clare_dragonfly

Folks have mentioned an interest in questions and conversations that make them think. So I've decided to offer more of those. This batch features hobbies.

Crochet is a fibercraft hobby of making things from yarn with a hooked stick, such as afghans, clothes, toys ,and other stuff. If you feel frustrated by planned obsolescence, artificial intelligence, and other current issues then consider knitting as a form of protest. Nothing says "Fuck off, fast fashion!" like crocheting a 100% natural-fiber garment that will last for years and years.

On Dreamwidth, consider communities like

crafty,

crochet,

everykindofcraft,

dwsockclub,

get_knitted,

intertwined,

justcreate, and

knittingpix.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

YouTube secretly used AI to edit people’s videos.

In recent months, YouTube has secretly used artificial intelligence (AI) to tweak people’s videos without letting them know or asking permission. Wrinkles in shirts seem more defined. Skin is sharper in some places and smoother in others. Pay close attention to ears, and you may notice them warp. These changes are small, barely visible without a side-by-side comparison. Yet some disturbed YouTubers say it gives their content a subtle and unwelcome AI-generated feeling.

This causes a variety of damage including but not limited to:

* Tampering with people's intellectual property without their permission.

* Damaging trust between producer and consumer (especially if the producer says that they don't use AI).

* Undermining people's ability to choose whether or not they wish to use or consumer AI.

* Undermining people's ability to find and identify truth.

Yet another in the suddenly growing pile of reasons to hate YouTube, which sucks, because it's the most widespread place to share video content. >_<

Current Mood: busy

paradoxcase posting in

rainbowfic

Name: Dreamstuff
Story: The Fulcrum
Colors: Light Black #27: Break
Styles and Supplies: None
Word Count: 1289
Rating: G
Warnings: None
Characters: Setsiana, Qhoroali, Peatäro
Summary: Qhoroali experiments with the "dreamstuff" compound.

( Dreamstuff )

ysabetwordsmith

Today is cloudy, mild, and damp. We got a decent amount of rain last night. :D

I fed the birds. I've seen a few sparrows and house finches.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 9/24/25 -- I planted 8 'Aviv Mixed' ranunculus under the fly-through birdfeeder.

I planted 3 'Persian Blue' alliums in the purple-and-white garden.

I picked 2 chocolate cherry tomatoes and 3 groundcherries.

EDIT 9/24/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 9/24/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

As it is getting dark, I am done for the night.

Current Mood: busy

lb_lee

We have gotten way behind in digital communications and want to apologize. Since last Tuesday, we’ve been getting rolling migraines that we keep staving off, only to have them come back the next day, and screens make it worse. So much of our work involves computers that we’ve really had to strangle our digital activity if it’s not the most important. This is unusual for us and we don’t know why it’s happening; hopefully it’ll pass soon. If not, we may have to make more lifestyle adjustments.

Our brain and eyes just really don’t like bright or LED lights, guys.

Current Mood: sore

ysabetwordsmith

Life is full of things which are hard or tedious or otherwise unpleasant that need doing anyhow. They help make the world go 'round, they improve skills, and they boost your sense of self-respect. But doing them still kinda sucks. It's all the more difficult to do those things when nobody appreciates it. Happily, blogging allows us to share our accomplishments and pat each other on the back.

What are some of the hard things you've done recently? What are some hard things you haven't gotten to yet, but need to do? Is there anything your online friends could do to make your hard things a little easier?

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

This is the freebie for the September

crowdfunding Creative Jam. It was inspired by a prompt from

himejoshiheart. It also fills the "leak" square in my 9-1-25 card for the Piracy Bingo Fest.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

dialecticdreamer is hosting Feathering the Nest. Leave prompts, get ficlets!

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

Pumpkins, squash, and gourds come in many varieties and the "winter" types are ripening now. These typically have thick rind and long storage potential. There are sweet and savory cultivars in a huge range of sizes, shapes, and colors. There are also all kinds of gnarly ones for fall decor. Watch for them at farmer's markets or grocery stores. In particular, if you enjoy a squash that you buy, you can save its seeds, or note its cultivar to buy seeds, and try to grow them in spring.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

lb_lee

Rogan: Okay, so, in the "Summary of Legal Survey Data from the False Memory Syndrome Foundation" paper we talked about, we came across this contorted sentence:

"The most dramatic toll on families queried by the Legal Survey is loss of contact with children and grandchildren, loss of consort by non-accused husbands of wives who are developing images of parental child abuse, loss of privacy, injury to reputation, increased health problems and marital stress." (4)

Mori asked what the fuck "loss of consort by non-accused husbands of wives who are developing images of parental child abuse" meant. I replied that it sounded like "women dealing with memories of being abused don't want to fuck their husbands and that's so hard FOR THE HUSBANDS," but that sounded so over-the-top evil that even I couldn't believe the FMSF would say it.

Readers, I checked, and that's EXACTLY what it means. But why is this bad?

( aaaaAAAAAAaaaah )

lb_lee

Rogan: Someone who bought the Ebook mmmMEGAPACK confessed being overwhelmed by the gazillion titles, where to start, and how to read it. Which... fair. There's dozens of works in there.

(Some of these works may not be in the Megapack yet. Don't worry if you can't find a title.)

STANDALONES (READ WHENEVER)

( Self-helpers, prose, etc. )

RECOMMENDED READING ORDER FOR THE STUFF WHERE THAT MATTERS

( 101 and LB autobio stuff )

Hope that helps!

Current Mood: drained

ysabetwordsmith

This 'blue-green jay' may be the first climate change-created bird hybrid found in nature. Here's why that's good news

Joined by his faculty advisor, integrative biology professor Tim Keitt, Stokes confirmed that the bird was, in fact, a male offspring of a green jay mother and a blue jay father.

Marc Airhart, who interviewed Stokes for the University of Texas at Austin's College of Natural Sciences, jokingly referred to it as a “grue jay” — but the hybrid does not have an official name.

The grue jay is cool, but it is long preceded by the grolar bear (aka pizzly bear).

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

Today is cloudy and warm. It drizzled a bit yesterday.

I fed the birds. I've seen a few sparrows and house finches.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 9/23/25 -- I planted some Leucojum (aka summer snowflake) 'Gravetye Giant' around the contorta willow.

EDIT 9/23/25 -- I watered the leucojum.

EDIT 9/23/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 9/23/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 9/23/25 -- I planted the rest of the leucojum in the purple-and-white garden. Then I watered that whole garden.

EDIT 9/23/25 -- I gathered seeds from two ripe sunflower heads, one in the septic garden and one in the telephone pole garden. I'm working on a 'Summer of Love' sunflower landrace that will grow well here. Commercial seeds are hit or miss.

EDIT 9/23/25 -- I did some work around the yard.

It's trying to drizzle again, so I am done for the night.

EDIT 9/23/25 -- It's actually raining! :D Puddles are starting to form on the patio.

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

These are some posts from the later part of last week in case you missed them:
Education
Nature
Birdfeeding
Cyberspace Theory
Creative Jam
Neurodiversity
Books
Birdfeeding
Philosophical Questions: Society
Books
Today's Adventures
Birdfeeding
Follow Friday 9-19-25: J-pop
Corncob Broth
Recipe: "Three Sisters Succotash"
Today's Cooking
Artificial Intelligence
Birdfeeding
Hobbies: Embroidery
Hopescrolling
Genocide
Space Exploration
Today's Adventures
Birdfeeding
Good News

Let's Boycott Mississippi has 60 comments. Affordable Housing has 49 comments. Robotics has 69 comments.

"An Inkling of Things to Come" belongs to Polychrome: Shiv and needs $200 to be complete. Shiv attends the first session of his Worldbuilding class.

The weather has cooled off somewhat. We got a little rain last night and drizzled today. Seen at the birdfeeders this week: a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches and a fox squirrel. Lots of butterflies are out, and honeybees are draining the small metal birdbath. Currently blooming: dandelions, marigolds, petunias, red salvia, verbena, lantana, sweet alyssum, zinnias, snapdragons, blue lobelia, perennial pinks, oxalis, moss rose, firecracker plant, tomatoes, tomatillos, yellow squash, zucchini, morning glory, purple echinacea, chicory, Queen Anne's lace, sunflowers, cup plant, firewheel, cypress vine, sunchokes, sedum. Tomatoes, ball carrots, cucumbers, and groundcherries are ripe. Fields are about a quarter harvested.

Current Mood: busy

thisbluespirit posting in

rainbowfic

Name: Calla Island
Story: Starfall
Colors: Vert #4 (Waypower); Warm Heart #3 (Jealousy)
Supplies and Styles: Portrait
Word Count: 5053
Rating: PG
Warnings:
Notes: 1313, Calla Island; Viyony Eseray, Vollo Hyan, Lynah Allin, Eollan Barra, Tess Hyan. The first part of a continuous sequence. (It's divided into 5 sections at the moment, but it might wind up at 6).
Summary: Viyony visits Calla Island, the ancestral seat of the Allin family.

( Calla Island )

ysabetwordsmith

Today is cloudy and mild. It rained a little last night.

I fed the birds. I've seen a few sparrows and house finches.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 9/22/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 9/22/25 -- I started planting irises but only got one in the ground before it started drizzling again. However, there's a third 'Midnight Treat' purple iris in a bag meant to hold two, so that's awesome.

I saw a fox squirrel jumping through the treees.

EDIT 9/22/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 9/22/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 9/22/25 -- I planted 2 'Midnight Treat' purple irises and 2 'Best Bet' irises which have purple falls under lilac standards.

EDIT 9/22/25 -- I watered the irises.

EDIT 9/22/25 -- I did a bit of work around the yard.

As it is now dark, I am done for the night.

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

The Learning Grove

As part of my ongoing series about reimagining education, I want to try something slightly different today. For this one, we will imagine that what I’m calling “The Living Curriculum” is already implemented, and I wil describe one aspect of it. For the sake of this exercise, we will need to suspend our disbelief for a littl while, and put aside questions of how we get from where we are now, to this mildly utopian imagining. The point is not to lay out a perfect plan of how to achieve an ideal education system, but rather, to explore a vision of what such a system might look like.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

New study finds exercising outdoors is 'superior' to the gym or city: 'Our brain loves nature'

A major finding is that exercise in nature provided far greater mental benefits than urban and indoor environments, with participants reporting much higher levels of joy, calm, satisfaction, and optimism after working out in the outdoors.

On a physiological level, researchers measured that the participants’ heart rates dropped more quickly after a walk in nature. Additionally, heart rate variability, which shows how well the body’s nervous system goes into recovery, was 20-30% higher than the indoor walk.

Participants also reported lower levels of anxiety, irritation, and boredom after exercising in nature. Boredom levels actually increased after walking indoors, the researchers shared.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

Today is partly sunny and hot.

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

EDIT 9/21/25 -- I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 9/21/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 9/21/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 9/21/25 -- I watered the old picnic table, irises, patio plants, and a few more around the house yard.

EDIT 9/21/25 -- I watered the new picnic table, septic garden, telephone pole garden, and a few of the savanna seedlings.

Cicadas and crickets are singing.

As it is now dark, I am done for the night.

Current Mood: busy

fred_mouse posting in

unclutter

How goes the decluttering? Have you shifted anything out of the house? Found something to sort through? Had thoughts on things you can let go of?

Comments open to locals, lurkers, drive by sticky beaks, and anyone I've forgotten to mention.

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Clare-Dragonfly

Chatoyant College

August 2018

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Clare-Dragonfly

Reading

Hobbies: Crochet

Artificial Intelligence

Light Black #27 [The Fulcrum]

Birdfeeding

Headaches

Hard Things

Poem: "Mightier Than"

Feathering the Nest

Pumpkins

Loss of Consort

Recommended Reading Order

Climate Change

Birdfeeding

Monday Update 9-22-25

Vert #4; Warm Heart #3 [Starfall]

Birdfeeding

Education

Nature

Birdfeeding

Weekly (ish) check in

Profile

August 2018

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