Hard Things

Jan. 28th, 2026 12:02 am
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Life is full of things which are hard or tedious or otherwise unpleasant that need doing anyhow. They help make the world go 'round, they improve skills, and they boost your sense of self-respect. But doing them still kinda sucks. It's all the more difficult to do those things when nobody appreciates it. Happily, blogging allows us to share our accomplishments and pat each other on the back.

What are some of the hard things you've done recently? What are some hard things you haven't gotten to yet, but need to do? Is there anything your online friends could do to make your hard things a little easier?

Climate Change

Jan. 27th, 2026 05:27 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
What happens to forests when the planet warms up too fast

New sediment records from the Norwegian Sea offer a rare, close-up look at how quickly nature can unravel when the planet warms. During a past episode of extreme global warming, coastal forests along the Arctic margin collapsed within just a few centuries.

What followed was a cascade of change – widespread wildfires, heavy soil erosion, and a rush of carbon back into the atmosphere. The study shows how land ecosystems can rapidly flip from storing carbon to releasing it, amplifying warming long after the initial trigger.


Read more... )
althea_valara: Icon of Althea Valara, my main character from Final Fantasy XIV. (Althea Valara)
[personal profile] althea_valara
two log cabins with snow on the roofs in a wintery forest the text snowflake challenge january 1 - 31 in white cursive text

Challenge #14

In your own space, create a promo and/or rec list for someone new to a fandom. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it and include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.


Let me meme at you:

HAVE YOUR HEARD OF THE
CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED MMORPG
FINAL FANTASY XIV
WITH AN EXPANDED FREE TRIAL
WHICH YOU CAN PLAY THROUGH THE ENTIREY OF
A REALM REBORN
AND THE AWARD-WINNING
HEAVENSWARD
EXPANSION
AND ALSO THE AWARD-WINNING
STORMBLOOD
EXPANSION
UP TO LEVEL 70
FOR FREE
WITH NO RESTRICTIONS
ON PLAYTIME?


Final Fantasy XIV is a fantastic game - but it wasn't always. Its first incarnation was considered a critical failure, so what did they do? They rebuilt the game from the ground up while simultaneously releasing updates for the original version. This way they kept the current fans happy while building something BETTER for everyone.

If you want to know more about the history of FFXIV, I can highly recommend watching the NoClip documentaries; the first one is here: https://youtu.be/Xs0yQKI7Yw4?si=s0qkn8zXX-9agX96

What they ended up doing was creating a calamity ingame that gave them the excuse for a branching off point for the new version. The final scenes of version 1.0 can be seen in the trailer for "A Realm Reborn", version 2.0 of the game and its new "base game":



As A Realm Reborn starts, five years has passed since the calamity, and the city-states of Eorzea have rebuilt - but threats still linger. There's the Garlean Empire which tried to take over Eorzea in the past at the Battle of Silvertear Lake, and has a new plan to invade Eorzea now. But there's also the Primal threat - primals being summoned gods of what's then called the beast tribes. One of the threats of the primals is their ability to enthrall subjects, so that the person only does what the primal wants.

As you start the game, you're just another adventurer - but one with a mysterious power called the Echo, which allows you to glimpse past scenes from others' memories. You start off doing things for your local city-state, making a name for yourself, but soon attract the attention of the Scions of the Seventh Dawn - an organization that works to prevent the primal threat.

Will you make the choice to join the Scions? What's in store for you if you do? That's the story of A Realm Reborn. Now, there are those who say ARR is weak story-wise but I personally feel it's a solid story with enough OMG! moments to keep you interested. And it sets up SO MUCH of the future of the game, so it's well worth playing on its own.

When you first start playing FFXIV, you may find yourself overwhelmed. The HUD (heads-up display) will look rather busy at first, and they'll be a lot of NPCs with quest markers to talk to. The most important ones will have this symbol over their heads:

The Main Scenario Quest Marker in FFXIV.

This is the Main Scenario Quest Marker. If you follow these markers one after another, you'll play through the game's main story. Note that the last marker of each individual quest will be green in color, letting you know that talking to that NPC will complete the quest.

Blue Plus Sign markers unlock things, like extra dungeons or jobs, and are usually good to check out, too. Any other markers can be ignored.

Gameplay is... well I'm not entirely sure what to call it, but you'll have a bunch of actions, abilities, or spells on your hotbar. Pressing certain actions will open up others for big damage, etc, and often, actions have cooldowns before you can use them again. There's an optimum rotation for each job, in which pressing certain buttons one after another will be the most effective. The game helps you though, by highlighting the next proper action(s) to do.

For those who may be scared of playing with others: there is now Duty Support! This is a system in which you can enter dungeons with NPCs rather than other players. You'll still need to do trials with players, but a large part of the game can be "soloed". But really, most players in FFXIV are pretty nice to play with. For instance, there is a "ready check" mechanism where a party member can ask everyone to indicate they are ready to go ahead with the fight, and this is used a LOT in Raids when you may have newcomers watching cutscenes. The vast majority of players will wait at least a little bit for the newbies to finish the scenes before progressing onto the fight.

The following list is my "starter guide" of resources, originally posted on Bluesky but now posted here as well.


FREE TRIAL - Includes the entirety of A Realm Reborn, the award-winning Heavensward expansion, and the Stormblood expansion, and allows you to play up to level 70 with no restrictions on playtime. There ARE some other restrictions, though! https://freetrial.finalfantasyxiv.com/na/

SERVER/DATA CENTER - choose a data center close to your region, then choose a server that's open for new characters. Those are indicated by the green person icon next to the server names on the Server Status Page: https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/worldstatus/

NEW WORLDS - indicated by "New" on the Server Status page. They offer bonuses such as a leveling buff, FREE GIL!, and more: https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/playguide/option_service/world_transfer_service/population_balancing/#anchor__001

WORLD VISIT - Couldn't get an account on the server you wanted to? You can visit other worlds and data centers using the World Visit System: https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/playguide/contentsguide/worldvisit/

STARTING CLASS - pick your Disciple of War or Disciple of Magic starter class. Make sure to do the class quests as you level, and definitely unlock your job at level 30: https://ffxiv.consolegameswiki.com/wiki/Class

STARTING CITY-STATE - This depends on what class you start as. The city-states have slightly different stories to start off, but eventually merge into one grand story line. It really doesn't matter which you start in!

WIKIS - you'll have questions, where to get help? I prefer ConsoleGamesWiki for how fast it loads on my mobile devices: https://ffxiv.consolegameswiki.com/wiki/FF14_Wiki

WIKIS 2 - The other major wiki is GamerEscape, which I turn to for more indepth guides or to research dialogue/lore: https://ffxiv.gamerescape.com/wiki/Main_Page

DUNGEON/TRIAL/RAID GUIDES - Mizzteq (MTQCapture on YouTube) makes wonderful, entertaining guides for the duties. Highly recommended! (Note: it appears she has retired in the past year but her past guides are still available!): https://www.youtube.com/user/MTQcapture

CONTROLLER GUIDE - Do you play on controller? It's a bit outdated but Squintina's controller guide has LOTS of good tips: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1q_i5_X01hecbCOZOIN_71zceuSjWSuaN-OJdU6ZPV6s/edit

(C)HOTBARS - oh gods where do I put all these actions? Let XIV bars guide you! They have layouts for both Keyboard/Mouse and Controller: https://www.xivbars.com

TIMERS - FFXIV has a "weekly reset" and other events. Want to know when exactly that is? Check here: https://xenoveritas.org/static/ffxiv/timer.html

CHALLENGE LOG - Unlockable at level 15, this is a great way to get bonus experience and gil: https://ffxiv.consolegameswiki.com/wiki/Challenge_Log

RETAINERS - At level 17, you get access to retainers, which can sell items on the marketboard for you or go out on ventures to retrieve random (or not-random) items: https://ffxiv.consolegameswiki.com/wiki/Retainers

EUREKA TRACKER - for the Stormblood Relic Weapon farming zone - https://ffxiv-eureka.com

RELIC TRACKER SPREADSHEET - I love a good spreadsheet, and really like Wyn's relic tracker - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/11N-u7o2-0cbL4E61rfpXHgAPK2X8S_lwyFUigKAQb08/edit?usp=sharing

RELIC TRACKER SITE - I've played with this, too! https://ffxivrelictracker.com

PVP MALMSTONE CALCULATOR - Calculates how many games you need to play to get all the malmstone rewards: https://belthesar.github.io/MalmstoneXPCalculator/

SQUADRON CALCULATOR - figure out how to train your Adventuring Squadron to level them up and complete missions: https://ffxivsquadron.com

FALOOP! - A website to track hunt marks and World Boss FATEs: https://faloop.app

CENTURIO HUNTS DISCORD - A discord server that can ping you for Hunt Trains, S Ranks, and World Boss FATEs: https://discord.gg/centuriohunts

HGXIV - A discord server for player housing enthusiasts: https://discord.gg/hgxiv14

If you're thinking of playing or returning to the game, do let me know! I'll be glad to assist in any way. <3 And if you're thinking, "This sounds great, but I have no time/money to play; can you tell me about the story?" -- LOOK NO FUTHER: https://altheavalara.neocities.org/ffxiv/

Birdfeeding

Jan. 27th, 2026 02:21 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Today is sunny and quite cold.

I fed the birds.  I've seen a large flock of sparrows, a pair of cardinals, two starlings, and a mourning dove.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 1/27/26 --  I did a bit of work around the patio.

I put out more birdseed.  I've seen a male and a female cardinal pulling kernels off the corncob.

EDIT 1/27/26 --  I did more work around the patio.

I refilled the hopper feeder again.  I've seen a flock of mourning doves and two male cardinals.

EDIT 1/27/26 --  I did more work around the patio.

I am done for the night.

Snowflake Challenge 14: Meta

Jan. 27th, 2026 12:26 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Snowflake Challenge 14: Meta

In your own space, create a promo and/or rec list for someone new to a fandom. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it and include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

Trying to convince our friends and loved ones to join our fandom is a frequent activity for many of us. It's great to have someone to talk to and obsess with! This is your chance to try to entice people into your fandom or to gently introduce new fans to your favorite parts of it.

Maybe you'd like to write a manifesto on your favorite ship. Maybe you'd like to write a breakdown of the many characters that appear in a long running franchise. Maybe you'd like to rec the fics you think everyone in your fandom should read. The possibilities are endless!

If you need inspiration (or are confused about terms), check out the Fanlore pages (with definitions, examples, and links!) for Ship Manifesto, Primer, PowerPoint, Rec, Newbieguide , and Crack Van. There are also DW communities like
[community profile] shipmanifestos, [community profile] recs, [community profile] recthething, and more.

See also my extensive Meta: "Why We Need Fanifestos." Part 6 covers "How to Write a Fanifesto."


A gold snowflake ornament is nestled amidst pine boughs

Read more... )
althea_valara: Icon of a closeup of the Detroit Industry fresco. (Detroit Industry)
[personal profile] althea_valara
two log cabins with snow on the roofs in a wintery forest the text snowflake challenge january 1 - 31 in white cursive text

Challenge #13

TALK ABOUT A COMMUNITY SPACE YOU LIKE. It doesn’t need to be your favorite, or the one where you spend the most time (although it certainly can be). Maybe it’s even one that you’ve barely visited. But talk about that space and how it helps support fannish community.


Post your answer to today’s challenge in your own space and leave a comment in this post saying you did it.

Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so. Also, feel free to entice engagement by giving us a preview of what your post covers.


I kind of did this in Challenge 12! I listed communities and websites that I'm grateful for.

One other community space I must mention is Best Bar. They know who they are and where we hang out. They've been very supportive of me the past few years and I'm very grateful for that.

But really: Dreamwidth is one of my internet homes, and there's all sorts of great communities here! It's about time I post my list of DW community recs again. It was last posted in 2024, after all. Some of these may be dormant now but I'll include them anyway because I loved the idea of the community. HERE WE GO!!


[community profile] nacramamo is National Craft-Making Month, and is gearing up now to kick off in October. The challenge is to work on some kind of craft every day for 31 days.

[community profile] 100words is a drabble community for fiction of all kinds. They post weekly challenges there.

[community profile] birdfeeding covers everything to do with birdfeeding, gardening for wildlife, and related topics.

[community profile] crowdfunding connects creators, patrons, and fans of cyberfunded creativity. Watch for the mid-month Creative Jam with a new theme each time.

[community profile] reddit_refugees offers resources for newcomers to Dreamwidth.

[community profile] snowflake_challenge runs in January, and is a way to celebrate fandom and meet interesting people on Dreamwidth. There's also [community profile] sunshine_challenge that runs in the summer, but I'm less familiar with that one.

Newly added to the list since I last posted this:

[community profile] allkindsofdolls is what it says on the tin. If you love dolls, check it out.

[community profile] ladiesbingo is a bingo challenge to make works focused on the relationship between women, whether gen, femslash, or familial. I'm currently having great fun trying to fill my bingo board!

[community profile] getyourwordsout is a writing challenge community where you can challenge yourself by wordcount of number of days written per month.

[community profile] 10trueloves is a writing challenge where you pair a character with ten others (IIRC, they don't have to be romantic pairings, but I'm not sure; check the comm for more info!)

[community profile] 1character is a writing challenge where you choose a character and prompt set, then write one line sentences to fill each prompt.

[community profile] everykindofcraft is what it says it is.

[community profile] inspiredby posts writing prompts monthly.

[community profile] makezines is for folks doing just that!

[community profile] threesentenceficathon is happening RIGHT NOW. People leave prompts, other write short fills of 3 sentences or longer.

The past list of community recs:

[community profile] communal_creators is a community for creative types! A mini-round for time pledges will be happening this spring. ANY kind of creativity is welcome! We have people writing (both fic and original), knitting, crochet, vidding, storyboarding, baking, making websites... if it's creative, you're welcome here.

[community profile] ffprompts posts monthly prompts for the Final Fantasy video game franchise. As a big fan of this series, I'd love to see more fills for the prompts happening!

[community profile] addme_fandom is a place to find friends who share your fannish obsessions.

[community profile] lyricaltitles is a bingo fest for fanfiction and original fiction centering around using songs for inspiration!

[community profile] fan_flashworks is a multifandom comm that posts one prompt for the week you use to write a short fanfic.

[community profile] c_ent is for Chinese Entertainment, and comes highly recommended by a few people.

[community profile] booknook posts a weekly Read-in-Progress check-in posts on Wednesdays.

[community profile] reference_library is a place to gather helpful links and share them, run by [personal profile] senmut.

[community profile] sweetandshort is a low-pressure community for creating small fanworks / original works each week.

[community profile] moodthemeinayear is what it says on the tin: the folks there are working on creating custom Dreamwidth mood themes over the course of a year.

[community profile] 1word1day posts a vocabulary word a day!

[community profile] finalfantasy - of course this would be here, if you know me. It's been very slow there lately, but I'd love to see more activity there.

[community profile] awesomeers - they make a post for each day of the week in which they challenge the members to comment with Just One Thing you did today that you're proud of accomplishing. Of course you are free to post more than one thing if you'd like! I love the idea of this community, though I haven't been very active in it lately. I hope to change that, if only to congratulate other people. Also: we celebrate all accomplishments there, so something as simple as "I got out of bed" would be acceptable!

[community profile] do_it - A community for posting to-do lists to make yourself accountable to others.

[community profile] readingtogether - has seen some activity the past few months. It's not like a normal book club where everyone reads the same thing - instead everyone reads their own thing and posts their progress.

[community profile] justcreate - has weekly check in posts where you can update everyone on your creative progress. All kinds of creativity are celebrated there, including fiber arts, drawing, writing, and more.

[community profile] get_knitted - is similar to [community profile] justcreate but posts daily check-ins. The folks there are GREAT about commenting on each other's comments. It's not just for knitting, either - there are people there who do scrapbooking and jigsaw puzzles.

[community profile] drawesome - has drawing challenges. I haven't taken part yet because I am a very sucky drawer, but I hope to start there in the future.

[community profile] genprompt_bingo - for the writers! They generate bingo cards of prompts, with all the prompts being gen. You can, of course, write a shippy fic from the prompt; it's just the prompts themselves aren't meant to be shippy. I'm currently working on a bingo for my last card, wish me luck!

[community profile] allbingo - They do all sorts of bingos, mostly writing-related but I think they've had some crafting ones as well. There's new challenges monthly!

[community profile] agonyaunt - critiques letters to advice columnists and the answers the letter writers get. I love this community because it is filled with smart people that I am learning a lot from. I'm a person of a certain age, and I know because of the timeframe I grew up in I have a lot of inherit biases and whatnot. I try to be above those biases, but sometimes I don't recognize them. Reading the other commenters to [community profile] agonyaunt helps me recognize those biases and better myself.

[community profile] holiday_wishes - active in the last two months of the year. People post their holiday wish lists there, and others fill them! I really was blessed one year - I got a bunch of cards, some yarn, some chocolate, and some other sweet treats. ♥ I couldn't do much in return but I did send back cards to everyone who sent me things.

[community profile] thisfinecrew is a social justice community focused on the USA. It doesn't get as much action as it once did but there are still informative posts there once in a while. [community profile] thissterlingcrew is the UK equivalent.

[community profile] 3weeks4dreamwidth is a thing in which people post/interact more on Dreamwidth, to show love for the platform. ♥

[community profile] your_favourites is an icon making community that migrated over from LiveJournal. Looks like they have themes for members to create icons for, and then take a vote for best icon. I've joined it in hopes of finding more icons to add to my own journal.

[community profile] addme and [community profile] findingfriends are communities to help you find people to add to your Dreamwidth circles. The latter has a set questionnaire to use, and asks that if you use it elsewhere you include a link back to the community.

[community profile] journalsandplanners - what it says on the tin: for those who use a journal or planner to organize their lives. There's also [community profile] bujo for bullet journalers.

[community profile] anime_manga has seen some activity lately!

[community profile] fandomtrumpshate raises money for charity by creating fanworks.

[community profile] getting_started is a community with resources for those new to Dreamwidth.

[community profile] indie_games sometimes sees activity, and in the past, we did a play-together of A Short Hike which was really fun.

[community profile] common_nature is a photo community to share nature pics from your area, and has been active recently.

[community profile] followfriday recommends people/communities to follow each Friday.

[community profile] iconthat is another icon challenge community.

[community profile] signalboost is for getting the word out to others about people needing help in some way.

[community profile] twitter_refugees is for folks migrating to Dreamwidth from Twitter.

[community profile] bnha_fans is for fans of Boku no Hero Academia. It's modded by [personal profile] vriddy who I got to know during a [community profile] snowflake_challenge!

[community profile] comment_bingo is a bingo challenge community for commenting on all those fanfics you read.

[community profile] womansplace is a community that holds dual purpose: 1) Celebrate characters who identify as women or who are aligned with womanhood in transformative fan works. Events include community recs, a prompt fest, and a vid exchange. 2) Raise funds via a vid auction

[community profile] kittens_and_spitefic's goal is to prompt fan content by acting like a total troll and pretending to bash what you want to see up one side and down the other. Commenters then engage with the supposed "troll" by spamming them with cat (and other animal) macros and/or content that caters to everything the original poster professes to hate.

Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd I think that's it! If there's any interesting communities you know about that I've missed, feel free to drop them in the comments! And also feel free to share this post, I'll make it public so you can pass it around.

[community profile] snowflake_challenge 2026: Day 14

Jan. 27th, 2026 12:14 pm
lightbird: http://coelasquid.deviantart.com/ (Default)
[personal profile] lightbird
two log cabins with snow on the roofs in a wintery forest the text snowflake challenge january 1 - 31 in white cursive text


Challenge #14

In your own space, create a promo and/or rec list for someone new to a fandom. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it and include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.


Continuing the theme from Day 13, Shakespeare! And by the way, [tumblr.com profile] socialshakespeare, which I recced yesterday just posted their sign-up for the next play they're reading Antony and Cleopatra, for those who might be interested in getting involved.

For those of you who appreciate The Bard of Avon and would like to get back into reading his plays and/or watching performances of them, or dive deeper in, I've got sources of all kinds!

Folger Shakespeare Library, of course, where you can download all of his works for free.

Links to Video Performances!
YouTube Shakespeare Network

Twelfth Night: 2025 Shakespeare in the Park production starring Lupita Nyong'o and her brother Junior playing the twins Viola and Sebastian. You need a PBS sign-in to watch online, but this is a particularly great production of this play and well worth it. Sandra Oh plays Olivia, Peter Dinklage plays Malvolio.

Fandom!
Here is a link to all posts in my #shakespeare tag on Tumblr, which includes all kinds of goodies, including: the usual fandom works (art, mood boards, gifsets, etc. for different plays); reprints of his sonnets; links where you can watch recorded performances of various plays; descriptions of performances that people have seen; descriptions from teachers of their students' class projects; fantastic meta on the various plays, including short clever posts, and even shit-posts that manage to speak volumes.

Some excellent recent posts include:

Meta: The Role of the Plague in Romeo and Juliet

Meta: Macbeth and Parental Grief

Student Projects: some highlights from my students’ romeo and juliet modern interpretation projects

Excerpt from Professor David Daiches' A Critical History of English Literature, Vol. 1: this is a screenshot with image ID by me. A fantastic excerpt on Hamlet and Othello, and moral outrage.

So much good stuff to explore!

Previous Days
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7
Day 8
Day 9
Day 10
Day 11
Day 12
Day 13
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
This is an advance announcement for the Tuesday, February 3, 2026 Poetry Fishbowl. This time the theme will be "Books and Literacy." I'll be soliciting ideas for readers, writers, storytellers, scribes, editors, publishers, students, teachers, caregivers, children, parents, bookworms, nerds, bookstore owners, librarians, an anonymous benefactor, activists, volunteers, superheroes, supervillains, other bookish people, reading, writing, delighting the reader, editing, publishing, bookbinding, shopping for books, telling stories, teaching, inviting students to a lesson, demonstrating tools, educating the whole child, learning, studying, parenting, lending a hand, cooperating, concentrating on a current task, volunteering, supporting people in hard times, respecting people, modeling manners and skills, learning to trust others, observing the environment, engaging all the senses, cultivating a full life, creating intimacy, making friends, getting to know each other, cooking together, choosing your own goals, discovering things, improvising, adapting, cooperating, bartering, sharing, making mistakes, fixing what's broke, changing the world, accomplishing the impossible, other educational activities, books, scrolls, magical tomes, printing presses, pens and pencils, bookstores, libraries, Little Free Libraries, book nooks, windowseats, Montessori schools, other alternative schools, preschools or daycares, Montessori homeschool, prepared environment, colleges and universities, beautiful places, craft centers, community centers, coffeehouses, outdoor classrooms, parks, nature centers, other spaces designed for learning, Triton Teen Centers, mentor circles, intentional communities, clubs, quiet rooms, inclusive workplaces, Thalassia, the Maldives, the Lacuna, the Aqademy of the Qrossroads, Waldorf toys, Montessori materials, intrinsic motivation, child independence, respect for the child, freedom to choose, freedom of time and uninterrupted work periods, absorbent mind, post-traumatic growth, individualized education, three-part cards, language lessons, mathematics, diverse ages and abilities, self-correcting toys and lessons, natural consequences, freedom of movement, intentional neighboring, diversity, inclusivity, emotional closeness, nonsexual intimacies, first contact, rescue, interspecies relationships, trial and error, trust issues, teamwork, found family, complementary strengths and weaknesses, personal growth, and poetic forms in particular.


Among my more relevant series for the main theme:

An Army of One involves education and reading in the Lacuna.

Arts and Crafts America focuses on fine arts and practical crafts, sometimes education. Bookbinding would be a logical craft.

The Bear Tunnels has future books in a past culture.

Daughters of the Apocalypse have to rediscover many historic skills for survival, including earlier methods of sharing knowledge.

Frankenstein's Family has two scientists teaching villagers to be thoughtful instead of stupid, and after a few years, several more people keenly interested in books and education.

Not Quite Kansas started with mishandling a book of spells, and involves trying to learn about a whole new world.

Path of the Paladins includes the Canticle of Thorns and other books.

Peculiar Obligations has Quakers in organized crime. The Religious Society of Friends has been greatly involved in education, including abolitionist and natural science publications.

Polychrome Heroics is largely about people learning things. Threads particularly focused on this include Antimatter and Stalwart Stan, Aquariana, the Big One, Danso and Family, Dr. Infanta, Iron Horses, Officer Pink, Rutledge, and Trichromatic Attachments.

Quixotic Ideas is set in a world with plenty of magic and a positive tone, where people often help each other and solve challenges peacefully. It includes a healthy magical school.

Schrodinger's Heroes save the world from alternate dimensions, and they learn a lot along the way.

Or you can ask for something new.

Linkbacks reveal a verse of any open linkback poem.

If you're interested, mark the date on your calendar, and please hold actual prompts until the "Poetry Fishbowl Open" post next week. (If you're not available that day, or you live in a time zone that makes it hard to reach me, you can leave advance prompts. I am now.) Meanwhile, if you want to help with promotion, please feel free to link back here or repost this on your blog.

New to the fishbowl? Read all about it! )

Poem: "Shopping for College"

Jan. 26th, 2026 06:12 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Damask smiling over their shoulder (polychrome)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
This poem is spillover from the September 5, 2024 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from [personal profile] fuzzyred. It also fills the "Family Support Makes a Difference" square in my 9-1-24 card for the People with Disabilities Drabble Fest. This poem has been sponsored by a pool with [personal profile] fuzzyred. It belongs to the College Arc in the Shiv thread of the Polychrome Heroics series.

Read more... )

Worldbuilding

Jan. 26th, 2026 03:18 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Why Fantasy NEEDS More Fantasy Jobs on YouTube

Fantasy worlds are filled with magic, monsters, ancient ruins, cursed artifacts, and god-level threats but when you look closely, the same few roles always seem to keep everything running. Warriors, mages, priests, nobles, and merchants handle almost everything… somehow.

That's because many people prefer stories with big, flashy plots. However, some other people like smaller, everyday stories -- the whole "cozy" angle is all about that, not about blowing shit up. Now I love a good explosion as much as the next guy, but that's not all I enjoy. Variety is good.

Read more... )

Science

Jan. 26th, 2026 03:16 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
The magnetic secret inside steel finally explained

For years, scientists noticed that magnetic fields could improve steel, but no one knew exactly why. New simulations reveal that magnetism changes how iron atoms behave, making it harder for carbon atoms to slip through the metal. This slows diffusion at the atomic level and alters steel’s internal structure. The insight could lead to more efficient, lower-energy ways to make stronger steel.


And there's a hint about one way that secret but mundane smithcraft, as well as magical or superpowered manipulation of materials and forces, can create objects that work better.

Animal Intelligence

Jan. 26th, 2026 02:02 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
This video shows a cow performing versatile tool use to scratch herself with a broom.  Note that cows are already enthusiastic tool users of equipment provided by humans, such as pressure-activated brushes and voluntary milking systems.

An interesting point that nobody has mentioned: cows have prehensile tongues. A prehensile appendage is any body part flexible and strong enough to grab or manipulate objects. Watch Veronica pick up the broom. She doesn't use her teeth or even her lips. She uses her tongue. Prehensility is actually a strong indicator of intelligence, because it allows a creature to lift, move, or use things much more effectively. Any time you see that feature, you should check for intelligence, because it is probably higher than average.

Want to play at home? If you have a cow, or know someone who does, then get a small broom like the one in the video. Use it a few times to groom the cow so she learns how useful it is. Then place it within her reach to see if she tries using it to scratch herself. This is probably more effective with just one or two cows, rather than a herd where they tend to groom each other's hard-to-reach spots. You can also watch cows that you see in other places.

Birdfeeding

Jan. 26th, 2026 01:36 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Today is sunny and frigid.  Everything is still covered in snow.

I fed the birds.  I've seen a flock of sparrows.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 1/26/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

I've seen at least one female and four male cardinals.

EDIT 1/26/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

I've seen a pair of cardinals, a starling, and a mourning dove.

EDIT 1/26/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

I am done for the night.


duskpeterson: The lowercased letters D and P, joined together (Default)
[personal profile] duskpeterson

If you want to thank someone in Emor for your inn's lavatory, this is the place to do so. Emor's engineers are the best in the world and are admirably eager to spread their wonderful inventions outside of Emor. If you wish, you may make arrangements here to have your own tribe's housing improved; some engineers are willing to travel as far as the mainland, if the job is interesting enough.

As you may have guessed by now, "Engineering Academy" means that engineering students are trained here. While the Law Academy and Medical Academy train only peninsulareans, the Engineering Academy opens its doors to mainlanders as well. You may apply for entrance into the Academy while you are here.


[Translator's note: The Emorian engineers are so discreet in their work that they aren't often seen. However, their Marcadian colleagues are the ones to blame for the terrifying catapult used in Empty Dagger Hand.]

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