arduinna | Network

luzula

Had a writing session with

garonne, which shook some stuff loose. Wrote 300 words. How about you?

Tally:
( Read more... )
Day 17:

china_shop,

garonne,

badly_knitted,

sylvanwitch,

chestnut_pod,

trobadora,

goddess47,

cornerofmadness,

sanguinity,

Bonus farm news: Today I learned the basics of how to use the chain saw from housemate. No more am I dependent on a man when I want to cut down a small tree or sever a piece of wood! \o/

marycatelli

I essayed

icanhascheezburger_feed

Posted by Laurent Shinar

https://cheezburger.com/43666437/it-took-six-years-of-love-and-nurturing-but-here-she-is-asking-for-pets-cat-momma-who-never-gave-up

Quite often, the lives of street cats get off to a more than tragic start. You never quite know the cards you are going to be dealt in life, but when you are born a stray, your starter pack of cards are going to be pretty dismal. And the feline hero of this story started with a hand that most people would have thrown in the trash and never looked back at. In fact, someone did do that to her.

But one day, when her rightful cat momma came along, everything began to change. And that which had started out as a Greek tragedy was becoming more and more like a Disney movie with each passing day. And with a whole lot of love and patience, after years of building up comfort and trust, the once scared cat began to feel and act warm towards its savior. A heartwarming and wholesome story to restore the faith of any feisty feline pawrent who is sure their sassy cat children will never cuddle them.

https://cheezburger.com/43666437/it-took-six-years-of-love-and-nurturing-but-here-she-is-asking-for-pets-cat-momma-who-never-gave-up

lh_wayfarer_feed

Posted by Jake Peterson

https://lifehacker.com/tech/chatgpt-new-app-store?utm_medium=RSS

Earlier this year, OpenAI announced ChatGPT apps. Not the ChatGPT app, mind you: That's been out for more than a couple years now. ChatGPT apps, on the other hand, are programs that work within ChatGPT. You can access them in any given conversation with ChatGPT—in fact, they may appear based on the context of the conversation.

These aren't necessarily apps that OpenAI builds itself, either; rather, you'll find options here based on apps you may use yourself. The initial batch of apps included with the feature's rollout included Booking.com, Canva, Coursera, Figma, Expedia, Spotify, and Zillow—big apps you've likely used before.

While in a conversation with ChatGPT, you could ask the bot to help you book a flight to Paris via Expedia, find a particular listing through Zillow, or create a slide for a presentation with Canva. From OpenAI's perspective, this adds a host of additional functionality to ChatGPT the company couldn't offer itself. OpenAI doesn't need to build an apartment-hunting tool into ChatGPT; it can just pull in Zillow. It also doesn't escape me that the more apps that OpenAI folds into ChatGPT, the less likely it is you'll need to leave ChatGPT to do something in another app—but that's none of my business.

ChatGPT's "app store" isn't really a store

Credit: Lifehacker

Speaking of more apps, the company plans to expand these apps overtime, as developers create ChatGPT-compatible extensions for their programs. That was part of yesterday's news: OpenAI is now letting developers submit apps to ChatGPT en masse. What's more, these apps will be hosted in an "app directory," though many online are taking to calling it an app store. (There's no payment necessary, however, so app directory might really be a more apt description.) You'll find this new app directory in the sidebar of ChatGPT, appropriately called "Apps."

Apps is apparently in beta, according to a label affixed to its title in ChatGPT. Here, you'll find a rotating slide featuring an ad for some of the service's biggest apps, like Canva and Zillow, and, below it, rows of apps to choose from. Right now, the apps are sorted into "Featured," "Lifestyle," and "Productivity," with no option that includes all the apps. (But they seem to be entirely split across Lifestyle and Productivity.) There are a lot of options here already. Some made headlines this week, like Photoshop and Apple Music, while others arrived more quietly, like Asana, Uber, and Target. It's not just traditional apps like Zillow or Spotify that are getting the app treatment here, either. OpenAI is also considering "connector" services, like Google Drive, as "apps."

You can click on any app in the directory to see what you can do with it. Slack, for example, says you can look up your chats and messages to summarize threads, generate recaps, and come up with responses. You can check on your Asana tasks to generate progress reports and status updates. Outlook says you can create "talking points" and generate follow-ups from your emails and calendar events. While there's a brief summary underneath each title, you'll need to click through to each service to see the full picture of what it actually offers.

Here are the apps I'm seeing at this time. Just note this might not be a complete list, especially as OpenAI continues to add more apps to the service:

Adobe Acrobat
Adobe Express
Adobe Photoshop
Agentforce Sales
Aha!
Airtable
AllTrails
Amplitude
Apple Music
Asana
Atlassian Rovo
Azure Boards
Basecamp
Booking.com
Box
Canva
Clay
Cloudinary
Conductor
Coursera
Daloopa
DoorDash
Dropbox
Egnyte
Expedia
Figma
GitLab Issues
Google Drive
Help Scout
Hex
HighLevel
Hugging Face
Instacart
Intuit Credit Karma
Intuit Mailchimp
Intuit TurboTax
Khan Academy
Klaviyo
Linear
Lovable
LSEG
Monday.com
Morningstar
Netlify
Notion
OpenTable
Outlook Calendar
Outlook Email
Peloton
Pipedrive
PitchBook
Ramp
Replit
SharePoint
Slack
Spotify
Stripe
Target
Teams
Teamwork.com
TheFork
Thumbtack
Tripadvisor
Uber
Uber Eats
Vercel
Zillow
Zoho
Zoho Desk
Zoom

If you're an avid ChatGPT user and frequently switch between it and any of the apps on this list, there might be some utility here. Maybe coders will find the integration with Hugging Face and Lovable to be beneficial, while Photoshop users might take advantage of the AI image editing tools this integration provides. But I'm still left feeling like this is more gimmick than anything else: I don't need to connect my Slack to ChatGPT to generate follow-ups for me: I'm perfectly capable of responding to emails myself, and managing my own calendar, so no need to connect Outlook or another email client to the bot. Maybe a future update will sell me on connecting generative AI to all aspects of my work and personal life, but so far, I'm still not convinced.

https://lifehacker.com/tech/chatgpt-new-app-store?utm_medium=RSS

lh_wayfarer_feed

Posted by Meredith Dietz

https://lifehacker.com/best-last-minute-gift-ideas-for-under-thirty-dollars?utm_medium=RSS

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication.

For some people, it just doesn’t feel like Christmas until you’re curled up by the fire, eating Christmas cookies, or hanging your favorite ornaments on the tree. For me, the holiday season doesn’t feel real until an overwhelming state of panic sets in and I’m feverishly typing “last-minute gift ideas” in the hours leading up to a Secret Santa exchange.

If you’re like me, you procrastinate at least one gift until the window for pre-Christmas delivery slips out of your grasp. Calm your panic—I’ve rounded up your top prospects for physically getting some wrapping paper around a gift in time for the holidays—even if your only option is going to the drug store. Here are gift ideas that are all under $30 (so long as you’re willing to get a little creative with it). Even when it’s the thought that counts, something is better than nothing.

Novelty kitchen equipment

Novelty kitchen equipment is a quirky holiday gift staple. Take these smiley face wooden cooking spoons, available for $19.80 that can arrive before Christmas. Or you could go for a double dip (or chips-and-dip!) bowl for $20.92. As a rule of thumb, searching for “quirky kitchen equipment” will turn up fun and surprisingly useful results.

In terms of last-minute shopping, an at-home popcorn popper is sure to be available in some form. Get in time for Christmas for $24.99 on Amazon now.

Dash Hot Air Popcorn Popper

$24.99 at Amazon

An inspired candle assortment

With a little more planning, you could have splurged on a candle that smells like Adam Driver. But you didn’t plan, and that's OK.

You can still snag this high-quality Lulu candle for $19.95. Candles are also reliable in-store options, but you want to avoid anything smelling cheap and weird. Look for trusted brands like Yankee, Boy Smells, Nest, or Diptyque (though this one tends to be on the more expensive side).

“We’re Not Really Strangers” card game

It's at-risk of becoming incredibly hack, but still, “We’re Not Really Strangers” is a crowd pleaser (as opposed to the simple shock value you get with something like “Cards Against Humanity”). The goal of this card game is to foster connection through harrowing personal revelations. The prompts on these cards will spark conversation and foster connections between friends old and new—just remember that to play fair, you have to be willing to dig deep. Get in time for Christmas for $25 on Amazon.

Anything fuzzy, cozy, and warm

If you live somewhere that gets cold, it’s always a safe bet to lean into the holiday theme and gift something fuzzy, cozy, and warm. Gifts like this also fall into the realm of “things that would improve my quality of life but I never buy them for myself.” I sincerely recommend this wearable blanket hoodie for $24.99, or maybe some cloud socks for $11.45. Again, if you can head to a store to select these items in-person, you’ll be in better shape compared to praying for overnight shipping options.

Qeils Wearable Blanket Hoodie

$25.99 at Amazon

Clever mugs

Sure, mugs are a dangerously popular gift option. But you left shopping to the last possible minute, so it’s no time to be picky. And how about something to fill those mugs with? Even if the gift recipient isn’t a big tea or hot cocoa drinker, it’s a smart thing to have in the home for hosting guests during the holidays.

Go for an assortment of tea flavors for around $3 at Trader Joe’s (my favorites are the ginger turmeric and the harvest blend). Throw in a mug with a cute little squirrel hiding inside for $19.99. Gifting something that people can sip on is the perfect mix of charm and utility.

Hidden Squirrel Ceramic Mug

$19.99 at Amazon

DIHOclub Squirrel Ceramic Cup Hidden 3D Animal Inside Mug,Cute Cartoon Handmade Figurine Mugs,Holiday and Birthday Gift for Coffee Milk Tea Lovers,12 OZ(Light Green)

$19.99 at Amazon

Go buck wild at your local drug store

As I've written previously, sometimes your only option is the drug store. Head to Walgreens and round up an assortment:

Gift cards
Candles
Cosmetic bags
Therapeutic massager
Jewelry
Insulated mugs
Calendars or planners
Notebooks
Coffee/tea bundles
Wine and a corkscrew (depending on your state’s liquor laws)
Picture frames
Electronics, like ear buds or portable chargers

These items aren’t necessarily bad gifts, but many will be easily detected as a last-minute purchase. The success of drug store gifts will come down to the charm of the gift-giver and the chill factor of the recipient.

https://lifehacker.com/best-last-minute-gift-ideas-for-under-thirty-dollars?utm_medium=RSS

erinptah

…not actually a full-on review post, I just couldn’t think of a pithier title, when the actual subject is:

The weird experience of reading/watching two different things right in a row that both went “btw, Hell is official canon here, people are actively being tortured, ok moving on, none of our heroes are gonna have any concern about that ever again.”

One was the recent movie Genie, where, yeah, it was a throwaway gag. And the movie overall was one of those “MC gets infinite wishes, never even thinks to drop by the nearest hospital and start wishing cures on people” stories. So you can’t expect much.

(MC does wish for his greedy boss’s fortune to be donated to a housing nonprofit! I was delighted when that came up! Then…he time-travels and retcons it, and never re-wishes it. Whyyy.)

But still! This happens:

Careless statement of “I wish you would go to hell”
(This part is fine, it’s a genie story, gotta get in a valuable lesson about being careful what you wish for)
Hasty “I wish he would come back from hell!”
Victim reappears, sooty and singed, understandably ticked off
So now we know some form of eternal flaming torment is real, AND there’s no foolproof filter on who goes there, AND your genie pal has the power to free people from it
None of this is ever mentioned or thought about again ever!

Nobody involved in making this movie ever second-guessed that…?

—

Anyway, the other incident is Camp Damascus, the “what if Chuck Tingle decided to write serious horror” novel. (For a YA level of “serious horror.” Which is about the level I like to deal with, so that worked for me.)

Real mixed feelings about this book. It has good points, it has bad points. Not mad that I spent my time reading it, but it did kinda feel like the first draft of a better book.

But, uh. It sure is A Choice to write a novel about the literalized horrors of religious abuse and anti-gay conversion therapy, and have part of the worldbuilding be “some form of Hell is real! Demons are real! They really do put people through agonizing horror-movie torture scenarios! Just not to gay people.”

The MC spends most of the book afraid of these demons doing horrible brutal murderous things to her, and/or the people she loves.

Then in the climactic showdown, demons do even more horrible brutal things to a bunch of camp counselors, and she’s just…unmoved.

Because, hey, the demons were only threatening gay people because of the church’s control. And now they’re free! So now their standards for “whose limbs do we get to rip off” are…uh, MC explicitly doesn’t know what their standards are…but she doesn’t spend any time stressing over whether the new victims deserve it any more than the old ones did.

To be clear! This is not part of a reveal that the counselors were one-dimensional evil!

The MC is friends with a former counselor. Who’s also gay, and has also been living with the threat of demon-torture. They’ve had heartfelt conversations about how, yes, he did bad things at the camp, but he can’t be too hard on himself, he was being manipulated by a cult, and he can make up for it now that he’s free.

How many of the present-day counselors are in the same situation? Who knows! And nobody left in the book has any interest in finding out.

Someone could write a dissertation about which “assumptions baked into this kind of Christian worldview” Camp Damascus takes the time to unpack, compared to which ones it just…doesn’t question or second-guess at all.

I won’t — I’m not nearly invested enough to do the rereading it would take to get all the details right — just saying that in general, wow, there is A Lot here, if anyone was interested.

—

Gonna wrap this up with a Hazbin Hotel reference.

Obviously it’s not the first story to do “okay, some form of Hell is canon real, now let’s actually stop and dig into the implications.” But it’s almost certainly the first one to drop the banger line “if Hell is forever, then Heaven must be a lie” in the middle of a song, and I think that’s beautiful.

falena

Wonderfalls was a quirky, short-lived TV series about a twenty-something philosophy grad working a dead-end retail job in a souvenir shop in Niagara falls. Jaye is smart and ironic and damaged and has a meddling family. One day animal-shaped inanimate objects start talking to her, asking her to do things. The show is hilarious.

Here are some fic that do the tricky job of preserving the showw's humour and heart while letting us spend more time with these characters.

Homing Pigeon by ospery_archer. 7K words. Jaye hated losing arguments with inanimate objects. Especially when they got the last word by burning her trailer down, and her car with it.

Hot Duck by Yochan. 1.7K words.Jaye truly started hating life when her vibrator spoke up over the sound of the water rushing in her tiny shower. Now, not only was she well and truly crazy, the devil knew she owned a vibrator shaped like Ernie's rubber duckie.

I Wonder Why The Wonder Falls On Me by Zanne. 9K words. Crossover with Supernatural. Dean and Sam meet Jaye. Lolol.Surrender to Destiny" is a terrible catchphrase.

An now a festive gem: Jolly by Fox1013 1.8K. "I don't do festive," Jaye said. "It's like asking Mickey Mouse to do a striptease. It makes everyone uncomfortable."

The Pitt

Since on Day 16 I recced a threesome, I thought I might do another one: 86 Days, 87 Nights. 24 K. Robby/Abbot/Samira. There's lots of plot. Which makes sense as it's a fic that could be best described as Lost meets The Pitt. Fantastic.

newpajiba_feed

Posted by Tori Preston

https://www.pajiba.com/tv_reviews/fallout-season-2-premiere-recap-the-innovator.php

Welcome back to the future nuclear wastelands of America, folks! Fallout has returned to Prime Video, and the season two premiere picks up pretty much exactly where the last season left off: with Lucy (Ella Purnell) and The Ghoul (Walton...

newpajiba_feed

Posted by Kayleigh Donaldson

https://www.pajiba.com/celebrities_are_better_than_you/taylor-swift-warner-bros-katy-perry-pamela-anderson-sean-combs-biggest-celebrity-stories-of-2025.php

The year is almost done, and, hopefully, things are wrapping up. But we live in odd times and there's a solid chance that something utterly unheard of and bananas could happen before we ring in 2026. I'm taking my chances...

icanhascheezburger_feed

Posted by Ayala Sorotsky

https://cheezburger.com/43645445/she-was-so-weak-she-couldnt-walk-husband-finds-a-huddled-4-months-old-kitten-in-a-gas-station

Saying that the Cat Distribution System works in mysterious ways is already old news. Every cat person who has ever heard at least one cat adoption story knows this secret agency / institution / entity works in the shadows, behind the scenes, always watching and searching - to match the right cat to the right people. To make some successful adoptions happen, both for people who adopt cats, and also for cats who adopt their hoomans. Nobody knows who or what the CDS is, exactly, but we can all say we're so grateful for its work.

Right now, when the weather is becoming harsher and colder by the day, it has made an adoption story so much sweeter than any other we've heard about recently. You see, this family who adopted this sweet stray (yes, spoiler: the ending is happy) is no stranger to cats. Their daughter already had her soul-cat, but sadly, he had already passed over the rainbow bridge. It's sad, and it's a part of life every cat pawrent needs to accept. But the CDS sent a signal - on the exact day of her previous cat's passing, her father found a 4-month-old kitten huddled in a gas station, hiding from the cold.

Being the sweet man that he is, he scooped this floofy feline and brought her to his home. We assume he knew his family would be thrilled to add this cute cat to their home, to their hearts. We love it when a cat in need gets adopted, especially in this kind of weather. Cats deserve warmth, they deserve love, and they deserve a home.

https://cheezburger.com/43645445/she-was-so-weak-she-couldnt-walk-husband-finds-a-huddled-4-months-old-kitten-in-a-gas-station

lh_wayfarer_feed

Posted by Naima Karp

https://lifehacker.com/tech/amazon-echo-show-21-sale?utm_medium=RSS

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication.

If you’re in the market for a small TV that also doubles as a tablet and home hub, the Amazon Echo Show 21 is an all-in-one smart display with built-in Fire TV, tons of widgets, and other genuinely useful features. A step up in size from the Amazon Echo Show 15, the Amazon Echo Show 21 is rarely on sale, but right now, it’s $50 off on Amazon, dropping to its lowest price ever of $349.99 (originally $399.99), and is a great option for Alexa-powered households.

It has a sharp 21-inch screen, and like its predecessor, uses the Fire TV interface and Alexa. The screen resolution is 1,920 by 1,080 pixels. It’s essentially a larger version of the Echo Show 15, with a larger touchscreen. The Amazon Echo Show 21 has a 13MP camera for video calls and home monitoring that automatically zooms and adjusts, along with a manual privacy shutter switch. The larger screen enables more accessible home hub and widget visibility, supporting multiple user profiles and switching via facial or voice recognition when the camera and mic are enabled. It also doubles as a digital picture frame.

Designed primarily for wall mounting, the Echo Show 21 doesn’t include a stand. While it doesn’t mechanically swivel like the discontinued Amazon Echo Show 10, you can purchase an additional rotating stand to adjust the horizontal and vertical angles manually. The included remote lets you use the Fire TV interface without a touchscreen, which PCMag notes is bright and sharp for video playback, with “reasonably accurate and saturated” colors, though its range isn’t comparable to a higher-end QLED or OLED display.

While the Echo Show 21 has the same two-inch woofers and 0.6-inch tweeters as the 15 that provide loud sound, it lacks the deep bass needed to function as a standalone speaker for audiophiles. However, if you don’t need extremely low-frequency power, it performs well for everyday listening and TV audio.

Ultimately, this versatile smart display and whole-home hub is a competent option for Alexa users or those looking to upgrade in size from a regular tablet. That said, it’s essentially a scaled-up Echo Show 15, but if reining in surface space and gaining a bigger display matter to you, the Amazon Echo Show 21 is a solid choice, especially while it’s $50 off.

Apple AirPods Pro 3 Noise Cancelling Heart Rate Wireless Earbuds — $199.00 (List Price $249.00)

Sony WH-1000XM5 — $248.00 (List Price $399.99)

Samsung Galaxy Tab A9+ 10.9" 64GB Wi-Fi Tablet (Graphite) — $139.99 (List Price $219.99)

Apple Watch Series 11 [GPS 46mm] Smartwatch with Jet Black Aluminum Case with Black Sport Band - M/L. Sleep Score, Fitness Tracker, Health Monitoring, Always-On Display, Water Resistant — $329.00 (List Price $429.00)

Blink Outdoor 4 1080p 3-Camera Kit With Sync Module Core — $74.99 (List Price $189.99)

Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Plus — $29.99 (List Price $49.99)

Meta Quest 3 512GB Mixed Reality VR Headset with Controllers — $499.00 (List Price $499.00)

Deals are selected by our commerce team

https://lifehacker.com/tech/amazon-echo-show-21-sale?utm_medium=RSS

lh_wayfarer_feed

Posted by Jake Peterson

https://lifehacker.com/tech/chatgpt-has-apple-music-now?utm_medium=RSS

When ChatGPT first launched, it was strictly about dealing with text. You could ask it to write you a poem, to check your code for errors, or to build you a grocery list from a recipe. Fast forward three years, and the app has changed completely—for better or for worse. Not only has ChatGPT's large language model (LLM) improved dramatically from GPT-3.5 to GPT-5.2, but the bot has gone multimodal. It can understand text, but also images, video, and the internet at large. 2025's ChatGPT is hardly the same product as 2022's.

One of the many upgrades to ChatGPT over the past three years has been app integrations: You've been able to connect OpenAI's chatbot to ask it to do things on your behalf. You could connect to Expedia to ask ChatGPT for help booking a hotel, Zillow to ask the bot to help you find an apartment, or Canva for help with creating a slide. Whether these integrations are any more useful than simply using the respective app itself is perhaps up to each user, but these integrations exist all the same.

Fidji Simo, OpenAI's CEO of applications, announced the integration in a Substack post on Tuesday. Among other updates, like a new image gen model and new writing tools, Simo revealed new app integrations for the chatbot, including OpenTable, Salesforce, Clay, Lovable, and, of course, Apple Music. At the time, details were limited, but now, the integration is officially live.

What can you do with Apple Music in ChatGPT?

First of all, you don't actually need to subscribe to connect Apple Music to ChatGPT. It's an interesting note, since Apple Music itself requires a paid subscription to access. But with ChatGPT, you can access elements of the services without paying—keyword "elements."

Once you connect the services together, you'll be able to search Apple Music for songs, artists, albums, and playlists within ChatGPT. In addition to music discoverability, you can also generate playlists, and listen to clips of songs you find. ChatGPT doesn't specify how long those clips are, but if they base it off of iTunes, it could be anywhere from 30 to 90 seconds. If you thought this integration was all about listening to Apple Music tunes while using ChatGPT, think again: You'll still need Apple Music itself for the listening side of things.

Of course, if you have an Apple Music account, the integration is a bit more useful. If so, you'll be able to add songs, albums, and playlists to your Apple Music library that you found or generated from ChatGPT.

What are the privacy implications of connecting Apple Music to ChatGPT?

Love it or hate it, ChatGPT isn't necessarily designed with user privacy in mind. After all, part of the company's business model is training its LLMs on your ChatGPT interactions—unless you specifically opt out. As such, the idea of connecting your Apple Music subscription to ChatGPT raises some privacy alarm bells in my mind. Apple Music doesn't have the most sensitive user information in your digital portfolio, but it does contain quite a bit of extra data ChatGPT can collect from you.

At the top of the Apple music connection tool, OpenAI says, "You're in control." The company is adamant that ChatGPT "always respects" your preferences on training data, and is held to the permissions you've already set. That said, the company also warns that by using apps, you run the risk of falling victim to attack: If hackers decide to attack ChatGPT, your data could get swooped up. You'll also end up sharing data points like your IP address and approximate location, as well as ChatGPT data with Apple Music. (The data sharing goes both ways here.)

One benefit here is that ChatGPT doesn't appear to have access to your listening history. While the app can create playlists for you, it can't actually see what you're choosing to listen to in Apple Music itself.

I personally don't use ChatGPT, and even if I did, I don't think I'd connect my Apple Music account here. I find the discoverability within the app itself fine for my needs, and when it isn't, the greater internet already helps me find new music. I'm not sure I'd feel the benefits of ChatGPT's intelligence here, especially when it comes with the risk of keeping all my Apple Music data in yet another location.

If you're not like me, and you're interested in trying out this integration, you can connect Apple Music to ChatGPT from the latter's app or web app. Head to the sidebar, choose Apps, then find and select "Apple Music."

https://lifehacker.com/tech/chatgpt-has-apple-music-now?utm_medium=RSS

usuallyhats posting in

doctor_who_sonic

Do you have a Doctor Who community or a journal that we are not currently linking to? Leave a note in the comments and we'll add you to the watchlist (

doctor_watch).

Editor's Note: If your item was not linked, it's because the header lacked the information that we like to give our readers. Please at least give the title, rating, and pairing or characters, and please include the header in the storypost itself, not just in the linking post. Spoiler warnings are also greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Off-Dreamwidth News
Blogtor Who's video of the day for yesterday was a clip from 1972's "The Sea Devils"
"The War Between the Land and the Sea" to be released on DVD and Blu-ray in February
Blogtor Who's video of the day for today is the trailer for the Season 21 Collection

(News via

doctorwhonews_feed and

blogtorwho_feed among others.)

If you were not linked, and would like to be, contact us in the comments with further information and your link.

icanhascheezburger_feed

Posted by Ayala Sorotsky

https://cheezburger.com/43646469/26-wholesome-cat-memes-for-pawrents-who-need-a-soft-snuggle-for-the-soul

Cats are elite-tier snugglers, and winter is their time to shine. The moment the temperature drops and the air turns crisp, every cat collectively decides that cold is a personal insult. Cue in the dramatic meowing, the pointed staring, and the not-so-subtle herding of their human toward the coziest seat in the house. Only then will they hop onto your lap, spin in exactly seven judgmental circles, and fold themselves into a warm little cinnamon roll that purrs like it's powered by holiday meowgic. That, dear cat connoisseurs, is peak happiness. And yes, "snuggle with a cat" is absolutely a non-negotiable item on every winter to-do list - we all penciled it in sometime around fall.

Of course, cats run on their own internal calendars. They have schedules, preferences, and meowsterious whims that cannot be rushed or reasoned with. Cuddles happen strictly on their terms: when they want, where they want, and for precisely the amount of time they deem appropriate. When it happens, it's ameowzing - but it's never guaranteed exactly when your soul needs it most.

Luckily, that's where wholesome cat memes come in. If you're craving a soft emotional snuggle in feline form, these fluffy feline funnies are ready to deliver. They're the pawrfect pick-me-up for a chilly day, offering the same cozy comfort as a cat choosing your lap - pure magic, no shedding required.

https://cheezburger.com/43646469/26-wholesome-cat-memes-for-pawrents-who-need-a-soft-snuggle-for-the-soul

offcntr

A familiar and unexpected face in by booth late Sunday afternoon. Before online shipping services, I used to spend a lot of time in line at the River Road Post Office, shipping pottery orders and Christmas presents. Got to be on a first-name basis with the counter clerks, Henry and Val and Cheryl and Mee. Even gave them each a painted mug from my seconds stash, one year. All gone, now, though I ran into Mee once afterward, working the West Eugene branch.

So when a vaguely familiar Asian woman came into the booth, my brain was going, Why do I know that face? It was Mee, down from Portland, there to pick out a piece from me. She got the sunflower dinner pasta bowl, and a hug.

offcntr

Folksinger/storyteller Scott Alarik used to tell a story about Ingemar Ingebretson, an old Norwegian farmer on his deathbed, wanting one last taste of his wife's famous beef pasties. He asks his friend Ole to go bring him one, as he's fading fast. After a long wait, Ole returns. I'm sorry, Ingemar Ingrebretson, he says. Hilda says those pasties, they're for after the funeral.

So these pasties aren't for after anything, except maybe Holiday Market, and they aren't beef either, but they're pretty darn good to come home to after a long day selling pottery.

I got the original recipe from the Glasilo, a Slovenian-American newspaper, and proceeded to pervert it horribly to my own ends. This is what I make:

Frank's Oregon Pasties

Crust
1 cup shortening (original calls for lard. I've used margarine in the past, these days it's Crisco plus whatever fat is in the fridge. In this case, leftover turkey schmaltz from Thanksgiving, bacon grease, and enough butter-flavored Crisco to make a cup.)
1 cup boiling water
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp salt

Pour the hot water over the fat and mix with an electric mixer until it's thick and creamy, emulsified. Stir in flours and salt to make a dough. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate a couple of hours, or overnight.

Filling
This can be highly variable. Original includes turnip or rutabaga, neither of which are my thing. I sometimes add thawed frozen peas, if I have them, or even crack an egg into each. This time out:
5 potatoes
3 carrots
1 head of broccoli
1/3 medium onion
1 lb. ground turkey
2 rounded teaspoons seasoned salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper

Dice the vegetables, including peeling and dicing broccoli stems. Combine in a large bowl with salt and pepper, then mix in ground turkey.
Divide crust into 6 to 8 parts, and roll each into a rough oblong on a floured board or counter. Settle half of the crust into a small bowl, and scoop in a cup to cup-and-a-half of filling. Fold over remaining crust and crimp edges. Transfer to a greased or foil-lined baking sheet. Repeat until all are filled.

Bake at 400° F. for one hour. Cool slightly before serving. Traditionally, these are served with a gravy, I guess, though I like them plain. Denise puts ketchup on hers. Barbarian...

newpajiba_feed

Posted by Dustin Rowles

https://www.pajiba.com/tv_reviews/blue-lights-is-the-pitt-of-cop-shows.php

The Wire is the best television series of all time. There is only one The Wire, there will never be another The Wire, and any attempt to draw comparisons to The Wire is, frankly, a little insulting. Blue Lights is...

donutsweeper

Got my yuletide assignment posted and have been keeping my eye out for pinch hits over at the PH comm,

yuletide_pinch_hits but so far there's been nothing I could take. I am hoping to manage a few treats, we'll see, the writing brain has not been braining.

Generally speaking, there's not much going on here, but I wanted to post my

recthething recs while the exchanges they were from are still anon (because I am lazy and don't want to have to look them all up and recode things rather than C&Ping them) so here are two weeks of recs, from

ficinabox (assorted things) and

doodle4doodle (art):

Some recs from

ficinabox, creators anon until Dec 20th:

Casablanca
- Victor Lazlo: A Retrospective (excerpt). Summary: ...no review of the life of Victor Laszlo would be complete without mention of his long-time collaborator (some say long-time lover) Richard “Rick” Blaine, well known for his brief stint as founder and owner of “Rick’s Americain” café and casino in Casablanca. [excerpts of a magazine article] (neat papercraft/magazine article/in universe magazine article combined work)

DCU
- kiss and fly (absolutely adorable Superman/Batman animation)
- Alfred Pennyworth: Amigurumi!. Summary: It's Alfred Pennyworth - As an amigurumi weeble-wobble. (really cute crocheted Alfred)
- we can get a little reckless. Summary: Diana and a beautiful evening. (beautiful colorwork on this art)
- Not Fit To Print. Summary: When Dick leaves Gotham on bad terms with Bruce, he takes an internship at the Daily Planet in an attempt to move on. Instead, he submits a series of unpublishable articles—each one stranger and more personal than the last. Gargoyle surveillance. Emotional furniture. The weather patterns of Bruce Wayne’s guilt. These are the short excerpts, quotes, and fragments from the stories that never made it to print. (Hilarious snippets with great commentary on each by Lois, Perry and Clark. 4k)
- Continuity Error (And Other Family Traditions). Summary: When a curse summons the ghosts of Dick’s younger selves, his family comes face to face with the boy, the partner, the leader, and the survivor they each thought they knew. (great weaving together of different glimpses of Dick and interactions with his favorite people, 6k)

Discworld
- Minder of the Keys [ART - pottery]. Summary: Sybil Ramkin's smallest dragon likes to keep watch over her trinkets. (amazingly detailed pottery dragon guarding a trinket dish)

Original Work
- [Art] Excerpts from 'Field Guide to Woodgeists' (Interlibrary Loan). Summary: Forest Spirit via pottery and a field guide that definitely, totally, actually exists. (brilliant ceramic woodgeist and its 'write up' in a field guide.
- [Art] Leaf Friends. Summary: Pottery leaf friends in autumn colors (lovely collection of ceramic leaves)
- [Art] Fig. 8. Megafauna of the Southern Hemisphere. Summary: Excerpt from A.Y. Oaks, Megafauna & Environmental Anthropology (3d ed. 9673). (really fascinatingly done scientific illustration)

MDZS/The Untamed
- Love, Love Love. Summary: It all went wrong. (Yungmeng Brothers vid, right in the feels)
- price of postage. Summary Snippet: Wei Changze sends one letter to his old friend Jiang Fengmian, and inadvertently changes the course of the future - all out of love for his wife... Or, an epistolary fic, comprising of letters sent across the Jianghu over the course of several years, starting with a letter to an old friend. (love when stories are told creatively like this, 6.6k, locked to archive)

Some art recs from

doodle4doodle (works anon until Dec 19th):

Original Work:
- forest friends. Summary: A couple of small critters I encounter on nature walks: a wood frog and a white-lipped snail. (a neat looking frog and snail)
- houseproud. Summary: I'd be proud too, with a nice house like that one! (very impressive box turtle)
- snow bunting. Summary: A small subarctic friend. (gorgeous bird, amazing work on the feathers)
- Owl Moon. Summary: A great horned owl. A waxing gibbous moon. (beautiful owl and moon)
- [Art] Looking for this? (An adorable rat familiar in a wizard hat)
- Fancy Little Men. Summary: Three penguins midway through molting their baby feathers. (so cute!)
- frogs on leaf (four cute, colorful frogs on a leaf)

Stargate Atlantis
- [Art] Not Himself. Summary: John: Last night, Ronon clubbed me in the head. Ronon: By accident. Sort of. John: I was cut. I went to the Infirmary...and by the time I got there it was completely healed. (gorgeous use of color and negative space in this one)

Star Wars (Original Trilogy)
- Leia (an adorable doodle)

Had a hilarious exchange in one of my discords recently where someone commented something to the effect of "Oh man it's 37 out now" and, after checking my weather I responded with "Oh wow, here too" but then after thinking about it for a half sec quickly added "But I think you're complaining about 37c being too hot while I'm thrilled since it had been -19f here a few days ago and 37f is a lovely change!" (It was, but the weather's supposed to drop again and a massive snow storm is supposed to blow through YUCK but still, the internationalism of fandom will always be a wonder to me)

Hope everyone's having a good Hanukkah/holiday season and staying warm/cool!

newpajiba_feed

Posted by Andrew Sanford

https://www.pajiba.com/news/steve-zahn-doesnt-buy-those-rumors-that-he-was-almost-walter-white.php

Is there an actor who makes you smile whenever they show up? Like, you could be watching something that you aren't even enjoying that much, but then they pop up, and suddenly, you're like, "This is pretty good, actually." You...

newpajiba_feed

Posted by Dustin Rowles

https://www.pajiba.com/film_reviews/dont-click-the-trailers-for-animal-farm-jimmy-and-the-sheep-detectives.php

Here's a fun Pajiba exercise: I will give you three very bad trailers. We will see if your morbid curiosity gets the best of you or if you can successfully escape the page without clicking. We'll begin with KJ Apa....

lh_wayfarer_feed

Posted by Jeff Somers

https://lifehacker.com/home/difference-between-a-drill-an-impact-driver-and-a-hammer-drill?utm_medium=RSS

We may earn a commission from links on this page.

As you build your DIY toolkit, you'll quickly discover there's rarely just one version of any given tool. Of course there are Phillips head and slotted screwdrivers, but even hammers—possibly the simplest tool of all—come in a surprising range of varieties designed for different tasks.

When it comes to power tools, the differences can be more complex to suss out. Take drills: When starting out on a job, how do you know if you need a standard power drill, a hammer drill, or whatever an "impact driver" is? While you can get pretty far in your home maintenance career without knowing the difference, but there will come a point when using the right tool for the job will make your life a lot easier. If you’ve managed to get through life without knowing the difference between a drill, a hammer drill, and an impact driver, here’s the rundown you need.

Drills vs. impact drivers vs. hammer drills

Drills, impact drivers, and hammer drills are all used to drill holes and drive fasteners, but they work in different ways and are well-suited to different tasks:

Drills are the easiest to understand, conceptually: Your trusty power drill spins the bit, delivering consistent, constant torque at a variety of speeds. When the motor encounters resistance, it disengages. That means that when your drill hits its limit, there’s not much more it can do to drive a fastener or bore a hole. A standard drill is good at both drilling and boring holes.
Impact drivers also spin the bit and provide consistent torque—until the driver hits resistance. Then it adds a rapid, perpendicular, concussive force that temporarily increases the torque beyond what a standard drill can do. If you’ve ever hit something on the side with a hammer to loosen it, or clamped a wrench in place and hit the handle with a hammer to get a stuck bolt moving, that’s what’s going on here, but it's happening dozens of times a second. The impact driver doesn’t have a clutch and will keep working even when it hits resistance. It’s usually pretty loud, and the vibration involved can tire out your hands and arms. As a result, an impact driver isn’t great for drilling—it’s best used to drive fasteners.
Hammer drills operate like a standard drill, but when they’re in hammer mode (which you have to select), they deliver a downward-driving force (like a hammer hitting a nail) as opposed to the impact driver’s horizontal force. Hammer drills can operate like a standard drill if you disengage the hammer function—and like a standard drill, the motor will disengage when it hits resistance. A hammer driver in hammer mode is best for boring holes in tough materials, but not driving fasteners.

How to choose between a drill, impact driver, and hammer drill

Knowing how each of these tools works makes it a little easier to decide when to use one over the other. In general, here’s when to use a drill, impact driver, or hammer drill on your project:

Drills are precision tools that are ideal for driving small fasteners like standard screws or boring holes into softer materials, like wood or drywall. It’s an ideal general tool for most small-scale DIY projects, and when you need more control over the driving or drilling action.
Impact drivers are best used on denser materials, like very hard woods, or with larger or longer fasteners that require a lot of power to drive home. If you’ve ever tried to drive a long screw with a drill and discovered that it becomes frozen halfway through, that's when an impact driver might be the answer.
Hammer drills are best for drilling or fastening in very hard materials like stone, concrete, or brick—in fact, you should avoid using hammer mode on lighter materials, because it can cause damage. But because you can disengage the hammer function on most hammer drills and use them as standard drills, they can be a good multipurpose choice.

One final difference: Hammer drills and standard drills use a chuck that can accept a variety of bits, but an impact driver will only work with 1/4-inch hex-shaped bits.

Which one you should buy

DeWalt Max XR Hammer DRill

Since a hammer drill can also be used as a standard drill, it’s the best option if you’re not sure which tool you should get or you want to avoid buying an additional tool for a future project—it gives you both standard drill capabilities and the added power of the hammer action. You can hold off on picking up an impact driver until you tackle a project that actually calls for one.

https://lifehacker.com/home/difference-between-a-drill-an-impact-driver-and-a-hammer-drill?utm_medium=RSS

badly_knitted posting in

get_knitted

Hello to all members, passers-by, curious onlookers, and shy lurkers, and welcome to our regular daily check-in post. Just leave a comment below to let us know how your current projects are progressing, or even if they're not.

Checking in is NOT compulsory, check in as often or as seldom as you want, this community isn't about pressure it's about encouragement, motivation, and support. Crafting is meant to be fun, and what's more fun than sharing achievements and seeing the wonderful things everyone else is creating?

There may also occasionally be questions, but again you don't have to answer them, they're just a way of getting to know each other a bit better.

This Week's Question: Does anyone have any plans for making Christmas gifts or cards?

If anyone has any questions of their own about the community, or suggestions for tags, questions to be asked on the check-in posts, or if anyone is interested in playing check-in host for a week here on the community, which would entail putting up the daily check-in posts and responding to comments, go to the Questions & Suggestions post and leave a comment.

I now declare this Check-In OPEN!

Current Mood: tired
Current Location: my desk

shipperslist

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has marked as possibly inappropriate for anyone under the age of 18. )

lh_wayfarer_feed

Posted by Khamosh Pathak

https://lifehacker.com/tech/you-can-finally-remove-pixels-annoying-at-a-glance-widget?utm_medium=RSS

I really like my Pixel 9a, but there’s one glaring issue with my Pixel that stares at me every time I unlock my phone. And it’s the At a Glance widget on top the screen that Google just won’t let me remove. I like a clean lock screen, and eventually, I got so frustrated looking at this totally uncustomizable widget that shows the time and the weather that I gave up and switched to Niagara Launcher. And if you think that this is just my own pickiness, I can confidently say it’s not just me; Reddit is filled with people complaining about this.

But seems like after 10 iterations of Pixels, Google is finally letting people get rid of this widget, clearing space for something, anything better than this. The new option will be part of Android 16’s QPR 3 update, which will be out sometime in March 2026. But if you install the beta, you can try it now.

How to install Android 16 QPR 3 beta 1

Android’s QPR betas are refreshed every quarter, and anyone with a compatible Pixel device can enroll. Visit the Android Beta Program website and enroll your device. Reboot, and you’ll be on the beta channel. It’s really easy to hop on, and it won’t require a factory reset. But getting rid of an installed beta is not so easy. Once you install the latest QPR 3 beta, you’re in for the long haul, at least until Android 16 ships the stable version in March. If something goes wrong, or if you’re facing battery issues, the only way to downgrade would be to wipe your device. So before you start, make sure you have a full backup.

How to disable the At A Glance widget in Android 16

At a Glance is an interesting idea, but it's rarely helpful. It's supposed to show you relevant information like the weather, your next appointment, alerts, air quality, and even suggestions from fitness apps and delivery updates. But instead, what it shows is unpredictable and pretty barebones, and it takes up valuable screen real estate. Worse, you can't customize it to make it better. I'm excited to get rid of it once and for all.

Once you’re running the latest software, it’s quite straightforward. Long press the At a Glance widget and choose the Settings option.

Choose Settings from At a Glance widget options.

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

Here, disable the new Show on home screen option below the Use At a Glance toggle. This will disable the home screen widget instantly, but you’ll still have access to it on the lock screen. Disable the Use At a Glance toggle as well to get rid of it from everywhere.

Disable home screen widget for At a Glance

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

And there you have it. Your home screen is free at last. You can leave the space empty if you wish, or, like me, you can add a big old clock right up there instead.

Pixel Launcher home screen free from At a Glance widget.

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

If you want to bring the At a Glance widget back, tap and hold on an empty part of the home screen and choose Home settings, then tap the Gear icon next to the At a Glance option. From here, you can re-enable the widget using the Show on home screen toggle.

https://lifehacker.com/tech/you-can-finally-remove-pixels-annoying-at-a-glance-widget?utm_medium=RSS

tcampbell1000 posting in

scans_daily

JLI #16-17 introduced the Queen Bee and her alliance with Jack O’Lantern. In that first appearance, she was all poise and grace. Despite her chilling games of mind control, she also exuded a false warmth that snared lovers and allies and disarmed her enemies.

In her second appearance, the warmth is gone. It’s true what they say: holding high political office ages people before their time.

( But why won’t certain office-holders DIE of old age already? )

Profile

Arduinna

My Website

February 2023

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
			1	2	3	4
5	6	7	8	9	10	11
12	13	14	15	16	17	18
19	20	21	22	23	24	25
26	27	28

Style Credit

Style: Neutral Good for Practicality by timeasmymeasure

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags

Page generated Dec. 23rd, 2025 08:32 pm