beachlass | up the shoreline

1. "Gamblers trying to win a bet on Polymarket are vowing to kill me if I don't rewrite an Iran missile story": (tags:iran israel journalism gambling ohforfuckssake )
2. Subnautica 2 Publisher Followed ChatGPT's Advice On How To Break The Law: (tags:law ai games OhForFucksSake )
3. Nvidia's Next-Gen Photo-Realistic Lighting looks, frankly, amazing: (tags:games lighting nvidia video )
4. Regression, Not Progress: A Response to World Athletics' Return to Sex Testing: (tags:gender testing OhForFucksSake women LGBT transgender biology )
5. Have some simple but inspiring images about growth through making mistakes: (tags:inspiration visualisation )
6. Almost 25 years ago, a war game exercise had an Iran-stand in use asymmetric warfare to obliterate a US military force. So they re-ran it to force a US victory.: (tags:usa military ohforfuckssake iran games )

I do wish that polls wouldn't ask if people thought that the PM was handling something "Well" or "Badly". Because two people answering "Badly" might mean completely different things by it.

Also, me saying "Immigration is important to me" means the opposite of what a Reform voter would mean by it.

This because of reporting of how many people think that Starmer is handling the Iran situation well or badly. When I can guarantee that some of the "badly" think we should be bombing Iran right now, and some think that we shouldn't be involved even slightly.

rydra_wong

https://transrightsreadathon.carrd.co/

March 17-31, 2026

The Trans Rights Readathon is an annual call to action to readers and book lovers in support of Trans Day of Visibility (TDOV) on March 31st.

We are calling on the reader community to read and uplift books written by and/or featuring trans, nonbinary, 2Spirit, and gender-nonconforming authors and characters.

As before, I would like to request that people shout out their favourite eligible books in the comments!

andrewducker

This is from a post made here on Facebook. I'm copying it here, with the permission of the original author, so that people off Facebook can see it.

I had the pleasure of Terry’s company on a week-long Writer’s Retreat twice, in 1990, as part of a company of eight interesting people in Diss, Suffolk.

Terry later came to my wedding and gave me a proof copy of ‘Lords and Ladies’ as a wedding gift! I had never read his books before I met him, so I began with ‘Wyrd Sisters’ - and have carried on reading them ever since.

When he learned I was meeting up with Terry again, my local Librarian shouted ‘Oook!’ and collected up every book by Terry which he had in the Library, and asked him to sign them. This amused Terry - and shocked other participants! "You shouldn't write in Library Books" etc...

Terry and I were both reading Henry Mayhew’s ‘London labour and the London poor’ at the time.

I asked Terry to make a list of other books which he found inspirational. Here they are:

‘The Evolution Man’ by Roy Lewis.

‘The Specialist’ by Charles Sale.

‘The Canterbury Tales’ by Chaucer.

‘Fairy Tales’ by Charles Perrault.

Jacqueline Simpson’s folklore books.

Everything by J R R Tolkien and C S Lewis.

‘The Wind From the Sun’ by Arthur C. Clarke.

‘Cold Comfort Farm’ by Stella Gibbons (my favourite book).

‘Mistress Masham’s Repose’ and the Arthurian Trilogy by T H White.

I also add the new series of novels set in St Mary’s by Jodi Taylor, of whom I am a keen fan, and strongly recommend. Terry told Jodi how much he liked her writings. Start with ‘Just One Da*ned Thing After Another’ and carry on enjoying!

Edit - I forgot 'The Moomins' series!

andrewducker

1. 'Buffy' Reboot Dead at Hulu: (tags:Buffy TV )
2. The Life Cycle of Money: (tags:money )
3. A Guide to Terms of Address for British Nobility: (tags:monarchy language uk )

andrewducker

Following yesterday's illness, I was vaguely hoping that he would stay asleep through the night. Alas:

12:05
"I need a wee"
Took him to the toilet.
"Daddy, my tummy hurts"
Gave him some medicine
"Do you want to be in pyjamas or just straight back to bed?"
"Back to bed"
And then he closed his eyes.

12:20
Thundering footsteps "Daddy, I feel sick"
Told him to go to the toilet. Kept him company, got him a bucket.
He wasn't sick.
Persuaded him to take the bucket to bed.
Sat on the floor next to his bed until he closed his eyes.

12:35
More thundering steps
"Daddy, my arm and leg hurt"
By the time I'd found him medicine he was asleep again.
But woke up again and let me give him some Calpol.

03:30
"I'm hungry" (not surprising as he didn't eat yesterday)
We agreed on cream cheese crackers.
He ate ⅘ of the cracker and drank some juice and passed out again.

06:30
"I checked the light coming under the curtain and it's morning time"
I told him to go play games on the Switch downstairs.
Fifteen minutes later I could still hear him wandering about and I hadn't heard any game noises.
Went to check on him and he told him that he'd found various points around the house where the floor isn't flat.
Got him settled with the Switch, and then went back to bed and stared vacantly at my phone for an hour, before getting up to face the day.

ysabetwordsmith posting in

gardening

Yesterday I discovered the Seed Library Network. I was delighted to find one near me.

Today we visited the Urbana Free Library Seed Exchange. It's on the second floor. We rode the elevator up, and the display was big enough to be seen from where the elevator lets out. Seeds are stored in drawers, sorted by type. There are sections for flowers, herbs, and vegetables. Some of the really popular ones have their own drawer; others are grouped together. Unopened packets of commercial seed are filed as they are, for folks who want to know exactly what they're getting. Opened packets or homegrown seeds are put in envelopes by library staff. With wildflower and landrace seeds, especially mixes, you may get more surprises.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: excited

mark posting in

dw_maintenance

Happy Saturday!

I'm going to be doing a little maintenance today. It will likely cause a tiny interruption of service (specifically for www.dreamwidth.org) on the order of 2-3 minutes while some settings propagate. If you're on a journal page, that should still work throughout!

If it doesn't work, the rollback plan is pretty quick, I'm just toggling a setting on how traffic gets to the site. I'll update this post if something goes wrong, but don't anticipate any interruption to be longer than 10 minutes even in a rollback situation.

andrewducker

The first time Gideon fell asleep in front of the toilet we moved him to a comfy chair. From where he woke up still feeling sick and Jane found him lying on the floor with a bucket he'd found and relocated him back to the toilet, where he then fell asleep again.

I missed all of this because I had passed out in bed feeling rubbish. I did wake up to various noises, but each time I did I tried to open my eyelids, failed, and fell back to sleep again. Thankfully Jane isn't feeling as bad as me, and Sophia was off having a play date at the other end of the street.

So far nobody has actually thrown up. Fingers crossed that continues.
Original is here on Pixelfed.scot.

andrewducker

1. This 18-year-old Afghan girl had offers from York and Reading - thanks to Shabana Mahmood, she will now never escape the Taliban: (tags:Afghanistan women UK migration asylum education OhForFucksSake )
2. AI toys for children misread emotions and respond inappropriately: (tags:toys children ai )
3. PEGI to give 16 age rating to games with loot boxes (amongst several other changes): (tags:gambling children games )
4. Have two people being *ridiculously* good at a Dance Pad game: Streamed live at: https://www.twitch.tv/tomatoniumWorld 1st PG on Sarabande CoopP1: ElijahTSP2: Tomatonium

(tags:games dancing video viamybrothermike )
5. New NHS England Review Excluded 97% Of All Trans Studies To Say Care Doesn't Work: (tags:LGBT bigotry healthcare OhForFucksSake transgender )
6. Tracing the lobbying behind age verification laws: (tags:age surveillance USA law politics )

ysabetwordsmith posting in

gardening

Seed Library Network
This website has extensive resources on seed libraries and seed swaps.

Seed the Map
Is your seed library open? Take 5 minutes to get on the Global Seed Library Map.

Explore the Map
Search the map to find other folks in similar regions or at the same type of location.

Seed Library Networks
Check out the other seed library networks & learn about how you can create your own.

Current Mood: busy

mdehners posting in

gardening

Got some Garden-related stuff done the last 2 days. Planted a Saskatoon bush in a container and moved a few seedlings into 3" pots from the trays. My Fig cutting is showing buds along the stem but I'm not tempted to even look until April;>
Giant and Bronze Fennels, Variegated Lunaria(though no sign of it at present). The Giant isn't edible but looks really kewl the 2nd yr when it blooms about 10-12 ft tall! Next week a few more should be ready to bump up to larger pots just in time for the next batch of Stratified seeds to be ready to plant...
Cheers,
Pat

Current Mood: accomplished
Current Location: Lenoir City(Nevermore;>!)
Current Music: Kiva Radio

jadelennox posting in

poetry

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

sisterofbloomerjunior posting in

unclutter

My mother died a few weeks ago, so amongst other duties, I'm donating some of her items - mainly clothes, though I did include a box full of books to the Epilepsy Foundation. So it's seven bags of her clothes (Four to EFMN, Three to Ridwell), one teddy bear from Valentines Day donated also in a box, and the aforementioned box.

Edit if I haven't mentioned it: We sold the Buick. :)

andrewducker

Poll #34358

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 31

View Respondents

What's the soonest you can tell a new partner you love them?

View Answers

First date
2 (6.9%)

First few days
1 (3.4%)

First week
1 (3.4%)

First two weeks
2 (6.9%)

First month
4 (13.8%)

First two months
3 (10.3%)

First six months
5 (17.2%)

First year
2 (6.9%)

Longer than a year
0 (0.0%)

THEY MUST NEVER KNOW
1 (3.4%)

I don't do "Love"
1 (3.4%)

SEWIWEIC
7 (24.1%)

What's the longest you'd wait for a partner to declare love before giving up on them?

View Answers

First date
0 (0.0%)

First few days
0 (0.0%)

First week
0 (0.0%)

First two weeks
0 (0.0%)

First month
0 (0.0%)

First two months
4 (13.3%)

First six months
5 (16.7%)

First year
6 (20.0%)

Longer than a year
2 (6.7%)

I WILL WAIT FOREVER
3 (10.0%)

I don't do "Love"
1 (3.3%)

SEWIWEIC
9 (30.0%)

Triggered by a couple of things recently where people were shocked that people would tell them that they were in love within the first few months.

And my general view is that if you aren't incredibly excited to spend loads of time with me and wander around holding hands while grinning a lot within the first few weeks of dating then we are probably not compatible.