- The RIDICULOUS Discord bubblewrap meme. (Uses spoilertext. Goes pop.)
- Lurked resentfully AND GOT MY FAVOURITE RACK OUT OF THE DEAL this morning.
- Squatting felt pretty good! That certainly felt like the best form I can remember maintaining at that weight.
- Sneaky 100lb bench press single Just Because after my actual working weight sets (I am currently slowly working back up to 1kg lighter than that in an attempt to sort my wrist out; it seems to be working so far).
- I have managed to wash my hair for the first time in [mumble] (I think possibly sixish weeks?). Cleen.
- The Child drew me a pumpkin!
- Went on a bit of an amble this evening. Tried incline press-ups at a much smaller angle than I have previously. It....... worked? I'm.......... stronger?????
- Oh right I managed to make Acceptable protein-enriched hot chocolate. It was a faff but I did it.
- Post-therapy treat: more apple crumb cake. At this point I start to see what Deb's getting at with the sour cream but I think I do nonetheless prefer the ridiculous shortcrust.
- Amazing dramatic sunset while driving to visit The Child, with bonus singing along to Vienna Teng. V pleasant.
- Ridiculously #aesthetic bread achieved this morning. It did not puddle. I am perplexed and delighted.
On one level I don't have much to say about the Jewish festival season this year. I'm getting to the point where I'm pretty good at running even complex services without much angst. But at the same time I do want to record this experience, and this year was different again like every year is different.
( A full month )
So, I've made it to Cheshvan, the blessed month of no festivals at all. College is going well, I love my teachers and my fellow students, including a truly delightful new intake. I will be quite glad of a half term break the week after next, though.
( A full month )
So, I've made it to Cheshvan, the blessed month of no festivals at all. College is going well, I love my teachers and my fellow students, including a truly delightful new intake. I will be quite glad of a half term break the week after next, though.
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but we managed to spend some of this evening taking a look through a chunk of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year gallery on the NHM's website. Favourite so far: this very resigned chameleon. My second favourite so far is probably this sexy mushroom.
My other achievements have included "digging out my slippers", "reading two and a bit magazines from charities I support", and "getting some bread ready to be baked" (though I think I've neglected it enough it's going to be a bit of a puddle, alas).
I have still not perfected whey protein hot chocolate but I think today's effort constitutes a cautious step toward Adequacy. My fancy organic frou-frou vanilla milkshakes have been very pleasant during the summer but given that I have this thermal protein shaker and given that gym routine is "finish indoors, hasten outside, REMOVE MASK, prop myself up by the bike stands Consuming Protein" I would definitely like the option of Warm Protein during colder weather. (Today's failure was at least a standard failure of making hot chocolate full stop, instead of the unique horror that is getting whey powder too hot, but it didn't achieve better than "lukewarm". So. More experiments tomorrow, maybe.)
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solarbird Oct. 13th, 2026 10:12 pm)
solarbird Oct. 13th, 2026 10:12 pm)...and call for Elon Musk to help them bomb Ukraine.
Russian domestic propagandists were in full preening mode following Shitstain's betrayal of the west and his call for Zelenskyy's removal in favour of someone who will surrender to Russia. They talk extensively about all the money they expect to see rolling in to fund their war effort, and talk effusively about how this will enable them to impose their will on not just Ukraine but Europe all the way to Great Britain.
They also note the fascist Elon Musk's agreement with Shitstain and his call for Zelenskyy's removal, and ask him to let them use Starlink for military targeting again.
Donald Trump is, as he has always been, a Russian asset, and a traitor. And if somehow he actually is not, then he is no better than one, because:
Russian domestic propagandists were in full preening mode following Shitstain's betrayal of the west and his call for Zelenskyy's removal in favour of someone who will surrender to Russia. They talk extensively about all the money they expect to see rolling in to fund their war effort, and talk effusively about how this will enable them to impose their will on not just Ukraine but Europe all the way to Great Britain.
They also note the fascist Elon Musk's agreement with Shitstain and his call for Zelenskyy's removal, and ask him to let them use Starlink for military targeting again.
Donald Trump is, as he has always been, a Russian asset, and a traitor. And if somehow he actually is not, then he is no better than one, because:
Posted via Solarbird{y|z|yz}, Collected.
- Today in gym: for my second warm-up set, still Romanian deadlifts because the plates I had on the bar weren't big enough for full ROM (well. ignoring the hypermobility. WHICH for these purposes I AM), my hamstrings deigned to join the party. Did not manage to replicate this sensation of Actual Hamstring Activation at higher weights, but... proof of concept! (It's only been, what, six months...?)
- next apple crumb cake recipe: baked. Alas timings such that we are not having it for pudding because it's bedtime, but Deb does say it's better if you leave it to sit and think about things overnight, so...
- Yesterday I managed to acquire more flour, and also feed the breadpet. This evening there is bread sat in the fridge to be baked tomorrow.
- Yesterday I made three days' worth of enchiladas. Today dinner was approximately 0 work. Thank you Past Alex.
- Gently pootling along with hobbies: have managed to pick the current cookbook indexing back up, and have pretty much convinced myself that the current mending project won't be sufficient for Polite Company but will be plenty adequate for e.g. gardening and being in a field, which was fundamentally The Goal. Sufficient to motivate me to actually finish the final patch? WATCH THIS SPACE.
Courtesy Seattle Bike Blog, King County announced a 100% closure with NO POSTED DETOUR on the Sammamish River Trail from 143rd to 145th on October 13th. They hope it will only be for a couple of hours, but could be multiple days.
This is an extremely difficult place to pull this kind of trick, as that’s not just along the river but private property farmland, and the few roads nearby are also under construction.
So here’s my route:
If you’re going all the way to Redmond from the north or to Woodinville from the south, I would take Redmond Central Connector and Eastrail, transferring over over to/from Sammamish River via the connector trail on the north side of 145th.
That adds some distance but it’s near-zero car interaction and both RCC and Eastrail are fine routes. Yes, Eastrail is gravel, but it’s hardpack gravel and no more difficult to ride than asphalt. Seriously: it’s fine.
Naturally, I have prepared a map:
Posted via Solarbird{y|z|yz}, Collected.
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Pick a thing or two that sums up how you're doing today, this week, in general, and tell me about it in the 5-7-5 syllables of a haiku.
=
Signal-boosting much appreciated!
=
Signal-boosting much appreciated!
Reading. Reread Spinning Silver (Naomi Novik) because I was having a specific craving for specifically that.
Started (?) True North, Gavin Francis, whose Adventures in Human Being I greatly enjoyed a few years ago.
Watching. We have had another episode of Farscape. It was... another episode of Farscape.
I was sort of in the room for approximately the first half of WALL-E on Saturday, but I was really not paying attention to it...
Also!!! The 2026 Small World in Motion gallery!!! LARVAL JELLYFISH in WATER DROPLETS. SEA SLUG that POOTLE. Highly recommended.
Playing. At home: we have completed our Creaks replay including Getting All The Damn Pictures.
Away: I have now played Betrayal at Baldur's Gate™ and Betrayal at House on the Hill, in that order, both for the first time. There was... some slapstick. This was also my first exposure (other than osmosis) to Baldur's Gate...
Cooking. Apfelstreuselkuchen! We have almost finished it, which means it's almost time for the next recipe variant. I thiiink that's the only exciting thing I've cooked this week.
Exploring. Brief walk along a section of the River Roding. :)
Making & mending. SECOND TEST PATCH OF TROUSERS COMPLETE. Need to get my shears back out, cut down said patch to a more reasonable size, and sew down its edges; will then be down to one (1) remaining patch before establishing whether I have Achieved Wearability.
Also made a pompom for the Child, who burst his balloon and was thus in need of something soft enough that he could throw it indoors...
Observing. Cormorant! Along aforementioned River Roding.
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Until 15 minutes ago, I had never heard the name "Lotka–Volterra equations", even though the model showed up in one of my high school science classes, and then again in an internship I did as an engineering undergrad in a department in a field in which the equations are (Wikipedia tells me) particularly important. Surprisingly for this kind of erasure of credit in science, neither Lotka nor Volterra were women.
So I'm curious how widespread this bit of science terminology is. Thus, a poll:
So I'm curious how widespread this bit of science terminology is. Thus, a poll:
Poll #35160 Pop quiz: the Lotka–Volterra equations
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: Just the Poll Creator, participants: 106
No looking the answer up! Have you heard of "the Lotka–Volterra equations" (or "the Lotka–Volterra model") by name?
Yes, and if I ever somehow forget what they are, I can refer to the handy tattoo I got of them on an easily examined part of my body.
0 (0.0%)
Yes, I know the equations off the top of my head.
2 (1.9%)
Yes, I know what they are and are for, even if I don't immediately recall how the specific equations go.
6 (5.7%)
Maaaaaaaybe? I think so but would have to look it up to be sure.
5 (4.7%)
No, never heard of them.
74 (69.8%)
I cheated and looked them up, and I absolutely knew about those, but I had never knew they had a name.
16 (15.1%)
I cheated and looked them up, and I recognize the equations mathematically, but I never knew they had a name or that they had that practical application.
2 (1.9%)
I cheated and looked them up, and I thought I knew what they were, but I was wrong, I was confusing them with something else.
0 (0.0%)
Other, I will explain in the comments
1 (0.9%)
Remember the premature giraffe calf?
Yeah, so, she's now three months old, and robust enough that yesterday she got to join the rest of the herd at the wildlife park where she's a resident (video on FB, sorry).
So my extremely awesome Bible prof has been setting us the most delightful assignments! The first was read a book, which as I guessed did turn out to be a springboard to discuss how you read, what are the ethical implications of reading, how to engage with book metadata like author, genre, title, date etc.
Now we are working on the somewhat obscure Biblical book Ecclesiastes / Kohelet. If non Bible nerds have heard of it at all it's probably either the opening
( Ecclesiastes 1:1-11 )
( Theological autobiography in the form of a Dadaist cut-up ) Our final assignment for this block is "come prepared to discuss the meaning of life", in conjunction with studying Existentialist approaches to Ecclesiastes. So that should be fun.
Now we are working on the somewhat obscure Biblical book Ecclesiastes / Kohelet. If non Bible nerds have heard of it at all it's probably either the opening
Vanity of vanitiesor the poem in chapter 3
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven / A time to be born and a time to die. One assignment was to listen to the Pete Seeger song based on that poem, Turn, turn, turn. Another was to translate the opening 11 verses of the book, and the third was to write a theological autobiography in the style of the book, extra credit for doing so in Biblical Hebrew. I am reasonably proud of the two prose-poems I came up with for those assignments, so I'm putting them here.
( Ecclesiastes 1:1-11 )
( Theological autobiography in the form of a Dadaist cut-up ) Our final assignment for this block is "come prepared to discuss the meaning of life", in conjunction with studying Existentialist approaches to Ecclesiastes. So that should be fun.
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I have managed, today, to settle down with my notebook and my pens and substantially catch up with some of the things I want to record, and it's been lovely, actually. When, this evening, one of said pens disappeared under the sofa; A kindly did some grim rummaging to help me retrieve it (it was initially very much within my reach but in attempting to get hold of it I instead pinged it very much out of my reach...)
On Wednesday last week, A brought me home some Apfelstreuselkuchen from Vienna, and a cold; a week later I still have no cold, and ate about two thirds of the Apfelstreuselkuchen while A wasn't looking, which turned out to be an error in that they turn out to actually really like the stuff. So, given I'd brought home somewhere over 25kg of apples, I promised to make some; this evening's attempt isn't qui-i-ite right but is still extremely tasty and went very well with my fancy hot chocolate. Next we'll be trying the smitten kitchen version.
Today at the gym I Picked Up A Thing at a number of sets & reps that I have successfully managed in the past but failed last week, and it wasn't easy but it did go. I am feeling cheerful about being able to nudge it up on Sunday (and maybe match my personal best?).
Brain is permitting me to reread a book I have previously enjoyed, after a long enough gap that most of the details and several of the protagonists are surprising to me.
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denise posting in ![[site community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/comm_staff.png)
dw_maintenance Oct. 6th, 2026 01:37 am)
denise posting in dw_maintenance Oct. 6th, 2026 01:37 am)It's only been... okay, I don't want to think how long.
We are preparing to take the beta update page and the beta inbox out of beta with the next code release. We don't have an exact date yet, but this is your last chance to tell us about problems!
To enable the beta versions: go to Beta Features and enable the "new Create Entries" beta test for the new update page and the "New Inbox Page" for the, well, new inbox page.
If this is your first time using the beta update page: nearly everything on it can be adjusted, moved, or removed to some degree. The upper right side of the update form has a " ⚙️ Rearrange Panels" link.
Not every panel is enabled by default! If you don't see something you're used to finding, look in the disabled panels. While in Rearrange mode, you can enable or disable panels, drag them to whatever position you want, and generally customize it to your heart's content.
Once we push the button and switch to the new update and inbox pages for everyone, we cannot keep the old ones available. We are so close to finishing the decade-long "get rid of the undocumented custom templating language from 1996 that no one else uses" modernization project that's been sapping our collective will to live that we can taste it, and we can't convert the old update page and the updated inbox page is the converted version. This is your last chance to alert us of problems. If you let us know after the switch goes live, we'll still fix it, but we can't guarantee how fast. Prevent future problems and test drive them now!
Reading. Finished: Finding the Mother Tree, Suzanne Simard. Memoir containing a whole lot of first-person perspective on the last fifty years or so of forest ecology; I found her tendency to short sentence fragments hard going but am v glad to have read this, and learned a bunch about how trees connect to & communicate with each other.
Small progress on EYB indexing for Divine, and reading a tiny bit more of the introductory everything of Medlars.
Writing. I am definitely at the point where I am wailing and gnashing my teeth about how to organise the biology/anatomy section, and grimly wishing to have spent, ooh, the last fifteen years practising anatomical illustration.
Watching. More Farscape. Finished the three-parter in season 2. Extremely A Farscape Episodes.
Playing. We finished getting the achievements for Tukoni: Forest Keeper, and have started a replay of Creaks.
Cooking. ... I sort of feel like there wasn't much of note this week. Is that true? Is that fair? Probably not! This evening definitely included making a batch of the self-saucing passion fruit pudding, which is pleasing.
Eating. VIENNESE PATISSERIE. A brought me: Apfelstreuselkuchen; Apfel-Mohn-Torte; Topfenstrudel; and a pair of things that sadly got extremely squidged but were nonetheless tasty, and were once upon a time a Holländer and a Maronikipferl. Also: the British strawberries continue; more of my mother's excellent beans and tomatoes; APPLES.
Exploring. Took the all-roads-and-minimal-canal-paths cycle route to visit The Child on Tuesday, and slightly to my astonishment it worked and was fine! I apparently did enough getting lost that Garmin thought it was a slightly longer journey than the detour via the reservoirs plus More Canal Path, and who am I to argue.
Making & mending. I have Properly Started patch #2 on Test Trousers #1. This is the largest; I still need to decide what I think I'm doing once I've finished blanket-stitching the edges of the largest hole...
Growing. Kohlrabi are coming up! Squash are squashing! Oca are looking much more cheerful for having had significantly more rain! Trinidad Perfume (heatless yellow habanero) is flowering; the next batch of apples I dehydrate are going to also contain a shelf of ancho chillis, about which I am Excited.
Observing. The bat. :)
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