fourohfourrealitynotfound

jazzyjj posting in

It's challenge time!

Comment with Just One Thing you've accomplished in the last 24 hours or so. It doesn't have to be a hard thing, or even a thing that you think is particularly awesome. Just a thing that you did.

Feel free to share more than one thing if you're feeling particularly accomplished!

Extra credit: find someone in the comments and give them props for what they achieved!

Nothing is too big, too small, too strange or too cryptic. And in case you'd rather do this in private, anonymous comments are screened. I will only unscreen if you ask me to.

Go!

ysabetwordsmith

This is the freebie for the March

crowdfunding Creative Jam. It was inspired by the "tape" square in my 3-1-26 card for the National Crafting Month Bingo fest. It belongs to the series Arts and Crafts America.

"Colorful Opportunities"

Tape is a material
that is always full of
colorful opportunities.

It can make borders and
frames on scrapbook pages.

It stripes the handles of
tools for easy identification.

It flags pages for future reading.

It makes cute cutouts for
decorating boxes and books.

Tape holds hobbies together.

Current Mood: busy

voidbeetles posting in

little_details

Hi!

I have a character in a sci-fi universe who ends up "shipwrecked" alone on a completely uninhabited planet for two years. The planet, and the specific environment he lands in, are perfectly habitable by humans (we are in soft scifi territory here, very Star Trek inspired) and he's able to survive with some effort. (The details of how are not really important to the story - I know at least that he's the kind of guy who'd be able to salvage some tech and emergency supplies from his wrecked ship, and I'm comfortable with brushing past the details of what exactly he brought with him - but if anyone's really interested in coming at it from that logistical angle, I won't stop you!)

What is more relevant to the story is how this experience would continue to affect him by the time he's back home safely. I think there are a bunch of possible avenues here and I'd love to see people's takes on how they would approach this or approach researching it. For example, here are some of my cursory thoughts:

PTSD is certainly a likely long-term complication
It's implied that his shipwrecking was not an accident/was engineered maliciously - I imagine this is something he has dwelt on heavily throughout the two years and will affect his ability to trust people (and to visit other uninhabited planets in the future!). Seems like it would be easy to get caught in delusional spirals in a situation like that.
I know that prolonged isolation can cause hallucination/psychosis in some cases, especially in solitary confinement, sensory deprivation contexts, etc. Is that as much of a risk in this case? And if so, do you think he'd still be experiencing psychotic symptoms after the fact?
One of his personality traits is that he's fairly attention-seeking - I think it's likely this incident will exacerbate that and make him more desperate for connection
It'll probably alter how he approaches social situations in the future in general; that's something I'll definitely be thinking about
Perhaps he got into the habit of talking to himself on the planet, and this never went away

ysabetwordsmith

Today my partner Doug asked me to remove a bunch of staples for him. I first looked for my staple remover but couldn't find it. Instead I grabbed the tiny screwdriver that I got from Power Plus at the Home and Garden Expo. It actually worked better. Because it's swag, the screwdriver tip is very thin and narrow. That made it a lot easier to slide under the ends of the staples to open them, then slide under the wide part of the wire to twist it loose. Staple removers typically have very thick teeth that can be difficult to get under the wire. So this is now my staple remover of choice, and will live in my office drawer. :D

What most people call luck or opportunity is, in my observation, largely situational awareness. I needed a tool; I thought about what would work; I used what I had. And then I noticed that it worked better than a dedicated tool from the past. A small discovery, but it makes my primate brain very happy.

Current Mood: pleased

badly_knitted posting in

get_knitted

Hello to all members, passers-by, curious onlookers, and shy lurkers, and welcome to our regular daily check-in post. Just leave a comment below to let us know how your current projects are progressing, or even if they're not.

Checking in is NOT compulsory, check in as often or as seldom as you want, this community isn't about pressure it's about encouragement, motivation, and support. Crafting is meant to be fun, and what's more fun than sharing achievements and seeing the wonderful things everyone else is creating?

There may also occasionally be questions, but again you don't have to answer them, they're just a way of getting to know each other a bit better.

This Week's Question: What is a craft that you tried but abandoned?

If anyone has any questions of their own about the community, or suggestions for tags, questions to be asked on the check-in posts, or if anyone is interested in playing check-in host for a week here on the community, which would entail putting up the daily check-in posts and responding to comments, go to the Questions & Suggestions post and leave a comment.

I now declare this Check-In OPEN!

Current Mood: tired
Current Location: my desk

ysabetwordsmith

AO3 BS

AO3 is apparently crashing out again... Le sigh, do NOT get me wrong I do adore that site (for reading... I've yet to use it as a writer) but damn this just keeps happening.

Frequent service outage is one of the later signs of platform degradation heading for collapse. Always stay alert for warning signs, because they help you save your data and shore up contact with friends before it is too late.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

Today is cloudy and cool with howling wind. It's up to 18mph. A beautiful day to stay indoors and write!

I fed the birds. Unsurprisingly, I haven't seen any. I expect they're all huddled in whatever shelter they can find.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 3/15/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

I've seen a small mixed flock of sparrows and house finches.

EDIT 3/15/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

A tiny scilla is blooming white in the purple-and-white garden.

It's starting to rain.

I am done for the night.

Current Mood: busy

jazzyjj posting in

awesomeers

ysabetwordsmith

This video beautifully demonstrates the use of art in education, showing how trees catch and release water to help drive the hydrologic cycle. Without forests, you get a drought-flood situation instead. :/

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

Today we went to Middlefork at the Mall in Lincoln Square Mall in Urbana. This is a big flea market, although not quite as big as the last one we caught. We both found some great stuff.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

Yesterday I discovered the Seed Library Network. I was delighted to find one near me. (See Today's Adventures for our other activities.)

Today we visited the Urbana Free Library Seed Exchange. It's on the second floor. We rode the elevator up, and the display was big enough to be seen from where the elevator lets out. Seeds are stored in drawers, sorted by type. There are sections for flowers, herbs, and vegetables. Some of the really popular ones have their own drawer; others are grouped together. Unopened packets of commercial seed are filed as they are, for folks who want to know exactly what they're getting. Opened packets or homegrown seeds are put in envelopes by library staff. With wildflower and landrace seeds, especially mixes, you may get more surprises.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: excited

ysabetwordsmith

Scared of spiders? Scientists say the real nightmare is losing them

Scientists discovered that nearly 90% of North America’s insects and arachnids have no conservation status—revealing a huge blind spot in protecting the tiny creatures that keep ecosystems running.

Spiders and insects may not be fan favorites, but they are vital to the health of ecosystems—and scientists barely know how they’re doing. Researchers found that nearly 90% of North America’s insect and arachnid species have no conservation status, leaving their fate largely unknown. Even more striking, most states don’t protect a single arachnid species. The study warns that these overlooked creatures are essential to planetary health and urgently need better monitoring and protection.

Let me be blunt here: the insect (arthropod) apocalypse is going to pull the rug out from under the biosphere. Plants are the producers for most of the ecosystem; many essential plants rely on insects for pollination or other services. And the next layer is invertebrates, mostly arthropods -- they break down dead material to a size that fungi can deal with, they pollinate, they move seeds, they feed most of the next level up such as birds, amphibians, etc. Spiders in particular keep the rest of that arthropod mess in check so we're not buried alive in flies, mosquitoes, and so on. They're some of the tiniest predators and they're absolutely vital.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

The March

crowdfunding Creative Jam is now open with a theme of "Opportunity."

What I Have Written

A prompt from

dialecticdreamer inspired the free-verse poem "Hidden Opportunities." Juan Carlos likes visiting Schrodinger's Heroes for the opportunity to step outside his usual role and relax.
70 lines, Buy It Now = $35

"Colorful Opportunities" is the freebie.

From My Prompts

gs_silva took my prompt "Opportunity is using someone else's waste product as your raw material" as inspiration for an adorable picture and description from Alien Romance. :D

Current Mood: busy

mark posting in

dw_maintenance

Happy Saturday!

I'm going to be doing a little maintenance today. It will likely cause a tiny interruption of service (specifically for www.dreamwidth.org) on the order of 2-3 minutes while some settings propagate. If you're on a journal page, that should still work throughout!

If it doesn't work, the rollback plan is pretty quick, I'm just toggling a setting on how traffic gets to the site. I'll update this post if something goes wrong, but don't anticipate any interruption to be longer than 10 minutes even in a rollback situation.

badly_knitted posting in

get_knitted

Current Mood: tired
Current Location: my desk

ysabetwordsmith

Today is cloudy and chilly.

I fed the birds. I've seen a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches.

I put out water for the birds.

3/14/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

I am done for the night.

Current Mood: busy

nanila posting in

awesomeers

It's challenge time!

Comment with Just One Thing you've accomplished in the last 24 hours or so. It doesn't have to be a hard thing, or even a thing that you think is particularly awesome. Just a thing that you did.

Feel free to share more than one thing if you're feeling particularly accomplished! Extra credit: find someone in the comments and give them props for what they achieved!

Nothing is too big, too small, too strange or too cryptic. And in case you'd rather do this in private, anonymous comments are screened. I will only unscreen if you ask me to.

Go!

ysabetwordsmith

People have expressed interest in deep topics, so this list focuses on philosophical questions.

What will be/are some of the by-products to society of everyone having the ability to take pictures or a video at any time?

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

Separation of Church and Parking Lot

How can we repurpose church parking lots for the better?

But unlike the bank in the bottom left of the first map, whose lot is never full—even predictably so—and where one might justify changing the parking requirements to accommodate this phenomenon, churches are assembly halls. Once or twice a week, they do fill up.

And unlike the banks, churches, mosques, temples, and other houses of worship are civic spaces. These spaces are where neighbors come together to share meals and company, or where folks from dispersed corners of a city unite under a common purpose. If a city lacks the density to begin with, and driving to church is the obvious option, there is no good argument for denying a church its parking—they use it!

But a dilemma lies in the five or six days of the week in which these lots sit empty. Churches and other houses of worship are amenities within neighborhoods, but blocks of street-facing parking lots are the opposite. They sit unused for about 250 to 300 days of the year.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

Scientists warn that a certain type of earthquake is much more destructive and being overlooked

In a typical quake, a rupture spreads along a fault at a speed slower than shear waves, seismic waves that shake the ground sideways. A supershear rupture outruns those waves, so energy piles up at the rupture tip and forms a sharp shock front.

That shock front is why these quakes can be so damaging. A nearby town can get hammered first by the high speed rupture front, then by the trailing waves in what Elbanna describes as a “double strike”.

Current Mood: busy

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fourohfour

March 2026

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Page generated Mar. 16th, 2026 04:35 pm

fourohfour's blog?

idk i'm new we're figuring it out

Reading

Just one thing: 16 March 2026

Poem: "Colorful Opportunities"

Long-term psychological effects of physical isolation

Tool Use

Check-In Post - March 15th 2026

Cyberspace Theory

Birdfeeding

Just one thing: 15 March 2026

Science

Today's Adventures

Urbana Free Library Seed Exchange

Wildlife

Creative Jam

Performing some traffic maintenance today

Check-In Post - March 14th 2026

Birdfeeding

Just One Thing (14 March 2026)

Philosophical Questions: Pictures

Communities

Safety

Profile

March 2026

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