People have expressed interest in deep topics, so this list focuses on philosophical questions.

What should the role of a government be, what boundaries and limitations should it have?

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([personal profile] ysabetwordsmith Jul. 4th, 2025 09:13 pm)
Tonight we did our home fireworks show. :D These are the things we bought from JT Fireworks Sales in Charleston...

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([personal profile] ysabetwordsmith Jul. 4th, 2025 03:09 pm)
In honor of the Fourth of July, here are a few tidbits to enjoy.

Today's Adventures 6/28/25 -- We bought fireworks for our home show, and we watched the show in Tolono.

Fireworks 7/4/25 -- Read about our home show tonight.

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([personal profile] ysabetwordsmith Jul. 4th, 2025 02:50 pm)
Today is mostly sunny and hot.

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

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 7/4/25 -- I checked the south lot and put topsoil in a few low spots, prior to our fireworks show tonight.

EDIT 7/4/25 -- I picked up a trough pot that fell off the old picnic table, restored the curry plant and purple basil as best I could, then watered them and a few other things in the house yard.

EDIT 7/4/25 -- I sowed 6 pots with mulberry seeds. Half are from a particularly pleasing mulberry sapling near the west end of the old fishpond, the other half from a mulberry that was left on the porch step as if a gift.

EDIT 7/4/25 -- I watered the telephone pole garden and a few seedlings in the savanna.

My partner Doug mowed the ritual meadow and prairie paths.

EDIT 7/4/25 -- I picked a handful of herbs to make a skillet scramble for supper.

EDIT 7/4/25 -- I picked a handful of blackberries in the prairie garden. There are plenty left; I ran out of heat tolerance long before I ran out of berries. :D

Cicadas are singing.

EDIT 7/4/25 -- I picked a handful of blackberries in the prairie garden. Still more left, but I'll have to hunt those another day, because it is still hot and the sun is about to set.


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jazzfish: an evil-looking man in a purple hood (Lord Fomax)
([personal profile] jazzfish Jul. 4th, 2025 11:24 am)
In Minneapolis, where it is overly Warm but where there were decent fireworks and a lightning-filled thunderhead last night. Feeling some kind of way about the political situation, for sure.

Have some links.

UPDATE! Breaking News: Everything Is Bad. (This is absolutely worth your two and a half minutes, I promise.)

Edward Gorey’s "Great Simple Theory About Art" is essential reading for writers: "[T]he theory ... that anything that is art ... is presumably about some certain thing, but is really always about something else, and it’s no good having one without the other, because if you just have the something it is boring and if you just have the something else it's irritating." That last bit puts me in mind of James Nicoll's "I don't object to hidden depths but I insist that there be a surface."

ICEBlock: "ICEBlock is an innovative, completely anonymous crowdsourced platform that allows users to report Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity with just two taps on their phone." US only, and iOS only at the moment. Via jwz, who notes "The cowards at Time wrote a whole article about the app and didn't include a link to it".

methaphone: "methaphone can help you manage cravings and withdrawal symptoms. It can fill that hole in your back pocket. ... methaphone looks like a simple acrylic slab -- and it is." I kinda want one. (I am a sucker for glass and lucite.)
marycatelli: (Dawn)
([personal profile] marycatelli Jul. 4th, 2025 10:44 am)
My country, 'tis of thee,
Sweet land of liberty,
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Today's theme is Historical Fiction.

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marycatelli: (East of the Sun)
([personal profile] marycatelli Jul. 3rd, 2025 09:52 pm)
So I'm off and considering a story. A fairy tale world in which they know the tales, after the manner of The Princess Seeks Her Fortune.

So when the stepmother and stepdaughter end up running away to seek their fortunes, they know they have an odd tale.

Unfortunately, so do I.

I think I may have to poke about tales with twos to joggle something loose.
FireSmart Canada is pleased to release Blazing the Trail: Celebrating Indigenous Fire
Stewardship
, a beautiful, bound publication that recognizes the contributions to wildfire
prevention of Indigenous communities in Canada
.

Read more... )
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
([personal profile] ysabetwordsmith Jul. 3rd, 2025 02:49 pm)
Today is partly sunny and hot.

I fed the birds. I refilled the thistle feeder. I've seen a large mixed flock of sparrows and house finches plus a male cardinal.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 7/3/25 -- I took a few more pictures around the yard, mostly flowers at the end of the driveway.

EDIT 7/3/25 -- I dug up three pots of wild senna and one of purple echinacea that had seeded themselves in the savanna, hopefully to transplant them elsewhere if they survive.

I've seen a pair of mourning doves and a gray catbird. I also saw a very large bird, possibly a vulture or eagle, flying over the field to the west.

EDIT 7/3/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 7/3/25 -- We hooked up the new, flat water hose. The "non-kinking" label is a complete lie; it is the most prone to kinking of any hose I've ever used. Straightening it out enough to work is a bitch. However, it is extremely lightweight and completely flexible, so those are pluses. Also the multifunction water wand is by far the best nozzles I've ever used. I favor with "shower" and "flat" functions the most. The new picnic table garden and septic garden have been thoroughly watered.

EDIT 7/3/25 -- I watered the old picnic table garden and the plants in the house yard.

The corn is tasseling. The pollen hangs heavy on the wind with a sweet, dusty, buttery, golden smell.

Fireflies are coming out.

I saw a skunk in the house yard. I've seen a squirrel at the hopper feeder.

As it is getting dark, I am done for the night.
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([personal profile] ysabetwordsmith Jul. 3rd, 2025 02:45 pm)
When rainforests died, the planet caught fire: New clues from Earth’s greatest extinction

When Siberian volcanoes kicked off the Great Dying, the real climate villain turned out to be the rainforests themselves: once they collapsed, Earth’s biggest carbon sponge vanished, CO₂ rocketed, and a five-million-year heatwave followed. Fossils from China and clever climate models now link that botanical wipe-out to runaway warming, hinting that losing today’s tropical forests could lock us in a furnace we can’t easily cool.


I pointed this out decades ago and nobody listened. Now here we are. But hey, someone could roll up this newspaper and beat Brazil with it.
svgurl: (narnia: susan)
([personal profile] svgurl Jul. 3rd, 2025 12:03 pm)
[tumblr.com profile] fairytalebingo, a flash event inspired by fairy tales, mythology, legends, fables, etc, is open for sign-ups.

[tumblr.com profile] fluffyjuly is a daily fluff themed prompt event running through July.

[tumblr.com profile] fandom-free-bingo is running Virtues & Vices Edition. Sign-ups will close on July 31st.

[community profile] sunshine_revival is active through the month of July! There will be 7 challenges, one posted every four days. There is also a Friending Meme.

[community profile] allbingo is running Winterfest in July. There are both pre-made bingo cards or you can create your own based on the available prompts.

[community profile] allbingo is also running a Western Bingo Fest. Premade cards and the option to make one yourself are both available here as well.

[community profile] littleblackdressex, a fic/art/podfic exchange based on works about your "little black dress" character (the one you feel goes with everything/you multiship), is open for sign-ups until July 6th, 11:59PM EDT. Nominations have also been reopened.

[community profile] battleshipex, an event where you join a team and race to clear a board of targets by creating fanworks, has opened sign-ups until July 9th or until they reach 280 sign-ups. Nominations are also still open.

[community profile] narniaexchange, a Chronicles of Narnia fic exchange, is open for sign-ups until July 11th.

[community profile] no_true_pair has opened sign-ups for their No True Crossover Event, where you sign up with four different fandoms and use the posted prompts that uses all the fandoms in different combinations, and you create works using those randomly made crossovers.

[community profile] fancake's theme of the month is: working together. Click on the banner below to find out more!

Photograph with added text: Working Together, at Fancake. Workers in India use wide wooden paddles with long handles to shove a huge yard of drying grains into big piles. The grain, most likely rice, is a beautiful golden color, and there's a mix of western and traditional clothing among the seven men and women.
Tags:
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([personal profile] svgurl Jul. 3rd, 2025 10:55 am)
Sunshine-Revival-Carnival-1.png

Challenge #1:

Journaling Prompt: Light up your journal with activity this month. Talk about your goals for July or for the second half of 2025.

Goals for July:
-write and complete at least one fic (writing more non-exchange fics has been a constant goal and I am hoping to get there)
-read three books (I keep checking books out but I need to actually finish them and find the motivation to read again)

Goals for the rest of the year
-get more organized (a constant struggle)
-try something new (vague but it's easier when it's broad)
-make more solid traveling plans
-try to write a little very day (I'm hoping consistent habits will be good for me)

Creative Prompt: Shine a light on your own creativity. Create anything you want (an image, an icon, a story, a poem, or a craft) and share it with your community

I made 5 summer-y icons.

Thanks to a donation from [personal profile] fuzzyred, you can now read the rest of "In the Heart of the Hidden Garden."  Lawrence gives Stan a tour of two more buildings and two more gardens -- and then explains why.
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
([personal profile] ysabetwordsmith Jul. 2nd, 2025 04:20 pm)
Today is mostly sunny and warm.

I fed the birds.  I've seen a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches.  Robins are foraging in the short grass that my partner Doug mowed yesterday in the house yard.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 7/2/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 7/2/25 -- I took some pictures around the yard.

EDIT 7/2/25 -- I watered the old picnic table, new picnic table, and telephone pole gardens.

Fireflies are out.  Cicadas are singing.

EDIT 7/2/25 -- I watered the septic garden.

I've seen a bat over the south lot, which also got mowed today.

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

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