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ysabetwordsmith) wrote2025-08-16 01:20 am
Climate Change
Summary:
Chemical evidence from a stalagmite in Mexico has revealed that the Classic Maya civilization’s decline coincided with repeated severe wet-season droughts, including one that lasted 13 years. These prolonged droughts corresponded with halted monument construction and political disruption at key Maya sites, suggesting that climate stress played a major role in the collapse. The findings demonstrate how stalagmites offer unmatched precision for linking environmental change to historical events.
Just in case you thought climate change wasn't very important, a shift in the environmental conditions is one of the leading causes of civilization collapse.
ysabetwordsmith) wrote2025-08-16 01:17 amCreative Jam
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crowdfunding Creative Jam is now up with a theme of "Inner vs. Outer Strength." Come give us prompts or claim some for your own inspiration.What I Have Written
From My Prompts
ysabetwordsmith) wrote2025-08-16 12:16 amPhilosophical Questions: Diversity
What are the benefits and drawbacks of diversity in society?
( Read more... )
ysabetwordsmith) wrote2025-08-15 06:03 pmEarly Humans
Mysterious Denisovan interbreeding shaped the humans we are today.
Denisovans, a mysterious human relative, left behind far more than a handful of fossils—they left genetic fingerprints in modern humans across the globe. Multiple interbreeding events with distinct Denisovan populations helped shape traits like high-altitude survival in Tibetans, cold-weather adaptation in Inuits, and enhanced immunity. Their influence spanned from Siberia to South America, and scientists are now uncovering how these genetic gifts transformed human evolution, even with such limited physical remains.
ysabetwordsmith) wrote2025-08-15 02:18 pmBirdfeeding
I fed the birds. I've seen a few sparrows and house finches.
EDIT 8/15/25 -- I put out water for the birds.
EDIT 8/15/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.
I've seen a flock of sparrows and house finches.
EDIT 8/15/25 -- I did more work around the patio.
EDIT 8/15/25 -- I did more work around the patio.
EDIT 8/15/25 -- I watered the patio plants, old picnic garden, and new picnic garden.
I picked a red cherry tomato.
I am done for the night.
oursin) wrote2025-08-15 04:37 pmThere are a million stories....
In my post about manners yesterday, conuly brought up in the comments a couple of posts to Ask A Manager from An Awful Young Man, who, on the evidence given, probably knows all the intricacies of cutlery and which way to pass the port, but is unfit for release into general society:
I was travelling home on a packed train with my bike. Suddently, I was approached by a lady who asked me, rather rudely, to give my seat to a man, her father, who was travelling with her. Since I was sitting on a regular seat (not a seat designated for disabled passangers) and had to read some materials to prepare for my interview, I ignored her. Unfortunately, when I was getting off the train, I accidentally moved my bike in a way that it caught and left dirty stains on her coat. I did not think much of this till the next day when I ran into the same woman and one of directors in the lift in my office building. It transpired that she is the CEO’s wife. She said nothing and did not acknowledge me, but it was very clear to me that she recognised me.
He did not get the job and thinks Spiteful Bitch put the kibosh on. Commentators have a lovely time handing him his head.
I wish I had been told the receptionist/janitor/security guard story by career services at my university, which is one of those prestigious English ones. (Note from Alison: This is a reference to advice that you should be polite to receptionists/janitors/security guards when interviewing.) We get a lot of tips about how to write our resume and cover letter and how we should conduct ourselves during interviews, but not this type of real life recommendation.
'I was raised by wolves before they threw me out of the pack for antisocial behaviour and somehow I got into Oxbridge'.
But, my dearios, is this not a positively archetypal morality tale? At least one of the commenters pointed out its resemblance to Folktale Motif of Young Man on Quest who Fails to Help Old Woman, Bad Luck Eventuates/His Despised Younger Brother Does Help Her, Go Him, Wealth and Princess Are His Lot.
So there's that one.
It could also make a 'Sliding Doors' tale where the different outcomes of doing the wrong and right thing change destiny.
Or maybe he's condemned to repeat that journey and interview over and over again, Groundhog Day style, until he Learns His Lesson.
Or, maybe this is one of those novels that takes An Incident and does it from different viewpoints and that while to Mr I Am The Main Character here, this is all terribly important, there are other people who are going about their lives and barely noticing him unless they have to, and even then they have their own concerns.
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cakewrecks_feed) wrote2025-08-15 01:00 pmIt's Not Creepy If You're Married
John, sweetie, I just want you to know that I think you are all the way beautiful. Not just handsome, but smart, and kind-hearted. And if I were a lot younger, I would marry you...
...again.
And maybe we'd have a couple of chubby, freckle-faced kids:
And we'd laugh ALL DAY LONG.
...and go camping, play Yahtzee, and tell ghost stories by the fire.
And every day, for the rest of your life, you would thank God... that I was the appropriate maturity level for you.
Anyway, I just wanted to let you know how I felt.
I think you're very special.
And most of all, I wish you love, and I wish you contentment, and I wish you would put some pants on while I'm talking to you.
That's all.
“Eye”
“Heart”
“Ewe”
Thanks to Kate B., Judi G., Camille B., Aria P., Reba S., Jennifer L., Adrienne, and Jamie B. for helping me get that out there.
*****
And from my other blog, Epbot:
rolanni) wrote2025-08-15 09:24 amSee the fish?
What went before ONE: M'sieur Rookie critiques the hair taming.
What went before TWO: Just gettin' done for the day. I am pleased that the WIP has a definite shape. There are holes, but now I can see where they are.
Nothing planned for tomorrow, except sticking with the WIP.
Everybody stay safe; I'll see you tomorrow.
Friday. Sunny and gonna be warm, only it's not yet, so I've opened the windows to get some air moving around the house.
Trooper has had his gravy-and-meds and is currently chowing down on Fancy Feast cod, sole, and shrimp.
My breakfast was a peach cut up into plain yogurt. Kettle's on for my second mug of tea. Lunch is looking like The Last Yam.
Today is for writing and I'm ready to go in my Childless Cat Lady tshirt.
I do have a letter to write and a phone call to make -- oh! Whoever mentioned "Nextdoor"? Thank you! I downloaded it this morning. The feed is a MESS, but I found one post of interest -- a cleaner in the area who is accepting clients, so I'll be calling her.
Otherwise, as previously mentioned -- writing, one's duty to the cats, a short walk, and, oh, how about writing?
Friday brought me a surprise video from Lake Wesserunsett on July 31 2019. "See the fish?"
https://sharonleewriter.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/VID_20190731_103823251.mp4
What's Friday bringing to you?
ysabetwordsmith) wrote2025-08-15 01:01 amFollow Friday 8-15-25: Indie
i_love_games -- A Gaming CommunityAn Active Gaming Community created July 5th, 2013.
[Somewhat active with last post in December 2024.]
indie_games -- Indie GamesIndie games discussion, recs, and squee.
[Somewhat active with last post in June.]
indie_lifestyle -- Indie coolness and all that.[Dormant with last post in November 2020, but posting is open to all members so this should be revivable.]
musicianships -- The Freaks Club: MusicianshipsThis Community is for everyone who is involved in music in any way.
[Active with one post in August.]
onesongaday -- One Song A DayYou love music? Come share, listen, enjoy.
[Active with multiple posts in August.]
thefreaksclub -- TFC // The Anti-Thesis Social NetworkEverything related to darker alternative subcutlures. Discussion on books, the occult, music, & more.
[Active with one post in August.]
ysabetwordsmith) wrote2025-08-14 05:40 pmAffordable Housing
The development will include energy-efficient, high-quality homes with an average size of about 1,360 square feet.
HiveASMBLD plans to print two unique home designs, each with a two-bedroom and two and a half bathroom configuration, as well as an office or flex space, and a covered patio.
Pricing for these homes starts in the mid to high $200,000s.
( Read more... )
ysabetwordsmith) wrote2025-08-14 05:35 pmCelebrate Love Your Bookshop Day
duckprintspress over a wide area. ysabetwordsmith) wrote2025-08-14 02:49 pmBirdfeeding
I fed the birds. I've seen a few sparrows and house finches.
EDIT 8/14/25 -- I put out water for the birds.
EDIT 8/14/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.
EDIT 8/14/25 -- I did more work around the patio.
EDIT 8/14/25 -- I watered the patio plants and old picnic table garden.
I've seen a male cardinal in the forest garden.
EDIT 8/14/25 -- I watered the new picnic table garden, telephone pole garden, and some of the savanna seedlings.
Crickets and cicadas are singing. Fireflies are out; I haven't seen them in a while.
There was a skunk in the south lot.
I am done for the night.
oursin) wrote2025-08-14 03:34 pmManners makyth monarkz
I was madly irked yesterday to come across this in a report in The Times on classism at Oxbridge (surprise surprise NOT, surely, that is where one would expect to find it in its native haunts?):
'being offered “lessons in manners” after picking up the wrong spoon at a formal college dinner.'
a) I do not think deployment of cutlery comes under the heading of 'manners', unless, as in, was it The Lion in Winter or some forgotten Arthurian epic, somebody takes these here newfangled forks to be instruments of assassination. Or maybe starts flicking soup across the table with improvised spoon trebuchets. Providing that we're at the Norbert Elias Civilising Process stage of using cutlery rather than our fingers, anyway.
Wot do they even teach them at Oxbridge these days, eh?
b) Okay, people do weaponise manners, but essentially, manners are supposed to be about making people feel comfortable and at ease, and if you're picking on somebody for not knowing some niche culturally-specific rule relating to spoons, that is Bad Manners and RUDE.
Cite here to Cardinal Newman on The Gentleman:
The true gentleman in like manner carefully avoids whatever may cause a jar or a jolt in the minds of those with whom he is cast — all clashing of opinion, or collision of feeling, all restraint, or suspicion, or gloom, or resentment; his great concern being to make every one at his ease and at home.
And a story that I was told in childhood about Queen Victoria, which when I look it up, has also been ascribed to QEII and now to His current Maj, about seeing a guest, unacquainted with fingerbowls, drink from theirs, and doing the same, so as not to show them up.
So I am pretty sure this is Totally Apocryphal, or else it was actually done by somebody who Was Not Queen V or even royal, but it is a story about Proper Behaviour.
GB Stern - not sure whether this is in her 'rag-bag chronicles' or one of the novels or maybe even both - mentions Mittel-European landowner lady who, when dining her tenants, deliberately spills glass of wine on the tablecloth herself, right at the beginning of the meal, to set them at ease.
cakewrecks_feed) wrote2025-08-14 01:00 pmLogo Low-Blows
I know it can be scary asking a bakery to do something custom, like, say, a school or brand's logo.
But DON'T PANIC; I'm here to walk you through it.
First, print out a nice, clear image to bring in as a reference:
With something as simple as this Chanel logo, you can be sure there is simply NO WAY...
...that the results won't be hysterical.
When ordering a Saints logo...
...it helps to have the patience of one.
Oh, and when you give the baker your reference image, be sure to mention how closely you want your cake to match; some bakers take it more as a "guideline" than an actual rule.
"Why'd you use the S?!"
"Because I don't know what the F is going on!"
Still, the most important thing, my friends... is to be glad you aren't ordering a Texas Longhorns cake.
Because seriously, that thing is the Kobayashi Maru of cake orders:
...you can't win.
(But hey, at least this one's got heart!)
Thanks to Amy B., Ashley B., Candace F., Amy B., Allison, & Chris L. for getting that last one off his chest.
*****
Because some days call for more than coffee:
"Probably Whiskey" Enamel "Coffee" Mug
(The listing really does have "coffee" in quotation marks, ha!)
*****
And from my other blog, Epbot:
rolanni) wrote2025-08-14 09:52 amLet's take a knife and cut the world in two
What went before ONE: Man, TJMaxx was like Wonderland this morning! Looking better than it has in a LONG time. I scored a bamboo three-shelf unit to got into the bottom of the closet to hold shoes and the like. This should also make it more obvious when Rookie had invaded the closet, though I'm sure he'll work out a Stealth Procedure pretty quick.
Also bought a syrup dispenser, which answers my honey dispensing problems -- and spare shower curtains, and coasters, and a pair of kitchen shears to replace the pair that rusted.
Honestly, the trip was notable by what I didn't buy.
Halloween was everywhere, naturally. Insofar as these things may be, classy Halloween. I had gone into the store feeling v. sad because the former JoAnn's next door to TJMaxx is going to be one of those ghastly (and not in a good way) Spirit of Halloween stores, but I left TJMaxx feeling -- energized.
Retail Therapy for the win.
One of the things I didn't buy was a sit-up-in-bed and read pillow --- you know the ones? They have a chair back and little soft arms, and the whole thing is a pillow? The ones on offer today were covered in fleece, which I suspect may be too much of a good thing. But that got me thinking -- who uses one of these to read in bed and how does that work out for you?
Trooper has had the rest of the can of gooshy food I opened for him this morning, and it's time for me to get my snack and to pack a sandwich to take with me, so I can take my meds on time.
No, the excitement never DOES end.
What went before TWO: Mission(s) accomplished with only one, and very slight, necessity to refrib the chanimeester, so that's nice. If anyone local-ish wants a signed copy of Diviner's Bow, there's one at the Augusta BN.
Trooper demanded that I feed him immediately I returned home, so he's in the bathroom, chowing down. After he's finished, I'll do the clean-the-bathroom thing, and look to start writing after I get home from having my hair cut tomorrow morning.
I note that the outdoor computer-driven machines are faltering under the heat. Took three tries at two different pumps before I could refill the car, and then I couldn't get a receipt. Nor could I wash the windows, because someone had taken in all the squeegees and all the fluid wells were dry. I grant that this last is not a machine failure, but -- grrr.
What went before THREE: I begin to see an error in my Life Plan. No kids = no grandkids. No grandkids = no help with the housework and the weeding.
Of course, people may not put their grandkids to work anymore. I cleaned my grandmother's house and weeded the garden.
Yeah, I'm gonna have to find somebody to help me out around here, though I am kinda getting frustrated with the whole business of hiring somebody, settling down with them, and they need to move on.
And, no, not an option to move to a smaller place. I hear that some people, when they lose a partner, are driven to get rid of the house, because the memories that have soaked into the walls are just too painful.
I've tried on the idea a couple of times, but honestly, I don't want to move out of this house. It's a comfort to me, in that it does remind me of who and what we were, and what we'd accomplished, together.
And with that said -- I'll go put the bathroom back together.
. . . the cats, by the way, are of the opinion that I've lost my mind. "What's she doing?" "Why isn't she sitting down and rattling papers?" No comment on Charmer the robot vac, who has never gotten the respect he probably deserves from the cats.
And I hear Trooper announcing that he has eaten what he pleaseth and must be liberated from the bathroom neeOW!
What went before FOUR: And in other news, I found the earring back I lost a month ago.
What went before FIVE: So, that's enough fun for one day. The cats get an early Happy Hour, I get an early dinner and a couple hours on the couch to read.
Everybody stay safe; I'll see you tomorrow.
What went before SIX: So, here's a story. A Maine Republican, off his own bat, writes to the provinces of Canada fartherest removed from Maine, to . . . tempt them to join the US. In doing so, he attacks the Canadian form of government while promising freedom and respect.
British Columbia is Not Amused, responding in part that the lawmaker's undated memo "lands more as a manifesto of arrogance."
My source is the Bangor Daily News, linked, but might be paywalled. Link
This reminds me of All The Lonely Guy-Children who write that they deserve a woman, and then go on to demonstrate such contempt for women that you've gotta wonder why they even want one.
Thursday. Cloudy but still warmer than I like.
Trooper has had his meds-in-gravy, and a few mouthfuls of gooshy food.
Had another good night's sleep, making four in a row. The tired feeling ought to be going away pretty soon now, right? RIGHT?
Breakfast was leftover ginger chicken. Lunch will be salad and something. Fish, I guess.
Haircut coming up in an hour and also I need to remember to stop at CVS for -- checks notes -- lidocaine patches. Hmm.
Upon my return, I will perform my duty to the cats, and do the banking. After lunch, I will reunite with the WIP.
I'm doing a cost-benefit on a glassworking course that's being offered through adult ed in the fall. It's stained glass, which I've never done, and God She knows, I need another suncatcher in this room, but, fee and materials, the cost for the class is hitting right at $200.
Still reading Stone and Sky and having a good time. Haven't heard back from the Corning Museum, but then? I didn't expect to hear back from the Corning Museum.
What've you got on the schedule today?
Today's blog post title brought to you by Mr. Langston Hughes, "Tired." You often see the first four lines quoted, but very rarely the last four.
“I am so tired of waiting.
Aren’t you,
for the world to become good
and beautiful and kind?
Let us take a knife
and cut the world in two—
and see what worms are eating
at the rind.”
ysabetwordsmith) wrote2025-08-13 11:51 pmVocabulary: Unintended Sidequences
ysabetwordsmith) wrote2025-08-13 04:11 pmConservation
Using data collected from 2003, 2023, and 2024, researchers Pan Xuan and Wang Xuming were able to delineate previously unidentified species as Ochotona galunglaensis and O. legbona.
“Our findings highlight the previously underestimated diversity within Conothoa and contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of pika diversity in the Himalayan region,” Xuan and Xuming observed in their study, which was published in Ecology and Evolution.
Pint-sized pikas, which resemble hamsters in appearance, are not rodents but lagomorphs, meaning that they are closely related to rabbits and hares.
Good news, but hardly a surprise. Pikas are currently alpine species. That means they are easily isolated and thus prone to speciation. Think of mountaintops as islands, in the sense that creatures dwelling there find it difficult or impossible to move from one to another.