Affordable Housing

Feb. 23rd, 2026 11:00 pm
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[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
The Paperwork Problem Behind the Housing Shortage

In more and more places, the rules technically allow incremental housing. Backyard cottages, accessory dwelling units, and small infill homes are legal on paper; beautiful, glossy images of these homes are shared on city websites and included in planning documents. Yet these homes rarely get built—not because of public opposition or failed rezonings, but because routine procedures treat small homes like major developments.

What we have is not a failure of vision, but one of process.


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(no subject)

Feb. 23rd, 2026 11:35 pm
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[personal profile] hera
"I will come up with a great and intricate means of shaving that ensures there is no razor burn, or irritating regrowth, or anything else," I said, and then proceeded to give myself the worst razorburn of my life. Truly no one else in the wold has ever suffered as much as I suffer, on the daily, and especially right now. ESPECIALLY RIGHT FUCKING NOWWW.

20k impromptu lesbian vampire story was not what I anticipated writing this month, but I guess it's the current obsession. This has been born of reading a whole shit ton of books, manga / comics / manwha, and even fucking scripts, and realising: oh, I don't like 90% of shit, if I want to read something I'll enjoy, I just have to sit down and write it.

Tedious, but whatever, I'm making it work. We'll see if I squick out of writing a sex scene that feels narratively and thematically important to have. The answer is "probably", haha. Acknowledging that sex is frequently a fairly important part of many people's life and psychology is one thing. Writing it and trying to figure out how to make sure the narrative is focused on what is important in the scene, while still acknowledging what is happening in the scene, is an entirely different thing. I can probably do it. I almost believe in myself..!

Today's Adventures

Feb. 23rd, 2026 08:05 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Today we went up to Champaign-Urbana to celebrate Black History Month by visiting black-owned establishments, along with some other stops.

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Book 7 done

Feb. 23rd, 2026 02:48 pm
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[personal profile] fayanora
Apart from proofreading and related edits, book 7, "Vasanti Sultana and the Riddle of Hope," is done. It has 73 chapters, and 1067 pages.

And I also just found out that not only was compiling it in an ODM file the extremely aggravating way to do it, that caused me massive amounts of stress and frustration every time I added new chapters to it, but it was all a fucking POINTLESS WASTE OF FUCKING TIME because ODM files cannot be exported to Epub format; it gives me a weird error message whenever I try to do it. So the old way of doing things, where I just copy-pasted every chapter's text one after the other into one massive ODT file, was the right way to do it all along. FML. I will do that later. I ain't fucking with it right now.

Birdfeeding

Feb. 23rd, 2026 11:38 am
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Today is partly cloudy and cold.

I fed the birds.  I've seen a flock of sparrows.

I put out water for the birds.

I am done for the night.

Monday Update 2-23-26

Feb. 23rd, 2026 12:37 am
ysabetwordsmith: Artwork of the wordsmith typing. (typing)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
These are some posts from the later part of last week in case you missed them:
Poem: "The Struggle Against Overwhelming Odds"
Poem: "Embrace My Fate"
John Scheepers Kitchen Garden Seeds Order
Poem: "The Spectrum of Your Being"
Early Humans
Birdfeeding
Vocabulary: Bricolage
Today's Adventures
Science
Birdfeeding
Meteor Shower Calendar
Philosophical Questions: Life
Edible Landscaping Order
Meme
Photos: House Yard
Water
Birdfeeding
Books
Follow Friday 2-20-26: Active Communities on Dreamwidth Winter 2025-2026 A-I
Energy
Birdfeeding
Community Thursdays
Photos: Flowerbeds
Books
Birdfeeding
Hard Things

Safety has 49 comments. Food has 53 comments. Wildlife has 39 comments. Food has 67 comments. Robotics has 146 comments.


Last week's half-price sale in Not Quite Kansas went well. All sponsored poems have been posted, so you can find those via the title links on the sale page.


The 2026 Rose and Bay Awards are now open for excellence in crowdfunding. It's time to vote for your favorite projects!

The award period for eligible activities spans January 1-December 31, 2025.
The nomination period spans January 1-January 31, 2026.
The voting period spans February 1-February 28, 2026.

These are the handlers for the 2026 award season:
Art: [personal profile] gs_silva Nominate art! Vote for art!
Fiction: [personal profile] fuzzyred Nominate fiction! Vote for fiction!
Poetry: [personal profile] gs_silva Nominate poetry! Vote for poetry!
Webcomic: [personal profile] curiosity Nominate webcomics! Vote for webcomics!
Other Project: [personal profile] curiosity Nominate other projects! Vote for other projects!
Patron: [personal profile] fuzzyred Nominate patrons! Vote for patrons!

"The Struggle Against Overwhelming Odds" belongs to Not Quite Kansas and needs $34.50 to be complete. Raymond and Gideon get attacked on the way home from research.


The weather has been variable here. Seen at the birdfeeders this week: a large flock of sparrows, several starlings, one male and two female house finches, one female and two male cardinals, a mourning dove, and a fox squirrel. I flushed the great horned owl from the ritual meadow when I went out there. A skein of geese flew overhead, going north. Currently blooming: crocuses.
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
This poem is spillover from the October 2020 Creative Jam. It was inspired by a prompt from [personal profile] wyld_dandelyon. It also fills the "demons" square in my 10-1-20 card for the Fall Festival Bingo. This poem has been sponsored by a pool with [personal profile] fuzzyred. It belongs to the series Not Quite Kansas.

Warning: This poem contains intense and controversial topics. Highlight to read the more detailed warnings, some of which are spoilers. It includes feeling lost, an unprovoked attack, hellhounds, violence, gore, unexpected rescue, playing with prey, fatally injured opponents, minor injuries to main characters, awkward discussions, willing sacrifice, intimate magical healing, and other challenges. If these are sensitive issues for you, please consider your tastes and headspace before reading onward.

This microfunded poem is being posted one verse at a time, as donations come in to cover them. The rate is $0.25/line, so $5 will reveal 20 new lines, and so forth. There is a permanent donation button on my profile page, or you can contact me for other arrangements. You can also ask me about the number of lines per verse, if you want to fund a certain number of verses. So far sponsors include: [personal profile] fuzzyred,

355 lines, Buy It Now = $44.50
Amount donated = $10
Verses posted = 13 of 118

Amount remaining to fund fully = $34.50
Amount needed to fund next verse = $0.25
Amount needed to fund the verse after that = $0.75


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Poem: "Embrace My Fate"

Feb. 22nd, 2026 10:39 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
This poem is spillover from the October 6, 2020 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from [personal profile] librarygeek. It also fills the "How do you want to do this?" square in my 10-1-20 card for the Fall Festival Bingo. This poem has been sponsored by a pool with [personal profile] fuzzyred. It belongs to the series Not Quite Kansas.

Warning: This poem contains intense and controversial topics. Highlight to read the more detailed warnings, some of which are spoilers. It includes feeling lost, sorting through a lair acquired by combat, reference to past abuse, cursed artifacts, damned souls, worry, magical body modification, restraint for safety, awkward emotional discussions, and other challenges. If these are sensitive issues for you, please consider your tastes and headspace before reading onward.

Read more... )
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
I picked out what I wanted from John Scheepers Kitchen Garden Seeds. This catalog has the Safe Seed Pledge, meaning everything is non-GMO/toxin-free. My partner Doug further notes that they have the best, easiest ordering system of all the catalogs we use. Call up the Smart Order Form and when you key in the product number, the rest autofills, tells you if it's still in stock, and lists the price. \o/ Somegeek earned their coffee today!

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Poem: "The Spectrum of Your Being"

Feb. 22nd, 2026 05:51 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
This poem is spillover from the September 1, 2020 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from [personal profile] librarygeek. It also fills the "How do you want to do this?" square in my 9-1-20 card for the I Want Fries With That! Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by a pool with [personal profile] fuzzyred. It belongs to the series Not Quite Kansas.

Warning: This poem contains intense and controversial topics. Highlight to read the more detailed warnings, some of which are spoilers. It includes feeling lost, a headless chicken running around, a fight with bit character fatalities, moderate injuries to a main character, messy medical details, an imprisoned demon, torture, binding magic, demonic healing, and other challenges. If these are sensitive issues for you, please consider your tastes and headspace before reading onward.

Read more... )

Early Humans

Feb. 22nd, 2026 03:01 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Homo erectus fossils in East Asia rewrite the timeline of human migration

A new analysis dates three Homo erectus skulls from central China to about 1.77 million years ago, making them the oldest securely dated hominin fossils in eastern Asia.

That older age shifts the arrival of early humans in the region back by roughly 600,000 years and compresses the timeline of how quickly our ancestors spread across Eurasia.
[---8<---]
The same layer holds stone tools and animal remains, tying the skulls to a specific moment nearly 1.8 million years ago rather than the younger dates long cited.

Using My Neos: A Quick & Dirty Guide

Feb. 22nd, 2026 07:21 pm
bedes: Fanart of Click Clack from Great God Grove, talking and typing on their typewriter. (clickclack)
[personal profile] bedes
When I discuss queer topics in fandom spaces geared towards older folks, like Dreamwidth, a lot of people express that they would like to use my neopronouns, but they don't know how. So, I made this small run-down, for people who would like to learn. I will be using he/him as a base example for all of these.

Please keep in mind that, if you use any of these incorrectly, I won't be upset! I appreciate the effort itself deeply. And, if you prefer to use more well-known pronouns for me, you can use alternating he/she.

Fae/faer
Replace "he" with "fae". Replace "him" with "faer". Replace possessive-determiner "his" with "faer", and possessive pronoun "his" with "faers". Replace "himself" with "faerself".
"He is very passionate. I met him recently. Is that his computer? He told me that it was his. He prefers to do things by himself."
"Fae is very passionate. I met faer recently. Is that faer computer? Fae told me that it was faers. Fae prefers to do things by faerself."

That set is the most unique in its usage, because it is the only set that I use that is not "nounself" (a neopronoun set which centers around using a noun). All of the rest of my pronouns follow an extremely similar format to each other.

Continue? )

Birdfeeding

Feb. 22nd, 2026 01:23 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Today is cloudy and cold.

I fed the birds. I've seen a large flock of sparrows plus one female and two male cardinals separately.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 2/22/26 -- I planted 3 peonies 'Sorbet Mixed' under the apricot tree. The mix includes white, light pink, and dark pink. These cost $14.98, so about $5 a root. That's a great bargain for peonies, which average $20-30 each and catalogs and the high end is downright exorbitant. So if you want peonies, look for cheap ones at home or garden stores this time of year. Due to the unseasonal warmth, the ground here is unfrozen, so I was able to plant them immediately. \o/

EDIT 2/22/26 -- I labeled and mulched the new peonies.

I put out a fresh cake of peanut suet.

EDIT 2/22/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 2/22/26 -- I started the process of trimming dead stems from the wildflower garden, which is going to take a while.

EDIT 2/22/26 -- I did more trimming in the wildflower garden. I discovered a little wildflower putting up leaves, probably echinacea, possibly penstemon or something else.

EDIT 2/22/26 -- I did more trimming in the wildflower garden.

EDIT 2/22/26 -- We hauled in the potting mix bags from last night.

I've seen a fox squirrel in the forest garden.

EDIT 2/22/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

I am done for the night.

Doctor Visit

Feb. 17th, 2026 09:30 pm
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[personal profile] dreamdragon
Doctor came back for a quick visit! And came with River Song 👀 (holy shit). I know he has regenerated since I last saw him, but I keep seeing him in his last face (10th). Kinda like when Missy was talking about Doctor in a scene and she present the audience with the current face (12th) since they are all Doctor.

Which, I guess when Doctor didn’t see Clara any different when she grew old in the dream crab world, it makes sense now. It’s cool to experience that effect myself.

Anyways, others visibly see the Doctor’s new face (Crowley: “no longer stealing my face I see”)

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Vocabulary: Bricolage

Feb. 21st, 2026 10:28 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Sunday Word: Bricolage

bricolage [bree-kuh-lahzh, brik-uh-]

noun:
1 a construction made of whatever materials are at hand; something created from a variety of available things.
2 (in literature) a piece created from diverse resources.
3 (in art) a piece of makeshift handiwork.
4 the use of multiple, diverse research methods.


Definitely useful if you like upcycling.

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