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Current Mood: accomplished

Entry tags:

life

so many jars

In mid-August I returned from a long road trip (Minnesota to Seattle) and was seized by the urge to declutter my basement.

Every so often I feel the need to weed out my stuff, and in this fortunate moment the desire and my energy levels aligned. I attribute this particular recurring bee in my bonnet to two (obviously linked) factors: 1) my anxious brain needing to catalog exactly what stuff I have and where it all is, and 2) a childhood split between parents who lived in different states (plus my dad moved a lot).

When this mood hits, it helps that I love to organize and I'm not very sentimental about stuff. But I do have a terrible weakness, and it is this: arts & crafts supplies. Not just the obvious tools for creating art, like paintbrushes and origami paper. Oh no — I save all kinds of detritus, anything that could conceivably be used to create an art project: empty toilet paper rolls, bits of ribbon and string, old T-shirts and socks with holes in them, cardboard boxes, seashells, buttons, pretty scraps of paper and packaging, old calendars, glass jars, lids from used toothpaste tubes, the inside workings of dried-out ballpoint pens (those springs are cool), flattened cereal boxes, promotional magnets, old keys, rubber bands, et cetera ad infinitum.

The problem is that there's no good place for this kind of stuff to live in my small house. It gets pushed into nooks and crannies all over, and the psychic weight gets heavier over time. Plus I haven't actually done many craft projects in the past decade or two. Maybe I’ll get back to it someday, but who knows when?

So I did the KonMari thing and pulled all of it out of hiding and piled it into one place. I'd made passes at doing something like this before, but this time something unlocked inside of me and I was able to get rid of SO MUCH STUFF. It was GLORIOUS.

Of course some stuff is starting to creep back into the house again, but that’s mostly because I have such a weakness for glass containers. They are so good! Non-toxic, clear so you can see what’s inside them, different sizes and shapes to hold all kinds of things! Who doesn’t want a good glass jar (or several dozen)?

(no subject)

Rosie is getting married tomorrow, so today was the last class for a fortnight. She was going on annual leave after our class finished, and was such a happy mood. So, while she was still evil!Rosie, she was being so while full of joy which was lovely to see. The class got her a signed card, which she seemed touched about, then she was off, checking out of work to do some last minute wedding prep.

I was also at the doctors this morning ( cut for medical stuff )

We did a craft fair on Saturday gone. Sadly, it wasn't the best attended, and we only made a profit of £35 after paying for the table. But, that was £35 more pounds than we'd had that morning, and stock was sold, which was great. Even better, the organiser offered us a regular spot at the makers market in our town. Funnily enough, that happens in the same hall we use for weight management class, on the third Saturday of each month. So, that's this Saturday coming, where hopefully, more people turn up and more stock will be sold. And if it's quiet, I've told James I'll sneak away and leave him to it and have an hour in the gym *g*

We also went to see the new Downton Abby film on Friday. The clientele amused me as the screen was full of ladies carrying in their glasses of wine, but they were all so excited, it made for a lovely atmosphere, especially as nearly every seat was full. ( cut for spoilers )

9 Accidental Nicknames

Posted by Jen

https://www.cakewrecks.com/home/9-accidental-nicknames-2025

Names are tough - there are just so many weird ones out there - so I tend to cut bakers a lot of slack when it comes to misspelling them.

But I'm pretty sure these birthday kids weren't so understanding:

"...and that's how Bobby got his nickname! Now, you two kids get going, and have a nice prom!"

I'm guessing something about this cake is going to rub little Chase the wrong way:

Ooh. BURN.

Clap your hands if you believe Tink's gonna be ticked.

This remains one of my all-time favorite name wrecks:

"Look, Stetson! It's almost like you're part of the family!"

Of all the times to mix up your "u"s and "a"s...

And this is what we call a Freudian piping slip:

It was a bittersweet parting.

Of course, not every name goof results in an insult. Some people even come out ahead:

Way, WAY ahead.

It's doubly unfortunate that these polka dots look a lot more "Turdi" than "Trudi":

What a way to go.

Let's hope Violet doesn't live up to her new nick name.

This "cookie bouquet" was for a baby shower. I'll let you spot the problem:

"Well, I SHOULD HOPE SO."

Thanks to Brian C., Elizabeth B., Beth, Natalie B., Melissa R., Lacey C., Jennifer S., Kirsten H., Addy L., & Jennie C. for not naming any names.

*****

P.S. If you're bad with names, why not plaster their faces all over a pair of socks?

Custom Face Socks

Though I have to admit it's way cuter with pets.

*****

And from my other blog, Epbot:

https://www.cakewrecks.com/home/9-accidental-nicknames-2025

Entry tags:

clarke award

Clarke Award Finalists 2014

2014: Creationism is banned in British schools, the first same sex marriages in the UK are conducted, and Canadian Mark Carney helps the UK navigate challenging times. What ever happened to Carney, anyway?

Poll #33620

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 75

View Respondents

Which 2014 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?

View Answers

Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie
72 (96.0%)

God's War by Kameron Hurley
25 (33.3%)

Nexus by Ramez Naam
10 (13.3%)

The Adjacent by Christopher Priest
5 (6.7%)

The Disestablishment of Paradise by Phillip Mann
1 (1.3%)

The Machine by James Smythe
3 (4.0%)

Bold for have read, italic for intend to read, underline for never heard of it.

Which 2014 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?
Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie
God's War by Kameron Hurley
Nexus by Ramez Naam
The Adjacent by Christopher Priest
The Disestablishment of Paradise by Phillip Mann
The Machine by James Smythe

Entry tags:

Richard Dragon: Kung Fu Fighter #17

Writer: Dennis O’Neil

Pencils and inks: Ric Estrada

Now I realise why Doom-Seer looked so familiar. He looks like a rubbish Waluigi. Waluigi would never be seen dead wearing that hat though.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: angry

Entry tags:

Ask a Manager: I Didn't Expect My Employee To Take So Much Time Off...

...After a Family Death. ( Read more... )

Current Mood: tired

Entry tags:

what i watched

What I Watched September 8 - 14

New (to me) TV:

Only Murders in the Building 1x01 - 1x03

Re-watched TV:
a few episodes of each of the following:

Leverage
Leverage: Redemption
Community

*no movies again this week*

Entry tags:

One Punch, Man: JUSTICE LEAGUE #5 (JLI 5/?)

Like many great comics moments, the "one punch" almost didn't happen.

( WHAT IF...it had been one GROIN KICK instead? )

Here! I'm Open!

Posted by Daily Otter

https://dailyotter.org/posts/2025/9/15/here-im-open

Via Vancouver Aquarium

https://dailyotter.org/posts/2025/9/15/here-im-open

Entry tags:

type: promo

Guardian drawings for Sunflower Auction

(I can't believe I've never shared this here! I still have one spot left, and I only just realized that tumblr is not the only place where I can promote it. :D)

There are about exactly 12 hours left to bid in

sunflower_auction for Ukraine (countdown), where I'm offering 3 Guardian drawings!

Drama, novel, RPF - any of them, not one drawing for each fandom. :) Weilan derivatives tentatively included (Luo Fei/Luo Fusheng included very enthusiastically). :D In addition to just drawing some regular fanart, I'd be super interested in illustrating your fic (or other people's fics, as long as they gave permission).

You can bid here! ♡

(I'm the only Guardian creator this year.)

Examples: drama | novel | RPF
To only view art without any fics, select "Fanart" under "Additional Tags" in the sidebar. I'm not pre-filtering because the general themes of my fics are also relevant to what I draw, so you may get a better feel this way.
(My icon is an example too. :D)

Entry tags:

just one thing

Just one thing: 15 September 2025

It's challenge time!

Comment with Just One Thing you've accomplished in the last 24 hours or so. It doesn't have to be a hard thing, or even a thing that you think is particularly awesome. Just a thing that you did.

Feel free to share more than one thing if you're feeling particularly accomplished!

Extra credit: find someone in the comments and give them props for what they achieved!

Nothing is too big, too small, too strange or too cryptic. And in case you'd rather do this in private, anonymous comments are screened. I will only unscreen if you ask me to.

Go!

Entry tags:

because it's a library!

I can frequently be found talking to my coworkers about how much I enjoy the Libby and hoopla apps (thanks, local library!!!), and last week one of my coworkers said that they'd tried Libby, but found that a lot of things had long wait times. And I was like 'yes, that's true,' but I wasn't able to gather my thoughts coherently enough in the moment to explain why that doesn't bother me.

But now I've had time to think about it, and I can say with some confidence that it's because I like that part! I put a book on hold and Libby tells me 'there are ten people ahead of you in line' and I'm like 'my people!' I return a book and Libby says 'there are five people waiting' and I'm like 'my gift to you, next person in line, here you go!'

Holds and wait time make Libby feel like a community space to me. And it's often the perfect amount of community for me (aka tiny) -- like, there's a sense that many people are existing in the same space and doing similar things, but I don't actually have to interact with them. When I walk in the woods, I love seeing other people's footprints on the trail, even though I don't particularly want to see the people themselves. That's Libby, for me. I know people are there, and they like books too, and that's great.

Entry tags:

Onde (2022)

This unusual game depends on a unique movement mechanic that's a little hard to describe, but I'll try. You play as a creature that can only survive on the surface of a bubble. There are little helper creatures that you can direct to create new bubbles that you can grab onto when they intersect with yours. If you mess up the timing and get stranded without a bubble, you die and go back to the last checkpoint.

Watch on YouTube

Though it sounds weird when you try to put it into words, it's actually easy to intuit how it works when you're doing it, and it quickly felt natural and fun to do. There's no text in the game in part because you don't need it. The best fit genre is probably puzzle platformer, as you're leveraging the environment and your abilities to navigate past obstacles.

The game is visually stunning, with fractal-inspired kaleidoscopic imagery that is suggestive of coral reefs and cosmic nebulae. It's a matter of interpretation what the setting actually is and what the characters are. Are you a jellyfish? An alien? A bacterium? A fundamental particle? I have no idea!

In general I was okay with the abstract nature of the game, but at times it can make your goals unclear. Since you don't really know what you're doing or why, it's hard to gauge where you are in the story arc or if you're near the end. I did enjoy it, though, even if I couldn't really give you a synopsis what happened in it. It took me 3.5 hours to finish the game without going back for achievements.

Accessibility note: The blurb calls it a "sound-surfing platformer" which implies sound is part of the gameplay, but that's not the case. The music is nice but it's only aesthetic, and the game can be played perfectly well without hearing.

Onde is on Steam and GOG for $13.99 USD. I got it on sale for two bucks and was satisfied with my purchase. Steam also has a free demo that should make it clear whether it's for you.

Entry tags:

The Power of Shazam! (1995) #2

Writer: Jerry Ordway

Pencils: Peter Krause

Inks: Mike Manley

Captain Marvel fights a super-powered arsonist.

( Read more... )

ReVanced Complies With Spotify Takedown But Explores Options to Fight Back

Posted by Ernesto Van der Sar

https://torrentfreak.com/revanced-complies-with-spotify-takedown-but-explores-options-to-fight-back/

https://torrentfreak.com/?p=272051

ReVanced is a massively popular tool that allows users to add a range of new features and customizations for third-party Android apps including YouTube, Reddit, Instagram, and Spotify.

The project gained significant traction as the spiritual successor to YouTube Vanced, a similar project that was discontinued in 2022 after receiving a cease and desist letter from Google.

ReVanced has not been without controversy either. The project has been targeted by DMCA notices in the past, but its flagship patches have remained accessible for years, seemingly without pushback from the large tech companies. That’s no longer the case following pushback from Spotify.

Spotify Targets ReVanced

A few days ago, Spotify sent a takedown notice (pdf) to GitHub asking it to take down ReVanced’s “Unlock Premium” patch that it believes to be infringing.

“Spotify contends that the files identified […] are made via unauthorized copying of Spotify’s Copyrights and/or are unauthorized derivative works of Spotify’s Copyrights, and directly infringe Spotify’s Copyrights,” Spotify wrote.

From the takedown notice
spot takedown

The full takedown notice has not yet been published on GitHub, but the ReVanced team published a copy through its website. In addition to informing users about the enforcement action, the developers say they are seeking legal assistance to better understand their position.

ReVanced Disagrees but Complies

ReVanced disagrees with the claim that it copied Spotify’s code and stresses that all music tracks accessible through the patched app are also available on the free version of Spotify. The premium features ReVanced provides access to mostly affect convenience.

ReVanced’s notice
revanced help

The developers believe the core question in this dispute appears to be whether ReVanced’s attestation bypass, which essentially bypasses Spotify’s tampering protection, is a violation of the DMCA’s anti-circumvention provision.

Interestingly, based on our reading of the notice, that argument is not clearly made in the takedown request, where Spotify cites unauthorized copying and derivative works based on its copyrights.

Speaking with TorrentFreak this weekend, the ReVanced team said that while it believes that the notice might be invalid, it is a clear warning from Spotify that could spell further trouble. Therefore, they have complied with the request for now.

“If we counter notice, they could drag all this to court if they got actual reasons for the patch being illegal. So we comply, do legal counsel, and reinstate if possible,” Ohan from ReVanced said.

Legal Help & GitHub’s Position

ReVanced’s public request for assistance from legal experts hasn’t resulted in any signed defense deals, but the team says that it has managed to get some informal legal counsel.

The goal now is to get a clear picture of their rights and the potential risks involved. Ideally, the developers would like to reinstate the code and fight back, but that’s only an option if they can make a strong case that their patches are legal.

The ReVanced team plans to engage with GitHub on the matter once they have a clearer legal strategy. The company is known to protect developers from DMCA overreach, but its views are on this particular situation are unclear.

GitHub previously launched a $1 million developer defense fund, which was established to help projects fight unwarranted DMCA claims. Whether this case will be eligible for support is unknown, but the ReVanced team notes that this could be useful.

If ReVanced decides to fight back, it will likely issue a counter-notice to get the code restored. That will open the door to a lawsuit from Spotify, so the team will take the time to properly deliberate all options before taking that step.

While that process takes its course, ReVanced’s official Spotify patch will remain unavailable.

From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

https://torrentfreak.com/revanced-complies-with-spotify-takedown-but-explores-options-to-fight-back/

https://torrentfreak.com/?p=272051

Entry tags:

morning writing

(morning writing)

Chestnuts ripening. I roasted a pound plus before discovering i should let them "cure" for two weeks in the bottom of my fridge. OK then. And maybe they will be easier to peel after that? I did use my gadget that scores the chestnuts instead of risking slicing myself with blades.

It looks like fall. The cherry tree at the driveway has a nice copper color to leaves dappling it's green. The tulip poplars are dropping their blackened leaves. Some hint at yellow, but i assume stress from what is developing as a flash drought. It's been a month since we had meaningful rain. I think we have had .15". August 14th we had a half inch. I presume this is why the fig try seems to have dried up. The grass has dried up and i hope my scalping is effective at killing off the stilt grass, although i feel sad about the fescue. We might get some rain soon. Maybe i should go buy NEW grass seed at lunch or right after work. I think the seed i bought in August was from last winter's batch.

I have had insights about some level of "depression" i am experiencing. Last Tuesday in therapy i was explaining why i shouldn't buy all the Louisiana irises i had picked out (not quite a rainbow) over the Labor Day holiday. And - long story short - i was holding my failure to dig out the bed where they are to go against me, even though the first six months of this year did not have room for anything. And i cried and i think it was the first time i mourned something about my health this spring.

Perhaps in August the emotional weight has caught up with me.

I think there might be something about canning and missing the chance to pickle the onion scapes that has made me have some knots about "dealing with" the figs.

I should be journaling more, i think, to give my self a chance to dig at my thinking.

I did go buy the irises. I found some already sold out. I picked out replacements ... and i can get lost in the possibilities. Other research i've lost myself in includes planning for a trip to the Outer Banks, looking at trails and sound side access points, finding what fish will be in season. I hope i can buy small servings on many different fish and try them all. Turns out there are two types of shrimp - comparing them would be lovely.

Entry tags:

knypplinge

The enormous yawning pit in front of the door is here!!

On the plus side, plumbers are here digging up the yard to fix the drain to the sewer.

On the minus side, the plumber asked me if Wax was my mom. 😂😭But on the plus (?) side that was probably more embarrassing for him than for us? (I have gray in my hair! But apparently not visibly, at a glance.) (Wax also looks young for her age, but I guess her hair looks much grayer now.)

The tenant side drains will be cut off from tomorrow, so we have to clean the bathrooms tonight so they can use our bathrooms. And the giant pit that's being dug has eliminated the direct route from their door to ours, so they'll have to go the long way around the house to reach us. And we'll have to climb over the railings and jump down the side of the stairs to our door for a little while.

But obviously it's all worth it! Because ultimately it means working drains instead of open septic tanks with a pump in them.

Current Mood: chipper
Current Location: Bamberg

Entry tags:

To start the week with

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds finished its third season, and you may have deduced from the fact I didn't review the remaining episodes that for me, it did not take a turn for the better. The Ortegas episode was probably the most, in lack of a better term, Trekian, not to mention the long awaited one with a focus on Ortegas beyond "I fly the ship", but it shares with far too many ST: SNW episodes the way it is just incredibly derivative, of both other franchises and earlier ST. And the series finale chose to pick my least favourite DS9 plotline and scenario, sigh. To complete my turn to an old grouch, the feeling of this season as Star Trek: The Rom Com didn't help, either. Anyway. I'll always have Discovery and Prodigy in terms of new ST that manages to unite both affection for the past AND originality and the courage to try out new paths and characters.
*****

Given the daily horror show that is the news, it's all the more important to find joy in fannish things, so I was delighted to discover this new Sense 8 vid. Now there was a show celebrating joy and diversity:

Sense 8

Voice in my Throat

***

And on another joyful note: Yuletide nominations have started!