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nanila 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!

rocky41_7 posting in

books

The most recent commute audiobook was The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern, of The Night Circus fame (although admittedly I have not read that one yet). This is a fantasy novel about Zachary, a young man swept into the drama of a secret underground society and the mysterious figures who surround it.

I finished this book on Sunday morning, catching the last 7 minutes of a whopping 19-hour runtime over breakfast, and since then I've settled into a relative disappointment. On paper, this book has so many things that should make it an ace in the hole for me: Book lovers! Cats! Secret magical societies! Queer characters! Women who are something Other taking control of their destinies! And yet, overall, this book just did not land for me.

As is a risk, I think, with all stories that are about the power of stories, The Starless Sea comes off a little pretentious and self-important. It is a book lauding the unmatched importance of books. I felt aware at various points throughout the book of how hard it was trying to appeal to people like me, who would enjoy the idea of a dark-paneled underground room with endless books and an on-demand kitchen, and this sense of pandering did take away from it at times.

However, it also does some interesting things with regards to what it is like to be the person in a story (such as the fate of Eleanor and Simon, once their part in the story is done) as well as the risks of valuing preservation over change and growth. Without giving too much away, there is a secret society in decline, and a woman so determined to prevent its downfall that she ends up causing significant harm to the organization she's trying to save because she is unwilling to accept that an end comes for all things. I enjoyed this theme and I felt like it was echoed well throughout the story, and in many ways it's easy to sympathize with her ultimate goals, if not her methods.

( Read more... )

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: Do you change crafts with the season or stick to the same crafts year round?

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

simplyn2deep posting in

1word1day

Tuesday, Apr. 22, 2025

Pettifogging (adjective)
pettifogging [ pet-ee-fog-ing, -faw-ging ]

adjective
1. insignificant; petty: pettifogging details.
2. dishonest or unethical in insignificant matters; meanly petty.

Related Words
frivolous, lesser, minor, narrow-minded

See more synonyms on Thesaurus.com

Origin: First recorded in 1570–80; pettifog, -ing

Example Sentences
Experts were doubtful from the start of his pettifogging that he had reasonable grounds to bail out.
From Los Angeles Times

The Economist described his viewpoint succinctly: “He paints stewards of fair play — regulators and boards — as pettifogging enemies of progress,” wrote its pseudonymous business columnist “Schumpeter.”
From Los Angeles Times

The virtue of this concept is that it divorces essential protections from pettifogging debates over the definition of “employee.”
From Los Angeles Times

Last month, President Biden’s Education Department released 13 pages of pettifogging rules patently written to discourage and impede charter schools from accessing a $440 million federal program of support for charters.
From Washington Post

Mr. Johnson’s allies accuse the European Union of inflexibility in applying rules, a pettifogging lack of sensitivity to feelings in parts of Northern Ireland and vengeful hostility toward Britain for exiting the bloc.
From New York Times

ribirdnerd posting in

common_nature

I saw my first garter snake and two snapping turtles near my local pond.

jazzyjj 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!

badly_knitted posting in

get_knitted

Current Mood: tired
Current Location: my desk

jazzyjj 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!

stonepicnicking_okapi posting in

1word1day

gibus [jahy-buhs]

noun

1. opera hat, a collapsible top hat

examples

1. Ask little Tom Prig, who is there in all his glory, knows everybody, has a story about every one; and, as he trips home to his lodgings in Jermyn Street, with his gibus-hat and his little glazed pumps, thinks he is the fashionablest young fellow in town, and that he really has passed a night of exquisite enjoyment. The Book of Snobs, 2006
2. Ispenlove stood leaning against the piano, as though intensely fatigued; he crushed his gibus with an almost savage movement, and then bent his large, lustrous black eyes absently on the flat top of it. Sacred and Profane Love, Arnold Bennett, 1899

origin

French gibus, from Gibus, name of its 19th century French inventor

mific posting in

fancake

Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Characters/Pairings: Gen. Steve the Wraith, Original male character, John Sheppard
Rating: Mature
Length: 1801
Content Notes: no AO3 warnings apply. Second person POV
Creator Links: frostfire on AO3
Theme: Outsider POV, genfic

Summary: More issues, Steve's and others'.

Reccer's Notes: This is told from the POV of a young Marine, on guard outside Steve the Wraith's cell on Atlantis. He battles with the pressure Steve puts on his mind and senses, made worse by possible unresolved issues from his past. Then Sheppard visits and comprehensively distracts the Wraith, and things change. An interesting perspective and character study, and I liked the second person POV which made it more immediate, being inside the guy's thoughts.

Fanwork Links: Predatory

cornerofmadness posting in

comment_bingo

My card is here.

( list of fandoms )

need a tag for Helluva Boss, & Murder She Wrote please

Current Mood: accomplished

full_metal_ox posting in

common_nature

Taken on 16 July 2023 at 19:27 US Eastern Daylight Savings Time.

Bunnies are of course going to favor weedy green lawns over elegant stone yards punctuated with waxy sculptural ornamentals. This one looks like an Eastern Cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus); Marsh Rabbits (S. palustris) (1), tend to have shorter ears, and my neighborhood strikes me as a bit too far from the water to attract them during the dry season.

It’s on alert, reacting sensibly to the arrival of a member of the deadliest of the Thousand, and so this was the only shot I was able to get before it went PATWINNNG! under the seagrape bed (the round-leaved shrub at center right, bordered by white river rocks.)

(1) Today I Learned the scientific name of the Lower Keys Marsh Rabbit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvilagus_palustris_hefneri

Yes; that Hugh Hefner funded endangered rabbit research, and was commemorated accordingly.

kalinara posting in

i_read_what

So last time, Sandra, the girlfriend of widowed artist, Alex Adrian, had just been found murdered. Given that Alex is suspected of killing his wife...that could be a bad sign.

( has Jack found a serial killer? )

badly_knitted posting in

get_knitted

Current Mood: tired
Current Location: my desk

teres posting in

i_read_what

Chapter Five | Chapter Six (Part II)

A good day, everyone, and welcome back to Lord Foul’s Bane! Last time, Covenant was healed, he creeped on Lena, and they finally made it to Mithil Stonedown.

For the reader post, I don’t have anything; I do want to welcome Silver Adept, though!

Let me go on with this, then.

( We still haven't unpaused quite yet. )

Current Mood: bored

jazzyjj 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!

scifirenegade posting in

moviefanfiction

( You're about to view content that a community administrator has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

scifirenegade posting in

fanfics

( You're about to view content that a community administrator has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

full_metal_ox posting in

fancake

Fandom: Chen Qing Ling, Mo Dao Zu Shi
Pairings/Characters: Gen; M/M (background Lan Wangji/Wei Wuxian); Cloud Recesses Rabbits, Lan Yi, Lan Wangji, Wei Wuxian
Rating: General Audiences
Length: 432
Content Notes: Corporal Punishment (referenced); written in Russian; written for WTF Modao Zushi 2022 (fandom_Wei_Wuxian_and_Co).
Creator Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Drama, Animal Death, Crack, fairy tale, Fluff, Rabbits, WTF | Winter Temporary Fandom Kombat 2022, WTF | Winter Temporary Fandom Kombat, Don't copy to another site
Creator Links: (AO3):

kasmunaut
Theme: Outsider POV, Animals, Cultural Differences, Folklore & Fairytales

Summary: И кролики могут быть верными. (And rabbits can be true.)

Author’s Notes: АУ: дорамоверс, вансяни вынесли кроликов из пещеры. (AU: Dramaverse, Wangxian brought the rabbits out of the cave.)

Беты noface и mummi. (Betas

noface and mummi.)

Reccer's Notes: The POV character of this Russian-language fic is one of Lan Yi’s white spiritual rabbits—who, taken into the sunlit green world, suddenly has to adjust to not only a custody transfer but an alien habitat and way of life. This story alludes to the fairytales of the Snow Maiden and the rabbit who saved the Buddha, so be prepared for a similar tale of self-sacrificial devotion.

(And yes, the author addresses the question of how the rabbits subsisted in the ice cave—something a lot of Chen Qing Ling viewers had been wondering.)

Fanwork Links: Песенка льда и пламени (A Song of Ice and Fire), by

kasmunaut for WTF Modao Zushi 2022 (fandom_Wei_Wuxian_and_Co)

Current Mood: melancholy

ranunculus posting in

common_nature

Meadowfoam and mimulus out on the Ranch in Northern California.

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Just One Thing (23 April 2025)

Recent Reading: The Starless Sea

Check-In Post - April 22nd 2025

Tuesday word: Pettifogging

More signs of spring

Just one thing: 22 April 2025

Check-In Post - April 21st 2025

Just one thing: 21 April 2025

Monday: gibus

SGA: Predatory by Frostfire

Blackout Bingo

Bunny caught in passing on the lawn.

Art in the Blood - Chapter Eight

Check-In Post - April 20th 2025

Lord Foul's Bane: Chapter 6: Legend of Berek Halfhand (Part I)

Just one thing: 20 April 2025

Setting Free (G) by scifirenegade - The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

Setting Free (The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari)

Chen Qing Ling: Песенка льда и пламени (A Song of Ice and Fire), by kasmunaut.

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