toothycat | Network

Silk can be transformed into a super-material stronger than bone

Now, researchers have found a way to turn silk into something much stronger than fabric.

In fact, the new material can compete with some advanced industrial composites and even comes close to Kevlar in toughness.

It can also survive ballistic impacts better than carbon fiber reinforced plastics. That puts silk in a very different category than scarves and dresses.

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

This poem is spillover from the December 3, 2024 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by prompts from

goatgodschild and

wyld_dandelyon. It also fills the "Flannel" square in my 11-1-24 card for the Sleepytime Bear Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by

fuzzyred. It belongs to the Rutledge thread of the Polychrome Heroics series. It follows "Your Own Blissful Path" so read that first or this won't make as much sense.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

DEMOCRACY REPORT 2026: Unraveling The Democratic Era?

1. Democracy in the World 2025
* Democracy is back to 1978 levels for the average global citizen. The gains of the “third wave of democratization”, starting 1974 in Portugal, are almost eradicated.
* The level of democracy for the average citizen in Western Europe and North America is at its lowest level in over 50 years, primarily due to ongoing autocratization in the USA.
* The USA loses its long-term status as a liberal democracy – for the first time in over 50 years.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: frustrated

ysabetwordsmith

These are the notes for "A Proper Community Is a Commonwealth."

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

cosmolinguist

D and I had a nice time this afternoon, asking local pubs and restaurants if they'd put up a flyer advertising the local queer club that we're on the committee for.

D had designed and printed the posters today; they look great (while also being full of useful information and as accessible as printed things are going to be).

I can really recommend joining an in-person thing, printing stuff on paper, and going around asking strangers if we can put it up there; everyone was kind and friendly -- sometimes even to the point of suggesting nearby derelict buildings that are full of posters, heh. (We didn't take that advice but felt good about worthy of this inside info.)

This has been on my mind, because of the EHRC guidance. Yesterday morning, I said on fedi:

I went to transgym this morning and it was fun and silly and supportive and no one mentioned the EHRC thing and I used the men's room.

The world is still out there for us. As it should be.

The weather has been glorious today too, cloudless blue sky and it actually hit 80F today. We apparently walked 3.5 miles in the course of all this (and getting to and from home of course). I had a pint of Sam Smith's alpine lager, a nonalchoholic ginger beer, and a delicious apple juice with added mint and ginger, so I stayed hydrated!

Tomorrow I'm hoping to drag myself to the gym, since there won't be circuits on a bank holiday. D said he might join me, which would be great. And it also means that we can flyer the gym/library itself, and maybe a few other places that were closed when we went past today.

ysabetwordsmith

This poem is spillover from the March 17, 2026 Bonus Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from

readera. It also fills the "Woodworking" square in my 3-1-26 card for the National Crafting Month Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by

fuzzyred. It belongs to the Broken Angels thread of the Polychrome Heroics series. It follows "Preserving the Quality and Character," so read that first or this won't make much sense.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

Scientists discover the oldest wooden tools ever used by humans

Scientists have uncovered the oldest known hand-held wooden tools ever used by humans — and they’re an astonishing 430,000 years old. Buried for hundreds of thousands of years at an ancient lakeside site in Greece, the carefully carved wooden objects reveal that early humans were far more skilled and resourceful than once believed.

Current Mood: busy

oursin

This week's bread: a loaf of Marriage's Organic Country Fayre Malted Brown Bread Flour, v nice.

Friday night supper: ven pongal (S Indian khichchari).

Saturday breakfast rolls: Tassajarra method, 50/50% white/wholemeal spelt flour. molasses, raisins: turned out rather well.

Today's lunch: a sort-of cassoulet thing, with the other half-pack of pancetta, Belazu Judion Butter Beans, garlic, onion, bay leaves, 5-pepper blend, panko breadcrumbs, worked pretty well; served with buttered spinach and chicory quartered, healthy-grilled in pumpkin seed oil and drizzled with lime and lemongrass balsamic vinegar.

ysabetwordsmith

Today is cloudy and mild.

I fed the birds. I've seen a few sparrows and house finches.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 5/24/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 5/24/26 -- I started pulling weeds around the apricot tree.

EDIT 5/24/26 -- I pulled more weeds around the apricot tree.

EDIT 5/24/26 -- I planted a hardy apricot seedling, which is a wild type.

EDIT 5/24/26 -- I mulched around the hardy apricot seedling.

Landrace zucchini and landrace muskmelon are sprouting in their big pots by the septic garden. The first of the mulberries are ripening. Once again, planting season is overlapping fruit-harvest season because some shipments arrived late. :/

EDIT 5/24/26 -- I trimmed a space in the savanna.

EDIT 5/24/26 -- I planted the sweetgum in the savanna and mulched around it.

EDIT 5/24/26 -- I watered the newly planted things.

EDIT 5/24/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 5/24/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 5/24/26 -- I trimmed a space in the savanna.

EDIT 5/24/26 -- I planted the sassafras in the savanna and mulched around it. This concludes the big box from Cold Stream Farms and should be the last of the shipped things for this season.

EDIT 5/24/26 -- I watered the sassafras and some other seedlings in the savanna.

I've seen a male cardinal at the hopper feeder. I also spotted at least one bat flying around the yard, likely a big brown bat as it's pretty large for a small insectivorous bat.

As it is getting dark, I am done for the night.

Current Mood: busy

lsanderson

Red River Valley farmers worry as strong winds threaten their soil
Tadeo Ruiz Sandoval
https://www.mprnews.org/story/2026/05/24/red-river-valley-farmers-worry-as-strong-winds-cause-dust-storms-threaten-their-soil

'Long Leif' siblings go indoors as Detroit Lakes troll artist stages first museum exhibit
The Associated Press
https://www.mprnews.org/story/2026/05/23/long-leif-siblings-go-indoors-as-detroit-lakes-troll-artist-stages-first-museum-exhibit ( Read more... )

oursin

Happy birthday,

catlinyemaker,

heleninwales and

ruudboy!

china_shop

For 520 Day, I received the most wonderful romp from

ehyde. Srsly, it made me shout with laughter every second paragraph. :D :D :D

Secret's Safe With Me (1820 words) by EHyde
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: 镇魂 | Guardian (TV 2018)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Guo Changcheng & Shen Wei, Shen Wei & Shen Wei's Students (Guardian)
Characters: Guo Changcheng, Shen Wei (Guardian), Original Characters
Additional Tags: Bodyswap, Hand-Wavy Dixing Powers (Guardian)
Summary:

Guo Changcheng gets (very literally) mixed up in one DCU student's misguided attempt to protect her favorite professor from the SID.

I wrote outsider POV for

echo_ph0enix -- Zheng Yi's take on the first part of episode 14, including some missing scenes with Shen Wei.

Senza Sordino (没有弱音器) (6858 words) by china_shop
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: 镇魂 | Guardian (TV 2018)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Shen Wei & Zheng Yi, Zheng Yi & Tan Xiao, Background Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan
Characters: Zhèng Yì, Shěn Wēi, Tán Xiào, Special Investigation Division | SID Ensemble (Guardian), Zhao Yunlan
Additional Tags: Episode Related, episode 14, Missing Scene, Canon Compliant, POV Outsider, Fatalism, Trauma, Mentions of deportation, No One Is Actually Deported, Happy Ending, rated for themes
Summary:

Zheng Yi quavered. On her left were the conscious and unconscious casualties of her desperate search; on her right stood the object of it, Tan Xiao. She’d been too desperate to consider anything or anyone else while she’d been parted from him, but that was no excuse. Something inside her cracked, and guilt poured out.

In this private space shared with only the Envoy, it felt safe to speak. She gulped back tears and opened her mouth. Whatever kind of person the Envoy was, she had to say it. “I’m sorry.”

ysabetwordsmith

Today we went to the Spring Vendor Market in Sullivan.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: happy

ysabetwordsmith

A friend tipped me to this:

THE PLOTLAND HOUSES OF BRITAIN: HOW A 20TH CENTURY WORKING-CLASS HOUSING MOVEMENT WAS STIFLED

His piece of land cost him £10 in 1934. It is 40 ft wide by 100 ft deep. First, he put up a tent which his family used at weekends, and he gradually accumulated tools, timber and glass which he brought to the site strapped to his back as he cycled down from London. – Dennis Hardy & Colin Ward, Arcadia for All, 1984, p. 200

In the first half of the twentieth century, and particularly in the inter-war period, up to the 1947 Planning Act, the appearance throughout Britain of thousands of self-built shacks, chalets, recycled buses and railway carriages was considered by the powers-that-be as a terrible eyesore. Middle-class planners like Clough Williams-Ellis, architect of Portmeirion, the set of The Prisoner, considered them a ‘blot on the landscape’ that needed to be eradicated. But from another viewpoint, 80 years on, they look like the beginning of a postmodern urban vernacular. They were a new working-class architecture in the process of being evolved, that was brought to a halt through ignorance and class prejudice.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

cosmolinguist

I've been so excited for the last few days since we found out about this Mask Bloc folk-punk gig that we could go to.

A gig where D and I weren't the only two wearing masks!

I had a great time, particularly liked two of the acts, Albatross and Octavia Holyoke. When D's girlfriend asked us if Cheap Dirty Horse were playing, this was my introduction to that particular musical group, but then after Albatross's set when we were all outside drinking and/or smoking, they made an offhand reference to playing the washboard for Cheap Dirty Horse so we saw I guess one-seventh of them after all!

Albatross played a sweet song called something like "Song I Will Never Sing for My Mother" about being trans, they (don't know their pronouns, so this is the Unspecified they) introduced it by saying it includes their deadname but they don't think of it as a deadname, so it was nice to get some representation for my own experience there. The song also referred to their testosterone gel as smelling like gin, which made me a little sad because I think it smells like hand sanitizer (which is why mine is known as planned manitizer); I'm used to a better class of gin I guess!

The pub's gammons were clearly a little unimpressed with those of us in the side room for the gig. When D and I went to the bar to get a last pint, still wearing our masks of course, an older white guy next to D challenged him about why he wore a mask. D mildly offered that it was because of the ongoing covid pandemic, and the guy got weird, saying stuff like "they won't work" and trying to tell D he'd developed one of the vaccines but also people's immune systems were good enough. We just ignored him and went outside, but very sweetly the lady who'd been serving us at the bar (who was wearing a mask when she did! all the bar staff did when I saw them) actually came out to apologize for this and assure us that that guy doesn't normally come there, she'd never seen him before. It was really above and beyond, I wouldn't have expected any response from her at all, we also had never been there before, so I was touched by the support.

It was a great nice, after a great day of helping plant trees and fruit plants for a "forest garden" near us, having a cider in the sunshine, taking a nap, we even got to cycle to this gig.

china_shop

Previous poll review
In the Circus poll, 25% of respondents would like to be the knife-thrower, while 18.2% would prefer to be the acrobat. In ticky-boxes, eight hours' sleep beat hugs, 79.5% to 77.3%! Artistic poetry-reciting tigers came third with 54.5%. Thank you for your votes! ♥

Reading
Cetaganda by Bujold (read by Grover Gardner) is fun, but we're not getting through it very quickly for logistical reasons.

I started Ann Leckie's latest Radch book, Radiant Star, read by Adjoa Andoh my beloved, but I'm having trouble focusing. My usual method of audiobook listening is to surf the emotional wave, so to speak, and this is political, worldbuildy omniscient POV. Maybe I should try it in text instead.

I also have some Nghi Vo and the latest Amina al-Sirafi (Shannon Chakraborty) to catch up on, along with the entirety of the 520 Day Guardian Reverse Exchange collection, which went live this week, yay!

Kdramas
I'm super enjoying To My Beloved Thief, a historical that bears similarities to Knight Flower but manages to be crackier. The prince plays against type, which is great, and I'm hanging out for an enemies-to-lovers OT3 (not my usual flavour of OT3, but they're all so entangled). We shall see. No spoilers, please!

Also still into Absolute Value of Romance, though last week's episodes were a bit weird. I'm increasingly conspiracy-theorising that it's a stealth m/m show. Could it be? Surely they realise who their audience is, given the starting premise?! (I haven't been able to watch this week's eps yet. Please don't tell me anything, not even a hint.)

And last weekend, Andrew and our friend Ed and I semi-randomly started a supernatural mystery/thriller called Miraculous Brothers, which I was mostly interested in for Bae Hyun Sung (Hae Joon from Family by Choice). I have no idea where it's going, which is always fun.

Other TV
Pardon My Icelandic - Ari Eldjárn standup special on Netflix. Great linguistic humour, fun with accents. (Hilariously, it came up when I searched for British stand-up.)

Cunk on Earth - one episode. Did not click.

Scrubs (original flavour) has outstayed its welcome. I'm starting to actively dislike JD, and the male-gaziness is off the charts. (Sorry to people who like it!)

The Burroughs - three episodes of the Duffers' new show. It's a bit slow, mostly an exercise in "who's that actor?" but it's only 8 episodes, so we'll probably finish it. (Honestly, I don't think it needs the monsters.) My favourite part is Geena Davis and her younger love interest.

Audio entertainment
Writing Excuses, Better Offline, Tech Won't Save Us (episode: "The UK Government's AI Obsession is a Big Risk w/ Will Dunn" /o\), Cross Party Lines, Guilt-Free Pleasures ("Whitesnake's Here I Go Again"), Dreaming Against the Machine, about 20 minutes of Pod Save America, Keep It Steady episode 7 (timeline cleanse), a bunch of ChinesePod beginner lessons ("不好意思, 我先走了"), and half an episode of You Can Learn Chinese.

Online life
The 520 Day Reverse Exchange is live, yay!!! I'll post separately about my Utterly Delightful Gift and the thing I wrote. I haven't been very present on Dreamwidth, but I've been around a lot, modding and writing, which feels Dreamwidth-adjacent (at least to me).

Writing/making things
I spent an hour on Wednesday rewriting a single sentence in my 520 Day fic. That's sort of how it's going. I have 687 words of a flashfic that I started for the last

fan_flashworks round (Avalanche), which I'm now planning to squeeze into this round (Late). Hopefully I'll finish it soon, so I can keep my "one fic a month" average steady. And then I'll get back to my Yuletide fic.

Life/health/mental state things
At some point pre-Covid, I had standing lunch dates every weekday, plus (at one point) multiple weekly language exchange meet-ups and TV-watching dates. These days, almost all of my socialising involves friends coming over here for lunch or dinner/TV. My sole remaining regular lunch-date-in-town friend moved away last year but has been commuting, so we've met up roughly every second week. But she's just taken a job nearer her new place. I still see people a reasonable amount, but soon I won't have regular reasons to leave the house anymore. I may need to do something about that...

Some bad attacks by middle-of-the-night brain weasels lately. Bah!

House
My IKEA shelves arrive next week. I'm trying to plan how to organise things so I don't just stuff them full and close the door. Maybe I should watch some home organisation youtube videos? *loses half an hour* Oops!

Language Learning
I'm still going on Duolingo and Hello Chinese. The former has given me 30 days of free Premium (I can say, 我的爸爸不去中文书店和韩国饭店，你的爸爸呢？-- though, ha, when I came back to it, I didn't recognise the characters for bookstore or restaurant, despite knowing the pinyin.) With Hello Chinese, I'm still on the free option, so I mostly practice the 10 most commonly used characters (这是和不在有一的了人) and 一 to 十) and take the pronunciation quiz. (Typing is still a work in progress, but I'm getting there.) Question: is vocal fry part of 3rd tone? It seems really common, especially when people are enunciating clearly.

NZ politics, argh
( Cut to spare you. )

Good things
520 Day, woohoo! The weather has been conveniently mild. I made lemony fish pie on Friday; it was yum. Imminent new pillow and shelves (both in transit). My car actually started on Friday. A friend is lending us an EV to go up the coast and have lunch with my parents.

Poll #34642 Siblings

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 42

View Respondents

Among my siblings (if any), I'm

View Answers

the oldest
19 (45.2%)

the youngest
8 (19.0%)

in the middle
5 (11.9%)

an only child
10 (23.8%)

a twin/triplet/etc.
1 (2.4%)

it's complicated
3 (7.1%)

other
1 (2.4%)

ticky-box full of giant pandas on streamer-bedecked penny-farthing bicycles
17 (40.5%)

ticky-box full of too many online subscriptions
14 (33.3%)

ticky-box full of electric eel electricians
15 (35.7%)

ticky-box full of taking a boogie break
10 (23.8%)

ticky-box full of hugs
32 (76.2%)

forestofglory

Last time I save up my notes on longer things until I had finished them, but this time I've read a bunch of shorter things, so have another post sooner that I thought!

The Girl & the Galdurian by Tim Probert— A middle grade fantasy graphic novel about a girl and a Galdurian(a kind of frog person) on a quest together. I really love the art, the colors are lovely and there’s lots of awesome landscapes. The story is fun so far too. It’s slowly explaining how the world works in a way I really enjoy. I have the rest of the series out form the library

Spirit World by Alyssa Wong et al.— I’ve been eyeing this since I saw it highlighted somewhere for AAPI heritage month. Turns out it is really good! It's a comic in the DC universe inspired by Chinese myths and legends. The main character, Xanthe, can travel between the spirit world and the ordinary world. They can also make themselves items out of joss paper. I did not know in advance that this features Cassadra Cain (batgirl) but I was very happy that it did. I loved her Batgirl hanfu! This was a fun story, with great colorful art, and fun magic!
Content notes: Deadnaming, main character died as a child (but is alive-ish now)

Batman: Eternalby Scott Snyder et al— I think my completionist tendencies overwhelmed my normal good sense to stop reading stuff I’m not enjoying. I sometimes have trouble with that for things I’m reading for reasons other than just fun. Anyways I think this wasn’t worth it. It had some good character moments but overall was kinda incoherent, both plotwise and thematically. I think there are interesting stories that could be told about Batman’s legacy but this isn’t really it, and only tries to be some of the time

Yotsuba&! #15 by Kiyohiko Azuma— I got confused about whether I had read this or not. Turns out I had but once I had it out from the library I decided to read it again. Extremely charming! I love the rock hunting part!

Detective Beans & the Case of the Missing Hat by Li Chen— A very cute kids graphic novel about a very cute kitten looking for his missing hat! Extremely cute, with bright colorful adorable art! (My one complaint is that the police show up for a hot second and are portrayed pretty positively)

Huda F Are You? by Huda Fahmy— A graphic novel about a muslim teen girl who moves from a place where she is the only hijabi girl to Dearborn, Michigan where there is a large muslim community and has a bit of an identity crisis about it

ysabetwordsmith

Today is partly cloudy and mild.

I fed the birds. I've seen a few sparrows and house finches.

I put out water for the birds.

I've seen a hummingbird flying around the forest garden. :D

EDIT 5/23/26 -- I potted up the fruit tree seedlings from the 12-flat in the house. Out of 24 sprouted seeds, 5 seedlings survived to repotting stage: 3 Pink apple (2 of those in the same cell), 1 Ginger Gold apple, and 1 Yellow Pear. All were near the center of the flat, right under the light. This suggests that the light is not strong enough to support seedlings at the edges. However, these were in the cells for about 2 1/2 months. If I'd been able to transplant them sooner, I would've gotten more. On the other hoof, the survivors are likely hardier in the face of poor conditions. As an r-strategy gardener, this has value to me. We'll see if any of these survive to get planted in the ground.

Fruit seeds are free. Potting supplies are cheap. I don't mind planting dozens of seeds if I eventually get some fruit trees from them. Because cheap fruit trees hardly worth buying are typically $25+ and the more interesting cultivars are $50-$100. Occasionally I find a better deal, but most fruit trees are now ruinously expensive. Fuck that noise. I'll just keep experimenting with different propagation methods.

EDIT 5/23/26 -- I potted up the fruit tree seedlings from the water jug greenhouses. I had 4 jugs, each with 9 sprouted seeds sown in them: yellow pear, Pink apple, Ginger Gold apple, Ambrosia apple. Of these, only 2 survived to be placed in deeper pots: a yellow pear and a Pink apple. However, these are larger and more robust seedlings than the ones from the small cells. So I think this is worth repeating; the overall success rate is quite low, but the resultant seedlings are very promising.

I've seen a male cardinal at the hopper feeder.

EDIT 5/23/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 5/23/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 5/23/26 -- I planted things from jugs into the prairie garden. Little bluestem, northern sea oats, and side-oats gramma each had a few seedlings; switchgrass didn't sprout at all. I thought these would form dense rootballs like they have in smaller pots, but they did not; they were barely sprouts. I'm not sure any of them will survive. It seems that native grasses do not enjoy this method. I did get three milkweed sprouts. They didn't form a dense rootball either, but at least they were a little more vigorous.

EDIT 5/23/26 -- I watered the newly planted things.

As it is now dark, I am done for the night.

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

If you're still shopping the half-price sale in Polychrome Heroics, now is the time to make your selections.

fuzzyred has sponsored "A Proper Community Is a Commonwealth," "Your Emotional Abilities," and "Aim a Little Above It" plus put $55 towards "Let's Go on This Journey Together" so that now needs $251 to be complete.

Current Mood: busy

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MoonShadow and SunKitten's journal

Network

Science

Poem: "Your Emotional Abilities"

Politics

Notes for "A Proper Community Is a Commonwealth"

The world is still out there for us

Poem: "A Proper Community Is a Commonwealth"

Early Humans

Culinary

Birdfeeding

2026.05.24

On the Wrongful Dismissal of Stephen Colbert and His Team

(no subject)

520 Day fics!

Today's Adventures

Affordable Housing

Mask bloc gig

Me-and-media update

Media Roundup: Some Shorter Things

Birdfeeding

Poetry Fishbowl Update

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December 2025

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