osewalrus | Reading

And every one of those recs is better than the books. Well, I've shared my opinion on the books, the problems and characterization are insufficiently balanced for dual viewpoints.

But anyway, that's not what I'm thinking about. What I'm thinking about is Fabian and his generically shitty parents who clearly don't care about him very much. ( Read more... )

conuly

For

minoanmiss

gingicat

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cvirtue

YLE has some useful stocktaking here:

Covid-19 six years later Katelyn Jetelina

But I had to comment: Re: trust in government and trust in health authorities at an all-time low:

My hypothesis that trust in EVERYTHING is at an all-time low.

Trust in the ability of puppies and kittens to cheer us up? Likely quite low. Trust that my children will have a reliable society in which to grow up? Low. Trust the overwhelming belief that AI will be good for the economy? Low.

So I don't think the data you have is wrong, it's just too narrow. What I'd like to know is: how does the data for which you have graphs compare to other areas where trust has eroded? Has trust in health authorities kept pace with societal trust? Maybe it's doing better than societal trust.

Possibly that broader data exist out there somewhere.

mdlbear

Today I am thankful for...

Colleen, whose birthday was Monday. We had about fifty years together, and most of that time was good. Even the bad times taught me a lot.
My kids, and a chance to sit down with them and eat ramen for lunch. NO thanks to the sushi place that was closed for the afternoon because of a little snow. In Seattle?! Come on!
J, M, et. al., who gave me a place to stay last week. Also, being able to sleep in unfamiliar places. Also, CPAP.
Whales.
Translation software built into browsers and phones. And flashlights built into phones. One less thing to carry.

Current Mood: grateful
Current Location: Schildhaven in Den Haag

magid

I was surprised to find a boxed share at the distribution site; it just doesn’t feel that cold. I pulled out the kitchen scale to get weights.

a big bag aka 2.5 lb of spinach
6 lb carrots
2 lb beets
3 lb enormous red radishes (some bigger than the beets), Scarlet Queen variety
3.5 lb little round potatoes

First thoughts: the farm email had said there would also be collard greens from one of their neighboring farms; I’m disappointed that they didn’t come (and nothing else was substituted, either). Other than the spinach, these will all last well, so I can use them now and through Pesach. And other than the R.O.U.Ses (Radishes Of Unusual Size), these are all pretty easily used-in-almost-anything veggies for me, too.

The summer share starts sometime in June (tbd based on spring conditions); it’s always a bit dd to have no pickups on my calendar.

conuly

Them: Go look at any official communication from a company. Have you ever received a ConEd bill that says, “Ya should of paid ya bill on time, now we gonna haveta cut off ya powa”? Of course not. Why? Because that is not standard English, and it would reflect poorly on the company.

Me: I take it you've never called ConEd on the phone in NYC? Because, whew, that'd disabuse you of this fiction pretty quick. Them and National Grid, wow. And I'm not even talking about their representatives, I'm talking about their recordings! Never heard such a thick NYC accent in my life, and I grew up here!

conuly

"My name is Ozymandias, King of Things!
Look upon my Works, ye Mighty, and Repair!"
Everything inside remains. Round the tools
Of that colossal Bench, all arranged
The shiny level and sander are neatly put away.

This is the best comment in that thread, nothing will top it.

"The best have strong convictions, while the worst / Are full of resignation and are sad.
[...]
And if a lion slouches toward Bethlehem, / That's 'cause it's native to the Levant."

Gosh, I wish.

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conuly

And isn’t everything risk?

The beloved lives
Then dies,
Then (if we’re lucky)
Rises again
Into a poem or song

Or into the world
In some other form
Impossible to predict.

Simplest story, oldest tale:

Sparrows sing it
From every hedge;

And swallows, also,
From their nests on the ledge.

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Link

conuly

Watch on YouTube

conuly

that the Roman calendar was batshit.

Today is the Ides, okay, and yesterday was pridie Ides, so far so good, and the day before that was three days before the Ides, because the Romans a. counted backwards and b. did this weird inclusive counting, so Friday, Saturday, Ides = three days.

(Which is also how Good Friday is three days before the Resurrection, when it blatantly isn't.)

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cellio

I've known minoanmiss online for decades, and got to meet her in person twice. She turned fifty in January, and two weeks ago she had a fatal seizure. Complicated family stuff meant delaying saying anything in public.

MM had an infectious smile and took joy in sharing art, music, and food. She always had stickers to give to children she encountered when out and about, she cooked meals for her local food bank, and she spread drawings and poetry online and in tangible form. I have many postcards, holiday cards, and magnets with her work, and I've enjoyed many of her fruitcakes and confections. In a last act of giving, her organs gave life to three other people.

Due to an abusive past she struggled to see her own value sometimes. But she also saw the many friends who gathered around her and the unknown people she helped in the world, and I hope that that helped her get through rough times. There was a non-religious service on Friday (which I attended on Zoom) and an in-person memorial gathering today in Boston, and it stands out how many people from different circles were together in those places. There's going to be a virtual memorial on April 12; details will be shared later on the announcement list (signup link).

She was doing what she loved -- cooking -- when it happened, way too early. I miss her.

conuly

Not to worry, I'll return it. We have plenty enough as it is.

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gingicat

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$mdlbear: blue fractal bear with text "since 2002" (Default)$

mdlbear

Note: I haven't had more than a short nap in over 36 hours. So this is going to be a really short and possibly incoherent post.

The main thing this week was my (short) trip to the US -- first solo transatlantic flight. Far easier than I'd been afraid it would be. The bank errands didn;t get run, but I got to the Wednesday grief group gathering in Third Place Commans, got my driver's license renewed (and had a nice long chat with MG from the Tuesday group, while she drove me down to the DOL in Tukwilla), and had lunch with my kids on my (79th) birthday. The sushi place was closed, but we went next door and had ramen and pork buns.

I took Lilac, and got everything done that needed to be done, but it was a struggle. Some scattered commentary below. There are links below but you'll have to dig them out yourself -- I'm going to bed. With my cats.

( Notes & links, as usual )

Current Mood: don't know. mostly underslept
Current Location: Schildhaven in Den Haag
Current Music: earworms from watching Fantasia on the plane

conuly

Seriously, asleep more than I've been awake. And I never did manage to work out the logistics to get to the memorial, which halfway sucks but halfway is "Welp, social anxiety" so....

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mark posting in

dw_maintenance

Happy Saturday!

I'm going to be doing a little maintenance today. It will likely cause a tiny interruption of service (specifically for www.dreamwidth.org) on the order of 2-3 minutes while some settings propagate. If you're on a journal page, that should still work throughout!

If it doesn't work, the rollback plan is pretty quick, I'm just toggling a setting on how traffic gets to the site. I'll update this post if something goes wrong, but don't anticipate any interruption to be longer than 10 minutes even in a rollback situation.

$mdlbear: blue fractal bear with text "since 2002" (Default)$

mdlbear

ags: thanks, birthday, travel Picture: turkey Music: Mongol birthday song, of course Mood: grateful Location: the

Today is my 79th birthday. I am thankful for...

Making it this far, alive and I suppose about as well as can be expected, for someone who doesn't really take good care of themself.
An uneventful flight to the US, without any of the problems at the border that I was worried about. NO thanks for apparently-current-limited back-of-seat power sockets.
Having remembered to bring extra-absorbent paper underwear. NO thanks for forgetting toenail clippers and a multitool, among other things.
Uber, Lyft, and Crown Limo.
A ride to my DOL (Department of Licensing) appointment, with good conversation.

NO thanks for mid-March snow -- isn't it almost spring now?

Current Mood: grateful
Current Location: just off Lake City
Current Music: the Mongol birthday song, of course

conuly

So, yesterday I go to catch the bus to get to work. As I'm waiting, the bus disappears off the app and then actually disappears, it never shows. So I say "Okay, I'll catch the other bus route. Sure, I've never taken this before, but it's a short walk and it's only a little drizzly out, how bad can it be?"

Welp, I stepped off the bus, the heavens opened up, I got totally drenched. I also got turned around, twice. What ought to have been an 8 minute walk was closer to 20, and the whole way I said "It's okay, I'll get there, go to the laundry room, strip naked, and spend half an hour drying my clothes. Nobody can fault me for this!"

I show up, and the first thing that L says to me when she answers the door is "The dryer is gone".

I'm not proud, but I cursed her out. And then apologized. And then cursed some more.

I found the ironing board but no iron, so I ended up spending half an hour using a hair dryer on my socks just to get them slightly less drenched.