jducoeur

Second day of not-a-zombie-ness! And I do wonder if it's connected to the fact that I finally managedd to write (and finish!) a fic again ...

For this year's Guardian 520 Day exchange, I wrote for

AVAAntares. Protective and possessive Shen Wei, yes! And not in the way you'd maybe expect. *g* This story owes a lot to my beta

china_shop, who made me make it immeasurably better:

The Consultant (3,830 words)
Fandom: 镇魂 | Guardian (TV 2018)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Relationship: Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan
Characters: Zhao Yunlan, Shen Wei, Gao Jingfeng
Content Tags: Episode Related, Episode 13, Canon Divergence, Protective Shěn Wēi, Possessive Shen Wei, Shen Wei's secrets, Dancing Around an Envoy Reveal, Zhao Yunlan's Self-Worth Issues, Pre-Relationship

Summary:

Never mind the chaos of the ruined wedding all around them: this was a different trainwreck altogether. Shen Wei - Dixingren Shen Wei, Black-Cloaked Envoy Shen Wei who must have used his powers to break Zheng Yi's spell - had drawn Minister Gao's attention.

And I received fantastic artwork for another of my stories, A Thread as Red as Blood, which is a post-YOHE first time at the SID. Just look at what

facethestrange made - it's so good, and captures both the scene in my fic and the canon aesthetic so well!

Attuned by facethestrange
Fandom: 镇魂 | Guardian (TV 2018)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Relationship/Characters: Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan
Content Tags: Implied Sexual Content, Post-Coital Cuddling, Tenderness, Forehead Touching, Inspired by Fanfiction, Fanart, Drawing

Summary:
They leaned against each other, Shen Wei still straddling him, their foreheads touching, both breathing hard. Zhao Yunlan felt sweat cooling on his skin as his heart came down from its race.

"Shen Wei," he murmured, just for the pleasure of saying his name.

"I'm sorry," Shen Wei said, sounding not at all sorry. "I suddenly found I couldn't wait a moment longer."
Illustration for A Thread as Red as Blood by Trobadora.

(This post is part one because once I've made my way through the collection I hope to post recs. Such a bounty in there!)

siliconshaman

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

Current Mood: spooked

ysabetwordsmith

Today marks the birthday of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, one of the most influential authors of modern detective stories. To honor his legacy, May 22 has been dubbed the Sherlock Holmes Day. Last year, we celebrated with a roundtable chat about the beloved sleuth. This year, we’re shifting our focus to his spiritual successors, wrapped in the rainbow flag. Enjoy the list of 21 Queer Detective Reads, compiled thanks to: Nina Waters, Shadaras, Owl Outerbridge, theirprofoundbond, hullosweetpea, Mikki Madison, Shea Sullivan, Dei Walker, Shannon, Rhosyn Goodfellow and an anonymous contributor.

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

People are trying again to kill the penny. Just to add insult to injury, the law would require all prices to be rounded up.

Current Mood: annoyed

scalziwhatever_feed

Posted by Athena Scalzi

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/05/22/the-big-idea-christy-climenhage/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=55763

The world can be a dark and scary place. It would be foolish not to acknowledge this, but to author Christy Climenhage, it’s also important to acknowledge the ways in which we all keep on keepin’ on in the trying times. Follow along in the Big Idea for her debut novel, The Midnight Project, and see how the world is ending, and yet still going.

CHRISTY CLIMENHAGE:

There are lots of themes underlying my debut sci-fi thriller, The Midnight Project: genetic engineering gone wrong, man-made ecological collapse, what it means to be human, what exactly is wrong with late-stage capitalism and the commodification of science. But for me, the Big Idea behind my book lies in the resilience of the two main characters who just keep going as everything collapses around them. The book asks: how do we live a good and meaningful life in a crumbling world? How do we muddle through the pre-apocalypse?

I’m slightly appalled by how familiar this fictional dystopian world feels – powerful billionaires, dying pollinators, corporate greed, off-the-charts scientific possibilities but everything is spiraling into disaster. These days (today, I mean), I can read about ultra-rich men with a messianic complex who want to save humanity while carelessly destroying the environment, or mining companies that want to strip the ocean floor before even bothering to map its ecosystems. Philip K. Dick and Octavia Butler would weep. J.R.R. Tolkien would be mightily pissed off at the companies stealing words from his realms to name their businesses.

I suppose the world of The Midnight Project is rooted in reality as well as fiction. I wrote it and re-wrote it during the darkest part of the covid-19 pandemic when we were all just getting up and getting on with it. The bad news “out-there,” until it encroached on “in-here.” The work piling up even while the stores closed, the hospitals filled and everyone stayed home. The kids still in school, online, then in-person, with the rules changing every five minutes to try to keep them safe. No enrichment, no entertainment, just everyone hiding under their rock, trying to get by, putting food on the table, getting the laundry done. I suppose it’s typical of late-stage capitalism that even as the world was crashing down, everyone still needed their paycheque to cover groceries.

Of course, when I talk about today’s world in pre-apocalyptic terms, I’m not being prescient. I’m recognizing the fear and anxiety that underlays much of what is happening in the world right now. And the feeling of powerlessness that might make a person desperate enough to attempt to create an oceanic hybrid human just to feel they could make a difference. In Frankenstein, the monster’s creator is motivated by a dark ambition to create life and then is horrified at the result. In The Midnight Project, Raina is motivated by money and ambition but also wants to salvage something good out of the circumstances she finds herself in. In her heart, she is motivated by a desire for redemption.

In the midst of cataclysmic problems around the world that just keep piling up, our two genetic engineer heroes see an opportunity to do some good in the world, or at least try to prevent someone else from doing worse. It’s not much, but it’s within their control, and their abilities.

Going back to the today’s reality for a second, I think it’s normal to wonder how to live a meaningful life in our current circumstances too—how to lead a life filled with hope, ambition and purpose. And I can’t deny how much I relate to the two main characters of The Midnight Project, Raina and Cedric, just getting up and going to work every day, in spite of everything barreling toward them. So, according to the story, and my own experience, how does one muddle through the pre-apocalypse? Let’s take a lesson from our plucky heroes.

First, Raina and Cedric hold onto their comforting routines. They drink coffee together every morning out of the same mugs, watch the Holo-News and compartmentalize their lives. Then they turn to the hard work of inventing deep-sea human hybrids. The big bad world out there, the safe world inside their laboratory. They keep tabs, they know what’s happening in the outside world, but they hold it at bay and get on with the things they need to do to get by. They ignore some things. As Raina says, “They were trying times and I only wanted to try in certain ways.” They get up, they go to work, they keep solving their problems. One step at a time. One foot in front of the other. With perseverance. With persistence. With, occasionally, steely-eyed determination.

Second, at the heart of everything, Cedric and Raina hold fast to meaningful relationships, even if they’re isolated and cut off. Even if those relationships are themselves imperfect. They cling to comfort and each other and keep drinking their coffee to the bitter end (bitter, get it? Because it’s coffee).

And finally, through it all, they try to do just a little good in the world, even when it feels like the world is too big and too far gone to make much of a difference. As Cedric says, “We cannot fix the world. But in this tiny corner of it, perhaps we can control our own destiny, at least for a while.” This little bit of agency and momentum is the way they light a candle against the darkness. This is the way they cleave to hope in the pre-apocalypse.

And maybe there’s something in that for our trying times too.

The Midnight Project: Amazon|Amazon CA

Author socials: Website|Bluesky|Facebook|Instagram

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/05/22/the-big-idea-christy-climenhage/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=55763

ysabetwordsmith

Today is cloudy and cool.

I fed the birds. I've seen a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 5/22/25 -- I set out the flats of pots and watered them.

I've seen a young fox squirrel.

EDIT 5/22/25 -- Of the 6 pots I sowed with Gaillardia 'Firewheel' seeds on 2/23/25, three sprouted. One of those has since died, but one of the remaining pots had two seedlings in it. I planted the survivors in one of the mowed strips of the prairie garden. So that's roughly 50% success if you count by pots, but less if you count by seeds since I put two in each pot. I plant them by pots, though, so it's not a terrible result.

EDIT 5/22/25 -- I started trying to trim grass around the septic garden, but the grass shears broke. >_< Fortunately I had an older pair that I could use, but I need new ones. I did get one section trimmed. I'm taking advantage of the cool, cloudy weather for a laborious project.

EDIT 5/22/25 -- I trimmed more grass around the septic garden.

I've seen a mourning dove, a phoebe, and two young ground squirrels.

The first peas sprouted a couple days ago and more are up now. :D The 'Chocolate Sprinkles' cherry tomato has the first green fruit, although it's among the last ones I planted, just over a week ago.

.

Current Mood: busy

darkjediqueen posting in

fan_flashworks

Title: Sleepy Thoughts
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: No Warnings Apply
Fandom: S.W.A.T.
Relationships: Donovan Rocker/Molly Hicks
Tags: Established Relationship, Fluff
Summary: They both loved naps, even when it turned to more.
Word Count: 2,905

( Sleepy Thoughts )

bethbethbeth

On May 8th, I offered to read the first five books people recced - assuming they were available (preferably from the library) - and I'd give a short review [https://bethbethbeth.dreamwidth.org/701769.html].

This is the fourth recced book review

Get a Life, Chloe Brown (2019) by Talia Hibbert (recced by lareinenoire on DW)

Let me start by saying that I have read many a romance novel in my day - thousands if I include fanfic, which I do - and lord knows I don't privilege fancy-pants literature over genre fiction.

However, for the first 50 or 60 pages, this romance novel wasn't doing much for me. The 2 main characters (a man & a woman) had started to feel as if they'd been created based on checklists of race, disability, class, etc., and their secretly-attracted-antagonists'-banter felt a little boilerplate.

Never say die, though. I soldiered on, and once Chloe & Red started actually interacting, both characters grew on me, and the book became much more engaging...and often charming.

For those of you who like super-tropey fiction (and fancy some decent sex scenes), you should give this a try.

aurumcalendula

Libby now has volume 2 of Meng Xi Shi's Thousands Autumns, so I'll probably end up checking that out once my hold comes through (and it looks like they've added more danmei series too).

Rosmei has released cover art for The Creator's Grace, which hopefully means preorders aren't too far away. I wish I liked the art more - it feels a bit generic to me (it might just be that I'm comparing it to the cool looking art I've seen for the audio drama).

I seem to be bit and miss with novellas at the moment - I'm kinda sad Brighter than Scale, Swifter than Flame by Neon Yang didn't really work for me (especially since I enjoyed their Tensorate novellas), but I did really like The River Has Roots by Amal El- Mohtar.

languagelog_feed

Posted by Victor Mair

https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=69172&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=sogdians-on-the-silk-road

https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=69172

For the past week, I have been preparing a major post on Middle Iranian and associated peoples who transited and traded across Eurasia during the Middle Ages, so it was fortuitous that I received the following photograph from Hiroshi Kumamoto:

Xinhua News Agency//Getty Images

From:
Archaeologists Found Someone They Never Expected in an Ancient Chinese Tomb: a Blonde Man
The discovery reveals an unexpected connection to the ancient Silk Road.
By Tim Newcomb Popular Mechanics (May 10, 2025)

Place:
Jinyuan District, Taiyuan City, Shanxi Province

It shows a Sogdian camelteer and horse groom, typical types of expertise of the Sogdians, who were merchants par excellence on the medieval Eurasian trade routes. The man's blond hair doesn't surprise me in the slightest, because I have seen it in Central Asian mummies and their descendants in Eastern Central Asia (ECA, aka Xinjiang), Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan,Tajikistan, etc., not to mention countless historical visual materials from the medieval period.

For a small foretaste of what's in store for the Sogdians in medieval Korea that will be part of the forthcoming post on Sogdians and associated peoples on the Silk Road, see "The Eastern end of the Silk Road in Silla", also here.

Selected readings

"Turco-Sogdian horses and languages" (10/28/24)
"Tocharo-Sinica and Sogdo-Sinica" (7/3/24)
"Tocharo-Sinica" (5/13/24)
"Catalogue of Sogdian Writings in Central Asia" (1/5/23)
"Sogdians and Xiongnu / Huns" (2/21/22)
"The sound of ancient Iranian languages" (10/26/23)
Victor H. Mair, ed., The Bronze Age and Early Iron Age Peoples of Eastern Central Asia (Washington, D.C.: Institute for the Study of Man Inc. in collaboration with the University of Pennsylvania Museum Publications, 1998). 2 vols.
J. P. Mallory and Victor H.Mair,The Tarim Mummies: Ancient China and the Mystery of the Earliest Peoples from the West(London: Thames & Hudson, 2000).
Elizabeth Wayland Barber, The Mummies of Ürümchi (New York: W. W. Norton, 1999)

https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=69172&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=sogdians-on-the-silk-road

https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=69172

languagelog_feed

Posted by Victor Mair

https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=69183&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=superstition-industry-in-the-prc-buzzwords-as-belief

https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=69183

Another superlative article from our Czech colleagues:

China’s Superstition Boom in a Godless State
In post-pandemic China, superstition has surged into a booming industry, as youth turn to crystals, fortune-telling, and AI oracles in search of hope and meaning.
By Ansel Li, Sinopsis (5/13/25)

Introduction

It is one of history’s more striking ironies: the People’s Republic of China, an officially atheist, Marxist-Leninist regime that has long sought to suppress all forms of organized religion, now finds itself caught in a tidal wave of superstition. Post-pandemic, what began as a trickle has become a torrent—an uncontrolled spread of fortune-telling, lucky crystals, and spiritual nonsense, growing in the vacuum left by institutional faith and spread further by a hyper-connected internet society.

This phenomenon is not merely a return to old habits or rural mysticism. It has become a nationwide consumer frenzy, driven by the very demographic the Communist Party hoped would be its most rational constituency: the young and educated. In chasing these modern symbols of hope, they are losing more than just money.

The article is divided into five sections, from each of which I will select passages that may be of particular interest to Language Log readers.

I. The Lottery Fever

Why the appeal? It’s the cheapest daydream on the market. For 10–50 yuan, one gets a momentary shot of dopamine and the fantasy of a sudden windfall. Compared to a bubble tea or a streaming subscription, the lottery feels like a better deal—an illusion of hope, or at worst, a donation to the welfare fund. Some call it “the budget daydream.” Others, “a comfort for the modern mind.” Even when they lose, players reassure themselves with a strange kind of generosity: “I’m supporting public welfare.”

II. From “Manifesting Success” to Managed Despair

At the center of this scam was a belief system built on fantasy: a belief that if one just believed hard enough—if one pictured oneself as rich, and spent like it—wealth would magically arrive. This idea was almost a copy of The Secret, Rhonda Byrne’s 2006 best-selling nonsense that claimed thoughts could change reality. But in the Chinese version, the language of God and angels was replaced with buzzwords like “quantum,” “energy,” and “cleansing”—terms made for local social media, where fake science is often treated as deep thinking. [VHM: emphasis added, here and below]

…

In today’s China, the most popular “spiritual” items aren’t books or teachings but small objects—especially crystals. These are sold not only as fashion items but as tools for cosmic power. Supposedly, they bring wealth, block bad energy, and balance inner forces. Livestreams offer quick lessons in “crystal basics,” and influencers promote them with the excitement once shown for new tech.

There are now over 40,000 registered crystal-related businesses in China. This isn’t a small trend—it’s a whole industry.

Along with the crystal craze, astrology, tarot, and fortune-telling have become small but growing businesses. Highly educated youth—graduates, civil servants, tech workers—are quitting their jobs to become full-time “mystics.” On platforms like Taobao and WeChat, paid readings are everywhere. In many cities, you’ll find stylish little shops doing tarot readings, often run by baristas turned fortune-tellers.

This is happening despite—or maybe because of—government crackdowns. In 2021, China banned religious content on e-commerce sites and tightened rules on spiritual services. But the demand only adapted. Tarot readers now call themselves “emotional consultants.” Horoscope sellers move to foreign platforms like Discord. The state fights superstition with censorship, and loses every time.

One product shows this perfectly: the CeCe Astrology app—a phone app combining Chinese and Western fortune-telling tools: tarot, birth charts, Zi Wei Dou Shu, and more. It even has AI-powered fortune-telling bots and 24-hour livestream astrologers. Users tune in at 2 a.m. for live readings, sending virtual “gifts” or paying for one-on-one talks. Top streamers can make over 100,000 yuan a month. One person in the business said the app had “basically replaced therapy” for many: “As long as you tell them what they want to hear, it works.”

Gone is the dream of becoming rich. In its place is a hunger for meaning—some system, no matter how strange, to explain the chaos of everyday life. But even this comfort isn’t cheap. Yearly spending on these services can easily go over 1,000 yuan per person.

III. Superstition as a Business—But a Poor One at That

…Online tarot certificate “bootcamps” cost between 3,999 and 6,999 yuan for a few weeks of lessons. Courses to become a “crystal healer,” held in boutique studios, can cost over 10,000 yuan. These programs promise not just knowledge but business contacts: suppliers, livestream tips, and MCN (multi-channel network) deals to build your online image.

…

The so-called “natural crystal” market is full of fake stones made in chemical factories. The space is starting to look like multi-level marketing (MLM). Participants are pushed not just to sell, but to recruit others, stock up on products, and take on losses—so the dream of spiritual business quickly becomes the nightmare of a pyramid scheme.

IV. DeepSeek’s Occult Tech Boom [VHM: This one takes the cake]

At the peak of this absurd trend is a combination so strange it could make a philosopher laugh: AI fortune-telling. By late 2024 and into early 2025, China’s homegrown large language model, DeepSeek, burst into the spotlight, briefly worrying American tech companies. While its hype slowed down later, before Lunar New Year it became a national craze.

And its most popular feature? Not education, not work tools. It was AI-powered fortune-telling.

The AI-Spiritual-Commerce loop went viral. “DeepSeek Occult Commands” became an online hit. On WeChat, a flood of mini-programs appeared—“AI Face Reading,” “AI Bazi Calculator”—reaching the daily user numbers of medium e-commerce apps. A 9.9-yuan facial reading could be resold again and again through referral links, with some users earning over 30,000 yuan a month. DeepSeek hit 20 million daily active users in just 20 days. At one point, its servers crashed from too many people requesting horoscopes.

On social media, commands like “Full Bazi Chart Breakdown” and “Zi Wei Dou Shu Love Match” turned into memes. One user running a fortune-telling template got over 1,000 private messages in ten days. The AI could write entire reports on personality, karma, and even create fake palm readings about “past life experiences.” People lined up online at 1:00 a.m. to “get their fate explained.”

Meanwhile, a competing AI company, Kimi, released a tarot bot—immediately the platform’s most used tool. Others followed: Quin, Vedic, Lumi, Tarotmaster, SigniFi—each more strange than the last. The result? A tech-driven blow to the market for real human tarot readers.

In this strange mix, AI—the symbol of modern thinking—has been used to automate some of the least logical parts of human behavior. Users don’t care how the systems work. They just want a clean, digital prophecy. The same technology that should help us face reality is now mass-producing fantasy—on a huge scale.

V. Metaphysical China

It would be wrong to see this wave of superstition as a uniquely Chinese flaw. But since 2024, China’s superstition boom has become a pressure cooker where many deep problems have gathered: economic slowdown, job stress, burnout, pushy online systems, and a desperate need for meaning.

Young Chinese are not naturally more superstitious. But they are trapped in an unstable system, and with no clear future, they are buying ready-made ones. These crystals and tarot cards aren’t ancient traditions—they’re quick-fix stories built from what’s left in the marketplace. Meanwhile, sellers and platforms continue testing how much people are willing to pay to ease their fears.

This “spiritual capitalism” may fade, whether from tighter rules or better economic conditions. But as long as deep anxiety exists, these emotional-money combinations will return—just with new symbols, using words like “wellness,” “self-knowledge,” or “destiny.”

In that way, the 2024 superstition wave wasn’t a mistake—it was a preview. It shows us that any empty space in meaning will be quickly filled by the smartest algorithms, and that the price of these illusions will always fall hardest on the most worried, the most uncertain, and the most eager to believe.

Superstition is the true "opium of the people".

Selected readings

"The perils of punning" (1/5/17) — featuring Julie Sedivy: "Is the Chinese Language a Superstition Machine?"
"8/8/8" (8/8/08)

[h.t. Leslie Katz]

https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=69183&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=superstition-industry-in-the-prc-buzzwords-as-belief

https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=69183

cosmolinguist

By lunchtime I was thinking: it feels like I'm getting a migraine...and the massive sudden change in weather would back that up...but... I can't have a migraine! I just had one on Friday!

Yeah that's not how it works. I do feel like it's "not my turn yet," though. Hmph.

And yet here I am to tell you that my favorite musician is being threatened by the administrator of the country he and I are both from, for what Springsteen said in the city where I am now.

I refuse to read any more about this but D, who sent me this link, has been updating me since on it. The Boss keeps saying the government of his country is a threat to life and liberty every night on stage and Trump keeps insulting him on Truth Social: apparently now his skin is like a wrinkly prune.

Today D told me that Springsteen and the E Street Band have released an EP of what Bruce said and a few relevant songs from that first gig outside the U.S.

I listened to (most of) it while I was trying to work this afternoon. I'm just so delighted that it was in Manchester, which prides itself on being a city of rebellious and momentous music. (If only the gig had been at the Free Trade Hall instead of Coop Live! but it still makes me think of Bob Dylan and the Sex Pistols...)

I listened to the introduction, some of the lines I'd read about, and then the song and it struck me that "Land of Hope and Dreams" is a song closely connected to Clarence Clemons's death. It couldn't be as good a song as it without stemming from a profound lifelong love that Springsteen talks so movingly about in his autobiography and in Springsteen on Broadway, and that love existed between a Black man and a white man, about whom a Springsteen biographer said "They were these two guys who imagined that if they acted free, then other people would understand better that it was possible to be free."

And the song has taken on this whole new life, which I'm glad of even if I'd rather The Big Man got to live a longer life.

I listened to the intro for the other song, I was trying to eat my lunch and I ended up with my eyes closed, unable to do more than listen and breathe. And after talking for a few minutes, he quotes James Baldwin -- "There isn't as much humanity in the world as I'd like. But there's enough" -- and then says "Let's pray." And for some reason, the next track didn't start. And that was the end of that one. So I just sat there, over my bowl of leftovers, imagining this happening a few miles down the road and a few days ago, I felt like I was there.

But suspended in this weird silence that went on for a long time before I realized that something technological had gone wrong.

I read all about his Catholic childhood in his autobiography and recognized a lot of it myself, but neither of us have retained it. Silent prayer isn't his style. Going right in to the next song is. And that's what he did.

canyonwalker

Yesterday I blogged "Feels Like the Old Days" describing how spending several hours on Tuesday meeting f2f with a client then hanging out with my sales colleague for drinks and dinner felt like 'old times' again. On Wednesday I had another face-to-face meeting with a client, a different client, for which I met two colleagues who'd traveled in from out of town. But while that meeting had some similarities with Tuesday's in that people traveled to meet together, it was not the same.

What was missing? What was missing was the camaraderie.

Wednesday's meeting was transactional. My colleagues flew in for the meeting and flew out afterwards. We did chat outside the building both before and after the meeting, but those were a) short chats and b) focused almost entirely on the situation with the client. There was very little that was off the straight-and-narrow of the business immediately at hand.

And that's the difference. That's the difference between what working in enterprise sales was like in the "old days"— which, keep in mind, were as recent as 10-15 years ago— and today.

In the old days we spent time together as a team. We had unstructured hours together that we filled with everything from chat about work, to families, to life in general. We really got to know each other as people.

That's a big thing we've lost in the shift to working remotely. Today we just assemble a team to do a task, do the task, then go back to our separate jobs and lives. There's no camaraderie. And that camaraderie was the key.

maevedarcy posting in

fandomcalendar

( You're about to view content that a community administrator has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

fabrisse

On our drive from Toulouse to our first hotel, bunny rabbits came running out of a field to our right. There were more than 20. I came to a full stop and just let them keep running to their hutch to our left. It was amazing, and I'm so grateful that I didn't hit one.

neotoma being so patient pushing the car out of parking spaces. Bless.

Every single meal, but especially the confit de canard and iles flottant of our first night.

It's not my favorite Paris land mark, but seeing the Eiffel Tower so closely was amazing.

The feeling of relief I felt when I realized Notre Dame would be fine.

Having hazelnut/chocolate ice cream from Berthillon.

Get complimented on my French.

Getting to use my little bit of Dutch, briefly.

Now, I know I haven't written much about Iceland -- which was starkly beautiful -- but that's because I managed to slip in the bathtub and sprain my ankle badly enough that I couldn't walk around Reykjavik with

neotoma. The bruise on the opposite inner thigh is just now fading.

I do want to go back to Reykjavik at some point. It was stunning.

jazzfish

I'm in Minneapolis with Steph and two round cats, and the sun is shining.

I flew through Saskatoon this time, for reasons that escape me but probably had to do with it being half the price of a direct flight. The flight to Saskatoon was pretty full; Sask-Mpls had somewhere under forty people (I counted), on a 32x6-seat plane.

Having no one else in your row in economy feels positively luxurious.

I've some homework to do today, and some to do in the next few days. I promised to make banana bread today as well. Mostly I'm enjoying the sunshine and the company.

LUCAS: You know, I think things are gonna be alright now, Joe.
JOE: Oh? And what makes you think that?
LUCAS: Who knows where thoughts come from? They just appear.
--Empire Records

chickenfeet

https://operaramblings.blog/2025/05/22/genrefuck-at-buddies/

oursin

I initially saw this because somebody on Facebook posted the video: Boyfriend proposed during the marathon she trained 6 months for, and in the list of Inappropriate Times and Places to Propose, while she is actually running a marathon is very near the top, right? it's bad enough for bloke to be waiting with ring and maybe flowers at the finish line (for many observers, marathon proposals are about men stealing the spotlight).

Run, girl, run.

***

To revert to that discussion about The Right Sort of Jawline and Breathing Properly the other day, TIL that mouth taping is (still) A Thing, and Canadian researchers say there’s no evidence that mouth taping has any health benefits and warn that it could actually be harmful for people with sleep apnea.

***

Since I see this is dated 2020, I may have posted it before: but hey, let's hear it for C18th women scholars of Anglo-Saxon Elizabeth Elstob, Old English scholar, and the Harleian Library. I think I want to know more about her years in the household of Margaret Cavendish Bentinck (1715–1785), duchess of Portland, who I know better through her connection with Mrs Delany of the botanically accurate embroidery and collages of flowers.

***

I like this report on the 'Discovery of Original Magna Carta' because it's actually attentive to the amount of actual work that goes into 'discovering', from the first, 'aha! that looks like it might be' to the final confirmation.

scalziwhatever_feed

Posted by John Scalzi

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/05/22/i-have-plumbers-in-the-house-today-and-also-am-backing-up-all-my-computers-here-are-some-pictures-of-flowers/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=55752

Not a plumbing emergency, thankfully, but we need to replace some things, and as it happens the (multiple) plumbers needed to replace these items all had today available, so: Plumbingpalooza! The backing up of computers is coincidentally timed, but, you know, today is as good a day as any. While I’m dealing with that, here are some photos of flowers from the house and Camp Krissy. Enjoy!

Atlantic Camas.

A yellow rose!

Midnight irises.

English lavender.

— JS

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/05/22/i-have-plumbers-in-the-house-today-and-also-am-backing-up-all-my-computers-here-are-some-pictures-of-flowers/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=55752

mdlbear

Today I am thankful for...

Coffee (my stimulant drug of choice).
Dark chocolate (my cough suppressant of choice, among other things).
Tasty fish.
Framework | Framework Laptop 12 pre-orders are now open! NO thanks for websites that only function in a private browsing window.
Classic filk CDs like Keepers of the Flame — Phoenyx, back in production thanks to Prometheus Music.
Finding a moving box tucked away under a table with several things that I feared had been left behind or lost.

Current Mood: grateful
Current Location: Schildhaven in Den Haag
Current Music: D.F.D.F coming up

520 Day things, part one!

Music break...

Celebrate Sherlock Holmes Day with 21 Queer Detective Reads!

Pennies

The Big Idea: Christy Climenhage

Birdfeeding

S.W.A.T.: Fan Fiction: Sleepy Thoughts

The Fourth of the Recced Book Reviews: Get a Life, Chloe Brown

Some reading related stuff

Sogdians on the Silk Road

Superstition industry in the PRC: buzzwords as belief

“news with a beat”

Feels Like the Old Days, redux: The Camaraderie is Key

Four Or More 2025 Bingo

Moments that stick with me

HELLO DYING I AM DAD

Interesting double bill at Buddies

Oddments

I Have Plumbers in the House Today and Also Am Backing Up All My Computers, Here Are Some Pictures o

Thankful Thursday

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May 2025

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