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Oct. 5th, 2025 06:00 am
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Oliver's Big Adventure

Oct. 4th, 2025 11:36 pm
days_unfolding: (Default)
[personal profile] days_unfolding

Shit shit shit. Oliver got out and ran under the porch, where I can’t get him. I guess that he’s going to spend the night outside. I hope that he’ll come in when he’s hungry.

I’m achy and feel like crying.

Gracie woke me up at 7:30 AM. I took the dogs out, and no sign of Oliver. Bella got stuck under the porch, so I brought Gracie in and got her out. I opened the door to get some soda, and Oliver came in! Gracie jumped on him though. I got scratched trying to get Gracie off of him. He ran upstairs. But at least, he’s home. Whew.

Gracie is nonstop barking at Oliver. She’s giving me a headache.

Fed us all. Nap time. I think that Oliver is upstairs sleeping. He might have had a rough night. No, he’s napping on top of the refrigerator.

The arthritis in my toes and fingers is bothering me. Getting old kind of sucks.

Had lunch. I’m taking nap #2. Put my linen pants and top in the dryer to dewrinkle. Scanned another song and sent them to my singing teacher.

Gracie is barking at Oliver again. Sigh.

Showered and got myself together. Fed us all. Now I’m at the theater for the symphony concert. The concert was all right. None of it was music that I’d want to hear again. I got drowsy during the third piece, but I think that was because I was dehydrated.

Stopped at the grocery store on the way back. I wanted hot dogs to use as rewards for Bella and Gracie. I also picked up some bread and cake. Ate some of the bread and cake. Now I’ll post and feed the cats and Gracie.

Oliver is now showing zero interest in going outside. Yay.

fox_in_me: fox.in.me (Default)
[personal profile] fox_in_me


📝 Оригинальный текст записи
Приветствую всех, кто читает меня. Хочу оставить небольшую запись, находясь за пределами Украины, поделившись своими мыслями о происходящем дома и о том, что вижу здесь, в Европе. Меня греет мысль о том, что скоро я вернусь домой, но только потому, что нахожусь здесь по служебной необходимости — без полноты свобод и возможностей. Иногда ловлю себя на том, что скучаю даже по шуму улиц, по запаху мокрого асфальта после дождя, по коротким разговорам с прохожими. Всё это становится странно дорогим, когда ты далеко.
Последние дни в Украине были очень неспокойными. Потоп в моем родном городе — вызванный не стихией, а бездействием власти. Город продолжает переименовывать улицы, менять разметку, рисовать велодорожки где попало, но коммуникаций для схода воды как не было, так и нет. И вот результат — более десятка погибших людей. Все знали, что это может произойти, но никто не сделал ничего. Это самое горькое — когда гибнут люди не из-за войны, а из-за безразличия.
Я стараюсь никого не осуждать, но не могу не сказать о впечатлениях от наших людей в Европе. Иногда мне просто стыдно: в музее кто-то громко разговаривает по телефону на родном языке, обсуждая бытовые дела, совершенно не обращая внимания на окружающих. Я не требую идеальности, но хочется, чтобы мы были примером уважения, а не раздражения. Мне грустно смотреть на сытых мужчин, на тех, кто уверенно чувствует себя в любой ситуации, зная, что их не коснётся война. Таких хватает и дома — тех, кто остался не потому что не смог уехать, а потому что им и не нужно. У них есть связи, власть, свои правила. А простых людей продолжают силой рекрутировать в армию. И с этим ничего не поделаешь. Как и с тем, что теперь в Украину завозят рабочих из Бангладеш, Пакистана и Индии — в страну, где наши мужчины либо воюют, либо прячутся, либо уехали. Какая-то горькая ирония.
Будь я по-настоящему свободным человеком, я бы хотел иметь возможность жить там, где есть уважение к правам, свободе и человеку. И приезжать домой, а не наоборот. Но сейчас всё наоборот. Отдав годы службы, потеряв частично здоровье, я не вижу, что получаю взамен. Недавно обратился к офтальмологу — теперь ношу очки по вечерам, особенно за рулём. Это вынужденная мера, но в ней есть какой-то символизм — всё вокруг стало размытым, буквально и метафорически.
Мне жаль тех, кто не имеет выбора. Люди устали. Политики продолжают говорить о великом будущем, но в реальности — лишь бедность, усталость и неопределённость. Осень принесла первые холода, а значит скоро снова начнутся отключения света, воды, тепла. Простые люди чувствуют на себе всё: экономический кризис, усталость, страх. Цены на продукты в Европе почти такие же, как в Украине, но разница в зарплатах колоссальна. Мне неловко говорить, сколько я получаю — в Европе это даже не минимальная ставка. Но как тогда можно говорить, что мы защищаем Европу, если те, кто её защищает, не может позволить себе даже европейского минимума?
Много слышу, что Европа «готовится к войне». Но мне кажется, что людей просто пугают. Тренировки, тревоги, репетиции эвакуаций — всё это не защита, а попытка удерживать общество в постоянном напряжении. Ведь настоящая война идёт у нас, в Украине. К чему тогда здесь эта паника? Люди хотят просто жить, ходить на работу, растить детей, гулять у моря, не думая о бомбёжках. Но страх стал новой валютой.
Я замечаю, как любая мелочь — поломка автобуса, задержка поезда — выбивает европейцев из равновесия. Они не привыкли к хаосу. Им трудно стоять в автобусе дольше нескольких остановок, трудно ждать. Но именно это и показывает, насколько хрупка их стабильность. И, может быть, именно поэтому им страшно — потому что они знают, что всё это может однажды закончиться.
И всё же, несмотря на всё, на фоне военных кораблей люди продолжают запускать воздушных змеев, гулять, смеяться, кормить чаек. Я смотрю на них и понимаю, что жизнь всё равно сильнее страха. И мне хочется, чтобы так было всегда — чтобы осень снова была просто осенью, а не сезоном тревог.
Наступают дожди. Мне повезло увидеть их и здесь, и дома. Но больше всего я хочу встретить их в Украине, ближе к родным. Ведь с холодами придут тьма и отключения, и я хочу быть рядом, чтобы помочь своим близким пережить это время.
В новостях редко говорят о Сумской, Харьковской, Черниговской, Днепропетровской, Запорожской областях — где уже постоянные отключения света. В Полтавской — и света, и воды, и газа. А Херсон всё так же под огнём. Нет правдивой картины происходящего, и, кажется, уже не будет. Люди просто учатся выживать в тишине, когда новостей нет, а усталость — есть.
Мне хочется увидеть больше золотой осени. Больше простых, живых моментов. Той осени, которая пахнет листьями и дымом, а не тревогами. Той, в которой можно просто вдохнуть и не ждать беды. Пусть она будет длинной, пусть она задержится. Пусть это всё наконец закончится — не под фанфары и речи, а тихо, почти незаметно. Чтобы однажды утром просто проснуться — и понять, что больше никто не стреляет, что в небе нет дронов, что дома целы, а ветер снова пахнет миром.


Note translated in assistance with AI.


Hello to everyone who reads me.
I want to leave a small note while being outside Ukraine, to share some thoughts about what’s happening at home and what I see here, in Europe. What keeps me warm is the thought that soon I’ll return home — but only because I’m here out of duty, without the sense of freedom or possibility. Sometimes I catch myself missing even the noise of the streets, the smell of wet asphalt after the rain, the brief talks with strangers. All of that becomes strangely precious when you’re far away.

The last few days in Ukraine have been deeply unsettling. The flood in my hometown — not caused by nature, but by the negligence of authorities. The city keeps renaming streets, repainting lines, drawing bike lanes anywhere they please, yet the drainage systems remain nonexistent. And here’s the result — more than ten people dead. Everyone knew this could happen, and yet no one did anything. That’s the bitterest part — when people die not because of war, but because of indifference.

I try not to judge anyone, but I can’t stay silent about what I’ve seen of our people here in Europe. Sometimes I just feel ashamed: in a museum, someone talks loudly on the phone in our language, discussing daily matters, ignoring everyone around. I don’t ask for perfection — only for a bit of dignity. I want us to be an example of respect, not irritation. It saddens me to see well-fed men, the ones who feel confident in any situation, knowing that war will never touch them. There are plenty of such men back home too — those who stayed not because they couldn’t leave, but because they never needed to. They have their connections, their power, their own rules. Ordinary people keep being forced into the army, and there’s nothing anyone can do. And now, workers from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and India are being brought into Ukraine — into a country where our own men are either fighting, hiding, or gone. There’s something painfully ironic in that.

If I were truly a free man, I’d want to live where there is respect — for rights, for freedom, for human beings. And I’d come home to visit, not the other way around. But for now, it’s the opposite. After years of service, after losing part of my health, I no longer see what I’m receiving in return. Recently, I went to an ophthalmologist — now I wear glasses in the evenings, especially when driving. It’s a small, necessary thing, but it feels symbolic somehow — the world has become blurry, both literally and metaphorically.

I feel for those who have no choice left. People are tired. Politicians keep talking about a bright future, but in reality, there’s only poverty, exhaustion, and uncertainty. Autumn has brought the first chills — and that means soon there will be blackouts again: electricity, water, heat. Ordinary people bear it all — the economic crisis, the fatigue, the fear. Prices for food in Europe are nearly the same as in Ukraine, but the difference in wages is enormous. I feel awkward even mentioning what I earn — in Europe, it’s below the minimum. So how can anyone say we’re “defending Europe,” if those who defend it can’t afford even a European minimum?

I often hear that Europe is “preparing for war.” But I think people are simply being frightened. Drills, alerts, evacuation rehearsals — it’s not defense, it’s a way to keep societies tense. Because the real war is ours — in Ukraine. So what’s this panic here for? People just want to live, to go to work, raise children, walk by the sea without thinking about air raids. But fear has become a new currency.

I notice how easily Europeans lose balance — a broken bus, a delayed train, and they’re already frustrated. They’re not used to chaos. It’s hard for them to stand for a few extra stops, hard to wait. But maybe that’s exactly what reveals how fragile their comfort is. And maybe that’s why they’re so afraid — because deep down they know it can all vanish someday.

And still, despite everything — despite the warships in the harbor — people keep flying kites, walking, laughing, feeding seagulls. I look at them and realize that life is still stronger than fear. And I want it to stay that way — for autumn to simply be autumn again, not a season of anxiety.

The rains are coming. I was lucky to see them both here and at home. But most of all, I want to meet them in Ukraine — closer to my loved ones. Because with the cold will come darkness and power cuts, and I want to be there, to help my family through it.

The news rarely mentions Sumy, Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia — where blackouts are already constant. In Poltava — no light, no water, no gas. And Kherson is still under fire. There’s no honest picture of what’s happening — and maybe there won’t be anymore. People are simply learning to survive in silence, when there’s no news, only exhaustion.

I want to see more of the golden autumn. More simple, living moments. The kind of autumn that smells of leaves and smoke, not of sirens. The kind where you can just breathe — and not wait for disaster. May it last longer. May it stay.
May this all finally end — not with speeches or fanfare, but quietly, almost unnoticed. So that one morning, you just wake up — and realize that no one is shooting anymore, that there are no drones in the sky, that homes are still standing, and the wind smells like peace again.

That was weird

Oct. 4th, 2025 12:37 pm
cactuswatcher: (Default)
[personal profile] cactuswatcher
I walked out of the house about noon today, and found a delivery of food from two different restaurants on my doorstep. Weird because I've never ordered delivery from one let alone two restaurants at once. A quick look at the receipts said the delivery came last evening, so the food, however good it was, is garbage now. There was no knock on the door last evening or ring of the doorbell. I have no idea who the food was supposed to go to, or what they did to complain about lack of delivery.

Fall, leaves, fall by Emily Brontë

Oct. 4th, 2025 03:33 pm
conuly: (Default)
[personal profile] conuly
Fall, leaves, fall; die, flowers, away;
Lengthen night and shorten day;
Every leaf speaks bliss to me
Fluttering from the autumn tree.
I shall smile when wreaths of snow
Blossom where the rose should grow;
I shall sing when night’s decay
Ushers in a drearier day.


*********


Link

There's a Dunkin Donuts by my house

Oct. 2nd, 2025 09:32 am
conuly: (Default)
[personal profile] conuly
And every once in a while I end up there during the morning rush, which I try to avoid, and find somebody else bitching about how they "always" mess up their order and "always" take forever.

This is true, by the way - or, maybe not literally always true, but frequently true - but all the same, every time I hear the incessant whining I want to turn around and say "You knew what it was like when you placed your order!"

It's not like they're the only place to get coffee and a breakfast sandwich that's not your own home. There are three corner stores, every once of which will be happy, or at least willing, to make your standing order every day or week or however often you like. There's McDonald's right there, there's Wendy's right there, there's a Dunkin Donuts on the boat and another one just down Bay a bit, if you drive. Or, as I said, you can go home and make your own coffee for faster and cheaper, but you didn't do that, so you can't really complain that you're getting exactly what you obviously expected!

(It is my lack of whining, I think, that always gets me out of there a smidge faster. Should they be more efficient? Should they make fewer mistakes? Should I be able to order a muffin without fear that it'll be a bit raw in the middle? Yes to all three, and I've stopped ordering muffins! But they're close and I don't have to cook it myself, and I imagine that's why everybody else is there, so whatever.)

*********************


Read more... )

Good Intentions Buried

Oct. 4th, 2025 01:00 pm
yourlibrarian: DeadTuesday-smidgy06 (SPN-DeadTuesday-smidgy06)
[personal profile] yourlibrarian
1) From [personal profile] osteophage, a post about The Good Web Graveyard, "a link compilation on departed websites that had marketed themselves in terms of ethics." I think one doesn't have to be an out and out cynic to assume that it's difficult for a company to do well when it's not on a level playing field with unethical companies. But it's good to consider that good intentions aren't enough in surviving long-term online.

2) My Britbox subscription has run out, and at an inopportune moment. I was speed watching Passengers, by which I was skipping some of, or entire, episodes and relying on their recaps to keep up with developments. Unfortunately I was interrupted near the end of the final episode and by the time I got back to it, the subscription had ended. Read more... )

4) Some interesting details of the AOL sale: "AOL's website traffic has grown 20% year-over-year among the users aged 25 and 54, outpacing the growth in the category of users aged 55-plus...The growth was driven by the introduction of multiple new content categories to AOL.com, including Health, Fitness, Animals, Science & Tech, Home & Garden, Lighter Side, True Crime, Local, amongst others"

I wonder if AI searches can account for this? Granted the nature of these new topic pages was designed to attract views, but I've hardly ever seen AOL as a site turn up in any searches I do.

"Bending Spoons... agreed a deal to take private video platform company Vimeo for $1.38 billion, its largest acquisition to date." I was also surprised to find out that AOL owns Last Pass, so that has a new owner now as well.

4) I know everyone's upset at the rising cost of everything. But sometimes it's the little things that make you mad. My main supermarket has recently switched its sales period from Wednesday to Tuesday after 20+ years (maybe always, for all I known) of doing Sunday to Saturday. This is making a mess of their shelf and data system, because the ad says one thing but there's nothing showing on the shelf and they don't ring up on sale. Read more... )

5) "Consumer Reports’ fourth annual digital assessment shows a 50 percent increase in texting and messaging scam attempts over the past year. Meanwhile, a 10,500-person poll from Talker Research indicates that Americans field around 100 scam attempts per month compared to an average of 84 in the United Kingdom. Australians, however, experience half the number seen in the US. But while scams continue to frequently target older demographics, one of the most dramatic upticks concerns younger populations."

The main reasons? Group texts which disguise unknown numbers, and quick access to money apps.


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brithistorian: (Default)
[personal profile] brithistorian

"Inspiration is merely the reward for working every day."

— Charles Baudelaire (in Curiosites Esthetiques [1868])

Certainly not the first or only person to say some variation on this, but I think it's an aesthetically pleasing statement of the concept.

An optical deception

Oct. 4th, 2025 05:29 pm
mtbc: maze M (white-blue)
[personal profile] mtbc
I haven't yet settled on how to use my commute on in-office days. For a workday it totals 3½h door-to-door, at least I could try to use the inter-city segment well. One challenge is that I don't want to add much weight to the bag I am already carrying, especially as it has the mighty work laptop therein, and my water flask. In the meantime, the railway carriage window gets looked out of somewhat.

One morning last week, I had a surprise: I glanced up at the right moment and, in the distant cloud or fog, I could make out a row of three large, white, shallow pyramids. I very much wondered something like, WTF?. Ongoing observation revealed that I was seeing the towers and cables of the Queensferry Crossing, carrying the M90 toward Edinburgh. So, support for a bridge, rather than a row of pyramids.
marycatelli: (Golden Hair)
[personal profile] marycatelli posting in [community profile] books
The Perks of Being an S-Class Heroine, Vol. 3 by Grrr

Spoilers ahead for the earlier volumes.

Read more... )
marycatelli: (Golden Hair)
[personal profile] marycatelli posting in [community profile] book_love
The Perks of Being an S-Class Heroine, Vol. 3 by Grrr

Spoilers ahead for the earlier volumes.

Read more... )

New glasses

Oct. 4th, 2025 05:21 pm
mtbc: maze J (red-white)
[personal profile] mtbc
My job comes with good enough private vision coverage that I finally visited a local optician. I much liked Andrew Bolton Opticians in Dundee but they're over an eighty minute drive away for me now and that keeps not happening in a way that comfortably fits an eyecare appointment.

I had been getting by fairly well with over-the-counter reading glasses: +1.0 for distance, +1.5 for close-up work. In my youth I had excellent vision, well beyond what glasses will correct me to now. So, in trying out my new glasses, things mostly didn't look great. Then, I tried my previous over-the-counter ones again and things looked even worse. I suppose that I just get to live with vision that's really not what it was. At least the vision benefit claims went easily.
mtbc: maze N (blue-white)
[personal profile] mtbc
My recent entries make it easy to predict what I think of His Majesty's Government's proposals surrounding indefinite leave to remain. Perhaps I should have been clearer: it's not just that we need immigrants, it's that we are already hostile to them, they were never the real problem, yet the government seems happy to go along with the narrative that they are, perhaps because they make for a convenient scapegoat. I can understand that, in a democracy, the government might be a bit leery of trying to introduce sections of the electorate to reality but, inconveniently, reality has a way of determining the outcomes of policies so it would be responsible to face it anyway. In the meantime, innocent people suffer.

A more general theme of incompetence is emerging. For instance, this nonsense about digital identity cards for proving right to work. Could we have a clear problem statement please and an explanation of how this fixes it? There are already largely adequate procedures in place for checking one's right to work, R. and I have enjoyed them again in recent months in starting with a new employer. Is Starmer seriously suggesting that people come over in overcrowded dinghies then produce a convincingly forged birth certificate, or what? There is certainly a black economy issue that needs solving but how this proposal makes a whit of difference to it remains far from clear to me.

Is the government meant to be sounding this clueless, this soon into a term in which it has a large majority? If only any of them had the spine of, say, the late Robin Cook. At least Corbyn seemed to care more about people than votes. Could we perhaps swap the current lot for any group that has the courage to admit what the actual problems are (apart from, that the right-wing media has the bigots riled up again) and suggest anything that might usefully address them? Bonus points for having some compassion. I may have had some scorn for Labour at times but I didn't expect their pandering to fools to make me angry enough to consider relegating them off the worth considering list. Starmer is turning out to be like Badenoch: the more they say things, the less I like them.

Surprise Birthday Brahms!

Oct. 4th, 2025 04:33 pm
oursin: Brush the wandering hedgehog dancing in his new coat (Brush the wandering hedgehog dancing)
[personal profile] oursin

When I turned on my clock radio - which I do on Saturdays to ensure that the time is co-ordinating with the radio time-signal - Radio 3 was playing the finale to Brahms Violin Concerto.

Joy!

Well, this has been an up and downy year as ever, but I am beginning to poke my nose out of my hole. I am still Doing Stuff, even if various projects seem to have got bogged down (not just on my side ahem ahem).

Anyway, in accordance with tradition, I pass round virtual rich dark gingerbread (and also gluten-free, diabetic-friendly, etc, versions), sanitive madeira (eschewing Duke of Clarence jokes) and other beverages of choice, and lift a glass to dr rdrz.

Speak Up Saturday

Oct. 4th, 2025 03:47 pm
feurioo: (random: lady & alligator in shades)
[personal profile] feurioo posting in [community profile] tv_talk
Assortment of black and white speech bubbles

Welcome to the weekly roundup post! What are you watching this week? What are you excited about?

Weekly Chat

Oct. 4th, 2025 01:53 pm
dancing_serpent: (Photos - Autumn - Kingdom of Silence)
[personal profile] dancing_serpent posting in [community profile] c_ent
The weekly chat posts are intended for just that, chatting among each other. What are you currently watching? Reading? What actor/idol are you currently following? What are you looking forward to? Are you busy writing, creating art? Or did you have no time at all for anything, and are bemoaning that fact?

Whatever it is, talk to us about it here. Tell us what you liked or didn't like, and if you want to talk about spoilery things, please hide them under either of these codes:
or

R. F. .Kuang: Katabasis

Oct. 4th, 2025 11:00 am
selenak: (Claudius by Pixelbee)
[personal profile] selenak
This is the third novel of R. F. Kuang I've read (after being impressed by the The Poppy Wars, first volume, but also emotionally so exhausted I didn't read the rest of the trilogy, amused and captivated in an emotionally distant way by Yellowface, and turned so much by Babel that I only read the first twenty pages or so and then gave up), and I think my favourite so far. There is academic satire but also genuine emotion throughout, there is great ambition epically realised (i.e. writing a trip to the underworld in the grand tradition of all the obvious suspects, but specifically one that reflects the present), and the horror parts hit home in a way that feels not derivative but specific for this particular version. (The novel is set in a universe where magic is real, but isn't concerned with how this altered history or not, just what it means you can study it at university.) Our main character, Alice Law, is the kind of messy, complicated and morally ambiguous (and not in a "nice" way) woman the author specializes in, though for me personally preferable because I had the sense of the narrative being on board with what it was saying about Alice's strengths and weaknesses through her initially very skewered perspective. Also she had a genuine learning process through that trip through the Underworld, and... but that would be spoilery.

Spoilers realize the Underworld is modelled on a British University )


Also improving my week: This trailer for Guillermo del Toro's adaptation of Frankenstein:

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