kaberett (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
kaberett) wrote2025-11-16 10:36 pm
kaberett) wrote2025-11-16 10:36 pm
Entry tags:
vital functions
... has done so many things and is Going To Bed and will fill in this placeholder Tomorrow.
kaberett (kaberett) wrote2025-11-15 11:30 pm
kaberett) wrote2025-11-15 11:30 pmEntry tags:
[food] medlar jelly recipe
Irritatingly, the medlar jelly recipe I used last time I made the stuff, over at the RHS, is no longer extant (web.archive.org link!). Herewith my own readily findable copy of the thing, plus my notes on what I'm actually doing this time around.
(For amusement: I apparently first found the medlar sticky toffee pudding recipe in 2023...)
( Notes )
kaberett (kaberett) wrote2025-11-14 11:45 pm
kaberett) wrote2025-11-14 11:45 pmEntry tags:
[pain] today in Descartes: green is the best colour because it is most like an octave
... Nor shall I say what objects of vision must be agreeable or disagreeable to it; for from what I have already said about the other senses, it is easy to grasp that light that is too strong will injure the eyes and moderate light must refresh them; and that, amongst the colours, green, which consistss in the most moderate action (which by analogy one can speak of as the ratio 1:2), is like the octave among musical consonances, or like bread among the foods that one eats, that is, it is the most universally agreeable.40
40 What the basis of this remark is is unclear, and although various writers have made suggestions about the relations between colours and sounds, the attempt to quantify green on a par with an octave certainly cannot be sustained. It is worth noting that Descartes will later advice Elizabeth to rid her mind of sad thoughts by reflecting on the greenness of a wood (Descartes to Elizabeth, May/June 1645, AT iv. 220).
(trans. and footnote courtesy of Stephen Gaukroger.)
squirmelia (squirmelia) wrote2025-11-14 08:58 pm
squirmelia) wrote2025-11-14 08:58 pmEntry tags:
Mudlarking 62 - Leafy
A lunchtime lark, but it was rainy and the tide was up.
Finds:
1. Plastic leaves
2. Westerwald stoneware
3. What I thought was an intricate button but when I got it home, found that it was actually a filter, perhaps for treating sewage.
4. I quite like the big blue and white piece and wonder what it was part of.
(You need a permit to search or mudlark on the Thames foreshore.)
Finds:
1. Plastic leaves
2. Westerwald stoneware
3. What I thought was an intricate button but when I got it home, found that it was actually a filter, perhaps for treating sewage.
4. I quite like the big blue and white piece and wonder what it was part of.
(You need a permit to search or mudlark on the Thames foreshore.)
WIL WHEATON dot NET (![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png)
wwdn_feed) wrote2025-11-14 07:50 pm
wwdn_feed) wrote2025-11-14 07:50 pmthe cosmic ballet goes on
A couple nights ago, my sister sent me a picture of the gorgeous aurora over her house in the upper midwest, so I took a picture in my back yard and sent it to her, to share my own view of the phenomena:
We do this every time she can see the aurora. It’s never not funny to both of us. I really love and cherish my sister.
A couple hours went by, and I looked at Bluesky, where I saw that this particular aurora event was a straight up phenomenon that was really blowing the skies up all over the place. The photos people were posting from all over North America, as far south as New Mexico, were all breathtaking.
So I had a silly idea that resulted in some alt text that I am so obnoxiously proud of, not only did I repost my own post yesterday, explicitly for more than five people to see it, I wrote a whole damn blog post so I could post this:
ALT TEXT: An extremely real photograph of the Aurora Borealis, its gossamer shrouds of red and green blown by the solar wind across the skies above Los Angeles. Definitely not a fake if you were wondering. I mean why would anyone even fake something like that? Because he’s like jealous of everyone who gets to see it for real tonight? Pfft! That’s just silly. Go back to enjoying the very real picture of nature’s very real majesty that was just taken in the skies above Los Angeles. Oh and if you go outside to look for yourself you probably won’t see it because it was almost out of science energy and was kind of just vanishing. Good thing there’s a real picture of it from someone who really saw it, to remember it.
I had fun with that, and it made me laugh a lot. Everything is terrible (some things are getting better! He will die soon!) so it’s more important to me than ever that I make time and space to laugh and have fun. One of the ways I have always done that is by allowing myself to be easily amused and entertained.
You made it to the end of another week! Congratulations. I hope you get to spend your weekend with people who love you.
Dinosaur Comics! (dinosaur_comics_feed) wrote2025-11-14 12:00 am
dinosaur_comics_feed) wrote2025-11-14 12:00 ammedianest is so a word, and the proof is that i used it in this comic twice. check and mate, skepti
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November 14th, 2025: I have at this point written more comics about Sherlock Holmes than I have about any other fictional character, which seems crazy?? (T-Rex, Dromiceiomimus, Batman, and Utahraptor are real.) I'm at YALLFEST tomorrow (Saturday!) - hopefully I will see you there! – Ryan | ||
Dork Tower (dorktower_feed) wrote2025-11-14 06:00 am
dorktower_feed) wrote2025-11-14 06:00 amIt’s Not My Fault! – DORK TOWER 14.11.25
This or any DORK TOWER strip is now available as a signed, high-quality print, from just $25! CLICK HERE to find out more!
HEY! Want to help keep DORK TOWER going? Then consider joining the DORK TOWER Patreon and ENLIST IN THE ARMY OF DORKNESS TODAY! (We have COOKIES!) (And SWAG!) (And GRATITUDE!)
Girl Genius (girlgenius_main_feed) wrote2025-11-14 05:00 am
girlgenius_main_feed) wrote2025-11-14 05:00 amGirl Genius for Friday, November 14, 2025
The Girl Genius comic for Friday, November 14, 2025 has been posted.
kaberett (kaberett) wrote2025-11-13 11:16 pm
kaberett) wrote2025-11-13 11:16 pmEntry tags:
[embodiment] still a terrible hobby
[cn time-restricted eating.]
( Read more... )
WIL WHEATON dot NET (wwdn_feed) wrote2025-11-12 11:53 pm
wwdn_feed) wrote2025-11-12 11:53 pmyou walk outside, and everything just says “SOON”
There is a massive winter storm barreling toward us right now, expected to arrive in the next 18 or so hours. Yesterday, it was unseasonably warm and stupidly beautiful. Today, it’s eerily calm, under grey skies. The air is so still, it carries the train whistles from all the way across the valley, and every lawnmower in town sounds like it’s next door. You walk outside, and everything just says, soon.1 Even the corvids and squirrels seem reluctant to come out of the trees, It never rains in Southern California, man. It pours.
This past weekend, though, it was great, and I was grateful for it.
Last Friday, Anne and I celebrated our 26th wedding anniversary. We have both been so busy and overwhelmed for so long, we planned to skip our usual weekend getaway and just go out for a really fancy dinner, instead. So we went to Mozza in Hollywood, where I think Anne discovered that pasta can actually be wonderful and not what her husband struggles to assemble in our kitchen.
We had such a wonderful meal, and such a nice time out, on a Friday night like PEOPLE WHO GO OUT TO DO THINGS! And that would have been enough, but about two weeks ago, Anne said that she was really missing our usual weekend away, and how did I feel about using points to go somewhere close? I admitted that I, too, was feeling sad we weren’t going to have two days of absolutely nothing but Us. Funny how we both really wanted to do this together, but kept talking ourselves out of it because we’d agreed together that we would.
Anyway, she found a place, cashed in some points, and we spent the weekend up in Santa Barbara. It was nothing but long walks, petting dogs, eating incredible food, and prioritizing each other, our relationship, our friendship, and our marriage. Each of us truly is married to our best friend, and even after 26 years (30+ total), we still have all kinds of fun goofing off together. We have consistently done the hard work of being married and being a family, and that investment pays off at like fifty million percent all the time.
It’s just like … it’s such a blessing and so awesome to spend our lives together, and be mom and dad to our kids. We have worked really hard for a good life, and I’m grateful that I’ve worked so hard to heal my PTSD, so I can actually enjoy living it.
And now…
This week’s story dropped earlier today! It is Dissembling Light, by Kel Coleman. It originally appeared in Beneath Ceaseless Skies issue 385.
This is a magical story (meaning that Magic features prominently in the narrative) about a man who holds tremendous knowledge and skill in his heart, and the hopeful apprentice who comes to learn from him. It also makes me wonder what good is knowledge, if its holder doesn’t freely share it?
You can get It’s Storytime With Wil Wheaton wherever you get your podcasts. Here’s some links to the more popular services:
- Apple Podcasts
- PocketCast
- Pandora
- iHeart
- Amazon
- or grab the RSS directly from me right here. (Yo! Old school RSS subscribers, I see you and finger your .plan!)
You can also support the show on Patreon, where you’ll get the show with no ads, as well as some spiffy extras that all the cool kids are into these days.
Today, I recorded two episodes. One of the things we did is the most beautiful, heartbreaking, I-need-a-minute-to-compose-myself story I have read in a long, long time. I’m so excited for you to hear it. It’s also the source of the show’s first official blooper, where you will get to hear me use all my, uh, colorful metaphors in rather creative ways.
I would absolutely love to hear your feedback on the show, if you’re a listener. I feel like we’re doing good work, and putting good art into the world, but I have no idea what the audience thinks if I don’t ask, because we aren’t exactly in a theater together. Although, if I can figure out how to stage one of these stories, I’m into seeing what that would look and sound like. Maybe something cool is there, way off in the mysterious future.
- Unfortunately, it’s not the soon we are all waiting for
︎
Dinosaur Comics! (dinosaur_comics_feed) wrote2025-11-12 12:00 am
dinosaur_comics_feed) wrote2025-11-12 12:00 amand THIS is where the gaslighting and gatekeeping comes in
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November 12th, 2025: And this comic is inspired by: words. Look at me, getting inspired by mere markers to concepts over here! SHEESH! – Ryan | ||
Dork Tower (dorktower_feed) wrote2025-11-12 06:00 am
dorktower_feed) wrote2025-11-12 06:00 amSQUIRREL! – DORK TOWER 12.11.25
This or any DORK TOWER strip is now available as a signed, high-quality print, from just $25! CLICK HERE to find out more!
HEY! Want to help keep DORK TOWER going? Then consider joining the DORK TOWER Patreon and ENLIST IN THE ARMY OF DORKNESS TODAY! (We have COOKIES!) (And SWAG!) (And GRATITUDE!)
Girl Genius (girlgenius_main_feed) wrote2025-11-12 05:00 am
girlgenius_main_feed) wrote2025-11-12 05:00 amGirl Genius for Wednesday, November 12, 2025
The Girl Genius comic for Wednesday, November 12, 2025 has been posted.
kaberett (kaberett) wrote2025-11-11 11:04 pm
kaberett) wrote2025-11-11 11:04 pmsome things make a post
- I will grudgingly concede that the ridiculously overengineered parsnip risotto from The Modern Vegetarian is actually very tasty and it's very obvious that without the THREE DIFFERENT PREPARATIONS OF PARSNIP it would also be significantly less Parsnip. It is not, however, sufficient to convince me to update The Risotto Rule. But, as I say, it's very tasty and we have at least another day (possibly two?) of it, which I am cheerful about as a concept!
- Blessedly my repeat prescription request had made it to the pharmacy by the time I swung by to pick up A's IOU and a new thing, so I won't need to make any more trips there
this week, at any rate. - Chillis in the greenhouse that I really need to bring home before I lose the gamble on frost are looking happy still despite a week+ of neglect.
- Through hunting duvet covers (the one I bought for myself when I first moved out of the Den of Christians and into My Own Flat, in very early 2014, has tragically failed catastrophically) I have been reminded of the existence of incredibly gaudy (watercolours of) tulips, and I'm probably not going to spend slightly silly money on watercolour stripy tulips, but I'm very glad they exist.
- We are continuing to Really Enjoy playing Inkulinati together, and I now definitely have enough grasp of the mechanics to collaborate on What We Wanna Do Next. One level fits quite neatly into some of the slightly awkward chunks of time in our week; I am looking forward to tomorrow's. <3
squirmelia (squirmelia) wrote2025-11-11 08:38 pm
squirmelia) wrote2025-11-11 08:38 pmEntry tags:
Mudlarking 61 - ah! oh! Bovril
On Sunday morning, I went to Putney, as it was somewhere I hadn’t mudlarked before. I tried going down the Brewhouse Slipway, but it was too muddy. I then found the steps next to Putney Bridge, which were also muddy, but there was a handrail to hold onto for the top steps at least, so I made my way down slowly. The foreshore was covered in silt, as the tide must have started receding before the Uber boats started running again.
I made my way around the mud and the streams of water, and got to the river’s edge. I heard bagpipes being played. It was Remembrance Sunday, so I suspected they were coming from the church just above.
Other people on the foreshore included a person metal detecting, and a person who told me that it was muddy the way they came, and I told them that I’d found a Bovril jar.
At one point I was stood between the river and a large stream bit, as if I was on an island, and even though I knew the tide times and knew the water was still going out, I wasn’t sure I felt that safe, so turned around.
I didn’t take home:
1. A pink iPhone, smashed up, no screen, underneath Putney Bridge.
2. Hindu offerings, a collection of them washed up together.
I walked underneath the bridge and then came across some gates that had warning signs that said lights flash and that there could be sewer outfalls without warning. I walked quickly past, lights were not flashing.
Things I found:
1. A plastic frog head. I think it was a real animal to start with, so was glad to find it wasn’t!
2. A bracelet, perhaps?
3. Glass that says “blis” on it. Probably Chablis, but I like to imagine I found "bliss"
4. Glass that was part of an R White’s bottle.
More things:
1. A Bovril jar! Very excited by this one. It’s not one of the oldest types of Bovril jars as it doesn’t have a long neck, but it does have “oz” on it, so it’s certainly not recent.
2. Barrett & Elers bottle fragment
The “B&” were visible on this fragment, but the symbol on it is more of the giveaway - it’s of a vulcanite bottle stopper! The company was registered in 1897 and Henry Barrett invented this type of bottle stopper in 1872.
An advert from 1883: https://boroughphotos.org/lambeth/advert-barrett-elers-london/
–
3. Solo bottle fragment
On the bottom of the bottle it says “Property of Solo B”. The Solo Bottling Company were based at 10 Whitcher Place, NW1. Using 1940s - 1960s OS Maps, it says “Mineral Water Bottling Works” at this address. Whitcher Place does still exist but where this building was located is now UCL student halls.
From a listing of a 1954 receipt on eBay, I've found that Solo Bottling Company were linked to Solo Orchards, who made orange juice and other drinks.
There are various adverts from Solo Orchards, such as “ah! oh! SOLO” from 1948, and eBay also has a beer mat for sparkling orange listed.
Solo Orchards were taken over by Idris in 1960.
So the bottle I found could have contained sparkling orange from Solo Orchards, and is likely to be from the 1940s or 1950s.
1954 receipt:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/167796598399
1948 advert:
https://flic.kr/p/2fFCAWU
Sparkling orange beer mat:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/306036568891
--
After that, I continued along the river, through Wandsworth Park, and past Church Draw Dock (another place to mudlark) and a heron, and onwards, over Battersea Bridge, and past the sphinx benches, and then over Vauxhall Bridge, and I stopped my walk there. I walked about 11 miles that day.
(You need a permit to search or mudlark on the Thames foreshore.)
vyvyanx (vyvyanx) wrote2025-11-11 03:28 pm
vyvyanx) wrote2025-11-11 03:28 pmBlood donation
There always seems to be some excitement when I donate blood. The first time, last December, was exciting just because it was new - and also because I felt faint and dizzy afterwards and everyone rushed to look after me. The second time, in July, the session was interrupted when a fire alarm went off and we all had to go out into the car park, which meant that people who'd been in the middle of donating couldn't have their donations used (not me, fortunately). Today, at the end of my third donation, a special alarm went off because the machine hadn't automatically cut off when the target weight was reached, and it took a bit extra :-) The nurses said this hardly ever happens.