qwanderer | Reading

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.

EDIT 12/15/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

I've seen a female cardinal.

EDIT 12/15/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

.

Current Mood: busy

conuly

and I had to take a car, which I can not afford. At least the corner store hadn’t shut down and the cashier let me wait inside. Either he’s very friendly and chatty or he’s flirting with me, but the important thing is I still have all my toes.

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.

Current Mood: busy

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... )

Current Mood: accomplished

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.

Current Mood: busy

conuly

Poll #33957 Chag sameach!

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 33

View Respondents

But really, how do you spell it in English?

View Answers

Hanukkah
23 (69.7%)

Chanukah
6 (18.2%)

Hanukah
1 (3.0%)

Something else
3 (9.1%)

Also, please take a poem

Edit: Also, also, two videos

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

Current Mood: busy

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... )

Current Mood: busy

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.

Current Mood: busy

conuly

"He took the Walkman out of his pocket and flipped through the songs in the cassette."

Oh, sweetie. That's... that's just not how cassette tapes work. Not even overseas. You fast forward or rewind - literally winding the tape again - and hope that your timing is amazing. I mean, with practice I guess you can get pretty good, but still.

*****************

( Read more... )

conuly

I don't quite relish the idea of going out in it, and god knows where our shovel went, but gosh, I love looking at the snow!

****************************

( Read more... )

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.

Current Mood: busy

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.

Current Mood: busy

conuly

Watch on YouTube

conuly

The goal is to herd all the "What do you call this?" posts into the comments there. It never ever works. However, they do occasionally get comments like "Here are the answers to the questions you asked rhetorically as an example" and "Why do you keep posting this and asking the same questions" and "There is no such thing as a pork burger".

Yes, Virginia, there is a pork burger. This is why I have a picture of pork burger patties on my phone, so I can post it every time somebody says that those don't exist, or that they "really" mean a breakfast sandwich or a pulled pork sandwich or a ham sandwich or a BLT.

I always want to ask these people who, I guess, don't get out much why they're so sure that anything they haven't personally heard of before must not exist. It's a big old world, but apparently, not so much for them.

(I suppose I can be forgiven for being a bit snippy this time around, I mean, given everything.)

***********************

( Read more... )

andrewducker

About a month ago Gideon watched a bunch of videos about Minecraft, asked if he could play it on her tablet, got a few pointers from me to get him going and then dove in and started building stuff. At an impressive rate considering that he can't read any word more than 4 letters long.

Yesterday I mentioned Minecraft to Sophia, and she showed interest, so I set her up on my desktop and she got stuck in. She's asked for more help than Gideon has, but has been happily building herself an underground house. And just now I wanderd into my office to see her on the desktop and Gideon sitting on the floor with his tablet, with the two of them intermittently showing each other cool things that they'd found.

So tonight, after they're asleep, I'm going to set them both up for online play, and rent a realm*, so that they can be in the same world with each other.

*I am totally willing to pay £3.99 per month to not have to maintain my own server.

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.

Current Mood: busy

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.

Current Mood: busy

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qwanderer

March 2019

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Page generated Dec. 15th, 2025 08:41 pm

qwanderer aka Irene Wendy Wode

mucking about in fandom since at least 2012

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Interesting Links for 15-12-2025

Two buses canceled in a row

Monday Update 12-15-25

Recipe: "Butternut Squash Soup with Apples and Onions"

Safety

The sun's going down, so Happy Hanukkah pretty soon?

Food

Human Rights

Birdfeeding

A different fic....

I love looking out the window at the snowfall

Interesting Links for 14-12-2025

Safety

Today's Cooking

(no subject)

So, over at /r/Englishlearning there is a weekly "What is this thing" post

Life with two children: Renting realms

Science

Birdfeeding

Profile

March 2019

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