Terminology [curr ev]
Jan. 28th, 2026 03:33 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sidereaOverheard on Reddit, u/Itsyademonboi:
Sorry, Nazis are from Germany under Adolf Hitler, what we have here is Sparkling Fascists.
FTH Charity Auction Signups Open
Jan. 26th, 2026 06:46 pmyuuago![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
fandomtrumpshate is running again this year, and signups are open! Details hereSignups end on February 08th.
I'm really looking forward to seeing what the offers are this year. This is the 10th year it's run, and I have a feeling it'll be a big year.
In case there are any who don't know what it is: FTH is a multifandom charity auction in which people sign up to offer fanwork (art, fic, beta reading, etc). Others bid on them. The money raised is donated directly to charity.
[Canadian Politics] House of Commons petition E-7005
Jan. 25th, 2026 10:15 pmyuuagoPetition E-7005 to the House of Commons in Parliament
I recently posted about E07027 and Section 90. E-7005 is a different but related petition: It urges the federal government to rule that access to trans healthcare is a human right. If you already signed E-7027, I recommend signing this one as well, as they tackle the problem from different angles.
It's open until March 20 for residents of Canada (including people who are not citizens or permanent residents, such as international students). Please note that if you sign you have to confirm it via the link that gets emailed to you.
What E-7005 proposes mirrors a situation in the early 2000s. Basically, in year 2000 Alberta passed legislation ruling that marriage is between a man and woman, and invoked the Notwithstanding Clause to prevent it to be challenged. Then in 2005, the federal government passed Bill C-38, which legalized same-sex marriage nationally, overwriting Alberta's year 2000 legislation. I remember working with Acadia Pride on their letter-writing campain in support of C-38, and we were so happy (and kind of surprised) the next year when it passed.
One thing I like about petition E-7005's proposal is that it would affect Canada nationally: all provinces and territories. Making trans healthcare a legal right would help all trans people in Canada, not just those affected by Alberta's legislation. E-7027 and section 90, on the other hand, would be directed specifically at Alberta (and Saskatchewan) and is I think more likely to result in UCP blowback against trans people specifically for that reason. (As I said to an acquaintance, "The UCP would lose their minds if the federal government acted against them in particular.")
Also would like to note that this new petition, E-7005, was initiated by the staffer from Wood Buffalo Pride that I was discussing the issue with recently. :') I feel really happy about that for some reason? Dude is very dedicated and he's been working really hard to combat Alberta's bullshit with what few resources he has.
( Full text of the petition under the cut )
I recently posted about E07027 and Section 90. E-7005 is a different but related petition: It urges the federal government to rule that access to trans healthcare is a human right. If you already signed E-7027, I recommend signing this one as well, as they tackle the problem from different angles.
It's open until March 20 for residents of Canada (including people who are not citizens or permanent residents, such as international students). Please note that if you sign you have to confirm it via the link that gets emailed to you.
What E-7005 proposes mirrors a situation in the early 2000s. Basically, in year 2000 Alberta passed legislation ruling that marriage is between a man and woman, and invoked the Notwithstanding Clause to prevent it to be challenged. Then in 2005, the federal government passed Bill C-38, which legalized same-sex marriage nationally, overwriting Alberta's year 2000 legislation. I remember working with Acadia Pride on their letter-writing campain in support of C-38, and we were so happy (and kind of surprised) the next year when it passed.
One thing I like about petition E-7005's proposal is that it would affect Canada nationally: all provinces and territories. Making trans healthcare a legal right would help all trans people in Canada, not just those affected by Alberta's legislation. E-7027 and section 90, on the other hand, would be directed specifically at Alberta (and Saskatchewan) and is I think more likely to result in UCP blowback against trans people specifically for that reason. (As I said to an acquaintance, "The UCP would lose their minds if the federal government acted against them in particular.")
Also would like to note that this new petition, E-7005, was initiated by the staffer from Wood Buffalo Pride that I was discussing the issue with recently. :') I feel really happy about that for some reason? Dude is very dedicated and he's been working really hard to combat Alberta's bullshit with what few resources he has.
( Full text of the petition under the cut )
Library challenge: Romance subgenres
Jan. 25th, 2026 09:26 pmyuuagoThe library ran an "Exploring Romance Subgenres" challenge, where the idea is (not surprisingly) to read works in different romance subgenres, one book each. I thought I'd post the list of what I read and some quick thoughts.
Here we go:
Holiday Romance: The Nightmare Before Kissmas by Sara Raasch. M/M. It's set in a sort of world in which "kingdoms" for each holiday exist hidden from the Normal World. Tl;dr the prince of Christmas is engaged to the princess of Easter, but falls in love with the prince of Halloween instead, which messes up the planned political alliance between Christmas and Easter. It was very silly, but I enjoyed it enough that I might pick up the next book in the series.
Sports Romance: Fangirl Down by Tessa Bailey. F/M. The fan of a has-been golf star ends up working as his caddy with the goal of helping him win the PGA tour - earning some cash for herself and helping him get his mojo back along the way. The characters were pretty fun, but there were too many sex scenes for my taste, plus lots of stereotypical heterosexual nonsense. Also there wasn't enough sports in this sports romance (I don't even like golf but if I'm going to read/watch a sports romance, I want it to have More Sports. Then again I'm one of those people who wanted even more skating-related stuff in Yuri on Ice.)
Romantic Comedy: Boyfriend Material by Alexis Jall. M/M. The fuckup son of an aging rock star begins dating a squeaky-clean lawyer as a PR move. This one was so-so; the main character was kind of exasperating because he created a lot of his own problems. A lot of the time that I was reading it I kept feeling like, "You brought this on yourself, bro. Grow up, calm down, and think things through first." But I did like that he was actually pretty good at his job as an event organizer (?) for a small nonprofit, and that the job-related problems that came up had more to do with people responding to the media portrayal of him rather than him being bad at doing his actual work. I did like the love interest a lot; found him very sympathetic. There was this one bit where he mentioned having difficulty engaging with queer clubs and things because only thing he has in common with the people at them is his sexuality, and.... yeahhh, I've felt that before.
Paranormal Romance: The Only Purple House In Town by Ann Aguirre. F/M. A vampire who isn't good at being a vampire (for reasons that become very clear later) inherits a relative's house and moves in; she turns it into a boarding house and ends up leasing rooms to a varied cast of characters, including a handsome hawk-shifter that she used to go to school with. I enjoyed the premise but the execution was not my thing at all. It seems to be written for the sort of audience who really likes the subtype of "found family" narratives where everyone fits into very defined roles and tidy boxes.
Romantasy: Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree. F/F. An orc pursues her dream of opening a coffee shop, and discovers maybe her "heart's desire" isn't something but someone. Yeah, I know this is more "fantasy with romance", shh it's close enough. I've heard so much about people both loving and hating this book that I wasn't sure what to expect. It was... okay! A little saccharine, but I can see why people would find it appealing. I do remember seeing someone say that "even the points where the stakes are high don't actually FEEL like the stakes are high" and I think I would agree with that. It was nice over all though, the relationship was cute, and I liked some of the worldbuilding.
Dark Romance: How does it feel? by Jeaneane O'Riley. F/M. A scientist who studies moths accidentally enters fairyland, is captured by the Unseelie Prince, and gets caught up in the conflict between the Seelie and Unseelie courts. I'll be honest, I hated this. The beginning, where the main character is in the real world and doing scientist stuff, was all right, but after she fell through the fairy ring everything was just Not My Thing. There was nothing likeable about the love interest and a lot of their scenes together had the kind of stereotypical heterosexual nonsense that I find a real turnoff (like, it was more than the usual level of nonsense I would expect in a F/M romance novel). This is the beginning of a series but I will Not be checking out the rest or anything else by this author.
Western Romance: Wild and Wrangled by Lyla Sage. F/M. A real estate lawyer falls back into love with her ex, a ranch hand. This was actually quite nice, and kind of cozy. I found the argument 3/4 of the way through the book pretty tedious, but it resolved pretty quickly. This is another protagonist who creates some of her own problems, though I found her more sympathetic than the protagonist of Boyfriend Material. I did end up with a lot of questions about how things turn out, though; like, the protagonist's parents are huge snobs who hate the love interest, and while there is a big scene where shit goes down, the issue isn't resolved at the end. Like, okay, how's she going to deal with that mess? Who knows.
SciFi Romance: Winter's Orbit by Everina Maxwell. M/M. A political arranged marriage between two people from different planets doesn't go as smoothly as expected due to a third party working to make the interplanetary political situation explode. I really enjoyed this! I've seen it recced around a lot, both in its original form and after it was published, so I was kind of worried I'd be disappointed. Not so! One thing that made me like it so much is that there was so much to chew on aside from the relationship. Interesting worldbuilding, lots of plot both related and unrelated to the relationship, etc. I also liked the relationship - like, those two definitely have some stuff to work through, it's kind of a mess, but I'm confident they can manage it. I'm definitely going to read the sequel.
Regency Romance: The Duke at Hazard by KJ Charles. M/M. A duke's ring is stolen after a poorly thought-out tryst, and he takes it upon himself to track down the culprit and recover it, quickly enlisting the help of a disgraced gentleman that he went to school with. This was very fun! Again, part of what it had going for it is that there is a lot of plot aside from the relationship - yes, the developing feelings are important, but there's also the matter of the quest, and all the various subplots the duo get tangled in, etc. I really liked the way things wrapped up; it was very satisfying. This is an author I'd heard a lot about but wasn't sure I would ever actually read; I really liked this one though so I might seek out some more in the future.
Highlander Romance: Under Loch and Key by Lana Ferguson. F/M. I was kind of cheating with this one, as it's actually contemporary paranormal, but the love interest is a sexy Scottish dude so I'm counting it anyway: An American visits some estranged relatives in Scotland and, while there, encounters a handsome dude with a temper who (it turns out) is cursed to turn into a lakemonster at night. The premise was silly, but fun, and I could roll with it. There were more sex scenes than I prefer, but some of them were quite Inspired, leaning into the monsterfucking premise in a way that I hadn't expected (they weren't my thing overall, but at the same time I was kind of impressed). But there was some of the nebulous heterosexual nonsense that I'm not a fan of. ...Also a major plot point hinged on the protagonist finding a diary from the late 13th century, reading it, and discovering the secret to (potentially) end the curse. Unfortunately for me I find it much easier to accept the idea of a handsome were-Nessie than I can accept the idea that an untrained rando could successfully read a 13th-century Scottish manuscript.
Whew. That was a lot. ...I think I'm going to take a break from Romance Novels and read something else now. :V Fortunately there's lots of good books out there to explore, eh.
Here we go:
Holiday Romance: The Nightmare Before Kissmas by Sara Raasch. M/M. It's set in a sort of world in which "kingdoms" for each holiday exist hidden from the Normal World. Tl;dr the prince of Christmas is engaged to the princess of Easter, but falls in love with the prince of Halloween instead, which messes up the planned political alliance between Christmas and Easter. It was very silly, but I enjoyed it enough that I might pick up the next book in the series.
Sports Romance: Fangirl Down by Tessa Bailey. F/M. The fan of a has-been golf star ends up working as his caddy with the goal of helping him win the PGA tour - earning some cash for herself and helping him get his mojo back along the way. The characters were pretty fun, but there were too many sex scenes for my taste, plus lots of stereotypical heterosexual nonsense. Also there wasn't enough sports in this sports romance (I don't even like golf but if I'm going to read/watch a sports romance, I want it to have More Sports. Then again I'm one of those people who wanted even more skating-related stuff in Yuri on Ice.)
Romantic Comedy: Boyfriend Material by Alexis Jall. M/M. The fuckup son of an aging rock star begins dating a squeaky-clean lawyer as a PR move. This one was so-so; the main character was kind of exasperating because he created a lot of his own problems. A lot of the time that I was reading it I kept feeling like, "You brought this on yourself, bro. Grow up, calm down, and think things through first." But I did like that he was actually pretty good at his job as an event organizer (?) for a small nonprofit, and that the job-related problems that came up had more to do with people responding to the media portrayal of him rather than him being bad at doing his actual work. I did like the love interest a lot; found him very sympathetic. There was this one bit where he mentioned having difficulty engaging with queer clubs and things because only thing he has in common with the people at them is his sexuality, and.... yeahhh, I've felt that before.
Paranormal Romance: The Only Purple House In Town by Ann Aguirre. F/M. A vampire who isn't good at being a vampire (for reasons that become very clear later) inherits a relative's house and moves in; she turns it into a boarding house and ends up leasing rooms to a varied cast of characters, including a handsome hawk-shifter that she used to go to school with. I enjoyed the premise but the execution was not my thing at all. It seems to be written for the sort of audience who really likes the subtype of "found family" narratives where everyone fits into very defined roles and tidy boxes.
Romantasy: Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree. F/F. An orc pursues her dream of opening a coffee shop, and discovers maybe her "heart's desire" isn't something but someone. Yeah, I know this is more "fantasy with romance", shh it's close enough. I've heard so much about people both loving and hating this book that I wasn't sure what to expect. It was... okay! A little saccharine, but I can see why people would find it appealing. I do remember seeing someone say that "even the points where the stakes are high don't actually FEEL like the stakes are high" and I think I would agree with that. It was nice over all though, the relationship was cute, and I liked some of the worldbuilding.
Dark Romance: How does it feel? by Jeaneane O'Riley. F/M. A scientist who studies moths accidentally enters fairyland, is captured by the Unseelie Prince, and gets caught up in the conflict between the Seelie and Unseelie courts. I'll be honest, I hated this. The beginning, where the main character is in the real world and doing scientist stuff, was all right, but after she fell through the fairy ring everything was just Not My Thing. There was nothing likeable about the love interest and a lot of their scenes together had the kind of stereotypical heterosexual nonsense that I find a real turnoff (like, it was more than the usual level of nonsense I would expect in a F/M romance novel). This is the beginning of a series but I will Not be checking out the rest or anything else by this author.
Western Romance: Wild and Wrangled by Lyla Sage. F/M. A real estate lawyer falls back into love with her ex, a ranch hand. This was actually quite nice, and kind of cozy. I found the argument 3/4 of the way through the book pretty tedious, but it resolved pretty quickly. This is another protagonist who creates some of her own problems, though I found her more sympathetic than the protagonist of Boyfriend Material. I did end up with a lot of questions about how things turn out, though; like, the protagonist's parents are huge snobs who hate the love interest, and while there is a big scene where shit goes down, the issue isn't resolved at the end. Like, okay, how's she going to deal with that mess? Who knows.
SciFi Romance: Winter's Orbit by Everina Maxwell. M/M. A political arranged marriage between two people from different planets doesn't go as smoothly as expected due to a third party working to make the interplanetary political situation explode. I really enjoyed this! I've seen it recced around a lot, both in its original form and after it was published, so I was kind of worried I'd be disappointed. Not so! One thing that made me like it so much is that there was so much to chew on aside from the relationship. Interesting worldbuilding, lots of plot both related and unrelated to the relationship, etc. I also liked the relationship - like, those two definitely have some stuff to work through, it's kind of a mess, but I'm confident they can manage it. I'm definitely going to read the sequel.
Regency Romance: The Duke at Hazard by KJ Charles. M/M. A duke's ring is stolen after a poorly thought-out tryst, and he takes it upon himself to track down the culprit and recover it, quickly enlisting the help of a disgraced gentleman that he went to school with. This was very fun! Again, part of what it had going for it is that there is a lot of plot aside from the relationship - yes, the developing feelings are important, but there's also the matter of the quest, and all the various subplots the duo get tangled in, etc. I really liked the way things wrapped up; it was very satisfying. This is an author I'd heard a lot about but wasn't sure I would ever actually read; I really liked this one though so I might seek out some more in the future.
Highlander Romance: Under Loch and Key by Lana Ferguson. F/M. I was kind of cheating with this one, as it's actually contemporary paranormal, but the love interest is a sexy Scottish dude so I'm counting it anyway: An American visits some estranged relatives in Scotland and, while there, encounters a handsome dude with a temper who (it turns out) is cursed to turn into a lakemonster at night. The premise was silly, but fun, and I could roll with it. There were more sex scenes than I prefer, but some of them were quite Inspired, leaning into the monsterfucking premise in a way that I hadn't expected (they weren't my thing overall, but at the same time I was kind of impressed). But there was some of the nebulous heterosexual nonsense that I'm not a fan of. ...Also a major plot point hinged on the protagonist finding a diary from the late 13th century, reading it, and discovering the secret to (potentially) end the curse. Unfortunately for me I find it much easier to accept the idea of a handsome were-Nessie than I can accept the idea that an untrained rando could successfully read a 13th-century Scottish manuscript.
Whew. That was a lot. ...I think I'm going to take a break from Romance Novels and read something else now. :V Fortunately there's lots of good books out there to explore, eh.
Left the house!
Jan. 25th, 2026 02:10 pmcupcake_gothminim_calibre very kindly came over yesterday to help me run some errands AND slowly pootle around two thrift stores. There wasn’t anything worthwhile at Value Village, which is sadly becoming the norm. Well, there were some dresses that could have been turned into something interesting, but I stuck to my clothing no-buy. PRAISE ME. The other thrift store was The Discovery Shop, which is a small nonprofit for the American Cancer Society. It’s a few blocks from my house, which means that once I’m healthy I need to make more of an effort to walk up there on a regular basis. Because, as with most smaller, charity-specific thrift stores, the selection is much better. I bought two pieces of jewelry: a crystal necklace with an antique skeleton key pendant (minim handed it to me, saying, “This belongs to you”), and a vintage belled bracelet, because I want to return to jingling when I walk. I pined over a huge blown glass candelabra with multiple arms, but acknowledged that I ha no place to put it. But my god, it was stunning.
I learned that both The Discovery Shop and Value Village have “senior discount days” on Tuesdays, and that “senior” is 55+! Time to schedule a regular thrifting day!
All of the excitement of leaving the house took its toll, however, and I’m absolutely exhausted today. Plus I’m starting a new round of different antibiotics, because my symptoms returned once I finished the first round. Thank goodness that my preferred urgent care clinic offers telehealth appointments.
Misc +++
Jan. 25th, 2026 08:38 amyuuago+ Managed to get some writing done yesterday on the IS/DK fic I've been poking at for a few weeks now. Feels good. I suppose I'll count this as my Crack the WIP fic - normally I'd try to work on something more impressive for events, but hey, fun PWP has a place too. Still haven't decided what I'll work on for Iddy Iddy Bang Bang - I know that this event is quite far away, but considering the 5k minimum and how slow I write, I actually do need something in-progress long before signups come around that I can be sure will hit wordcount.
+ Feeling very ill, unfortunately. I had plans to go to yoga today, but that sure isn't happening. Very disappointed about it actually; I've been looking forward to this for weeks.
+ [Fibre arts] Melt the ICE Hat: Knit|Crochet. A pattern put out by a small business in Minnesota in response to ICE's recent abhorrent violence. Per the patternmaker's comment, proceeds will be distributed to immigrant aid organizations in the Twin Cities area. The design is inspired by traditional Norwegian knitted hats that were banned by Nazis during the occupation of Norway. Might make myself one of these once I'm feeling more up to it - not that I need another knitted hat, but I do think the pattern looks quite nice.
+ [Music] Sigur Rós - Ísjaki. I was going to say something else but I can't remember what it was so instead I'll just link this song because I really like it.
+ Feeling very ill, unfortunately. I had plans to go to yoga today, but that sure isn't happening. Very disappointed about it actually; I've been looking forward to this for weeks.
+ [Fibre arts] Melt the ICE Hat: Knit|Crochet. A pattern put out by a small business in Minnesota in response to ICE's recent abhorrent violence. Per the patternmaker's comment, proceeds will be distributed to immigrant aid organizations in the Twin Cities area. The design is inspired by traditional Norwegian knitted hats that were banned by Nazis during the occupation of Norway. Might make myself one of these once I'm feeling more up to it - not that I need another knitted hat, but I do think the pattern looks quite nice.
+ [Music] Sigur Rós - Ísjaki. I was going to say something else but I can't remember what it was so instead I'll just link this song because I really like it.
Ice storm advice [meteo]
Jan. 23rd, 2026 11:11 pmsidereaFor those of you in the parts of the US for whom an ice storm is predicted and who have no idea of what that is except that it means it will be cold:
1) If you have an ice scraper to clean the ice off your car, have it inside with you, not in the car. Because at a sufficient level of ice coating, leaving your ice scraper in the car is like leaving your car keys in the car.
1a) Honestly, at a certain level of ice coating, it's more like having one's car coated in concrete, and you shouldn't waste your energy and body warmth whaling futilely at it. One of the failure modes is you succeed in getting the ice off but take the windshield with it.
2) You probably associate winter storms and coldness with grey-overcast skies and darkness. But once it is done coming down, often the arctic winds that drove the storm will blow the clouds away, the skies clear and the sun will come up. I cannot begin to describe how bright it gets when the sun is shining and the whole world is made of glass. If you packed your sunglasses away for the winter, go get them out. If you store them in your glove compartment of your car, again, maybe go get them and have them inside with you so you can see what you're doing when you are trying to get the ice off the car.
3) All that said, maybe just don't be worrying about leaving home. A fundamental clue is that an ice storm is not done when the storm is done raging. For as long as there's a thick glaze of ice on everything, the crisis is not over. Your life experience has given you an intuition of physics that says ice forms where water pools and is therefore mostly something flat. But in an ice storm, you get ice coating absolutely everything including sloped and vertical surfaces. YouTube is willing to show you endless videos of people attempting and failing to walk up quite gentle slopes covered with ice and cars slowly and majestically sliding down hills. Driving and walking can be unbelievably dangerous after an ice storm. Try to ride it out by sheltering in place and don't try to go out in it if you can at all avoid it. Remember, it's not about how good a driver you are, it's about how good a driver everybody else on the road isn't.
4) Snow and ice falling off buildings can kill you. Yes, I know snow looks fluffy, but it is made of water and can compact to be quite solid and if it attains free fall it can build up quite a bit of momentum. Icicles are basically spears. If you endeavor to try to knock snow or ice off from a roof or other high structure, be real careful how you position yourself relative to it.
5) Now and until this is over is absolutely not the time to do anything that entails any unnecessary risk. Any activity that is at all discretionary that has even a remote likelihood of occasioning an ER trip is to be avoided. Boredom, I know, makes people find their own fun. Resist the urge.
1) If you have an ice scraper to clean the ice off your car, have it inside with you, not in the car. Because at a sufficient level of ice coating, leaving your ice scraper in the car is like leaving your car keys in the car.
1a) Honestly, at a certain level of ice coating, it's more like having one's car coated in concrete, and you shouldn't waste your energy and body warmth whaling futilely at it. One of the failure modes is you succeed in getting the ice off but take the windshield with it.
2) You probably associate winter storms and coldness with grey-overcast skies and darkness. But once it is done coming down, often the arctic winds that drove the storm will blow the clouds away, the skies clear and the sun will come up. I cannot begin to describe how bright it gets when the sun is shining and the whole world is made of glass. If you packed your sunglasses away for the winter, go get them out. If you store them in your glove compartment of your car, again, maybe go get them and have them inside with you so you can see what you're doing when you are trying to get the ice off the car.
3) All that said, maybe just don't be worrying about leaving home. A fundamental clue is that an ice storm is not done when the storm is done raging. For as long as there's a thick glaze of ice on everything, the crisis is not over. Your life experience has given you an intuition of physics that says ice forms where water pools and is therefore mostly something flat. But in an ice storm, you get ice coating absolutely everything including sloped and vertical surfaces. YouTube is willing to show you endless videos of people attempting and failing to walk up quite gentle slopes covered with ice and cars slowly and majestically sliding down hills. Driving and walking can be unbelievably dangerous after an ice storm. Try to ride it out by sheltering in place and don't try to go out in it if you can at all avoid it. Remember, it's not about how good a driver you are, it's about how good a driver everybody else on the road isn't.
4) Snow and ice falling off buildings can kill you. Yes, I know snow looks fluffy, but it is made of water and can compact to be quite solid and if it attains free fall it can build up quite a bit of momentum. Icicles are basically spears. If you endeavor to try to knock snow or ice off from a roof or other high structure, be real careful how you position yourself relative to it.
5) Now and until this is over is absolutely not the time to do anything that entails any unnecessary risk. Any activity that is at all discretionary that has even a remote likelihood of occasioning an ER trip is to be avoided. Boredom, I know, makes people find their own fun. Resist the urge.
Frivolous dithering
Jan. 21st, 2026 12:08 pmcupcake_gothI'm starting to seriously consider selling my VINTAGE Fluevog Swordfish shoes and boots. I love them. LOVE. I never wear them, because even tho' the 3" heel are wide and sturdy, my back has made it pretty clear that those shoes and boots are not made for walking. Not for me.
I'm tempted to hold onto the boots so I can use them as vases for dried flowers (I can't find the image on Pinterest, but I saw something similar done and it looked great), but I will first need to have a probably convoluted discussion with the Stroppy One about putting outdoor footwear on any furniture, even after they've been carefully cleaned. (His weirdness around this is too long to get into here, but it starts from a superstition around not putting footwear on chairs or tables.)
---
INCREDIBLY shallow whining related to the state of the world (because if I start thinking seriously about things, I freeze in panic): I guess I should have purchased the pretty pretty dress from the Ukrainian designer earlier, because who knows if the $USD will be worth anything and if anyone outside the US will be willing to ship anything to a US address.
---
I'm tempted to hold onto the boots so I can use them as vases for dried flowers (I can't find the image on Pinterest, but I saw something similar done and it looked great), but I will first need to have a probably convoluted discussion with the Stroppy One about putting outdoor footwear on any furniture, even after they've been carefully cleaned. (His weirdness around this is too long to get into here, but it starts from a superstition around not putting footwear on chairs or tables.)
---
INCREDIBLY shallow whining related to the state of the world (because if I start thinking seriously about things, I freeze in panic): I guess I should have purchased the pretty pretty dress from the Ukrainian designer earlier, because who knows if the $USD will be worth anything and if anyone outside the US will be willing to ship anything to a US address.
---
I need help from the sewing and costuming hive mind! I have a many dresses like this. (Mine don't have the wide sash/belt.) The skirt is two rectangles gathered at the waist, with the pockets inset at those side seams. I want to occasionally lift the skirt to about knee-length so I can wear the dress with different skirts. I've tried actual skirt lifters, and they didn't work well. I tried ribbons sewn on the outside of the waist with matching ribbons sewn on the inside at the point where the ruffle is attached to the skirt, thus catching a bundle of the skirt in a loop of ribbon that shows on the outside. (The Madwoman in the Attic saw this attempt, clutched her head, said, "NO", and left the room.) So I'm out of ideas. Help?
PSA: US, pay attention to weather [US, meteo]
Jan. 20th, 2026 11:22 pmsidereaHey, Americans! Do you live around or south of the Mason-Dixon line? If so, your weather report for later this week is shaping up to be a bit exciting. Looks like Actual Winter will be visiting places that historically have been poorly prepared for this sort of thing, i.e. TX, the South, and the mid-Atlantic.
(Also eventually the NE, but a forecast of a few feet of snow is threatening us with a good time.)
H/t to the RyanHallYall YT channel. He's a well-reputed amateur, but his report is congruent with what I'm seeing in conventional weather reports:
https://youtube.com/shorts/nh4JEVGWfFU
Good luck and remember running a charcoal grill in your living room is a dumb way to die.
(Also eventually the NE, but a forecast of a few feet of snow is threatening us with a good time.)
H/t to the RyanHallYall YT channel. He's a well-reputed amateur, but his report is congruent with what I'm seeing in conventional weather reports:
https://youtube.com/shorts/nh4JEVGWfFU
Good luck and remember running a charcoal grill in your living room is a dumb way to die.
An explanation of US military perspective and behavior re illegal orders [mil/US, Ω]
Jan. 20th, 2026 07:10 pmsidereaI found this intriguing. YouTuber KnittingCultLady, who is an Air Force veteran and author about two books on military culture from the standpoint of cults(!), put out this rather frustrated video clarifying how members of the military respond to illegal orders. The tl;dr is they will follow orders of ambiguous legality, and refuse to follow orders of obvious illegality, and what is obviously illegal may not be what civilians think.
2026 Jan 18: KnittingCultLady on YT: Some Examples of Recent Malicious Compliance from the Military, ALSO Listen Carefully To My Words:
She doesn't put it this way, but it sounds from what she says that what makes something obviously illegal is that it resulted in a courtmartial or other nigh-universal condemnation when tried previously. Orders that are for doing things that are war crimes by the letter of the law but which did not result in prosecution or other negative consequences for the perpetrators when done in the past do not trigger the sense that they are illegal, e.g. if it was okay for Bush to seize Noriega, then clearly it must be legal for Trump to seize Maduro.
2026 Jan 18: KnittingCultLady on YT: Some Examples of Recent Malicious Compliance from the Military, ALSO Listen Carefully To My Words:
She doesn't put it this way, but it sounds from what she says that what makes something obviously illegal is that it resulted in a courtmartial or other nigh-universal condemnation when tried previously. Orders that are for doing things that are war crimes by the letter of the law but which did not result in prosecution or other negative consequences for the perpetrators when done in the past do not trigger the sense that they are illegal, e.g. if it was okay for Bush to seize Noriega, then clearly it must be legal for Trump to seize Maduro.
[Canadian politics] House of Commons petition E-7027
Jan. 19th, 2026 05:59 pmyuuagoPetition E-7027 to the Minister of Health
The above is a House of Commons petition to the Federal Minister of Health in response to Alberta and Saskatchewan passing anti-trans bills and using the Notwithstanding clause to shield the legislation from judicial review.
It's open until February 18 for all residents of Canada. You don't need to have citizenship or permanent resident status to sign; you just need to live here. (So, someone here as a student can sign.)
Please note that if you sign you have to confirm it via the link that gets emailed to you.
I've discussed federal response with people from the local pride org, including the possibility of using Section 90 to force a repeal, and the feeling is very... mixed. On the one hand, we want the legislation gone. On the other hand, if the federal government acted, it would be very in-character for the UCP to find some way to retaliate against trans Albertans. Not to mention the vibe in the province in general is pretty appalling at the moment (re: separatist movements) and there is no question that it would get worse if the federal government acted in any way. But like... I sure as hell don't have any other ideas, so. E-7027 it is.
( Full text of the petition under the cut - it's relatively short )
The above is a House of Commons petition to the Federal Minister of Health in response to Alberta and Saskatchewan passing anti-trans bills and using the Notwithstanding clause to shield the legislation from judicial review.
It's open until February 18 for all residents of Canada. You don't need to have citizenship or permanent resident status to sign; you just need to live here. (So, someone here as a student can sign.)
Please note that if you sign you have to confirm it via the link that gets emailed to you.
I've discussed federal response with people from the local pride org, including the possibility of using Section 90 to force a repeal, and the feeling is very... mixed. On the one hand, we want the legislation gone. On the other hand, if the federal government acted, it would be very in-character for the UCP to find some way to retaliate against trans Albertans. Not to mention the vibe in the province in general is pretty appalling at the moment (re: separatist movements) and there is no question that it would get worse if the federal government acted in any way. But like... I sure as hell don't have any other ideas, so. E-7027 it is.
( Full text of the petition under the cut - it's relatively short )
I guess being couch-bound means I post a lot
Jan. 19th, 2026 01:30 pmcupcake_gothBehold the shiny! Which was almost entirely paid for by Poshmark profits, so in terms of “real” money wasn’t unreasonably expensive.
—-
My god does my hair need dying. It’s not going to happen any time soon, but I sigh every time I look in the mirror right now. There are so many projects I want to do right now, and I KNOW I must not. Even the ones that would be something I could do while sitting on the couch watching movies. Getting up to put on a movie leaves me shaky, which is a sure sign I need to keep resting. Hmmph.
—-
Yesterday I learned that Miss Erzabet No Biting has blanket preferences. I had switched around some of the blankets I was under on the couch, with a polyester knitted one on top. She would walk onto my lap, look bewildered, and hop off. As soon as I switched things back to having the woven cotton ones as the top layer, she immediately settled down. Yes, my cat is spoiled.
—-
Speaking of the kitties, they turn 15 this year, which means we’ve owned them for almost half our marriage. That’s weird to think about.
Misc +++
Jan. 18th, 2026 09:09 pmyuuago+ Finished reading Winter's Orbit. Hopefully will have time to write more detailed thoughts later, but the tl;dr is that I enjoyed it very much and I'm looking forward to reading the sequel. It's a romance novel but there's lots of non-romance plot, which is basically my preferred kind of romance novel.
+ Was working on fic today. Nothing special or complicated, but it still feels good to work on something. I feel very rusty, though. It's ridiculous that putting one word in front of the other is so hard. Guess the only way out is through, though!
+ Still considering signing up for FTH. One thing I'm waffling on is what to offer; Hetalia-wise my scope is narrower than it was the last time I participated in an auction. Not that I'm solid about sticking to my usual set of characters; some of the best auction fics I've written were for pairings I'd never thought about much until that moment. But there's always the chance that someone unfamiliar with my work will ask for something I'd have trouble delivering. I guess I'll just mention my usual characters in the description and see what happens. Aside from that, though, I'm not sure what other fandoms, if any. Promare, maybe? I'm due for a rewatch anyway.
+ Watched The Life of Chuck this evening. I thought it was a pretty good adaptation of King's novella. Admittedly, the first section was pretty stressful, what with the apocalyptic scenes and whatnot, even though I knew how the rest of it went. Overall I found it pretty sweet, though. I've seen it described as kind of schmaltzy, and like... yeah, I guess that's fair, it IS schmaltzy. I enjoyed it overall, though.
+ Was working on fic today. Nothing special or complicated, but it still feels good to work on something. I feel very rusty, though. It's ridiculous that putting one word in front of the other is so hard. Guess the only way out is through, though!
+ Still considering signing up for FTH. One thing I'm waffling on is what to offer; Hetalia-wise my scope is narrower than it was the last time I participated in an auction. Not that I'm solid about sticking to my usual set of characters; some of the best auction fics I've written were for pairings I'd never thought about much until that moment. But there's always the chance that someone unfamiliar with my work will ask for something I'd have trouble delivering. I guess I'll just mention my usual characters in the description and see what happens. Aside from that, though, I'm not sure what other fandoms, if any. Promare, maybe? I'm due for a rewatch anyway.
+ Watched The Life of Chuck this evening. I thought it was a pretty good adaptation of King's novella. Admittedly, the first section was pretty stressful, what with the apocalyptic scenes and whatnot, even though I knew how the rest of it went. Overall I found it pretty sweet, though. I've seen it described as kind of schmaltzy, and like... yeah, I guess that's fair, it IS schmaltzy. I enjoyed it overall, though.
(no subject)
Jan. 18th, 2026 06:17 pmcupcake_gothIt has been decided that I’m NOT going to buy that stripy set from Blackwood Castle, because minim linked me to an eBay auction for a stunning piece of jewelry and reminded me that stripy goth clothes are relatively easy to find. I’m waiting for my Poshmark profits to hit PayPal, and then I’ll hit Buy It Now.
—-
The Stroppy One has decided it’s necessary for him to remind me over and over that my #1 priority, my only chore right now, is to rest as much as possible. Especially because he leaves for a show on Thursday, so he won’t be around to look after me for a few days. Yes, the Madwoman in the Attic will be around, but our schedules are somewhat offset.
—-
Someone please remind me that my new boss asking if we need to set up some sort of medical accommodation for me for the next few weeks means she wants me to be okay, not that she’s annoyed I’m sick and this will be noted on my permanent record or something? Because I know my reaction is PTSD from previous bad managers, but the Brain Raccoons are doing their little song and dance, because of course they are.
Wittering
Jan. 18th, 2026 02:05 pmcupcake_gothI was worried about ordering that striped top and skirt from Blackwood Castle since, as they’re in Canada and who knows what the tariff fuckery would be. But I did some digging through their site and discovered they opened a US warehouse in August! Between that and the fact that I sold some things on Poshmark recently, yeah, I’m probably going to buy the set.
—-
I think the new prescriptions are kicking in. I’m not coughing quite as much, and the Stroppy One said my breathing overnight didn’t sound as wet and crackling. I still get exhausted any time I get up from the couch AND I’m jittery from the steroids, but I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to sit in my office and get work done on Tuesday.
—-
Women of a Certain Age will understand this: with violent coughing comes the need for constantly changing pads, and I’m so tired of it.
—-
Fandom whining: I know fic writers are doing their own thing, but it’s always sad when a writer I’ve subscribed to migrates to a fandom I don’t care about, sometimes abandoning their other works in progress. Le sigh.
—-
I think the new prescriptions are kicking in. I’m not coughing quite as much, and the Stroppy One said my breathing overnight didn’t sound as wet and crackling. I still get exhausted any time I get up from the couch AND I’m jittery from the steroids, but I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to sit in my office and get work done on Tuesday.
—-
Women of a Certain Age will understand this: with violent coughing comes the need for constantly changing pads, and I’m so tired of it.
The Chinese fishing boats maneuvers [war, curr ev]
Jan. 17th, 2026 08:14 pmsiderea(h/t hudebnik)
Two things: this is a thing that has happened, I have a read on what it is that nobody else seems to have come up with.
1) The thing that happened:
2026 Jan 16: NYTimes: "Thousands of Chinese Fishing Boats Quietly Form Vast Sea Barriers" by Chris Buckley, Agnes Chang and Amy Chang Chien
The most interesting thing here is the visualization animations, so if that link doesn't work for you:
2026 Jan 17: TaiwanPlus News [TaiwanPlusNews on YT]: "NYT: China Tests Civilian Fishing Boats in Maritime Military Operations"
2) Take:
It turns out that the world leader in developing systems for coordinating large numbers of semi-autonomous vehicles is China.
The way a drone show works is that the design of the show and the intended positions and trajectories of all the individual drones is calculated and stored on the coordinating computer, from which they are transmitted to the drones during the show. However, drones in the air can be knocked off course by turbulence, so they also have onboard collision avoidance and position resumption algorithms.
The drone show company in question, Shenzhen DAMODA Intelligent Control Technology Co., Ltd. brags they can control 10,000 drones from a single laptop.
There were only 2,000 ships. Well within what their system could handle.
So what this could be is a test of such a coordination technology deployed to civilian boats.
Perhaps on each of those ships was either a sail-by-wire system that puts them under remote/autonomous control, or a receiver/interface that relayed instructions to the human pilots from a drone-controller that both received orders from command-and-control and managed the specifics of positioning through the same sort of collision-avoidance and repositioning algorithm as light-show drones.
Also, I suspect the way DAMODA manages to control so many devices from a single laptop – I was not able to quickly get a bead on this, and it would be unsurprising if they were less than forthcoming about their secret sauce – is that they have been figuring out ways to offload more and more of the steering logic onto the drones themselves. There comes a point, I suppose, where the logic for collision avoidance and repositioning crosses over into what used to be called (back in the 1980s and 1990s) flocking algorithms. Perhaps this was a test of a flocking algorithm based system for boats.
In any event, this might not be an example of a lot of people doing a thing. This might be an example of a thing being done to a lot of people. I mean, it almost certainly is the latter in that the government of China's modus operandi is to "voluntell" its citizens, and one of the concerning things here is the apparent use of civilians for military maneuvers. I'm saying this might be a test of a system that doesn't rely on acquiescence to government authority.
hudebnik)Two things: this is a thing that has happened, I have a read on what it is that nobody else seems to have come up with.
1) The thing that happened:
2026 Jan 16: NYTimes: "Thousands of Chinese Fishing Boats Quietly Form Vast Sea Barriers" by Chris Buckley, Agnes Chang and Amy Chang Chien
The most interesting thing here is the visualization animations, so if that link doesn't work for you:
2026 Jan 17: TaiwanPlus News [TaiwanPlusNews on YT]: "NYT: China Tests Civilian Fishing Boats in Maritime Military Operations"
2) Take:
“The sight of that many vessels operating in concert is staggering,” said Mark Douglas, an analyst at Starboard, a company with offices in New Zealand and the United States. Mr. Douglas said that he and his colleagues had “never seen a formation of this size and discipline before.”Yeah, so, about that:
“The level of coordination to get that many vessels into a formation like this is significant,” he said.
It turns out that the world leader in developing systems for coordinating large numbers of semi-autonomous vehicles is China.
The way a drone show works is that the design of the show and the intended positions and trajectories of all the individual drones is calculated and stored on the coordinating computer, from which they are transmitted to the drones during the show. However, drones in the air can be knocked off course by turbulence, so they also have onboard collision avoidance and position resumption algorithms.
The drone show company in question, Shenzhen DAMODA Intelligent Control Technology Co., Ltd. brags they can control 10,000 drones from a single laptop.
There were only 2,000 ships. Well within what their system could handle.
So what this could be is a test of such a coordination technology deployed to civilian boats.
Perhaps on each of those ships was either a sail-by-wire system that puts them under remote/autonomous control, or a receiver/interface that relayed instructions to the human pilots from a drone-controller that both received orders from command-and-control and managed the specifics of positioning through the same sort of collision-avoidance and repositioning algorithm as light-show drones.
Also, I suspect the way DAMODA manages to control so many devices from a single laptop – I was not able to quickly get a bead on this, and it would be unsurprising if they were less than forthcoming about their secret sauce – is that they have been figuring out ways to offload more and more of the steering logic onto the drones themselves. There comes a point, I suppose, where the logic for collision avoidance and repositioning crosses over into what used to be called (back in the 1980s and 1990s) flocking algorithms. Perhaps this was a test of a flocking algorithm based system for boats.
In any event, this might not be an example of a lot of people doing a thing. This might be an example of a thing being done to a lot of people. I mean, it almost certainly is the latter in that the government of China's modus operandi is to "voluntell" its citizens, and one of the concerning things here is the apparent use of civilians for military maneuvers. I'm saying this might be a test of a system that doesn't rely on acquiescence to government authority.
