Meme!

Oct. 26th, 2025 07:11 pm
shewhostaples: image of a crown with text 'heaven doesn't always make the right men kings' (king)
[personal profile] shewhostaples
Not that I have finished any fic for ages, but never mind that...

Rules: How many letters of the alphabet have you used for [starting] a fic title? One fic per line, 'A' and 'The' do not count for 'a' and 't'. Post your score out of 26 at the end, along with your total fic count.

A — All these weddings, all these years (Four Weddings and a Funeral, Matthew & Charles)
B — Between the Towers (Marieke - Jacques Brel, Narrator/Marieke)
C — Choosing a Tomorrow (Izetta: The Last Witch, Finé/Izetta)
D — dear employment (Romeo and Juliet, Romeo/Balthasar)
E — Educational Visit (Doctor Who, Thirteenth Doctor and fam)
F — False Scent (Doctor Who, Liz Shaw/Israel Watkins)
G — Grounded (Doctor Who, Liz Shaw & Third Doctor)
H — Home of Strife (I Capuleti e i Montecchi, Romeo/Giulietta)
I — Immortal Gifts (The Count of Monte Cristo/Romeo and Juliet, Eugénie & Lady Capulet)
J — Janus (The Lego Movie, Good Cop-Bad Cop)
K — Kissing the Scorpion (James Bond - Craig movies, James Bond/person whose identity is revealed during the course of the story, which is the kind of thing you can do in Little Black Dress)
L — Ladies of Esteem (Romeo and Juliet, Lady Montague/Lady Capulet)
M — measuring his affections by my own (Romeo and Juliet, unrequited Benvolio/Tybalt)
N — News from Verona (Romeo and Juliet, Benvolio & Romeo)
O — One of these days (The Comfortable Courtesan, Em/Lalage)
P — Partnership (Yuri!!! on Ice, Lilia & Yakov)
Q — The Queen's Quandary (Zenda, implied Flavia/Rudolf R, but really about Flavia)
R — Rather late for me (White Boots, Harriet/Lalla)
S — Skirmish and Retreat (Much Ado About Nothing, Beatrice/Benedick)
T — Thinking of the Days That Are No More (the Summer Tempests remix) (Swallows and Amazons, Peggy/Susan)
U — Under Her Skin (Yuri!!! on Ice, Mila/Sara)
V — Virtue itself turns vice, being misapplied (Romeo and Juliet, Friar Laurence)
W — What an Exchange! (Trenuleţul - Zdob şi Zdub & Fraţii Advahov (Music Video))
X —
Y — Yet A Hand To Play (Zenda, Rudolf R/Rupert)
Z —

Only missing X and Z. Clearly I need to return to Zenda. And probably Doctor Who or something.

It's been a horrible cold day, mostly because of the wind. But I am inside and have a cat on my lap.
andrewducker: (Join Darth)
[personal profile] andrewducker
There's research that if you leave people in a room with an electro-shock shock device long enough to get bored they will deliberately shock themselves.

In other news I took Sophia's phone away from the kids while they were in the bath and now they're repeatedly pouring cold water over themselves while shrieking like baboons.

Culinary

Oct. 26th, 2025 06:51 pm
oursin: Frontispiece from C17th household manual (Accomplisht Lady)
[personal profile] oursin

I thought last week's bread was holding out pretty well until it suddenly sprouted mould - however there was still some cornbread left + rolls.

Having been out for lunch on Friday I was not feeling like anything much for supper but made partner a Spanish omelette with red bell pepper and had some fruit myself.

Saturday breakfast rolls: basic buttermilk, strong white flour, turned out v nice.

Today's lunch: Crispy Baked Sesame Tofu - not sure whether there should not have been some actual sesame seeds somewhere in the mix? also thought maybe I was a bit cautious with the amount of tamari in the sauce - and didn't think this turned out particularly crispy....; served with sticky rice with lime leaves, baked San Marzano tomatoes and mangetout peas stirfried with star anise.

spiralsheep: Sheep wearing an eyepatch (Default)
[personal profile] spiralsheep
- Current reading quote: "Yu cyaan go wrong wid lan', he declares, cah dem nah mek no mo' a it." /seen

- Halloweek: so glad I didn't grow up in a culture with haunted murderous bedding, especially as I spent my childhood sleeping under patched bedding that first belonged to my grandmother's household: "The Boroboroton is described as a tattered futon who comes to life at night. It rises up into the air and throws its former owner out of bed, then begins to twine around the head and neck of the sleeper with the intent of strangling him." /wik-eep-edia

- Habitat )

(no subject)

Oct. 26th, 2025 11:41 am
oursin: Brush the Wandering Hedgehog by the fire (Default)
[personal profile] oursin
Happy birthday, [personal profile] finisterre, [personal profile] rivka and [personal profile] taelle!

Not the effort nor the failure tires

Oct. 25th, 2025 05:56 pm
oursin: A C19th illustration of a hedgehood, with a somewhat worried expression (mopey/worried hedgehog)
[personal profile] oursin

Just one of those weeks that felt like a strain - lower back flareups and insomnia and long-scheduled commitments that could not be deferred -

Though I did get a few small bits of life admin accomplished, like finally making an appointment for the first session of dental inlay work and chasing up whether journal reviews editor actually got my review.

But at the moment having the blahs.

Database maintenance

Oct. 25th, 2025 08:42 am
mark: A photo of Mark kneeling on top of the Taal Volcano in the Philippines. It was a long hike. (Default)
[staff profile] mark posting in [site community profile] dw_maintenance

Good morning, afternoon, and evening!

We're doing some database and other light server maintenance this weekend (upgrading the version of MySQL we use in particular, but also probably doing some CDN work.)

I expect all of this to be pretty invisible except for some small "couple of minute" blips as we switch between machines, but there's a chance you will notice something untoward. I'll keep an eye on comments as per usual.

Ta for now!

Photo cross-post

Oct. 25th, 2025 10:29 am
andrewducker: (Default)
[personal profile] andrewducker


One of these children won at Ticket To Ride: First Journey, the other...did not.
Original is here on Pixelfed.scot.

(no subject)

Oct. 25th, 2025 12:30 pm
oursin: Brush the Wandering Hedgehog by the fire (Default)
[personal profile] oursin
Happy birthday, [personal profile] aurumcalendula!

Today I socialised

Oct. 24th, 2025 07:29 pm
oursin: The stylised map of the London Underground, overwritten with Tired of London? Tired of Life! (Tired of London? Tired of Life!)
[personal profile] oursin

Some while ago I was invited to A Do for the retiring secretary of An Organisation with which I had had to do for many years over their archives and in other capacities. And since it had been this longstanding relationship and relations with the person in question had always been amiable, I said yes, I would go.

It involved a smallish lunch party in a restaurant on Battersea Bridge Road, which I discovered is nowhere near Battersea Power Station Tube station, which would have made it an easy-peasy journey from my starting place, but (according to Tfl) can be reached by a journey involving at least 2 Tube lines and at least one bus journey.

Excelsior: I set out on the 2 tubes, bus from Victoria, which involved rather a lot of faffing around the vicinity of Victoria station to find the relevant stop, and it was a nice day, and the bus journey, while it does take in things like Victoria Coach Station of unblessed memory, passes by some very nice bits of Chelsea including the Embankment.

Faffed around a bit more, having got off at the designated stop, trying to find the restaurant, but arrived in fact a little early though at least one of the other guests was already there.

And it was an agreeable occasion even if these were people I have not seen for yonks and did not know all that well outside of specific context then, and some I did not know. The food was good, though perhaps not so amazing that I'm inclined to make the odyssey out to Battersea again.

And then repeated the journey in the opposite direction, in company with one of the other guests who was bound for Euston.

spiralsheep: Sheep wearing an eyepatch (Default)
[personal profile] spiralsheep
The Kraken, by Alfred Tennyson, 1830

1. Below the thunders of the upper deep,
2. Far, far beneath in the abysmal sea,
3. His ancient, dreamless, uninvaded sleep
4. The Kraken sleepeth: faintest sunlights flee
5. About his shadowy sides; above him swell
6. Huge sponges of millennial growth and height;
7. And far away into the sickly light,
8. From many a wondrous grot and secret cell
9. Unnumbered and enormous polypi
10. Winnow with giant arms the slumbering green.
11. There hath he lain for ages, and will lie
12. Battening upon huge sea worms in his sleep,
13. Until the latter fire shall heat the deep;
14. Then once by man and angels to be seen,
15. In roaring he shall rise and on the surface die.

Notes
1. For "Below the thunders of the upper deep" read indigestion and the consequences thereof.
2. For "abysmal" read "abyssal".
3. "O little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie." "His ancient, dreamless, uninvaded sleep" "the silent stars go by."
4. The Kraken lispth, the faint sunlight feints.
6. An early reference to Sponging Millennials.
7-8. O light, thou art sick. The invisible worms that swim in the deep, in the grotty sea.
8. For "wondrous grot" read car boot sale. For "secret cell" read burner phone.
9-10. Enormous octopuses use giant mecha to break village greens into smithereens and pitch them into the air.
11. For "ages" read "ageth".
12. "Battening upon huge sea worms in his sleep": Paging Dr Freud!
13. Travel kettle.
14-15 Certainly knocks "And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?" into a cocked hat.
nanila: me (Default)
[personal profile] nanila
  1. What do you see when you are looking out of the window closest to you?
    The canal lock. No boats coming through, though, it’s quiet season now.

  2. Who was the last person coming into your room?
    Astro. He is now lounging on the day bed, as is his wont (example below).
    20250809_120552(0)

  3. What is the most predominant colour around you?
    A gentle pastel green. It is very soothing.

  4. What is right behind you?
    A box containing a bunch of stuff that I need to take to work. Thanks for the reminder, meme. :/

  5. What is on today's calendar sheet?
    More than I could possibly accomplish in one day, and several meetings of different types.

(no subject)

Oct. 24th, 2025 09:13 am
oursin: Brush the Wandering Hedgehog by the fire (Default)
[personal profile] oursin
Happy birthday, [personal profile] innocentsmith and [personal profile] intothespin!
oursin: Illustration from medieval manuscript of the female physician Trotula of Salerno holding up a urine flask (trotula)
[personal profile] oursin

(Yogi Tea Bag tags, bringing the woowoo by random bollox generation long before AI started getting in on the act.)

Anyway, are we at all surprised by Millions exploited by ‘menopause gold rush’ amid lack of reliable information.

(Query: how far is lack of reliable information due to its being overwhelmed by menopause quackery, murmurs historian of medicine.)

Millions of women are being exploited by a “menopause gold rush” as companies, celebrities and influencers take advantage of a “dearth” of reliable information on the issue, experts have said. Healthcare companies and content creators saw menopause as a “lucrative market” and were trying to profit from gaps in public knowledge, women’s health academics at University College London (UCL) said. Researchers called for the rollout of a national education programme after finding a significant number of women do not feel well-informed about menopause.

You know what? I think part of this can be put on to the decline in the good old trad women's magazines, which had a) health columns written by pseudonymised health professionals b) agony aunts prepared to Do The Research and having a stack of helpful leaflets written in conjunction with qualified experts.

Brought to you by someone who was devouring her mother's magazines pretty much from the time she became literate and therefore encountered the concept of menopause decades before it became of personal relevance.

And what still gets very little play is what Stella Duffy points out in this piece:

while everyone in my research talked about physiological and emotional difficulties in the transition, once they were out the other side – even while dealing with workplace discrimination and the caring demands of their loved ones – all of them also described postmenopause as time of thriving and growing. We’re not done yet.

Margaret Mead mentioned this, but I'm not sure the 70s feminist discourse around 'croning' did a lot of favours to the idea of what happened after the pause.

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slemslempike

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