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lifehacker_feed) wrote2025-09-22 03:30 pmMy Favorite Amazon Deal of the Day: This 65-Inch TCL QLED TV
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It's impressive how far TCL has been pushing the limits of QLED technology. The QM7K is its latest mid-tier QD-Mini LED smart TV and it offers great value for your money. Right now, the 65-inch QM7K is marked down 41%, bringing its price down to $877.99 (originally $1,499.99), the second lowest price it has ever been, according to price-tracking tools. The 85-inch QM6K, which is the more affordable version, is 37% off right now.
The QM7K is better in every way than the QM6K except for color accuracy. It has better contrast, brightness, gaming specs, black levels, processing, and other specs, but the QM6K is still a great option for those on a tighter budget.
I personally tested the QM7, which is a slightly older model of this TV, as well as the more budget QM6K, and I can tell you TCL is not skimping out on these TVs. They feel and look truly premium. This QM7K is no different. Its highlights are a bright panel, making it great for sunlit rooms. It has deep blacks and almost no light bloom, giving it that premium picture quality. Gamers will appreciate the 144 Hz native refresh rate and 288 Hz support panel with VRR and AMD FreeSync Premium Pro, making it a smooth experience. Since it's a Google TV, it has hands-free Google Assistant and Google Cast, which makes streaming almost anything from your phone or computer a breeze. It can also do the same for iPhones with AirPlay.
If you're a color stickler, you might notice that the colors run a little warmer out of the box, according to PCMag's "excellent" review, but that's something you can edit easily in the picture settings. If you want a massive, bright, colorful smart TV with that "wow" factor, get the 65-inch QM7K, but if brightness is not as important to you, consider the 85-inch QM6K. Either option is a great TV for a killer price.
bbcnewsworld_feed) wrote2025-09-22 03:24 pmGuard and 13 inmates killed in Ecuador prison fight
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drabblewriter) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
100words2025-09-22 10:34 am[Amnesty][Challenge #398: Serve] The Iliad: Turned Around
Fandom: The Iliad
Characters/Ship: Hector & Andromache
Rating: G
Note: also for “plead my belly” on my
allbingo Piracy Bingo card( Read more... )
profiterole_reads) wrote2025-09-22 05:35 pmRebel Blade by Davinia Evans
The plot now focuses on setting up a democracy and I'm always here for this.
There's m/m (to be honest, I've been excitedly waiting for Siyon and Izmirlian to reunite since Book 1, so it's a disappointment that it only happens in the last two pages) and f/f.
Soon! October Review-a-Thon!!
We're getting very close! XD
Sign-ups are still open; they are, in fact, open until Oct 30 :D We have 11 unclaimed days (though of course, you can claim already claimed days, too, if that's what works best for you) and it'd be super cool to fill up some more!
You can review anything from cookbooks to short stories to novels or comics AND MORE: if you think it counts, it counts. There's zero (0) consequences for missing a claimed day <3 Let's have fun together! XD
tozka) wrote2025-08-17 12:14 pm📖 reading log: the forest unseen by david george haskell
Book Info
Genre: Nonfiction, Natural History, Ecology
LibraryThing: https://www.librarything.com/work/11720259/t/The-Forest-Unseen-A-Years-Watch-in-Nature
Acquired from: Little Free Library, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA [see log]
Started reading: August 17, 2025
Finished reading: September 2 (DNF)
May come back to this later (in ebook version) but it’s not holding my attention and I don’t want to carry it around waiting for it.
Reading Updates
Title Page: This copy is signed by the author!
Page xii:
Indeed, the truth of the forest may be more clearly and vividly revealed by the contemplation of a small area than it could be by donning ten-league boots, covering a continent but uncovering little.
Page 8: Somebody did a lot of underlining in pencil but stopped after the second chapter. Guessing they DNF’d this, but I’m enjoying it so far. It reminds me of Seasons of the Wild but more satisfyingly science-y.
( Read the rest of this entry » )Crossposted from Pixietails Club Blog.
bbcnewsworld_feed) wrote2025-09-22 02:50 pmBritish couple held by Taliban for months feared they would be executed
bbcnewsworld_feed) wrote2025-09-22 02:43 pmFrance transfixed by murder trial without a body
mific) wrote in ds_noticeboard2025-09-23 02:05 amdinosaur_comics_feed) wrote2025-09-22 12:00 amthis comic brought to you by Dinosaur Comics brand dinosaur comics
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September 22nd, 2025: Now I wish that my computer really DID have a Valu-Maxx Junior processor sticker. I for one LOVE to lower expectations!! – Ryan | ||
thenewbuzwuzz) wrote in su_herald2025-09-22 05:01 pmThe Sunnydale Herald Newsletter, Sunday, September 21st
LILAH: Can kiss my ass too. You wanna play hero? Go find another sandbox.
The Sunnydale Herald is looking for a new editor. Contributing to the Herald is a great way to get your Buffy on! Find out more.
[Drabbles & Short Fiction]
- Laid Bare by veronyxk84 (Buffy/Spike, PG-13)
- Unaffected by veronyxk84 (Buffy/Spike, PG-13)
- Visions of Spike by frogdetector (Angel/Spike, Explicit)
- Angels, Demons, and Teenagers by SawyerSolros (Good Omens crossover, Scoobies, T)
- Under the Same Sky by Skyson (Buffy/Giles, T)
- Dissonance by SirenOfTitan (Drusilla/Harmony, G)
- 5 times Giles and Ethan didn't kiss +1 time they did by BloodyEll42 (Giles/Ethan, hinted at Giles/Jenny, not rated)
- The safest place by Liana_Medea (Buffy/Angel, T)
- Imagine listening to music with Faith by faithlehaneblog (Faith/reader, not rated, no warnings)
- king me by jewelram (Buffy/Spike, PG-13)
- Brick by Brick by Maxine Eden (Buffy/Spike, PG-13)
- Ghosts on Parade by Harlow Turner (Buffy/Spike, PG-13)
[Chaptered Fiction]
- there's a stranger in my room - Chapter 1–4 by prueturner (Buffy/Spike, T)
- The Anchor and the Shadow - Chapter 1 by Ballone2 (Vampire Diaries and Originals crossover, Buffy/Riley, Willow/Tara, Xander/Anya, G)
- Tara Firma - Chapter 1 by Tuxedo_Mark (Tara, OCs, T)
- Blood on Our Name - Chapter 1–2 by KazaDoom (Game of Thrones crossover, Buffy, not rated)
- Ship of The Line – Effect 31 by KnifeHand (Star Trek and Mass Effect crossover, Scoobies, R)
- Something Borrowed, Ch. 17 by Geliot99 (Buffy/Spike, R)
- Scenes From a Session, Ch. 18 by In Mortal (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)
- Soul Searching, Ch. 4–5 by CheekyKitten (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)
[Images, Audio & Video]
- 21 BtVS/AtS icons by nondenomicon a.k.a. nondenomifan (Spike, Willow/Tara, Angelus, Buffy, Riley, other characters, rated NSFW by artist, no sex or nudity)
- Lilah Morgan mood board by adanseying (might be NSFW, includes small photo featuring lingerie)
- Gifset: Buffy Summers + Outfits (25/∞) by clarkgriffon (worksafe)
- A fanvid based on a Lord Huron song by ourmagicclem (Buffy/Spike)
- Drawing: btvs but there's more even women [genderbend] by saevity (Xander, Giles, Angel, Spike, worksafe)
- Artwork based on Unbridled_Brunette's story Forward to Time Past by sanzosin (Buffy/William Pratt, worksafe)
- Drawing: spike and dawn go to mcdonalds the summer buffy died by spikedru (worksafe)
- Drawing: Spike Spike Spike by 0-pepites-0 (worksafe)
- A Buffy/Spike digital drawing by 0utforawalk (probably worksafe, mild nudity)
- Gifset: buffy the vampire slayer season 6 + grave by buffygifs (worksafe, some blood)
- A Buffy/Faith drawing in progress by chimerawoods (probably worksafe, canon-typical homoerotic tension)
- Gifset: Buffy & Giles — Season Three by clarkgriffon (worksafe)
- moodboard: ace they/xe/ey agender willow rosenberg by courtillyy (worksafe)
- Sketch: Season 6 by crunchsthecrunch (Buffy, worksafe)
- Captioned screenshots: "bitch"/"blocked" by incognitoduck11 (Buffy/Faith, worksafe, swearing)
- Gifset: favorite anya jenkins looks - season 5 by lovebvffys (worksafe)
- Drawing: "Did uh, you and he used to like, go out or...?" by o-cm-draw-o (Buffy/Spike, possibly NSFW, sexually suggestive)
- Vampire Willow cosplay by 0k-boom3r (worksafe)
[Reviews & Recaps]
- buffy 4x13 thoughts thread by reagantheteenagewitch
- btvs rewatch fall 2025 journal entry: once more with feeling by socratesgirl
- btvs rewatch fall 2025 journal entry: tabula rasa by socratesgirl
- btvs rewatch fall 2025 journal entry: smashed by socratesgirl
- btvs rewatch fall 2025 journal entry: wrecked by socratesgirl
- i'll never talk ill about Spin The Bottle... by xaeyrnofnbe
[Fandom Discussions]
- from my scholarly ace cordy perspective... by all-seeing-ifer
- I call myself a “Spangel girlie” and not a “Spangel shipper” by angelusfangs
- The Shanshu prophecy comes up again by angelusfangs
- the attitude u gotta have to be dating one of the scoobs by camellcat
- Do you think that if 15 year old Buffy was given a vision of her life as the Slayer... by roseraintears
- Appearently people in a coma can have vivid nightmares so…… imagine Faith... by roseraintears
- Buffy patrolling while sick in Killed By Death by 5bi5
- I want to talk about Kendra for a moment by emoclectic
- Like in one episode Faith got Buffy Anne Summers to... by fictiongods
- why did buffy say that the sub[stitute teacher] had to be a bug... by ineffable-gallimaufry
- Angel and Jesse comparisons by instant-star-59
- Willow's parents by coraniaid, miaththered
- the missed opportunity of not having willow and faith get together by mskittyfantasticox
- Buffy proposes by having the waiter bring them an onion flower... by aphony-cree, oh-so-eepy
- that one deleted scene from 6x9 (Spike in Smashed) by socratesgirl
- in wrecked you can see buffys claw marks on spikes heart, the same place where... by socratesgirl
- Why is Connor so universally hated? by witchlys
- How was she that oblivious? ("Buffy, Spike's completely in love with you") by debujandobirds
- I love how kind most of the fandom is to Faith by CauseProfessional512
- Buffy vs Blade is up next on DEATH BATTLE! Thoughts and bets? by Fit_Assignment_8800
- Willow without Amy in season 6 by redskinsguy
- If when vampires are staked their clothes poof does that also mean... by muffinsyndrome
- Just met Kendra. Why does she seem to get way much more support in her role as Slayer than Buffy? by Beneficial-Depth-546
- An old photo I took of James appeared in a random meme! by CatDogAU
- If Buffy was made in the 60’s who’s playing at the Bronze and what track? Side note: what’s Cathy playing on repeat! by StruggleLumpy6969
Submit a link to be included in the newsletter!
cimorene) wrote2025-09-22 04:01 pmADHD roadblocks
Other stuff I need to do and have been unable to start includes:( Read more... )
I think a lot of what's blocking me from several of these things in the last month, anyway, is that they feel like projects that require planning and stamina, but so much of my bandwidth has been going to anxiety about the driving test (two days from now) that there wasn't space. This is extremely normal for me and obviously a fallacy, but I guess I've been feeling like the time until the test was mostly short enough that I should just try to minimize anxiety and worry about all the other stuff after. And I didn't want to take my adhd meds in between.
lydamorehouse) wrote2025-09-22 09:42 amLast Day of Con, First Day of Adventure
Image: classic image of the Washington monument at night.
Sunday morning started out much better than the day before as Naomi and I had been invited to breakfast with Joe and Gay Haldeman. We ended up having a rather leisurely brunch talking about life, the universe, and everything. Everything that everyone says about how nice and welcoming Gay and Joe are is one hundred percent true.
I, thankfully, had no panels at all on Sunday. I’d love to say that meant no one mispronunced my name, but alas. A couple of the people on concom just never got it right, despite the fact that I spent a lot of time making sure I put names to faces and knew at least one fact about them, ie, Kathy the former postal lawyer; Zen Lizard (one of the many Sams) who, shockingly, is a fan of lizards; Kim who loves animals and volunteered at the zoo; Roger, the IT guy; and Kimbery, who is easy since he’s a man named Kimberly, but also he was Naomi’s liason and so we heard his entire lifestory on the 30 minute drive from the airport (highlight reel includes, but it not limited to, his extensive time in the foreign service, being a Mormon, and a member of MENSA.)
I think all of them called me Lid-ah.
Ah well.
Knowing that we’d be starting our adventures after the con ended, I wandered over to the metro station--which is directly across from the hotel--and purchased a three day pass for myself and Naomi. That would cover Sunday night, all day Monday, and our trip to the airport on Tuesday.
I wandered back to the con hotel in time to see Scott Edelman in his fish head rushing off to do a reading. I probably should have followed him, since I did want to hear him read, but I figured (wrongly) that the program guide would direct me to where I needed to go when I was feeling ready. But, no! Not only was Scott’s reading not in the program, I could not figure out what room he was in until I overheard someone saying that their reading was around the corner and down the hall near the Green Room. I managed to walk right in during Scott’s Q&A. I’d missed the reading! Curses!
I stayed in the room to listen to the next person (who, unlike Scott, was listed in the program,) Morgan Hazelwood. Morgan was the delightful moderator of our Romance in SF panel and it was fun to hear her read her work.
From there, I sat in the back to listen to the last half hour of “Religion in SF” which Naomi was on with our mutual friend Walter Hunt.
The funny thing about Capclave is that while it is much larger than Diversicon, on occasion, it felt much smaller. Naomi and I discussed this later and we decided that possibly this sense came from the fact that in addition to a three track (four or five if you count the two rooms devoted to author’s readings) there was a gaming room and a dealer’s room. This ended up spreading out the hundred plus members quite a bit. I counted. There were fifteen people listening to a six person panel. So, the energy of the convention was always sort of low.
I have now, of course, been struck with fear that John and I have over-programmed Gaylaxicon. I guess we’ll see how it plays out!
After the religion panel, Naomi had another panel in the same room, which was “Genre Fiction versus Lit Fic.” Despite having even fewer people in the audience, the panel was lively. I think because we all get kind of worked up about mainstream literature and who gets to cross over to it and who doesn’t. (Or we get worked up because we never want to and we have FEELINGS about lit fic.) It was a good mix of panelists, too--some from the “I don’t even like the term speculative fic because it’s too fancy” camp to the PhD and MFA student. It was a great way to end the con, as far as I was concerned.
Afterwards, Naomi did some last minute hanging out with folks and I headed upstairs to prep for adventure, by which I mean snoozling.
At some point around 3 pm, we headed to DC.
I have been desperately trying to replenish my stationary stock and so we got a hot tip from a native that we should check out Jenni Bick in Dupont Circle. The red line, which our hotel is on, goes direct to Dupont Circle and add to that Naomi had a restaurant she wanted to revisit from a previous trip to DC, City Lights of China, that was nearby. So off we went.
I am a huge fan of public transportation. I find the DC metro system to be fantastic in this regard. Plus, their day passes include buses. Rockford/our hotel is, during rush hour, about a half hour from DC. I don’t know why, but that time goes faster on trains.
Jenni Bick was, alas, a bust. Americans do not understand stationary any more. (We did? In the 1970s and even into the 80s you could find huge pads of stationary at all sorts of stores.) Nowadays, we seem to that think ten sheets and ten envelopes for $30 is a great deal. Y’all, ten sheets is two letters--or, on a good day, ONE. I want a packet of 30 super-thin sheets with weird cartoon people on it for $10 to $20, what is wrong with you all???
Sigh.
It was a delightfully pretty shop and I am proud of myself for not buying all the postcards they had in the window.
From there, we stopped at a great comic book shop called Fantom Comics. This was possibly the first comicbook shop I have ever been to where all the graphic novels were organized by subject, like “action/adventure,” “horror,” “romance,” etc., and MANGA WAS MIXED IN. There was no separate manga section! It was kind of nice, actually? It felt weirdly less stigmatizing. I didn’t buy anything, but I took a lot of pictures of titles I want to look up.
Their unisex bathroom had the best art!
Image: bathroom art at Fantom
We ended up taking a bus to where Naomi’s restaurant was--only to discover it was now only a takeout window. Alas! Luckily, it was on a strip of a ton of restaurants and we were able to find a lovely ramen place just up the street.
Then, because we wanted to see some of the monuments lit up at night, we hopped another bus for a quick jaunt and then wandered towards the Lincoln memorial. What was striking was, in fact, the number of National Guard everwhere. I knew they’d be there thanks to the news, etc., but yet somehow I forgot? Someone at the con said that the Guard tend to hang out in large clots at the subway stations and wander the Smithsonian Mall area, and that did, in fact, seem to be true. Naomi was curious and so asked some of the Guard that we ran into where they were originally from and they were all from West Virginia. (Which kind of explained HOW WHITE they all were. Like, the reason we started asking was because they were noticeably missing PoCs.)
Anyway, the walk around the monuments was a bit of a hike.
There was a sign I pointed out to Naomi which read “The Mall is big! Think about renting a bike!” Because, yes. I forgot how much walking a person ends up doing in DC. My feet were a bit sore at the end of the day. Hopefully, I’ll be up for all we have planned for tomorrow which, at the moment, includes checking out the fish market, the Black History museum (Smithsonian) and/or maybe the Postal Museum. I intentionally did not plan a lot for us because frankly, even though both Naomi and I have been to DC and the Smithsonian Mall before… there’s just no way to ever see it all I suspect, unless you live here.
Okay! Off for more adventure!
drglam) wrote2025-09-22 09:30 amGuarded good news
We're still waiting to find out whether the grant is reinstated. Our Cambridge UK site (also safe for a year) will have to do some scrambling, as current government policies have cut off international funding for grants.
We've lost a lot of people at Harvard; a retired curator who was doing a few hours a week, our New Mexico curator, and one of our sysadmins were let go at the end of August (plus we'd laid off the senior curator and senior developer just before the current nightmare). Our project manager was let go by Harvard a couple of weeks ago. The other remaining curator and one of our two developers are leaving in mid-October, as they are feeling too burned out and traumatized to keep going, so they've accepted layoff. We're left with one curator (me), one developer, and one (.6 FTE) sysadmin.
Cambridge and Indiana aren't (yet) losing people. There's three full-time developers at IU, and a lot of curators (no devs) at Cambridge, half of whom were not funded under the main FlyBase grant.
bbcnewsworld_feed) wrote2025-09-22 10:40 pmSarah Ferguson dropped from multiple charities over Epstein email
bbcnewsworld_feed) wrote2025-09-22 04:32 pmEgypt's president pardons British-Egyptian activist Alaa Abdel Fattah
bbcnewsworld_feed) wrote2025-09-22 06:35 amSouth Korea would accept a Trump-Kim deal to freeze nuclear programme, president tells BBC
iamrman) wrote in scans_daily2025-09-22 02:30 pmRom: Spaceknight #30
Writer: Bill Mantlo
Pencils: Sal Buscema
Inks: Joe Sinnott
Clairton is (seemingly) free of the Dire Wraiths, so Rom decides a break is in order.
( Read more... )
lifehacker_feed) wrote2025-09-22 01:00 pmThe Out-of-Touch Adults' Guide to Kid Culture: Who Is D4vd?
This week's tour of the world of young people careens around like an out-of-control bullet train. Everyone's talking about a pop star with a body in his trunk, a dental trend powered by TikTok, astrology-based beauty tutorials, and a football stat hound's ultimate rabbit hole. It’s a lot to take in.
Who is D4vd and why was there a body in his trunk?
Everyone under a certain age is talking about the singer D4vd, and it's not because he has a new album out. On September 8, Los Angeles police discovered a body in the trunk of an abandoned Tesla registered to David Anthony Burke, the birth name of the 20-year-old musician. The body was later identified as the remains of Celeste Rivas, who was reported missing from her home in Riverside on April 5, 2024, when she was just 13 years old.
The online speculation is that D4vd was in a relationship with Rivas, but that has yet to be confirmed. The singer has reportedly been cooperating with authorities, no cause of death has been determined, and no charges have yet been filed.
If you're wondering who D4vd is, you're not alone: The singer's rise to fame is a quintessentially Generation Z story. His career began with online fame gained through posting Fortnite videos online, but YouTube removed his content for using copyrighted music. At the suggestion of his mom, D4vd began recording original songs using free iPhone tools, which he posted to SoundCloud. The end result was a recording contract, an album, and a couple of songs with over 1.5 billion plays on Spotify.
D4vd's biggest hit, "Romantic Homicide" mixes the pop music of the 1970s with 1990s-style lo-fi production, and it's actually good. But D4vd's lyrics are chilling given later developments. "I killed you and I didn't even regret it," he sings on the track, "I can't believe I said it, but it's true."
But just because you write a song about killing your lover doesn't mean you're guilty of it. In any case, the story is dark, tragic, and developing, and D4vd is innocent until proven guilty.
Hot Generation Z trend: veneers
Yeah, it's a mood shift to go from murder to teeth, but such is the nature of life in 2025. Anyway, the newest dental trend among younger people is veneers. Whether it's speculation that Gen Z super-celebrity Mr.Beast is rocking a set of artificial choppers, the 250,000 videos posted to TikTok's #veneers tag, or the below deep-dive on the topic from venerable YouTuber Papa Meat, false fronts are very of-the-moment.
Maybe the fascination comes from the straight, white teeth of influencers. Maybe it's hyper-awareness of teeth caused by taking too many selfies. Or maybe it's because veneers are sort of funny. Choose your own explanation.
Hot Generation Z trend: astrological makeup
I'm fascinated with makeup trends and pop occultism, so I'm glad makeup influencers are bringing my two interests together on TikTok. The new hotness among makeup influencers is the “rising sign" beauty trend, where the makeup you wear is determined by your astrological sign.
In astrology, your "rising sign" supposedly represents how other people see you. So if your rising sign is Scorpio, you might go with a look that's "intense, dark, and dramatic." If Gemini is rising, you want to go "playful and vibrant."
I don't understand how the position of the stars at the time you were born could possibly inform the makeup choices you make next Thursday, but if combining mysticism with style choices makes it a little easier for people to slog through another day, I'm in favor.
First AI-animated feature film in production
We all knew it was going to happen eventually, and now it has: OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, announced today that it's producing the first feature film animated solely through artificial intelligence. Critterz, a feature-length version of the AI-made short film above, has a $30 million budget, and production will be finished in nine months, an impossibly short time-frame for a traditionally animated or CGI film. Critterz's animation may be AI, but its script and voice acting are being done the old-fashioned way—by professional Hollywood actors and writers who will gladly let OpenAI pay them a lot of money for making funny voices.
According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, Open AI hopes to premiere Critterz at the Cannes Film Festival, presumably in 2027. Whether anyone wants to see an AI-animated movie remains to be seen. It sounds like a terrible idea to me, but I'm not the target demographic. Anyway, you can check out the first teaser/promo video here.
Viral video of the week: Scorigami returns
Leave it to Gen Z to come up with a new way to enjoy football. "Scorigami" is a term coined by writer/YouTuber John Bois that describes an NFL final score that has never happened before in the league's history. YouTube channel Secret Base is in the middle of a four-part examination of the phenomenon that starts with the first ever NFL football game played in 1922 and continues to the present, seen through the lens of "this is the only time any two pro teams have ended a game with this score."
The series is equal parts sports, history, comedy, and statistics, with fascinating digressions and side trips to explore things like how the NFL owes its entire existence to a random guy's truck breaking down in Texas at the turn of the century and how it's possible—extremely unlikely, but still possible—to score a single point in a football game. In other words, it's the kind of documentary that would be rejected by ESPN for being too math-y and rejected by PBS for being too sporty, but is able to find a home and hundreds of thousands of viewers because YouTube exists.