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Recruitment post!
Feb. 21st, 2026 04:58 pm![[staff profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user_staff.png){kind=small}
denise posting in ![[site community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/comm_staff.png){kind=small}
dw_advocacyNow recruiting: DW users who would be interested in the possibility of helping us out in one of these legal challenges, now or future!
If you would be open to the idea of potentially filing something with a court talking about the ways that the restrictions that Dreamwidth would have to impose to comply with a specific state's law (commonly, obligations like age verification via document scan or biometric verification, treating users as though they're underage until/unless they age-verify, etc) would have a chilling effect on your online activity and speech, and especially if you're a parent who would also be willing to explain to a court all the ways in which a specific state's law would interfere with or burden your parenting decisions: we're looking to assemble a list of people we can contact in the future if necessary.
If this sounds like you, please leave a comment with what state you currently live in. (Also, commenting is not a commitment, just you saying that you would be okay with us reaching out to you and seeing whether you were available/able to help.) I'm currently most interested in hearing from people from South Carolina, but the ubiquity of these laws being proposed means any state could be the next. All comments are screened so nobody but us can see them.
(Obligatory risk considerations: you would have to file under your wallet/government name, and there's a chance of having to associate your wallet name with your DW username to at least the court and to the state, if not publicly. If this could be a problem for you, don't risk it! But if you're willing and able, us being able to show the court a sworn statement from one of our users about the effects the mandated changes would have on you could be very helpful.)
EDIT: Also I forgot to explicitly specify, this is for US folks! We do not unfortunately have the ability to get involved with anything outside the US.
Got insincere flattery?
Feb. 21st, 2026 02:52 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
firecat“But I had an epiphany. You know what all this sycophancy constantly being told you’re right, that you’re brilliant, that every decision is flawless? That sounds an awful lot like being a billionaire.”
[sic - perhaps the grammatical error is to show the writer is not an AI]
"The Secret Tool AI Uses to Seduce You: Explained," by Taya Graham and Stephen Janis
I use AI to get answers to simple questions and I hate when the bot addresses me personally. I hate it possibly to an irrational degree. (Even when someone else shares with me an AI convo they had, I get mad.) Do you use AI for anything and what do you think of this design choice?
[sic - perhaps the grammatical error is to show the writer is not an AI]
"The Secret Tool AI Uses to Seduce You: Explained," by Taya Graham and Stephen Janis
I use AI to get answers to simple questions and I hate when the bot addresses me personally. I hate it possibly to an irrational degree. (Even when someone else shares with me an AI convo they had, I get mad.) Do you use AI for anything and what do you think of this design choice?
The Wounded Name fic
Feb. 15th, 2026 12:00 pmsanguinitycandyheartsex has revealed, and I have received a delightful gift!In Which Laurent Rises to the Occasion
The Wounded Name -- D. K. Broster
Laurent/Aymar, Amyar/Avoye
Canon divergence, Pre-Poly
Aymar despairs of clearing his name and leaves France, leaving only a letter behind.
Laurent is so delightfully himself, burning with passion for all the things! For Aymar! To clear Aymar's name! To tenderly care for him! And also to straighten out this mess where Aymar is determined to throw himself on his sword for Avoye's sake, without first consulting with Avoye about whether she even wants that! (If there is one thing that Laurent has learned from his association with Aymar, it is the frustration of having a lover throw himself on his sword for you without asking first! NOT THAT THIS FLEETINGLY CRITICAL THOUGHT MEANS HE LOVES AYMAR ANY THE LESS!!!!!!!)
I have strong suspicions as to who wrote the story (*casts a meaningfgul glance in
luzula's direction*), especially given the central theme that maybe you should ask your girlfriend what she wants before making a grand life-altering gesture in her name. (A genre of story that luzula excels at!) But I shall refrain from offering official thanks until after reveals. (But please know I enjoyed it very much!)
*Horse* by Pulitzer winner Geraldine Brooks
Feb. 14th, 2026 04:02 pmselkiI'll be leading a library Zoom on this historical fiction on Thursday night. I'm 70% of the way done and have liked it a whole lot so far.
Discussion prompts
Discussion prompts
- This book mixes horse racing, racism of the 1850s and 2022, art history, and Smithsonian backstage life. Did the mixture work for you? Did you have a strong preference for some parts of the story versus others?
- What did you think of the different narrative viewpoints (1850s groom/trainer, 1850s artist/writer, 2022 art historian, 2022 lab-runner / bone articulator, 1950s art collector, others)? Were all the voices convincing?
- What did you think of the parallels in the relationships between Jarret and Mary, and Theo and Jess?
- Have you read anything else by Geraldine Brooks? How did this compare?
- What did you think of the endings for the various characters/timelines?
References and other discussion guides (dozens more discussion prompts)
Oh man, it's a local HONK and I'll miss it
Feb. 13th, 2026 10:39 amvvalkyriI dearly hope it is actually worth it.
The whole phone thing has been impossible and I screwed up moving phones and maybe what's wrong is I used the wrong google account comma but I don't have my apps back and I don't know if my message history and I can't get into facebook unless I can get into an authenticator on my old phone , and at this point I can barely get into the old phone at all.
And then i'm probably going to lose a nearly two years streak on finch.
Anyway comma
I'm so very tired period
And I'm so tired of my leg being a problem and I went and did a massage this yesterday and it was good for a little bit, but same problem with waking up with it, middle of the night. And i'm worried about sharing a bed for the next several nights.
The whole phone thing has been impossible and I screwed up moving phones and maybe what's wrong is I used the wrong google account comma but I don't have my apps back and I don't know if my message history and I can't get into facebook unless I can get into an authenticator on my old phone , and at this point I can barely get into the old phone at all.
And then i'm probably going to lose a nearly two years streak on finch.
Anyway comma
FYI for people in DC - a fun last minute music/activist event tonight at Lamont Plaza in Mt Pleasant, 5:45 - 8 pm.
The Minneapolis band Brass Solidarity is in town as part of a larger delegation from MN demanding the end of ICE in their communities (and all communities). The DC Activist Street Band has invited them to come out and play together, in support of our neighbors from city to city and state to state.
Brass Solidarity is an incredible group and expect this will be a great time. Some video of them from IG: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DTeWR5CDETW/?
I'm so very tired period
And I'm so tired of my leg being a problem and I went and did a massage this yesterday and it was good for a little bit, but same problem with waking up with it, middle of the night. And i'm worried about sharing a bed for the next several nights.
Discord age verification
Feb. 13th, 2026 02:40 amfirecatI guess Discord is going to start requiring users to prove they are over a certain age if they want to access certain content.
I mainly use Discord to keep connected to fanfic fandom, most of which has certain content. And I definitely am not going to upload my ID.
Does this affect you? If so, what are you going to do when it goes into effect?
I mainly use Discord to keep connected to fanfic fandom, most of which has certain content. And I definitely am not going to upload my ID.
Does this affect you? If so, what are you going to do when it goes into effect?
The Last Hour Between Worlds
Feb. 12th, 2026 11:30 amboxofdelightsAs always, the first thing that hit me was the smell of thousands of herbs and flowers, a dry, green, enticing smell that got into my lungs and soothed the world away, mortal peril forgotten. A warm light bathed the place, shining from several living octopus-like creatures tangled in the ceiling beams. Rows and rows of hundreds of little tins and jars lined the walls, all of them labeled in Laemura's spidery handwriting: Apple Mint Innocence. Lavender Regret. Smoky Cinnamon Vengeance. Doomed Foreknowledge With Toasted Walnut And Sage.
from The Last Hour Between Worlds, by Melissa Caruso
Been a minute
Feb. 11th, 2026 10:41 pmkiyaRegalia
It used to be
People
Put on names
And a suit of clothes,
And were known.
The unknown god
Takes up his staff,
Puts on his beard,
His signs of power,
And when so garbed can say,
"And now you know me."
What raiment is mine,
What tools,
What adornments,
That will make me known?
I know not.
Footnotes on this one are: conversations about names on bsky, the lecture I went to tonight on queer/trans experience in the American colonies, a passage quoted in Daily Life of the Egyptian Gods, and
graydon's comments about how gender is the means of signaling what sort of improv one is doing....
force is machine
Feb. 10th, 2026 10:47 pmthe_siobhanDear Father, it has been a month since my last confession.
I am so tired, y'all. I've been working overtime for the past three weeks trying to stash some money away for the inevitable basement bullshit and it's been exhausting. (You wouldn't think a job that requires sitting at a desk would be tiring, but I feel like somebody threw sand in my eyes by the end of the day.)
Permit-wrangler is still trying to find an engineer. Apparently the problem is that I can't just dig a hole and have an engineer look at it and yes the foundations are good, they have to figure out how to reverse-engineer whatever was done to create new drawings - and that's going to be expensive regardless.
I sicc'd permit-wrangler on the engineer who got the original permits. "Tell him if he helps me out I might leave him out of the lawsuit."
***
I looked out my window this morning and there was a huge raptor in the trees behind my house. Couldn't get a clear enough view to make a guess at what it was but at least twice the size of the red-tail hawks I normally see back there.
I reiterated to the venerable Lord Brock that no, he is not going outside no matter how much he bonks his head on the window. (He is enormously offended by the squirrels.)
***
Last time I visited my dad I took my laptop over and started quizzing him about family. His memory is shot, but he does remember incidents from his childhood. What's hilarious is that he remembers the kids who pissed him off - I suggested one possible connection and he was all, "Oh yeah, Joey, he visited from the States. What a little prick."
He also remembered the aunt who baked cookies and the heavy-drinking aunt who was a huge bruiser and all the men were afraid of her. So if they left an impression he had me stories about them, even if he doesn't remember how they're related to him.
***
Somebody here was talking about how Skip The Dishes made up a new address for them, and it reminded me that I had the exact experience last time I ordered from them. The system sent the driver to an address a couple of blocks away and I only caught it because I got the ping that the order was five minutes away and when I looked at the map I didn't recognize the streets.
Calling their customer service did nothing because the driver was already showing as "arrived". But as soon as I hung up I got a call from the driver because the address they had given him was a park, so I was able to redirect him and get my food after all.
***
We have reached the part of the winter where I start to worry that I have run out of places to put snow. My yard is maybe five feet square and the snow is already piled up in a pyramid.
I keep wanting to go out with a hose and ice it up and build an igloo or something.
I am so tired, y'all. I've been working overtime for the past three weeks trying to stash some money away for the inevitable basement bullshit and it's been exhausting. (You wouldn't think a job that requires sitting at a desk would be tiring, but I feel like somebody threw sand in my eyes by the end of the day.)
Permit-wrangler is still trying to find an engineer. Apparently the problem is that I can't just dig a hole and have an engineer look at it and yes the foundations are good, they have to figure out how to reverse-engineer whatever was done to create new drawings - and that's going to be expensive regardless.
I sicc'd permit-wrangler on the engineer who got the original permits. "Tell him if he helps me out I might leave him out of the lawsuit."
***
I looked out my window this morning and there was a huge raptor in the trees behind my house. Couldn't get a clear enough view to make a guess at what it was but at least twice the size of the red-tail hawks I normally see back there.
I reiterated to the venerable Lord Brock that no, he is not going outside no matter how much he bonks his head on the window. (He is enormously offended by the squirrels.)
***
Last time I visited my dad I took my laptop over and started quizzing him about family. His memory is shot, but he does remember incidents from his childhood. What's hilarious is that he remembers the kids who pissed him off - I suggested one possible connection and he was all, "Oh yeah, Joey, he visited from the States. What a little prick."
He also remembered the aunt who baked cookies and the heavy-drinking aunt who was a huge bruiser and all the men were afraid of her. So if they left an impression he had me stories about them, even if he doesn't remember how they're related to him.
***
Somebody here was talking about how Skip The Dishes made up a new address for them, and it reminded me that I had the exact experience last time I ordered from them. The system sent the driver to an address a couple of blocks away and I only caught it because I got the ping that the order was five minutes away and when I looked at the map I didn't recognize the streets.
Calling their customer service did nothing because the driver was already showing as "arrived". But as soon as I hung up I got a call from the driver because the address they had given him was a park, so I was able to redirect him and get my food after all.
***
We have reached the part of the winter where I start to worry that I have run out of places to put snow. My yard is maybe five feet square and the snow is already piled up in a pyramid.
I keep wanting to go out with a hose and ice it up and build an igloo or something.
Crosspost. Phones and legs and Jews against ICE
Feb. 10th, 2026 06:58 pmvvalkyriWell I just posted this over on FB:
The Jewish thing I'm referring to is This group of Jewish groups who plan an anti ICE protest. TBH there's a bunch I'm not familiar with, along with a bunch of local synagogues I am familiar with, along with only one or two groups I'd usually not want to deal with, and so far as I can tell, NOT the one group I'd say fuck no to.
I'm impressed by the webpage's clear "ok it might be cold (it actually won't be), and it'll suck to park becauase of the snow, and here are songs to listen to ahead of time, and here are sign suggestions and good things to bring or wear and please don't bring flags."
I hate that there's a couple chats I'd ordinarily signalboost local stuff to but it feels fraught.
I also initially shared the fb post from T'ruah, but then decided that was a rabbit hole of right wingers, although some of the comments were a good reminder of how lonely it is as a Jew in a lot of progressive spaces where once upon a time we helped with so many causes. I read recently that a good half of the non-Black freedom riders were Jews.
Anyway. Tired, and I don't know why. Not sure what's going on with the rest of my night. And I don't know how I'm ever going to get anything set up for the weekend, either. I need to at least know what I want.
In other news, enjoyed going out to Volt's for Superbowl and then staying up entirely too late but a lot of talking. And it's been fascinating reading more about the various cultural references in the show. (This particular article doesn't mention that was a real wedding he'd been invited to but couldn't attend because Superbowl.)
In still other news, Discord plans to start enforcing age verification by requiring pictures or IDs. Urg.
One thing about FB deciding I'm a "digital creator" is I get to see how many times it has served something and to how many people.
I'm saddened by how low those numbers are for my post about the Jewish event tomorrow compared to those for other posts, although I guess I should compare against other screencap posts which it's probably smart enough to understand aren't the same as other pictures.
At this point the conflict I thought I had turns out to be WAY earlier in the morning (like requiring getting out of the house a couple hours earlier than I've lately been waking) so maybe I can get there, but then there's the whole "it would be so nice if my ankle and TA weren't mad, to the point of waking me mad." And I have a pretty on my feet planned weekend coming up. But I guess it's also reasonably warm tomorrow, warm enough I could grab a bike. Tho I'd probably be wearing my skirt with the stars on.
I got out to Best Buy today and have a low end phone it seems I could transfer my life over to. Of course the advice I got AFTER buying something with a $45 restock fee has me far more comfortable with doing that factory reset on my own current phone, now that I understand how transfers and backups work a little better. Bleh. Still kinda want some handholding.
I also was at costco and am amused by all the preserved duck eggs and indeed things like quail eggs (which Lynn mentioned and they're $5something rather than $8 so I bought a pack.) I tried one a few minutes ago. Tasty, but with each of the 54 quail eggs in the pack being individually wrapped it's an appalling amount of packaging. THAT said, though, it's pretty portable. Which reminds me maybe I should hardboil some eggs ahead of the weekend.
There was also a sample of a protein and sugar free cinnamon toast crunch like cereal which I was tempted to buy but decided I would fail miserably at portion control.
Yesterday my leg wasn't bothering me during the day and I hadn't taken any aleve. Today it is and I have. Feh.
I would add some pics but they were sent to me over SMS and, well, there's a reason I just bought a backup phone. Maybe I'll add some later. But if I can't get both phones behaving at the same time then moving things over will become difficult.
I should go load the dishwasher. Or pack. Or something.
I also should contemplate where I'm willing to post about tomorrow's thing, because too many places seem likely to invite harrassment :(
The Jewish thing I'm referring to is This group of Jewish groups who plan an anti ICE protest. TBH there's a bunch I'm not familiar with, along with a bunch of local synagogues I am familiar with, along with only one or two groups I'd usually not want to deal with, and so far as I can tell, NOT the one group I'd say fuck no to.
I'm impressed by the webpage's clear "ok it might be cold (it actually won't be), and it'll suck to park becauase of the snow, and here are songs to listen to ahead of time, and here are sign suggestions and good things to bring or wear and please don't bring flags."
I hate that there's a couple chats I'd ordinarily signalboost local stuff to but it feels fraught.
I also initially shared the fb post from T'ruah, but then decided that was a rabbit hole of right wingers, although some of the comments were a good reminder of how lonely it is as a Jew in a lot of progressive spaces where once upon a time we helped with so many causes. I read recently that a good half of the non-Black freedom riders were Jews.
Anyway. Tired, and I don't know why. Not sure what's going on with the rest of my night. And I don't know how I'm ever going to get anything set up for the weekend, either. I need to at least know what I want.
In other news, enjoyed going out to Volt's for Superbowl and then staying up entirely too late but a lot of talking. And it's been fascinating reading more about the various cultural references in the show. (This particular article doesn't mention that was a real wedding he'd been invited to but couldn't attend because Superbowl.)
In still other news, Discord plans to start enforcing age verification by requiring pictures or IDs. Urg.
(no subject)
Feb. 10th, 2026 10:12 amsanguinity![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
unsent_letters_exchange is running again this year, hurrah! Nominations open next week, Feb 18. Anyone up for playing with me?I'll post more about this later when my listing is live, but I took the plunge and signed up to offer fic for the 2026 Fandom Trumps Hate charity auction. Because shit is rough out there right now.
My current fandoms are small enough that it was a little bit of a conundrum about what to offer, but I went with:
Broster novels, Hornblower, and Vorkosigan Saga.
Fingers crossed!
For a couple of years now, I've been reading The Flight of the Heron to
phoenixfalls over chat. We started at a sentence a day, mostly because she had gotten an idea in her head that there's a tragedy at the end and she wanted to ease into that slowly, idk. Sadly, one sentence a day was a miserable way to go through all the lyrical scenic exposition at the beginning; it was like wandering lost in a nightmare dreamscape with no way out. Also, it was really hard to build any kind of narrative continuity. I did what I could by posting multi-day recaps before each new sentence, but progress was still glacial.Consequently, it wasn't too long before we decided on two to three sentences a day, with an option for four if I asked nicely first. (Always granted, for she is a gracious person.) That has gone much better.
It's been a lot of fun. It's a lovely excuse to say hello to Phoenix every day, and the novel bears up well to close reading. It's also encouraged me to look up all the things I gloss over at speed, which has had some interesting surprises. (When BCP suggests that letting Ewen accompany them to Lady Easterhall's will bring the party to four and make them a partie carrée, he is making a dirty joke! That they will be a perfect foursome, two men and two women! I imagine them all side-eyeing each other, trying to figure out who the women are supposed to be. “As your Highness pleases, of course,” said O’Sullivan stiffly.) There's also been a lot of time to spin pet theories and get attached to minor characters. (Saunders, Lady Easterhall's servant with the cough, is a favorite.) I've also been able to introduce her to relevant fic as we went, which has also been an opportunity for me to revisit them, too.
Since we've been very consistent, only taking a break when I was in Japan, we have been making good progress. As of this weekend, I can report a milestone: we have just now completed Part II! Hurrah us!
With the move to Part III, Phoenix is anticipating a tonal shift and thus has authorised a whole paragraph a day. (With two or even three paragraphs authorized in dialogue sections!) So we will be cruising along, and finish in... well, it will still be years. But not as many years!
On to Part III! Hurt/comfort, here we come!
Duck, politics incoming
Feb. 10th, 2026 05:37 amfirecatThis article boils down to “we told you so.” But I like how it explains why the mainstream media dismissed and downplayed what we told you (because their “how to do journalism” rules demand it, e.g.: “Insist on a both-sides structure even when one side is lying“).
“The Media Malpractice That Sent America Tumbling Into Trumpism” by Parker Molloy
https://newrepublic.com/article/205913/media-malpractice-trumpism-project-2025
“The Media Malpractice That Sent America Tumbling Into Trumpism” by Parker Molloy
https://newrepublic.com/article/205913/media-malpractice-trumpism-project-2025
