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([personal profile] billroper Dec. 21st, 2025 03:21 pm)
Well, I had *planned* to take the Dealer Table to Capricon this year now that they have moved back to the suburbs. Then I got this email today:

"Sorry for this late request but all dealers are to have the following
requirements to be a Dealer at the Marriott.

Certificate of Insurance (COI) that shows:
1.1 Comprehensive general liability insurance, including contractual
liability and liability for personal injury, bodily injury, property damage
and $1,000,000 per occurrence and $2,000,000 general aggregate.
1.2 Marriott Chicago O’Hare, Hotel Owner (Columbia Sussex Corp.), ENCORE,
and Hotel management, employees and agents named as Additional Insured.
1.3 Marriott Chicago O’Hare, Hotel Owner (Columbia Sussex Corp), ENCORE,
and Hotel management, employees and agents named as an Additional Loss
Payee.
1.4 The certificate must provide General Liability coverage.
1.5 Automobile liability insurance including all owned, non-owned, and
hired vehicles used in conjunction with the Vendor’s services for bodily
injury or property damage with a combined single limit of not less than
$1,000,000 each occurrence."

This was accompanied by two recommendations for event insurance. The first one won't sell me a general liability policy because I don't make any money. The second one will sell me a policy (maybe) for $99 for the weekend, which is simply one more expense than I can manage given the level of sales that I expect to make. The policy would be half that amount if Capricon were a three-day convention, but -- of course! -- it is not.

I am ticked off beyond belief.

Now I have to figure out what the family is going to be doing about the convention as a whole. At least I haven't reserved a hotel room yet.
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([personal profile] ysabetwordsmith Dec. 21st, 2025 12:48 pm)
Global warming could trigger the next ice age

Earth’s climate control system may cool so hard after warming that it freezes the planet over.

Scientists have uncovered a missing feedback in Earth’s carbon cycle that could cause global warming to overshoot into an ice age. As the planet warms, nutrient-rich runoff fuels plankton blooms that bury huge amounts of carbon in the ocean. In low-oxygen conditions, this process can spiral out of control, cooling Earth far beyond its original state. While this won’t save us from modern climate change, it may explain Earth’s most extreme ancient ice ages
.


It's not missing and it's not new.  This aspect of prehistoric climate change has been discussed for decades.  Also several decades ago, as climate change began to attract more attention, there were debates over whether the bounce effect would cause global cooling instead of global warming.  For a while there were disaster novels with an ice theme instead of a fire theme, before the current warming trend became more obvious.

However!  Even global warming will making some areas drastically colder.  Once the oceanic conveyor belt breaks -- which is already wobbling -- places like Britain will lose their warm currents and thus chill.
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([personal profile] ysabetwordsmith Dec. 21st, 2025 12:45 pm)
Today is sunny and cool.

I fed the birds.  I've seen a few sparrows and house finches.  Some birds are singing in the south hedge.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 12/21/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 12/21/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 12/21/25 -- I did more work around the patio.


.
 
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([personal profile] mdlbear Dec. 21st, 2025 06:26 pm)

Damned if I know how to summarize this week. Mixed?

Embarrassingly, I managed to confuse two deliveries (see Monday) -- I think because they had the same last digit or so in their package numbers -- so I had to delete a couple of annoyed-sounding posts. Hopefully before anyone noticed. The Roamate (combo rollator/powered wheelchair) arrived less than an hour later. Karma, I guess. The device itself seems pretty good, modulo some wierd design decisions, but will take some getting used to before I can write a proper review.

On the other hand, Bronx has been becoming an absolute cuddle-bug. He likes to be picked up and carried, which can be very useful. He doesn't always settle down into my lap after that, but when he does he has a nice rumbly purr. And my medication is still being adjusted; I seem to be getting into somewhat better shape. It's still not great, but I'm not complaining.

On the gripping hand, (covered mobility scooter)Scarlet the Carlet is broken, with a circuit breaker that doesn't want to stay reset. N, G, and j managed to push her home (under a kilometer, and NL is basically flat) -- we'll call for repairs tomorrow sometime.

In the links: MIT physicists peer inside an atom’s nucleus using the fact that Radium monofluoride's electron cloud extends inside the Radium's somewhat pear-shaped nucleus. Wild. Both the technique, and the fact that that compound exists at all. At least it's nowhere near as unstable as FOOF.

The Star Gauge is fascinating. (m sent us a link on the family Discord, but it was to tumblr -- the wikipedia article is less problematic.)

Notes & links, as usual )

Tags:
weofodthignen: selfportrait with Rune the cat (Default)
([personal profile] weofodthignen Dec. 20th, 2025 11:39 pm)
The now well hollowed-out orange fell overnight, and so did a little intact one. I spent the last half hour before sunset sweeping in front of the house where the neighbours' gardeners had blown leaves onto our side. And while I was at it, I dug out a couple of dandelion rosettes from the grass.
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([personal profile] ysabetwordsmith Dec. 20th, 2025 11:37 pm)
Climate change, resistance, and doing the right thing now

No amount of intellectualising is going to change the fact that our climate is thermodynamically fucked.

That humans are economic toast.



Largely true.

Read more... )

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([personal profile] ysabetwordsmith Dec. 20th, 2025 09:59 pm)
Today we went up to Amish territory.

Read more... )
This poem came out of the December 3, 2024 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from [personal profile] mama_kestrel. It also fills the "Window" square in my 11-1-24 card for the Sleepytime Bear fest. This poem has been sponsored by a pool with [personal profile] fuzzyred. It belongs to the series Arts and Crafts America.

Read more... )
Necessary Upgrade
By Dialecticdreamer/Sarah Williams
Part 1 of 1, complete
Word count (story only): 1363


:: Dunstan’s mattress is actively hostile, and ey aren’t going to put up with it any longer. The shopping trip, however, brings a surprising opportunity. General fiction, written for the December 2025 promptfest from a suggestion by [personal profile] wispfox, with my thanks! ::




Dunstan winced as ey tried to roll eir shoulder. A line of fire burned from the base of eir skull down toward eir shoulder, and the sudden twang as something in the shoulder clicked sent pain rocketing into the top of eir skull. It snapped eir jaw shut so suddenly and sharply that ey bit eir tongue.

The pain faded after a moment, but the taste lingered. Dunstan hurried into the kitchen and rummaged on the bottom shelf of the door for the cans of flavored mineral water to find one of the strongest flavors. By the time ey returned to stare at the unmade bed, the raspberry taste had washed away the sharp copper clinging to his tongue.
Read more... )
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([personal profile] ysabetwordsmith Dec. 20th, 2025 08:23 pm)
Astronomers Find the First Compelling Evidence of "Monster Stars" in the Early Universe

Using the James Webb Space Telescope, a team of international researchers has discovered chemical fingerprints of gigantic primordial stars that were among the first to form after the Big Bang.
weofodthignen: Mjöllnir with a green and blue background (green hammer)
([personal profile] weofodthignen Dec. 20th, 2025 05:23 pm)
I went out into the garden barefoot in the fading light, and blóted for Mothers' Night with a bottle of pinot noir that tuned out to be surprisingly good (Apothic, 2023). Then I set up our little Yule tree next to the expansive Monstera.
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([personal profile] billroper Dec. 20th, 2025 03:54 pm)
This is Chris Conway's fault. Sort of.

Chris has been working on his new album and has been posting about the various things that he has been doing to "Song 13". I finally asked him if that was the title of the song, or its position in the track list, or what. It turns out that it's "what", in that it's the thirteenth track that he's been working on in succession for the project.

I had an ulterior motive when asking: it seemed like "Song 13" was sort of a good title for a song. I wasn't sure exactly what the song would end up being, but it was a good title for a song. :)

And now I have a song to attach to the title, which you will find just below. Some things just get numbers, I guess. For Love Potions, it's Number Nine. Or maybe Ten...
Lyrics inside... )
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([personal profile] ysabetwordsmith Dec. 20th, 2025 11:53 am)
Today is mostly sunny and cool.

I fed the birds. I've seen a few sparrows and house finches, mostly on the suet feeder.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 12/20/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 12/20/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 12/20/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 12/20/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

As it is getting dark, I am done for the night.
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
([personal profile] ysabetwordsmith Dec. 20th, 2025 01:15 am)
People have expressed interest in deep topics, so this list focuses on philosophical questions.

What would happen to a society in which no one had to work, and everyone was provided enough food/water/shelter/healthcare for free?

Read more... )
weofodthignen: selfportrait with Rune the cat (Default)
([personal profile] weofodthignen Dec. 19th, 2025 10:24 pm)
Less chilly, clouds and sun; it got so threatening at mid-afternoon that I brought in my laundry, but it didn't rain. Except for Mama Violet, the cats stayed out of sight. One orange on the tree has a large bite hole out of it.
ysabetwordsmith: A paint roller creates an American flag, with the text Arts and Crafts America. (Arts and Crafts America)
([personal profile] ysabetwordsmith Dec. 19th, 2025 10:25 pm)
This poem came out of the April 1, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by prompts from [personal profile] siliconshaman, [personal profile] wyld_dandelyon, and [personal profile] mama_kestrel. It also fills the "Bookstore Girl" square in my 4-1-25 card for the Aesthetics Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by a pool with [personal profile] fuzzyred. It belongs to the series Arts and Crafts America.

Read more... )
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