(Up for adoption, if anyone wants it.)

We were just rewatching the last two episodes, and ( Spoilers for 1x09 )

There are 7 comments on this entry. (Reply.)

... this being the style I have already sacrificed one of to The Endless Woodchip. Attempt at loss the first occurred while putting up tent; attempt at loss the second occurred late on Saturday night, when I was rushing from A to B to provide a roll-mat to a player and lost a fight with the bunting we use to discourage people from walking into the tent in places we don't want them to.

It was dark. Nonetheless I spent several whole minutes searching before giving up and resolving to try again in daylight. Consequently I got up good and early to start hunting before the team started carting all of the Objects back out of the storage ISO (all of the in-character valuables get locked away overnight while the tent's unstaffed...) and... discovered it really wasn't going to need much hunting after all.

( Read more... )

Tragically the brass hair stick I pulled out of "freecycle" before letting the players at the aged-out lost objects... wound up getting dropped in a known fairly well-defined location, and vanishing utterly into the ether, despite a good five people having a hunt for it. Ah well; maybe it'll show up next time, and maybe it won't, and either way I am likely to have future opportunities to Acquire More Hair Adornment.

There are 2 comments on this entry. (Reply.)

Went for what turned out to be an hour-long walk around the neighborhood and visited five Little Free Libraries– and found some great books!

The majority were full of kids books, which makes sense I suppose as people tend to load up on those at thrift stores and whatnot, so they’re easy to pass along.

My favorite LFL was #119554, not least because I found two books which look really good! It also had the best design, with one box for adult books and one for children’s books, a separate dog treat library and even a water bowl. Super cute!

As far as I can tell, all these libraries are the pre-built ones from the LFL website.

LFL Visited

LFL #89560 “Elm Tree Little Library” – Ann Arbor, MI – Took Square Foot Gardening.
LFL #119554 – Ann Arbor, MI – Took Climate Resilience and Seasons of the Wild.
LFL #135682 “Barking Dog Library” – Ann Arbor, MI – Took Moby-Duck.
LFL #177207 – Ann Arbor, MI.
LFL #178758 – Ann Arbor, MI – Took Paradise Rot.

( Photos under here! )

🌟 All LFLs Visited

Crossposted from Pixietails Club Blog.

There are 8 comments on this entry. (Reply.)

This was the quarterly check-in so she can refill the Ritalin prescription, and cover anything else non-urgent.

I talked about how my gut is doing, and that I'm trying to reduce my use of naproxen (and NSAIDs generally) at the advice of the GI doctor. So far, that has meant waiting a little while before taking a naproxen because something hurts, and not taking it preventively for short walks. Airports, yes.

Carmen said there aren't a lot of good options, and recommended a turmeric supplement that someone she used to work for, who also did Ayurvedic medicine, recommended. I expressed some general skepticism, and specifically how much turmeric people had to eat to benefit. The recommendation is for a supplement that you tuck in next to your gum, so it's absorbed directly into the bloodstream. Carmen said "you can get it on Amazon," and Adrian pointed out after the visit that I should check the inactive ingredients carefully.

She also asked about my breathing, and I told her that recently, I've coughed up less phlegm after using the flutter valve, without having more trouble breathing. Less crap in my lungs is good, of course, and this means I won't worry much about skipping the flutter valve for things like travel and dental work. However, I'm basically sticking to the same twice-a-day schedule at least until the next time I see the lung doctor.

I also told Carmen about the strawberry allergy, and what symptoms I'd noted. I mentioned that I'm also probably allergic to stevia, and she made a note of both allergies.

The next appointment, in about three months, is for a physical exam, so longer and in person. At 1:30, so I can get lunch in Davis Square, weather allowing.

There are 4 comments on this entry. (Reply.)

Posted by Lute

https://www.transformativeworks.org/otw-signal-july-2025/

https://www.transformativeworks.org/?p=266282

Every month in OTW Signal, we take a look at stories that connect to the OTW’s mission and projects, including issues related to legal matters, technology, academia, fannish history and preservation issues of fandom, fan culture, and transformative works.

In the News

A recently published study in Nature Humanities and Social Sciences Communications finds that fanfiction readers are more likely to click on stories that feel familiar, but they enjoy those stories more when there is something novel about them.

Balance theory, a widely accepted theory in psychology, suggests that for a creative work to be successful (widely enjoyed), it needs to find the middle ground between feeling comfortable and familiar, yet be novel enough to still be interesting.

Using Archive of Our Own (AO3) as their primary source, researchers analyzed metadata from over 670,000 fanworks across 23 fandoms. They measured a story’s novelty by comparing its content against other stories in the same fandom and measured success primarily with a ratio of hits to kudos, then compared the two datasets.

Researchers found that contrary to balance theory, the middle ground between familiar and novel does not guarantee success for fanfiction. Their research shows that stories that were more familiar tended to get more clicks, but it was stories with more novelty that had a higher hit to kudos ratio.

“Although high-novelty works tend to be read by fewer people, those who read are more likely to express their enjoyment.”

This study highlights that in fandom spaces, success isn’t completely defined by reach or popularity. A fic that is deeply enjoyed by a small audience can still be meaningful and impactful.

In “The K-popification of F1”, Teen Vogue looks at how a new wave of Formula 1 fans are reshaping the fandom. What was once considered to be a niche, male-dominated sport has become home to fan practices typically found in K-Pop communities. From fashion to fanvids, fans are engaging with the drivers and teams in a novel way:

In many ways, F1 has evolved from a legacy motorsport into something that feels more like a multimedia pop franchise. F1 drivers are no longer just elite athletes behind the wheel; they’re fashion muses, meme material, and, in the eyes of a growing Gen Z fanbase, idols. It’s no surprise the sport has drawn fans from other hyper-engaged fandoms.

Many fans in this new wave were introduced to Formula 1 through digital platforms like TikTok, YouTube, and Netflix’s Drive to Survive, rather than traditional sports media. These platforms offer a behind-the-scenes look at the sport’s personalities, drawing in fans who may have never watched a race otherwise. These fans are bringing with them expectations shaped by K-pop fandom culture. They seek direct access to the drivers beyond the track, emotional narratives, and authentic representation.

This push for greater inclusion and visibility has helped lead to initiatives like the F1 Academy, an all-women racing series that reflects the changing face of the sport’s audience. It shows that the sport is starting to recognize how important diversity and representation are to its future.

These fans aren’t just redefining what it means to be an F1 supporter. They’re showing that fandom can be a powerful, intentional force that helps reshape the media it connects with.

OTW Tips

AO3 embraces the richness and diversity of fan-created content. Whether works include ship names, inside jokes, or niche tropes, the OTW values the creative freedom of its users while maintaining a commitment to ensuring AO3 remains a welcoming and navigable space. AO3’s Content Policy is designed with maximum inclusiveness of fanwork content and user safety in mind. Violations of the Terms of Service, including the Content Policy, are administered by the Policy and Abuse committee, which handles reports and concerns in accordance with AO3’s Terms of Service (TOS).

For more information on how our Terms of Service is applied, check out the Terms of Service Spotlight series or refer to the TOS FAQ.

We want your suggestions for the next OTW Signal post! If you know of an essay, video, article, podcast, or news story you think we should know about, send us a link. We are looking for content in all languages! Submitting a link doesn’t guarantee that it will be included in an OTW post, and inclusion of a link doesn’t mean that it is endorsed by the OTW.

https://www.transformativeworks.org/otw-signal-july-2025/

https://www.transformativeworks.org/?p=266282

There are no comments on this entry. (Reply.)

We never heard back about the broken central air which I had to repair myself, but apparently the time could be found to send contractors to scythe down almost every green thing on the property. There was a mulberry tree in the back yard which I had been enjoying as it fruited. Now it's a naked raw stump in a buzz-cut of brown stubble. A rose-tree in our driveway had been nodding its green shade against my office window and reaching its leaves up to the casement in the bathroom and it's gone, too. Nothing is left in the back except the lilac which looks crisped and desolate and some thin ornamental with the yew trees in the front. We weren't warned. The house doesn't look landscaped, it looks slaughtered. I had seen squirrels and birds in the mulberry. I had just taken some pictures of our wild yard and

spatch had taken some pictures of me in it. The black swallow-wort they could uproot any time, but I had been photographing that rose for almost three years now, growing like a metaphor from the cracks in the concrete gutter.

Music:: Bellowhead, "Cold Blows the Wind"

There are 34 comments on this entry. (Reply.)

( Read more... )

There are 6 comments on this entry. (Reply.)

A Quiet Policy Shift That Could Devastate American Science

Why NIH’s sudden move to multi-year grant funding should alarm every principal investigator and university

Cripes, this is just terrible:

Under an MYF scheme, funding paylines—which determine the percentile (or rank) score needed for a study to receive funding—will plummet regardless of field of study or national funding priorities. For example, the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) projects its payline for FY25 will drop from the 12th percentile to somewhere between the 5th and 9th percentile. This drop in payline means 25 to 60 percent fewer funded studies. For the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the payline plunge is worse: dropping from the 10th percentile in FY24 to an estimated 4th percentile this year. Internal estimates from the National Institute on Aging (NIA) and the National Institute on Mental Health (NIMH) look similarly dismal, with the number of fundable grants projected to fall by a factor of 3 or 4 compared to last year.

Paylines dropping to the 5th percentile means that out of 100 grants submitted, FIVE get funded. This will just...I mean, devastate is not too strong a word. Who would want to go into a profession where you have a FIVE PERCENT chance of success?

Also, I know no citation is given for those numbers, but I can guess where they came from, and I'll just say: not all heroes wear capes. They also sound about right. Do a search for "NIH paylines" and you'll find Institute numbers that have already been reported. Then game out in your head how those numbers will change with this new funding system. Yeah. Dire.

There are 6 comments on this entry. (Reply.)

( Read more... )

Mood::

amused

There are 4 comments on this entry. (Reply.)

( You're about to view content that a community administrator has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

There are no comments on this entry. (Reply.)

July 22: I message my symptoms team for a refill on my primary pain med (which is still only the next step up from Tylenol 3). And yet, it's what keeps me from regularly screaming when I exert myself in a way that stresses my right hip. I have 21 + 5 (a week plus a day and 2/3) left.

July 24: A list of detailed follow-up questions from the symptoms nurse, and my detailed reply. About 20 left.

July 25:
Hi [Azz],

I wanted to let you know that [doctor] sent a refill of the [med] to the Costco!

[Discussion of discontinuing another med]

And can I just say how much I enjoy your MyChart messages; I am always impressed at how in tune you are with your body.

Take care,
[Nurse]

Me: It's time to renew my prior auth again, alas.

Nurse: Aw dang!
No worries though, you gave us time (thank you by the way).
I have asked our billing specialist to help with this so we will call the Costco when we get it and then let you know.
Thanks,
[Nurse]

About 17 left.

***

July 26: About 14 left.
July 27: About 11 left.

***

July 28
Different nurse:
Hi [Azz],

We needed a new prior authorization on [med]. We received approval for this over the weekend. However, Costco has been unable to get this medication to process. They are in the process of calling your insurance to figure out where the issue lies.

[Image of prior auth as sent to doctor]

I will keep you updated

Thanks,
[Nurse]

Me: Thanks for the update!

***

A hair bleaching, trip through the shower, and time to drip dry later, I figure I will call Costco pharmacy and see what they've discovered, since they're still open and the symptoms care office is not.

[Call time: 6 minutes 54 seconds]

***

Me: I talked with darling [Don't Panic Pharmacy Assistant] at the pharmacy, who had my back the last time UHC was like this, and we had a real good chat about the state of things at UHC, and she is putting me through for 12 days so I can have some breathing room while you and she go and wrestle alligators. I will get that picked up tonight and we'll see when UHC can be made to see the light.

I drive to the pharmacy.
I receive my jar.
I tell our friend that I was so glad it was her who picked up when I called.
Don't Panic Pharmacy Assistant tells me that when she took my call about the prior auth on my med, the rest of the pharmacy was looking at her funny, because she swapped registers straight out of professional. "Is that a family member on the phone?" And yet again we had words about United Healthcare. Also, the pharmacy we used to go to is shutting down; she has this from her friend and ours, the guy with the Emperor's New Groove pin. He prefers to stay with that company, so he's not coming to Costco.

***

About 8 left, plus 12 days.

There are 10 comments on this entry. (Reply.)

Intro/FAQ
Days 1-15

zwei_hexen has graciously agreed to host us in August! (Thank you,

sylvanwitch and

ysilme!)

My check-in: Inspired by how much fun

brithistorian has been having writing pomegaverse these last couple of days, I ditched my other projects and started on my Keep Fandom Weird bingo card. Someone's terrible horrible no good very bad day just got even worse. :-DDDDD

Day 28:

china_shop,

sanguinity

Day 27:

badlyknitted,

brithistorian,

callmesandyk,

carenejeans,

china_shop,

cornerofmadness,

sanguinity,

sylvanwitch,

the_siobhan,

trobadora,

yasaman,

( more days )

When you check in, please use the most recent post and say what day(s) you’re checking in for. Remember you can drop in or out at any time, and let me know if I missed anyone!

There are 23 comments on this entry. (Reply.)

I sent this post in memoriam Tom Lehrer to

selkie, after which it hit me that the funniest part about Lehrer working for a born-secret agency was that he said as much in public. It's in the Revisited introduction to "The Wild West Is Where I Want to Be" (1960): "Now if I may indulge in a bit of personal history, a few years ago I worked for a while at the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory in New Mexico. I had a job there as a spy. No . . . I guess you know that the staff out there at that time was composed almost exclusively of spies . . . of one persuasion or another . . ." It's a hit with the audience, who did not have a chance of knowing for another thirty-odd years that he meant it. What Lehrer actually did for the NSA still appears unconfirmed, but writing in the second edition of Quantum Profiles (1991/2020) his one-time fellow Harvardian Jeremy Bernstein guessed—the classical combination of mathematical skill and being an absolute weirdo—"probably codebreaking." I'd never thought about it and I'd believe it. That line run on the audience in MIT's Kresge Auditorium in 1959 is a cryptographer's joke: it works in its own right, but to get it properly requires a key. Jesus, can you imagine him and Leo Marks in a room together? It would have been an arms race which of them could be self-deprecatingly funnier without giving a thing they didn't want to away.

Music:: Tom Lehrer, "Send the Marines"

There are 8 comments on this entry. (Reply.)

https://xkcd.com/3121/

Detectives say the key to tracking down the source of the kites was a large wall map covered in thumbtacks and string. 'It's the first time that method has ever actually worked,' said a spokesperson.

https://xkcd.com/3121/

There is 1 comment on this entry. (Reply.)

I just got off the phone with a (genuinely) helpful person at Amalgamated Bank.

I've been talking to them in order to close a joint account in my and my mother's names, and the bank told me in June that the easiest way to do this would be to withdraw all the money and then have them close the account. In order to do that, I had to set up online banking, but only after adding my phone number to the account, which I did in June. Apparently the reason I couldn't log in to the online account after setting it up was that I'd written the password down wrong.

The person at the bank reset my password for me, and then told me how to link this account to an account at another bank. I'm waiting for the test deposits to hit my account, which may take a few days. After than, I can transfer the rest of the money.

Also, I got up in time to go for a walk this morning, to the grocery store and back, before it got too hot. It's a hot day in July, so the six things I bought included ice cream, Italian ices, and fresh blueberries.

There are 3 comments on this entry. (Reply.)

Reading. Hyperbole and a Half, Allie Brosh, The Book, with A, a chapter at a time.

Also a bit more of The Age of Seeds, but only a very little bit.

Writing. Fun migraine facts: I spent the weekend discovering that writing by hand at speed Just Does Not Work Well. "Stopping" for "stopper", "fascinate" for "fastener", and so on and so forth...

Listening. Songs and stories! Including, apparently, these people + friends.

Playing. Admin: the LRP.

Eating. I may have slightly subsisted primarily on lemon and sugar crêpes. The raspberry and lemon curd toasties remain a delight. Some blackberries from the hedges.

Exploring. Finally (consciously) observed the giant purple cockerel. The Navarr woods at night.

Growing. Actually managed to water the plants before setting off, go me.

Observing. A BAT IN THE MARQUEE. ALSO A GIANT DRAGONFLY. Also the swallows (I think). Stars.

There are no comments on this entry. (Reply.)

Tom Lehrer died.

There are 22 comments on this entry. (Reply.)

( You're about to view content that a community administrator has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

There are 3 comments on this entry. (Reply.)

Camilla Gibb "Mouthing The Words" (Vintage)

Mouthing the Words is a powerfully engaging and highly readable novel about growing up in a dysfuctional family.

Thelma is five when the story opens. The family live in a village called Little Slaughter where they are ostracized as outsiders by the neighbours. Thelma's mother, Corinna, a former model, wants little to do with her daughter and relegates her "to the realm of the rather inconvenient", preferring to shower affection on her younger brother, the result of an affair with an Edinburgh solicitor.

Thelma is sexually abused by her alcholic father, Douglas, and made to play games of naughty secretaries and bosses. Unable to communicate this terrible secret to anyone outside the family, Thelma invents three invisible friends each representing an aspect of herself, who help her to cope. She longs, in vain, for another adult to adopt her.

The family move to Canada where things worsen, her parents eventually separating. There is a friendship with the hippyish family next door, and an all too brief period of happiness when her mother takes a Punjabi student as a lover, the first adult who really reaches out to the love-starved Thelma.

Thelma is institutionalised with anorexia - starvation is the only way she can physically prevent herself from becoming an adult woman, but recovers to win a scholarship to Oxford to study law. Although she proves to be a brilliant student, she rapidly descends into serious mental illness and self-mutilation.

Gibb is able to portray a descent into madness better than almost any other author I've come across (with perhaps the exception of Bessie Head in Maru) and her depiction of the psychological effects of abuse is extremely convincing. And we're right there to cheer on Thelma's slow journey to reclaim herself, and to be able to own her own words.

Sounds like a misery read? Far from it. The material is dark, but Gibbs has a lightness of touch and a humour (some parts are extremely funny!) that pulls the book back from being heartbreakingly sad

There are no comments on this entry. (Reply.)

Fandom: The Expanse
Characters/Pairing/Other Subject: Camina Drummer
Content Notes/Warnings: none
Medium: Pastel pencil on paper
Artist on DW/LJ: n/a
Artist Website/Gallery:

livesinyesterday
Why this piece is awesome: A gorgeous portrait of Drummer! Aside from the great likeness, I'm fascinated by the contrast between Drummer's signature black and the wide range of pastel colours the artist used for her face, in a way that still makes it come together as a coherent and perfectly natural whole. Really great.
Link: https://livesinyesterday.tumblr.com/post/629089413361795072

There are 4 comments on this entry. (Reply.)

djkittycat

Murderbot TV plot bunny

tried really quite hard to lose my hair stick twice this event just gone

lfl visit log #1

appointment with Carmen: naproxen, gut, lungs

OTW Signal, July 2025

In the News

OTW Tips

I'll do as much for my true love as any young girl may

A splash of colour

What is multi-year funding and how will it affect American science?

A Quiet Policy Shift That Could Devastate American Science

Why NIH’s sudden move to multi-year grant funding should alarm every principal investigator and university

Ask a Manager: Has AAM Become More Anti-Corporate?

Tokurecs July 2025 Monthly Self-Reccing Period

Prior Auth, my beloathéd

Write Every Day: Day 28

We only want the world to know that we support the status quo

Kite Incident

a productive day

vital functions

No!

Post of Squee and Ventilation

Book 39 - Camilla Gibb "Mouthing The Words"

Camina Drummer by Livesinyesterday (SFW)

July

Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat
				1 1	2	3
4	5	6	7	8	9	10
11	12	13	14	15	16	17
18	19	20	21	22	23	24
25	26	27	28	29	30	31