Network [entries|reading|network|archive]
simont

[ userinfo | dreamwidth userinfo ]
[ archive | journal archive ]

[personal profile] chickenfeet Wed 2026-04-15 10:30
Elegant, straightforward Tristan from Dresden
 https://operaramblings.blog/2026/04/15/elegant-straightforward-tristan/
LinkReply
[personal profile] james_davis_nicoll Wed 2026-04-15 10:21
Five Stories About What Happens After We Get to the Moon


Reaching the Moon is one thing; trying to settle and survive there is another matter...

Five Stories About What Happens After We Get to the Moon
Link6 comments | Reply
[personal profile] james_davis_nicoll Wed 2026-04-15 09:01
O Maidens in Your Savage Season, volume 1 by Mari Okada & Nao Emoto


Members of a literature club wrestle with adolescence, crushes, and the fact their high school principal would like them to not loudly declaim the spicy passages from great works of literature.

O Maidens in Your Savage Season, volume 1 by Mari Okada & Nao Emoto
LinkReply
[syndicated profile] markov_stoats_feed Wed 2026-04-15 12:00
Wednesday, 15 April 2026 : the Stoat Distribution of the Day.
stoats!

Day 4601. There are 320 red stoats, 183 blue stoats, and 497 green stoats.

LinkReply
[syndicated profile] bruce_schneier_feed Wed 2026-04-15 10:47
Defense in Depth, Medieval Style

Posted by Bruce Schneier

This article on the walls of Constantinople is fascinating.

The system comprised four defensive lines arranged in formidable layers:

  • The brick-lined ditch, divided by bulkheads and often flooded, 15­-20 meters wide and up to 7 meters deep.
  • A low breastwork, about 2 meters high, enabling defenders to fire freely from behind.
  • The outer wall, 8 meters tall and 2.8 meters thick, with 82 projecting towers.
  • The main wall—a towering 12 meters high and 5 meters thick—with 96 massive towers offset from those of the outer wall for maximum coverage.

Behind the walls lay broad terraces: the parateichion, 18 meters wide, ideal for repelling enemies who crossed the moat, and the peribolos, 15–­20 meters wide between the inner and outer walls. From the moat’s bottom to the highest tower top, the defences reached nearly 30 meters—a nearly unscalable barrier of stone and ingenuity.

LinkReply
[personal profile] oursin Wed 2026-04-15 09:47
Happy birthday, [personal profile] eglantiere!
LinkReply
[syndicated profile] pennyarcade_feed Wed 2026-04-15 07:01
Preparatory School
New Comic: Preparatory School
LinkReply
[personal profile] nanila on [community profile] awesomeers Wed 2026-04-15 08:19
Just One Thing (15 April 2026)
It's challenge time!

Comment with Just One Thing you've accomplished in the last 24 hours or so. It doesn't have to be a hard thing, or even a thing that you think is particularly awesome. Just a thing that you did.

Feel free to share more than one thing if you're feeling particularly accomplished! Extra credit: find someone in the comments and give them props for what they achieved!

Nothing is too big, too small, too strange or too cryptic. And in case you'd rather do this in private, anonymous comments are screened. I will only unscreen if you ask me to.

Go!
Link6 comments | Reply
[syndicated profile] apod_feed Wed 2026-04-15 05:36

Why does Comet R3 (PanSTARRS) have a wispy tail? Why does Comet R3 (PanSTARRS) have a wispy tail?


LinkReply
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith Wed 2026-04-15 00:32
Good News
Good news includes all the things which make us happy or otherwise feel good. It can be personal or public. We never know when something wonderful will happen, and when it does, most people want to share it with someone. It's disappointing when nobody is there to appreciate it. Happily, blogging allows us to share our joys and pat each other on the back.

What good news have you had recently? Are you anticipating any more? Have you found a cute picture or a video that makes you smile? Is there anything your online friends could do to make your life a little happier?

[Current Mood: | busy]

Link11 comments | Reply
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith Wed 2026-04-15 00:01
Fandom Questions
[personal profile] wavesagainstrocks posted questions about how people do fandom:

Those that actively engage with media or fandom (or both!) in your day-to-day life, do you find it hard to be into multiple things at once? Or can you easily switch between interests? Say, you can equally balance your attention between two or more shows? Please elaborate in the comments if you can!

Same goes for those on the flip-side. Do you feel like you can only be into one or very few things at one time? Do you have to let the one "main" obsession run its course for you to be able to move onto something else? Comment your thoughts!


I've already replied there, but I think it's a fun conversation. The blogger would like to reach a wider audience, so I'm hoping mine will pitch in.
[Current Mood: | busy]

Link1 comment | Reply
[syndicated profile] apnic_blog_feed Wed 2026-04-15 03:02
APNIC 62 Call for Papers now open

Posted by Sheryl Hermoso

Got a compelling story or insight on Internet operations? Submit your presentation for APNIC 62 today!
LinkReply
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith Tue 2026-04-14 21:54
Half-Price Sale in Polychrome Heroics
The April 7, 2026 Poetry Fishbowl met its $300 goal, so there will be a half-price sale in Polychrome Heroics from Monday, April 20 through Sunday, April 26.  Mark your calendars, and I hope to see you then!
[Current Mood: | busy]

LinkReply
[personal profile] conuly Tue 2026-04-14 21:51
At a different residence tonight
One of the staff has the same name as one of the residents, and it took me an embarrassingly long time to figure that out.
Link3 comments | Reply
[syndicated profile] dorktower_feed Mon 2026-04-13 05:00
Papal, See? – DORK TOWER 13.04.26

Posted by John Kovalic

Most DORK TOWER strips are now available as signed, high-quality prints, 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!)

LinkReply
[syndicated profile] apnic_blog_feed Tue 2026-04-14 23:09
Exploring the blind spot of IXPs Route Servers

Posted by Stefano Servillo

Guest Post: IRR-based filtering at IXPs often breaks the link between prefixes and their legitimate AS, allowing invalid announcements to slip through. This study measures the issue across many IXPs and offers actionable fixes.
LinkReply
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith Tue 2026-04-14 16:48
Affordable Housing
You Have More Land Than You Think

Clever design creates more housing on small sites.

You might assume that squeezing small units onto small lots might end up feeling claustrophobic, but a few simple design principles can actually lead to housing that is welcoming, comforting, and feels spacious. Best of all, a smaller house is more affordable, and land costs are spread amongst more units, creating greater affordability without subsidy.

Read more... )
[Current Mood: | busy]

Link1 comment | Reply
[personal profile] petrea_mitchell on [community profile] agonyaunt Tue 2026-04-14 14:25
Why Tho: Can we leave out the horrible kid?
Actual headline: Why Tho: My birthday kid wants to invite everyone in class to his party - but not this 1 boy

Dear Lizzy,

My son is in third grade, and his birthday is coming up. He’s told me he wants to invite his whole class to his party (at a park) except for one kid.

This kid is a menace, if I am honest. He breaks things in class and yells and hits. He is actually quite mean to my son. I want to respect my son’s wishes here, but is it fair to invite everyone except him?

To Exclude or Not to Exclude


Read more... )
Link17 comments | Reply
[personal profile] cosmolinguist Tue 2026-04-14 22:11
Remember Some Days

I did so many things again!

(I was thinking, after the four-day work weeks the last two weeks, how rough it's gonna be getting through five days this week. And both of these first two have felt like a few days each.)

I woke up at about six, and wasn't getting back to sleep, so I did what I often do between April and September (well, July at least): started watching the previous night's Twins game on my phone.

This time, that really woke me up: they (against another exceptionally good pitcher!) scored eleven runs in the first two innings! Garrett Crochet only got five outs before they sent him to the showers. It was wild. So fun to watch. I was giddy afterwards.

By seven, I'd gotten bored of telling myself I'd get up and go to the gym before work, a special skill only available to me in the lighter half of the year so I haven't done it yet this year.

It's so much quicker if I can ride my bike than if I have to walk, but my bike tires needed inflating first and I've never managed it on my own, but D did talk me through the process the other day so I figured it was worth a shot... And I did it! Went very smoothly. (My front tire was so low that hardly registered as having air pressure at all when I attached the pump, aww....)

I opened the door into a cool sunny morning, that smelled like burnt sugar. If the wind is just right, we can just about catch the delicious scents from the McVities factory. It felt like a magical way to start the day.

I went to the gym, didn't stay long, got home and showered and dressed for work by a time at which I've been just waking up on some weekdays lately. I had an okay work day, a lot of meetings to slog through, but with a nice one at the end of the day where someone I rarely speak to wanted my advice specifically about something to do with internal communications. She's so fun to talk to, and she was really flattering my ego with this "you were the first person I thought of to ask about this..." And I got a really adorable rendition of her plans to go to the gym herself after work, her upcoming holiday to Cornwall for a family gathering...so that was a fun way to end the work day.

Then, for the second day in a row, I walked both Teddy and Lizzy. It was kinda miserable today though: Lizzy was so intent on going a certain way that was too much work for me, that she refused the walk she's specifically demanded the last few days, and all I could do was drag her and Teddy up and down next to the A-road which she kept trying to dive into every few steps because she really wanted to be on the other side of it and only let me walk her along it because she was convinced at every point we'd be crossing the road.

Then just as we got back, the Tesco delivery showed up half an hour early (I'd actually seen the van stop on a nearby road when I was out with the dogs, and figured there was no way we weren't next on the list, so I wasn't as surprised as I might have been!), such that poor D had to choose between dealing with the groceries and returning the dogs to their home down the street. He took the dogs, and luckily they were good (they can pull a bit when they're near home, like a lot of dogs do I think, because they're excited to get there). I'm glad he chose that because I got the minimally-helpful driver, and spent much more time bending and reaching and lifting than I do if they're a little more careful where they put the crates and less staring-at-their-phone.

It was fine, everything got in the house, but with that right after the dog walk I was surprisingly tired! So I was glad when D did most of making dinner, he managed to find a good use for something we keep being sent as substitutes that isn't really suitable for us.

Last night, D and I started watching a documentary about why the Expos left Montreal, and it's so fucking depressing and so similar to Oakland and the A's! Also, knowing what I know now about, like, how most ownership groups are cashing in on their teams, and how bullshit it is to make taxes pay for rich people's stadiums...Stuff that happened when I was a naive kid (12 during the strike in 1994, for example), I now see in such a different light!

I thought I spent the whole thing making grumpy gloomy comments about the greed of billionaires and the doom of consigning civic institutions like sports teams to them. But when I tapped out halfway through -- I had a headache and thought I should sleep -- I told D to watch the rest without me and he said it wouldn't be as fun without me going "oooh, Ian Baseball!" I've passed along Andrew's old habit of referring to abstract or hypothetical entities having the first name Ian, so in this case, the Ians Baseball were, like Andre Dawson and Marquis Grissom. I've taught him about the joy of Remembering Some Guys, and apparently it works even secondhand! I did worry that the Guy Remembering was over by the halfway point of the doc, and indeed tonight's half was just depressing stuff, including David Samson who could hardly be more cartoonishly The Rich Bad Guy from a movie (assuming that the original prototype for that, Donald Trump, wasn't chosen): even his voice sounds evil. It was very touching to see so many old Québécois men weep openly though. I like baseball because it's so low-stakes, until it's not.

And then I was D's unglamorous assistant as he climbed up a ladder with multiple flashlights to take pictures of our loft (for solar panel purposes) and now I'm looking forward to going to bed!

Link8 comments | Reply
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith Tue 2026-04-14 15:28
Fossils
Mammal ancestors laid eggs, and this 250-million-year-old fossil finally proves it

A 250-million-year-old fossil egg just revealed how an ancient survivor beat Earth’s deadliest extinction.

In the aftermath of Earth’s most catastrophic extinction event, one unlikely survivor rose to dominate a shattered world: Lystrosaurus. Now, a stunning fossil discovery—an ancient egg containing a curled-up embryo—has finally answered a decades-old mystery about whether mammal ancestors laid eggs. Using advanced imaging technology, scientists confirmed that these resilient creatures did reproduce this way, likely producing large, soft-shelled eggs packed with nutrients
.


In terms of world domination, Lystrosaurus was arguably the most successful lifeform on Earth.
[Current Mood: | busy]

Link3 comments | Reply
navigation
[ viewing | 160 entries back ]
[ go | earlier/later ]