Vocabulary: Mountweazel

Jan. 13th, 2026 05:25 pm
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Mountweazel [mount-wee-zuhl]

noun
1. a decoy entry in a reference work, such as a dictionary or encyclopedia, secretly planted among the genuine entries to catch other publishers in the act of copying content.

(More details on [community profile] 1word1day)

Snowflake Challenge 7: Self-Love

Jan. 13th, 2026 05:01 pm
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Snowflake Challenge 7: Self-Love

LIST THREE (or more) THINGS YOU LIKE ABOUT YOURSELF. They don’t have to be your favorite things, just things that you think are good. Feel free to expand as much or as little as you want.

While we’re busy celebrating fandom, it’s good to remember to celebrate ourselves, too. Fandom is all of us! I know it’s often easier to talk about what we like about other people than it is to talk nicely about ourselves, but challenge yourself here
.


A gold snowflake ornament is nestled amidst pine boughs

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I'm a cliche!!

Jan. 13th, 2026 02:33 pm
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I got back into the doctor's portal and sent a note that text #2 was a bust as well. 15 minutes later, I got the text from the original phone number. (I did go back to the portal and delete my note. It was marked as unread so I think I got there in time.)

Welcome! NovoCare Pharmacy® has received your prescription for WEGO from Dr. MALASHANKA and will send important updates as we process the order. The NovoCare® Program needs your consent to move forward. Please go to https://novocare.iassist.com/obes/ptauth?Token=437271676 to provide CONSENT. If you prefer to pick up at your local retail pharmacy, call 1-888-809-3942. Message and data rates may apply. Reply STOP to end sms or call 1-888-809-3942 for questions.

Hilariously, that phone number gets you put on hold forever. I waited 45 minutes the first time and 68 minutes the second time. Never did talk to a person. So forget my local retail pharmacy. Not that I wanted it anyway. I did answer all their question and signed my life away. No money requested yet so we are still in process.

BUT the wait times did remind me that I am now a member of a club that probably has 8 out of 10 Americans - people to look to lose weight after Christmas. Doh!

My house cleaner sent a sub today who came an hour earlier which was a surprise, but fine.

My new scale arrived. It was a bit of a trick to find a convenient spot for it, but I did. It's all set up and ready to go.

Early Humans

Jan. 13th, 2026 02:49 pm
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[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Discovery shows early humans were much more advanced hunters than previously believed

On stone arrowheads left in a South African rock shelter, researchers found 60,000-year-old traces of plant poison.

A team working in Sweden and South Africa analyzed quartz tips from Umhlatuzana Rock Shelter in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

A residue on one artifact can be a fluke, but repeats on older and newer arrowheads are harder to dismiss.



*laugh* Hominids helped wipe out 98% of land animal body mass. What did scientists think, all they were doing was running up and stabbing megafauna until it dropped dead? Yeah, no. Arrow poison. Channel traps, pit traps, cliff traps. Fire. Collecting scat to frame one predator for encroaching on another predator's territory, then watching them shred each other and sneaking up to dispatch the weakened loser.

"Work smarter, not harder" has been the hominid strategy for millions of years.

Snowflake Challenge

Jan. 13th, 2026 02:47 pm
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... is scheduled to appear at 4PM Eastern time, which is 3PM Central time -- so 10-15 minutes from now. It's a planned variation, no need to worry.

Snowflake Challenge: A pair of ice skates hanging on a wood paneled wall. Pine boughs with a few ornaments are stuffed into the skates.

Space Exploration

Jan. 13th, 2026 02:42 pm
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This strange form of water may power giant planets’ magnetic fields

Water pushed to planetary extremes turns into an exotic, electricity-conducting solid — and it’s far stranger than scientists ever imagined.

At extreme pressures and temperatures, water becomes superionic — a solid that behaves partly like a liquid and conducts electricity. This unusual form is believed to shape the magnetic fields of Uranus and Neptune and may be the most common type of water in the solar system. New high-precision experiments show its atomic structure is far messier than expected, combining multiple crystal patterns instead of one clean arrangement. The finding reshapes models of icy planets both near and far
.

Good but not fabulous

Jan. 13th, 2026 11:47 am
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[personal profile] susandennis
The Closets By Design lady was late and lost. She called me AFTER 10 (when she was supposed to be here) saying she could not figure out what door to come in. I told her to come to the Timber Ridge main office and repeated the address. She couldn't figure it out so I told her to just forget it. Cancel the meeting. I hung up. One of the two reasons I was interested in that firm was that they have done work here before - lots. But, apparently, not her.

About 10 minutes after that I got a call from the front desk that she was here. When I left my apartment to go downstairs, my plan was to tell her not to let the door hit her in the butt. BUTT it is a long way from here to the front desk and I decided not to be a butthole and so I let her in. I wasn't terribly gracious and I still don't like her but I bought her system anyway.

She was fairly efficient and gave me some bullshit but not much. Her plan was basically what I asked for and gave me a closet that makes sense and houses all my shit. In my head I was thinking six weeks and $5k. Her end price (after all her faux discounts) came to $3,978 and they will install it a week from Friday.

She said she'd scan the design this afternoon and send it. Hope it gets here faster than the NoroCare text. Still nothing there.

Now that she's made the sale, I don't have to deal with her any more and the install guys for sure know where this place is. I'm ok with the deal and better than ok with the timeline. And I'm really looking forward to my new closet.

Birdfeeding

Jan. 13th, 2026 01:55 pm
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[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Today is cloudy and cool.

I fed the birds. I've seen a flock of sparrows.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 1/13/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 1/13/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 1/13/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 1/13/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

I've seen a pair of cardinals and a starling. I heard a woodpecker but didn't see it.

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

Back

Jan. 13th, 2026 07:41 am
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[personal profile] susandennis
Today is no rain so far and the snow capped mountains are back and it's not yet 8 and there is enough daylight to see those mountains. Ooops we're losing winter.

I slept really well last night. My bed (95), Fitbit (89) and I agree. Good thing cause I got stuff happening today. I hope.

The closet designer is supposed to be here at 10. I have received 2 phone messages and 3 emails telling me so. I'm guessing they have a lot of customers who request appointments and forget??? I have this niggly suspicion that they are going to not be/do what I want them to be/do. But, there are other closet people I can call.

So when I met with my doctor last week, she explained two semaglutide options (I know there are more and she likely would have been willing to discuss more but we talked about two) - wegovy and zepbound. She explained the differences kind of briefly and we left it with 'make an appointment for April and we'll decide then'. Yesterday, I sent her a note telling her I was ready to start now and asking her if I should make an appointment for now. I got a message back within the hour that she had sent my prescription for wegovy to NovoCare and that I should get a text in a few hours. I did not. But the NovoCare website agreed with her - that I would get a text to start the onboarding process.

I have two phone numbers - both ring and text on my phone. One is a Google voice number and one is a MintMobile number. I've never used text with this doctor so I did not know which number she had. I went to the online portal and tried to enter my cell number for verification. You had to give them your name and your number and then pick from a fairly limited list of cellphone companies. Of course neither of my cellphone companies was on that list so no joy. At all. Finally at the end of the day, I sent her a new note with both numbers and she replied that she had sent in yet another request with the second number (implying the first had been with the first number) and if I didn't hear today to let her know.

So far. No text on either number. I think if I don't hear anything by the time the closet person leaves, I'll try calling the NovoCare number. (Yes, I know there are all manner of different alternatives to similar drugs available in all manner of ways but for now, I'd like to stick to what my doctor recommends for me which is, apparently, Wegovy and NovoCare. IF one or both fail, I'll consider alternatives.

I did spend way too much time combing through Reddit last night in a what to expect when you are expecting kind of troll. It was interesting and I think I learned a lot.

Oh and my doctor did say that she wants to know how much I weigh at various steps along the way so I asked Amazon to please bring me a scale. It should arrive today.

Also it is house cleaning day.

Last week so so much fun with Bill here and soooooo productive. He'll be back in June. I suspect the Todo list will be way shorter.

20260112_194253-COLLAGE

Artificial Intelligence

Jan. 13th, 2026 03:18 am
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[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Researchers poison stolen data to make AI systems return wrong results

Researchers affiliated with universities in China and Singapore have devised a technique to make stolen knowledge graph data useless if incorporated into a GraphRAG AI system without consent.


I'm reminded of how alchemists would leave out a critical detail, or make a substitution, so that nobody could steal and reproduce their work.

Communities

Jan. 12th, 2026 10:47 pm
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[community profile] pluralquestions  -- Discussing plural existence

Welcome to the Plural Questions community! A lot of existing plural communities on Dreamwidth are inactive. We all have a lot to gain from talking to each other, so Plural Questions was created to encourage community discussion around plural experiences. Interactions are encouraged- please comment, post to the community, etc! Get your voice out there! Discussion questions will be posted every now and then, but please feel free to add your own questions or post about your lived experiences.


If you've been following [personal profile] lb_lee and [community profile] pluralstories then you might like this new community.

Boring update is boring

Jan. 12th, 2026 10:33 pm
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[personal profile] brickhousewench
I keep meaning to write a post, but nothing much is going on in my life right now.

Thursday night I went up to visit with Stephen and Alena. I spent the night on their couch so that I could drive Alena into Boston for a very early appointment to get her chemotherapy port removed (Yay!). I need to make myself get into the sewing room this weekend to clear some space as Stephen is giving me a (working!) treadle Singer sewing machine. A friend has loaned them a HUGE gaming table and they need to make room so that people can move around it so the sewing machine has to go. I’ve wanted a treadle machine for ages, and this one looks like it’s in pretty decent condition. We had just a treadle base (no sewing machine) in the basement back home, so I’ve had plenty of practice with a treadle from when I was a kid. *Grins in reminiscing*

Other than that, I’m back to work after two weeks off for the holidays, but that’s about all that’s going on with me. It’s the rest of the world that’s careening out of control and too exciting for my preferences right now. *le sigh*

I pinned a quote that said, “Thank you for not discussing the outside world” the other day. And I’m really feeling that right now.

I’ve been trying to reduce the amount of time I spend on Facebook to help lower my stress levels. And failing. I haven’t given up Facebook for Lent in the past couple of years, but I’m going to have to this year. Just to force myself to take a break. Lent runs from February 18th through April 4th. I'm not Catholic, but I play one on weekends. ;-)

Magpie Monday

Jan. 12th, 2026 09:22 pm
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[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
[personal profile] dialecticdreamer is hosting Magpie Monday today with a theme of "Loose Threads." Leave prompts, get ficlets!

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These poems are spillover from the January 6, 2026 Poetry Fishbowl. They were inspired and sponsored by Anthony Barrette. They also fill the "Up the River" square in my 1-1-26 card for the Public Domain Day Bingo fest. These poems are the first batch in the collection Haiku for Natural Monuments of Japan.

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Poem: "Fight Less, Cuddle More"

Jan. 12th, 2026 08:09 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Damask smiling over their shoulder (polychrome)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
This poem is spillover from the January 6, 2026 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired and sponsored by [personal profile] janetmiles. It also fills the "Soup to Nuts" square in my 1-1-26 card for the Public Domain Day Bingo fest. This poem belongs to the Big One and Mercedes threads of the Polychrome Heroics series.

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Sick Day

Jan. 12th, 2026 08:09 pm
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[personal profile] days_unfolding
Emailed in sick. It took a while to get the dogs back inside. First Bella came in, and Gracie refused to come in. Then Bella went back out and Gracie came in. I finally got them both in. Fed us all.

Slept until 2 PM. I was dreaming that I was writing a book set in New Zealand and was doing research to get the character right. I have never been to New Zealand but would like to go. (I tend to have vivid dreams when I'm sick.)

My nose is running, and Oliver is sitting on my tissues. Sigh.

I received a message that the home sleep study was “non-diagnostic” and they want to do an in-house sleep study. Also sigh. They called me already but they’re out until April.

Home Depot does closet consultations. I’d like one after I get the library room together and cull my clothes.

Had a bite to eat. Took some DayQuil and Emergen-C. Gracie ran out of the bedroom, which was good because she’s less restful to sleep with than Bella, but I wouldn’t want to kick her out.

Slept until 6:30 PM. I dreamed that I was on a smaller cruise ship and fell for someone who worked there. They weren’t allowed to get involved with guests, so we were trying to work it out. Let the dogs out. I’m trying to decide whether to go to work in the morning. I guess that I’ll decide tomorrow morning.

I’m telling the dogs that they’re my two clowns.

Fed us all. I’m going to go back to bed soon. I seriously need sleep.

I’m looking forward to the Olympic ice skating.

Poem: "Hemma Bäst"

Jan. 12th, 2026 07:54 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Family and horse in front of barn (Hart's Farm)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
This poem came out of the January 6, 2026 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by prompts from [personal profile] nsfwords and [personal profile] wyld_dandelyon. It also fills the "Cup of Coffee" square in my 1-1-26 card for the Public Domain Day Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by [personal profile] janetmiles. It belongs to the series Hart's Farm.

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Poem: "Cakes and Ale"

Jan. 12th, 2026 07:20 pm
ysabetwordsmith: (Fiorenza)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
This poem came out of the January 6, 2026 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by prompts from [personal profile] fuzzyred and [personal profile] nsfwords. It also fills the "Cakes and Ale" square in my 1-1-26 card for the Public Domain Day Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by [personal profile] janetmiles. It belongs to the series Fiorenza the Wisewoman.

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Poem: "Decreases"

Jan. 12th, 2026 05:56 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Damask smiling over their shoulder (polychrome)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
This poem came out of the January 6, 2026 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from [personal profile] fuzzyred. It also fills the "Chasing Rainbows" square in my 1-1-26 card for the Public Domain Day Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by [personal profile] janetmiles. It belongs to the Shiv thread of the Polychrome Heroics series.

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Economics

Jan. 12th, 2026 03:25 pm
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[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Christmas Cookie Inflation Index, 2025 Update

Cheaper sugar came at the cost of lower wages, fewer choices, and a community with less say over its own economic life. That tradeoff may not show up in national statistics, but it shows up clearly in places like mine.


In my locale, we lost JoAnn Fabrics, as everywhere did, making it much harder to do things like make your own if a needed item wasn't for sale commercially. We lost Big Lots, as most places did, which was the biggest and most diverse bargain store. We gained Michael's, which sells less craft supplies than JoAnn at much higher prices; Beal's and Five Below, which sell less bargain goods than Big Lots at similar prices. Two nearby towns got Ollie's, which is a big and excellent bargain store, but farther away and not quite the same stock as Big Lots. So yes, the economy is quietly collapsing toward a simpler state. That makes it much harder for people to adapt to pressures, because it's harder to find supplies -- especially things like fabric that aren't well suited to shopping online. :/

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