library audiobook - I finally learned how many of the characters names were actually pronounced
Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells - library audiobook
System Collapse by Martha Wells - library audiobook, clearly I was on a roll
Hands of the Emperor by Victora Goddard

DNF

When the Tides Held the Moon by Venessa Vida Kelley - not sure why I wasn't into it, but felt decently YA in a way that was irritating me even though I think the protags were supposed to be in their twenties maybe. I dunno, this was back in August. Library audiobook
Dark Moon, Shallow Sea by David R Slayton - no idea what I didn't like about it, probably just wasn't feeling it. library e-book
War Girls by Tochi Onyebuchi - I might try this one again later. library e-book
The City and Its Uncertain Walls by Haruki Murakami - not feeling it, library audiobook
Apprentice to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer- I remember the first book being decent and funny, found the first chapter of this extremely irritating due to love-sick POV character. library audiobook
Lies We Sing to the Sea by Sarah Underwood - decent story, I could see where the romance was going and I didn't like it. library audiobook
Motheater by Linda H Codega - really really liked this one's story and got through 2/3 of it, but the romance was annoying me, will probably go back and finish it. library ebook

Network

The Voice Of One Crying In The Wilderness

Stranger Things 5x01-04

What does it do when we're asleep?

Round number - Chocolatefrogs

Advent calendar 6

Climate Change

New Vid: Philip Swift/Syrena Fan Video - Sirens

Philosophical Questions: Trends

Rec-Cember Day #5

The Bipolar Jets of KX Andromedae

Reading: catchin up on RoL, and year end meme (movies, television, books)

Fandom Fifty: #41

I hope my sanity can last another decade

Today's Cooking

Today in annoying political lies

And the earth rotates to our dictates

Yawn...what am I doing?

Activism

Chessboard Alignment

August through November Reading List