Birdfeeding

Dec. 15th, 2025 01:42 pm
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[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Today is sunny and cold, but less frigid than yesterday.  It got down to 8 below last night.

I fed the birds.  I've seen a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches.  I put out a new block of peanut suet.

I put out water for the birds.











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Monday Update 12-15-25

Dec. 15th, 2025 12:03 am
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[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
These are some posts from the later part of last week in case you missed them:
Recipe: "Butternut Squash Soup with Apples and Onions"
Food
Birdfeeding
Safety
Today's Cooking
Science
Birdfeeding
Economics
Philosophical Questions: Humans
Water
Birdfeeding
Early Humans
Follow Friday 12-12-25: Labyrinth
Today's Adventures
Birdfeeding
Today's Cooking
Sustainability
Family Skills
History
Poem: "Koinophobia"
Poem: "Nementia"
Politics
Birdfeeding
Good News

Trauma has 46 comments. Affordable Housing has 77 comments. Robotics has 118 comments.


The 2025 Holiday Poetry Sale will run Monday, December 15 through Friday 19. This is a good place to spend holiday money or buy a gift for a fellow bookworm. \o/


Winterfaire 2025 is now open! List a Booth for anything you sell that would make good holiday gifts, or comment with what you're shopping for to crowdsource ideas. There are links to two similar shopping events online. if you know others, please pass the word.


"An Inkling of Things to Come" belongs to Polychrome: Shiv. It needs $72 to be complete. Shiv and his classmates discuss magical weather, magical geography, natural resources, plants and animals, history, and other aspects of worldbuilding.


The weather has been cold and snowy here. Seen at the birdfeeders this week: a large mixed flock of sparrows and house finches, at least one female and four male cardinals, several mourning doves, and a wren.
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Today I made this soup, based on a similar recipe from Stock the Crock page 24. I wanted to write down my version so I don't forget it.

Read more... )

Safety

Dec. 14th, 2025 05:20 pm
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[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Scientists Thought Parkinson’s Was in Our Genes. It Might Be in the Water

New ideas about chronic illness could revolutionize treatment, if we take the research seriously.

All told, more than half of Parkinson’s research dollars in the past two decades have flowed toward genetics.
But Parkinson’s rates in the US have doubled in the past 30 years. And studies suggest they will climb another 15 to 35 percent in each coming decade. This is not how an inherited genetic disease is supposed to behave.
Despite the avalanche of funding, the latest research suggests that only 10 to 15 percent of Parkinson’s cases can be fully explained by genetics. The other three-quarters are, functionally, a mystery.
[---8<---]
Parkinson’s, it appeared, could be caused by a chemical.

Food

Dec. 14th, 2025 02:29 pm
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[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Scientists find dark chocolate ingredient that slows aging

Scientists have uncovered a surprising link between dark chocolate and slower aging. A natural cocoa compound called theobromine was found in higher levels among people who appeared biologically younger than their real age.


Well, that's good news! :D Watch for clinical-grade chocolate with a high level of cocoa solids (dark or the higher end of milk), preferably organic and environmentally friendly. Enjoy a recipe:

Dark Chocolate Brownies with Raspberry Spread



Human Rights

Dec. 14th, 2025 02:17 pm
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[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Three-year-old child forced to serve as her own attorney in Tucson immigration court

The child, barely old enough to talk, was one of 25 immigrant children forced to fight removal efforts by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) at the Pima County immigration courthouse in Tucson on Nov. 24.


This article highlights numerous abuses and other problems.

Read more... )

Birdfeeding

Dec. 14th, 2025 02:08 pm
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[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Today is mostly sunny and quite frigid.  It snowed copiously yesterday, wiping out our plans to visit a holiday market. :(

I fed the birds.  I've seen a large mixed flock of sparrows and house finches plus at least one mourning dove.  The windows are frosted so much that it's hard to identify them. 

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 12/14/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 12/14/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 12/14/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

I've seen two male and one female cardinal.  At one point, the sparrows were trying to fit 7-8 birds on an edge of the hopper feeder with room for maybe 4-5 if they weren't fighting.  So it's actually beyond four-bird-cold today!

As it is getting dark, I am done for the night.

Safety

Dec. 13th, 2025 11:08 pm
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[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
One Critical Factor Predicts Longevity Better Than Diet or Exercise, Study Says

They then factored in other variables that can affect life expectancy, including physical inactivity, employment status, and educational level. The association between insufficient sleep and lower life expectancy still held. Only smoking had a stronger link.


Good, adequate sleep is a survival need. Modern society often sabotages it.

However, this study suggests that banking sleep on weekends can mitigate the effects of lost sleep during the week.  I used to do that in school, and people said it didn't work, but it certainly helped my energy level.  It may be a trick that some but not all bodies can do.




Today's Cooking

Dec. 13th, 2025 11:03 pm
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[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Today's plan to visit a holiday market got wiped out by copious snow. Again. :( So I'm drowning our sorrows in a batch of Dark Chocolate Brownies with Raspberry Spread.

Science

Dec. 13th, 2025 02:00 pm
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[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Human brains light up for chimp voices in a way no one expected

Humans may carry ancient neural traces that let us recognize the voices of our primate cousins.

Humans don’t just recognize each other’s voices—our brains also light up for the calls of chimpanzees, hinting at ancient communication roots shared with our closest primate relatives. Researchers found a specialized region in the auditory cortex that reacts distinctly to chimp vocalizations, but not to those of bonobos or macaques, revealing an unexpected mix of evolutionary and acoustic influences.

Birdfeeding

Dec. 13th, 2025 01:51 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Today is cloudy and cold with copious snow.  This has wiped out our plans to visit a holiday market.  :(

I fed the birds.  I've seen a large mixed flock of sparrows and house finches, at least one female and four male cardinals, a mourning dove, and a tiny wren clinging to the bathroom window as it probed the edges for hibernating insects.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 12/13/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 12/13/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 12/13/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

As it is getting dark, I am done for the night.

Economics

Dec. 13th, 2025 12:15 am
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[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Ground Zero: Los Angeles and the Endgame of the Growth Ponzi Scheme

Los Angeles didn’t mismanage its way into crisis. It built its way here.


I disagree. If a city does not track all of its liabilities, such as the maintenance costs of roads and utilities, that is mismanagement. You can't run a budget when you don't know where your money is going. That ought to be obvious.

Read more... )

Philosophical Questions: Humans

Dec. 13th, 2025 12:06 am
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[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
People have expressed interest in deep topics, so this list focuses on philosophical questions.

Is the human tendency to create groups an overall positive or a negative trait in terms of general human flourishing?

Necessary. Insofar as we know, Homo like most primates is a troop animal, evolved to live in groups rather than alone. Individuals may choose to live alone, but it is much more difficult. Of course, humans can choose to create groups that are themselves positive or negative in structure and behavior, but that's a personal choice.


(no subject)

Dec. 12th, 2025 06:34 pm
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[personal profile] comet_scout posting in [community profile] addme

Me:

Comet, or Ju, 27, Brazilian, but I only post in English.

I mostly post about:

I like posting about things I may be into at the moment, like a game I played or something I’ve found interesting, and some basic thoughts about them. Mostly I have been logging in my Solo TTRPG plays, my Doronai Nui adventures mainly. Sometimes a post about real life, but not much. The plan is to just blog about anything I feel like sharing.

My hobbies are:

I play video games, I solo TTRPGs, I draw, I drabble, some fandoming, and some light toy collecting. Want to read more.

My fandoms are:

My main fandoms are Bionicle (G1) and Transformers (G1, Beast Wars, Skybound, Prime, and some IDW), I also like No Man’s sky, and have been getting into The Dark Crystal. And a little bit of many things. I have been playing a lot of Vintage Story.

My posting schedule tends to be:

Sporadic. I’ve made an effort to post more frequently, but it’s more interesting when I actually have something that has been on my mind.

I'm looking to meet people who:

Post similar things or may like similar things. I’m not around all the time, and I’m a bit quiet, so I don’t mind people who are similar.

Water

Dec. 12th, 2025 04:20 pm
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[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Scientists find hidden rainfall pattern that could reshape farming

Where rain comes from may decide the future stability of global food production.

New research shows that crops are far more vulnerable when too much rainfall originates from land rather than the ocean. Land-sourced moisture leads to weaker, less reliable rainfall, heightening drought risk. The U.S. Midwest and East Africa are particularly exposed due to soil drying and deforestation. Protecting forests and improving land management could help stabilize rainfall and crop yields.



Allow me to point out that the Midwest used to have copious fencerows of trees and bushes, more pocket forests, and more farmhouse yards. People cut down most of those to clear a few more acres of farmland. The results have been poor across multiple areas including wildlife losses, soil erosion, worsening winds with less interruption, and of course the aforementioned droughts.

Birdfeeding

Dec. 12th, 2025 03:18 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Today is partly cloudy and chilly. Yesterday it snowed.

I fed the birds. I've seen a few sparrows and house finches.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 12/12/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 12/12/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 12/12/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 12/12/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

As it is getting dark, I am done for the night.
luzribeiro: (Dog)
[personal profile] luzribeiro posting in [community profile] talkpolitics
What do east coast people call each other?


Read more... )

Early Humans

Dec. 12th, 2025 01:54 am
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[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
'It is the most exciting discovery in my 40-year career': Archaeologists uncover evidence that Neanderthals made fire 400,000 years ago in England

Neanderthals were the world's first innovators of fire technology, tiny specks of evidence in England suggest. Flecks of pyrite found at a more than 400,000-year-old archaeological site in Suffolk, in eastern England, push back archaeologists' evidence for controlled fire-making and suggest that key human brain developments began far earlier than previously thought.


It's exciting to see such concrete evidence.

Follow Friday 12-12-25: Labyrinth

Dec. 12th, 2025 12:55 am
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[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Today's theme is Labyrinth.


[community profile] comicsfanfiction  -- Comics Fanfiction
The community for posting any fanfiction, ANY RATING IS ALLOWED, based on COMICS including webcomics or graphic novels. One main place to find all those stories that we all want. Comic fandoms that were originally from another medium (show, book, movie, etc) - for example Gargoyles, Star Wars or Star Trek - and has a comic series line (miniseries or not) are allowed here, but only if you focus on the comics-based information.
[Active with multiple posts in December.]

[community profile] crossovers  -- Crossover fiction from across the universe!
Crossover fan fiction.
[Active with multiple posts in November.]

[community profile] fandom_fanvids  -- A Collection of Fanvids from different Fandoms
[Active with one post in November.]

[community profile] labyfic  -- In Search of New Dreams: A Labyrinth Fan Community
Labyrinth movie community: fanfiction, fan art, & discussion.
[Active with multiple posts in December.]

Today's Adventures

Dec. 11th, 2025 11:01 pm
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[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Today we went up to Danville.

Read more... )
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