Member Posts

Current Mood: busy

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Birdfeeding

Today is sunny and mild.

I fed the birds. I've seen a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches, a catbird, a starling, and a young fox squirrel. I heard a blue jay screaming but didn't see it.

I put out water for the birds.

I put out the flats of pots and watered them.

EDIT 5/19/25 -- We went shopping. I have 2 new water pans for the giant pots, 4 new large-ish pots, and 2 bags of composed manure. I still need to get more of the Evergreen potting soil, though.

EDIT 5/19/25 -- I took a few pictures of flowers.

I've seen two young fox squirrels chasing each other.

EDIT 5/19/25 -- I trimmed grass where I will put one of the giant pots.

EDIT 5/19/25 -- I filled the giant pot with half composted manure and half potting soil, then planted a pot of 2 zucchini plants.

EDIT 5/19/25 -- I trimmed grass where I will put the second giant pot.

EDIT 5/19/25 -- I filled the giant pot with half composted manure and half potting soil, then planted a pot of 2 straightneck yellow squash plants.

EDIT 5/19/25 -- I watered the giant pots and the picnic table garden.

EDIT 5/19/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 5/19/25 -- I sowed Shithouse Marigold seeds in the new giant pots and several others that didn't already have marigolds.

I watered the marigold seeds and some other plants.

I saw the first bat of the season! :D

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

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Goals, Motives, and Purposes, Part I

I essayed

Current Mood: accomplished

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Poetry Fishbowl Report for May 6, 2025

Our theme this time was "Ethical Supervillains." I wrote from 12:45 PM to 3:45 AM, so about 13 hours, accounting for breaks. I wrote 3 poems on Tuesday and another 3 later in the week.

Participation was up considerably, with 6 comments on LiveJournal and another 41 on Dreamwidth. A total of 12 people sent prompts.

Read Some Poetry!
The following poems from the May 6, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl have been posted:
"The Care and Feeding of Supervillains"
"A Lens of Ice"
"The More Bizarre It Gets"
"Ruling from Beneath"
"Show My True Colors"

Buy some poetry!
If you plan to sponsor some poetry but haven't made up your mind yet, see the unsold poetry list from May 6. That includes the title, length, price, and the original thumbnail description for the poems still available.

This session's donors include:

siliconshaman,

fuzzyred,

janetmiles, and je_reviens. All sponsored poems from this fishbowl have been posted. There are 3 tallies toward a bonus fishbowl.

The Poetry Fishbowl has a landing page.

Current Mood: busy

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Unsold Poems for the May 6, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl

The following poems from the May 6, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl are currently available. Poems may be sponsored via PayPal -- there's a permanent donation button on my Dreamwidth profile page -- or you can write to me and discuss other methods. There are still verses left in the linkback poems "Delight in Another," "A Sense of Weather Changes," "Ouroboros Insects," "The Loving Embrace of Night," "Generations of Cooks Past," "Homefree and Clear, " "One Bite at a Time," "Stars and Diamonds," "Mishpocha," "Changing Your Nature," and "Besa."

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

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Poem: "A Lens of Ice"

This poem is spillover from the May 6, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired and sponsored by

goatgodschild. It also fills the "Grey Area" square in my 5-1-25 card for the Color Fest Bingo. This poem belongs to the Rutledge thread of the Polychrome Heroics series.

Warning: This poem contains intense and controversial topics. Highlight to read the more detailed warnings, some of which are spoilers. It includes bullying, bigotry, theft, a fistfight, frank discussion of superpowers, angst, and other challenges. If these are sensitive issues for you, please consider your tastes and headspace before reading onward. It follows "Sadness Like a Battle Flag" and "Your Own Blissful Path," so this will make more sense if you have read those first.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

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Artificial Intelligence

Professors Staffed a Fake Company Entirely With AI Agents

As Business Insider first reported, the results were dismal. The best-performing model was Anthropic's Claude 3.5 Sonnet, which struggled to finish just 24 percent of the jobs assigned to it. The study's authors note that even this meager performance is prohibitively expensive, averaging nearly 30 steps and a cost of over $6 per task.

Google's Gemini 2.0 Flash, meanwhile, averaged a time-consuming 40 steps per finished task, but only had an 11.4 percent rate of success — the second highest of all the models. The worst AI employee was Amazon's Nova Pro v1, which finished just 1.7 percent of its assignments at an average of almost 20 steps.

While corporations may wish to replace human employees with software, it is not yet feasible for complex tasks. Only the simplest jobs are really at risk.

Current Mood: busy

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Birdfeeding

Today is mostly sunny and mild.

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

I put out water for the birds.

I put out the flats of pots and watered them.

EDIT 5/18/25 -- We drilled drain holes in the 2 giant pots we bought yesterday. I'm wondering if one would work as a water garden, for future reference.

EDIT 5/18/25 -- While working on various projects, I saw a young fox squirrel on the hopper feeder, who has absolutely no sense of self-preservation and stayed put while I walked past within arm's reach.

EDIT 5/18/25 -- I intended to fill up one of the giant pots, only to discover that I'm almost out of composted manure. :/

So instead I moved the flats of wildflowers from the ground at the west end of the new picnic table to the ground east of it, then trimmed grass at the west end so I can later set up the tall planter with shelves.

EDIT 5/18/25 -- I got a bit more yardwork done.

EDIT 5/18/25 -- I set up the tall planter with shelves at the west end of the new picnic table. I haven't put any pots on it yet.

EDIT 5/18/25 -- I watered the strawberry towers.

EDIT 5/18/25 -- I've seen a blue jay and a starling.

EDIT 5/18/25 -- I trimmed brush around the patio.

EDIT 5/18/25 -- I trimmed brush around the barrel garden and a few other places.

I brought in the flats of pots.

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

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vignette

vignettes

This week's prompt is:
macabre 🦴

Anyone can join, with a 50-word creative fiction vignette in the comments. Your vignette does not have to include the prompt term. Any (G or PG) definition of the word can be used.

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days: eastertide

A blessed Fifth Sunday Of Easter!

This may contain: three people sitting at a table in front of a lit candle

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days: eastertide

At the Lamb's high feast we sing

At the Lamb's high feast we sing
praise to our victorious King,
( Read more... )

Job Applications, Interviews, House

I saw what could possibly be the perfect job for me - except that it's temporary. It's a literal 10 minute walk from where I live, or a three-minute bike ride. It's project coordination. So, my main goal is to apply to that job over the course of today. I'd make more money, I wouldn't need to spend money on even public transportation. If I got something permanent there later, I could even cut back on the dog-walking since the dog-walker is looking to focus on training and just keep her on enough to keep Jake acclimated to her for pet-sitting.

Patrick has still been eating takeaways in spite of the doctors telling him he needs to lose 40lbs in three months so they can do a procedure on him. He's also drunk himself sick and is throwing up this morning. But I'm done trying to convince him to live healthier. My new outlook is to just try and ensure the house is well-maintained and paid for because apparently this guy is intent on killing himself before he's 45. We've already had the 'you're drinking too much' conversation three times this year, which means he is literally drinking himself sick at least once a month.

With high blood pressure. With doctors telling him he's dangerously overweight. But if he's not listening to them he's not going to listen to me. And I give up. The main problem is if he keeps drinking himself sick this frequently, I'm going to basically have to start figuring out how I buy him out of the house and tell him he needs to move out, because the last time he was doing that I told him he was either going to stop or we couldn't be housemates anymore.

At first, I thought it was just celebratory that he wasn't living with his parents anymore. Now that we've been here five months... I'm wondering if subconsciously, he's also thinking no one can touch him for doing it. But, if that's what he thinks, he's got another think coming. I'll quickly tell him he can stop contributing to bills and get moved out before living with someone drinking himself sick all the time.

My dreams of buying the house next door are apparently not out of the question. The tenant currently in there is NIHE, but it's temporary accommodation and the house isn't actually owend by NIHE anymore, it's privately owned but being loaned out to NIHE as part of dealing with the housing shortage. So, there is the possibility (especially as temp accommodation NIHE can run for years) that we might be able to save the money, get the mortgage paied down, and then buy the house next door. Which would make doing updating, repairs, etc. much easier.

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life: berlin

I have an apartment!

As I probably mentioned already, I've been looking for an apartment since the beginning of December, and seriously looking since February or March. I've filled out contact forms for probably 150 apartments at this point, and I got a grand total of 6 showings between March and this past week.

( prefab concrete construction )

( Landeseigenen vs. Deutsche Wohnen )

( Genossenschaft )

( the process )

Rough day, basically given up hope that I'll ever find a place of my own, so I drank the little airplane bottle of Berlin Distillery's Sundown Gin that's been on my shelf for a couple years. (It's really good; citrus and gin taste. Tastes like watching a sunset.) I put on this 5-hour YouTube video about Disco Elysium I'd been watching for over a week while I crocheted. I had about 90 minutes left I think? When it ended, I checked my phone, and there was a message from the Genossenschaft, sent at like 8 pm.

I opened it with trepidation, but it said "wir freuen uns" (we are pleased to) and I read it closer, and they picked me. Of the six people who they showed it to, I'm the one they chose. Me! I have no idea what their criteria are, but I guess I fit them.

I haven't received the contract yet; it's the weekend. The rate quoted in the ad was (this is insane) 314 € a month warm (incl. heat, water/sewer, trash) (230 cold). I'm currently paying 550 a month for 20 sqm in a shared flat in a much more convenient location (tradeoffs! I would love to stay in this area, but when you get a lease for somewhere you don't hate AND it's a Genossenschaft, you take it).

( some logistical stuff )

The only major downside is that it's in a part of the city that's served by only one S-Bahn, though there are two tram lines and some buses. No U-bahn at all, because East Berlin. It's also about 45 minutes away from roller derby and board meetings (every 2 weeks). It could be a lot worse; I focused my search on the east side for a reason. Spandau is over an hour to roller derby. I'll also have to change which branch of my gym I go to, because my current one is ~45 minutes from the new place (incl. 15 minutes walking) and the one in Marzahn is about 20 on the express bus.

tl;dr: I'm moving into a commie block and am pretty pleased actually.

Current Mood: busy

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Summer of the 69

The theme calendar has been posted for

summerofthe69. Grab some lube and your favorite characters! :D

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Clair Obscur Liveblog Part Eight

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

Current Mood: busy

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"Babes in the Pineywoods" is now complete!

Based on an audience poll, "Babes in the Pineywoods" is now complete. Bo-Art and Creamjeans take their leave of the Pineyspooks.

Current Mood: busy

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Today's Adventures

Today we went up to visit Dad.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: creative

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Creative Jam

The

crowdfunding Creative Jam is running Saturday, May 17-Sunday, May 18 with a theme of "Facing Darkness." Come give us prompts, or claim some for your own inspiration!

What I Have Written:

From My Prompts:

Current Mood: busy

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Birdfeeding

Today is sunny and mild.

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

I put out water for the birds.

Current Mood: busy

Entry tags:

recurring posts

Philosophical Questions: Distance

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

As people, we feel our moral obligation weaken with physical as well as emotional distance from individuals in need. For example, you’re more likely to help someone dying of hunger at your feet than someone dying of hunger in another country. How does this human trait of morality dependent on distance shape our world?

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

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General Fund Poll

The general fund currently contains $25. Everyone is eligible to vote in this poll. I will keep it open at least until Saturday night. If there is a clear answer then, I'll close it. Otherwise I may leave it open at least a little longer. Here are your options...

"Babes in the Pineywoods" needs $25 to be complete. You could finish that one.

There are 2 unsold poems from the May 6, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl that could be opened for microfunding:

"Cause a Riot of Color"
[Evening of Wednesday, September 14, 2016]
Shiv welcomes Creamjeans and Bo-Art to Omaha.
263 lines, Buy It Now = $132

"A Lens of Ice"
Johan intervenes in a squabble and meets someone from the Triton Teen Center.
147 lines, Buy It Now = $74

Poll #33128 General Fund Poll

This poll is closed.
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 10

View Respondents

What do you want to do with the $25?

View Answers

Finish "Babes in the Pineywoods"
8 (80.0%)

Open "Cause a Riot of Color" for microfunding
0 (0.0%)

Open "A Lens of Ice" for microfunding
2 (20.0%)