phoenix | Reading

I had a very restful week off, but then started sleeping appallingly so I've been exhausted since I went back to work! I would have taken a nap yesterday if only I hadn't been in the office.

I used to cycle to work reasonably regularly, but my flat is at a local high point and all routes to work involve enormous hills in both directions, and I never even tried. So pedal assist ebikes sounded like a good idea, but they're expensive enough that I wanted to give it a go before considering buying one. Work started a loan scheme, so I signed up for it a little while back, and my turn came at the start of last week. Unfortunately only two weeks rather than the month I was hoping for, but I thought I'd give it a go.

( minor cycling exploits )

Overall I really liked the pedal assist; it just makes the work less difficult, you start struggling on a slope and turn it on and the hill gets magically less steep. I was still doing plenty of work, but it made the hard bits much more achievable. And I did only use it for a relatively small percentage of the time. In fact, I'm wondering if I should just get out my old bike and try using that, replacing the pedal assist with walking the steep bits! Maybe it's not as bad as I was thinking it was.

( pros and cons )

So I don't know how I feel. Ebikes are expensive - the one I was riding retails for around £1800 - and it would be a big investment. But I did enjoy it, and I think I should probably try getting out on my own regular bike more often for a while and see how that goes. I'll need to drag it in to the bike shop at work for a service, though, it's been in the garage for several years...

^* no I mean like I dumped my t-shirt on the top of the chest of drawers and when I put it back on to go out an hour or so later, the wood was damp to the touch. Not sure I have ever sweated that much into a single garment

julian

I have tried to have a colonoscopy for months, but I kept rescheduling it because a) things kept coming up, mostly with my parents, and b) I didn't want to. This was also true of my glasses appointment, which I have far less reason to be worried about, really, but was like, "It will take up time I don't have!" So does everything, me.

I finally said, "No, no cancellations, darn it," around both of them, and saw my new glasses people on Friday. They're nice people, it's a good office near my work, my prescription has changed minorly but not hugely and I am tired of bifocals, and want progressives back. (I lost my former progressives in the move. Luckily I had also gotten the low-cost bifocals that they give you on MassHealth, last time, so I had the backup.) But! Now I will get progressives back in 2-3 weeks.

I then had my colonoscopy Monday at Emerson in Concord.

( Cut for length and not very gross grossery. )

Upshot is, one small non-cancerous polyp and the diverticulosis pocket, which has apparently still never gotten inflamed, avert. So now I'm back on the 5 year plan rather than the 3 year plan, hosanna.

oursin

Today partner and I became civil-partnered in the eyes of the state.

While I tried to organise this in as low-key a way as possible - gosh, people do seem to want to fancify it even if they are doing it in one of the Town Hall venues, let alone in one of the other designated places - it still required a certain amount of faff and angst.

No readings, no personally composed vows, no music, etc.

(Also no pets. Apparently you can have pets at your ceremony, at least in some of the venues.)

(I am honestly not sure whether interpretative dance is ever involved.)

We did have to have two witnesses, so my sister and brother-in-law came up to Town (these days it is a very trouble-free and direct train journey) and we booked a table for lunch at Ottolenghi Upper Street.

Also booked a minicab to get us there - I was a little twitchy about this after my misadventure with the ill-omened Taxiapp, which now appears to be defunct, but found what seems a very eligible online minicab booking service, which turned up most expeditious, almost too much so as I had not yet put on my shoes.

Ottolenghi was less busy than I thought it might be (maybe people get takeaway from the deli counter and lunch al desko?). The food is still lovely.

Had time for a little perambulation around Islington, and then back to Town Hall, where we had a short pre-ceremony interview to check our details before the ceremony. Apparently one does not need to provide mother's maiden name these days? Genealogical shock-horror.

We decided not to go for the Really Basic Option whereby the couple just sign the form, and did do the minimalist ceremony taking one another as Civil Partners.

Do not really feel very different.

On what I wore: a shirt with a neckline that would suitably accommodate the necklace in the icon: the elephant motif pendant and beads were from a necklace that my father brought back from India after the war to my mother, which had fallen apart, made up into a new one by elisem with garnets when I was at Wiscon, 2010.

oursin

Happy birthday,

coughingbear and

kerk_hiraeth!

conuly

Watch on YouTube

******

( Read more... )

maru_feed

Posted by mugumogu

https://sisinmaru.com/2026/07/21/%e3%82%b7%e3%83%b3%e3%82%af%e3%83%ad%e3%80%82sync/

https://sisinmaru.com/?p=34182

デッキにチェアを並べて出したら、はなにもみりにも大好評！はなは、こういうのがお好きなのはわかっていましたが、みりもこうしてまったりし過ごすなんて、お姉さんになりましたね。 When I placed the chai […]

https://sisinmaru.com/2026/07/21/%e3%82%b7%e3%83%b3%e3%82%af%e3%83%ad%e3%80%82sync/

https://sisinmaru.com/?p=34182

conuly

I lied, trusting you knew
I could not lie to you.
Beloved friend, I lied and am forgiven; but I
Cannot forgive that you believed my lie.

*******************

Link

helloladies posting in

ladybusiness

Sidetracks is a collaborative project featuring various essays, videos, reviews, or other Internet content that we want to share. All past and current links for the Sidetracks project can be found in our Sidetracks tag. You can also support Sidetracks and our other work on Patreon.

( Read more... )

oursin

23 years since I signed up to LJ! which is now crickets and tumbleweeds, pretty much, but has led to Dreamwidth and friends past and present and also dispersed in various other places these days.

*Serves virtual drinks and snacks*

oursin

I took a punt on a crime novel that the mysteries reviewer of the Literary Review seemed very keen about.

And not only did it fall into that category we were recently discussing, of mysteries/crime novels/thrillers, where one suspects the writers would really like to just be writing a novel about these people/this community/this setting but these days you can't do that, you have to have a body in there somewhere and some detection going on -

It was way clunky.

I was shocked! shocked! to see that it is traditionally published by a firm which has, or used to have, a significant reputation (Faber & Faber), because clearly they are not doing much on the editorial side these days -

Even the very pro-the-book reviewer mentioned pointed out that there is a massive and absolutely basic blooper about property law which has significance to the plot, such as the plot is, which one would have thought would have got picked up by a competent editor on first reading the ms, let alone with a decent copy-edit. This was not the only blooper, some of which may be charitably attributed to that thing which one has observed too much since word-processors became a thing, spell-check says it's spelt correctly. It does not pick up that it's the wrong bloody word in context.

Okay, it is apparently no 4 in a series and maybe this has built up enough cred that readers will take for granted that Our Detective is a cop, because I found the procedural details a little vague and misty, but that may be due to having misspent significant parts of my young years reading procedurals?

I don't read a lot of modern cosy-ish crime - because this struck me as really fairly cosy - but is viewpoint-hoping within scenes now A Thing? - i.e. we start in what appears to be standard tight third person, and then suddenly we have viewpoint of Other Person in the scene and then flip back. Maybe I am a fuddy traditionalist who thinks you sticks with the viewpoint you came in with.

Possibly there is a hope that the sequence will get took up and made into a TV series as actors might well flesh out the rather flat characters....

I am the more annoyed as the reviewer put me onto Sally Smith, so this was a particular disappointment.

mystical_journey posting in

style_system

Hi, I am looking to add my layout main star background on my icon page. I have searched and tried different CSS codes but nothing works. I know nothing of S2 and really stumped how I can achieve this preferably using CSS.

My journal theme is Silent Night by nornoriel. And I would like to keep that. I have seen other journals with the background animated graphic on the icon page but I don't know if that is customization by CSS/S2 or included in the journal layout.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you in advance.

Current Mood: confused

earthandspirit posting in

addme

Name: Well, i mean here it's earthandspirit, which isn't super catchy. Maybe terraspiritus? idk

Age: very old. I was blogging on LJ before the Russians took over

I mostly post about:mental health, random thoughts - to be honest I haven't posted in a while

My hobbies are:video games (vintage story, hytale, valheim, coral island etc), theology, Irish language/history, tarot, virtual worlds and other things, depending on my mood

My fandoms are:Hannibal, Supernatural, Heated Rivalry, Doctor Who, Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood, Hello Kitty

I'm looking to meet people who:are just real people who write about things they enjoy, are more than just their opinions, aren't swayed by just taglines and instead would rather learn about the hot topics than just react to them.

My posting schedule tends to be: sporadic AF

When I add people, my dealbreakers are:anti LGBTQ+, narrow minded right-wingers, antisemitism, antichristian/antireligion (not a dealbreaker as much as I just know we wouldn't mesh well)

Before adding me, you should know: I'm Canadian, she/her, raised Jewish, but practicing Christian (liberal, progressive, non-toxic), trying to be a follower of St. Francis , because he wasn't about church, or dogma, he just wanted to live what he thought was a good life. I am also a member of a few different Druid orders, 2nd Degree Gardnerian (no longer practicing), was previously poly but now in a monogamous relationship, still raising kids, and I have multiple rescue animals. non-drinker, ADHD diagnosed, currently estrogen deficient and sometimes very cranky XD

midnight_heavenly_bodies posting in

addme

Name: C.K. (Chameleon, Lyko, or Ylva if you would like)

Age: 36, nearly 37, growing old mandatory, growing up optional

I mostly post about: Culture Club/Boy George & Jon Moss (my hyperfixation of 22 years and counting), a-ha, Linkin Park, my OCs who are realer to me than most people, witchcraft/spirit work/folk healing/moon rituals/grief magic, retro gaming, emotional overshares that read like journal entries from a possessed poet, fanfiction that makes people unwell at 2am, chaos, and the occasional Reddit food rabbit hole

My hobbies are: Writing fic that's 70% emotional breakdown, 20% worldbuilding, and 10% people getting railed in a meaningful way, hexing cults with sigils and sass, collecting music like a religion, drawing OCs, being a haunted glitter goblin with eyeliner and vengeance, building 48-year fanfiction universes with fully documented timelines and named children, going to work like a normal person and coming home a completely different entity. I'm currently contemplating doing a vlog on youtube.

My fandoms are: Culture Club (I'm writing a massive AU called Colour By Numbers spanning 1978-2026), a-ha, Linkin Park (Bennoda forever)

I'm looking for people who: are too weird for Reddit, too raw for Instagram, too smart for Twitter/X, overshare about their OCs like a religion, cry over character development, understand that Jon Moss deserved better, write long posts, and don't find it weird that I've named all the children in my fictional universe including the surprise baby

My posting schedule: Erratic. Sometimes a lot. Sometimes I vanish for months and return with an entire AU timeline and a new OC

Dealbreakers: Racism, ableism, transphobia, homophobia, antisemitism, being a dick, Scientology apologists, anyone who thinks Mike Shinoda is evil because of an Instagram reel, "isn't wrestling fake?", "you still like Linkin Park?", and anti-Zionists/anti-Israel people.

Before adding me: I'm a Norse Pagan. Autistic and ADHD. I write mpreg unapologetically. I am a Zionist and tired of explaining what that actually means. Pro-AI. I smoke weed. I am extremely defensive of Jon Moss and will write essays about it. My AO3 is CampCornette69 and yes that's a wrestling reference. If you want an even more in-depth about me, click this link for my about post.

Current Music: The Sun Always Shines on TV - a-ha

wychwood

I keep seeing this new advertising campaign that seems like the worst "product looking to create its own market" I've ever seen. The billboards say:

"Low testosterone doesn't care how big your biceps are"
"Low testosterone doesn't care how much chest hair you have"
"Low testosterone doesn't care how manly you are"
"Low testosterone doesn't care how much you can lift"

And like... I'm just there looking at it, wondering why I'm supposed to care about low testosterone if it apparently doesn't have any negative impacts on my life or the things I associate testosterone with?!?

(I mean, obviously I personally don't care about having low testosterone, not least because my androgens are actually unusually high for a woman)

(but the theoretical I of the audience)

I don't know, maybe there really is some serious side-effect of low testosterone that people might care about, but this campaign just looks to me like it's saying WORRY ABOUT YOUR GENDER PRESENTATION! GIVE US MONEY!

Between that and the news stories about the US military introducing mandatory testosterone testing and free testosterone supplements, I'm feeling like there's some sort of masculinity crisis being invented right in front of me, it's so strange to watch.

violateraindrop posting in

iconic

001-014 Heated Rivalry
015-038 Star Wars (Original Trilogy, Prequel Trilogy, Sequel Trilogy, Rogue One, The Mandalorian and Grogu, Andor, Ashoka, Skeleton Crew)

Here at

iwillnotdance

oursin

There was still a substantial amount of cornbread left, so no bread made.

Friday night supper: penne with bottled artichoke hearts in oil + chopped red bell pepper sauteed in some of the oil.

Saturday breakfast rolls: adaptable soft roll recipe, Marriage's Golden Wholegrain Bread Flour, maple syrup, raisins - turned out a little stodgy, I think using up the bag of flour because it was just past its best before may have made the proportions a bit off.

Today's lunch: kedgeree with smoked cod, served with padron peppers and baby pak choi stirfried with star anise.

ofearthandstars

One of my goals for the week was to read some poetry, and in addition to paging through Devotions, I had some lovely poetry delivered directly to my inbox. I feel like poetry is almost always worth sharing.

Sea leaves, Mary Oliver

The Wild Geese, Wendell Berry.

Please Use AI, Shawn Smucker (IG carousel, 7 images).

conuly

Just another freak weather event, nothing to worry about!

siderea

Here at Casa Sibyllea, we're using a few online tools to navigate The Smog.

Most useful so far has been https://firesmoke.ca/forecasts/current which is an animated map of the continent that shows an hourly prediction of where the smoke will actually be when for the next day or two. We've been using this to time when to open up the windows to get fresh air. This has the advantage of not being American and thus not being subject to the vicissitudes of the US federal government.

Also modestly helpful has been Google Maps, which has a view for air quality and a separate view specific for wildfires. These are under the "Layers" tool (position depends on the platform you're using), and you might have to click the "More" option. Here's screenshots the desktop (Mac + Firefox) and Android app UIs with the Layers tools indicated. They are not predictive, they only show the present or recent past (which is unclear – these would be much more helpful if they had datetime information attached, so the user could tell how fresh it was). In air quality view, you have to click a specific location to get an actual air quality number. Widefire view also shows the rough perimeters of smoke clouds.

Over on https://fire.airnow.gov, you can see a map that has regional textual forecasts and alerts, like a weather report for smoke, and dots that correspond to actual air quality sensors, so you can see where precisely the data is coming from near you. The dots are color-coded to how bad the air quality they are reporting is, so you can see at a glance how the whole map is; when you click on a sensor location, it gives you that sensor's (presumably current) particulate reading (PM2.5), a trend indicator, and a little graph of recent readings. Down in the right lower corner, it tells you how recently the page was refreshed, which is a good thing, but that's not the same as how recently the sensors updated. (I have my own domestic sensor hardware, and have become very aware that the online data they share is not necessarily very fresh; today my air filter started alerting, but the linked app didn't show there was an issue until a half hour later.) I just recently checked this out, so I don't know how useful it will be for me, but looks promising.

AccuWeather, like firesmoke.ca, has an animated forecast map. I can't figure out how to nagivate to it directly in AccuWeather for a specific location – the "air quality" tab only has static images. I found Boston's by Google searching "smoke map today" and letting it geolocate me. You can start there and navigate to wherever. It seems to cover much but not all of North America; it goes as far north as Saskatoon, and it's not clear how far south it goes. This is also new to me, but looks very promising because it's specifically a map of "near surface smoke", as opposed to merely satellite-visible smoke plumes. Intriguingly, it seems to be reporting something other than just particulate matter: it's units are "µg/m3" which it describes as "micrograms of gaseous pollutant per cubic meter of ambient air".

ETA: h/t

graydon, this fascinating mashup map at earth.nullschool.net, configured to show "Wind @ Surface + Sulfate Extinction (Aerosol Optical Thickness, 550 nm)". Not sure what "sulfate extinction" means here, but the info shows it refers in some sense to SO4, sulfate ions. Nullschool Earth's main page says, "a visualization of global weather conditions
forecast by supercomputers
updated every three hours".

magnavox_23 posting in

iconic

20 Stargate SG-1 icons from 1x05 The Broca Divide

Check out the rest here. <3

oursin

The transnational journey of Madras Curry reveals several intertwined histories, especially the complex interaction between colonialism and caste.:

Although curry appeared in English coffee houses as early as 1733, it became widespread only in the mid-19th century. The taste for “Oriental” food reflected a growing Western cosmopolitanism, initially confined to elite circles but later spreading more widely.
Historian Nupur Chaudhuri notes that memsahibs “were a major force in nurturing this newly acquired culinary taste.” But the culinary knowledge that sustained it came largely from lower-caste cooks, whose contribution has largely faded from view. Colonialism, however, helped global communities acquire a taste for what had once been dismissed as “pariah food”.

***

Pocket-sized Power: A feminist history of portrait miniatures: online exhibition.

***

I daresay we've all heard about Lord Byron keeping a bear in his college rooms, but really, he was totally an amateur compared to Frank Buckland:

Tiglath Pileser was a young bear. A pet that Buckland kept in his college rooms on Fell’s Buildings along with a menagerie of other exotic animals, snakes, marmots, chameleons and the like. A scientist with a fascination for the weird, Frank also possessed two beer drinking monkeys called Jacko and Judy, a jackal with a blood curdling scream and an eagle that regularly crashed the cathedral’s morning matins.

The whole family sound like eccentricity-maxxing, no?

***

Grosvenor Square reopens as biodiverse city haven:

One of central London's oldest and most famous public spaces is set to reopen on Monday following an "extraordinary transformation" that's been a year in the making.
The new-look Grosvenor Square boasts more than 150,000 new plants chosen to withstand rising urban temperatures, alongside 40 new trees, two new wetland areas, a café kiosk and 300 extra seats.

***

And more on biodiversity: Cambridge & Oxford join forces to unlock over a million biological records:

The University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford have announced a major new partnership to digitise over 1.1 million natural history specimens, creating a step-change in how researchers and conservationists access vital biodiversity data.
The project is part of DiSSCo UK (Distributed System of Scientific Collections UK) – a £155 million national programme to digitise and connect the UK's natural science collections.
Together, the universities steward over 12 million specimens – the largest natural science collection in the UK outside London and Edinburgh. Over the next two years, they will establish the Central England DiSSCo UK hub, a strategic network supporting 23 museums and herbaria to prepare their collections for a digital future. The project aims to contribute 1,195,419 specimen records to the national dataset using cutting-edge technologies, including high-throughput imaging and AI.

oursin

Happy birthday,

sciarra!

forestofglory

There's so many comics in the world, some times I feel overwhelmed by all the things out there I want to read. (I just put in a bunch more library holds, opps) I also finally manged to finish the first case of The Truth!

Monster Locker by Jorge Aguirre, Andrés Vera Martínez— A middle grade contemporary fantasy graphic novel about a kid who finds a monster summoning portal in his locker on the first day of middle school. Cute and fun with a lot of quirky characters. I especially liked Abuela! It was also good to see monsters based on Aztec mythology – not something I see very often.

Absolute Martian Manhunter, Vol. 1: Martian Vision by Deniz Camp, Javier Rodriguez, et al.— My first foray into the Absolute universe. I've been reluctant to try it because the Absolute Universe seems aimed at people who like their comics grim and gritty and that's not me. But burins talked about this in their Eisner reading post and said it was “a love letter to cities” and I've been thinking about how cities are portrayed in comics a lot recently (a hazard of having an urban planning degree is that I think about the built environment a lot).

I’m not familiar with the original version of Martian Manhunter so I didn’t really know what to expect, but I also think this is pretty different anyways. This is about an FBI agent who has symbiotic relationship with an alien being and starts developing mind reading powers. Except that makes it sound boring but its not it weird and trippy, but is weird and trippy. The art really contributed to the tripyness here – with psychedelic colors representing people’s thoughts, and varying levels of abstraction to reflect what’s going on.

I see why burins said it's a love letter to cities! The city in this comic feels lived and diverse (it's mentioned several times that a lot of immigrants live there). But the comic doesn't shy away from the bleaker aspects of cities like homelessness and prejudice.
CN: mass shooting, animal death

The Truth Season 4, case one— I really enjoyed the last season of this silly reality TV show that’s kinda a cross between a murder mystery dinner party and an escape room. This year I seem to have lost my ability to watch TV by myself so even though this season is pretty good have had to make an effort to actually watch it.

Anyways, it's pretty good. Not everyone was able to come back for this season and the group dynamic is a bit different, but still fun. I thought seeing the preview pictures that I wouldn’t like this years costumes as much as last years, but seeing these costumes in action and getting to look the the details more has caused the to really grow on me (plus there are some wuxia inspired costumes for a latter case that look amazing)

Batman: Wayne Family Adventures, ep26-101 by C.R.C. Payne, StarBite, et al—So these do work better for me in short doses, as evidenced by the fact that I have read a lot of episodes now. I still think they are a little shallow but they are also fluffy and fun. There are some multi-part episodes that have a bit more depth, but they are still too tidy.

Also it's interesting how differently paced these are on the screen where you see one panel at a time and have to scroll a bit between panels and on the page where it's been condensed.

The Spectre(2001), issues 1-9 by J. M. DeMatteis, Ryan Shook et al— This was one of the things recced to me as result of my superhero comics rec list I’ve been reading it slowly one issues a day most days. It’s a nice contemplative pace.

The premise is that Hal Jordan, formally a Green Lantern, and then some kind of evil villain called Paralax, has now been reincarnated as The Spectre, a mystical being who is supposed to punish the wicked. It’s very Christian, there’s like God, and Hell and angels and stuff, but it questions the righteousness of this setup. It’s a slow and thoughtful comic. I spent some time thinking about if I agree with it or not, but it's not really reaching conclusions, so much as exploring possibilities. I'm finding it a good story to think with.

The art is really unique and has a touch of art nouveau, but is also kinda creepy in places. I like it and it's a good fit for the story!
Content Notes: suicide, parental death

watersword

As I have mentioned previously, I am working my way through Patrick O'Brien's Aubreyad and have finished #19, The Hundred Days.

( cut for spoilers )

How dare you, sir.

ofearthandstars

From this week's

thefridayfive:

1. Books or movies?
Booooooks! Library books, used bookstore/thriftshop books, books from Little Free Libraries, e-books, bookshop.org books that support independent stores, free reads, I will take it all. And then pretend I have a three-story library with swirling staircase and rolling ladders, instead of several overstuffed/stacked shelves/boxes/drawers, etc.

2. Indoors or outdoors?
Outdoors, almost always, though currently it appears Outside is preparing for a family visit from Satan and his demon children.

3. Morning person or night owl?
Night owl coerced by capitalism into being a morning person, and with a grudge about it.

4. Online messaging or physical letters?
My handwriting is too terrible to inflict on others for physical letters, but I love the concept. I hate online messaging and have disabled all social media in-app messaging (except here, where it arrives more like an email), but confess I also miss chatting with long-time LJ pals through ICQ/AIM back in the day.

5. Dragons or unicorns?
Why can't it be both?! My childhood self was Team Unicorn all the way. My adult self is embracing the inner Dragon. Horns AND flames is superior armor.

conuly

Yay! Now time to head outside and -

oh. Air quality is even worse than yesterday. Nevermind then.

*********************************

( Read more... )

oursin

As my dearios know, I have spent quite a lot of time pursuing and correcting popular factoids about The Victorianz.

And I continue to polish and update my webpages on this as and when I come across further info, somebody else does pertinent research, etc.

Today, I was browsing Kobo's New and Recommended and there was a Pop Sex History Book by somebody I have some passing acquaintance with because I was interviewed for their podcast some while ago. It was (misleadingly) priced as a deal (but apparently it is still at full price) so I clicked on it because sometimes I am prepared to pay 99p for something I would not pay much more for, and looked at the preview.

Where it mentions that longstanding canard about the Victorian mothers' advice to their girlies apropos of the wedding night, 'just close your eyes and think of England'. I chased this down to its (if even accurately cited, which is dubious) Edwardian, or even later, origin, and some further dubious attributions. Work gives the details that I dug up but no citation.

Okay, it is pophist and one does not expect footnoting but what is wrong with mentioning Other Historian's name and maybe their website?

(Of course, maybe it was just scraped by AI....)

wickedgame posting in

iconic

Fandoms: 9-1-1, Addicted, Bad Together, Baywatch, Boo Bitch, Bridgerton, Charmed, Cobra Kai, Derry Girls, DOC - Nelle Tue Mani, Dune: Prophecy, Free!, Legend of the Seeker, Neumatt, Once Upon a Time, One Piece, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, The Handmaid's Tale, Twinkling Watermelon, XO Kitty

you can find the rest HERE @

mundodefieras

oursin

Happy birthday,

flandevainilla and

snippy!

conuly

The regal eagle sits alone
upon a tree that serves as throne.
But sometimes when the eagle flies
(though this might come as some surprise)
a mob of crows may—wing to wing—
together drive away that king.
Democracy in beak and claw
finds regal eagle's fatal flaw.
And is that legal? I don't know.
You'll have to ask a mobster crow.

**********

Link

conuly

and a bunch of you were like "no, that's not a thing" and I was like "I can prove it, just as soon as I see it again on film"? Well, I've barely watched any TV or anything since then, but I've now come across two clips. In each one, it's about thirty seconds in.

We've got Rose in The Golden Girls (or the spinoff, whatever), and we've also got Nathanial in Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. Now, if you're going to say that the second doesn't count, as it's from a song in a musical, I do hear you. I just don't agree - I think that portion is clearly less-choreographed as a song-and-dance and more intended to look like natural speech. I'm not arguing that point with anybody either. You don't need to agree with me. That's why I posted two clips. More will come if and as I see them.

*********************************************

( Read more... )

ysabetwordsmith posting in

followfriday

Got any Follow Friday-related posts to share this week? Comment here with the link(s).

Here's the plan: every Friday, let's recommend some people and/or communities to follow on Dreamwidth. That's it. No complicated rules, no "pass this on to 7.328 friends or your cat will die".

Current Mood: busy

marycatelli posting in

books

Gentlemen of Uncertain Fortune: How Younger Sons Made Their Way in Jane Austen's England by Rory Muir

How would the Bennet brothers have fared if they had been five boys instead of five girls?

Discusses the financial realities of Regency Britain, and the downward mobility of the children not the oldest son. One of Jane Austen's brothers married the granddaughter of a duke.

( Read more... )