Female frogs play dead to avoid mating? Some do, study found
Aug. 4th, 2025 01:00 pm![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png){kind=small}
snopes_feedBiologists call the response "tonic immobility," and know it's a response to a high-stress environment.
snopes_feedNuking claim Trump threatened to bomb Norway if he didn't win Nobel Peace Prize
Aug. 4th, 2025 11:00 amsnopes_feedThe rumor reemerged online in early August 2025 after White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the U.S. president deserved the coveted award.
Contextualizing claim Colbert's 'Late Show' was losing CBS $40M annually
Aug. 4th, 2025 10:00 amsnopes_feedWe tracked down the apparent origin of the claim: reports by Puck and the New York Post.
Yesterday ended in a headache
Aug. 4th, 2025 09:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
conulyLowkey enough that I felt bad complaining about it, but bad enough that I couldn't focus and had to go to bed early, and then I slept through half of today as well and only woke when I got hungry enough.
So, yeah.
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So, yeah.
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typo du jour
Aug. 4th, 2025 02:32 pmfred_mouse"neceswarily"
I'm sure there are some good jokes to be found in this one, I'm just too tired to find them. This one is a home grown typo.
Jigsaw puzzle
Aug. 4th, 2025 12:20 amsilver_chipmunkGot up around 10:30, had breakfast and coffee, and showered and dressed. Went over to visit Sue, and borrow a cup of sugar because the hummingbird feeder was nearly empty. I think there's something wrong with it, but there's nothing I can do but fill it often.
Anyway, hung with Sue a bit, but then she had to get ready to babysit for her grandkids. I came back and made the humming bird nectar.
Linda came by and said she was going in to Newfane to get Betsy a jigsaw puzzle since they finished the one we were working on. I asked if I could come and she said yes so I grabbed my purse and met her at the car.
The store where she got the puzzle is where Herlan Liquor used to be. I'm surprised the Liquor store closed, and I don't know where there's another in the area. Oh well.
We picked out a puzzle and I gave her $5 towards it. It is a cute drawing of the Maid of the Mist. 1000 pieces.
We came back to the cottage. I decided to go to the Starsky and Hutch creative work session, so I did. I filled the hummingbird feeder during one of the 20 minutes writing breaks, but I got a little writing done.
We ended about 6:30, so I killed time til 7:00 when I Teamed the FWiB.
After we'd been on a while, Linda came by and gave me a slice of the most delicious banana blueberry bread, and aske if I wanted to join her and Betsy watching the sunset. I said I'd be down in a bit.
Then the FWiB and I had technical difficulties, he couldn't hear me, I logged out and logged back in and it was OK. But I really, really need a new computer.
Anyway, I said goodbye and went to join Betsy and Linda on the bank. The sunset was a bust though. So we ended up going to Betsy's cottage to do the puzzle. Sue joined us after getting back from babysitting. I called Middle Brother, he's fine. Went to see a Long Island Ducks baseball game.
We worked on the puzzle til a bit after midnight and then we broke up for the night. I came back to my cottage and had dinner!
And now I'm doing this. Tomorrow I do an Instacart order.
Gratitude List:
1. The FWiB.
2. My cousins.
3. The Starsky and Hutch fandom.
4. Got some writing done.
5. Hummingbirds are fed.
6. The cottage.
Anyway, hung with Sue a bit, but then she had to get ready to babysit for her grandkids. I came back and made the humming bird nectar.
Linda came by and said she was going in to Newfane to get Betsy a jigsaw puzzle since they finished the one we were working on. I asked if I could come and she said yes so I grabbed my purse and met her at the car.
The store where she got the puzzle is where Herlan Liquor used to be. I'm surprised the Liquor store closed, and I don't know where there's another in the area. Oh well.
We picked out a puzzle and I gave her $5 towards it. It is a cute drawing of the Maid of the Mist. 1000 pieces.
We came back to the cottage. I decided to go to the Starsky and Hutch creative work session, so I did. I filled the hummingbird feeder during one of the 20 minutes writing breaks, but I got a little writing done.
We ended about 6:30, so I killed time til 7:00 when I Teamed the FWiB.
After we'd been on a while, Linda came by and gave me a slice of the most delicious banana blueberry bread, and aske if I wanted to join her and Betsy watching the sunset. I said I'd be down in a bit.
Then the FWiB and I had technical difficulties, he couldn't hear me, I logged out and logged back in and it was OK. But I really, really need a new computer.
Anyway, I said goodbye and went to join Betsy and Linda on the bank. The sunset was a bust though. So we ended up going to Betsy's cottage to do the puzzle. Sue joined us after getting back from babysitting. I called Middle Brother, he's fine. Went to see a Long Island Ducks baseball game.
We worked on the puzzle til a bit after midnight and then we broke up for the night. I came back to my cottage and had dinner!
And now I'm doing this. Tomorrow I do an Instacart order.
Gratitude List:
1. The FWiB.
2. My cousins.
3. The Starsky and Hutch fandom.
4. Got some writing done.
5. Hummingbirds are fed.
6. The cottage.
Claim that NASA astronauts get $66K starting salary doesn't add up
Aug. 4th, 2025 02:00 amsnopes_feedThe figure was from 2019, and was a minimum as opposed to the starting salary. By 2025, NASA astronauts had starting salaries more than double that.
Was Trump called a 'convicted US felon' by Scottish newspaper?
Aug. 3rd, 2025 11:00 pmsnopes_feedSocial media users shared claims about how Scottish media characterized the visiting U.S. president.
Did a B-25 bomber plane crash into the Empire State Building in 1945?
Aug. 3rd, 2025 06:00 pmsnopes_feedSocial media posts in late July 2025 renewed interest in the historical aviation accident.
snopes_feed"President Clinton was a perfect gentleman during the trip and I saw absolutely no foul play involving him," Davies later said.
New baby Olly
Aug. 3rd, 2025 11:30 pmluthienOops. I accidentally wandered away for a few months. I haven't been doing much fannish stuff lately. Life has been taken up with a bunch of stuff, including spending time interstate with my elderly mother while my brother who lives with her has been away.
But anyway, I wanted to make a post about the most recent change in our lives. A good one.
As you might remember, we lost our two old boy cats, Indy and Sasha, in the space of less than a year. We still miss them, and the house has felt too empty, so a month ago we got a new kitten. His name is Olly, he's four months old tomorrow, and he's a red burmese. He's gorgeous and confident and affectionate - and we're so glad we added him to our family.
( More baby pics under here )
What a little terror:
( Olly wondering if he can share in dinner )
Meanwhile, our two remaining big cats are less certain about whether he was a good addition. Our very nervous bengal, Bella, is, surprisingly, taking things considerably better than our usually more laid-back ragdoll x burmese, Abby, who is still hissing and growling and swatting if Olly gets too close.
( Olly and the big cats )
Meanwhile, the dog thinks Olly is the best thing since sliced bread and they play together constantly.
( Olly and Lufra )
So that's how things stand around here atm, at least on the pet front. I'll try to be here a bit more often from now on.
But anyway, I wanted to make a post about the most recent change in our lives. A good one.
As you might remember, we lost our two old boy cats, Indy and Sasha, in the space of less than a year. We still miss them, and the house has felt too empty, so a month ago we got a new kitten. His name is Olly, he's four months old tomorrow, and he's a red burmese. He's gorgeous and confident and affectionate - and we're so glad we added him to our family.
( More baby pics under here )
What a little terror:
( Olly wondering if he can share in dinner )
Meanwhile, our two remaining big cats are less certain about whether he was a good addition. Our very nervous bengal, Bella, is, surprisingly, taking things considerably better than our usually more laid-back ragdoll x burmese, Abby, who is still hissing and growling and swatting if Olly gets too close.
( Olly and the big cats )
Meanwhile, the dog thinks Olly is the best thing since sliced bread and they play together constantly.
( Olly and Lufra )
So that's how things stand around here atm, at least on the pet front. I'll try to be here a bit more often from now on.
Monthly topic
Aug. 3rd, 2025 08:01 amabomvubuso posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
talkpoliticsSooo, time to see what you guys have chosen for the monthly topic for August:
Techno-Authoritarianism
And here's the poll for September:
What should be the next monthly topic?
1) The Politics of Disaster: Who Benefits from Crisis?
2) Africa Rising? Myths and Realities
3) The Global Housing Crunch
4) Digital Borders and the Fragmented Internet
5) Conspiracy Theories We Kind of Wish Were True
Feel free to suggest more...
Techno-Authoritarianism
And here's the poll for September:
What should be the next monthly topic?
1) The Politics of Disaster: Who Benefits from Crisis?
2) Africa Rising? Myths and Realities
3) The Global Housing Crunch
4) Digital Borders and the Fragmented Internet
5) Conspiracy Theories We Kind of Wish Were True
Feel free to suggest more...
GenCon 2025
Aug. 2nd, 2025 11:43 pmheron61I went to GenCon this year, for the first time since the pandemic. The day before I left, I checked in for my flight (on American Airlines) from DC to Indianapolis (I visited my mom first, since that means I can arrive in time to see the convention w/o needing a red-eye flight), and an hour after I did so, I got an email from American saying they’d changed my flight so that it left Friday evening and had me spending the night in Chicago’s O’Hare airport, before arriving the next day at 10 am. Obviously, I canceled that flight and eventually found one that worked almost as well from Southwest.
The convention itself was visibly different in a wealth of subtle ways – definitely more women, possibly 50/50 on Friday and no worse than 3:2 on Saturday. Also, at least on Friday, there were a surprising number of people in wheelchairs and other mobility devices, but somewhat fewer on Saturday. Less happily, they outnumbered people of color on Friday by at least 20:1, and there wasn’t a higher percentage of people of color on Saturday.
In addition, they served notably more alcohol at the (generally quite delicious, and very large) food cart pod. However, the biggest change was an extension of what I noted in 2018 & 2019 – fewer RPGs and RPG companies. RPGs are thriving, but increasing numbers of people purchase then via kickstarted or buy them as PDFs, neither of which are helped much by a company having a presence at GenCon. Also, most of the RPG companies there focused more on board and card games. In addition, as a clear sign of living in the fascist US, there were far fewer non-US citizens there and several non-US companies (that I was eager to talk to) simply weren’t there, and that was a very sensible choice for them.
Finally, I either picked up no RPG work there or will pick up some UTTERLY AMAZING work. I talked to the quite new company putting out an RPG of Brandon Sanderson’s awesome Cosmere series (Mistborn, Stormlight, and others). I love his books, and the company is quite flush with money since the did a $15 million dollar kickstarter (a factor of more than 7 greater than any other RPG kickstarted I know of), and have recently released the PDFs and had samples of the print books at GenCon). I also wrote extensively for the Mistborn RPG Crafty Games put out and also for the Alloy of Law supplement for that game).
In any case, especially with my having worked on the Mistborn RPG, there were potentially interested having me write for them, which given their books look gorgeous and the rules and writing both look solid, I’m very eager for, and then I asked their per word rate – which I almost couldn’t believe – it’s twice the highest word rate I’ve ever been paid for RPG writing. So, I’m both eager and hopeful, but am also now looking at maybe doing DragonCon or Origins instead, especially since very few people I know were there.
The convention itself was visibly different in a wealth of subtle ways – definitely more women, possibly 50/50 on Friday and no worse than 3:2 on Saturday. Also, at least on Friday, there were a surprising number of people in wheelchairs and other mobility devices, but somewhat fewer on Saturday. Less happily, they outnumbered people of color on Friday by at least 20:1, and there wasn’t a higher percentage of people of color on Saturday.
In addition, they served notably more alcohol at the (generally quite delicious, and very large) food cart pod. However, the biggest change was an extension of what I noted in 2018 & 2019 – fewer RPGs and RPG companies. RPGs are thriving, but increasing numbers of people purchase then via kickstarted or buy them as PDFs, neither of which are helped much by a company having a presence at GenCon. Also, most of the RPG companies there focused more on board and card games. In addition, as a clear sign of living in the fascist US, there were far fewer non-US citizens there and several non-US companies (that I was eager to talk to) simply weren’t there, and that was a very sensible choice for them.
Finally, I either picked up no RPG work there or will pick up some UTTERLY AMAZING work. I talked to the quite new company putting out an RPG of Brandon Sanderson’s awesome Cosmere series (Mistborn, Stormlight, and others). I love his books, and the company is quite flush with money since the did a $15 million dollar kickstarter (a factor of more than 7 greater than any other RPG kickstarted I know of), and have recently released the PDFs and had samples of the print books at GenCon). I also wrote extensively for the Mistborn RPG Crafty Games put out and also for the Alloy of Law supplement for that game).
In any case, especially with my having worked on the Mistborn RPG, there were potentially interested having me write for them, which given their books look gorgeous and the rules and writing both look solid, I’m very eager for, and then I asked their per word rate – which I almost couldn’t believe – it’s twice the highest word rate I’ve ever been paid for RPG writing. So, I’m both eager and hopeful, but am also now looking at maybe doing DragonCon or Origins instead, especially since very few people I know were there.
Nice day
Aug. 2nd, 2025 11:10 pmsilver_chipmunkIt was cold last night though and I had to put a third blanket on the bed! But once I did I was nice and snuggly warm.
Got up at 10:00 this morning, no where near as stiff as I expected after yesterday, and had breakfast and coffee, then I showered and dressed.
I went down to the head of the road to the mail box, but whatevermashfanficchick is sending me hasn't arrived yet. Monday hopefully.
I went to see if Sue was in but her car wasn't there, so I came back to the cottage. I refilled the humming bird feeder, I think somehow a lot of the nectar got spilled out because I can't imagine it getting drained dry in such a short time. I'll have to borrow more sugar and make more.
I read some, and then decided to get on the computer to the Starsky and Hutch chat. I actually made it on time for the episode, which was Quadromania, an episode with a lot of issues, but some very good things about it too.
I chatted for a couple of hours when Linda came by and said she was heading to the beach to go kayaking with Veronica, (Trevor's daughter), and Sue might come down too and did I want to come down? So I said good bye, and changed into my swimsuit and went down and hung out on the beach til Linda and Veronica came back. Sue didn't come down.
After they got back we walked on the beach awhile, and then went up. Linda and I ended up on the Root cottage porch. and Trevor plied me with alcohol again, this time peanut butter whisky, which is surprisingly good. I got rather toasted.
Then somewhat after 7:00 I made my good-byes and came back to the cottage and Teamed the FWiB, and simultaneously had dinner. We had a nice talk.
Then after we got off I got dressed again and walked over to the Root cottage but everything was quiet so I came back and calledmashfanficchick. We talked for awhile, and then I started reading again, til I realized the time, and started up here.
Gratitude List:
1. The FWiB.
2. The Starsky and Hutch fandom.
3. Outing Park.
4. Family.
5. Good books.
6. Cooler weather but not too cool.
Got up at 10:00 this morning, no where near as stiff as I expected after yesterday, and had breakfast and coffee, then I showered and dressed.
I went down to the head of the road to the mail box, but whatever
mashfanficchick is sending me hasn't arrived yet. Monday hopefully.I went to see if Sue was in but her car wasn't there, so I came back to the cottage. I refilled the humming bird feeder, I think somehow a lot of the nectar got spilled out because I can't imagine it getting drained dry in such a short time. I'll have to borrow more sugar and make more.
I read some, and then decided to get on the computer to the Starsky and Hutch chat. I actually made it on time for the episode, which was Quadromania, an episode with a lot of issues, but some very good things about it too.
I chatted for a couple of hours when Linda came by and said she was heading to the beach to go kayaking with Veronica, (Trevor's daughter), and Sue might come down too and did I want to come down? So I said good bye, and changed into my swimsuit and went down and hung out on the beach til Linda and Veronica came back. Sue didn't come down.
After they got back we walked on the beach awhile, and then went up. Linda and I ended up on the Root cottage porch. and Trevor plied me with alcohol again, this time peanut butter whisky, which is surprisingly good. I got rather toasted.
Then somewhat after 7:00 I made my good-byes and came back to the cottage and Teamed the FWiB, and simultaneously had dinner. We had a nice talk.
Then after we got off I got dressed again and walked over to the Root cottage but everything was quiet so I came back and called
mashfanficchick. We talked for awhile, and then I started reading again, til I realized the time, and started up here.Gratitude List:
1. The FWiB.
2. The Starsky and Hutch fandom.
3. Outing Park.
4. Family.
5. Good books.
6. Cooler weather but not too cool.
Reading Notes
Aug. 3rd, 2025 10:33 amfred_mousekalloway posted a book report / media roundup, which made me realise that I haven't done one of these in a while. The most recent I can find is from early April, which means I have four months worth of reading to annotate. *sigh*. I wish I remembered these things more frequently. This is only going to be longer works; short stories have been somewhat captured elsewhere. This is approximately in order april to august, but little attempt has been made to create an exact timeline.
I'm a little bemused to discover that I've finished 20 books in four months, even if some of them were carried over from previous and two were for uni.
Video really shows rabbits jumping on trampoline?
Aug. 3rd, 2025 02:00 amsnopes_feedMillions of people saw the endearing, but fake, clip.
The shooting was on Monday
Aug. 3rd, 2025 06:36 pmconulyHow're you gonna send your "thoughts-and-prayers" email on Friday? At this point, silence would've been better. (I have no idea how I got on the mayor's email list.)
Speaking of the shooting, my aunt texted me to check in. She, uh, she called me by the name I tried out for like five minutes in middle school. I have no idea how she remembered that. I barely remember that. But at least she didn't ask after Mommy's health this time.
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Speaking of the shooting, my aunt texted me to check in. She, uh, she called me by the name I tried out for like five minutes in middle school. I have no idea how she remembered that. I barely remember that. But at least she didn't ask after Mommy's health this time.
( Read more... )