Saturday, December 6th, 2025 11:42 pm
How Fayetteville’s New Program Makes It Easy To Build Housing

Fayetteville, Arkansas, just gave residents something rare in the world of housing development: a clear, predictable, and affordable path to building.


Any town could do things like these to address their housing issues. Here are some toolkits you can use in your hometown. Now let's look at some things Fayetteville did right, that remind me of Terramagne-America...

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Saturday, December 6th, 2025 11:31 pm
Thanks to sponsorship from [personal profile] gothfvck, you  can now read my poem "The Sound of Celebration" over on [community profile] tfc_musicianships.
Saturday, December 6th, 2025 10:46 pm
Rhode Island's $85 Million Expansion Masquerading as Maintenance

The Ocean State’s roads and bridges are failing. Rather than prioritizing repair, officials pursued an $85 million expansion that will cost decades of future maintenance.

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Saturday, December 6th, 2025 08:38 pm
Earth’s early oceans hid the secret rise of complex life

Scientists have discovered that complex life began evolving much earlier than traditional models suggested. Using an expanded molecular clock approach, the team showed that crucial cellular features emerged in ancient anoxic oceans long before oxygen became a major part of Earth’s atmosphere. Their results indicate that early complexity developed slowly over an unexpectedly long timescale.

Read more... )
Saturday, December 6th, 2025 01:23 am
A hidden Antarctic shift unleashed the carbon that warmed the world

Ancient Antarctic water-mass upheavals unleashed stored carbon—and may hint at our climate future.

As the last Ice Age waned and the Holocene dawned, deep-ocean circulation around Antarctica underwent dramatic shifts that helped release long-stored carbon back into the atmosphere. Deep-sea sediments show that ancient Antarctic waters once trapped vast amounts of carbon, only to release it during two major warming pulses at the end of the Ice Age. Understanding these shifts helps scientists predict how modern Antarctic melt may accelerate future climate change.

Saturday, December 6th, 2025 01:02 am
People have expressed interest in deep topics, so this list focuses on philosophical questions.

Is the cultural trend of individualism and the rejection of collectivism a beneficial or detrimental trend?

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Friday, December 5th, 2025 10:40 pm
Today I'm trying out a new recipe for Banana Banana Bread that I found in All Recipes.  This one uses 5 bananas where my usual one takes 3, and butter instead of oil.  I made half the flour whole wheat.  Partway through I realized there was no other flavoring besides the bananas, so I added a teaspoon of cinnamon.  It will be interesting to see how this turns out.  :D

EDIT 12/5/25 -- This turned out pretty well.  It's a bit prone to falling apart, but may set up more as it cools.  It has quite a strong banana flavor.  I don't think I'll replace my usual recipe, but this certainly works for using up a lot of bananas.
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Friday, December 5th, 2025 08:20 pm
Equality matters

When we say that we want equality, what do we mean? Same pay for everyone? Same caloric intake? Same size of house? Same amount of electricity consumed every day? Same amount of household waste? Same amount of political power, influence, or fame?

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Friday, December 5th, 2025 07:59 pm
A Founder Got Fed Up With Potential Hires Using AI to ‘Fake It.’

Mollion says some job candidates have always misrepresented themselves, but AI has made the gap between presentation and reality even wider—making interviews and written materials even less reliable.

“On top of that, traditional interviews simply don’t reveal real skill, work style, responsiveness, or judgment,” Mollion told me. “People can say all the right things in an interview, but none of that guarantees how they actually perform on the job.”



I've been saying for years that brief resumes, college degrees, and office interviews offer very little indication of an applicant's actual ability to do a job.

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Friday, December 5th, 2025 02:09 pm
Today is cloudy and cold.

I fed the birds.  I've seen a large mixed flock of sparrows and house finches, plus two mourning doves.

I put out water for the birds.
Friday, December 5th, 2025 02:03 am
Today's theme is Active Communities on Dreamwidth Fall 2025 J-Z.

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Thursday, December 4th, 2025 11:39 pm
Today I took pictures of icicles and snow, mostly in the house yard, some down the driveway.

Walk with me ... )
Thursday, December 4th, 2025 10:11 pm
Today we went to Mattoon.

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Thursday, December 4th, 2025 05:49 pm
Four countries announce Eurovision 2026 boycott after Israel allowed to compete

Ireland, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Spain have all said they won't be taking part in next year's contest.


You can play along at home by skipping Eurovision 2026 to purchase songs from countries who have taken a stand against genocide -- or buy Palestinian music.
Thursday, December 4th, 2025 03:25 pm
A new book of Edward Gorey’s drawings shows what’s lost when the artist’s sexuality is glossed over

As for his personal life, Gorey may have been what today we’d call asexual; Gorey himself used the term “undersexed,” but he also acknowledged, when asked directly about his sexuality, that he “supposed” he was gay.

Mark Dery’s 2018 Gorey biography, “Born to be Posthumous: The Eccentric Life and Mysterious Genius of Edward Gorey,” documents the artist’s participation in postwar gay life. The book details a handful of crushes Gorey had on various men, at least one of which – a brief affair with a man named Victor – involved some physical intimacy.

To whatever extent Gorey entertained sex or romance, it was with men. As Dery points out, however, this fact largely goes unaddressed in discussions of the artist’s work.

Thursday, December 4th, 2025 02:19 pm
Today is sunny and cold.  Icicles are forming along the eaves.

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

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 12/3/25 -- I took some pictures around the yard.

EDIT 12/3/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

I've seen several more mourning doves roosting in the trees, puffed up like little beige softballs.  :D

EDIT 12/3/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 12/3/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

As it is getting dark, I am done for the night.
Thursday, December 4th, 2025 01:17 pm
Raccoon goes on drunken rampage in Virginia liquor store and passes out on bathroom floor

The masked burglar broke into the closed Virginia liquor store early on Saturday and hit the bottom shelf, where the scotch and whisky were stored. The bandit was something of a nocturnal menace: bottles were smashed, a ceiling tile collapsed and alcohol pooled on the floor.

The suspect acted like an animal because, in fact, he’s a raccoon.

On Saturday morning, an employee at the Ashland, Virginia-area liquor store found the trash panda passed out on the bathroom floor at the end of his drunken escapade.


Read more... )

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Wednesday, December 3rd, 2025 10:22 pm
Thanks to a donation from [personal profile] fuzzyred there are 35 new verses, and a donation from [personal profile] janetmiles for 9 verses, so there are 44 new verses in "An Inkling of Things to Come."  Shiv and his classmates discuss magical weather, magical geography, natural resources, plants and animals, history, and other aspects of worldbuilding.