matrixmann | Reading

Dear Google.....

Yes, for many travelers, flying to Japan for Tokyo Disney can genuinely be cheaper than a full Walt Disney World (WDW) trip in Florida due to significantly lower park ticket costs, favorable exchange rates (USD to JPY), cheaper in-park food/merch, and more affordable local lodging, despite the higher initial airfare cost, making the overall vacation package surprisingly more budget-friendly than rising WDW prices.

andrewducker

About a month ago Gideon watched a bunch of videos about Minecraft, asked if he could play it on her tablet, got a few pointers from me to get him going and then dove in and started building stuff. At an impressive rate considering that he can't read any word more than 4 letters long.

Yesterday I mentioned Minecraft to Sophia, and she showed interest, so I set her up on my desktop and she got stuck in. She's asked for more help than Gideon has, but has been happily building herself an underground house. And just now I wanderd into my office to see her on the desktop and Gideon sitting on the floor with his tablet, with the two of them intermittently showing each other cool things that they'd found.

So tonight, after they're asleep, I'm going to set them both up for online play, and rent a realm*, so that they can be in the same world with each other.

*I am totally willing to pay £3.99 per month to not have to maintain my own server.

ysabetwordsmith

Human brains light up for chimp voices in a way no one expected

Humans may carry ancient neural traces that let us recognize the voices of our primate cousins.

Humans don’t just recognize each other’s voices—our brains also light up for the calls of chimpanzees, hinting at ancient communication roots shared with our closest primate relatives. Researchers found a specialized region in the auditory cortex that reacts distinctly to chimp vocalizations, but not to those of bonobos or macaques, revealing an unexpected mix of evolutionary and acoustic influences.

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

Today is cloudy and cold with copious snow. This has wiped out our plans to visit a holiday market. :(

I fed the birds. I've seen a large mixed flock of sparrows and house finches, at least one female and four male cardinals, a mourning dove, and a tiny wren clinging to the bathroom window as it probed the edges for hibernating insects.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 12/13/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 12/13/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 12/13/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

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

Current Mood: busy

calzephyr posting in

1word1day

Spiccato - adjective.

Spiccato is a string instrument bowing technique where the bow bounces lightly and rhythmically off the string. Originating from the Italian verb "spiccare" (to separate), spiccato relies on the bow's natural spring and elasticity.

Here's a video demonstrating spiccato, as I have no musical talent whatsoever to try and explain it :-)

Watch on YouTube

disneydream06

andrewducker

1. How Screen Time Affects Childhood Brain Development: (tags:brain children funny screens )
2. Four reasons why the UK is already at war with Russia: (tags:Russia UK war )
3. Looking Back at the Work of John Varley, 1947-2025: (tags:scifi obituary )
4. Dating a man who's most likely autistic: (tags:autism relationships )

poliphilo

The cat is an old, old man- older than I am to judge by his behaviour.

He shouts a lot. I think the caterwauling translates as "Where am I? Where are you?"

Perhaps even, "Who am I?" Who are you?"

And, of course, "Isn't it teatime yet?"- because, although he grows lighter and bonier, he hasn't lost his appetite.

He hangs close. And you can hardly move around the house without falling over him. You think he's asleep on one of his cushions and you step out regardless and find you've trodden on one of his paws because he's somehow materialised right in front of you and you go "O, cat!"

poliphilo

A quarter to eight in the morning.....

Pale blue sky, pink clouds

The moon in its last quarter

Silver

Very high up a pink plane trailing pink vapour

Very low down, on what was once marshland- and still is underneath- a thread of mist lying below the house tops

ysabetwordsmith

Ground Zero: Los Angeles and the Endgame of the Growth Ponzi Scheme

Los Angeles didn’t mismanage its way into crisis. It built its way here.

I disagree. If a city does not track all of its liabilities, such as the maintenance costs of roads and utilities, that is mismanagement. You can't run a budget when you don't know where your money is going. That ought to be obvious.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

People have expressed interest in deep topics, so this list focuses on philosophical questions.

Is the human tendency to create groups an overall positive or a negative trait in terms of general human flourishing?

Necessary. Insofar as we know, Homo like most primates is a troop animal, evolved to live in groups rather than alone. Individuals may choose to live alone, but it is much more difficult. Of course, humans can choose to create groups that are themselves positive or negative in structure and behavior, but that's a personal choice.

Current Mood: busy

soc_puppet posting in

dw_community_promo

moodthemeinayear is coming back in 2026 with a new twist: Creating a custom mood theme can now earn you Dreamwidth points!

Mood Theme in a Year is a community that takes a laid-back approach to creating a custom mood theme. If you've always wanted to create your own mood theme (those little images that pop up when you select something from the drop-down "Mood" menu when posting), this is a great place to do it! Take your time creating graphics for anywhere between 15 and 132 moods, either following the community's suggested schedule or going at your own pace. (Though you need to make a minimum of 18 graphics to earn any paid time.)

The "official" schedule starts again from the beginning on January 1st, but you can jump in at any time during the year; feel free to challenge yourself as well with Bingo cards or the Mood Theme in a Month calendars! Learn more in the community pinned post or profile.

I hope to see you there!

Current Mood: chipper

comet_scout posting in

addme

Me:

Comet, or Ju, 27, Brazilian, but I only post in English.

I mostly post about:

I like posting about things I may be into at the moment, like a game I played or something I’ve found interesting, and some basic thoughts about them. Mostly I have been logging in my Solo TTRPG plays, my Doronai Nui adventures mainly. Sometimes a post about real life, but not much. The plan is to just blog about anything I feel like sharing.

My hobbies are:

I play video games, I solo TTRPGs, I draw, I drabble, some fandoming, and some light toy collecting. Want to read more.

My fandoms are:

My main fandoms are Bionicle (G1) and Transformers (G1, Beast Wars, Skybound, Prime, and some IDW), I also like No Man’s sky, and have been getting into The Dark Crystal. And a little bit of many things. I have been playing a lot of Vintage Story.

My posting schedule tends to be:

Sporadic. I’ve made an effort to post more frequently, but it’s more interesting when I actually have something that has been on my mind.

I'm looking to meet people who:

Post similar things or may like similar things. I’m not around all the time, and I’m a bit quiet, so I don’t mind people who are similar.

ysabetwordsmith

Scientists find hidden rainfall pattern that could reshape farming

Where rain comes from may decide the future stability of global food production.

New research shows that crops are far more vulnerable when too much rainfall originates from land rather than the ocean. Land-sourced moisture leads to weaker, less reliable rainfall, heightening drought risk. The U.S. Midwest and East Africa are particularly exposed due to soil drying and deforestation. Protecting forests and improving land management could help stabilize rainfall and crop yields.

Allow me to point out that the Midwest used to have copious fencerows of trees and bushes, more pocket forests, and more farmhouse yards. People cut down most of those to clear a few more acres of farmland. The results have been poor across multiple areas including wildlife losses, soil erosion, worsening winds with less interruption, and of course the aforementioned droughts.

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

Today is partly cloudy and chilly. Yesterday it snowed.

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

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 12/12/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 12/12/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 12/12/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 12/12/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

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

Current Mood: busy

poliphilo

The recycling centre is just across the road. It takes me about a minute to walk to the gate where they admit pedestrians.

Only I'm not walking there as often as I did because they've instituted a booking system- and you can't just turn up. Instead you have to go online, sign up for a time slot and it's a faff.

Is "faff" recognised as a noun by tthe gatekeepers of the language?

Yes it is. I just looked it up.

Why did they bring in the new system? Presumably to stop the queue of cars that used to build up along St Philip's Drive at peak hours.

Was that something that was worth doing? The official mind which abhors untidiness obviously thought so....

ysabetwordsmith

'It is the most exciting discovery in my 40-year career': Archaeologists uncover evidence that Neanderthals made fire 400,000 years ago in England

Neanderthals were the world's first innovators of fire technology, tiny specks of evidence in England suggest. Flecks of pyrite found at a more than 400,000-year-old archaeological site in Suffolk, in eastern England, push back archaeologists' evidence for controlled fire-making and suggest that key human brain developments began far earlier than previously thought.

It's exciting to see such concrete evidence.

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith posting in

followfriday

Got any Follow Friday-related posts to share this week? Comment here with the link(s).

Here's the plan: every Friday, let's recommend some people and/or communities to follow on Dreamwidth. That's it. No complicated rules, no "pass this on to 7.328 friends or your cat will die".

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

Today's theme is Labyrinth.

comicsfanfiction -- Comics Fanfiction
The community for posting any fanfiction, ANY RATING IS ALLOWED, based on COMICS including webcomics or graphic novels. One main place to find all those stories that we all want. Comic fandoms that were originally from another medium (show, book, movie, etc) - for example Gargoyles, Star Wars or Star Trek - and has a comic series line (miniseries or not) are allowed here, but only if you focus on the comics-based information.
[Active with multiple posts in December.]

crossovers -- Crossover fiction from across the universe!
Crossover fan fiction.
[Active with multiple posts in November.]

fandom_fanvids -- A Collection of Fanvids from different Fandoms
[Active with one post in November.]

labyfic -- In Search of New Dreams: A Labyrinth Fan Community
Labyrinth movie community: fanfiction, fan art, & discussion.
[Active with multiple posts in December.]

Current Mood: busy

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matrixmann

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Wartime

"History repeats itself, the war will soon begin"

Reading

W.T.F. News.....

Life with two children: Renting realms

Science

Birdfeeding

Saturday Word: Spiccato

L.M.A.O......

Interesting Links for 13-12-2025

O Cat!

A View From My Window

Economics

Philosophical Questions: Humans

Mood Theme in a Year Returns!

(no subject)

Water

Birdfeeding

It's A Faff

Interesting Links for 12-12-2025

Early Humans

Follow Friday 12-12-25

Follow Friday 12-12-25: Labyrinth

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