ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
ysabetwordsmith ([personal profile] ysabetwordsmith) wrote in [community profile] followfriday2025-07-04 01:00 am
Entry tags:

Follow Friday 7-4-25

Got any Follow Friday-related posts to share this week? Comment here with the link(s).

Here's the plan: every Friday, let's recommend some people and/or communities to follow on Dreamwidth. That's it. No complicated rules, no "pass this on to 7.328 friends or your cat will die".

fennectik: Meowscarada (Meowscarada)
fennectik ([personal profile] fennectik) wrote in [community profile] gaming2025-07-04 12:27 am

Got this little card today

So I opened another pack from that Pokemon TCG app and it gave me this



What a nice addition. Already have a MewTwo card so this is getting better as I go along.

In fact, using Mew seems easier than MewTwo giving how little orbs it takes to use the card in comparison. It also gives the option to mimic an attack from your opponent's card they currently have in battle. Quite a nice little card overall.

I like Mew just as well.
rocky41_7: (Default)
rocky41_7 ([personal profile] rocky41_7) wrote in [community profile] books2025-07-02 06:15 pm

"The Witness for the Dead" by Katherine Addison

You know that feeling where you're enjoying inhabiting a book so much you don't want to reach the end? This week I finished The Witness for the Dead by Katherine Addison, and that's how I felt.
 
Witness is a companion novel to Addison's breakout novel, The Goblin Emperor (TGE), which I read for the first time last year and never got around to reviewing. You don't need to have read TGE to enjoy this one at all; Witness focuses on a minor character from TGE and his adventures after the events of that novel. Thara Celehar is a prelate of the god Ulis, and his role in elven society is something like a cross between a priest and a private detective. He has the ability to commune, in a limited fashion, with the dead, and he is employed by the city to provide this service to the people. This may involve reporting a deceased's last thoughts to a mourner, asking a deceased to clarify a point on their will, or seeking answers from a murder victim to bring their killer to justice.

ExpandRead more... )
 

alierak: (Default)
alierak ([personal profile] alierak) wrote in [site community profile] dw_maintenance2025-06-30 03:18 pm

Rebuilding journal search again

We're having to rebuild the search server again (previously, previously). It will take a few days to reindex all the content.

Meanwhile search services should be running, but probably returning no results or incomplete results for most queries.
ceu: (asami)
arrow ([personal profile] ceu) wrote in [community profile] dreamwidthlayouts2025-06-30 03:45 pm

"I Already Decided" for Bases

Title: (I'm supposed to win!) I already decided!
Credit to: [personal profile] ceu
Base style: Bases (Tropical)
Type: CSS
Best resolution: 1200x800 | Desktop only
Tested in: Google Chrome, Safari, Firefox
Features: Two column, fixed width, supports only custom text & navigation, custom background



live preview/usage @ [personal profile] blackthorncity

(fake cut for instructions and code)
marycatelli: (Golden Hair)
marycatelli ([personal profile] marycatelli) wrote in [community profile] books2025-06-29 01:18 pm

Babylon White

Babylon White by Kit Sun Cheah

The grand conclusion! Spoilers for earlier books ahead.

ExpandRead more... )
fennectik: Videogames Post (Videogames)
fennectik ([personal profile] fennectik) wrote in [community profile] gaming2025-06-29 12:03 am

No Sonic Adventure remake, but...

Found this article about why there might not he a remake of said game.



"Sonic Adventure fans might not be happy to hear this, but there aren’t any plans to come out with a remake or remaster anytime soon.

Takahashi Iizuka, head of Team Sonic, was recently asked about revisiting the game in an interview. The takeaway here is that Iizuka believes it’d take a huge effort to bring the experience up to today’s “standards and expectations” – as much as a new title would apparently. Because of that, he feels working on a new game instead makes more sense.'

Iizuka has also shown interest in making Sonic Adventure 3. However, it’s unclear if that’s still something he’d want to pursue."- Nintendo Everything


I'm fine with that. If they choose to create an actual sequel to those games then there's plenty to speculate about than remastering existing titles.
beavertech: (Default)
beavertech ([personal profile] beavertech) wrote in [community profile] science2025-06-28 02:06 am
Entry tags:

Science, Skepticism, and Engineering Netcasts

Let's make a list of multimedia resources! News websites, journals, and publications can be separate.


One of the oldest netcasts out there! Live every Wednesday night (US timezones). Check them out on YT or subscribe via Antennapod or any other podcatcher. Subscribe to their newsletter. Weekly news by Dr. Kiki, Blair Baz The Zoologist who has her Animal Corner segment, and Justin Jackson who's a science writer and funny dude. They also broadcast on FM radio in California from UC Davis.

Since 2006, the weekly Skeptoid podcast has been taking on all the most popular urban legends and revealing the true science, true history, and true lessons we can learn from each. Skeptoid is a listener supported501(c)(3) nonprofit. Learn moreAnother one of the oldest netcasts out there on critical thinking and science. Featuring Dr. Steven Novella, Dr. Cara Santa Maria, and a few others. Tune in for the weekly "Who's That Noisy?", "Science or Fiction?", and other segments.
Conversations with interesting people about interesting topics.Hosted by Rod Pyle, Tariq Malik
The new space age is upon us, and This Week in Space leaves no topic untouched. Every Friday, join Editor-in-Chief of Ad Astra magazine, Rod Pyle and Managing Editor of Space.com, Tariq Malik as they explore everything related to the cosmos.
Join Club TWiT to remove ads. New episodes every Friday.
Covering the outer reaches of space to the tiniest microbes in our bodies, Science Friday is the source for entertaining and educational stories about science, technology, and other cool stuff. Also on most public radio stations in the US.
Hosted by Dr. Jessica Steier and Dr. Sarah Scheinman. Together they debunk health science myths and break down complex topics - without oversimplifying them. Combating disinformation with expert discussion.Based at Cambridge University's Institute of Continuing Education (ICE), the Naked Scientists are a team of scientists, doctors and communicators whose passion is to help the general public to understand and engage with the worlds of science, technology and medicine.
They have a whole bunch of netcasts!
We're making a podcast about engineering disasters and systemic failures, from a leftist perspective.
Brought to you by the BBC every week covering the latest science news.
The world's first podcast dedicated to exploring AI and the technological singularity. Dive into thought-provoking interviews where cutting-edge technology meets deep ethical discussions. We focus on exponential tech, accelerating change, and the critical choices shaping our future. Our mission is to uncover unprecedented dangers and opportunities, empowering you to create a better future and a better you.They host a bunch of weekly science news netcasts on microbology, viruology, and others. They're blocking my VPN IP currently so I can't really get ya any more info right now! Search in your podcatcher.



What do you guys listen to that's science-y. 
beavertech: (Default)
beavertech ([personal profile] beavertech) wrote in [community profile] science2025-06-27 11:27 pm
Entry tags:

NASA APOD 25/06/28 - Lunar Farside

far side of the moon

Image Credit: NASA / GSFC / Arizona State Univ. / Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter

Explanation: Tidally locked in synchronous rotation, the Moon always presents its familiar nearside to denizens of planet Earth. From lunar orbit, the Moon's farside can become familiar, though. In fact this sharp picture, a mosaic from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter's wide angle camera, is centered on the lunar farside. Part of a global mosaic of over 15,000 images acquired between November 2009 and February 2011, the highest resolution version shows features at a scale of 100 meters per pixel. Surprisingly, the rough and battered surface of the farside looks very different from the nearside covered with smooth dark lunar maria. A likely explanation is that the farside crust is thicker, making it harder for molten material from the interior to flow to the surface and form dark, smooth maria.



beavertech: (Default)
beavertech ([personal profile] beavertech) wrote in [community profile] science2025-06-27 11:25 pm
Entry tags:

NASA APOD 25/06/27 - Messier 109

galaxy

Image Credit & Copyright: Robert Eder

Explanation: Big beautiful barred spiral galaxy Messier 109 is the 109th entry in Charles Messier's famous catalog of bright Nebulae and Star Clusters. You can find it just below the Big Dipper's bowl in the northern constellation Ursa Major. In fact, bright dipper star Phecda, Gamma Ursa Majoris, produces the glare at the upper right corner of this telescopic frame. M109's prominent central bar gives the galaxy the appearance of the Greek letter "theta", θ, a common mathematical symbol representing an angle. M109 spans a very small angle in planet Earth's sky though, about 7 arcminutes or 0.12 degrees. But that small angle corresponds to an enormous 120,000 light-year diameter at the galaxy's estimated 60 million light-year distance. The brightest member of the now recognized Ursa Major galaxy cluster, M109 (aka NGC 3992) is joined by spiky foreground stars. Three small, fuzzy bluish galaxies also on the scene, identified (top to bottom) as UGC 6969, UGC 6940 and UGC 6923, are possibly satellite galaxies of the larger barred spiral galaxy Messier 109.



beavertech: (Default)
beavertech ([personal profile] beavertech) wrote in [community profile] science2025-06-27 11:20 pm
Entry tags:

EPOD 25/06/27 - Wyoming’s Grand Tetons and Jackson Lake

Wyoming’s Grand Tetons and Jackson Lake

Photographer: Ray Boren
Summary Author: Ray Boren

Under a big blue sky, the morning sun illuminates a central portion of Wyoming’s majestic Teton Range, which is mirrored via specular reflection in a calm and equally blue bay of Jackson Lake in Grand Teton National Park. In this photograph, taken on May 23, 2025, the park’s namesake Grand Teton peak, topping out at 13,775 feet (4,199 meters) above sea level, is on the far-left side of the image, to the south. Blocky Mount Moran (12,610 feet; 3,840 m) rises prominently just left of center. 

The snow still covering the Tetons on this spring day makes it easy to envision the Pleistocene ice-age glaciers that helped carve the mountains’ jagged summits, cirques, and U-shaped drainages. The Park Service explains that the Teton Fault began tilting the range’s primarily granite mountain block upward about 10 million years ago while also dropping the valley of Jackson Hole. Although masked by snow in the photograph, almost a dozen glaciers remain in the park today, some moving and some mere remnants. They, and erosion from water, wind and gravity, continue to shape the dramatic terrain.

 

Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming Coordinates: 43.7904, -110.6818

Related Links:
Sunset and Specular Reflection at Great Salt Lake
Davey Jackson’s Valley in Winter
The Tetons, from the Idaho Side

permalink
starwatcher: Western windmill, clouds in background, trees around base. (Default)
StarWatcher ([personal profile] starwatcher) wrote in [community profile] ebooks2025-06-27 10:45 am
Entry tags:

Ebook sale, today only, Friday 27th

 

This one has multiple genres.

Books for sale, mostly $1 to $3

Hit the "Genres" button at the top of the page to narrow your search.

Happy reading!

ETA: Jesse_the_k notes that "This is a meta-search engine, compiling deals from Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble, Google and Kobo." I didn't realize that was note-worthy, but yeah. Whatever platform you use to read, you're covered.

 
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
ysabetwordsmith ([personal profile] ysabetwordsmith) wrote in [community profile] followfriday2025-06-27 12:38 am
Entry tags:

Follow Friday 6-27-25

Got any Follow Friday-related posts to share this week? Comment here with the link(s).

Here's the plan: every Friday, let's recommend some people and/or communities to follow on Dreamwidth. That's it. No complicated rules, no "pass this on to 7.328 friends or your cat will die".

rocky41_7: (Default)
rocky41_7 ([personal profile] rocky41_7) wrote in [community profile] books2025-06-26 06:12 pm

"The Monster Baru Cormorant" by Seth Dickinson

The day after finishing The Traitor Baru Cormorant I had to rush over to the library to pick up book 2, The Monster Baru Cormorant, which I finished earlier today.

Spoilers for The Traitor Baru Cormorant below!
 
The second book of a fantasy series of any kind often bears a very difficult burden. It is most often the place where the scope of the story grows significantly. A conflict which before was local to the protagonist's home and surrounding area may expand, often to the extent of the known world. New players are often added to the cast, bigger and scarier problems and challenges arise. The protagonist may have gone up in the world, wielding new power and influence, with new responsibilities. As a result, this is where many series lose their footing; a tightly-woven book or season 1 may give way to a muddled, watered down part 2 as the writers struggle to juggle this expanded focus. 
 
The Monster suffers from none of those things. It is the place where Baru's story expands—in The Traitor, her focus was almost entirely on Aurdwynn; it was the full field of play and outside players mattered only as they influenced events on Aurdwynn. In The Monster, Baru has become a true agent of the Imperial Throne of Falcrest, and with these new powers, the entire field of the empire is opened up for her play, and it is fascinating to watch. 
 
In The Traitor, Baru was narrowly focused on managing the situation in Aurdwynn; everything she did was to that end. In The Monster, Baru can do whatever she wants, and we get to see her finally on the open field. Even where she flounders and flails, it's delightful to watch the machinations of her mind constantly at work.  Her cleverness rows against her bursts of sentimentality to produce some impressively chaotic effects, but she is as slippery as an eel to pin down, even when her rivals think they've gotten the best of her.

ExpandRead more... ) 
 

beavertech: (Default)
beavertech ([personal profile] beavertech) wrote in [community profile] science2025-06-26 05:07 am
Entry tags:

Earth Science POD: Planetary Alignment Observed from Pinhal de Leiria, Portugal

small building with a tower beside it, stars are visible
same as the other but with multiple space objects labeled


Photographer: Rui Santos
Summary Author: Rui Santos

The night sky and planetary alignment featured above was captured from Pinhal de Leiria, Portugal on February 28, 2025. I decided to view the alignment from here because I knew I'd have a clear view of the horizon. Since the planets were stretched out across the sky, I had to do a panorama and try to avoid light pollution (lower left and lower right) from surrounding cities and towns. Venus, Jupiter, Mars and Uranus are included above, but because I wasn't able to arrive as the Sun was setting, Saturn, Neptune and Mercury aren't in the frame.

At bottom center is the Crastinha Lookout Point, one of several watchtowers in the Forest of Leiria. The building to its right is the reconstruction of what used to be the guard's house, dating from 1883. This tower is still in use today.

Photo Details: Panorama of 4 panels x 10 photos on each panel; Sony A6000 camera; Samyang 12mm F2; 40 x 20 seconds exposure; 6400 ISO; F2.8; 8:16 pm local time. Tripod: Geekoto AT24Pro Dreamer + Andoer Q08S Rotating Head. Processing: PTGUI, Lightroom, Photoshop, RCplugins, Luminar.

 
 
Pinhal de Leiria, Portugal Coordinates: 39.8317, -8.9703
 
Related Links:
Planetary Alignment of April 27, 2022
Planetary Alignments and Planet Parades

Original:
https://epod.usra.edu/blog/2025/06/planetary-alingment-observed-from-pinhal-de-leiria-portugal.html
beavertech: (Default)
beavertech ([personal profile] beavertech) wrote in [community profile] science2025-06-25 11:58 pm

Daily Gem/Mineral/EarthyThing 19/02/18 - Kunzite

closeup of a crystal

Kunzite is the pink to light purple gem variety of the mineral Spodumene. Spodumene is a common mineral, but only in several localities does it occur in transparent gem form. The main gem form of Spodumene is Kunzite, the other is the rarer Hiddenite. Yellow and colorless gem forms of Spodumene also exist, but are not commonly faceted as gemstones. Kunzite has a lovely pink color and is becoming increasingly popular in the gemstone market.

Chemical Formula: LiAlSi2O6
Color: Pink, Purple
Hardness: 6.5 - 7
Crystal System: Monoclinic
Refractive Index: 1.66 - 1.68
SG: 3.1 - 3.2
Transparency: Transparent
Double Refraction: .015
Luster: Vitreous
Cleavage: 1,2 - prismatic
Mineral Class: Spodumene

All About:
Kunzite is a relatively recent gemstone, having been first discovered in the 20th century. It was first found in the pegmatites of Pala, California, in 1902, and is named after the famous mineralogist George F. Kunz who first identified it. Though it wasn't until the 1990's that this gemstone became a more mainstream gemstone, having been used only as a collectors gemstone prior to that time.

Kunzite is a very attractive pink gem, but is notorious for its habit of color fading in prolonged exposure to strong light. Although the color-fading effect is very slow, most people still prefer to wear Kunzite jewelery in the evening to avoid sunlight exposure. Kunzite is regarded as an evening stone for this reason.

Kunzite deposits are quite extensive and yield large amounts of this gemstone, thus making it very affordable. Extremely large and flawless crystals of Kunzite have been found, and these can yield very large and flawless faceted gemstones.

The perfect cleavage and splintery fracture of Kunzite makes it a difficult gemstone to facet. It is very sensitive to knocks and will chip if hit too hard. Kunzite is known for its strong pleochroism, showing lighter and more intense coloring when viewed at different angles. For this reason, it is always cut to show the deepest pink color through the top of the gem. The deeper pink the Kunzite, the more valuable it generally is.


Uses:
Although Kunzite is a relatively soft and delicate gem, and can fade after prolonged exposure to light, its appealing color makes it a popular gem. Small gems are not commonly cut from Kunzite because of its cleavage and strong pleochroism. It is most often used as a pendant stone and as a large decorating stone on ornamental objects. It is less commonly used in rings, necklaces, or other jewelry items where small stones are required. Less transparent stones are sometimes cut into cabochons and beads.

Varieties:
Blue Kunzite - Light blue to bluish green transparent form of Spodumene.
Yellow Kunzite - Yellow transparent form of Spodumene.



History and Introduction:
Kunzite is the pale pink to light-violet gem-quality variety of the pyroxene mineral spodumene, a lithium aluminum inosilicate. Kunzite was first discovered in Connecticut, USA, and was named after George Frederick Kunz (1856 - 1932), an American mineralogist and the former vice president and buyer for Tiffany & Company. Kunz was a legendary New York jeweler and colored stone specialist, and he was the first to comprehensively describe the stone in 1902.

Although it was first discovered in the USA, most of the current supply of kunzite is found in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Kunzite is closely related to hiddenite, the yellow-green member of the spodumene gemstone family which was also discovered and named after an American mineralogist, W. E. Hidden; as well as the classic golden to yellow color gem-quality spodumene. Kunzite is known to produce gemstones of great size. In fact, it's not uncommon to find fine quality stones weighing 20 carats or more. Kunzite and the entire spodumene group are important industrial sources of lithium, which is used for the making of medicines, ceramics, mobile phones and automotive batteries.

Sources:
https://www.minerals.net/gemstone/kunzite_gemstone.aspx
https://www.gemselect.com/gem-info/kunzite/kunzite-info.php

rocky41_7: (Default)
rocky41_7 ([personal profile] rocky41_7) wrote in [community profile] books2025-06-25 05:38 pm
Entry tags:

"Sundial" by Catriona Ward

I don't actually remember where I saw Catriona Ward's Sundial recommended, but it was somewhere and convincing enough to get it on my TBR. I finished the audiobook this week so it's time to reflect.
 
Sundial is a domestic psychological thriller which focuses on the relationship between the protagonist Rob and her eldest daughter Callie. Or at least, that's what the novel summary posits. A good 50% or more of the book is actually about Rob's youth and her relationship with her childhood family, primarily her twin sister, Jack. I didn't get that at first, which led to me being slightly frustrated by the length of the "flashback" sections until I realized that they were at least half the true focus of the story.
 
Ward excels in capturing the petty toxicity of a domestic environment gone sour. Especially deftly handled are the ways in which a partner can wound in such seemingly mundane ways. Many of the exchanges between Rob and her husband, Irving, come off as completely innocuous to an outsider, but to the two people in the relationship, who have the context for these seemingly nothing interactions, the full cruelty of them is on display. This adds completely believably to the tension between Rob and Callie, who has long favored her father, and who sees her mother's responses as hysterical overreactions, because she doesn't have the context that Rob does. Ward also very neatly portrays a truly vicious marriage, where both parties have given up pretending they want to be together, at least to each other, and where the entire relationship has become an unending game of oneupsmanship, trying to get one over on your spouse.
 
Adding to this suffocating atmosphere is Callie, a very strange 12-year-old who is starting to exhibit some very troubling behavior, particularly in her interactions with her 9-year-old sister, Annie. Rob has always struggled to connect with Callie—in contrast with Irving, who happily spoils her to force Rob to be the bad guy enforcing boundaries—but when Callie is thought to have attempted to poison Annie with Irving's diabetes medication, Rob decides it's time she and Callie have a real heart-to-heart. 
 
So she takes Callie on a mother/daughter trip to Rob's childhood home, Sundial, an isolated family property out in the Mojave desert. 

fennectik: Meowscarada (Meowscarada)
fennectik ([personal profile] fennectik) wrote in [community profile] gaming2025-06-25 05:42 pm

Got a Meowscarada card

This must be fate.



Of course the card posted above isn't the same as the one I've got, but it looks pretty close.
fennectik: Videogames Post (Videogames)
fennectik ([personal profile] fennectik) wrote in [community profile] gaming2025-06-25 12:50 am
fennectik: Videogames Post (Videogames)
fennectik ([personal profile] fennectik) wrote in [community profile] gaming2025-06-24 04:20 am

Game post

Downloaded that cute simple Bowling app once again. That one in particular was one of the very first gaming apps I downloaded way back when I first got a smartphone. Such memories. Have also downloaded that photo editor app which is the sole one I ever downloaded as well.

Have been playing Final Fantasy V and Dragon Quest IIII in hopes of finishing them, as well as other titles like Feda: Emblem of Justice and Shining in the Darkness.

I hope to finish all to scratch them off my gaming bucket list. Might try and play/finish Wizardry V as well.